[open] So we carry every sadness with us // Any

[Laia]

It had been a bitchy thing to do. She knew it was, and she'd done it anyway. The thing was, Raul was so damn pacifist, so very peaceable, that it had been a battle to get him to show any emotion whatsoever once their mother left with her youngest sister. 

Laia had stayed, because she thought her father would need her support while he and mother sorted things out. Instead, he'd shut her out completely, thrown himself into his work and left her feeling lonlier than she'd ever realized she could be. 

She was stubborn. A trait granted by both parents, so really could be blame her for her persistence? She'd nagged, she'd nudged and finally, this morning, she'd blown it all up. 

See, her colors shifted when she wanted them to. Only a selective palette, but, well, that was enough. Her mother's dark bay coat was well within the shades she could emulate. Between her coat and her antlers... The look on her father's face had almost been worth it. Almost, until the rawness of his voice told her (too late) that she'd pushed too far, and he'd kicked her out. 

Not forever, mind. But he couldn't look at her. There was no yelling. Raul never yelled. He was furious though, and she knew better than to argue when he ordered her out of his sight. 

So... Now she was here. Wandering in the dark, no longer bay but not her natural born buckskin either. She was no one worth being, not today. Instead, the colored pieces of her skin were a ruddy, angry red. Hard to tell in the dark, of course, but if you squinted... 

A harsh sigh and a soft sniffle emanated from the young mare. 

Family was messy. It was complicated. And she was so tired of trying to hold hers together. She'd stay out here for a few days, so she and her sire could cool off. It was dark and there wasn't crap to eat, but it was better than the tension she knew she'd left behind her. Her head dropped to the barren ground, hoping a scrap of semi-edible something would turn up under her nose, and that the headache blooming behind her eyes wouldn't linger. It was the last thing she needed right now.

[Locheed]

She did need the whole story to guess what had happened. Laia with her charity had tried to stay with their ornery father, and not taken a hint, or two, or three. She had tried to tend to him when he only wanted to nurse his bad mood in solitude, and well, one of them had made it clear that the other wasn't meeting expectations.

When she saw her sister's slight form, an fiery red in the volcanic twilight but still unmistakable, slip across the border, Locheed couldn't resist investigating. Not that she tried very hard. Would her twin run to a secret lover, or only into trouble? She needed to know, and it wasn't like the little dragon mare had anything else going on.

It's a long journey they make, and Locheed resists showing herself as long as possible as she conducts her espionage. But no fond lovers or confidants materialize, and when they reach a barren and windswept corner of the meadow, Locheed knows she can't stay hidden for long. She decides to show herself before getting caught. 

"Hello, angel." The dragonling's rough voice floats across the sparse grasses on a barely suppressed laugh. She had always had a weakness for sniffles and silent tears, like a shark to blood, especially those of her sisters. "What's a pretty girl doing in a place like this," she adds in her best false-bass, reaching out to place a nip on her sister's flawless and pale rump, hoping for the satisfaction of just a little blood.

Then the laugh does escape her, but it's low in her throat and only just slips out between her sharp teeth before her lips are closed again - and a keen eye would catch a brief glimpse of concern pass over her features as she looks to meet her twin's gaze. She wasn't really sure if Laia had ever wandered this far from Tephra before, and although she wouldn't quickly admit it, something more than just her competitive spirit and prying curiosity had tempted her to follow.

[Laia]

She'd been hoping for some time to pull herself together before facing the world at large. Naturally, this was too much to ask. The threatening headache manifested into full blown throbbing as a familiar voice broke through the walls of her pity party. 

"I don't remember requesting a pain in the ass," she replied, sniffling negating any kind of venom the words might have held. It was Lowy, after all. There was no telling her twin where to be or not be, she'd make up her own mind and everyone else would have to adjust. The antlered woman envied that sometimes. 

She had always struggled with the need to please everyone around her. To be daring enough for her sister, kind enough for her father, brave enough for her mother. She wasn't terribly certain what was left when those things were stripped away. Her twin, on the other hoof, didn't worry about pleasing anyone but herself. Laia was fairly certain Loey sometimes went out of her own way, if it would be an inconvenience to others. 

Despite these differences, she adored her twin. They were closer than blood, and she knew the dragon mare wouldn't be here if she didn't care. That did not prevent her from kicking sharply out when she felt the hot breath and sharp teeth of her sister on her rear. That was irony for you.  

Her mouth twisted, unfamiliar anger simmering in her chest. "Either play the supportive sister act, or go away, Loey. I'm in no mood for your games. Not today." And like a traitor, a wet hiccup trailed her words. 

@[Locheed]

[Locheed]

"Don't lash out at me, Angleface."

Locheed rolls her shoulders, enjoying the stretch of muscles over bones and the feeling of power at the ready. Her tone dances the line between jest and threat, her sister's claim of a headache doing little to stir her sympathy.

"The supportive sister." She chuckles low in her throat, "It's like you don't even know me." But the scaled mare does give the pegasus some space, retreating a few paces to vengefully tearing at what few scraps of greenery she can find. When she lifts her head again, it's apparent that some thought has lit a fire behind her eyes.

"You seem to be getting a lot of headaches recently," she begins, her smokey voice interrupting the darkness. Locheed was generally a creature of the moment, alive for the hear and now, but for this moment her thoughts turn to the future. Their future. "Maybe it's time for a change of pace."

She steps closer, wanting to be near enough to read the unspoken elements of her sister's reaction, her draconic eyes sharpening. "We would make a good team," she offers, knowing that their opposing ways of approaching the world could compliment each other in the right circumstance. But she doesn't resist one more jab, unwilling to let her sister think she was softening up. "That is, if you could keep your head on straight."