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 Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:32 pm
Distracted by his work with the force and practice for the show, it had been far too long since he'd stopped by home. Good as it was to see his mother and father (and the joke-trading was truly in its finest form), there was a certain baby sister Just Lance owed a visit to. Poor Dragonfly! The dearheart was loyal to a fault, kind as could be, and his life had gotten so busy that he'd neglected her. In reality, it wasn't good big brother behavior at all.
However, it seemed that Dragonfly... was missing. She wasn't in her room, nor in the backyard. Mother hadn't seen her since the early afternoon, but she hadn't left the home. It was truly a puzzling issue. Frowning to himself, Lance trod from room to room, light on his hooves as he searched. Yet no matter where he looked, Dragonfly did not turn up.
The older unicorn found himself close to giving up and talking with his father, when from the closet he heard... sniffling? That wasn't typical. He headed over and knocked upon the door with a hoof, and called gently.
"Dragonfly? Is that you? I've been hunting for you all day!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:41 pm
Dragonfly was not crying.
That much at least was true. Crying involved tears, and there certainly weren't any of those. Just a tightness in her throat and that sort of hot prickly feeling behind her eyes. She wasn't even sure what she was doing in the closet. She hadn't started the day planning on hiding in the closet; she'd started the day ambitiously, planning to clean up her perpetually messy desk. At first it had gone fine. She'd put a bunch of books back on the bookshelf, thrown away plenty of snack wrappers, spent some time with her mom when she'd found an interesting silverfish... that part had gone fine. But then she'd come across a stack of school papers and found a crayon drawing she'd done, and for some reason the best course of action after that had been to hide in the closet and try not to cry.
The drawing in question was a picture of her and her brother, Lance. She remembered the assignment well- she had to write a little essay about her hero and then draw a picture of them. And Lance was her hero. He always had been. It was just... it was hard to deal with him not being around anymore.She knew that foals didn't stay foals forever. Phonies grew when they got their cutie marks, and Lance had just... well, he'd figured out his purpose in life way earlier than her. That was all. It wasn't his fault or anything; she'd just thought that maybe... well, maybe they'd have a little more time together. Now he was all moved out and here she was, hiding from the world in a closet.
When the knock came, she started, bumping her head on the shelf above her. It was Lance! But to her surprise, she wasn't sure how she felt about this. She wanted to be alone, but at the same time she wanted to be with people. It was very confusing and she wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it. "No," she said, realizing only after the words had slipped out how bad a decision that was. Still, nothing to do now but to roll with it. "It's... it's the towels. Just towels in here."
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Scaramouche Fandango Crew
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:53 pm
The jump and thump had Lance wincing in sympathy, worrying about Dragonfly's horn- and also her head. But then she was protesting that no, no, it was just the towels, and Lance felt his eyebrows shooting up in disbelief. She was upset, that much was certain... but why? And this was why he needed to stop by more- he was her BROTHER. Really, he should know why she was upset and be there for her. Stepping away from the door, Lance sat down, and cocked his head.
"Well. If the towels would like to come out and talk, I'm here. That sounded like a nasty bump, and I'd really like to make sure y-- the towels are okay."
He could play along with this game. At the very least, it might be a step in the right direction of cheering poor Dragonfly up.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 6:03 pm
Dragonfly mulled it over a bit; on one hand, she could stay in here and sulk, but that probably wasn't going to be useful in the long term because the longer she stewed, the more likely it was she was going to cry. "The towels... could maybe use a hug," she admitted. She quickly turned the paper upside-down- she didn't want him to see why she was in the closet, after all. It would be too embarrassing. She slowly opened the door and peeked out into the hallway to see her brother sitting there. Her mixed feelings gave way and she practically tackled him, burying her face in his chest. The burning feeling didn't go away, though. It wasn't fair! He shouldn't be so much bigger than she was- he shouldn't be able to hold her like her dad. He should be the right size to spar with! Screwing her eyes shut, she clung to him, not sure if there was anything she could say that wouldn't betray her and lead to waterworks. She was not going to cry. No way.
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Scaramouche Fandango Crew
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 6:47 pm
Seeing Dragonfly so heartbroken was like a knife to Just Lance's heart. A lot of knives, actually. While he cared deeply for all of his family, Dragonfly was special. They were knights together, devoted to the cause of serving and protecting. In reality, she'd probably still be kicking his butt if he hadn't hit his growth spurt so quickly. How many afternoons had they spent in the backyard, dueling till sundown? Even past that, if their parents hadn't come and fetched them for dinner.
When she flung herself into his arms, Just Lance held onto Dragonfly like his life depended on it. There was no way he was giving her up from this hug when she needed her big brother!
"Hey, hey! I'm here," He soothed, snuggling Dragonfly even more. "Tell me what's wrong, Drag. I'm here."
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:15 pm
How did she say it? It was hard enough for her to wrap her mind around her own feelings- yeah, he was here now but soon he wouldn't be. He'd leave after dinner or something and then- well, she wouldn't be alone but things still wouldn't be right. It wasn't right not having him here, but how did she say that? She didn't think she could. Instead, she just shook her head and nuzzled deeper into his fur. She could feel the tears welling up, big fat globs trying to escape her eyes- and this time, shutting them tightly did no good. Her body shook with a silently heaved sob, but she said nothing.
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Scaramouche Fandango Crew
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:43 pm
Oh. Oh no, she was crying. In all of their life together, Dragonfly's crying remained in the single digits. The fact that she was falling apart was twisting the damnable knife into his heart any further. Rather than push the issue, Just Lance hummed softly, holding her as comfortingly and soothingly as possible. She would talk when she was ready. And he was going to be here for her.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 2:46 am
Dragonfly rode out the storm, hating herself for being so distraught and for letting it show. She despised crying; she detested looking weak, especially in front of somebody whose opinion she cared for so much. Still, there was nothing she could do except wait for the burning lump in her throat to recede.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally whimpered words. "It's not fair," she cried, her anguish muffled by his chest. "It's not fair you got to be big and I have to be small. It's not fair you left." She bit her lip, wanting to take it back- she knew it wasn't fair to expect everybody to live under the same roof forever. But still, Lance was her favorite. Out of everybody, he was the one she related to most; the one she could understand the best and the one she knew understood her well in return. Was it too much to ask that she get to keep him?
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Scaramouche Fandango Crew
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 2:53 pm
The continuing crying made Lance progressively feel worse as time went on. Here was his poor, dear sister- heartbroken, miserable- and he hadn't a clue the whole time. For all he took pride in being a grand big brother, he'd certainly dropped the ball this time. Lance made a mental note to be more diligent- call more often, stop by twice as regularly. Practice was not going to come in the way of his family- ESPECIALLY Dragonfly- again.
"No," he soothed gently, snuggling his sister even more, "it's not fair at all. And I'm sorry I didn't see how much it upset you." He wasn't kidding when he told other phonies how much his sister meant to him. They were knights together, through and through. Upholders of justice, defenders of the weak. Pulling away from the hug, he offered his sister a weak but reassuring smile- and if there were tears in his own eyes? Well. He wasn't going to bring that up.
"But you know you can ALWAYS call me, and you're ALWAYS invited to come spend the night with me. There's nothing going on in my life that's more important than keeping in touch with family."
Lance gave a soft little laugh, and did his best to wipe at Dragonfly's eyes.
"You know, when I was little, I was so jealous you had wings AND a horn. I always thought you were going to realize you were too cool to hang out with me, and just move on. Kind of ironic, isn't it? We were both terrified of the exact same thing."
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