The sun had barely started to rise, painting everything in the siblings’ room a slightly golden hue. Later on, this lovely morning sun would inspire the color in one of the Kecleon pair, but that day had not yet come. She was still green, her sister purple.

There was some sort of commotion going on downstairs, stirring the green one from her sleep. She stared at the wall blankly, still dreaming of running around on the beach. Increasingly lately, she hadn’t gotten much of a chance to play with her sister after work. It had been very frustrating, and was a little disconcerting at the same time. She couldn’t quite put the feeling into words-- the limited playtime was starting to signal their transition into being young adults, though she wouldn’t have been able to connect that until years later. They weren’t quite there yet, but, like the sun, adulthood was rising up from the horizon quickly and threatening to engulf the sisters both before either could take notice.

The other sibling, still asleep, had kicked out in her sleep, getting the green one right at the base of the tail.

“Eeyyah! Watch it!” she hissed, despite the sound slumber of her assailant.

The other one stretched out, then sleepily asked: “Huh? What time is it?”

“I dunno. Probably time to get up from the looks of it. Let’s go make breakfast for mom and dad.”

“Hey... Heeey... Anana,” the purple one said, rolling over in their tiny, shared bed, partially ending up on top of her sister, “this morning I want some eggs and some juice and some... I dunno, we got anything good?”

“Eh, I don’t know. Mom hasn’t grabbed stuff from the warehouse yet, I don’t think, so we might not have a lot until later today. I know at least we have a few eggs, and I know dad will want some of those, so that’s really all that’s important.” Anana rolled too, but her destination was straight off the bed. She landed on her feet and started toward the door. She turned back when she noticed there was not, in fact, an additional set of steps to be heard.

“Kecky! Come on! I’m not dragging you out of bed, you’re too heavy to do that to anymore!”

This apparently offended slightly. “No, you’re just weak! I can drag you around just fine!”

“Yeah, well, you spend all day playing dumb games! Of course you’d be better at that stuff! Whatever...” Anana trailed off. She didn’t want to get caught up in a petty fight, not on her day off from helping her parents out. If at all possible, she planned to enjoy it playing games with her sister. “I can probably find you some juice, if you cook while I go look. But I’m not going to do it if you just sit in bed! No rewards for lazybutts.”

Anana thought her words reached out enough, but then a pillow mysteriously worked itself on top of her sister’s head and the grave error was revealed in assuming anything would easily touch the girl. Except... “Look, I’ll go grab your favorite juice from the store really quick. Really quick! But you need to do your part too! Come on. Out of bed. A Payapa for a Payapa!”

This was the magic set of words (or, rather, the thinly veiled bribery) that Miss Payapa had been waiting for, unlocking her capability to both sit up in bed and cooperate with Anana. “Really? So just cook the eggs? I can do that.”

=======

Part 6 of "Complementaries"
Prev:
Next: