A Conversation Between Sisters (Gina)

Gina didn't know how to handle break-ups. It was as simple as that.

She'd never been in a relationship, even at the ripe old age of fifteen years old-- it didn't help that she had three foster brothers, either. Yeah, those kind of put a damper on dating life, even on the opposite end of the United States. Each of them always insisted on giving potential boys the third-degree, making sure that said boy was worthy of their sister's affection, wouldn't do her wrong, and the likes. Perhaps it was for the better-- that having a trio of overprotective brothers meant keeping away unnecessary turmoil. But, come on! She was a teenage girl, even if she was a mutant girl, wasn't she entitled to having at least a smidgen of fun?

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Rhythm had stopped coming around, Agnes had been mopey for a good week, but Gina's sister had been holding it all in rather well, much in the fashion that was typical of Agnes to do. Gina had of course kept an eye on her, but didn't approach Agnes on the subject. Perhaps she'd work through it on her own, if this was what Gina believed it to be. She had tentatively followed her sister to the roof-- of course she wouldn't go to the room, she wanted to get away, some alone time, but Gina was incapable of leaving people be.

So, she followed-- hung back, quietly trailed her until Agnes went up the only stairwell that led to the roof. Giving Agnes as much distance as Gina was capable of giving someone, Gina took the opportunity to go to the dormitory and retrieve some mandatory goods, tucking them into a bag. Then, having retrieved some sweet necessities, Gina steeled her nerves and began the trek upstairs. She didn't know what would ensue-- tears, anger, or other such things that came with hormones rampant-- because, even if Agnes hadn't told Gina what was really up, whatever it was, she was really beating herself up about it.

She reached the doorway that opened up onto the rooftop. Many late, Friday night flights had left her with the capacity to open the door silently, and Gina did so more out of habit than much else, poking her head out the door to survey her surroundings. Agnes was still up there, peering at something in her hand. Her back was to Gina, so she couldn't tell what it was. Gina's older sister sniffled back some tears, and the sound of tearing met Ginas' ears.

Even Gina winced a little. Whatever it was, it must have been tabboo, now. She watched as Agnes ritualistically tore the paper into thin shreds, before setting them free upon a breeze. Poetic, Gina thought, a faint sigh escaping her lips as she inclined her head. Gina wasn't dressed for the weather, which was cool yet not cold. She wore short jean shorts, stylistically worn and torn, and a loose, comfortable t-shirt that was covered in an artsy, bohemian print. She also toted a bag, which wielded Gina's secret weapon.

"Ouch," Gina said simply, gaze trailing after the torn paper as she finally announced her presence. She slipped out of her hiding place in the doorway, tilting her head at Agnes inquiringly. She smiled in mild concern, and her voice bore a note that paralleled her expression, "Agnes, what are you doing up on the roof? It's not safe up here." Agnes could slip, fall, and break something. Gina took the maternal approach, sticking her thumbs in her pockets. They both knew that she wasn't up there to chastise Agnes about being on the roof.

Agnes's shoulders tightened when Gina spoke, and for a moment, there was a pang of guilt. Maybe she shouldn't have come up here, but-- she couldn't just leave her up here to wallow in sorrow. Agnes moved, mopped beneath her eyes with her sleeves, dipping her head low. Yup, she was crying. Agnes turned to face Gina, still pink in the eyes from crying...

And then she lost it-- enter Gina, stage right. Agnes was a wreck-- she held herself shakily, a bony hand hiding her face as she cried. Gina took the opportunity to draw closer, her chest tightening sympathetically. Had Gina not drawn closer, Agnes's voice would have been caught in the breeze, but as it was, Gina was closer now, so she could hear Agnes just fine.

>> “I…I b-broke…up with her. S-She’s gone…and it’s my fault…”

Gina frowned, pausing just in front of her sister, her thumbs still pocketted.

"You broke up with Rhythm?" she attempted to clarify, her brow stitching. Gina had never grown accustomed to her. Sure, she was polite-- pleasant, even-- but Rhythm was simply a taste that she'd never acquired. However, Gina didn't once voice her opinions of her, didn't open her mouth even once, because Rhythm had made Agnes happy. At least, that's what Gina thought. And, in Gina's mind, her sister's happiness was worth Gina's own, mild discomfort over the relationship.

"She didn't hurt you, did she?" Gina tried in a low tone, her voice tightening protectively. This was Gina's primary concern-- she hoped that the break-up wasn't messy, of course, and hoped that, either before it or amidst it, Rhythm hadn't done anything to hurt her. That was the last thing Agnes needed right now. It might have been her uneasiness about Rhythm that might have caused Gina to ask this, or it could have just been typical concern.

Gina held back the hug, for a moment. She'd already intruded on Agnes's reverie, so she might not have wanted to be hugged at the moment. It was hard not to hug her, but Gina didn't want to suffocate her-- she couldn't keep her distance, but she'd try not hugging her until Agnes initiated it.

Agnes had the bloodshot eyes of someone who'd been crying for a while, her eyes only welling-up more when Gina had said the Name. Man, this was worse than she thought.

>> “N-No, I just…I just figured some things out. Saw…some things…that maybe I shouldn’t have seen... So…I broke up with her... I broke her heart…and I broke mine at the same time…”

A touch of sympathy tinged Gina's gut, but this was overridden by her constantly-burning sisterly protectiveness. As implied before, she hadn't ever been to keen on Rhythm, alway wary of her, didn't think very highly of her. But... everything that Agnes was saying... it souunded like what she'd done had been neccesary. "Figured some things out?" and "Seeing thing that she shouldn't have seen?" Yeah. That sounded sketchy-- like Rhythm had done something she shouldn't have, which had made Agnes break up with her-- which made Gina feel all the more protective.

Not as though Gina thought that she could take the other girl in a fight, though-- after all, Rhythm stood well over her in height, and she was pretty ripped. But Gina could give her a good verbal lashing that'd make her wish she'd never messed with Agnes. Gina rubbed her neck, as if to quell the protective instincts that surged within her. She was getting too worked up over what she'd hoped was nothing-- over what Agnes was playing off as being nothing, even though she was an absolute mess over the break-up.

"I'm sorry, Agnes," Gina said simply, giving her own heavy sigh. She was at a bit of a loss for words. Now wasn't obviously the best opportunity to voice distastes, yet she couldn't bring herself to treat the loss of Rhythm as some great loss. Yet again, she was compelled-- by her own nature-- to be some degree of sympathetic, in her sisters' difficult times, because no matter what, break-ups weren't an easy thing.

"I'm really sorry that it had to work out like that," Gina reiterated faintly. She'd never been there or done that, so to say that she knew what Agnes was going through would be a lie. The closest she'd ever come to this was when her next-eldest foster brother broke up with one of his many girlfriends in the past. But, she'd never had that sort of emotional involvement with someone. Thus, dealing with such a touchy subject was unfamiliar and uncomfortable for her, which probably showed in her lack of things to say.

What could she say? Remember the good times, forget the bad, and move on with life? Ideally, that was the message she wanted to get across, but to say that almost seemed heartless. Press on to get more details? Yet another, insensetive gesture, seeing as Agnes had a fondness of bottling these things in, however unhealthy it might have been

"Just don't-- don't bottle all of this in," Gina pleaded, seeming to skip to an entirely different subject, "You've got enough bothering you as it is without beating yourself up about this, too, Agnes." Break-up, psychotic parents finally being arrested, and all the other crap she'd been facing in of late-- it was more than any one teenager deserved to have to deal with in their young lives. Gina didn't need to list exactly what she'd meant by what had been bothering her sister. Agnes probably knew what she meant.

Gina quirked a subdued smile. It was easier said than done, but that was Gina's one request. Don't keep it in, don't beat yourself up about it.

>> "It's... okay... it wasn't your fault."

Gina quirked a faint smile, laughed softly in spite of herself.

"I'm just sympathising," Gina answered matter-of-factly. But of course, it wasn't her fault-- Gina was just trying to express her condolences for, as short as the relationship had been, Agnes had liked Rhythm. A lot. And boy, when Agnes fell, she sure fell hard. She drew closer as Agnes began to speak, for her voice was so quiet, the wind picked it up with ease, thus making her very difficult to hear. She gave Agnes her respect, let her speak--

>> “I…I know. But…I…I really liked her. And then…then that stupid ViewTube video came up--"

ViewTube video? Gina hadn't seen this video of which Agnes was speaking, and for face scrunched in confusion. She figured since Agnes had shown Rhythm the scars and told her the nitty-gritty of her life story, Agnes had probably told Rhythm about her mutation. Thus, it probably wasn't "the ViewTube video" that Gina had in mind. But, if it was-- ooh, that was going to make the little gargoyle seeth. Then again, Rhythm had been antsy when she'd first met Gina, back in December, thus the little gargoyle held low expectations.

Yet, before Gina could jump to conclusions, Agnes clarified.

>> "--T-There’s a video...s-some news station aired. C-Couple days…before she came to s-see me…she was…she was kissing someone else. S-Some wanted criminal. They busted into a police station together! T-They killed people…Gina. A-And…she never told me…”

That was bad news. As Agnes spoke, the politely subdued look on her face shifted into a furrowed brow and pursed lips, as if Gina was suddenly scheming Rhythm's demise. And Agnes was once again sobbing full-force. Gina didn't have any time to be indignant, though she was righteously bothered by this revelation that her sister had made. Kissing someone else, who happened to be a criminal, busting into a police station, and killing people? Not exactly something you kept from your signifivant other. Or perhaps Rhythm hadn't intended on getting this committed, Gina thought scathingly? She didn't have time to dwell on her protective discomfort, though. No, now that she was in such proximity to her sister, resisting the temptation to hug her was crippling at an alarming rate. Agnes knew how Gina was-- all hugs and incapable of not touching people no matter how hard she tried.

Thus began Gina's hugging. Gina twined her short, chubby arms around Agnes's shoulders (well, neck, really), standing up on her tippy-toes so as not drag the slightly-taller girl down to her height level. She'd resisted the urge for as long as she could, but couldn't contain it any longer. She just needed to hug Agnes, and hoped that Agnes needed the hug as much as Gina needed to hug her. Gina patted her sister's hair, and tilted her head so that she could whisper something to Agnes.

"Want me to call the cops on her?" she inquired, a smile tilting on her tone. That was Gina's attempt at humor, though it's chance of success was, at best, a 50-50. She wanted to say something profound, like something you'd hear from a relationship counselor or a self-help, relationship fix-it book. Something like, "Well, communication is the key step to a healthy relationship," but that just didn't seem apt. The last thing Gina felt like doing was lecturing her older sister about relationships, particularly when Gina herself hadn't been in one.

Agnes tensed at the hug, but only for a moment. Mentally, she wanted to fight it, and for a moment, she physically resisted it, but let's face it, who could resist Gina's hugs? Finally, she returned the hug, and the waterworks began again. It wasn't that Gina could see it, but Agnes was sniffling in her ear and the tears were soaking the shoulder of her shirt. At Gina's proposal Agnes quirked her head. Even if it didn't earn a laugh, at least it caused Agnes to pause. Gina would gladly do it, but whether or not the cops would actually take her seriously was another matter altogether.

Then, there it was, a faint and hesitant laugh. Gina released her sister, smiling contemplatively. Good she had caught on.

>> “N-No…Gina. Thank you, hehehe."

She touched Gina's face, and Gina smiled as Agnes gently touched her face. Gina smirked. Agnes knew that she would, all that her sister needed to do was to give her the go-ahead. She was willing to be quite the Hell-raiser, given the proper motivation.

>> "I’ll be okay. I’ll just…I’ll just let her go. But at least I still got you."

And then there was Agnes's customary peck on the forehead. Gina glowed at the affection, and took a step back as Agnes released her. It would take a little more work than that, but her attitude was a step in the right direction.

"Thanks Agnes," Gina smiled. She was truly flattered by the "At-least-I-still-got-you" line. Now that things, for the moment, had calmed down a bit, Gina dropped her shoulder so that the strap of her bag slipped to her hands. Gina lifted up the bag buy its strap, holding it as if presenting a boon, and she let her gaze cut implicatively to the bag before letting her eyes wander back to her sister.

"I came prepared," she explained simply, taking the bag with both hands and unzipping it. She tilted it towards Agnes, so that she could see the contents within, the compact, failiar shapes of plastic-wrapped, miniature chocolates within.

Candy was something that Gina tore through as an avid writer would tear through their supply of binder paper. Thus, said candies were not stale or by any means outdated. What could she say, she liked sweets? Agnes obviously approved, for suddenly she had wrapped Gina in a hug. Gina didn't even have time to reciprocate it, for she was still holdling the bag of candies. All she could do was be muffled in the skinniness that was Agnes.

>> “You…really are the best-- ugh, god, I hate crying…Come on, I can use some chocolate milk to go with that candy…"

Gina mumbled another "Thank you," into Agnes's shoulder, taking this opportunity to relish being on the recieving end of a hug (for once). And looked at her sister as she released her, studying her face. For the moment, she wasn't crying, but she still had the red-rimmed, worn-out look in her eyes from someone who'd cried long and hard. Agnes was going to crash so hard when she went to bed tonight.

"I hate it, too," Gina agreed, bobbing her head, "It gives me headaches-- monstrous ones." Gina hated crying, but even more, she hated whatever it was that lead up to the crying. Because, let's face it, she was a really happy person, which meant that, for something to truly bother her enough to send her into tears, it had to be pretty intense-- as in, "rip-your-heart-out-and-do-a-step-dance-on-it" intense. Like... getting chased by those guys at the mall, or defending Agnes from her parents, to name a few examples. Those sorts of things made Gina's heart heavy simply thinking about it, and she rubbed her chest absently, as if to chase away the bad feelings.

"Chocolate milk sounds spectacular," Gina agreed, throwing up a hand with a dramatic flourish as Agnes's hand settled on her shoulder and gave it faint squeeze. Gina moved to Agnes's side and tucker her arm around hers, so that they could saunter to the stairwell together, and she leaned her head against her shoulder. God, they were going to have so much chocolate in their system, it'd be a miracle if anyone would be able to tether them down (or, if they didn't get sick).

With her free hand, Gina replaced the bag on her shoulder and shut it while they were in-transit, it could wait until the kitchen, or wherever it was that Agnes had stashed the fixings for the chocolate milk. The two of them crossed the roof in silence, venturing back towards the door. For Gina, it was a comfortable silence, and allowed her some time to figure out whether or not she wanted to shift conversational gears, and how.

The two of them sauntered down the familiar halls of the Mansion, with the all-too-common hum of student life buzzing about them, no one paying them anymore attention than usual. Funny, how so much drama could unfold in one's life, and yet life still went on around you. They reached the kitchen in no time, Gina shuffling over to the counter and hopping up backwards, so as to sit on it, as Agnes wandered absently to the fridge. Gina watched as her sister distractedly retrieved the fixings of chocolate milk. She was glad to find that it was conveniently devoid of people, which meant that they could converse freely.

Gina also made preparations, but they were less-intensive than Agnes's-- she slid the bag off of her shoulder, opened it back up, and set it down on the counter beside her. Candy, prepared. Gina watched as Agnes poored milk into a glass, and tainted it with chocolate syrup.

>> “My head hurts."

"It's going to," Gina answered simply, fishing into her bag and plucking out a random chocolate. Ah, Snickers-- a good random pick. She fussed with the wrapper and eventually freed the chocolate from its confines, "It always does after a good, long cry." Gina balled the wrapper up and, rather than get up and retrieve the garbage can, tucked it into the satchel once more. She then popped the chocolate into her mouth, and began munching away pensively.

>> "I-I’m sorry Gina. I don’t mean to look so…destroyed over this. I should know better."

Gina inclined her head and arched an eyebrow, but was momentarily silenced by the candy that she was consuming. She couldn't speak intelligibly with the chocolate wedged in her mouth, so she chewed, swallowed, and sighed.

"You think so?" Gina countered, intently focusing her gaze upon her sister. Gina was no old pro at relationships, but to think that Agnes expected to be over Rhythm just like that seemed a bit absurd. Even if Rhythm wasn't her first love, which she was, to be over someone so quickly seemed... shallow. Gina fished out a different kind of chocolate, speculated over it for a moment.

"I wouldn't expect you to get over that quickly," Gina admitted, shaking the candy in Agnes's direction, "I mean, I know you liked her. A lot. And, for all extensive purposes, it's kind of like mourning a loss. I think--" Gina gave a one-shouldered shrug, the "I think" was a more of a disclaimer that she didn't really know, but it was simply she'd simply surmised from watching other people being in relationships and then ending them, "I'd be worried if you weren't so 'destroyed' over this, at least for a little while." But, then again, she'd be worried if Agnes wouldn't let this go over the course of a month or two. Even if Rhythm was her first love.