Pop Culture Art

Sticking Together

Cherry's surprise upon entering the room is strangely mediocre. Her adopted brother is curled up in her sister's arms, mumbling under his breath. He looks half asleep and tiny too- only it's not just because he's smaller than her. His blue-and-white-striped, paint-stained t-shirt looks ruffled and his yellow eyes have an odd shine to them. His tanned skin looks damp, as if he's been crying.

Blossom looks up at her. Her sister is just as pale as herself, with light pink hair that goes down past her shoulders, parts of it put up into two buns on either side of her head. Her eyes are a light creamy colour and glow with a kindness that's always shining within them. She wears dresses and likes peaceful things; like tea parties and violin music. She's nice to others and slow to anger. Cherry and her can't have been more different, or more close.

Their parents had died when Cherry was eight. The two sisters had stayed with their aunt and uncle until Blossom was old enough to care for Cherry by herself. Even then, they remained with their relatives until Blossom found a stable job. After that they moved out to a different building closer to Blossom's work. They found a school, some furniture and a good supermarket. Then they plowed through the years together, just the two of them.

Until along comes Rico, the rambunctious thirteen-year-old orphan boy with a bad reputation.

She'd hated it at first. Adruptly she was competing with someone else for attention. Blossom had remained occupied with him, keeping him out of trouble and helping him adjust. It'd made Cherry jealous, so when the boy had started misbehaving she'd started secretly hoping; maybe he would get into big enough trouble that he'd get sent away? Only that never happened, which just frustrated her all the more.

Looking at him now, though, she felt mildly sympathetic (and a bit silly). Whatever had happened wasn't what he'd been expecting from the looks of things. She comes around and sits on the other side of Blossom.

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Rico stops rambling as Cherry sits down beside Blossom, blinking up at her out of watery eyes. She glances down at him and his eyes widen slightly as he realises there was nothing... angry... in her gaze. None of the usual frustration or arrogance she holds herself with. She leans against Blossom, who wraps an arm around her while pulling Rico tighter into the hug. He considers saying something, but doesn't for the sake of the calm... and he can't think of anything to say. So instead he curls up into a tighter ball and leans into his adoptive sisters' warmth.

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"This doesn't mean I won't tease you about it later..." Cherry whispers into his ear, as both their heads are in Blossom's lap, and he nods absentmindedly. The trio were watching an action movie on the couch in the living room, but nothing interesting was happening at the moment- except that the characters were in a museum and Rico was trying to pick out all the pieces of art. Cherry raises a hand and tugs on his hair, which makes him glance over in mild irritation. "What?" he mutters, agitation edging his words, "I'm watching a movie." Cherry has to stifle a laugh at that so as to not wake their sister, who fell asleep a little before the halfway point. "We both know you're not actually watching it. This is far too boring!" she responds, gesturing at the TV. He frowns. "Okay yeah but-"

Cherry interrupts him by placing a hand over his mouth, while putting a finger to her lips with a smirk. "You don't talk during a movie," she says in a bossy voice as her brother scowls, "shorty." And that...

Is exactly how it should be.