s h o r t . s t o r y ;
story applies in anthro.
August laughed as he waved around the wooden sword playfully. He sound was uplifting, bright. Annabelle clanked her sword against his, letting out a tiny squeak of delight at the game. It was the twin's ninth birthday, and they had just received the wooden swords as gifts from Finnley and had promptly run outside to play with them. As August swung the toy back, he hit Annabelle on the shoulder a little harder than he had meant to.
Annabelle began to cry.
"Auggie hurt me!" She whined to her mother, pointing to her shoulder.
August frowned. "Did not," he retorted. "And don't call me 'Auggie'."
His sister stuck her tongue out at him before running into her mother's open arms.
Chiron stepped forward from beside Ink. "Now, now. There's no need to argue," he said calmly, his voice warm with a hint of warning. "August, be more gentle when playing with your sister. You know she hates getting hurt."
"I know," August mumbled. "Sorry, Annabelle."
Chiron nodded at his son. "Thank you for being kind, August. Now, Annabelle; next time, think about what might happen if you decide to play rough like that. If you don't want to risk being hurt, then don't do it."
Annabelle pouted slightly, but nodded. "Okay," she said. "Sorry, Auggie."
Chiron smiled in approval. "Good. Now Annabelle, if you need some ice for that shoulder, Ink will help you get the ice pack out of the freezer. I'm not sure you'll be tall enough to reach it." He gave his daughter and son each a hug before going back to chat with Chastity.
* * * * *
Annabelle reached up as high as she could on her tippy-toes, but still couldn't quite grab the ice pack. She huffed in frustration.
"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Ink asked gently.
"I'm sure."
Annabelle pulled a chair from the kitchen table over to the freezer. She carefully stood on it before reaching up to take the ice from the top shelf. She smiled proudly.
"See? I did it all by myself." She held the ice to her shoulder for a moment, but soon got bored of sitting still. Of course, her shoulder didn't ache all that much anyway. . . It wouldn't hurt to go back outside.
Annabelle, leaving the ice on the counter, ran back outside to begin her game with August again. However, her brother was no where to be found. She frowned, annoyed. However, she soon found herself distracted by a pile of mud simply writhing with earthworms. Annabelle happily sat down, bright yellow sundress becoming covered in dirt. She made mudpies for almost half an hour before Chastity finally discovered her little creations.
"Oh, uhh. . . Annabelle, those are very, um. . . nice looking mudpies." She said, not quite sure how to handle the situation.
"Thank you, Aunt Chastity! I made them for the worms, see?" Anna smiled down at her current creation.
Chastity smiled unsurely. "Hey, why don't we have your mom check this out? I'm sure she'll know exactly what to d-- I'm sorry, I mean, I'm sure she'll love them. . ."
* * * * *
August rolled his eyes as his sister entered the house to retrieve an ice pack. Such a crybaby, he thought to himself.
Yawning, he trotted into the house a few moment after his sister before entering the study. Lining the walls were far more books than even August had the patience to count. He sighed happily. This was his domain, his kingdom; a land full of words on pages and literature. He pulled a chapter book off the shelf and began flipping through it happily.
Suddenly, his skimming came to an end. A hand lay on the book's page, stopping him from flipping through. August looked up to discover Kaori standing before him.
"Oh, hello Aunt Kaori," August said politely.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kaori said, though a slight smile crossed her lips. "Look, August, you don't wanna be caught dead reading this book." She took it out of his hands and back on the shelf before replacing it with another, wordier one. "This one is far more likely to impress."
August smiled. "You think?" He opened the book. "Thanks, Kaori."
Kaori gave a slight smirk back, though August could have sworn he saw her wink. "Whatever, kid," she said, leaving the study.
With a quick glance out the window, August could see his sister getting scolded by their mother for playing in the mud in her nice dress. He chuckled a bit, though deep down he felt rather bad for his sister. He stopped laughing as quickly as he'd started. Turning away from the window, August delve deep into his book once more.