My ‘helpful’ sister

Sometimes you need help from your sister, other times you just need a bath

After I did that, I decided I’d had enough for today – no, the week – and just headed back to the yellow barracks and hit my bed. It’s a shame that the non-flammable beds aren’t as soft as the flammable ones, burning something might even make me feel better if I didn’t feel so tired now. Either way, any place you can curl up on with a blanket is the best place to be.

I woke up at what must have been some time later. The room was dark now apart from my tail flame and I could hear rain on the windows. I always hated how the winter makes the days get darker so much faster, outside was almost completely black now. Some big rain clouds must have come in.

Something was nudging me. Rolling over I see that Cal, our Surskit recruit, was looking up at me. Good guy – tries hard but asks way too many questions.

“Ummm… Char, are you okay? Your flame is still lit but you don’t look well…” He murmurs, head turned to the side.

I sit up and rub my sleep-crusted eyes with a claw. “Urrr…… yeah, I’m okay.”

Cal opens his mouth again, still unconvinced. “Ummmm… Char, is it true that if your flame goes out, you’ll die?” That took me by surprise. How did he learn about that? It’s quite dark for someone his age to know.

“What?” I blink, fumbling for words of reassurance. “No, no! It’s not like that. It just hurts, a lot,” I manage a weak chuckle.

“Oh… okay, so you’re not going to die?”

“…What?”

“Well, your tail flame is small.”

“It is?” I look down in my hazed state at my flame and see that it’s a lot smaller than normal, not much bigger than the tip of my tail. Maybe that’s why the room is so dark. “Oh, that’s probably because I’ve been sleeping. Or I’m still tired. One of the two. It’s not been a great day for me,” I sigh, pinching my brow.

Cal brightens up a bit. “Oh… Well, the dinner bell just rang and I saw you and I just didn’t know if that was true, so I thought I could just ask you.” He rambled on.

I raise an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you just ask Em?”

The surskit shuffles his feet… Uh, stems? Whatever, and looks down. “Well… you’re the one who knows everything that needs to be done when we go out…!”

“Right.” I just stared down at him for a few seconds. I did know more than them, but there was still a lot of stupid mistakes I would make that other teams wouldn’t. “Thanks for waking me for food.”

I walk down with Cal to the canteen, but yet again, I am stopped from enjoying my day.

“What did I tell you, bruv?” Liz was now blocking me from entering the door to the canteen. “I thought I told you that if you smelled, you were going for a bath. Did I not?” Liz pinched her nose with her claws for added drama, fake retching. “And what is that on your arm? Do I have to force ya to wash or something?”

Looking at my arm I realised it was still covered in dry milk. I’m surprised Cal didn’t bring it up. “Would you believe me if I told you it was milk?” Some strange milk concoction granted, but I can wash it off later. Before I could prove my point, however, Liz grabbed my clean arm and started to pull me.

“You’re coming with me!” Liz announced; a statement that brooked no argument.

“Come on Liz, you don’t have to do this now!” I tried pulling back but no luck, she too was strong to have any effect.

“Nope, it’s happening now,” She said back.

“NOOooooo! My food!” I wailed as she dragged me along. Liz then twisted my arm before she pulled me into a head lock.

“Your food can wait! I am not having you smell bad, yeah? No way. You can stuff yer fat ass after,” she snarked through a smirk.

“Liz you can’t do this to me!” I could struggle as much as I want – I was not getting free. Liz was just so much stronger than me.

Liz rolled her eyes. “If ya keep struggling I’ll throw you out in the rain and not let you back in, ya hear?”

“Don’t be too long Char. Everyone else is going to get here soon!” Cal’s voice called out, waving at me as my sister dragged me away. He makes it sound like I chose for this to happen.

After being dragged to the washroom, Liz started to fill a tub with water

“Can’t I just wash my arm?” I frowned, watching the water pour.

Liz put her claws on her hips. “When was the last time ya washed all of your body, huh? A month? Two? Ya know that once yer do get on a team, you’ll have to clean more. Locals will respect you better if ya smell good.” She nodded in affirmation to herself, not a speck of dirt on her. “And a lot of tough dungeons have a lot of muck and grime that get stuck to ya. Now, get in, you git,” She growled, pointing to the tub, just waiting there – staring.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot. “Come on, Liz… Can’t I just wash it off without getting in?”

“I’ll put yer in tail first if you don’t,” she threatened, grinning menacingly.

“Uuuuuuuggggggggggggggghhhhh,” I groaned, looking into the tub. She only filled it about a third full. Taking a deep breath, I grab my tail, closed my eyes and climbed in.

“You know you’re meant to lie down for a bath, right?” At least she was being sarcastic instead of annoyed. Finally I open my eyes and sit down, still holding my tail as high as I could.

“There, happy?” I grumbled, the cold water prickling my scales. I tried my best not to wince.

Liz sighed. “You can put your tail down now, that ain’t gonna go in.”

Finally giving in, I put my tail over the edge and lie back. “You could have at least warmed the water first.”

“Use your own fire, ya lazy bastard,” she retorted, her attention now shifting to her claws.

Starting a small fire beneath the bath, I’m finally able to start to relax. But it’s still difficult to do when you’re stuck in a box filled with the one thing you hate. Doing your best to enjoy this isn’t as easy as it used to be… Especially when your sister starts to pour water onto your head.

“Hey! Warn me when you’re going to do that okay?!” I garble through the water. I may have started to close my eyes, but it still stung.

“Oh come on bruv, I saw Brad do it to ya earlier,” Liz replied nonchalantly, evidently not caring about my discomfort.

I side-eyed her. “You saw that?” I was hoping to keep knowledge of that to a minimum.

“Yep, now hold still,” she mumbled as she started to rub my head with a cloth before moving to face and my clean arm. I tried to move away but she kept grabbing my head and pulling it back.

“Stop fussing! Why are ya so hard to keep clean? I swear yer used to get messy when you were younger just to spite me.” It wasn’t like I needed to keep clean all the time.

“I never understood why you did insist on washing me like that all the time. You don’t do it with Em,” I responded.

Liz clicked her tongue in annoyance. “That’s ’cause she knows how to look after herself. Unlike you. Are you going to be this bad when ya get on your own team?” She scolded. She did have a point – Em was the oldest of the yellows. Good responsibility must just skip a child.

“I’m surprised you still think I’ll be able to get out of yellow,” I said, half under my breath.

Liz stopped washing me and looked me in the eyes, scowling. “Don’t yaever say things like that. Ya are getting in a team, even if I’ve gotta take down the whole guild to do so,” she growled. She was getting angry again, which could only mean she meant it. Big sis Liz is still always there to pull me up when I can’t do it myself it seems.

I blow some bubbles off my nose. “Starting to sound like you care about me.”

“I’ve always care bout ya, dummy! You’re my only little brother. My only bro. Can’t let anything stop ya,” she said, her voice wavering a bit.

Even though she was being genuine, I couldn’t help but rib her back. “Aw, that’s so sweet. Looking out for your little bro,” I chuckled.

She smiled back at me. “Well, I’ve also done a better job at teaching Em. She listens and does what she’s told… Unlike this ungrateful git I get as a brother. Now, get out – you’re done.”

“Not going to scrub between my toes? Come on you’ve got to do the full service.” I wiggled my toes at her. Liz just stared at me with disgusted face.

“You think you’re funny, huh?” She then proceeded to shove my tail into the water. I yelped. “Well now. That got ya out didn’t it?” Liz snickered.

“AAAAAAAA! Why did you do that?!” I yipped, instinctively pulling my tail back out and holding it above the water.

“Ya may be my bro. but you still got to respect the strongest, she gloated, flexing her arms and walking out of the washroom.

I stood there for a minute dripping before finally getting out of the bath. I’ve had enough of this day.