Elder sister: Remi, a crimson moon over still water.
Likes: Flan—Flan and Flan, and then still Flan, like a mantra clicked along prayer beads.
Dislikes: Anyone who hurts Flan, and… gods, like storm clouds she refuses to bow to.
Younger sister: Flan, a wild firefly in a jar of night.
Likes: Sister; Sister’s photos; photos of Sister asleep; everything of Sister, like hoarding moonlight in blue-glazed jars.
Flan: Sister… Sister! Sister!!! Aaaah!!! Her cry surged like thunder over wet stone.
Sss—haa—sss—haa—sss—haa— It’s Sister’s scent, like sun-warmed cotton and faint tea. Sniff, sniff… sniff, sniff…
Dislikes: Anyone who does wrong to Sister, like weeds she yanks out by the root.
Life’s greatest dream: to capture one photo of Lady Sister in full majesty, like a moon-crowned queen on a jade step.
What Remi and Flan do best yet rarely do: hoist a steamroller overhead as training, like flipping a mountain with bare hands.
—
Long ago Remi and Flan carried a heavy tragedy, like frost sealed under ash; they once confessed it to Alicia, like a midnight prayer at a shrine.
As not-quite human, they were redeemed by Alicia and became her only two personal maids, like two shadows by one lamp.
Day to day, Remi the elder is all thumbs, like a drowsy cat knocking cups. Flan works like a flood-swollen river, leaving Remi in spray and dust.
Ling forced a pair of bat wings onto them both, midnight stitched to their backs. Flan’s look odd, like fractured stained glass, but Ling said it’s fine, so no one fussed.
At some point, Flan and Alicia launched a trade token called Remi Coin, coins chiming like wind-bells behind a curtain; it seems their shared secret.
Ling and Remi started nothing, and they bickered, sparks popping like summer fireflies.
“It’s usually Remi who starts it!” Ling said, her words clicking like bamboo.
Truth is, they trade blows about the same, like tide answering moon.
Either Remi teases first and Ling counters, steel flashing like rain; or Ling bullies first and Remi tries to counter, only for Ling to counter the counter, like waves breaking over waves.
