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“Can’t you do my hair, brother? Please?”
Oswald blinked, turning to see his younger sister, Lacie, pleading childishly as she tugged on his coattails. His gaze flickered past her for a mere moment and up towards the Tower, where he could spot Levi smirking from the window.
A blink. A reticent sigh. “Very well.”
Lacie seemed to be happy with his response. Her pout was quickly replaced with a gleeful expression, a smile that Oswald felt both comfort and pain when he laid eyes upon it.
He tried to ignore the knowledge that these peaceful days could not last forever.
Lacie promptly sat in the grass, kicking her feet excitedly as she waited for her brother to follow suit. She was alone for a moment as Oswald left to retrieve a comb and some hair accessories. She wondered what kind of look she wanted to do.
Deep down, she knew she was just biding her time until that inevitable day came.
Oswald soon returned with the aforementioned items, along with a small mirror, startling Lacie out of her dark train of thought.
“....Are you ready?”
A big smile came across Lacie’s face. “Mhm!! All ready!” She stretched her hand in the air as she cheered joyfully.
Oswald wasn’t quite sure what to do. He still wasn’t used to this sort of thing. It made him wonder why his master wasn’t doing this with her. Then again, the cheeky bastard probably wanted him to spend as much time with his sister as possible.
Sometimes, it was hard to tell what Levi was thinking.
“.....Brother? Are you alright?”
Oswald blinked. He must have been staring into space for a moment. He cleared his throat softly. “Mm. I’m alright.”
Lacie was content with that. “Good! Hmm… Can we do pigtails? Make them as even as possible, alright?”
Oswald nodded. “Mm.”
And with that, he got straight to work, combing the tangles and knots out of his sister’s hair as carefully as he could manage. He was trying not to pull too much, as he would have felt awful if he hurt her.
Lacie was just content to be bonding with her brother. She nearly fell asleep, comfortable with the gentle, repetitive motions of Oswald combing her hair, jolting awake each time the comb got caught on a knot. “Sorry my hair is so messy…”
“It’s fine,” is all Oswald responded with, finally combing through the last of the tangles.
He separated Lacie’s hair into two sections so that he could properly style it in the way she wanted. Setting the comb aside for now, he grabbed a rose-colored ribbon from the small container of hair accessories he had brought with him, carefully pulling one of the sections of hair through it. He wrapped it to secure it, and with that, one side was complete.
Oswald paused for a moment to check his sister’s reaction. Did she like the choice of ribbon? Did she care in the slightest? He wished to understand.
Lacie peeked in the mirror. Her smile grew wider when she noticed the ribbon, and her crimson eyes sparkled with happiness.
That was all Oswald needed. He reached into the bin for a second red ribbon, but…. There wasn’t a second one. What was he to do? Was he supposed to use a different color and hope that Lacie wouldn’t get upset? He wasn’t sure. And so, he was briefly frozen with indecision, his only movement the blinking of his eyes and the rise and fall of his chest.
Lacie noticed and frowned softly, her reflection echoing her expression. “Hey, brother? Are you sure you’re alright? You’re staring off into space again.”
Oswald was brought back to his senses by her words. He inhaled deeply before exhaling. “....I am fine. However…. There isn’t a second red ribbon.”
Lacie looked puzzled for a moment, then lips parted to laugh. “That’s all? Ha, don’t worry. Just pick something that you think will match.”
Oswald could not hide the breath of relief that escaped him. His response was not verbal as he pulled a blue ribbon from the box and finished tying Lacie’s hair. However, he was not done just yet.
Lacie watched incredulously as her brother stood, walking away from her without a word. She pouted, all sorts of bad thoughts echoing inside her head. Did he just abandon her because he finished her hair? Did Levi call him away for some errand? She felt… hurt by his sudden disappearance.
But just when she was about to go look for him herself, she spotted a silhouette moving towards where she was sitting in the grass.
It was Oswald, carrying what looked to be a small basket of roses.
Lacie instantly understood what he was planning to do. He was going to weave flowers into her hair.
Oswald returned to his spot behind Lacie, and without a word, he began to carefully tuck the stem of a red rose into her dark locks. The petals shone brightly, contrasting the ebon hue of the young woman’s hair. Soon enough, he added a second, and then a third followed after that.
He was content after that. He again watched for his sister’s reaction, and was pleased to find that Lacie soon tackled him into a hug. However, he was not expecting this, and thus he fell flat on his back, softly groaning in pain.
Lacie blinked and giggled. “Hehe… sorry. I got carried away.”
“No need to worry.”
Oswald sat up, brushing himself off. Lacie curled up beside her brother, content to lean against his shoulder as the two of them watched the sky.
The sun was setting, the tendrils of dusk curling upwards and dampening the illuminated remnants of daylight. And the two siblings witnessed the day’s end at each other’s side.
It would not be long before Oswald would be alone.