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One of their favorite activities was to visit the mortal world. However, with people just dropping dead due to The Tender Heart’s presence, or screaming at The Yearning Heart’s existence, they limited their activities to the night. Closed buildings, abandoned lives. Just seeing mortals have fun without them in whatever festival or marketplace was ongoing dampened the mood so they went to those places locked away until tomorrow.
It wasn’t like they were breaking in. It wasn’t like anyone was being hurt. If they really didn’t want anyone to go inside, they should have done better to think about an intangible ghost and a teleporting demon if they really wanted to set up their security system. It was like they were asking for them to get in and see what’s being kept away. Besides, it wasn’t like they were ever going to know due to the electricity problems, and if the cameras were somehow still working, then who would believe two supernatural beings waltzing into their stores?
“Tender, look at this,” Yearning called out.
She stopped shaking a blind box to jump towards the the soft, ethereal glow Yearning emitted. It seemed that she had already departed the ‘home’ section to see the clothing aisles.
Yearning heard her prickly presence and turned around. “See?”
It was a mannequin in a dress. Yearning floated over and pretended to be the mannequin, posing along with it. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“Uh-huh!” Tender said. “Of course it is!” Because obviously if she thought it was worth it to try on then it must be. Yearning couldn’t even change her clothes if she wanted. One of the worst things about being dead, Yearning told her, was that she would always look the same. She could never fix her hair, she could never put on makeup, she could never wear a different dress. So thinking about change made her feel the cold even stronger. At least the crown didn’t weigh so heavily on her head. Never sleep, never eat, all the more time to explore and create. Tender had always thought bodily limits were so frustrating, because if you want it you better do it! And then they die trying. Oopies.
She probably shouldn’t think that around Yearning.
“Do you see anything you like?” Yearning asked.
“Hm…” Tender floated around the racks. Not really. Most of the dresses were all too short or too small for her. She had a style, and it didn’t look right when it was obvious she had no legs. A little bit more of the mystery made others so nervous to glance down and she relished in their fear.
“Oh, what about this one?” Yearning pulled out a dark dress with spiderweb designs on it. It looked more like a costume than something practical for a mortal to wear, but Tender never cared about any of that.
“Sure, why not?” she shrugged before taking it. They found a mirror and she held it up to herself, wondering what would happen if she’d take it. Would she wear it until it got old, or keep it new and unused? What if she threw it away? Eh, it didn’t matter. It was just a dress.
She spun around, the dress flying with her. It was cute. She stared back in the mirror again, admiring herself. She could see Yearning smiling in the background.
“I look so good, don’t I?” she smirked.
Yearning laughed, “Oh, I love you.”
Static. A zap straight to the heart. Did she actually say that? Did she hear that right? Was she supposed to respond? She glanced back in the mirror to see Yearning’s carefree smile taking her in.
Did she really mean it?
Tender knew the answer. And it was no.
Because really, what else could it be? So many different options! For one, she probably just misspoke. ‘I love it!' Not ‘you.’ Not The Tender Heart. The dress. How it looked on her. How beautiful it was. Tender wasn’t going to disagree when Yearning picked it out for her.
The other possibility was that Yearning forgot who she was with. She was usually hanging out the other vessels whenever Tender wasn’t feeling like ‘herself.’ It’s dark now. The lights can’t accidentally flicker on. She might be imagining someone like The Gentle Heart when she said, ‘I love you!’
It was one of these times that Tender was glad Yearning was dead. She couldn’t feel the static creeping throughout her body. Static that Tender was causing. She could see the clothes on the rack starting to cling closer to each other. Hopefully Yearning couldn’t hear it.
But if what she said was true, if she really meant to say ‘I love you’...
Then Yearning was wrong. Because this wasn’t Tender.
If she was saying that now, it meant what she loved was the mask. She loved the overconfidence and dramatic language that the mask used. The mask made sure to always get involved. The mask knew what to do to keep others nearby, even if at a distance. The mask knew how to hide all the ugliness that stained everything she touched. The mask knew how to hide her fear.
It wasn’t like Yearning was hanging around and saying ‘I love you!’ to The Wise Heart, who broke her mask and revealed who she truly was. It wasn’t like Yearning wanted to hang out with someone like Wise at all. If Yearning really loved her, then she would be saying it to someone who showed all of herself. Someone who didn't hide behind a mask and pretended to be nicer and happier than she really was. Someone who The Yearning Heart really knew. Not someone like The Tender Heart, who was never going to change. She was still playing along. Her mask was still smiling.
It's been a few seconds too long, hasn't it? Any more and the truth would be obvious. The static would kill. So Tender turned back and said, “Aw, I love you, too!”