She had no reason for it, but the next feeling Nefera had towards her sister was anger. She got up from her bed and pulled her sister on the right arm after she yelled for the servants. Nefera kept grabbing Cleo's arm as she pulled her away from the door, not caring if it caused pain or not. "Stop yelling! You are hurting mine and Azura's ears!" Yes, Nefera had just yelled at her sister as well, but that was, of course, allowed.
Cleo gasped in pain as Nefera tugged at her wounded arm. How had her sister even gotten up to stop her so fast? And why?
"You said to leave you alone Nefera, so let go."
"But I didn't tell you to scream like that, you little child!" Nefera yelled, letting go of Cleo's arm. It seemed like Nefera was always, really ALWAYS, searching for fights!
Ugh, the crown princess was still so bored! She hadn't heard any compliments in several hours! It was a wonder that she was even alive after so many hours without approval.
Nefera grabbed Cleo's right arm again, knowing she could control her like that. "Tell me I'm beautiful!"
Cleo winced. "Okay, you're beautiful. You're ex-screamly beautiful, radiant even; just let go."
"Yes, I know! I am your boss, queen and ruler and that's why you better stop giving me orders!" Nefera yelled. "I won't let go, because you deserve all of this pain!" She stopped yelling. "Now tell me that I'm flawless."
Cleo struggled against her sister's grip, trying to get away even as she continued to answer, "Completely flawless, absolute walking perfection." Nefera laughed as she let go of her sister's arm. That was exactly what she wanted to hear! Cleo was a much better compliment-giver than the servants, who were also too stupid to prepare their queen appropriate food! She should spend more time with her baby sister and start another compliment round soon. Complimenting Nefera, a born goddess, was something only idiots couldn't enjoy!
Cleo made her escape the instant Nefera released her arm, rubbing her tender shoulder all the way back to her room. At least she had all of her new clothes and shoes back; she would have to cheer herself up for the day by having the servants present each item to her as a reminder of what it was she actually bought before she had them put away. Perhaps she might even wear some of it tomorrow.
It was getting late, and the princess was tired from all of the days failed plans. Some sleep would do her a world of good. She had barely been alone in her room for 5 minutes, however, when she heard the door open again. It was Nefera. This was her chance to inform her sister about her problems, or get the hug she actually really needed, but that was not what she had come in for.
The older princess grabbed the clothes she had just given Cleo to take them away again. She acted like it was totally understandable, saying "I want my clothes back now." Of course, Cleo didn't really have a proof for Nefera's 'disorder' now that the record was deleted, but did Nefera seriously just come to take all of her sisters clothes away again?
Sure she did! Cleo didn't deserve them.
Cleo scoffed at her sister "They're my clothes Nefera, you said they didn't even fit you."
Nefera's voice sounded cold and emotionless. "No, they're not! And it doesn't matter if they fit me or not. I'd rather burn these clothes than give them to you."
Half of the clothes were already in Nefera's hands when she turned to the door to leave the room. She didn't know where exactly it came from, but she suddenly felt horribly angry at her sister. This made her put Cleo down another time. "You are too fat to wear these clothes. Look at you - You would rip them. ALL of them."
The words that came out of Cleo's mouth were loud and shrill from anger. "I would not Nefera! I bought them all in my size. AND I'M NOT FAT, YOU'RE JUST TOO SKINNY BECAUSE YOU STARVE YOURSELF!"
Nefera gasped. She threw the clothes on the floor just to walk back to the spot Cleo was standing to hit her head. "I'm not! Shut up, Daddy might hear you!"
She hit her sister's shoulder. "Argh, what am I saying?! It wouldn't matter anyway, because he doesn't believe you! Because you are adopted and unloved! Everybody hates you! ARGH!"
Cleo held her damaged shoulder. "Okay, you've made your point. Are you ready to leave now, your highness? Because I would really like to get changed into my bedclothes. Ideally without you criticizing me for being 'too wide'."
Nefera laughed. "You aren't wide, you are fat." She pet her sister's head while presenting her a big smirk. "Come on, show me what you've got!"
Why should Cleo change her clothes in front of her sister? Because that was a great way for Nefera to feel good about her OWN body, that's why! …Or bad. It depended on Cleo, really.
Cleo stared at her sister in disbelief. "You're honestly going to stand there, and watch me get changed?" She stood from the bed slowly and rolled her eyes "I'm not going to get any privacy, am I?"
Nefera laughed again. "You're a little child. Look at you, you have nothing to hide!"
She turned to Cleo's desk, seeing a pair of golden earrings, laying there innocently. Nefera took a look at them. The earrings were quite beautiful actually! Nefera would 'borrow' them later, she was sure about it. "Privacy, she wants privacy," Nefera mumbled laughing while touching Cleo's earrings.
Cleo beckoned several servants over to her to help with her one-armed unwrapping, all the while glaring over at her sister, half keeping her in check to make sure that none of her jewelry went 'missing', and half daring Nefera to say anything regarding her weight. It was true, Cleo wasn't as thin as her sister, but she would hardly consider herself 'fat'. She may not have had the utterly warped idea of 'bodily perfection' that her sister did, but she could still never allow herself to become overweight - especially with being the captain of the fearleading squad… or, ex-captain.
Nefera watched her sister with a stern glare. It was true, Cleo wasn't fat. She was skinny. Healthily skinny. When Cleo and the servants were done changing, Nefera was about to, of course, tell Cleo her opinion on her body. The crown princess wasn't a person who found honesty very important, though.
"You are fat," Nefera said emotionless while grabbing Cleo's golden necklace on the desk, thinking of how amazing it would look on her own neck.
"Well that's easy for you to say, Nefera, you're skinny enough to make a skeleton feel 'big boned'."
Nefera laughed at both Cleo's 'compliment'. Finally a sentence she liked to hear! "Yes, I know, I'm beautiful!"
The younger sibling placed her left hand on her now clothed hip, willing her sister to disappear with her silent glare. Preferably without any of her jewellery disappearing along with her. "I have to say though, what you told Daddy about people needing to be 'thicker' was at least partly true. Stick thin models may still be on-trend, but everywhere else has moved on far enough for the mansters to prefer a ghoul whose legs actually look like they can support her weight."
Nefera grabbed both the earrings and necklace from the desk as she made a few steps to her sister to pet her head again - She knew her little sister didn't like that! "You stupid little thing!" She messed up her sister's hair. "That was just an excuse my totally masterful mind made up!" She made a little pause before adding another sentence with laughter. "And Father even believed it! Ha! I'm a natural talent in… in simply everything!"
She turned to the mirror, feeling skinnier and more beautiful than ever before. "Who cares what some stupid guys like? As if I would want to lose my perfect model figure for…for a guy! Pah!" Said, of course, the ghoul who had never been intimate with ANYONE in her unlife before. Nefera, typically.
"Our father is a man too, and he likes skinny women!" She turned back to her sister, putting on a face ready for a fight. "You should maybe lose some weight, fatty, so that Daddy doesn't stop loving you."
"Would it absolutely kill you to not try and make me change who I am, just for one day?"
Cleo was so over living her life the way her family told her to. She had already spent two years at high school trying to be the second Nefera, and honestly all she had accomplished by doing that was to almost lose all of her friends. Even the imaginary Nefera she sometimes thought of in tough situations gave bad advice.
Nefera crossed her arms, but kept the necklace and earrings in her hand. "Is that what I get from trying to help you?!"
She walked towards the door. "I wanted you to become a better person. But it's fine if you don't want that. You will never be better than an ordinary commoner anyway!"
"I don't need your help, Nefera!" Cleo stomped her foot "And I don't need you stealing all of my nicest jewellery, either. Give those back!"
"I won't give them back!" Nefera yelled, leaving Cleo's room in anger.
The crown princess marched into her own room and locked the door, so her sister couldn't get in.
Nefera still remembered the old times when she entered her little sister's room, when she was just a toddler, with one of Cleo's loved and missed dolls in her hand. She then ripped its head off. In front of Cleo's eyes, of course! Without Baby Cleo's tears it wouldn't have been as funny as it actually was!
Ah, yes, Nefera did that often! Mostly when she was bored or frustrated… Which she often was.
"You won't get your jewellery back!" Nefera said loudly, standing right at the locked door, hoping for her sister to stand there as well. "Ah, fine. If you really want it that much, maybe you will get it back later… Broken, though!" An evil laugh escaped her lips. But Nefera was talking to no one. Her little sister had stayed in her own room, slamming the door closed out of frustration as the elder de Nile daughter left. Cleo wouldn't give her sister the satisfaction of yet another yelling match this evening.
She sat in bed, her shoulders tense from agitation, and so demanded a gentle massage from one of the servants before she finally had them shut out the light (leaving her nightlight glowing softly on the side table, of course) and leave her to drift off to sleep.
