Here's a surprise. Just a little something I penned out in an afternoon.

Notes at the bottom.

For the third time in the past hour, Junior took a hard right hook to his left cheek. The little bag of bones, now contained in a sleek, dark track suit, crashed onto the stone floor before rolling end over end. He knew he told Minnie not to hold back, but getting handled by his little sister was rather demoralizing.

Minnie stepped up next to him a moment after he'd ceased his tumbles. She crouched down beside him, gazing down at his inverted form. Only a few days ago, her face would have been flooded with concern. Now… now he noted that shadow of amusement in her features.

This damned brat…

"Art thou uninjured, brother?" His sister had the nerve to cock her head to the side, chin length lockes spilling over her shoulder. He tried not to think too much about the dark spats and purple half top combo she sported for their "Joint Athletics." Junior really wasn't used to Minnie wearing something that hugged her so tightly, her stomach and legs on full display.

He didn't even think she owned anything like that; she certainly hadn't worn it the first time he'd suggested some martial practice.

As the Prince of The Underworld righted himself, sinking back into his best approximation of the stance Minnie had shown him, he thought back to where he had gotten the idea for these sessions. It had started with little more than some impromptu wrestling, as siblings do. Of course, this was more traditionally an action between brothers, but he could take it easy on his little sis.

And then Minnie caught him with her legs locked around his boney neck. He'd had to tap a second later to avoid having his head literally pried off. That may have gotten Junior a touch heated, the boy quickly diving back into "combat" without warning.

This time, Minnie had one arm stretched out behind him, the other pressed into his back and her knee pinning his wrist. The rest of the night was spent with his sibling schooling him on proper submissions and takedowns. And thus, Junior's bedroom was christened The Grim Arena…

In spite of the souring experience, Junior didn't hold it against his sister. They'd never gone into specifics about just what their mother's "lessons" entailed, but the boy understood that a large part of it was physical in nature. Botched as the "training" process may have been, the results were indisputable.

Minnie looked to be more affected than he was, the girl spending most of the next day trying to say something and then repeatedly backing off. Junior got onto the idea of training mostly to get her refocused. And thus they laid claim to a lesser used hallway on an upper floor of the castle, their official-unofficial sparing grounds.

The boy threw up an arm, catching Minnie's forward thrust and diverting her palm away from his brow. Junior slid in close, aiming a straight punch at his sister's core. The girl completely disengaged, side-stepping the blow with a quick twirl. By now, Junior had his footing down enough not to be thrown into a scramble every time he missed his mark. So Minnie had to go the extra mile and plant her foot into his back with a little thrust kick.

Junior caught himself on the wall, both palms flat. His sister caught him around the middle, totally unguarded, and his world flipped backwards. The dead boy's head popped right out of place the moment his shoulders hit the ground. When it stopped rolling, he was greeted to the pristine image of his headless form driven neck first into the floor, Minnie's frame arced backwards with her arms wrapped around his belly in a picture-perfect German suplex.

She actually held the pose, one grey eye peaking past his body's flank and meeting his gaze in cool silence. She was making sure this image was committed to memory.

This little shit…

When Minnie re-oriented, slinking to a stand like a fucking serpent, she basically let Junior's frame flop to the floor. Yeah, he could still feel that, a low groan pulled from his mouth. Minnie didn't waste time walking around his head, dropping to her knees and pulling his skull into her chest. Then she just sat back, holding Junior's head in a tight embrace. Thus marked an "end" to exercise.

"… Hey Minnie." The undefeated blonde hummed in acknowledgment, prompting the skeleton kid to continue, "We're never really quiet when we do this, right?"

Again, his sister responded with a soft grunt. Really, she always got a lot less verbose when they were in this sort of position.

"Why do you think nobody comes to, you know, investigate?"

Minnie paused a moment. Considering his position, Junior felt when her lungs filled up, holding the breath in. "Father, maybe. Mother, more likely."

Mention of his mom had Junior's mood run cold. His boney fists clenched tight as his left leg started to flex repeatedly. Minnie held his skull a little more fully, enshrouding him in her warmth. It was natural to her, supporting her brother was what she'd been trained for.

Junior gave a low, lengthy groan in the back of his "throat." Minnie could feel it rumbling against her front, tickling her bare skin. She loosed a smile at her brother's effort to give her comfort in return.

They sat a while longer.

"There's no way you're gonna out do me in breakdancing before I land a hit on you in a spar!"

"Thou hast a lofty sense of self as of late, brother-mine. Though I fear your predictions shall prove most erroneous in the long term."

With the amount of time they'd spent together over nearly two weeks, it came as little surprise that Junior had acclimated to his sister's odd speech. Certainly didn't mean he had to like it. When did she even sink this deep into talking like that?

As Junior scoffed off her statement, waving it away with a flick of one hand, Minnie pushed the offensive, "Tis our wager still in effect?"

The little boy Death would have rolled his eyes if he had them. "Yeah, yeah, bet's still on. Honestly though, I only have that one tuft of hair, not sure why you wanna wash it so badly."

His sister expertly hid her blush with a blinding smile. To Junior, it just came off as cocky, drawing a chuckle out of him.

As the pair, still in their "training garb," exited the mouth of the side hall, a shadow to the right caught their attention. Grim Jr stilled mid-stride at the presence of his father, tall and imposing, standing just beyond the corner of the intersection. His sleek, dark frame and the inclusion of his scythe only added to the image.

But their dad had a smile on his face. Junior kept going, his sister at his side, both of them sending small nods to the contented Grim Reaper.

They weren't so kind to their mother, her figure pitched against the wall, quite literally in Death's shadow. She had a cigarette between her lips, the embers burning up its length as she took a good drag. Mandy's gaze was straight ahead, staring right over her children. They didn't even regard her, ghosting right past like she wasn't even there. The only evidence of their acknowledgment was when Junior took Minnie's hand.

When the pair were a good distance away, the blonde spoke up, "Junior… was that, perhaps, too harsh of us?"

"Yes."

The immediate response and utter lack of remorse said all that needed to be said. Minnie nodded once in return, focusing on moving forward… and how nice it was holding hands.

In the corridor behind them, Grim cast a curious gaze over his wife. The kids hadn't exactly been trying to stay quiet, probably relying on distance to maintain privacy. They weren't quite so versed in the extreme levels of perception Mandy possessed. She'd heard that little conversation as if she'd been a part of it.

She couldn't keep the grin out of her eyes. Mandy's machinations had yet to find a new direction, but she took some pleasure in her kids' solidarity. It went in line with her more favored outcomes…

And it was nice seeing them get along.

If hating her was what kept them united, then that was enough. She could take it.

Definitely…

So clearly this takes place following the events of the first chapter. Should this continue, this'll pretty much be the general format: a series of sequential little snippets into the lives of two siblings. Nothing quite substantial enough to be a full-fledged story, but some loose notions of a narrative will be present.

It's interesting to think how their brother-sister dynamic changes when they've come to terms with each other at a point where Minnie still has her powers and Junior has yet to grow his own. I really like the idea of Minnie leaning into her status as The Ace, kind of lording it over her brother now that they can interact in more jovial tones. I feel that the knowledge of what was happening to his sister behind the scenes and the obvious implications being drawn lend Junior a lot more patience in dealing with Minnie, so he's much less prone to blowing up. He's kind of forced to mature very quickly by the revelation and even though he is clearly the less equipped to deal with physical threats in this reality... he's still the big brother.

I think I'm leaning towards giving Mandy herself a character tag for this story. Grim is there, he has some affect on the world around him, but Mandy is the catalyst for her children suddenly banding together and she's an ongoing obstacle they have to navigate: she's interesting to have present and to try and puzzle out. Who knows, maybe if I end up using her again in the next update, I'll decide to have her play a more focal/active role. Primarily though, this is about children being children...

... hmm, kind of a fitting theme for her depending on how you view Mandy's character...

Some lesser points: fight training! Action/combat is one of favorite things to write, so of course we were gonna open up on a sparring session. Should this really start to take off, you can expect Junior to catch up to his sister in some ways. Bash Brothers is one of my favorite tropes so...

In regards to other characters showing up... I got some ideas. Would definitely love a core crew of Junior, Minnie, Mimi, and Chi. All the terrible ways these personalities would play off each other...

Alright though, short and sweet this is. Take care, hope to see you again!