E-T: Your Gravity (Part I)

At the soft crunch of earth, Artemisa's antennae moved forward from her hidden position in her tree. It had already been a month and she had gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid anyone and everyone. She hadn't exactly left her garden, but she also hadn't answered when someone came calling for her, remaining hidden and motionless until the other party got so sick of hearing their own voice, they'd leave.

She had figured this would be no exception. When a second, lighter sounding set of footsteps accompanied the first, she felt the urge to look up but fought it, taking to counting the petals of a flower that had sprouted out of the bark of her tree the way her plant children always did when she was feeling particularly low; it was as though her babies were reaching for her to try and comfort her when she needed it. Her tiny fingers delicately ran across the flower's ridges, waiting for what was apparently two visitors to start calling for her so that she could ignore them until they left.

She wasn't so lucky.

"I can see you up there." came a coarse and very recognizable voice. She felt a gasp work it way up her chest, eyes blinking open and widening when her brain connected the dots. "There's no point in pretending you're not here." it continued from just beyond the roots of the pink celebi's tree. Floating a little from the ground, frail wings beating rapidly, was a celebi with a face identical to Artemisa's, save for being shiny which her sister most definitely was not.

"T-Tia?" Artemisa managed to squeak out shyly, leaning over the edge of the branch she had been curled up on. Tatiana stared up at her with sharp, unblinking eyes, arms across her chest looking very much annoyed. Tatiana never really looked any other way, or at least not in any other of Artemisa's memories. Her sister had a short fuse and an even shorter tone, something that had always intimidated the already nervous pink celebi. Artemisa slowly dropped from the branch she was on, coming down toward the earth, though still concealed by her veil of invisbility. She was about to remove the cloaking spell she always used when she was uncomfortable with being seen when she realized her sister was not alone, immediately flinching and floating a few feet back up into the air, about to duck into her tree again when Tatiana cleared her throat to regain her older sister's attention and Artemisa froze.

The braixen standing on the ground had her ears perked up, glancing up to where Tatiana was staring, but was obviously unable to see what the grass type was seeing.

"What? Do I make her nervous?" the fox asked in a slightly amused tone, getting an eye roll in response from the normal coloured celebi.

"Everything makes her nervous." grumbled Tatiana in reply, turning to look up at Artemisa again. "Well, come on. Get down from there. I need to talk to you."

Artemisa flinched a little, moving a few feet down before turning to the braixen, a worried look crossing her face. The braixen's figure was perfect, each curve in just the right place; long full hair shaped her face right down to the sharp nose that seemed to only accentuate her deep blue eyes. At least...they looked blue from where Artemisa was floating. She looked much older than a normal braixen ought to be without having evolved, and her fur was a soft shade of blue, a stark contrast to the normal colouring of the fire type.Upon coming down a bit further, it became apparent one eye was blue, but the other was a deep purple. The braixen felt eyes on her, looking up to exactly where Artemisa was, causing the pink celebi to flinch, blushing deeply. She may not have been able to see her, but it was like she was looking right at her.

"Glimmer, go wait for me over there. We're not getting anywhere with you being here." the braixen turned to Tatiana, raising her eyebrows a bit in response.

"Is that so? Well. Let's not forget, you are the one breaking the rules here, not I. Once disowned, this celebi is no longer under the protection of the ministry. You were to come here only under the guise of a sibling visit."

"I am well aware what the ministry wants from me for this. But she won't come down with you breathing down my neck." Tatiana responded flatly. Glimmer stared at Tatiana for a moment, her dual coloured eyes that seemed to pierce through her skull met with the normal coloured celebi's dark brown eyes, both of them watching each other carefully. Finally, and unexpectedly, Glimmer smirked a little, reaching over and lightly tapping Tatiana on the cheek.

"Whatever you say, sunshine." she responded in a very pleased sounding tone; the kind of tone that made Artemisa shudder a little, and she backed off, giving one last look to Artemisa, again looking directly at her as though she could see her before backing off and heading toward the outskirts of the celebi's garden. Artemisa was still blushing profusely, her sleeves mostly covering her face, but she slowly lowered herself to the ground, watching the braixen with a worried expression before turning it on her younger sister. Tatiana made a face, trying to keep her disgust out of her tone, but it wasn't really working. Tatiana had never been very good at being tactful.

"...someone...you know?" Artemisa asked carefully. Tatiana spun around to look at her sister, turning her intense stare on her. Artemisa flinched back a little, flitting a few feet away from her. Her sister glared at her, flitting up so that they were face-to-face.

"She's only here because of you. You and your...ideals." Tatiana replied, reaching out and grabbing Artemisa's face. The celebi flinched back instinctively, attempting to move away from her sister. It wasn't working. Tatiana cornered her, pinning her to the trunk of the tree. The pink celebi began to glow lightly, a soft noise of fear escaping her lips as her sister took her face in her hands, shutting her eyes tightly and trying to turn away from her. It was all she could do, considering she had effectively been pinned down, her wings moving painfully against the dull bark of the tree, not wanting to hurt the tree, but not at all enjoying being pinned either. This feeling of discomfort only deepened when Tatiana very suddenly reached down, lifting Artemisa's sweater up to place a hand on the shiny's stomach. This caused Artemisa to flinch back, body beginning to glow brighter as she pushed her sister back with her psychic powers. It didn't matter. The younger celebi had gotten the information she needed.

"W-What are you doing?!"

"I saw you." Tatiana said in a flat tone, grabbing Artemisa's wrists and squeezing them to get her sister's attention.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Artemisa," Tatiana said, her tone turning from cold to serious. "I. Saw you. Right here. You had a shield up, that's what caught my attention. When I came to see if you were alright, I found...that."

Artemisa blinked, having to process what she was saying. When it suddenly hit her and she figured out what she was saying, she began to blush even harder, her entire face turning bright red. "W-Wha---"

"Don't play coy with me, Emi!" snapped the younger, squeezing her sister's wrists harder and pinning her to the tree again in an attempt to get her to focus. "Don't you know what this means?"

"W-What are you---"

"You're a breeder, Emi. There hasn't been one since Mother. She'll have no choice but to take you back into the clan when she finds out. You can come home again."

Artemisa stared at Tatiana for a long time, brain still trying to fully comprehend what she was saying. Her expression went from worried to a sudden moment of clarity. "....no." she said after a long pause. "No. Tia..."

"Emi, they would have to let you come home. None of us...none of our sisters are breeders! You're the only one of us that is! That explains why you're so different."

"No!" Artemisa said in as forceful a tone as she was capable of, shoving her sister's hands off of her. "No, Tia. I'm not coming home. I will never go back to the hive."

Tatiana rolled her eyes. "Emi!" she snapped, trying to regain her sister's attention.

"No!"

"Stop yelling at me! You're not a child anymore! Look, granted this whole...living away from home, being your own person. It's adorable, but it's NOT practical! Especially not now! Not with---"

"Don't say it!!" Artemisa whispered desperately, turning away from her sister and folding her arms nervously across herself.

"You need to do what's right and what's expected of you. You are not a child. Especially not now. Not with...that."

Artemisa shut her eyes again, keeping her back to her sister. She was hoping this was all a dream. Maybe she had fallen asleep in her tree, and all she had to do was wake up...

"I'll come back at dusk. Be ready by then. We're going home. All three of us." Tatiana said, flitting off of the ground and heading toward Glimmer, figuring the braixen was starting to lose her patience with her. That was fine. They wouldn't be there for much longer.
~~~~~
x.x; still majorly blocky lately jfds
I will leave you to fill in the blanks on this one. I'm not entirely ready to disclose what Tatiana is talking about. >> but it should be pretty obvious if you read between the lines. god, it should be obvious