It had all started with a simple conversation. All Aruvia did was act nice, sweet even. Just trying to have fun with the others in a game of tag. But here comes Dionne to join them, easily winning with her merciless aggression and lack of any self awareness. When Aruvia was nearly shoved over from the force of Dionne's poke as she loudly yelled: “TAG!” Aruvia did see an opportunity... So she cried, accusing Dionne of playing too rough and targeting her specifically. The other children noticed, of course, and immediately went to comfort Aruvia and confront Dionne.

  Dionne denied everything, but Aruvia persisted. The crocodile tears falling down to the artificial grass below them in massive heaps. Her lips trembled as she dug her face deeper into one of the older girl's shoulders.

  The other kids looked at Dionne with scorn, and didn't let her continue playing. Dionne didn't try to put up much of a fight after that. Walking away as she gave Aruvia once last soulless glance, her lips in a fine line.

  Aurvia met her stare head on, her eyes crinkling with childish pride while she continued putting on a big show of crying.

  Dionne snapped her head away, quickening her pace until she reached HER spot. Ok, she technically didn't own the spot. But it had been her unofficial place of rest and comfort for the last three years. The place itself was a hole on a big oak tree that served the same function as a chair if you balanced on the edge of it. Dionne imagined the inside of the hole to be the best place for hide and seek. Unfourtantly she had never been able to test out that theory, since she wasn't allowed to be anywhere the handlers couldn't see her.

  Reminded of the great unfairness, it brought back Dionne to the moment with Aruvia before. Dionne felt her fingers involuntarily curl into a fist. It wasn't like she was angry- she could never feel strong emotions like that. It would be more accurate to describe it as annoyance. Annoyance at how easily the others fell for Aruvia's obvious lies and trickery. All Aruvia did was have to act helpless and pathetic and suddenly everyone surrounded and fussed over her like she was a newborn fawn. But in the end Dionne ultimately felt sorry for her- Aruvia didn't have raw skill and talent, unlike Dionne. Dionne didn't rely on the support of others to succeed, that's why she didn't need to flail like an idiot to get temporary sympathy.

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  The aliens liked Dionne for her strength, wit and cunning charm. While they looked and treated Aruvia like a baby- cute for a moment, but would ultimately be forgotten once it grew up and lost its one and only good trait.

  Its fragility made everyone want to protect it.

  Dionne looked with a smug kind of satisfaction at Aruvia across the artificial facility. She had been forced by the other kids to sit down due to the "Injury" Dionne caused. Aruvia, who looked so secretly proud just a few minutes ago, now sulked like a child at the unintended consequences of her own lie.

  What she didn't know was that those weren't going to be the only consequences.

  __________________________________________

  Dionne's hands were on Aruvia's throat, those soulless eyes that didn't flinch when a gunshot went through her brother's head staring right at her. Yellow, like her hair. Unnatural in their sheer volume. Making you believe she was always so relaxed, so at ease, so confident in her sheer superiority that there wasn't anything that could pose a threat to her.

  But the way she's acting is telling a different story.

  Aruvia wouldn't rule out the possibility of drugs being a root cause—- or "medication" as the aliens call it.

  Dionne's hands squeezed Aruvia's throat with that soulless stare of a curious child, wondering what button to hit to make the annoyance go away.

  The annoyance being Aruvia, and the button her airway system.

  She tried quite successfully through trial and error. Even though Dionne didn't know the correct technique or method on how to choke someone, surprisingly just closing Aruvia's airway with sheer force did the job.

  The other children who banned Dionne from playing with them before due to her accidentally hurting Aruvia, now stood completely frozen. They couldn't do anything but watch as Dionne increased the pressure. Aruvia, finally noticing the crowd forming around them, called out for help.

  But it was to no avail. Everything was going exactly according to Aruvia's plan. Dionne didn't notice the metaphorical horns on her head being placed by her fellow peers as all she saw was Aruvia beneth her. Dionne would have continued till Aruvia's mask broke. But she was interrupted by two hands grabbing and roughly pushing her off of Aruvia.