À l'enseigne de la fille sans coeur (Elle)

Chateoil had never felt the same to Sabrina since the events of her fifth year. Of course, the French witch was relieved that she was still allowed to go, in fact, the level-headed witch had been almost certain that they'd refuse to let her go and she would have easily forgiven the staff if they had forbidden her. As it was, the harrowing event had not been entirely forgotten and though they had agreed to let Sabbie go, she was being chaperoned the entire time. In all honesty, the Papillonlisse had somewhat appreciated it in the beginning, it was nice to know that people were looking out for her and cared about what happened to her... but it was also awfully annoying to not have the freedom to do as she pleased, without someone buzzing over her shoulder watching her every move. All the ballerina wanted to do was buy a few gifts for upcoming birthdays and maybe stop for a hot chocolate if she had the time. It was like she was a dog (a Papillon dog, she hoped) on a lead, with someone constantly interfering with her free will.

Sabrina, as a general rule, hated people interfering. Luckily, the Sasseville was resourceful, patient and she knew that all she needed to do was bide her time before creating a distraction where she could easily slip away. The crowded shop Sabrina and her chaperone had found themselves in seemed like a good spot for a distraction, with all the people bustling about and pushing the pair further apart. Sneakily checking to see if anyone was watching her, the ballerina gently slipped the rowan wand from her robe pocket and muttered, "Fumos." A cloud of grey smoke quickly formed a smokescreen for her and she smirked triumphantly. Coughing slightly as some of the smoke filled her lungs, the teenager tried to hold it as long as she could as she gracefully walked out of the shop.

She sighed contently, knowing now that she was free to do as she pleased, if only for a few moments before she was found. Still coughing slightly, the frail girl glanced down the path to the 2e arrondissement and shook her head, heading in the opposite direction and deciding to take a stroll around the 4e arrondissement. She knew the former place was a demon she'd need to avoid for a while longer before she could set eyes on it again. And, of course, the 4e arrondissement was important to the Papillonlisse. After all, she hoped to be working there herself one day as a professional ballerina!

Looking behind her, hoping that she had not been followed, Sabbie continued walking towards her future stage. Content that she not been seen, the Sasseville turned her head forwards again, just in time to stop herself from walking straight into another witch! Calm by nature, Sabrina did not even let out a gasp in shock, even when she recognised the older witch in front of her. "Keichelle...?" The Sasseville raised her eyebrow quizzically. What in the World was her sister doing here? Sabbie prayed that it was because Elle was giving up healing, but the girl kept quiet, stubborn about the grudge she held, and eager to hear an explanation.

Elle liked to pride herself on her ability to stay calm and rational even when under extreme amounts of pressure and stress, or rather, she liked to pride herself on her ability to appear calm and rational under large amounts of stress. Most who saw the girl walking about would look at her and assume that everything was just dandy, and indeed many of her friends and family members had told her that she seemed to be thriving at Jehenne de Brigue. Those who truly knew her however, could see through the layers of expertly applied makeup covering the circles underneath her eyes and notice how her once perfectly fitted clothing was now loose and somewhat baggy. If they spent enough time with her, they might even notice how much she relied on coffee and tea to get her through the day whereas before she’d rarely had either drink.

No, Elle was not thriving at Jehenne de Brigue. Her first year of schooling was proving to be a lot more difficult than she’d planned for, yet the perfectionist inside her wanted, no, needed to get perfect grades. Of course, she could still be a healer if she didn't get perfect grades, but the girl believed that the better she did while in healing school, the better she’d be able to help her sister. And yet, despite her determination to be a healer, the girl couldn't bring herself to give up dancing, nor was she able to say no when service opportunities came up. Thus, between classes, studying, homework, dance, various volunteer work and teaching a ballet class in Chatoeil for small children, every minute of every day was scheduled out in a candy colored planner that told Elle exactly what she was supposed to be doing exactly when she was supposed to be doing it. And she followed the schedule perfectly, even though she groaned when she saw that she'd scheduled herself to study for six hours and was always relieved when was time for the few hours of sleep she'd allotted for herself. There was rarely time for socializing or 'hanging out' with friends, but Elle didn't have many friends anyway so she didn't really mind. And besides, her favorite days were the ones where she got to teach her ballet class, which in her opinion was way better than socializing anyways.

Elle couldn't quite remember where she'd heard of the job or how she'd gotten it, but she did know that it meant teaching several five to eight year olds ballet three times a week and put her in Chatoeil, which it turn meant that she could see her siblings if she wanted, though thus far she just hadn't had time to do so. Or at least, that's what she told herself. In reality, it wouldn't have been that difficult to make time in her perfect schedule, but though she loved her siblings dearly she wasn't sure she wanted to see them at the moment, especially if it was Sabbie. Things between the sisters had been . . . interesting as of late and neither sister was particularly happy with how the other one was living their life. This made any interaction between them to be tense at times and often included Sabrina telling Elle that she shouldn't be a healer and Elle telling Sabrina that she needed to be more careful and take things easy. Neither sister ever followed the advice of the other.

The first couple of days that she'd taught her class, Elle had been more than a little nervous that she would see someone she knew in the town and that they would want to question her, therefore throwing off her perfect schedule, but after two weeks of seeing no one, she'd become increasingly less paranoid. In fact, by this point her previous paranoia was nearly completely gone and other than peeking up once or twice from some notes she'd brought along to study, Keichelle was completely oblivious to the world around her as she was leaving her lesson. This carelessness however, led to her nearly bumping into someone. Before she could make it through  a mumbled apology, hearing her name pulled the eldest Sasseville girl out of her thoughts. "Oh, Sabbie! I didn't expect to see you here, what a surprise!" She began, nearly dropping her study papers. It probably shouldn't have been so much of a surprise, given the fact that it was a weekend and Sabrina liked Chatoeil, but Elle hadn't seen much of anyone in her family for a while and had intended to reach out to Antoine or Elliott before anyone else. "I just got done teaching a class," She said, answering Sabrina's unasked question "but what about you? What are you doing here? And how have you been doing?"

The Sasseville was usually uncommonly stubborn and once she had a grudge with someone, Sabrina would have it until the day she died. She was supposed to be giving Elle the silent treatment, but it was difficult to remain so angry at her sister, who was kind and caring and Sabbie still loved the older witch dearly. The Papillonlisse settled for raising an eyebrow in scepticism over Elle's apparent surprise that she should be there. Surely, it should not have been at all. As she eyed her sister, with a witty retort at the tip of tongue, Sabs found the need to hold her tongue as she frowned in concern. Elle looked awful. Sabrina just knew something wasn't quite right. Keichelle looked almost like... I did when I was sick. The thought sent a chill through her spine and she shuddered, even though it was a perfectly warm day. Angry that Elle clearly wasn't looking after herself, the ballerina narrowed her eyes as her jaw tightened.

The recovery from her most recent bout of illness had helped her unlock a part of herself that the younger Sasseville sister never knew she possessed: deviousness. She accepted Keichelle's explanation for being in Chatoeil with nothing more than a graceful nod of the head, as if the news was of no consequence to her, when in reality she was internally hysterical in excitement. If Elle had been teaching a class, it must have meant that she quit being a healer and they would all finally be happy again! But, of course, that would not explain Elle's rather ragged appearance. No, Sabrina was not satisfied by her sister's answer. She needed more details. The likelihood of getting a straight answer out of the elder girl was almost naught, and Sabbie knew it. The Papillonlisse put on a sickly sweet smile, with the intention of lulling her sister into a false sense of security. She wanted to wrap her sister up in cotton wool, much like Elle was always trying to do to her, but Sabrina figured she should act as naturally as possible. Not that she even knew what was normal for the two sisters anymore.

"I am a student, am I not?" Sabs questioned sarcastically, the smile disappearing as she squared her shoulders defensively, "Am I suddenly not allowed in Chateoil just like everyone else?" Her tone was bitter, and she raised her eyebrows just daring Keichelle to oppose her. Her expression soon changed to an impassive smirk as she deliberately made a show of looking her sister up and down. Sabrina wondered if Elle even knew how terrible she looked. "I am doing much better than you, it appears..." She smiled, proudly throwing her head back, eager for Elle to see the newfound glow in her face. She truly had fully recovered now and she wanted her sister to know it. Looking behind her sister, and suddenly gliding forwards towards the building that Elle had obviously just come from, Sabrina laughed suddenly. "I had no idea that Jehenne de Brigue required their students to teach a dance class," the Sasseville looked behind her, simpering smugly, "perhaps they are smarter than I gave them credit for." She stopped in her tracks, her back still to the older Sasseville, waiting for the inevitable. She couldn't wait to see how Keichelle responded to that. Sabrina knew she had a newfound talent of pushing her sister's berserk button, and worse still, it was almost becoming rather enjoyable.

Elle winced as Sabrina raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing that Elle was truly surprised to see her. Does she suspect I've been actively avoiding her? The older girl stared at her sister's frowning face, half expecting a snarky remark or some sassy comeback to come from her Sabrina's lips. She wasn't exactly wrong as Sabbie pointed out Elle's earlier mistake, but the real kicker came from the younger Sasseville's second comment. There was absolutely no way she could miss the way Sabrina so obviously took in her appearance, and any of her previous and rather foolish hopes that her sister wouldn't notice the changes to her appearance came tumbling down around her. Though she knew she looked pretty awful, Elle hadn't realized that she looked bad enough for others to notice, and the fact that Sabbie felt the need to comment on it cut deep.

She couldn't help that notice that Sabbie looked better than ever, any signs of her accursed illness either completely gone or expertly hidden. It was almost as if the two sisters had switched places. "That's not what I meant," she said with exasperation, trying to decide how much she wanted to fight her sister on the matter. Of course, it was only fair and logical that Sabrina was able to go out into Chatoeil, but the older girl figured she'd have a chaperone or buddy of some sort to accompany her. "I just thought you'd have a friend or something with you is all." Really, Elle thought that the younger girl probably should have a companion, but hopefully she'd phrased it in a way that Sabbie wouldn't catch on. "As for me, I'm doing just fine, thank you very much," she lied, trying and failing to keep the ire out of her voice "but you're right, you do seem to be doing better. I'm glad; you know how I worry about you."

Keichelle narrowed her eyes the moment her sister mentioned Jehenne de Brigue. She knew exactly where this was going. As usual, Sabrina was fishing to see if the older Sasseville had dropped out of healing school, and when the older girl proudly proclaimed that she was, in fact, still in school, the younger Sasseville would try to convince her that Jehenne de Brigue was a waste of time and that she should just quit. Well Elle was sick of the struggle. It was time to make sure Sabrina was well aware of her determination to become a healer. "That's probably because they don't require their students to teach a dance class." She said, a fierce look in her eyes, "Our class time is spent doing much more important things." It pained her to say that dance wasn't important, but she didn't let it show, nor could she stop there. If she really wanted to crush her sister's hopes of her dropping out of Jehenne de Brigue, Elle would need to show Sabrina just how dedicated she was to healing. "I teach my class in addition to attending Jehenne de Brigue. And I'm only doing it because I owed someone a favor." None of what she'd said was true, though the steely resolve in her voice caused the lie to roll easily off her tongue. At first, she wasn't quite sure why she lied. Keichelle didn't socialize enough to owe anyone any favors, and teaching her class was easily the highlight of her week. Without the break from life it brought her, she would probably have (more) frequent mental breakdowns. Deep down however, Elle knew exactly why she'd said what she had, and though she'd never admit it, her words had been specially chosen to get a rise out of her sister.

"Oh, I know it's not." Sabrina replied with a tight-lipped smile, her eyes darkening. She knew exactly what her sister meant, and she hated to admit that Elle had a good point, and was of course correct. The Papillonlisse had a chaperone somewhere in Chateoil, properly running around like a headless chicken and no doubt worrying that the ballerina had run off and done something bad by now. Her face flushed thinking about it, knowing that she only had a limited amount of time before she was found, and that she'd likely be in some sort of trouble unless she could find a reasonable excuse. Sabbie crossed her arms, annoyed at herself more than at the older Sasseville at this point, for not considering the consequences sooner. The French witch prayed to Merlin that Keichelle would be gone by the time she was found, otherwise she knew the situation would become a hornet's nest.

"They're studying right now," Sabs lied, quickly scratching her neck with a finger. She felt suddenly a little more powerful and confident as if she had the upper hand, and the French girl placed her hands on her hips, a flash of a smile sweeping across her face. "Besides, we both know what you're really implying," Sabrina paused, looking her sister dead in the eye, deliberately taunting her. "Luckily for you, there aren't any bridges nearby." Sabrina knew she was giving Elle attitude and touching a sore spot for the both of them, but Sabbie didn't want to give Keichelle the satisfaction of successfully getting a rise from her for then the older witch would know that her words were affecting the sickly witch. It didn't seem like it, but Sabs was defending herself.

Her fists balled tightly and the ballerina's teeth clenched together as Elle blatantly lied to her face. Sure, she was being hypocritical and she knew it, but she hated when people weren't truthful about how they really felt, or claimed they were fine when they obviously weren't. Sabrina had decided long ago that it was fine for her to do it, but not anybody else and especially not her family. "Sure, you are." Sabrina's voice dripped with sarcasm, making it evident that Sabbie wasn't buying a word. "Maybe, you should spend less time worrying about me and more time worrying about yourself." Sabrina shot out a finger, and jabbed it towards her sister to emphasise her point. Elle was constantly interfering with her life, and Sabrina thought it was time to show Elle how much of a nuisance it was by trying to interfere with her sister's life instead.

The Papillonlisse student tutted loudly, over-exaggerating a pout as she turned back to face Keichelle. "Pity, I was finally going to give them some credit." As the eldest sister claimed that some things were more important than dance, Sabbie's confident aura shattered and the younger sibling couldn't help but take a step back, an arm crossing her body to hold the other at the elbow. The level-headed girl had been able to remain calm or defend Elle's verbal attacks until now, but her sister had just said something that could not be forgiven. Ever. "Dance IS important, Keichelle." The teen averted her gaze, hesitantly frowning as her hand made soothing strokes to the arm it was holding. "You, you know that." She implored to Elle, her eyes now wide and searching the older Sasseville's face for any hint that the healer-in-training didn't mean what she'd just said.

She owed someone a favour? Who?! Sabrina's nostrils flared a little, her lips drawn tightly and she stepped forwards much quicker and more aggressively than anyone would associate the young Sasseville's gait as, until she was almost up into her sister's face. The height difference was making it difficult to be intimidating, but Sabrina was trying her darnedest, her eyes narrowed into slits as she look up at Keichelle. "Stop helping others and look after yourself for once in your life, please!" Her voice raised, which was almost unheard of for the sweet, mellow witch. But, in the end, Sabrina was only angry out of concern for her beloved sister. She was so irritating, but Sabbie loved her dearly and treasured their relationship. It was changing and Sabbie was frightened of it.

The ballerina reached out for her Elle's arm, this time gently, revealing her concern. "You are not happy, Elle. And, it pains me to see it." The caring witch's voice was softer, more melodic than a few moments prior, her body language opening up. "Do not try to hide it from me. You should know better than that, by now." Sabrina smiled sadly, her eyes searching up into her sister's, curious as to what her reaction would be. "There's only one thing I need to know... Why?" Sabrina deliberately left the question vague and open-ended, wondering how Elle would choose to perceive it. There were many questions in the the sickly witch's mind that involved the word 'why', but the resourceful girl was wondering what Elle was really thinking. A vague question like this was open to interpretation, and whatever Elle's angle was would give Sabrina more information than it would seem on the surface.