Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, the three girls formerly known as The Dazzlings, were just getting into Adagio's car to head to a nearby beach in their local town for the day. Adagio and Aria were in the front of Adagio's car and Sonata was sitting in the backseat on the side behind the front passenger seat. Sonata had anxiety, and some days it was worse than others, that day was one of her better days in terms of her anxiety, Aria was the main person who took care of Sonata and was super protective and caring of her because her sister's anxiety. Because of this, Sonata often got separation anxiety from Aria whenever Aria went to town or was in a separate room from Sonata, she even got a surge of it at night sometimes and it caused her not to be able to sleep on her own.
"Does she have her bathing suit on already?" Adagio asked as they drove along the road towards the beach.
"No. She wanted to wait until we got to the beach." Aria answered, glancing in the little pull-down mirror at Sonata, who was busy playing a game on Aria's phone.
"She's probably not going to like the water though, because it's got the clay and the sand on the bottom of it." Adagio stated, as Sonata'd never gone swimming anywhere other than a swimming pool.
"She'll be ok once she gets used to it." Aria explained, looking back out the window of the passenger door.
"If you say so." Adagio mumbled to herself as she continued to drive.
15 MINUTES LATER
"Ok, we're here." Adagio said as she parked her car in a parking spot close to the public beach washrooms so they could get their bathing suits on.
"Come on." Aria said to Sonata after she handed her phone back to her.
"Ok." Sonata replied, taking her seatbelt off and opening her door to get out of Adagio's car.
Aria, Sonata and Adagio made sure they had all their things and then they walked over to the beach's public washroom so they could change into their bathing suits. There weren't too many people at the beach that so that made Sonata a little happier because there wasn't as many people there she wouldn't know at all.
"Adagio can you wait out here with her until I'm done changing?" Aria asked once they were in the public washroom.
"Why? There's no one else in here." Adagio flatly asked, stating there was no one else in the washroom.
"Yeah I know, but this place is new to her. So she might freak out if I leave her and go out of her sight for a minute." Aria explained, gesturing to Sonata who was still holding her hand because she was scared.
"Fine." Adagio replied, moving to stand beside Sonata.
"Don't get mad at her if she grabs your hand, it's just something she does when she's scared." Aria explained before turning to walk into one of the bathroom stalls to change into her bathing suit.
"Oh don't worry. I won't." Adagio replied again, looking at something under one of her fingernails as she leaned back against the bathroom wall.
Sonata stood quietly for a few seconds before reaching over to gently grab Adagio's left hand and hold it, Adagio looked at her when she did this but went back to looking at whatever was under one of the fingernails on her right hand.
5 MINUTES LATER
They were all now done changing and were walking back out to Adagio's car to grab some stuff out of the trunk they would take down to the beach with them. Aria put her baseball cap on her head and then grabbed the bottle of sunscreen and Sonata's cap so she could get her sister to put her cap on while Aria put sunscreen on both of them.
"Here. Put this on." Aria softly said to Sonata as she handed her baseball cap to her.
"Ok." Sonata replied, taking her cap from her older sister's hand and putting it on her head.
"There. Now I'll just put some sunscreen on you and then you'll be good to go for now." Aria softly explained as she opened the bottle of waterproof sunscreen and put some on her hand to rub on Sonata's arms.
"Is the water going to be warm or cold?" Sonata asked while Aria put sunscreen on her left arm for her.
"It'll be cold at first but once you get in the water and get used to it, it'll get warmer." Aria replied as she continued putting sunscreen on Sonata.
10 MINUTES LATER
"Ok Adagio, we're heading over to the beach." Aria explained as she grabbed hers and Sonata's beach towels and her sunglasses from the bag of stuff they'd brought to the beach.
"Cool. I'll be over there in a few minutes." Adagio replied as she put some sunscreen on her neck and shoulders.
"Let's go." Aria softly said to Sonata as she began to walk towards the beach. All three girls were wearing flip flops. Aria's were purple, Sonata's were pink and Adagio's were yellow.
"Coming Ari." Sonata said, grabbing her sister's hand and following behind her.
"There's some little water toys and floaties in the bag. Adagio's bringing it over after." Aria explained as she and Sonata walked over to the beach and looked for a place to sit.
"Dagi brought those? I thought she said she wasn't going to?" Sonata asked, as Adagio'd told her earlier that day that she wasn't going to bring any water toys or loungers.
"I told her to because I know that you like having something to hold on to when you go swimming in the water. I also brought a couple of your pool noodles." Aria softly explained against they found a spot to sit and set their towels down on the beach to sit down.
Once they had their beach towels laid out, they both sat down on their towels and waited for Adagio to bring all the stuff they'd brought over to them when she was done putting sunscreen on. While they waited, Aria put her sunglasses on and then laid down and rolled over so she was laying on her stomach and rested her head on her arms which were crossed in front of her. She turned her head so she could watch her sister. Sonata was still sitting up on her towel and was currently looking around the beach at everything that was going on.
"Ok. I've got everything over here. I'll just put the bag here and then we can grab stuff out of it when we want it." Adagio explained after walking over to her sisters, she set the bag of stuff down and then focused on setting out her towel so she could sit down. She had her sunglasses on to.
"Ari, are any of my toys in that bag?" Sonata asked, turning around to face her older sisters, as Adagio had laid her towel out horizontally above Aria and Sonata's towels. She wanted to know if her older sister had brought any of her from her playroom or bedroom for her to play with.
"Yeah there's some in there." Aria answered, looking over at her younger sister.
"Can I have some to play with?" Sonata asked again.
"Sure." Aria answered again as she grabbed the bag and pulled it over to her so she could reach into it and get some toys for her younger sister. "Here you go." she said as she pulled out two of her sisters toys and handed the to her. They were a wolf and a horse.
"Thanks." Sonata said as she took her toys from her older sister's hand.
"You're welcome." Aria replied, smiling at Sonata, who returned her smile and then turned her focus to her toys.
"So is your whole plan just to keep her happy while we're here?" Adagio asked as she watched Sonata. She was also laying on her towel so she was on her stomach and resting her head on her arms.
"Well, mostly. If nothing bothers her that shouldn't be too hard though." Aria explained, looking at Adagio to talk to her.
"Ok then." Adagio said as she grabbed the book she was currently reading from their bag of stuff to read it. She mainly read it in her room at night or when Aria and Sonata were busy.
"Whoa. Since when do you read anything besides fashion magazines?" Aria sarcastically asked when she seen Adagio's book.
"Um, all the time. You just never pay attention." Adagio flatly answered, glancing over at Aria and then going back to her book.
"What are you reading?" Aria sarcastically asked again, reaching forward with her left hand to see what Adagio's book was called.
"This." Adagio answered, showing Aria what the book she was reading was called. It was a book called Dragonfly in Amber.
"Sounds dumb." Aria flatly stated, losing interest in Adagio's book once she saw the title.
"To you it would. You don't like this kind of stuff." Adagio explained as she continued reading her book.
"Whatever." Aria replied. She reached into the bag to grab her sketchbook and sketching pencils and then opened her sketchbook to the page she was currently drawing something on, of the three girls, she was the best at drawing and sketching.
Once she was on her current page, she opened her case of sketching pencils and grabbed one to begin working on her drawing, she was currently drawing a little scenery with some trees and flowers in it.
"Ari I like that." Sonata said a few minutes later when she looked over to see what her older sister was doing, seeing Aria's drawing.
"Thanks. You can move your towel closer and then lay down and watch me if you want to." Aria replied, explaining her sister could lay next to her if she wanted.
"How long have you been doing that one?" Adagio asked when she glanced over to see what Aria was drawing.
"Like two days. I haven't done much to it yet because we've been busy." Aria answered as Sonata laid next to her so she could watch her draw.
5 MINUTES LATER
"Ok. Do you want to go in the water now?" Aria asked Sonata while closing her sketchpad and sketching pencils container.
"Sure." Sonata answered, moving to sit up on her towel.
"Alright. Let's go then. Here's one of your pool noodles." Aria explained as she stood up and handed one of Sonata's pool noodles to her sister, she also took off her sunglasses.
"Thanks." Sonata said as she grabbed her pool noodle from her sister after she stood up.
"Are you coming over with us or are you staying here?" Aria asked, turning to look at Adagio, who was still engrossed in her book.
"I'm staying here for now. I might come over in a bit." Adagio answered without looking up from her book.
"Ok then. Enjoy your weird little book." Aria sarcastically replied as she turned and followed Sonata over to the water.
"At least I'm reading something besides stuff on my phone or my schoolwork." Adagio mumbled to herself once Aria and Sonata walked away.
Aria and Sonata walked over to the edge of the water and took off their flip flops and left them at the edge of the water, once they'd done that, they waded into the water, Sonata more hesitantly than Aria because she didn't know how cold the water was. She also didn't really like how the sand at the bottom of the lake felt on her feet when she walked on it, or that her feet sunk into it while she was walking.
"Ok. You tell me how far in you want to go." Aria softly explained as she walked backwards into the water so she could keep an eye on her sister. Knowing her sister couldn't swim very well and going a certain depth scared her sometimes.
"Um, this is good for right now." Sonata replied as she moved her pool noodle so she could sit on it like a horse. "Don't splash the water though." she added, as she didn't like water splashing in her face or her eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't. I know you don't like it." Aria softly replied, smiling at her younger sister. The water was just past their knees currently, but Aria was fine with it, as she wanted Sonata to feel comfortable with going in further, if and when they did.
After a few minutes went by, they waded into the water a little further and until it was just past their waists, as Sonata wouldn't go any further unless she had a lounger or water floater to hold onto.
"Ari." Sonata said when she felt something in the water touch her foot.
"What?" Aria asked, looking over at her younger sister.
"Something touched my foot. I don't like it." Sonata answered, explaining something had touched her foot and that she didn't like it.
"Here. Let me see." Aria said, even though she figured it was just a plant on the bottom of the lake by the beach, but she knew Sonata would feel better if she looked to see what it was. She walked over to Sonata and knelt down in the water a little so she could feel around where Sonata's feet were.
"Ok." Sonata said, watching her older sister.
"It's just a little plant on the bottom of the lake." Aria softly explained as she stood back up after confirming what had touched Sonata's foot.
"Ok. Look. Here comes Dagi." Sonata said, pointing to Adagio, who was just walking into the water and making her way over to them.
"You two didn't go in very far." Adagio said when she reached Aria and Sonata.
"Yeah. That's because she hasn't wanted to yet. She needs some time to get used to how far she's gone in already." Aria flatly explained, shooting Adagio a flat expression.
"Ok, ok." Adagio said, not wanting to make Aria mad at the moment.
"We can go in a little farther." Sonata explained to her older sisters.
"Ok. Come on then." Aria replied, wading farther into the water once Sonata began to. Adagio walking ahead of them.
"I'm going back to just holding this now." Sonata explained again as she put the pool noodle back in front of her so she could hold it. As they were getting pretty deep and she liked holding something when she couldn't touch the bottom of a pool, or in this case, a lake.
"That's fine. Whatever makes you comfortable." Aria said, waiting for Sonata again.
"You ok still?" Aria asked a couple minutes later when Sonata stopped and had a look on her face that was showing signs that she was scared.
"I-I'm scared now. I'm not touching the bottom anymore." Sonata answered, explaining she was scared because she no longer tall enough to touch the bottom of the lake.
"Do you want me to come closer to you to make you feel better?" Aria softly asked again, not wanting her sister to freak out.
"Yeah. Sonata answered, adjusting her grip on her pool noodle.
"Ok. I can do that." Aria replied as she moved towards her younger sister.
Once Aria was closer to Sonata, she calmed down and began to move forward and swim again, she just wanted Aria closer to her now in case she accidentally lost her grip on her pool noodle and slipped off of it.
"Darn it. I should've brought the beach ball that we brought out here so we could hit it around." Adagio explained, turning to look at her sisters again as she took her feet off the bottom of the lake to swim further into it.
"You could go and get it. It's not that far." Aria explained while she and Sonata made their way over to Adagio.
"Sure. I mean if you two want me to I will." Adagio said, saying she'd get the beach ball if her sisters wanted her to.
"It'd give us something to do. She's going to get bored with doing nothing." Aria explained as she and Sonata stopped in front of Adagio, allowing Sonata to hold onto her so she'd have a little more support while they were stopped.
"Ok then. I'll go get it." Adagio replied as she began walking back towards the shore to get the blow-up beach ball from their pile of stuff.
"Alright. Why don't we move back to where you can touch the bottom so you can play with the beach ball to." Aria explained as she gently turned once Sonata grabbed her pool noodle again and turned around as well.
"Yeah." Sonata replied, swimming back to where she could touch the bottom of the lake.
"You're doing good. You went in farther than I thought you would." Aria said to Sonata as they slowly made their way back to where Sonata could touch.
"That's because I know you won't let me get hurt." Sonata replied, looking over at Aria just as they got to where she was able to touch the bottom again.
"Oh. You two came back." Adagio said when she got to her sisters again, seeing they were back to where the water was just past their waists again.
"Yeah. We did that so she can play with the ball to." Aria explained, gesturing to Sonata and then pointing to the beach ball in Adagio's hands.
"Ok." Adagio replied, not that she cared.
"Now, I'm not sure how she'll react to this at first. So, just throw it to me first and I'll throw to her just to see. In case it splashes her face." Aria explained as they formed a small triangle to pass the ball to each other.
"Yeah, whatever." Adagio said as she threw the beach ball to Aria, who caught it.
"Are you ready?" Aria asked Sonata as she turned to gently pass the ball to her.
"Yeah I am. Just don't throw it to hard." Sonata answered, explaining for Aria not to throw the ball at her too hard.
"I won't. You know that." Aria replied as she gently threw the ball to her younger sister.
Sonata caught the ball and then threw it too Adagio, they created a little order of who threw the ball to who. After a couple minutes, Adagio caught the ball and then stopped to ask if they could change the order.
"Could we maybe switch the order? Meaning I would throw to her, she would throw to you and you would throw to me." Adagio asked, explaining the order she wanted now.
"Are you ok with her throwing the ball to you now?" Aria asked Sonata, as she knew Adagio usually wasn't gentle with Sonata.
"Yeah, it's fine." Sonata answered, looking at her older sisters.
"Ok go ahead. Just be gentle when you throw that to her." Aria explained, saying Adagio could switch the order.
"I know." Adagio said as she threw the beach ball to Sonata.
They began to throw the beach ball in their new order and then they each moved back a bit so they could make their little triangle bigger and throw the ball farther. After about five more minutes went by, Adagio began throwing the beach ball a little higher every time she threw it to Sonata, who was now having to jump just to catch it.
"Could you maybe stop throwing it so high?" Aria flatly asked when Sonata jumped to catch the ball again. She could tell that her sister didn't like it but knew she wouldn't argue or say anything to make Adagio stop.
"Why?" Adagio asked flatly.
"Because, she doesn't like it. And if she falls off that pool noodle you know what'll happen." Aria explained as she caught the beach ball after Sonata threw it to her.
"How do you know she doesn't like it? She never said she didn't like it." Adagio asked again, explaining Sonata'd never said she didn't like how high Adagio was throwing the ball when she passed it to Sonata.
"That's because she's scared to because she's afraid you'll get mad at her like you always do." Aria explained again while throwing the ball to Adagio.
"Fine. Is this better for you?" Adagio sarcastically asked as she threw the ball lower and harder towards Sonata, who wasn't paying attention and the ball hit her right arm really hard.
"Ow!" Sonata exclaimed when the ball hit her arm, "Why'd you throw it so hard Dagi?" she asked, looking over at her oldest sister.
"Yeah what the heck? She wasn't ready for it." Aria asked, stating Sonata hadn't been ready to catch the ball. Immediately taking her younger sister's side and defending her.
"Well, maybe she needs to learn how to pay attention. If she did, she would've caught the ball and it wouldn't have hit her." Adagio flatly explained as Sonata grabbed the ball and held onto it.
"No she wouldn't have. You threw it at her way too hard. She would've either backed away from it or held her hands in front of her face to stop it from hitting her face." Aria flatly explained while she looked at Adagio, neither she or Adagio noticed that Sonata was getting ready to throw the ball right back at Adagio the same way Adagio'd thrown it at her.
"Well sorry, I never knew she was terrified of a beach ball!" Adagio sarcastically exclaimed. Sonata threw the ball at her as soon as she finished talking, "Ow! That hurt you little brat!" she yelled as she turned and glared at her younger sister.
"I don't care!" Sonata screamed back, as she was still upset about the ball hitting her.
"Sonata. That's not nice." Aria said as she slowly made her way over to her younger sister before Adagio got a chance to.
"Hey if she wants to be that way, let her. I'll just fight fire with fire." Adagio explained as she grabbed the ball and then looked at her arm where the ball had hit her.
"You stay out of this. Don't think I forgot who started this whole thing." Aria flatly replied, turning and glaring at Adagio for a second when she reached her younger sister. Sonata had her arms crossed in front of her chest and was glaring down at the water with an angry expression.
"Fine. I'm going back to the beach." Adagio said, turning to leave the water and go back to where they'd been sitting on the beach.
"Hey, look at me." Aria softly said when she turned back to Sonata, "You ok?" she asked when Sonata looked up at her.
"No. She hit me with the ball and it hurt." Sonata explained, continuing to look at her older sister.
"Yeah I know she did. But that doesn't mean that you throw it back at her or say that you don't care that you hurt her. That's not nice either." Aria softly explained to her younger sister, slowly so she'd have time to understand and comprehend what Aria'd told her.
"B-But I didn't mean that! I just said that because of my anxiety!" Sonata exclaimed, stating she hadn't meant what she'd said to Adagio.
"I know you didn't. It's ok, I believe you. It still wasn't nice though." Aria softly replied, smiling at her younger sister to let her know that she believed her.
"Sorry Ari." Sonata replied as she glanced behind her sister and at Adagio, who was walking on the beach now.
"It's ok. But you have to apologize to her, not to me." Aria softly explained again once she got Sonata's attention again.
"I know." Sonata quietly said.
"How bad does your arm hurt?" Aria asked, now focusing her attention on Sonata's arm that had been hit with the beach ball.
"Not bad. It just stings." Sonata answered. She showed her sister her right arm and the spot where the ball had hit her. She had a pretty large red mark on her arm from the ball.
"That's normal, considering the red mark on your arm." Aria replied after looking at Sonata's arm.
"Ok." Sonata answered.
"Come on. Let's go back to where we were sitting so you can apologize to Adagio." Aria softly explained as she turned to begin walking towards the beach again.
"Will you make her apologize to me?" Sonata asked, following her sister.
"You bet I will." Aria answered as she continued walking.
"Can I say sorry before she does?" Sonata asked again as she moved to walk beside Aria when the water became more shallow.
"If you want to you can." Aria answered, looking over at her younger sister and smiling at her as they reached the edge of the beach and put their flip flops back on to walk over to where their stuff was.
"What if she tries to hurt me?" Sonata asked as they made their way over to Adagio.
"She won't. I'll make sure of that. Just nicely apologize to her and then she can apologize to you." Aria softly answered, they continued walking.
"Adagio." Aria said when they reached where their towels were, Adagio was sitting on hers again.
"Oh great. I suppose you've come to yell at me for what I did wrong." Adagio flatly stated as she looked up at Aria and Sonata with a flat expression.
"No." Aria replied, "But she does have something she wants to say to you." she continued, gesturing to Sonata, who was standing beside her.
"This better be important." Adagio explained, she was clearly still mad at Sonata for what she did.
"Ok. Go ahead." Aria said to Sonata.
"I'm sorry I threw the ball at you and said I didn't care about you Dagi. I didn't mean it. I was just mad." Sonata explained, apologizing to her oldest sister for her actions.
"It's fine. I guess." Adagio replied, not that she cared.
"Ok your turn now." Aria said to Adagio when Sonata finished.
"What? Why should I apologize to her?" Adagio asked, trying to make it seem as though she'd done nothing wrong.
"Because you started the argument. Now apologize. She did, it's surely not that hard." Aria explained flatly, demanding Adagio apologize.
"Fine. I'm sorry Sonata. I didn't mean to throw the ball so high and I'm sorry I threw it at you too hard when you weren't ready." Adagio explained as she half-heartedly apologized to Sonata, even though she found it dumb.
"It's ok Dagi." Sonata replied, forgiving her oldest sister.
"Now hug each other." Aria explained.
"Oh no. I am not hugging her. Apologizing was enough." Adagio quickly exclaimed, not wanting to hug Sonata.
"Aw. Please Dagi?" Sonata begged, sticking out her bottom lip in an attempt to persuade her sister, even though she knew Aria only went for her lip thing.
"Put the lip away. You know it doesn't work on me." Adagio explained, looking at Sonata.
"She just wants to hug you." Aria explained, she and Sonata both sat down on their towels.
"Fine. Not a long one though." Adagio replied flatly, moving forward a little so Sonata and her could hug.
"It won't be. She'll hug until she gets uncomfortable." Aria explained again, watching her sisters.
"Yay!" Sonata excitedly said as she moved towards Adagio a little bit to hug her oldest sister.
Adagio and Sonata hugged each other for about ten seconds before Sonata pulled away when she got uncomfortable with the hug. Once they were finished hugging, Sonata moved her towel so it was touching Aria's and then moved closer to her older sister to sit beside her as Aria put her sunglasses back on. They'd been at the beach for almost an hour and would probably be leaving within the next half hour, as Adagio had to head home and get dinner started before it got too dark.
"What do you want to do now?" Aria asked Sonata, they were both sitting on their towels with their backs turned to Adagio, who'd gone back to reading her book.
"I don't know. What else is there to do on a beach?" Sonata said, asking what else they could do while at the beach.
"We could draw in the sand." Aria suggested, showing Sonata what she meant by drawing a small happy face in the sand in front of her towel.
"Ooh. Let's do that, it looks like fun." Sonata excitedly said as she did what her older sister was doing.
"Ok." Aria replied, smiling that her younger sister was happy again.
"Dagi do you want to draw with us?" Sonata asked a couple minutes later, turning back to look at Adagio for a second to see if she wanted to draw in the sand with her and Aria.
"No thank you. I'm perfectly fine with what I'm doing." Adagio answered without looking up at Sonata from her book.
"Here, put this back on your head. Forgot to get you to do that." Aria explained to Sonata when she turned back around, handing her hat to her again.
"Ok Ari." Sonata replied, taking her hat from her sister's hand and putting it back on her head, a little upset that Adagio wouldn't draw with them.
"Hey. If she wants to be a party pooper, let her. You apologized to her and that's the main thing." Aria softly explained to her younger sister, seeing she was upset about what Adagio'd said.
"I really wanted her to draw with us though." Sonata said, looking over at Aria.
"I know you did." Aria replied softly, "But she doesn't want to and I can't make her." she continued, smiling at her younger sister.
"Yeah I know." Sonata replied before turning back to what she was drawing and continuing to draw it.
"What are you drawing?" Aria softly asked Sonata, more interested in drawing with her sister than ignoring her like Adagio was, as Aria never liked ignoring Sonata.
"A flower." Sonata answered, moving her hand so her older sister could see her flower that she'd drawn in the sand.
"Aw, it's a cute flower." Aria replied when she saw the flower, "it looks just like me." she playfully said to her younger sister, knowing it'd make her happy again.
"What? No it doesn't Ari. It looks like a flower." Sonata asked, giggling a little at what her sister'd said.
"You're right. It looks like you, not me." Aria teasingly said to her younger sister again.
"I'm not a flower either Ari." Sonata replied, giggling a little again.
"Sure you are." Aria said, giggling a little with her younger sister.
"Ok." Sonata said, drawing another flower in the sand, "Look." she said when she finished, showing her older sister the second flower.
"Now that flower looks exactly like me. Perfect." Aria replied, playfully teasing Sonata again that the flower looked like her.
"I know." Sonata said.
"Can she be a flower to?" Aria asked, gesturing to Adagio.
"Sure." Sonata answered before turning and drawing a third flower in the sand, "There." she said when she showed her sister the flower after she finished it.
"Looks just like her. You should show her." Aria explained to Sonata, saying that she should show their oldest sister the flowers.
"I would, but she won't look." Sonata said, looking back at her oldest sister.
"She will if I make her." Aria replied, winking at her sister, letting her know she'd get Adagio's attention. This caused Sonata to smile at her.
"Hey." Aria said as she poked Adagio's book to get her attention.
"What?" Adagio flatly asked without looking up.
"Sonata wants to show you the flowers she drew." Aria explained to Adagio, waiting for her to look up.
"No thanks." Adagio flatly answered, again without looking up.
"Give me this." Aria said taking Adagio's book, "Look at her flowers and then you can have it back." she added when Adagio shot her an angry look.
"Fine." Adagio replied, sitting up to look at Sonata's flowers.
"Don't wreck them either. Just look." Aria explained again, turning back so she was facing Sonata's flowers and making sure Adagio wouldn't wreck them because she was mad.
"See Dagi." Sonata said, showing Adagio the flowers she'd drawn.
"Yeah. I see." Adagio flatly answered, looking at the flowers with little amusement.
"This one's me, that one's Ari and then that one's you." Sonata explained as she pointed to each flower and said who it was.
"Sonata we aren't flowers. We're people." Adagio flatly explained, not playing along with the flower thing.
"But Ari said we were flowers!" Sonata exclaimed, pointing to Aria, who was ready to step in if she needed to.
"She lied to you then. We aren't." Adagio explained again, going back to her own towel to lay down on it again.
Aria was going to say something to Adagio to make her stop until she saw that Sonata was upset again and working herself up about what Adagio'd just told her. So instead Aria handed Adagio's book back to her and then turned and gently slid closer to calm her down and keep her from panicking.
"Hey, you're ok." Aria softly whispered to Sonata while reaching over and beginning to gently rub her back to calm her down.
"But she, said that-" Sonata was interrupted by the fast breaths she was taking.
"Shh, it's ok. I know what she said. But you know it's not true. Just take a little bit and calm down ok." Aria softly explained again, continuing to rub her younger sister's back.
Sonata didn't answer, she just turned and gently hugged her older sister while she tried to calm down so she'd be able to talk again, because she wasn't crying, she just rested her head on Aria's right shoulder and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. While rubbing Sonata's back and whispering to her to calm her down, Aria reached over with her right hand and began to draw two flowers that were hugging each other, which portrayed her and Sonata, but she left out a third flower.
"W-What are you doing Ari?" Sonata quietly asked as she turned her head to try and see what her sister was drawing.
"Drawing us as flowers again." Aria answered, continuing to draw and still rubbing Sonata's back.
"But we aren't flowers." Sonata replied, looking away from Aria was drawing and now resting her head underneath Aria's chin and looking over at Adagio.
"Just because she said we weren't doesn't mean that we still can't have fun and imagine that we are. She just doesn't have an imagination" Aria softly explained, pausing from her drawing and looking down at Sonata to reassure her that it was fine if she wanted to think they were flowers.
Again, Sonata didn't answer her, she just stayed the way she was and thought about what Aria'd told her, continuing to watch Adagio, knowing her oldest sister had told her something that wasn't true but also something that had upset her. She knew her older sister would never lie to her and that what Adagio'd said wasn't true, but she still never liked it when Adagio told her that Aria'd said or done something to her that she'd never do. Aria left her be for a bit and went back to continue her drawing in the sand, deciding to show it to her sister once she finished it.
“See. This is what I was drawing.” Aria softly said when she finished her drawing a couple minutes later, getting her sister’s attention to show her.
“What are they doing?” Sonata asked after trying to figure out what the flowers were doing.
“They’re hugging, just like you and me.” Aria answered, showing her sister what the flowers were doing.
“Are they supposed to be you and me?” Sonata asked, wanting to know if the flowers were actually supposed to be her and Aria.
“If you want them to be then sure.” Aria answered again, smiling at her younger sister.
“Yeah.” Sonata replied, returning her older sister’s smile.
“Ok. Then they can be you and me. She doesn’t have to know about it either.” Aria explained, gesturing to Adagio and saying they didn’t have to tell her that time.
“Ok.” Sonata said, staying close to Aria but turning back to draw in the sand again. Aria watched her for a few seconds but then also continued to draw in the sand.
*10 MINUTES LATER*
“Alright come on you two. Let’s go home. I have to get dinner started and do a couple other things.” Adagio said as she put her book away and then stood up to fold her towel up.
“Ok. Come on Sonata.” Aria said as she stood up and began to fold up her own towel.
“Ok.” Sonata replied, doing the same as her older sisters, or at least, trying to. She was folding her towel but was picking up sand while she did, as she wasn’t used to folding something on sand.
“Hey. You are not putting all that sand in my car.” Adagio explained flatly when she saw the sand being folded into Sonata’s towel. “Unfold the towel and start over.” she added when Sonata looked up.
“Oh come on. It’s a beach, there’s sand everywhere and sand on everything. A little bit in your car isn’t the end of the world.” Aria flatly explained, defending her younger sister, gesturing for her to wait before unfolding her towel again.
“Aria that’s not a little sand. That’s a lot of sand. She has two whole handfuls in her towel already.” Adagio explained, since Aria clearly hadn’t seen how much sand was in Sonata’s towel.
“No I don’t!” Sonata exclaimed.
“I don’t care. You’re still unfolding it and redoing it. I don’t want you coming over to the car until there’s no sand in that towel.” Adagio explained before turning and walking away in the direction of her car.
“But-” Sonata started but then stopped, deciding not to argue further. She sat back down on her knees to fold her towel again and her eyes started to tear up a little.
“Hey it’s ok. We won’t leave you here. I’m staying here with you until you’re done.” Aria softly explained, kneeling down next to Sonata and gently reaching over and rubbing her back to reassure her that she wouldn’t get left behind. Since that was most likely what she was getting upset about.
“But, there’s hardly any sand in here.” Sonata said, showing her sister the very small amount of sand in her towel.
“Yeah I know. I think her making you do this again is dumb to.” Aria explained, taking Sonata’s side, as she always did.
“I don’t want to fold it all over again.” Sonata explained, saying she didn’t want to start over and fold again.
“Then don’t.” Aria replied, “Let me see it.” she added.
“Ok.” Sonata said, handing her towel to her older sister.
“Next time she wants you to do that, just go like this.” Aria explained as she shook Sonata’s folded towel out to get the sand out. “That way she won’t get mad.” she finished as she handed Sonata back her towel.
“Oh, ok.” Sonata said.
“Alright, let’s go.” Aria softly said, waiting for her sister to stand up before walking over to where Adagio’s car was parked.
When the two got to Adagio’s car, they put their towels in the back and then got into Adagio’s car and put their seat belts on. Once they were situated, Adagio took her car out of park and pulled out of the beach parking lot and they headed for home so she could get dinner started and finish her housework.