Silent Sister

-years earlier-

As Limestone stood at the train station with her family, there was only one emotion that was dominating her mind: pissed off. Limestone was more pissed off than usual because she was at the train station with Marble and their parents to bid Maud farewell, Maud had packed her bags that morning after breaking the news the previous week that she would be moving to live in the same town as Pinkie. This pissed off Limestone to no end because she never really had a massive connection to her sisters, Maud and Pinkie were always besties and Marble never spoke, so there was never really a well established dynamic between her and any of her sisters and now she was going to be left alone with the only Pie sister that never spoke a word. As the train left the station Limestone just wore a scowl, she didn't even know why Maud and Pinkie were so close, they were both so opposite so it was a wonder why their personalities didn't clash and it wasn't like they were fucking or anything like that, so why were they best sister friends forever?

Limestone decided she didn't care even though she did as she started making her way back home with her parents and her sister, Marble. Limestone just seethed in anger and decided to blame Marble for her obvious disdain for the whole situation, whether she liked it or not she was going to get Marble to speak and maybe actually have some kind of sisterly bond with her that didn't involve farming rocks. The following evening, Limestone and Marble were out in the south field looking for geodes together, the air was still and silent, the only sound was the collision of their pick axes against the boulders they were cracking open looking for any sign of a crystal structures or other precious substances. Limestone looked over at her sister and shuffled uncomfortably, Limestone was never very good with people due to her short temper and having only really been around her family for almost her entire life, which should have made her attempts to get Marble to open up to her easier, though really it just made her feel more awkward than anything.

Limestone swallowed and said "So... sis, you... read any good books lately?" Marble just looked at her with an eyebrow raised in confusion, like she didn't get why Limestone was even asking her such a strange and out of the blue question during work. Limestone stared back waiting for an answer and when she didn't get one she pressed further, "Look I'm just trying to strike up a conversation while we work, help the time go by, anything you wanna talk about?" Marble thought for a second before shaking her head and getting back to striking against the rocks in the ground. Limestone sighed and did the same, she figured that it was pointless to try and get her silent sister to break the silence through words, then again this was the one and only time she had ever tried to get some kind of dialogue between her and her sister. The unfortunate thing was that Limestone began to wonder if it was somehow her fault that Marble never spoke and her personal insecurities just strengthened more than anything, she shook her head and steeled her determination, if Maud and Pinkie could be close sisters, then so could she and Marble, she'd make it happen.

The next day they were in the north field, tasked with collecting all the obsidian they could find. Obsidian was extremely rare on the farm due to lack of volcanic activity and the fact that obsidian broke down so easily, however it seemed that obsidian was present and somewhat valuable on the farm and so they tried to find as much as possible. Luckily, this gave Limestone the perfect opportunity to get Marble to speak, this task would likely take all day if they were to find an acceptable amount of obsidian and there had to come a point where it would basically become so routine that Marble would be able to split her attention between the work and the simple act of talking. As they were shoveling into the ground, Limestone went "So, think we'll find much obsidian today?" Marble just shrugged and carried on, which was better than nothing, at the very least she had responded without questioning why Limestone was even talking to her. Limestone figured that was as good a start as any and decided to try and come up with more "word-provoking" lines of conversation that would likely force Marble into speaking, something more direct that wasn't a question, as she wrestled with what to say she came up with something simple as she said "It's very quiet out here...", there was a long pause.... which became a longer pause... which was then just silence, Marble didn't even show that she had registered what. Perhaps that statement was perhaps a bit too simple, Limestone decided to ask Marble a direct question that would make a verbal response necessary, she said "So Marble, what's your favorite food?"

Marble shrugged, Limestone went further, "Favorite color?" Marble shrugged, "Favorite weather?" Marble shrugged, "Favorite rock?" Marble shrugged. This was going nowhere and Limestone was just getting more and more pissed off, was there nothing that could get her sister to talk even if it were just one word?!?! Limestone decided to just come right out and ask Marble that very question as she went "Will you ever just fucking talk to me?! Why are you always so silent for fuck's sake?!?! What do I have to do to have a proper conversation with you? You're my sister so please for the love of all that is holy just say something to me!!!" Marble just stared at Limestone with wide eyes, she knew Limestone had a short temper but her sudden aggression towards her silent attitude was something she wasn't really expecting, Marble opened her mouth and tried to force her voice to leave her throat. Limestone, for a moment, looked hopeful that Marble would talk and that they'd finally be able to build up some kind of familial connection at last, though that hope died as Marble just choked on the words she was attempting to say. Limestone could see Marble just wasn't going to speak and if she couldn't make it happen, she didn't see why she should continue bothering, clearly Marble was able to talk but just didn't want to, not even with her own sister.

Limestone threw her shovel to the cartload of obsidian they had both collected and went "Look, just... just fucking forget it OK? Obviously it's not happening and we've collected enough fucking rocks so let's just... let's just go home OK?" Limestone aggressively grabbed onto the handle of the cart and began pushing it back to the house, with Marble shyly following behind. As soon as they got in, Limestone marched to her own bedroom so she could do the sensible thing of wallowing in her internal rage in order to do the much more sensible thing of masking her true feelings of despair, weakness, confusion, jealousy, betrayal, self-loathing and a mixture of other complex emotions that she didn't have words for. Marble felt bad about the whole thing as she shuffled her way through the corridor to her own bedroom, she didn't know why she found it so difficult to talk when she was very clearly capable of doing so, Limestone was her sister after all, she should have been able to talk to her at the very least despite how aggressive Limestone could be. Marble never talked to her parents either, she just couldn't bring herself to talk and for the life her, she couldn't figure out the reason.

The next morning arrived and as they family sat down to eat some soup, things were still a little awkward between Limestone and Marble, their parents were unfortunately unaware of the tense atmosphere as they engaged in their regular morning conversation over breakfast before moving on to discussing what work needed doing that day. Marble and Limestone were to head out to the eastern field that day to harvest all the metamorphic rocks there, as well as calculate the possible yield of igneous and sedimentary rocks that they were planning on harvesting within the next few months. This time Limestone stayed true to her decision of accepting that Marble simply wasn't interested in trying to build up some kind of rapport with her, it was pointless to try and get her sister to speak for the sake of saving and maintaining a sisterly bond if her sister couldn't even force herself to talk in order to do so, so she did the only other thing she could do, work. Marble however was waiting for the perfect moment to try and connect with Limestone in some way, Marble wasn't exactly the best at showing her emotions either which was the only common ground she seemed to share with her sister, though she figured that if she couldn't communicate with her sister verbally then maybe she needed a more physical approach.

When Limestone lifted a particularly big rock onto the cart she took a rest to wipe the sweat off her brow and get her breath back, Marble sensed that this would be the best moment to try and reconcile with her sister, it was unlikely she would relax like this again. Marble walked up to Limestone and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, Limestone reacted instantly, she looked at Marble' s hand, then looked at Marble's face before adopting an extremely displeased look on her face. Lime stone slapped the hand away and said "Take your fucking hand off me", Marble stood back, this wasn't exactly the response she was hoping for or expecting , Limestone continued and went "Go on! You heard! Get the fuck away from me!" Limestone pushed Marble forcefully, causing her to tumble to the ground, Marble looked at Limestone, confused and upset as to why she was acting this way. Limestone just glared at her and said "Come on, let's get back to work already..." and started hauling stones off the ground and into the cart, Marble decided it was probably best that she did the same. The next few hours dragged on incredibly slowly, magnifying the sound of the rocks as they were thrown into the cart, the atmosphere was incredibly tense and only got more tense the longer the silence between them persisted. When they were finally done, they both started dragging the cart to the home together, without a single word.

When Limestone got a moment alone in her to room to relax she threw her face into her hands, the instant she had pushed Marble to the ground for the considerably kind act of simply trying to communicate her affection, she had regretted doing it. Why was her trying to be friends with her own sister so difficult? Limestone realized that perhaps the more she tried to befriend her sister, the more annoyed she'd get at her silence, which in turn would only push her away even more, the complete opposite of what she had originally tried to achieve. Limestone thanked her lucky stars that she was emotionally repressed enough that she didn't break down and cry, that would draw too much unwanted attention from her parents, she simply sat in her room and tried to have a nap in the hopes she would feel better when she woke up. The next day, Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock had said that they were going to gone for a few days because they were going to be delivering some rocks to a sculptor who had offered to pay very handsomely for the finest stone they had to offer, before they left they ensured that Limestone and Marble had enough food and drink to last and provided a clear checklist of chores, including the first chore of the day which happened to be discarding rocks in the west field that were of low quality and value that held no obvious use. Today Limestone decided that it was her turn to try and show Marble some affection by doing what she considered to be one of the hardest things in the world other than wrestling with her own demons every night, she was going to apologize.

As they were simply throwing the unwanted rocks in any direction they wanted, Limestone came to the conclusion that there was never really going to be a right time to say sorry to Marble and steeled her determination as she went about it right there and then on the field so that she could just come to terms with the fact that her sister simply wasn't the talkative type. Limestone walked up to her sister and said "Hey Marble, you got a sec?" Marble put what she was doing on pause and looked at Limestone, unsure of whether or not to be worried about whatever it was that her sister was going to do, Limestone sighed and went "Look... I just wanna say... like... sorry about, the whole... thing y'know, yesterday when I pushed you... can you forgive me?" Marble gave a little smile and simply nodded as she returned to her work, she felt glad that her sister had seen fit to apologize and assumed everything had been smoothed over after that, she only found out that she was wrong when they returned home that day. That evening after dinner, Limestone was lying in bed and was feeling more conflicted than ever, she desperately wanted to connect with her sister but at the same time she also wanted to just be able to continue and accept that the kind of connection that Maud and Pinkie shared just wasn't possible between herself and Marble. Only one emotion came rising to the surface, the only emotion she was confident in and that was the only emotion that could successfully bury everything else she was feeling, Limestone was pissed off.

Limestone was pissed off that things were the way they were because it wasn't her fault, it was Marble's fault. She knew Marble could talk, she just never chose to, not even when talking could have potentially saved them both from all this heartache and suffering that might very well tear apart what little bond they had to begin with, there was nothing for it, she was going to confront Marble and force her to talk whether she liked it or not. Still in her pajamas, Limestone leapt out of bed and stormed over to Marble's room and simply kicked the door open to see a terrified Marble stood there in her own pajamas just as she was about to get into bed. Limestone walked over to her, grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her up against the wall before shouting in her face "Why?! Why don't you ever fucking talk?!?! Why is it that you can't even communicate with me?! I'm your sister! Tell me why you bitch!" Limestone's emotions were crashing together inside her mind and spilling out on top of her rage, tears began to flow freely down her cheeks as her breathing quickened rapidly, hints of despair showing through the mask of her anger. Marble wasn't sure what to do, she had to do something soon otherwise Limestone might explode or possibly even beat her up, she looked up and down Limestone's body, despite the pajamas being fairly loose they showed off the feminine curves that often went unnoticed due to her butch personality and slightly muscular physique.