The Odd Sister Out

Big Promises

I blinked tiredly, Tweak and I had been working on my biology homework for around 2 hours, and it was already half an hour past my bedtime. She would never admit it, but she needed Shellington's help for every single question she was "helping" me on, in addition to her ducking out of the room with her phone a few times.

"And that's the end of it!" Tweak sighed as I put my worksheet away. Her paw resting gently on my shoulder. She caught sight of my fatigue and chuckled, "I think it's time for someone to be getting ready for bed now."

"Can we play videogames for a little while?" I begged, "it's not that late." She seemed to be thinking critically about what she should do for a second. After a few seconds, she turned back to me and gave me the "you're not fooling me" look.

"It is 30 minutes past your bedtime." Tweak said like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.

"I know, but I'm not that tired." I tried to convince her.

"Cap told me 'bout the trick you pulled on him today." She seemed skeptical, "You're telling me that you got up at roughly  5 AM, plus you're still probably jet lagged, and you're not tired?"

"Nope."

"Alright," she sighed, "But one game, and only because it might tire you out enough so that you won't fight me when I try to put you to bed. What do you wanna play?"

"Minecraft?" I suggested, and I could see the gears in her head turning like they did whenever she got an idea for an invention; the thought popped into my head that I was going to hate it or love it.

"That sound's good, little hellhound, do you want me to make us a creative world, just the two of us? I could teach you redstone? She offered. I nodded enthusiastically, brimming with joy. I'd always wanted to learn how to do redstone properly, but whenever I tried, I usually blew something up.

"Whoops, can't forget your bag." She bent down and grabbed by backpack, as she did, Laika fell out, much to my embarrassment. I could feel my cheeks and insides burn in shame as I went to pick her up.

"Who's this?" Tweak asked curiously, picking Laika up, much to my horror. She examined Laika closely, and ran her paw gently over her fur.

"Her name's Laika." I glanced at Tweak, who was still fiddling around with Laika in her paws. Her paws were strong and rough with callouses but so, so, so gentle, kind of like she was herself.

"Oh? Why'd ya name her that?" Tweak raised her eyebrows and bounced her gently in her paw.

"After the first anthropomorphic to ever go to space." I answered.

"Oh, lil hellhound um...you know she-" Tweak seemed tentative to reveal a truth I already knew.

"died?" I finished for her; oh yeah, I knew.

"How'd you know?" Tweak seemed confused, "Usually people tell their kids after they've grown up about somethin like this."

"My parents didn't." I answered back, "My uncle told me when I was 4. He said that Laika would probably want to be on Earth again. I named her Laika so she could be on Earth again."

"Ah, so your whole family's as kind and as clever as you and your sisters are; what was I expecting?" Tweak smiled and ruffled my hair a little. "Well, I think it's time to fire up the controllers then go to bed, how bout you? Wanna play with me for a while?" I nodded enthusiastically, and Tweak went to set up the controllers.
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I wasn't sure how long Tweak had been playing for, but after a while, I started getting sleepy. I leaned up against Tweak and buried my face into her fur.

"Oh, I think it's someone's bedtime." My eyes were closed, but I could hear the amusement in her voice, and I felt large, sturdy, warm arms wrapping around me and hoisting me up. She carried me over to her bed, and I felt her gently lay me down and kiss my head goodnight. I slowly drifted off to sleep with the sound of Tweak playing videogames and feeling so warmed and loved. Tweak wasn't my parents' child but she was my sister, no matter what.