“…You want us to what?”
“Just pull ourselves separate.“
The Repairman pinched between his eyes.
“Look, we tried moving separately with Kit…”
“Exactly! We just need to be a bit more forceful!”
“…No…”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“…Well, how about using a knife to painstakingly get your paint and my ink separate, or maybe evaporate ourselves, or…?”
He sighed.
“Getting pulled apart it is.”
* * *
“Now, then, you’re clear on what we’re doing?”
The blended duo looked at the large tree that stood before them, and the absurdly huge wind-up elephant that the Repairman set up.
“Right…” Marie mused, “So one of us holds onto the tree, and the other one holds on to the elephant, until we’re finally split?”
“More or less. Now…” the Repairman began. It was still a challenge to admit his sister would be better in some respects, but he was trying. “…Y-you’re the stronger of us, so keep your grip firmly on that tree, okay?”
Marie nodded, and the blob got into position, with one arm wrapped several times around one of the massive roots, and the other winding the elephant up.
“Uh, Repairman?”
“Yeah?”
“Where…did you get a life-sized elephant toy?”
“Oh, that’s a funny story. It all started when–”
Too late. The elephant was moving, and the Repairman threw all of his energy into hanging on to its leg. Both blot and spatter felt themselves stretching. One half of the blob was becoming blacker. The other half was becoming bluer. Slowly but surely, it looked like the plan was working.
Then the Repairman’s grip began to slip. The two were seconds away from snapping back together.
“NO!” he grunted, pulling a huge horseshoe magnet from his hammerspace. This was not going to be his fault!
The stronger pull towards the metal toy, however, had other ideas. Marie’s grip never loosened, but the tree began to. As the Repairman focused on stretching them apart, Marie looked up in dread as the tree began to topple.
“TIMBER!” she screamed.
“Wha…?” the Repairman began, as the tree was about to land on them.
WHAM!
Siblings-a-Fixin' 