Maddie assumed a villainous voice when she said, “The world would be mine! Doom and chaos and purple glitter everywhere!” She cackled evilly, before resuming her normal self and sticking her tongue out at her brother.
Smirking, she gave him a shove. “Purple's not all that girly. Not unless you use a really light shade. This room looks like a box of Nerds.” She nodded, remembering how that particular candy – one of her favorites – had often come with the pink and purple flavors separated. “Man, I miss Nerds,” she added, getting off topic for a moment, but snapping back to attention when DJ continued on about his boring cell. “You're the boringest person who ever bored,” Maddie agreed, mirroring the grin. “Maybe one of these days I'll sneak into your room and paint it for you. Neon yellow, maybe. Or cerulean.” She enunciated the word, although she wasn't entirely sure which color that was. It sounded good, though.
Maddie nodded. She liked birds more, but the cats were adorable and easy to keep up with. “Good point,” she agreed, pointing at him. An unexpected grin came when Caitie's reaction replayed in her head. She ducked her head, unsure why she felt like her expression looked goofy. “Yeah. She did. Totally didn't expect a box of kittens to be dumped on her.” The cuteness of the moment would be hard to forget.
“I can try. I don't know if I have the patience to train them, though.” She wasn't even good at obedience, so she doubted she'd have much luck teaching something else to be obedient. An evil giggle came when DJ admitted to remembering the whole ordeal. “You were the funniest seven year old ever that day, Poopy Pants.”
Creativity was the one thing Maddie had, too, although it was in a different form than DJ's. “You've got your brains, too. So that's two things.” Of course, Gordy had been the genius in the family, but he wasn't around anymore... Maddie quickly derailed her train of thought before it went any further than that. Instead she focused on the cat. “Oh, she's totally agreeing with me, no question about it. That one's the only one who immediately comes to me when I call her.”
Maddie shrugged. She knew he had issues about standing out or looking weird or whatever. They were the opposite of her issues, so it made it hard to understand sometimes; how DJ could want to blend in when being noticed was so much better. “Suit yourself. I think you'd look cool with green hair, but whatever.” She wouldn't pressure him into doing it, not if he really didn't want to.
“I can get those--” Too late, though. Maddie sat back and chewed on her lip. So much for her internal debate. How did she even begin to explain what she'd done to something that was so personal to him? “They're... That tree poem? I figured out that it wasn't really about trees.” She reached out to take the papers. “And the only way I could do that was to put it in a way that I could understand it.” She shrugged a shoulder, realizing she was starting to mumble. “Poems aren't that much different than songs, and I get music, so... I kinda turned this one into a song.” Maddie risked a glance at her brother's face, worried now that he'd be mad at her for using his poem without permission.