Black as coal

The sulking obsidian girl entered the room just as her brother sneezed, sending up a shower of sooty dust into the air. Dusk dropped the short shovel as her mouth dropped open, sending it clattering to the ground loudly. "You're making a bigger mess!" She didn't want to clean in the first place, and now there was even more to clean!

Grumpily, Dusk grabbed the shovel and moved forward towards the fireplace. Whose idea was it to clean out a fireplace? How did you even clean out a fireplace? The girl plunked the shovel down into the bucket that Kea had brought, her brows drawn together. That was, until she looked up at his face. Fire opal eyes blinked in surprise, then Dusk dropped to the floor and laughed heartily, kicking her hind paws and wrapping her forelegs around her middle. "Kea," she squeaked through her laughter, "Your whole face is black!"

"Dusk Carpathius"