Work Text:
The distant sound of footsteps. In the past, it would have meant one of two things to Sevika; that they were under attack or she had yet again awoken at the bed of a stranger.
Now though, it meant that it was time to get up and get cooking.
The task of getting out of bed with one hand did take some extra effort, but she wasn’t the type to complain. In order to hear a word of complaint from a Zaunite, something had to be truly wrong.
Admittedly, getting dressed was another matter entirely. Often she now found herself falling asleep with the same clothes she wore the following day. Less of a hassle that way.
The footsteps got more frequent and louder and just like clockwork, there was a knock on the door.
“I’m awake, I’m awake,” Sevika grunted in response as she opened the door and was greeted by a hearty grin and one hell of a mess of bed hair.
It was a strange thing. If she were to sit down and think about it, Isha hadn’t been part of their odd family for that long, but seeing her made it feel like she had always been there and always been part of it. Sevika didn’t have a way to put it all into words nor was she the sentimental type to say it out loud, but something about her made her restless heart beat that much calmer.
For her, she had always been part of their family.. She didn’t care what she had to do, she would do it just to see her grow up and be happy.
Isha reached out to grab Sevika by her wrist. The small hand couldn’t wrap itself around,, but it held onto the muscular arm as she started to guide Sevika out of her room and into their kitchen.
“I hope you slept well despite that snoring monster,” Sevika commented as she could hear it echo all the way to the hallway. She, or rather they, slept with the door open. Neither she or Isha were exactly fans of sleeping fully in the dark. After enough times of Isha running to sleep with Sevika, they had established some house rules. Doors were always allowed to be left open with no questions asked.
She remembered clearly the first time Isha had run crying to sleep with her. It had been one confusing and chaotic night. Sevika had asked why she didn’t want to sleep with Jinx and after learning some sign language she had learned the reason why.
It had taken ages for Jinx to get any real shut eye, to sleep peacefully for the first time since…well, forever, really. Isha had tiptoed her way into Sevika’s room, for her problems didn’t always have to be Jinx’s as well. The last thing she wanted was to wake her big sister, for once she was sleeping peacefully instead of crying and flailing like she so often did.
“Smart kid,” Sevika had thought to herself as she had lifted her blanket and let her sleep with her.
It felt good to have a reason to wake up that didn’t just include alcohol, tossing some cards, or paying someone to say the things you asked them to.
Isha shook her head. Pushing her hair behind her ears, she pulled out something from her ears and showed them to Sevika. She was proud of herself, judging by just how wide her grin was.
“Earplugs, huh?” She chuckled, ruffling that already messy hair to make it look even more chaotic. She made a mental note to get a comb out of Jinx’s room and make it a routine to at least untangle it. “Smart move. Just don’t shove them too deep or they can be hard to get out of there, okay?”
Isha grinned and nodded, running off into the kitchen.
Before following her there, Sevika took a peek into their room. There she was, arms and legs all spread out, snoring in a way that sounded like they had an engine of a zeppelin there. Sevika shook her head and wandered her way into the kitchen before Isha would come running to drag her there herself.
The fridge door was already open, with Isha tiptoeing to see what they had there.
“Not much, huh?” Sevika pointed out the obvious as she took a good look inside. There were still some leftover pieces from two nights ago. Opening the container, she lowered her hand and allowed Isha to smell it.
“What do you think? Edible?”
Sevika didn’t trust her nose that much these days. It had been kneed one too many times - mostly by a certain unnamed someone - and all the smoking she did in the past sure didn’t help with that. Luckily for her, Isha had senses as sharp as it got.
Isha was deep in her thoughts for a moment. She glanced upwards and grinned with a hearty nod.
Sevika smirked back at her. “I’ll take your word for it. What do you want for a drink?”
Isha put her right hand near her chin and repeated a motion of squeezing her hand into a fist and then relaxing it.
Sevika gestured to Isha to wait as she looked at a note that was magnetized on their fridge. Jinx had dubbed it ‘Sevika’s sign language words of the week’. “That’s…okay, orange it is. Good, we still have some left for you.”
Sevika felt something bumping against her hip. Isha clearly had something she wanted to add. Isha was pointing with her index fingers and thumbs sticking out before hitting them together. It was one of the first words Sevika had memorized.
Sister.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry. For the two of you,” Sevika apologized and handed the glass container with the juice to Isha.
It took both of her hands to carry it to the kitchen table, but now one part of their breakfast was at least ready. Sevika meanwhile was getting the cooking pan ready as she poured the leftover mystery meats onto it, followed up by some oil.
“Turn that one knob to five for me, okay?”
Attentive as ever, Isha did as asked.
“Thanks,” Sevika said as she put the pan down. It would take a while for it to heat up, given how old the appliance was. She didn’t really mind it, as mornings were in her opinion the best types there were. “Can you go and check on Ji-” she paused for a moment, not finishing what she was first going to say. “-your sister. She needs to eat too.”
Isha saluted her and ran upstairs. The similar sound of rapid footsteps from earlier again echoed in their now lively household.
Staring at the slowly cooking meat, Sevika let her thoughts linger. These moments of peace and quiet, somehow they didn’t feel the same as before. She didn’t exactly hate them per se, but at the same time, there was something unsettling about them as well.
“Not exactly the life you had imagined for me, huh?” Sevika looked at their fridge. There was a picture of her and Silco there. A man she had looked up to, living in a shadow to do his dirty work. “Well, it’s not all bad,” she said to herself, turning to look at the frying meat and then at the spices set aside. “She’s smart…hell, both of them are. Won’t be too long until I’m not needed here.”
The sound of footsteps got louder again as Isha made her way downstairs, but she was still alone.
Glancing over her shoulder, Sevika raised a brow. “She woke up?”
Isha shook her head, mimicking the sound of her snoring before giggling.
“Did you try poking her? That usually does the trick,” Sevika smirked to herself as she returned to cooking.
Isha huffed and stood beside her, shaking her head. She gestured something with her hands, but Sevika couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say. When Isha mimicked crying, she figured out what it was. No sudden movements; yet one of their internal house rules.
“Well, let’s make sure to save some for her though. She’s all skin and bones just like you.”
The smell of meat was getting to Isha’s nostrils. She was tapping at Sevika’s forearm to the beat of what sounded like some song, but more so was just excitement of getting to eat soon.
“What? It’s not ready yet,” Sevika said as she flipped the meats, seeing that parts of them still lacked the right coloring. She wasn’t maybe the best chef in town - or hell, even in their own household - but she wouldn’t cook anything that could get them sick, that much was guaranteed. “Two more minutes.”
As the two of them were focused on cooking, they hadn’t realized that the one woman in their household who had hair for days had made her way downstairs. Not exactly guided there by their nose unlike Isha, she leaned against a wall, watching the one handed mama bear and her little sister trying to decide which and how much spice was necessary to help the food go down with not just ease but taste too.
“Well-well,” Jinx clapped her hands together as she palmed a yawn and entered the kitchen proper. “Chef’s cookin’ a proper happy meal! Are you gonna ditch that counselor seat proposal all together and become a housewife instead?” she smirked, clearly all too happy at her own early morning wittiness.
“Ugh, shut up,” Sevika rolled her eyes. “I’m still thinking about it.” Sevika scooped up some of the meat with her spoon for Isha to taste test it, but when she looked down, she wasn’t there.
She wasn’t far away though, as she was hugging and clutching onto Jinx, rubbing her cheek up against her stomach. “Good morning to you too, little trooper,” Jinx tilted her head and smiled back at her.
It still felt odd somehow, to smile without having to force it. The growl coming out of Isha's stomach broke the otherwise sensual moment.
Sevika put her hand on Isha’s shoulder and pulled her back to her, gesturing her to get up on a standing stool to sample the food. “Careful, it’s hot,” she warned her as she picked up her spoon again and held it close to her mouth.
Turning her attention back onto Jinx, she added: “She’s hungry ‘cause you don’t feed her well. Just so you know, gummy worms don’t exactly provide a growing girl with what they need.”
Jinx blew some of her idle strands of her hair away from her face and hand waved it off. “Jees, lady. Okay, okay.”
Sevika frowned at her for a moment longer, but soon turned her attention back onto Isha. Gesturing for her to open up her mouth, she tipped a small piece of the meat into her mouth. “So, how is it? Edible?” she asked, crouching slightly to get more onto her level.
Isha was waving her arms around and even before she could ask anything, she was already holding onto a glass of water that Jinx had ready for her even before she had put the food into her mouth. “Careful, or you might burn your tongue. Don’t be like my big sister and let your hunger get the best of you. Candy doesn’t taste half as good if you burn your tongue.”
“So, good enough to eat or not?” Sevika asked.
Isha nodded and gave her two thumbs up after managing to swallow the still too hot piece down. Grabbing Jinx by her wrist, she tried to pull her to sit down with her, the glass of orange juice already positioned between their seats. Jinx was at first a bit hesitant as she felt like she had a conversation still going with Sevika, but soon yielded after Isha pulled at her hard enough to tip her balance.
“So if you wanna join, then sit down and keep quiet,” Sevika noted as she started to separate her meals onto three plates; one big, one medium and one small one. They still had some stains on them, but nothing too major. “And by the way,” she added as she put down the first plate; naturally that of Isha’s. “Here you go,” she said before glancing at Jinx. “It’s your turn to do the dishes.”
Isha blew on her plate, having learned from her previous mistake. Given how big the pieces were, cutlery was optional, and she decided to opt out,, instead eating with her hands.
Sevika stopped her, hand on her shoulder. “You washed your hands, right?”
Isha nodded back at her, balancing the plate with one hand and showing her the other one.
“Another one too.”
Isha tossed the plate from one hand to the next and showed it as well.
“Okay, all clean. Get chewing then,” she said, patting Isha on her back as she continued setting up the rest of the table. “So, are you joining us?”
Jinx folded her arms and shook her head. “Nah, I’ll eat in my room.” She didn’t want to say why, but she was working on something she wanted to keep a secret. Isha knew of it already, but they had made a pinkie promise not to tell Sevika about it. Replacement…replacement arm quite as complex as the one she needed did take some time, after all.
Sevika was reaching out to hand Jinx her plate, only to feel that familiar hand from before tugging at it. With a loud huff, Isha pulled both her and Jinx closer to one another.
“What the? Isha!”
Jinx was just as caught off guard and baffled as to what was going on in her mind, but soon she put two and two together. Sure, maybe they were an unusual family in more ways than one, but nothing could take away from the fact that they were still one. Not bound by blood, but by something much thicker.
Jinx sat down, slouching on the chair. She was tapping the dinner table with her metallic finger in the same tune as a song that was stuck in her head all week. Isha had barely started with her meal, but she was standing still, arms folded as she made huffing noises.
Jinx pulled her seat back a bit when Sevika placed her plate in front of her.
“Is it really so necessary?” Sevika asked as she soon sat down with her own plate, balancing a big coffee mug on top of it all.
Both Jinx and Sevika glanced at Isha and then at each other. When she was in this mindset, there was but one way to please her.
“I guess we ought to eat together now and then too, huh?” Jinx answered the obvious question hovering in the air. With a sigh, Jinx gestured for Isha to calm down. “If you want this sooooo badly.”
Isha was quickly back to her old, smiling self as she sat down on the edge of the dinner table, positioned between the two of them. Noticing how Jinx’s cup was empty, she put down her half eaten piece of mystery meat and gestured to it. Not needing a word of clarification, Jinx reached out for her empty glass and let Isha fill it up.
“Thanks,” she said, ruffling that already messy hair before stabbing a piece of meat on her plate with a fork. “Hey Sev,” she noted, blowing some of her hair away from her face to get a better look at the woman sitting on the opposite end of the table. “You sure this qualifies as edible? I think it’s still alive. Kinda cruel, even for you.”
Isha giggled at first, but then she started to look at the piece of meat she was chewing more closely. Before she got any new ideas, Sevika helped her by pushing the meat into her mouth and away from her curious gaze.
“Don’t give her any funny ideas,” Sevika grunted and tapped Jinx on her thigh under the table. “Never had to cook for anyone before you two came along,” she replied, taking a big bite of her own piece. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly the level of cooking to write home about, but it was…well, it went down with not too much effort. That’s where the praises ended.
“Actually, I was thinking,” Sevika added as she glanced at her coffee mug. It was empty. Shaking her head, she looked at how much orange juice was still left. Grabbing it, she gestured for Isha to fill it up too while she was at it. “You could take care of the food issue yourself. What do you think?”
Jinx huffed at the thought. Glancing at the two pairs of eyes now gazing back at her, she tilted her head to look at her plate. “I guess cooking isn’t exactly your strong suit, right?”
Sevika of the past would have had some stern words for speaking back to her like this, but now all she had to say was: “At least Isha seems to like it, so it can’t be all bad.”
Jinx glanced at her little sister in question. She was busy chowing down on the biggest piece on her plate. “Hey, smaller bites or you’ll get a stomach ache,” Jinx said, patting Isha on her cheek. Isha spat out the piece in her mouth and started to chew on it again, this time taking smaller and slower bites.
“A quick learner,” Jinx hummed as she caressed Isha’s shoulder through her oversized t-shirt. One of her sister’s old ones. They had quickly become a tight fit for her, with her rapid growth. It would take some time for Isha to grow into it, no doubt.
“She is,” Sevika said, giving the youngest of their family a brief smile. “Like someone else I know.”
Jinx still wasn’t used to genuine compliments like this, let alone from Sevika. Usually, every nice word was followed by some sort of request or a demand, but now it was said just for the sake of it. It felt alien still, but nice, much like a night without constant nightmares.
“I suppose so,” Jinx eventually said after staring at the piece of meat long enough. It didn’t go down her throat without some fight, but soon enough she too was starting to clean her plate. By far out of their group, she was the slowest eater, too often deep in her thoughts to remember that food didn’t go into her mouth on its own.
One by one, all of their plates were eventually cleaned. Isha was eager to help with the dishes, but Jinx was quick to distract her by giving her a task of coming up with some ideas for their next invention. There was a competition coming up and she was intent to grab the first prize.
“If we - no, when we win - we will split the money half and half. Sounds good, right?” Jinx grinned as she tossed crayons all over the dinner table. By the time they managed to find her some paper to draw on, Isha was already lost in her own world, tongue sticking out of her mouth as she drew childlike schematics from one paper to the next.
“That will keep her busy,” Sevika smirked, glancing at Isha over her shoulder.
“Yeah, for a little while,” Jinx replied as she opened the tap and began to clean up the stack of plates that had piled up there over the week. “She’s a smart one. I feel like she’s teaching me more at times than I am her.”
Sevika was helping out with the dishes, drying them with a towel before putting them elsewhere. “She really looks up to you, you know?” Sevika said, making sure to be quiet enough to not draw Isha’s attention. Not like it was a real worry to begin with, given how focused she was on the task quite literally at hand.
“I know, I know…” Jinx said, handing a plate to Sevika before grabbing another one. The messiest and the smallest one of the bunch. It was easy to spot which one belonged to Isha. “I kinda get it now.”
There was a brief pause. Sevika hesitated to ask for clarifications, letting the silence linger on for a brief longer.
“Why my sister acted the way she did back then. She felt responsible for us. For me. And now…” Jinx ran her fingers over the dirty plate, watching the bits and pieces of food stuck on it come off one by one. “...I feel the same way. There are few things I wouldn’t do to keep her safe.”
Sevika still didn’t say a word at first, as she instead grabbed the plate from Jinx’s hands. “I know how you feel,” she said, keeping her gaze focused on the plate so as to not draw too much attention from the other two.
“I doubt there’s a single person in Zaun who is living an easy or peaceful life, not even the damn Chembarons in their high thrones. I’ve seen more than my fair share of what a bad hand in life can do to a person.” She didn’t elaborate, but no Zaunite needed that. It was always there, in people’s eyes, or pained cries that could be heard in the night. Down in the slums, no one truly had it easy. It was just different tiers of shit for luck.
“But…whatever all of this is,” she paused again as she put the dried up plate into the cabinet. “It’s certainly not all too bad.”
“A lot less exciting than gambling and then spending your time with some girls who call you their daddy, huh?” Jinx grinned as she handed the plate she had just used to Sevika.
“Well, keeping my eye on you two rascals has some sense of excitement in it still,” Sevika let out a dry laugh. “And if I need my fill…well, you can keep an eye on Isha, right?”
Jinx winked back at her and nodded. “Yeah, no problem. Go ahead. Just give me heads up in advance, okay?”
“Of course.”
The two of them continued, the only sound filling the room being that of the running water and Isha’s grunting as she got stuck with her drawings.
“The food…” Jinx said as she handed the last plate to Sevika, turning around to lean against the kitchen sink, looking at Isha. Folding her arms, she tilted her head, those long braids swinging in unison with her. “Well…it wasn’t like…all bad. Will you cook for us tomorrow too?”
Sevika was caught by a surprise. She was happy that she wasn’t holding a plate in her hand at that moment or she could have easily dropped it. “Where’s this coming from?” she asked, tossing the towel over her broad shoulder. “Wait, did you just say something nice to me?”
Jinx scoffed and turned to look away from her. “Pfft, as if. You just misheard me, that’s all,” she mumbled under her breath. Another brief pause followed before she continued: “...I’m a bit busy with something, so I’d really appreciate it if you did. And it’s like you said,” Jinx said, smiling as she watched Isha draw what appreciated to be a bunny doll. “She really likes your cooking. Poor kid. Born without taste buds.”
That was as much of an admission as she’d ever dream of getting out of Jinx. “Well, since you asked so nicely, I’ll see what I can do. I’m gonna hit the market after my workout, anything you’d like in particular?”
Jinx walked over to Isha and tapped her on her shoulder. Isha quickly gathered all her drawings - finished and unfinished ones - and crayons before following her footsteps. Before they headed upstairs, Jinx looked at Sevika over her shoulder.
“I think I’m gonna take a page out of your book and gamble, Sev,” she smirked and waved goodbye. “Surprise me, mama bear.”
Sevika shook her head as she listened to the sound of footsteps again filling her ears.
“Hey, that looks really good. What are the ears made out of?”
If this was to be her future, then she’d welcome it. They - much like most Zaunites - didn’t have much, but they had each other. In that way, they were already rich.
Maybe this new life of hers wasn’t all bad after all.