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Caitlyn held a sleeping Isha in her arms. It was around 7pm, and Caitlyn usually never let Isha take a nap. But she was sure the little girl wouldn't be able to stay up so late if she didn't sleep a little. Caitlyn considered having Isha sleep the whole night anyways, but she was Jinx's daughter and Caitlyn wasn't gonna insult her girlfriend by trying to tell her that it might now be healthy for the girl. It was only one night, so Caitlyn was sure Isha would trooper through.
"I'm just saying, when I was her age I was shooting fireworks all by myself!"
Caitlyn sighed, rubbing Jinx's hair as they walked down the street.
"Need I remind you of that?"
Caitlyn reached down and poked Jinx's metal finger.
"That was a mistake"
"You've been walking around with 9 fingers for 15 years now!"
"And I make it work"
Jinx raised her metal finger, winking at Caitlyn.
"Disgusting.."
"Yeah.. I'm sure that's what you're thinking."
"She can hear us in her sleep."
-
The lanes family had a long standing tradition, some sort of game they played where brining the most fireworks for new years meant you won. After having dropped Isha off with Vander, Caitlyn and Jinx went back to the apartment and grabbed the huge wagon.
"I'm not sure it'll be easy getting all of this all the way to the under city."
Jinx had a cheat code this year. Caitlyn's never ending supply of money.
"Caitlyn! Think about how surprised Vander is gonna be when I show him all of this stuff!"
For the first couple of years Vander always won, not a lot of fireworks were given to kids. But as they got older, he still won. Mylo won one year but Vander only kept by a couple. Other than that, it's always been Vander. Jinx wanted to win!
"Fine fine.. I'll help you. But this won't be an every year thing.. this is excessive spending that we shouldn't make a habit of.. even if I'm filthy rich as you say.. bad habits make poor families."
"Yes ma'am! Just this year!"
Jinx gave a fake salute and started pushing the wagon.
-
"You know kid, when your mama was little-"
Ekko sat on a lawn chair, drinking soda while Vander set up the grill. Vi, Claggor, and Mylo haven't shown up yet. In front of the lawn chair, sat another chair with a little girl that hardly took up the space.
"She snuck a firework from Vander's pile, and brought it to me. So me n'her, we went to the back alley. I grabbed some lighter from my old man and gave it to her. She dropped the firework and bam! Her finger went flying!"
Ekko pushed his hands forward, before laughing at the girl's strained cry.
"Aww don't worry, she's learned her lesson."
"I swear- that girl screamed her head off for like an hour"
Vander shook his head, checking the coal.
"I thought somebody died"
"She thought she was gonna"
Ekko leaned back against the chair, bringing the can to his lips.
"Hey, careful with where all that smoke's going."
"Relax.. I know I know."
Fires in the undercity were always pretty dangerous, the smoke didn't always have somewhere to go.
"I think I hear Mylo's speaker, go make sure he's not gonna cause trouble Ekko"
"Yeah"
Ekko sighed as he stood, pressing the cold can to isha's forehead.
"Stay in grandpa Vander's sight."
"Don't call me that"
"See ya gramps"
Ekko walked off, towards Mylo and some girl on his arm.
"Who's this?"
"Oh you know.."
Mylo nodded, handing the speaker to Ekko and walking out of ear shot.
"No. I don't know.."
Ekko walked back towards the group, turning the speaker down when he heard the yells from the street. He turned his head and spotted-
"No fucking way."
He placed the speaker down, next to the lawn chairs.
"Vander, look at that"
Ekko tapped him, pointing to the street.
"Is that Jinx?"
"Look what she's pushing"
"No way"
He laughed.
"We brought fireworks!"
Jinx ran towards the group, jumping into Vander's arms and leaving Caitlyn to push the wagon alone.
"Tell me that's not all yours"
"It is!"
Jinx cackled in Vander's arms before wiggling out and picking Isha up.
"Look at all those fireworks Isha.."
She pointed at each box in the wagon.
"And.. I win!"
She spun around, parading Isha around the area. Mylo groaned, he had a couple of boxes in his hand but it was clear he wasn't trying to win this year.
-
Claggor and Vi arrived at different times, each with a bunch of fireworks. Not quite beating Jinx though.
"I mean, technically Caitlyn wins"
Mylo reached for a can of beer but Vi slapped his hand.
"You're still 20"
She grabbed the can herself and drank it slowly.
"I'm 21??"
Mylo reached and grabbed another can, shaking his head.
"Anyways. As I was saying, Caitlyn paid for all that no? So she won"
Jinx gasped, holding Isha in her lap as Mylo spoke.
"Preposterous!"
Mylo raised an eyebrow at her vocabulary.
"Wh-"
"I worked very hard for those fireworks!"
"You know-"
Claggor landed in his chair, the loud squeak covering his voice for a second.
"I agree with Mylo. Caitlyn won, not you"
“That's silly!"
Caitlyn and Vander were busy putting everything in place and away from the fire, separate from
the argument.
"This is quite a lot of fireworks"
"Hm?"
"I'm just saying, are you sure you're alright with spending all this on new years?"
Caitlyn smiled softly.
"Oh it's alright really, I just want to be included. We won't spend this much each year I promise.. it was just sort of like.. my introduction since me and Jinx well.."
"It's alright kid, I'm not here to tell you to leave my daughter alone or anything. She's happy, and that's what I'm glad for."
“Thank you Vander..”
Caitlyn felt her eyes misting as she smiled wide.
-
“Look, you do it like this”
Ekko raised the bean bag towards Caitlyn, before standing straight and bringing it back. He swung his arm forward and launched the bean bag. It landed directly in the hole.
“Yeah!”
Mylo jumped, pumping his fist into the air and shaking Jinx teasingly.
“Take that-“
“Shut up, Caitlyn hasn’t taken her turn yet”
“Look at her arm, she’s never played this before”
Caitlyn tossed her beanbag, it landed way off the board and past Mylo and Jinx.
“Don’t.”
Jinx turned to Mylo. Everyone in the family knew jinx was a sore loser, they also knew that Mylo was a sore winner. It’s not always smart putting them in different teams.
“Relax Jinx. I’ve grown.”
Mylo brings a hand to his heart, nodded solemnly. His frown dissipated though, when Caitlyn missed again.
“You got this!”
Jinx gritted her teeth, giving Caitlyn a thumbs up as Mylo snickered.
Caitlyn’s last bean bag landed on the board. Leaving the score at 5-1.
Isha watched the game unfold with wide eyes, it was already 9PM and she was clearly getting drowsy. Claggor had volunteered watching Isha while her mother and Caitlyn were busy.
“We’re going to 30”
Jinx picked up the bean bags and stared at Mylo.
“30? Wow..”
He shook his head, throwing his bean bags.
8-6
12-8
13-13
Mylo’s excited expression was gone as Jinx practically carried Caitlyn as each round went on.
“That’s insane, you gotta fail at some point”
“I have been failing, I should be getting all 9 points each round!”
She stuck her tongue out at Mylo, both watching as Ekko gets one in the hole and one on the board, making the score 17-13.
“You got this babe! Just focus!”
Jinx cheered Caitlyn on as she winded her arm back.
-
The game made it to 29-29 before Vander stopped the game. He wasn’t gonna have a fight break out before midnight, instead he started passing out food to everyone.
Claggor and Vi had gone inside and brought out the large plastic table for everyone to sit at while Ekko brought the paper plates and cups. He poured juice into Isha’s, Jinx’s and his own cup. While everyone else got their preferred alcoholic beverage.
Jinx and Caitlyn sat next to each other, jinx rested her head against the taller woman’s shoulder. In her never ending quest of excessive PDA, Jinx never left Caitlyn’s side after bean bag toss. Isha laid in and took a nap in Caitlyn’s lap as soon as the woman sat down.
“So Caitlyn, what is it you do for work anyways?”
Mylo pointed a fork, raising an eyebrow. His date left some time before the food was finished.
“Mylo!”
Vander gave him a discontented look, but Caitlyn raised her hand.
“It’s alright, really.”
Caitlyn set her fork down, her hand idly rubbing isha’s hair.
“I’m.. not exactly employed right now. After I was let go as an enforcer I’ve been really lost. It was my dream to want to help people.. but because I graduated from the academy as a law student, I’m considering a job in that field.”
“You’re unemployed?”
“Yes”
Caitlyn answered Mylo before Vander could reprimand him again.
“I’m unemployed”
“Mylo how’s the band going?”
Jinx spoke in between bites, before Caitlyn touched her arm. She swallowed and mumbled a sorry before continuing her sentence.
“I mean you said something about a gig soon right?”
“Oh wel..”
Mylo mumbled something, before putting another bite of sausage he cut up into his mouth.
“What was that?”
“Kids. Relax”
Vander spoke sternly, looking at Jinx and Mylo. Jinx scoffed and was about to say something until she heard Isha pushing herself up.
“Want some darling?”
Caitlyn ripped a small piece of her chicken leg off handing it to Isha to try. When the girl’s eyes widened and she nodded, Caitlyn gave her the rest of the leg to eat.
Jinx sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“Well. I am actually gonna be fighting in that league I told you about Vander”
Vi pushed her father’s arm.
“I’m gonna be fighting in some sort of tournament thing, and I’ll get money based on the amount of revenue they get and my placement.”
Vi took the focus away from Mylo and Caitlyn.
“Really? That’s great, when is it?”
“Sometime in March I think, they’re still finalizing the roster and stuff. But I’m real excited, and my spot is guaranteed the guy said.”
“I’m so proud of you”
Vander hugged his daughter, since they sat next to eachother it wasn’t that awkward.
“You’ll win for sure, yeah?”
Vi nodded, her face suddenly red at the hug.
“That really is cool.”
Caitlyn nodded slowly.
“Can you get me another chicken leg dear?”
Caitlyn kissed jinx’s forehead before turning back to Vi.
“Jinx told me a bit about your career, but you’ve been boxing since you were like 13 right?”
Vi smiled, pulling from Vander’s bear hug.
“Yeah! I mean- I used to be real bad, I couldn’t exactly get into the motions like others.. but I’ve improved, and now I’m finally gonna fight for real”
“That’s pretty interesting”
Caitlyn smiled softly.
When jinx returned she held onto Caitlyn tighter, causing the woman to laugh softly.
“What’s wrong?”
She whispered, bringing two fingers up to pinch the girl’s cheek slightly.
“Nuthing..”
Caitlyn watched as Isha snatched her new chicken leg and sighed.
“Alright alright, do you want your one plate Isha?”
The girl nodded, and Caitlyn stood
up with the girl in her arms again. Jinx followed them both, squeezing Isha’s cheeks.
“You’ve got grease all over those cheeks kid.”
She smiled as Isha wiped her face with her sleeve.
“Napkins”
Caitlyn brought a napkin to Isha’s hands.
-
Jinx laid in the dirt, staring at the sky as people start setting up the fireworks. Setting them off wasn’t always safe all around the city, so people often crowded the lanes in order to shoot them directly into the chasm. Caitlyn stood up, setting Isha down on top of Jinx. The little girl squirmed and laid on her mother’s stomach.
“Cmon kid, the show is gonna start soon.. Caitlyn won’t let you set any off this year, but you can still watch.”
Jinx smiled, looking at Caitlyn. She hoped that she could guilt the woman into agreeing. The Kiramman remained steel faced, looking down at the two.
“Come on, let’s sit in chairs”
“No no no! You’re sitting with us love!”
Jinx pulled Caitlyn down into the dirt.
“Hey!-“
Isha crawled into Caitlyn’s lap, leaving her trapped. She blew air out of her mouth, accepting her pants being stained from the dirt.
Caitlyn started digging in her pockets, bringing out two tiny ear
Plugs.
“Awhhh, come on! The sound is the best part!”
“Last night you said setting them off was the best”
“Caitlyn..!”
Jinx whined.
“She’s your daughter, if you don’t want her wearing them I’ll drop it.”
Caitlyn reassured Jinx.
“Mmmmm… fine”
Jinx rolled her eyes, grabbing the plugs herself and pushing them into Isha’s ears. She put a thumbs up and a thumbs down, asking if it was good. Isha tapped the thumbs up hand and gave her own tiny thumbs up.
“Alright, now look up. Grandma Vander is gonna shoot the fireworks”
“Quit calling me that!”
Vander yelled from the streets as he lit the first firework. As he ran back to the curb, it blew upwards and exploded into beautiful lights. Isha let out an amazed squeal and bounced in Caitlyn’s lap.