Work Text:
Cammy was resting at a local coffee shop with a warm double sleeve cup in her hands, watching the window for her friend. She hadn’t anticipated her family shooing her away from the house that morning, but they had, for some inexplicable reason. According to her dad, an exterminator was coming and absolutely nobody could be there except him, though she had heard nothing of a pest problem that Sarge the cat couldn’t take care of himself. No, they were acting suspicious, not just Keith, but Matthew, Lita, and George too. Frankly, it was a cold day in hell whenever Lita would encourage her to go see her friend, Anne. After all, Anne was catholic, and Lita didn’t believe they were real christians. The elder sister often fretted that Anne’s “heathen ways” (what if she cuts her hair or moves out of the house?!) might rub off on Cammy, but it did little to stop the friends from getting together. Making friends was difficult for Cammy, who was a new immigrant with large educational gaps and severe dissociative amnesia, a condition very few could understand. Having Anne in her life, someone who was also a bit weird, a bit out of place, and who accepted her just as much as her family did was comforting. It made the world outside Delta Red’s little house less cold, less intimidating. It made Cammy feel more at home in her new country.
As she was lost in her thoughts, Anne strolled into the coffee shop and dramatically plopped onto the seat across from Cammy.
“Sorry, the bus was running late again!”
“Oh, no worries, I’m just glad you’re safe. Thank you for hanging out with me on such short notice. My family is acting… peculiar,” Cammy said softly. “How is your morning?”
“Tiring. I was working quite late last night and was barely awake to see your text,” Anne replied, shimmying out of her brown puffer jacket and readjusting her gold bangle bracelets. Cammy didn’t understand fashion… she liked pretty clothes, but she felt the most at home in a warm flannel sweater and baggy cargo pants. Her friend always seemed far more styled with plenty of gold jewelry, a collection of expensive looking coats, heeled boots that looked difficult to walk in, and her favorite plaid scarf. Anne seemed to know how to dress to draw the attention of others. She claimed it was so people would think she had more money, and attract more wealthy clients for her business, though Cammy wasn’t sure if all the leering gazes she got from men and obnoxious comments from women about knock off brands was worth it. Still, she admired Anne’s ability to put together an outfit. Anne stretched her arms and joked, “So… a fairy told me it was your birthday.”
“Are you serious?!” Cammy exclaimed. Anne blinked slowly, like a sleepy sheep in a field as she pulled up a gift bag she had set at her feet.
“No, no, it wasn’t actually a fairy, that’d be fecking terrifying. Lita told me it was coming up, so I got you something. I mean, you only got one year left till you’re eighteen, yeah?”
“Yes. I am seventeen today.”
“Then we gotta start getting you some fancy clothes for work, yeah?”
“Well I’m going into the military, I don’t think I’ll need to look good for that.”
“Ah, nonsense, I’m sure they’d want you translating or something. Not a lot of Brits are fluent in Russian,” Anne reasoned. “Can you open it?”
“Yes, thank you, Anne, though I didn’t expect you to get me anything,” Cammy said softly as she accepted the bag and peaked inside. “Oh my goodness! It’s beautiful like yours!” She pulled out an identical light brown scarf to Anne’s, eyes wide in awe. “Oh it’s so soft, thank you.”
“It’s cashmere,” Anne said with a proud smile. “An’ it’s the real thing.”
“Er… pardon?”
“It’s a real Burberry scarf,” Anne clarified. Cammy paused, staring at the garment in shock.
“Anne… how much did this cost?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Anne…”
“Ok, ok, it cost about… 420 pounds.”
“420 pounds?!” Cammy exclaimed in shock. “Anne! How could you possibly afford this? I couldn’t possibly accept such an expensive gift, I know you can’t simply being handing that sort of money over to me.”
“Cammy, please, take it, I got it so we would match,” Anne whined. “Mine’s real too, you know? And it really wasn’t an expense I couldn’t afford, honest. I have a new regular client and he um… well he takes me shopping to help compensate me for my work. And recently he gave me some money and took me to the west end for some shopping. So while I was picking up some new clothes for myself, I thought it would be nice if I picked up something for your birthday. It’s not going to hurt me because the money was given to me for clothes.”
“My goodness… your clients sure expect their assistant to look bloody wealthy, don’t they?”
“Well the ones who have to be seen with me do,” Anne clarified. “Do you like it?”
“Of course I do, it’s beautiful, I just feel… bad accepting something so expensive from you,” Cammy said as she looked up at Anne. “Are you positive this is alright?”
“Absolutely. Please take it.”
“Alright,” Cammy said with a small smile as she wrapped the scarf around her neck. “Do I look pretty now?”
Anne giggled, “Don’t be ridiculous, you always look pretty!”
“I certainly do not.”
“Cammy, come on, you turn heads, I’m a little jealous to be honest,” Anne joked as she sipped the coffee that Cammy had ordered for her. “You look pretty.”
Cammy blushed a little and tapped her fingers on the cup in her hands, “Thank you. That means more coming from you than from anyone else.”
“Well I’m glad I could make you happy,” Anne said. The two friends sat in silence for a while, enjoying their coffees and the contentment of each other’s presence. Though one thing left Cammy confused the more she thought of it: why did Lita tell Anne about her birthday?
……
“State the purpose of your visit and have your papers ready,” Killer Bee said in a soft, bored tone.
“Trade negotiations, I am a representative of the Masters foundation, Dementia Vanderseld.”
“What a curious name…” Bee murmured to herself as she looked through the approved list of visitors to the Imperial Palace of the Four Kings. In these tense months after total Shadaloo victory in Nayshall, security had become increasingly strict with national curfews, complete state control of the press, restricted visitation to every government building, an almost entirely closed border, and that was just for normal buildings. The palace was particularly well guarded, since it had become Bison’s primary residence to reign from. Only preapproved guests were allowed through the gate. Luckily for miss Vanderseld she was on the list. “Papers, please.”
“Can we hurry this along? My meeting with Bison-“
“Lord Bison is not even present as of today. He has a very important speech to give in Virsan. If you paperwork allows, you may be permitted to stay until he returns,” Bee explained as she looked over the woman’s files, practically an entire scrapbook album just to enter the palace. Everything looked correct until she investigated the woman’s work visa. “Decapre.”
“Yes?” The elder sister asked, looking up from her own work across from Bee.
“This woman is on the list, but she does not have a work permit.”
“No entry, Lord Bison was very clear on this.”
“Get your permit and make a new appointment,” Bee replied, handing the woman her passport and folder back. “No entry without a valid work permit for corporate ambassadors.”
“You let the last man in without a work permit!”
“He was a diplomatic ambassador; that has a different visa. Please leave or you will be detained.”
As the woman left in a huff, Decapre pulled a lever on her side that caused the heavy, steel gate to close, blocking a bickering crowd from being able to approach them. She grabbed hold of the intercom and began to speak over the loud speakers.
“There will be no more entry to the palace, please come back tomorrow or consult with your local agent for new appointments if necessary. Curfew tonight is strictly eight PM, any civilians found outside between eight PM and five AM will be detained. The time is now six PM. You have fifteen minutes to clear the premises entirely, any trespassers will be killed on sight. Thank you and praise be to the Great Lord Bison.”
Bee watched as the people cleared out, contemplating the bored, flat tone Decapre spoke in. She probably could have stood to put more enthusiasm into her voice when praising their leader, but Bee wouldn’t lecture her about it. Best at least pretend around other people, however. As the sisters watched the last person leave, Bee turned to face her sister.
“The palace does not close until eighteen thirty.”
“I know,” Decapre said with a small grin. “But today is special.”
“There was nothing on my schedule indicating-“
“Bee! Are you really complaining about getting out of this bullshit duty early?” Decapre laughed as she walked over to her sister and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Live a little bit, it won’t kill you. Besides, I have made plans, yes, and you will go along, you listen to your big sister.”
“What is so important?” Bee asked as Decapre practically dragged her up the stairs to the top of the wall surrounding the palace. As the sun began to set in the distance, the two sisters leaned against the wall, looking out to the city below.
“Aprile found something interesting in your medical records yesterday.”
Bee’s expression dropped as she looked down at the steep drop below her, “Am… am I sick?”
“No! No, you are not sick, of course not. Very healthy, I make certain. Do not speak this foolishness, do you shake like Satsuki? Do you cough like Fevi? Do you faint like Enero? No, then do not be worried. Aprile will tell us but there is nothing to tell because you are healthy girl. Geez.”
“Then what did she find that you wanted to tell me?”
Decapre smiled a little as she fished a little metal tag from her uniform pocket, “It is the day you were born today. The anniversary of it I mean. Aprile told me that you are sixteen and this is supposed to be a special birthday, so I made you a present. Congratulations on your age, baby Bee.” She handed Bee a custom dog tag with her official ID number, birthday, and a little cat carved into the metal.
“Oh my goodness, there’s a kitty!” She exclaimed in excitement.
“There is a horse on the other side,” Decapre said with a small smile as she watched her little sister inspect the gift. “I wish I could give you a real kitty.”
“It’s ok, that is one of my wishes for the Paradise Planet,” Bee said as she added the new tag to the chain that held her official Shadaloo dogtags. “I love it, thank you, Decapre.”
“I’m glad you like it,” the elder sister beamed in pride as the younger fell silent.
“Um… Decapre?”
“Yes?”
“How will I know when I have become a woman? Am I a woman or a girl? How do you know when you are one or the other?”
Decapre paused, mulling the question over in her head as she looked out to the setting sun. Slowly, she answered, “I do not know. I reckon Aprile will tell us.”
“What will change?” Bee asked. “What is the difference, it must matter a lot if Enero keeps bragging about it. What does she have that don’t? What have I not gotten yet?”
“Bee, Enero is full of hot air. Whatever advantage over you she thinks she has is utter nonsense,” Decapre sighed in annoyance. “You need not entertain her bullshit. I don’t know what it is to be a woman, but I know that she is not one.”
Bee fell quiet as she leaned against her sister, resting her head on Decapre’s shoulder. “I ask because it scares me. I don’t want things to change. I just want to stay with you and the others forever, it always be like this. I don’t want to lose what makes me feel safe, you braiding my hair every morning and holding me when I’m scared. I don’t want to lose playing with Santamu and Marz on off days, or hearing your stories, or getting to brush the horses. What if being a woman means not having the things that make me happy, or having to leave the people I love?”
Decapre wrapped her arms around her little sister, letting her rest her head over her heart, “It won’t mean those things. I will always be here for you, take care of you, comfort you. I am your big sister and that is what I must always do. Remember the promise. We shall never grow old, we shall always be together. That is what the scriptures say, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then if a world washed clean by Lord Bison in the blood of the apostates is perfect, wouldn’t that mean that you wouldn’t be deprived of these things that make you happy but are not worldly vices? There will be no more worldly vices, no more sin, it would be completely impossible for your desires to be impure.”
“Well… that makes sense,” Bee conceded. “I suppose I just worry. I… don’t like the new expectations of me sometimes and miss the days before.”
“I understand…” Decapre frowned. “I wish I knew what to say, but I don’t want to lie to you. I don’t see things getting easier any time soon. But I can promise you this: we will always have each other. You are adored, not just by me, but by the others, and even as life becomes difficult, you will always have your sisters to love you and comfort you.” Decapre caressed the back of Bee’s head gently and pat her back to comfort her. “Do you feel better?”
“I do,” Bee whispered. “I love you, Decapre.”
“I love you too, Bee.” The sisters held each other for for a while before the humming of a nearby motor drew their attention. The girls looked down at the road below to see Bison’s convoy arriving at the gate. They exchanged a glance. He had arrived home earlier than expected. “Get everyone in formation to greet him, I will open the date.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Bee replied, saluting her sister before darting down the ladder to rally the troops into proper formation to greet the convoy while Decapre began opening the gate for them. As the two girls stood at attention, saluting the sleek, black armored car as it drove past, Bee took a deep breath. The air felt… suddenly suffocating.
…….
After a while of window shopping, Anne checked her phone and pursed her lips in thought.
“Cammy?”
“All I’m saying is that it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s not my fault people say gross things. Why can’t I wear a crop top and get my naval pierced because of their bad behavior, it’s ludicrous. Dad is just being strict for no good reason on that,” Cammy rambled on as she flipped through some shirts on a rack. “It’s just stupid, like why am I being punished because some men are gross? That’s not my fault. There’s nothing inappropriate about my stomach.”
“I agree, but I think the colonel just worries.”
“I can supplex a man twice my size!”
“I know you can, it’s a little scary,” Anne said with an awkward smile. “But he’s just being a dad, they’re like… supposed to tell you to dress like a nun or something. I wish my dad was still around to be mad at me for dressing like a slag. Cut the man some slack, he means well.”
“I know… I’m not mad at him, I’m just frustrated,” Cammy sighed. “Even I want to feel cute sometimes, you know? I do care about feeling pretty, I just don’t talk about it much.”
“Everyone does. But look at it this way, next year, you can pierce your belly button, get tattoos, wear as many crop tops as you want. He can’t legally stop you then.”
“True… I suppose it can wait.”
“I’ll take you shopping the day of, I promise,” Anne chuckled. “It’s getting a bit late though. I’ll walk you home.”
“Assuming they’ll let me in. Everyone was shoving me out the door this morning, I barely got dressed,” Cammy grumbled. “May I go to yours if they’re still catching the mice or whatever it is?”
“Of course, but Lita just texted me to say they were done.”
Cammy raised an eyebrow, “Lita doesn’t like you.” Anne paused, unable to argue with that. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing….”
“Anne?” Cammy pressed, following her friend out the door. “What’s going on, is someone hurt?”
“What? Why would you think that?” Anne asked.
“Because you’re hiding something from me, and not just about work,” Cammy said with a huff, crossing her arms. “Something is wrong, what is wrong, why is nobody telling me?”
“Nothing is wrong, Cams, termites are just gross and stuff. Nobody’s sick and work is going great,” Anne assured. “Come on, it’s not that far of a walk.”
“Couldn’t Sarge just catch the termites? That cat took down a seagull half his size last week.”
“No, Cammy… I don’t think cats can hunt termites.”
“I don’t know if I believe that.” Cammy huffed, refusing to admit that perhaps termites were out of Sergeant Fuzzy Pants’ skilled paws.
As the two friends walked back towards the military base where Cammy lived with her family, she pulled out her ID to show the guard at the gate. It was a brief interaction, Cammy showed her ID card and claimed Anne as her guest. Anne also showed her ID and the two were allowed in the compound. The girls walked along the sidewalk down to the rundown Delta Red barracks Cammy called home. The building hadn’t been renovated since World War II, and it had changed functions time and time again while retaining the same cheap military interior. Prior to Delta Red moving in, it had functioned as extra office space for administrative duties. It took a lot of their own work, but the family made the shabby old building into a home. Cammy couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, because it was home, the first one she could remember, and the first one she shared with her family.
Cammy opened the door cautiously, on the off chance perhaps there were rat sized, possibly cat eating, termite scorpions ready to strike her down in the doorway.
“SURPRISE!”
Cammy screeched and jumped back into a fighting stance, scanning the room for threats only to be met with a perfectly decorated living room full of family and friends. The walls were covered in cat and horse cut outs, balloons floated up to the ceiling and dusted the floor with pastel pink, green, and blue. A few specialty balloons of a Pegasus, a golden 17, and a rainbow that said Happy Birthday on it floated over Cammy’s usual chair at the dining room table. The table was adorned with a blue table cloth, more confetti, and a two tiered pink cake decorated to look like a cat with a little figurine of a seagull on it. Little swirly streamers hung from the ceiling and confetti was everywhere from the guests throwing it into the air as soon as she walked through the door. Cammy stared in shock, eyes darting between Anne and her family, who seemed quite proud of themselves.
“What is this?” Cammy asked in confusion, catching a balloon George had thrown at her.
“It’s a birthday party! Are you surprised?” George asked.
“I… yes, but I’m a little confused.”
“We had Anne keep you distracted so we could decorate the house for you. It’s just a little party to celebrate your birthday, but we wanted it to be a surprise,” Lita explained.
“Oh, this explains why you were nice to Anne today, I was a bit concerned about that,” Cammy admitted, a small smile drawing at the corners of her lips. “You all did this for me?”
“Of course, Love, come on, Matthew made those kabobs you like,” Keith chuckled and put his arm around Cammy, who stumbled into the living room in awe. All of her immediate family, Keith, Lita, George, and Matthew, were there, but so was Hanna, and some family friends like Guile and his family, Chun-Li, and of course, Anne. Sarge the cat really didn’t give a shit about was going on and resumed grooming himself on his cat tree, ears flicking in annoyance at the extra noise his humans were making.
“This is… it’s so much,” Cammy whispered as she took in the room full of loved ones and tried to keep herself from tearing up. “Thank you. Thank you all so much, this is lovely. I don’t… I don’t think anyone’s ever done something like this for me before.”
“Don’t cry, Sweetheart,” Keith said as he squeezed her shoulders. “We want you to know that we love you.”
“I love you too, Dad,” Cammy whispered as she hugged her adoptive father. “Thank you for being my family. Thank you for not leaving me all alone.”
“Don’t thank me for that, Love. I remember what it was like before I got adopted too, you know? Everyone deserves a family. I’m glad I can give that to other people. You will always have a home here, no matter what.”
Lita cleared her throat, “Come on, you can cry it out later, I worked too hard blowing up all these balloons for you to look sad.”
“Lita took charge of the decorations while Matthew and Hanna were cooking. George and I were mostly an extra pair of hands,” Keith admitted.
“See, I picked all the kitties, but I added some Pegasus horses because they’re majestic,” Lita said with pride.
“I put the seagull on the cake!” George piped up.
“I don’t really know why he insisted on there having to be a seagull on it,” Matthew sighed. “It just doesn’t look right with that stupid bin bird on it.”
“There’s a seagull on the cake? Please show me!” Cammy ran over to the cake excitedly, George following closely behind. He pointed to a tiny, plastic seagull he placed next to the candles, causing Cammy to giggle uncontrollably. “Oh my goodness, oh that’s so delightful! Look, he’s trying to steal the cake but it’s too big for him!”
George grinned, “See, I told you she’d love it, Uncle Matt.”
“I know, you were right, George. So long as Cammy likes it we’ve done our job,” Matthew said with a little smile, dusting some stray flour off of his apron. Cammy was giggling, looking over the decorated table and cake, trying not to make it obvious that her gaze was wandering to the haphazardly stacked pile of gifts up against the wall. Matthew smiled slightly and pat Cammy’s head with his large, biological hand as to not bonk her too hard with her metal one. “Go ahead, Lass. Your brother has been quite eager to give you the one he bought.”
“You don’t mind?” Cammy asked.
“No, not in the slightest. In fact, do open your brother’s before he spontaneously combusts and makes a mess of the flat,” Matthew insisted, gently nudging George, who grinned wickedly and set a large box in front of Cammy, who suspiciously watched him. She knew damn well her little brother didn’t have that much allowance to blow on a gift, frankly, he was always bumming off of her and Lita because his little checks disappeared the moment he set foot in a gaming store. Still, Cammy wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She carefully tore through the paper to unwrap the box, a standard brown cardboard one, which was folded shut without tape. She opened it, only to find an almost perfectly proportional smaller box inside, now a shoe box she knew belonged to her own boots. She opened it to find an even smaller box inside, this time a family sized box of frozen breakfast sandwiches. Cammy quirked an eyebrow.
“You… gave me a thawed box of egg croissants?”
“No, no, I just recycled the box, open the box!” George insisted. Cammy nodded and opened that box to reveal another box, this time a snack cake box. Inside the snack cake box was a box that used to hold one of George’s paints he ordered from overseas. “That’s the last box, I swear.”
Cammy opened the box to be met with a bunch of spare confetti, though a little piece of… something(?) was sticking up from the confetti sea. Understanding there was no way to open this without making a mess, she simply embrace the inevitable and dumped the entire package into her palm. As the confetti fell between her fingers to reveal a clay figurine of a tabaxi girl with white and black fur, a floor length turquoise dress with gold belt and jingly bracelets. On her hip was the Blade of Kittenification that turned enemies into friendly kittens if Cammy rolled a nat 20, and in one hand was the reins to a majestic pegasus standing behind her while in her other hand was the pudgiest squirrel ever known to clay.
“You made Princess Mittens!” Cammy squealed in delight. “Oh my goodness, look at the detail, George how long did this take?”
“Believe it or not, Sir Fluffybottom was the one that was the hardest because I’ve never sculpted a squirrel before,” George explained. “It took a few months but I thought you’d like having a custom mini for our game.”
“I love it, George, thank you.” Cammy said sincerely, giving George a hug.
Guile tapped Keith’s shoulder, “What is it?”
“Oh, that’s Cammy’s D&D character. We play as a family and George DMs the game for us. Her character is a tabaxi druid with many pets because she rolls to befriend every monster we meet… Including the man eating squirrels that killed my first character.”
“I was very clever about that one, actually! I rolled a nat 20 for my speech check on telling the squirrels that because I’m not technically a man, they shouldn’t eat me. So that’s how I befriended Sir Fluffybottom, Lord of Cashew. I couldn’t do that before he ate Dad though, but Matthew, Lita, and I all survived,” Cammy said, proudly grinning at her solution to the man eating squirrel conundrum. RIP Keith though.
“That’s alright, my new character, Gertrude the Elderly Knitting Needle Murderer is man eating squirrel proof, because she’s a human sized squirrel who is also an old lady,” Keith explained.
“Gertrude has a useless layabout son named Deeznuts who hits her up for money a lot,” George added.
“Ah yes, Deeznuts, my most disappointing child,” Keith chuckled.
“I don’t quite like Deeznuts,” Cammy said in distaste, causing George to snicker uncontrollably. “Shut up, George… I love the mini though, thank you very much. May I keep the seagull toy so I can have Chips for the board?”
“Oh yeah, that’s part of why I grabbed it,” George assured. “Ok, who next?”
“Me, mine also took work,” Lita said as she grabbed an envelope and handed it to Cammy. “Have a blessed birthday, Cammy.”
“Thank you.” She opened the envelope to find a lovely, heartfelt card with lots of references to God as was to be expected from Lita, but inside was a blue trading card of a tan colored pegasus flying among some autumn leaves over a night sky. Cammy’s eyes widened, “How did you find it, this one was just a promo card?!”
“I almost killed an eight year old girl for that card… I’m not proud of it, but praise Jesus, the Lord forgives us all even if we dropkick children, here’s all the other cards I got trying to find it,” Lita said in a cheery voice as she handed Cammy a giftbag that was nearly overflowing with BellaSara trading cards, just endless whimsical horses as far as the eye could see. Cammy was a bit worried that there really was an injured eight year old, but also, she now owned Nuada, so she almost didn’t care about what heinous crimes Lita may or may not have committed to get it for her.
“Thank you, Lita… I don’t want to know how you got the card anymore,” Cammy said softly.
“Well, Heaven is gonna be full of just as many dirty sinners as Hell, Cammy, just keep that in mind. Even King David killed a man so he could have his wife,” Lita rambled.
“That’s nice, Lita, you can tell me all about that later,” Cammy said awkwardly.
“Alright then, let’s move along,” Keith said, motioning for the other guests to give their gifts.
By the end of the pile, Cammy had received a new pair of headphones from Keith, some CDs (tAtU, Lincoln Park, Seether, and Cascada) from Matthew, some cute hair ties from Chun-Li, a cute kitten calendar from Hanna, and a fuzzy journal with a matching poofball pen from Guile and his family. While Matthew and Hanna scurried about, getting everyone to form a queue for the food, Keith sat beside Cammy, looking a bit like a sheepish dragon upon her horde.
“I have one more for you. My mum gave Lita and George antique jewelry before she passed on. Well, you know, since she never got a chance to meet you, I thought she’d be real cross if I didn’t give you something of hers like she did for the other grandkids,” Keith explained. “I had to have it cleaned and while I was, I had your dogtags cleaned and put on a new chain for you. Happy birthday, Cammy. I hope you know that having you as a part of my family has brought me and the others so much joy. I know the search hasn’t been… Conclusive. But if your parents reach out, and you go home, I want you to know that you will always always always have us too, alright?”
Cammy teared up a bit as she looked down at the golden locket and shiny metal dogtags in Keith’s hands. She carefully inspected them, admiring the smooth, classy medallion of the antique and the crude carvings of a cat and a horse on the old dogtags. She ran her finger along the carving, a sad sense of nostalgia hitting her, but she couldn’t remember why, only the warmth of a long gone embrace and promise of security broken. She opened the locket curiously to find it empty. “Where is the picture?”
“I think you should pick the picture,” Keith said. “It’s yours now, afterall.”
“Thank you, Dad,” Cammy said as she dried her stray tears. “This makes me feel like I truly am a part of the family.”
“You absolutely are, you always will be. No matter what. Nothing could ever change that, I will always be there for you and you will always have a home here.”
“I hope I don’t have parents looking for me because I would choose you,” Cammy said bluntly. “I just want to stay here, with my family. I don’t want to leave.”
“Nobody’s making you, Love, you can stay as long as you would like,” Keith assured and gave his adoptive daughter a gentle hug. “Ok, no more tears, yeah? Matt and Hanna cooked their asses off.”
Cammy giggled as she put the two necklaces on and got up to get herself a plate from the kitchen, overjoyed to be surrounded by loving family and friends. She never wanted that feeling to end… She wanted to stay with her family forever and hoped that they would never have to be separated. As Matthew carefully lit the candles and everyone sang the most ungodly, off key rendition of Happy Birthday imaginable, Cammy had no doubts in her mind: she had a family and she had a home. Forever.
……………………………………………..
Later that night, the Dolls had all returned to their quarters, once again reunited after separate missions. Bee spent her time chasing Santamu around, laughing, chucking spare socks and pillows at each other as they narrowly avoided plowing into the other girls. As Santamu jumped up to climb up onto her bunk where Kiki was perched, Bee attempted to give chase, only to slam right into Enero who had just left the showers.
“Bee! Watch it!” Enero shouted.
“Sorry!”
“Ugh, you’re such a child, stop running around and go wash your hair, it’s like nasty!”
“Oh is it, well it’d be a shame if I did this then,” Bee said with a mischievous grin as she threw her arms around her older sister and started rubbed her greasy head against her cheek, making Enero squawk and try to push her off. Bee had the grip of a barnacle though, or a perturbed koala, and once she grabbed a hold of someone they weren’t escaping, unfortunately for Enero.
“Stop! Get off me, you little leech! Don’t touch me until you’ve had a shower! Decapre, get her off of me!”
“Nah, you have to be nice to her because it’s her birthday,” Decapre said from her bed, barely looking up from her nails.
“No it’s not, pendejo, her birthday is next week.”
“It’s today, dipshit. She’s sixteen now.”
Enero blinked, then groaned in frustration, “Dios mio. Damn it all to hell, we fucking missed it!”
“Wait, she’s turning sixteen, not fifteen?” Noembelu asked.
“Yeah? I thought I told everyone this,” Aprile said, glancing up from the medical kit that she was restocking. “Weren’t you paying attention?”
“So what you’re saying is we completely missed her quinceañera…” Noembelu groaned. “Damn it.”
“Yeah, you’re pretty late on that one,” Aprile agreed.
“Well there goes that plan,” Enero grumbled. “Juli, this is your fault, it was your job to keep the dates in order while the rest of us prepped.”
“How is this my fault, I’ve been a little busy, Enero, maybe you should’ve remembered when her fucking birthday was since it was you and Noe’s idea anyways,” Juli snapped, snapping her attention from Juni, who was having a difficult time preparing for bed in her brainwashed state. “I’m the only one who can take care of her without her screeching and attacking, do you want to be responsible for making sure Juni functions? Because if so, be my guest, because trust me, she bites and she bites hard.”
“Hey, it’s a sweet sixteen now, we can still open the wine!” Fevrier cheered. “Oi, Satsuki, toss me your lighter!” Satsuki dropped the lighter from the top bunk to Fevrier’s bottom bunk, curiously peering down at her friend.
“You’ve managed to hide wine and not go through it all already? I’m actually impressed, good job, Fevi-chan.”
“Well, I did drink one of them, but then I managed to smuggle more of them out of Vega and Balrog’s rooms. I gave them to Noembelu so I wouldn’t be tempted to open them. We got wine, brandy, and champagne. Everyone should be able to get a little drink,” Fevrier explained as she lit a small flame and scampered over to Bee, who was still clinging to Enero. “Make a wish, girlie.”
“What?”
“You have to make a wish then blow out the flame, dingus,” Enero rolled her eyes. “This is a birthday party, we are ladies, not animals, we have to acknowledge you it would like go against the girl code if we didn’t. We were TRYING to plan you a proper quinceañera, but Aprile made us miss it. Sorry, Bee.”
“I didn’t make you miss anything, if it’s anyone’s fault Bee didn’t get a celebration last year it’s the rebel insurgents we spent all of last January exterminating,” Aprile snapped. “Make a wish, Buggy.”
“Oh, um, ok. I wish that we will all always be together,” Bee said softly, letting go of Enero so she could take the lighter from Fevrier.
“What? That’s lame, don’t waste it on that!” Jianyu cried.
“Yeah, you can’t say it out loud too, Bee,” Xiayu agreed.
“But that’s what I want…” Bee said in confusion.
Santamu piped up, holding Kiki up so she could see, “Yeah, I thought it was a nice wish.”
“It’s inevitable though,” Marz argued.
“We aren’t going anywhere… Not for a very long time if ever,” Noembelu said softly, a solemn tinge in her voice. “Wish for something that might not be a guarantee.”
“Oh…” Bee looked around, smiling a little at hearing her sisters assure her that they would always be together, which was essentially giving her a free wish. “Then I wish for a cat.” She blew out the lighter’s flame. Fevrier grinned, making grabby hands at Noembelu.
“Alright, bitch where you hiding the booze, it’s booze time, we have to get the birthday girl fucked up now, and also me, don’t forget about me, you have it still right?”
“Calm down.”
As some of the girls began bickering about the distribution of contraband alcohol, Bee smiled a little at Enero, who looked thoroughly annoyed at her ruined plans.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t even,” Enero groaned. “I uh… You’re like totally annoying, and stupid, and you need to wash your greasy hair more, it’s like so gross. But… You’re my baby sister- our sister, so we had to do something. Decapre even got involved and she’s like a total misanthrope.”
“I love you too, Enero,” Bee said with a small smile as she watched her sisters hack into the stolen wine. She leaned her head against Enero, feeling secure in the knowledge that she and her sisters would always be together.