#caspar.

the caspars are a pretty simple bunch. when you can, come home to big gramps ( john ratzenberger ). when you can't, give a call or send a letter. if they don't hear from you, you're probably dead and they'll make speeches around the room for their 'dearly departed' ( that's you ) and continue on to food, drinks, and whatever chaos is available to throw around. but for the most part, the caspars put their stock in any of four things: the military, fire departments, the government, or the world clown association. you'll find caspars in each and every one of those, but big gramps' two boys - elijah and ellison - only ever claimed two out of the four in their lifetime: the fire department and the government. they're not civilians but they also have a bit of an idea of what truly happens behind the curtain, so to speak. but come thanksgiving, they are the only home lisanna recognizes besides ellison and elisa. because where else can she impress people with her weapons skills and trade homesteading tips within the same hour? this year, they only spent a couple of hours with the rest of the caspars in georgia. big gramps welcomed them all with a big hug, even teasing lisanna with a little 'can't just walk away from us caspar boys, can't ya'?' before returning to his arm chair and continued to commentate on the nightly news and the commercials as ellison, lisanna, elisa, and erickson ( ellison's brother ) sat around the table, munching on some of the food erickson had bought from the store. it was no proper thanksgiving meal, but it was good. the whole appeal of the caspar holiday was for them to catch up and talk anyway. it only took a few more hours before the three trekked back to d.c. for another family dinner. things haven't been the same since lisanna put in another notice for retirement. swan song had long since stopped calling, instead opting to conspire her three siblings against her and calling what she did a 'betrayal to the family name', as if she never heard any of that before. wentworth is the only one to not believe their mother. mostly because he's got a kid of his own, wynter ( iris apatow ), and as the oldest, he's got to hand it to lisanna for rebelling the way she did. after all, he would have never had the guts to do it himself. upon their arrival at wentworth's small abode, the two siblings went back to their usual bickering as if decades didn't pass since they were in the same room. to their surprise, elisa got along pretty well with her cousin wynter, mostly because of the younger girl's affinity for social media ( namely, tiktok ) and even got lisanna in on it for some of her videos. it was hard to imagine her as someone willing to take up the harlin tradition of kicking ass, but according to her father, she was attending a spy prep school. even dreams of being admitted to gallagher upon graduating. lisanna scoffs. "mom would love that." earning her a pointed look from wentworth, possibly even a nudge. "she chose that path all on her own. well, yeah, mom fed her stories from her glory days but where's the harm in that? let her kick ass like the rest of us." the two girls - elisa and winter - found themselves by the window while the 'grownups' watched tv after dinner was finished. "grandma talks about you, you know. she always wonders when you're coming over or when you're gonna meet 'em." winter said, playing solitaire on her pixel. elisa, coldplay blaring on one ear, stopped bopping her head and looked at her. "she knows about me?" the other girl nods. "huh. i never really..thought about it." wynter smiles, and elisa feels warm. it felt like having a sister after being alone for so many years. she'd protect wynter from anyone and anything now. "she's proud. not everyone gets to be a gallagher girl, so she's saying some really good stuff. dad said we can't see her anymore, though." elisa frowns. "wait, why not? what happened?" wynter looks up at her after attaching an ace of hearts to the appropriate row, completing it. "family drama. and grandma gets really mean when she doesn't get her way. like auntie lisa not working anymore. dad won't tell me more than that, but if auntie lisa says something, you should totally tell me. do you have a snap?" the older girl blinks and nods, already pulling out her phone and exchanges info with the other. . . .  she thinks about it as they drive back to virginia, but she fails to bring it up. after all, it was a relatively peaceful holiday and she'd rather not bring up anything that could spoil it.