#vielets

    ❝ promises are broken and more resentment comes alive. i dunno what more you want from me, vi. ❞

he rose up slow from the busted circle bike, the kind they all used to race through the lanes before the world got meaner. or at least, they were supposed to race them. set up zaun with a new sport. it was a good dream.

the tools clinked as he let them drop, landing beside the frame. this was the third time in two days the kids had torn the thing to hell, and his third time patching it back together. he loved those kids—but damn if they weren't expensive.

he thought about locking it up, just for awhile. at least until he had time to teach them how to actually ride it without someone breaking a bone or an axle. the little lessons in pain, in failure—they mattered. but they drained him, too. ekko made a quiet mental note to scavenge parts later. he always did.

at least this was a problem he could fix.

but when ekko turned and saw her—really saw her—something different buckled in his chest. his eyes lingered on his sister's face like he was trying to remember who she used to be, or maybe who he used to be when he stood beside her. the anguish wasn't loud. it never was with him. it just rested there in the furrow between his thick brows, the slouch in shoulders, the way he kept glancing away mid-sentence like maybe tremendous grief was watching them.

    ❝ i dont see you no more. ❞ the words cracked without breaking. soft-spoken, gut-pulling. pain and disappointment, the emotions were interchangeable, honestly.

    ❝ i used to kick myself for not running jobs with y'all. missing out on the good shit. thought maybe if i had, we'd still be a family. ❞ he looked down at the ground for a second, thumb skimming the edge of his palm like it could smooth over the years between them.

    ❝ i missed you at jinx's funeral. ❞ he paused. he didn't blink. he just breathed like it hurt. it did.

    ❝ i mean... i get it. she was blood. maybe you needed to vanish for awhile. i wanted to run too. ❞ ekko's whisper was almost raw.

    ❝ but do you know how hard it is to tell where your head’s at now? ❞ and he left it there, suspended in the space between siblings. not a plea. not a judgment. just a fracture in the shape of a question.

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❝  Vi  -  Vi  wait  …  I  didn't  mean  it  like  that  ❞  for  a  woman  with  longer  legs  ,  Caitlyn  sure  was  having  trouble  keeping  up.  As  usual  ,  she'd  accidentally  put  her  foot  in  her  mouth  and  Vi  had  every  reason  to  just  leave  her  on  the  streets  of  Zaun  to  fend  for  herself.  God  she  was  still  learning  -  still  unbelievably  taken  aback  by  what  it  was  really  like  in  the  undercity.  ❝  please  …  ❞ 

༝ 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬.

[ … ]   Good.   It meant her guard was up,  even in a place that was deemed normally safe.  Despite the carved bit of bedrock they   —   he’d   —   tried his best to turn into a safe haven of sorts for those in the Undercity,  in Zaun,  there were still the usual dangers to keep in mind,  to watch for no matter the time.

Street smarts,  a bit of caution went a long way.  Humming from where he’s been hidden away,  curled over a small but ornate wooden box,  it’s his unspoken cue for Vi to approach.  A reassurance that things were fine   &&.   clear.

Hearing her footsteps approaching from the doorway,  the sounds of the music from below,  the rowdy cheers,  overall joy from gathered traders    &&.   other clients beginning to sift in   —   he has a few minutes,  maybe a half hour at most before he had to go back down to watch over the bar    &&.   start tending to people.  Until then…   Well,  a bit of nostalgia wasn’t such a bad thing to sift through.

Especially considering the topic that’d incited it...

Glancing up at the pink-haired girl,  his large,  calloused fingers remain carefully,  near delicately clutched over the small handful of photographs.  Polaroid like,  little moments of the past captured in physical form,  about as much as he really has left of it,  to think on,  to regret over what he hadn’t been able to do differently.  A reminder of the things lost as well as a long remembered past.  He knows she’s old enough to still remember Felicia   &&.   Connel   —   @vielets &&. Powder’s parents.

But he also knows that the last memory she has of them,  the one that he knows stained her upon experiencing,  haunted her,  outweighed a vast majority of all the other held memories of them.

Thumbing through the few in hand,  he catches sight of Vi shifting in closer,  eyes tracking the photos with some budding intrigue,  drawing a warm but whisper-quiet chuckle from the Bartender as he slowly moves to hold them out for her to take,  to sift through. It wasn’t much,  but maybe looking at the old memories Vander still had could help in some way,  reignite that last bit of good.

` ❝ Sorry for worrying you earlier.  Was looking for something up here,  forgot I had these stashed away. ❞

Careful eyes track her reaction,  bracing silently to supply any asked questions with any answers he could. No matter how much it hurt to trace weathered, worn fingertips over those memories, he’d do his best to fill in the gaps.

❝ what the hell were you thinking?! ❞

Send me ❝ What the hell were you thinking?! ❞ for my muse’s reaction to your muse risking their own life to save my muse.

It could hardly be called thinking. She hadn't been thinking. It was instinctual. It always was with her. Oddly enough, as often as they ended up at each other's throats these days, she'd never let someone cause harm to her sister if she was there. She just... couldn't. Even at the risk of her own life.

It didn't help that any time they really met, their lives were always on the line in one way or another. Doomed sisters really summed it all up.

Vi had been preoccupied with another enemy whilst one had proceeded to try and sneak up behind her. It was almost a sixth sense, really, for Jinx to have found her head immediately jerk in her direction to find the sneaking individual mere feet away from her sister. Without much thought at all, she had quickly sent a shot that had likely blasted the face off her own opponent as she bolted in Vi's direction.

The glint of a knife appearing along with the assailant sent her to double her speed until she slid on the pavement to block the attack, her neck nearly being sliced due to the proximity once she bolted up. It was quick work after that, her free hand grabbed at the blade of the knife to twist it out of their hand before she swung her leg to send them flying to the ground. By the time the other had gotten their wits about them, Jinx was hovering over him, her gun aiming at his head, and her finger on the trigger. There was blood dripping down from the gun due to the injury she incurred from hastily grabbing the knife. The look in the person's eyes did not deter her from pulling the trigger.

It didn't take much longer for Jinx to find herself jerked around to face her sister and for a quick yet loud 'What the hell were you thinking?' to be thrown at her. What was she thinking? There hadn't been time to do that. She just acted. It was her sister at risk, what else could she do? Now, is that what she'd tell Vi? Fat chance.

Powder let out a soft chuckle at the gesture, taking the worn and torn plush bunny into her hands. Her fingers brushed over the fabric, a wave of warmth spreading through her as she studied it with care. It was not familiar to her, but in a way... It felt like it should be. From a place of nostalgia. A glimpse back towards her childhood. For a moment, she didn’t say anything, just held the bunny close, her expression soft.

❛Thank you,❜ she said quietly, her voice tinged with affection. She looked down at the plush again, tilting her head as if it might whisper some hidden wisdom to her.

After a pause, she smiled, her blue eyes lighting up with a playful glint. ❛I mean, I didn’t think I’d need a good luck charm for a job interview with your girlfriend. Is she really that ruthless? Maybe it’ll work some magic for me.❜

Caitlyn held her breath as she slid over to her clothes and collected them off the ground. The dim light of the jail corridor flickered, casting shadows across her face, but even the darkness couldn't hide or mask the turmoil painted all over her features. She knew she had broken the amorous tether they’d just created — the passion, the closeness — by daring to bring up the one subject that they had yet to acknowledge since their reunion. Except, the weight of it had grown too heavy to carry in her heart any longer.

Her voice was quiet at first as she gathered the courage to speak. ❝ But it matters who poured the gasoline to fuel the fire,❞ she said, the words coming out more easily than she thought they would. She'd envisioned this moment a hundred times over before, but never quite like this.

“ i thought i told'ya to stay inside, ” he says to the girl. there was no need to look to where she hid in the shadows, eavesdropping on the conversation in the alley. “ well, come on out, ” he continues, crossing his arms over his chest as he turns to face where he knows her to be, leaning one shoulder against the brick wall.

vander waits for the girl to do as told before q u i r k i n g a brow at her slightly and asking, “ so what'd you think? ”

“ maybe i don't, ” jayce argues, refusing to back down as he attempts to stay in front of her, s t o p her in her tracks “ but my life hasn't been perfect. i've experienced loss. i've had pressures put on me, ” he continues, listing off his arguments on his fingers.

“ i'm not saying that i've experienced even CLOSE to what you have, but i haven't had it as e a s y as you think i did, ” he says, his voice lowering in sincerity. he holds up his hands in surrender, and adds, “ so just say it. get it out. ”