Information: This lil' one-shot is set in the "Bad Day"-Universe of mine, set after the final installment, "A Final Joke". Since it refers to it, you should better have read the series up to that point to not be spoiled and/or understand everything in this. This one-shot here was meant as a small christmas present 2014 for all readers of the "Bad Day"-Series.
A Christmas Joke
"Dashing through the snow, on a Hecarim open sleigh! Over dead bodies I go, laughing all the way!"
It had been a while since the loose cannon had been in such a good mood – much to the suffering of Vi's mood though, who happened to walk right in front of the madwoman, carrying the Christmas tree over her right shoulder with the help of a gauntlet. As if climbing the stairs to her small apartment in the third story of a building not too far from the Police station wasn't irritating enough, with the tree constantly getting stuck in the small space that the staircase had to offer.
"Don't you happen to know any other Christmas carols, Jay?" groaned the enforcer over her shoulder, shortly forgetting about the tree on it, and cursing as she turned her head and ended up stuffing it into the fir needles. The overwhelming smell of it, which she just happened to dislike, didn't exactly make that feel any better.
As far as she was concerned, she didn't need a Chirstmas tree, and especially not such a big one. She would've rather preferred a romantic evening with Caitlyn, snuggling on the couch with Christmas cookies, hot cocoa and a small amount of candles. Heck, if it would've been Caitlyn's condition, it could've even been those aromatic candles!
But no, Caitlyn wanted a tree. Wanted it traditional. And of course, Jinx, who just happened to be freeloading at the kitchen table at that moment, happened to jump right onto the Christmas train, going into a hype like a little child.
That was two days ago. And now, on Christmas Eve, it was the enforcer, running through the city with her crazy coot of a sister to get a Christmas tree. And of course, saving Jinx from slipping at least half a dozen times on the ice in her excitement, digging her out of the snow ever so often, saving her from breaking into the small lake in the park, and reminding her that they were not walking through the city for late Christmas shopping. And the latter one meant pulling her away from every shopwindow, especially of toy stores, that the loose cannon had decided to suck onto like a squid. Gross. She didn't even want to know how many of those windows now showed imprints of the woman's face, and how many had some drool left on them.
"I know a lot more!" countered Jinx, bounced the stairs up and down as she waited for Vi to get the tree around the next corner and up the final flight of stairs, "But nah, lemme sing this one! I feel like it! Scream along if you know the words!"
"I'd rather you'd shut up now." grumbled Vi underneath her breath, couldn't believe her sister and her girlfriend had teamed up on her with their Christmas hype and forced her to do all this when she rather preferred it simple.
"Hm? Didn't catch that." hummed Jinx with her high-pitched voice, made Vi roll her eyes. Finally, the tree moved again, and she could work on getting it up the final flight of stairs.
"Nothing." huffed Vi, took a step to the side to make some space, "Hey, Jay, would you mind going ahead now and opening the door? I've got my hands full."
"Sure thing! But I get to decorate the tree!" exclaimed the older female like a little girl, excitedly skipped past Vi and hopped up the final stairs, "Last one in is a foul..."
Jinx stopped on the final step, frowned at the far wall.
"Uh... Foul potato?" she muttered to herself, wasn't quite sure what to call the last one in the apartment herself, but then shrugged, "Better hope it ain't a foul potato your consciousness gets transferred in. The last time I heard about that happening, the AI was not amused about being in a potato battery."
"What are you babbling about this time?" inquired Vi with a frown, watched as Jinx pulled her own set of keys out of the pocket of the customized Police uniform she was so fond of she barely ever stopped wearing it. Unlocking the door with them, Jinx turned back to Vi.
"Don't ask.", chuckled Jinx, suddenly tilted her head in a weird way and continued with a monotone voice, "It's been a long time, Vi. How have you been? I've been reaaally busy being dead... You know, after you murdered me."
Freaked out by the loose cannon's sudden change, Vi stopped and frowned at her, weirded out. But Jinx wasn't done yet, tilted her head a little further.
"Okay, look, we both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science." Jinx's head slowly rose to it's normal position, a soft smile on the loose cannon's lips, "You monster."
"What the hell, Jay?" muttered Vi under her breath, weirded out beyond what was healthy. But after twitching once, Jinx merely smiled at her.
"Something wrong?" she inquired, almost as if nothing had just happened, frowned as she noticed the confused expression of Vi, "Stop just standing there! Gah, whatever, let's just start shooti... I mean! Let's just bring that tree in and start decorating already! It's almost midday and we haven't decorated the tree, we haven't baked any cookies, we haven't sung carols, haven't snuggled in front of a fireplace, we haven't exchanged presents and we haven't even decided on Christmas dinner!"
"We have more than enough time to do that!" huffed the enforcer, took the final step, almost fell over it, but managed to carry the tree into her apartment after all, "And whoever said you'd get any snuggles?!"
"Why not?!" whined the loose cannon immediately, latched onto Vi's free arm, "You can't have Christmas without Christmas snuggles! That's a rule!"
"For God's sake, Jay! You're 28, not 8!" huffed the enforcer in irritation, sent a quick glance into the kitchen and exchanged a glance with her girlfriend, the sheriff sitting by the kitchen table, reading a book, "And besides! If anyone gets snuggles from me, it's Cait!"
Vi suddenly twirled around – tried to at least, but got stuck in the hallway with the tree, not without knocking a vase over, shattering on the floor. Caitlyn let out a groan in the kitchen, knowing she'd be the one forced to clean that up, her face sinking down into her hands. Vi ignored it for the most part, tried to hide her embarassment with a cough, then glared at Jinx again.
"Which reminds me – Back up a bit later on, Jay. I want this evening to be romantic, it's my first Christmas with Cait! Don't mess this up for me if you really want her to be your sister-in-law, got it?" growled the brawler under her breath, knew that Jinx had secretly been wanting the sheriff as her sister-in-law. For whatever reason, that thought made the loose cannon really excited.
"Got it. You can trust me! When the time comes, I'll slowly retreat into my room and be quiet. You won't even notice I'm still in the apartment!" giggled the loose cannon silently, referring to the workshop-turned-her-bedroom-but-staying-workshop, but then frowned, "But only if you stay quiet as well. If you want to get frisky tonight, tell me now, so I really leave the apartment. I'm not ready for hearing my sister having..."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen tonight. Cupcake and I are taking it slow, remember?" interrupted Vi quickly, shuddered at the thought of talking with her sister about that on a Christmas Eve, "And we're not going to talk about that, Jay."
"Right. I trust you to know the procedure of putting 'a tie on the door'." snorted the elder sister, pushed past Vi and went for the door to the living room to open it for the enforcer, "And I don't mean because you've lost your tie rack. You do owe a tie, right? Cause I don't want to stumble in on you and hat lady having..."
Jinx trailed off to push the door open, hastily stepping into the living room to make space for Vi to follow.
"Coitus." she finished, seemed offended as Vi groaned at the word, "Hey, you're the one uncomfortable with the word 'sex'!"
"We're not going to talk about that, Jay!" called out the enforcer, not sure where Jinx even was with all the fir needles blocking her view, "Where do I put this thing here now?"
"Over here, in the corner by the window!" she heard her crazy sister call out from somewhere beyond the fir needles, but knew which corner she was talking about. So, making sure that the tree wouldn't fall off her shoulder, she carefully moved through the room, thankfully remembering the position of all the fragile things she owned in that room.
She reached the spot Jinx had referred to, with the loose cannon rushing through her vision, excited like a little kid, to place the green Christmas tree stand down on the ground. With that done, Vi slowly set the tree down, leaning her head a bit to the side to see if she had hit the Christmas tree stand. Seeing that she had, she let out a huff of satisfaction, glad to finally be rid of the fir needles that kept going up her nose and smothering her in their weird smell.
Taking a few steps back to appreciate her work, she smiled, found that the tree was standing upright and ready to be decorated – the only thing missing now was the annoyance that had wanted to decorate the tree so badly. With a frown, Vi turned left and right, searched for her older, childish sister, wondered silently where the bundle of never-ending energy had ran off to. After all, she had been buzzing around Vi for the majority of the morning.
"Uhm... Helloooo?" called the woman in question out all of sudden, voice sounding a lot closer than Vi had expected it to sound, "Madwoman in a pretty pickle here! This is taking 'missing the forest for the trees' a little too far!"
Seeing an arm surfacing from behind the tree, waving wildly, the enforcer let out a final groan and threw her head back, holding herself back from screaming out to the heavens in frustration with the last bit of nerves that had remained intact.
Freeing Jinx took only a few seconds, she just had to reach out and tilt the tree a bit for her sister to jump out of her confinement. But as soon as Jinx was let out and Vi had tilted the tree back, the chaos continued to unfold, with something behind Vi – sounding suspiciously lot like porcelain – shattering on the ground.
The enforcer twirled around, glared towards the shards of what had once been a white tea set in front of a dresser, and that after she had made sure not to knock something over. But of course, the thing hadn't fallen to the ground by itself, was too far away from the dresser for that. And of course, Jinx stood right above the shards.
"What?" huffed Jinx in something akin to irritation, "You carried a tree in and didn't even knock anyone, let alone anything, over since entering the living room! I had to fix that!"
"And that's why you throw a tea set onto the ground?!" roared the enforcer in anger, only to suddenly realize something, "Wait, I don't even own a tea set, let alone a white one! I own a single tea cup, but only for if Cait drops by, and that's in the kitchen!"
"I bought this one." replied Jinx with a shrug, proceeded to sweep the shards together with her shoes, "Just for this."
"You bought an entire tea set to throw it on the ground?" muttered Vi in disbelief, slumped her shoulders in defeat, "Jay, you're beyond insane. Nobody can help you anymore."
"Who needs reasons?" snorted the loose cannon in return, continued to sweep the shards away with her boots, "I sure don't need a reason to buy a tea set and throw it on the ground."
"And I don't need a reason to beat the shit out of you, Jay, but god beware, if you sweep those shards underneath that dresser, I have one!" roared the enforcer when she saw where Jinx was headed with the shards, rose one gauntlet and pointed into the direction of the kitchen, "Get a dustpan for that! And while you're at it, pick up the shards in the corridor, too!"
"Yeah yeah, on it." chuckled Jinx, pleased with her actions getting that reaction out of Vi after all, "But before that, can I ask you a question?"
"What's it this time, Jay?" grumbled the enforcer under her breath, but turned away from her sister to walk over to the dresser she kept her christmas decorations in along with all the other junk she only needed once a year, neatly located in the furthest, darkest corner of the living room, out of her sight for most of the year.
"You see, I watched this one movie about Christmas the other day..." began the elder sister, seemed to get lost in thoughts, one finger sliding along her own lower lip, "It was about a man visited by three restless spirits of Christmas. One of the past, one of the present, and one of the Christmas yet to come."
"And now what?" sighed Vi, taking her gauntlets off and pulling the dresser open and sticking her head inside in hope of finding the decorations she had put in there somewhere, well aware that it was usually the hindmost box of them all, which one could only reach once he had pulled out everything else, "You want to become a spirit and haunt me for all eternity? Violating my nerves until I die, too?"
"Nah. I can do that while I am alive." snickered Jinx, almost as if Vi had said the most stupid thing ever, "What I really want to know is how to summon one of those! I wanna see a spirit in real life! Do you know how?"
"No clue." grumbled Vi, hit her head inside the dresser when she tried to reach past the box containing the Easter decorations, cursed as a throbbing pain echoed through her skull, "Now get that dustpan! And tell Cait I'll be with her in a moment, so that we can take care of dinner. After I found these stupid, annoying, completely unnecessary...!"
"Try the box right in front of your fat face, fat hands. It's in the compartment right beneath the one you're currently trying to crawl into." snorted Jinx from the other side of the room, amused that Vi had completely missed the colorful box, "Never going to fit with that fat ass of yours, by the way."
"Thanks for the compliment, you skinny skeleton." growled the younger sister right back, irritation reaching a new level when she saw that Jinx had been right about the box, "Bet you I could stuff you inside this dresser without my gauntlets. You're so tiny and skinny, bet it'll fit."
"Stop arguing, I can hear you!" scolded Caitlyn's voice from the kitchen, causing both enforcer and loose cannon to freeze up. If they had learned one thing in their relatively short time of living together, it was that it was best not to argue in front of Caitlyn. The woman knew how to get them into line.
Giving each other a last sympathetic glance, the two sisters separated, with Jinx heading for the kitchen to get the dustpan, and Vi picking up everything that remotely minded her of Christmas. Knowing that Jinx would use most of these things anyways, and whatever stuff she had brought over from her former hideout and was secretly keeping in her room, Vi's former workshop, Vi mindlessly threw those boxes of christmas decorations into the small armchair by the tree and decided to follow her sister.
Jinx was just leaving the kitchen with the requested dustpan when Vi left the living room, the two sisters meeting in the middle of the corridor.
"The decorations are in the armchair. I'm leaving that to you." spoke Vi quickly, shuddered a bit at the sight of Jinx's childish glee surfacing, "But don't overdo it."
Jinx didn't even reply. Instead of heading for the living room, she ducked into her own room, only the sounds of things being thrown around informing Vi that Jinx was indeed trying to find some stuff on her own to hang onto the tree.
She almost regretted the choice already.
But pushing the thought of what her crazy sister might do to their tree aside, the enforcer entered the kitchen of her apartment, immediately felt a wave of calmness wash over her at the sight of her girlfriend sitting at the table, her nose buried in the same book she had been reading before. She must've spotted Vi, though, as she relatively quickly lowered the book and put her favorite bookmark in, smiling up at the enforcer.
"Ready for deciding on what to have for dinner then?" inquired the sheriff as she rose from her seat, ready for the next item on their agenda, "Seeing as you left Jay with the decorations, I suppose you are."
"As much as I don't trust her with decorating the living room without causing some chaos - I really already expect her to fill it with artifical snow while we're merely a few feet away from her - I do trust her even less with coming up with something reasonable for dinner. So we handle that, and leave her with decorating the tree."
"Seems to be the best course of action." smiled the sheriff, couldn't disagree with her girlfriend. Picking up her book and placing it on the windowsill, she gestured Vi to come over to the kitchen unit by the wall. Following that gesture, Vi stepped up to her, mischievously embraced her from behind and gently pressed some kisses onto Caitlyn's neck and shoulder, errupting some giggles from the woman.
The moment was quickly interrupted again, though, by the sound of the door to Jinx's room being first slammed open, then shut, and the maniac's excited steps down the corridor, just like a kid's excited steps on the Christmas morning.
With a groan, Vi's forehead sank down on Caitlyn's shoulder.
"Ugh... Remind me again why we celebrate Christmas with my crazy ass criminal of a sister?" groaned Vi softly, but kept running her hands over Caitlyn's sides in small, gentle circles, knowing that the sheriff enjoyed being massaged like that.
"It's been little more than a month since she came to stay with us, and you already complain about it?" chuckled Caitlyn softly, lifting one hand to place a hand on Vi's cheek, tracing the two letters on Vi's face with her finger, "Besides, she's not a criminal anymore."
"She may have stopped violating the law, but she moved on to violating my nerves, and I think that still counts, cupcake." sighed the enforcer, somewhat exasperated with her sister.
"Well, you were the one to move her in here. And I actually quite enjoy her presence, it's refreshing." giggled Caitlyn softly, gently gestured Vi to take a step back so that she could move freely around and open the fridge, "I didn't think she'd be this much of a helpful and resourceful person when we were still chasing her down."
"She's pulling your leg." snorted the enforcer in return, took a few steps back until her lower back rested against the table, waved her hand a bit, "And besides, I know I wasn't drunk when I decided I want her here, but I can still blame it on the painkiller making my head all fuzzy. I don't think I could make rational choices back then."
Caitlyn hesitated, sent her girlfriend a questioning frown. Seeing that Vi was merely frowning back, Caitlyn rolled her eyes and snorted, found herself amused at how much this reminded her of Jinx, and focused back on going through the things in Vi's fridge, getting lost in thought of what to make for dinner.
"Do what you want." she muttered, lost in thought. As such, neither she, nor Vi, were prepared for Jinx's voice echoing through the apartment in return.
"Cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!"
Both sheriff and enforcer frowned towards the door, confused as to what they had just experienced. But then again, it was Jinx who lived with them in Vi's apartment now, the most random and confusing person that either of them knew. So paying it no further mind, Caitlyn turned back to the fridge.
"Do what you think you have to, but don't expect people to believe it. We both know you actually like her and did it because of that." sighed the sheriff, moved on to the small drawers at the bottom of the fridge, hoping to find something there that would give her an idea (seeing as she was the only one of the three with any mentionable skills when it came to cooking), "Speaking of painkiller, though, isn't it remarkable how she recovered from that night?"
Jinx chose this moment to live out her randomness yet again. Just when Vi was about to reply to her girlfriend, the big stereo in her living room turned on, an ominous sounding music that Vi didn't know, but immediately categorized as tragedic-sounding, almost melodramatic, echoed through their apartment.
"I do quite fancy Payne-killer." giggled Jinx loudly in the other room, speaking with a fake thick accent that was without a doubt meant to parody that of Caitlyn. Before either of Piltover's finest could react to the weird occurrence, though, the music changed, turned from ominous to the familiar tune of 'Jingle Bells'.
But as Vi had already experienced earlier that day, while Jinx did enjoy the classic carols, each had a twist to it with her. And so had that one, as Jinx proved when she began to croak along.
"Jinx likes bells, Fat Hands smells, I pulled Caitlyn's leg...!"
While Caitlyn immediately turned to frown at the door, not quite believing what she was hearing, Vi threw her head back and groaned aloud.
"She's in the mood for christmas, huh?" she hissed, closed her eyes in irritation, even though a sentimental hint found it's way into her voice, "Just like when we were younger..."
"And she's been listening to us, as it seems. She's answered a few times now to something we said." mused Caitlyn, turned back to the fridge, leaned forward and began to rummage through it, "She has quite the excellent hearing. Something I can't say about you sometimes, Vi. And if you do share your sister's excellent hearing, then you really know how to ignore something you don't want to hear. No offense."
"None taken, cupcake." chuckled Vi in return, couldn't deny that her girlfriend was right, "Especially not if you keep presenting your behind to me like that."
The sheriff rose to her full height and sent a glance over her shoulder that was neither disapproving, nor lecherous, placed one hand on her rear and chuckled. Vi wasn't the most sensitive person and didn't exactly have a way with words, but was charming in her own direct way. Or at least, in a way that Caitlyn enjoyed.
"The saltsicks think that they are smart and can do things behind my back, hey!"continued Jinx, not even in sync with the music anymore. And while Caitlyn wasn't even paying attention anymore, Vi had tilted her head a bit and had instead focused on the door, finding even herself surprised by the even more random than usual actions of Jinx that day. She blamed it on the glee that Jinx was experiencing, the glee of a child on Christmas Eve.
"And she still goes on about those saltsticks..." muttered the brawler under her breath, remembered the first time that Jinx had openly declared her distrust towards saltsticks. For whatever reason, the loose cannon believed that saltsticks wanted to overthrow humanity and take it's place as a ruling species. As if saltsticks were sentient.
"You can't change her." giggled her girlfriend as she surfaced from the fridge, holding a small tower of things. Vi didn't even bother to go through what Caitlyn was holding, trusting her girlfriend to know what she was doing. At least she could cook, unlike the two sisters. While Vi merely wasn't the greatest cook of all time, Jinx's attempts at cooking – at least, according to her – ended in downscaled natural disasters of kitchen size.
And both Caitlyn and Vi rather not had an active miniature-volcano in their kitchen on Christmas Eve.
"Besides, I bet you wouldn't change her even if you could."
The enforcer frowned at her girlfriend, but contemplated what she said. Would she change Jinx if she could? Maybe the events that had brought them to that point, but Jinx herself? She tried to imagine Jinx being more like Caitlyn, calm and collected, serious and focused on work. A sniper, instead of an explosives and heavy artillery expert.
And felt a cold chill run down her spine. Never.
"You have a point there, I guess..."
"Jinx likes bells, Fat Hands smells, I pulled Caitlyn's leg...!"
"And she likes her christmas songs alright..." added Vi immediately, sending another uneasy glance towards the door. Even Caitlyn, who had placed the stack of things down on the counter, seemed to be getting uncomfortable with the childish excitement of Jinx. Or her lyrics.
"She sure does..." agreed the sheriff slowly. Vi chuckled at the sight of the sheriff being uncomfortable for once. Of course, it had only been a matter of time until Jinx's weird behavior would get to her too, but to see that actually happening, and not to her for once, was actually kinda funny.
"Move that ass, but know that you can't run, from my motherf-ing sleigh, hey!"
Cringing horribly at the sudden choice of words by her sister, Vi nearly fell to the ground her position leaned against the table, then stared in shock at the door. Exchanging a shocked frown with Caitlyn, the enforcer quickly rushed to the door, leaning out of the kitchen into the corridor.
"Jay!" she bellowed, wasn't even sure when her sister had picked up that word – sure, she was 28, but that was the first time that Vi had ever heard her say it – and whatever had happened to decorating the tree, which she seemed to have dropped in favor of singing, "Language!"
The music stopped immediately, but Jinx didn't answer. Seeing as that she wouldn't, Vi let out an irritated sigh and pulled her head back into the kitchen, giving her girlfriend an apologizing smile. Her sister really knew how to be inconsiderate, even on Christmas.
"English, unless you change your region in the main menu!"
Vi whirled around and stared in disbelief at the door, not even sure what Jinx had meant this time. Sometimes, it felt as if Jinx's random sentences weren't even directed at her, but someone else. Someone who would understand the message. Cause she sure didn't, and Caitlyn didn't seem to understand either, guessing by the confused expression on her face.
"...This sleigh needs more weapons. More flashy killing thingies."
Ignoring the rest of Jinx's pointless musing, Vi rose her hand to her face, massaged the bridge of her nose in irritation as she slumped down into a chair by the table. Why was she even bothering with keeping Jinx in line? Why was she even putting up with that? She should just stop thinking and let things happen as they did, there was no point in trying to stop them, anyways. No chance but to be just going with the flow.
And yet, she wouldn't surrender without a fight.
"She's really in a festitive mood, isn't she?" began Caitlyn, giggled to herself once she had finally calmed down after the shock of Jinx's vulgar language, "In her own, special way of course. But I think it's still refreshing to have her around. Never a boring day with her. Each day brings a new surprise."
"Yeah. Like this morning." grumbled Vi, suddenly leaned back and rose her voice, "When I found a small hole drilled into the door of my fridge for whatever reason, that wasn't there when I went to bed last night!"
"I don't know anything about that!" echoed Jinx's voice back from the living room, accompanied by the sound of decorations being rummaged through, "But it sounds like someone wanted to see if the lights in the fridge really turn off when you close the door! I heard about people who try that!"
"Like hell she doesn't know about anything..." muttered the pinkette under her breath, knowing her older sister too well, but decided not to pursue the topic any further, knowing she'd never be able to get Jinx to admit anything she had done that was in any way questionable. Unless the loose cannon was proud of it, at which point she'd just admit it outright.
"Anyway, Cait, any idea what to have for dinner?" inquired the enforcer as she turned back to her girlfriend, deciding to ignore any further actions of her sister, after all. The sheriff smiled at that, picked up a single potato that had been lying on the kitchen counter for a reason neither of Piltover's finest understood, and turned to Vi, waved the potato.
"Not quite sure yet, but I suppose a potato salad would go nicely with it. I fancy a good potato salad on Christmas. Has almost become tradition for me." admitted Caitlyn, laughed a bit. The sheriff's melodic laughter rose the brawler's spirits again, let her forget the weird mood that Jinx's good mood put her in.
But almost as if on cue, the sound of something hitting the floor in the living room, unceremoniously dropped onto it, made both Caitlyn and Vi perk up, especially as heavy steps followed it. Steps heading into their direction at incredible speed.
Jinx appeared in the doorway a second later, was so fast that her attempt to come to a sliding stop almost resulted in her rushing past the doorway. Nonetheless, she managed to storm into the kitchen, even though only in a messy stumble, heading into the direction of Caitlyn.
"No! PotaDOS!" shrieked the older female, jumped and snatched the potato from the brunette's hands. Holding the potato herself now, she twirled around, sent Caitlyn a glare that made the enforcer somehow expect Jinx to suddenly croak 'My precious!' at the sheriff, and rushed back out of the room.
Piltover's finest was too stunned by this weird action, and so, not a single word was spoken until Jinx entered the kitchen yet again.
Without a potato.
Jinx let out a small huff, blew a strand of electric-blue hair out of her face. She leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest, smirked almost proudly at Piltover's finest. Kind of like in old times, when she was still on the criminal side and enjoyed mocking them.
"Something up?" inquired Vi after Jinx didn't say a thing for a minute or two, "You're done with decorating the tree already? Is the living room still intact?"
"Don't worry, everything is fine." replied Jinx quickly, though the cautious glance into the direction of the living room did not reassure Vi at all, "I'm just taking a break. And then I'll finish the decorations."
"Didn't you just start?"
The enforcer's question got promptly ignored, with Jinx completely overhearing it and focusing on Caitlyn instead, much to the brawler's further irritation. After sending a last glance towards the living room, Jinx stepped further into the room, rolled her shoulders.
"Hat lady!" she began quickly, stepped to the brunette's side and cast a quick glance over the pile of things that Caitlyn had pulled from the fridge and placed on the counter, "You're smart, right? Surely you must know how to summon a spirit of Christmas! I wanna see one! Like, for real!"
Caitlyn's confused expression destroyed the ray of hope that the maniac had clung onto, and she let out a displeased groan as she slumped her shoulders. In response to that, the sheriff threw a questioning glance over to Vi, and the enforcer just shrugged.
"Let's just say I'm not going to let her rent another movie." commented Vi simply. But how had she been supposed to know that a simple movie like that, a classic one, would wake this kind of questions in Jinx?
...Okay, she should've known. And yet, she had allowed Jinx to rent two movies from the children's section of the movie rental store. Now, if she could only remember the name of the second one, that would definitely at least give her a hint as to what questions she was to expect from Jinx.
"Whatever!" exclaimed Jinx, suddenly full of new energy. She rose her head so fast that it nearly scared Caitlyn to death, and whirled around even faster, grinned at Piltover's finest. "I think we should have roast goose! And icecream after that!"
Realization suddenly dawned on the loose cannon's face. For a few seconds, she seemed lost in thought, then gently nibbled on her lower lip and turned to stare through the open door into the corridor, eyes glued to the door to her own room.
"Speaking of icecream, I probably shouldn't forget to make that call." she muttered to herself, then turned back to the two women with her, "What about Christmas cookies? We didn't bake any yet! Will there be any cake? I like cake!"
"No cake, Jay. We still have a lot of time, but not that much time!" huffed Vi and leaned back in her chair, frowned at her sister, "Besides, cake? It may be just my opinion, but I don't think that cake fits with Christmas a lot. Rather fitting for a birthday, don't ya think?"
"I have to agree. Cookies are alright, but no cake." agreed the sheriff. This immediately earned a pout from Jinx, who crossed her arms in front of her chest like a little kid and stomped out of the kitchen with a huff.
"Can't believe it! The cake is a lie!"
As Jinx stomped off, the duo watched her leave. Little did they know that they both thought 'she's like a little kid' at the same moment, but neither of them spoke aloud. Seeing as the rummaging picked up again, Jinx would be alright.
"Can't disagree with what she said." spoke Vi after a few seconds, rose from her seat and moved over to her girlfriend, "Roast goose sounds just fine to me. If it's not too much work for you, cupcake. I'm not the best when it comes to cooking, but I still try my best to help you."
"It's fine." chuckled the sheriff, gently nudged Vi on the nose. The brawler pulled back in surprise, but still smiled, "But we still have some time before we start with dinner. So why don't we see how your sister is doing with the decorations, sit back and relax for a bit, and then take care of those cookies and dinner with her help?"
Vi let out a small, barely audible sigh and slumped her shoulders a little, had looked forward to some minutes with her girlfriend alone, but finally came to accept that she wouldn't get these until they were finally done with the preparations.
"Fine. Let's see what that little shit is up to now again." chuckled the enforcer, and though she sounded amused, deep down, she was already preparing for the next chaotic thing that Jinx had, whether knowingly or unknowingly, set up.
Leaving the kitchen with Caitlyn in tow and returning to the living room, Vi should learn that it was knowingly.
Two things immediately caught the enforcer's eye as she entered her living room, and one of them was the tree in the corner of the room. Barely recognizable as that anymore, the first thing hanging on it other than the usual christmas decorations that caught Vi's attention was the potato that Jinx had snatched earlier, the one she had, for whatever reason, called 'PotaDOS'. Now full of cables, needles and with a large yellow LED protruding from it, the potato hung on a blue ribbon from the tree.
Not too far from it hung a small cube on a red ribbon, a large heart depicted on each of the side of it, with a similar yellow cube with a white question mark on it just below. Further up on the tree was the replica of a starship that read "Normandy SR1" in big white letters along it's side, though it hung in a way that allowed one to see the simple skeleton key with the silver blade and teeth, blue rainguard and the bright gold, crown-shaped guard. Interesting enough was also the small keychain that hung from the golden guard, depicting something that reminded Vi of the shape of a mouse's head.
A half-red and half-white ball hung relatively high on the tree. A golden ring with an inscription along it's side hung at the front, though a small note attached to it, written in pink by Jinx in her neat, curvy handwriting was a small warning that stealing the ring would cause it to start possessing you, or could even curse you and cause disturbances in the space-time-continuum, making you experience the same monday over and over again. But of course, just another random thing from Jinx's distorted state of mind.
Letting her gaze travel further towards the top of the tree, Vi noticed the same golden object made of three triangles that she had once seen pop out of Jinx's toaster, paid it thus less mind – And froze up when she saw what Jinx had used to replace the star at the top of the tree.
One of the red and blue blinking gauntlets that Vi had once created from a similar pair of mining rig fists to go with the 'police theme', but had kept in her workshop for repairs. At first, Vi frowned in shock at Jinx's choice for replacing the star, but then couldn't help but snort and laugh after all, finding herself amazed rather than mad.
So she and her sister had a similar humor, after all.
That laugh was quickly eradicated though, when she turned to the second thing in the room that had caught her attention – and did a double-take as she spotted her sister.
Wearing nothing but a skimpy santa dress with a low cleavage that ended, being a few sizes too big for her, just above her knees, and matching red boots.
"What the hell are you wearing?!" blurted Vi out, recoiling in shock at what little her sister was actually wearing – before realizing that Jinx had never worn much to begin with. Zaun street fashion wasn't exactly the most covering thing. Jinx seemed to take it as a compliment, though, as she made a quick twirl on the spot, thus revealing that she had used a pin at the upper back to make the dress smaller in the chest area.
"Looks good on me, doesn't it?" giggled the loose cannon mischievously, did another twirl. It ended with her bowing into the direction of the couch, which at first seemed to make no sense – Until Vi spotted the restored versions of Pow-Pow, Fishbones and Zap on the couch. And guessing by the dent in the floor in front of the couch, right below where Fishbones lay, it had been the rocket launcher that Jinx had dropped so unceremoniously to save the potato.
"And just where did you get that from again?" sighed the enforcer and dropped onto the armrest of her favorite armchair, the same one that Jinx had also deemed her favorite, not sinking into itself. To Vi's surprise, though, it should be Caitlyn who answered the question, blushing madly and avoiding to look directly at either of the sisters.
"That's mine." she muttered uneasily, "I saw it the other day and thought, you know, you'd have a fancy for it on me. And maybe I wanted to play a little with your mind..."
Both of the sisters stared at the blushing brunette, neither of them saying anything, just blinking in confusion. That was, until Vi's gaze slowly moved up and down the sheriff, her extensive imagination starting up. And Vi smirked as she turned to look at her sister, ignoring that Jinx was scratching the burns on her right arm.
"Get out of that dress now. In your own room by yourself, of course." demanded Vi, her gaze turning back to the blushing sheriff, "Oh cupcake, you know how to make me a happy woman. If that's my present, this is going to be the best christmas ever. No matter if it turns my mind to mush or not."
Caitlyn was blushing madly by now, gaze focused on the Christmas tree, suddenly deeming it very interesting. But as such, Jinx scratching her arm yet again was a welcome distraction, a chance to change the topic before this got too embarassing for her.
"I-Is everything alright with your arm, Jay? You've been scratching it for a while now."
The madwoman froze up, quickly stopped scratching the old burns, coughed to herself and looked baffled, almost as if she had been caught with the hand in the cookie jar.
"Ah? Ah, yes, it's... No." Jinx scratched back of her head uneasily, "The burns tend to itch from time to time. Nothing too serious."
"D'aw, want me to kiss it better?" laughed the sheriff, felt playful – And wanted to distract the topic from her dress by embarassing Jinx. Only did that not work as well as she hoped, with her forgetting that Jinx wasn't easy to embarass. Instead, the tables were quickly turned again when a giggling Jinx blushed a bit.
"Yes please." giggled the woman with the electric-blue hair, suddenly reached for her cleavage and hooked a finger into it, "Actually, I was burnt here, too..."
Caitlyn's face lit up, blushing even more furiously than she had before. And as Jinx errupted into mad giggling, the enforcer picked up the pillow from the armchair and threw it at her older sister, hitting her square in the face.
"You liar! You burnt your arm, nothing more!" screeched Vi, pointed towards the corridor, "Now leave and get out of that dress! And for God's sake, Jay, stop hitting on my girlfriend! Stop flirting with her!"
Laughing madly, Jinx took off with the pillow she had caught after it had smacked her in the face still in her hands. Even as the door to Jinx's room closed behind the madwoman, the mad giggling still rung in Vi's head.
"For God's sake..." growled the enforcer, pinched the bridge of her nose and sunk deeper into the armchair, let herself fall from it's armrest into the actual seat – And, the spring of it immediately digging into her rear, found herself thrown up into the air, hitting the ceiling at velocity that couldn't have been from landing on just a few normal springs in an armchair.
Thankfully, she was a lot tougher than the average person, so all that she felt after she slammed into the ceiling and hit the ground in front of the armchair was a little pain in either shoulder, like when a normal person stubbed it's toe.
The explanation didn't wait long for it to present itself, Jinx's head surfacing from her room.
"Ah, I knew I forgot something! I grabbed the springs from my old couch and put them into the armchair, but kinda forgot to calibrate them." chuckled Jinx uneasily, head vanishing in her room again, "So be careful if you drop into it!"
The enforcer grumbled something under her breath that she wasn't even sure herself of, knew that it was definitely cursing, though. Trust her sister to not leave anything out of her mad experiments and 'improvements'. Then again, most of Jinx's 'improvements', while at first being not too successful, were actual improvements. Jinx's couch had been way more comfortable than any other couch Vi had ever sat in.
With the help of the sheriff, who was yet to completely process what she had just witnessed, Vi rose to her feet and dusted herself off. The pain really wasn't too bad, her right shoulder throbbing a bit from hitting the ground, but as she had thankfully not landed on the table not too far from where she had actually hit the ground, she knew that it would subside in a few moments.
Nonetheless irritated by her crazy sister's newest misdeed, the enforcer stomped over to the couch, shoved Pow-Pow further towards Zap and Fishbones, and flopped down on it rather unceremoniously, not caring about Jinx's 'friends' all that much.
Caitlyn chuckled gently as she saw that, though she still didn't know how to handle all the chaos that was unfolding around Jinx. But that was an evil she could live with if it was the condition for living with Vi and Jay. So walking over to Vi and putting Zap onto the table so that she could sit down right aside her girlfriend, she smiled and relaxed, rested her head on the brawler's shoulder.
If she wanted to say something, it quickly got interrupted again. As it always was with a calm silence around Jinx, the madwoman couldn't help but disturb it, even if unintentionally. And so, it came as no surprise as the woman's room burst open, announcing her arrival and that she had changed clothes.
And changed clothes, she had. Into another costume.
She was wearing a crystal-blue, off-the-shoulder dress that looked like it was made out of ice, with a right knee-high slit, a crystallized bodice and translucent, powder blue sleeves. Covering her feet were heels that also appeared as if they were made entirely from ice and, attached to the back of her bodice was a long, transparent cape looking like pure ice, decorated with large snowflakes. Also wearing a dark pink lipstick, and shiny, purplish-pink eye shadow, Jinx was barely recognizable, especially with her hair in a thicker than usual, loose french braid swept over her left shoulder.
Dressed like that, she stumbled into the room, not quite used to the heels yet, holding Caitlyn's santa dress in her right hand. Before either of Piltover's finest could comment or ask what the maniac intended to do this time, Jinx twirled on the spot and threw the santa dress at Caitlyn, leaving the sheriff to catch it with her face. And even less did either of them expect Jinx to suddenly start singing again.
"Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door!" Jinx performed another, less than gracious twirl into the direction of the tree, her cape sweeping over the floor, "I don't care what they're going to say! Let the storm rage on – The cold never bothered me anyway!"
"That was the other movie she rented!" blurted Vi out and jumped out of her seat, happy with herself for having remembered it now, "And damn, for a kid's movie, it was kinda awesome!"
"I'm not even going to ask." muttered the sheriff after she had freed her face, frowning at the two giggling sisters that were now performing a weird, not exactly gracious dance in front of her, with Vi holding one of Jinx's hands over the maniac's head as the madwoman twirled faster and faster.
"If you know the movie, it's like with the question why I enjoy Christmas so much, you don't need to ask it!" chuckled the loose cannon as she and Vi separated, laughing to themselves, with the enforcer falling back into the seat next to Caitlyn, "I enjoy Christmas because there's so many of these small bells I can attach to everything as I run around in some apartment building! And it's twice the fun when I get the noise complaints by mail the next morning!"
"Instead of doing that, shouldn't you do something productive?" sighed the sheriff, though she couldn't help but smile to herself as she watched the two overly excited sisters getting along for once.
"Oh, believe me, hat lady, I thought about that. A lot, actually. Which is why I thought about picking up a job during the weekends, cause I'm not on duty then, and I'm bored most of the time, with no bombs to build anymore." giggled the loose cannon and sat down on the same armrest that Vi had sat on earlier, "And there's this pizza place looking for a security guard for the night shifts. Apparently, the last one has been fired because of odor and tampering with the animatronics just recently, and now they're looking for someone to take his place on the weekends."
The loose cannon leaned back, frowned at the ceiling.
"Funny thing is, some research I did brought up this weird rumor that no security guard who worked the night shifts has been there for longer than a week since 1987. I wonder why..."
She lowered her head, smiled at the two women she was living with.
"Since we're asking some questions already, I have one as well." continued the madwoman, stretched her limbs and let out an excited giggle, "You have heard of this one woman, too, right? Kalista? This constantly angry, blue-skinned specter that keeps talking about herself in plural? How again does one summon her?"
Both sheriff and enforcer frowned, but neither of them really understood. While Caitlyn shrugged and turned to the madwoman to explain it, though not sure why Jinx would ask, Vi pondered as to why Jinx's question seemed oddly familiar, knowing that, while Jinx did ocassionally ask totally unrelated things, there was a method to most of her seemingly unrelated questions. And asking how to summon a specter?
It clicked in Vi's head the moment the word specter was coming to her mind. Specters were ghosts. Ghosts were spirits. It was Christmas. Jinx wanted to summon a spirit of Christmas all day.
"No-no-no-no!" blurted the brawler out, shot out of her seat and stopped Caitlyn from her explanation, "Do not tell her that, cupcake! Like hell we're going to tell her how to summon a specter that only seeks revenge on betrayers! And that aside, Jay, Kalista is not a spirit of Christmas just because she is a spirit and you summon her on Christmas Eve!"
The maniac seemed a little disappointed at that, but not disheartened. Instead, while looking a bit disappointed, she quickly shrugged and stood up, moved on to something completely else anew. One topic down, countless more to go – That was Jinx.
"Yeah, whatever." snorted the loose cannon as she rounded the armchair, headed for the door to the corridor, "I'm gonna change out of this dress. As comfortable as it is, the joke's over. Time to put it back under the bed until next year!"
The maniac stumbled over to the door, still not too comfortable with the heels she was wearing. Yet, she somehow managed to reach the door, just like she had somehow managed to enter the room, and even dance in them.
"Or whenever it is that I'll get the chance to wear this again." was the last thing the maniac muttered to herself as she left the room, leaving Piltover's finest alone in the living room. Not for long, as either of them knew, but they were alone for a few seconds, enough time to catch their breath after all the madness.
Immediately, Vi sunk back into her seat, threw her head back and rested it on the backrest of the couch. Letting out a sigh that Caitlyn wasn't sure about whether or not it was in frustration at Jinx or in actual amusement after all – Vi seemed to have been rather amused right before Jinx's weird question – as a giggle followed right after, the sheriff didn't question it, didn't voice her confusion.
A few moments passed like that, in silence. Rather quickly, the excitement that Jinx had caused faded away, things calming down. With the maniac out of the room, nothing out of the ordinary happened. And Caitlyn wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
Vi eventually rose her head again, after all, glanced towards the tree and examined it, gaze resting a little longer on an object ever so often, telling Caitlyn that Vi seemed actually interested in them. Especially the miniature starship seemed to have caught her interest. And that, too, Caitlyn wasn't sure about whether she liked it or not.
The sound of Jinx's door opening again eventually broke the silence. In more ways than one, as it quickly turned out, with Jinx talking to what first appeared to be herself. It was only when Jinx stepped into the room, carrying a tablet computer in her hands, that Piltover's finest realized that Jinx was actually, for once, not having a monologue to keep herself entertained.
Casually, almost too casually for her, Jinx stepped in front of the couch, still talking to the person at the other end of the call in a hushed, silent tone. While certainly interested as to who Jinx was talking to, Vi had enough decency to not simply butt into the conversation. The problem solved itself, though, and that rather quickly.
"And that's my stupid sister and her smart girlfriend. And my three best friends, but you know them." chuckled Jinx mischievously as she turned the screen towards the two cops and the three weapons on the couch, thus revealing that it wasn't just a simple call, but an actual video call.
The female on the screen was, what Vi noticed second, short. First and most obvious, however, was the neopolitan theme she had going on, with half of her long hair in a soft pink, and the rest of it in a chocolate brown, with white streaks in the pink part of it. Though one eye was initially pink and one brown – heterochromia, in other words – Vi was sure that the colors had swapped places when the female tilted her head a bit and smirked at them, blinking a few times. She noticed the white jacket with the pink interior, too, but refused to even look further down the female, fearing that she might even be more reminded of neopolitan icecream, which was getting her hungry pretty quick.
"Jay." sighed Vi, frowned, nodded at the screen, "And just who is this again?"
The female on the screen waved, smiled in a way that was both warm and surprisingly scary, sending a shiver down Vi's spine. She didn't need Jinx to answer the question, she felt that this woman on the screen was not that much different from Jinx.
Crazy, psychopathic, with more than just one simple personality disorder.
"Just a friend of mine. Explaining where and how I met her would take too long." chuckled the madwoman holding the screen, giving the other madwoman on the screen a short gesture that made the woman crack up – even though, as Vi noticed with a frown, without making a sound – and nearly fall over in laughter, "Let's just say I didn't call her in a while. Thought it was time to give her that call. Ya know, since it's Christmas and all."
"I don't think that 'I know'." muttered Vi in return, found herself creeped out as Caitlyn suddenly seemed utterly interested in the woman on the screen, exchanging gestures that made not a lot of sense to the enforcer, "Would you kindly explain?"
"No."
A man in a white suit, a black bowler hat, with bright orange hair passed through the room in the background of the video call, ranting something to himself that Vi couldn't make out. The multi-colored girl shortly turned around to throw a pen into the direction of the man, obviously meant to shut him up – and obviously reaching that goal, as Vi heard the man scream out, followed by what sounded like 'Oh for f..! Stop that, Neo!'.
The woman on the screen turned back to face them, began to make a few more of the signs that made no sense to the enforcer, even though both Caitlyn and Jinx seemed to understand them just fine.
The man appeared behind the short woman on the screen, once again seemed to be complaining, as 'Neo' turned around to throw a glare at him. He, however, rewarded that with a glare of his own, apparently having yet to notice the camera, though.
"Whatever are you doing there again, by the way? We've got no time for that! The crazy bitch wants me to steal more Dust for her, and you know how she gets when she doesn't get what she wants!" complained the man, pointing towards the door, "Now, if you would, please...?"
The woman on the screen let out an inaudible sigh, even though the sound of the tablet computer clearly didn't seem to be broken. Again, a few, really quick signs – the latest of which was signed over her shoulder into the directon of the leaving man, a sign that Vi knew very well as 'flipping one off' – then the woman rose, reached for the camera. And then, the call ended.
"Quite an interesting friend you have there, Jay." giggled Caitlyn as she leaned back in her seat and Jinx turned the screen back to her, both content with whatever conversation Vi seemed to have entirely missed, "Quite an unfortunate fate has befallen her, though."
"Meh, she's alive and kicking, it doesn't kill her. And she never once complained about it." replied Jinx, turning away from Piltover's finest to return to her room.
"Never figured you to be one to know sign language, though." commented Caitlyn nonetheless, not knowing that Vi only now understood how she could've missed an entire conversation, "And you seem to know it for a while now, you easily kept up with your mute friend."
"It's been a while since I learned it. Never regretted it." chuckled Jinx over her shoulder, casually strolled out of the room, "Not with Neo being so 'talkative' once she knows you can understand her. Her boss, though, can be quite an annoyance. As can be his boss."
The loose cannon stopped in the doorway, rolled her shoulders and stretched her limbs, then rolled her neck. For a moment, she remained there, stared straight ahead. Then, with a smirk on her lips, turned back to the couple on the couch.
"You should probably start dinner soon." offered Jinx, shrugged, "I'd offer my help, but I think the three of us want to live through the night and experience a new morning. As you both know, my last attempt at cooking... Well, it went less than 'okay'. A lot less."
"You're right." answered Caitlyn, surprised Vi when she suddenly stood up and nodded to herself, "In both points. You and Vi should find something to do while I prepare dinner now."
The sheriff grinned at the two sisters she was living with, grin growing as she saw Jinx's excitement and Vi's confusion. Leaving the enforcer on the couch, the sheriff of Piltover turned to leave the room as well, walking past Jinx, who had remained in the doorway, to head for the kitchen.
"And you two better don't start a fight while I'm in there!"
For a moment about to make a snippy comment on how Jinx would probably start it, not caring how childish it sounded, Vi found herself without a reason to, as Jinx turned and left the room as well. The younger of the two sisters could only watch her older sister walk through the corridor and enter her own room from her place on the couch in wonder.
Jinx knew sign language and had a mute, albeit no less criminal and psychotic, friend.
Sometimes, Vi really wondered when Jinx would stop surprising her.
An unladylike burp broke the until that moment comfortable silence that had lasted after dinner. Of course, Caitlyn sent a glare towards the maniac that was sitting in the open window, back leaned against the window frame and legs pulled in, letting the cold breeze of the late evening in. If not for Vi letting out a snicker that reminded the sheriff that Vi was pretty much just as rude as Jinx could be, she would've probably said something.
But it was Christmas, so she let it drop instead. She could continue to educate them on how to show manners another day. Today was a day to let the two sisters be as they were.
That aside, the maniac in the window was too occupied with the presents she had received from her 'roommates' as to listen to anything. It was obvious, and yet surprising, that Jinx was completely enamored with the book resting on her legs – 'The Wizard of Oz', a novel that Vi had chosen to give Jinx for Christmas – while she absentmindedly shuffled the set of playing cards that was her present from Caitlyn. Good thing she had calmed down – when she had opened her presents, she had been thrown into a fit of childish glee, getting overexcited.
In return for the cards, Jinx had chosen a hat as her present for Caitlyn. A hat that, even though it had shocked the enforcer at first due to it's fuzzy red and white coloration, felt rather comfy. While being a rather strange looking hybrid between the type of hat that Caitlyn usually wore and a santa hat, it sure did a great job at keeping her ears warm. And the book that Jinx had chosen for her – a crime novel named 'And then there were none' – really did catch the sheriff's interest.
However Jinx knew she had been looking for it, though, was beyond the sheriff's understanding.
Jinx's present for Vi had been chosen surprisingly well, too. Along with a welding torch that Jinx had named 'Weldar' – for whatever reason calling it visually-impaired – and a new set of welding goggles, Jinx had given Vi a whole box of hextech devices to take apart and build into something new. It sounded like something random, but the sparkle in Vi's eyes had told Caitlyn that there was more to it, that what looked like a box of hextech was something far more than that for Vi.
Jinx had given Vi a challenge, and Vi loved challenges.
Piltover's finest had exchanged presents, too, but had kept it more traditional and simple. While exchanging presents with Jinx was like exchanging gifts with a young kid, in between the two of them, it was different.
As such, the necklace that Caitlyn had received from Vi – silver, engraved with their names – had filled Caitlyn's heart with warmth and glee. It was simple, it was personal, and it was something she had always close to herself – What more could she ask for?
Vi seemed to see it the same way, if the way that she eyed her new punching bag was any indication. Knowing that Vi had been more than just simply dismayed when her favorite gym – the one that had been just down the road - closed the month prior, and that Vi had build up a lot more of her excessive energy since then, Caitlyn just couldn't have ignored the silent plea for something to take her energy and frustration out on.
And besides, that was a present to Jinx too, in a way – Sooner or later, the two sisters would've fallen back into their old pattern of solving things in shape of violence, after all, and that would've not ended well. So yeah – to Vi, it was something to vent her anger on, and to Jinx, it was what had saved her life. For the time being. Until Caitlyn would find another gym for her girlfriend to train in and buy Vi a membership as second part of her Christmas present.
A sudden mewl pulled Caitlyn out of her thoughts. Lifting her head a bit and glancing over to the window again, she found that Jinx had finally looked up from her book, after all, and was stretching her limbs in a way that reminded her a lot of a cat.
"Well, whadda'ya know – Sis got tired, after all? Way past your bedtime, isn't it?" mocked Vi as Jinx threw a glance over to them. The loose cannon's smile didn't falter, however, as she merely picked up the empty box that her book had been in and held it up in return. With the curious raise of an eyebrow, Vi watched as Jinx closed the box and presented it to her, not leaving her spot on the windowsill.
"Oh look, I'm opening my box of care!" exclaimed the loose cannon in fake surprise, indeed opened the box and presented it's empty inside to the duo on the couch, "Oh wait – it's empty!"
Vi's smile immediately fell, much to the amusement of both the loose cannon and the sheriff. While not one to enjoy watching a fight unfold, the sisterly bantering between Jinx and Vi never failed to amuse her.
"Very funny, Jay. Bet all the care you have ever felt would fit into the box." huffed the enforcer and leaned back into the couch. As Caitlyn clearly felt, however, with her leaning onto Vi, all of the brawler's muscles relaxed. The situation was far from escalating.
"Not my fault." chuckled the loose cannon in return, finally stopped shuffling the cards and put them down on the small table by the window, "I'm trying to care, but I just can't. And I still can't believe there was no cake, though."
The enforcer didn't know how to respond to that, and doubted that any kind of answer was necessary. Seeing as Jinx climbed back into the room and turned to close the window, the banter was over already. And Vi really didn't want it to be any other way for once.
"Today wasn't that bad after all, was it, Vi?" began the sheriff all of sudden, pulling Vi out of the thoughts she had been about to fall into. Turning to her girlfriend, Vi found Caitlyn snuggling back into her side, head resting on the brawler's shoulder.
The words echoed through Vi's mind for a few moments, and she honestly couldn't find herself disagreeing. Caitlyn was right, she had a point. While the day sure had been chaotic, it certainly wasn't bad.
"Sure wasn't." she found herself agreeing aloud, gently slid an arm around the sheriff's back, "A little more lively than I wanted it to be, but who am I to complain? I expected a lot worse with Jay being here, after all."
The loose cannon in question send a short glance into the direction of her sister, had heard the last words, but only regarded them with a smirk. After all, she couldn't disagree – somehow, she too had expected herself to be a lot more chaotic on Christmas.
"And it still would've been not as bad as the last months." commented Caitlyn, slowly closed her eyes and smiled as she felt herself nod off due to Vi's warmth, "We have one eventful year behind us, don't we? Especially the last months were... Yeah."
"Even you don't have a word for that, do you, cupcake?" chuckled Vi silently, turned her head a bit and gently kissed the top of her girlfriend's head, felt herself intoxicated by the smell of Caitlyn's hair, "If even you don't have a word for that, it sure means something."
A gentle hum from Caitlyn should be the last answer that Vi got out of the sheriff that evening, Caitlyn too tired and comfortable in the brawler's arms to not nod off. Seeing this, the enforcer couldn't help but smile. She pressed her lips to Caitlyn's head yet again, whispered a soft 'goodnight' to Caitlyn, and closed her eyes as well, feeling the sleepiness wash over her as well.
Jinx was entirely forgotten by the two on the couch. Still standing by the window, the loose cannon slowly tore her gaze away from the snow that had begun to fall outside, white spots against the darkness. Seeing the two asleep on the couch, Jinx rolled her eyes and snickered silently to herself, amused that she had eventually remained forgotten and unnoticed without leaving the room. With the way that Vi and Caitlyn looked, all snuggled up and asleep, it sure looked like they got the romantic evening that Vi had asked for.
Jinx turned towards the window again, stared out into the snow. The lights of Piltover. The empty, frozen streets, hidden beneath a thin layer of white snow. Caitlyn was right, and Jinx felt it more than ever as she observed the now sleeping city before her, the city she had found once so boring.
One interesting, eventful and emotional year lay behind them.
A movement on the street caught the loose cannon's attention. She rose an eyebrow and looked down, wondered who would wander the streets at such an hour, but smiled as she saw that it was just a lady in a fancy red dress, knowing she'd soon vanish as the night made place for the day.
Jinx was about to turn away and look up into the skyline of the city when the lady stopped and turned to directly look up at her, almost as if she had known she had been there all along, making Jinx hesitate and reciprocate the glance. Smiling, she rose a hand and waved through the window that was fogged by her breath, couldn't help but to let her smile grow as the lady with the pale skin rose a hand and waved back.
Without another attempt at communication, the smiling lady turned and continued her journey, leaving Jinx to smirk at the skyline, after all.
It was a short sigh from Vi that made her perk up and glance over her shoulder a final time. The brawler had turned in her sleep, had pulled Caitlyn into a tight embrace that both seemed very comfortable with. And despite not being anywhere near them, the warmth of that embrace reached Jinx's heart as well.
The loose cannon let her gaze trail over to the clock. Vi hadn't known how right she had been when she had said that it was past her bedtime – Jinx really felt tired.
So, leaving the window behind, she picked up her presents and let out a sigh herself as she turned to leave the living room, knowing her bed was waiting for her. As she passed the two women on the couch, she stopped, however, glanced at them.
One interesting and eventful year lay behind them. Lots of things had changed, choices and decisions had been made by and for them, each one a lot more grave than anyone out there, anyone that had never experienced a bad day, could imagine.
But as interesting and eventful as it was, she was glad that it was over. That these changes had happened. A part of her life was over now, a door closed, but an entirely new path had opened before her, with both Vi and Caitlyn standing on that path, holding their hands out to her. And she was not willing to miss that chance. Was not going to let it be ruined by anything.
An eventful year was nearly over. But life moved on, had not stopped. Things had come crashing down on them, but even though the wounds and scars were deep, time would be able to heal them.
The loose cannon grinned to herself as she left the room behind, Caitlyn and Vi covered in a blanket now, Pow-Pow, Fishbones and Zap in her own arms. Jinx giggled to herself as she left the room and thought of the New Year's Eve to come that she'd be sharing with her favorite pair of cops, with her sister and her soon-to-be sister-in-law.
But before that, her bed was calling for her, as were the Christmas snuggles with Pow-Pow, Fishbones and Zap. They needed some love too, after all.
The loose cannon left the room.
One eventful year was almost over. And an even more interesting year was to come, of that, she was sure.
And that was it for my christmas present 2014! Hope you enjoyed this humorous approach on the Piltover Trio after the relatively dark events of 'A Final Joke'! Sadly, though, there won't be a New Year's Eve-Story with our favorite trio this year (got too much to do with catching up on HoH...), but who knows what the new year'll bring? Not going to promise anything big with our trio, but I guess there's going to be a few one-shots over the course of the next year, like, whenever I find the time and have a new and interesting idea for them.
Originally, I intended to have this up on 24th, but our dog decided it was time to give birth to 10 puppies, and that kinda delayed this one-shot. Made it extra humorous and random as compensation, let Jinx's madness influence my imagination. Or was it the other way around? Anyways, so many references!
Now then, this is Time96 and SorrowfulReincarnation signing off to celebrate their own christmas!
Merry Jin-X-Mas, everyone!