Chapter Text
The last thing that Jinx wanted to be doing was driving 27 hours to her sister’s house with everything she couldn’t bear to part with from her apartment. Old apartment. Newly let go apartment. Thinking about it made her want to scream at the road and set something on fire. But that was what got her in this position in the first place. Having “demolition expert” in her job title should’ve given her immunity from being “let go,” but obviously her stick in the mud boss didn’t agree. Jinx was called into his office and promptly told to pack up her belongings and scrap any of her ongoing projects. Fucking bastard.
So, there she was, hour 26 in her 27 hour journey that she had started at 4 am yesterday. Mostly started because she couldn’t sleep and she had packed her car up just the day before to get her early start. Packed her cat away in her pod and promptly broke into the leasing office to leave her key and a nice little letter saying “I’m getting my fucking deposit back or else, fuckers.” The or else part was already planted and destined to cover her landlord in some very pretty glitter. He’d never look better. Jinx was disappointed that she'd never see his damn face when it happened. After years of trying to ding her and charge her extra for the crummy ass apartment this was mild. She should’ve done far worse, if she was as crazy as her boss claimed she was, then she would’ve. Okay, she left a few surprises in her apartment, but he could never stick it on her. Her old man had been a lawyer, he taught her how to skirt by the law and how to get out of any sticky situation. Jinx didn’t sign her name, there hadn’t been any video evidence that it was her who broke into the leasing office (probably because she dismantled them) and she always wore gloves. She wasn’t going to get caught for this. If he tried to press charges, she could simply say that she had left early and she didn’t know who left the note since she left the key under the mat. Jinx had even taken a picture of the act and sent it to the landlord with a little text message “I left early! Key is under the mat!” She knew how to cover her tracks.
Even though her landlord was shitty, her apartment was probably a petri-dish for numerous illnesses and mold, and it was still too expensive even with her old job, Jinx was mourning the loss. It was a shitty hellhole, but it was hers. Moving back in with her sister wounded her pride to the highest degree, especially since her sister had her own family going on. Jinx liked her independence. Liked not being asked where she was going, when she would be back, expected to sit down for family dinner, yada, yada, yada. If she ever got lonely, she would just chat somebody up at the bar and then leave them wanting something from her. She’d never bring them back to her place because it was hers. Her little sanctuary where she could do whatever. No one was allowed to see how she lived. Now, it was all ruined. Jinx was too broke to get her own place and she really didn’t want to take a peek at her credit score to even try to get one. Her old job was high paying, sure, but between her student loans, bills, late fees, and also lockout fees, her hands were tied. Maybe going for her PhD was a bad idea, but also she loved correcting people to call her doctor Jinx. It made her cackle, it was for pure amusement and she had also drunkenly applied one night when she was trying to figure out her life after grad school.
However, she was currently jobless, had probably 100 dollars in her checking out, and her savings account stashed away everything else that she put behind too many security measures so she wouldn’t be able to access it and spend it on things she didn’t need. Jinx had someone to put an allowance in every month from it so she wouldn’t overspend. The last thing she needed was to repeat the event of her card declining when she had gone out to eat with her sister at a too nice place. It was embarrassing, and sure, a free meal was a free meal, but it was her sister. If it had been a date, she wouldn’t care, but her sister? Yeah no, she didn’t need to deal with that gloat again. Her sister was already setting her up with a job when she got into town and she was lodging with her until she felt like it was time to get her own place. Yeah, she owed her big time.
Her sister, Violet, was setting her up with a job where she worked. Vi worked as a geometry teacher at some high school. She also doubled as the football coach in the Fall and when that was over, she went to coach wrestling. What made matters worse was that she was pulling in a major favor and kind of being nepo babied into the position. Her sister-in-law, Caitlyn is the principal at the high school and definitely overlooked her background check. Something, something about Jinx being a good fit even though she was not qualified to teach whatsoever. She didn’t even have a degree in it. Jinx double majored in art and science in her undergrad, then got her masters in engineering. Was she qualified to teach a bunch of high school students chemistry? Probably not! But, she was a bit more qualified to teach them robotics, she thought, which is how the position was enticed to her. Caitlyn had even told her she could get her teaching degree on the side which she still had to sign up for. She’d be joining this Fall anyway, she had all summer to sign up to start it. Besides, she needed all summer to figure out if she wanted to be known as Dr. Misticheskiy, or keep it at Jinx. She was still paying for getting that fancy little Dr slapped right there on her name, so why not? But her last name? Seemed a little too formal for high school. Eh, she couldn’t decide at the moment. Maybe she’ll let the kids decide. Who knows!
All she knew for sure was that Jinx refused to give out homework. Homework was the last thing she wanted to deal with, she hated it as a student, and she was sure she would hate it as a teacher. Everything would be done in class time, whatever wasn’t finished during that time, sure that could be homework. Also taking off late points? Yeah right, that classwork should be about practice, not penalizing. Have it down as participation and go through it to see what each student needed help with, damn she was good. She may liken herself to a beacon of sheer chaos and perpetual mischief, but that was for adults. Adults needed to be reminded that it was nice when things went BOOM every once in a while, students were getting those booming moments shoved in their faces daily. 7 classes Monday-Friday, getting up at ass wipe dawn, and then on top of that extra shit after school? Yeah, no.
Her cat whines at her, obviously over the car ride, and honestly, she’d have to agree. She had been so tempted to just crack into her savings and get a plane ticket. However, that option was just expensive. She’d have to get her car over to her sister’s somehow, the price of also adding her cat to the ticket was weighing on her, not to mention other fees. She already had to get a moving truck. Might as well cut her losses where she could. She really hated that she had to pick her battles. Either not traumatize her cat with a plane flight or traumatize her with a car ride. Her hands were tied.
Her music suddenly cut out with the sharp chime of someone calling her. Fuck. Nothing she hated more than someone calling her when she could be jamming to her tunes and actively try not to zone out. A quick peek at her phone told her that her dear sister was calling her. Probably asking her how far off she was. She groaned loudly. Even knowing that she was only an hour off was still not going to help the fact that both of the creatures in the car have been in here for way too long. Only admitting that more was going to put her in the worst mood. How she couldn’t wait to be laying in a bed, even though that bed will be her sister’s guest room bed. Rip to her tempurpedic bed she had to put away in storage for who knows how long, she was finally getting some decent sleep. Objectively speaking. Well she was at least getting a nice 3 and a half hours worth of rest. Her sleep schedule will never improve, and she was a-ok with that. It only sucked when she saw how early school starts. How she was going to finagle out of that early wake up time, she doesn’t know. Groveling? Maybe intimidation. She could lock Caitlyn up until she told her that she didn’t have to come in so early.
Jinx picked up the phone, mostly to stop the awful phone jingle but also if she declined it, Vi was just going to call back. Fuck this, how was she going to muster enough energy for this? Answer was: she wasn’t!
“Hey, Pow-Pow, how far off are you?” Her sister’s bright voice asked as soon as the call went through. Jinx was half tempted to end the call right then and there, she was way too pissed off to be dealing with all of this.
“Don’t call me that.” Her teeth gritted as she concentrated on the road. Her precious angel cat meowed in agreement to that before once again trying to settle herself in her carrier as comfortably as possible. Jinx tapped on her steering wheel impatiently, her fingers itching to end the call. She bit her cheek a bit, that probably wouldn’t be the best course of action. As much as her sister was annoying her, the asshole still opened her house up to her in her lowliest of times. Or one of her lowliest times. They’re too hard to count now. Jinx sighed heavily, yeah she needed to calm herself a little bit. “I’m about an hour or so away.”
Better to just answer her than dragging her feet about it. Her sister and her were similar after all, even though she vehemently denied it. They were both stubborn and when they wanted answers, they wanted results right then and there. They typically demanded answers rather…forcefully with most people. A little psychological torture scarred her, but everyone had their trauma, right? Why not add to it. Maybe that wasn’t the best way of thinking with her becoming a teacher and everything.
“Did you at least get any sleep? You better not have stayed awake the entire time, you know what that does to you.” Vi chided. Jinx frowned, ready to snap at her sister. She really didn’t want her sister to pull the mom thing on her. Jinx didn’t really need it, Vi was her sister, not her mother, and she knew that her dear sister felt that she had to turn into the mom figure after their parents died, but it was just weird. Jinx loves her sister, thinks the world of her, but the taking up of the motherly role in her life left her uncomfortable. Vi had always put on too much responsibility.
“You’re not my mother. Also, I had to, I have my precious baby.” Jinx looked over at her cat, who was right back to being curled up in her carrier. Mollie or Moll was her emotional support cat, who made sure she actually took care of herself. Having a routine where she had to keep a little kitten alive also helped her keep herself fed. The precious little angel would make it known to her when she wanted to eat, so that was when Jinx decided it was time to feed herself. All in all, Moll kept her on track with what she needed to get done, which was why she needed this job.
“Wait, you’re bringing the cat?”
“Of course I’m bringing Moll, why wouldn’t I?” Vi knew that her cat was the only being keeping her all there. Why was she acting up now?
“Because I didn’t tell Cait that you were bringing her! Also, Luca is allergic to cats!”
"That sucks for them, but I’m still bringing her. What did you want me to do? Find her another place to live? Yeah right, sis, she’s been my saving fucking grace.” Her tone was hostile, but hell, apparently it needed to be. Also, she barely slept, most of the time, it was just power naps every now and again while also making sure Moll ate and used the bathroom. Now Vi was doing all of this to her.
“Okay, okay, I’ll let Cait know. I’ll also just pick up some allergy medicine.” Vi backed down quickly, no doubt she wanted to avoid a fight with her as much as possible right now. What a way to start them moving in together than a fight! “Anyway, I was just calling to see where you were and to tell you that your room is all set up. Also, we ordered a pizza for dinner, you like pizza, right?”
“Yeah, pizza's fine.” She normally only ate pizza whenever she was drunk, some grease to take hold of the alcohol. Though she might as well pick her battles, getting into a screaming match about pizza was the last thing on her to-do list, especially since Moll was a permanent fixture, and anything was better than Caitlyn’s cooking. Woman thought that boiling water was a spice since she had a private chef since she was a kid. Damn richie rich. “Oh, when's the pre-open house? Like the one where I have to meet everyone, get my keys? Also what’s the dress code?”
“Not for another month. Did you sign up for that class? It’s gonna take you a long time to finish that certificate. I think Cait sent you that email for the temporary teaching certificate. As long as you have that, you should be able to teach as you’re getting your permanent one.” Vi was blabbing and not answering the most important question. Yes, she saw Caitlyn’s email, she saw it and said ‘I’ll do that later,’ and maybe she promptly forgot about it until Vi brought it up again. She had a plan though! Sign up for the temp, get enrolled in the class, and hopefully not get fired from teaching students some of the more illegal shit. The best kind of learning was the illegal kind, anyway, how else was she going to spark the mind of a fellow demolitionist if she didn’t?
“So I can wear what I normally wear? Sheesh, and I thought teachers were sticks in the muds.”
“What? No, no, no, no, you can’t be going around in crop tops and shorts!”
“But it’s hot where you live. Besides, I wore those things all the time in school, what’s different now?” Okay, maybe she did want to get into an argument with her sister. Only on her terms though, besides it was fun hearing Vi get all riled up. She liked to pretend that she was as cool as a cucumber way too often. Jinx really knew how uptight she was.
“Yeah, because you were homeschooled from the time you were like 12! And what’s different is that you’re a teacher, kids look up to you!” That wasn’t true. If she was teaching elementary school, maybe, but this was just high school. These kids were so full of angst that all she had to do was make sure not to give them more. Once they are out of the school, they’ll forget all about her. At least, that’s what happened with most of her teachers. She really couldn’t remember half of them, except for the bitches who decided to scrutinize her for her home life. Fuck those assholes.
“I’ve been dress-coded. Sixth grade. That principal had it out for me! I’d see girls walking around in the same shorts that I had, but I couldn’t wear mine because of my stupid lanky arms? It's not my fault that I’m lanky! I was probably supposed to be 6 feet until Mylo broke my leg!” That part was true, Mylo did break her leg, one of the only things she could remember from that time. He had landed on it when she was reading under the park tree he was climbing and he fell out of it. He broke his arm, and she had her leg broken. He blamed her for being there, swore up and down that his arm would’ve been fine had she just not been there. Everything was her fault. He didn’t even apologize for her leg. Fucking prick.
“You were never going to be 6 feet, sorry to break it to you, short stuff. Mom and dad weren’t that tall.” Vi really was out here breaking her fantasies. She could’ve been 6 feet, then who would’ve been the little sister? The world had it out for her, it was true. “Oh, also, your head teacher, you should be getting an email from him soon talking about the curriculum. He’s super chill, might be a little high strung because he’s planning his wedding. Anyway, his name is Ekko. He’s getting married over winter break and he’s going to be out a few days after we get back due to his honeymoon.”
“Ekko…Ekko…why does that name sound familiar?” Jinx tapped her steering wheel. She chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to piece together why that name sounded so familiar.
“So you recognize it? He was our neighbor back when you were still living with Vander. You guys used to play together.” Vi explained. A flash of a mischievous smile on a young face came to mind. The smell of fried hair entered her nostrils all of a sudden and a flash of a bleach bottle on the bathroom sink flashed forward.
“We dyed someone’s hair…right?”
“You dyed his hair. The story I heard was you two were making something in the kitchen and you got flour in his hair. Apparently it looked so cool that you decided to bleach it. You ended up frying his hair off since you just used regular old bleach. Poor kid had to shave his hair off, but when it started growing back, Benzo let him get it done professionally. Well, more professionally than two 8 year olds.” Vi chuckled at recounting the memory. Jinx squished her nose a bit, a headache coming on. She didn’t remember any of that, and yet it felt like she should. Something, something about trauma blocking out memories, something about her therapist reassuring her that it was normal. Blah, blah, blah.
“Huh.” Was the only thing she could say. Her brain was feeling fried, and she still had to drive a while longer.
“I’m sure once you see him again, all the memories will start coming back to you.” Oh Vi, ever the optimist. Jinx had given up on all of that a long time ago, thank you very much. What was the point? So what if she couldn’t remember her childhood, that was more common than not. She was over trying to unlock memories, it was a waste of time and energy. She’d much prefer watching paint dry than all that.
“Whatever, I’m like 45 minutes out I think? I’ll see you soon.” She didn’t even wait to hear Vi’s response. Jinx just hung up and let herself continue to listen to her music. She hated it when people called her and interrupted her music more than anything. She’d much more scream lyrics at the top of her lungs, especially during a car trip like this. Jinx also didn’t have the energy to do anymore talking, especially with her sister. Also, the idea of her sister constantly repeating what apparently went on in her childhood made her kind of uncomfortable. Her younger self felt like such a detachment from her. Anywhere from the ages of supposed consciousness until 11 was completely blank until she met Silco. Well, mostly blank. There were spurts of memory, like her leg and like the last time she interacted with Vi before she was displaced. When she called her–
Jinx shook her head. Whatever. What happened, happened, and there was nothing she could do to change all of that. No matter how much she wanted it to change, no matter how many letters she wrote to Vi to please live with her instead. How they all bounced back. It didn’t matter. She was technically back in Vi’s life now, and Vi’s in hers. They were technically rebuilding what they had no matter how tense things tended to be still. Vi got her a job, and as much as she didn’t want to accept it, she knew she had to. Being fired from Hextech was the worst thing that could happen, not too many companies would want her, especially with her Demolition Diva lifestyle. Yeah, her reputation was officially fucked when it came to the inventor world. All because she wanted to have a little bit of fun. Lame. She settled back into her seat, stretching her leg not on the gas out a little bit. She was officially tired of being in this damn ass car.
Jinx turned up the music even more, hoping to drown out her thoughts. Too many things to do and not enough time to do it, at least that’s how it felt a lot of the time. It didn’t help that it felt like Vi was pouring out all this information on her with no chance to breathe. She was thankful for this job, no doubt, but all the information being pelted at her made her brain want to explode. The idea of having to go clothes shopping really dragged her down. She liked her clothes, thank you very much. So what if most of them were short shorts with some questionable pants thrown in the mix? Also the idea of having to get rid of her crop tops filled her with dread, they were seriously a lifesaver half the time. Jinx knew she barely got away with her outfits at her previous job, but also knowing that at the school she’d be sent to Caitlyn’s office? Gross. How dare. Fuck looking professional. Too much pressure, yada, yada, yada. When the time comes, she’ll have Vi go through them and tell her what was out or not. She was about to beg the person taking care of her bank account to give her some money to give to Mr. Bezos himself.
Groaning, Jinx put her left leg up on the driver’s seat, already hating the thought of giving up her personality. But, this was only temporary. Enough time to get herself back on her feet and find a different company to work for. One who her reputation didn’t get to. She was sure Dorito Man was on the case, but there had to be someone who didn’t care that she liked to blow things up, right? That was her whole M.O, regardless if she liked to do it than actual work. Blowing things up brought her joy and her joy was taken away from her. So sad.
What seemed like forever and a half, Jinx finally pulled up to her stupid sister’s stupid big ass house. They had a whole ass gate code and then it took forever for her to pull up their long ass driveway. For fucking teachers, they had money to burn. Guess it made sense since Caitlyn’s mother was some sort of higher up somewhere. Generational wealth or whatever the fuck. Her sissy married into royalty. Not real royalty, but close enough.
Vi was outside of the house, pacing around, phone up to her ear. She seemed to be nodding a lot, her free hand pinching the bridge of her nose. Whoever was on the phone with her sister really annoyed her. Jinx could see how her shoulders were tense and how her pacing was getting more aggressive with each second she stayed on the phone with this person. Damn, Jinx couldn’t remember the last time she saw her sister so fired up. She never went to one of the high school games she coached for, so there was no reason. When was…huh, maybe then…probably one of their screaming matches back when they were trying to reconnect. They never knew how to talk to one another without fighting, at least she didn’t know how. Vi tried, Jinx was just highly defensive. Still is, but her therapist and her had been working on it. She needed to find a new therapist here. Online therapy just didn’t hold her as accountable as in person.
Jinx quickly parked, not caring if it was wrong. She carefully unbuckled Moll from her seat and assessed her situation. She could sneak past and hope that Vi was too distracted on her phone call. She could get Moll all situated, depending on if Caitlyn was in her office and her nephews in their rooms, maybe even fall asleep for the day.
Or, she could actually be nice and greet her sister. Maybe give the person she was on the phone with a piece of her unstable mind. That’ll show them for stressing her sister out. It could be fun. Jinx got out of her car and walked over to the passenger side, opening the door to properly get Moll from her seat. Jinx put Moll’s back carrier on and made sure she was secure there until closing the door and walking up to her sister. The older woman was still just as distracted as usual, her free hand now running through her pink hair. It seemed like Vi was trying to control her tone of voice. As she got closer, Jinx could make out what Vi was saying, and honestly, she just wanted to grab the phone and smash it for her sister.
“Mrs. Johnson, I’m sorry but there’s nothing that I can do. The grades have already been finalized for weeks now. He has to be in summer school, this isn’t an open negotiation at this point. If we had set up–”
Jinx watched as her sister tipped back her head, exasperated by the conversation. Jinx was over it. She didn’t know what was going on, but only she was allowed to get her sister riled up like this, and that was typically because she had skipped a few therapy sessions. Welp, time to help her sister out.
Jinx finished her stride towards her sister and grabbed the phone from Vi’s weakened hand. Vi made a noise of surprise as Jinx took it from her, the person’s voice still coming through loudly. The woman on the phone was shrill which was absolutely grating to Jinx’s ears, especially since she hasn’t slept properly in hours. Fucking bitch what the hell was she getting on about? Something about summer school? Oh, a parent who wanted their kid to have some sort of special treatment or something. She didn’t know. She was just annoyed and tired and hearing this person’s shrill ass voice was itching her brain the wrong way.
“This isn’t Vi’s problem anymore, lady. Your kid has to go to summer school, so fucking what, but some kids just need a little extra help. Now stop complaining and fuck off.” Jinx ended the phone call as the mother on the phone screamed at her, appalled by what she deigned to say to her. Jinx didn’t care, she’s been called worse. Shrugging her shoulders, she tossed the phone back to Vi, who just stared at her, flabbergasted.
“Y-You–Jinx! You can’t just do that!” Jinx frowned, adjusting her cat pack. Ew, not Vi refusing to have a backbone. What happened to her? Normally she’s fists first, words second. Guess it was different on the phone, but still. That woman had no right yelling at Vi like that during her summer break. Jinx just scoffed and walked off, already feeling like she needed a nap after everything. Maybe sleep until tomorrow night? Nah, who would take care of her precious angel beam? “Jinx.”
“So what? She was just someone who wanted to complain to complain. You’ve probably been dealing with her all year, right?” Vi bit back a response and Jinx knew she hit the nail on the head. Heh, got her there. At least Jinx hadn’t lost her touch at reading her sister and knowing what was up, they might not have met up with each other in a bit, but she still got her sister. Maybe she was a better sister than she thought. That’s right, she was going to win the best little sister award this year!
“Still! Pow…you can’t do that shit as a teacher. It sucks, but you kind of have to take it from them. Last thing you want is for them to contact the school board.” Vi explained, pinching the bridge of her nose and exhaling loudly.
“Good thing I’m not a teacher yet. Besides, some people have a power complex and need to be taken down a peg. About time someone gave them a piece of their own medicine.” Jinx was already done with this conversation. Sometimes parents needed to be reminded that teachers were human too and they also deserved to talk back and not be respectful all the time. It should be mutual after all. Vi let out a dry chuckle and Jinx just raised an eyebrow to that. What the fuck was that all about?
“I mean, Silco was constantly calling your online school because your teachers were being “unfair.”” Vi stated with a roll of her eyes. Jinx wrinkled her nose at that. How dare Vi bring him up in such a way. She could feel her indignation rising at her statement.
“That was different. Silco knew that they were treating me wrong, he was just clearing it up.” Jinx defended, not in the mood for another conversation like this again. Vi felt the need to bring up everything wrong with how Silco raised her, especially after he died. Vi constantly tried to bring up how awfully he raised her and how she needed to unlearn it all. Blah, blah, blah, she barely listened to Silco’s lectures, so did he really raise her? She had an intense loyalty to him, yeah, but he sort of droned on boringly. Jinx normally fell asleep during them, except when she paid attention on how to get out of trouble with the law, now that was good information.
Vi just sighed heavily, about to say something when her phone started ringing again. Jinx cocked her head, trying to see who was calling.
“Is it that bitch again?”
“No, it’s Ekko, well, I guess during school hours you’ll call him Mr. Cadraturier. Anyway, I don’t know what this could be about. Maybe a get together? I don’t know. I can ask him if you can come since you are going to be a teacher. Might as well let you get to know everyone.” Vi babbled, pressing the accept call button. “Sup, I’m with my sister, you know, the new teacher coming in.
There was dead air on the other end of the line, which made Jinx think that maybe it was a butt dial. Damn, even teachers she guessed. Maybe she should make fun of his silly ass last name, what kind of name was Cadraturier anyway? Then again, what sort of last name was Misticheskiy? Why didn’t she just change it when she had the chance? Who knows, she wasn’t thinking.
“Oh.” His simple response suddenly made her blood boil. Oh, she hates him. Jinx curls her lip and rolls her eyes. Whatever, this guy sucks. Jinx scoffs and stalks off into the house, it was time to get Moll settled anyway, it was the summer and way too hot for a little baby such as her to stay out in the heat for so long.
She heard how Vi immediately took him off speaker phone and was whispering into the phone, something about not starting this up again. Decision was made, she was sorry, blah, blah, blah. Oopsie! Looks like she got something that Cadraturier wanted. Rip to him, but she was just better, sucks to suck and all that, she had nepo points.
Maybe she shouldn’t be so proud about that. Still, what did he want her to do? Not to have a job? She had a kid to feed, thank you very much. However, she remembered how Vi had told her on the phone how he was getting married in December? Shit, maybe she took his raise or something. She had heard that weddings could get pretty expensive, but like…how expensive? She didn’t know, she never dated anyone long enough to discuss marriage. Sure, she imagined it on the first date, but her therapist told her to share that aloud on the first date wouldn’t be too good. Maybe they should learn about committing to her right away, she didn’t know.
Jinx opened the front door, escaping whatever was happening between Vi and Calzone, whatever his last name was. Similar to how her sister was, Jinx found Caitlyn pacing the foyer, her index finger resting on her bottom lip and her thumb piercing her chin, her nail scratching at it. Oop, looks like Caity-Cat was anxious about something. Jinx calculated if she could somehow sneak past Caitlyn. But…she didn’t know which room she was staying in…fuck maybe she did have to talk to her. So sad.
Caitlyn turned suddenly, her blue eyes large with surprise written all over her face as she saw her in the doorway. Jinx shot Caitlyn some finger guns at her as a way of greeting, maybe to also remind her that they had an ongoing war going on at any arcade at the toy gun range. They’ve been tied and Jinx was determined to beat her ass. Just depended on what guns they used, rifles, she was shit out of luck against Caitlyn. There was something about the extra weight that threw her off, but pistols? Hehe, her lucky charm. Caitlyn calculated her shots a lot more, sure, but Jinx had fun with it. Jinx really should scope out the arcades here and see which ones had pistols.
“Jinx! I didn’t realize you’ve gotten here yet. The pizza hasn’t been delivered yet, so I apologize for that, do you need anything? Something to drink or eat?” Caitlyn is just as bad as Vi is when she’s nervous. Jinx just shrugged her shoulders, adjusting Moll’s pack on her back.
“A nap, prissy pants. A really long one. So, just point to whichever room I’m staying in this huge ass place and I’ll get out of your hair.” Jinx threw in a little yawn for extra measure. Caitlyn blinked, her mouth opening and closing a little bit as she tried to find what to say to her. Caitlyn never did learn how to talk to her, but then again, Jinx never learned how to talk to her. Two way street whatever, whatever.
“Right. Yes, of course. It’s up the stairs and take a left, it’s the third door on the right.” Caitlyn explained robotically. She probably rehearsed the directions every day for the past few days to prepare herself. Pfft, loser. “We also have everything set up for…kitty. I only ask if you try to keep her in your room as best as you can. You have a bathroom attached to your room, and it’s just temporary! We’re getting the guest house fixed up, so once that’s done, you can move in there! You’ll have your own kitchen and your own space and–”
Caitlyn cut herself off with a sigh. Jinx assumed it was a calming effect she did for herself, something to get her back on track.
“There’s a TV in there and I think Vi set it up already. I’m also sorry about the whole cat mix-up, it just caught me by surprise. I hope everything we bought for her is suitable.” Jinx blinked. Caitlyn had gone out in the time she was driving in and bought all of Moll’s things. She might’ve felt bad for everything, and Jinx didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble that her moving truck was going to be coming in any day with all of her things. Jinx was relieved that Moll would continue to have her enrichment, and when she got her own place…maybe they’ll let her have the stuff they bought for her?
“Thanks, prissy pants, Moll appreciates it!” Jinx flashed her a smile. “Also, I expect a little rematch, we haven’t been to the arcade in a while.”
Jinx didn’t wait around for an answer, she went up the grand staircase and turned left once she got to the top. It was annoying with how grand everything was in this house. She missed her crappy little apartment even more. Well, hopefully with money rolling in…soonish, she’ll get out of here quickly. Out of Vi’s hair so they only have to see each other at work. That is if she doesn’t find a new job. What was she talking about? Of course she was going to get a new job, the whole teaching thing was temporary, something to get her back on her feet. Either Killjoy man will finally realize how much he needed her, or somehow someone will find one of her projects that she didn’t destroy and realize her genius. She’ll be back to inventing in no time.
Jinx managed to find her room without bumping into anyone else in the household. Not there were many more. Her two nephews were…somewhere? She actually didn’t know. Maybe they were with Caitlyn’s parents or something, she didn’t know. She’s only really met them a couple of times. Mostly on a facetime call and they were just in the background. Jinx wasn’t the most present aunt…and she was their only aunt as far as she knew. Damn, she kind of sucks.
The room she was in had the ceiling lights on already, brightly welcoming her in the gray dreariness that was Caitlyn’s decor style. Gray walls with a matching gray wood flooring. The bed was huge, thankfully, though the duvet color was a pure white with darker gray decor pillows. No doubt Caitlyn thought that it was such a great design choice when she was picking it out. Where the hell was the color? Her brain itched at the blandness and she couldn’t do shit about it. It wasn’t like it was her room, and she was sure that Caitlyn would be annoyed if she saw she had drawn all over her walls. How else was she going to find a color match for Super Boring Gray SW 7072? Jinx hoped to whoever was controlling her little life that they had discontinued the wretched color so Caitlyn could actually explore. Well, it kind of beats her pure white and black aesthetic she had going on a few years back…yeah no, nothing beats this. Gray was so…bleh. Maybe once her posters got in she could start putting them up. Yeah, some color would do this place good.
Jinx set Moll’s carrier on the too white duvet, eugh, Caitlyn needed some decor help. She let the poor baby out who immediately jumped out and stretched her tiny legs out. The poor angel hadn’t been able to stretch like this since their last rest stop, even still, it wasn’t enough. True to her word, all of Moll’s things were set up. There was a water fountain already flowing as well with a food dispenser that already had food in the bowl. The door to the bathroom was open and Jinx could make out that even a litter box had been set up. Huh, she guessed Caitlyn did care about Moll in a way even though her kid was allergic to her. Or, Caitlyn cared that she was comfortable…huh.
Rolling her shoulders a bit, Jinx went back to the door, closed it and turned out the overhead lights. That helped a little bit. Finally, she collapsed onto the bed which was really fucking comfortable. Holy shit was this a Saatva? How the hell did they afford all of this on a principal and teacher salary? Maybe it did make sense? She didn’t know what the typical salary was for principals to be honest. Okay, whatever.
Jinx closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, already feeling her exhaustion catching up to her. She felt Moll sniff at her head before curling up next to her head. Even the fucking pillows were comfortable. Damn. Moll began to purr which only lulled Jinx to sleep even further. The last thing she vaguely remembered was someone caressing her hair out of her face and putting a blanket over her body. There was tugging at her feet and something heavy dropping to the floor, and then she was conked out.