fantastic ✷ caitvi

i. blood sweat & tears

Her jaw aches.

The man could throw a punch, she'll give him that much. Still, it's nothing compared to the strength she has. Mere seconds into the fight, she has her opponent on the ground, kneeling on his chest while her fist pummels his face.

The cheers of the audience drown out the man's pitiful wails of pain, and a victorious grin tickles Vi's lips. The referee blows his whistle to signal the end of the fight. Blood trickles from her nose as she pushes herself up, but she simply wipes it away and sniffs, giving her opponent one last glance.

Yeah. She got him good.

She hops out of the ring and sends a winning smile to the audience, waving a hand as she heads to the locker room. Snatching her water jug from her locker, she dips her head back and dowses her face with it, sighing contently as the coolness hits her heated skin.

Once she's cooled off, she downs the rest of the water and dabs her face dry with a towel. She's beyond eager to rush home and pass out in her bed. A shower also sounds nice, too. And maybe some food. Her mouth salivates at the thought of a cheeseburger.

She's soon yanked out of her thoughts when the door whips open and a small body comes barreling towards her. She lets out a small grunt as Isha collides with her gut, short arms wrapping around her in a tight hug.

Chuckling, she pats the little girl's hair, the once-chestnut strands now caked with blue. The same blue as Powder's hair. She runs her fingers through it. "Cool new look, Isha-Bear. Did Powder do it?"

Isha cranes her neck to look up at her, a smile playing on her lips as she nods.

Vi smiles back and looks to Powder, whose expression is nothing but proud. She can understand why. Powder is Isha's role model, if not her hero. Sure, they're all sisters, but it's clear that Isha and Powder are closer, plus they have more things in common. It doesn't really bother Vi. She likes that they're close. It reminds her of the way she used to be with Powder before the blue-haired girl grew up and insisted she no longer needed to be best friends with her older sister.

It stung at first, but Vi understands now. Kind of.

"Great fight, sis," Powder says as she claps Vi on the back. "I particularly enjoyed the part where you bashed the dude's face in. He's totally gonna have a broken nose after that one."

Vi smirks. "I'm here to entertain."

"And entertain, you did." Powder winks at Isha. "We're gonna be rich in no time."

"Hey now, let's not go that far," Vi interjects before Isha can get excited. "We're nowhere near being rich."

"But these fights make you money, don't they?"

Vi sighs. "Yeah, they make me money, but a lot of it has to go into yours and Isha's schooling, and there's bills to pay. There's not gonna be much left over to spend on whatever you want."

"Aw, man." Powder blows a strand of blue hair out of her face. "Maybe I should get a job too. Y'know, help you and Vander out."

"You know we want you to focus on school." Vi ruffles her hair like she used to do when Powder was younger. Her younger sister used to laugh when she did that, but now she just rolls her eyes and bats her hand away.

"I know, I know."

"Speaking of Vander...he's working tonight, I'm guessing?"

Vi ignores her sinking heart as Powder nods, confirming what she already knew. Her adoptive dad has been busy lately, what with the bar he runs and the bills he has to pay. Him being busy all the time means he never attends her fights, despite him promising he'll make it to one. She knows not to get her hopes up, but she can't help but wish he had a little bit of time for her.

She knows it's selfish to wish that. He has a lot of things on his plate already, plus three kids. He never asked to be a dad, but when her and Powder's parents died, it was only natural for him to take them in. And when the three of them came across Isha, an orphaned seven year old, on the streets, adopting her was a no-brainer.

And she's an adult. She's not as young as she was when Vander adopted her and Powder. Maybe he feels like his parenting duties are over now that she's twenty-two. Maybe she just needs to stop wishing he'd show up to one of her fights as if they were a child's choir show.

Besides, deep down, she knows he's proud of her.

Throwing her arms around her sisters, she leads them all to the door, her words full of optimism as she speaks: "So how does ice cream sound?"

VIVIVIVI

The bar is overrun with customers by the time she pops in, the bell overhead signaling her arrival. It's nearly eleven p.m., an hour after she, Powder, and Isha agreed to go get ice cream. Her younger sisters are back at home now, since it's past Isha's bedtime, but Vi decided to stop by The Last Drop before calling it a night.

Her closest friends, Mylo and Claggor, are handing out drinks and wiping down tables while customers are lost in conversation with one another.

Her eyes search the room for Vander, and eventually she spots him chatting with Benzo in the corner. She strolls over to them, offering Mylo a wave as he spots her.

"How was the fight?" He calls loudly over the music and chatter.

"Great!" she shouts back. "I won."

"Hell yeah!"

Claggor hears them and sends her a bright thumbs up. She grins before reaching Vander and Benzo, her attention now fully on them.

Benzo is the first to look up, his eyes lighting up when he sees her. "Vi! How you doin', slugger?"

"I'm doing good, Benz. You?"

"I'm doin' alright myself. I heard you had another fight tonight."

Vi nods, glancing at Vander. "Yeah, I did."

"I'm sure you gave the guy a good knockout."

"Oh, I did," she confirms, her eyes still locked on Vander, whose expression is a mix of pride and guilt.

"I'm sorry, Vi," he starts, his brows drawn together solemnly. "I really wanted to be there, but the place has been busy- "

"I know," she interrupts, dropping into an empty chair and stealing what's left of his beer. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Vander sighs. "I really did want to be there."

He doesn't promise to come next time because they both know he can't keep breaking the same promise.

"I said it's fine," she insists, giving him a wary smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

A heavy cloud of somberness looms over the table. Benzo clears his throat, standing up and raising his empty glass of whatever liquor had been in there. "I'm gonna go get a refill."

As he stalks off, Vander plants a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. "I know you were great tonight. You always are."

His words are sincere, and as she looks at him, she sees that so are his eyes. Anyone can see that he has a gentle soul, no matter how big and buff he looks. It's one of the reasons why she can never stay upset with him for long.

So, with a soft laugh, she says: "I totally broke the guy's nose."

Vander beams. "That's my girl."