Orange Crush

Chapter 2 - Satellites

***KELLY***

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!" Ty pumps his fist in the air, and with his other hand, he almost flings his controller aside, he's so excited. I can't stop myself from laughing at the sight, but I bury my face in my hands so neither he nor Monique can really hear me.

"Don't be so cocky!" Monique's own smile shines on her face, the darkest of all three of us Jacksons'. It's a little strange how each time one of us was born, we had progressively less melanin. The magic of a mixed fam, am I right?

I splay my fingers so my smile is a little more visible to my older sibs, should they turn around. But no, they're a little too engrossed in this round of the latest incarnation of Injustice, with Ty as Green Lantern and Monique as Harley Quinn. Not really a combination that you'd be likely to see anywhere else, comics, movies, or otherwise.

Naturally, Monique's winning. She being the oldest, of course she has the most gaming experience. Plus, she actually works in the industry. She could tell you some stories; namely, how she spent her first year out of college struggling to break in because in both Heaven and Hell, Big Game (she says the words with all the capital gravitas of Big Pharma, Big Money, Big Insert X Industry That Screws Over The Little People Here) is simply too hyper-competitive for anyone to get in without prior connections. The problem with being a full-time student rather than pursuing internships while still in school, I suppose. Plus, especially when Monique tried to get into Big Game in Heaven, she found herself gatekept because too many people can't wrap their minds around a Black woman in a world historically the domain of white men. One day, though, she found a group of similarly gatekept women - of all colors - and together with them, formed a new indie company that got on the map with an 8-bit mobile game inspired by Adventure and A Blade So Black.

Needless to say, it was a hit and a half. Still is, in fact. Monique will tell anyone who listens that it's consistently been the #1 mobile game in all the major app stores (except Amazon, a point that's always stuck in her craw) for the last six months.

"Boom!" Monique finally has Harley subdue the Lantern, despite all his willpower. Then she jumps to her feet, doing a dance that falls somewhere between Harley's own victory dance and PSY's "Gentleman." She being the only one who actually has any real memory of the year 2013, she was quick to teach the latter to me and Ty as soon as we got old enough for school. And to tell us what "I'm a mother father gentleman!" really meant, both literally and figuratively to Western ears.

Ty dramatically rolls over to one side, leaving his controller behind. "Kel?" he asks, pointing to it with both his fingers and his eyes. "Who you gonna play as? Supergirl?"

"Speedy," I say, "but not the speed I need. I'm playing as XS!"

Monique's eyes shine dangerously. "The epitome of a fragile speedster? Risky move, little sista!"

I take the controller that Ty just left behind. "Cocky of you to assume I'm gonna lose, big sista!"

Monique waggles her thumbs and presses the right combo of buttons to get Harley to do this pre-fight dance. I'm not sure that's an original feature of the game, but knowing my sister, she probably figured out how to code that in before she ever went off to college.

My siblings both have pretty particular skills. Monique, coding - and especially game coding, at that. Ty, a budding car mechanic, occasional sheetmetal sculptor, and pretty devoted racer. But me, I haven't had a chance to really find my skill set yet. I mean, I work at Mom's tattoo parlor after school, and more full-time during breaks. Like spring break. Though today, Monday, is the one day off that I get this week. My one that I share with both my sibs, so of course we're playing games and Netflix and shit all day. But yeah, the tattoo parlor. I like working there, but I'm a terrible artist. I couldn't come up with original designs nearly on Mom's level, and even when I've been working entirely with crayons and colored pencils, I've been complete crap at coloring inside the lines. Me, starting to apprentice as a tattooist? Mom wants me to after I've graduated from Castledown, but I'm terrified of the prospect. I'm going to fuck so many people's skin up, give them unwanted keloid scars, misspell the names of their loved ones...