Bruises are temporary, death is forever
Caitlyn is racking her brain on how and why she got so flustered. The new woman on the Zaunite team has her in a chokehold, and she needs to know everything about her as soon as possible. It could be too soon, yeah, it’s definitely too soon. She just got out of a relationship with Maddie, Piltovers shortstop. Maybe she has a thing for shortstops.
Amid her postgame haze, she gets a text from Jace.
*Jayce*
Are you alright, you practically ran home after the game, was it that new hot baddie that got your panties in a twist?
*Cait*
No, just needed a breather, all good.
*Jacye*
Well, it’s been 8 months since your past relationship with Maddie, I am gonna get the new girl’s number whether you like it or not, Vik has connections and you need a good lay.
*Cait*
I do not
*Jacye *
Yes, you do, I am getting her number.
Caitlyn stops responding because she can’t stop Jayce when he is on a roll like this.
In preparation for their first game next week against the Bilgewater Pirates, she practices her curveballs, which coined her nickname “The Sniper”.
When it is game time, Sarah Fortune waves to Caitlyn; they are good friends and often practice together in off season.
Sarah runs up to her and seems excited; she says, “Have you seen the Trencher’s new post? I saw it this morning. They have a new person playing for them; her name is Vi.”
Caitlyn finally has a name for the beautiful face, and before she can respond, Sarah says, “I think I am going to try to get her number, can’t hurt, right?”
Caitlyn’s smile vacates her face. She wants to scream that Vi is hers, but she has no right to, she barely knows the girl, even though she was able to take a hit off of her pitches, which very few people have been able to do.
Sarah continues to chat about other things, but Caitlyn can hardly pay attention. She has one thing on her mind, and that is Vi and how he can’t wait to have her number, thanks to Jayce and his boyfriend, who was sent from the Gods above.
They end up winning the game 5-0, thanks to Caitlyn’s wonderful curveballs, Jayce gets Vi’s number because Vander was so willing to send it over to Viktor because, according to him, “She needs friends,” and he is close with Grayson, so he trusts the team.
Caitlyn leaves her number saved and doesn't use it… for now.
……………………………..
Vi is so confused, what did they put in this girl’s tea to make her so attractive? Vi has not slept a wink; it is 3 am, and she has been stalking Caitlyn’s Hexagram for the past 2 hours. Pilties are not allowed to be attractive.
She gets a DM from *Miss_Fortune55*, it reads
Hey, sexy, I saw that you are the new Trencher, Whats it take for a girl like me to get a drink, and get to know a girl like you?
It is 3 AM, what is this girl doing at three in the morning? Before she blocks her, she takes a look at her profile and notices that she plays for the Pirates, so she hesitates but doesn't block her. Instead, she leaves her to read and goes back to Caitlyn’s page.
Powder is fast asleep in the bunk below her, and Vi is illuminated by her phone as the only light source. They have a game against the Dematia Warriors in a week. So naturally, she goes to stalk their page and is greeted by a post of Garren and Lux as the brother-sister powerhouse. She stares at it for a good minute, and then turns her phone off and goes to bed.
In the morning she is greeted by the smell of coffee and cinnamon rolls, so naturally she hops out of bed, does a few pushups, and then walks into the kitchen where her brothers and sister are sitting, and crowding Vander who has a newspaper. She fills her cup of coffee and grabs three cinnamon rolls and puts the fourth in her mouth and sits down to join her family.
“Good morning Vi, looks like you got a new name, according to this paper, they are calling you ‘Slugger’ Good job kid” Vander booms.
“Yeah yeah big whoop sis, I heard some bozo got hit with your ball, it turns out that they are in the hospital” Powder chides.
The door opens, and Ekko, the third baseman, has a box of donuts and more junk food, but Vi is not complaining.
“Powder, knock it off,” Vander says, and then the entire table welcomes Ekko, and Clagg pulls up a seat for him.
“So slugger, would you be so kind to teach me your ways?” Ekko asks, and Vi grumbles under her breath and grabs a donut.
“We have practice in an hour, everybody, now let’s not get distracted, we have a game in a week.” Vander chimes
Vi is standing under the hot sun, shielding her eyes, when a ball comes hurdling toward her, she catches it and throws it to home, where Clagg is eager to catch it, tagging Powder.
“Sorry Powpow, you're out!” Claggor says
“This is bullshit ya know” Powder chides as she huffs to the dugout, red sand staining her grey practice uniform.
Vander calls a team meeting while Silco stands off to the side. “Alright, good practice, we have a game soon, so let’s get our game faces on, I wanna see what these sumprats can do, alright?” Vander says
They disperse, and Vi is excited for their game, she spends the next week at the diamond hitting ball after ball.
When game day finally comes, Vi is ready. With her Black and green Away uniform on, She listens to music while she sits in the dugout. When it’s game time, she doesn't let anyone get past her in the first inning. By the time she’s ready to bat, she spits on the plate and rubs it in with her shoe because that is a thing that she does to show these fools that she’s tough. She stares Lux down in preparation, and she throws a pitch that is hard enough for Vi to thwack with her bat, and she makes it to third base.
Vander always puts Vi, then Sevika, then Clagg first because they are the strongest hitters. When Sevika is up to bat, she hits it hard enough to make it to second, and Vi runs home. By the end of the inning, they are up 5 points.
They end the game with 8-3 in favor of the Trenchers, and they get Jerichos to celebrate. They can bask in this win for a while, but they have a game in a week with Piltovers Finest, and it’s no scrimmage, it’s the real deal.
……………………………..
Caitlyn gets a call from her father, which seems earlier than their routine call, but she loves hearing from her father regardless.
“Hey Cait,” her father says with a somber tone to his voice.
“Hello, father! To what do I owe this pleasure of hearing from you so early in the week?”
“I have some rather bad news, your mother was in a car accident.” Her father tells her.
Caitlyn drops the phone, and her father continues to speak, but she doesn't hear it, she does however hear his plea for her to come to the hospital.
She was in her car within seconds, disregarding every traffic law. She rushes into the hospital when she notices her father with his hands in his hair, clearly distraught.
“Come with me”
Tobias is a calm man, but in this moment, he seems lost, his once calm demeanor is now shattered, and in place of it is a shell of the man he once was. When Caitlyn locks eyes with her mother, covered in scrapes and bruises, with an incubator in her mouth, Caitlyn cries, she puts up walls and locks herself in this lonely solitude. Her father is trying to explain the severity of the accident, saying that the man who caused it is now dead, and upon his autopsy, they found copious amounts of alcohol in his system.
Caitlyn is lost, she doesn't know what to do. Her relationship with her mother has been rocky at best, with her not accepting her career in softball and with the notion of her last name being a symbol of power not to be disrespected. At this moment, she pushes all of the arguments over the years to the side, all the pressure of following in her mother's footsteps to become a politician. A part of Caitlyn Kirimman died a long time ago; she has always hated her last name, she sees it as a crutch, as a simple placeholder to get what she wants. She doesn't put it anywhere because she is embarrassed by it and what it means, but at this moment, she is holding on to it, Cassandra Kirimman is on the brink of death, Tobias Kiramman is doing everything to save her, and Caitlyn Kirimman is holding on, barely.
She doesn't practice pitching; she can’t. she has a game in 5 days. She can’t focus.
Jayce comes to the hospital to offer his regards with a huge bouquet, and he says that Vik and Mel offer their condolences.
Cassandra Kirimman died three days before their game against the Trenchers.
Caitlyn Kirimman will play.
……………………………..
Vi is nervous about playing against Piltovers Finest; her knee is shaking, and she is listening to some heavy metal to try to get her game face on, but she is nervous. She is first up to bat, with her white and green home team uniform, she steps up to the plate and swings her bat three times to measure up, points it at the edge of the home plate, and spits. She makes eye contact with Caitlin, and she winks.
Usually, when she does this, the girls blush, but Caitlyn has a stone-cold look on her face, so Vi assumes that that’s her game face and she doesn't worry too much.
She throws her first pitch too wide, Vi assumes that that was a fluke, so she pays no mind to it, on her second pitch, she throws it a little to hard, and it lands on Vi’s face.
Vi throws her bat down and shouts, “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THAT!!!!”, The umpire lets her walk, and Caitlyn is escorted off of the diamond where a girl with platinum blond hair takes her place.
The trenchers end up winning 3-2 in overtime.
After the game is over, Vi is sporting a gnarly black eye, and everyone has left the Trencher’s dugout. As soon as she leaves her respected dugout, she notices Caitlyn sitting in the Pilty dugout all by herself. So naturally, Vi goes over.
“What the hell was that out there” while leaning on the chainlink fence with her arms crossed.
Caitlyn says nothing,
“Ok let me rephrase that, what the hell is your problem?” Vi asks one more time
Caitlyn stands up and walks over to Vi; she stands there for a minute, and then she looks down at Vi’s lips, and she kisses her, a kiss that they will both regret.