'89 Aug - Victoria

A yellow Datsun idled at the end of the drive, debating on pulling up to the little home touched away at the back of the drive. Instead, the tuck pulled back onto the dirt road and continued on it's way to the next drive a mile or so down the way.

She pulled up the drive, putting her baby in park before hoping out, waving hello to the woman digging around in the open garage. " 'ello Mrs. Eustass."

The redhead waved back before she lifted up on of the boxes and replaced it on the shelves. "Hello Vicky, where's your dad?"

"Dun' need him no more- got my license!" She beamed, puffed up with pride. The true mark of adulthood when you lived this far out - the first real gasp of person-hood than any teen was given.

"Oh Congratulation!" Mrs Eustass praised her, looked every bit the proud adopted Auntie.

"Wanna see?" Victoria skipped over to show off the temp DMV papers. Kidd's mom looked it over, "And a good picture!" she grinned.

"So, where are the boys?" Victoria asked as she put the paper back into her wallet and sliding it back into the back pocket of her jeans.

"Oh, can't you see- they're helping me stain the porch," she gestures at the empty side of the house, "I believe they wandered off to go throw rocks in the creek."

The two women shared a look, rolling their eyes. Children. "Can I steal them away, or you want me to sent that back to chores?"

"You three go have fun." She smiles, heading back into the garage, "- oh and Vicky?"

"Hmm?"

"Again. Congratulations. We're all really proud of you."

Victoria fought a blush, "You're just happy because now you can call on me to run errands for y'all."

"Oh, absolutely! You're now at the beck and call of the whole valley."

With a laugh, Victoria jogged down across the field to where the creek cut though the property on it's way to feeding into the river miles away. Kidd and Killer came into view down on the banks at one of the creek's more narrower points.

"Hard at work I see."

The two boys stopped at their project - something about delicately stacked rocks they where trying to balance over the water. Killer stood in the middle of the creek, holding one side in place while Kidd built out to him, a stone arch bridge of some kind. Killer looked torn between jumping up and saying hi and holding up his part of Kidd's grand plan.

"Gimme a sec, Victoria," Kidd grunted at her, digging a new smooth stone up from the creek and trying to balance the wet rock on his stack. Both boys were soaked and the only parts not covered in mud were the parts currently under the water.

She stood just outside the sludgy wet dirt area and watched as Kidd built to the point Killer was holding both parts while Kidd tried to find a keystone. Careful of the slick mud, Victoria started to look around for a stone that would work, watching for a nice wedged shaped one that looked the right size.

"Try this one?" she gestured to where it sat under the water. Kidd pried it up, studying it, testing the size and weight. Passing his first tests, he splashed back up creek to where Killer was still holding the pieces up, arms starting to shake slightly at the essentially ski stress position he was squatting in.

He made no noise of complaint however, and Victoria shook her head. The things that boy would endure for Kidd. It was almost embarrassing, except for the fact it was stupid sweet, and she was very well aware he pulled those same stunts for her too when she asked. And she was no better than Kidd in taking advantage of it, except she hoped she was more self aware to when Killer was pushing himself to far. "That stone gonna work Kidd? 'cause I don't think Killer can hold it much longer."

"I can!" Killer argued, but wilted a little bit when Kidd looked up and stared him dead in the face, before turning back to try and wedge the stone in place, "Just a little more Kil', promise," the kid assured him.

Kidd shifted the stone, then tapped Killer's left arm, 'Let go - slow..."

The trio held their breath as Killer slowly did so, the left arm of their little arch remaining standing. Killer and Kidd beamed at each other, and Victoria couldn't help but cheer for them as Killer then slowly let go of the right arm and the arch remained up.

Kidd whooped gleefully, jumping up and down in the creek in triumph. Killer attempted to do the same, but squatting in the cold water for so long had turned his legs a bit jelly and instead he fell back into the water with a splash. Kidd and Victoria were half way around the stone arch before he sat back up with a sputter. "Is it sill up?" he asked in a panic.

Kidd's master piece remained unmoved by Killer's fall and the trio cheered again as Kidd helped Killer up. A great deal of the mud had washed free by his fall, but Kidd was still smeared in it. Victoria waited until he and Killer were clear of their project, before she looped an arm around his chest, swept him off his feet and dumped him back in the creek. He squawked in rage, and it set Killer off cackling for a moment before the other teen turned away to try and smother his laugh as he staggered the rest out the way out of the water. Victoria held Kidd in the water, dunking his head under to scrub the mud free of his hair - leaving the red hair a mess that was going to dry sticking up in bizarre angles later.

As Killer was left chucking on the shore, Victoria pulled Kidd back upright in the water, smiling down at him as he spat like a drowned cat at her. "Now... you can get in my truck." she told him with a Cheshire grin.

"Your truck?" Kidd asked, anger forgotten in an instant. Killer also perked up as she finished dragging Kidd to the shore. "Are we really gonna get to ride in your truck today?"

Victoria had been promising them a ride since she bought the Punk, but there was the one line her dad had that she was begrudgingly holding too: Kidd was not allowed in her truck until she had a real license. Legally, she hadn't been allowed to drive on paved roads to begin with unless her dad was with her, but Killer and Kidd both lived off the dirt road  like her, and any country kid would tell you - dirt roads don't count. Killer's dad didn't give a shit if Victoria was licensed or insured, if it meant he didn't have to drive Killer around to side jobs anymore; he was more than willing to let his son ride shotgun with Victoria, much to her own father's annoyance. Still, Killer had been on his best behavior when she was behind the wheel and it was way easier driving him around than driving Heat or Wire - who constantly kept distracting her.

She hauled Kidd upright and ruffled his wet hair one more time, shaking as much water out as she could. Killer's hair was going to be a lost cause - it would take hours to finish drying, and she was just going to have to deal with the fact it was going to take forever for her seats to finish drying out after this. "Officially I am a licensed driver. Figured we could go harass Heat and Wire and rub it in their noses."

The other two boys lived on the other side of the highway, but still closer than any of the other cool kids in the area. Teens like Basil and the Charolotte's lived a closer drive, but were also all home-schooled after the ages out of the local elementary school instead of bussing it to the middle school 60 miles away, and the older they all got, the weirder the two groups seemed to each other. Victoria dangled her truck keys in front of the two boys. Like a baby with anything jingling, Kidd light up and make a grab for them. She scoffed, raising them over his head. "Come on, go tell your mom we're heading out."

Kidd whooped, shrugging her hold off and went running towards his house. Killer was still muffling his laughs to the side, trying to pass the last few off as coughs. "You good, Kil-Kil?"

"Yep, yep" he agreed, still snickering, and they followed slowly after. Victoria glanced back one last time to the stonework they'd constructed.

"What's up with the art project?" she asked as they marched across the high grasses under the late August sun.

Killer just shrugged, "Kidd had a whim, and I wanted to see if he could make it work."

She looked back one last time - the carefully arranged rocks still standing proud, "I guess that's kinda cool."

Ahead, Kidd was already getting in her truck, his mom just shaking her head as she continued cleaning out the garage. "You two behave for Vicky, ya hear?" she called as Killer started getting in the truck too, a chorus of "yes mom" and "yes ma'am" as Killer pushed Kidd into the middle of the bench.

Victoria gave the woman one last wave before starting her baby up and politely pulling out of the driveway and on to the dirt county road. She remained driving cautious and carefully as they passed Killer's house, the boy slouching on the bench like he was afraid his old man was out watching for them to drive by. Once the little homestead was out of sight, Victoria grinned, and sped up a little more, and a little more, and a little more, letting the truck fly down the road for a few miles. Killer had to practically hold Kidd down in his seat to keep him from treating it like an fair ride - to throw his hands up and hoot and holler. As they approached the bend her own home was tucked around, she slowly shifted back do to appropriate speeds, giving an air of her best behavior as she trucked along past her home, waving out the window just in case her own folks were home and watching.

And then it was pedal to the floor once they where around the next turn. Killer had cranked the window down by then, and the two boys had both heads out the window and making a raucous for the next few miles of broken dirt roads. Victoria let out her own war cry as they hit one particularly bad bump, laughing with glee.

They calmed down a little bit as dirt met with the brief stretch of highway they had to drive down before crossing south into the lower part of the county, and it would mean driving though the 'town' - past the six buildings that made up civilization out here. The elementary school, the fire station, the post office. Then Kuma's church, the single room grocery/feed store and the mechanic that Kidd's stepdad worked for. Kidd made sure he was fully seated and behaving as the road to Heat & Wire was right after the repair shop and while his mom had giving her permission, he didn't want his old man to revoke it later.

They turned off the highway, and then it was about five miles down the next sections of back country switch backs, climbing up the side of one of the smaller mountains that littered Akagami's territory. Big Mam ran the area north of the highway, Akagami hiring out of the family's living on the south. The boy's families not excluded from the odd call for a job, only Victoria's family shunned from the job callings. Residual grudges from the Sheep Wars meant the big four cattle barons had no intentions of making room for her family's flocks, and in turn no one could to lease fields to the Shiruton's even if they wanted because the four already had contracts with the other land owners for the next several decades.

Victoria wasn't sure Killer's old man even had a job other than whatever Big Mam was hiring him for at any given time - though Killer did most of those jobs lately. Heat and Wire's folks - who all technically worked in the city, commuting the hour and a half everyday - in turn did work for Akagami when he came calling, his own on call electricians and machinists, welders and accountants. And with Heat and Wire's own skill's in those fields growing, they too were getting called in to work on occasion. 

It was just Kidd - still a bit young for solo jobs - and Her - the sheepherder - that remained unemployed in their little group. Victoria gave a middle finger to her own shunning, and showed up to whatever of the boy's jobs she pleased, even if Big Mam herself came down the mountain to chase her off in the beginning. Linlin made a point to declare she wasn't planning on shelling out more money to pay her, so either she was stealing from the other families on the job or working for free.  They'd been repairing fencing, and Victoria had taken a place next to a then 10 year old Killer anyway and since that day, any work she did do went unpaid. Still a Cattle Baron, Akagami had refused to hire her too, but had at least thrown her a bone last year in setting her up working for one of the dude ranches ran by an old friend of his.

They passed one of Akagami's horse trailers pulling into said dude ranch, and it was only 9 year old Kidd sitting next to her keeping her from wondering if the two men had something else going on. He leased his horses to Buggy - the dude ranch owner - sure, but she feels like the Cattle Baron seems a little more hands on at this particular dude ranch than is strictly necessary, constantly loitering around for no discernible reason.

Killer is looking at the trailer too, the eyebrow raised barely visible under his mop of hair when he turned to look back at her. "Something going on with the horses?"

Or he was more invested in the animals - their baby unofficial horse whisperer, knowing the names of nearly Akagami's entire herd. "I didn't hear anything - I think Shanks just likes to pop in and harass his boyfriend."

Killer snickered, and Kidd looks from the horse trailer to the two of them and back again. "Akagami has a boyfriend?" he asked, like the idea was revolutionary to him.

Killer looked at him weirdly, "You.. you do know Wire and Heat are dating, yeah?"

"Yeah, I know... but like... Akagami is old."

Victoria risked a glance at him as she turned down a side road to take them up to Heat's place first. It was a 50-50 chance of them both being there, otherwise they were at Wire's place. "Yeah.. He's older, I guess. And...?"

"I just thought.. I dunno. He'd be married then. I didn't know old people could have boyfriends."

"Old people..." Killer snorted into his shoulder, smoothing it before it could turn into a real laugh. "Yeah, Kidd. Adults can have boyfriends."

"I didn't know!" he defended himself, as Victoria pealed up the dirt path that made up Heat's driveway, heading for the second building off the main house, and laying on the horn.

"What's up losers!?" she grins as both boys came out of Heat's workshop, looking sweaty and guilty and she wagged her eyebrows suggestively. At least until they got closer and realized it was Kidd and Killer in the truck and not her old man, and broke out into grins themselves.

"You passed?" Wire asked, and Heat leaned into the open window on the passenger side and crowded Killer as he checked out the cab.

"I am... officially... A licensed driver." she grinned, gesturing to the bed, "Hope in, I'll drive you anywhere you wanna go."

"Switch me," Heat was trying to talk Kidd or Killer into hoping in the truck bed, Kidd pushing him back out the window with a, "No way - go sit with your boyfriend."

Wire, already having climbed into the truck bed, crossed over in two easy strides, and started to pull Heat back up with him.

"Fine fine, dun wanna break up the happy couple anyway," Heat snarked, letting Wire haul him into the back. Killer and Kidd shot him a shared confused look, which set him off laughing as he settled in with Wire.

"To the lake!" Wire suggested, smacking the cab roof.

"To the lake!" Victoria agreed, putting the truck in gear and spinning her tires, spitting dirt and gravel before pealing out with a cheer.