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It wasn’t rare for Singed to receive unexpected visits from Silco, but it certainly was the first time he had seen him looking so distraught, barging into his lab delicately holding the limp body of Jinx. As soon as he spotted Singed figure at his desk he rushed over, giving him a clearer view of just how panicked Silco was.
“Singed, I need you to save Jinx. She got caught in one of her own explosions and her wounds look severe. I didn’t think normal methods were going to help her—”
“Calm down and place her onto the table over there, we shall talk more after I’ve surveyed the damage.”
Silco stood still until giving a quick nod and hurriedly placing her down onto where Singed had motioned, giving her hair a delicate stroke before stepping back with a shuddering breath to make space. Singed moved forward, sending a single look over at the shaken Silco as he began his observation.
‘It’s no good…’
Immediately he could tell that Jinx’s wounds were far too serious even for shimmer to do much, shrapnel too deep along with multiple signs of internal bleeding and no telling how many ruined organs. It was already a wonder she had managed to make it all the way here without dying, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before she succumbed to her wounds.
‘There’s nothing much even I—’
Singed thoughts stopped as he noticed a small glowing stone held tight in Jinx’s hands, gingerly peeling her fingers back to take hold of it. It was clearly a hexgem, likely the one she had stolen from the topsiders, a scientific marvel that melded with the arcane to create miracles. He slipped into thought as he continued to stare intensely at the gem, an idea for a new experiment into uncharted territories blooming.
‘I was just moaning about the poor shape my newest test subject arrived in…..the only reason it wasn’t immediately disposed of was because they assured me mages were incredibly hard to come by…’
He brought his eyes back down to Jinx, seeing that each breath grew more and more laboured from her. Singed was running out of time if he wanted to go forward with his plans that had the highest chance of saving her, even if her fate might be worse than death. Slowly he opened his mouth.
“….It’s possible I may be able to save her, but the results might not be to your liking…..you’ll also lose the gemstone as it will be a required component.”
Silco gave an angry growl at Singed’s words.
“I do not care if it means Jinx will be saved, other gemstones can be taken, but she is irreplaceable.”
Singed chuckled at Silco’s words, a wave of nostalgia hitting him at how similar they sounded to his own from a lifetime ago. Slowly he approached Silco, giving him a soft pat on the shoulder as he reached into his pocket to pull out a syringe.
“I too was once a father, I understand….but I also understand that this is for your own good.”
Before Silco could react Singed had jammed the syringe into his neck, quickly releasing the heavy duty sleeping agent held within. Carefully, he placed Silco down onto a close by chair and waited for the sleeping agent to take full effect before beginning.
“Whatever the outcome of this, I hope you don’t hate me too much, old friend, sometimes letting things die is better than seeing whatever they are reborn as….”
He gave one final look down at Jinx, reaching a hand out to pat her shoulder.
“Now let’s see if we can conduct a miracle.”
—--—-—--—--—---—--—---——
She woke with some struggle, her vision a blur of colours and lights as it began to focus on showing her the world around her. Whatever world it was seemed to be dyed a murky shade of green, painting the cave like room a dull sickly hue. An attempt to move made her realise the reason everything looked strange was that she was inside some kind of tube full of green liquid.
‘What’s this….’
‘Awake, finally awake my other half! Lonely no longer.’
‘Who….’
“Don’t know, everything fuzzy and jumbled, just relief now at you awake.’
She noticed movement below that drew her attention away from the excited yelps of broken speech, two men had appeared in front of her at some point. One man with a scarred eye was aggressively yelling as he pointed up at her tank, the other simply shaking his head and giving a wide gesture. She watched with interest as the angry man grabbed the other by the collar.
‘…Who are they? Do you know?’
‘No, but seem important to you.’
‘Me? Why would they be?’
‘Feelings. Angry man make you happy, warm, and sad.’
‘….I don’t understand.’
‘It’s okay to not understand.’
She found herself drifting downwards, somewhat of a struggle with how heavy her limbs felt, in an attempt to get a better view of the two men. Slowly she pulled herself closer to the glass, only then noticing the pure white fur that covered both her arms and the pointed fingertips on each hand.
A welling curiosity made her pull her face closer, spotting a black mask pulsing with blue veins dotted with scribbles and glowing blue eyes to match. A pair of pointed horns sat at the top, melding into a massive amount of white fur that erupted from behind the mask. It was hard to tell with the greenish hue of everything, but her fur seemed to give off almost a pale bluish colouring rather than just pure white.
‘Is this what I’m supposed to look like?’
‘Maybe, does it feel wrong?’
‘I don’t know….’
Her movement seemed to have drawn the attention of the two men, the angry one immediately dropping the other's collar to come rushing over. He placed his hands onto the glass over top of where she had placed her own and began to speak with an expression she was unable to read. She could only tilt her head, his words impossible to understand with all the muffling.
‘He’s trying to reassure you.’
‘Why? Did something happen?’
‘I don’t know.’
She continued to stare at the man in front of her, who seemed to be trying his best to smile as he continued to speak at her. The other man slowly approached, waving at the glass as he spoke which drew the man's attention away from her to give another angry response. He pointed between the man and the glass tube containing her, the other man shaking his head.
Whatever had been said caused both men to start to leave, the man that had attempted to reassure her about something giving one final look back at her. She stared at where they had gone for a while to see if they would come back.
‘I wonder if they’ll return….’
‘It feels like they will, especially the man with the scar.’
‘Because he tried to reassure me about something?’
‘Yes, it means he probably cares about you.’
‘Hmmm, then I wonder if he can tell me who I am? Maybe he’ll know who you are too.’
‘Maybe.’
The pair fell into silence, though not an uncomfortable one, calming was more accurate. They enjoyed each other's presence even if neither knew who they actually were, simply content with the fact they could feel their other half.
—--—---—---—--—-———
They didn’t know how long had gone by, the passage of time only shown when the scarred man would come to visit her, which seemed to be rather often. He would simply sit down in a chair he had pulled up in front of her tank and talk, though about what she still had no idea. She didn’t mind his presence and neither did her other half, liking him far more than the other man even if she didn’t know why.
‘That other man gives me negative feelings that I can’t place.’
‘Do I have them too?’
‘Not to the same degree no.’
It had become a common occurrence for her to ask her other half what she was feeling, as if she had become disconnected from them herself. That was if she even had them in the first place, but neither of them knew of a time before they had woken up in the tank. Everything little more than a blur of overlapping sounds and visions, her other half also dealing with a confusing mass of emotions twisted together.
‘Something seems to be different today, the other man came as well….and someone else?’
‘A woman, someone you knew. Mixed feelings, but you seemed to have liked her deep down.’
‘She looks all beaten up…..’
The woman in question was currently staring up at her with a wide eyed expression, quickly turning to a look of rage as she whipped around to look at the two men and began to angrily yell. She drifted down curiously to match the woman’s eye level, lightly tapping on the glass to regain her attention. Quickly, she turned back around at the noise, giving a slight jump of surprise at the sudden closeness of her face.
A feeling overcame her for a few seconds at the display, it was a….?
‘Happy giggle. You found her reaction funny.’
‘Oh I see….happy giggle.’
She watched as the woman recomposed herself and sent her a sad stare, the reason why unclear to her.
‘Is there something wrong with me?’
‘You seem in perfect condition to me, but maybe they know something we don’t.’
‘It seems like there’s a lot of things we don’t know….’
All of a sudden she felt a shift occur in her tank, like the liquid was starting to rush out somewhere. She felt herself slowly sink downwards as more and more of the substance left the tank, until eventually she was lying at the bottom. It was an incredibly strange feeling, to not be floating anymore and feel the weight of gravity once again pushing down on her.
‘Hmmm, once again?’
‘They’re coming closer my other half.’
She carefully pulled her head upwards as the tank released a hiss and separated, almost instantly she was overwhelmed by the smell of the outside world. It was far richer than the sterileness of inside the tank, causing her to begin struggling through a coughing fit. She watched the scarred man rush over with a worried expression, kneeling down to softly rub her back in an attempt to help.
“It’s going to be alright Jinx, just try and breathe to get used to the air again.”
She did as the man said, taking slow deep breaths until eventually it didn’t overwhelm her anymore. Once her breathing had calmed back down she turned her focus onto the scarred man, remembering he had said something that had sounded like a name to her. She wanted to ask the man, but got stuck on how to.
‘You’ll have to vocalise your thoughts.’
‘How does one do that?’
‘ Practice making sounds and it should come to you.’
She did as her other half suggested, reaching up one hand to wrap around her throat to check if she was vocalising or not.
“A-ah….ehhh….aaa….”
The scarred man gave a look of surprise at her actions, quickly switching to one of concern as he turned to look at the other man.
“What is she doing Singed?”
“Trying to speak I can only assume.”
She found herself giving a nod at his words, which caused the woman who’d drawn closer to release a sigh.
“At least that means she can still understand us…..”
“J-Jinx….”
They all froze at her sudden word, the scarred man and the woman crowding closer while the other man watched with interest from a short distance.
“…Is…that….who…I am?”
She struggled to get all the words she wanted to say out, but could feel it grow easier with each one. The scarred man froze at her words, causing her to tilt her head in confusion at the response.
“Did I…get it wrong?”
“No! No…that’s right, you’re Jinx my dear! Do you remember who I am?”
“No…but you care for me…right?”
The man’s good eye shook at her words, pulling her into a tight hug before he spoke next.
“You are the most important thing to me Jinx, more than anything else in this world!”
It still felt weird for her, hearing what was supposedly her own name coming from the scarred man. Jinx still felt foreign in her own mind, as if it was struggling to link it to being her name.
‘Maybe try saying it rather than just thinking it.’
‘Let’s try that….’
“Jinx….Jinx….my name is…Jinx.”
She repeated that to herself to try and make it sound less strange, each time she did she felt a shake course through the scarred man still holding her close. Suddenly she felt the name click inside her, as if it had finally locked into place. Jinx felt…..
‘Relief.’
…..relief at the feeling of knowing who she was again.
‘My other half, should I ask them for your name next?’
‘It can wait, right now you should figure out who they all are and find out what happened.’
“….Then if I am Jinx….who are all of you? You know Jinx…. me ….right?”
The scarred man pulled away from Jinx so that she could get a good look at him again. He seemed to look a bit awkward, trying to figure out what he was going to say.
“I’m Silco….I’d like you to think of me as your….father. Over there is Sevika, my second in command and your…caregiver most of the time. Lastly, there’s Singed over there that….helped you get better.”
Jinx looked up at the woman named Sevika who gave an awkward look in return, along with a gruff nod. Next she looked over to the man introduced as Singed who was still staring at her with a look of great interest.
“Help get better? Was I sick?”
She looked back to Silco who cast his gaze downward at her question.
“You were badly hurt in one of your explosions while attempting to fight off….some enemies. I came to Singed for help, but I didn’t expect for it to turn out like this when I had asked. I hope you can forgive for….changing you into that…”
Jinx only tilted her head again, looking down at her fur covered arms and hands in confusion.
“Hmmm? Did I not always look like this then?”
“No, you looked more…human.”
“Silco, I doubt she’d understand what you mean by that as she currently is.”
Singed cut in to almost chastise him, finally drawing closer himself as he sent a studious gaze over Jinx. Silco gave a cough and looked away.
“I’ll show you what I mean when we get back home.”
“Is this not home?”
“No, this is my lab. You were just staying here until you stabilised.”
Jinx gave a nod of understanding, suddenly feeling the desire to stand up and almost immediately falling weakly back down. Her hoofed feet, similarly furred a pale blue like the rest of her, seemed unable to support her own weight at the moment. Her second attempt ended the same, Silco’s assertive touch stopping her from attempting a third time.
“We can just have Sevika or I carry you back until you get used to your new feet Jinx.”
‘No, I shall carry you.’
‘How will you my other half?’
‘Look to your shadow.’
Jinx looked down as told, releasing a soft gasp as she noticed how her shadow seemed to breathe and rustle like fur. She lovingly stroked at it, feeling the warm touch of her as she did.
“So that’s where you are my other half. Shall you carry me all the way home?”
“Jinx?”
“Oh I shall my dear Jinx!”
The sudden booming voice from beneath her came seconds before an eruption of black fur tinged with gold rose up from her shadow. It swirled around her, seemingly endless, before slowly shrinking into the shape of a large wolf nuzzling up against her. Her golden eyes shone brightly underneath her white mask, equally covered in blue glowing veins and scribbled characters like Jinx’s was.
Her continued nuzzling caused a happy giggle to erupt from Jinx as she pulled her into a hug of her own.
“….Singed.”
“Remarkable! It seems like the other test subject has moulded itself into a part of Jinx somehow. I had included her just in case Jinx was missing too much or needed some replacements, but I didn’t expect this to occur.”
Jinx looked to Singed at his words, leaning forward slightly as she did.
“Do you know the name for my dear other half? We waited to ask until I had my own, but now we’d like to know.”
Singed, for the first time since she had first seen him, looked somewhat awkward at the question. He quickly moved to his desk, shuffling through various piles of papers until he pulled out one crumpled piece.
“I don’t really know that much, frankly I wasn’t that interested and the ones I got her from seemed unwilling to share much in the first place. There was no use asking her….with the shape she was in upon her arrival.”
He carefully handed over the piece of paper to Jinx, simply having the word [Lux] written in incredibly shaky handwriting that looked as if they were almost unable to finish that one word itself.
“That was all I was able to get out of her when I tried asking her some questions when she first arrived, while she was still……somewhat mentally there. They had told me she was a dangerous mage so I was curious if I could learn anything about that, but it seems like whatever they had done to make her not dangerous anymore left little else of her.”
Jinx stared down at the paper, gently tracing the name with one finger as she did, before holding it up for her other half to see.
“Lux, do you like that name my dear other half?”
“I do, it has a nice warm ring to it my dear Jinx!”
“Then from now on you shall be my dear Lux.”
Lux nuzzled close again at Jinx’s words, quickly reaching down to gently pull her onto her back as she shrunk her size once more to the size of a large dog.
“….So is this whole thing okay boss? Not the only one finding it weird right?”
Silco just looked at Singed instead of answering Sevika’s question, a simple shrug was all he gave in response.
“When dealing with such an unknown variable as the arcane, worse things can occur.”
Lux quickly trotted over to stand beside Silco which let Jinx lean over to tap him on the shoulder, drawing his attention back to her.
“Are we okay to go back home father?”
He froze up entirely at her question, causing her to look down at Lux for an answer.
“He is simply overwhelmed with joy my dear Jinx.”
“At being called father? But he had told me to do so.”
“Boss is just surprised because no matter how much he insisted on you calling him that before you never did, you likely thought it was too embarrassing.”
Sevika chimed in as she approached, a faint smirk on her face as her eyes shifted between Jinx and Silco. This just caused even more lack of understanding for Jinx.
“Why is it embarrassing to call your father by his title? I don’t understand the Jinx of the past. Mmmh, what is this feeling my dear Lux?”
“Frustration.”
She gave a nod as she crossed her arms, the feeling of frustration welling inside her at the strangeness of past her. Their short side conversation seemed to have given Silco enough time to recover from his stupor, turning with a cough back to look at Singed again.
“We will make sure to come back often for check ups, just to make sure nothing changes.”
“Ah yes, I’d also love to run some tests. Ah, none painful of course.”
“…..Right, we shall see you again.”
Silco, finished with Singed, looked back to Jinx who had been waiting quietly. He lightly prodded her to follow after him as he began to make his way out, Sevika taking up the rear as if it was only natural.
“Let’s go home shall we….though from what Sevika reports it might be slightly demolished at the moment.”
“Right, that bi—”
Sevika stopped mid sentence with one look from Silco, beginning again in a panic.
“I mean that brat did a real number on me when she came barrelling in looking for Silco. Too bad for her that he’s been spending most of his time lately watching over you instead of staying at the Last Drop.
“That brat? Is it someone I should know too?”
Silco and Sevika exchanged a quick look at her words, seeming to debate something intensely before he looked back at her with a smile.
“…..It was one of the enemies you fought against on the bridge, they have a….complicated relationship with you.”
‘What does that mean? Complicated relationship?’
‘It probably means you weren’t good at communicating with each other which caused problems.’
‘Does that mean I have to just talk to them to make things uncomplicated?’
‘I don’t know my dear Jinx.’
“…Do I have to talk to this brat as you put it? Will that make it not complicated anymore?”
Silco’s smile turned to a frown at her words, stopping his feet and gently taking one of her hands in his own.
“I very much doubt she’d be very accepting of….how you look now Jinx. Not like Sevika or I are….I fear seeing her would only bring you pain Child.”
“Pain?”
“Emotional pain my dear Jinx.”
Silco gave a quick nod at Lux’s cut in, quickly beginning to walk again as he continued to speak.
"For now I believe what would be for the best is to focus on getting used to that new body of yours Jinx, rather than anything else."
Jinx nodded at Silco’s words, making the most logical sense given the situation.
'My dear Lux, I'm feeling rather….'
'Nervous my dear Jinx.'
'Yes, nervous. I don’t understand why however.'
'Going outside and all that will bring my dear Jinx.
'...like what we discussed with them right?'
'You've remembered then?'
'Vaguely, I mostly remember them being surprisingly….'
'Affectionate.'
'Yes, even giving us a nickname when we were still nameless. Little Echo I think it was.'
'....you wish to tell Silco, don't you?'
'I know I can’t, he wouldn't understand if I mentioned our meeting. I don't even fully understand what it means to find one's purpose like they told us to do.'
'We shall find it together, my dear Jinx, one that will satisfy them when we next meet.'
Jinx gave Lux a stroke at her words, looking up to stare absently at the figure of Silco walking in front. He had been so supportive of her even with the form she had now, one that was no longer in the realms of human.
One that they would never return to, but only drift further away from it as time passed going by what they had told them. It made her wonder. What about her was still Jinx of the past if she held no memories of her time as her. Wasn't she just some being that had stolen the name?
'Please do not torment yourself so my dear Jinx'
'......'
"Father, may I ask a question?"
Silco still seemed shocked about being called father, but did his best to not let it show as he turned towards her.
"What is it Child?"
"Why do you still consider me Jinx if I don't share any memories with her? All I have is overlapping vague blurs that I don't think will ever be anything but that."
He stopped his pace at her question, fixing her with a sad look while slowly coming to a crouch beside her. No words came from him for a bit, seeming to be deep in thought over what to say.
“...even without your memories I can still tell it’s you Jinx just based on your mannerisms, even if you are far more polite than you ever were in the past. Don’t think I didn’t catch you purposely surprising Sevika and laughing about it.”
“Was that something that past Jinx did a lot? Pull pranks? I found it quite fun myself!”
“Oh, constantly and Sevika over there was often a target of them.”
A sigh came from behind Jinx, likely from Sevika, though all she said was a muttered “Great,” at their discussion. Silco continued to watch Jinx with a small smile.
“If anything, you’re strikingly similar to how you were as a child, Jinx. I can see you causing many headaches in the future, but it’s something I will welcome.You are still the Jinx I care deeply about at your core and no amount of factors will change that.
Jinx gave a small nod, feeling overwhelmed by so many different emotions it was hard for Lux to place them all. Lightly she cupped her own hands, leaning closer to the crouching figure of Silco.
“Then….what do you wish for me to do when we get home ? Shall my dear Lux and I take up where Jinx of the past left off?”
“No.”
His answer was so sudden that it left her confused for a moment.
“Almost losing you has made me realise some things about…myself and what I had driven you to do and that I…don’t wish for that anymore. I just want you to be by my side, doing whatever makes you happy and not what you think will make me happy. To be quite honest, I’d rather you stay out of danger from now on if possible.”
“I shall let no one put my dear Jinx into danger, any that try will be crushed to dust between my great maw!”
“Even if it’s myself my dear Lux?”
“....No I shall not my dear Jinx, but I shall sternly scold you if you do.”
“And I will join her in that scolding.”
Something about Silco’s words resonated inside her, pulling out a garbled piece of memory that let her know just enough to tell her a scolding from him was something to avoid. Jinx could only imagine how much worse the experience would be having Lux join in.
“...but I don’t know what makes me happy… ”
Silco pulled closer to lightly pat her mask with a chuckle, standing up and beginning to walk again after quickly adjusting his coat.
“Then we’ll just have to figure out what does, Child. Now come, it’s growing late and we’re still quite far from home. We can talk more once we arrive.”
—-----------------------------------
They walked largely in silence after that, only broken by the excited question of Jinx when spotting something that made her curious , which was always answered by Silco in an easy to understand way. The streets they walked were mainly empty of other people, when asked the simple answer had been they were intentionally taking a less populated way home to avoid prying eyes.
“I will introduce you to people Jinx, but only those I know I can trust. At least for the near future.”
Was all that Silco had said as they arrived at a looming building which featured a huge glowing sign of a single eye. The insides were in a rather damaged state, even if it was clear that clean up had begun. Jinx’s eye wandered onto a single figure inside that seemed to be busy at the bar, Lux began to pace over to him without her having to say anything. Neither Silco or Sevika made any move, signalling to her it was fine for her to approach and taking the chance to discuss something privately among themselves.
“Hello.”
“Ah sorry the bar’s curren–AHH, wh-what? Wh-who?”
“My name’s Jinx, it’s good to meet you…?”
Jinx held her hand out to the nervous looking man who had only grown more surprised when she said her name. He seemed to give her another once over before tentatively reaching out to return her handshake, causing Jinx to give a happy giggle .
“S-So the rumours were right then….M-My name’s Thieram, but you always used to call me Chuck…”
“Would you like me to keep calling you Chuck?”
He seemed to think on it for a second before giving a nod, an incredibly shaking smile appearing faintly on his face as he did.
“Okay, Chuck!”
“W-Would you like a drink Jinx? Or….can you even drink something like..that?”
“I don’t know, but I’d like to try! I drink if you would, for me and my dear Lux!”
Jinx pulled herself onto one of the stools and lightly hit her palms against the countertop as she demanded a drink.
“Lux? Ah, woah!”
Lux pulled herself up onto the stool beside Jinx, likely looking incredibly strange, but to Chuck’s credit he quickly got to work after overcoming his initial confusion. It didn’t take him long whatsoever to place two drinks down in front of the pair, Jinx’s featuring a straw while Lux’s was in a slightly wider glass to make it easier to lap up.
“Thank you Chuck!”
“No problem…”
She stared down at the drink in wonder, knowing that there was nothing underneath her mask like the mouth Lux or Chuck had. The mask simply was her face, which made perfect sense to Jinx herself.
So it made perfect sense for Jinx to simply bring her mask against the straw and take a sip. The sudden taste of something incredible sweet hit her senses, causing her to jolt upwards at the buzz of pure joy that hit her. She began to rapidly palm the counter again as she downed the rest of the drink.
Chuck had been watching the entire time with a look of wonder, giving a jolt of surprise when Jinx turned to look at him. She happily raised the glass with both hands as she waved it in front of her.
"It just phased through the mask…."
"I really liked that drink, Chuck! Please make it again for me next time too alright? Lux also seems to have liked hers!"
“Th-that was the kind I always made for you….glad you still like it.”
“Hmmm, then Jinx of the past has good tastes!”
“Jinx, we should start heading up now.”
“Ah, bye bye Chuck!”
At Silco’s call Jinx was quickly grabbed up by Lux and placed once again on her back, giving a goodbye to the stunned Chuck who gave a hesitant wave back in response. She quickly came up beside Silco, giving her a soft smile upon her arrival.
“Did you not mind your time with him Jinx?”
Rapidly she began to shake her head, gesturing wildly with her arms as she spoke.
“No, No! I quite like Chuck! He made me a drink and it was amazingly tasty!”
“......Was it the usual he makes you?”
“Hmmm, yes he did say that I think.”
“....Then that’s good to hear.”
“I rather liked the drink he made me as well my dear Jinx, far less sweet than yours, which I quite enjoyed.”
“Even if you are my other half I can’t understand your liking of bitter things…”
“....You guys share that stuff?”
Sevika, who had been quietly making up the rear, seemed unable to stop herself from asking with an incredulous tone. Lux and Jinx stared at each other before moving their gaze back towards Sevika, tilting their heads in unison.
“”Is that not normal?””
Their voices echoed as one innocent question back at Sevika, who only shook her head in response. The pair once more turned their gaze back to each other with a shared huff of exasperation. Jinx brought her hand up to her mask, stroking its chin in thought.
“How strange, it feels most natural for us to share our senses. We are two halves that make up one whole, unable to exist without the other.”
Jinx gave a shrug, Lux taking it as her cue to catch up to Silco with several quick steps and leaving Sevika behind to stand in silence. Eventually a long sigh escaped her as she slowly made her way to catch up, watching as Jinx happily chatted about something with Silco.
“….a strange brat is better than a dead brat I guess….”
The small smile that had spread across her face disappeared as soon as Sevika arrived beside them, replaced with her trademark gruff scowl.
‐—------------
The inseparable pair had slowly begun to grow used to the world outside, at least the parts of it the rather overprotective Silco would allow them. He had introduced them only to his most loyal, ones he'd told them could be trusted.
They had all acted similarly to how Chuck had, initially in disbelief, before snapping out of it with one look from Silco. Then they slowly became used to them, always taken by surprise at how differently she acted from Jinx of the past.
She had asked them if they'd rather an attempt at behaving like Jinx had , only to receive a resounding No . Her confusion led her to ask Sevika, always hovering closeby after her arrival back.
"It’s cuz you were a real pain in the as--butt, hated following orders, unpredictable, and would sometimes go after allies because they looked at you funny."
Jinx drooped at her matter of fact tone, slumping onto the table with a sigh, only perking up again with a soft knock of her mask by Sevika.
“Oi, try and focus so I don’t gotta explain this again alright? You’re the one that asked to get taught in the first place.”
“Oh right! Ummm, is this a good hand then?”
“Terrible.”
“Mmmm…”
Sevika was currently trying to teach Jinx cards after she’d grown interested watching her play against some of Silco’s other men, in all honesty it wasn’t going that well.
“My dear Jinx, I told you it would have been best to focus on getting pairs rather than all in.”
“Mmmm…”
“ See , Lux gets it. I win again, hand over the pile.”
She quickly held out her own, showing off a hand that easily beat Jinx’s mismatch and pulled the pile of candy they’d been using as wagers, Silco not wanting them to gamble with any actual money, towards her already large hoard . Jinx sadly looked between her meagre pile and Sevika’s own that greatly dwarfed it.
“Ya wanna go again?”
“Of course! This time we’ve got it, don’t we my dear Lux!”
Lux simply sent her an encouraging look, knowing the odds weren’t really that great with how Jinx liked to play without any planning. She had quickly understood how best to play the game, but it was somewhat hard to get Jinx to understand that even if they were so closely connected.
With a snork Sevika collected the scattered cards, shuffling them with skilled hands and just as quickly passing them out. Jinx stared intently at her starting hand, then held them down to the waiting Lux to grab her opinion, not allowed to leave her side during games to limit any cheating on their end.
‘What do you think?’
‘Keep the pair of twos at the very least, aim for building around those.’
‘Alright.’
“Now then let’s start.”
By some stroke of luck, Jinx managed to win that game, though Lux was fairly certain it was less that and more outside help from a certain someone sitting in front.
“Look Sevika we won!”
“Hmmm, not bad kid, getting better at this ain’t ya?”
Eagerly Jinx accepted the pushed over pile, Sevika giving a light scoff before standing up with a grunt.
“How about we grab some Jericho’s to celebrate?”
“Yay! Did you hear that my dear Lux!?”
Lux snuggled close, sharing in Jinx’s excitement, letting her take her spot upon her back even if she’d long since learned to walk just fine. It didn’t matter to her, nor did it to Jinx, instead just liking the excuse to stay together.
"I love how he always sneaks extras into my bowl!"
"Ah! He does the same for me!"
Sevika lightly tapped Jinx’s mask, motioning upwards towards Silco’s office.
"I gotta go tell the boss I'm taking you guys out before we leave."
"Oh, can you ask if he can come too! I know he's busy, but…."
She anxiously played with her fingers, Sevika just giving a scoff.
"....I'll let him know you asked, something tells me he'll be free…"
With a chuckle she left upstairs, letting Jinx and Lux have some time to themselves. Like always a pleasant silence enveloped the area, having no real use for words when alone.
'What shall we do after my dear Lux?'
'Hmmmm, what indeed…'
'Shall we think about it later?'
'Yes, I'm having difficulty right now it would seem. Let’s let whimsy take us then.’
‘I rather like that idea.’
‘We always have the most fun when we do after all.’
Jinx giggled at Lux’s playful tone, looking forward to what fun was in store for the two, anything being a delight with Lux by her side.
