conflictresolution

[For his part, Silco surrendered into the role of patient father and the tension completely left his body as he stretched his legs back out under the table. There was no need to rise, not when Jinx nestling her face so close against his skin where he was aware of her breath against his skin and the noises of her being upset easily reached his ear.]

You believe so?

[It was an interesting concept to consider. When had anyone actually made him do anything against his own will in these last years? There were compromises of course, and there was altering his opinion and his intentions, but the goals had always seemed so clear. Yet, he didn't deny her fear or how she may know something he had locked away a very long time ago.

His fingers stroked her hair lightly in a comforting gesture. He hummed softly, acknowledging her feelings and her concerns.]

Is that what you experienced with those boys you allowed into your bed? They brainwashed you and tried to take you away from me, to cut me out?

[He was mainly considering that arrogant idiot, Quentin, but there had been the Firelight boy to start the ball rolling. Then there was the natives she dabbled with on occasion. With the Firelight boy's return though, he had to consider if what she saw as a threat to him was something he was now going to have to concern himself with in her.]

[ her lips feel so dry suddenly, and maybe she should have considered that drink after all because her throat is growing tight, too. the stroke over her hair feels so lovely and soothing, and it eggs her tears to trickle faster and become more obvious (if not that, then his cheek now becoming damp will be his first clue).

and it's this exact moment, this exact love between them is what she is afraid of losing. and while the love between her and her sister is strong, it could be unbreakable if it weren't for caitlyn's meddling, and the two sisters are still slightly rocky to this day. when was the last time jinx had seen vi's face or heard her voice? since the whole the last drop fiasco?

when her father brings up those questions, her heart aches and her sniffling increases, but not without a tiny blush brusing across her cheeks. in spite of this conversation, it's still a little embarrassing to talk about her previous sex life with a parent. ]

Q...- Quentin was the only one I let in...in that way. The nobodies are just ones and zeros. The council are making them up, so it's no real different than doing it to yourself.

[ and since they are discussing about this and essentially her ex-boyfriend, jinx... might as well fess up about something. ]

When Quentin and I first met, he wanted me to leave you behind. I told him that you and I were going to make Aldrip all ours some day, and he wanted me to rule it all without you and have it be just him and me instead.

[ nervously, she wets her lips and continues to croak through her words. ]

A-And I knew he could be dangerous, but I let him in anyway, because he felt too good. He made me feel...so pretty and I liked him in my head. But when I started to fall in love with him, he just....

[ she stops there, her silent sobs tangling with her tongue and forbidding her to speak further. ]

[She didn't remember the insect who started it all, and he would leave it that way. She had suffered enough traumas outside and inside of this place that he would prefer to protect her from more suffering if it was possible to do so. He was not willing to put his relationship with her at risk any more than he already had with his admittance, not when he had recently had her return to him.

He kept his face where it was so she could remain nestled there against his neck, and he was keenly aware of the moisture on his cheek. His fingers continued to stroke the back of her hair as he listened to her discuss that idiot who had always rubbed him the wrong way.

Yet, his fingers paused when she admitted to Quentin's meddling, he felt a flare of anger that burned hot in his throat. He had to take a deep breath and hold it, pushing his own emotions down because he now recognized this as potentially the source of her unease when it came to his own intimate association.]

And because that idiot pulled that with you against me, you have been lead to believe that my own experience may be the same? That I would even entertain cutting you out after all we have been through, you and I?

[Love was a dangerous emotion, and when it went sour, it was like poison in one's veins.]

It is a boon to us all that he is gone otherwise I would have ended his existence over and over.

I don't know.

[ she admits quietly, pulling her face away from his, but only briefly so she can wipe away her tears with her forearm. and once she's done doing so, jinx returns to nuzzle back to him -- this time, her nose underneath his jawline and neck than his cheek. ]

Bad things always happen to me or whoever is around me... Nothing ever goes right or the way I really wanted.

[ because there's also her curse she has to consider in all of this, too. in her prospective, if silco isn't going to ditch her on his own, or his new lover isn't going to manipulate him into doing it, then her "jinx" will take control of the situation and make it a reality.

short-lived or long, at the end of the day, she still needs to prepare herself for the worst and if she's lucky, these premonitions may not come true at all. although given her eighteen years of existing, she doesn't have high expectations. and his daughter thought being in this new world or simulation would have cancelled out of her curse, but it followed her here — if not powerful than ever before. ]

Edited 2024-07-16 04:27 (UTC)

[He lifted his chin and turned his head to watch her, but it wasn't long before her face returned to nuzzling into his throat. He let his chin come to rest on the top of her head, and his fingers stroked the back of her head to soothe her. He knew that she was upset, but it was just sex, not like that twisted excuse for a relationship she had had with that idiot.]

You need to stop blaming yourself, Jinx. Things happen because they happen, and you are exactly as you are meant to be.

[He had no plans on abandoning her, of leaving her behind for a warm body in his bed. Perhaps in future there may have to be coexisting, but with the way that things turned out for him, he doubted it very much. No one bedded a monster for more than a small amount of time before heading for the hills... or pushing his head under water as it were.

Jinx remained his priority. He was building an empire here for her, for them but mostly for her.]

They are not a threat to you or what we have. You have my word.

[ she knows she should believe him, and she should trust him, and quite frankly, she does. it's the chosen she holds no confidence over, and after quentin wounded her in the worst possible way (nearly in line with how vi left her that night), jinx had become suspicious towards everyone, excluding ragna.

sure, she has her little circle and friends, but humans are flighty, and one can never tell what they're thinking. it's one of the lovely qualities of quentin, because they spent the majority of their days in each other's minds; thinking to one another. she'd be a liar if she voiced she hadn't been missing him in that way, because she does. and that might be the reason why she clung to ekko so pathetically back at the treehouse.

her screw-up on that is churning within her stomach, and jinx will need to make a mental note to delete the boy savior's number off her device (if it's possible) later. their transaction has been fulfilled anyway, so there's no need for either of them to continue contact. he vowed he wouldn't spill the beans about her vulnerability, but... along with the rest of the chosen, she holds no confidence.

with another sniff, she nods and finally breaks away from her embrace on him. she should really return to her dinner before she grows ill or faint, because the amount she had wasn't nearly enough for her shimmer levels to be balanced. but the conversation dulled her appetite, so maybe she can try again as a midnight snack. ]

... Okay.

[Despite his comforting her, he knew that there was nothing that he could say or do right now to assure her of his commitment to keeping their relationship as it was. That would have to come with time and constant reinforcement that he was, as usual, better than Jinx's sister. His sense of loyalty remained constant up to and including his death prior to arriving here and it hadn't changed since he had arrived either.

Silco was also very aware of her jealous nature related to her abandonment issues. It was the reason that he didn't divulge the identity of the individual who had caught his eye for the time being. He would wait until she settled into the idea for a bit and until he had provided evidence that she could continue to trust him.

Besides, he had his own concerns that she would become distracted by the Zaun boy. Perhaps for the best, but their brief association had not ended well with his leaving, reinforcing the issues Silco would have to clean up the pieces to. Memory alteration here had been a boon in that case only, but he was alert to the fact that it could happen all over again, and it was difficult to nip the bud of future trouble when there was no permanent solution to such problems.

He eased his hand away from her so that she could rise from where she had been nestled close. He tipped his head to watch her from the corner of his blue eye.] You should eat something more, Jinx, especially if you are having a night on the town.

[ the chilly silence lingers in the air as she quietly contemplates about her dinner, but she shakes her head to dismiss it. jinx knew her father is right, and so is the voice of reason that's somewhere hidden in her dark clouds of worry, jealousy, and anger. still and all, she links her arms around her thin frame and her stubbornness reared forward. ]

I'm not... really hungry.

[ the confession almost died in her throat, but it somehow managed its way past her lips -- probably through the gap between her two front teeth. his daughter finally moves after being behind her father for so long, and collects her meal to be placed inside their fridge. ]

Edited 2024-07-16 15:24 (UTC)

[He nodded his head, accepting that any will to eat had left them both. The topic of discussion still hung cool and heavy between them, and he understood it would take time to prove that he could handle the situation appropriately and that Richard had no interest stealing him away from his only child. Though, it had not been a topic of discussion, he still considered their association sexual in nature only even when he found other comforts.]

Agreed. We will eat later then.

[He pulled his legs under him so that he could set them on the floor to stand and grab his own plate in order to take it to the kitchen. He followed Jinx to putting his own barely touched sandwich into the fridge, unwilling to waste her hard work and meal prep.

He stepped up to her to take a moment to rest his temple against hers for a few seconds.]

[ with her thoughts still thick and possessing her, she almost jolts in surprised when silco approaches to press their temples together. but jinx relaxes into it and remains motionless until those seconds pass. his daughter gets to work when their closeness breaks, crouching down to a cabinet to open and shuffle around for a duffle bag that's been stored away.

she unzips it when it's placed on the counter, then moves to a drawer where the knives are kept. one by one, she selects the tools from all different shapes and sizes, from a chef's knife, a steak, universal, cutting, and carving. his daughter shuts the tray door and opens another, with this one having capped oil crayons of all colors. and with these, jinx doesn't pick and choose but collects them all to stuff in the bag. ]

[ his daughter squints over her items she gathered so far, and her face twists in dissatisfaction — like there's something amiss. so she paces off to the opposite side of the kitchen, and rummages through other drawers with her fingers shooing away various objects around. a few seconds of searching until she finds what she's looking for, three capped disposable syringes that contain some dark lemony-colored components. ]

[He withdrew after those seconds, and he didn't move far away either. Instead, he found a point in the kitchen where he could lean on the counter and watch her prepare her tools for the night. He said nothing about the activity that she was about to participate in, and he frankly didn't care that she was going to hurt people that didn't even exist. Perhaps it was pushing this simulation they endured towards ruin, but he had always allowed her leash to be loose.

After all, he had provided his instructions on how he expected the night to go. He was already meantally forming plans on how to mitigate any blow back. He would have Levi follow at a safe distance then but instruct the boy to not interfere.

With her leaving, his expected plans of a quiet night began to shift. This event would take most of the night, so he could drop in on Richard. They would have some solid hours in one another's company; he could complete the intended work tomorrow. It was tempting, knowing Jinx would be preoccupied and unlikely to return here until the early morning hours, if at all.]

You have everything that you need?

[ now that everything is tucked away, she slings the strap over her shoulder and hums to confirm his answer. the only thing missing is a disguise, but keeping her identity confidential is not on the for front of her mind. quite frankly, jinx doesn't care at this point if the locals spread rumors of tonight's terror (that is, if she feels merciful tonight to let them live) nor if the council discovers her evil doings.

if anything, this will be her way of speaking to silco's mystery whoever. cross her and you'll become her finger painting canvas. and who knows, maybe by doing this will keep everyone who is involved on script. if her father is insisting on having a pet, fine, but she's going to orchestrate how this play will go from start to finish. what's that saying again? curiosity kills the cat? and whoever this cat is will respect its manners and her domain, or she'll have to give them a private lesson about following and obeying the hierarchy. ]

[ jinx shuffles out of the kitchen, ignoring her boots resting in the corner, and her way to the front door. she swipes her set of keys to stuff in her pocket, then glances over her shoulder to her father. the words, "i'm leaving" doesn't sit right for her to say given what happened between them last month. in fact, she half wonders if her father seeking out for a lover was a result of her being such a rotten daughter, just like how vi got pushed to caitlyn because she was an awful sister. she tenses over that thought, but forces the two words to pass her lips: ]

... See you.

[Silco sighed as she ignored his question and simply packed up and moved to leave. This situationship was not a topic that was over, he knew, but he had hoped that Jinx would let him have a small bright spot just beyond their circle for as long as it lasted. He gave it a few months, and then he could settle right back into seclusion from intimate partners as he had for decades before coming here.

He couldn't lie to her; he had run afoul with regards to withholding information from her too long while he verified it. He knew withholding the information was result in far worse, yet he couldn't help but realize his social circle was so small and he trusted so little that this was something he would sit on alone. It was his decision, his momentary weakness to enjoy being desired.

Perhaps he would pay dearly for it.]

Yes, see you, Jinx. Call if you need anything.

[He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers once she had left, shaking his head as he stood in silence in the vacant house. Maybe this was some form of empty nest syndrome or some other bullshit. Either way, he remained alone cleaning up after her meal prep and tidying the house before the weight of their discussion and its impeding iterations of the future had him forcing his feet into shoes and leaving the house to check in on Richard. If unavailable, he would simply check on his businesses.]

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