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[He did not relent to her pout, and he took the mug in hand when it was provided. Look, there was only so much fun he was willing to have and chasing a mug was not on his list of favoured activities. At least she didn't throw it.]

Of course. They are in their usual place?

[He stepped away to allow her to head unimpeded to the bathroom while he returned to the kitchen to set the mug in the sink for future washing.]

Yyyyyep! The drawer in the living room, to the riiiiight...! Says Jinx as she boogies to the shower.

[ of course, she doesn't actually dance to the bathroom, but there is still pep in her step as she strolls inside — shutting the door behind. given her hair and all, this bath time will take approximately forty to forty-five minutes. and if silco listens closely, he may hear her humming to herself while she cleans and washes. ]

The usual spot then, yes.

[He came out of the kitchen to retrieve the requested colours of oil pencils, and he had enough time to watch her enter the bathroom. She was not dancing, though he wouldn't mind if she was. It was good to see Jinx in a positive mood, which meant she had needed the sleep. Her paranoia became nearly unbearable when she was sleep deprived.

He moved over to the cabinet in the living room, opening the right drawer and picking out the red, blue and green oil crayon along with some paper in the next drawer. He set them on the table and walked back to the kitchen to prepare an easy snack for her to eat.]

[ after time passes, jinx exits out of the bathroom while smooshing a towel against her face to dry. her long silk and damped hair trail behind her as she steps out, entirely bare as she makes her way to a dresser with some of her clothing. her better looking attires are stored upstairs in her room, but the soothing bath left her lazy, and the thought of climbing stairs feel more of a chore than anything.

so off to the dresser his daughter goes, rummaging around to find something to wear for the time being while her hair dries. jinx settles with a purple crop top, pink panties and shorts before shutting the drawer close again. the towel she swings around her shoulder, and on her way to the kitchen, she swipes her phone to carry along. ]

[Silco was putting together a layered seafood dip with some crackers and chips for Jinx. He noted when she stepped out of the shower and noted her state of undress, able to guess where she was going to collect clothing,

As she found her clothing, he set the table with a bowl of the dip and a plate with crackers and chips for her to dive into when she was ready. He returned to the kitchen to retrieve some side plates for them to use, though he wasn't particularly hungry. Of course, he was still putting on the weight that he had lost the previous month.]

Would you like something more to drink?

[ when she enters fully in the kitchen, her eyes immediately dart to the refreshments before her, and her face glow with excitement. the smile on her spreads from ear to ear as she scurries over quickly like she is about to have a big family dinner on one of their runeterra holidays. ]

Wooooah, this looks great! I can't wait to dig in...!

[ normally, she would wait for her father to pull the chair for her, but this time, jinx helps herself. her stomach is getting pretty antsy too with thr way it growls, and she sets her phone down next to her paper and crayons while nodding to silco. ]

Yeah! Juice, please.

It's all yours if you want it. That should tide you over until dinner tonight.

[He moved to the fridge to pull out juice at her request. He returned with a glass and set it on the table where Jinx was settling in. He pulled out his own chair and eased himself into it, crossing one leg over the other at the knee.]

Perhaps eat before you check your messages.

[It had been three days since she had eaten and drank, and neither one of them had much body fat to lose as it usually was with fissure folk.]

[ practically swaying in her seat, she stretches across to the jug to pour the juice in the glass — almost overflowing the liquid pass the rim. but although she overshot it, that doesn't stop jinx from leaning forward to slurp some of the drink from its edges. his daughter licks her lips to relish over the taste, then bend back to her chair again. ]

I can do both at the same time.

[ she says, already using her index to zig-zag across the screen to beam the phone to life. the lock and home screens have not changed in their wallpapers. the lock has her and silco together (the same photo she used for his okcindr profile), and as for her home screen, it's her and vi together with grinning faces with vi making bunny ears behind jinx's head.

his daughter reaches over again to grab a chip to use as a spoon to scoop the seafood dip, then pops in her mouth to chew. after that, she grabs a blue pen to write in big bold letters, " THINGS TO DO TODAY :)". okay, good. she is now ready to check those messages. the teenager dials to the automatic voice mail and then presses the speaker button so she could keep doing what she needs to do hand free. ]

Please enter your password, then press pound.

[ doop, doop, doop, she does so. ]

[Silco leaned back in his chair, pulling out his own device as Jinx went about pouring juice and drinking noisily. He began to check the the network for updated posts before switching over to his business messages so that he could set the rest of the day. It seemed that Jinx would be busy with her own tasks, and he could step into one of his many offices.

While he wasn't going to actively eavesdrop, he also had nothing to hide from her and expected vice versa. He needed to continue to cultivate his relationship with her, to make certain she could trust him. There were threats ever present and growing in this place.]

You have two new voice messages.

[ she blinks over to her device, a little surprised. she expected maybe one, but two? that's interesting. as the auto recording goes through the options on what to do with these messages, jinx uses that brief moment to snag another cracker to scoop with dip to munch on.

with her other hand, she selects the number then picks up the pen again to prep herself to write. for the first message, there's some dead air for a few seconds until a raspy voice greets her: ]

"Hey." [ it starts, and then another pause before it then adds: ] "We need to talk." — End of message. To delete this message, press seven --

[ jinx squints at her device in confusion, as she can't quite put her finger on whom that voice belongs to. so she presses the number to repeat the message, but this time, hunching over closer so she can hear. ]

... Silco, does that... sound like Ragna to you?

Edited 2024-07-29 04:23 (UTC)

[Silco paused when the voice sounded from her voice mail, his eyebrow drawing down as he listened to the message. That voice didn't sound right, hoarse and cracked. That was the sound of someone who had either been ill or had been vomiting a considerable amount.

Yet, he didn't answer right away, mentally playing over the message before he met Jinx's gaze with his own. It would not be beneficial for Ragna to be compromised. Now that he thought of it, he had not seen the grumpy man nor had he seen Levi around much. There had been significant casualties though.]

It does. He doesn't sound well.

[ jinx hangs up the auto recording to prevent it from going to the next message (for now). she switches colors to red and scribbles down while muttering along to what she writes. ]

Talk to Ragna... urgent. [ then scrapes lines underneath the word "urgent". his daughter glimpses back to her father, looking a bit concerned, and for good reason. ] — I'll go check on him later. I know he works for us and all, so I'll let know you what's up.

... You think it has something to do what that infection junk?

[This had to be a result of the event then. He didn't believe that Ragna would be killed; he had seen that one in action a bit too often to think he could succumb to injuries. What were the chances that Ragna had been infected? Well, the whole place was still standing, but the brute also used a sword more often than not.

He nodded his head, and he made a mental note to check on Levi. He hoped his little bodyguard was just laying low, but he should be certain.]

Potentially. We won't know until you make contact. And if you go in person, be careful.

R-Right. Right, yeah, of course.

[ she nods back to him, taking a second to breathe out her small worry and think a little more on the rational side of things. ]

I don't think he'll hurt me and I don't want to hurt him, but... I'll bring a smoke bomb along. If he does strike, I'll use it to book it.

[ best case scenario, he's just sick, but given what happened recently... that seems unlikely. jinx reaches over again to take another chip and dip for another bite. before facing her partner in crime (and not knowing what to expect), she needs to gather her strength more than ever now. ]

[There was no one other than Levi that he would trust with Jinx going to encounter Ragna. The brute had proven very loyal to Jinx, but if this was less of an illness and more or something residual of the infection, he was concerned for her safety.]

He may not have a choice, Jinx. Be careful. It would be preferable if you contacted him by the network first to assess the situation.

[He would prefer that contact to be in front of him, but they had private discussions that he was not privy to. He had to respect her privacy and judgment regardless of his concerns.]

[ could it be possible he didn't get healed? vi was the one who brought her back to her sense (which quite frankly, she... enjoyed being in that blood wrath mindset), but what of the people who didn't get that treatment? jinx chews on her bottom lip, and nods to silco again. ]

... Okay, I'll do that first. I'll call him later, see if he wants to talk that way or meet up.

[ her fingers dance over her device again, the black screen now twisting back to that lock and home screen displays. ]

[He trusted her to handle the situation with the brute, but his concerned remained. He was considering if there was anyone that he could call on to act as escort should this become a face-to-face meeting between the two.]

Do that. Contact me if you suspect it might not be safe to go to him. I will either come with you or arrange escort.

[He wasn't going to lose his daughter. He had been protecting her as much as he could since she was small while also allowing her the freedom to defend herself. The brute was not someone he thought they could take in a combat situation.]

[ she nods to him in understanding, although feeling a guilt weighting at the pit of her stomach. jinx trusts with ragna just as much as she trusts silco and her sister, and having to consider potential danger with him makes her feel like she's backstabbing him somehow. but it's for the best and the right choice of action. she'll just need time to muse over it, and convince herself that this is the correct thing to do.

sighing, his daughter goes through the whole process again to go through her voice mailbox, but skipping the first message, knowing who it belongs to. ]

Next message...

[ the teenager lifts her cup to her lips to take a mouthful. ]

Edited 2024-07-29 05:33 (UTC)

"Jinx. It's Ekko."

[ just hearing his voice gets an enormous reaction out of her. jinx's entire body almost lunges forward in a startle, and spills some of her juice over her paper, while also covering half her face from spatting it through her mouth and nostrils. ]

"I've been trying to reach you for days, but you haven't gotten back to me."

[ with the drink down on the table, his daughter groans and starts shrinking in her chair, sinking further and further while using her loose hair to cover her entire face as ekko sighs and goes on. ]

"I just...Want to make sure you are alright after everything that happened last week. I'm sorry I couldn't have done more to help you, but this isn't like you to be so quiet."

[ her father can't see it due to her hair, but she is screwing her eyes shut tight and praying to janna that he won't say anything insanely embarrassing. but when he says —]

"Call me back when you get this."

[ — then follow by the woman declaring the message ended, the blueberry haired girl lifts a tiny piece of her hair to peek at the device as if she is making sure the coast is clear. thank goodness he didn't say anything.... intimate, and she wastes no time to select the "delete this message" option. ]

[Perhaps it would have been best for her to receive her messages in private rather than so openly, especially when the second message began to play. Of course it was the boy. He expected that Jinx had been rather violent during the event as Silco hadn't encountered her during that week, but it seemed to him that this one might have pursued her.

Of course Jinx's reaction to the message was worth the discontent that rippled through him. The boy had said plenty to him on the rooftop, unable to help himself from shooting his mouth off. The intention was clear that Ekko planned on stealing his daughter away, just like Quentin. He was the monster in their relationship after all.]

Don't.

[He ordered before she could delete the message. Much of the warmth had drained from his voice, and he folded his arms over his lap as he stared at the table, considering the concern in that one's tone at the end especially. Silco's posture had shifted through the message to being similar to when he was planning the demise of someone in Zaun.]

Play it again.

[Of course, if she had been quick about it and in fact deleted the message, that would be that. He had heard enough the first time, but it was always worthwhile to hear a second time to be certain.]

[ she was so damn close to deleting the message, if only she was a millisecond faster. but her fingernail hovers over the button when he orders her to stop, and her one pink eye peeks through her strands to her father. her own body hardens when his relaxed posture fades away, knowing that means silco is about to get serious and down to business.

at the second order, she hesitantly presses the repeat button, and ekko's voice rings in their atmosphere again. ugh, hearing it for the second time, and picking up the concern and sincerity in his syllables, makes her want to hide underneath the table. but instead of that, jinx returns to sag deep in her chair, then strains her arm to steadily scoop the snack to pop in her mouth through her waterfall of locks. ]

...

[Silco listened to the message again, his chin dipping towards his chest so he could focus his full attention on it. The emotion, the implication, the nuance. It might have been a short message, but in combination with everything else he knew, had seen and had been spoken to him, it was anything but in his eyes.

Then it was over and that seemed to be that. A wave on the horizon building momentum.

He lifted his head again and forced his posture to relax again. He had much to think about, and he needed to carefully plan his next steps. After all, Jinx had already given him a taste of life without her in it for a month over a matter not discussed or resolved, but for the sake of the peace, he would let it lay.

He said nothing about the message. His eyes lifted from where they had stared as he regarded his daughter. The last and only piece of Zaun he had left.]

It tastes alright?

— It's not what you think.

[ ... she meant to say, "yes", but that sentence shoved away the word, then flew past the small gap between her two front teeth. slightly embarrassed by that outburst, jinx scoots more up right in her seat, and moves some of her hair behind her ear. ]

V-Vi texted me too!! All...worried and stuff. So he's... probably just worried like her.

[ why yes, she is going to throw her big sister into this to somehow make this look less... whatever this is. and while it would be very wise and smart for her to stop there, her tongue continues to flap out more words uncontrollably. ]

W-We did hug and...— [ kissed. but that confession, for some reason, got lost somewhere in the muddy waters of sentences. ] it's... not like Quentin. It's not going to end up like with Quentin.

[His expression closed when she decided to endeavor down this path, which was understandable. She was juggling many difficult relationships, and he didn't think for one moment that he had any manner of winning card if this came between the sister and the boy against himself. She had chosen the sister the last time after all.

Speak of the devil herself...]

I see.

[He knew she had been affected by the gnosia, but it seemed to him that perhaps that group had endeavored to find her. He had assumed she had spent her time in the forest as he had been told, but the pieces were now lining up to paint a very different picture.

He knew there was more. He knew that she knew there was more, but she was withholding the information. While he could apply pressure, barb her with the true depth he knew was there, Silco had never wanted to let her be anything more than what she was. The same act he had done to protect him perhaps she was doing for him; the difference was he had to wonder if she actually had something to lose or if she had outgrown him as a family...]

Be careful. I've watched this dance before.

[It was all he could say. He couldn't stop her before, why think he could now? She was an adult, and she had a right to care for anyone she chose to. He might not agree, but he was wise enough to know forbidding this upcoming fire would only add fuel to it.]

['i've watched this dance before.' those words twist in her a different way, not in a harmful way, but over the fact that silco was there during her time with quentin, and how it all fell apart.

he didn't need to back then, he could have been like mylo and pointed a finger to tease how he was right all along. but her father comforted her, and helped her get back on her feet. jinx is still stumbling, of course, but at least her legs aren't as wobbly. his daughter ducks her head down, the automatic voice hanging itself up after not receiving a response on what to do next, and it left the room to swallow up in silence. that is, until... ]

... We kissed.

[ she admits finally, reaching over a crayon to idly roll around on the table. ]

He was saying a lotta things and... it got me... weak. I guess. But I told him no. That I didn't want to be with him. And I stand by what I said.

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