keepitgoing | etraya Inbox.

[Oh jeez. It's definitely a crash-out. He spins a few times to keep himself from being webbed like an actual spider in her hair, panicking internally for a quick reaction.]

Wait, wait, Jinx. Hang on a sec, huh?

Is there anything I can do to help? You can't go without at least getting your hair back up; it's gonna get all tangled up, and it'll be hard to brush, and you'll get it stuck on branches...

(She's staring daggers are him, solely because there's truth in what he is saying. People always pull her by the hair in fights, it's long, and now that it's loose, she'll most likely trip on it and fall face first every two steps.

The price of looking this amazingly edgy. Okay, breathe, although the exhale sounds more like an angry growl than anything else once she sits on his chair.)

... No. I got it.

[... He slowly sits down. Cross-legged, on the floor, still in most of his Spider-Man get-up.]

Okay.

[He taps his hands on his knees.]

... Um... Did I do something wrong?

Because I can totally, uh. Not say I'm Spider-Man.

It was just a thought, you know?

And I have a lot of those. But I don't always do anything with them.

So...

[He will keep rambling, and worse in the wake of silence.]

(Okay, now he's spiraling too, great, just great, best job ever, Jinx, totally sound tactics, not like you're royally fucking this up, and then being overly dramatic about it because there are no emotional balancing skills in your skull whatsoever. Good for you!

Brain, shut up. She can't even focus on her hair so she's not even trying to braid it but instead, all her focus goes to stop the thousand strings of negative self-talk that isn't always coming from self until she growls and stomps with all her strength.

Focus. Don't explode.

... Explode?)

Grr, it's not about you. It's about me, hello, remember, the drug-dealing, criminal empire heiress terrorist of every Piltie's nightmare? I like being around you, but if you're out, Silco is going to have three gazillions heart attacks, at that old age? He's not going to make it, all because I decided I really like spending all my time with an Enforcer, which in case it's not clear, is a catastrophically massive issue.

(This is as much as she is able to tell him, bless her heart.)

... Just wait. Later, alright, just. Let me — just fix it.

(What the fuck does that mean, she doesn't know either. She'll just fix it. Somehow.)

[He huffs a breath.]

Yeah, the drug-dealing, criminal villain thing isn't ideal.

[Thank god they haven't found a way to be exactly that here. Yet, anyway.]

But we're all stuck here together, and I'm not gonna be the last good guy you two are gonna end up being around. Or even liking. [He motions with his hands as he sits there, cross-legged on the floor, very out of place in his suit while being surrounded by Jinx's hair as she walks in loops.] Like, sometimes we're really cool to chill out with!

Shut up, you definitely are, and even if you're not, you're probably the one I'll end up liking most, and you're missing my point?

(Weird flex, Jinx, but okay. Definitely not hearing herself, but okay.)

I already said fine, do it, just let me have a minute. I just have to — ugh, I have to sway him a little bit. He's been kind of restless without having an Uprising to plan and rich people to eat — not literally, before you go there, nope, he just has been taken out of his element a tiiiiny bit too much, so he need, you know.

(He probably doesn't know.)

[Well obviously liking someone is normal, that's so super normal, he likes so many people.

But a very unhelpful point:]

Could your dad just... find something else to live for... other than a uprising?

(Thinking about it. Thinking more. A finger raises, as if she had an idea, and it drops almost immediately.)

Nope. It's literally a 50-year work in his head. He's losing his shit, I can tell you that.

... Look, you do what you want, alright? Wanna come out, yeah, fine. Just, uh, let me figure out this Silco thing first.

[A deep, deep sigh of surrender.

Temporary surrender, at least.]

Alright, alright. I'll keep it under wraps. Under the condition you're not gonna go into full-blown pacing sessions over it. [He can't actually keep her from that, but it's the principle of it!] Things'll work out. Okay? And if they don't, we'll cross that bridge when we get kicked across it.

Yeah, right, because things always work out for us.

(She doesn't mean to be bitchy, but also, has he looked at their curses?? But, fine. Fine, fine. Fine. Ugh, fine.)

I'm sorry. I just care about you, okay? Let's just drop it.

Sure they do! Sometimes. Today worked out fine, if you ask me.

[It was only a little stressful.

After a moment, though, he crosses his legs and leans in on his hands.]

Do I have to drop that you said you care about me, too?

[C:]

To you! He's going to monologue me, not you! You never even heard his monologues!

(You get a dad whose super villain power is the word, Peter!!! She grew up on it, okay. She can recite them all, and she will, so he suffers too.

But then she won't. He just hits her with that, and she has absolutely no idea how to respond. Look.)

... What about it? I'll take it back.

I've handled plenty of monologues before.

[He holds his hands up in surrender.

The important thing is that, once again, he has prevented her from crashing out.

Victory.]

Hey, I'll say no more. [NO TAKEBACKS, JINX] ... You gonna be able to navigate with all that hair out?

Not from him. And someone killed him, so he's had extra time under the river to come up with a full book of Zaun Opera. Did I tell you his deal anyway?

(Not how it works, but still, if Peter wondered why he might be a little mad, there he has it. Not that Silco ever put it against her. Obviously not, it was an accident, she's perfect and has no accountability whatsoever on his part.

So.)

Takes me 30 minutes. You want to try or something?

... I think I've heard bits and pieces...

[A refresher would definitely do him some good.

Looking at the mess of hair, he winces.]

I've made friendship bracelets before. Is that close enough to braiding hair?

Pay attention!

(Here's a strand of hair she separates in three, her fingers looping them as slow as she can manage when there's the speed of muscle memory to fight against. Then, she just undoes it, moving to separate her hair in two so she can get started on one side.

He wants to take the other one, eh, fine, she's not putting a whole lot of faith in it. Silco took forever to learn, so she's going to be confused if he does a passable job in his first time.)

Okay. You know the whoooole gist, Piltover gets the progress and wealth, we get the scraps and lack of dignity. Silco, Vander and my mom were working to make Zaun independent, so we could stop slapping each other and begging. Revolution happens, or, er, doesn't. My mom, dead, dad, dead, Silco mad, Vander mad, they blame each other, Vander drowns Silco a little bit in our filthy, toxic river. Silco goes underground, Vander kinda takes over the Lanes, except he's folding left and right, soooooo. The rest, you've seen. Vander dies, we take over, blahblahblah, trust no one.

[He clumsily gets through some of a braid as he listens attentively. It's not exactly the most emotionally subtle retelling of miserable circumstances, but it's Jinx so it all checks out.]

Right... and I totally get all that. [He's super focused on the braid, but he's gonna talk through the process.] Trust no one, lots of dad drama, the river stuff. That all sucks. I just don't think your dad is doomed to stay the same forever.

Nobody is hopeless, not when they're able to care like he obviously cares about you.

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cw jinx being jinx

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