diademlogs | I was painting a picture [closed]

[ continued from ]

"Now you're just making stuff up." She briefly laughs it off. All their monsters were very real. Concrete. And, well, she's not really sure what Vander was, in the end. Changed. Changed, twice over.

"Monsters don't hurt people." Her voice drops lower, flat. Not so much bored as dismissive. "People hurt people."

She's also a monster. But she's just a person, too.

"Yeah, I guess," about her skills. "Could be fun to learn how things work here, in any case." Machinery is just a puzzle. Break it down, figure out how it works, build it back up but better. "If I need help moving stuff, I'll give you a call. You know, after I can afford a phone."

"I'm not making anything up, but I understand why it would seem that way. People aren't supposed to know monsters exist back home, everyone keeps it that way on purpose." Jack personally thinks if more people knew, it could keep them protected from the predators, but he also gets that it's too much. Brains can only handle so much and it's better ultimately for everyone to live their normal lives. He doesn't blame her for being skeptical.

"In my world, monsters definitely hurt people. But people also hurt people." Human on human crime still very much exists, and Jack himself has dealt with humans who hurt one another. "Not all monsters are bad just like all people aren't bad." Sometimes his fathers are a little more black and white than he is about monsters, but that's because they're not one, like he is.

"I saw they have older phones here. I think you can get one on loan. Everything is on loan here." His room at the motel is too, but since he plans on getting jobs, he'll be able to cover that pretty soon.

"I'm Jack." He offers his hand.

She's skeptical for sure, but she doesn't press it. Her world has plenty of non-humans. They're just normal. Maybe they'd be considered monsters to his. But at least he understands that people are just as bad, maybe that'll keep him alive here. Not that she cares.

Jinx is just out for herself.

"I think I'll try to buy one. Have something to my name that they can't take away as easy." She grins toothily at him. "Purchased legally, before you worry, sunshine." She holds out her left hand, street lights glinting off the middle-finger prosthetic. She winks. "Jinx." Jack and Jinx; has a nice ring to it, she's gotta admit.

"I like that idea. Having something of your own here. I don't have a lot of possessions that are mine back home either." His clothes. His backpack. But everything was given to him by his family, he doesn't have a job that can get him money to buy himself items. He uses their money. That's probably part of why he's looking forward to having a real job. No killing or violence involved with it either.

"It's nice to meet you, Jinx, even if you made me an accomplice." Jack obviously willingly let her lead him there though and it feels kind of exciting to do something not squeaky clean. It's the sort of lower level bad that doesn't make him feel like he's failed the universe. It's mischief more than evil. "If we get phones, do you think it would be okay if I texted you?"

She had... a lot. Back home. Clothing and makeup and paint. Machinery and all the material she could want, not having to scavenge through another person's trash like she had as a child. She had more possessions than she had people--she probably needed more people, but, well.

"Sure, pal. I'll find you and hook you up with my number when I get one."

"I would really like that, Jinx." She seems nice and interesting and not like anyone he's ever met before. He's curious to learn more about her and figures this is the way to start. He also likes the idea of texting more people and getting used to that, he mostly had his family before, so having more contacts would be great.

"I should go back inside, but come find me any time you want. I'm also at the bowling alley, it has things like pool and a bar there, if that interests you." He went there to see if Dean was there, and has camped out with a job in case he shows up. He gives her another wave and then goes back inside.

[ continued from ]

I heard it's a long drive. Probably want to get there before nightfall, regardless of the weather, and since you've never seen something like this, I bet you drive slow. [No offense (lots of offense). Maybe she'll be surprised. Maybe she'll be cruising as fast as her little station wagon can go and this guy in his offshoot of a truck will just putter on by.]

Who knows what's on the roads here. Street gangs, maybe. [At least Jinx is pretty sure she doesn't have to worry about chem-barons coming for her head here.]

I'm certain I can drive fast! [ hmmphs the man who absolutely will be driving slow. You have read him for filth, Jinx. ]

I assume that by 'street gangs,' you mean brigands or highwaymen? If they have things like that when I am from, it only makes sense that they would continue here.

[ If you're going to rob someone, robbing them on the road makes sense. ]

Sure, I'll believe in when I see it. [She snaps her fingers in his direction. With her right hand. Her left hand has a copper-looking prosthetic for her middle finger.] Brigands Well, now that just sounds fancy. Thieving with style. [Despite her amused-sounding tone, she looks away with a sullen expression.

Silco would've loved that, probably.]

[ There's something about the way that the young woman looks off with such a sullen expression that worries Strange. He doesn't know her from Adam, of course. But he still occasionally clings to the idea that even now, even after all this, he is a gentleman. So there's a light smile on his face as he muses, ]

There was a highwayman before my time, a man named Dick Turpin—which if he was before my time, I loathe to think how old he must seem to you. I'm certain he was your regular run-of-the-mill ruffian. But he had something that your average ruffian lacked: good press. If you believe the ballads and the broadsides, he was an avenging figure who rode his horse two hundred miles in a day—though I think the ballads were quite cagey about how the horse felt about that excursion.

Ballads, huh? Bet he would've been the kind of guy people wanted to paint murals of. Ones he wouldn't have known what to make of. [Is she projecting? Speaking from experience? Ehhhh it's complicated. She still remembers how Vi looked at the one of Jinx and Vander, Jinx's snarky comment on how she was the hero of Zaun.

All big talk and deflection; she knew what she was. She just wanted to save one kid and she couldn't even do that--guess her and Vi had that much in common.]

Oh, I'm certain that if he saw what become of his legacy, he'd either be overjoyed or absolutely distraught.

[ Strange shrugs a little, bright smile on his face, as he muses, ]

I suppose that's why it's best we don't learn about what happens in our futures. I was more than ready to step in and correct people about rumors involving me in my lifetime, I would be even more irritating stepping in and bothering them decades in the future.

[Sounds about right. It's the sort of thing where there's no middle ground.

At his next words though, whatever solemn expression that seemed to be haunting her wipes away and she laughs, bright, latched in on there being rumors surrounding him from his current lifetime.] Wait, are you famous where you're from?

I suppose I am, [ Strange shrugs. This is very much a man trying to be modest despite the fact that his natural state of being is anything but modesty. But even he knows it's bad form to say 'I'm close to a celebrity.' ]

There are only a few magicians in my time. As one of them, it's only natural that people would gossip. But I'm certainly not a celebrity in the sense of actors or actresses. I suppose...good God, I suppose I'm closest to a politician.

[ which.....ew ]

Magician, huh? Guess you're probably not the kind that does fancy card tricks? [She asks this for sanity sake, instead of wondering what destructive strength his abilities wrought. Street 'magick' illusory cons instead of... Whatever brute force the rest of them were involved in.

Not that Jinx would ever call herself, what? A mage? A magician? Hex-something-or-other?

No, she was just a survivalist. Opportunist.

She'll circle back to the politician part, don't you worry.]

Magicians of my ilk tried to purposefully distinguish ourselves from the various charlatans and con men who did card tricks and fleeced men and women out of their pocket change.

[ There's a bit of a wry tone in Strange's voice as he talks. It's obvious the comparison to (what he views as) a charlatan amuses him more than anything else. He gives Jinx a little nod before lightly pointing out, ]

Though the only fancy card trick I know is being a dab hand at whist.

[This is the peninsula thing all over again. A what?? She's not going to ask.

Just another tick into What Is This Guy About which thankfully (or not) has less mental ticks in it than the This Guy's Interesting.] Okay, not in the same line as your Turpin pal. What does a 'magician of your ilk' do then? Can't just have a fancy name and nothing to show for it. I mean, maybe you can make your own tent for all I know.

Most of what I do is a little too...intense for this space. Reshaping roads, controlling the weather, things like that. But I'm certain I can craft a spell that's a bit more manageable...

[ He looks at Jinx for a moment, looking her over, before deciding. Strange closes his eyes and murmurs something under his breath. A moment later, a gust of wind kicks up. The gust isn't overwhelming, but feels small and targeted. The wind pushes Jinx's bangs back and blows her braid to the side a bit, but that's all. None of the surroundings near her are disturbed—in fact, Strange's hair isn't tousled at all.

The breeze also smells odd. The scent of dried leaves, an autumn breeze, the morning dew on the grass comes with it. It's remarkably natural compared to the scrapyard surrounding them. ]

[She's glad he went wind and not... lightning, if he had so-called weather control. Sure, she asked, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't holding her breath.

This... gentle application isn't something she'd expect. She's only ever seen manufactured magick. Despite whatever Piltover and their City of Progress wanted to achieve, they still made weapons, just like Jinx. It always comes down to weaponry. Even without her influence, she's certain: they'd always make weapons, eventually.

None of them were going to help the Undercity, not even with the fabrication of the Machine Herald.

She breathes deep. Once, twice. Reaches up to flick at hand through the strand of hair previously shifted and looks calmer for it.] Fun party trick. I think you nailed something else on the head though--reshaping roads? That's a way to make some cash. A nice honest living--as much as a politician can get, anyway. [Said more tongue-in-cheek.]

[ Strange lights up a little at Jinx's suggestion. Reshaping roads to make ends meet...that does sound like a good idea. He had been mulling over what sort of job to take to pay off this unasked for debt, and now new ideas are starting to form in his mind. ]

I'm sure the nearest city must have a council or municipal government of sorts. I'm perfectly fine being the magical equivalent of a day laborer if the pay suits.

[ It's obvious the more they talk, the more Strange is coming around to this idea. ]

[ continued from ]

[The very moment Vi is out of view Jinx very slowly just slinks backwards through the water, no longer rising any higher as her emotions stabilize into a white numbing noise. It's a cool calmness that overtakes her.

Vi will come back. She didn't stop giving up in the end, that was their whole problem, wasn't it? That Vi wouldn't quit on Jinx when she very well should have, just another person Jinx was dragging down with her.

Vi will come back, maybe. But she shouldn't. Ha! Jinx wouldn't come back for herself, either. There's not a lot of good value going on here. Not very good sister material.

Vi --

Vi likely won't come back. Let me go. Can they stop doing this? It's too soon from the last time.

Jinx sinks down, splaying her arms in the water. She takes a deep breath and plunges in, lets herself drift into that familiar liquidy embrace. Just for a little bit. Just until--until she's had enough and then she'll resurface.]

[ It takes some time. She's going as fast as she can, but Vi has no idea where, or even what she's looking for, exactly.

After a few frantic minutes of searching empty hallways -- shouting in frustration at least twice, her voice echoing against all the walls that look exactly the same turn after turn -- she eventually finds a door that leads to the back of the building and some sort of box with some sort of panel and buttons just visible through the little glass square in the panel door.

Okay. This looks like something. The whole time she's been repeating her shorthand for the symbols in her head, so the moment she sees them reflected back at her on the buttons, Vi springs into action. She is undeterred by the panel being stuck, digging her fingernails into the tiny gap to wiggle and yank the latch free. Something black and sticky clings to her hands, and her chest squeezes with a sudden, nauseous wave of unease and disgust.

The symbols feel like they're screaming in her head. One after another, spinning through her thoughts between flashes of her sister's eyes gazing up at her beyond the glass, confused and lost.

Is it getting darker out here? In the corners of her vision, the shadows stretch. The back of her neck prickles, an animal instinct kicking in (run, run, run!) that she fights down her shaking fingers on the buttons.

Will something happen if the combination is right? Will she know that it worked? (What will happen if she does it wrong?)

A wave of dizziness makes her vision go black, and Vi lurches forward into the panel, breathing hard. It could be lingering effects of the concussion, or just the shock. The cause, to her in this moment, is irrelevant. She'll shake off the throbbing headache, the shadows (hallucinations?) that creep around the corners. All that matters is seeing her sister again, getting her out of that room.

There's a the faint, electronic beep. A light flashes.

Vi realizes her cheek is against the metal, most of her weight on the casing of the panel's outside. She lurches back, coughing, feeling as though she'd forgotten to breathe for far too long and suddenly unsure how much time has passed.

Unsteadily, she makes for the door again, shoving her weight into the push bar and only realizing when she's left a bloody handprint that her palm's been sliced open. This registers dimly. Another irrelevant inconvenience to be considered later.

Vi sprints back down the hall toward the flooding room. ]

[Something with the water changes.

Jinx doesn't notice at first, entranced with her abyss. It shouldn't be a comfort. It'll press in on her, soon. The fighting, desperate need to survive, to breathe, to break. She'd like to think she was getting better at this and it's likely something that she shouldn't be getting better at, but she has so few connections left to anyone that she thought mattered to her.

But no, the water is shifting upwards, not lowering. She's left floundering on the office floor as it fully gets sucked above and she shifts onto her side, coughing and sputtering and absolutely waterlogged. The shadows press in once it recedes, but she can't tell if it was from her time under or something more.

Her head's quiet though. For a few moments. When she looks back up, still swallowing down breaths of air, and only stares at her sister with a completely open expression. It isn't fear this time. It's just surprise.

She looks to the computers, no longer blinking about a quarantine, and grapples her way up from the slippery floor to get back to her feet, racing across the room and slamming into the door--

It's no longer locked.

--and wrenches it open to come face to face with her sister.]

[ Everything freezes. The building, the world, slides away. With it go the panic, and even that uncomfortable sensation of being watched, the instinct that prickles at the back of her neck in warning. For a moment, it all quiets.

She's real.

Vi throws herself forward, wordlessly wrapping both arms around her sister in a too-tight embrace. ]

[She doesn't move her arms. Her hesitation renews with Vi's physical presence, shaken by the touch, doubt unlike that first time.] You shouldn't-- [Be here. Can't be here.

But this is different than before. Jinx knows Vi has to be real because the quarantine didn't lift on its own--Jinx wouldn't have gotten out on her own.

Jinx doesn't want this for Vi but she can't help but be happy to see her sister--she can never seem to quash that desire.

Her arms move of their own volition, snaked around her sister's back, tight and reassuring. Real. Real, for both of them.] How are you here? What happened to you? [More than likely the same was as Jinx, but then, was she hurt?]

[ It takes a long moment -- shoulders shaking with her ragged, half-sobbed breaths -- for Vi finally to pull back just enough. One hand on Jinx's shoulder, the other cups her cheek.

If she registers the questions, she doesn't seem to care to answer them right now. Her voice is ragged, tears brimming bright. ]

I thought I'd lost you...

[ Vi is so focused on her sister's face, she doesn't notice the way the water swirls upward, the way the shadows encroach. Lights begin to turn off far down the hallway, ominously flickering to bring the darkness closer and closer with each. ]

I-I'm here. [Vi was supposed to lose Jinx, one way or another. Death or escape. But Jinx can't very well tell Vi that she was going to survive, get away.

Jinx doesn't know what happened after. The explosion rattled her, hard, when she woke up here with that medical bot. Rattled fully through her.

Vi made it, right? There wasn't anything else? Any last minute surprises? If Vi didn't make it then everything she did was for nothing--] Did you--did you make it out?

Wh--?

[ It takes her a second to understand what Jinx means, to parse the words when all she can think is here, alive, not dead, here, with me. How long has it been for her? Since she...

Fell.

Before Vi can answer or ask any questions of her own, the lights shut off in the hallway just behind Jinx, plunging everything beyond into darkness. The light above them flickers.

A sudden, urgent sense of dread grips Vi, finally shoving through her relief and interrupting their moment. They can't do this here. ]

W-we have to go.

Come on. [ Grabbing Jinx's wrist, Vi tugs her toward the exit, just as the lights above them die. ]

[Jinx sucks in a breath, going easily as her sister pulls. Vi's urgency doesn't make a ton of sense unless--] Wait, can you see-- [Can you hear it, can you feel it, the shadows, the pressure, the voices, the images.

All of it, all of it. Well, the voices may be her own.

Jinx may not recognize the sources of any of it but that doesn't mean she's familiar with the beast of it all. But Vi isn't. She stumbles once, but takes easily after to following with Vi.] My car [driving cars, flying rockets, it's all the same] it's in the lot across the street from this place! [She assumes Vi must have her own ride if she got out of here but a press towards any means of escape at the moment seems Important.]

I was painting a picture [closed]

Jack Kline

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we can wrap here!

Jonathan Strange

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sorry the heat murdered me

man I do not blame you, it's stay inside and don't do things time

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Vi (cw: suicidal ideation, self-worth, mental instability possible)

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