diademlogs | I was painting a picture [closed]

[ 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.]

[ The silence grows somehow more ominous, heavy, so loud it hurts. It's only their breathing, their footsteps swallowed up as they run. The feeling of something crawling up the back of her neck starts to coalesce into a sensation almost like fingers, something grabbing, tugging.

An animal panic yanks Vi forward, and her grip on her sister's wrist tightens to the point of being painful, but she can't -- she will not -- risk letting go (again).

She only grunts in response to the comment about the car, knowing her bike is somewhere around here too. But fuck it, she can find it once they're out of this horrid building (or not, and it won't matter as long as Jinx is here).

Time seems to stretch too far, but in truth, it's probably less than a minute to make it out. Vi shoves open the door, leaving another bloody handprint in her wake, and they burst through into the open air.

She runs a little farther, stumbling as the weight of whatever dread filled that building lifts suddenly. When she looks back, the lights have all mysteriously popped back on, brighter than ever. As if beckoning.

Vi lets out a long, loud breath. She still hasn't let go of Jinx's wrist. ]

Vi. Come on, this is-- [She tugs at her wrist, lightly the first time.] I'm not going anywhere just-- [She let's Vi continue on her mad tear, the route blurring around them, shadows whispering, unknown ones but also Mylo

Mylo: she doesn't trust you] No, that's not what's happening! [Her spoken desperation is different than Vi's determination.

she knows what you are

It's swallowed up by the darkness around them and she turns her wrist in Vi's hold to clasp her back tightly.

But once they're out and the shadows recede like a tide she tries again to pull free for the second time, almost pleading.] Vi.

[ It takes a moment too long. Her fingers tighten at first, instinctively-- but then her sister's voice breaks through. Vi catches herself, catches her breath also, and finally loosens her grip.

But if Jinx tries to step away, she will move closer again. She will reach out, trying to touch her face, her hair. ]

Are you okay?

[She smartly doesn't move, but she rubs at her wrist, staring at Vi strangely.

There's no shadows here. No more chances that this isn't real. The pain throbbing in her wrist is proof enough.

Jinx looks rough. She's still dripping wet, hair matted down, old paint smears spreading and darkened in color.] I'm-- I'm okay. [Not spoken is how she obviously wouldn't have been if Vi hadn't shown up.] You... [She trails off, lost for words.]

[ Vi's thumb strokes her cheek, pushes the wet hair back. She leans in close, and Jinx will be able to see the tears filling her eyes, shining and watery without quite falling. ]

I'm sorry. [ Vi whispers.

And hugs her again, tight but at the same time gentle, cradling her sister's head against her shoulder while Jinx's already soaked hair absorbs her tears. ]

What are you--you don't-- [It's too recent since she's seen Vi's bone-weary sob over what had once been Vander. Barely a few weeks.

She's trying not to let the tears affect her.] You don't have anything to be sorry about-- [She doesn't know what Vi could be apologizing for. What happened now, what happened before, everything, nothing.

She lays both her hands over each of Vi's arms, just a reassuring touch of I'm here, I'm real.] Vi, I'm fine. You're fine. [That last part sounds very uncertain.

Right? Please? Please tell her you're fine?]

[ Everything. Losing her sister, letting go (even though it wasn't her choice, Vi wondered every day what she could have done differently). And before that, all the times she hadn't listened, all those days spent apart. The night everything went wrong and she said those words she's regretted ever since.

She'd thought she'd lost her sister for good this time. She'd grieved. And at the same time, some small, awful part of her had been--

No, not relieved. But perhaps ready to face a new life. Ready to entertain the idea of moving on. At least, wanting to be ready to do that. She'd greeted those new days slowly, with a growing, tentative hope and with Caitlyn by her side. The thought of rebuilding.

And now, instead, they're here. What else is Vi supposed to say? What can she possibly do?

When she'd woken up here, Vi realized she had truly, finally lost everything.

That isn't the case anymore. ]

Y-yeah. I'm okay, Powder. We're both going to be okay.

[ Even if she still slips up sometimes. ]

[Her fingers twitch and curl against where they're pressed against Vi's arms at the name Powder. Just a fraction of involuntary movement.

She doesn't move away despite the temptation to put physical distance between herself and Emotion. Buries it down despite wondering if the Jinx on Vi's lips while she was trapped in that room was just a trick of her mind. What she wanted to hear.

It's-- Fine.

It doesn't matter.] We shouldn't stay here--it's better to get back to Panorama. These places are supposed to be unstable. [Then again she can distance herself with words just as easily.]

[ She moves her arm just enough to quickly wipe the heel of her palm across her face while Jinx still can't quite see it. Then, finally, Vi pulls back enough to look at her. ]

H-how... how long have you been here?

[ Jinx is right, of course. Vi forces herself to remember where they actually are. The building had been unstable enough on its own, and it's true the danger might not be over. She glances around, clocks the other vehicle. It doesn't suit her sister at all, but there's nothing else around. ]

After you fell--

What happened?

A few weeks, I think. [She kinda holed herself up for a bit there and lost track of some time. This was her first venture out of Panorama itself, and boy was it an Experience.

But then she found Vi--or rather Vi found her--so it can't all be a loss. And later when she's going through her stuff she'll find a bottle of antibiotics that she was there for that she didn't remember grabbing.

She makes a face at her station wagon. Yeah. It's not stellar. But she'll get it painted eventually when she has the materials and then she'll be in business.] After I fell I woke up in the medical tent at the Scrapyard. [She woke up screaming and thrashing, but Vi doesn't need to know that part.]

[ Weeks. By Vi's estimation, she's only been here a little over a week herself, but based on how much time passed back home too... it does make sense.

There's something else. In her heart, Vi knows the answer, but she has to ask. ]

And... Vander?

[She drops her gaze.

That wasn't Vander she doesn't say, though it's on the tip of her tongue.

No, they lost Vander in the commune. She has to believe that was true.] He wasn't with me. That doesn't mean he didn't come through. [If he did, maybe Viktor could put the mind he took back. Which would mean having to talk to the tin can. No thanks. But she would, for Vander.] He could turn up. [Jinx is not an optimist, but she'll give Vi this.]

[ Vi looks down too.

No, she doesn't believe her. She wishes she did, but she doesn't.

Vi closes her eyes for just a moment, takes a deep breath. ]

...yeah. Maybe. [ She looks back up, and tries to smile. It comes up thin and wavering, her face all smudged with tears and dried blood. ]

In the meantime, at least we're together, right?

I told you, remember? [Her smile is more convincing than her sister's.] I'm always with you. [Even when they're worlds apart.

Even when Jinx had intended to leave her sister to think she was dead and move on for both their sake's.

She lightly punches Vi's side.] Rent's shit, y'know? It'd be easier between the two of us. [Which is the worst way to float the idea that they should live together, but there's a part of Jinx that is completely terrified Vi will reject the idea.

(Jinx'll eventually get jittery about sharing the space, but she'll figure a solution for that out when the time comes.) Right now she just needs to not leave Vi again. Needs to know Vi's safe in an Unknown that neither of them have a foothold in yet.

She can fix it this time, can't she?]

[ For the first time since she arrived in this forsaken place, alone and scared and angry, something finally feels... good. Like it really might be okay, after all.

Something in the pit of her stomach loosens up. The tension in her shoulders eases, just a little.

Vi laughs. It's soft and breathy, but it's there, and it's real, and the look that crosses her eyes is equal parts relief and surprise.

She can't believe Jinx is actually asking her this. Vi won't waste this chance. ]

Absolutely. To be honest, I haven't really found a place... just been staying in a literal hole that's got a mattress shoved inside. Worst hotel I've ever seen.

We'll find somewhere a little bigger.

[ Are they really going to be... together? ]

[Relief.

They're not home. There's no Vander, no Silco, no Caitlyn. No Undercity, no Piltover.

There's a weird lanky cosmic horror and his human soft-spot but she's not going to talk about them. Besides, they're supposed to be leaving each other alone. 'Second chances' that they don't deserve or whatever.

This might just be their best chance yet to be together.

For once.] I hear that. The motel I've been in wasn't bad, I guess. I think they have some bigger spaces than what I had. Sure, the power does go out all the time. [And then there's the weird knocking when no one's at the door. And the occasional break-in.

But! Really! What place around here doesn't have that!] But I hear some of the units have a coffee maker. [Or. You know. A mini kitchenette. (She'd prefer the coffee maker.)

Her gaze drifts back towards the building they fled from, like it's trying to grab her attention.]

I was painting a picture [closed]

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