ic contact.

[deushexmachina]

"Hi, probably just easier to find me in the lab. I'll get back to you."

Comments

[jinxs]

let's make a list of things we need

1. forge.
2. electricity
3. helping with the incense and relics
4. i don't want to go home, but maybe that can be on the list

[deushexmachina]

You don't want to go home? Knowing that some of us do?

[Except Silco, obviously, due to being so dead.]

I'd like to leave this place more empowered than I found it.

So:
5. a minor industrial revolution

[jinxs]

none of us will be friends back home

i have nothing there

why would i want to go

6. heavy metal

so many people don't know what a guitar is

truly upsetting

[deushexmachina]

Do you play?

[Not touching the pathos part.]

I've always liked stringed instruments.

[jinxs]

i sing but i never tried to play


can You?

[deushexmachina]

I had a mandolin. More so for recreational purposes, stress relief. Whenever I got entangled in a calculation that wasn't working.

[jinxs]

you seem like youre always stressed

but hey. can i ask you something

[deushexmachina]

[He doesn't write anything in response to her first statement because, upon reflection, she's probably right. Something for Jayce to think about during the quieter hours.]

Yeah, sure. What is it?

voice, so it can't be tracked later

[jinxs]

I've been thinking about a lot of things-- well, I'm always thinking about a lot of things. But, mostly, I'm thinking about something I've heard.

Apparently, Piltover was ready to give us everything we've ever fought for-- in exchange for me. Is that-- Did you-- Was it?

[deushexmachina]

[What a difference 24 hours can make. Jayce, in his own timeline, had only just heard Jinx's name. Vi argued that Silco was at fault, the head of the snake. The Council opted for diplomacy, but without any direction. Just a compass needle spinning on itself. Jayce had yet to finish forging any mercurial hammers, he had yet to engage a real fight, he had yet to accidentally end the life of a child. He had yet to make the calculation that the sacrifice of one daughter of Zaun would save thousands.

The idea of bargaining with Silco was as foreign as Ionia.]

No. [An exhale.] The Council wanted to wait out the damage, wanted ambassadors over soldiers. They wanted talks, rational discussion. And what would even be Silco's terms? Probably the most unpalatable things imaginable.

[jinxs]

I don't know. I was... Busy. But I know him. I know he wants us to be our own nation, outside of Piltover's control.

Jayce, (not cheeks, not golden boy,) maybe they did it behind your back.

[deushexmachina]

They can't, [although his tone lacks iron, his conviction fails.] Such a decision would have to be unanimous. To do so otherwise is... essentially a coup, [says the man who did a coup on Heimerdinger.]

[jinxs]

And? Do you trust all your work colleagues?

(she doesn't even trust sevika. she doubts she'll ever be able to fully trust jayce, a councilman, a topsider. this is as good as it might ever get.)

I want to really believe that you didn't have anything to do with it.

But then again... You didn't know me before.

[deushexmachina]

[He trusted Mel. And only Mel.

Even Cassandra Kiramman, his former patron, had turned on him in his most desperate hour those years ago. Everyone with a chair at the Council table could be bought and sold, everyone but Mel. She just understood the game, he thinks, she's not a piece played.]

Hm, [a long pause,] no, I didn't know you before. I thought you'd be older, more... militant. Or someone only motivated by visceral hate. But you're none of those things.

[jinxs]

I'm not sure if I'm none of those things. Strong word you used there.

(visceral hate. she hates, she freaks, she jumps to conclusions, she oversteps, she blows things up in her delirium, and she enjoys it as the destruction emerges from the ashes. maybe he's not that wrong after all.)

[deushexmachina]

Hm, [exhales, shrugs,] well. You know yourself better than I know you, I've only got my first impressions.

[jinxs]

You said you've visited the lanes before. What did you think?

[deushexmachina]

Thought it was an interesting place, [a compliment, given how he values interesting, but it could sound patronizing nevertheless,] and I regretted my limited time there. But then that same afternoon, everything changed starkly for me. It's hard to isolate one event from the other, I guess. So -- fast, was my impression. Everything happened so quickly.

[jinxs]

It's strange to me that you want to improve things in the Lanes without having spent time there. If we do go back, if you don't throw me to the wolves and get me arrested, I can give you a tour.

[deushexmachina]

If I can escape the eyes of the Council. They always seem to know where I go.

[And you know, once he lifts the embargo and curfew. Details!]

[jinxs]

So, you don't plan to have me arrested?

(she's sure she can sneak him out.)

[deushexmachina]

I mean, don't get me wrong, the Council would prefer you were captive. But they're under a... different impression, regarding you. I know better now, and I highly doubt they'd want you arrested if they knew, too.

It's all moot anyway, there's no plans in the works. We're talking about talking to Silco. It's a stasis.

So, no, I'm not planning that.

[jinxs]

Considering the situation, I think they'd want me dead. I'll-- I'll believe you when I see it.

But if I have my way, I'm not coming home. You can damage-deal on your own.

[deushexmachina]

Taking yourself out of the equation as a variable? Not a bad plan. Silco's the focus anyway, and from the sounds of it... [Whoops. He clears his throat.] I mean, I don't really know what will happen. Deescalation is best, I guess.

[jinxs]

I don't want him to go either.

She already told you, didn't she? Chatterbox...