Jinx moved toward Mrs. Laurent. Now what? "Got a ring." She would not bother with the accent or manners today. She even changed to her regular clothes, not the fancy stuff.
Mrs. Laurent gestured to a chair next to her. She was just relaxing outside with a drink at the buffet.
Jinx sat down and grabbed a handful of nuts. "I'm crazy. Voices of the dead, delusional, suicidal, you name it and I got it. I am Jinx, a wanted criminal with a rapsheet a mile high. I'm going to be your new ruler if you don't put a stop to this." She popped the nuts in her mouth. "Cool drawings everywhere."
"I'm aware," she simply said. "He tried to hide it. He really wanted you. I wasn't pushing for marriage for at least five years. No one had been. It was just awkward dates hidden from us. There was no rush. But . . . my husband is now bed-ridden. His legs are giving out and he's getting weaker. He's using his own magic now to keep himself strong enough not to die, and to walk a little here and there, but he has a year to two years at most."
Two years? "Then why the stupid rush?"
"He is rarely walking, rarely doing things, and so the security of the village is on his mind the most. Right now the only power holders are him and my son. When he passes, it will all be on my son. He wants the village safe and his son happy. He's abandoned Raven altogether. Anatoly is giving Jr. the love of his life. You. You will be secured and pregnant with the next power holder before he passes. The longer you take. Expect losses of the people you care about."
Damn it. "Can't you do something?!" She held up her hand. "Maybe I can substitute and help him?"
"It's just a small fraction, corrupted with shimmer. It's great for certain things. It's not the same power. You make shimmer, you cannot make the actual magic without Anatoly. Thus, it's useless in that regard."
Ugh!
"His father is thinking of the future of the village, he has dictated this. When he passes, Anatoly Jr. will rule the way he wants. I just have to hope I nurtured him enough. It's hard to raise the child with these powers. Our first two were wonderful children. They didn't have the power though, and I found them much better lives away from being trapped here. The ones with power. Of course, you'll know that soon."
"But Cake and Shield-"
"I can't do anything. I wasn't a mercenary either. I was the baked goods person of the village for three years when Anatoly showed his fancy toward me." She smiled with a wine glass barely making her mouth. She was clearly drunk and not well. "It was hard to . . . to get his parents to change their mind. They always want someone born in the village. No strangers from deals. I thought his fancying me was harmless because of that, so I flirted back. Indulged him. However. Unfortunately." She reached over toward Jinx.
Then rubbed her eye? "Oh. I was crying." Jinx rubbed her eye. "Wonder why."
"I may be wife and mom, but I have no influence or say of what my husband and son do. I had some. I was allowed some with my husband, but as soon as he saw what fate had coming? It went back to all decisions are his. He has the power, and he won't hear of anything else. Oh? The girl is not in love with our boy? Well, he made her so much better, no one else ever in that filthy city knows anything about mental help, so it's only right anyway. Love one way is good enough. Ugh."
"He didn't make me better!" She took more nuts. "Swords helped me get better. Shields helped me get better. But the one above it all, was me! I made myself better! I am at the top of the mountain here, I am the one that sought out this place, that does the exercises, that keeps up with everything. He may foot the bill, but that's it!"
Then, she realized her mistake. She wanted Mrs. Laurent to think she was crazy enough to burn it all down. She instinctively stood up for herself, because of Shields words all the time. Living with someone whose whole reason for living was making someone else feel better about themselves every day?
It got hard to be. Hard. Still, she had to try.
"You two should be waiting longer, Anatoly is still so young, but his heart is filled with love for you. It's just not reciprocated, which is what hurts." She took a bigger drink. "It makes you, more like me. Maybe with more time. Maybe not."
Jinx stared at her. What could she do?
"You are doing well though. Your lies couldn't fool anyone. I've heard from the healers," she told her. "At least, I am gaining a nice Daughter-In-Law. I think we'll get along better than you think. I mean, aren't we all just trapped here in the end?" She knocked it back and refilled her drink. "It's Margaret too. You don't have to call me Mrs. Laurent anymore, Powder-Jinx."
"Jinx is fine today." Vi. "I tried." She tried. "I wanted to be a better person. I didn't want to bring trouble to Vi. If I don't have trouble holding me down, I can be with my sister." She could see her. Talk to her. Visit her.
Now, if she found out? So I am trapped in a village by a guy who holds my power and wants to marry me. Death isn't even an option, it'll kill more innocent people, and there are at least three I got way to close to. Any ideas how to get out of this one, Vi? No.
"We all tried. Events just line up sometimes, this is not your fault. You should look on the bright side, my family side had mages that could manipulate memories. At least he doesn't have that along with this power. Anyway. Would you like some advice?" She took another drink and put the wine glass down. She slipped over a beer glass instead and filled it with something, sending it her way.
Jinx caught it and looked at it. "Prefer metal versions."
"You are getting your wish in a couple of months," Margaret continued. "You are going to be able to knock on your sister's door and hand her an invitation to an exclusive wedding. She will see your groom, see the size of your ring, your beautiful new accent and clothes. And she will fall for it. She'll believe that you made it and you can't ruin her life anymore. You can't ruin anything. And then when she comes to the village? She'll see how gorgeous it is. How safe it is. She will grab you in your wedding dress when she greets you." She picked up her wine glass. "And she'll say 'I'm so proud of you. You became a better person'." She drank the rest of it up and began to cry herself as she slammed it back down. "They won't notice anything else, just keep their eyes on all the bright and shiny, and they'll never see anything else. I know."
Jinx looked at the broken wine glass in Margaret's hand. It made her hand start to bleed slightly. Scribbles scribbled over the bloody hand. "I'm fond of straws."
Margaret just laughed at her. She picked up a straw with her bloody hand.
"Can you stick it in for me, Margaret?"
Margaret stuck the straw in. A little blood trickled onto the straw that she hadn't noticed. Jinx had, but she didn't care. "There's no way to escape. Someone always dies. I used to have six wonderful people that I cared for. Oh, and Adrian. Adrian, oh Adrian." Margaret covered her eyes. "Each time I tried to even do anything, he would pick them off one by one. I made the deal, I had to stick with it. Well, no one ever said this was my future. No one ever said I'd be baking bread and the son of the ruler would find me desirable. No one ever said if I flirted it would be my undoing. It wasn't supposed to be my future. It was a ten year deal. Just ten years. Maybe if my Yordle friend . . . there was no way out."
Jinx dunked her head to the straw, tasting the beer with the blood. Trying to imagine how Vi would take it.
///"What do you mean you are trapped in a village?" Vi's worried face. "A power bond? How could you be so stupid!" Angry demon horn scribblings. "I have to come and save you! I have to come and leave the nice life I built, to go clean up your mess again!" So much static.///
She kept her teeth on the straw but looked at Margaret. She was smart enough not to give her actual alcohol. "Your beer sucks here."
Margaret cried and laughed at the same time. "Now, I'm alive by my son. The child I raised, will keep us all going. Without his father's energy, we are down to one person handling the needs of the village power. At least until yours start to come."
Jinx blowed in her drink. "I've tried killing him more than once. A lot actually. Quick shank. A thrust. Close to snapping his neck once when he wasn't looking." She noticed the unfavorable looks in Margaret's eyes. "He hasn't healed them because he hasn't seen them yet. He's got at least ten knick scars on his neck and forehead if you look closely. I always stop though. I always realize if I do that, that everyone is dead. The entire village. Dies. Their blood burning out and into the ground like a tar pi-t."
Margaret didn't seem to appreciate any of that. "I don't like the look in those eyes."
"Yeah. Used to mean something." She lifted her two top fingers together and folded back her two bottom fingers straight at Margaret. Then, pushed her thumb up. If it was a different life, she would do it. She would walk off and just let whatever happened, happened.
It would be easy. 100 people. That's it. Just 100, including herself.
She'd done worse. She'd done much worse. Working for Silco, she was responsible for way more than that. She was a true villain and survived. Learned to survive.
/// "I really want some food, please?" Powder tried to say to Silco. "Hello?"
"Ask again, Jinx," Silco insisted. "What will make someone listen to someone weaker than them?"
Powder looked toward him skeptically. "Punching." She thought about the moves that Vi used. One punch, and he blocked it with his hand.
"That only works if you are strong. You aren't strong in a physical fight. Once again. What will make someone listen to someone weaker than them? Because you are weak, Jinx. How do you become strong?"
What would work? "A weapon."
"Then make a weapon."
Powder didn't really ever make a weapon weapon. She'd made some smoke bombs. Then there was . . .
"Come up with something," Silco demanded. "You'll just get leftovers again. Zaun doesn't give, it takes. No one is going to fight for you."
Okay. She had to listen to the request, but she didn't have time to try and figure out how to make a workable weapon, the food would be gone by then, and she was really getting hungry. It had been two days with just the scrappy leftovers and he was only fixing enough food for him. She closed one eye and held out her top two fingers, curled up her bottom two fingers, and put her thumb in the air. The move that she pulled when she saw enforcers walking down the street.
Vi scowled. Little Man flipped them off. This was her thing, and maybe it would work. "I said I want food."
"Stronger," Silco insisted. "How hungry are you?"
She had to do this right. "I'm hungry, and I said I want that food!" She clicked her thumb. "Poow!"
"That . . . was good," Silco said to her, as he scooted the plate toward her. "Eat up, Jinx. If you want something in this world, know how to get it. If you aren't hungry enough for it, you'll starve."///
"Stop looking at me like that," Margaret said to her. "You look psychotic. You are a very bad choice for this, I thought your doctors said you were better?"
Jinx kept her fingers aimed at her. Staring at her. "Cornering a wild animal is never a smart idea. At some point, they give up. They stop caring about the rest of the herd. Maybe they never cared about the herd." She tried. She dealt with it. She was getting through it. She had friends and a life she built, once again, on a terrible foundation. Quicksand.
///"No matter what happened in the past it's never too late to build something new, someone worth building for."///
No. But. That part of life was over. She couldn't turn her back on it anymore. "I love Shields too damn much. Cake is only 11. Bear is only eight. Butterfly and Butterfish are literally tweens. If only I still had some of that villain arc in me. I need Silco. There was a time I'd fight and try to kill my own sister. My own friends. I killed my family you know."
She was watching Margaret's eyes on hers. "You are a bad decision."
"Nice call," she said. Unfortunately, it was just show. I wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for Ekko. He ruined me. But? Without him. She wouldn't have made it through at all. She wouldn't be complaining about her position. She would have already been dead two years ago. "How'd you spawn him?"
"Raising children with powers where they can kill someone or tie someone to them for the rest of their lives? It's not easy," she told her. "You'll see. Oh, you'll see. Anatoly Jr. I think did fairly well."
"Not really."
"He did better than I thought could be possible, he's my son and I love him." She wiped her eyes. "What do you prefer I call you now? You have so many names. Powder? Jinx? Powder-Jinx?"
"I've heard it all. Whatever is whatever." She knocked over the beer glass. "First thing I'm doing for this village is getting someone to make better drinks here." She put her hands up, envisioning a sign. "Vander's Bar. We need a guy named Vander. Nah, we can just change their name to Vander, this place has no problem changing names. Then we can make the bar. Get the music player. Get the right beer. Never got the beer, but I know the smell. We'll get the right smell."
"Sure, the right smell."
Jinx put her hands back down. "Someone might be able to help."
"No one can ever help," Margaret told her. "No one can. Honestly. Everyone who gets thrown out, I have had followed with my own guards, just so I knew. Every single one that was ejected without the power severed correctly. They all die within a day. And for the ones you love and cherish the most? They are the most vindictive to them. He won't even just kill them in front of you. That bastard locked all of the reserves from getting any power. So there they are, still food to eat, still safe and warm, just getting weaker and weaker in front of your eyes, until they miserably die in front of you. We are such lucky women to be picked for this role."
"I know someone." She bit the straw and yanked it out of the beer. "He's really smart."
"It's not about smarts. It's magic ties."
"Yeah, but he's like stupid smart. His best stuff was usually an accident." She dropped the straw back in it. Ekko.
"Even if you did know someone," Margaret warned her. "You have to ask yourself how many people in the village could pay for interference of an outsider? Outsiders aren't allowed except for extreme special occassions. Which, you will know soon. At least you'll get to see your sister. Wish come true I guess?"
"Is it?" She hiccuped. "Having a real hard time seeing Vi say this is good."
"I thought so too at first. They have ways of making sure you do your best. For me, the invitation was first. They came to the village, bedazzled by it's beauty, your villagers saying the most wonderful things about you and your soon to be husband, that by the time you go say hi, they are completely onboard."
"Well, I'm dead to her. I don't think an invitation would be good enough."
"Then a letter then. They'll make it happen."
"Powder-Jinx?" her guard Moe called to her. "We are supposed to go showing off your ring and shop."
"Go. Go enjoy what you can in the position you are taking," Margaret insisted. "The glass and trinket designers need to share their work too and be appreciated. Everyone needs to be appreciated. Go."
"I just wanted to create. I could have built things instead. That would have made me feel like a better person," Jinx admitted. "I just wanted to create. I like fixing things too." Especially. A microscope. Science equipment. Something to study this stuff.
"People with this power can't stand messes or disorganization. We have at least twenty people who are designated cleaners on these streets for that reason. In a village of about a hundred, that's twenty percent. They need consistent organization. That organization is why the village as a whole does so well. They know what everyone needs for free, they know what they need to give in earnings to allow trinket shopping for everyone, they know how to divvy the earnings from other places, so that everyone lives this way. There are creators here of what you want to do too, create, but there's no way he would have that in the home. Their stuff is locked away in their own shops, never to see the light of day until finished."
"Silco. Never would have stood for this! The whole village would have been dead and he would have kept walking even as his black blood spilled out." She rubbed her eyes. "Because he would sacrifice everything to not be under anything, but I can't do it because I need Shields." She rubbed her eyes more. "Because killing everyone is not how you help others! It's not how you become a better person." It was freeing them. That was her goal. To free them. "How did you get through it?"
"Remember, I did say I had six friends. One by one." She tipped over the bottle. "Which one is talking to me in my time of need?"
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