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Ekko
John D.
E. Rawne
Aerith G.
D. Tendi
Zerxus
Ashton
Cabin 209
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Welcome Aboard, Ekko

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((From around this time!))

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In between the spectacular starry view, said spectacular view somehow possible without a visible barrier protecting them from the vacuum of space, the fact that he's here at all now, and Jinx just sitting with a cat in her lap for several minutes...

... the latter is probably the most impossible thing he's seen all day.

While he remains in a spot that is hopefully inconspicuous and hidden from the woman, he wrestles with himself. Wrestles with the shockingly softened look on her face that he just saw, right before everything went white.

The look not of Jinx, but of Powder.

Ultimately, he decides it isn't a good time.

... only to come back by the area about a couple hours later, looking in and visibly startling (and this time, definitely within Jinx's sight) when he sees her... still there, with the same cat??

Is he fucking hallucinating?

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Aside from the unusual softness, the different clothes, and the sheer strangeness of her with a cat, he'll be able to notice the signs of tears.

Just in time for him to be spotted by the very person he's mentally wrestling over. Pinkish, violet eyes widen after landing on his face, and Jinx momentarily seems unsure of herself. Like she's caught between two options, or maybe as though she isn't sure of what she's seeing. In truth, she isn't - this isn't the first time she's seen Ekko on the Barge, after all.

It's not until after she holds a blink, takes a deep breath, and then confirms that he's still standing there, that she finally frowns. Awkwardly, she calls out, "When did you get here, Boy Savior?"

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Immediately, his brow furrows, and he returns for the umpteenth time, "I've told you to quit calling me that."

He stares for a long moment...

...then finally, clicks his tongue irritably, heading over to the door and coming into the room proper.

Granted, seeing her like this, almost... normal? Is enough to keep him from immediately slamming her with questions and accusations. Enough to have him faltering, long enough to notice the sure signs of crying.

"How..." his own tone takes on a certain awkwardness even as he tries to retain some amount of indifference, "... long have you been sitting there?"

Ugh. What a stupid question. Good job, Boy Savior.

private text, ~11PM first night of flood

[anashthetic]

Jinx? Are you awake?
This is going to sound like an odd request, but

Would you mind lending out a bit of your wardrobe? There's a flood going on and I think it's getting to me.

Re: private text, ~11PM first night of flood

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sure! you can come pick something out whenever

Floods are where we're moving too close to another place right?

Re: private text, ~11PM first night of flood

[anashthetic]

Maybe?
I'd say that's what breaches are
Last flood all inmates and wardens were psychologically compelled to stay within arms-length of whoever they were paired to; get too far away, and you'd pass out
The flood before that, if you touched a copy of someone's shoes you gained their life story and forgot your own, and the Barge was covered with shoes
And the flood before that, if you didn't touch someone every so often you'd freeze
So they tend to have.... some sort of theme that forces us to engage with each other

[...he's rambling.]

I'll be by shortly.

Re: private text, ~11PM first night of flood

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great so just another way for the barge to take away free will!
love it!

[No love to be found here.]

door's open so you can let yourself in

[She's going to be lying on her bed, drawing, and paying way less attention to the door than she probably should, during a Flood!]

text; pre-flood

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sos

how good are you at keeping a secret and not asking questions

Re: text; pre-flood

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not even torture could pry it out of me

Re: text; pre-flood

[giraffic]

did a thing, fucked up my arm

need help from someone who won't tattle to joel or my warden

Re: text; pre-flood

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you've come to the right person!

which is to say I'm used to patching myself up and hiding it from someone

where you wanna meet? My cabin's got lots of supplies, but I can easily pack up and head somewhere else

text

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[After he's given himself a minute to come down from the rush of adrenaline, he can't help but hate himself a little more. Even if he hadn't fully left, well, Jinx had no way of knowing that, right?

His lips drawing into a thin line, he gets out his device. It's.... better than nothing. He only hopes that she'll read it in time.

Ugh...]

sorry
i should be there

[He makes a face, then erases that line before continuing.]

needed to step out for a moment
still here though
right outside. when you're ready

[He sends off the message and flops against the wall, going back to his silent self-loathing.]

Re: text

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not like it's your fault
just
meet me at my cabin?

wanna talk to you about something

Re: text

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yeah, of course

[Biting back the urge to apologize again, he immediately heads off for her room, still wondering what the hell'd gotten into him.

Ultimately, he feels too weird about entering it without her already there, so he'll wait just outside.]

text -> in-person

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be there in a few

[She means that, too. Even though she's not moving nearly as fast as she could, she isn't taking any detours. Once she's there, she tilts her head at him still standing outside. There's a dim smirk before she heads inside, holding the door open for him.

Jinx doesn't actually say anything until she's sitting on her bed. And... Ekko will be seeing part of why she doesn't spend all that much time in her cabin. The entire space looks mostly like some office, complete with a heavy-looking desk that likely resembles one Silco used. On it, there's a mug and ashtray that each look to have been hand-painted by a child.

Fortunately, the half of the room with Jinx's bed is coming along well. There's a wardrobe on that side, and then each nightstand has a lamp on it. She slides the more regular-looking chair over to beside her bed, and then she sits on the foot of the bed.]

... I remembered a little about why I'm like this.

Private Text

[anashthetic]

[At the exact same time as they're sending Ekko a very similar text:]

So. What's the actual deal with you and Ekko?

If necessary we can trade honesty for honesty: tell me and I'll answer a question, any question, of your choice. Honestly. Even if I think it's unbearably stupid.

1/2

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oh man you're asking for a loooooong story
guess I can try to shorten it a little?

[Unlike Ekko, she's pretty chill with this. Helps she gets a much sweeter deal!]

him and Powder met when their ages were still in the single digits
when
Mylo would be really mean to her about her inventions and ideas
Ekko would just find them really cool
he'd even give her ideas and ways to make them even better!
Powder had Vi too but
Vi was better at punching things and would only ever manage these
sort of blanket compliments?

"wow you're really smart"
"you could fix anything"

Ekko was adopted too
so just
a lot in common!

then

Silco killed Ekko's family not long before

Powder accidentally killed half her family
and Vi

[She's already told Ekko what happened with Vi but it felt a little easier, in that case. Because, in a way, it kind of just slipped out without much thought behind it. It takes a few tries to put it into typed words.]

Vi hit Powder
said that Mylo was right
told her she really was a jinx
blamed her for everything always going wrong

then

she left
got thrown in prison but Powder had no way of knowing that

Ekko tried finding Powder after learning everything
he was gonna save her from Silco
without realizing

Powder was dead
it was Jinx choosing to live with Silco

2/2

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the next time we met without masks, it was a fight to the death

I killed us both

so here we are now

with him being ridiculously helpful
nice
hot

and the whole fucking reason I asked that question about sex!
the idiot still didn't take the clue!!
he keeps acting like he likes me then it's like he's
I don't know second-guessing?
remembering I'm the reason he's here in the first place???

I just
don't think I could handle it
if I did initiate and



it turned out I was wrong, I guess?

Re: 2/2

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[There's no response for a few minutes after Jinx finishes sending it all: they're reading it over. Finally:]

Alright. I have a few questions, so I'll go one question at a time.

First. If you'd ever decided you no longer wanted to work for Silco, would he have let you go unharmed?

[...They suspect they know the answer to that. But they want her to say it. And if they're wrong, that's still something more she's given them.]

Re: 2/2

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i
think so?

He's never hurt me before
even when he was pissed at me
he just

yelled or
quietly grumbled

the night after the fire(s)

[anashthetic]

We're going to talk.

This is not a request or an invitation, to be clear. You can give me a time and a place, or I'll pick both and find you.

Is that understood, Powder?

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[There's a looooong pause.]

or what?

[anashthetic]

There is no or. You pick a time and a place, or you refuse to decide and leave those entirely up to me. :)

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I could just not open the cabin door
not like i plan to come out anytime soon