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Lux was currently running for her life in a desolate forest, one that the town residents had warned her about repeatedly, all because her boss had wanted her to write a dumb 10 year anniversary piece for some local tragedy. One where a little girl had drowned in the nearby lake one evening and her body never recovered due to the national rescue squads quickly finding out said lake was practically radiating toxic waste from years of illegal dumping, the perpetrator of which never being found out.
"Dumb fuck Boss, why did he think anyone would even want to read about such a depressing piece in the first place!? Just trying to generate sales because of the serial killer that's started prowling these woods!!"
The serial killer that Lux was currently running away from, having stumbled upon the massive figure while exploring the decrepit Camp Shimmer Lake buildings which had stood abandoned since the tragedy. She had thought she'd been dead then, her eyes naturally lowering to the machete constructed from clearly mutated fish bones which freshly dripped with blood, but the tall figure sporting a crudely made monkey mask had simply stared at her in silence. Only starting to follow after her once Lux had bolted back into the woods.
That was how Lux, star investigative journalist for Demacia Daily, had ended up in her current deadly chase with a steadily gaining figure hellbent on separating her head from her body. Lux had long gotten lost, having no idea where she was even going, but continued to run blindly with the faint hope she'd somehow manage to escape.
'If I somehow make it out of this that fucker is getting it, don't care if he's my boss. It'll be fine Lux, just have a quick look, the chances of the serial killer targeting you are super low! I'll strangle him, choke him with that stupid ugly tie he thinks looks good just because--'
Lux's straying thoughts caused her to miss the large tree root right in front of her, falling hard to the ground and from the sudden pain she felt from her caught ankle was unlikely to get up from. She attempted to stand anyway, immediately crumbling back to the ground with a shot of pain that came from her ankle in protest. Desperate to get away she even tried crawling, but quickly gave up on that as well upon hearing the sound of heavy steps come to a stop behind her.
'I'm fucked, super fucked. Killer right behind me fucked.'
Ever so slowly she painfully turned over to get a good look at who was going to kill her, its figure looming tall as it stood there silently. Whoever, or whatever, it was cut an imposing figure with a height that dwarfed even the relatively tall Lux and wasn't even factoring in just how buff they were. Messy blue hair spilled out from behind their mask, looking like it had never been cut or taken care of in years . Even the outfit, underneath all the dried and fresh gore, appeared to be an old workers outfit complete with a thick belt to carry all their weapons. Leather gloves covered their hands, which of course were wielding the makeshift machete.
'I can't tell if they're a man or woman, but I think it's a woman?'
The woman(?) continued to silently stare, expression impossible to tell underneath the eerie monkey mask that featured a wide sharp smile and a set of hollow pitch black eyes. A single step forward was all it took to cause a panicked yelp to escape Lux, who tried again to crawl backwards only to give a pained cry due to her ankle.
The figure froze for a split second before once again advancing towards her, causing Lux to squeeze her eyes shut in anticipation of her approaching death. The sound of crunching leaves let her know the killer had crouched down, yet made no movement past that, causing a feeling of confusion to well up in the terrified Lux.
She still refused to open her eyes, but at the continued lack of action coming from her supposed killer she slowly let her vision return to see what the hold up was. What greeted her was a crumbled handful of flowers directly in front of her, being held up by none other than the killer. Lux slowly looked between the makeshift bouquet and the impossible to read monkey mask that hovered in silence. She nervously gulped, slowly opening her mouth.
".....Are those.....for me?"
A beat of silence rested in the air before the masked figure gave a slow nod, pushing the flowers towards Lux as if wanting her to take them. Gingerly, she brought out the hand not supporting her to take it with a muttered thanks which caused the killer to pull closer, fidgeting with her gloved hands in waiting.
"Ummm, were you chasing me to give these to me....? Th-they're quite lovely..."
'Dumb Lux, what are you doing praising a serial killer!?'
Much to her surprise the killer gave another nod, this time scratching her mask in an almost bashful display, turning her gaze down to Lux's ankle with slumped shoulders. Slowly she reached forward to gently touch her clearly swollen ankle, which caused Lux to release another hiss of pain, making her pull back her hand like it'd been burned.
"M-May I ask why the flowers? Love at first sight or something haha...."
Again, Lux had no idea why she was asking these questions, very clearly she would receive no verbal answer, nor why she was attempting to joke in the situation. Her nervous laughter cut out upon seeing the figure give another slow nod, once again fidgeting with her fingers.
"Wait really? Ummm, wh-what's your name if that's okay....."
'I think the pain is starting to make me delirious, I’m finding her cute of all things...'
The large figure shuffled back slightly to make some space in front, bringing her finger down to write out something in the dirt, poking at the ground upon finishing.
"Jinx? Is that your name?"
The killer gave a nod, confirming that Lux was correct, as she started staring at her expectantly. Confusion plagued her for a second before it dawned on her that Jinx likely wanted to know her name too.
"Ah, my name's Lux.....it's nice to meet you Jinx..."
On instinct she brought her free hand out for a handshake, having laid the flowers down onto her lap, which Jinx took with a hesitant touch as if not wanting to hurt her further. Gingerly Jinx shook her hand, seeming to grow happy at the touch by how her shoulders jumped upwards again.
'She's actually really cute.......WAIT! Hello Lux!? Still a serial killer right in front of you!?'
As they let go of each other's hands, which she noted caused Jinx's shoulders to slump, Lux once again attempted to pull herself up. This time she got far enough to lean against the tree that had tripped her in the first place, unable to put any weight onto her ankle in fear she'd drop to the ground again.
Jinx stood up in a panic, frantically moving her hands in front of her nervously as she hovered over Lux. She began motioning for Lux to let her carry her, before freezing to look down at her gore covered clothes, causing a renewed motion of panic as she desperately tried to wipe some of it off in vain.
"A-ah, it's okay....the bag I left back at Camp Shimmer Lake contains a change of clothes I could wear....."
Jinx almost jumped with joy at Lux's words, quickly scooping her into a tight carry as she began to march the both of them back to the camp. Lux had to try very hard not to think about the slightly wet clothing she was currently pressed up against, especially not the small chunks of something that clung to it.
Instead, her mind wandered to how surprisingly comfortable Jinx’s chest was, unconsciously having taken to leaning into it. It was firm , likely from all the muscles, yet still with enough squishy give to carry the feeling of a nice therapeutic pillow she could just…..
She snapped her head up as her mind wandered into dangerous territory, willing her mind to blank instead of the likely embarrassing thoughts she was about to have about her current position. Lux prayed it was just a case of a panicked mind still unable to get over not being dead making her think strange things.
They arrived fairly quickly, Jinx leading her with purpose towards the main cabin until coming to a sudden stop. She sent a sheepish feeling gaze down before carefully covering Lux's eyes, which caused her to freeze in panic. The sound of wet squelching that followed soon after made Lux's stomach drop as she realized what purpose Jinx was covering her eyes for.
'It's almost sweet....in a weird way. Okay, yeah the pain is definitely getting to me at this point....'
It didn't take too long for them to pass whatever Jinx had needed to cover her eyes at, bringing her hand back down to expose their arrival in front of the large main hall that looked to be in much better shape than the other buildings.
'She must live here specifically....'
Gently, Jinx placed Lux down on a nearby couch, after first brushing it off hastily, before quickly making her way into another room. Lux sat in silence as she carefully surveyed the large entry hall, a large chunk of the walls covered in childish doodles and the floor littered with numerous unfinished weapons that Jinx seemed in the process of making.
Her eyes naturally fell onto a rather old looking doodle that featured a young looking blue haired girl happily holding hands with a slightly older looking pink haired girl. Unlike the other doodles which were sometimes drawn over with newer ones, this spot remained untouched, as if it was special to Jinx for some reason.
'My investigative spirit tells me this is worth snapping a picture of....'
Lux quickly looked to where Jinx had left for and only after knowing she wouldn't be back just yet quickly pulled out her phone to snap a quick photo, hurriedly shoving her phone back into her pocket as she heard approaching footsteps.
'At least my phone will serve some purpose today, rather than just being a useless out-of-service piece of shit.'
Jinx quickly appeared back into view, carrying with her an armful of first aid supplies she had grabbed. Coming to stand in front of Lux she knelt down, placing all the supplies down beside her. Carefully, she took hold of Lux’s foot and gingerly took her shoe off along with her sock.
Lux tried desperately to hold back the gasp of pain that threatened to leak out as Jinx slowly began to treat and wrap her ankle. She was caught by surprise at how delicate she was being, completely against her incredibly scary image. Once Jinx finished she looked up at Lux, with what she could only assume was her attempt at a smile going by how she flared out her hands with a happy wave.
"Th-thank you Jinx."
She gave a nod at her words, turning back and forth in embarrassment. Against Lux’s better judgment she found herself reaching out to give Jinx’s head a pat. Jinx froze almost immediately at the touch, causing Lux to begin pulling her hand back thinking she didn’t like it, only for her to lean aggressively in instead.
".....Do you like your head being pet?"
Jinx gave a quick nod, seeming to savor the gentle touch. Cautiously a thought began to form in Lux’s mind at this information.
"......Then would you also be interested in me giving your hair a clean along with a brushing out? I could even braid it for you."
Jinx immediately clamped both hands over her mask, shaking her head rapidly.
'She doesn't want to take her mask off for whatever reason….'
Lux hesitantly reached down to place one hand on Jinx’s shoulder, causing her to stop her rapid shaking, but still holding her hands tight against the mask.
"Jinx, I don't need to take off the mask to do all that, I can simply work around. It's just that I wanted to…..repay you is all, if you're still uncomfortable with it I won't push it."
She watched as Jinx slowly pulled her hands away to stare at Lux, as if searching to see if she was telling the truth. Jinx kept like that for a bit, before eventually bringing out one hand with her pinky out.
Lux couldn’t help the giggle that came from her as she reached out to complete the pinky promise with Jinx, who gave a satisfied nod as she stood up. She looked down at Lux, tilting her head to the side as she did.
'Ah, she wants to know what to do.'
She brought both hands out, wiggling her fingers expectantly up at Jinx who quickly got the message and reached down to pick her up.
"Does the bathroom for this place still have warm running water?"
Jinx gave a quick nod as she began to walk in the direction of what Lux guessed was the bathroom.
"Let’s see what supplies we can find too. Some soap, a comb and brush….oh some towels too. We'll also need to find some hairpins."
Jinx nodded along to Lux’s words as they arrived at the bathroom, carefully placing her down onto the side of the bathtub before rushing out to find the things Lux had listed.
The bathroom was in surprisingly good shape, Lux made sure to test the water which came out relatively clear. As she waited for the water to warm, making sure it didn't get too hot, she softly hummed to herself.
'Really when I think about it I'm being far too calm in the presence of a serial killer, even if I'm pretty sure I'm not one of her targets.'
"Plus, the amount of times I've found her cute has been concerningly high…."
A sudden clatter from the doorway brought Lux’s attention away from the water, finding a frozen Jinx there, surrounded by a large pile of things that had slipped from her hands.
"Jinx? Are you okay?"
Jinx rapidly nodded as she frantically began picking up the supplies, almost dropping them several more times. She kept staring up at Lux before shooting her head back down as if embarrassed.
' Oh God….did she hear me call her cute?'
"J-Jinx….did you hear me just now…"
Watching the hulking figure of Jinx freeze up mid grab was all the confirmation Lux needed to tell her she had. She couldn’t help but release a sigh of embarrassment as she felt her cheeks begin to redden.
Lux said nothing, simply beckoning Jinx over with one hand in an attempt to clear the strange atmosphere that had formed.The tall figure of Jinx lumbered over, obviously still not over what Lux had said given her stiff approach.
“Would you please lean your head back into the tub? We can stop the second you get too uncomfortable okay?”
She gave a quick nod at Lux’s words, nervously sitting down and pulling her legs tight to her chest while she did as told. Lux got to work making sure all her hair was fully in the tub before slowly pouring the warm water over it using one of the buckets Jinx had brought. Years of dirt and grime stained the bottom of the tub as she went over her hair multiple times, only stopping when the water eventually went clear.
“Right, now for the shampoo and conditioner….”
Pouring a good amount of shampoo into her hands, making sure it was good and lathered, she began to massage her hands through Jinx’s hair. The way she relaxed somewhat at the touch let Lux know she was enjoying it, continuing for a little longer than needed due to that. She seemed slightly sad when eventually she stopped to rinse, but quickly regained some happiness upon Lux carefully drying out her hair.
“There! All good to braid now, could you turn that way?”
Jinx obliged, bobbing slightly along to the soft humming that came from Lux as she focused, far too cute to tell her it was making things harder. She didn’t really mind it taking longer anyway, finding it rather enjoyable for reasons she didn’t understand. The exact opposite should be happening, being in such close quarters with a murderous serial killer that looked straight out of a horror movie.
She could only assume that in some twisted way, Jinx wasn’t the only one to have fallen in love at first sight. One could argue she might be feeling a small case of Stockholm syndrome or her own stubborn excuse of the pain getting to her, but….
‘What does that say about me when I’m not really caring all that much…..’
Lux desperately tried to stop thinking about the implications, contenting herself with the quiet time together that followed.
