Chapter Text
Powder is 8 when she first meets the man with one eye. Well, technically he has two, one is just… different.
Her siblings had left about an hour ago, claiming they were going to do grown-up stuff she wouldn’t understand. Vi usually let her come, but today she had yelled, telling Powder to stay behind, and running off with the others. Ekko was busy working at his uncle Benzo’s pawn shop, and her foster dad Vander was working in the bar all day, leaving her alone.
But that was fine. Powder didn’t mind being alone, and maybe if she told herself that enough she would believe it. She decided to play in the front yard, so she could be as creative with her paint as possible without risking trouble later. That’s how he found her, alone and refusing to let the tears fall down her face as she overthought the confrontation with her siblings earlier. Paint was mixed in her hair and across her skin when she looked up at the stranger standing on the other side of the fence.
Maybe she wouldn’t have to be alone after all.
It’s been 3 months since Powder became friends with Mr. Silco and she still hadn’t told her family. She was scared they would take him away just like Ekko.
Ekko was supposed to be her friend, and he was only a year older than her! But now instead of staying with Powder to play, he was invited to join Vi, Mylo, and Claggor on whatever adventure they had planned. They never told Ekko he was too young, never teased him or called him a jinx, and Powder didn’t understand what was so different about her. Why did no one want Powder around? Why had Ekko left her when he was supposed to be her best friend.
So no, she couldn’t tell them about Mr. Silco.
He told her she was making a smart choice, and Mr. Silco never lied.
Vi had been acting strange lately. Her older sister was always in her room, asking about her drawings or inventions, she even asked if Powder wanted to come with them to the skate park that day. But it felt wrong, untrustworthy, like a joke just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And besides, Mr. Silco only ever came if she was alone.
So Powder ignored the sad look on her sisters face when she said no, to go with out her. The guilt wouldn’t last long.
She was right, when Mr. Silco played with her hair and told her he was so proud of her for choosing him she forgot all about the guilt that had been eating away at her stomach. And when he told her he would never leave her behind she knew she had made the right choice.
Jinx is 9 when she realizes she’ll never go home.
Her sister had hit her, had left her crying in front of their old, wooden home alone. Powder had only wanted to help. She rarely interacted with her siblings anymore and found herself craving any kind of approval she could get. She had only wanted to help them with whatever game they were playing, but now Mylo and Claggor were hurt, and Vi had left her, and she didn’t know where Vander or Ekko were, and she was all alone.
And then she wasn’t.
Mr. Silco always had the best timing.