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A chill swam through the air in Piltover. The people on the streets were beginning to bundle up; wearing sweaters and sweatshirts and warm, long pants.
Silco walked through the streets, his face stoney and cold. Ensuring people didn’t try to talk to or approach him.
The bubbly little girl at his side shattered the tough guy illusion.
She was hopping, her just-below-shoulder-length hair bobbing. She was clinging to his hand, her little fingers wrapped around his palm. Jinx had begged him for a trip topside, wanting to get a pumpkin. That confused Silco at first – why a pumpkin?
Then she’d said she saw people cutting faces into one and thought it looked very fun. Silco had asked her where she’d seen that. She shamelessly said she’d been staring into someone’s house from a rooftop.
So here they were, topside, heading to a pumpkin patch. Silco’s eye was garnering him a multitude of stares, but nobody confronted him. He looked dangerous (but well-dressed enough to lead no line of questioning about whether he was a Zaunite or Piltovian). Plus, coming out in public was good to show that he was no more than an industrialist with a daughter.
“Pick which one you’d like, child,” Silco urged, gently pushing her forward by a hand between her shoulderblades.
Jinx giggled and started forward, darting through the patch. She hopped over a toddler, garnering a glare from a mother. Silco stared at her until she realized Jinx was his kid and she quickly lowered her head.
“This one!!” She called out, struggling to lift a pumpkin the size of her chest into her arms. Silco smiled and hummed softly, ushering her away and picking it up. “This one it is, then,” he agreed. They made their way toward the front and paid; his industrial front garnered him enough money to pay for just about anything in Piltover, a mere dream to most Zaunites.
Jinx pressed against Silco’s side as they headed back down toward the Last Drop in the Undercity. After Vander had died, Silco had quickly gained control of the Last Drop, and his reach was growing in the Lanes.
The elevator lurched worryingly as Jinx jumped around, ever energetic. Silco didn’t scold her.
When did he ever discipline his daughter?
The doors parted and they slid out, a dull ache forming in Silco’s arms from the weight of the large fruit. But he handled it easily, having worked in the mines for years, from a boy to a young man. Vander took the brunt of the work when they were–
Don’t think about him.
Jinx shoved the door to the Last Drop open, announcing their arrival loudly. The front was nearly empty due to the upcoming holiday and chill in the air (and the public’s continual reluctance to accept that the Drop was under new management), but there were a few lingering patrons, dizzy with alcohol.
“Sevika! Look, we got a pumpkin!” She chirped, poking and prodding and annoying the stone-faced woman. She placed a hand on Jinx’s shoulder, “That’s great.”
She lifted her head, gazing at Silco. “More of Vander’s supporters caused trouble. We had to–” “I didn’t ask. Tell me later,” Silco waved her off dismissively with his head. Sevika clenched her jaw and nodded, then turned and headed to the bar.
Silco adjusted his hold on the pumpkin, carrying it upstairs with Jinx trailing behind him. He puffed a breath as he finally sat it on the desk, rolling his shoulders. The bubbly blue-haired girl immediately started grabbing at the knife on his belt, obviously desperate to stab into the fruit.
“Ah-ah,” Silco tutted, taking her wrist gently in his palm, “I did something for you, now you do something for me before you start carving away.”
Jinx puffed and followed Silco as he sat down in his desk chair. She followed him up, straddling his legs. “But I don’t wanna do it wrong..”
“You won’t. You did well last time,” Silco reassured her in a soft, gentle tone. He laid his right hand to the side, his left shuffling into his desk drawer and pulling out both parts of his eye injection needle. He handed the pieces to his daughter, who quickly snapped them together.
She shuffled further up his lap, using one hand to hold his face still, the other positioning the round guide over his eyeball. She was biting her lip in concentration and her brows were furrowed anxiously. “Don’t second guess yourself. You’ll do it just fine.”
He tried to limit how much he looked around, gazing straight ahead.
The needle suddenly jabbed, sending a lightning bolt of pain through Silco’s body. He hissed and doubled over, reaching up, and cradling the side of his face. The pain gave way to an easy, slow throb, and he let out a breath, wiping away the small trail of shimmer from his cheek. He took only a moment to catch his breath, then turned to Jinx and offered her a soft smile, reassuring her. She was sitting atop his desk with her legs tucked up. He knew his reaction scared her.
“You did good,” he took the needle from her hands and dropped it into his desk. He laid a hand gently on her leg, patting it reassuringly. “Carving time, hm?”
She perked when he handed her his blade. Her recovery was quick from the momentary scare of Silco’s pained, vulnerable reaction.
“Okay okay! I’ve already thought about what I’ll carve!” She leaned down in front of his desk, opposite him. She shoved the knife into the top of it and sawed in a circle, pulling the top off. Silco blinked when she shoved her hand inside it, her nose wrinkling at whatever it was that she found inside. She chirped, “Give me something to put this stuff on.”
Jinx was the only person he took orders from.
He raised to his feet and located a dish, placing it at the side of the pumpkin. He watched as she dropped a handful of pumpkin innards onto it.
“We can make stuff outta this! Like- like snacks with the seeds,” Jinx beamed excitedly up at him, “and pumpkin pie!”
Silco offered a thoughtful hum, reaching up and petting her hair gently as she worked. Scooping out the insides, then chipping away at the front of the thick flesh. She batted Silco away, forcing him into his seat again, not allowing him to see what she was carving. He chuckled but obediently remained where she’d sat him.
His gaze fixed on Jinx’s face. He absorbed every little expression of hers. The furrow of her brows, the focused frown, the way her cheek dipped in from her teeth biting on it.
To pass the time, he reached down into his desk and tugged out his mirror and makeup palette. The fluffy head of the brush dipped into the powder and he swept it over his scarred skin, fixing the smudging that had occurred during his outing.
Finally, Jinx pulled back, tipping her little head to the side. Her hair fell over her shoulder, scrunching where her neck bent. She giggled and clapped her hands, darting over to Silco. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his spinning desk chair. He laid the makeup kit down and followed her around his desk, turning to look at the pumpkin.
It was a crudely carved cat, holding exaggerated whiskers and a nose and pointed ears. It was adorably Jinx. The girl bounced at him, “What do you think! It’s great, right? Are you proud?”
Are you proud.
Jinx craved validation, and Silco knew it. He leaned down and took her cheeks in his hands, kissing her hairline. “It’s lovely, Jinx. I’m very proud.”
He huffed when her arms were thrown around his waist, her face against his chest.
Silco rubbed her cheeks, then stood back up. “Where do you want it placed?”
“In your office! Umm..” She looked around, frowning. Then she pointed to the floor beside his couch. “There! So anyone who walks in will see it.”
Silco nodded, taking the fruit in his hands and laying it beside his couch. He adjusted it so that it could be seen upon entering.
Then he took Jinx into his arms and offered her another kiss upon her head, gently stroking her hair.
“I’d do anything for you, Jinx.”
“Heheh.. I know, dad.”