Chapter Text
“No,” Sevika said plainly, leaving no room for negotiation. Not that it ever stopped her stubborn snake of a boss.
“It's only for a few hours,” Silco placated, holding his palms up in mock surrender.
“I'm your Second, not a fuckin’ babysitter. You want one? Go toss a few cogs to the first old lady you see, I'm sure there’s plenty of grannies around who could use a new pair of knitting needles,” Sevika rebuked, eyeing the door like a nervous animal.
Silco sighed deeply, shaking his head in frustration. “As my so-called Right Hand, would you deem it wise to leave my young daughter under the care of an unvetted stranger?”
The question lingered stubbornly in the air. Sevika opened her mouth to counter, then shut it again. For the first time since walking into the room, her gaze flicked down to the energetic little figure scribbling wildly on a piece of paper, seemingly oblivious to their topic of conversation.
Jinx got away with murder, sometimes literally. Every petulant tantrum and careless mistake that would have earned Sevika a savage beating from her own father was met with endless understanding and a handkerchief to dry her tears, as if her Little status prevented her from facing any real consequences.
Sevika huffed irritably. The girl had just turned 15, and was more of a menace than ever before. As much as she tried not to pay Jinx any mind, her influence was inescapable. Whether it was her vicious explosives, her colorful graffiti, or her earth-shattering meltdowns, Jinx always found a way to get the attention she so craved.
And then there was Silco. Sevika had seen the change in him the moment he took Jinx home that night. Before, he was so… singular. Laser-focused on clawing his way upward and securing a future for the budding nation he called Zaun. After, he was a man divided. Forever torn between two progeny.
As much as she loathed to admit it, Silco’s unexpected leap into fatherhood had certain upsides. While he did often leave his work early to tend to Jinx, he gained a wealth of patience. Where his demeanor softened, his resolve to make Zaun a safe place to live hardened. He spoke at length of a world where fissure folk wouldn’t have to escort their children around the city just to keep them from being plucked off the streets and sold to the highest bidder. His head swam with plans for cleaner air and renewed public infrastructure. A path to a truly dignified nation.
All for her.
Sevika eyed Silco's tiny terror. There was such significant overlap between her big and little side, it was difficult to tell them apart at times. Over the years, Sevika had begrudgingly picked up a few hints, if only to clue her in on when to leave. The way Jinx stuck her tongue out in concentration as she worked on her “masterpiece”. The rhythmic way she swung her feet. The manic, jittery swivel of her eyes as she silently conferred with something only she could see. Whatever fuckery was going on with the girl, Sevika thought, it was entirely below her pay grade.
Or above it. The kid definitely needed a shrink.
“I wouldn't ask if I had an alternative,” Silco broke the silence, his tone softer this time.
Sevika worked her jaw, glancing irritably between Silco and Jinx. She let out a defeated grumble.
“Demacian cognac. Two bottles,” Sevika bargained. If the brat was going to give her a headache, she might as well have something to numb it afterwards.
“Done,” Silco replied in an instant. He took a seat on the couch, immediately catching his daughter's attention.
“Come here, my lovely,” Silco beckoned in that familiar inflection he only used for Jinx. The girl grabbed her drawing from the table and climbed into his lap, winding herself around him like a wiggly little eel.
Silco embraced her, plotting his next words carefully so as to avoid a meltdown. He gently tugged Jinx's half-finished creation from her grasp, admiring the colorful offering with a genuine sense of pride.
“I see you've re-entered your classic star and heart period,” Silco observed, assessing his child's unruly scribbles as if they were destined for a museum. Sevika rolled her eyes.
Jinx nodded enthusiastically. “Uh huh! That one is a cont-... constaflation.”
“Constellation,” Silco corrects, the beginnings of a fond smile pulling at his lips. “You remembered.”
“Yep! Gonna make a whole con-stell-ation this big!” Jinx declared, the slight lisp she acquired while little coming up in full force as she threw her arms out to her sides.
Silco's chest bubbled with warmth. He wanted nothing more than to spend the afternoon with his beloved daughter and watch her work. Alas, his position in the world was a demanding mistress. One whose call could only be ignored for so long.
“I've got a very important job for you,” Silco offered with a showman's flair.
“Yes yes yes yes, what is it?!” Jinx demanded, her body alight with unspent energy.
Silco pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “Our icebox seems plain, doesn't it? A bit boring.”
Jinx nodded, glowering at the drab little thing. “Very boring.”
“I can only think of one person in the world who can make it properly beautiful. That's you,” Silco praised as he playfully tapped the end of her nose with his pointer finger.
Jinx dissolved into giggles, a joyful symphony that made every tantrum, sleepless night, and gray hair worthwhile. It reminded Silco of why he needed Sevika to watch her in the first place. He had a burgeoning nation to oversee. Schemes to hatch. So that Jinx might live in a world a modicum more forgiving than the one he'd been born into.
“Do you think you could draw a few more pictures, so we can put them up there when I get back?” Silco asked, hoping his cleverly layered revelation would soften the blow.
Silco almost thought it had worked, right until the realization dawned on Jinx. Her unbridled enthusiasm morphed into furrowed brows and an iron grip on her father's waistcoat.
"It's only a short while, my darling. You won’t even notice I’m gone,” Silco soothed, brushing a strand of hair out of his daughter's eyes.
Jinx whined in response, pressing her face into the center of his chest. Her wordless message was clear: Don't Leave.
“The sooner you release me, the sooner I'll be home again,” Silco reasoned, though it was clear his girl was having none of it.
More often than not, little Jinx couldn't be bothered with the bland monotony of logic and reason. No, her every action and perspective was tinted with a mosaic of emotion, for better or worse. Silco regarded the stuffed rabbit on the other end of the couch. A source of infinite comfort for Jinx, and possibly, a way out of this conundrum for him.
“What was that, Bunny?” Silco asked, the exaggeratory intonation back in his words.
“Ah.”
“I see.”
“Mhm, quite right,” Silco nodded casually.
That piqued Jinx's attention.
“Shall we get Bunny to sit with us, love?” Silco asked, prompting his little girl to shoot off his lap, grab her beloved plushie, and zip right back in record time.
Jinx practically buzzed in her father's hold, eyes wide and shiny with adoration. It was no small feat of willpower for Silco not to just abandon his upcoming meeting and spend the rest of the day snuggling with his magnetic little agent of chaos.
He held firm, not wanting to lend any more credence to Sevika's complaints of him being too distracted. “Didn't you tell me that sometimes Bunny gives you great ideas?”
Jinx nodded.
“Well, Bunny told me that she thinks you're going to make a wonderful creation for me today. Don't you want me to be surprised?” Silco queried, feigning an innocent look.
He was loath to use his child's fractured psyche to his advantage like that. He knew that Jinx's ‘imaginary’ friendship with her stuffed toy was very real to her. Though, given the fact that much of her clinginess stemmed from that very issue, he supposed he was simply leveling the playing field. Means to an end.
Jinx contemplated the question in silence before solemnly nodding. She chewed at her thumb nail, eyes trained on the floor.
Silco lifted his daughter's chin, unable to bear her dampened spirits.
“I'll be gone just long enough for you to finish your special drawing, and then you can show me what an excellent job you did,” Silco said lightly, giving his little one a reassuring squeeze.
Jinx nodded dejectedly, holding Bunny tight to her chest.
It was a victory that felt like defeat. He knew Jinx would forget all about her melancholy in his absence the moment he returned. Still, he detested seeing his young daughter so deflated.
One glance at his timepiece told him that he should have left five minutes ago. Silco sighed, he was only delaying the inevitable.
The chem baron removed Jinx from his lap, causing a heart-rending little whimper to spill from her lips.
No. He knew that would happen. He must remain firm.
“I'll see you soon, dearest girl. Behave yourself for Sevika, I want a good report from her when I get back,” Silco instructed, kissing his daughter's forehead and rising from the couch.
He could feel Jinx's watery eyes on him. The parenting book he'd secretly been reading in the dead of night told him that the longer he drug out his departure, the more upset his little one would be. Silco was keen on leaving before shiny eyes could turn to tear-stained cheeks and a spectacular meltdown.
The man turned on his heel, leaning towards his most loyal cohort.
“She’s in a weepy mood, try not to make it worse. Put on a record, it should settle her nerves. Make sure she eats lunch. If she naps, so be it. Oh, and no glitter under any circumstances. I'm still finding bits of it around the house,” Silco lectured, flicking a sparkling speck off his shoulder.
Sevika nodded dutifully, trying not to think about how easily she'd been roped into this mess.
“I won't be long, princess. Daddy loves you,” Silco called out to his daughter, taking his leave quickly thereafter.
Jinx sniffled the moment the door shut. Her tearful stare turned to Sevika. Their mutual distaste for one another was common knowledge. Sevika's world was order through sheer might and discipline. Jinx's world was chaos fueled by her whims and colors visible only to her. It seemed only natural that they'd be adversaries.
Nonetheless, Jinx fixed her reluctant babysitter with a look Sevika couldn't place. Loathing? Longing? Desperation? The older woman shook her head. The little brat just wanted an endless supply of attention, and she was decidedly not a vending machine.
“Alright, kid. Your dad will be home in a few hours. I suggest you find something to keep yourself busy until then,” Sevika gruffed.
That was, apparently, the wrong thing to say.
It took about three and a half seconds for Jinx's face to crumble as she descended into a fit of tears. She missed her father already, and a few hours was an eternity away. Sevika just stared, paralyzed and dumbfounded. She'd never seen Jinx quite so vulnerable before. Had never seen tears that weren't swiftly followed by violence or explosions. An unusual sensation stirred in Sevika's chest, one of deep discomfort disguised as detachment.
Jinx held her bunny close, curling into herself on the couch and weeping into the toy's aging fur.
“Shut up! He’ll come back! ...YES HE WILL!” Jinx hissed, flinging a pillow at the wall. Her hands flew over her ears as she murmured and rocked herself.
Sevika exhaled somberly, she supposed some things stayed the same no matter one’s age. An affliction with no name. Madness, some thought. A demon, others insisted. It was the elephant in every room her symptoms manifested in. The one thing Silco couldn’t solve with money, might, nor a silver tongue. Sevika had seen it before, of course. Many times. The way Jinx’s eyes darted towards nothing, her muttering and spontaneous outbursts, her habit of striking herself when words weren’t enough to keep her harassers at bay. Even if she didn’t like the kid, it didn’t make it any less difficult for Sevika to watch.
Hiccups wracked Jinx’s small body as she spiraled further into dismay. The little girl tried conjuring up thoughts of Silco for comfort, only to be taunted by the vacuous absence of her caregiver.
Sevika looked around, dumbfounded, as if to ask some invisible entity for help. She was so thoroughly out of her depth, she might as well have been dumped onto an alien planet. The large women teetered between visceral revulsion at the display of emotion and a frantic need to stop Jinx's upset.
‘Put on a record, it should settle her nerves,’ Silco's words echoed in her mind. A single lifeline in a haze of uncertainty.
Sevika stood quickly from the couch, prompting Jinx to startle and clutch her stuffed rabbit tighter. Janna, she really couldn't do a single thing right with her.
Attempting to look as unimposing as possible, the older woman made a beeline for the gramophone. There was already a record affixed in place.
“You like this one?” Sevika asked, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible. She still managed to sound like a drill sergeant.
Jinx peered up at Sevika with large glassy eyes. She was taken aback, as if she didn't think her opinion would matter enough to warrant such a question. Curiously, her impromptu babysitter didn't appear to be joking.
Jinx nodded in reply, any attempt at speech stuck in her throat.
At that, Sevika adjusted the needle to the beginning and turned on the device. Music whirred to life, it was one of Silco's old jazz albums. Figures, he always did have the music taste of an aging professor.
“There. Now it's a party,” Sevika chaffed, drawing a watery grin from the nervous little girl beside her. It was a faint glimmer of hope. Maybe Sevika could make it through the afternoon without irreparably traumatizing her boss's beloved daughter.
Little Jinx wasn't quite what Sevika had expected. She was needy and high-maintenance, sure, but she had a soft pensive quality about her that was absent in big Jinx. Was this what she was like before the world took its pound of flesh?
True to Silco's word, the mellow tune emanating from the gramophone seemed to gradually stabilize Jinx's mood. Her breathing slowed, her posture returned to a more natural state, and the girl's white-knuckled grip on her bunny dissipated to a gentle embrace.
Sevika let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Janna's tits, looking after this kid felt like defusing a bomb. Fitting, she supposed.
Steeling her resolve, the older woman took a seat on the armchair adjacent to the couch. She produced a deck of cards from her pocket and set up a game of solitaire on the coffee table.
Jinx watched with fascination as Sevika built up each column of cards. Her quick, time-learned movements were almost mesmerizing to the little girl.
Sevika glanced at Jinx out of the corner of her eye, taking note of the look of wonder settled in her features. How this girl could find such captivation in the mundane was beyond the woman's understanding, though she'd take it any day over tears and tantrums. Sevika found herself stealing another glance at Jinx, in this state she looked practically cherubic.
“Draw your picture, kid. Nothing to see here,” the giantess said, her usual bite strangely lacking.
To her surprise, Jinx obliged.
The little girl dumped out all of her crayons onto the table, paying little attention to the unlucky few that rolled overboard. She stuck her tongue out in deep concentration as she began her picture.
Sevika's attempts to play her game in peace were quickly dashed. The little brat even colored loudly. Between her incessant humming, the uncoordinated scrape of wax against paper, and her occasional grumbles of indignation when her linework didn’t come out quite right, Jinx had managed to turn a quiet activity into yet another one of her grandiose spectacles.
Worst of all, it was working. Sevika couldn’t help but peer over at Jinx’s artwork every so often, curiosity taking hold of the woman as she watched the color and shapes slowly appear on the page. She would have expected scribbles of bloody chaos or one of those infuriating monkeys the kid insisted on leaving everywhere. Instead, she saw deep hues of blue and serene shades of yellow.
“What’s that you’re making?” Sevika heard herself ask. She might have slapped herself if she weren’t slightly interested in the girl’s answer.
Jinx cocked her head to one side, concentrating hard as she spoke, “Daddy says trenchers can't see the stars ‘cause of the Pilties, so I’m makin’ some for him.”
The giantess stared blankly for a moment. She quickly engrossed herself back in her cards before any inkling of emotion could take root in her thoughts. Her contempt for Silco’s decision to keep Jinx was an open secret. The question that so often lingered, heavy on her tongue with words unsaid, was why. Why did Silco bother to keep her around, much less treat her like kin? The half-complete drawing beside her held answers Sevika didn’t think she was ready to know. Just this once, she was fine to live in fantasy land with Jinx.
The next half an hour passed uneventfully. Sevika released a long, tense exhale. Maybe this is all it takes, she thought. Just play cards until Silco comes back. Easy enough, right?
“...’m hungry,” Jinx mumbled, looking up at Sevika with those wide, expectant eyes.
Dammit.
Sevika shook her head in aggrieved disbelief. She was arguably the second most powerful person in Zaun. Lesser men folded like lawnchairs under her withering scowl, …and she was making Silco's little twerp a fucking grilled cheese sandwich. The blow to her pride alone should qualify her for hazard pay, she griped to herself.
Sevika flipped the sandwich in the pan, glowering at it as if the snack had personally wronged her. Rethinking her life choices, she flopped the finished product haphazardly onto a plate.
“That table better be clear like I asked,” the large woman warned as she strode back into the living room, plate in hand.
Jinx quickly swiped her papers and wax pencils off the coffee table, making a considerable mess on the floor.
“All done!” The little girl shouted with an entirely unearned look of pride.
Sevika rolled her eyes, depositing the plate in front of Jinx. She sat down heavily in the armchair, readying her nearby deck of cards for another game of solitaire.
The blue-haired girl frowned, picking at the ends of her sandwich.
“It’s getting cold, kid,” Sevika groused.
Jinx let out a small huff, looking up at her babysitter like a kicked puppy. The giantess raised an eyebrow, returning her gaze.
“The crust…” Jinx supplied, rubbing her arm sheepishly.
Sevika let out a discontent noise. “Your dad really does spoil you,” she remarked, shifting to face the girl directly.
“Look, princess. There are kids right out that door who would kill for what’s on your plate. All of it. Silco might let you get away with this shit, but with me you’ll eat what you’re given. Got it?” Sevika lectured sternly. Janna, that sounded too close to something her own father would say.
Jinx shrank away from the woman, giving a timid nod in response. The mention of Silco made her chest ache with longing. Silent twin tears streamed down her cheeks, she wanted nothing more than to be in her father’s lap while he opened his mail and grumbled about ‘wholly incompetent people’, whatever that means. The fond memory only served to make Jinx miss him more. Sensing Sevika’s stony gaze, she obediently took a bite, crust and all.
Sevika shook her head. Now she was the asshole. And why shouldn’t she be? That’s what she was paid to be. Being the bad guy made her rich, gave her a place in the world and a purpose. So why did the look on Jinx’s face make her feel anything but apathy?
“Listen, kid, I-...”
The record had reached its end, plunging the room into a noticeable hush. Sevika swallowed, losing her nerve. She stood up, needing an excuse to get out from under the wounded look Jinx fixed her with. She flipped the record, maneuvering the needle back into place.
Relief lapped at Sevika’s feet as the music resumed. She might’ve needed it just as much as the anklebiter did. A disconcerting thought.
Sevika returned the girl’s empty plate to the kitchen, depositing it in the sink with a little clink. In truth, she’d assumed that getting Jinx to obey her would be just as much of a power struggle as giving orders was to big Jinx. A few of their occasional missions together had been botched that way.
Instead of a rebellious teenager eager to defy her at every turn, she got a frightened little girl who looked at her the way the local street rats looked at enforcers. In hindsight, she should have known better. Jinx was just so… unpredictable. To anyone but Silco, that is.
Sevika peered up at the wall clock; it neared the top of the hour. With any luck, Silco would return soon and free the giantess from her ham-fisted vigil. She needed a cigarette or five. The woman stared down at the few objects in the sink. She could either return to the living room for yet another awkward game of solitaire with a kid who's frightened half to death of her, or once again abase herself with menial labor. She quickly picked up the dish sponge, cleaning the ceramic with a slow, meticulous fervor that hallmarked the art of killing time.
The sound of Jinx’s soft but earnest chattering petered out as she worked. Sevika scrubbed continuously, her thoughts elsewhere. Silco's pan, plate, and spatula had never been so clean, they were practically gleaming. To her surprise, the repetitive motions and brief solitude went a long way to renew her mood. Not much longer now, she thought.
The record lapsed once again, leaving nothing but a faint crackle in its absence. The dishes lay drying on the counter, there was no use in milling about the kitchen with nothing more to be done. With a deep cleansing breath, Sevika exited the kitchen once again. She found Jinx curled up on the couch, eyes closed and bunny clutched to her chest. Her abandoned drawings looked about as close to completion as they could be, brimming with busy designs and vibrant colors.
The giantess eyed the pillow on the ground, the one Jinx had hurled at the wall during her… episode. She picked it up, roughly slapping away any debris from the floor. Jinx stirred a little at the noise.
“Shit,” Sevika whispered, waiting with bated breath for Jinx to wake. She didn’t.
Shoulders sagging in relief, the woman returned to her self-assigned seat, tucking the pillow behind her. The next two games of solitaire passed with little fanfare. She was about to go for a third when a strangled whine cut through the silence.
“Vi…” Jinx whimpered fitfully, her once-peaceful features contorting to a look of profound affliction.
Sevika’s blood ran cold. She didn’t have much to do with Vander’s kids back in the day, but she saw Vi around. She was decent enough, if not a little stubborn. They’d never recovered her body, but it was just as well. She didn’t care to see any more dead kids. Sevika rubbed the spot where metal met flesh. A ‘phantom ache’, the doctor had called it.
Jinx’s breathing became shallow. She’d wake up soon at this rate, and there’s no way Sevika could console her. On impulse, the woman stood. She gingerly approached the little girl’s distressed form, eyeing the embroidered blanket laid atop the couch. In one swift motion, she draped it over Jinx. The little girl still muttered, but her shivering subsided.
The giantess took the pillow from her own spot, nervously turning it over a few times. Sevika hesitantly approached the couch once more. She drew in a steady breath and went for it, maneuvering the pillow as gently as she could under Jinx’s head. To her utter amazement, the kid didn’t rouse. Instead, Jinx turned on her side, settling deeply into the pillow as her murmurs petered out.
The woman couldn't fathom how Silco did it, barely three hours with the kid and she was as exhausted as she’d been as a youngster after a full day in the mines. As much as she resented The Eye’s divided priorities, she knew now that his tendency to leave work early wasn’t as frivolous as she’d once thought.
The large woman sat heavily back down in her armchair and blew the hair out of her eyes, making a mental note to see the barber soon. She tried not to dwell on Jinx's plea for her dead sister. Sevika eyed her deck of cards, but made no move to set up another game. She was perfectly content to enjoy the hard-won silence.
Jangling keys announced his return. The front door swung open, revealing a perturbed and slightly disheveled looking Silco. His gaze fell on Jinx, then Sevika, who promptly stood from her spot in the armchair.
“Boss,” Sevika nodded, a warm welcome by her standards.
Silco massaged the space between his eyes, exhaling sharply with a look of exasperation. “If I were as short-sighted and greedy as the lousy dolts who pass for gangers these days, I'd not have lived to see my twentieth birthday.”
Sevika let out a humorless laugh. “I’ll toss them in The Pilt when the time is right.”
Silco hummed in agreement, clearly long past the point to entertain any further discussion of the matter.
“Coffee?” the chem baron offered. He gave his slumbering daughter one last glance before moving to the kitchen. Sevika followed, never one to pass up Silco's choice blend.
They stood in companionable stillness as The Eye worked, beseeching the familiar ritual to clear his thoughts.
“I trust everything went well?” Silco queried, looking over his shoulder at his Second.
Sevika snorted. “Well enough by Jinx standards.”
“Dare I ask?”
Sevika paused, “She uh… yelled at something that wasn't there, threw a pillow at it, too. Then she called for her sister in her sleep.” Janna, it sounded worse when she said it out loud.
The chem baron just nodded, unfazed. “For some, the deceased never die,” he lamented, pouring the steaming inky brew into twin mugs.
Silco slid the second mug to his comrade, a heavy lull befell the kitchen as they sipped in silence. Sevika had known him since they were young rabble-rousers. While she wouldn't describe her boss as a friend or even friendly in general, they shared a mutual understanding. Of each other. Of Zaun. Of what failure brings under Piltover's shiny golden boot. But a kid? It was the one part of Silco that Sevika couldn't make sense of.
A flash of blue caught her attention. Jinx wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand and clutching her stuffed rabbit in the other. Her expression lit up the moment she laid eyes on her father.
“Daddy!” Jinx shouted, running at Silco and nearly knocking him to the ground with the force of her embrace. “He came back! I told you he would!!” the girl spoke proudly, seemingly not to either one of them.
Sevika watched as her boss’s posture eased, the deep lines along his forehead smoothed, and his expression melted into contentment. Silco held his daughter's face in his hands with quiet reverence. She leaned into his gentle touch and hummed happily, eyes fluttering closed.
“Daddy will always come back, darling girl,” he pledged, softly tracing the curve of her innocent little face with his thumb.
“Promise?” Jinx asked earnestly, her watery eyes full of longing as she gripped Silco's shirt with her free hand.
“I promise,” the Eye swore. It was the most rewarding contract he'd ever brokered. In lieu of signatures, handshakes, and cigars, he wrapped his precious girl in a protective embrace. “Daddy's got you.”
Sevika looked on, utterly transfixed. She swallowed a lump in her throat, along with the deep and venomous ache that threatened to linger in her chest until the end of time. She clenched her jaw, wanting desperately to scoff and recoil at such a cloying display, but she couldn't. Something deep within her screamed with the wounded rage of a scorned child. Through it all, her face remained stoic.
Everything Sevika thought she knew about her long-time cohort crumbled in the presence of his little blue hellion. She’d seen him slit throats with a smile and order hits like it was his lunch. He’d snatch the last coin out of a sick man’s quivering grip if it meant he’d retain his power. Why then, was he looking at Jinx with such… tenderness?
The moment Silco managed to sit down at the little kitchen table, Jinx scrambled up and resumed her rightful perch on his lap. She happily swung her feet, leaning against him as she slipped her thumb between her lips. Jinx looked so small. Was this truly the same girl who shot tin cans off live hostages for fun?
Sevika's vision began to narrow. She gripped the side of the kitchen counter with such force that she feared the marble might split beneath her hand. She needed to get the fuck out of here. She needed to tear something apart. She needed a drink.
Sevika cleared her throat, breaking the spell that subsisted between The Eye and his troublemaker. “I uh… think my job is done here.”
Silco nodded. He produced an ornate key from his pocket and flicked his head towards the cabinetry. “First one on the right, take what you please.”
Sevika accepted the key, keen to collect her due and go. She grunted in frustration as she fumbled with the lock. If Silco noticed, he held his tongue. It took a pitifully long time to get the damn thing open. Sure enough, the ornate cabinet was brimming with the most superlative spirits money could buy. Jackpot.
With an armful of Demacia’s finest and her mug of coffee abandoned, the giantess deposited the key on the kitchen table with a final nod, taking her leave. Jinx’s timid wave goodbye was a moment too late as Sevika all but jetted out the door and down the stairs.
She barely registered the lanky patron she nearly bowled over in her race to escape the bar, nor the half a bottle she’d downed by the time she reached her flat.