Luxurious Anarchy (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 9: When We Love

The sound of metal rasping against metal roused Lux from her slumber. For a moment as she lay there with her eyes closed, she pretended that it hadn't been all just a dream, that she had in fact used the sun like an impromptu Hexgate to recklessly teleport to her soulmate's side. A soulmate who turned out to be a wanted woman, with blue braided pigtails, a clever tongue, long fingers, and more energy than an entire Demacian battalion packaged into a svelte five-foot tall frame.

"Oh, good morning, Sunshine," cheered Jinx, and Lux's eyes flew open, sitting up to stare at her soulmate. Jinx had a small metal rasp in one hand, and was delicately scratching designs into the tips and casings of some of her bullets. Sitting cross-legged on a metal stool, beyond a wrap of bandages where that cleaver had bitten her, Jinx was bare to the world, or at least Lux's gaze. Jinx spun around, the metal threading of the stool squeaking as she turned to look at Lux. Sparkling magenta eyes visibly dilated, and Jinx bit her lower lip with a hungry grin.

"And a good morning to me too it seems," Jinx groaned, which did less than nothing to stop Lux from blushing when she realized the blankets were pooled around her hips, not her suddenly chilly chest.

Lux didn't yank the blankets up to cover herself, but it was a near thing. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Lux's hands flew to her mouth, reaching for the respirator that she suddenly realized wasn't there.

"No no, it's okay, breathe Blondie, breathe," Jinx said, flapping her hands nervously. "I fixed up the ventilation system, it just hadn't been running for long enough last night! I patched up these rooms as much as I could, and I think I got the hot water running, not like, chem burns hot but proper heating-"

Lux did breathe in, and out, not coughing or feeling ill at all as Jinx rattled off the ways in which the hot water was safe and not poisonous or hazardous. Lux looked around, at a small box that hissed and thumped in a corner, attached to a window behind her by way of metal piping. Lux suspected the apartment was a converted overseer's office. Another window that would have looked down over the warehouse floor was boarded up, and the door next to it had been reinforced with layers of plastic sheeting to better create an environmental seal. A set of skylights let in the diluted light of the smog-clouded sun, and Lux spotted two more doors that led off to either side, the bathroom and kitchen perhaps.

"Sunshine?" Jinx waved one hand, looking put out. "Lux, did you get all that, or do I need to take it again from the top?"

"Nope, I got it, the apartment has clean air and clean water. Don't leave the door open, and I can't forget my mask until I acclimate to the undercity atmosphere."

Jinx closed her jaw with a click, "You totally zoned out, I watched you zone out, how did you know what I said?"

Lux laughed airly, "It's a skill, cultivated from many high society events where I'd rather not have attended. But, if I couldn't chime in appropriately during a lull in the conversation, I couldn't daydream about doing anything else."

Lux flourished one hand, adopting a beatific smile, a goddess bestowing a gift to their favorite follower, "Thus, this oh so useless skill of mine, to listen while still focusing on something else."

Jinx scratched her head with a newly minted bullet, "I dunno, seems pretty useful to me. Like, daydreaming on top of thinking of what you should say next, on top of paying attention? That's like, three brains at once!" Jinx froze, before blushing. She drew her knees up to her nose, trying to hide herself behind her own legs. "If I had three brains to think with, I'd use them all to think about you, Sunshine."

Lux opened her mouth, wanting to tell Jinx how precious she was, but the words wouldn't come out. Tears trickled from Lux's eyes, and she let out a soft sob. In a flash, Jinx was kneeling at the side of the bed, looking up to her like she wanted to beg for forgiveness. Lux put one finger on Jinx's lips before she could say anything.