It's a Lovely Day in Piltover (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 5: Flowing from Respect

The former Sheriff's abode - Lux could hear her instincts screaming at her that this could be a goldmine of information. But for once, she could put that behind her. Just for a while, at least? It felt warm, inviting, like a home. She wondered if Powder actually used a bed or perched in the rafters like the rumours said she did, or in one ridiculous case, 'lived on a broken fan in a vent shaft'. Honestly, if they were going to spread rumours like that, they could at least make them semi-believable.

For now though - Lux wondered if there'd be a brief moment to freshen up. Her teeth felt like they needed brushing and if they were going to - well, she didn't want to have awful breath. Is she really - it wouldn't have been her first time in a sort of friends with benefits situation, but that had been in Illuminator training where it had been more tear our pleasures with rough strife through the iron gates of life than anything friendly. Could one be friends and still do... that? She supposed she had tried it before but that - she wanted to avoid anything being like that, didn't she?

"So - " she started, but Powder was already talking.

"Awesome, uh, make yourself at home, I guess, I'll be back in a second." And Powder was racing away up the stairs, leaving Lux all alone in the living room.

Bathroom, there had to be a bathroom around here somewhere. Or should she not wander off? She stared at a cabinet that seemed entirely devoted to huge stacks of paper pressing up against the glass where other families of means might keep treasured knick-knacks or decorative crockery. I'm in a friend's home. I've... not really been in a real friend's home before. I'm not sure of the protocol. The armchairs were high quality but worn from use in a way that Lux had rarely seen in Piltover, or at home in Demacia. It felt... cozy. Lived in. And uncomfortable to her in that coziness, like her jagged edges might rip it to pieces if she shifted wrong.

There was a sudden and startling thump as Powder hit the ground right next to her - "Did you just -"

"Leap down from the top of the stairs because I'm excited? Yes." Powder grinned widely, and held up what she'd gone to collect. Her bracelet was back on and... her notebooks? Did - well, Lux had always heard about scientists and artists and collecting ideas, but that had struck her as fanciful and not - "Come on, come on!"

"Um - where are we going?"

"To the workshop, duh!" With fingers intertwined with hers - Lux really needed to stop starting at the too-warm touch of her skin; if they were going to... well, she'd need to get used to it - Powder led her to the back of the house, to a room filled with workbenches and various devices in stages of destruction or construction.

"Won't this be, uh. Uncomfortable?"

"Why would it be uncomfortable?" Powder turned around and frowned, looking almost like a kitten with the way she tilted her head in confusion. "There's a couch in here too, if you want, I guess?" She pointed to the corner with the lamp.

"Right!" Couch. Couch would be - better, probably. Though the idea of the bench was kind of appealing - "So, um, I - I suppose this is. A little rude to ask but I don't suppose you've been - checked at a clinic recently? It's just! Safety is important! I - haven't had any recent enough - anyway it's not something that I - "

"Oh - right, shit, my meds!" Powder cracked open a compartment on her bracelet and tossed the capsules into her mouth, swallowing and coughing. "Ugh, hate dry-swallowing those."

Her meds?!

"No need to look shocked, you figured out I used to be Jinx, surely you heard about how crazy she was, talking to people that weren't there and stuff." Powder rolled her eyes. "Got checked out at the Academy instead of a clinic, anyways."