Sapphire was actually grateful for getting to spend this time with Jinx. This was the first time she'd been in Jinx's bedroom, and she took her time to examine the room as she set her bag down. The room was covered wall to wall with drawings and little metal things hung from different places in the room, a shelf here, some from the bedpost, etc. "Jinx, Did you make these?" She asked, noticing that the little metal things had the same type of drawings on them.
"Yep! Only one of them worked though. It was a bomb. I've been trying with the others, but no success yet." She pouted, jutting out her lip. "Dad is only letting me work with smoke bombs right now." Sapphire blinked, almost wanting to step away from the possible little explosives. Jinx sat down on a pillow on the floor and patted another pillow for Sapphire to join her. Sapphire sat down, wondering what time was Jinx's usual bedtime. "I'm not really good at cards, but I know adults like to play them. But I figured you wouldn't mind drawing with me, plus we can play 20 questions." Jinx grinned. Sapphire laughed and nodded, grabbing a few sheets of paper and some oil crayons to begin drawing. She would let Jinx start with the questions first, knowing that kid was the curious type. "Okay, first question! What is your favorite color?" Jinx asked.
Sapphire gave her an unamused look for the simple question. "I thought the questions would be more interesting than that. Blue." She replied, Jinx snorted.
"Better to get the basic questions out of the way first. And it's your turn by the way." Jinx retorted, starting her own coloring.
"Hmmm. What is your favorite way to spend a day?" Sapphire asked, looking over to see Jinx had her tongue sticking out her mouth in concentration.
Jinx thought for a moment, still coloring. "Well, my favorite way would be to spend time with Dad, but I get to do that on my birthday in a few days anyway. First, he'll take me to the shooting range, then we'll go to lunch, then a toy store, and finally come back and have dinner together here." She replied.
"Your dad takes you to a shooting range?" Sapphire asked, trying not to sound surprised. I mean Silco was this kid's dad, it wasn't completely out of left field.
"That counts as a question and yes. I'm quite good with a pistol." Jinx said proudly. "Are you any good with a gun?" She asked, pausing her drawing to look at Sapphire.
Sapphire sighed softly. "...umm I am not sure. I've never shot a gun before. I've used daggers before though." She replied, not wanting to seem helpless.
"You'll have to come with us sometime. The shooting range is really fun! Besides, then I'll have something that I can do better than you!" Jinx grinned and Sapphire laughed.
"I don't think you need shooting to do that. You're already drawing way better than I am." Sapphire looked down at her stick figures. "What's your favorite type of candy?"
Jinx grinned, excitement showing in her eyes. "It's not exactly a candy. So if I'm really good, my dad has Chuck make me a sugary drink. Dad calls it the SugarDrop, y'know because of The Last Drop. He thinks he's so funny." She rolled her eyes, only to hear Sapphire giggling.
"I mean, it is a creative name for a drink, but who's Chuck?" Sapphire asked, muttering damn under her breath when she realized that question also counted. Jinx giggled and sat up.
"You're terrible at 20 questions. Chuck is the bartender, you know, kinda tall, brown hair." Jinx explained. "He keeps saying his name isn't Chuck, but he's Chuck to me. What is your favorite flower?"
Sapphire shook her head in amusement, turning back to her drawing. "Poor Theiram. My favorite flower?" Sapphire stopped again, tilting her head in thought. Sapphire's mother had always loved Roses and had always had tons of them filling the house. Sapphire had hated them, disguising their sharp thorns with that beautiful red flourish. "I like tulips. They're simple, yet they're beautiful all the same. In my opinion, more so than roses." Sapphire replied.
Jinx nodded. "My dad hates roses, he finds them deceiving, but I think he hates all flowers anyway. Next question please!" Jinx moved onto a new sheet of paper to make a new picture.
Sapphire hummed in thought, trying to think of a good question. "What's your favorite type of weather?" She asked, remembering how Jinx had played in the rain yesterday.
"I like sunny days. I used to not like the rain, but I've started to like it more now." Jinx explained. "Especially after yesterday. That was so much fun! Even after we accidentally splashed dad!" Sapphire winced at the memory. Silco had given her such a dirty look at that moment she thought he was gonna kill her with just his eyes. "Okay. serious question time! What happened to your family?"
Sapphire froze, wondering if she had just heard Jinx correctly. She hesitated, putting the oil crayon down and sighing. "I'm not sure if it's really an appropriate story for a little girl to hear." She explained and Jinx shook her head.
"I'm not little, I'm almost 12!" Jinx protested, making Sapphire sigh again.
"Alright, I suppose you're mature enough to hear this." She changed her posture, leaning back against the wall as she started to tell the story. "I'm sure you're curious about how I'm able to go into Piltover so easily right?" Jinx nodded for her to continue. "Well, my mother was from Piltover and my father was from the Undercity."
"You mean he was from the nation of Zaun. Dad said it's demeaning to say that we come from the Undercity." Jinx interrupted, drawing slowly as she spoke. Sapphire nodded in understanding.
"Got it, so I was a mix of the two. I have access to Piltover because of my mother's blood. Anyway, my parents met in the Promenade and you know how the story goes. They fall in love, get married, and have kids. There was my older brother, Jasper, and myself. Things were… not as they seemed. My father wasn't a very good man. He often would bring home hookers to sleep with, and my mother was often too drunk to care. Jasper and I never got along, we were always fighting. I got used to losing a lot and having toys broken because of him. When I was eight years old, my father walked out on us." Jinx had stopped drawing by now, just listening intently to Sapphire. "Years went on with my mother drowning herself in a bottle, and when my brother was eighteen, she kicked him out. I haven't seen him since that day." Sapphire paused for a moment, clenching her fists than relaxing them. "Four years later, on the day I turned eighteen, I walked into the house to discover my mother had hung herself. She left a note for me. Something about her finally being free and not having to take care of her leech children anymore." Sapphire couldn't hide the bitterness in her voice. "So, my mother is dead, and I haven't seen my father or brother in years."
Jinx was quiet, slowly getting up and walking over to hug Sapphire. "It's okay. I understand how you feel. My sister left me too." Sapphire hugged Jinx back, her heart burned with the pain caused by her family, but she was happy to be here with Jinx. "Dad says we are all shaped by the things we experienced. So I bet you're really strong." When Jinx said that, Sapphire felt a lump in her throat and had to bite down on her lip to not cry.
"O-okay, let's get to the next question, okay? Do you have a crush on anyone?" Sapphire blinked her tears back, trying to change the subject. Jinx visibly recoiled in horror.
"A crush?! EW NO! Boys are gross!" Jinx fervently shook her head, giving a shudder for effect. Sapphire couldn't hide her laughter from Jinx's acting.
"Well, it doesn't have to be a boy. You're allowed to have a crush on whoever you want." Sapphire replied. Jinx still shook her head.
"Wait! What about you, huh? Got a crush on someone? A boyfriend or girlfriend?" Jinx questioned, getting closer to Sapphire's face.
"Nope, no one. I've been single my whole life." Sapphire replied. "I never needed a significant other before, and I don't need them now."
Jinx nodded slowly. "That's good. Because if your partner was mean, I'd have my dad kill them. You deserve better than a jerk." Sapphire blinked in shock. Sometimes Jinx could be so nice and naive that Sapphire would forget that she really was Silco's kid.
A quiet chuckle came from the doorway as Silco stepped into the room. "Well that was an interesting conversation to hear. It's about time for you to get ready for bed, sweetheart." Silco said to Jinx and she pouted.
"But we're not tired yet! And we're still playing 20 questions!" Jinx objected. "Besides, it's not Sapphire's bed time!" Sapphire couldn't help but try to stifle her laughter at that comment.
"Then how about this? When you fall asleep, I can continue playing 20 questions with Sapphire for you. Then I can tell you her answers in the morning." Silco offered, negotiating with Jinx. Sapphire froze. There was no way in hell Silco was seriously going to play 20 questions with her.