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[ Jack brightens when he sees her. She made a big impression on him when they met and he liked having someone that he could text if he wanted to. It's been strange having all these options of talking to people, he only had his immediate family on his phone before. It feels like a normal thing to have maybe-friends to message.]

Hello!

[ He lifts his hand in a wave. Jack offers her the bag. Inside she'll find several colors of nail polish in very bright colors like blue and violet to suit her unique look.]

I found a jewelry store at the strange mall and thought you might like these.

[ Some people might have found it a bit teenager cheesy but to Jack it was bright and exciting.]

[Vi's been working hard to get Jinx things she wants out of, as far as Jinx can tell, some desperate desire to have their two jagged pieces fit back into one sisterly whole. But the edges are so filed down or warped that neither of them know really how to be without likely, eventually, shattering.

So Jinx has seen polish, at last. Nothing like the hoard she's had in the past. And she goes through it quick. Not only the upkeep of keeping her nails looking their best, but she'll take anything she can to paint with. Her worn down car's started to have odd lines drawn along it, like an artist making their first-draft lineart; her bombs developing their personalities.

She lights up at the offering, fingers reaching, before she thinks better of herself--a doubt in the direction of even Jack's overly bright face.] What do you want for them?

[ Jack hadn't thought to paint his own nails with them. Mostly he got gifts for other people rather than for himself. He got an extensive amount of tacky jewelry and giant flannels with friends in mind. He noticed her nails when they first met. He's observant, he notes basically everything about someone from head to toe, and remembers it for later.

His expression turns puzzled and he keeps holding the bag toward her, thinking maybe she just doesn't understand. Which is fine, because they are in a city where people have to pay for everything.]

I got them for you as a gift. I don't want anything. I mean, outside of you liking them? I hope you do.

[ That is something he would want.]

A gift? [Heartbreaking that she doesn't really understand. It's not unknown to her. Family got each other gifts. In the way that Vander, Vi, Jinx, and even the dumb boys could be when they weren't impossible and cruel. In the way that Silco could be. In the way that Jinx was, with Isha.

The hole for friend was empty and awfully Ekko-shaped and dismissed. She has yet to ask anyone from home if they know what happened to the boy, after all. Jinx lost sight of him. They divided and conquered.] I-I do but... [But not family, not friend, means there should be strings attached.

Unless he wants to try to fit in as friend and that--

That's not--

That's no good.] I-I don't think I can accept these... [Just take them, her mind hisses, sourceless. Her own voice, probably. Just take them, the boy is an idiot, gullible, an easy mark. Take them and use him, easy. If he hasn't learned the way of the city, that's his own fault.

She hesitates, still.]

[ Jack's confused. If she likes them, why wouldn't she want to have them? His thoughts are right there on his face, always, he's never learned how to mask his feelings well. He can tell there is something going on with her, that she is struggling with something, but he's not the most emotionally mature person out there. He is a gullible, easy mark, and usually he would just accept what she said, but he studies her.]

Would you prefer it if I said you could have these in exchange for, um ....

[ Jack thinks about what he wants. He doesn't want money, that's definitely not of interest to him in this situation. What is something that a friend could have?]

You could get me something chocolate? I like sweets.

[ He has a serious sweet tooth, he'd probably take a lot of trades in candy.]

[The offer eases something in her. It's stupid; she knows it's stupid, but she couldn't walk back from her stance on the matter and she expected him to just slip back and that would've been fine.

She forces a laugh and though it's obvious and doesn't reach her eyes, she grins, snatching the bag and falling into the comfort of a mask.] Okay, kid, you got yourself a deal. I won't even steal it. [Well. She might. Shut up.] Any kind you don't eat?

No, I like anything with sugar. I don't really need to eat these days, so I only bother with things that taste sweet.

[ Since absorbing his father's entire Grace and essence, Jack has never felt less like a human. He wouldn't even call himself half anymore; he's mostly archangel, between Michael and Lucifer. He's stopped sleeping and eating unless he feels like it. It's all very weird, but at least he can still taste. He has that going for him, for now.]

So if I find things out in the Fringes I think you'll like, we can trade for treats, right?

[ Jack is being cautious. He doesn't want to make her uncomfortable by leaving gifts for her like a crow with their favorite person. But maybe if they have an expected deal of some kind it will seem less strange.]

You... don't really... [sorry] you don't really need to eat these days? [But he looks healthy and not like a street rat. Her doubt is Extreme, however.

Well, whatever. She doesn't need to feed him, she just needs to trade sweets. Easy.

No. Nope. Sorry. What?] Sorry, What?

Oh.

[ Jack hesitates. He forgets how many people know what he is at this point. He hasn't been very good at hiding it. But he finds that he doesn't want to say the wrong thing and make her suddenly afraid of him when they only now are getting along well. She took the nail polish and his gift was good. He probably shouldn't make things worse.]

It's. A ... figure of speech?

[ Seriously the worst liar you can imagine.]

[?????????????????????????]

Nope, it's really not.

[He doesn't even need to be a believable liar for her to let it go; he just needs to not be complete shit at it. Tiny bit of effort, come on, where's the production? Some dark spot to the sunbeam, just one good lie.

(She'd be a terrible influence.)]

[ Jack is flustered because as per usual, he's never been able to tell a lie successfully. He knows it sounds terrible, and color is flooding his face because he's suddenly nervous. If he tried to lie again, he only would make it sound worse than that one. He tries to decide what he wants to say and how to present it. He feels tongue-tied.]

I'm ... um. Not human. Not all human. Mostly not human. So I don't have to do things like eat or sleep.

[ Jack misses some semblance of sleep. He never did much of it, but it was nice to have the option. Now he's awake all hours of the day, often wandering the streets or finding something to occupy his mind with. This is what Castiel got used to on earth all the time, so Jack figures eventually he'll adjust to it.

This at least is the truth and he says it with that firm ring of honesty that is more natural to him.]

I just didn't want to freak you out.

[She blinks, a bit surprised, and then laughs a little, reaches a hand up and brushing her hair back with her knuckles. Her tone however is light, devoid of mockery.] Sheesh, that's it? You look passable. [Is that a compliment to him? An insult? Who knows. Jinx isn't the best person to go to for unoffensive behavior.] I'm just sayin', at least you don't look like a yordle.

[She holds a hand down at her side about a few feet off the ground to indicate yordle size and then reaches up with both her hands by her ears and mimics pulling to indicate big yordle ears.

She does not mention how easily they can die, but she's sure thinking about Smeech.] Point is, I'm used to a diverse land.

[ Jack feared the worst reaction because he's gotten it a few times. Mostly in the Apocalypse world where he spent a significant amount of time for him, and just being a Nephilim afforded him a lot of suspicion even as their friend. Plus they're supposed to keep monsters secret from normal people for a reason, in case they do freak out.

But she doesn't. She laughs a little instead, and she's not surprised that other beings exist, and Jack relaxes. There's open relief on his face, and he smiles.]

I don't know those, but I'm a Nephilim, I'm half-archangel and half-human, so I look human most of the time. It's scary to some people.

[ The angels were scared of him for a time, and then they used him, so there really weren't many people who saw him in a pure way. Only Castiel and Sam.]

I'm glad you're not scared. I promise I'm a good one.

[And then he starts saying things like Nephilim and archangel and he just loses her, looking blankly and open confused.] ... yeah, I don't know what any of those things are, but you do you. [Goodness or...

whatever

she doesn't really care about anyone's moral compass]

Oh they're .... [ He considers.] Angels are beings made of celestial light. They serve an omnipotent God and manage a place called Heaven, where people go when they die if they're good. My father was the most powerful of them, but he was an evil person, and he's dead now.

[ Jack is used to being on a world where the word angel is immediately recognized and understood. He's met a few people here too who know what it is without explanation, so he hopes that somewhat makes sense. He doesn't know much about his people, to be honest. It's not as if Castiel sat him down and gave him all the answers about angels he had questions about. He doesn't question his adopted fathers.

Lucifer is a very sensitive subject, and Jack's tone is a little flat when he refers to him. He wishes he didn't care about him or that he is dead, but he does, and it's annoying.]

I'm like ... mostly made of light on the inside. And I have wings. You can't see them, but they're there. Like this.

[ Jack takes a step back and focuses. He starts to glow a pure white, and the shadow of wings can be seen behind him. His eyes are a bright gold-white, and then he lets it go, and he turns back into a normal person.]

[Jinx knows full-well about 'evil fathers' but similarly that's a touchy topic for her. Silco hasn't been someone she could talk about. Even back home, after...

Well.

The amount of dead people in her life that she doesn't talk just keep adding up, is all.

'Celestial light' only makes her think Janna, the wispy wind spirit of stories, for anything that may come close. She squints away from his lightshow, and there's no judgment in her eyes after it ends, but--] You could probably make some joolies as a street performer with that act instead of working every single other place--

[sorry]

--just sayin'.

[Pause.]

That's cool, though.

I don't think so. Supernatural creatures are more common here than I expected. I'd have to do better than glowing.

[ Which Jack can do, he has a lot of impressive abilities that it never occurred to him would be useful as a job. He's working very 'boring' types that no one else wants, like a supermarket and a bowling alley, but he enjoys the simplicity of what he's chosen. When other people are tired of mopping or changing the lanes, Jack smiles cheerfully and never complains. ]

Is it? [ He smiles, hopeful.] You're not scared? Most people are afraid of me.

[ In his world, the strange and powerful are reasonably terrifying to ordinary people. They're protected from the true knowledge for a reason. And Jack was surrounded by hunters who hated angels, or normal humans who didn't know how to handle anything bigger than them. Jinx doesn't spook easily. She barely blinked an eye at him. It's a relief.]

So there are monsters where you're from? People different?

[She's not really sure she's seen much for supernatural, but she doesn't really know how she'd know.] I think you'd have to work at being scary, bud.

[She frowns a little. He probably didn't mean it the way she heard it.] You make it sound like anyone that's different is a monster. [But, well. She has a particular way when it comes to the word monster given what some people think of her. Hero or Monster.

Heh.] Monsters are just people. Anyone different are almost just people.

[ Jack doesn't have the most developed sense of humor out there, but he at least attempts to joke sometimes, and this is one of those times. He holds his hands up with fingers in claw way like a zombie might toward her.]

Rawr!

[ It's a clearly fake attempt at being 'scary,' and he's being goofy, but he's odd that way. He drops his hands right away knowing it's all very silly. He wanted to try and make her laugh though. Trying to actually make her afraid of him never crossed his mind.]

I ... guess. [ He considers, serious and somber again.] Non-humans are usually called monsters. There is an intentional implication that they're bad or evil because they're not human.

[ So it's prejudice! Plain and simple. It's how Jack was raised so he doesn't think too deeply on these things, and then he came here and he's actively forced to think about it.]

The rules were made by people on the side of the angels, who are seen as good, and everyone else as evil.

[Oh My Gosh Jack Never Do That Again.

She tries not to laugh at him but it's a near thing. It doesn't slip out when his somber tone hits.

It's strange. She wouldn't exactly call her world inclusive but a lot of their problems are class problems, not with what someone looks like and how different they are.] Nothing's ever that black and white. I don't think that's just a 'my world' isn't black and white like that. That just sounds like more ways to oppress people. Have you met many 'monsters'?

[ It would've been fine if she laughed at him. He knows it's silly. The truth is that even when he's being scary, he himself isn't particularly frightening. The level of power is what can set people's blood cold and start fleeing. His own adopted fathers have had their times when they feared him, but they chose to love him despite that. ]

We kill them to protect humans. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to a lot of them.

[ He is more and more realizing how close-minded his life was before. As a simple young person, he was used to following orders, and these days he's doubting that it should have been that way. He knows that his fathers did have allies who were non-human. They even got along with a demon, Rowena's son. So they didn't have to be seen as automatic enemies, yet Jack's been a part of that automatic prejudice.]

I did meet a shifter who was nice. Her name is Mia, and she chose to do good and become a grief counselor for others. We went to kill her, but realized she wasn't the bad shifter. I liked her a lot.

[ Mia helped him during a very bad time in his life. She's dead now, like everyone on Earth, but he hopes they can reverse that. The world is better with her in it.]

I've killed a lot of people. Not everyone probably deserved it.

I've killed a lot of people. [An echoed statement, low and almost a drawl, detached.

She's killed a lot of people here, even.] Not everyone probably deserved it. [She looks at him with a very careful gaze, the tense animal ready to bolt in case there's danger.] I didn't do it to protect anyone but myself. [And that isn't entirely correct, either. Sometimes she just did it. Sometimes they were just there. Sometimes she just could. So many thought Silco aimed her like she was a weapon, but most things she did on her own.

See, Jack? People are the monsters.]

[ Jack's no threat to her. He could be. He could be a threat to this entire city if he wanted to be. If he was even a little bit more like Lucifer, there would be reason to worry. But even if she attacked him, he would avoid fighting as much as possible. It's like an elephant dealing with a mouse. He could turn her into particles with a squeeze of his hand.

Instead he tilts his head at her, considering seriously. She's not the first person he's met here who has admitted to being a killer. He's met people who killed right in front of him. He has complicated feelings about it.]

Why do you kill people? Does it make you feel good? My biological father was a killer. He enjoyed it.

[She lets some of her abrasiveness fall to the wayside. If he's going to take her seriously, she owes him that much at least.] Does it scare you that I might? [She looks down at her boots, scuffed with oils and paints.] It feels good. Powerful. It feels like I have some sense of control when I didn't for so long. [When they were just scrambling to live, survive, at the bottom of the barrel, underfoot Piltover, and all the goons that saw Vander as their shield which meant they could only ever be bargaining chips, not kids.

They rarely ever got to be kids.

She's trying to be more than just a weapon, but she doesn't tell him that, yet. She wants to know what he says, first.]

It scares me that I might. [ He says honestly.] I've killed a lot of people. And it felt just and righteous when I did, because other people told me it was, but I'm not sure what I think anymore.

[ Jack goes a lot by what other people tell him. He's still struggling with that sort of mentality. Billie told him that he had to build a bomb to kill Chuck. His parents told him that he had to kill monsters to save innocent lives. Mary told him in the Apocalypse World he had to kill angels to protect people. Each time, Jack has said okay, and he's done it, but internally, he worries if it's a slippery slope to becoming Lucifer.]

I'd like to see what it's like not to be a weapon. If maybe that'll be better.

[ It's a work in progress. Jack's intentionally not killed anyone since getting here, even when the bandits have tried to attack him. He's managed to knock them out and protect people without killing, and he's going to work hard at keeping it that way. ]

Maybe you could do that too here, if you wanted.

[She never would have guessed that he's killed anyone.] Maybe it wasn't righteous [it probably definitely wasn't righteous] but I think you'd know if you enjoyed it. The people around you, too, would probably notice even if you couldn't see it.

[I was made to be a weapon. ... An asshole I respect, once told me not to be what they made me.

I'd like to see what it's like not to be a weapon.

God. How many messed-up kids are in this place?] My um... business associate. She told me it helps her just to take a moment to stop and think and ask why she's pulling the trigger. And it helps, sometimes. To know the reason why. And maybe sometimes we won't do it--at least for the... wrong reasons.

I enjoyed killing my uncle. He destroyed a world, he killed my friends, he possessed my adopted father. I was the only one who could end him, so I did. I don't regret that.

[ That's what he means by righteous. Michael did plenty of things that caused him to need to die, and for Jack to feel like he was doing the right thing to end it. It did feel good at the time for everyone to be free of him. Jack saved Rowena too, she was being possessed at the time, and then he got all of Michael's power. He's not so sure he liked that part, given what happened next and what killing Michael cost him long-term, but that act is not something he is sorry about.

There are a whole lot of messed-up kids in this place, Jinx. The two of them might not even be the worst off.]

I keep coming across these raiders doing terrible things, and it would be so easy to kill them. Maybe I should, to protect people. Maybe letting them go free is worse.

[ Does that mean everyone they kill afterward is on Jack's shoulders too? Eventually he is going to have to make some hard decisions about his choices, and what he is prepared to do to keep being a Winchester. He focuses on her.]

You couldn't be like my father. He was evil. I can tell you're not.

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rip I had to hiatus last month

WB!

ty~

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