[ He says it with disbelief. What were miracles, to people like he, and Jinx? They had been denied so much, for so long. They lived in squalor and poverty โ though they were perfectly comfortable in the Last Drop, and Jinx had never known a day of hunger after Silco had hugged her that first night in the rain โ underneath the noses of those that looked down on them. ]
Set, I cannot bank on a miracle. Twice I have.
[ His fingers curl around her shard, and it's so gentle, despite the way he trembled. Twice, she had been here, violent and grand. He knew. ] Whatever your quarrel with Yima, I do not look to her to bring Jinx here. She has tried, twice and both times the tree called her back.
[ Well, that answers why Silco hates the tree so much, doesn't it? ] I...don't even know if your world will allow her, or accept her.
[ The skin around his blinking eye tightened, and he closed it. ]
Think about it. Were I to leave Zenith, what would happen to her shard?
[ He knew. People left Zenith all the time. Yima would yank it back. She had a persona of softness about her, but Silco knew. He'd seen it, beneath the comforting smiles, the things that Silco found lurking in her deception. She'd asked him to make monsters, she had told him that Aetรณs's attention was not unwelcome. He knew that she would take Jinx back.
She had once told him, all those months ago, that to her, there was nothing more important than reuniting family.
He did not believe that she would reunite him with his daughter, unless he paid for it.
But it was transactional, and that he understood, more than anything. Transactional was how they had lived their lives. That was how he could function. ]
I have to proceed this way. It's our only hope.
[ He picked her up, held her in his hand, cupped like she was the most precious thing in the world. ]
If it is not enough. If I can't โ
[ Silco was one man, is what he didn't say. He could fight and fight, and fight, but he could not be anywhere. Could not do as much as was needed. He believed in fighting for it, but he understood. He was not a fool, after all. He knew that Meridian promised hope, and hope was infectious. ]
It's why I ask you to watch over her. Yima can't take her, if I don't betray her. She can't wipe her from reality, if I die enacting her will. It's not my life I'm fighting for.
It's hers.
[ He'd promised her that he would never leave her. He knows he will. He doesn't have a choice, now. ]
no subject
[ He says it with disbelief. What were miracles, to people like he, and Jinx? They had been denied so much, for so long. They lived in squalor and poverty โ though they were perfectly comfortable in the Last Drop, and Jinx had never known a day of hunger after Silco had hugged her that first night in the rain โ underneath the noses of those that looked down on them. ]
Set, I cannot bank on a miracle. Twice I have.
[ His fingers curl around her shard, and it's so gentle, despite the way he trembled. Twice, she had been here, violent and grand. He knew. ] Whatever your quarrel with Yima, I do not look to her to bring Jinx here. She has tried, twice and both times the tree called her back.
[ Well, that answers why Silco hates the tree so much, doesn't it? ] I...don't even know if your world will allow her, or accept her.
[ The skin around his blinking eye tightened, and he closed it. ]
Think about it. Were I to leave Zenith, what would happen to her shard?
[ He knew. People left Zenith all the time. Yima would yank it back. She had a persona of softness about her, but Silco knew. He'd seen it, beneath the comforting smiles, the things that Silco found lurking in her deception. She'd asked him to make monsters, she had told him that Aetรณs's attention was not unwelcome. He knew that she would take Jinx back.
She had once told him, all those months ago, that to her, there was nothing more important than reuniting family.
He did not believe that she would reunite him with his daughter, unless he paid for it.
But it was transactional, and that he understood, more than anything. Transactional was how they had lived their lives. That was how he could function. ]
I have to proceed this way. It's our only hope.
[ He picked her up, held her in his hand, cupped like she was the most precious thing in the world. ]
If it is not enough. If I can't โ
[ Silco was one man, is what he didn't say. He could fight and fight, and fight, but he could not be anywhere. Could not do as much as was needed. He believed in fighting for it, but he understood. He was not a fool, after all. He knew that Meridian promised hope, and hope was infectious. ]
It's why I ask you to watch over her. Yima can't take her, if I don't betray her. She can't wipe her from reality, if I die enacting her will. It's not my life I'm fighting for.
It's hers.
[ He'd promised her that he would never leave her. He knows he will. He doesn't have a choice, now. ]