(open) catch-all

[zauneyete]

WHO: Silco & others!
WHERE: Focused on Stygia -- particularly Mirth and the Markets
WHEN: Throughout November!
WHAT: Catch-all for the month! There are some open prompts within!
WARNINGS: Drug references, probably also references to multiple criminal activities. I'll add anything particular if it comes up!

[ If none of the below prompts tickle your fancy, and you'd like one, feel free to hit me up on my plotting post or on plurk at hundreds, or of course, just wildcard it! ]

Comments

😭

[zauneyete]

[ The sensation has been happening all day. Seeing people that didn't seem to be all that familiar, despite the feeling that they were... someone he should know. The bartender had been like that too, although it was faint. Like swimming in a sea of vague familiarity, and Silco had kept the most of it to himself, because he could stumble through conversations easily enough, pretending that he knew who someone was. He could even use context, to fiddle out why some had approached.

Nothing had felt like this.

It's an overwhelming sensation, that felt like his brain had overcooked, like he was working into overdrive, because he knew that he knew this person. More than anyone he'd met in this place so far, more than any other face, he was struck like it was a board to his head. He should know this person.

So then why did their face look completely unfamiliar? Why could he not connect a face to the name?

It took him a moment, of odd searching, his eyes danced, trying to figure it out, before he looked back down at his drink, if just to get overwhelming sense of familiarity to stop. ]

Did you?

[ He asked, not really understanding if this was a good thing, or a bad thing. ] Are you trying to become a fisher?

[ He could play this off. Surely...? ]

[hexgem]

[ A crease etches itself between Jinx's eyebrows. She looks back at Silco curiously, tilting her head from side to side. The straw bobs up and down, anchored between her bite. It was a weird question but maybe he simply didn't connect the dots. ] What? No. Just trying to make some coin without dying from boredom. Which is what would happen if I had to stand there with a stick and string.

[zauneyete]

Fair enough.

[ It's said, and there's a grunt of Silco's usual acknowledgement, but...

Is she talking to him because she knows him? He can assume so, given the way she seems familiar, but the reminder slipped through his fingers like sand. It's frustrating, and he ran a hand through his hair, as if that would jog his memory.

It doesn't ]

I thought the whole fishing "job" sounded rather demeaning, personally. I suppose, though a bomb would do the trick.

[ Nice. Perfect. See? He can do this. ]

[hexgem]

[ It's because of Silco that Jinx has never had to work the sorts of demeaning jobs that most people in the undercity need to get by. He taught her that she deserved better, like all the people of Zaun. He gave her the support and resources to become something more. She had hoped he would be pleased to see her devising a way around the most demeaning parts of the job, and his words do say as much.

But that doesn't distract her from what his body language says; running a hand through his hair is usually reserved for tenser moments than this. She cocks her head curiously. ] What's got you all stressed?

[zauneyete]

[ Silco's hand paused, still held into his hair, before his head tipped towards this strange -- but so familiar -- girl.

Yes, Silco ran his hand through his hair only when he was stressed, or frustrated -- but how did she know that? It wasn't like he let anyone in, except for --

-- his mind slid right over the thought, that eerie, overwhelming sense of familiarity took hold again. He'd only noticed the feeling this morning, but...

Was this a part of being dead? His lips tightened, as he considered his words, but without knowing the significance of what he was saying, he said: ]

People I don't recognize keep talking to me. I'm not used to being so popular with strangers.

[hexgem]

[ Jinx doesn't miss the implication. She would understand him making that gesture if it were anyone else speaking to him, but not her.

She yanks the straw from her mouth and points the bitten end at his face. Her heart pounds against her chest as if she already knows the answer. ]

You remember me, though. Right?

[zauneyete]

[ Hm.

Silco paused, because that overwhelming sense of familiarity is bordering on a headache now. The more he tried to make the connection, tried to force himself to understand what was going on, who this was...

He couldn't. It's like sand through his fingers. ]

I know I should.

[ He said. And raised a finger to rub at his temple. Who would even talk to him so familiarly? His mind is a jumble of familiar shapes but he can't bring their faces or names to mind, even when he tries. ]

There aren't many people who I look at and I know I should know, but you are one of them.

[ He knew who this was -- or he should? -- Why can't he place her face? ]

[hexgem]

[ Oh.

Jinx doesn't know what's worse: that Silco claims not to know her or that he lied and tried to pretend he did. He let her go on like an oblivious fool. She jumps out of her seat and onto the bar, shoves into his personal space and clutches a hand tightly around his jaw. From her perch on the bar, she has the advantage of staring down at him, and she looks directly into his good eye for any sign of recognition. ]

Is this a joke? It's not funny, but I'll forgive you if it's just a joke.

[ Please let it be a bad joke. ]

[zauneyete]

Do I seem like the type to joke?

[ He asked, as if she already didn't know. He wished he'd had an answer that helped, or an insight into why this was happening. He had no idea, other than the fact that he couldn't remember anyone, no matter how hard he tried. No matter what he did, or how long he stared, he couldn't remember.

He reached up, to take her wrist -- he didn't know why he did it -- but he didn't tug her away. ]

I can't recognize anybody. I pride myself on knowing everyone and everything, do you think I'd joke about something this serious?

[ Did he look a little manic? He felt manic, certainly. A touch panicked. Why had he even said that much? ]

[hexgem]

[ No, Silco doesn't joke, and he especially wouldn't joke about something like this. Not with her. But that was her last bit of hope, evaporated now as reality sinks in like a punch to the gut. He really doesn't remember her.

Jinx feels her eyes welling with tears and it makes her want to scream. Stupid, childish, crybaby— there's that voice again, the one that only started speaking out since she got here and pounces in her moments of weakness. ]

But I'm your daughter. [ She says in a small, pathetic voice, as if all he needs is a reminder. ]

[zauneyete]

[ It's like water over sand. Every time he tries to put it together, he can't. There's this overwhelming feeling, like static in his head, the all-too loud noise of rushing waves. No matter what he does, he can't put it together. There's a part of him, tiny, that's screaming that this person -- above all else -- should be known, but he can't put it together.

It's infuriating, and there's a moment where his hand clutched tight, like he's trying to force the memory, to try and put it together, even if it doesn't come.

She says the words, and he hears them? But it's like...static. Like the word itself is... gone? He hears it, of course he does, but the word doesn't connect.

What's wrong with him? ]

My --?

[ What? Why did this girl sound so... upset? Why did he feel upset by that? Why did that same overwhelming sense that this person was important? ]

I've upset you. [ He says. Yeah Silco, no shit. That sense that he knows her returned, and it's like a high-pitched whine -- the sound after a bomb goes off, where senses are at maximum capacity and overtaxed. His fingers shook, trying to place her. She was his --? What? ]

If I could fix this, I would. I don't even know how this happened.

[hexgem]

[ Her grip tightens, long fingernails carving little crescents into Silco's cheek. The furrow in her brow deepens as she scowls at him. ]

...If? What do you mean, if? Have you forgotten who you are, too? You're Silco. [ This, Jinx says with the deep conviction of someone who has fully bought in— hook, line, and sinker— to the myth, the man, the legend. Just like any father to his daughter, Silco is bigger than life in her eyes. Certainly bigger than this, whatever it is that has happened to him. ] Since when do you let anything stop you? There's no if about it. You're going to fix this.

[zauneyete]

[ That's a lot of belief from someone he can't even grasp nature of who she is -- but isn't that the whole reason for this -- and Silco's left with the distinct impression that... despite the ringing in his ears, the overwhelming sensation that he knows this person, and the fact that she dug painful crescents into his face --

He hissed, and gripped her wrist again, this time to lean forward -- ]

Fine, there is no if -- But if you find a source for whatever it is that's causing this, tell me before I lose all sense of self, will you?

[ Was it because he was dead? This realm? It was a terrifying thought, to live here and not know anyone, was that his fate from now on? It was all so unknown, that Silco still has no grasp on it. This is the first time it's happened to him -- to anyone -- that he'd heard of, it infuriated him.

What was the cause? ]