f1shbonez

[f1shbonez]

This is the greatest fight scene in animation history I don’t make the rules

[f1shbonez]

Ekko fell first but Jinx fell harder is the correct version of Timebomb tbh.

[f1shbonez]

miss backless crop-top and sir all-covered-up

[f1shbonez]

hey i'm free later if you wanna go insane together or something

[f1shbonez]

[f1shbonez]

The silence was starting to get to her.

She waited for Ekko’s reinforcements. She waited for the Big Terrible Thing that was totally gonna happen now that the band-aid had been ripped off and stomped on. She waited for morning. She waited. Waited. Waited. Waited.

What gives?!

By the time the firebugs had emerged from their little holes to go about their day outside, Jinx had given up on waiting entirely. She’d deal with the ruckus when it happened. This whole waiting thing was lousy, anyway, and it certainly wasn’t helping the ugly feeling that accompanied every thought of Ekko.

Humming to herself, Jinx elected to ignore the hustle and bustle of Ekko’s little army outside- that was, until the door opened. The tune died on Jinx’s lips with the crescendo of sound that spilled in from the outside.

Well sure, come on in. She thought to herself snidely, eyeing the unwelcome beam of light that followed the intrusion. Had she dreamed up the events of last night, or was Ekko just going to pretend that his pathetic little retreat never happened?

“You really don’t get it. Do you?” The words gave away her position. A tired kind of irritation lingered in them, smouldering somewhere between the promise of fresh anger and the total lack of it. Slowly, Jinx unfurled herself from where she had been settled, directing her attention towards where Ekko was standing.

"...So, are you coming down for breakfast, or are you still feeling like an asshole?"

Maybe this was breakfast with a twist. Maybe everyone was down there sharpening their utensils into points and stoking a fire to throw her on. At least THAT would be interesting.

If the only thing she got a say in was whether she wanted breakfast or if she was washing or drying dishes today, Jinx wanted none of it. It wasn’t like anything interesting happened outside her cell. They all hated her anyway. The whole thing was totally pointless.

She’d given Ekko the perfect out and here he was, inviting her to breakfast.

Breakfast!

The absurdity of it made her want to laugh. It made her want to cry. It made her want to smash her head into a pulp against a wall.

Tension crept into the lines of Jinx’s shoulders, trickling down her arms into the tips of her fingers. For a moment, she remained unnaturally still.

You’re. NOT. Listening.

Nobody listened to Jinx. Nobody. Not since Silco had gone away. Who were they to start making all her decisions for her, like she was some little kid?

What did she have to do to make Ekko listen? How bad did it need to be?

If this was Ekko’s plan it was dumb as hell. Did he really think he could run away, come back in the morning and gloss over everything like it never happened? Stop being an asshole and come get breakfast, was that it? Fat chance.

Did he think this approach was good for anyone? She felt like a rat, cornered in its bolt-hole.

Try playing nice: Check.

Stick at playing nice: Check.

Do whatever stupid chores you’re given: Check.

Dumb room curfew: As far as they know, check.

Be a good little informant: Check! (with results to boot!)

Nada.

Attack Ekko’s bugs: Check.

Find a way out of the base: Check.

Make a weapon: Check.

Be truly, unabashedly Jinx: Check.

Violently withdraw from the Jinx reformation campaign: As of last night, check.

What gives?

For a smart guy, Ekko was giving off some seriously mixed messages. Last night’s little episode really should have set things up for a swift exit from the bug club.

As though Ekko wasn’t poised at the door for a quick exit, awaiting some kind of clear answer, Jinx padded over to the window to inspect the army of bugs and their pitchforks. Nothing. Tch. Clicking her teeth, she turned, stalking back towards the far side of the room.

She didn’t want to go back to the normal prisoner routine. She’d expressed that. It wasn’t working. The goalpost kept moving. Nothing she did was good enough (and that was when she HAD been doing her best at behaving!). What about when she really screwed up? What if she didn’t want to be here anymore? It wasn’t so great. It wasn’t like she’d ever really fit in. Nobody wanted her here. None of them. Last night should have cleared that up for Ekko.

Did he think he could just vito her rejection of this whole thing?

It sure looked like he was trying.

Jinx slanted a callous glance in Ekko’s direction. Maybe she hadn’t hit him hard enough.

Was it really that hard for him to wrap his head around the idea that she was someone else now? Friends, family, enforcers, random people- dead! She didn’t even know how many. It’s like Ekko was incapable of seeing how much she’d changed- how unredeemable everything was.

It was so much easier if they just hated each other and went their separate ways. Why couldn’t Ekko see that? Even with her astonishingly poor track record for blowing up all the things that mattered, he still wasn’t budging.

“Hmn.” Jinx slumped down onto her bunk, planting her heels into the bedroll and fixing her gaze onto the wooden ceiling. A detached ghost of a smile played along the lines of her mouth, tinged in something bittersweet.

She was going to have to do something really bad to make this all stop.

“We both know I don’t wanna do that.”

Charred Bridge

Ekko splashed some water on his face, and resignedly set about re-applying his face paint. Sunlight was filtering through his window now; he had to face the day and whatever came with it, whether he felt ready or not.

He hadn't slept. He'd spent hours unpicking what had happened. Repeating the memory in his mind over and over, analysing every freeze-frame in his memory, in an effort to glean some new detail he'd missed - as if the key to what to do next was buried somewhere, waiting to be gleaned from the right scrap of information.

Mostly it had felt a lot like going blindly in circles and clutching at empty air.

His friends had tried to help. Eve in particular had been surprisingly diplomatic and compassionate about the whole thing. There had been no "I told you so", or any pressure towards a certain specific decision, in spite of what he knew they were all thinking.

Is this it, then?

The redness was gone from his face now; there was no lasting physical mark, only a little residual tenderness. Just like last time, the real damage from the blow was in the resounding devastation of what it represented.

A lot of the violence Jinx committed was from a distance. Shooting, blowing things up. It was easy to be detached with that kind of distance. A slap was up close and extremely personal. It wasn't her style.

And yet she'd gone for precisely that with him twice now.

He now knew where she'd learned it from - and it made it sting so much worse, that she was trying to hurt him and push him away in the exact way Vi had hurt and rejected her.

I don’t wanna be rescued. I'm Jinx now.

You’re not my family. You’re not! You’re not -!

Ekko shut the glass cabinet above his sink with a little more force than was strictly necessary, and turned away from his reflection. He could fix up his hair and clean up his face to make it look like he hadn't been up all night over this shit, but the real armour he needed was calm, decisive action.

By the time he reached the stairs, that strange, seething feeling started up under his skin again. He felt twitchy, on edge, as he descended the steps on autopilot. He didn't know what he was heading back into. The quiet on the other side of the door told him nothing.

It took a moment to spot her (was not getting immediately attacked a positive sign or not?) But when he did, fhe sight of her triggered a strong gut reaction - a violent swooping sensation in his stomach with a sharp pang, not unlike missing a step on the way down the stairs and then getting impaled with a broken piece of the bannister while trying to regain his balance. A jolt of apprehension and hurt and bitter grief that he had to swallow down, down, down.

You get one shot at this. Make it count.

"...So, are you coming down for breakfast, or are you still feeling like an asshole?"

The query was dryly sardonic, his expression deliberately neutral and bordering on nonchalant. But his eyes were unflinching, shrewdly evaluating.

He made a point of folding his arms and leaning against the doorway, as if this was business as usual and there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. As if his heart wasn't absolutely hammering, as if he wasn't waiting to find out whether the childhood friend he'd worked so hard to reach for was about to drop another match and send his world up in smoke for a second time.

This was the only card he had left to play.

Either this would work, or it wouldn't.

Either she'd understand what he was trying to say, or she wouldn't.

Do I look like I'm running away?

@f1shbonez

[f1shbonez]

everyone wants weird until weird is actually weird and they don’t know how to cope with that

[f1shbonez]

@misfits-of-zaun

flirting by bullying the shit out of each other <3

[f1shbonez]

"forgive and forget" WRONG! go to hell

[f1shbonez]

[f1shbonez]

We were friends once, but not now.

[f1shbonez]

"This city is big enough for only one blue-haired girl with a long side bang"

[f1shbonez]

sting

[f1shbonez]

This was fun to paint🩵

[f1shbonez]

srry for looking into ur eyes without permission

[f1shbonez]

In honor of new arcane teaser dropping recently, here's a fan art I did in 2021 🌚

[f1shbonez]

@ronnalonzo