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She should have won.
She should have won. She always won.
They played this game so many times in their youth. It used to drive Vander nuts. Benzo thought it was good practice. Vi played referee. Mylo and Claggor cheered opposing sides. If one of them took it too far, the game would be stopped, but it hardly ever came to that. Mostly, it was the arguments that happened after that caused the trouble. Two kids fighting about how fair the game was when it is toy gun versus stick.
And she always won, sharpshooter she was. No matter the head start he got, no matter how fast he dodged, her paint always found its way to his chest and stained what was hit beneath it. Her aim would eventually ring true every single time. It’s not like he made it easy on her. He got quicker as time went on, took different directions, threw himself this way and that. He did everything he could to be a difficult target. And each time it didn’t matter. She’d take her gun, point it, eyes full of mirth but focused, aim, pull its trigger, and splat. Game over.
He shouldn’t be questioning this. In fact, he should be thankful she lost this time, with the stakes being win and live or lose and die.
Still.
Ekko knows Jinx is different from the girl he grew up with in the slums, but she still holds the gun with the same confidence. The game’s weapons might look a little different now, but it’s still got the same steps. He might be quicker and have more practice dodging bullets, between Silco’s crew and Enforcers trying to rid his Firelights from the world, but… but Jinx should still have Powder’s aim. Jinx should still hit every target that pops up in front of her, just like Powder used to when she played that chaotic shooting game at The Last Drop’s arcade that always needed to be fixed due to having so many moving parts.
But that’s the thing. She doesn’t have Powder’s aim. Jinx has something like Powder’s gun. Jinx has something like Powder’s mirth. But her focus is gone. Her gun lacks true direction. Point, click, miss. No aim.
Where did it go?
Ekko hisses through his teeth as he adjusts his leg. He managed to snag his hoverboard before escaping the bridge, but even if it weren’t busted to hell his injured leg would likely cause balance issues and the ride back to the hideout would be a shaky one at best. So instead, he’s stuck going between staring at his broken way home, the leg that is the source of his physical pain, and at that goddamn bridge that is the source of so much emotional pain for him and Jinx both.
And he’s back to thinking about Jinx again.
Point, click, miss. No aim. Ekko guesses it makes sense she lost aim, considering her preferred weapon now involves rapid fire. All she has to do is point, click, and a wave of bullets follow. So long as she points in her target’s general direction, she’s got a good chance of hitting it with something. There’s no thinking required with a gun like that, just the strength to hold up the nozzle, which he admits is impressive in a different way. That thing cannot be easy to carry around let alone throw in different directions in seconds like she does. But, again, that just makes it harder to control where she’s shooting it at. The gun being able to just continuously spray bullets everywhere makes up for how she can’t take aim properly.
Ekko sighs and wonders if she thinks talking to the gun helps her believe it’ll hit the targets she swings it towards.
Point, click…
But to practically miss every shot she took with her pistol? That’s more than losing, that’s her not trying to aim at all. It’d be one thing if she were out of practice, but her stance was so… so… sloppy. Overconfidence, maybe? She was horrified by the outcome. But who wouldn’t be terrified of dying by the hands of the person who helped you build things, who comforted you when your sister took her leader and protector role too far, who you shared everything with growing up?
Powder?
No, he doesn’t think it was overconfidence that caused Jinx to stop aiming. Powder had confidence behind her shots too, that was never an issue. No, Jinx doesn’t aim because… Ekko doesn’t know for certain. He doesn’t know Jinx, not like he did Powder, anyway. He knows how she fights. He knows what she prefers to use now. He knows to look for her traps before entering completely into a room. He knows that Jinx is a loose cannon. He knows that’s why she’s so dangerous. He knows that’s why she changed the rules of the game last minute by pulling more than a trigger.
But Ekko cannot determine why she has changed in such a way. He can look at Jinx and look at Silco, knowing what he does, and theorize the reasons. He can hypothesize that it might have to do with how Silco seems to point her in a direction and then let her do what she wants without a focus. So long as she gets the job done, who cares how she does it? Or how messy she might make it?
But damn it. What’s the point in theorizing and hypothesizing when the matter is your childhood friend wants you dead and will go as far as pulling a clip when the game calls for triggers and swords?
Ekko can think about the reasons why all day, but he’ll never get an actual answer out of it. It’s not like he can ask Jinx if he’s right.
If she even survived what happened on the bridge, that is.
“Oh, look who it is. The Boy Savior.”
It’s time to get back to work, focus on the now, and get back home. He just has to figure out a way how. The way he is would bring too much attention. He’d be followed easily and lead danger to the Firelights and everything that he has helped to build and everything he fights to keep safe. He has to-
He has to talk to the yordle that is taking a special interest in his gear.