Chapter Text
Jinx didn’t know how to describe how she was feeling. It was a soft sensation. Beginning in her chest and spreading slowly, Jinx almost felt as if it were like water on a flat surface. The feeling engulfed her whole.
Jinx wondered if this is what bliss felt like.
It was a sort of unnerving feeling, but somewhat more overwhelming as exhilarating than anything else.
She wants to lean into the feeling, to soak it up and let it fill her, and for once, there's nothing to stop her. No. Because Vi's bed is warm with Jinx in it. Vi's gray duvet strewn over her body lazily, crumpled up from a night of sleep. It's different from what Jinx used to wake up to. Rolling over, Jinx looks to the woman in question: Vi beside her half on her way to rolling off the mattress, snoring lightly.
Watching the way Vi's hair splayed out on the pillow, Jinx has to remind herself that this is real, and not just another one of her mind playing tricks on her. It's real, and Jinx knows it because when she reaches her hand out, it meets skin. With her thumb padding over the curve of Vi's cheek gently, a satisfied smile makes its way onto Jinx's face.
She wants to pinch down. Wants to wake her up and bother her. But Jinx keeps it in, her eyes flicking down to Vi’s parted lips curiously.
Jinx’s shouldn’t be so greedy. She shouldn’t want to open Vi’s mouth with her own until she wakes up. It’s sick— wrong.
But, as she looks at Vi, thumb still stroking her cheek, Jinx thinks less on it.
Maybe it’s okay to be a little selfish. They’ll work on it.
It’s a long story about how they got here, Together in Vi’s apartment despite Jinx being a wanted criminal in Piltover, but if someone had told Jinx months ago this is where she'd be, she wouldn’t have believed them.
——
3 months earlier
——
A crow flies overhead, perhaps a forewarning of what's to come in the dead of night. Jinx’s cutting through an old scrapyard, just looking for parts, and sure enough, Jinx finds herself face to face with the person she'd wanted to see the least.
It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and Jinx knew it wouldn't be the last.
Of all people, Jinx knew that nothing ever stayed dead. She knew more than anyone the odd way the old tended to haunt the new. How Jinx’s past just wouldn’t let go, because no matter how hard Jinx tried to push it away— push her away...
She always came back.
This time was no different. Call it pure stubbornness or just the need to see her face anywhere else besides the wanted posters— Jinx won’t judge her, but it was getting downright ridiculous.
“I’m starting to get tired of you getting in my way, sis.” Jinx huffed, fixing her mini-gun against her hip. Vi stood a few feet from her, her fancy gauntlets at her arms as she hesitated towards Jinx.
“I just want to talk, Powder.”
“I’ve already told you,” Jinx gritted her teeth, the ringing of that god awful name in her ears as she ditches pow-pow and grabs Fishbones off her back and fires. “That isn’t my name!”
To make a long story short, their fight wasn’t long. Not that they tended to be anymore, and by the time the fight ended, the both of them strewn a few feet apart in the mud— Jinx couldn’t even tell who won. They both took some damage— one of Vi’s gauntlets in need of repair and Fishbones in need of some TLC to mend the nozzle Vi had so rudely bent.
He’s tossed a few feet from Jinx’s body in some rough patch of dirt, complaints spewing from his bent beak about the rough treatment, but Jinx doesn’t feel like imitating his voice right now.
Instead, Jinx looked up at the stars and waited for her breathing to settle. Stars Vi used to show her, back when Powder was still alive, wide eyed and stupid. Where she’d take Powder to the highest point in the Undercity, some book tucked under her arm, and teach her all about the stars and constellations.
"It’s kind of cool, isn’t it? Seeing them in the sky." Vi had said all those years ago, and Jinx still feels inclined to agree.
"Don’t tell me you’re feeling bad?" Mylo’s voice chimes in, and Jinx pushes him out her head as she spits blood onto the dirt, palms pushing at the ground to help hoist herself up.
"I hate fighting you." Vi says from her spot just a few feet away, not making a single move to stand, and Jinx falls back to the ground.
"Oh, buzz off with the sob story," Jinx grits her teeth and tries again, and again before she gives it up. "Don’t like fighting with me? Then stop fighting and just die."
Vi takes a deep breath. "You really want to kill me?"
No.
"Yes." Jinx says anyway.
She hates the silence that follows.
"… When did we become like this?" Vi asks into the ensuing stillness, her voice on the edge of cracking.
Jinx’s answer is always the same.
"It’s just how we’re meant to be, Vi."
"Do we have to be?" Vi croaks, and Jinx sighs, looking back up at the sky. There’s something about it tonight, something serine and nostalgic that Jinx can’t help but hate, yet miss.
"What else is there?" She responds with a bitter laugh. Jinx focuses her attention instead on getting up, attempting to dig her elbow into the mud and squeezing her hand down on her damaged shoulder.
"Sisters? Something other than this?"
Vi doesn't move, but Jinx manages to sit up, looking over her sister coldly. She would ask for them to be sisters despite everything. But Jinx already knows it’s a trick. A lie.
She isn't going to believe any more of Vi's bullshit.
Jinx shifts her gaze from Vi's bleeding arm to the battered armor on her chest, then to the blue eyes that finally meet hers. Vi is looking for an answer, and Jinx has one.
"We could’ve been. Before you replaced me with an enforcer." She snaps, irritated and venomous.
It's the first time Jinx's remarks cause Vi to turn away completely, her face tucked into the sleeve of her filthy red jacket.
"I—I never replaced you. I don’t… I don’t know why you’d ever think anyone can replace you. How I feel about you. Of the memories we have and the nights I’ve thought about coming back to you."
Jinx silently watches the tears sink back into Vi's hairline, her eyes shutting as Jinx finally finds the energy to lift herself off the ground.
"It’s too late for that, Vi. I don’t care anymore." Jinx says as she slowly stands, even though she knows it’s not what she means.
She does care. She cares more than she’ll let Vi know.
At least this way, Vi won’t ever hurt her again.
"I'm sorry I ruined you, Powder." Vi murmurs as Jinx approaches Fishbones, only he noticing how her face contorts in response.
Jinx stops.
And here they are again, Vi finding some new way to hurt her.
"You didn’t ruin me," Jinx spits as she spins back, because leave it to Vi to make it all about her. To remind Jinx just how much Vi loathes her. Pities her.
Nobody ruined Jinx— Jinx is perfect. Ghosts and all.
Jinx was never going to be good enough for her.
But it was okay. Jinx approaches her sister, still caked in dirt, and throws her leg over Vi before sitting on her hard enough to choke her. Jinx grabs the front of Vi's collar as she coughs and yanks her up, bringing them both eye level. Vi tries to flinch away, nervous, and Jinx grins.
"You made me into the best version of myself. I should be thanking you." Jinx says, and Vi slumps in Jinx’s hold, her expression like her body: defeated.
"What are you waiting for then?" She asks, and Jinx's grin falls.
"What?"
Vi lets out a shuddering sigh, leaning back against Jinx’s weight. "You say you want me dead. But you don’t kill me. You don’t kill Cait… I don’t understand you. You say Powder is gone— but I know you’re still in there."
She's right. Mylo pipes up from in the back of her head, his pitched voice scratching against her ears, you're weak.
"You know what?" Jinx laughs, exhausted as she lets Vi's collar go and leans back, eyes fixed on the defeated woman.
But Jinx’s laugh dissolves as quick as it started, rendering her for once, speechless.
And it’s funny, the irony of it.
That it was only now that Jinx could finally see what had bound them together all these years, despite her efforts and disgust. This one attachment Jinx could never get rid of, the way Vi always made her hesitate on the trigger— it was Jinx’s own blatant weakness. And Vi knew.
Jinx ought to feel stupid, but all she wants to do is laugh. Maybe that makes her crazy.
“You’re probably right…” Jinx shrugs, getting off her middle and raising up on her knees to leave. “I don’t know why. Maybe Powder does still have a soft spot for her big sister.”
She feels hurt when she looks over to Fishbones, wanting nothing more than to feel his cool metal in her hands and remind herself that Jinx is perfect. To remind her that she’ll be okay.
Silco’s name is on the tip of her tongue when Vi grabs her hand, her mouth open but still as speechless as the day at the tea party.
Jinx lets her hand slip right out.
“Goodbye, Vi.” She rasped, moving forward and grabbing Fishbones before leaving.
If Jinx had known it was the last time she'd wind up in the dirt with her sister like that, maybe she would have treasured it a little more.
Or maybe not.
——
The next time they crossed paths, Jinx didn’t think her day could get worse.
Aside from the graze on her arm from Caitlyn actually managing to get a hit on her, Fishbones is screeching in her ear over her shoulders, reminding her that they’re right on her ass. Jinx attempts to push herself a little harder, a little faster— jumping from rooftop to rooftop, something Caitlyn has a little less finesse in, and making the sharpest curves and cuts she can, hoping to at least get Vi off her trail.
But alas, things can always get fucking worse.
And it happens when Jinx finds herself approaching an old building, Fishbones clamoring again when Vi calls her name from a few yards behind her, and Jinx needs to get out of sight and disappear. Somewhere on the ground would be difficult, with enforcers in every street, but she should be able to climb into a building or something.
The old building is tall and narrow, with a large gap between it and the adjacent building. Jinx is still running when she lands on the hard flat roof, her gaze drawn to a silver pipe that sticks out near the edge and appears to be an easy grip.
She grabs the pipe to swing to the next roof, the jump too far for her to make on her own without risking it. She intends to duck into a window and hide as soon as she reaches it, but the pipe creaks under Jinx's weight, and despite Jinx's prayers and hopes, the pipe doesn't hold when she swings— it snaps, and Jinx is suddenly falling off the four-story building, not something she’s entirely sure she’ll survive.
Fortunately, Jinx has some self-preservation and is able to break some of the fall, fucking up her arm a bit by letting it grab and drag against the water pipes and gutters along the brick building, whatever she can do to help slow down or even cushion her fall.
When Jinx hits the ground, she has the luck of falling right onto the top of a plastic dumpster before she bounces off and takes the blow of the concrete on her foot, the loud crack that follows making Jinx cry out into her fist. She gives herself a moment to stand there and wheeze and cry, but it's not long before Vi calls her name and looks over the edge of the building and sees her.
"Powder!" She calls out like she’s been for the last six and a half months, starting to climb down the pipe along the building slowly.
"Fucking hell." Jinx whines, half limping and bouncing, and panics, dropping everything except Fishbones as she tries to run. It's a good attempt as Jinx turns a corner, but it's no use, Vi turning the same corner and seeing her before Jinx, of all times, falls.
Jinx's hardly able to flip over to attempt a fight before Vi comes right over and looks over her shoulder, tugging Jinx up as quickly as she can.
"Come on, stand up!" Are the first words that come out Vi's mouth, hurried and panicked as she pulls Jinx to her feet. It's confusing, and Jinx is about to struggle when Vi picks her up off the floor, frantically looking around before shoving her into the only space she can find—another dumpster. Inside, it's all garbage and metal, covered in dirt, grime, and who knows what else. Jinx hisses as her foot digs into the garbage, and Vi does nothing to help by tossing Fishbones beside her, adding to the weight against her foot.
"Stay here," Vi says quickly, jumping as she looks over her shoulder and hears Caitlyn calling after her, pausing only to look over her sister's face.
"I know it hurts, but you have to be quiet. I’ll come back for you, just stay." Are the last words she says before closing the dumpster's lid, Jinx and Fishbones remaining deafeningly silent as voices and footsteps draw closer, then further.
…
..
.
For some unknown, ungodly reason, Jinx stays.
And as promised, Vi comes back.
When Vi opens the lid, it's dark outside, and they don't say much to each other except for Vi telling her when to hold on and when to let go. When Vi sets her down, everything happens quickly, from Vi pulling a sweater over her head to pulling her close, steadying Jinx upright as she moves to cover up anything that may have been left behind.
"Wait," Jinx calls out when Vi moves to re-close the lid, Fishbones still lying inside. "I—I can’t leave him." she whispers, motioning back towards the rocket in the trash.
Vi looks at the both of them conflicted.
"I’ll come back for it before the trash gets collected. I can’t get you back to my apartment with your giant rocket in tow." Vi says lowly, nudging her to keep moving while she shuts the lid.
Before they move, Jinx reaches out and grabs Vi's arm.
"You swear?" She asks.
Vi looks at her and nods. "I swear."
——
"Fishbones!" When Fishbones gets reunited with his companion, her foot's in a splint, her arms huddled around him tightly the moment Vi drops him onto the floor.
"I’m sorry I left you, Fishbones. I’ll never do it again." She promises in the same breath, the cool of his metal soothing as her cheek lays against him.
It's a relief that they weren't separated for good.
"You promise?" Fishbones asks her, Jinx mimicking his voice like a puppet. Jinx seems to melt into his touch.
"I swear, buddy. Did Vi take good care of you?" And Jinx, firm and stressed as a mother, takes his beak into his hands. Vi gives them both an odd, concerned look as she interrupts them.
"It looks broken. You should stay here until your leg heals. Caitlyn’s still got officers everywhere looking for you."
Jinx snickered, and as if a switch had been flipped, all the joy and love had vanished from her.
"You’d know about that, wouldn’t you? Seeing as you work for them now." She says, and Vi's jaw tightens.
She honestly should have seen that one coming. "I don’t work for anybody. Caitlyn just helps me look for you."
"To arrest me."
"I was never going to let her actually take you to prison," Vi manages to say, her throat thick. "I would have convinced her somehow."
She doesn't sound so convinced herself.
Jinx scoffs. "Right, that's why you hid me in a dumpster and why I'm here with a broken foot in your house."
Vi looks up at her, her brow furrowed as she tries but fails to say anything. She's speechless, and when Jinx looks at her, eyes sunken, it's a moment before she can finally grasp the right words.
"I just— need time. You killed her mom, Powder. She isn’t just going to let that go. You of all people should know how that feels… that kind of hate." Vi tells her, looking down as she studies Jinx's face, eyes searching. She tries to find something, some kind of hope, but Jinx looks away and stares into her lap.
"I thought you did too." She says quietly, and Vi swallows.
"I… I don’t want to fight, Powder—" Vi tries, attempting to touch her arm.
Jinx leans away from her touch. "My name is Jinx."
"I’m not going to call you that." She tells Jinx, and Jinx looks up at her and huffs, the sour laugh that follows making Vi's skin prickle.
"Why not? Didn’t seem to bother you before." She says, but there's this edge to her voice that Vi knows is because she's hurt. Vi knows it can be calmed down if she's patient.
So Vi tries to keep her composure. She tries again, softer as she speaks. "... I... Okay. Do you want me to help you to the room?"
"No— I can limp there just fine." Jinx hisses as she shoves Vi's arm away, face pulled coldly.
"Don’t be a smart-ass." Vi snaps right back. "I’m just trying to help you."
Jinx laughs, but the look on her face is anything but amused. Her words sharp as a knife. "Oh, you’re just as bad as Ekko with an attitude like that. I never asked to be helped or saved. Especially by you."
Vi’s face twitched, her nose wrinkled in irritation.
Least to say, the two were no longer on speaking terms, and Jinx limped into the spare room herself.
——
The rest of the evening is quiet as Jinx curls up against the wall in Vi’s… closet? The room was small enough to be practically— and to make matters worse ( or better? ) the voices that normally reside in Jinx’s mind suddenly have nothing to say.
For once, the silence is annoying. Jinx misses her weapons, misses being out and about. Being cooped up in an apartment isn’t so awful, seeing as it’s far from the worst that could happen to her—she could be in jail. So sure, her foot is broken, and she's stuck with Vi, but things could be far worse.
"You could be stuck with Caitlyn." Fishbones says from his spot in the corner, Caitlyn's name rolling off Jinx's tongue like poison.
"Or Sevika." Jinx follows up with a smile, turning her head over. She imagines Fishbones' response, imagines him giving his little hum of laughter. His unapproving eyes as he reminds her that Sevika would take good care of her.
She would, maybe, if he were still around. Now? Fat chance.
Jinx's nearly ready to sleep when a creak in the hallway sends her rolling back over. She stares and listens to the slight creaks in Vi's wooden floor, her ears perking as feet appear under the door from the hall. Jinx braces herself as the door opens, but it's only Vi who enters, hesitant and frowning.
The hardwood creaks under her foot as she comes over.
“C’mon, Powder. I’m not gonna let you stay on the floor.” But Jinx doesn’t budge.
“Please, Jinx.” The name sounds foreign coming from her, hesitant and uttered like a curse from a child’s lips.
Jinx sets out her arms, and Vi helps her up, helping her step to the door before Jinx starts dragging Fishbones with her.
Vi pauses the moment the metal screeches against the hardwood.
“You can leave it here, there’s plenty of room.”
Jinx frowns. “He doesn’t like the dark.”
Vi sighs and grabs Fishbones in her other hand, taking the both of them into the hall and into Vi’s bedroom instead, setting her down on the mattress.
Jinx says nothing as Vi closes the door behind her and sets Fishbones down. Instead, Vi sighs as she sits on the side of the small bed, grabbing a dish of food in her hand from the bedside table.
"You didn't eat anything today." she says quietly, stirring a spoon into the bowl. Still Jinx says nothing, even when Vi looks away from the bowl, to her.
"..."
"You know, you're much more bearable when you're quiet like this." Vi teases, though awkwardly. It's enough to make Jinx sit up straighter, letting herself settle into the bedding.
"I thought you’d be the same way after you croak." Jinx tells her in retaliation, hiding a small smile as she brings her knees to her chest. The food looks and smells okay— not that Vi would poison her. It's rice mixed with chicken.
"Very funny," Vi huffs, pushing the spoon next to Jinx's mouth. "Don't make me force you to eat, please. It's not perfect, but I gave it my best shot."
Jinx opens her mouth and eats without a fight. It's like that for a minute before Jinx chews her food thoughtfully, swallowing before she speaks.
"My arms work perfectly fine, you know?" She says a bit too late, her cheeks already red while Vi feeds her like a baby.
"Just— shut up." Vi tells her, turning away when the red starts at her face too.
Jinx doesn’t say anything else, and neither does Vi until she’s finished the bowl.
It’s the most awkwardest thing ever. But it's a start, sort of.
"Goodnight." Vi says as she places the spoon in the bowl, getting up to the door before she hesitates. "I'm right down the hall if you need me." She says, and Jinx makes a face.
“Isn’t this your bed? Where are you gonna sleep?” The bed isn’t small. At least, not smaller than the one they used to share as kids.
Vi shrugs. “My couch folds out. What do you think I used when I first moved in?”
There’s an argument on the tip of Jinx’s tongue, but it dies out.
“Whatever.” She says quietly instead, and Vi gives her a strained smile before she shuts the door behind her.
——
"I'm going to work. This is my old phone— the screen's broken, but the call button works just fine. Call me if there's an emergency. Like, you've fallen and you can't get up." Are the first words Vi says the next morning when she knocks on Jinx's door. It's early, but Vi is wide awake, coming in to give Jinx a tiny device.
Jinx feels it over in her hands, inspecting it as Vi turns it on for her.
"Why’s it so girly?" Jinx cringes, gesturing to the pink coating along the side. "I never thought you'd like something like this."
Vi seems to share the sentiment at least, managing to look only mildly embarrassed as she set the phone in Jinx's hands. "I didn't pick it out. Caitlyn gave it to me."
Jinx shrivels like a raisin. Well, at least metaphorically she did. Then, shoving the phone right back to Vi’s arms. "Well, I don't want it! I don't want anything she gave you."
"Can you stop being like that?" Vi tells her, irritation visible in her features.
"Fuck you." Jinx doesn't stutter, her eyes meeting Vi's own. It seems to be just the right combination to piss her sister off, and they both start screaming like five year-olds at the top of their lungs.
"You know what? Whatever. I can’t believe I saw something in you worth saving." Vi scoffs at her, rolling her eyes before she storms out the room.
Jinx laughs, bitter and high. "Sorry you’re delusional! Guess we’re both not up to standards!"
Vi slams the door to her apartment shut, it’s a long bout of quiet that follows, Jinx gets up out of bed and grabs Fishbones to leave, but she limps to the fire escape before Vi comes back through the door.
She reaches for keys on the counter, seemingly leaving them behind by mistake, but she see's Jinx too, stepping back inside and shutting the door behind her.
They both look at each other for a long second. Fishbones feels caught between the tension as the drapes blow from the wind.
"You won’t get far." Vi says matter of factly, and Jinx scoffs.
"You must not know me then."
"I’ll call Caitlyn if you take another step."
So much for not working for them, Jinx wants to say, but instead grins at Vi, hostile.
"Because me being in your house with a splint is gonna be real easy to explain to her. You know I can also just tell whoever will listen that my darling sister is the one who helped me escape after I hurt myself."
Vi doesn’t budge. "Nobody’ll believe you."
Neither does Jinx.
"Your girlfriend would."
"Maybe, but she’d turn a blind eye to it. She’s got a bit of a tendency for it, ya know?" Vi admits, shrugging as she leans against the kitchen counter.
"…" Jinx seizes her up, and Vi shows her phone. Jinx sits down at the floor of the window.
"Now that that’s over." Vi sighs, crossing the room and crouching to her height. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to my room.”
Jinx lets herself be lifted, biting her tongue grumpily as Vi sets her back down on the bed
Vi lets out a deep sigh. She takes a seat on the edge of her bed, slipping out the phone and leaving it beside her.
“After you’re done being stubborn, the phone is over here. I dunno, use it to entertain yourself. It has games on it. You’d probably like that, I know I did at first.”
Jinx doesn’t say anything.
“This is only going to work if we try to get along, Po—Jinx. I’m only trying to…” Vi stops herself, then stands, patting at her sides purposelessly. “I’ll be back around five.”
"Whatever."
Vi sighs again, then, softly. "I’m sorry about earlier. Just, try and stay put, okay?"
And she goes.
…
..
.
The days are long and boring, the next four days of Vi’s work week going by with very little resistance from Jinx. At least Vi’s got some kind of sympathy towards the situation, picking up some art stuff and other nicknacks, likely to keep her entertained.
It’s been working at least. Kinda.
"How’s your leg feeling?" She asks after she usually gets home from work, sitting besides Jinx as she pulls her injured into her lap, giving it a good look over from underneath the bandages.
"Hurts." Jinx winces, trying to blink away the pain as Vi pulls the cloth back.
"No kidding, it looks awful. Scared me pretty good when the pipe didn’t hold." Vi responds, not relenting.
Jinx clicks her tongue as Vi applies pressure to the bone itself, testing her pain threshold. Vi makes a soft humming sound, as if noting something, before carefully repositioning the bandages.
"Why are you still helping me?" Jinx asks as she tosses the colored cube she’d been fiddling with down to the floor. Jinx can almost feel the end of her patience drawing near.
When is Caitlyn going to come arrest her? When is Vi going to finally give her up? Jinx hates the stupid mind games. Why is Vi doing all of this?
Vi gives her an odd look, as if the answer should have been obvious. "Because, I’m not going to let anything happen to you."
Jinx feels an odd stinging pain as Mylo speaks, her ears ringing as his voice permeates her senses.
Liar. She’s lying to you.
Jinx holds herself still. Don’t let it get to you. "Cut that out. You don't really care—"
"That's not true, and you know it," Vi says carefully, tying the end of her bandage a little tighter. Then she pauses, making sure the splint’s in a good place before she looks at Jinx and lets out a breath. Trying to explain it. “Just, think about it. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t care. Why would I be doing this if I didn’t care? ”
Jinx looks at her, really looks at her.
She has a good point, but it could be a part of the trap. Making Jinx think she cared again. Making Jinx go soft for her just to hurt her again. Jinx gave Vi a chance, and Vi threw it away.
Vi threw you away. For Piltover, for Caitlyn…
"I—I don't think I believe you." She's not sure who she's talking to anymore, she says. Maybe both? But Vi takes her hand and squeezes it, and Jinx wishes her heart didn’t nearly flip because of it.
Jinx hates it. She doesn’t want to hope again. Nothing good ever comes from it.
“That’s okay,” Vi says, but it doesn’t sound okay. She doesn’t sound okay. “I’ll prove it to you eventually. I’m not going to hurt you. Not again.” She continues, letting go and rising from the bed.
“C’mon, let’s go to the couch. I’ll show you how to work the TV. Takes a little bit of finesse.”
Vi motions for her to get up, and Jinx blinks at her.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Not again.” The words seemed to echo in Jinx’s ears as she stared at Vi’s outstretched hand.
She shouldn’t. She really, really shouldn’t— but Jinx extends her arms. Both of them in the air as she gestured for Vi to lift her up.
"Oh..." Vi murmured, a little surprised. She quickly recovers, however, and completely lifts Jinx up, mumbling something about Jinx still being a big baby fondly under her breath.
Jinx just loops her arms around Vi’s neck and sighs as Vi carries her out. And you know what? Maybe the lesson hasn’t quite stuck yet.