Today's personal errand was being lazy as shit. After the grueling two weeks of working non-stop, stalking the streets and intimidating slimy bastards who Silco couldn't be bothered to meet with, it was on the top of her chore list. Lazing about in just her pants in her own room, letting her shoulder rest without the heavy arm weighing her down, putting her poor feet up on some pillows thrown to the end of her bed. The only thing rolling around in her mind was whether she was going to bother strapping her arm back in to pick up a woman for the night down at The Last Drop, or if being unconscious until the next morning was the right play.
There's a knock at her door, and Sevika heaves a huge sigh before, forcefully, yelling "WHAT!" towards the door.
"Sevika," comes through the wood, and she scrunches her face in frustration. It's Silco's voice on the other side.
The whole day-off thing wasn't exactly written down anywhere, it's not like the bastard promised her that when she hitched her wagon to his cause. There was no obligation on his part, and he had already forfeited it two weeks in a row with how busy they've gotten. But maybe she had gotten a little too used to the concept, and said bastard had been overworking her, so who can really blame her for being pissed at him.
She also still works for him, and he's still a dangerous crime lord, so Sevika huffs out "Yeah yeah, come in," just loud enough for him to hear her.
Silco enters quietly, as he does any room. He's without his big overcoat, so it's easy to see where he shoves his key for her door, that little tidbit of information being stored somewhere in Sevika's brain automatically. Instead of starting to outline whatever task he needs her for, Silco lets out a quiet huff of disgust when he sees that Sevika made no attempt to get dressed. It's petty revenge, but still she smirks at him, getting some amusement out of his reaction.
Sevika's not worried about the old man being interested in her, and getting a kick out of her being topless. She'd seen him stalk pretty twinks with his dangerous looking eye when he's hungry for personal attention, convincing them into his lap with just the crook of a finger. Sometimes, even one or two of their larger collection guys end up under his spell, looking way too out of practice to be on their knees. She's never seen him have any interest for a woman, and he's not about to get weird over her being tits-out in her own room.
Silco rolls his hand to dismiss her play, and she finally chuckles at her own joke.
"I need assistance with Jinx," Silco finally outlines.
"Ugh, is she threatening to jump off the roof again?" Sevika stretches out to grab her shirt while she talks, "I told ya, you're better equipped to talk her down, the rat just escapes when I grab her."
"No. Her monthlies have just started," Silco admits.
Sevika raises her eyebrows at him, in a little shock. She thinks the little girl is about 13 now, and that seems to be the right time for them to kick start. Frankly, she can't really remember when her own period started, and she hadn't really considered that was going to be an issue with the runt Silco adopted. The voices, erratic behavior, the graffiti, the disrespect, the threatening to jump off the roof every 6 months; that was more Sevika's worry in relation to the kid. Though, the thought of Silco being worried about explaining regular puberty things to her, like some of the mothers Sevika brought to bed every now and then, seems a bit out of character for him.
"Didn't expect you to be squeamish about this sorta thing, Silco," Sevika teases.
Silco rolls his eyes at her. "I'm not. The poor thing isn't reacting well to the blood. I need you to hold her down while I explain to her that she isn't dying, horrifically."
Oh. Yeah, that makes more sense. It would've been some sort of miracle if Jinx had taken to her period with any kind of normalcy, but then, she wouldn't have been Jinx if she had.
Sevika sighs at Silco's order, but she makes her way to getting up, swinging her legs to touch her bedroom floor. She huffs about needing to get dressed in Silco's direction, and he takes the hint, leaving her with some privacy while he waits outside her door for her.
Sevika just gives herself a moment to rub at her face with her only hand, steeling herself for whatever this day is going to bring, before she moves to install her other arm back in it's place.
Silco knocks on the door, gently, and before he says anything Sevika hears the tiny scared voice from inside, screaming at whoever it is to go away. Silco looks at her expectantly, Sevika sighs, and she nods to let him know she's ready.
The overhead lights are clearly off when Silco opens the door, but it seems like Jinx has made do without it. There's a multitude of dimly glowing smiley faces and doodles on the wall, and tiny little lights on a string hung up around the room, providing enough light for all of them to see. She's curled into a ball on a mattress, that has a mountain of pillows covering it and obscuring her form, all of them bright colours with more of her doodles marked on them.
When little Jinx looks up at the intruders and sees Silco, she starts bawling. The noise grates at Sevika's ears but she holds off from cringing at it. Silco just gives her another look and she steadies herself, ready to jump in at the first sign of trouble instead. She knows from experience that the kid is quick, and that she knows how to squirm her way out of a hold if you're not prepared for a small teen to resist.
Silco slowly settles in front of Jinx, kneeling on the mattress and changing his posture to be more open to her. He even reaches out with both of his hands, palms up, in a placating gesture offering to hold her hands. The kid doesn't take it, but her bawling dies down into more manageable sobs.
It's a little crazy to see how different he is with her. The man is fucking ruthless; he has no qualms with pulling deadly stunts on allies he wants to bend to his will, or ordering the death of another man with just an expecting nod. But with Jinx, he seems to have such a deep well of patience for her antics and outbursts, favouring her over every other aspect of his empire. Sevika thinks that if Jinx rolled up to Silco with her big ole eyes, and asked for enough explosives to take out the undercity, he'd already have the crates on the way to her little workshop. The little thing has him whipped, and she doesn't really get it, but she guesses that's parenthood.
"Darling, you're okay," Silco gentles to her.
"No! I'm DYING-" Jinx interrupts, and immediately she unfurls. Both her fists rise from her chest in a tantrum and Sevika swoops in to bear hug her from behind, tugging her arms back towards her tiny little ribcage, slotting the little girl in her lap to writhe and squirm safely. "-I'm gonna DIE! I'M DYING!"
Silco shushes and coos at her from his spot, and Sevika physically feels how her sobs move her whole tiny body as she returns to crying again. She squeezes her a little, in a moment of empathy for a crying little girl, and between the hug and the soft noises, eventually Jinx's sobs turn into stuttering breathes and sniffles.
After waiting for her to calm down, Silco finally reaches out to comfort her, bringing a hand to cup Jinx's cheek. His thumb wipes away some of her tears, while the tips of his fingers ruffle the small hairs by her ears, smiling so gently at her as he does so.
"You're not dying sweetheart." Silco finally responds to her, "What you're experiencing is very normal."
Jinx's sniffles get louder as her voice croaks, "But-but, there's so much blood."
"I know, I know." Silco gentles her again, his large hand petting her cheek as he starts his intended spiel, "The blood is natural, some discomfort is natural. It's very messy, but it means your body is healthy enough to remove bits and pieces it doesn't need anymore, it's a goo-"
"I'M LOOSING ORGANS?!" Jinx interrupts again, trying to jump out of Sevika's arms in her panic, forcing her to clamp down on her middle and pull her into her lap again.
"No, Jinx." Silco reprimands her, and Sevika raises an eyebrow at him, not expecting the man to get mad at her. He takes a pause before he continues. "Remember the conversations we've had? About shedding our pain, our unwanted husks, to be reborn stronger?" Jinx nods, "It is like that, princess. Your body is removing the unwanted, to make you stronger. It's a very natural process."
"Yeah, everyone goes through it kid." Sevika adds.
Jinx looks up at Sevika then, shock plastered all over her big eyes and her tear stained face, as though she forgot the woman had her caged in her arms. "Do you?" She asks her then, now that Sevika's thrown herself into the discussion.
"Yeah, I call it my period. Some ladies call it a blood moon, or a red moon, but I get them every now and then." Sevika answers her. To lighten the mood, she adds, "Silco calls them monthlies cause he's old."
Jinx laughs at that, before looking right at him but asking Sevika, "Does Silco even get them?"
Sevika laughs at the question, picturing the old man in front of them dealing with the hormones like a grouchy old fart, "Yeah, he gets the man version."
Silco doesn't look particularly pleased at Sevika for being the butt of the joke, but she's holding the old man's little girl in her lap, so she doesn't fear any kind of particular punishment at the current moment for cheering up the kid. Who has now switched to giggling in her arms, interrupted by a few sniffles, instead of outright bawling about dying. Her change in attitude is probably the real reason the man isn't berating Sevika right now, the lack of punishment being her reward for making his kid laugh.
"I have rags for you." Silco changes the topic, bringing the conversation back to educating Jinx on her puberty, "You wear them inside of your underwear to catch the blood."
Jinx whines instantly in response, "I don't wanna."
"You don't have to," Silco placates her, "But you might bleed through your pants, leave spots of your blood wherever you sit, and ruin your clothes."
"Dried blood looks like shit, kid. You don't want people to think you shit your pants, right?" Sevika adds.
"Ew! No!" Jinx protests in disgust, her face scrunching to show off how gross she thinks that is.
Silco uses the distraction to twist his body backwards from where he kneels, and he fiddles in the darkness the low lighting affords the room. As Jinx continues to make grossed out noises to her captured audience, Sevika watches Silco ruffle through something behind him. They didn't come in with supplies, and Silco knew where to find Jinx before he had come to collect Sevika. She has a strong suspicion that the man may have attempted this talk before, dropped everything off in a rush, and come collected her when he realised Jinx was too worked up to be talked to normally for this.
He twists back around and holds in his hands several rags, proving her suspicions true that this wasn't the first attempt at this. Looking at what he has with more focus, Sevika thinks they're still rags, but they look like they're way higher quality than the things she uses. There's actual stitching along the edges of them, and it looks like there's little flaps on the sides with press down buttons on them. They're also in different prints. Some of them are plain or are just random fabrics, but Sevika can recognise some as leftover material from Jinx's regular style of pants, and even a vest Silco had deemed past the point of no return for mending.
Jinx is fascinated by the presents. Silco takes advantage of her undivided attention to show her how they work, snapping in place in the gusset of her underwear and telling her when she should change them. Sevika is a little jealous of her, her rags are way fancier than what she's had her whole life, but there's a soft spot in her ribcage for how Silco had put in the work to give Jinx the very best. Eventually Sevika has to loosen her hold as the little girl takes the rags from Silco, and Jinx stretches out of her spot in Sevika's lap to shove them between the pillows of her bed like a makeshift closet.
"I also have a tea for the discomfort, Jinx." Silco gently interrupts her rummaging in the pillows, "I believe there's nothing to be done in terms of the mess, but the cramps in your belly can be stopped with this."
Silco produces a thermos from behind him, and unscrews the cap to pour her a portion. Jinx stretches out again to collect it, and settles back into Sevika's lap to try it, holding onto the makeshift cup with two hands as she leans back into Sevika's chest. Sevika thinks she's been turned into a chair for this little goblin instead of being a restraining presence, but she keeps her metal arm wrapped around her middle anyway. If it's to keep her restrained, or to comfort her, it doesn't really matter.
"Oh, it's sweet!" Jinx says in surprise.
"I added it, just for you. I believe it's doesn't taste good otherwise," Silco winks at her, whispering conspiratorially to her as though it's a secret just for them.
Jinx hums while she drinks, and for a moment there's a peaceful calm in the room, as though something has righted itself in the small universe that was Jinx's space. Jinx automatically hands back the lid when she's finished, and Silco hands her the big ass cylinder for her to store in her little rat's nest, when he's finished with screwing the lid back on for her. The thing looks massive in comparison to her, and she struggles to hold it with her small arms, Sevika having to swoop in and use her real hand to support the base of it as Jinx transferred it to its spot.
"Can I get a hug?" Jinx asks Silco in a small voice, and Sevika lets her go. Jinx springs into Silco's arms as soon as Sevika's metal arm releases her, her little feet kicking into Sevika's crossed legs as she uses her immovable body for leverage. Sevika grabs her little ankles with her flesh hand to finish extracting her from her lap, and she watches for a moment as Silco lifts the teen into his arms for a proper hug, transferring her to his own lap.
Relieved of her little prisoner, Sevika gets up. She throws a questioning thumbs up to Silco to see if she can go, and the man pulls a hand away from Jinx to return it. Jinx slaps at his hand like small animal a moment later, when she catches him not giving her his full attention.
Sevika chuckles at the display of affection, and slips out of the room.