He left to get Shields, told her what was happening, and she was more than ready to learn a board. He didn't trust her to learn a board that fast, so he made his bigger and did his best to guide her in her actions so she didn't make them crash.
Ekko brought her straight into his new factory, flying through a window he shot at. He didn't really need a window, and it would make the landing easier.
Jinx was just getting worse over on the other side though, it was obvious.
He'd never have Powder, he knew that. It just felt like?
For a little while.
Just a tiny bit.
///"Whatcha doin', Little Man?"///
Ekko stayed on the other side of the room from Jinx. Jinx was moving more and more away from the healthy version he'd been talking to. "I don't know what you can do for Silco Jinx." Shields stopped to slap his arm. "What was that for?"
"What was with the name?"
"Well. She's been good, and Jinx. But. She's acting like when she was with Silco," he tried to explain.
"Oh." She looked sad. "You shouldn't look like your world is falling apart with those huge big rounded eyes."
What? "I don't-"
"Follow me. Come here," she commanded to him as she hugged Jinx.
"I messed up." Jinx hugged her back. "I messed up."
"Every day is a new day. It's okay, PJ."
Ekko trudged over there, not really feeling it. Every sentence longer. Every look longer. Even this incredible gift she just gave him. It gave him so much hope that she-
The woman yanked him over to her and Jinx. "Hey!" He wasn't expecting that. "Stop yanking me around. What already?"
"Stop being snippy." She brought out some different smaller vials. They were purple. When she unscrewed them, there was an attached brush. "Hold this one."
Ekko held the strange vial and watched as Shields tried to hold Jinx.
"No, I don't want to!" Jinx screamed.
Oh no. Ekko tried to pull Shields more away from Jinx, but Shields pulled away from him. "Lady, what are you doing? She's unstable right now, just let me-"
"I would always come for her, and I know what I am doing, this is my profession," Shields insisted.
Profession?
"She can't hear me right now. Give her a moment to calm down. I am going to place this on her eyelids like eyeshadow when she does. People will see it as eye shadow, but it's her medicine."
"Medicine?" He looked at the weird vial. It didn't have any luminescence at all.
"She is having a break, because she was so preoccupied with her home, her friends, and her stress about upcoming . . . things. Even with her grounding techniques, poor PJ. Coupled with the humility she forgot to grab it last night. She would have taken it soon, but of course instead of just giving you the factory surprise, what does she do? She goes on that funny flying board and completely away from me."
"Stop the blame game and tell me what's this do for her?" Ekko flipped the small vial around.
"Shields?" Jinx asked confused.
"PJ, it's okay. It's not that bad. Let's sit down on the floor and close your eyes. Let's get your eyeshadow on."
"But then it's going to be all messed up. My schedule is all messed up," she said as she slumped to the floor with Shields. "It's such a huge day, and I messed it all up."
"It's important enough today, we can fix it with Swords later. We were already going to do this anyhow. It's going to be fine. Just stay still and let's make you pretty, hmm?"
Jinx closed her eyes as Shields placed the medication on her eyelids. "I messed up."
"Everyone makes mistakes, this was not a serious mistake. You're okay. Everyone is fine." Shields looked back toward him again. "The eyeshadow is a very specific mix of custom potions that tone down a lot of the stress and events and paranoia that . . ." She moaned. "I don't know how to speak to other people about my work or it's concentration on the mental aspect of a person."
"Mental aspect?"
"I'm not a magic healer or a physical healing doctor. I'm a mind healer, I help people who have mind problems get better."
"Mind problems." Really? "Are you helping to make her mind better?"
"You could say that, on the day she accidentally killed her family, that something inside her broke in several ways. It fractured what used to be an already frightened little girl that was afraid of abandonment. The loss of her protector, losing her whole family by her own hands, and becoming a villain to survive. It broke her mind, in a way."
"I'm very broken," Jinx slurred. "Broken Jinx Jar with too many cracks."
"She's only half here right now, but the medicine is starting to work," Shields told him. "What happened to her mind will never be fully undone, the medicine isn't a form of magic that fixes everything. It's? It's like temporary glue. I am temporary glue too," she said. "With the aid of temporary glue, she tends to do better. Even though she will always be broken, she can try to be the better person she wants to be."
"Like a broken mirror," she slurred. "See the cracks-"
"But through the cracks you can still see your beautiful reflection," Shields said to her. "Which is so beautiful. You've grown so much over the last two years, Powder-Jinx, I am so proud of you."
Ekko sat down next to them. Shields' actions. The way she spoke. The way she got close to Jinx. It was everything he never did with Jinx like that. He had to run, duck and hide before with Jinx.
This was never possible, not until he had the Z drive. Not until he had to face her head on.
And she seemed to be having success with it. "I get it. You really don't have to explain it to me like a child. I know something's been wrong with her for a long time. Please just tell me. What's been wrong with my friend since that night she broke, and how do I make sure she stays better?"
Shields broke it down for him better, letting him know the medical details could only be shared by a Dr. Schwartz, but she shared it's side effects, and it's warnings. How she needed one application, but if she had a break, three would be the standard.
The more he wrote and stayed interested, then the more she would share, like he was an actual pupil. He got a writing utensil and a journal, and wrote down everything he could from her as she went and did another round on her eyelids.
A part of him felt guilty, for not noticing what was happening to Jinx. She was unstable, he knew that, it was easy to see but he attributed it to turning into a villain. He put everything on Silco making her a maniac. Especially after seeing the other world's Powder, it still felt like Silco took everything away from him. Benzo. Powder.
He even used to say Powder 'died', and Jinx killed her, separating the both of them so cleanly in his mind.
Shields explained about what was going on in her mind, the lack of self, the intense mood swings that would eventually exhaust her out, hearing and seeing things, even a lack of feeling or not knowing that reality wasn't reality. A lot of things were going on that she had trouble controlling, and the medication helped to calm it down, and place her more in control of herself.
It wasn't just the medicine either. Jinx had been working at getting better for the last two years with Shields sessions. It didn't just work like magic, Jinx had to want to get better too. She had to have sessions and learn techniques and moves to sort of help aid her from bad states.
That was why she was so pleased to meet Ekko and called him out. His words of 'building something new' gave Jinx the will to succeed. She clawed to those words. Without it, no amount of medicine or talking would have helped.
Ekko had continued to write everything down on the journal pages, drinking up all the knowledge she had. This was all new stuff, a lot different than inventing or hextech. No one he knew of worked with the mental aspect. When someone was mentally not right, that's just how it had been. "Where are you even from?"
"Far away originally. I'm not allowed to say. Runeterra has so many more secrets in its vastness. I can say that in my area, people are much more in synch with our emotions than with caring about magic or not. Eventually, if someone looks hard enough for help for someone, instead of throwing them in a jail and tossing the key away forever? They will find us."
Ekko looked at her tail. He'd never seen someone with that kind of tail except for Shield and Cake. It was long and sleek, with a tuft in the end. Everything else looked human. Wherever they were from, it had to have been pretty isolated. "How many times does she do this 'break' thing? Or is it easier to calculate the other way?"
"The mind doesn't really have a calculation. As long as she continues to try her best, that is what matters."
Okay, a different way to say it. "How many times did she break this year?"
" A few. It has been a very stressful week for her though, even I want to snap. There is no real way to calculate it though, like I said, the mind doesn't work like that. Just, keeping up with her medicine, talking things out, and being positive help the most. Stress is very bad, even with medication, heavy stress can be too much. Still, even when she does break, she can be steered back on track. Just like today."
"Are they all like this?" He checked the time. "Length of a break?"
Shields just smiled and shook her head. "You are very scientific, aren't you, looking for some solid math to it all? Oh. There isn't any. Each time is different. For the best success, catch her when you start to notice the change. The longer the change lasts, the harder it might be to calm her down."
Right. "Time is always a factor in everything." Increased time increased the pressure.
"You can usually tell by looking at her if the eye shadow is gone, she messed up or she should be taking it soon. Don't make a big deal of it. She's very sensitive about mistakes, it is a deep-seeded trauma and it will never disappear. She does not always make mistakes, she's actually very good at things. Just keep telling her it's not a big mistake, it's not serious, even if it is, and relax. The more uptight you are, the more intense she will become. Soothing voice. Gentle touch."
Shields held her as she grabbed on tighter. "Lots of gentle touching, she responds well to it. She will get better, faster. When the medicine first goes on, it's a deep purple color stain, and as the day goes by it will fade to lavender before disappearing. It always stains her for several hours, so it's used where eye shadow goes so no one knows."
Oh. "That's why she wore that makeup." To hide the stains of the unusual medicine.
"Yes. Now, every person is different. No one is the same. This is just what works with her. Still? You looked so lonely and sad about her when we got here," she said to him. "Like, you just lost Powder-Jinx all over again. You didn't. She's right here. She'll be okay soon."
Was he really that obvious? "It's been a ride with her. I can . . . care, but she might still try to kill me in the wrong mood."
"Oh, trust me," she said oddly. "If this woman could still kill so easily, we would have all been lost years ago."
"That didn't sound good." At all. "Where is Jinx from now?" Oh. Miss Affectionate-Talking wasn't answering that one, so he'd get her to answer something else. "When she usually puts it on, in its regular time, you won't notice a difference in her, but if it's later, you have to hit it harder to play catch up with her system?" Ekko asked. "Is that the opposite too? Is there an opposite reaction to having been on them, if she hasn't had a break for awhile, could a break be more intense because it hasn't happened in awhile?"
"Oh. Uh, it's not guaranteed?" Shields said. "Nothing's ever guaranteed. You have really been paying attention to all of this. You love fascinating things, don't you?"
He held the vial he had. "Can I put on the last application?"
"Sure, Ekko. If that makes you feel better."
"Do you have another one on you?" he asked. He wanted one to study. She gave him one more container and he pocketed it.
"Hm? Did I fall asleep again?" Jinx asked sleepily.
"Yes, briefly, it's okay. It's time for your last application." Shields moved aside.
Ekko moved toward Jinx. He took the vial, looked at the brush and looked at Jinx. "I've never done this before, so bear with me."
"Bear is with you?" Yeah, she was still a little out of it.
Ekko scootched off some of the formula on the inside sides of the vial, like he remembered seeing her do. "Close your eyes, Jinx." He started to spread it on her eyelid. "You . . . feeling okay?" He guessed he better try the name. "PJ?"
"Tired," she said.
"You hearing anything? Seeing anything?"
"No." She started to blink her eyes. "Wait, why are you doing that?"
"We had a large discussion about things." Shields told her. "He was so worried and sad, and discussing things put him at ease. Then he was just very thirsty for knowledge."
"Ah? What?" Jinx's eyes squinted. "No. You . . ." Ooh, those eyes. She was really scared of what he'd think of her now. "You . . . know everything already?"
"Close your eyes." Jinx closed them properly again. "Do you see anything right now? Hear anything?"
"Just you, Ekko. Putting on eyeshadow badly."
"Well, excuse me for never using eyeshadow before," he teased her, feeling a lot more of the stable Jinx again. No, not that. Powder, with Jinx . There she is. She was coming back around.
"I'm sorry," she said. "You weren't supposed to find out like this."
"I'm glad I did," he admitted. "Quit squirming. This is tricky."
"I was trying to do good. I know it's weird."
"You don't have to explain, it's fine," he said again as he started to do her other eye. As long as they used the full amount of each tube, it would be fine and absorb into her system. Getting it evenly spread was just an aesthetic thing.
"I slipped into Silco Jinx, and I didn't mean to slip into that."
"No, no, no. You know better," Shields scolded her. "And especially you," she scolded Ekko. "Stop separating her into names like it's a separate person. Do you know how long I had to work on that? The Jinx is destructive but feels no pain and is strong and in control? The Powder cares and it hurts and if she helps things go bad? For far too long, we are not mixing in this again. Those names hold no power! She is not Powder. She is not Jinx. She is not Silco's Jinx for goodness sake. She is a person, a single wonderful person who tries her best. She may call herself whatever she wishes, at the time she wishes, without restraint or judgment. Unless a big decision is being made, then it has to be Powder-Jinx."
"Sorry, Shields," she apologized. "Although, I did that on purpose. I hate you right now, how could you do that?! Does doctor confidentiality mean nothing to you?"
"I am not Swords. I have strict orders to share information with people who are important to the village and/or you. Now what are you?"
"I am chaotic good."
"Repeat."
"I am . . ."
Asleep?