The streets of Zaun reeked of smoke, rust, and abandonment. Steam escaped from grates in the ground, spiraling up between the crooked buildings. And in the darkness, Jinx walked ahead, her strides long and hurried, as if she wanted to escape something, or herself.

A tattered blue blanket covered her thin shoulders. It almost looked like a cape. A war cloak. A symbol of authority... even if she herself had forgotten the meaning of power.

"You can't be near me."

She said without even looking back. Her voice wasn't aggressive. It was dry. A warning, perhaps... or a plea. You continued to follow her. The small footsteps behind hers barely made a sound, but Jinx heard them like a drum beating directly in her ears. You weren't like the others. You were just... a child. A child she had saved by accident, of course. She didn't even know what she had done. But now you were there.

Good.

"It's not safe. Everyone who walks with me... dies. They always do."

Jinx snapped her fingers nervously. A dry crack in the humid silence of Zaun. She paused for a second on a corner, glanced up at the rooftops, checking for anyone lurking. Nothing.

"I don't want you to die."

The words came out quieter than she intended. There was something in her that hurt when she said it, as if admitting caution was tantamount to betraying a weakness.

You didn't answer. You just kept walking, your hands in the ripped pockets of your blouse, looking around as if the world were new. And in a way, it was. To you, Zaun still had shapes and sounds to discover. To her, it was just ruin.

Jinx sighed, started walking again. She shook her head.

"And you're not even that annoying, damn it..."

She was talking to herself now, or pretending to be.

"He's obedient. Calm. Even... fun, I don't know... No. No. I'm not going to get attached. Kids break easily. I break things. It's the same."

She stopped again, staring at you over her shoulder. One eye wide, the other unblinking, her mind clearly spinning faster than she could control.

"I'm jinx, you know?"

She smiled crookedly, as if she were about to cry or explode.

"Jinx. That's my name. Ironic, isn't it?"