Get Jinxed: A Tale of Mental Instability and Poor Decisions (Arcane/League of Legends)

Watching Vi and Caitlyn trade back-and-forth insults was fun, but they'd been doing that since they stopped punching each other. Messing with either of them probably wouldn't be that interesting. It would be a lot more fun to mess with Vi when she wasn't already arguing with someone else, and Caitlyn the Piltie was probably too snobby to have much of a sense of humor. She'd probably go on about how it's not 'proper and ladylike' to laugh and have fun.

That just left Jayce. Who was really more interesting than my sister or the dumb Piltie girl, since he had his own inventors workshop. "So ... what're you working on?"

Jayce smiled down at me. "Well, it's all a bit complicated, but essentially I'm trying to find a way to tap into a new power source I've discovered. I still haven't found a way to stabilize it completely—it's actually really lucky I got back when I did. The crystals I'm using as an energy source are unstable, and if you'd stolen one of them..." He grimaced and shook his head. "I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt. Without the special containment chest I had made for them, those gems are an accident waiting to happen. Something as simple as dropping one on the floor could set off a violent reaction."

"Gems?" He was right about that, if we'd found some shiny gems while we were robbing the place we definitely would've tried to take them. If they blew up whenever someone dropped them that would be ... well, really cool if I was watching from a safe distance, but a lot less cool if they were sitting in a pouch on my belt.

"Yes, I call them hextech crystals." Jayce's voice picked up a bit as he walked over to his board full of math, pointing at a few of the equations."They're a natural source of raw magical energy. But that's the problem, it's all very raw and untapped. Theoretically it could be contained with the right combination of runes and a carefully attenuated power flow, but the gap between theory and practice has proved ... difficult. Especially since we have to use raw crystals. Any irregularities in the crystals' shape amplify their instability, but it's not like we can toss them into a gem tumbler to smooth them out when any impact makes them explode."

Oh right, that was obvious. They had to stabilize the crystal first, so they could safely modify the crystal's shape without it going boom in their faces. "So what're you using to try and stop it from going boom while you work on it?"

"This." Jayce picked up a device the size of a dinner plate, with a little grabby thing in the middle that was meant to hold the crystal. "The problem is that so far finding the right combination of runes has been a trial and error process, and I keep getting hiccups in the power flow that throw things off. Any change in the power also changes whatever runes I need, so..."

I grinned and snatched the device out of his hands, flipping it upside down. "Okay, I got it. Can I get a wrench?"

"Uh, what?" Jayce blinked and stared down at me.

Vi somehow actually managed to stop arguing with Caitlyn long enough to notice me. "She said to get her a wrench, pretty boy. Everyone knows that when Powder gets an idea, the smart thing to do is just give her what she asks for and let her cook."

"Excuse me," Caitlyn cut in. "You aren't seriously suggesting that we allow a literal child who just attempted to steal from us to ... what? Start smacking the extremely expensive and delicate equipment that my parents paid for because she thinks she knows how to solve a problem that's stumped one of the most brilliant minds in Piltover? So far all we know about her qualifications is that she bites."

I rolled my eyes. "And all we know about your qualifications is that your mommy pays the big guy to be your friend. How much does does that go for, anyway? 'Cause I'll lend you Vi for half whatever he gets and another one of those rich people sandwiches."

"No selling me off for a sandwich," Vi deadpanned before turning back to Caitlyn. "And if he's stumped, what do you have to lose by letting Powder take a crack at it? Besides, from how much rich bitch energy you're radiating, I'm pretty sure you can afford another one if she breaks it."

Caitlyn glared at her. "Have I mentioned that you're both utterly insufferable?"

I sighed as the two of them got back to arguing. I guess I should've known Vi wouldn't stick up for me for long, and now everyone would've completely forgotten about me. Or at least, that's what I thought until I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and turned to find a wrench in Jayce's outstretched hand. "I'm curious, let's see what you've got." He grinned and dropped his voice to a whisper. "And like your sister said, if you break it we can afford another. If anyone asks, I'll just tell them it got damaged in the break-in."

I took the wrench and got to work. Since Jayce seemed to know a lot more about this kind of thing than Vi or anyone else, I felt like I should try to explain what was going on. "So this thingamabobber here hooks into the doohickey and the whatsit, but for what you wanna do you don't actually need the whatsit at all, it's just wasting energy. Since the power going into the whatsit doesn't have anywhere to go, it ends up getting dumped off into this thingie here, which is why you're getting those power spikes up here in the whatchamacallit. So all you gotta do..." With a final tug, I pulled out the whatsit. "Is get rid of this, and that should fix the problem."

Caitlyn was frowning over at me. "I'm pretty sure this 'whatsit' of yours fulfills a vital function in the device's operations. You can't just pull random pieces of machinery out and expect that to fix the problem." She scoffed and turned to Jayce. "Are we really taking engineering advice from ten-year-olds now?"

"I'm eleven and three-quarters." I flipped the device over and handed it to Jayce. "You need the whatsit if you were using this thing for what it was originally designed for, but you're not. The whatsit doesn't know that, though, so it's still taking power trying to do its old job even though there's no job for it to do. That's why you wanna take it out."

"Huh." Jayce tilted his head, taking the device back from me and looking it over. "That ... might actually work. Why didn't I think of that?"

Vi let out a loud snort. "It's 'cause you think like a Piltie. What do you do when you don't have the right tools for a job? You go out and buy them. You never had to figure out how to fit a square peg into a round hole, but Powder's used to working with scrap and figuring out how to turn random junk into something useful."

"Improvisational engineering," Jayce nodded along. "Of course." He chuckled and shook his head. "I spent all of last week trying to solve a problem your sister just figured out in five minutes. I think I might need to ask the Academy for a refund of my tuition."

He turned back to me with a thoughtful look, then waved at his board full of math. "I don't suppose you'd be up for checking my work? I thought I got all the math right, but considering you just schooled me in practical engineering I'm prepared to learn that I'm not nearly as good at algebra and calculus as I thought."

I tilted my head to the side. "What're algybruh and calcylist?"

Jayce blinked in surprise, then shook his head and chuckled. "Right, practical engineering. Well, I'm sure I have an old textbook around here somewhere that I could..."

---

He still hadn't found his old books by the time someone knocked on the door. Jayce started on his way out of his side office to answer it, but Caitlyn was closer. She opened the door only to let out a surprised gasp. "Mother?"

"Cait." An older woman stepped through, and even without Caitlyn calling her mother I would've guessed at her identity. She looked almost exactly like Caitlyn, except older and somehow even more snobbishly stuck up. She immediately turned her attention to her daughter's injuries. "Your poor face! Grayson told us you'd been attacked by the robbers, but I had no idea it would be this bad..."

"I was not attacked, Mother," Caitlyn answered, a hint of irritation slipping into her usually perfectly poised voice. "I sustained injuries when the criminals that I was detaining resisted arrest."

That didn't seem to do anything to stop her mother from fussing over her. Vi let out a loud snort. "Need your mommy to kiss your booboos better, Piltie?"

Caitlyn let out an exasperated groan and pulled free of her mother's attention. "I'm fine, mother. Why are you even here? Jayce told me that Sheriff Grayson was going to find the girls' father, not you."

"Did you really think I wouldn't tell your mother about this?" A raspy-voiced woman in an Enforcers' uniform, presumably Sheriff Grayson, asked as she stepped in. "I'd like to be invited to tea again sometime in the next decade."

"Not to mention that as Jayce's sponsors, the break-in was relevant to our interests even if you hadn't gotten caught up in the middle of it," Caitlyn's mom pointed out while pulling out a handkerchief to wipe a bit of dried blood off her daughter's face. "And honestly, Cait. Getting into brawls with street thugs because you wanted to play Enforcer? We can replace whatever they took much more easily than we can replace you."

"Good news is, you won't have to replace either." Vander stepped into the room behind them. Our adoptive father was a big man, but right now his shoulders were slumped down and he looked like he'd gotten a lot older since the last time we saw him. He held up the same bag Mylo and Claggor had taken with them. "This should be everything they took. I'll talk to my girls about what they did. The way I see it, that should make things square."

"Square?" Caitlyn's mom pointed to her daughter's black eye. "Returning what they stole is all well and good, but we're hardly square."

Vander grimaced and threw a look Vi's way, who shrugged in response. He sighed. "If we were in the Lanes, I'd offer you drinks and a free meal at my bar. Kids get into fights sometimes. If your daughter's healthy enough to be annoyed that you're worrying about her, she can't be hurt that bad."

Sheriff Grayson let out a tired sigh. "What do you want me to do, Cassandra? Should I throw two children into Stillwater for getting into a fight with your daughter? That's not something I'll do without formal charges and a trial, and you said you wanted this handled quietly and discretely."

Caitlyn's mom grimaced. At least now I knew why she was trying to keep this whole thing quiet. One of the few things Piltover and Zaun agreed on was that magic was dangerous. Jayce's research technically wasn't magic, but it wasn't exactly not magic either. He didn't want the Enforcers looking too closely at his research, and if Caitlyn's family was paying for all his research they wouldn't want anything illegal tied back to them. After all, respectable and proper families don't fund illegal research.

After several seconds, Caitlyn's mom sighed. "Yes, obviously I don't want children sent to Stillwater over this, I'm not a monster. And, as you said, it's better to handle the matter quietly. At the same time, I'm not entirely satisfied with simply having the stolen goods returned. Or ... what was it Mister Vander proposed? A free meal and drinks at his pub?"

Jayce cleared his throat. "Actually, I have a suggestion. I could always use a lab assistant, and considering this whole mess started with them breaking into my workshop that seems like a fair way for them to offer some form of compensation. Plus giving them something productive to do with their time might avoid any future trouble, and even open up new opportunities."

"Ah, something like community service?" Caitlyn's mom asked. "Yes, that seems like a fine idea under the circumstances. At least, as long as we can be assured there won't be any further trouble from them."
Vi scoffed. "You keep saying 'them,' but I'm pretty sure we all know you actually only care about getting Power working for you." When she noticed several people staring at her she shrugged. "Powder figured out how to fix some piece of equipment he'd spend an entire week trying to make work."

Jayce cleared his throat. "Well, yes, but I'm sure there are ways you can contribute as well. There are always errands to be run and things to be carried. Or if you'd prefer, I'm sure we could find something else."

Caitlyn smirked over at Vi. "We could always use someone to do cleanup in Kiramman park. I'm sure that picking up garbage would be well within the limits of your abilities."

Vi didn't say anything. Well, she didn't use any words, but if you knew her as well as I did... "Vi, your eye is twitching." I ignored the glare she sent my way and leaned over and whispered to Jayce. "It only does that when something really annoys her."

Vander cleared his throat. "I suppose having them spend a bit helping out is fair enough. Especially if, like Mr. Talis said, it leads to some kind of opportunities." His eyes rested on me while he said that. "How long were you thinking?"

"Hmm." Caitlyn's Mom thought it over for a bit. "A month?"

Vander frowned. "Don't you think that's a bit much? A week sounds fairer."

"Three weeks."

'Two."

"Two weeks," Caitlyn's Mom agreed. "As long as there's no trouble from either of them. If there is, Sheriff Grayson and I will have a conversation about what is to be done."

Vander grimaced. "None of us will like what happens if we have to cross that bridge. Which is why I'll make sure that doesn't happen." He turned to us. "Powder, Vi, will you two go along with this?"

Vi groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

---

[ ] Agree Enthusiastically, Working With Jayce is an Opportunity

[ ] Agree, but Match Vi's Energy

[ ] Saying No Clearly Isn't an Option, but Try to Set Some Conditions
- [ ] Write-in (Bear in mind that Powder has very little leverage to make requests).