My Name Is Jinx 1
"Powder," Mrs. Kiramman spoke from the door to the room they were letting me stay in. "We would appreciate it if you could join us for brunch." She still sounded stiff and formal when she talked to me, but I could hear the notes of her trying to sound warm, caring, and mom-like. I guess it's kind of instinct for moms to use that voice once they've raised a kid.
Or a little sister. Imagine what kind of rotten little sister you'd have to be to give your big sis a hard time for trying to take care of you. And have that be the last thing you ever said to her before you killed her. That'd be pretty rotten, wouldn't it?
I sighed and rolled over in bed, properly looking at her. Mr. Kiramman was there with her too. I thought about pointing out that she'd gotten my name wrong, but I couldn't find it in me to form the words. You'd think just talking to her wouldn't be a big deal, but for some reason it just felt like a completely overwhelming task. So did eating with the Kirammans. You'd think just eating something would be easy, but I knew that if I ate brunch with them they'd spend the whole time looking at me and expect me to talk about how I was feeling and stuff. I just ... couldn't.
Mrs. Kiramman sighed. "Powder, I would appreciate it if you could give me an answer. It's fine if you don't feel like you're up for it, but could you at least say as much? Is there something else you'd prefer? Anything at all?"
I tried to shrug, but between lying on my side in bed and how deeply I'd burrowed into the covers it didn't work. It wasn't like I wanted to be rude or ungrateful to the Kirammans for taking me in, but how was I supposed to answer that?
Thanks for not dumping me on the street, but the mere thought of trying to talk to you is just ... too much right now.
Mr. Kiramman cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Jinx? You don't have to do or say anything if you don't want to, you can just eat with us."
Oh. He got the name right. Well, I guess I was getting pretty hungry, and they'd probably keep bugging me and worrying about me if I didn't do brunch with them. One meal wasn't
that big of a deal. I sighed and slowly extracted myself from the cocoon of blankets I'd built. One nice thing about being in a rich people house, the maids had cleaned up most of the mess I'd left behind in the week I'd been staying here. Without the maids, the floor would be covered in a week's worth of old meal trays. Or maybe not, considering the maids were the ones who'd been bringing the meals up to me too. Maybe without them I'd just let myself starve.
Mrs. and Mr. Kiramman smiled when they saw me getting up and didn't even say anything about the fact that I probably stunk like crazy. Had I even taken a bath or changed my clothes since I'd gotten here? I must've since there wasn't any dried blood on my outfit, but it was all kinda fuzzy. If one of their staffers got paid to help me take a bath and change, they
really needed to give that lady a raise.
As the Kirammans led the way to the dining room, they had a whispered conversation they probably didn't think I could hear. Just 'cause I was acting completely dead to the world didn't mean my ears had stopped working. "You shouldn't call her that, Tobias."
Mr. Kiramman sighed. "There's nothing wrong with using her preferred name. Especially if it got her out of bed to join us for a meal. Small steps."
"If it were a normal nickname under normal circumstances, I'd agree," Mrs. Kiramman whispered back. "But she started calling herself Jinx after the tragedy with her family. That can't be healthy."
"Neither is staying cooped up in her room for a week with no human interaction." Mr Kiramman shrugged. "I don't know exactly how to balance giving her space to mourn and encouraging her to move forward, but I feel like having her join us for family meals is a good step. It's important to let her know she's not alone, after all. If using a somewhat questionable nickname helps her do that, then I think that's the way forward."
Caitlyn was already waiting for us when we got to the breakfast table, and her eyes widened a bit when she saw me. I guess she hadn't been expecting me to show up. "Hello, Powder. How are you feeling?"
Ugh. I thought about just turning around and going back to the guest room, but that would probably just lead to all three of them making a big deal over it and trying to talk to me even more. It was less trouble to just eat the meal with them. I shrugged listlessly and sank into one of the chairs.
Caitlyn's parents sat down with her, and Mr. Kiramman whispered something to his daughter. Maybe letting her know to try using my actual name this time? Whatever it was, it didn't really matter. Once we were all sitting the staff brought out a big fancy breakfast for all of us. There was rice, soup, some grilled fish, and some kinda beans that smelled a bit funky, but not in a bad way. I was hungry enough that I couldn't resist diving into the meal, though I was pretty sure my table manners were awful. Not that I cared about whether I was using the wrong fancy spoon to eat my soup with. At least the food was really good.
The Kirammans started talking, mostly about what Jayce and Viktor had been up to. They'd been by to visit a few times since The Day, but I couldn't really remember much about what they'd done or said. Probably just more of the usual trying to make me feel better. As if there was anything they could say that would make it not suck that my family was gone and it was my fault.
It sounded like there'd been a lot going on. I guess that figured, the world wasn't gonna stop turning just because
my world had been completely trashed. There was a ton of stuff happening with Hextech now that we'd finally proved that it could work. The Kirammans weren't the only ones who wanted to invest in our research now, it sounded like everyone wanted a piece of the pie. How was that even gonna work now? Would that mess up our plans to use Hextech to help out everyone in Zaun?
Mrs. Kiramman was still talking, completely unaware of everything going through my head. "I really don't trust that Medarda woman. It would've been nice if we could keep her from finding out about Hextech for a bit longer."
Mr. Kiramman raised an eyebrow. "I thought you liked her? Weren't you saying just the other day that she's one of the few members of the Council with a good head on their shoulders?"
"That's precisely the problem, dear," Mrs. Kiramman sighed. "She's smart and knows how to play the political game. That makes her a good ally when we're trying to advance the sort of common-sense proposals that make Piltover a better place to live, but it also means she's got far too much influence in the Council. Even if we often agree, there will be times when our interests diverge. Plus you know my thoughts about putting the daughter of a Noxian warlord on the Council. Especially when Ambessa Medarda regards the current regime in Noxus as insufficiently brutal and expansionist."
"Are we concerned with Noxus's internal politics now?" Mr. Kiramman asked. "Let them scheme and betray one another to their hearts' content. I much prefer to have the Noxians killing one another over court politics than turning their attention on their neighbors."
"But it's always wise to watch them," Mrs. Kiramman pointed out. "Foreign policy is often driven by internal politics, after all. Whichever faction wins out in the current struggle for power, it would be all too typical of Noxus to launch a war of conquest once they're firmly in control. There's nothing like a victorious war to unify everyone behind the new regime, and the ones who won't be won over by patriotism can be bribed with the spoils of war." She grimaced and tapped her fingers on the table. "Ambessa Medarda isn't a merchant of an intellectual, she's a warlord. If she sent her daughter here to represent her interests, it's because she thinks there's something that will give her an advantage in her political games in Noxus."
"And now she wants to invest in Hextech," Caitlyn concluded. "I don't think Jayce would approve of handing his invention over to ambitious warlords who will no doubt want to weaponize it."
She was right about that. "We wanted to use it to help Zaun." It wasn't until I saw everyone turn to face me that I realized I'd just spoken.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Mrs. Kiramman cleared her throat. "Yes, and House Kiramman remains firmly committed to supporting that goal. Even if that might be a bit more difficult now that we've..." She grimaced and shook her head as she trailed off.
I could guess what she was about to say. Part of why everyone had been willing to set up shop in Zaun was because Vander was my dad. Now that he was—that I'd killed him, there wasn't anyone we could make a deal with to safely set up shop in Zaun. We'd have to make deals with every single petty gang leader along our supply route, or at least enough of them to scare off the ones who couldn't be bought. And that was without even factoring in Silco and Sevika. If they were the ones running the show in Zaun now...
The Kirammans might not like the idea of some Noxian warlord getting her hands on Hextech, but I absolutely
hated the idea that Silco might grab it. Hextech was
ours, he couldn't have it. But if he took over Zaun now that Vander was gone how would we be able to stop him from getting it? The only way would be to keep it out of Zaun completely, but that would mean hurting everyone else in Zaun too. I just couldn't see a good solution.
Which I suppose meant it was just another reason to hate myself for killing Vander and the rest of my family. It wasn't enough that I'd killed them, I also ruined my chances of bringing Hextech to the people of Zaun. I really am a jinx.
Caitlyn clearing her throat pulled me out of my head. "Powder, I was wondering if perhaps you might want to..." I tuned her out. Whatever she was saying probably wasn't important anyway. Like just wanting me to clean up and take a bath or something. You know, move on and start living a normal life, as if I hadn't destroyed my family and ruined everything.
A few seconds after she finished, Mr. Kiramman spoke. "Jinx, I thought you might like to know that a young lady visited yesterday, asking after you. She said her name was Seraphine, and the two of you met at the park?"
"Oh, right, her." I hadn't expected her to turn up. I guess it figured, though. Even if she hadn't seen all the news about what had happened to me in the broadsheets, she could probably tell something was up with me just by using all her magical powers. She was supposed to be able to read minds or sense emotions or whatever, and I bet I was putting out a
lot of those right now.
"That was nice of her to check on you," Caitlyn remarked. "Next time she visits we should invite her in. Pow—" she caught herself and took a breath. "
Jinx could probably use a few friends."
"Friends," I murmured under my breath. Was Seraphine a friend of mine? We'd only met once, but she seemed nice and I'd liked helping her out. Plus now she'd come here to try and check on me. I guess that meant she was a friend.
And Caitlyn was right, I didn't have many friends left. Everyone in Zaun was gone. My family was dead, and most of the other people I knew there probably only put up with me because I was Vander's daughter. Plus a lot of them would probably be like Sevika, and throw in with Silco. All I really had left was Ekko.
Ekko! Was he gonna be okay now? I'd lost everyone else, I couldn't lose him too. But there was no way I could convince the Kirammans to let me go over to Zaun to talk to him. It probably wouldn't even be safe for me. Silco had tried to grab me at the bridge, he'd probably try to do it again if he found out I was in Zaun. I couldn't ask the Kirammans for help either, no way anyone would trust a bunch of fancy outsiders.
But maybe they'd have some kinda idea? "Um, I had a friend back in Zaun that I…"
"Oh." Mrs Kiramman seemed to think it over for a second. "Yes, of course you would have friends in the undercity. I'm sure we could look into it and arrange a visit. Though it might be best to wait until things are a touch more settled, the mood in the undercity is rather delicate right now."
Mr. Kiramman sighed and nodded. "Now isn't the time to visit the undercity with half a dozen Enforcers escorting us." The mere thought of being escorted by Enforcers into Zaun made me sick to my stomach. "I'm sure we can arrange something discreet, but discretion takes time. Though you could always write a letter, the post office is still working. In the meantime, perhaps we could contact Seraphine's family and arrange a visit?"
"Jayce also suggested we should set up a workspace for you," Caitlyn chimed in. "Is that something you would like?"
I thought it over for a second, then nodded. At least it would give me something to do other than lie around in bed all day. I was tired and wanted to sleep, but I was also getting bored. I'd mostly just been staying in bed because I knew getting out meant having to talk to people. If I had a workshop where I could tinker with stuff without having a bunch of people coming in and bugging me that might help.
"Is there anything in particular you want for your workshop?" Mrs. Kiramman asked. "I'm sure Jayce and Viktor can help us when it comes to what tools to buy and such, but of course nobody knows what you'd like better than you. If you're feeling up to it we can have you involved in the process, or you can just tell us anything you want."
Huh. Getting a whole workshop of my own sounded pretty great, especially with how much nice stuff the Kirammans could afford. Normally I'd probably be bouncing off the walls with excitement at the idea. Now? Well, the idea of having to talk to Jayce, Viktor, the Kirammans, and anyone else involved in building the workshop sounded like a lot. Especially if I also had to talk to Seraphine.
Current Stability: -12
Willpower: 2
Jinx's new Workshop
[ ][Workshop] Trust Jayce and Viktor to get it right
[ ][Workshop] Participate in Workshop Building
Costs 1 Willpower
Seraphine's Visit
[ ][Seraphine] Agree to let her visit
Costs 1 Willpower
[ ][Seraphine] Ask her to wait
Ekko
[ ][Ekko] Write a letter to be discreetly delivered to Ekko
Costs 1 Willpower
[ ][Ekko] Wait for things to calm down in the undercity.
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