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

Blinded By The Light 1​

A few years ago, if someone told me I'd be dressing up to go to a big fancy party being held at least partially in my honor at Councilor Medarda's estate, I'd have assumed they were nuts or high. Probably both. How would a street rat from Zaun end up mixing with all these fancy high society types? Guess that's just proof that sometimes life comes at you from an unexpected direction.

After four years of living with the Kirammans it was almost starting to feel ... normal. Like I wasn't some weird out-of-place urchin they'd eventually get tired of and throw away, but an actual part of the family. I'd even gotten used to having maids do stuff like clean up my room and help me braid my hair. Though really, judging by the state of my workshop I probably wouldn't be cleaning up my room at all if not for the maids. Not that my workshop was a mess, it only looked that way if you didn't understand my system. Nobody else did, but I saw that as more of a feature than a bug. It was my workshop, nobody else needed to understand how I had it all set up.

But yeah, now there was a big fancy party I had to go to. At first I hadn't been too fond of the idea of mixing with all the high society types in Piltover, but when Mrs. Kiramman asked me to accompany the family to one I hadn't felt like I could say no. I mean, I could've, but it wouldn't have felt great. The Kirammans took me in after my family died, built a workshop for me, and kept sponsoring all my research, so if all they asked for in return was tagging along on a few social events and not causing too many headaches, that seemed like a fair deal.

Especially considering this party was all about celebrating the opening of our big water treatment plant. It was the first Hextech project I'd really spearheaded. Stuff like stabilizing the gems and making them safer had really been more of Jayce and Viktor's thing, even if I'd helped out where I could, and the Hexgates were all them. Well, I suppose there was also Zapper, but that was my own private project nobody else knew about. Even Jayce and Viktor just thought it was a fancy welding tool, I knew they both hated the idea of creating Hextech weapons. I understood why—I didn't want the Enforcers or Silco's goons getting Hextech weapons either—but having something to protect myself if things went bad was just common sense.

Getting all the funding for opening up a Hextech water treatment plant had been a huge deal. The Kirammans had been happy to provide the startup cash, but I didn't wanna force them to foot the entire bill by themselves. That's why I'd tagged along with Mrs. Kiramman to a few Council meetings to try and figure out how to win everyone over. It wound up not being as awful as I expected it to be. The way Mrs. Kiramman explained it, the key to getting votes was all about getting people on the Council to understand why supporting you gave them something they wanted to have or cared about.

From there it was just a matter of figuring out what they all wanted. Heimerdinger was easy, his two big things were loving the heck out of any new science thing, but also wanting to make absolutely sure it was safe. Hoskel and Salo were simple too, they just looked at every single proposal put in front of the Council and asked 'What's in it for me?' We won them over with some simple Piltie pride: the river the city was named after being so filthy and stinky made us look bad. Shoola liked to think of herself as the calm moderate voice of reason, so we won her over with a bunch of charts and graphs. Bolbok hated Zaun and magic, so we didn't try to lobby him.

That just left Mel, who was always hard to figure out. She wound up voting for the project and even helping sell Salo and Hoskel on it, but I still didn't feel completely sure why she'd supported us. Maybe she actually cared about giving everyone in Zaun clear water, or maybe she had some other angle she was working. Or, considering she was the one hosting the big party we were all going to, maybe she just wanted to be seen publicly backing Hextech. The Kirammans had cornered the market early on by sponsoring us, but everyone else was eager to get a slice of that big tasty Hextech pie.

The biggest concession I'd had to give up was putting the treatment plant on the Piltover side of the river. Maybe that was for the best, though. Silco might've tried to get his hands on hexgems if we'd put the plant in Zaun. The Firelights would've done their best to stop him, but they just didn't have the numbers to take Silco on in a straight fight. They were good with hit-and-run raids and resistance, but tying them to a single fixed point they had to defend would've let Silco bring his numbers and shimmer goons to bear.

I'd also hoped I could name the plant after Vander, but that was a non-starter as far as the Council was concerned considering he'd died killing a bunch of Enforcers including the Sheriff. They wound up naming it after her: Grayson Water Plant. I guess it wasn't the worst choice, she was one of the less awful Enforcers.

Oh well. At least everyone in Zaun had clean water now. Even if Heimerdinger insisted on a bunch of extra steps of conventional filtration that probably weren't necessary after the Hextech cleanup just to be safe. Though considering people were gonna drink it, too clean was probably better than not clean enough.

I looked at myself in the mirror. At least since I was going to a party that was all about tech stuff, I could get away with dressing down a bit, even if Mrs. Kiramman insisted on putting me in a nice shirt and jacket combo with fancy slacks instead of my usual well-worn and comfortable T-shirt and pants. Back when I first moved in they'd tried to get me to dress a bit fancier, but with how often I was in my workshop or visiting the Firelights that just ended with a lot of fancy clothes getting ruined.

At least I got to keep my braids. They were down to my waist at this point, and I fully intended to let them keep growing until I needed to worry about them hitting the ground while I was walking. Now if I could just convince them to let me get some tattoos ... or work up the courage to sneak out and get them done anyway. They'd look cool, but I knew they weren't exactly a prim and proper high society look.

I joined the Kirammans in the foyer, and we headed out for the Medarda estate. Normally there would be a bit more small talk, but this time there seemed to be an extra layer of awkward silence centered around Caitlyn and her mom. I leaned over and whispered to Caitlyn. "Don't tell me you got caught sneaking another girl in..."

"No!" Caitlyn hissed back, rolling her eyes. I was about to ask if that was because she'd stopped doing that or because she was getting better at sneaking when she continued. "Mother and I just had a ... discussion about possible internships while I'm on summer break from the university."

"Oh." I could guess how that played out. Caitlyn's parents wanted her to spend some time working in the family trading company, while Caitlyn had other ideas. Ideas I really wasn't a fan of. "Right, that."

She sighed and shook her head. "I know the Enforcers are a deeply flawed institution, but how will they ever get fixed if nobody tries? They need more good people in their ranks."

I had a lot I could say on that topic, but now didn't feel like the best time to do it. Just enjoy the party, Jinx. We'd been over this subject before, all the arguments were stale. She wanted to try to fix the Enforcers from within, I didn't think that was possible, and her parents didn't think it was a good career choice. Saying anything more was just gonna revive an old, tired fight.

We made the rest of the trip to the Medarda manor in strained silence with a little bit of small talk. The Medarda household was exactly what you'd expect from Noxians, all brash, bold, shameless extravagance. They saw everything as a contest of strength and power, and displays of wealth were just another way of showing your strength, especially in a trade city like Piltover. Not that the Kirammans were modest, but they didn't slap gold on everything from tables to dresses to makeup.

Mel Medarda welcomed us all with a friendly smile. "Cassandra, Tobias, always a pleasure. Caitlyn, I hope your studies have been going well. And of course, we can hardly forget the young lady of the hour. Congratulations, Jinx."

She reached into her dress and pulled out a piece of candy, naturally wrapped in gold foil. It was kind of a running thing between us. The first time I'd attended a Council meeting with Mrs. Kiramman Mel must've overheard me saying I was hungry, and every time after that she had some candy for me. I knew it was probably some trick to make me like her more, but I wasn't gonna turn down free candy.

Mel took the opportunity to wrap an arm around mine and escort me into her manor. Probably some kinda power play to show off how close we were, just like the whole party was. Considering how she'd helped make the water purification project happen it was probably a good idea to let her show me off for a bit.

In between all the hobnobbing with a bunch of rich Pilties I leaned over to whisper to her. "You know I'm way too young for you, right? I'm still underage."

Mel just laughed. "If I tried anything like that Cassandra would bring her rifle to the next Council meeting and shoot me dead on the spot." A second later she grinned and added. "Of course, I'm sure I have a younger cousin somewhere in the clan who'd be in your age range if you were interested…"

"Pass."

"Naturally." She smiled knowingly. "I imagine you're like Jayce and Viktor, married to your work."

I shrugged. "Pretty much." I knew plenty of other kids at the Academy were messing around with romance, but even if I'd found someone interesting there wasn't really time for it. Not to mention the Academy was full of rich snobs anyway, and I didn't see that happening. It wasn't them, it was me. I had standards.

Speaking of the Academy, I saw the perfect opportunity to politely escape Mel's grasp when I spotted Heimerdinger talking to the Kirammans and Salo. I freed my arm and walked up to the yordle. "Hey, professor."

Heimerdinger grinned up at me. "Ah, if it isn't the Academy's star pupil. I'm still in the middle of going over the end-of-semester exams, but I have a feeling you're going to be at the top of your class once again!"

"Cool." I didn't care that much about exams, it was all about regurgitating material we learned in class. The Hextech stuff was especially galling, considering I'd helped Viktor out a little with writing the textbook we used for that class. Still, it was worth it to keep the Kirammans happy and avoid pissing off too many Pilties. I hadn't even made any jokes about how Professor Morley's new hairdo made them kinda look like a giant dong. Recently. Where the professor could hear me. No one had proven the drawing on the chalkboard was mine.

Salo let out a cold chuckle. "I'd ask how you intend to celebrate, but rumor has it that you already had a bit of fun at the Academy after exams were done."

Mrs. Kiramman let out a long-suffering sigh, while I smirked back at him. "I don't know what rumors you've heard, but I didn't do it."

Salo raises an eyebrow. "Who else would spray-paint 'Jinx Was Here!' On the front of the Academy's central administration building?"

I shrugged. "Must've been someone else named Jinx."

"There's nobody else named Jinx," Salo pointed out.

"You sure? Have you checked every other student at the Academy?" I smirked at him for a moment before letting out a faked gasp. "Maybe someone's trying to frame me! We should make sure everyone has an alibi! I know I was spending the evening with the Kirammans."

Heimerdinger chucked and shook his head. "Ah, youth. And really, if I complained every time my students get a little rambunctious celebrating the end of term, I wouldn't have an Academy left." He grinned at me. "Though I am rather curious about how you pulled that off with all the security we have in place." He paused a long moment before correcting himself. "Ah, my apologies, I meant to say how the unknown and unidentified culprit whose identity has yet to be proven did it."

"Well…" I rolled my shoulders. "Obviously, this is all purely hypothetical speculation, but hypothetically someone could've used the old disappearing reappearing ink trick. Make the initial design with some kinda paint that would be invisible to the naked eye, and would only shift to something everyone could see after an aerosolized reactant got introduced by, say, a time-released device. Which could then safely self-dispose to get rid of any evidence with a small shaped charge. The real trick would be getting access to the central administration building for long enough to set up the initial paint job. Maybe if they got voluntold to help out the school admin folks for a month because of some other completely unproven accusations as part of last semester's post-test celebration they'd have time to pull that off."

"Jinx…" Mrs. Kiramman sighed and shook her head. Mr. Kiramman brought a hand up to cover his mouth, and I could swear it was because he didn't want me to catch him smiling.

"What?" I smiled back at her, the very picture of a responsible and well-behaved student. "I'm speculating. Hypothetically."

Heimerdinger chuckled. "Yes, of course, purely hypothetical. Naturally, as the head of Academy I could never approve of such a prank, even if I did privately admire the ingenuity of it."

Salo frowned. "Really, professor? Instead of punishing this misbehavior you're practically encouraging her."

"Oh wingnuts," Heimerdinger scoffed. "The Academy is still a school. Let the children have a little harmless fun. Jinx is one of our top students, after all."

"Still…" Mrs. Kiramman sighed and shook her head.

"Perhaps we should find another use for our young prodigy's talents?" Jayce spoke up as he and Viktor joined the group.

"Oh, like you have any room to talk, Jayce." Heimerdinger grinned. "I seem to recall there being an incident in your junior year involving an improvised cannon, several beer cans, and damage to the brick facing of the men's dormitory…"

"I don't know what you could possibly be referring to, professor." Jayce's poker face wasn't as good as mine, but he was trying.

"I'm sure you don't," Heimerdinger answered with a knowing smile.

Viktor chuckled ruefully. "I wonder where all these wild shenanigans were when I was a student? I just spent all my time studying."

"Someone had to be responsible," I grinned at the two of them before turning to the others. "We take turns at it. Being the calm level-headed one is so much less fun than pushing the limits of engineering and laughing in the face of danger."

"How reassuring," Mrs. Kiramman answered with a dry smile before turning to Heimerdinger. "How much did the cleanup for this particular prank cost? It's been a while since we made a donation to the Academy."

Heimerdinger waved the offer away. "It's really not troubling yourself over. Although…" He turned to me with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I've found that sometimes when bright young minds turn to mischief, it means they just need an opportunity to prove themselves. And as it stands, something came up. We just received formal notice that the Demacians are sending an envoy to Piltover."

"Oh really?" Mr. Kiramman leaned forward. "They've barely even traded with us since we started developing Hextech. Not that they were all that eager to do so before."

"They're practically a hermit kingdom," Salo agreed, not quite hiding the disdain in his voice. "So busy clinging to their honor and traditions that they've let the rest of the world leave them behind. They barely have anything to trade besides agricultural products."

"People still need to eat," Mr. Kiramman pointed out. "Demacia hasn't been selling us as much grain as they did before we started developing Hextech. A loaf of bread that used to cost eight bronze washers four years ago goes for a silver cog now."

That got my attention. Ekko and the Firelights had been talking about how food was getting more expensive and it was getting hard for folks down in Zaun. I'd assumed that was all thanks to Silco, but maybe some of it was also because of this trade business? "So if we can get them to trade with us again, the price of bread would go down?"

"That's how supply and demand usually works," Mr. Kiramman agreed. "Though of course the reality is a bit more complicated than that. Bakers are a lot quicker to move their prices up than to adjust them downwards, especially once everyone is used to the higher prices."

That sounded right. There might be a lot of other factors in play, but greed was always part of it. Still, it was worth looking into.

"It might not be about trade at all," Heimerdinger cautioned. "Rumor has it they had a major border clash with the Noxians not too long ago, and for a while they even thought their crown prince died in the battle. They could just be trying to drag us into that conflict. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried that."

"Like when Noxus invaded Ionia," Salo pointed out, throwing a look Mr. Kiramman's way. Probably because he was from Ionia.

Mr. Kiramman's lips thinned as he kept his face carefully neutral. "Yes, I recall. I'm also aware that Piltover has a long history of neutrality in such matters."

"Piltover is meant to be a city of peace, learning, and refuge from the world's problems." Heimerdinger frowned at both of them. "We don't involve ourselves in other nations' wars. If the Demacians want to entangle us in their affairs with Noxus, they'll be disappointed. Though of course we would be happy to trade with them, especially if it helps bring down the price of bread." His attention shifted back to me. "Which is where you enter the equation, young lady. The Demacian envoys have a daughter around your age, and it occurs to me that this could be an opportunity to foster a friendship that might also help advance our cause."

Mr Kiramman nodded. "The Demacians do put a lot of stock in personal relationships. I doubt it would swing them too far in either direction, but if their daughter and Jinx get along it might put a metaphorical thumb on the scales during negotiations…"

"And even if things go badly I doubt it would matter too much," Salo cut in. "Councilor Kiramman and the envoy might even find common ground bonding over their willful children."

"I guess I could give it a shot," I hesitantly agreed. I had no idea how I was supposed to make friends with some foreign girl from a rich noble family, but if it could help bring the price of bread down for everyone in Zaun I had to try.

Too bad I had no idea where to start. Should I try to fake being a proper snooty rich person like she probably was, just be myself, or try to find some kinda middle ground? And what would I even do with her while trying to entertain her?

---

Current Stability: 0
Willpower: 2

New Thought Developing
? ?? ???? ???? ??? ????????
Strength: .5

How Does Jinx Act?

[ ][Behavior] I Can Fake Being Piltie
Issues: The Other Side of the Pilt (-1), Daughter of Zaun (-1), Powder (-5)
Failure Result: Jinx Comes Across as Fake

[ ][Behavior] The Full Jinx Experience
No Roll Needed

How Does Jinx Entertain Her Guest? (Pick 2)

[ ][Entertainmet] Tour Of The Academy

[ ][Entertainmet] Meet The Firelights

[ ][Entertainmet] Show off Cool Hextech

[ ][Entertainmet] A Show by Seraphine's Band

[ ] Write-in

Willpower

[ ][Willpower] Spend Zero
[ ][Willpower] Spend One for +3 to Rolls
[ ][Willpower] Spend Two for +6 to Rolls