Just decided to start a reread, and it did not take long to find a fun complication for the adoption issue.
Jinx has kind of the opposite problem from Powder. She's already proving that she can pull not just her own weight but also a decent chunk of the rest of Zaun, and now she has to decide how much she wants to be attached to an adult.
And it's complicated because part is that it's not
just "Able to pull weight".
I stand by what I said earlier that the offer to adopt is kinda meaningless on the emotional front with the Kirammans if it actually means something. And all signs point that to the Kirammans - emotionally Jinx is family.
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.
There's a reason why despite Jinx being so very
Jinx that people still associate her with the Kirammans - or at least Cassandra. I know a mother daughter pair. There is no actual blood relation between the two but since the family doesn't broadcast that the first wife died and there was a remarriage - the social consensus in the town is mother daughter. Seeing resemblances in appearance. But the two
act like mother and daughter.
Jinx in some ways is more like Cassandra than Caitlyn. Just with a very Zaun & Jinx & Rebel flare and orientation of priorities. The nature of what it takes to do infrastructure that helps Zaun means politics. How much Cassandra and the Kiramman's do their donations to help people or to build soft power, or rather the percentage of the ratio is unknown. But there is a similarity in method - down to being completely okay with shooting someone in the right circumstance.
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…"
Given that shooting Mel could spark a war with Noxia if I remember right with her being from there... Yeah, this sequence is likely not a joke really except for Mel seeing it as such a bad idea that it
must be a joke.
I'm less sure of how blatant it is to other people that Cassandra (and the implication of the rest of the Kirammans) probably would go very far for Jinx because Mel is rather good at this.
Mrs. Kiramman chuckled and shook her head. "Relax, Jinx, this is a good change. Or at least, I think it could be. Formalities matter to the Demaciansm, so this might be the time to address things we've left unspoken." She cleared her throat. "Or at least broach the matter. I hope you understand that you are not simply a houseguest here, but a part of this family in every way that matters." She started rubbing her hands together, almost like she was nervous or something. "When preparing the paperwork for the upcoming meeting one of the scribes recorded your name was Jinx Kiramman. I wanted to correct it, but the rest of the Council thinks it's harmless, and any explanation would overcomplicate things."
She was almost rambling. Was she actually nervous? That was a first. "In any case, it occurred to me that perhaps we could move forward with that. With you being Jinx Kiramman. Obviously I'm not presuming to erase your old family or your history, but I would like to make you a part of my—of our family in a more formal way. Assuming you have no objections to being adopted, of course."
"Oh. Um..." That was ... a lot. Sure, people had called me a Kiramman before or joked about the Kirammans being my parents, and they'd basically filled that role for the last four years. You could say filling out a couple of forms to make it all 100% official was just a bit of paperwork formality, but it sure didn't feel like a small thing.
So Jinx naturally focused on her emotional side of things with the offer and thinking about what it'd mean for her everyone she lost in Zaun. But it does mean that she didn't look at the implications of things.
1. Yeah - remember Mel saying that Cassandra would shoot her?
Cassandra absolutely would. The fact that this was unspoken means that Jinx really does not get that Cassandra at least
believes every word she is saying here that Jinx already is a part of the family.
2. The fact that the Council saw correcting the record as
overcomplicating things portrays it rather decidedly that unofficially Jinx is seen as a Kiramman. Again see how she and Cassandra are similar and the differences are... not minor, but can feel in the range of how one generation differs from the next.
3. Jinx is honestly kinda more frequent a visitor to Council Meetings than her narration implies going by how her name being needed for the upcomong meetings is just assumed. Or it could just be her and me underestimating just how few people show up so anyone showing up repeatedly counts as showing up often.
4. That incident probably is what put it into perspective for Cassandra as to how the dynamic has developed - and yeah she is nervous because trying to make the offer without seeming to erase Jinx's history. (Cassandra doesn't understand a lot of things from Zion, but she does understand that Jinx cares. And that is good enough to know to try and be careful).
"Uh, right. Later, Lux." I waved farewell to her as the Demacian delegation departed. Most of the Council went with them, but Mrs. Kiramman stayed behind for a second. It wasn't hard to guess why. "So ... on a scale of one to kicking me to the curb, how pissed off are you?"
Mrs. Kiramman sighed and rubbed her forehead, probably dealing with another stress headache. "Taking an ambassador's daughter down to the undercity is obviously something nobody in the Council is happy about, but I'm sure they'll understand that she put you on the spot. Telling her no would've made us look bad. That said, you should have accepted in a way that left us with more control of the situation. I know you trust your Firelight friends, but do I even need to tell you how many different ways this could end badly? The undercity is hardly the sort of place we want to show off to foreign dignitaries and if, heaven forbid, she gets caught up in some kind of gang fight..."
Also here - Kiramman doesn't even acknowledge the "Kicking me to the curb" bit.
The discussion had with Jinx is very much...
Here is the situation, here is the implications with the council (not happy, but understanding about being put on the spot for the visit of Zion in genreal. Very much disgruntled about the Firelights being used as security), here are the wider implications.
It's... Well it's the House Head talking to a younger member in regards to the political situation, pointing out nuances and giving their read on it. It's a "Be Careful" with circles around points of concern and with reasons for that concern explained.
Like I said before - if the offfer of adoption on the
emotional level for the Kirraman's means anything the legality of the situation must mean nothing.
For Jinx it's a lot more complicated and will be decided at the time of the actual vote I think. (I really do hope that Jinx gets a chance to talk about it even a little bit with Ekko.)
Now social/politically that is where the major implications are. Because yeah - Jinx is demonstratively not trading on the Kiramman name. She can trade on her own just fine.
The big thing is basically having the Kiramman's more
visibly in her corner.
Mel understands it intuitively but it is useful to as they say "Say it again for those in the back".
In Zaun this has downsides - the question (and why I want to talk to Ekko) is how much the perception downsides are already baked in.
Jinx is already being assumed to be a Kirraman anyways. It being unofficial might not be enough to spare her that.
Elsewhere... yeah, going after the youngest daughter of a major House/Family of Piltover who happens to also be a Hextech inventor sounds like a much worse idea than going after one of the Hextech Inventors connected to a major House/Family of Piltover.
Within Piltover/Outside Piltover & Zaun - Its the difference being an asset that is to be targeted/stolen to weaken the Kirramans/Piltover. Or being an asset but also one that will obviously bring problems if caught doing so or attempting to do so.
As for implications for Zaun - again depends on how much of that is already baked. And the nature of that stuff because Jinx has been doing clean water (which would probably be kinda public as something the Kirammans were supporting) and talking with the Firelights. If the PR stuff with the Firelights go well...
I said before that right now Jinx is basically trying to balance ties to both sides of the river.
She was almost rambling. Was she actually nervous? That was a first. "In any case, it occurred to me that perhaps we could move forward with that. With you being Jinx Kiramman. Obviously I'm not presuming to erase your old family or your history, but I would like to make you a part of my—of our family in a more formal way. Assuming you have no objections to being adopted, of course."
Cassandra I think kinda stated one of the things with Jinx. She's moving forward - but that doesn't mean erasing or forgetting where she came from. I actually think we might be hitting that balance.
