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

Jinx Issues: 2d6: (4+6)-5 = 5
Success

Viktor Issues: 2d6: (5+2) -6 (Issues) = 1
Success

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I'm not hiding all our hard work just 'cause Heimerdinger thinks we need to spend five hundred years working out all the kinks first. As far as the speech goes, if I have to suffer through being on stage in front of half the city, I'm not gonna be suffering alone, so you're coming up there with me, Viktor."

Viktor sighed. "But you wouldn't be alone, Jinx. Jayce would be up there with you."

"Yeah, but he wouldn't be suffering up there with me," I pointed out, leaning over to faux-whisper to Viktor. "He actually likes being up on stage. Can you imagine someone who actually enjoys speaking in public while thousands of people stare at him, watching his every move and judging everything he says and does? Like some kind of weirdo freak?"

"Hey…" Jayce pouted. "Someone has to be the face of our trio. Unless you two wanna step up and spend more time talking to politicians and investors. If you two want to take the lead on this speech I'm more than happy to step back and let you have a turn in the limelight."

"I read once that people fear public speaking more than death," Viktor answered. "In light of that, perhaps it would be kinder for you to shoot me than to ask me to give a speech."

"I don't do crowds," I agreed. I might not be as closed off as Viktor, but there was a big difference between being myself around a small group of people I trusted and ignoring the crowd and having to actually engage and connect with them. Even dealing with the Council was a drag sometimes, and I knew all of them. I really didn't get how extroverts like Jayce and Seraphine could handle all the people-ing they did, I'd probably go nuts if I tried.

Jayce chuckled and shook his head, struggling to hide a grin. "Okay, fine, I'll use my apparently strange and spooky ability to actually talk to people to take the lead, while you two just stand in the background looking thoughtful and intelligent. Maybe you two can demonstrate how our new tech works while I handle talking to the crowd?"

"I suppose that could work," Viktor conceded. "But if you get any crazy ideas about asking me to speak to the crowd, just remember I'll be controlling an extremely powerful laser capable of cutting through solid steel."

"And I'll be wearing your bitch mittens," I chimed in. "Which would probably make me look way cooler doing stuff with them than you look, come to think of it."

"It would make more of an impact," Jayce conceded before turning a mildly reproving look my way. "Just remember to use their proper name when we're in public, we're trying to make a good impression and seem professional."

I snickered and rolled my eyes. "Relax, I won't ask any investors to buy your Bitch Mittens."

Jayce took a deep breath. "Repeat after me: Atlas. Gauntlets."

I nodded along, smirking back at him. "Bitch. Mittens."

"But they're not mittens," Viktor pointed out with a faint grin. "They have fully articulated fingers. The proper name would be Bitch Gloves or Bitch Gauntlets."

"Yeah, but Bitch Mittens sounds way funnier than either of those," I pointed out. "What's the point of telling a technically accurate joke if it's not funny?"

"I suppose I can understand your reasoning." Viktor's smile was so thin I could barely even see it. "Or perhaps I'm just grateful you haven't given my latest invention a similarly mocking nickname. Considering the near-miss we had while Heimerdinger was here, you likely would have called it the Poroblaster."

"Poroblaster 5000," I suggested.

"I haven't made four thousand nine hundred ninety previous versions," Viktor pointed out.

I grinned and lightly slugged his shoulder. "It's not the five thousandth version, the number's just there to sound cool."

Jayce groaned and started rubbing his forehead. "And this is why I handle all the public speaking…"

---

We went out on stage to thunderous applause and loud cheers from the crowd, which made Jayce smile and wave, as he soaked up the attention. By contrast, Viktor seemed to instinctively shrink down at all the noise before he realized it was a good thing, at which point he put on a painfully forced smile and awkwardly waved with his free hand.

I kinda felt like I was stuck in between them. I tried to match Jayce's energy, bouncing on my feet and waving to the crowd, but deep down I felt a lot more like Viktor. The cheering was nice and all, but I knew it would just take one bad remark or failure to make them turn against me. If I pointed out that half the stuff I'd made was only really necessary because of all the crap people in Piltover put Zaun through, I'd quickly go from 'Girl Genius of Progress' to a total pariah.

Seraphine was leaving the stage while we headed up, but paused for a second to smile and wave at me. Normally she was supposed to leave from the opposite side of the stage from where we were coming on, but she broke the rules and came towards us instead, presumably so she could get away with reaching over to squeeze my shoulder and let her fingers linger a moment before we parted. She'd always been way touchy-er than most of the people I knew. Some people were just like that; they just really liked going in for hugs and stuff. I hadn't really been used to it at first, but it'd never really bothered me and pretty soon I decided I liked it after all. It was like she wanted to use every little opportunity to remind me she cared.

I didn't have any more time to think about her, though, because Jayce was starting up his big speech. It was about what you'd expect out of a big Progress Day speech, a bunch of humble bragging about how we'd started from nothing and worked our way up to create revolutionary new technology, and now Hextech was a part of our everyday lives. Even the food people ate and the water they drank had Hextech involved now. Then he started in on how we weren't even close to done, and we had even more things coming up.

I took that as my cue to start showing off the Bitch Mittens, putting them on and grabbing a rock that probably weighed twice as much as I did, easily lifting it into the air before crushing it in my mechanically enhanced hands. I couldn't resist showing off a little after that, flexing my arms like some kind of strongman and yelling for the crowd. That got me a few cheers and laughs, so I guess it was okay.

Then Viktor showed off what he could do, using his claw's laser to carve out a sculpture of the three of us from a block of solid steel. He didn't put on a show for the crowds, and I could see sweat gathering on his forehead, but he pulled it off without anything going wrong.

Jayce moved to wrap things up after we were done showing off. "And this is just a small preview of what's coming! Progress Day isn't the time to rest on our laurels, but to look forward towards an even brighter future. As incredible as everything we've achieved is, this is just the beginning of Hextech, and I look forward to discovering what new wonders are waiting for all of us! Thank you, and Happy Progress Day!"

After that conclusion, everyone started cheering like crazy. It was hard to blame them, Jayce seemed to know how to deliver a good speech. If I hadn't heard him practicing it for the last two weeks I probably would've been impressed too.

I should've known something was wrong when he stayed standing at the podium instead of walking off while the crowd was cheering for us. Instead, he completely blindsided me when he took half a step back and put an arm across my shoulders. "Now then, I know I'm usually the public face of our efforts, but it'd feel wrong not to give my partners a chance to speak while we've got such a large audience. Let's start with the Girl Genius of Progress herself! Jinx, was there anything you wanted to add?"

Dammit, Jayce! Viktor and I weren't just being modest or a little shy, we genuinely didn't want to talk to the crowd. Still, now that he'd put me on the spot I felt like I had to say something.

I reluctantly stepped up to the podium, clearing my throat. "Uh, sorry, I don't have a big speech all prepped up like he did. Anyway, uh, I guess I just wanna thank everyone who helped me get here. Jayce for taking a chance on me, Viktor for helping me through way too many all-night planning sessions cracking tough problems, my family for ... you know, me being here at all." I let out a very forced chuckle. "The Kirammans for giving me a new family after ... you know, stuff happened. My best friends Seraphine and Ekko for just always being there to help me out."

I had to pause after that when people started cheering. Probably Seraphine's fans, since I didn't expect too many people at Progress Day to know who Ekko was, even if I'd gotten invites for the Firelights. "And I guess I should also say thanks to my profs at the Academy. Heimerdinger for putting up with me for so many years, Ziggs for being just the coolest professor ever, and the rest for helping out. Plus the Council for funding some of my research and crazy ideas. I'm glad most of them wound up working. So ... yeah, that's everything."

Despite the limp ending I got a decent amount of applause at the end of it all. I guess thanking everyone who'd helped me out over the years hadn't been a bad call. I knew enough about politics to know that publicly shouting out the Council would probably make it a bit easier to get them to fund whatever the next big project I asked them for. Rich people liked feeling respected and important, which was why most of them bothered to fund charity in the first place. The Kirammans might give a damn about other people but Salo and Hoskel wouldn't give a bunch of money to a hospital unless they were getting their name slapped on something in return and a lot of press about how kind and generous they were.

Meanwhile, Jayce shifted his attention to his next victim. "Viktor, don't be shy. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but it feels wrong to have you be my silent partner when most of what got us this far never would've happened without you." Viktor tried to wave him off, but Jayce smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Just say a few words, they'll love you."

"No, Jayce, I—" Whatever Viktor was about to say next vanished into a series of coughs.

Thankfully Jayce took the hint and backed off on the idea of encouraging him to speak, though he kept his arm around Viktor. "Sorry, everyone, sometimes I forget that I'm ... what did you call me, Jinx? 'A freaky extrovert who actually likes public speaking?'" That got a few more chuckles out of the audience, at least. "Anyway, I know Viktor's not a public speaker and he'll probably hate me for putting him in the spotlight, but I want to make sure everyone knows that he's been a huge part of our partnership. His face might not be showing up on banners or blimps, but as far as I'm concerned mine wouldn't be on any of them either without his help."

After a final round of cheers from the crowd we finally wrapped up the speech and could get off the stage and away from the prying eyes of the crowd. As grateful as I was to get away from it all, I could tell I wasn't the one taking it worst. Despite his brace and cane Viktor was moving fast enough to get ahead of me and Jayce, which almost certainly meant that he was pissed.

Jayce might occasionally be a bit too much of an enthusiastic puppy for his own good, but he knew he'd fucked up. As soon as we were safely backstage and away from prying eyes and ears he tried to fix it. "Look, Viktor, I know you hate being put on the spot like that, but standing on that stage in front of everyone, it felt wrong for me to not say anything. I mean—" He scoffed and waved towards the banners visible through the windows, the ones plastered with his and my faces. "It just doesn't seem fair. We should be the Men of Progress together, not me getting all the public credit while you're being treated like a forgotten silent partner. You deserve to be remembered just as much as we do."

"So your solution was to publicly humiliate me?" Viktor hissed as he sank down into his chair.

"You weren't—" Jayce closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The crowd liked you, Viktor. I just wanted everyone else in Piltover to know you deserved credit for all of your hard work. I'm sorry if that made you feel put on the spot, but I was just trying to—"

"I don't care," Viktor cut him off, covering his hand as he let out another series of coughs.

I groaned and shook my head. "Jayce, you big dumb people-loving puppy, no matter how convinced you are that it'll all work out and everyone will love him, you don't shove an introvert in front of a crowd with no time to prepare themselves. The only reason I'm not testing your Bitch Mittens on your skull right now is that I somehow managed to make up a halfway decent speech on the spot."

Jayce flinched and shrank down. "Right. Okay. Sorry. To both of you. I just didn't want my name to be the only one people were cheering, and I got so caught up in the moment that ... sorry."

I sighed and waved off his apology. "Go ... get us some ice cream or something. I think I spotted a stand selling it on the other side of the fair." Hopefully he'd take the hint to clear off for a while and let us get over it. I knew he didn't mean anything bad by it, and Viktor probably did too, but we still didn't like it. After an hour to process it all maybe we'd feel ready to listen to him apologizing. Plus, he'd be coming back with free ice cream. Every apology goes down better if you give it with ice cream. Well, unless you're apologizing to someone who's lactose intolerant.

Once Jayce was done slinking out of the room like a giant puppy who'd just been yelled at for a mess on the carpets, I turned to Viktor. "You good? That cough sounds nasty."

"Yes, I'm..." He coughed a bit more. "I'm fine." He grimaced and waved at his throat. "I think I just had a bit of a cold, and between that and the stress..."

I nodded along and would've accepted his explanation, until I spotted something. Blood on the sleeve of his shirt, the same sleeve he'd been using to cover up all his coughing. I frowned and pointed it out. "You sure you're fine, Vik?"

His eyes widened, and he quickly hid his sleeve. "Yes. I must have a cut on my mouth or bit my tongue or something. It's nothing."

My bullshit detector was screaming at me. Come to think of it, he'd been looking paler and sweatier for a while. I hadn't really thought much of it, I was still pretty light-skinned even after spending seven years living topside. Now... "Viktor ... are you sick?"

"I'm fine," he insisted, clenching his teeth and turning his chair away from me. "It's just a little cough, you don't need to worry. Or tell Jayce, he'd nag me endlessly if he thought something was wrong with me. The ice cream will help soothe my throat and solve it."

He'd nag you 'cause there probably is something wrong with you. It probably wasn't a good idea to say that out loud when things were still a little raw, but I was thinking it very loudly.

That begged the question of what I was supposed to do about this, though. Sure, Viktor insisted he was fine, but something in my gut told me he probably wasn't. I couldn't just ignore it, could I? Then again, Viktor's health was his personal business; was it okay for me to stick my nose into it? But we were business partners, his health could mess with everything we were trying to do with Hextech. Then again, blabbing about him coughing up a little blood was practically snitching on him, and snitches were just the lowest of the low. Ugh, what was the right thing to do?

---

Current Stability: 0
Willpower: 2

What Does Jinx Do About Viktor's Coughing?

[ ] Nothing. Viktor's Health is his Private Business

[ ] Tell Jayce

[ ] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)

[ ] Write-in

Added a short discussion period, since there's a write-in option for this vote.