[X][Walking] Caitlyn
- [X] Why Caitlyn wants to become an enforcer, what it means to jinx for Caitlyn to become an enforcer, what Caitlyn could do instead of be an enforcer.
[X][Willpower] Spend Zero
2d6: (3+2) = 5 Success
"Hey, girls." I grinned at Seraphine and Lux. "I know I'm pretty popular right now, but I think I need to make sure someone gets home safe and sound." I rather pointedly nudged Caitlyn with my elbow, who didn't seem to pick up on what I was saying at all, just smiling happily at me. Sure, I could've trusted the Enforcers or someone else to take care of her, but could I really trust them? Even if they got her back in one piece, some Enforcer escorting her home wouldn't cover for her with ou—with her parents.
Sure, she'd gotten drunk by accident and was old enough that she was allowed to drink anyway, but the Kirammans still wouldn't be happy about her coming home smashed. She needed me there to help her get home quietly and sleep it off, and if that didn't work I could explain why she'd gotten drunk and keep the Kirammans from freaking out too much. Not to mention I could make sure she had plenty of water and something to help with the killer headache that was gonna be waiting for her when she woke up in the morning.
So that was how I wound up walking back to the Kiramman manor and trying to keep Caitlyn from wandering off and passing out in a bush or something. The only downside to that was it meant being subjected to her nonstop monologue of random drunk thoughts. The good was that she'd sobered up enough to stop slurring and actually follow a coherent-ish pattern of thought now. Though that also made it a lot harder to just ignore her drunk babble. "Why do you think Mom and Dad named me Caitlyn anyway? What's so special about the name Caitlyn? Why not name me something else? Maybe I should just follow your example and change my name. From now on, everyone shall call me ... Matilda."
I rolled my eyes. At least she wasn't giving me a hard time about Seraphine anymore. Though that was probably just because drunk Caitlyn was like a baby, once something left her line of sight she completely forgot it existed. Also like a baby, she was extremely messy and loud. At least she hadn't thrown up all over herself. Yet. Hopefully we were safe on that front. If she was gonna puke up a bunch of spiked punch it probably would've happened by now. I think. I'm not an expert on how booze works.
Caitlyn flopped against my side, grabbing my shoulder with one arm to hold herself up as she leaned against me. "You're so nice, Jinx. You're a nice girl. That's why I want you to have a nice girlfriend. You deserve someone who can take care of you."
"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes and wrapped an arm around her. "At least now you're going from loud yelly drunk to quieter sappy drunk. Though for the record I don't need a girlfriend to take care of me, I can take care of myself just fine. And no, not like that, before you say anything." I wouldn't hate having one, but it wasn't exactly my top priority right now. Plus I wasn't too stuck on the girl part of it. What junk someone had in their pants was the least interesting thing about most people. Well, unless it was something cool, like some cyborg tech, or a hexgem. Or maybe a Hextech-powered... never mind.
"Yeah, you can." Caitlyn sighed and snuggled up closer to me, which was a little awkward with how tall she was. "You've got things so figured out compared to me. I'm the older one, I'm supposed to have all the answers."
I snorted. "You think I have things figured out? No way. I'm just really good at making it all up as I go and acting like it was all part of my plan." Sure, some things I'd planned out ended up working, like the whole clean water for Zaun thing, but a whole lot of other things I wanted for the future didn't pan out. I mean, if I was perfect at making my plans reality, Vi and Vander would still be around.
I squeezed her shoulder. "Besides, its not like you don't have things figured out too. You've wanted to be an Enforcer for as long as I've known you." Even if I wasn't wild about her career choice.
"But what if I'm wrong?" She clutched me a little tighter. "I know you don't like them, and every time I discuss it with Mom and Dad they tell me it's too dangerous and not a suitable career for a Kiramman. But ... I can't design a ventilation system or a water treatment plant. I tried learning about how our family's business interests work, but it all went over my head. You'd probably do better running the family business than I ever could. I hate math and barely passed my classes in it, you're brilliant at it."
I scoffed and shook my head. "Math makes me a good accountant. Running a business is about a lot more than that. You've got those people skills." There was a reason Jayce ran most of the business side of all our Hextech work, while Viktor and I stuck to focusing on the science. Putting Viktor in front of a bunch of investors led to them getting annoyed by all his tech talk, and I was never all that good at sucking up to a bunch of rich jerks. Not to mention they wouldn't take me seriously because after one look at me, they'd always write me off as 'just a little girl' or a 'lab assistant.'
"Do I have people skills?" Caitlyn sighed and ran a hand down her face. "I don't think I do. I can talk to people, but I don't feel like I'm especially good at it. What I can do is solve a mystery or investigate things, and I'm a good shot. I want to use what I'm good at to give back to everyone in Piltover and the undercity. I won't be some kind of ... idle rich leech enjoying my prosperity while contributing nothing to the city that provides it for me."
Caitlyn went from leaning against me to outright hugging me. "Everything I saw in the undercity, everything you suffered through, none of it was fair. I have to make things right. It's like Sheriff Grayson told me once, if I'm going to use a gun I need to think about what I'm using it to do. I want to use it to make this city a better place, and the only way to do that is as an Enforcer. It's not like I can go gallivanting around the undercity as a vigilante."
"Why not?" I tried to shift her around so she wasn't pressing down on me too much. "You did it before, when we went down there to save Ekko and Benzo from Sevika."
"Because they were in immediate danger, and the Enforcers couldn't help." Caitlyn started idly flicking one of my braids. "Sheriff Grayson always said the problem with the Enforcers is that nobody holds them accountable. The Council and the people of Piltover trust them to do their job and turn a blind eye to any reports of misconduct because that's easier." She scoffed, and suddenly there was scorn dripping from her voice. "Why give a shit about some dirty Zaunites who probably deserved a beating anyway? Even if they didn't commit whatever crime the Enforcers accused them of, they probably did something else wrong to deserve it. Oh, children are stealing so they won't starve? They should get jobs? They're orphans because the Enforcers killed their parents? Well, their parents should've thought about that before they broke the law."
I wasn't sure what I'd expected her to say about why she still wanted to be an Enforcer, but it hadn't been ... this. "I thought you still believed in what they stood for."
"I still believe in things like justice and fairness," Caitlyn shot back. "Do the Enforcers stand for that? They'll name a water plant after Sheriff Grayson, but while they claim they're honoring her memory they're throwing everything she stood for in the garbage. I know she wasn't perfect, but at least she tried to do something to keep the peace and make things a bit less awful than they were. Somebody has to do the right thing."
She groaned and staggered away from me, waving a hand towards the Council Towers. "I can't fix the Council or the way Piltover is. Even if I gave the entire Kiramman fortune once I inherited it, if I spent every last cog of it trying to help Zaun, it wouldn't be enough. Most of it would be stolen by chembarons, or wind up back in the pockets of all the other families. Nothing would change, except that now the Kirammans wouldn't have a seat at the table. At least as an Enforcer I can do something real. If I can save one little girl from going through everything you did, that would be enough for me."
"Aw, Caitlyn…" I didn't waste any time hugging her. "I didn't know you had so much going on. I thought you were just … I dunno." Part of me had always wondered if she was still holding onto all her old illusions that the Enforcers were good guys.
Caitlyn hugged me back. "It's… I've got this whole plan. Or maybe it's just a silly fantasy. But … I'm a Kiramman. As long as I prove I'm not just a spoiled rich girl doing this for fun it won't be hard to go up the ranks. I can't fix nepotism, so I might as well use it to my advantage. Grayson was always an outsider to the Council, but I would be one of them. If I became Sheriff eventually, maybe I could finish what she started. Make the Enforcers actually live up to what they're supposed to be, people who serve and protect Piltover and Zaun."
I gently rubbed her back. Part of me wanted to point out that it wouldn't work that way, but this wasn't the time to dump on Caitlyn's dreams. Besides, a Sheriff who actually believed in treating Zaun fairly might not fix everything, but it was better than nothing. "Do you really think you can do it?"
"Probably not," Caitlyn admitted. "There are too many people who'd want to stop me from fixing the Enforcers. But I have to try."
Huh. Well that gave me something to think about. Caitlyn wasn't just a naive Piltie who thought the Enforcers could be the good guys, she was pissed off, scared, and this was her way of fighting back. I still didn't like it, but at least I understood her a bit better.
I still hadn't figured out how I was supposed to feel about everything she'd told me when we got to the Kiramman estate. I was debating whether to try sneaking her in through her bedroom window or having her sleep it off in my workshop when the front door opened and Mr. Kiramman stepped out. "Good, you're home."
"Awww, Dad!" Caitlyn slipped out of my grasp to stagger over to him and give him a floppy drunk hug. "It's so late! Were you waiting up for us?"
"Always." He returned the hug, frowning as he took in his daughter's limpness and probably smelled her breath. "Looks like you've been having fun while I was busy waiting for my girls to come home."
I quickly stepped in before he got the wrong idea. "Someone spiked the punch at the party. We didn't know about that until…" I waved a hand at Caitlyn.
"That will tend to happen at school parties," Mr. Kiramman agreed with a wistful smile. "I remember at my graduation party with the help of a few glasses of punch, I was finally able to approach a young lady I'd been admiring from afar for some time and—mind you, this was years before I met your mother…"
"Yeah, yeah, we get the picture." I didn't need to get wrapped up in Mr. Kiramman reminiscing about a drunken school-age hookup. "Liquid courage, turns out she was into you the whole time, you snuck off to the broom cupboard and blah blah blah…"
"You make it sound so much less romantic than I remember it being." He chuckled and shook his head, then grabbed one of Caitlyn's arms and hooked it around his shoulders. "Jinx, help me get her to her bedroom. Cassandra should be asleep, and it will be less stressful for all of us if she doesn't see Caitlyn in her current state."
I grinned and got Caitlyn's other side. "Ooh, are we keeping this secret?"
"No, Cassandra always finds the truth eventually." Judging by the way he winced a bit when he said that, it was a lesson he'd learned the hard way. "Late-night lectures while she's still intoxicated or in the morning when she's hungover will do none of us any good, especially when she never intended to get drunk. We can have a more productive conversation once Caitlyn's sober and Cassandra is less inclined to be upset with her. She'll doubtless suspect the truth when I tell her Caitlyn's feeling under the weather, but I know how to break the news so she won't be too upset."
"Thanks." It seemed like the right thing to say since I'd definitely get caught in the blast radius if Mrs. Kiramman was mad about Caitlyn coming home drunk.
That was the last thing either of us said for a while, since getting Caitlyn to her room and cleaned up enough to put to bed was a two-person job. Especially if we wanted to avoid waking up Mrs. Kiramman, and probably have her come charging in with a rifle mistaking us for intruders. Once we managed to get her boots off, her teeth brushed, and her jacket off we agreed that was good enough. Trying to get her into a nightgown involved way too much risk of seeing things that could never be unseen.
Once we got Caitlyn settled in bed and happily drooling away on her pillow I was ready to get to bed myself, even though normally I'd be tempted to squeeze in a little late night workshop time. I'd had one heck of a day, after all, and tomorrow was gonna be busy too.
Right before I could leave, Mr. Kiramman cleared his throat. "One last thing, before you go."
Hopefully it wasn't anything big, I needed my beauty sleep. Or more likely, my staring up at the ceiling trying to sleep while my mind raced at a million meters a second. "Yeah?"
He smiled and squeezed my arm. "I know you're still thinking over the adoption offer, but I hope you understand that no matter how you answer, you will always have a home here, for as long as you want it. And even if you decide you don't want this to be your home, our door will be open to you if you ever change your mind or need our help."
"Oh." I felt my throat closing up and knew I needed to get outta there quickly before something really embarrassing happened. "Yeah … Thanks." I hated how choked up I sounded.
I headed back to my bedroom, already bracing for a restless night filled with too many things to think about and not enough time to do it all. Or I could have nightmares, those were always fun.
Current Stability: 0
Willpower: 1
How Does Jinx's Night Go?
[ ][Sleeping] Slept Like a Baby
Costs 1 Willpower
[ ][Sleeping] Can't Sleep, Too Much To Stress Over
1 stability damage from sleep deprivation.
[ ][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
Optional write-in for "fun" nightmare suggestions.
I'm a bit tired today, so have a shorter update. Also, after checking some of the feedback in the thread, I'm gonna put something up for a vote for players to decide on.
Should This Quest Have Discussion Periods Before Voting Opens?
[ ][Discussion Period] Yes, On All Votes.
[ ][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[ ][Discussion Period] No Discussion Periods Are Needed.
How Long Should Discussion Periods Last?
[ ][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[ ][Discussion Length]: Mid-Length, Voting Opens Eight Hours After The Post Goes Up
[ ][Discussion Length]: Long, Voting Opens One Day After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Slept Like a Baby
[X][Discussion Period] No Discussion Periods Are Needed.
[X][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Slept Like a Baby
[X][Discussion Period] No Discussion Periods Are Needed.
[X][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[x] Vander berating Powder for squandering her bar upbringing, then getting shot by Enforcer Caitlyn.
[x][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[x][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Discussion Length]: Mid-Length, Voting Opens Eight Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[x] Vander getting shot on the bridge but transitions to Caitlyn bleeding out in her arms.
[X][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X] The Demacians discover that Lux and Seraphine are Mages. Jinx tries to intervene, but is too weak to protect them.
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
- [X] The hit Netflix series Arcane, where Vi is a cop (fate worse than death) and Jinx has Silco instead of the Kirammans
[X][Discussion Period] No Discussion Periods Are Needed.
[X][Discussion Length]: Mid-Length, Voting Opens Eight Hours After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Mel Medarda turns Jinx's clothes into a golden dress and parades her before horde of drunk suitors who all use Caitlyn's terrible pickup lines.
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is taking a bath when she's sucked down the drain and into her own water treatment plant, where all the Zaunite in her is filtered out until there's nothing but Piltie left, and she's deposited in front of an applauding council with ghoulish faces.
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jayce & Victor test a Hextech shrink ray on Jinx before forgetting to unshrink her to argue over rune alignments. Jinx must traverse the lab and it's many dangers atop her faithful steed, the golden horse Mel Medarda.
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is trapped in the tower of of the evil and boring professor Morley. Only with the help of a passing knight can she complete the Hex-hair-motionifier and weaponize her braid to defeat the evil professor and escape his tower once and for all, but when the brave knight pulls down their face plate, it's Salo's face that stairs out at her.
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is Watson to Caitlyn's Holmes, and the two proceed to unravel the mystery of the cult of bureaucracy. Jinx and Caitlyn uncover the cult secret meeting place, but it's a trap. The cult forces Jinx to choose. Stab Caitlyn and save her from endless council meetings, or stab herself and doom Caitlyn to endless council meetings.
See what I can do with a bit of time? This is why we need the two hours Moratorium.
[X][Discussion Period] Yes, On All Votes.
[X][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
- [X] The hit Netflix series Arcane, where Vi is a cop (fate worse than death) and Jinx has Silco instead of the Kirammans
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx see herself. But she's peak piltover, all fancy, all uppity, and who has rejected her Zaunite origin.
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[x] Vander berating Powder for squandering her bar upbringing. Jinx should've been taking care of her sister, but she doesn't even know how booze works. It's fine, Powder already killed her sister, look her body's right over there. Jinx's sister is at The Last Drop with Seraphine and they seem to be hitting it off. Powder's sister is pretty blown up so the drinks just go into her mouth and out her throat. Because Jinx blew up her sister, Powder's sister in an Enforcer uniform hunts Jinx down to arrest her, so Powder has to blow her up again.
[x][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[x][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Discussion Length]: Mid-Length, Voting Opens Eight Hours After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx see herself. But she's peak piltover, all fancy, all uppity, and who has rejected her Zaunite origin.
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is taking a bath when she's sucked down the drain and into her own water treatment plant, where all the Zaunite in her is filtered out until there's nothing but Piltie left, and she's deposited in front of an applauding council with ghoulish faces.
This neatly ties together her learning to act Piltie and work with important pilties on the council with the water treatment which was her motivation for doing so.
[x][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[x][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X] The hit Netflix series Arcane, where Vi is a cop (fate worse than death) and Jinx has Silco instead of the Kirammans
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Mel Medarda turns Jinx's clothes into a golden dress and parades her before horde of drunk suitors who all use Caitlyn's terrible pickup lines.
[X][Sleeping] Slept Like a Baby
[X][Sleeping] Slept Like a Baby
[X][Discussion Period] No Discussion Periods Are Needed.
[X][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[X][Sleeping] Slept Like a Baby
[X][Discussion Period] No Discussion Periods Are Needed.
[X][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
What junk someone had in their pants was the least interesting thing about most people. Well, unless it was something cool, like some cyborg tech, or a hexgem. Or maybe a Hextech-powered... never mind.
"What sort of gender would you prefer in a partner?"
Normal Person: "Man/Woman/Either/Any/Etc."
Jinx: "High-tech Mayhem!"
Not really sure about the dream-option, tbh...
[x][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[x][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Discussion Length]: Mid-Length, Voting Opens Eight Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[x][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X] The hit Netflix series Arcane, where Vi is a cop (fate worse than death) and Jinx has Silco instead of the Kirammans
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is Watson to Caitlyn's Holmes, and the two proceed to unravel the mystery of the cult of bureaucracy. Jinx and Caitlyn uncover the cult secret meeting place, but it's a trap. The cult forces Jinx to choose. Stab Caitlyn and save her from endless council meetings, or stab herself and doom Caitlyn to endless council meetings.
-[X][Sleeping] Mel Medarda turns Jinx's clothes into a golden dress and parades her before horde of drunk suitors who all use Caitlyn's terrible pickup lines.
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is taking a bath when she's sucked down the drain and into her own water treatment plant, where all the Zaunite in her is filtered out until there's nothing but Piltie left, and she's deposited in front of an applauding council with ghoulish faces.
I don't think it's going to go that well for Caitlyn. Cops that try to do the reform angle either start making compromises once they're in the force, or they become the kind of person that quite a few other cops hate: y'know, a snitch that won't cover for them, and therefore finds either their future career success or their safety at stake when nobody else in the force extends the "blue line" to them.
But, like, she can figure that out herself I suppose? A large chunk of the Enforcers, if not most of them, are going to basically just view her as a soft, weak rich girl who doesn't know the reality of the Enforcers (beating dissidents and forging reports). But it's also kinda something that she'll either figure out or not.
[x][Discussion Period] Only For Votes With Write-Ins or Plans
[x][Discussion Length]: Short, Voting Opens Two Hours After The Post Goes Up
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X] Jinx sees her dead family alive again due to her Hextech creations, but the life support systems are constantly breaking down. Jinx is unable to keep them repaired and watches them die again.
[X][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X] The hit Netflix series Arcane, where Vi is a cop (fate worse than death) and Jinx has Silco instead of the Kirammans
[x][Sleeping] Nightmare Time!
-[X][Sleeping] Jinx is taking a bath when she's sucked down the drain and into her own water treatment plant, where all the Zaunite in her is filtered out until there's nothing but Piltie left, and she's deposited in front of an applauding council with ghoulish faces.
nother day,nother quote of the incorrect variety,this time it's a bit complicated: Ex-Sheriff!Caitlyn:You know what? You're a fuckin' joke. No wonder the KDA didn't take you, or the Enforcers, and they'll take fuckin' anyone. I mean, you are a ridiculous, immature, half-wit moron. I have never met a sadder, more attention-starved, jabbering little bitch in my entire life, and that says a lot because I've been alive for more than 200 fuckin' years. And I'll tell ya, that Noxian prick was right about one thing: you will never save the world.You couldn't even save a relationshipwith a goddamnstripper! Motherfucker, I wish I could say you'll die alone, but it's one of GODS' BEST JOKES THAT YOU CAN'T DIE! EXCEPT IT'S ON ALL OF US!![Powder is stunned to silence.] Oh, you got nothing to say, "JINX"?! Vigilante!Powder:... Vigilante!Powder:..I'm gonna fight you now. Ex-Sheriff!Caitlyn:[scoffs]Oh, are you? [Powder cold-cocks her in the face hard, drawing blood.]
I don't think it's going to go that well for Caitlyn. Cops that try to do the reform angle either start making compromises once they're in the force, or they become the kind of person that quite a few other cops hate: y'know, a snitch that won't cover for them, and therefore finds either their future career success or their safety at stake when nobody else in the force extends the "blue line" to them.
i think that's where she's banking on nepotism and corruption to work in her favour.
Her career options would be limited by being a snitch, except a good word by her to her mother about a reasonable superior can set that guy up with a very cushy career trajectory in their own right.
She would be left out to dry without backup, except Counillor Kiramman is not as easily stonewalled as the average parent, and then whoever left her out to dry is in for a very bad time themselves.
Don't get me wrong, even with those factors, she's setting herself up for a likely failure, but I don't think she needs to find out much of anything. She seems to be aware of the risks and going in with at least some idea of how to work around them.