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

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jgalue1 said:
The big issue here is that both side are right on n this, the exploration of Zaun is horrible but like Grayson say she can only mitigate the worst of it because as far the real people in power she can be easily replaced, the issue with in the relationship between Piltover and Zaun is that people in power want to keep it that way, the Chembarons just screw over Zaun because it keep they pockets full and the Piltover clans just don't care about the people they see beneath them, the people of the twin cities are fine by themselves but like i say the leadership of both cities want to keep the status quo with only a few individuals in power actually caring about general good of the people of both cities.
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I want to push back on this a bit. There are definitely some parts of this that suggest that Grayson, while she is not maximally bad, is also not great. Like, take this:

Chengar Qordath said:
"They'll all back each other up with their testimony, and no jury in Piltover is going to believe a Zaunite whore and tattooed thug over half a dozen of our officers."
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She could be using those terms as like a "that's what the jury would see." Or she could not be.

Chengar Qordath said:
Grayson stood up and slammed her hands down on Vander's desk. "What do you want me to do, hand my people over to a fucking lynch mob?"
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Obviously, she can't approve Vander's suggestion - but this isn't a tired "you know I can't do that." This is what she gets the most animated about, and suddenly it's "her people" against a "fucking lynch mob" when she knows they did it. This isn't a matter of unclear guilt.

And like... Grayson absolutely could do more here. Even if she can't fire the enforces in question for that - she can still presumably fire them for something else. She mentions some councilor's general sentiments, but she doesn't mention any connections these specific enforcers have that makes them difficult to move against. And that makes sense, because we know that the Kiraminn's at least consider being an enforcer kind of low status. So all she'd have to do is find or manufacture some other excuse to fire them.
 
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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by Chengar Qordath on Dec 28, 2024 at 1:09 AM, finished with 45 posts and 41 votes.
    [argument] [willpower]
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  • Voting
    • Powder: "I'm just going to.....go."

    Powder working on robots while pretending that her big sister and father figure aren't bitterly fighting: "This is fine."
     
    i'd counter
    powder "i'm just going to... go..."
    powder goes to room, and starts reading the academy books she got from jayce while also looking at her previous scematics for where she could improve them, pretending big sister and father figure aren't bitterly fighting "this is fine"
     
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    A Violent Kind of Peace 4
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    • A Violent Kind of Peace 4​

    [X] [Argument] Remain Quiet and Leave
    [X] [Willpower] Spend Zero

    As Vi and Vander kept going back and forth, all I could think about was how much I didn't want to be in the middle of this. What would I even say? They were both making good points, and if I tried to get involved I'd probably just make one of them hate me. Maybe both, knowing my luck. Vander would kick me out onto the streets, and Vi would say I wasn't her sister anymore. No, the only safe thing to do was to keep my mouth shut and stay out of this completely.

    I grabbed my beg and fled back to our room. Mylo and Claggor were already there sitting on their beds talking, but I really didn't want to deal with them right now. Too bad they didn't notice that. Claggor smiled and waved. "Hey, Powder. How'd things go topside?"

    "I bet she's already cozying up with the Enforcers and learning how to look down her nose at all us dirty Zaunites," Mylo tossed out, reminding me that he was just the absolute worst. Saying it with a smile didn't take any of the bit out of those words.

    I knew I had to give them some kind of answer or they'd never leave me alone. "It was fine." I got onto my bed and pulled out the book of schematics Jayce gave me, flipping to a random page and looking over the schematics for an old ship engine. It didn't look very efficient, but they switched from having the steam boiler on the outside to somehow putting it inside the engine you could probably double the output, or more. Of course, if Jayce and I cracked HexTech we'd make the whole thing obsolete anyway.

    "Whatcha reading?" Mylo tried to grab the book away from me, but I quickly pulled it back before he could get his dirty hands on it. "Didja nick that from your job topside?"

    "No, he gave it to me." I growled and turned my back on both of them to shield the book from view, even though it also wound up blocking a lot of my light. "I need to know how stuff works if I'm gonna help out in his workshop."

    "So it's a book about how to make weird gadgets?" Claggor asked. "Sounds perfect for you, then. Maybe it'll finally give you what you need to make your mouser bombs finally work."

    Then Mylo had to ruin everything. "Or maybe they have some kinda jinx blaster that would let you weaponize your abilities? Like, you could blast someone with a jinx beam and suddenly everything goes wrong for them. Turn all your jinxing into a weapon you use to take out bluebellies when suddenly they trip and fall off a bridge or something."

    I rolled my eyes and just tried to ignore him even harder. Jayce might be a Piltie, but at least he wasn't annoying like my adoptive brothers.


    The rest of the week after that was just ... well by the end of it, it felt normal. Vi would take me to Jayce's place in the morning, we'd work for a few hours, take a lunch break, and then get back to work until Vi came back to take me home. The only real change was that the math eventually got complicated enough that I had to start writing things down, and I started calling more and more parts by their actual names instead of 'thingamabobber' and 'dinglehopper.' Well, most of the time, sometimes it was funny to keep using those names just to mess with Jayce.

    He also took me to some other lunch places after the sandwich shop. Some of them were pretty good, like the one place that sold meat pies, or the one where we had fish curry and eggs. Others I wasn't so wild about: Jayce insisted that coffee was 'an acquired taste' but I didn't get why anybody would wanna go to the trouble of acquiring it in the first place. If it's gross the first time I drink it, having it a hundred more times wouldn't make it less gross.

    Still, things had pretty much settled into a nice, comfortable routine. I was starting to think that maybe I would go along with Jayce's idea of sticking around as his assistant. He was teaching me all kinds of cool stuff, and even if most Pilties were still big jerks he seemed to be an exception. Well, unless he was just holding off on being one for now.

    I should've known it was all too good to last.

    When I showed up for work on Monday things started off fine, until a messenger came for Jayce and dropped off a note. As soon as he read it he ran off, saying something about how I should 'mind the fort' until he returned. I figured it was some kinda urgent Piltie business, probably something to do with the people paying for all his research, which was why he didn't bring me along. If only I'd known that I was actually going to be at the center of this whole thing.

    Jayce came back an hour later, while I was in the middle of tinkering with the flux recombinator to help remodulate the pulse stabilizer with a new rune sequence. What really surprised me was that he'd brought Caitlyn the Piltie Girl with him, and his arms were loaded down with a bunch of fancy-looking dresses. He glanced over at me for a second before turning back to Caitlyn. "Thank you so much, I owe you a massive favor for this."

    "I'll put it on your tab," she shot back with a dry smile. "Hopefully Violet won't eat any trees while I'm gone. She's actually almost tolerable company when she's not trying to rob us or getting into a fistfight with me." She chuckled and lightly punched Jayce's arm. "Though I daresay you're getting a bit too worked up over this."

    I slid out from under the recombinator and wiped some grease off my face with my shirt. "What's going on?"

    Caitlyn's eyes flicked over me, and I felt that judgey Piltie stare once more. "Well, perhaps your fears aren't entirely unfounded."

    "Be nice, Cait." Jayce pointedly cleared his throat and turned to me. "So, I just found out that my mentor and his assistant are going to be visiting us in a few hours. Professor Heimerdinger is apparently curious to check in on my studies and meet the new apprentice I've taken on." He grimaced and shook his head. "I guess someone at the Academy spotted us going out to lunch and connected a few dots."

    Heimerdinger? Where did I know that name from? A second later it hit me. "Wait, isn't he the guy that runs the whole Council that's in charge of topside?!"

    "Saying he runs it might be a bit of an exaggeration," Caitlyn answered. "Officially, all members of the Council hold equal rank. Though given his seniority and experience, the Council does tend to respect his judgment, especially when it comes to his field of expertise."

    "Plus he's my mentor at the Academy." Jayce looked around the workshop for a moment, then began frantically stacking up some of the tools I'd been working with a minute ago. "I'll take care of the workshop, Cait. Can you take care of Powder?"

    'Take care of me'? What was he talking about? My first instinct was to ask Jayce directly, but he was still running around trying to clean everything up even though the workshop looked completely fine. I cleared my throat. "I know I already asked this, but what's going on?"

    "I think Jayce is just a touch panicked over Professor Heimerdinger's arrival," Caitlyn answered with a wry grin. "He wants to make a good impression on his old mentor. Thus, the cleaning." She waved to where Jayce seemed to trying to simultaneously sweep the floors and clear off a table full of gadgets. "I think he's being silly. Professor Heimerdinger's an inventor too, and I'm sure he knows what an engineer's workshop looks like. Regardless, he also conscripted my assistance for the task of making you look presentable."

    "Presentable?" I quickly checked myself in the mirror and realized I still had a bit of grease left on my face. Nothing I couldn't fix by wiping it with my sleeve, though. "What's wrong with how I look?" I suspiciously looked over several of the very frilly outfits he'd dumped onto a freshly cleared table. "Don't tell me he wants to dress me up like a doll. I'm not some kinda pampered Piltie princess." I picked up a bright purple and extremely frilly dress. "Who would be crazy enough to wear something like this?"

    Caitlyn pursed her lips. "That's one of my old dresses from when I was around your age."

    "Oh." Should I apologize for insulting her old dress? Then again, she wasn't wearing stuff like that anymore, so maybe I didn't need to? She wasn't going for fancy frilly dresses anymore, at least. Besides, apologizing would probably just drag things out and make it even more awkward than if we just moved on. "But if this High-Mer-Ding-Er guy's an engineer and inventor too, isn't he gonna think it's kinda weird that dressed up in a frilly frou-frou outfit instead of looking like I've been working?"

    "I would certainly prefer to strike more of a balance," Caitlyn agreed. "Obviously we don't want to go completely overboard, but there's no harm in making a good first impression. After all, Jayce is close to finishing his time at the Academy, which means it won't be long before the Professor needs a new protege to take his place."

    "What?" There was no way she could be—did Jayce really think there was any chance of something like that happening? Heimerdinger would want someone from a fancy proper Piltie family for his student, like Jayce was, not a Zaun gutter rat like me. Even if that was an issue, did he think I wanted something like that? Sure, I didn't completely hate the idea of going to their big stupid fancy Academy if it meant I could learn more about how to build and fix stuff, but the rest of it? Heimerdinger was one of the big boss Pilties, I didn't love the idea of trying to play nice and make him like me.

    I scoffed and shook my head. "Lemme guess, if I don't grovel and apologize enough he'll have the Enforcers beat me up and throw me in Stillwater?"

    Caitlyn blinked in shock and shook her head. "What? No! Goodness, no! What kind of person do you think Heimerdinger is? I know some of the Enforcers in Zaun can be a bit, erm, rough, but that's not how we do things. It's just that Jayce—and really everyone in Piltover—looks up to Heimerdinger. There's no harm in trying to put in just a little extra effort for Jayce's sake, if nothing else. I'm sure he'd appreciate it." With a hint of a wry grin she added. "If any of the clothing I picked out catches your fancy I'll even let you keep it. As you've no doubt noticed, I've rather outgrown most of it."

    I looked up at her with all her skinny tallness. "Yeah, I noticed."

    Ugh. I still didn't like the idea of playing nice and dressing up, but at least I could understand it a bit. It's not like I wanted to embarrass Jayce, after all. He'd been nice about giving me books, teaching me stuff, and letting me try lots of good lunches. Was playing along just doing a small favor for a friend, or was it the first step on the path to turning into one of those traitors who loved the taste of Piltie boot polish?


    Current Stability: -1
    Current Willpower: 1

    How Does Powder Dress?

    [ ][Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Self-Worth (-3)
    Failure Consequences: Powder feels rebellious and intentionally gets grease on the nice clothes.

    [ ][Clothing] Stubbornly Insist Her Current Clothes Are Fine
    Issue Rolls: None, but possible social consequences

    How Does Powder Behave During the Meeting?

    [ ][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Trauma (-2), Abandonment (-2)
    Failure Consequences: Powder is stung by acting like a bootlicker

    [ ][Behavior] Use the Opportunity to Call Heimerdinger Out
    Issues: Self-Worth (-3), Jinx (-3).
    Failure Consequences: Powder loses her composure, anger at Piltover increases.

    [ ][Willpower] Spend Zero
    [ ][Willpower] Spend One for +3

    The Willpower bonus will apply to both rolls if Powder dresses up since they're closely related issues.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X][Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Self-Worth (-3)
    Failure Consequences: Powder feels rebellious and intentionally gets grease on the nice clothes.

    [X][Behavior] Use the Opportunity to Call Heimerdinger Out
    Issues: Self-Worth (-3), Jinx (-3).
    Failure Consequences: Powder loses her composure, anger at Piltover increases.

    [X][Willpower] Spend One for +3

    Feels like the most balanced and Powder thing to do.
     
    Heimerdinger isn't going to change because of a child. He's more inventor first at this point. He needs the appropriate character development. We shoukd use this chance to possibly get closer to him as an assistant instead of gambling on something that won't lead anywhere and may mess up our relationship with Jayce.

    Edit: We must destroy victor!

    [X][Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Self-Worth (-3)
    Failure Consequences: Powder feels rebellious and intentionally gets grease on the nice clothes.

    [X][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Trauma (-2), Abandonment (-2)
    Failure Consequences: Powder is stung by acting like a bootlicker

    [X][Willpower] Spend One for +3
     
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    [X][Clothing] Stubbornly Insist Her Current Clothes Are Fine
    [X][Behavior] Use the Opportunity to Call Heimerdinger Out
    [X] [Willpower] Spend Zero

    Tbh I kinda hope we fail the call out roll, I want us to be firm Zaunite revolutionaries. Hopefully Silco will show up eventually, would love it join with him, def one of my favorites and also correct about everything actually
     
    Chengar Qordath said:
    He also took me to some other lunch places after the sandwich shop. Some of them were pretty good, like the one place that sold meat pies, or the one where we had fish curry and eggs. Others I wasn't so wild about: Jayce insisted that coffee was 'an acquired taste' but I didn't get why anybody would wanna go to the trouble of acquiring it in the first place. If it's gross the first time I drink it, having it a hundred more times wouldn't make it less gross.
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    If the coffee your drinking isn't acquired on the first try, you need to drink better coffee. The only explanation is that Jayce has terrible taste in heated beverages.
    Chengar Qordath said:
    I guess someone at the Academy spotted us going out to lunch and connected a few dots
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    Naturally. Your two egg heads with nothing your comfortable talking about except food and your trade. Sooner or later someone was going to do the math. :V
    Chengar Qordath said:
    [ ][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Trauma (-2), Abandonment (-2)
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    We should definitely go with good behavior. A child who likes to get dirty and play with parts not being dressed up is something he'll understand just fine, but he'll expect someone cooperative after Jayce's has told him how we have been behaving so far.

    [X][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Trauma (-2), Abandonment (-2)

    Bit more divided on the clothes, on one hand, their cats old close so at best it'll probably get powder teased and griped at without direct consequences beyond feeling patronized. On the other hand, two good rolls is asking for a lot, unless the dress eats a bad roll for behavior. I'll leave it to others for now and wait to see if anyone has a convincing argument.

    [X][Willpower] Spend One for +3
     
    i agree and is dressing nice and being asked to leave a good immpression on her mentor's mentor really a lot to ask. plus the old guy (from young powders viewpoint) might be able to tell you some ineresting stories of jayce when he was his student

    [x] [Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up
    [x] [Behavior]Act Like a Good Lab Assistant Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Trauma (-2), Abandonment (-2) Failure Consequences: Powder is stung by acting like a bootlicker
    [x] [Willpower] Spend One for +3
     
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    [X][Clothing] Stubbornly Insist Her Current Clothes Are Fine
    [X][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    [X][Willpower] Spend Zero

    Behavior - while yelling at Heimerdinger might be satisfying, it doesn't actually change anything. Lying to your enemies is often more beneficial than shouting at them, especially if they might not think you're enemies. Also, the failure condition is probably a good thing so this is relatively free.

    Clothing - our maluses are really bad right now so I'd prefer not to risk rolls that I'm not happy failing.
     
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    [X][Clothing] Stubbornly Insist Her Current Clothes Are Fine
    [X][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
     
    [X][Clothing] Stubbornly Insist Her Current Clothes Are Fine
    [X][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    [X][Willpower] Spend Zero

    I think this is fairly consistent so far, we choose to not want to change to fit in, but we don't need to be rude to Heimerdinger, since we only kinda know about him and he at least is an inventor. I think its a nicer middle ground. And no Willpower because we're only making one roll this method and its about 50-50 we succeed at a minus 6, so I'll hope we can roll average dice or better, and I'd rather save it for something that feels a bit more impactful.
     
    [X][Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Self-Worth (-3)
    Failure Consequences: Powder feels rebellious and intentionally gets grease on the nice clothes.

    [X][Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    Issues: Daughter of Zaun (-2), Trauma (-2), Abandonment (-2)
    Failure Consequences: Powder is stung by acting like a bootlicker

    [X][Willpower] Spend One for +3
     
    [x] [Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up
    [x] [Behavior] Act Like a Good Lab Assistant
    [x] [Willpower] Spend One for +3
     
    Randino Treviani said:
    If the coffee your drinking isn't acquired on the first try, you need to drink better coffee. The only explanation is that Jayce has terrible taste in heated beverages.
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    Considering he seems to be the equivalent of a grad student who's also researching Hextech in his off time, I would bet his taste in coffee is somewhere between "I can't remember the last time I had a full eight hours of sleep!" and "Just finished pulling off another all-nighter to get that paper in on time!"
     
    [x] [Clothing] Reluctantly Allow Caitly to Dress Her Up

    [X][Behavior] Use the Opportunity to Call Heimerdinger Out
    Issues: Self-Worth (-3), Jinx (-3).
    Failure Consequences: Powder loses her composure, anger at Piltover increases.

    [X][Willpower] Spend One for +3
     
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