Author's note: Hey guys, I'm not dead! I've just been burned out on writing in general for a bit, but doing my best to get through this. It's pretty clear to me at this point I can't just wait for the funk to end, I gotta take action. So expect a more regular publishing schedule, as I get off my butt and write.

The Ionian marketplace was busier than usual. Jhin was inspecting the produce of a fruit stand, unassuming and unremarkable. He was not the Virtuoso, he was not the artist of perfection. He was merely Khada, just another face in the crowd.

His plan was simple that day; get in and out of the marketplace with the items he needed without drawing attention. He never spoke to anyone longer than necessary, never struck up friendships, never did anything to make anybody remember him.

If people started remembering him, they may try to be friendly. If people tried being friendly, it would be rather difficult to get them to leave him alone without seeming like a eccentric recluse, which would only draw more attention. He didn't want people following him to his house, even if it was to visit. He kept his home presentable for his sake, not theirs.

"Hey can we get this too?" A voice pierced his thoughts. He looked to his right and saw Jinx cradling some fireworks. Likely she took them from the adjacent stand. She had begged to come with him to the market place after he announced his departure, and while Jhin was hesitant at first, he consented on the condition that she stayed near him at all times. So far that rule wasn't broken, and Jhin wondered if he would have gotten away with making an additional rule to keep Jinx from drawing attention.

He shook his head. "That wasn't in the budget." He pulled out a shopping list and held it up. "I am committed to spending no more than forty gold pieces today. The fireworks alone costs twenty."

Jinx pouted. "Nobody said we had to pay for it." She insisted.

At the look from the owner of the fruit stand, Jhin quickly fished in his bag for twenty gold pieces. Tossing the coins at the fireworks stand he turned back to the man and said, "You'll have to forgive my..." He looked at Jinx for a little bit. "Cousin. She is currently in a Spirit Journey. I apologize for any misunderstanding." With a sheepish grin he tossed some coins at the owner and selected some ripe dragon fruit. Turning away from the man he grabbed Jinx by the arm and steered her into the bustling foot traffic, his mask of embarrassment falling. "Please be mindful of your words next time." Jhin said quietly as they walked. "That excuse will only work for so long."

A Spirit Journey was a traditional Ionian ritual that involved an individual finding themselves via changing their appearance to resemble one of the many mythical creatures in Ionian lore. The Journey ended when the person's spiritual alignment and personality matched that of the creature chosen. The creature Jhin had chosen was the Kirumo, a mischievous being with pale skin and blushed cheeks like that of a jester. At Jhin's insistence, Jinx wore a plain skirt that went down to her knees and soft traveler's boots. With a simple application of blush to Jinx's cheeks, her transformation into an Ionian wanting to be more mischievous was complete. He declined to answer Jinx's question as to why he had makeup at his house.

"Why are we going through all this?" Jinx asked. "Why not just take what we want and blow up the rest?"

"Because the point is to blend in." Jhin answered. "After we restock the pantry we can get started with our day." He pulled out another sheet of paper; this one was an itinerary. At Jinx's frown he added, "We will do what you want tomorrow, I promise. But today I have a job to do, and I can delay it no longer."

"Is it about that windman you told me about?" Jinx asked.

"Indeed. He must become art today. No later." He tossed her one of the fruit. "That is breakfast. We will be following a tip I received from the Cabal. He is at a tavern in Harcle City. It is not far from here."

"Will I have anything to do when we get there?" Jinx asked, boredom already starting to make her attention slide. "Cuz Fishbones and I are itching to blow something up."

"You 'blew up' an entire harbor upon your arrival." Jhin noted.

"Aww, that was ages ago! You can't count that!" Jinx insisted. "Do you see me say, 'hey, you shot four guys already, you can't shoot anyone else ever'- HEY GUY!" Her voice suddenly raised to an excitable squeal, making Jhin jump.

Jhin recovered for a second, then twisted to find the source of Jinx's excitement. The man was average height, average build, in full armor that was a dull metallic grey with dark accents, with a flowing blue cloak. The entire suit of armor was a product of unknown design, but there was nothing about the man that stood out, but Jhin found his helmet rather intriguing. It was... fascinating in its plainness, a work of art in its mediocrity. The man's features were hidden in the shadows that were cast by his helmet.

"BRO!" Jinx called out, and this time the man looked up in their direction. "YEAH YOU!"

By this time every one was looking at the man, who blanched under the unwanted attention. Turning on his heels, the man turned and started to run. Unfortunately the sudden 180 degree turn made him trip over his cloak, sending him into a stand filled to the brim with melons. The wooden structure of the stand buckled and collapsed under the man's weight and spilled its contents all over the ground. The man stood back up dazed, with a melon replacing his helmet. Half walking and half stumbling, the man tried to walk away like nothing happened. However his new melon helmet lacked eye holes, and the man's strive towards the sanctuary of the nearby woods sent him spilling over the edge of a local well, screaming as he fell.

Jinx shook her head in amazement. "Wow. He's sad."

"He'll be fine." Jhin assured. His statement was punctuated by a dull thud. "That well dried up years ago. His armor will protect him from the worst of it." He turned to Jinx. "How do you know him?"

Jinx looked at him with confusion. "I don't know him. I just wanted to say 'hi.'"

Jhin raised an eyebrow. "That's how you say 'hi' to strangers? Then why didn't you greet me that way?"

"Because you said 'hi' to me first." Jinx replied as if it was obvious.

Jhin had no answer for that. As they left the marketplace and started on a well-worn trail towards Harcle City he added, "However I think we can skip the step where we fill up the pantry and head straight on our way." He took out his itinerary and crossed off an item. "Thanks to our little splurge, we only had enough for breakfast."

"Aren't you like filthy rich thanks to your boss?" Jinx asked. "I mean, I don't think they gave you your weapons and stuff."

"You don't remain rich by pointlessly spending money." Jhin replied. He put the to-do list away and took out another sheet of paper from his pocket. "However our little fireworks purchase may prove useful in my plan. Let me see the fireworks I got for you so I can know how much we have to work with." At her lack of an answer, he turned and looked at Jinx, to notice her sheepish grin and her empty hands.

"Um... Funny thing about the fireworks..." Jinx began. As if on cue, a raging fireball rose towards the sky behind them. A resounding BOOM accompanied it. At Jhin's exasperation she quickly added, "I was bored!"

"Where did you even find the time to set that up?" Jhin asked, his hand sliding over his face, "I was talking to you the entire time."

"Not the entire time." Jinx said, her eyes twinkling with untold secrets.

Jhin didn't bother pressing the question and simply sighed. His frustration didn't stem from the market itself, as he had no attachment to it or the people there. He was more concerned that, thanks to Jinx, he had to permanently alter his schedule to accommodate travel to a further market from his home. As if he didn't have enough to do. He took a sharp turn into the forest and fished a travel case from some bushes. "I stashed my equipment here so that we wouldn't have to stop by the house. We're good to go now."

"Does this mean I don't have to wear this anymore?" Jinx asked from behind him. "I feel like a prissy noble."

"Well," Jhin considered as he started to slip on his costume, "considering I only insisted you wear that to keep us from drawing attention at the marketplace, I suppose-"

"Already off!" Jinx said from behind him, and to emphasize her point the crumpled top flew into the bushes near Jhin's case.

Jhin froze upon seeing the discarded clothing. Did she really just... The thought didn't have a chance to finish because the sound of reloading made him twist around in surprise.

Jinx stood in her usual clothing, brandishing Fishbones. "Ready to go?" She asked.

Jhin stared, half-dressed. "Where did you-"

"Beneath that dress." Jinx said offhandedly. "You'd be surprised how much you can hide beneath that thing."

Jhin turned back around and struggled with the temptation to ask exactly how Jinx accomplished that, but he wasn't meant to understand the agent of Chaos. There are some things about her I'll never understand, just as she'll never understand some things about me. It is the inevitable result of our partnership. He finished dressing by placing his mask over his face. The world was confined once more to a single eye hole. The world once again made sense. "Let's get started." He said, gesturing towards the road. "It is a long trip and it's best we don't waste a single hour of daylight."

The road was beautiful, as were many roads in Ionia. The trail often cut through wonderful forests teeming with life, sparkling creeks filled to the brim with crystal clear water, and flowers were in bloom. Jhin never noticed any of it as they set out. He never had a moment to appreciate the natural beauty, as Jinx immediately proceeded to bombard him with questions.

"Hey Jhin, Why do you like the number four?"

"Did you always like four?"

"Did you know you only have three weapons?"

"You want Zap? He's kinda the adopted brother that none of my other guns like."

"Is Jhin a name your parents gave you?"

Jhin did not even attempt to answer her questions. Partly because Jinx never stopped long enough for him to slip a word in, and partly because he didn't want to encourage conversation. He usually used his travel time to formulate a plan to create a masterpiece. After about thirty minutes of constant questions that somehow never repeated, Jhin learned to drown out her voice as he did to all background noise when he was seconds away from crafting perfection. However one question managed to pierce the fog of his inattention, and it caught him off guard.

"Hey Jhin, did you lock the door?"

Jhin began to confirm that he did, but he faltered. Did I? He tried his best but couldn't remember the details of his morning. It was only natural; as Jhin followed a very defined routine in the morning, he did it without thinking of it. So why would today be any different? He started to speak again, but stopped once again. It had not been his routine morning. Jinx was present to wake him up to the inferno she caused outside. Jinx was present during Jhin's frantic efforts to extinguish the flame. Jinx was also present during Jhin's departure to go to the marketplace. She had thrown off his routine to the point where he had no idea if he actually locked the door to his own house.

"Yes." He muttered, hoping that he was right.

"Oh well that's a relief." Jinx replied, "I left some of my chompers in there. Don't want one of those scamps getting out!"

As Jinx's conversation started to extend to her weapons, Jhin was plagued by doubts involving his door for the rest of the trip.

They arrived at Harcle city in the afternoon, shortly before it was time for dinner. They arrived at the city's east side, on the top of a hill overlooking the city. They were out of sight on arrival and would continue to be as long as they didn't stand up on the hill and give themselves away. By this time Jinx had switched from talking to humming, and Jhin was starting to get fed up. "Do you think it is possible for your voice to give out?" Jhin asked in as polite a tone as possible.

"Don't know." Jinx shrugged. "Never happened before. One time I screamed in the Piltover Bell Tower for like a day till Hat Lady told me to shut up."

Jhin stopped and stared at her. "And why were you screaming?"

"Well... You know how screaming can break glass?"

"It requires a high pitch and a loud volume to-"

"I was trying to train my voice to get high enough to shatter glass. That way when I'm shooting up stuff I can also scream and break more stuff." She smiled. "Pretty smart huh? It's multitasking."

"Hat Lady?" Jhin asked, hoping to change the subject. "Can you tell me more about her?" He pulled the scope from Whisper's sniper attachment and lay flat on his stomach on the top of the hill. Using it, he scanned the buildings and streets as well as he could for Yasuo. According to the tip he received from his contacts, Yasuo was in one of the buildings sitting on the edge of the city.

"Hat Lady's the boss of Fat Hands. They're both cops that just loooove to ruin my fun." She grinned as she laid next to him in the soft grass, but on her back facing the sky. "But they never caught me. They had..." She trailed off as she counted some numbers on her fingers. "Seventy chances to catch me, and every time they failed. In fact you were there the last time they tried, or at least Vi."

"Vi..." Jhin repeated as he set his sights on a tavern. "Is she the young woman with the pink hair and giant gauntlets? The one I blew out of a window?"

Jinx nodded. "Yep. Hat Lady's real name is Caitlyn. I bet they're tearing their hair out right now trying to find me now. They might be tearing Zaun to the slime-covered brick." She frowned slightly. "It isn't fair, you know? How Pilties think they can do whatever they want on our turf yet we can't even step in their stupid streets. Piltover would look better if it resembled Zaun, in my opinion."

Jhin lowered his telescope and looked at Jinx. "Was that the catalyst for your destructive passion? The injustice your people faced under Piltover? It made you decide to do something about it?" This was an interesting side of Jinx, Jhin noted. Behind her seemingly scatterbrained personality, there was something beneath it all. He doubted anyone has ever been around Jinx long enough for her to exhaust all of her energy, enough for her conversation to become more revealing, personal. The young woman he was finding beneath intrigued him.

"I don't know." Jinx answered. "I may have had a reason once. But I can't remember." She turned her head to face him. "When I destroy things, I feel like I'm... whole. Do you-" She broke off with a sigh of exasperation. "What do you think Fishbones?" She lifted her rocket launcher and puppeted its response.

"Well, I think you're finally realizing that wanton destruction isn't as fulfilling as creating. Maybe you should try to do something else?"

Jinx frowned. "Well, you're no help." She tossed Fishbones away, and it bounced halfway down the hill before rolling to a stop next to the rest of Jhin's equipment. "What do you think Jhin?"

Jhin only had one answer. A simple one, but it was all he knew. "We are artists Jinx, our performances sustains, fulfills, and completes us." He looked back to the city. "You are merely overwhelmed because all of the destruction you caused, all of the sweet chaos you unleashed on your canvas, is gone here. You are merely down because you see the vastness of this world, and on some level you think all that you've done is meaningless. At Piltover you could go to bed satisfied that all you've done will be a permanent scar on the city. But here, in this vast world, stagnation and imperfection will always outpace art."

Jinx's eyes widened as she looked at Jhin. "Dude, it's not that serious-"

"But we must press on! Our art must be shown to this barren world. Our dance must be thrown up to the stage of this reality! Do not think of creation as erasing your work. Think of it as giving you a new canvas to work with. We are artists. We alone have risen above the filth and muck. We will show all others the error of their ways."

"Okay..." Jinx said slowly. "I'm just tired, jeez. And I was just saying that Piltover should look like Zaun because I like Zaun's look more than Piltover's. Why do you overthink things?"

Jhin turned back to the city with a telescope to hide his embarrassment, as if his mask wasn't sufficient. He tried to change the subject. "So then... what were you humming earlier?" His view snapped to a lone figure trying to approach the tavern without being obvious. His collar was pulled up around his face, but Jhin knew who he was. The ornately designed scabbard was a dead giveaway. There you are. Jhin thought.

"Just replaying my memories." Jinx explained. "Usually I can remember them to music. I just hum because I don't know the words."

"I found him." Jhin said, ignoring her.

Jinx rolled around and peered down into the city. "Where?"

"That tavern." Jhin said, pointing down to the building. "Right next to it is a festival center. I need you there to conduct your part of the plan."

"Plan?" Jinx wrinkled her nose.

Before she could protest Jhin pulled out paper and a elaborate pen. He hastily drew the tavern and the festive building to its right. "Alright, I will stay here and wait for Yasuo to leave the building. As soon as he steps into the light, his performance begins. But your performance starts much sooner." He pointed to the festival center. "I need you to go in there and create as much havoc as possible. The goal is to make a large enough disturbance to cause Yasuo believe that his pursuers are approaching. If my information on him is correct, he will immediately leave the tavern. I will give you a signal once you're in position to start, and once I give it to you, you have four seconds to prepare before unleashing pandemonium."

Jinx was resting her chin on her hand, waiting for him to finish. "Anything else?" She asked irritably.

"I will be unable to see the chaos starting inside, so I will need you to fire a shot outside one of the windows to signal that you're about to ramp it up. I will then fire a shot through your window to confirm my understanding of your message. After you receive that shot, you will then fire into the wall to the south, hitting the tavern and driving Yasuo out. I will then turn his heart into the finest art. Do you have any questions?"

Jinx's eyes were starting to glaze over. "No, I got it."

"Are you sure?" Jhin asked as he began to set up his sniper. "We only have one shot at this, and if we make a mistake-"

"Yeah yeah, I got it." Jinx confirmed as she headed down the hill to grab Fishbones. "Shot a lot. Got it." She knelt down to grab Fishbones, "Wanna join me?" She clutched the precious weapon and turned to head down the hill towards the festival center. "Of course you do, sorry about the throw, but now it's time to come and play."

Jhin sighed. "Just start shooting after four minutes pass. Shoot again after four seconds, then when I shoot back, shoot at least four shots into the tavern. Then you can shoot for four more seconds before getting out."

Jinx was already walking away. "Yeah! Got it!"

Jhin took a deep breath as he went through the familiar motions of transforming Whisper into a sniper. This is our first performance together.

Jhin thought as he silently counted down the minutes. "Time to see how well we work together." He whispered. "The curtain comes up."

Jinx walked into the Fara Festival Center. As its name suggested, it was the location where many festivals were held, from as important as the Welcoming of Spring to as common as weddings. The entrance took her into the large ballroom that took up most of the bottom floor; the ballroom was a dazzling place that looked like it was covered with gold. There was a fairly large crowd there, and what exactly they were celebrating was completely lost on Jinx. All she knew was that she drew attention from the moment she entered.

Jinx looked down at her clothing and obvious weaponry, and realized that they probably noticed it too. Either that or they were staring at the dirt she tracked in. "Hey!" She said in a voice entirely too loud for the quiet that fell across the room. "I'm uh, taking my spirit journey or something!" Crap, what did Jhin call it? She thought as someone edged towards the exit. "Screw it." She said with a sigh, and swung Pow-Pow towards the buffet table. From there a familiar rush of excitement flowed through her veins, and Jinx promptly went wild.

Chaos reigned.

It was two minutes in when the first shot flew out of the window, shattering it completely. Jhin scrambled to Whisper and answered with a firing shot, wondering why Jinx was rushing things. Promptly fifteen more shots flew out of different windows, and Jhin was completely lost. "We never agreed to a meaning for that." He muttered with a note of panic. "What is she doing? Is she firing at the tavern now or later?" If Jinx took too long, Yasuo could leave the tavern from the front or the back. Shots fired into the side from Jinx's location should herd him out the proper direction, but now Jhin wasn't sure when or if Jinx would fire that way.

All Jhin could do is aim at the entrance to the tavern and wait. His hands were shaking, as his plan seemed to fall apart.

Bullets flew everywhere. Pow-pow was doing a wonderful job of saying it without spraying it, and while Fishbones wanted his turn Jinx wasn't inclined to swap. The gun had it coming for trying to be a therapist.

A statue blew into pieces, it made the mistake of protecting the wall behind it. People ran and screamed everywhere, but Jinx couldn't hear it over her own laughing.

Come one, shoot faster! Jinx urged Pow-Pow as she started to run around and pepper the staircase with fire. It looked like it was made of cheese afterwards. I should get some after this. She thought absently as a pipe of water burst inside one of the walls. A fiery grin spread across Jinx's face.

Just a little bit of energy... She pulled out Zap and fired into the small waterfall. The lightning danced up the pipe and the wall it was attached to burst into flames. To Jinx's eyes, the flames were dancing along with the sounds of devastation.

By this time the ballroom was mostly deserted, but Jinx was more interested in the exciting little pops the glasses of punch made when shot.

I wanna try something fun right now! Jinx's thoughts grew more and more frantic as she ran up the staircase, deftly navigating the obstacle course of her own design. "YES!" She shouted in triumph as she got to the top. "Jinx 7653 points! Building Vi's IQ points!" From her height she saw the chandelier swinging from the beautiful sounds of fire and explosions. Without a thought, she jumped to the chandelier and started swinging from it. Laughing in manic glee, she pulled out Fishbones and started firing in every direction. The chandelier fell from the ceiling with a ear shattering CRASH as it fell to the floor. Jinx rolled and came up to her feet deftly, and her wild eyes spotted a wall.

Let's blow this city to ashes! The thought crossed her mind and she immediately put it into action. She grabbed the table cloth from the ruins of the buffet table and pulled out Fishbones one more time.

Yasuo downed his fourth sake and slumped in his seat, the wood creaking slightly. Why did everything have to go wrong in his life? First the elder, then his brother, and now he was being hunted for a crime he did not commit. The only silver lining was the Shuriman girl Taliyah, but he sent her away for good reason. That girl still had a sense of innocence, and whether it was from sentiment or misplaced affection he didn't want to be the one to introduce her to the harshness of reality. Enough about the past. He thought dizzily. I need to find my elder's killer and clear my name. He scanned the crowd through a haze of drunkenness, looking for someone who seemed like they would be a killer on the run.

Like all the other times, he had no luck. Though a woman on the far end of the bar caught his attention for a brief moment. White-haired and small in frame, she had her back to him, yet he could vaguely tell she had the stance of a warrior. A Noxian to be precise. His eyes narrowed, knowing that Noxians were usually up to no good this far from their nation. His eyes fell to her weapon, and with a snort of derision he dismissed her. What kind of fool walks around a place like this with a broken sword? He thought as he returned to nursing his fifth sake.

He was in such a stupor that he didn't notice the emerald sword inches from his throat until he looked up to its owner. He had no idea who it was, but judging by the man's garb and blade, he was surely a Wuju Bladesman.

"Murderer." The man said, his voice tinged with scorn. "You are coming with me to face judgement."

Yasuo looked hard at the man, already coming up with ways to swiftly kill him when the white-haired woman got up and left the tavern. It was likely she didn't like to be caught in the middle of a confrontation. I don't blame her. His thoughts still had to swim through the sake to get to the rest of his brain, and as a result were slow. I wouldn't want to be caught in a fight without a weapon either.

He slowly reached for his sword, and then his world exploded into fiery chaos.

Jhin looked on, his eyes wide in shock as the tavern exploded. That wasn't part of the plan. His dream and vision of the masterpiece was ruined. He frowned decided to make a better effort to inform Jinx of the necessity of his plans. Shortly after he saw Jinx skipping out of the festival center as it collapsed on itself and exploded.

He stood up from the hill and motioned Jinx towards the forest where they could talk.

"Why didn't you follow my instructions?" Jhin asked in a pained voice when they were secluded in the forest.

Jinx only gave him a look.

"Okay, that is a stupid question." Jhin admitted. "But I wanted this to be a day that we did things my way. I was planning tomorrow that we did what you wanted. It was to maintain a balance between our styles."

Jinx frowned. "But that's boring! What kind of 'balancing act' requires taking turns?"

Of course. "You're right." Jhin acquiesced. "Our art cannot be united if I insist we keep them separate through the days. We must sprinkle our art into each others performances."

Jinx raised an eyebrow. "Hey Jhin are you overthinking things ag-"

"I must sprinkle order into your chaos, and you must instill chaos through my order. Together we will create a new act that we are both proficient at!"

"Okaaay, I guess you are." Jinx said as Jhin continued to speak. She grabbed Fishbones and walked off. Her memories of the awesome time she had played through her mind, and she added mental music. Her eyes widened in epiphany. She liked the sound of these memories, in fact this could be added to her list of things to hum.

Jhin snapped out of his speech when he realized Jinx was almost completely gone, and hurried to catch up. "We might as well head back home, but I need to make a quick detour. I had another dream last night of my next masterpiece, and I must see this through."

"So you get inspiration from your dreams or whatever?" Jinx asked as they found the road to take to Jhin's home.

"Yes. It is my destiny calling to me through my dreams, my spectral playwright as it were."

"Uh-huh." She stopped. "Wait, you said we were heading back to your house?"

"Yes, what of it?" Jhin asked calmly.

Jinx bit her lower lip in apprehension. "Um... well you see..."

Jhin's heart fell into his stomach. "What did you do Jinx?"

"Um, remember what I said about locking your door so the chompers can't get out?"

"Yes..."

Jinx looked at the sun and did some quick calculations. "We better run." She shot down the road, her braids flapping like banners in the wind.

Jhin forced his heart back to where it belonged and broke into a headlong run to catch up, hoping that he wasn't too late.

Yasuo pulled himself to his feet, shaking slightly with ringing in his ears and a very strong desire to vomit. He looked around and saw the complete devastation of the tavern. He checked himself, and noted that no bones were broken. He sighed in relief as the wind wall faded. His reflexes, honed to such a point that they reacted as quick as lightning, even in a drunken stupor, and saved his life. He could tell which direction the explosion originated, and marveled that he threw the wall the wrong way and yet was still spared. I suppose the drinks threw off my sense of direction. He mused as he picked through the wreckage and went on his way before the authorities showed up.

He looked down and saw the Wuju Bladesman's boot sticking out of a pile of light rubble. He quickened his pace when the pile started to stir, and was out of sight and dashing towards the forest by the time the bladesman freed himself completely.

Post thoughts: So, I wanted to add this section because I want to connect with you guys, trying something new in hopes it helps to motivate me to write more often, as well as getting to know all of you better.

What is your favorite region in League of Legends?