Jhin ran through the moonlit forest with Jinx in tow, too distressed to feel tired. After hearing that Jinx left a couple of her chomper bombs armed, Jhin hoped that for once he didn't shut his door. "What did you say will make them explode?" He asked for the fourth time.
Jinx was running right next to him, somehow as energetic as when they started their journey hours ago, "Well, after I arm them they pretty much explode to getting touched. But here's the best part! Their mouths can chomp on people's ankles when they step on them!" She made her hands into jaws and clamped them together to illustrate. "So that way they can't chase me while I escape!"
"How would they trap anyone?" Jhin asked. "They aren't attached to the ground and they aren't heavy enough to keep people from running with those attached."
"They explode when they touch something remember! So if you run with them on your ankles, kaboom! So they have to stand still to avoid exploding!"
"And how would anybody know to stand still?"
Jinx paused to think a bit. "Oh yeah, explains why people explode a lot when they step on them."
Jhin was close to breaking through the clearing when-KABOOM!
The first explosion rang throughout the forest, and Jhin skidded to a halt as his heart sank. It dropped all the way to the ground as several explosions followed suit. He steeled himself and broke the clearing to see his home still standing and multiple craters dotting the forest ground around the building. The door was open, swinging on its hinges.
"Oh hey!" Jinx said as she caught up to him. "Looks like you left the door open after all! The little guys must have wandered outside where they exploded."
Jhin breathed a sigh of relief. He started for the door and was nearly bowled over as Jinx ran past him. He recovered quickly, and made it to the door as Jinx was winding more of the walking bombs. "What are you doing?" Jhin asked, too tired to be anything more than exasperated.
"Oh, I'm just winding up more chompers so we can try again to blow up your house!?" Jinx said brightly as she finished winding the second one to leave it wandering around the house.
"You do understand that the reason I ran back was to prevent the destruction of my home, correct?" Jhin asked as he began to change into his Khada guise.
"Oh." Jinx smiled sheepishly. "I thought you wanted to get a front row seat to the explosion." She carefully gathered up the two bombs she had winding and trotted outside.
Jhin was still changing when two explosions sounded in quick succession outside. Jinx ran back in with a bit of soot on her otherwise pale face. "Hey Jhin, were you using that bit of forest to the left?"
"Only for camouflage." Jhin said dryly. "Nothing important."
"Well that's a relief, because there kinda isn't a forest to the left."
Jhin numbly walked outside to confirm Jinx's assertions. Sure enough, a vast portion of undergrowth and foliage that used to provide natural camouflage no longer existed. Jhin could look and see the neighboring village through the small tunnel in the brush that must have occurred from Jinx tossing the armed explosives deep into the trees. The village in question was still smoking ruins, so Jhin felt confident he would not be discovered. "We won't be discovered. Thanks to your earlier escapade, there are no more witnesses available in that direction."
"Oh, well then it all works out!" Jinx said as she slipped back into the house.
Jhin let out an exasperated sigh before going in after her. As he finished changing into a more casual outfit, he remarked, "Because my schedule is free tomorrow due to my target's early demise, I am open to do whatever you like tomorrow. What do you have in mind?"
Jinx thought for a minute, then grinned as she replied, "It's a surprise, you'll find out tomorrow. What time is it anyway?" She asked, stretching out on the couch.
Khada pulled out his pocket-watch to check. "It is an hour before midnight, which means I will go to sleep shortly. I trust I am allowed to use my own bed this time?" He asked dryly, leftover irritation from the previous night creeping into his voice.
"Yeah, don't feel like going all the way upstairs." Jinx waved him off from the couch. "You can use it or whatever."
Khada wrinkled his nose as Jinx curled up on his couch, boots still on. "Can you at least take off your boots? That is, was, a lovely sofa."
Jinx either didn't hear or didn't care to answer, and Khada was too tired to argue. Trudging his way upstairs, he opened the door to his room and sighed. The items on his dresser were misplaced, the contents of his drawers were strewn across the floor, and worst of all, his bed wasn't fixed. I should have known better than to hope Jinx would have left this room orderly. He thought as he set about to putting everything into order. The thought of sleep was gone at this point, the notion of sleeping in a room like this was anathema.
It took half an hour but Khada managed to restore perfection to his room. With his domain now once again his own, he took another sixteen minutes on a bath in the lake before going to sleep.
Jhin was in the theater once again, the lush crimson of the dimmed auditorium a familiar sight by now. He glanced around, slightly surprised Jinx wasn't present. But there was no time to dwell on that now. He reached down and opened the program, and began to read—
"Wakie Wakie!" Jinx's loud voice rang in his ears. Khada's eyes snapped open to see eyes the color of rose psychosis staring down at him at a distance entirely too close. With a cry of fright he fell out of bed and onto the floor with an audible thud.
With a growl Khada got up and glared at Jinx. "What was that?" His voice was dangerously low.
Jinx giggled. "It's morning sleepyhead! It's time for a day of Jinx!"
Khada pulled the watch from his dresser and glared at it. It was exactly thirty seconds after midnight. "You've got to be..." He muttered under his breath. Aloud he said, "You expect to get through a day with fifteen minutes of sleep?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jinx said as she fished through Khada's dresser and tossed him some clothing. "I got a whole hour. What were you doing that whole time?"
"I was restoring order to my room and my body." He replied irritably.
"Well no wonder you barely got any sleep. You could have done that stuff when you woke up."
"And sleep in a sty? I am an artist, a star producer. I will sleep in the appropriate accommodations."
Jinx shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat dude. If you wanna give up sleep to sleep in a nice place that's your thing. But now we're gonna have some fun!"
Khada rolled his eyes and walked back to his bed. "Have fun with that. I am going back to bed." He buried himself under the covers and proceeded to ignore her after that.
It worked for about 3 seconds. He felt Jinx shove him hard. "Ooh no you don't mister! You're not gonna miss any of the fun!"
"You don't need me to have fun Jinx." Khada muttered, his face buried in the pillow. "I want sleep. An artist needs his rest."
"But I want you to come along!" Jinx said as she pushed him more. "We're partners right? Friends? That's what friends do! We blow up stuff together!"
Khada didn't move. "Friends also let their friends sleep."
Jinx pouted. "Please? Get up?"
"No." Khada heard some movement and then silence. He lifted his head from the pillow and was relieved to find Jinx gone. Finally. He thought as he started to close his eyes. Then he heard Jinx talking.
"Okay Fishbones, try to only blow up the bed. We need Jhin alive."
Khada sat up sharply to see Jinx leveling her rocket launcher at his bed. "Are you insane?" Khada demanded.
"Yes." Jinx said simply. "And you're getting up. Now."
Khada grumbled as he pulled himself out of bed, the adrenaline rush from nearly dying helped him pull on his clothes and freshen up. "What are we going to do then?" Khada asked as he checked over himself for the final time in the mirror.
Jinx's only response was a smile. "You'll like it."
Khada soon found himself in one of two amusement parks in Ionia. Courtesy of Piltover's experimental technology, the Sari Amusement Park was home to a Riding Wheel and a Horse-Runaround, among other things. He was still standing under the archway leading inside the park, not taking another step in.
Jinx was already in the park, what she was doing could not be seen but could be deduced from the loud crashes and screams from other people. His hand twitched in irritation, he needed a plan of action. He needed a script. But Jinx was determined to make today a completely unscheduled day, and that was what irked him the most. He needed structure, order. Without a model to paint, a show to perform, what was he?
He ducked as a rocket flew overhead, and crashed into a nearby forest, lighting a forest fire. He decided, that at the very least the color pallet his fellow artist used was interesting. Remembering a task on his secondary agenda that could pass the time, he walked into the park and towards the now abandoned eastern side, as Jinx had not gotten there yet. He moved to one of the benches then sat down, crossing one leg over the other. He pulled out a leather-bound artbook, and a soft pencil, and began to sketch.
The very next day he was to visit Soraka again, and his persona of Khada would never visit without a gift. So he would make one. His pencil glided across the page, creating light feathery lines. Even though nobody was around him, Jhin's acting was impeccable. He was the lovestruck but awkward artist, wanting to share his feelings the only way he knew how. His heart went into every stroke of the pencil, and every rub of the eraser.
A vague outline appeared, then the details began to fill in. Once or twice, an unacceptable mistake caused the entire sheet of paper to be discarded in disgust.
Time no longer meant anything, and when Khada was done, he gazed with wonder at what he had created. A portrait of Soraka, her gentle yet naïve features perfectly captured. Khada felt warm at the thought of giving this to the woman he admired so.
Jhin looked at the picture for what it really was.
A tool.
A prop.
A stage piece for Soraka's final performance. Everything had to be just right. His dream would come to pass, but it was only fair that she witnessed her own imperfect beauty so that she could appreciate his efforts.
He sighed in satisfaction as the put his notebook away, then looked up to see where Jinx had gone.
He was only mildly surprised to see everything around him destroyed beyond recognition. What wasn't ash was spray painted or on fire. Am I really that inattentive when concentrating? Jhin thought.
"What'cha drawing?" Jinx suddenly asked directly behind him.
Jhin jumped ever so slightly, then irritably turned to face Jinx. He found himself less than a breath from her face. "I am creating a prop for my next stage play." He answered.
She tilted her head to sneak a glance at the notebook. "Can I see?"
He obliged her, opening the book and turning to the appropriate page.
"Is that a goat?" Jinx asked, completely confused. "Why are you drawing goat girls?"
"She isn't a goat." Jhin replied. "She is a fallen celestial with the powers of healing. And with this drawing, I will set the stage to make her my most ambitious and beautiful project yet."
Jinx only smiled, then nodded. "Sure thing, if it makes you happy then I support you and stuff." She turned and walked away, and then continued talking in an exaggerated whisper to presumably Fishbones. "Jeesh, and they call me crazy." She punctuated her statement by launching an impromptu rocket at a lump of metal that caught her fancy.
Jhin raised an eyebrow. "Do you not have ammunition?" He asked.
"Do I not have what now?" Jinx asked, her pale face twisted in confusion.
"Ammunition." Jhin repeated. "Do you not have to reload at some point? I would think after firing that weapon as often as you do, which by the way looks like it can only hold one shot at a time, it would be empty. You don't look like you're carrying ammunition either."
Jinx raised an eyebrow then motioned to the belts that wrapped around her. Many of them were bullet magazines.
"Ammunition for your rocket launcher, I mean." Jhin clarified. "I don't see you carrying around spare rockets."
Jinx motioned to different belts. They carried bullet magazines as well, completely identical to the first few she pointed out.
"I think you misunderstand." Jhin said, a little miffed that Jinx wouldn't just tell him how her weapon worked. "For example. Fishbones has fired the one rocket he can hold in his… mouth at a time. What do you do now to fire him again?"
"Oh, you talking about Fishbones?" She pulled out Fishbones and pointed to the mouth, which held a rocket ready to fire. "Oh he's already got his babies to shoot at people. But thanks for asking."
Jhin's eye twitched slightly. When on Runeterra did she… He shook his head and tried to clear it. "Fire the rocket." He said, trying to understand.
Jinx pointed Fishbones straight up and fired. The rocket flew into the air and through a cloud, vanishing from sight. Jhin kept his eye on the now empty Fishbones, but nothing seemed to be happening.
"Why did you want me to fire him?" Jinx asked. "Not like I need a reason to, but you seem to need reasons to do mindless things like fart. Maybe that's why you don't do it." She mused.
"I want to see how Fishbones is reloaded." He answered simply.
"Oh, well we may want to check somewhere else." She said. "Fishbones is going to have baby daddy problems soon if we stay here."
Jhin did not attempt to understand what she said, and instead cast a nervous glance up towards the sky to see if the rocket came back into view. Realizing his error, a half second after he made it, he cursed silently and looked back to a now armed Fishbones. "How…" He began.
Instead of answering Jinx bolted, running with her arms outspread and yelling something about Fishbones not having to deal with child support.
Jhin did not bother looking upwards and ran to catch up with Jinx, right before a massive explosion threw him off his feet and towards the dirt. Jinx jumped into the air before the shockwave hit and rode it a little longer before tumbling into the dirt, laughing hysterically.
"Let's do it again!"