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"Go on! Git! Don't let me see you in my shop again, you... you... hellion!" a random shop-keep phony yelled from the door to his shop, shaking a hoof at the retreating form of a young filly.

With a mischievous laugh, said filly yelled back over her shoulder with almost manic glee, "Got the wrong kid bub, that's my brother! The name's Hijinks, and don't you forget it!" She ducked as a pencil went flying through the air at her head, and giggled some more before rounding a corner. Slowing down some once she was out of eyesight, Jinx just shook out her mane and rolled her eyes, mumbling to herself in a feigned, saint-like tone "Sheesh... some phony just don't know how to share". With that, she pulled her bag over her shoulder and peeked inside greedily at the laser pointers and wiring she'd managed to pilfer from the stupid shopkeep. He had so much junk in that store and it so disorganized, it was unlikely that he'd ever notice anything was missing.

Well, one stallion's mess is another filly's treasure trove... or something like that. Grinning, she continued floating her way down the street, whistling some nonsensical tune as she looked around for her next victim.

Hijinks eventually found herself gravitating towards a nearby park. The fountains were always fun to splash around in, regardless of the many "No Wading" signs plastered about. Who was going to actually tell a mer filly not to be in the water? After all, she'd gotten away with much worse than that.

Already daydreaming about the wet fun she was about to have, when she turned into the main entrance and saw a tizzy of phony it certainly did nothing for her naturally "perky" mood. There were countless adult phony whizzing about, yelping stupidly over a smoking light fixture next to a poorly planned stage. Well, poorly planned in her humble opinion. It was easy to see, even from the half-hidden position she held in the bushes, to see where things went wrong. That extension cord was ill-suited for the wattage they were running, and they burnt out the thermal interface components.

Chuckling to herself at their expense, she looked around until her eyes settled onto a funnily dressed foal scowling on a bench. Looks like the adults ruined his day too... just like an adult to put a kid in such stupid clothes too. Swiveling her hooves, Jinx floated her way over to the strange kid and smirked. "Been told yer face can get stuck like that... though that's probably just another stupid lie adults say to get us kids to be their slaves..." she lilted almost insolently and then looked over and nodded at the mess of phony still scrambling around the stage, "What's all this then? Looks like a filly can't even play in the fountains in peace anymore these days..."

Hijinks listened intently, with the usual slight scowl that adorned her face. As he spoke, it dawned on her that he was some kind of celebrity, or actor, or something. Well that was interesting. With the way he talked about it, he wasn't even some side character, but rather a main. Turning to look back over at the scurrying adults, a small mischievous grin pulled at the corners of her mouth. "So... all of them... work for you.... wicked..." she crooned and was about to say more as he made his comment about the fountain.

With a snort, she rolled her eyes, "The fountain's not dirty, that's just a stupid excuse adults make to keep kids from having fun. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, I'm like... half fish..." she paused and put on the most convincing, puppy-dog eyes she could manage before continuing, "And how could anyone get angry at a poor, little, fish-filly that just needs to wet her poor, dry, fishy tail..."

Turning to look back over at the sound stage she shrugged and added, "Too bad you couldn't get better workers... they wired that thing all wrong..."

Hijinks took every ounce of self restraint to not roll her eyes at the colt. The goody-two-shoes thing was really too much. She never got people that were like that; who just saw this sunny side to everything. The world was cold and hard and heartless. Everyone was their own best friend at the end of the day, and you couldn't count on anyone to help you. She just happened to get lucky to have her brothers... though if she could have given them a better life without her, she'd have done it. She was fine being by herself.

So hearing this colt have a chance at having power, but willingly pretending that he didn't want it, kinda ground her gears. Well, whatever. His loss. She'd never be so stupid.

She shrugged at his comments on the fountain, really thoroughly done explaining herself to him. If he didn't want to play in it, just more space and water for her.

It was the last question that caught her attention. With a proud smirk, she replied, "Heck ya... lights and wires and stuff are my thing. You should see the job I did on our house. Managed to light up all the boxes, and we don't even have outlets. Obtaining the mini-generator was a bit of a pain but... a girl has her ways... and having the best brothers ever helps."

Hijinks blinked and frowned as he asked about her house. Well of course it didn't have outlets... that would be way too much work with the boxes. Finding giant boxes was hard just in itself! Making them as waterproof as possible proved to be a problem when everything they wanted to build required making holes... adding outlets would have just been ridiculous. She began to quip back, "Hey kid, we did our best with what we got. Cardboard isn't the best for...", but she trailed off when he looked back over at the set and made his proposition.

Help them? Why would she want to--- oh well, her skills certainly were rare and valuable. The kid was an only child too; that sounded horrible. Living in a house with only adults? Ick! Maybe that was why he was such a brain-washed, good-two-shoes.

"I mean... I guess I could... y'know... help you... it's not like I'll be able to enjoy the fountain with all these lunk-headed grown-ups around. Tell 'em all to clear out so I can get a look. I ain't working with some holier-than-thou geezers breathing down my neck..."

Now this was more like it! Kids taking some authority around here. She knew she'd wheedle that side out of him. Under normal circumstances, someone offering Jinx 'anything at all' would probably not have ended well for them. But her eyes glittered at the thought of showing up these stupid adults with her lighting skills. It was enough for her. Of the seven vices, pride generally outweighed her greed; though she definitely embodied both. With a cocky grin she shrugged as he thanked her enthusiastically, trying to reply as nonchalantly as possible "Eh, whatever... I just like working with electronics and stuff..."

Floating over to the huddled adults, she looked over her shoulder at the new acquaintance and nodded in their direction, "Alright well... do it then. Get rid of 'em. And get me some rayon covered 18 gauge wire, wire hubs, and new housing for the bulb... all of that can be found at any supply store". She wasn't about to tell him that she had at least half of that in her bag... she couldn't afford to give up what she had gathered/pilfered. Her bothers' comfort was priority.

Hijinks watched as the kid trotted around telling them all what to do, and grinned to herself as they just ran off and did it. Regardless of what this kid said about equality, it was obvious who the boss was. Whatever... if he wasn't the power-hungry type, that wasn't any of her business. That just meant more power for her, really, "Not doing this t'be nice... I just hate seeing bad lighting... it's an insult to my passion, or whatever".

As they meandered over to the fixture she'd be working on, Jinx gave a derisive snort. They'd really done a number on this one. Honestly, it was lucky they didn't catch the whole stage on fire with their overtaxed circuit. "Ya, you're gonna want a GFIC or something... this is a classic overheating issue... you're lucky this is the only thing that blew out.... and whoever set it up is a block head... I'd fire 'em, but you seem too nice for that..." she grumbled and set to work taking apart the pieces so everything would be ready for whenever the supplies showed up.

Hijinks tried her best to tune the kid out. He was just so unerringly chipper; just his smile made her feel like someone was rubbing her mane the wrong way. Alas, she'd just finished unscrewing and mapping out all the components when one of the helpers came trotting back with a bag full of all the items she asked for. Now came the fun part. With a slight sneer, Jinx looked up at the adult and crooned, "You heard your big star... maybe y'all should come over and watch me. Could learn a thing or two and maybe not blow up your own stage next time."

The bigger phony just stared in shock for a second, glancing between Synthesis and the strange filly, before shrugging and beckoning over one or two of the others. The cocky grin grew ever so slightly wider on Jinx's lips as she turned back to her work. Her tiny hooves were deft at removing the burnt components and replacing them with new pieces. She reattached all the wires, screwed everything back into place, and then stepped back with a satisfied nod. Then, she pulled out the GFIC and portioned out all the connections, thereby ensuring that none of the wires would be overtaxed, and even if they were, the whole thing would shut off before it caught fire.

"There. That'll keep up under the strain... maybe y'all learned a thing or two from the master," the cross filly quipped and stepped back, looking around with a frown. "If that's all... I'm outta here. Gotta find a more peaceful spot for a swim no, since y'all are gonna be swarming 'round here for who knows how long..."