Jett Diamondback: The product of a system that demands obedience

Jett Diamondback thrives in a system that demands obedience. She’s disciplined, focused, and determined to live up to every expectation placed on her.

Jett Diamondback is your stereotypical ‘mean girl’ in Arcane Awakenings and The Arcane Prophecy, something you’ll see in my unedited sample. She’s someone who will do anything to please the system she was born into, to the point that gamesmanship’s on the table.

Go back, for a minute, to your school days, and think about what most of the kids wanted. They probably craved popularity, athletic and academic letters, admission into the top schools, and a large social media following to satisfy a massive dopamine rush.

That’s Jett. Except instead of craving and fantasizing about all of the above, the girl has all of them. In middle school, she’s a star thrashball player, and a straight-A student who regularly snags over a 4.0 GPA (4.3 to be exact). She’s got her eyes set on the high-end Lamerth Elemental Academy, and when she gets in, she’ll post it all over her social channels.

But what made Jett so hellbent on having it all? Honestly, she can blame her (and Yote’s) upbringing.

And yeah, bombshell, if you will: If Jett wants all of the above, so does Yote. But Jett, so confident and secure in her demeanor, is all but a shoo-in to get into her chosen school and start excelling off the bat.

Jett plays the game of school pretty fucking well

You know why kids are so good at school? It’s not because they’re any brighter than their peers; they just know how to play the game. It’s something Kerry McDonald mentions in her book, Unschooled. 

The more a student wants to play the game and the better they are at that game, the more likely they’ll excel. So, Jett wants to get noticed? She signs up for and plays thrashball and other sports, which puts her on good terms with coaches who double up as teachers.

This helps her achieve academic success, along with reciting and repeating every damn thing she’s told to recite and repeat. She’ll buy into propaganda shoved down her throat if it means earning more brownie points, and she’ll even call out peers questioning that propaganda if she’s within earshot.

If doing community service gets her ahead, she’ll gladly engage in it. And you can bet she’s posting those ‘good deeds’ all over social media, even if the endgame’s attention and affection.

Jett’s a symbol of those annoying people who post their lives on social media

Seriously, the most annoying people out there post their entire lives on social media. And in case you’re wondering, one reason I prefer Substack is that you see a whole lot less of that bullshit.

Listen, I don’t care if you were at the gym earlier today and “took the 120-lb dumbbells for a ride.” I also don’t care if you served at your local soup kitchen on Thanksgiving and saw the need to let everyone know about it.

And honestly? I don’t give a flying fuck if your child graduated middle school with a 4.3 GPA because they were the best in their class at doing the same damn thing that Jett does in school.

This is why the late Kenny Irwin Jr. was one of my favorite NASCAR drivers ever. Irwin, tragically killed in a crash at New Hampshire back in 2000, did a lot of good for lower and working-class families, but he never spoke about it.

While he died before social media was a thing, Irwin could’ve used his platform to let the world know, but he didn’t. He just went on driving. The only reason why we know this now is that, shortly after his death, his parents got countless letters from people he helped.

If Jett, or those who think they need to tell everyone about all the “good” they’ve done on social media, people like me wouldn’t need to question whether they’re good people or if they’re just chasing ‘Likes.’

Will Jett ever get her act together?

Put it this way, she’s not very nice to Yote in Arcane Awakenings or The Arcane Prophecy. You’ll also find out she’s a bit of a sneak, someone who’ll do what she can to gain an edge.

That said, while she conforms, recites and repeats slogans, and plays the game of school better than anyone else while looking good doing so, Jett displays her fair share of gamesmanship. Other times, she’ll cheat outright to get ahead.

So, will Jett get her act together? As far as the lead magnet and from what you see her doing early in Book I goes, I highly doubt it.

And if you want to see just how much of a piece of work, albeit a conformist, Jett is, meet her in Arcane Awakenings.