A Stressful Night for Many
Ekko and Vi were led up the stairs to the balcony and into a back hallway. There, they followed a maze of twists and turns and into a room draped in velvet and secrecy. Silco sat behind a low table, a drink in one hand and the other tapping on the wood.
The two stood in front of the table. Seivka stood behind them cross armed. Blocking the door.
Silco's eyes passed over them-jinx kept her usual wild energy suppression across her face and Ekko kept sharped-eyed and quiet.
“So,” Silco started, “to what do I owe the pleasure of tonight’s….surprise visit. Normally when guests come in, they want to sit at a table and not hide in a corner.”
“We weren’t trying to cause trouble,” Ekko replied, “just…exploring the city.”
Sevika chimed in “you’re exploring the one place in Zaun most don’t want to get caught exploring.”
“We were just curious,” Ekko said steadily.
“Curiosity can be very deadly in Piltover,” Silco said. He leaned forward to examine Ekko. “And you are….?”
“Octo,” Ekko lied. He couldn’t think of any better name (and neither could I so give me a break).
“Mm” Silco said while swirling his drink. It wasn’t like the purple shimmering stuff downstairs. Rather just a plain glass of scotch. “What is it you do, Octo.”
“I run errands,” Ekko lied again. “Nothing official.”
Silco didn’t blink. “A drifter then. And you?” He said shifting his eyes to jinx.
“Just a friend. I do loads of stuff. I needed to show him around. No harm done!” Jinx rapidly spat out.
Silco exhaled, “I suppose I can’t be mad at kids who,” Silco now shifted his gaze up to Sevika, “saw nothing out of the ordinary.”
Ekko and Jinx didn’t say anything.
Silco stood up and walked over to the pair. His presence was like smoke. Hard to hold and choking at the same time.
“You two may go. But next time you want to come to my bar. Make a reservation first. Sevika. Please see them out.”
Sevika stiffened up “Silco-“
“See them out Sevika.”
Ekko and Jinx didn’t stay long and quickly left with Sevika.
“So, where’d ya get that arm? And where’d you original one go?” Jinx asked while leaving Silco's office.
Back on the streets of Piltover the two moved in silence. Jinx was unusually quiet.
Ekko finally spoke up, “we’re not telling anyone. Got it?”
She nodded “Not even Vi?”
“Especially Vi,” Ekko muttered.
They kept walking in silence. The city breathing around them. Then Jinx gave a wired smile, “still a good adventure though, right Octo?”
Ekko snorted “you’re impossible”
“Damn right I am.”
That was weird. Very weird. Ekko couldn’t shake that feeling. Obviously, he and jinx didn’t see anything weird in the chem Barron bar, it’s just a bar after all. So why would they be interrogated so much? Silco was hiding something. But he wasn’t sure what….
Back in Silco's office, Sevika was pacing around while Silco shuffled through some paperwork.
“They were just two street rats looking for food that’s all,” Silco reassured.
“Sir they were up to something. I don’t know how long they’d been in the restaurant before I noticed them but…”
“Sevika. It’s fine. Even if they did see anything who would they tell? Enforcers? Most of them are on our payroll now anyways.” Silco reassured.
Sevika didn't like it and truthfully Silco also had an odd feeling about their two surprise visitors. One thing was sure though. He knew that boys name wasn’t Octo and he did more than run errands.
Meanwhile…...Caitlyn stood alone in The Undercut’s dining room, long after closing. She had dimmed the lights, leaving only a small glow from the main chandelier above her.
In her hand she held a small notepad. Her schedules, checklists, reminders. Her fingers ran through the pagers. Stopping at one word “staffing.”
She sighed. Vis offer to help had been sweet, but the gala was going to test everyone, even her.
Her eyes drifted to the bar, where Viktor had left her a glass of wine and Jayce’s notes were stuck to the kitchen door.
Everyone was working so hard and yet. She felt alone….
She pressed her lips together and flipped to a blank page, writing one word in clean strokes.
Gala.
Then underneath it:
Don’t mess this up.
She stared at it for a while. Then quietly, she tore it out and crumpled it in her hand.