Chapter 3
Chapter III
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Powder asked, her voice heavy with mockery and sounding dangerously on the verge of a fit of laughter.
“I got it,” Vi insisted angrily.
“If you think so”
“Powder” the minor warned.
“Okay okay”
Even though her sister remained silent, Vi could still sense her vibrating with excitement beside her. She forced herself to press her lips together to hide the smile that was meant to spread across her face and instead focused once more on the object in her hands. Knowing that they wouldn't help, her eyes remained fixed straight ahead, staring unfocused at Powder's television, while her fingers ran firmly over the cold, metallic surface in her lap.
Powder's latest piece, one she'd been working on for two weeks and hadn't stopped talking about since finishing it, was proving to be a real challenge for Vi to understand - small things always were for a reason. But that didn't make it any more exciting. Even though they no longer lived together, she was always the first one Powder showed her work to, a tradition they'd shared since they were both children.
Vi would spend hours in her older sister's room, watching her work with absolute dedication and admiration, asking her all sorts of questions and trying, most of the time in vain, to imitate her work. Her efforts always ended in disaster, much to her eternal chagrin and Powder's great amusement. Vi was never particularly skilled at inventions, much less sculpture, lacking Powder's innate ability to create something practically out of nothing. But her lack of skill was something she eventually came to terms with and, once she reached her teens, transferred to music.
Now she was simply content to support her sister with each new invention, always taking her time to discover what they were and how they worked.
“It’s some kind of rodent, right?” she asked with a frown, her fingers touching a pointy area that she was sure were teeth. “The tail is a little big for a mouse… Squirrel?”
“Bingo,” Powder congratulated, smiling. “What else?”
“I still can’t find the mechanism…. There” Vi pressed a small button hidden inside the little squirrel’s mouth.
She felt the device vibrate in her hands for a moment and then heard a distinctive pop. Colored lights illuminated the object, projecting onto every surface in the room and emitting a rather thunderous techno tune. Vi smiled as she heard her sister clapping along to the music.
“It’s great! I love it,” Vi exclaimed. “What’s it’s name?”
“I’m not sure yet. I think I’ll let the kids name it this week.”
“Are you going to teach them how to make one?”
“Maybe… but not that elaborate,” her sister stated. She carefully took the device from her hands, pressing the inside of its mouth to turn off the music and stop the lights. “I have a few ideas to show the brats, but nothing involving electrical connections for now. Ekko almost lost his eyebrows the last time one of the kids blew up a toy.”
“Sounds familiar,” Vi mocked. “I mean, there was that time with the washing machine…”
Powder hit her in the face with a pillow, silencing her.
“Shut up. That was different” the blue-haired girl exclaimed.
"Sure sure"
“Hey! No laughs at my expense!” Powder warned, but Vi could hear the smile. “Okay, I’ll take a shower before the rest arrive. Do you think you can survive alone here for a while without breaking a bone?”
Vi rolled her eyes.
“I'll try my best” she replied sarcastically.
Vi sat for a moment as she listened to Powder move around the small apartment. It wasn't until she heard the sound of water running in the bathroom that she got up and went to retrieve her guitar that she had left abandoned by the door.
She settled down on the edge of the couch and, with her eyes closed, slid her hand along the neck of the guitar, recognizing each fret with the certainty of someone reading a map with their fingers, thinking about the melody she had been composing the last few days. The wood under her skin was warm, polished by years and practice. Since she had started performing at The Last Drop a month ago, the guitar, more than an instrument, had become an extension of herself. She had begun to carry it everywhere, earning more than one mocking comment from Mylo or Ekko.
But Vi took it in stride, and replied to the mockery with equal force.
It felt good, to be able to be one with the music, to have something beyond her work and family, something more personal. Although she didn't want to admit it to anyone yet, for fear of sounding too sentimental, having to prepare a new piece week after week had given Vi a new purpose. Granting, from the way her sister hugged her and celebrated her after each performance, Vi was sure that Powder was fully aware of the effect the music was having on her.
She strummed a major chord, the sound filling the apartment like a breath of fresh air. She took a breath and let the vibration of the strings spread through her chest, the sound speaking before the words. With careful movements, she tried out new combinations, subtle variations in the pressure of her fingers on the fret board. A change in the chord, then another. Some fit, some didn’t. But the search for the perfect combination was where the magic was, and Vi knew that at any moment she would find the perfect mix.
As she began to hum a tune, a different sound interrupted her concentration. Vi opened her eyes, the shadows around her snapping her back to reality and halting her process. Powder's cell phone kept ringing and vibrating on the kitchen table, the screen lighting up every so often, announcing an incoming call. Vi waited a bit to see if Powder would come out to answer it, but the water was still running in the bathroom from what she could hear. The call stopped and Vi readjusted again, ready to continue her song.
A new call came in, the phone vibrating again and the loud music Powder enjoyed listening filled the apartment. Frowning and a little irritated at being interrupted, Vi put her guitar aside and got up to answer it.
Both Vi and Powder used to answer each other's calls if they were busy. It was a bad habit if you think about it objectively. But for them it wasn't something strange and the routine was stronger than anything.
Vi answered at the third call.
“Hello?”
“Ah! Hello there!” A man’s voice spoke from the other end of the line. Vi could hear a distinctly refined accent in his pronunciation. A Piltover man? “My name is Jayce Talis. I’m calling on behalf of the Kiramman Gallery.”
Kiramman? The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Vi wasn't sure where she'd heard it. Besides, why did a man from Piltover have her sister's number?
“Okay?” Vi replied, not without some caution. “What do you want?”
If the man was surprised by the rudeness of the question, he hid it very well, clearing his throat slightly.
“Could you please put me through to Jinx Lanes?” the man, Jayce, asked, too formally for it to be a casual call. “I’ve tried to get in touch with her before, but I think there’s been a bit of a… misunderstanding.”
Vi's eyebrows rose in surprise. No one ever addressed her sister that way, it was a nickname she normally used for her works or in her personal workshop with private clients. An offensive nickname to her in her childhood that she had adopted as an alternative identity when she grew older and more mature. Aside from a few occasions when she wanted to annoy her sister, Vi didn't like to call her that way.
The man at least knew her last name. But that only made this all even more strange.
“You said you were from a gallery?” Vi inquired, her thoughts racing.
“Yes, Kiramman Gallery… I’m sorry, but who am I speaking to?” Jayce asked back. “Is this the right number? I’m sure I dialed correctly.”
Vi clicked her tongue.
“Wait a minute, piltie boy”
“Piltie?”
Vi ignored the man's indignant response, rushing to the bathroom.
“Jeez, what happened with the whole knock before get in” Powder said sarcastically as the younger girl entered. Vi could vaguely made out her sister’s naked silhouette inside the shower, holding what she believed to be a towel.
“There’s a guy named Jayce Tails calling you,” she explained. “It seems important”
A pause… and then…
“What!?” For some reason Vi couldn’t understand, Powder sounded incredibly upset.
“Jayce Tails or something,” Vi repeated cautiously. “He said something about a gallery? Sounds pretty distinguished…”
Powder jumped out of the shower and, faster than Vi could register, snatched the phone from her hands and strode out of the bathroom, her angry voice filling the apartment. It took Vi a moment to compose herself, surprised by Powder's reaction and even more so by the violent, threatening way she spoke into the phone. As if this guy Jayce was the very personification of her worst enemy.
Vi's face twisted into a grimace as she listened to the string of profanities Powder recited to the man. A part of her felt sorry for him.
There were very few times when Powder reacted aggressively towards anything. Her sister was the calmer and more collected of the two, with Vi being the one who tended to lose her temper easily most of the time, the troublemaker. Few times Powder's volatile temper would come out, and usually when Vi was involved for one reason or another.
But when Powder finally blew up, it was never a good thing.
“Pow?” Vi called, tentatively exiting the bathroom when she was sure her sister had hung up.
“What did he told you?” Powder exclaimed, suddenly appearing in front of her. Vi blinked a couple of times at having her so close, bewildered.
“What the fuck, Pow. Are you okay?” Vi exclaimed worriedly, bringing a hand to her bare shoulder in an attempt to reassure her.
“Vi, what did you talk about with that man?” Powder pressed; her anger restrained.
Vi resisted the urge to back away.
“N-nothing! He just asked to talk to you, or rather, he asked to talk to Jinx. Weird, by the way. Said something about a gallery. It has to do with art, right? Maybe he found out about you online?” Vi frowned as she heard the new string of insults come out of Powder’s mouth. “What’s going on?”
Powder walked away from her, pacing the room like a caged animal, not caring that her naked body was exposed to the world and muttering unintelligible things to herself.
Vi was officially lost.
What the fuck?
“Powder?”
“I’m fine,” Powder shouted, turning to look at her. But suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks, seeming to reconsider something. Vi thought she saw her running a hand over her face as she took a breath. “I’m sorry, sis. I’m not mad at you, okay? Just… Just… forget all about it.”
But Vi couldn't just let it go. Something about the way the man had spoken and Powder's reaction told her that the call was pretty important.
“It’s about your works, isn’t it?”
“Drop it, Vi”
“Do you want to expose them?”
“Violet, I said forget it” uh oh, her full name, that was more than serious.
“Sounds like a great opportunity, if you ask me,” she continued.
“It’s a good thing I’m not asking you, then”
Powder's body was completely tense, it was quite noticeable even with Vi's limited vision, ready to pounce at any moment. Vi shouldn't continue, that much she knew, she would only end up in trouble. But curiosity got the better of her.
"But…"
Vi cut herself off, briefly sniffing the air as she caught the sudden scent of pizza, followed by the distinct sound of approaching footsteps. Her eyes widened in alarm, and she turned to the door, not able to react in time to stop the newcomers before they entered. Four motley figures entered the apartment, a large, colorful shadow, an ambiguous blur that never stopped moving.
The animated voices of Claggor, Mylo, Vander, and Ekko gave away their identities, joking about something Vi didn't quite catch before they fell silent, realizing what was in front of them.
Seeing Powder, who was still very much naked, in the middle of the living room.
Everyone looked at each other for a second, frozen in shock, before chaos broke out.
“Dude! What the fuck!?”
“Oh my god”
“I definitely didn't want to see that”
“Get out you assholes!”
“My eyes! My eyes!”
“Oh my god!”
“What’s wrong with you!?”
“Powder, why the hell are you naked?!”
“Why are you even mad, little man? “Is nothing you haven't seen before!”
“MYLO!”
“I'll need therapy after this!”
“I'm so sorry Powder!”
“Just go away!”
Everyone continued to scream, their voices rising over the others in an attempt to be heard. Vi rushed to cover her sister with her body, or rather, she tried to. In the confusion, she tripped on the way with the back edge of the couch, almost falling to the ground in the process only to be caught by Powder, who held her by the waist to steady her as she continued the screaming match with the others.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vi caught sight of Ekko roughly pushing Mylo and Claggor out of the house, the three of them arguing like children over a toy, while the imposing figure of Vander strode toward them.
Vander covered them both with his jacket, his gigantic, heavy clothing swallowing the sisters with ease.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Vander thundered, his hot-tempered voice doing the trick and shutting them all up in a flash. “Powder, please, go put on something decent. Mylo, Claggor, go get some drinks, some candy, whatever…”
"But…"
“Now,” said Vander “Ekko-“
“I’ll just… be in the kitchen,” the boy muttered, slamming the door in Mylo and Claggor’s faces and picking up the pizza boxes that had somewhere in the confusion fallen to the floor.
Vi just hoped they'd at least bothered to bring her favorite.
Soon it was just her and Vander in the living room, Ekko barely hiding as he moved around the kitchen, trying to pretend nothing was happening, and Powder locked away in her room. Vander caught Vi's attention then, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“What the hell was that?” he asked in a low, mocking whisper.
Vi only groaned, her face burning with shame, as if she was the one who had been exposed as god brought her into the world in front of her entire family. She could feel the beginnings of a headache settling behind her eyes.
She dropped her forehead onto her father's chest, letting out a long, deep sigh.
Only then did Vander burst out laughing.
::::
Vi heard them arguing from two blocks away.
It was a considerably cold afternoon, freezing even by Zaun standards. One of those where the cold breeze pierces to the bone, passing through all possible layers of clothing, and which warns the beginning of a possible snowfall.
After spending most of the day at home, recovering from a severe migraine and bouts of nausea, Vi decided she couldn't stay cooped up and feeling sorry for herself any longer. It was a good thing that it had already been her day off from work, so hiding her discomfort from her family had been relatively easy. No one questioned it when the girl didn't feel particularly up to going out.
But Vi was no good at staying still; she needed to keep her mind occupied with some activity, no matter how tedious. It was either that or letting herself be consumed by negative thoughts.
And allow her mind to wander was always dangerous.
Especially if she was alone…
So, once she was confident enough that she could stand without risking face-planting on her floor, she decided that maybe it would be a good idea to go for a walk and clear her head. She had a song in mind, a really good one, but she still couldn't seem to put it into words. Something was missing and maybe the walk could help with that.
She hadn't intended to head to that part of the city, it wasn't one of her regular routes, but in the midst of her wandering her steps had led her there. The slums of Zaun weren't more dangerous than any other area of the city, but they were the ones with the most idiots. Vi usually avoided hanging around there, partly to evade Powder's wrath if she were to find out she was there than out of fear for her own safety. Vi could defend herself, she was confident in her abilities. She had to. But still, it wasn't good to tempt fate.
She stopped at a corner, mentally reviewing the route she could take back home. She held the cane steady in her right hand, her eyes trying to scan the surroundings without much success. The buildings and the overcast sky didn't let much light into the area, so her vision was even more limited in these circumstances.
She turned on her heels, her mind wandering again, thinking about what she could order for dinner, when a car alarm and multiple screams caught her attention. She could have ignored it; it wasn't her problem. But something about one of the voices that rose in the air made her reconsider her decision, stopping her in her tracks once again.
A female voice, with a distinctive accent that was completely out of place in the area she was in.
Before she was fully aware of what she was doing, Vi had approached the center of the commotion.
“I won't say it again, fancy pants, get out of my way!” one angry voice said, a man.
“This is unacceptable” another man answered, angry too but also a little scared by the waver in his voice. It also sounded very familiar “Look, we're just passing through, okay? We don't want problems."
“Oh, you can leave whenever you want, we don't care about your pathetic asses” a third man, older and calm “Just leave the car here, we would take good care of it”
“Stay away! Now!” the woman spoke then, sounding more serious and threatening than the second man was. There was a hint of authority in the way she spoke.
Vi thought the woman was either very brave or incredibly stupid. Possibly both.
Still far away, it was nearly impossible for Vi to tell if there were other people around, much less who was who. The glow from the few lamps that were still working blended across the pavement, creating pools of distorted color. She couldn't see details, but she could make out movement, two figures moving aggressively.
“Don't touch her!”
Vi's heart skipped a beat. As irresponsible as it was, she couldn't leave them alone anymore. She felt responsible now, she was a witness.
She took a breath, feeling her heart pounding in her chest at what she was about to do. The street smelled of asphalt and gasoline, a thick, unpleasant odor that mixed with the cold and stagnant water. Her grip on her cane tightened.
“Hey assholes!” she called then “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”
Silence. Sudden, overwhelming silence.
Vi was sure she had taken them all by surprise, if the abrupt quiet was any indication.
One of the men, the youngest and most aggressive if Vi wasn't mistaken, let out a high-pitched laugh.
“Well, well that's funny” he mocked “And what if we don't?” Vi recognized movement, the sound of footsteps. Suddenly she could hear him closer, the rustle of his jacket and the uneven step of his shoes hitting the pavement.
“Hold up” the older one said, a warning in his tone.
A beat and then another laugh.
“She is blind” the first man voice curled with amusement, cruel and sharp “You serious? We're supposed to be scared of a blind bitch with a stick?”
Vi didn't even flinch, she has definitely heard worse in her life.
She hears him then lunging against her. A spike of fear gripped her chest, followed by the distinctive ringing of adrenaline filling her ears. A quick step forward, and she swung her cane low, cracking it against a shin. A curse, a stagger. She used the moment to move, and swung her cane against where she knew he stood, paralyzed with shock.
“Crazy bitch!” the mans spited, prepared to swing again.
“STOP IT” the old man screamed then, sounding furious. Quick steps tell Vi that he was suddenly behind her but instead to feel a hit, the man continues forward. Vi couldn't figure it out what he was doing but then heard a punch and something crack, painfully “I said stop! Are you seriously that stupid?!”
“What the hell is your problem?!” he sounded indignant and hurt.
“She is one of Vander's brat” the older hissed, frantic.
A tense second passed. Then another.
The one she had struck cursed under his breath, then spat at the ground near her feet. “Fucking psycho.”
“Walk away,” Vi said then, low and even. “Before this gets worse.”
The other muttered something she didn't quite catch, but the sneer in his voice was clear. Vi kept her stance, trying to ground herself. Hearing her father's name brought her some comfort, but she wasn't sure how far his protection would go if someone decided to turn a simple robbery into something more… problematic.
Powder is going to kill me if this continue.
But after a tense moment that seemed extremely long, they were finally gone, their footsteps growing farther away until she could no longer hear them. Only then did Vi allow herself to relax, letting her shoulders slump in a tired gesture and placing her staff firmly back on the ground.
Vi only remembered she had more company when she heard the woman behind.
“Are you okay?” Her voice was soft now, much more refined and sweeter than Vi had expected.
Vi turned around, allowing herself a small, slightly strained smile.
“I’m the one who should be asking that, sweetheart,” she exclaimed, shaking her head slightly. The woman was taller than her, she was sure of that, her form slender but she couldn’t make out much of the details beyond the fact that she seemed to be wearing a bluish suit. Was that a skirt, a dress or shorts? “They didn’t manage to hurt you, did they?”
“Ah! N-no, not at all” the woman hurriedly said.
Vi thought she sounded a little nervous all of a sudden, but she let it pass. Maybe it was the aftereffects of what had just happened.
“Thanks for the help,” the woman companion said, approaching as well. He was quite tall, his figure more voluminous, but from his clothes Vi wasn’t sure if he was fat or just muscular. “For a moment I thought I would have to use force.”
Vi let out a sarcastic laugh, allowing herself to look away to an unspecified point in the streets. The visual strain was beginning to give her a new headache.
“Strength… of course” she said sarcastically “I was sure you were going to piss your pants if I didn’t interfere”
The man stuttered something unintelligible, clearly indignant, but beside him the woman let out a laugh that she tried to hide with a fake cough. Vi's smile grew.
The woman cleared her throat.
“I really appreciated your help. It was quite… heroic,” she said. “You were the only one who deigned to help us.”
Vi shrugged. “That’s Zaun for you,” she said casually. “You two shouldn’t be here. This isn’t the place for people like you.” Pilties, she wanted to say, but held back. “Unless you want another bad time, you should go back the way you came and not look back.”
“That is precisely our problem,” the woman admitted. “We are a little lost.”
Vi snorted “Yeah, I figured”
“We got lost” the man admitted “That map app told us to take some turns but there wasn't anything where they were supposed to”
“Contrary to where you come from, this city is built on alleys, narrow streets, and chaos,” Vi smirked. “You can’t just drive around in your fancy car and expect to find your way.”
Another beat of silence.
“Well,” the man began, “I admit it was a bit…”
" Stupid?"
“Ignorant of us to come here without consulting first,” he concluded.
“Maybe you could help us?” the woman asked then, catching Vi’s attention as she tilted her head in her direction. “We just want to find an address, that’s all.”
Vi hummed, her gaze falling on them again almost involuntarily. A few insulting comments crossed her mind, but she bit her tongue to keep from expressing them. She had already wasted enough time on those two, but Vi figured that since she was here, she could help them a little more.
Or at least get them out of there.
“Can I know at least with whom I have the pleasure to speak?” she then asked, the sarcasm evident in her voice.
“Oh!” The woman looked surprised once again, as if the thought hadn’t crossed her mind. “Of course! I’m sorry we didn’t do this sooner. My name is Caitlyn. Caitlyn Kiramman.”
Kiramman
That name….
The woman, Caitlyn, shifted slightly, as if nudging her companion, who only let out a sniff of indignation.
“I'm Jayce Talis” he said with much less enthusiasm.
Something clicked in her mind and now it was Vi's turn to be surprised. She blinked a couple of times, as if the gesture was enough to put order to the wave of thoughts that assaulted her. Now she knew why his voice seemed so familiar.
“You! You are the one who has been harassing my sister,” she exclaimed, pointing at the man in an accusatory tone.
“Sister?”
“I have done no such thing!” Jayce defended.
“Of course you have,” Vi insisted, taking a step forward.
How could she have forgotten? Powder had been stewing in her frustration and fury for days after that call Vi had taken and the second one that came in just the day after. Her sister had almost smashed her cell phone against the wall.
The tension had caused a bit of discord between them, too. Vi had no idea what was going on and no one else in her family seemed to want to clarify her doubts, which made her angrier. They all insisted on evading her questions, partly out of fear that Powder's wrath would fall on them. Only Vander had been honest enough with Vi to admit that it was a private thing and that her sister needed to deal with it on her own, but even he sounded annoyed with the situation, whatever it was, resentful even.
“That’s a story for another time, kid. Don’t worry about it.” Vander had said.
But that was not a valid answer for Vi.
“Aren’t you the one who called about the so-called gallery?” Vi continued, feeling the frustration built up over the days burning inside her. Frustration and protective instincts that lay dormant within her. “What’s your problem with her? What the fuck do you want from us?”
“Whoa Whoa! I think there is a misunderstanding here” Jayce said, alarmed.
“Bullshit” was the only thing Vi could answer.
Suddenly, Caitlyn stepped into Vi's vision, standing between them with her hands raised. For a moment, she looked like she wanted to touch Vi, but she stopped herself.
“What Jayce says is true,” she said, her voice incredibly calm despite the circumstances. Vi let out a snort of disbelief. “I think this is all just a misunderstanding. We don’t want to cause any trouble…”
“Why all the calls then?” Vi asked, taking a step back, her cane sliding on the floor between then.
“That was my mistake,” Caitlyn said cautiously. “You’re related to Jinx Lane, right? Is that your sister?”
Vi gritted her teeth in indignation. “Powder,” she said. “Her name is Powder, not Jinx.”
“Ah… I apologize again. I didn’t mean to offend,” Caitlyn said quickly.
“We thought that was her name,” Jayce admitted. “All of her works on social media are signed that way.”
“Can’t you tell a damn nickname from a real name?”
“Well, it’s not like Powder is exactly a very normal name…”
“What's that supposed to mean?!” Vi was borderline furious now.
“Enough Jayce!” Caitlyn exclaimed, her voice tense “Go take a walk or something”
“But…”
“Go”
Jayce threw his arms up in frustration. He muttered something to himself that Vi couldn't hear before he turned and walked away. Vi let out a sigh, trying to calm herself. Her temples were throbbing, the pain that had threatened all day to return now taking up residence in her head.
“I'm really, really sorry about this,” Caitlyn spoke, her voice filled with regret. “I promise you that I didn't mean to cause you any trouble or offend you or your sister. It was just a mistake. I thought that a refusal would only merit a little more insistence on our part to at least arrange a meeting with her, but now I see that it wasn't very well received.”
Vi grimaced “I don’t know what it’s like in Piltover, sweetheart, but we don’t take harassment very well here.”
“I see that now, and I apologize again for the troubles,” Caitlyn insisted.
She sounded sincere and apologetic enough that Vi allowed herself to relax a little around her, quietly accepting the apology. She still didn't quite know what to think about the whole situation. Part of her wanted to turn around and leave them standing in the middle of Zaun, help be damned. But another part, small and curious, kept her rooted to the spot. She wished for a second to know what expression the woman wore; to be able to catch just a glimpse of her face and see her eyes to see how much she could trust her.
But wishing was useless for Vi, much less allowing herself to be vulnerable.
Caitlyn took her silence as an opportunity to continue talking.
“Jayce and I run an art gallery, in Piltover. It’s quite large and designed to accommodate multiple works in various formats,” Caitlyn explained, her voice gentle but firm. An odd combination. “A friend of ours follows several Zaun artists closely. He showed me their work, and your sister’s is one of the most frequently featured. I find them particularly exceptional, and all I want is to be able to speak with her, to offer her a chance to feature her work in my gallery.”
The offer was almost too good to be true, too unrealistic. But if it was true, why was Powder so reluctant to even have a simple telephone conversation?
Something was missing, and Vi wasn't even sure where to start looking.
“What's the catch?” she asked.
“There is none” Caitlyn assured “I promise. It is a free offer. No commitments” she took a breath “I really think it is a wonderful opportunity for her, for all artists. I just want to speak to her, a chance to talk, that's all I ask.”
Vi let out a dry, incredulous laugh. “A conversation? That’s all?”
Caitlyn nodded, though Vi only caught the slight movement of her shadow against the flickering light of a sign in the distance.
"I don't know what the hell you said to Powder, but it wasn't just 'insistence' that got her like this." Vi words were sharp, but her voice came out more tired than she intended, the headache taking its toll. She gripped the handle of her cane tightly. "If you really want to talk to her, you're going to have to do more than just ask her like this is a damn business contract."
Caitlyn sighed. “I understand,” she replied, without a trace of irony or annoyance. “And for the record, I’m sorry again.”
Vi wanted to believe her. She wanted to think that this was all just a mistake, that Jayce was a tactless jerk and not a stalker, that Powder had no real reason to be so upset. But something inside her wouldn't let her accept it so easily.
She clenched her jaw.
She wanted to end this, walk away and let Powder decide for herself, but there was something about the confidence with which Caitlyn spoke, the way her voice sounded more honest than self-serving. The offer was good, too good, and if it was real… Powder deserved to make a full-informed decision. Didn’t she?
"You say you just want to talk to her," Vi muttered, more to herself than to her.
"It's the truth," Caitlyn insisted.
Vi clicked her tongue in frustration. Her instincts were screaming at her not to take them, to just turn around and leave it all up in the air. But Powder wasn't going to make it easy for her if she came home with more questions and no answers. She couldn't imagine the scandal she would cause if she told her Vi found and spoke to those two alone.
Besides, if these two were going to keep pushing it anyway… she might as well be there.
"Okay," Vi finally said, her voice still heavy with skepticism. "I'll take you to her."
Caitlyn nodded seriously, as if she knew she wasn't going to get a better answer than that.
"But listen to me carefully," Vi continued, pointing at her with her cane. "If she says she doesn't want anything to do with you, that's it. Don't push her, don't follow her, don't bother her anymore. Understood?"
Jayce let out a snort from afar, making evident he had been listening but Caitlyn silenced him with a look before replying, "Understood."
Vi let out a heavy sigh, feeling like she might be about to make a mistake.
“Alright then”