Just a Taste
Vi had never lingered on the thought that, somewhere out there, a single person could flip her whole world around and literally make it as radiant as a dream. She was perfectly fine with a dull, black and white life. After all, that’s what she’d been seeing this whole time.
If anything, meeting her soulmate was probably the worst thing that could ever happen. She didn’t need another person to lose. She didn’t need another person seeing her vulnerable and weak. She didn’t need love.
But when she was stalking inside a crowd of Topsiders, nicking watches and stealing wallets with deft fingers, the last thing Vi had expected was to see was a startling navy blue before it disappeared in a sea of colours. It hit her like a bullet. Every colour was so vivid it was almost an assault on her eyes. It was an assault.
Even when Vi forced her eyelids shut, the rainbow of screaming pigments swam in her head. She wanted all the black and white to come back, to suffocate all of these bright, overwhelming shades. The crowd around Vi was ignorant to the inner struggle taking over her body, shoving her around while she drowned in green and yellow and pink and orange.
Finally everything seemed to slow, Vi’s eyes blinking open, able to calm the cacophony inside of her and actually appreciate the dizzy rainbow. She slid from the crowd, into an alleyway empty of anyone. Beige stone under her feet. Light azure above her head. Her soulmate in front of her, lost in the hurricane of people. Probably never to be seen again.
The thought ached a little bit. It squeezed her heart, tighter and tighter as she ruminated until it almost became unbearable. Sure, she didn’t dream about a happy ending, but she could’ve had one. Now the chance of that was lower than when her world was grey and boring.
All Vi had seen was a glimpse of dark blue hair, and she longed for more. It felt as if her cells had been ripped apart and rearranged into something entirely different yet starkly unchanged. Vi was the same person, with the same brain and the same body, but now they both yearned for someone she didn’t even know.
Vi had to get the fuck over it. Cry herself a river, build a bridge, and get the fuck over it.
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“Mother-”
“Not another word, Caitlyn. You will attend this party.”
Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Caitlyn walked off, body stiff. She didn’t need to go to another party. No matter how hard her mother tried, she’d already looked at almost everyone in Piltover. Everyone came to their parties. But no one was her soulmate. No one Topside, that is.
Caitlyn could feel it in her blood that whoever was the one to bring colour into her life, lived in Zaun. After near hundreds of parties, shouldn’t her mother see that? Yes, but she has pointedly chosen to ignore it, time and time again. She needs her perfect daughter to live her perfect life with the perfect piltie husband.
Sadly, Caitlyn could never see that happening. She never felt connected to all the other girls her age. While they all swooned over some handsome man coming to rock their worlds, Caitlyn solved things. She shot things. She trained. And she refused to acknowledge the growing disappointment in her mother’s grey eyes when they landed on her.
Unconsciously Caitlyn’s steps lead her to Jayce’s penthouse. He was quick to open the door when she knocked, fully expecting her. “Invitations for a new party. Your mother still trying to find your soulmate?”
“Yes! I don’t understand why she’s so invested in something that doesn’t involve her at all.”
Caitlyn couldn’t keep her tone from anger, finally letting herself loose from the strings that pulled her tight at all times and threatened to snap when she went a single step out of place. She felt so controlled, like a lapdog. She felt like her life wasn’t hers to live anymore. It was her mother’s. The leash she’d fastened so taut around Caitlyn’s neck was suffocating.
Dressing up, acting prim and proper, high tea, that wasn’t Caitlyn in the slightest. And it didn’t lead her any closer to her soulmate. Oh, how she wished to just escape it all. Yet here she was, the flawless daughter of a faultless counselor.
“Want some coffee?”
Jayce didn’t even need Caitlyn’s reply to know the answer. In ten minutes she was sitting on his couch, knees to her chest, cup in her hands. They stayed in comfortable silence until Caitlyn broke it. “Thank you, Jayce.”
He smiled, shaking his head. “You’re my friend, Cait. I’ll always be here for you.”
Quiet took over yet again. Caitlyn finished her coffee, tired despite the energising drink. Dealing with her mother exhausted her. Living this life was exhausting. She lay down on the couch, eyes drifting closed to a tempting black. A nap sounded good right now.
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The Last Drop was bright and loud. Vi ignored the way she was left breathless with her new colourful life. The bar looked just like she’d always imagined, with neon greens and wooden browns and an array of vibrant people. None of that mattered right now. She had to find Powder.
Vi passed Vander, glancing to the side to admire her father’s appearance. He looked just like home, with a thickset body and white hair overtaking brown. She felt a pang of appreciation, glad she had such a stable family.
Vi slipped into the basement, hearing the clatter of what was hopefully Powder tinkering with something. Vi saw light blue and when her little sister turned to lock eyes with her, it took everything to not react. Powder was beautiful. Vi was suddenly eternally grateful to her soulmate for granting her the ability to see everything she cared about in colour.
“What’re you making now?”
Vi crossed her arms, leaning against a nearby wall, hoping Powder thought she was acting normal. She had always scoffed at the idea of a soulmate. Admitting she’d seen her soulmate was like turning herself in to the enforcers. All it promised was a lifetime of torture.
“Ekko wanted to see if I could make his hoverboard better.”
She said simply, looking back at her contraption. Of course Powder was doing something for Ekko. They were soulmates. Powder had tried to describe the rainbow the world had become when she saw Ekko, but when all Vi could even imagine was grey, she gave up pretty quick. Sometimes Vi forgot Powder had found her soulmate. Everything with the two just came so casually it faded into the background.
“How was it when you saw him again? What was colour like?”
Powder gave Vi a bored look. She knew Vi didn’t care about colour, she never has. It wasn’t surprising when Powder sighed, giving into her sisters puppy-like eyes.
“The whole world exploded with different pigments,” She droned, “and then I could see colour.”
Vi huffed out a laugh at Powder’s basic description. She definitely wasn’t one to glamorise anything. Or she just couldn’t bother entertaining Vi when all Powder’s life, Vi had hated the universe for giving her someone even god couldn’t make her despise. Suddenly tempted to confide in her little sister, Vi sat down on the worn couch in front of her.
“What if I told you I could see colour?”
“I wouldn’t believe it.”
Powder was straight-forward, something Vi couldn’t help but appreciate. In many situations it was a blessing, but in countless more, a curse. As the silence dragged, it began to sink in. Vi wasn’t laughing, she wasn’t playing it off. Was she was telling the truth?
“Vi, what colour is my hair? And don’t fuck around with me.”
Ekko’s hoverboard project all forgotten, Powder turned to Vi, eyes hard. Vi was taken aback by her little sisters serious attitude towards this. Having a soulmate who actually existed wouldn’t change anything but her ability to see colour, after all.
“Light blue.”
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Caitlyn walked outside, her whole body tense. So far, nearly all the men in the party had attempted to flirt with her. It was torture. She’d rather be in Freljord with just a shirt and shorts. And that’s saying something.
Jayce had been tailing her the whole party, no different from now. When she sunk onto a seat in the courtyard, he joined her.
“Mother and I used to come here when we needed an escape.”
Caitlyn spoke quietly, afraid to pierce the gentle calm. Even with her grey world, this place was beautiful. A tree rose behind her, petals drifting down to crowd over the ground. The odd structure in front of her spun in the wind, tinkling softly, grey petals rising and swirling before sinking when the breeze shut off.
“I’m not surprised you came then.”
Jayce replied, keeping his voice similarly gentle. Out here the buzz from the party was just a whisper. You could almost forget about the chaos, leaving it all behind. Caitlyn hummed in reply, leaning to rest her cheek on his shoulder. Many would kill to be in her position, daughter to such a prestigious family, friends with a man sought after by hundreds.
Caitlyn would trade it all for a quiet life serving the enforcers, maybe settling with her soulmate in a comfortable apartment. She knows how to acknowledge her wealth, but it truly wasn’t necessary for her happiness.
“Let me take you somewhere.”
Jayce finally broke the silence, shifting to stand. He pulled Caitlyn to her feet, not waiting for her confirmation nor rejection. In minutes the pair stood in front of the border of Zaun. Confusion filled Caitlyn when that fact finally clicked.
“Where are we going..? I’m wearing a dress, it’ll be obvious I’m from Topside!”
Casually, Jayce ignored her, only gracing her with comfort when she’d had a suitable period of time to panic.
“Relax, Topsiders go there all the time. It’s where people go for a taste of both worlds.”
“Well I don’t want to taste Zaun.”
This made Jayce grin. Caitlyn would never admit it, but a part of the reason she joined the enforcers was to explore Zaun, the good and the bad. Already, she had come to terms with the fact that she might experience some of the good tonight. It excited her, in the best ways possible.
When Jayce finally slowed, Caitlyn took in the view in front of her. It was grey, but even with the dull colour scheme it looked comfortable. In shining white, the pupil inside an eye, were the words ‘The Last Drop’.
“You took me to a bar right after a party?"
Caitlyn’s tone was incredulous, but it lacked bite. Anticipation filled her blood, leaking into the words as an undercurrent.
“Exactly.”
Then Jayce was leading her inside, holding her hand tight in the crowd. It was loud, it was wild, and it was stunning. People were downing pints of alcohol, laughing without resistance, gambling away their money in a drunken stupor. Disorderly yet so organised. And Caitlyn was utterly fascinated.
Jayce brought her to the bar, sitting on a stool. Caitlyn did the same, still watching the multitude of people in one space. Her attention was drawn back to the counter when a large middle-aged man approached them.
“What can I get for the lovely young lady and handsome gentleman?”
“Surprise us.”
Caitlyn turned to Jayce with wide eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile, insisting it’d be fine. ‘Vander’, Jayce introduced, wouldn’t give her anything he thought she couldn’t handle.
The bartender slid them their drinks soon after, and the pair didn’t hesitate in taking a sip each. Caitlyn was surprised by the burst of sweet flavour, satisfied when it went down with a gentle burn. An unspoken agreement, they then tried the other’s. Jayce’s drink wasn’t as sweet. It was frothy, bitter with a surprisingly syrupy aftertaste. She definitely preferred hers, and it was clear Jayce preferred his. This bartender was pretty decent.
They drank with easy banter, ignoring as the bar grew busier later into the night. Soon Caitlyn could feel a constant buzz in her ears, and a gentle fog over her brain. It covered her like a blanket, and Jayce looked the same. It was nice.
Caitlyn dragged her eyes over the bar, pausing at a door next to the counter. Almost as if looking had summoned someone, it opened, and out walked a red-head. Red? And the lighting, green. The walls a washed-out brown. The people a rainbow. Jayce’s yellow gaze.
Caitlyn furrowed her eyebrows together, trying to get the muddling fog to go away. “Jayce I think I’m really fucking drunk. I can see colour.”