Another fandom, another story!
I'm finally back again! I am so sorry to all of you that it has taken me so long to write anything... again...
In all honesty, a lot has happened over the months since I last posted and it has really taken its toll on me. I shall not bore you with the details, though. I would much rather you spent your time getting in to my latest literary creation!
Thank you to everyone who has checked this through for me and helped me put the story together. I would list you, but I have a feeling I will forget someone, and then I would feel really bad...
Still...
Without further or do...
Welcome To Summoner's Rift
Chapter 1 - Games and Storms
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Vanessa sprinted down her garden path as the rain plummeted down from the heavens with a vengeance. What felt like only moments before, the sun had been shining and the temperature had been appropriate for t-shirts and shorts.
It was no surprise when, as she reached her porch, there was a low rumble of thunder.
She looked up at the slate-grey sky, blinking away the droplets that aimed for her eyes. Desperate to get in to the dry, she rummaged through her sodden jacket pockets for her keys. When her fingers found them, it was not long before she was inside. She kicked off her boots, leaving them strewn across the doormat, and headed to find a towel, leaving a wet drip trail as she wandered up the stairs.
"Nessa?" The voice of a middle-aged woman sounded from the bottom of the stairwell as she reached the airing cupboard.
"Yeah?" she called back.
There was a short pause before the voice called back again "Are you okay, darling?"
Another clap of thunder rolled by. Vanessa waited for it to pass before responding.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She found the towel and was attempting to prise it from the pile without causing the rest of it to topple out on top of her. "It started chucking it down just as I got to the gate."
There was another pause.
"I'll put the kettle on."
The china clinked against the granite worktop as Vanessa wondered in to the kitchen. She had changed from her sopping wet work clothes in to a white sleeveless dress, long brown cardigan, white over-knee socks and new black pumps she was trying to break in before wearing them to work; her hair was mostly still wrapped in the towel as she carefully tried to dry it; a tri-coloured braid hung down the left hand side of her face. On the far side of the breakfast bar, her mother sat, hair neatly wound up in a pair of chopsticks, stirring the sugar in to her cup of tea.
She sat down on the stall across from her, and dumped the moist towel over the stone surface. Carefully shaking her long, darkened, still damp hair out down her back, she tried to remove some of the larger tangles that towelling had added in. In front of her, a cup of hot, milky liquid was steamed invitingly. After prying apart the larger knots in her hair, she wrapped her vaguely pruned fingers around the mug and breathed in the vapours, glad to be in the dry, before picking it up.
"So, how was work?" her mum asked her, before taking a sip from her own cup.
"Not too bad" Vanessa mimicked her actions. "Quiet as ever, but that's to be expected for this time of the year." She paused as she drank. "Is Chloe home yet?"
Her mum shook her head. "She's gone to her friend's house for dinner, because the rain hit the school first. Why do you ask?"
"I said I would teach her to play League of Legends this evening." Vanessa watched out of the window, as the jewels formed on the glass and began to race down the moment they became too heavy. She sighed in an almost forlorn manner now that her evening's plans were somewhat askew. "She's been wanting to learn for ages."
Her mother watched her for a moment. Vanessa looked up and received a knowing look she immediately understood. Her gaze returned to the water-logged world outside the French windows, and her mother joined in watching the rain fall from the steely-grey clouds it had once formed. She swung her legs slowly back and forth, her toes flicking her new shoes as she did so.
The approaching lighting flashed, adding a momentary lustre to everything they could see.
"One... two... three... four... fi-" The expected drum roll sounded, followed by the barking of the neighbour's new dog, clearly terrified and confused about the noise. After a minute or so, the lustre appeared again, and once again she counted. This time, when the drum roll roared, is sounded like it was coming from the opposite direction. Vanessa smiled, fiddling with the end of her braid, thinking the storm had passed over. She sipped her tea, and the two of them continued to watch the storm. The wind picked up and began to batter the trees, causing any debris lodged in them to be swept away . They sat like that for what felt like hours, mother and daughter, sipping their drinks and enjoying the company of each other as the precious natural light that seeped through the dense cloud slowly faded away.
Suddenly, a familiar tune began to sound from Vanessa's pocket.
She pulled out her phone, and looked at the screen. It was bright blue from the Skype call which was trying to attract her attention. She quickly drained the last of her tea and dashed to put her empty mug on the side, giving her mum a kiss as she did so.
"Would you like me to bring you up pizza later?" Her mother watched her head out to the stairs with a knowing smile. Vanessa turned back.
"Yes, please." She smiled back. The fact her mum didn't outright disagree with her lifestyle choices was one of the things she loved about life. Both she and her mum were gamers, and their repertoire was eclectic; they just loved to play, regardless of what it was. Chloe, Vanessa's younger sister, was slowly getting more and more in to video games, though both Vanessa and her mum knew they both still had a lot to teach her in general. Despite their love of having fun, all three girls knew when they needed to be serious. The house they lived in was always spotless; no gaming was allowed to start unless things were in their proper place first - a rule they had always lived by.
Vanessa picked up the call.
"Give me two minutes to get up stairs!" She called as she dashed towards the stairs, then hung up. She stowed her phone back in her cardigan pocket and bounded up the stairs, two at a time.
She reached her bedroom, and made a beeline for her computer; a tiny, sleek black and silver laptop. She opened it up and switched it on. As it powered up, she checked that all the connections were there: microphone, power, mouse, speakers. When the login sound played, she grabbed her leather office chair, sunk in to it, and smiled, happy to be back at her gaming rig.
Skype logged on, and she immediately jumped on the call.
"Sorry about that guys!" She said. "I was downstairs with my mum."
"Don't worry about it." A male voice came through the speakers, crisp and clear as if he was in the room with her. "How are you, anyway, Nes?"
"I'm alright thanks, Stefan." Vanessa smiled. "Bit wet though... It's chucking it down. Been a lot of thunder too."
"Hmm... Same here." Stefan said, sounding somewhat distant, as if looking out of his own window and the ever falling deluge of rain.
"Can we start playing yet?" A female voice with a Japanese accent seemed to bounce around excitedly. Nessa heard another rumble of thunder, and leant over to check the surge protection was still working on her power supply; thankfully, it was.
"Cool it, Satomi. We have to wait for Myles." Another male voice spoke in an almost mocking tone. You could almost feel Satomi pouting from behind her screen, frustrated at the fact she was being forced to be patient.
"He won't be long, Dale." Stefan said. "He normally gets back from college within the next few minutes."
"Who normally gets back within the next few minutes?" Myles' voice suddenly sounding caused a ripple of elation to run through Vanessa.
"Hey Myles!" It was almost possible to hear the smile now on her face.
"Hey guys." He replied in his usual, laid-back voice. "How's things?"
"Wet." Vanessa's tone sounded vaguely annoyed. Someone snorted; Myles' Skype picture was highlighted by a blue boarder. A flicker of light danced in the corner of Nessa's eye.
"Started chucking it down when I got to the gate." She knew Myles was only teasing, but that didn't stop her getting defensive. Everyone else seemed to hide behind their microphones, stifling their giggles. Vanessa glared as the screen, as if glaring at all of them for teasing her as often as they all did.
After a moment, she pouted and sank back in to her chair, which seemed to hiss slightly under her force. There was a moment of silence.
"So," Satomi asked breaking it. "Are we going to play?"
"Of course." Vanessa sounded cheery again, as she opened up the client to log in. After a few moment, she pinged invites around to her four friends.
"Who is playing where?" She asked.
"I'll go top." Stefan said definitively.
"You always go top." Dale mockingly complained.
"Just because you want him beneath you." You could tell from Myles' voice there was a massive grin on his face. Satomi squeaked, seemingly embarrassed, while Vanessa couldn't help but laugh.
"Fine, I'll take mid." Dale said, somewhat disgruntledly.
"Be my support, Myles?" Vanessa asked.
"I'd rather go jungle." Myles responded after a moment. Vanessa pouted and Myles' laugh was faintly heard, almost drowned out by the thunder in the background.
"I'll support you." Satomi chimed in.
"Thank you." Vanessa's smile half returned.
And the decision was made. They joined the queue.
"I hope this doesn't take too long," said Dale. "I only have an hour until dinner."
"As long as we keep up the team work, I am sure that we will win this easily by then." Satomi upbeat mood made all her fellow summoners smile.
"She's right," Vanessa said. "Our games don't tend to take that long."
"I just wish that the server would hurry up and find us opponent." Myles sounded vaguely impatient; he drummed his fingers on his something wooden, which could be heard through the microphone.
There was a pause.
The sound of a drum signalled that a match had been found.
"Accept!" Vanessa called out, and the team did.
"So who are we playing?" Satomi sounded eager to get started.
"Kha'Zix or Vi Jungle..." Myles pondered out loud. "Ah! What?"
The screen in front of him was not what he was expecting to see.
"Okay, who chose draft pick?" Dale did not sound amused either.
"Come on, guys," Vanessa said, as if she was owning up. "How else are we supposed to practice our picks and bans for ranked?"
There was an audibly loud groan from the guys.
"Let's just get going and have some fun?" Satomi said as the first ban was locked in; Jax. "Who do we want to hit?"
"Yasuo." Dale said definitively. "I can't be dealing with him Mid."
There was a short pause. Thunder rolled again and the clock continued to tick down.
"All agreed on Yasuo?" Satomi checked.
The silent lack of objections confirmed that choice; Nessa locked it in.
"Who do we want to hit next?" she asked, as their distant opponents mused over their choice.
"I don't really want to be against a Le Blanc either." Dale said.
"You never want to play against anyone." Myles teased. Nessa giggled and a level of frustration could be felt through the internet connection.
"I'd rather we didn't have to deal with Braum either... not that we're going to have to." Stefan said as the enemy team locked the Freljord tank as a ban.
"So who are we hitting?" Satomi asked again.
"Please hit Le Blanc." Dale sounded a little frustrated.
There was a short pause and the clock continued to tick down.
"Fine." Vanessa locked in the ban.
"You know she is not as bad since she got nerfed, right?" Stefan tried to explain.
"Yeah," said Dale, "but she is still bursty as-"
The opposing team's final ban pinged, cutting Dale off; Kassadin.
"Fair enough," Stefan mused.
"Who do we want to hit?" Vanessa watched as the clock ticked down.
"Eve?" Satomi suggested. "I'd rather not get ganked out of the blue like she does."
"Seems reasonable to me." Myles said.
There was a short pause; Dale was clearly struggling to keep quiet. Another roll of thunder rippled through the air.
"Well I'm not going to complain." Dale burst out, as if he thought everyone was expecting him to. Vanessa couldn't help but giggle quietly to herself as she locked in the ban.
They all watched as the first person on the blue team began flicking through the champions, as if they were just going to go random. Lux, Jinx, Gangplank, Orianna, Yi, until as the time was going to run out they chose Morgana.
"Damn it!" Satomi cursed out loud as the game pinged for Vanessa and Dale, letting them know it was their turn. "That was going to be my pick"
"Nes, grab me Vi, will you?" Myles said, who was last on the picking order.
"Sure." Vanessa did as she was asked with a smile.
Stefan flicked through his champion list.
"I feel like something a bit different." He mused outloud, before choosing Teemo, the Swift Yordle Scout, passing the turn back to the other team. Dale grunted, as if unimpressed by the choice for top lane, while the others remained silent, knowing how proficient Stefan was at playing the small fluffy, yet poisonous champion almost all players seem to hate.
Their ADC chose quickly, much to Nessa's dismay.
"Damn it!" She cursed. "I wanted to play Jinx." She pouted slightly while she watched for the opposing team to draft their other champion; there were other champions she could chose after all. Yet another clap of thunder sounded as she watched their picks flick between Fiora, Alistar, Kayle, Kennan, Shyvana then finally on to something which surprised the whole team.
"Rumble?" Stefan was intrigued as the Mechanized Menace was locked in. He chucked to himself. "Long time since I have seen him be played."
"You don't suppose they could have done it to throw us off do you?" Satomi asked as she and Stefan, who was always worried about picks and bans she didn't often see.
"No." Said Stefan. "Rumble counters Teemo with his longer range." He cleared his lungs before saying "I guess I am going to have to play safe this game." He didn't seem the least bit deterred.
"Good luck with that." Dale said as he flicked through the champions available to him using the random button, trying to decide who he wanted to play. The timer ticked down.
"What sort of support do you want?" Satomi asked Vanessa.
"Lots of sustain to counter Morgana's poke?" She responded, not quite sure what else to say.
"Okay... hmmmm..." Satomi continued to ponder. "I've not played you in a while," She clicked on Soraka's portrait "let's go with that" and she locked in.
Vanessa smiled; it had also been a long time since she had last seen the Starchild on the rift.
"I think I'll play..." he pondered, still clicking on the button. "Veigar..." He scrolled down his champion pool to find the renegade yordle.
The timer hit zero as he clicked. The champion didn't change. Everyone fell silent; they could feel the rage of Dale coming through the connection.
"At least you still got a mid lane champion." Satomi tried to lighten the mood.
"Only the easiest one to counter in the whole f***ing game!" The fire in Dale's anger was prevalent in his words.
"At least you can make use of the awesome skin I gifted you last week." Nessa's attempt got a disgruntled sigh.
"Which one was it?" Satomi asked.
"Kitty-Cat." Vanessa grinned.
"I love that Katarina skin." Satomi sounded a bit jealous.
"I'll pick my own skin thanks." Dale's frustration level was still high as the opposing team began to flick through their choices. Another roll of thunder sounded as the opponents chose their champions; Kayle and Lissandra were the final choices.
"See!" Dale exclaimed. "Lissandra is such a hard counter to me." There was a rather loud thump and a hiss as Dale slouched grumpily back in his chair.
"Just play it safe," said Stefan "and you will be fine. It's good to practice playing against your counters anyway."
Dale didn't respond.
"So who do you want then, Nes?"
"You got Ashe?"
"Seriously?" Myles said in a half aggravated, half mocking sort of way. "She's such a bad champion."
"Yes, seriously!" Nessa retorted. "Besides, I got you Vi."
"Can't you play someone better?" He whined.
"No." Nessa's voice was stern. There was no backing out of this one.
"It is her choice dude." Stefan chipped in.
"And, besides, Battle of the Freljord?" Satomi added, knowing that Nessa had wanted to play the side quest for ages.
"Fine." And he reluctantly locked in Vanessa's choice.
The time came for the swaps to happen. Nessa and Myles swapped over, as did the mid and top and support of the opposing team.
There was a sudden flash of light and a loud clap of thunder. That's an awful lot closer than it was a couple of minutes ago. Nessa looked towards the drawn curtains. And how has it come back; I thought it had passed.
"Ready." Nessa said, glad to be finally getting the chance to play.
The drum sounded signalling the game locking in to the server.
"Ah no!" Satomi cursed. "I think I took barrier instead of exhaust!"
Their screens went dark as they began to connect to the server. In the same second, there was a blinding flash of light and a deafening strike of thunder.
Then everything went black.