It was an ordinary afternoon on the Summoner's rift. A very pleasant area if it were not for the monsters, high grass and deep waters that got in the way of a pleasant stroll. Not that anyone would want to wander down the fields without proper equipement or a decent weapon anyway.
As per usual, the terrain was occupied by two opposing teams, both led by the same ambition: destorying the other's Nexus. It was the sole goal to win the match. Pretty straightfoward.
Today was supposed to have been a friendly match, pitting the Frejlordians against the residents of Pilltover. A friendly game it was, but the competition was serious. Even though the Valoran lands were at peace, the different states never missed an opportunity to show the other just how strong they were.
Each champion was fully implicated, not holding back their blows when clashing with the opposing team. Intense and exciting fights kept the summoners and spectators on edge.
Somewhere to the very south of the map, a fierce batlle raged in the bot lane. After long minutes, a pillar of blue light ascended to the cloudy skies shortly followed by another.
"An enemy has been slain."
A hooded figure with beautiful white hair dropped her arm to her side, giving off a relieved sigh when the mysterious announcer just voiced her kill. Standing as upstraight as she could with her not-so-superficial wounds, she contemplated the two lifeless bodies stretched out on the floor. One of the two had striking pink hair, her hands armed with two enormous and heavy hextec gauntlets. They definity played their part in looking imposing. Part of Ashe wondered how the enforcer could walk around with those things all day, but more importantly how quick on her feet she could be on the battlefield. A very deadly opponent if one was not careful.
Cold blue eyes softened when they came to the second body. Resting her gaze on Anivia that lay still next to Vi, a small pang of guilt struck her. At the cost of the bird's life and her gambled survival, she had managed to emerge victorious in striking down her opponent and taking a red turret.
But there was very little time to rejoice. The two teams were going toe to toe, the match was quick paced and exciting even in early game. The slightest mistake would be fatal. And the Frejlordian queen knew this. Raising her head high and catching her breath again, she tried not to wince with pain when she followed the mindless minions further down the lane, releasing a Volley of Arrows, helping her team push towards the next turret.
When she finaly reached the tower, the archer impatiently waited for the minions to step into the unsafe perimeter, shielding her from a deadly wound. With a steady arm, Ashe took her stance, arrow pointed at the turret.
But before she could release but a single arrow, her blue eyes flashed when she turned around, narrowly avoiding the grappling hook that rushed past her, burrying itself in the ground. Her heartbeat accelerated, sweat ran down her face; she knew exactly where that had come from. Or more precisely WHO it had come from.
No more than fifty meters away, the Sheriff of Piltover stood, tall and proud, a severe look on her face. By the looks of things, she was very much unhappy, and Ashe knew all too well that her teamate's death had not pleased the officer in the slightest. She tried not to shiver.
Legs barely keeping her upright anymore, the Avarosan forced her mind to think of an escape. But no matter how she looked at it, the archer was trapped, the still upright turret towering, casting a long and tall shadow over her. To her front, she was faced with a formidable opponent. The thought of fighting hadn't even crossed her mind.
Although she was wearing a short -very short according to Ashe- skirt, high heels that were much too impractical for quick escapes and a top hat to finish her outfit, all knew that underestimating the Sheriff was a grave mistake that would surely be payed for with their lives. The heavy, unwavering riffle, she was pointing at the Frejlordian further proved that. In the city of Progress, Caintlyn was the Law, and no deed would go unpunished.
Ashe bit her lip, seeing no possible way out of this predicament, her health bar being low, having also barely avoided the last attack. All her potions, consummed a long time ago.
The sole solution left was the jungle. Blue eyes quickly darted from Caitlyn to her right. The forest was deep and it was easy to lose someone and cut the chase short, granted you weren't attacked by any monsters. Gritting her teeth, the Monarch decided it was once again all or nothing. Summoning up the last of her mana, Ashe aimed an Enchanted Arrow to her enemy, hoping to freeze her long enough to escape.
Surpsrise painted her face when Caitlyn was hit. The officer cursed when the air around her suddenly turned cold, freezing her to the spot.
The Frost Archer used that opportunity and sprinted, using her flash to get to the tall grass. Nearly diving the remaining meter, she sighed in relief... To let out a strangled cry of pain when the trap closed around her ankle. The Frost Archer tumbled, her hands fumbling to pry the trap open.
Her brow further furrowed when something pink and cold covered her clothes.
" Icing...?" and surely enough, it was. Ashe would probably have pondered this a while longer if the Death Mark hadn't appeared at her feet.
She only had time to swear one last time before the bullet caught up to her.
Ashe sighed, loudly, walking down the platform. It had been close, but Piltover managed in extremis to destroy their Nexus. The queen knew that that could have been a possible outcome, but she was nevertheless disapointed with their defeat. Holding her head high, she congratulated the other champions, lingering to review the match with some of her teamates. It had been a very enjoyable match, after all.
When white hair flew around her, she turned around just in time to catch the victorious team descend from the opposing platform. In their lead, Pilltover's Finest seemed to be having an lively conversation, the tall Pinkette's arm wrapped around Caitlyn's shoulder.
Ashe chuckled to herself, in a sense, it was odd seeing them as a duo. Caitlyn was known for being severe and diligent in the work she did, Vi being the polar opposite. Her reputation was the following: reckless and hotheaded, the pink haired woman often threw punches before knowing the reason as to why she should in the first place. To the enforcer, it was punch and then talk if the witness was still conscious. It often resulted in a Caitlyn fit -as Vi would call it- before dragging the poor man down to the station. The both of them were so very different, yet formed a strange and effective team.
Gaze on them, Ashe watched as the champions made their way through the hall, back into their wing.
The Institute where the League was held was separated into different wings to house the different regions. More precisely, regions that could be a potential threat to one another. Demacia and Noxus were carefully placed at opposites. Frejlord occupied the northen part of the area while Piltover resided in an neighbooring wing to the Demacians.
Each champion was free to wander where they seemed fit, but at their own risk.
Ashe was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a very light object collide with the cold stoned floors. Her sapphire orbs soon fell upon a small badge. Walking closer, she bent down on her heels and took ahold of it, spinning it in her fingers, wondering just where this had come from.
"If you ask me, I would think it belonged to Caitlyn."
Ashe raised her head and crossed gazes with beautiful amber eyes. Soraka stood over her, her head slightly tilted to one side as she contemplated the small badge. The Ionian was a kind soul and Ashe found that she took a liking to the Starchild. One could even call them friends.
Standing up to her full height her eyes went from Soraka back to the badge.
"You think?"
"If I recall correctly," she began, "She wears it atop her hat."
"She does seem to have many trinkets of the sort... It wouldn't be completely unlikely. I will go and ask her. Thank you Soraka."
The taller being beamed and waved her goodbye.
And that was how the Frejlord queen wound up wandering in a residential wing that was not her own.
It was the first time she had set foot in another, and although every one had the same simple wooden floors and spacious cabins, Ashe found that she didn't quite feel at ease there. Setting a faster pace, she wondered through huts, stopping only to ask for directions.
Eventually, she came to a halt. The Sheriff's cabin stood amongst all the others, no varitions to it in the slightest. The Queen contemplated it with mild surprise.
In the Northen wing, Tryndamere and her residential space was bigger and more comfortable, the exterior refined and researched compared to the others, that were just simple huts. And to her great displeasure, the Winter's Claw Sejuani and the Ice Witch were also graced with spacious apartments like her own. That alone talked about their importance and their high rank.
In this case however, the Sheriff of Piltover resided in an ordinary hut. Ashe wondered why that was.
A creak of the door made the her jump and dive behind a wall, peeping around it, only to see Vi walk out the front door.
"I'll be back in twenty, Cupcake. See ya!" and with that the bubbly and troublesome Pilty rested her hands behind her head, walking off, whistling in a gentle stroll.
Ashe waited some time, not quite knowing what to do next. If she was completely honest with herself, she would have admitted that the Sheriff was somewhat intimidating. The two adcs had never had the time to hold a decent conversation past polite talk, even after having been in numerous games together. But from what she could gather from the other Piltoverians, Vi especially, Caitlyn was described as an uptight workaholic. She took her work very seriously and implicated herself in it fully, even after long and exhausting League matches. She was probably one of the reasons Piltover was now called the City of Progress. The crimes rates were indeed high, as any big city's would be, but the enforcers under Caitlyn's strict commands were efficient, and it was never long before the criminals were brought to justice. Or caught up in one of Vi's punches.
Eventually, after standing minutes behind that wall, to the point of it getting ridiculous, she made her mind up as to do what she originally had set out to do.
In fact, she tried to reassure herself; after all, there was no reason for the white haired woman to be quite so scared, was there? Caitlyn was just like anyone else, wasn't she?
She walked out of her hiding place, determined.
Said determination soon withering when she reached the front door. With more than a slight hesitation, she finaly knocked. She tried again when there was no answer.
Vi had just been talking to Caitlyn so she had to be in, right?
She furrowed her brow.
Pushing the door open, she peeped inside quietly. Greeted with more silence, she walked in shyly, taking off her shoes and lying them carefully beside tall boots, after she noticed multiple pairs aligned against the wall.
The Frost Archer walked through into what seemed to be the main living area, whispering a quiet apology for tresspassing.
It was a simple appartement, lightly furnished and kept clean. Everything seemed to be in its place except for a horrific amount of paper documents sprawling off the desk and onto the floor, surrounding the table in a sea of white sheets.
"Caitlyn?"
Greeted with silence once again, the archer shuffled to the desk, very careful to not step on anything. Well, as little as she possibly could, grimacing at the occasional crumpled paper under her feet.
She delicately proped up the badge on the table before spinning on her heels, going back the way that she had come. Sighing loudly, she was actually glad that she had not come across the officer.
Taking one last glance around the place, her eye caught onto something she had failed to notice on her way in.
Tall and proud, the Sheriff's riffle rested in a corner, propped up against the wall. By the look of things, it had just been serviced.
Curiosity drawing her to the weapon, Ashe bent down to observe it. If compared to her bow, it was an extremly complicated and refined piece of machinery. She was pretty sure that she had never carried one of these before. Absentmindidly, and with great care, she gently ran her hand over the smooth surface and shivered in delight when the cold metal reminded her of the cold ice of her bow.
"Ashe?"
Jumping to her feet in surprise, she nearly knocked the riffle over, watching in horror as it staggered slightly before retuning in its original stance. Sighing in relief, she turned to Caitlyn, bowing her head in a quick apology.
"What are you doing here?" the voice was cold, stripped of any emotion.
When Ashe raised her head she kept herself from frowning too hard under the harsh stare.
Instead of the "battle suit" -if one could call it that- she wore on the fields of Justice, Caitlyn had switched her dress for a long and simple blouse with comfortable tights, her hair tied back into a ponytail. Looking quite casual, she was still very prim and proper compared to Ashe, who had trudged down there before going back to her appartements. Icing still coated her tights.
Maybe she shouldn't have come here.
Slightly taken back, she nodded to the desk and with a slightly harder tone than she had intended, she explained:
"I came to return something I thought was yours".
Blue eyes followed the Sheriff as she wordlessly walked over to the desk, picking up the trinket and spinning it in her fingers. Finally, she sighed and put it down again, slowly turning to Ashe, a slightly sheepish look on her face. Or something close to that.
"Thank you... Actually I should be the one apologising for making you come all the way down here..."
"So it is yours?"
"Indeed... I am somwhat surprised you noticed," she said "I would expect nothing less from the notorious Frost Archer"
"Well," she laughed gently pulling at a strand of her white hair she admitted, "Actually, Soraka is the one that pointed it out to me."
"What, the Starchild?"
"That very one."
Caitlyn paused and then scoffed gently, catching the Frost Archer by surprise.
"Well at least you're honest. I appreciate that. I wonder how she caught on though."
Ashe opened her mouth and closed it again, judging better than saying out loud that it was probably the bazaar on her hat that gave it away. If bazaar was slightly more appropriate than "junk". Instead she smiled gently unsure if the Sheriff had caught on to her, mild amusement flickering through her eyes.
"In any case," she said, wondering to the kitchen, seemingly unphase by treadding on the paper, "Would you care for a spot of tea? I was just making one for myself before you popped up."
"Oh, I wouldn't like to intrude on you any longer … "
"Intruding? It would be an honest pleasure. Please sit yourself down." and with that she disapeared out of sight again.
Looking around, the archer stood akwardly without knowing where she could sit. Gathering papers into a pile, she propped the file onto the table and settled in one of the couches in front of a window, leading to the view of several other huts. Back stiff, her hands were on her knees wondering how she had wound up taking a cup of tea with the Law of Piltover when they had been having a face off but a few hour ago.
"Besides," she said when she walked through the doorframe, a teapot and two teacups arranged gently on a delicate tray. "I believe you have been intruding since the moment you walked through the front door without having received proper consent."
"I am terribly sorry..."
"Relax it's fine. You were so silent that I couldn't hear you over the kettle. Actually, I commend you for that. Or else..."
"Or else?" she repeated curiously.
"Or else I actually might have shot you."
Blood drained from the already very faired skin Archer.
"W-what," she stumbled.
"I was joking," stated the Sheriff, laying everything out on the small table. A nervous laugh escaped painted lips as Ashe was unsure of whether the Sheriff was joking or had been covering up for something she actually might have done. She decided it was for the best if she took it as the Sheriff's odd humour.
The sniper pulled a stool closer to the table, pourring tea for the both of them. The frost archer nodded a thanks and took hers in her hand, enjoying the warmth of the beverage on her bare fingers. Finally a plate was put out in front of her.
"Is this..."
"Huh?"
"A cupcake?" Ashe mused grimly, forgetting about her near-death experience when she saw the pink coating.
Caitlyn nodded, not quite sure to where this was heading.
Ashe gaze flickered to her stolckings, where the pink icing had left its mark. Eyes widdened when realisation washed over her.
"Oh... Is that one of mine?"
"In the bush. Never saw it coming." the Archer admitted.
Eventually, the sniper gave an embarassed laugh.
"I'm apologise."
"There's no need to worry, it was well played, and I had let my guard down. Next time, I will be more alert." she said, a smile tugging at her lips.
"But I have to ask... Do you actually use cupcakes in every one of your traps?"
"It seems to be effective in catching yorddles... It just became a habit of placing one in my trap every time, I guess."
"So I basically walked on a cupcake."
"Yes."
"Great."
"The icing comes off though."
"I hope it does."
"It truly does."
"Then I am happy."
They both beamed and each took a sip out of their tea. When Ashe breathed out, content, her breath was accompagnied with a puff of smoke. Blue eyes narrowed as she observed her. She was the FROST archer drinking hot tea. Seemed legit. Still musing over it, the Sheriff took hold of a silver spoon and dug into her cupcake.
Caitlyn raised her head from her reports when she heard the front door open again. She waited until the pinkette walked through the room before greeting her. Vi waved her hand before sinking in the sofa, head resting on one of the arm rests. Turning her head to her superior, she then noticed the two cups.
"You had someone over cupcake?"
"Ashe came by," she said, her pen scibbling against paper again.
"The Frost Archer?" she replied, surprised.
"She's actually very friendly."
"She looks cold though."
Caitlyn snorted and put down her pen.
"Pun aside, she is actually very kind. I invited her around for tea tomorrow."
"She grew on you then?"
Caitlyn smiled and nodded. It seemed like she had got the wrong idea of the Avarosan.