Chapter 11: Too Many Drinks
Riven woke up the next afternoon, Katarina still lying beside her in bed, both of them naked. They had been up all night having sex and didn't fall asleep until nearly dawn. The exile spent time staring at Katarina, running her fingers through the red head's hair, while Riven didn't want to leave this bed she knew she had some things to think through before anything with Katarina or Irelia continued.
Riven forced herself up from the bed, putting the clothes Katarina had ripped from her yesterday back on, the assassin still asleep in her bed. Katarina must have been very relaxed; she never let her guard down like this. She wrote a note, poorly, to leave for Katarina if she woke up before Riven returned, hoping that she would be able to read it.
The exile headed down the main stairs and out to the court yard, not exactly sure what her destination was quite yet. She wandered around the Institute before finding the bar she had passed by last night, this time deciding to enter. Riven entered, propping her sword up against the bar and sitting on a stool.
A red headed woman behind the bar walked towards Riven to serve her. It was Miss Fortune.
"You're Riven, right?" The bounty hunter asked.
"Yes." She replied bluntly.
"So you know then?" Miss Fortune asked, smirking, already knowing the answer. Riven nodded as her response, "Then you should also know that I repeatedly tell her to talk to you about how she feels, not sure if she listens to me at all though."
"She does. She did last night." Riven was surprised by her own honesty, normally she wouldn't share information about a private relationship with a stranger.
"Good. So what can I get you?" The red head smiled.
"I'll have bourbon, I guess." The red head nodded in response, grabbing a bottle from behind the bar and pouring Riven a drink. Riven held the glass in her hand, looking at the alcohol. Normally Riven wasn't much of a drinker, it didn't help with the nightmares, but she felt it might help with this Katarina Irelia situation.
"I'll leave you to it then." The red head said as she stepped away to serve someone else.
About an hour later, after Riven had downed a few drinks and began feeling their effects, she was joined at the bar by a woman with fluorescent pink hair and woman with a purple hat. The relationship between the two seemed close, flirtatious even.
"You're Riven, right? Nice to meet ya!" The pink haired woman stuck her hand out at Riven, clearly requesting a hand shake. "I'm Vi, and this is Caitlyn." She continued as she gestured the woman beside her. Riven recognised the woman called Caitlyn, she had been on her team during her first League match. She responded to Vi's handshake before drinking the rest of her drink.
"Yeah, I'm Riven. Nice to meet you." Riven's tone wasn't as cold or aloof as normal, most likely due to the alcohol.
"That's a lot of drinks you have there," The exile was surprised by the forwardness of the woman called Vi, "Anything you want to talk about?" Caitlyn cut her off by elbowing her in the side.
"I don't think that's any of our business, Vi." Caitlyn had said, her accent was a strange one. Not one that Riven had heard before.
"It's not but… I am sort of dealing with some issues at the moment, so you're not wrong."
"Of course I'm not!" The pink haired woman piped up, victorious while Caitlyn raised her eyebrow at her. Riven just chuckled at the squabbling between the two of them.
"You two might as well be married." Riven smirked at them, more so when she noticed Caitlyn blush slightly. Riven raised her hand, requesting more drinks from Miss Fortune.
"Must be a mighty big problem if you're drinking that much that fast." Vi wasn't going to let it go, clearly the curious type with no boundaries. Luckily, Riven was in a good mood due to the alcohol and willing to share.
"Yeah, I'm sort of stuck between a rock and hard place, I guess. There's someone I love and I can't be with them without major complications. Also being with this person may stop me from achieving my goals." Riven downed her fifth drink of the night, feeling drunker and more open with every sip or chug. She could hear Caitlyn thinking to herself in the background.
"Is this someone anyone we know?" The Sheriff asked.
"Yeah, something like that. Not only that, but there's someone else that I can be with, that I do want to be with, but I don't know if I can leave that other someone when there's a chance."
"Why don't you tell me the specifics then?" Caitlyn's curiosity and obsession with helping others clearly outlived Vi's, who was already talking to someone else.
"I'll need a few more drinks before that." Riven laughed, calling for more.
Twenty minutes and a few more drinks later, Riven decided to tell Caitlyn everything. "As you know I used to be the poster child for Noxus and the Noxian military," Caitlyn nodded along showing she was listening, "in that time, I fell in love with Katarina. Then the Ionian war happened and she thought I died while I became an exile by choice after seeing what I had seen. I decided that day to make my goal to return Noxus to its former glory. I wandered the Ionian country side for a while, not quite sure as to how I would even start with that goal until I finally got myself into the League as an independent champion. Which is when Katarina found out I was not only alive but I chose to leave Noxus and therefore her. It's not exactly like I could have told her that I was alive and that I left Noxus because of things that I saw that High Command chose to bury and hide from everyone including Katarina. I felt it was safer to say nothing. Now she knows the truth and that I love her. But to be with me, Katarina would have to betray Noxus and live in exile as well. I don't know if I could let her do that, to risk her own safety like that, especially when she's a member of a noble family. Since I got here, I met Irelia, who's been helping me and is so kind and I really like her but I can't commit to her without cutting things off with Katarina. Which I feel I should do as it's not safe but I don't know if I ca-." Eventually Riven's rambling was cut off by Caitlyn raising the palm of her hand.
"You don't need to say more, you're going around in circles now. It sounds like you're really stuck in a jam with this." Caitlyn paused, raising a finger to her own lips. "But I think you already know what you need to do."
Riven looked away, saddened to hear honesty from the brunette. She had really wanted to be told that she could have whatever she wanted, but of course, it doesn't work that way.
"Now, you're really drunk, so I'm going to help you back to your room. Vi! Come help me." She called Vi back from across the bar as she helped Riven off of her bar stool, leaving money on the counter to cover the drinks. The two women helped walk Riven out of the bar and back to the dorm, Caitlyn eventually having to take her keys and unlock Riven's door herself as Riven was too drunk to do it herself.
Riven flopped onto her bed. Caitlyn searched around, getting Riven a glass of water and some pain relief for tomorrow morning when Riven would wake up hungover. Caitlyn noticed how bare the dorm was, no decorations or personal touches in sight. The Sheriff got a fright when Katarina jumped out of the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel wielding her blade.
"What are you doing in here?" She growled at Caitlyn.
"I just helped Riven back from the bar, she was too drunk to make it back herself." She explained, gesturing to the now passed out Riven with her leg hanging off the bed. Katarina backed off and set her blade down.
"Thank you, but I'll take care of this from here." Caitlyn raised her eyebrow, before nodding in response, leaving the unconscious Riven with the assassin.