Chapter 24: Problematic Encounter
She couldn't sleep. Not a wink. Staring at the dull white ceiling while laying on the bed was all she could manage. Mikki felt drained, exhausted, yet still in need to move about. The librarian rolled to her side, facing the blank wall that lined one side of the bed as she closed her eyes in hopes of just drifting off to sleep and figure the rest out in the morning, but it never came. It was still early into the night hours when she had Irannius lead her back to her guest room and this will give her ample time to sort out the information she just received. With a heavy sigh, she sat up and got off the bed and started pacing about the room, lost in thought. Gazing about once more, while she was told it was a supervised room, she saw no signs of such, unless it was magically being surveyed from somewhere else in the Institute.
'It's just the room that's being monitored.' She thought as she paced in another circle around the room. 'I know I have all day tomorrow, but why waste the time alone to do some sightseeing by myself for a bit.' With a slight grin, she walked to the small dresser and picked up the small key to the room and pocketed it in a small niche in her robe and headed for the door. Pulling the door open, Mikki peered out and saw no one in the hall before stepping out and pulled the door shut behind her and locked it and drifted to where the cafeteria was. With the path fresh in her mind, she easily found it quickly enough and also noticed that not as many of the summoners that where roaming the halls weren't paying her any mind, which made her more confident with her decision to explore tonight. 'Maybe it's because I'm not walking around with Irannius in his Adjudicator robes.' She mused as she strolled up to the bar and ordered a mug of hot chocolate for the night.
Taking a seat relatively close to where they where sitting before, Mikki looked about the now sparse crowd of summoners chatting away about their latest conquests on the Fields of Justice or trading the juiciest gossip that's going around. There were no champions around, which was probably for the best as she blew lightly at the hot liquid and sipped gently. The atmosphere around the cafeteria was calm and she liked it this way for it gave her some peace of mind, something that's been eluding her for some months now. But the peace didn't last as long as she hoped as the chatter grew louder.
Lifting her gaze to see what the fuss was about, she saw that the summoners were watching as she heard the sound of armor clinking as the person moved into view. The overly large shoulder pieces struck out first as they looked ridiculous in her opinion before she moved her gaze to the face of the man in the silly golden armor. From what she's been told by Lux, this was Price Jarven the Fourth gracing the cafeteria with his presence. Jarven really did hold his emotions on his sleeve, or in this case, his face, as he held his head aloft of everyone as female summoners gathered around him like a bunch of groupies at a Pentakill concert. With any luck, he wouldn't notice her as she sat still at her seat and sipped again at the beverage, keeping a single eye on the champion and his admirers.
Jarven must have came from being summoned in a victory match for his team cause he was laughing and greeting the crowd while grabbing something to eat and sitting down with the summoners at a table near by. The brief thought of 'is this what's it's like in high school' drifted through her mind as she sat alone like a wallflower while Jarven was the big man in the room, hogging all the attention, both good and bad. Not all the summoners like having him in the room, some even showed out right hate towards the Demancian as they kept to themselves. 'Couldn't be worst,' She mused to herself as she noticed a couple more champions walked in and nearly chocked on her hot chocolate at the sight.
The might of Demancia, Garen Crownguard, walked in looking obviously a bit peeved and his sister, Lux, right at his sided with a slightly less upset look on her face as they walked into the area and spotted Jarven and started to head over, which made the chatter of the summoners even louder than before. As the siblings strolled over to their friend, Lux noticed the librarian sitting not too far off and gasped as she did a double take to make sure it was really her, then smiled happily. "Mikki!" All formalities aside, the librarian wanted to disappear after Lux called out to her as she coughed on a sip of her drink. Garen noticed her now and sighed at his sister as Jarven turned his gaze in her direction as well and narrowed his eyes. Yep, she was still in her Noxian robes and Lux was oblivious to both Jarven's and Garen's reactions to this as she pranced to the librarian over Jarven.
"I didn't think you'd be here." Lux said as Mikki tried to recover from the attention overload that they were getting from all this. "Y-yes, well, a friend invited me here for a couple days." She stuttered as she could feel the distrust coming from Jarven now as she tried her best to put on a smile. Lux blinked at her for a moment before turning to Jarven and frowning. "Jarven, stop looking so mean at her. She's a good person." The prince scoffed and stood up and walked over to Lux and Mikki. "A good person? A Noxian good? What nonsense has this woman been putting in your head Luxanna?" They looked a bit shocked at Jarven's bold speech as Lux huffed at him. "She's not like that. Tell him, Mikki. You're not like other Noxians."
The librarian sat there, almost stunned at the turn of events as she just wanted to teleport away from it all and hide, but she already wasted her one rune for the day for Swain. Jarven was staring, so was Garen and Lux and the rest of the room, all eyes on her as she cleared her throat. "Prince Jarven, while I know my robes indicate my nationality as a Noxian, I have never once held a thought on harming Lady Lux or any other non Noxian patron that visits my library on the outskirts of Noxus." She put as elegantly and gently as possible as he sneered at her diminutive form. "If it wasn't for the fact you have hair and a lack of a pet bird, I could have sworn you were 'Swine' with less armor." At this, Mikki raised an eye brow at Jarven's nickname for Swain. "I'm just wearing standard librarian's robes, nothing so special." She replied as she took one last sip from the mug and set it down.
Lux stepped between the two of them and faced Jarven. "Leave her alone, she's been through enough the past month without adding your interrogations to her list as well." She truly was too kind for Mikki as Jarven moved to pull Lux away from her, but before he could do that, Mikki herself gently moved her away from Jarven and stepped between Lux and the crown price. "It's fine, Lux. He's not going to listen to reason, so let him have his opinion about me." She muttered over her shoulder as the Jarven, now standing a foot in front of her, looked down on her. "Aren't you generous. So tell me, what's a Noxian librarian doing here at the Institute?" He inquired curiously as Mikki gazed up at him, seeing the seething hatred in his eyes as he looked at her.
With an exasperated sigh, she lowered her shoulders to seem less threatening to the prince. "Look, I was invited here by a friend cause they thought I needed to get away from my duties back in Noxus. If you think I'm up to something, follow me around, you'll see that I'm not lying and you're being paranoid." She told him sternly as he huffed at her. "You expect me to follow your every move to prove I was wrong? I think not." This warranted several chuckles from around the room as Mikki sighed again at the Prince. Not the brightest guy in the bunch.
With a raise of her hands in surrender, she looked up at him once more. "I give up trying to convince you of anything. I'm going back to my room here for the night if I'm just going to be questioned out of suspicion." She told everyone and turned started for the exit leading back to her room, waving good bye to the Demancians and the summoners. Just before she could step through, she was knocked back away from it as the tattered form of LeBlanc stood in her way, looking enraged and beaten at the same time. "You certainly get around, librarian." She sneered at her as the crowd of summoners plus the champions all saw what just happened. Mikki was now laying crumpled at Jarven's feet as she looked up at the Deceiver's form. "I see he found you first. Wasn't happy with you, was he?" She jested back and stumbled a bit getting back to her feet. "LeBlanc, what are you doing?" Lux asked as she just laughed maniacally at the question.
"Lux, remember when you asked me how I broke my hand?" The Lady of Luminosity nodded as Garen and Jarven both stared at the librarian as she dusted herself off. "It was LeBlanc." Her eyes widened at the reply as LeBlanc chuckled at her handy work. "Indeed. But you're not walking away with just a broken hand this time, child." She disappeared, but Mikki was prepared as she set a red rune on top of herself and watched as LeBlanc appeared, but couldn't move or retreat this time. "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, I think not!" Both Garen and Jarven surrounded LeBlanc as she was now the helpless one, caught in Mikki's snare. "How dare you! How dare you gain his favor so quickly! Jericho's supposed to rely on me alone, not some run down pacifist librarian."
The news brought all the stares to Mikki as she sighed heavily at the Deciever and tilted her head. "You're wrong." Mikki took a couple steps up to LeBlanc as she looked down at her stunned form. "While I do admire being useful, I'm not trying to replace you in anyway. He just does what he wants, whether or not we like it or not." Mikki saw that LeBlanc's face was torn like a flock of raven's attacked her and the bit of clothing she wore were torn and shredded. With the newest addition of fresh tears forming in her eyes, she almost looked hurt at what Mikki said. "I-I can't believe you. How can you be so….neutral?" She balled her hands around the staff she held as Mikki knelt down and faced LeBlanc eye to eye. "Because I'm just a librarian. I just sit back and record history as it unfolds." They heard Lux chuckle lightly as well as some of the summoners, a couple Mikki realized did visit the library on occasion. "So, did you check the library before you came here for me?" She questioned as the champion before her nodded. "I figured you would be there, seeing as he did tell you to stay put, but I guess you had plans today." She was laughing under her breath as Mikki sighed and stood back up and removed the rune from under LeBlanc.
"Go back to where you call home and rest. You're in no condition to face me, despite how much I know you want to." She commanded of LeBlanc as she glared at the librarian with hate. "This is the last mistake you'll make, but I'll do as you ask for now." She was gone and Mikki took a deep breath and sighed. "So in trouble when I return home." She muttered as she glanced at the three champions before her. "You're hated by LeBlanc because Swain likes you more?" Lux mused as she grinned a bit at the Noxian. Mikki wished she said it differently but, instead, she placed her left hand over her face. "That's one way to put it." She muttered as Jarven walked up to Mikki, blocking Lux from her view. "So you're one of Swain's little lapdogs, but it seems even those you work with are jealous of the new pet." Mikki made a noise of dislike as he kept looking down at her. "I'm just the librarian. Nothing more, nothing less."
The stare down continued between them till a rush of a pair of foot steps sounded behind them. "What's going on here?" A voice called out as they each looked at the pair of Adjudicator's robes as they addressed the crowd. Mikki noticed Irannius was one of them, but wasn't the one that was speaking. He was giving her a look of knowing what transpired as she sighed at him angrily. "It was LeBlanc. She came, knocked around my friend, was stopped, then she left." Lux tried explaining to the other Adjudicator as she looked at the librarian then back to the crowd. "No other conflict has occurred then?" They each shook their heads as she turned to Irannius. "Why don't you question the Noxian and I'll talk to the champions." The other Adjudicator was treating him like a rookie, but he didn't seem to mind as he moved and pulled Mikki aside away from the cafeteria and lead her back to her room.
"Quite a close call you had there." He whispered to her as she shrugged and stretched as they moved down the halls. "Indeed. Didn't think she'd show up here though looking for blood." He chuckled as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You certainly have a knack for trouble, but also for defusing it when given the chance." She couldn't tell if he was complementing or messing with her. "You should be careful as well, she might be a bit upset at what you pulled to get back at her for this." Motioning with her wrapped up right hand lightly as he nodded lightly in agreement. "Of course. But, right now, you should seriously stay in your room and try to sleep this time and we'll walk around the gardens tomorrow morning." Mikki gave him a mock pout before crossing her arms in front of her as they reached the guest room.
Pulling out the key from her pocket, Mikki unlocked it and looked back at Irannius for a moment, raising her eye brow at him with curiosity. "Don't you have to make a report of your questioning?" He laughed and shrugged. "I already know what happened, I just have to write down what you 'told' me about it." Rolling her eyes she frowned at him with a slight hint of frustration. "I really wish you'd stop watching me. I know it's helping you, but not so much me." She murmured at him before he chuckled and petted her head lightly. "With what happened tonight, you really can't blame me for keeping tabs on you like this." With a resigned sigh, Mikki nodded lightly as she bid him good night and locked herself back into the plain room. This time, she was really tired and finally drifted off to sleep.