Just a quick, short story idea I came up with today.
04:20 AM at the slums of Piltover
The streets were deserted and crawling with long shadows and the buzzing glow of neon signs hanging above closed shops. Flies darted about, flying over the overflowing garbage bins of the city's worst neighborhood and the buildings' generators hummed their perpetual lullaby while factory workers slept, dreaming of a better tomorrow.
Yet, despite the deceivingly stagnant urban environment and the dark outlines of cold cement buildings, not everyone was asleep during this time. Faint lines of artificial light spilled out from the gaps between the boards nailed against the barred windows of a particularly dusty old warehouse. And if one were to pay attention they might be able to hear the distant noises of clinking conveyor belts and running machinery originating from the dug up basement of said warehouse.
Mundo grunted as he attempted to grab an empty jar from the pile, his meaty fingers pushing glassy objects aside while the bulky Zaunite man produced a wet sound of displeasure. His bloated blue tongue, hanging a good few inches under his chin dripping abundant saliva on his stained white undershirt and inside the vat with soapy water placed in front of him.
"Can you stop that noise, big guy? It is driving me CRAAAzYYY!" Jinx shot Mundo a glare as she dunked a plastic bottle inside her own vat of soapy water. Normally Jinx wasn't the most patient person, but even she wasn't crazy enough to slow down production and anger the boss.
Jinx could feel the boss's eyes observing her from the railings of the makeshift scaffold-thingy they had built to support the ceiling, a painted fingernail was tapping against the railing in the rhythm of a popular KD/A song. Jinx's hands shook as she removed the plastic bottle from the foamy vat. Sweat dripped down her face. "Hey, you slowpoke, pick up the pace will you?!" Jinx abruptly shouted at the drooling giant.
Mundo spluttered out something too garbled up to be interpreted. He finally managed to grab a sorry-looking mayonnaise jar with the adhesive brand-name paper still glued on it and shoved it into his vat with a spittle-splattering cry of victory.
"Moron…" Shaking her head, Jinx sealed her bottle of soapy water and after wiping it down with a dirty rag, she carefully set it down among the other filled containers in the nondescript cardboard box. A little shove from her part and the box was already off her cramped work station, sliding across the conveyer belt at a brisk pace. Jinx watched it travel between bottling stations A through C until a pair of shiny metal arms down the line removed it from the conveyer belt.
Despite manning her station for far longer than the other workers, Orianna continued sticking 'Seraphine Bathwater' labels on each jar and bottle with robotic efficiency. Orianna even smoothed out the kinks in the labels, before passing them to a tired-looking Ekko beside her.
Sighing in exhaustion, Ekko just shook his head, wiping off his sweaty forehead with the fabric of his white undershirt.
"This ain't cool, man. Not cool at all." He quipped, glancing at the impassive face of Orianna. If Orianna heard him she didn't do anything to acknowledge him, the sentient automaton's hands continued attaching stickers and smoothing out labels in a blur of motion.
Shaking his head again, Ekko retrieved his pink marker and started scribbling stars and off-centered hearts on the side of the labels. Then he placed the bottles in cardboard boxes in batches of ten and sent them down to Blitzcrank to load them into a black van with missing license plates.
Working at Seraphine's bathwater factory was monotonous, unrewarding work only fit for desperate outcasts and unfeeling automatons, and yet business bloomed and Piltover prospered due to Seraphine, and even Zaun's Chem-Barons knew better than to cross her.
There was a lull in the workers' activities as heavy footsteps descended the hastily-built staircase that led to the basement. Mundo whipped his head around, his bloated blue tongue swinging about like the snapped rope of a disgusting fleshy crane, splashing saliva on unassembled cardboard boxes, tangled water hoses and discarded shampoo bottles. Jinx's arm hovered over Zapper, her modified shock pistol under the table, a manic grin splitting her face. Finally, something fun!
Ekko stared at the staircase nervously, unsure if he should prepare for a fight or bolt away at the first sign of trouble. Whoever was either arrogant or stupid enough to mess with the boss, Ekko didn't want to be caught in the same room with them if he could help it.
Orianna kept working in silence, ignoring the tall figure that casually approached her work station. She rapidly deposited an alarming amount of vials on top of Ekko's already jam-packed counter.
Upon reaching the workers, Vi didn't utter a word. She simply stopped walking behind Orianna, doing her best not to look at Seraphine's motley crew of repurposed androids and criminals, and their mountains of contraband goods. Jinx grimaced, taking her hand off her pistol. Once upon a time, Jinx would love to meet Vi in a deserted warehouse and show her a good time with Pow-Pow and Fishbones and lots of explosion, but now… now Jinx couldn't quite meet the Enforcer's eyes. After all, she had to resort to making a living out of selling fake bathwater and smooching signed Seraphine photos for the songstress's autographs.
"Hey, Vi, wrote you a fight song. Bet you love it." The friendly voice of the boss glided down from the railings, pearly whites shining in a bright, suspiciously photogenic smile. Even as she spoke Seraphine's thumb moved across the screen of her Hex-phone, sending heart emotes to her loyal fans and confirming dates for bathwater shipments.
Vi stood still for a few seconds, then sharply nodded her head in agreement.
Seraphine's too innocent smile widened. The pink-haired camgirl/songstress/ruthless gangster giggled pleasantly.
At the sound of Seraphine's giggling a large drop of sweat fell down from Mundo's chin landing in the vat with the supposed bathwater.
"I'm here on behalf of the mayor and Piltover's Police Department." Vi stated, doing her best to appear calm and collected. A simple post from this smiling teenager could turn freelance journalists into rabid dogs and sic entire mobs of angry fans on Vi for 'attacking' their idol. There was also the matter with Seraphine's streams and merchandise generating an astonishing amount of money for Piltover and Zaun. Gangsters and politicians alike bent over backwards to appease the young songstress.
"Of course," Seraphine opened her arms as if she wanted to hug Runeterra in its entirety, "I will have the money transferred by Monday. Anything for the best mayor in existence, and the brave protectors of Piltover." She winked with a giggle, the sound pleasant, almost musical.
*Crash*
The bottles of Seraphine Bathwater shattered as Blitzcrank stumbled on a hose while he had been carrying a cardboard box to the van. Seraphine's laughter abruptly ceased, only to be replaced by tense silence.
Ekko swallowed loudly, Mundo was shivering, Orianna had finished putting labels on the bottles and was wiping her counter clean. Jinx's eyes were closed as if the former terrorist couldn't bear to see what was going to happen. Seraphine's smile had vanished.
*Tap, tap, tap* Seraphine's bare feet slapped against the staircase.
*Snap, snap, snap* The Hex-phone's camera flashed as Seraphine took pictures of her toes and dirty soles while she approached the clumsy steam golem.
Blitzcrank slowly lowered himself next to the destroyed products, his metal fingers brushing against the shards of glass as if the sentient robot was trying to fix its mistake, searching for intact vials amongst the glistering edges, floating foam and puddles of water.
"I can hear your song, Blitzcrank," Seraphine said happily, passing by the rooted workers on her way to the knelt automaton that was still sifting through the glass shards.
Mundo whimpered when the smiling teenager passed by him, and Jinx hugged him tightly. Vi stood frozen in place watching Orianna wipe her counter despite it being already as clean as it could get. Ekko held his breath until Seraphine walked past him.
"There are no lyrics, just a looping rhythm. It is kind of boring really," Seraphine leaned down as if to help the golem, touching Blitzcrank's big hand gently, "Your song is so generic and uninspiring, but that's okay, every song is important."
Finding an intact vile beside Blitzcrank's hand, Seraphine casually removed the bottle cap. She then poured the bathwater on the basement floor right in front of the knelt golem. "Every song is important, except for yours Blitzcrank," She said in her musical voice, "Because there is no soul in your song."
Letting the empty bottle shatter in front of the knelt golem, Seraphine walked away from Blitzcrank. "Clean up that, please."