A/N: Here's another chapter of How Things Used to Be- a little late (quite late) but better late than never!
EDIT: I almost forgot to respond to a guest review, noting that this "isn't a Vi story" and it's "lame". Sorry that you feel that way, but this happens to be an origin story, not a current-age Vi story (not yet, anyway) and you should treat it as such. Thanks for the sliiiightly (borderline) constructive criticism.
Chapter 3:
Victoria started to wish that she had brought a pair of sunglasses; the noon-time sun was shining brightly in her face and almost blinding her- she had wandered off the side of the freeway into the road twice now and had horns blown before she was nearly flattened- instinct had been the only thing that had kept her alive.
Another thing Vi had noticed was each time she had nearly died, the gloves' knuckles lit up- the analytical aspect of her brain informed her that the gloves were somehow linked to her state of being- they had illuminated after her dream in the school and after her near-death experiences. Her effort to focus harder only taxed her mind harder, however, and after putting her arm up to shade away the sun, she ran into a mile marker sign- one of those that displays the distance to the next few towns. Vi staggered into the road yet again, barely diving out of the way into the center grass-median as she heard brakes screeching behind her, followed by a loud horn blast, some obscenities and a car speeding away.
Real considerate, these folks are.
Get used to it hun- that's where we live now. Just be glad we didn't get run over; at least- woah.
Both of her inner voices chorused their last thought together as Victoria's eyes trained onto her hands half-buried in the mud that was dry all to her right and to her left. However, the mud was bubbling where her gloves were in contact with the earth; any grass that was unlucky enough to be near her hands as well was starting to smoke.
Good lord.
It's a good survival mechanism- maybewe can leave a nasty burn on someone's face if we get angry.
Vi felt her lips curling into a smirk before even realizing it; she quickly shook her head to rid herself of the thought of deriving pleasure from disfiguring another.
Maybe this was all an awful idea.
Maybe it was. Too late to turn back now, hun. You gonna let us adapt to our surroundings yet or are we gonna act like it's a field trip, and that everything's going to be ok in a couple of days?
Her inner voice finally shut up, but the self-imposed question weighed heavily on her mind; maybe she should start thinking differently. Maybe it was time to grow up... no matter how soon it seemed to be.
After pulling herself up from the ground, Vi noticed that her hands were completely clean of mud- it seemed to not stick to her gloves one bit. However, her clothes were a completely different matter. Sighing, the brunette realized that the last bit of scent that she had retained by wearing her sisters clothes had vanished under the guise of the putrid mud.
Oh well, Vi; I guess you win.
Of course I win. Let's get going again, shall we?
Or do... we win?
Her mind didn't answer back, and she attempted to wipe off as much mud from her jeans (the main absorber) as possible. Another thing she noticed was how sorely her backpack stuck out- it was her small yet bright pink backpack from school.
Time for a makeover, friend.
Vi knelt down in the grass and began to scoop whatever was left of the wet mud into her hands- it seemed that they weren't as hot as before and that the mud was sticking again; she deduced that the heat caused the previous cleaning.
Just have to get angry to get clean. Funny.
Victoria couldn't even figure out how that was funny and shook her head, convinced that she was going crazy as she began smearing mud all over the larger offending areas of pink of her backpack.
After managing to turn the color pink into brown and eating a fourth of her rations, Victoria lay across the dry grass and stretched. It was closer to the tail end of the afternoon, and Vi knew that she would need to get into the city to find somewhere to sleep before it got too cold at night; it was already brisk and the sun was bright and shining, who knew how cold it could get?
But after looking up to see the mile marker's pair of numbers, 10 mi, Victoria felt compelled to write a little in her journal. First she decided to start with sketching the sign that had provided her moment of insight; it was a typical green road-sign with its previous city reading of "Augustgrad" scratched through with black spray paint. The next message written in the black was a less-legible "REVOLT'ip", scratched through this time with blue spray paint and the letters RP covering the rest of the sign.
Victoria remembered reading about the previous NewP military institution; it had been established by the military leader of New Piltover in his attempts to unify the city-state. However, due to a few external conflicts, the project was soon abandoned and the city degraded into a shadow of itself, losing protection of the NewPPD and military and coming under the control of a local government that was essentially a city-state dictatorship; no one knew who the real dictator was, but many sources assumed that the position was jockeyed about due to assassinations and the like. Nowadays, it was one of the worst cities in the entirety of Piltover, with an insane crime rate and a poverty percentage of 78%.
The last thing Vi wrote before she stood up to leave was a small string of words; Always remember, never forget; the day we moved on... we left childish things, habits and memories behind. 11/21/31
Vi took a moment to underline 'memories' and thought about her old home, her brother, her sister, their shock when they found her note...
She shivered. There was no need to revisit old memories- she was leaving them behind, right? Time to move on, she told herself as she slipped the notebook and pen into a pocket of her now-brown backpack, zipping it shut and slinging it across her back. Crossing the highway back to the side of the mile marker, Vi began the end of her journey to RP- unlike before, when she hoped she would be able to survive, Victoria felt something new inside. It told her that she would and could survive, and she couldn't let it down.
Around five hours later and after watching the sun set beyond the horizon, Victoria made her way across the borders of the inner city; however, without a plan, the brunette merely wandered the streets. Eventually, she passed into the 'cleanest' portion of the city; this was central to the city, the "downtown", and was where 80% of the well kept, legal stores were (like the supermarket). Even the houses were richer than her neighborhood by a significant margin; it wasn't like that was difficult to achieve, but compared to the living spaces that she had seen on the way in, these were certainly on the upper end.
Victoria found herself reminiscing about the past; seeing a family with a shopping cart walking away from the store brought up memories from that day...
Vi shook her head and pressed forward. She had to get somewhere warm before she froze to death; or so she thought; her breath was coming out in chilly puffs and the sun had been absent for at least an hour. She noticed a large group of people who she assumed were loiterers being issued out of the store by a group of men in red shirts.
Weird; since when did police wear red?
The brunette just shrugged and moved on towards the aisles, glancing up every few steps to look for security cameras. Maybe she could find a little bread or cheese to slide into her dirty bag... It'd be nice for a day.
Victoria again found her lips smiling involuntarily, but this time didn't stop them: she realized already that this was how her life had to be. Her grin radiated throughout her body, and she felt as if she was shining as she aimlessly wandered the store; bouncing from aisle to aisle, occasionally glancing side to side before slipping a canned good into her bag or a candy into her pocket.
Finally, as she rounded the corner to head towards the exit, Victoria felt a hand on her shoulder and a deep voice bark orders along the lines of, "Hey, why are you smiling?"
When Vi spun around and gave him a blank look, the offending party shook his head and spread his hands out as if to indicate the whole store.
"Does it look like anyone else in here is happy? Now, why-" The man added a poke into her shoulder every couple of words, "are you so happy?"
Damn; first day and I already screwed it up.
Victoria opened her mouth to speak but words wouldn't come out; her throat was too dry, she wasn't used to authority figures questioning her- the closest she'd come to this was in school on Police Day, when she-
"Hey, Runeterra-to-customer, are you even listening?" The man in a red button down shirt with what she assumed was a taser (she'd seen a few at the fair) (the fair!) at his waist caught her attention by grabbing her chin and sweeping stray locks from her face, staring deep into her eyes.
"Geez, just a little kid..." The guard muttered before releasing her chin and turning his attention elsewhere, but not before adding; "Get lost and I won't call my team about arresting you for stealing."
Vi's eyes widened; he had seen right through her! With his mouth shifting into a grim smile, the guard turned to walk off just before the brunette found her courage to speak.
"Uh, wait, mister..." Victoria trailed off as he spun on his heel with an exasperated look donning his face. Victoria stared at him for a second before clearing her throat and continuing.
"Since when... I, uh, read that... uh, since when was there police in, uh, RP?" The sentence came out jumbled and betrayed her innocence; the guard let out a hearty laugh before suddenly seizing her arm and dragging her off towards what she presumed was an office. Vi let out a short yelp before half-walking, half-tripping along with the red-shirted man. She was afraid that he might interrogate her fiercely, but she still didn't make things difficult.
"You're coming with me."
The guard stopped before a door at the opposite end of the store and turned to look at Vi, who hadn't resisted all the way there.
"Why aren't you fighting me? Don't you know where we're going? I usually like it when they fight." The guard trailed off as he shoved open the door, sending a large blast of cold into their faces. The guard zipped up his jacket and pulled Victoria along once again; the cold made it difficult for the brunette to retort successfully.
"Yo-you-you're j-j-just a sad-d-distic moth-ther f-" Victoria stopped herself short for two reasons- one, she couldn't fathom uttering her first "major" curse out loud; two, she finally discovered where they were going- the police station.
The guard laughed again as he hoisted her over his shoulder to get them across the street before climbing up the short front stairs into a building with a busy background- a lone receptionist in a blue shirt was manning the front, her glasses far down on her nose to help read the screen in front of her.
"Got another one." The officer exclaimed excitably, dropping Vi onto the floor aside the counter with a dull thud; the brunette chose wisely to remain on the floor.
The receptionist took a glance upwards at the man before rolling her eyes and examining her screen again.
"What for?"
"Uncooperative behavior and thievery; small items in pockets and who knows what in her backpack."
The receptionist glanced up again with a raised eyebrow and rose from her seat. The man took a step back; clearly they had some kind of dynamic going.
"You mean to tell me," she noted while exiting from behind the counter, pushing her frames up to suit her eyes, "that you didn't check her for what she actually stole? You just, oh, I don't know, guessed?"
The officer gulped and looked down at his feet; Vi chose to avoid his eyes but listened intently to the conversation.
"Uh... yes ma'am." Vi wondered why the conversation had gone silent for a few seconds before looking up at the receptionist, whose hand was outstretched to help the girl up from the ground.
"And look at her... she's scarcely a teenager. Get out of here, Ernst. How many times have I told you, RPD doesn't need your stupid assistance to help with petty offenders. I bet she's just trying to survive. I mean, look, she has a fucking hot pink backpack, for crying out loud." Vi had noticed that the mud had slid off her bag a little- she cursed and thanked the mistake at the same time. However, Victoria's age certainly didn't stop the woman from swearing loudly.
"Yes ma'am." Ernst muttered dejectedly as he made his way out of the station, the previous pep in his step diminished by his unsuccessful evening.
A smile graced the woman's face as Vi accepted her hand and was helped to a quieter room off to the side that she assumed was a waiting room. Victoria made her way to a chair before collapsing in it; the woman closed the door behind them and sat in a chair across the room.
She began with harmless questions.
"What's your name?" "Victoria."
"Where are you from?" No answer.
"Okay, how about how old you are." A pause. "12."
A quick eyebrow raise from the receptionist, then her face melded back into neutrality.
"Why are you in RP? You're clearly not from here." Another no answer.
The woman sighed and started to pace around the room, stopping occasionally to ask questions. Her voice gained a little stern edge to it, but subconsciously, as if it was habit. Vi's answers came quick now; she felt a little intimidated with her standing and walking around- it was nerve-wracking.
"What'd you steal." She posed the question as if there was no other answer, and was gambling a bit on the prospect that Ernst had at least gotten that part right.
"Two peppermints, a granola bar, three pieces of bread from an open loaf and a small POJ." A POJ was the term for the bottles of processed orange juice that were sold at most stores; extremely cheap, as it was mostly water, and the powder could be added to any tap water across Valoran to make it safe to drink, making it reliable and desired.
"And I ate a small cinnamon roll."
This time, the woman's eyebrows noticeably rose; she didn't expect all of that to come so easy.
"Any other crimes committed?"
"None that I know of, ma'am."
The woman smiled.
"Good. I trust you to have told the truth. Now, normally we offer a three-day jail time punishment or a pair of lashings as penance, but since you're so young, I think I'll throw you in the 24-hour cell- the good news is, you'll be released with the rest of the crowd at noon tomorrow. Thank you for your cooperation." The woman's voice droned into monotone as she continued on their walk towards the back; Vi had zoned out right after the sentence had been issued.
The yelling of rowdy prisoners brought her out of her stupor before they turned to the left, away from them and into a room about 10 by 10 with three other prisoners; all around her age or a little older, from what she could see in the dim lighting.
"Someone will let you go in the morning. Thanks for your cooperation, miss."
The woman slammed the door behind her and as Vi made her way to the opposite corner of the room as the others, she could hear the lady's heels clacking back down the tiles.
As Victoria started to drift off, she assessed the outcome of her first day. Not only was she sleeping somewhere warm, but she also considered herself rather lucky- she knew that this woman was one of the nicer people in this town, and that her first blunder had been let off the hook. This thought and this thought alone allowed Vi to sleep somewhat peacefully; combined with completely forgetting about her other cellmates...
"The name's Erza… but you can just call me EZ. Everyone does, these days…"
This little twerp's my contact? You've got to be kidding me. There's no way we'll even make it close to Jason...
David silently stared the man down between the dual barrels of his shotgun unflinchingly.
"Right, you must be David. Well… follow me; I know a better way into his hideout than he does."
A/N: Idk how many people still read my League stories but I'm hoping some do- this isn't awful, or so I think.
Review&follow, pm me w/ complaints, concerns, compliments- the usual.
Thanks!
-Skij