Please, forgive me! I haven't been on a computer in-what-months? Dear Lord Karthus... I hope this satisfies all of you for now... Q~Q

~Zarathna

"Hey, Evelynn. Whatcha doin' out here?"

Evelynn turned to eye the Explorer with slight annoyance.

"What does it look like, bozo?"

"Snooping." Ezreal answered with a shrug.

Evelynn rolled her pale yellow eyes. Could the boy not tell it was a rhetorical question, or was he just being a smart-ass?

"Well, then could you keep it down? I can't hear the conversation over your annoying, loud voice." she hissed, turning back to the door. She gently pressed a blue ear against the rough wood.

"...ruthless man, Mr. Fa-"

"Why are you even listening in on Beretröge?"

Evelynn resisted the urge to lash out and slash the Piltovian's throat.

She glared at him.

"What do you have a thing for old men?!" Ezreal laughed. Evelynn hissed, grabbing the self-proclaimed archeologist by his shirt and pulling him close.

Ezreal went wide-eyed with fear. He could feel Evelynn's humid breath, uncomfortably hot against his face. It smelled like blood and rot, and the Prodigy tried his best not to gag. It didn't help that she had a hand clasped over his mouth. Her eyes became unusually large and her teeth grew ghastly sharp. Ezreal recognized the signs of an illusion, but this one was so damn real that he couldn't help but believe it.

"Yeah, because I like wrinkly dinkies." Evelynn replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "No, stupid. An old friend of mine is in there."

She pushed the Explorer away with a disgusted scoff, releasing the Piltovian from the illusion.

Ezreal coughed horribly, the fetid stench still lingering in his nostrils.

"Leave; or stay and be quiet." Evelynn hissed absently, fully aware of the boy's insatiable curiosity. She placed her ear against the wood again, the Prodigal Explorer joining her cautiously.

"...I'm just a man of the gambling variety."

Ezreal pulled away from the wood and gave Evelynn a quizzical look.

"You're friends with a gambler?" he asked. "Of all the types of people on Valoran, you chose to befriend a gambler?"

Evelynn looked at him and simply nodded.

"Really?!"

"Don't just judge a tome by its dusty cover, Explorer. I would have thought you'd know that better than anyone."

"Hmph!" Ezreal pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked away, a blush making its way to his cheeks.

Evelynn giggled before grabbing his wrist. "Come on!" she urged, dragging him a good twenty feet down the corridor.

Ezreal blushed even harder as she pulled him behind one of the tall, marble pillars. She let go of him and peeked around the column.

"Any moment now..." she whispered to herself.

Ezreal peered around her to see the Summoner, Calavus Beretröge, and the gambler exit the room.

"Are those... cards?" Ezreal asked in disbelief, surprised by the colorful cards flying around the man.

"Yep," Evelynn nodded. "Never thought I'd see him like this..."

"What?" Ezreal pried, curious as to the meaning of Evelynn's final comment, but she remained quiet, watching her friend as if she were caught in a daydream.

The Piltovian sighed, and walked away. Evelynn turned her head and watched him go.

"Bozo."

"You still must meet with the High Councilor, but I will arrange an appointment for you to see him soon. You may want to stay at one of the nearby inns. Let one of my assistants know where you're staying. I'll be seeing you, Mr. Fate." Beretröge bade farewell to the Card Master, leaving him alone in the entrance hall.

Twisted took a couple of steps forward when he heard someone call his name. He paused, taking a look around.

"Hey, Twisted!"

He jumped, turning to see a familiar face.

"Evelynn?" he asked, his bright, blue eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "You've changed."

The girl chuckled, feeling slightly awkward in her revealing clothing. The last time she had seen Twisted, she had been a very shy girl who had struggled to keep her clothing modest.

"Yep!" she gloated, forcing herself to keep one hand down at her side as she raised the other to her hip, showing off more of her blue body. "So what brings you here?"

"You're joining the League?!" Evelynn asked, incredulous.

Twisted Fate had made the Widowmaker wait until he had rented a room and they had entered, Evelynn moving swiftly and stealthily through the shadows. She was a rather well-known Champion, and she didn't want rumors going around about her and the 'cowboy'.

Especially since she thought of him as her brother.

"Yep," the Card Master answered, not going into any details. He looked furtively out the window before pulling away and drawing the curtains shut.

"Is the man you want dead your old partner, uh... Graves?" Evelynn asked, curious.

"You were eavesdropping?!" Twisted exclaimed, totally surprised by the girl's strange, new behavior.

"Of course! I haven't seen you in ages!" she said as if it should have been obvious.

She placed her hands between her legs and leaned forward on them. A childish behavioral characteristic that she, apparently, still hadn't grown out of.

"Stop sitting like that. You're not a kid anymore." he chastised, pulling on a poker face as he removed his jacket.

Evelynn glared at the back of his head as he walked to the room's mini bar and poured himself a drink.

"Since when do you care about the trivial things?" Evelynn hissed defensively, folding blue arms across a leather-clad bosom.

"Since it was important to have the better hand." he whispered reverently, recalling something that Malcolm Graves had once told him. "You're a respected Champion, Evs. Don't ruin it by being a child."

Evelynn watched him with a cat-like stare as he removed his hat, he dropped into the armchair, and he kicked his feet upon the chipped and worn coffee table.

Evelynn grimaced momentarily, seeing as Twisted still had his mud-and-Rune-knows-what-else caked boots on.

The Card Master rubbed his nose before replacing his hat so it covered his eyes.

"No, it's not my former partner. It's someone we both know."

Evelynn waited for further enlightenment, but soon heard a snore pass the gambler's cracked lips.

She shook her head with a sigh.

"Come on, Sleepy Head." she cooed, moving to pick him up bridal style.

The Widowmaker was surprised at the ease with which she lifted the slumbering man; he was extremely light.

"You haven't been eating well, have you?" Evelynn whispered, brushing a stray stand of sweat-matted hair out of Twisted Fate's face.

When she had entered the room to check on him that morning, she had discovered that Twisted had broken into a fever sometime during the night.

NEXT TIME ON THE DEVIL'S TWISTED TANGO:

The Card Master coughed violently, shaking the uneven frame of the cheaply made bed. Evelynn tsked at his condition, dipping the rag into the bucket of ice water once more.

"Just because the magic makes you feel invincible, you still need to take care of yourself. Magic is a force of nature, a force of chaos. If the magic's organic conduit grows weak, it will break free and wreak havoc."