Don't dance when the buffs spawn.

It was another perfect day in the Summoner Rift. The grass was green and soft under the feet of the marching blue team, little woodland creatures and chirping birds roamed the familiar paths leading to the various monster camps in the great magical forest. The cool shades of the tall trees in the Rift's jungle, ancient observers to numerous scuffles and as many defeats, offering the fellowship of champions a pleasant respite from the caress of the omnipotent golden sun that shone brightly high in the morning sky.

The whole feeling that the Rift was currently giving off to the five companions was one of peaceful serenity and reassurance. The champions paused before the spawning area where the ground would soon give birth to the scarlet Red buff. Quietly basking in the beauty of nature that was surrounding them, a few of them started gossiping amongst themselves and sharing jokes, some others deciding to express their immense joy by dancing.

*Pop*

Suddenly a smoke round is shot from a nearby bush, engulfing the blue team in a thick shroud of smoke.

"The enemy team is invading!" Coughs Master Yi, seconds before the enemy Teemo comes out of stealth right next to him and shoots a blinding dart at the unprepared Ionian swordsman.

Everything goes black for a few seconds. Master Yi can hear death cries and the deafening ringing of gunshots, the strangely musical sound of Flash spells being expended and the Rift's announcer bellowing and yelling in triumph. The last thing that the Ionian champion perceives when the black veil that's shrouding his vision abruptly vanishes are the twin smoking barrels of Graves' shotgun being pointed at his head, and the smug look plastered on the outlaw's face.

Then everything goes dark once again. The pleasant chirping of the birds ceases as the match officially begins.

Foul Magics

"Curse you, Night Hunter! Oh, curse you and your wretched kin!" Croaks the collapsed dark witch as she raises an accusing finger to point at the stoic form of the vampire vigilante that's standing defiantly in the midst of the villainous hag's burning hideout. Vayne merely snarls at her foe as she loads another silver-tipped crossbow bolt in her wristbow, the flickering flames of the blazing inferno reflecting eerily against the smooth surface of Shauna's crimson sunglasses.

There is a long bleeding scratch that's leaking sanguine life on the dark brooding huntress' right cheek, one that is closing and patching itself up rapidly right before the knelt Vastayan witch's eyes.

With cold finality Shauna lets the crossbow bolt plunge into the frail old woman's chest. The witch just stares at the Night Hunter, glaring at her hatefully as thick ribbons of black blood suddenly start trickling down the hag's chin, originating from the dying hag's mouth.

"C-curse you!" The seething witch mutters one last time with her last breath. Vayne simply observes the light leaving the murderess' eyes and her body ceasing all movement. Shauna then turns around and walks out of the Vastayan hag's burning home, allowing the hungry tongues of the fire to devour the wretched woman's body.

0000

*Knock* *Knock*

"Yaaawn. Wait a second." Soraka groans sleepily while getting up from the bed and fastening her housecoat around her form. Now where were her slippers?

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"I am coming! Just give me a second!" The Starchild yells at her unknown guest as the celestial healer finally spots her Poro-themed slippers and places her purple feet inside them. Temporary safe from the biting cold wood underneath her feet, the horned purple support sleepily reaches her door and unlocks it.

The hooded silhouette that appears before the perplexed healer doesn't offer any explanation for the nightly visit. Soraka abruptly finds herself stepping back to avoid colliding with Vayne's body when the Night Hunter enters her apartment without a word and promptly proceeds to close the door behind her.

"Shauna? What are you doing here so late? Did you get injured in your last hunt?" Soraka instantly recognizes the glint of Vayne's signature eyewear peeking out from inside the darkness of the markswoman's plain black hood. The Starchild approaches her silent visitor making to touch Vayne's body to check for injures and open wounds, only for the Night Hunter to shake her head and take a step back avoiding physical contact.

Soraka only huffs in response. "We've been here before, Vayne. I can't heal your wounds if I don't know the extent of your injuries."

"I-it… they… aren't exactly wounds…" Any annoyance or trace of sleep fogging the healer's thoughts instantly disappears when Soraka hears Vayne's confession. Soraka has never heard Shauna speak with such a degree of reluctance and uncertainty coloring her voice before. Not even when the Night Hunter is dying and Shauna's life is hanging by a twine.

'If something has shaken up Vayne so much, then it must be serious,' Soraka silently concludes in her head.

"Tell me what ails you, child." The voice of the celestial healer is soft and unbelievably gentle. Shauna minutely feels anger for Soraka treating her like a child. It's been two lifetimes since someone addressed her like the Starchild just did. It's been almost twenty years since Shauna was a foolish, naïve, and weak child.

Yet, the Demacian vampire's ire is quickly put aside when the Night Hunter remembers the reason for her sudden nightly visit.

With much reluctance and the heavy feeling of hopelessness weighing down her heart, Shauna's pale fingers coil around the fabric of her black hood. She then pulls it down in one resolute motion.

"Wha-?" The puzzled Starchild mumbles at a loss for words. With drunken footsteps and silent wonder in her kind golden eyes Soraka moves closer to Vayne to examine the Night Hunter's altered appearance.

"Are those..?" The healer slowly asks. Vayne tensely nods her head.

"They are." The brooding Demacian huntress lowly confirms, instinctively flinching when Soraka experimentally places a finger against one of Vayne's soft cat ears. "So can you please help me get rid of them?"

Yuri love triangle pairing test.

Another bizarre figure decides to unceremoniously walk into the Institute's crowded Mess Hall, the champion's faint silhouette quickly dissolving into a sea of variant forms and peculiar faces that are ranging from handsome to ugly, and then downright alien and plain weird. Somewhere inside the magnificent building that's filled with the ruckus of jovial voices and the clattering of descending silverware the Ice Witch frowns over her breakfast.

And yet, even though Lissandra is currently silently glaring at her sunny-side up eggs and her chin is somewhat clenched, the delicious food set before the intelligent spell caster has nothing to do with the female Freljordian's present irritation.

Lissandra's faction hadn't lost some important fight so far, her people were still oblivious to the dark machinations of their seemingly fair and angelic leader. That moronic child, Ashe, had strained her foot while taking a walk outside. All in all, it had been quite an uneventful day so far, if one could even say such a thing for days spent in the confines of the Institute of War, that is.

Well, the day had been uneventful and almost pleasant, until the Sheriff's brutish menace of a partner had chosen to take a seat opposite to the scheming Ice Witch… for the fifth time in five days if Lissandra remembered correctly.

"Hey, Liss! How's your day so far?" The annoying pink-haired enforcer attempts to strike a conversation with the frigid Freljordian mage once again and the Ice Witch's frown darkens.

"Rather pleasant, until you decided to start pestering me." The cunning tribe leader replies instantly, wiping away Vi's friendly smile.

"Oh.." The pinkette woman titters as she rubs the back of her head in an obviously nervous manner. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Am I bothering you again?"

"I thought that would be obvious." The Iceborn witch states as she mercilessly cuts into the food on her plate while simultaneously splitting Vi's heart in half with relative ease.

"I-I see." The pinkette enforcer laughs nervously once more as she shifts uncomfortably in her chair. "Did you give what I asked you a few days ago any thought?" Vi dares to ask, her stunning sky blue orbs focusing anywhere but the dangerous woman's cold stare in front of her.

"Are you perhaps referring to your unexpected suggestion of us.. dating?" The Ice Witch doesn't even attempt to lower her voice whilst making her query. The clear words of the ancient tribe leader instantly eliciting excited murmurs from the tables around the two champions, and simultaneously drawing an embarrassed blush from the red-faced pinkette Enforcer.

"…Yes, that one. So did you give my proposal some though?" The blushing pinkette murmurs while examining the tablecloth clenched between her suddenly sweaty palms. But Lissandra merely scoffs at Vi's murmured question.

"As if I would do such a thing." The Freljordian princess irritably replies causing Vi to flinch while cringing at the wrinkled tablecloth that she can't take her eyes off at the moment.

"I have more important things to occupy my mind, Enforcer than babysitting a rambunctious lovestruck child almost half my age. I've got plans to set in motion, rivals and rising kingdoms to destroy. I'm sure that you can understand that."

"Yeah, yeah… I guess you are right." Vi slowly mutters, the rowdy pink curtain of the policewoman's hair hiding the enforcer's pained eyes from the gaze of the stern Ice Witch. "I mean, how could someone like me, be blessed enough to win the heart of a woman like you, right?" Vi tries to smile with her fists still clenched around the wrinkled tablecloth.

"My point exactly." Lissandra nods towards the heartbroken Piltovian, the Iceborn's fork digging into the yolk of her sole intact egg. "We are just incompatible, like Diana and Leona, Sona and Vayne, Lux and that stoic Riven girl."

Lissandra then pauses as she raises a finger towards the ceiling in sudden revelation.

"Like your dear Sheriff and some filthy street urchin like Talon and Ekko! Some things are just not meant to b-"

Lissandra stops speaking when Vi abruptly storms away from the Mess Hall in tears. The Ice Witch tilts her head in confusion, and then turns towards the seemingly frozen brunette that's staring with wide shocked eyes at the nearby wall. Caitlyn's empty food tray unwittingly slips from her fingers.

"Did I perhaps say something that I shouldn't have said?" Lissandra asks Caitlyn with genuine curiosity coloring her usual cold tone, only for the shaken brunette Sheriff to blatantly ignore her as Caitlyn instantly runs after Vi. With apparent desperation guiding the Sheriff's actions, and a beet red face earning the police officer curious looks from the startled clusters of champions enjoying their food inside the Mess Hall, Caitlyn races for the grand chamber's entrance. All thoughts of dignity, poise and proper manners currently absent from the intelligent Sheriff's head, Vi's heartbroken and tearstained face crushing Caitlyn's own heart like a two ton weight.

"Piltovians…" Lissandra mutters after a few seconds of her staring dumbstruck at the Mess Hall's open doors, and then the devilish Ice Witch sprinkles a bit more ice on top of her frozen egg yolk before eating it.