Runic Circumstances 3 - or 'I have my wits, my chaotic shortstack Yordle, and plenty of juice' (Runeterra/LoL, SI)

The Silent Forest was what the name would suggest. Silent, quiet, devoid of most life and having a nice clean river to wash in.

The water was fresh but not too cold for Tristana to switch to her swimsuit and happily rush into it. Smiling eye-to-eye, the Yordle yelled giddily before cannon-balling into the body of water, causing a big splash that almost got me.

I smiled a bit, but shook my head in amusement at how silly the girl could get. As I had already kept my promise of just washing my upper body before keeping guard over our stuff, I was busy looking around for any hints of trouble when Tristana was done with most of her body cleaning and had me go through her last 'issue'.

"Come on, it's just my back! I can't reach it!"

And what a lovely back you have…

Tempting, seductive even, to the point that I felt my mind acting most unwise when I felt my fingers 'sink' in that bountiful booty of her. She had a tiny blush, but overall I managed to get her butt cleaned up first and then slowly shift to her upper back. Humming to herself, Tristana looked quite pleased with this awkward but smooth session and-

"Greetings, visitors of the Silent Forest! Your arrival coincides with-!" A womanly voice started to say, then pausing as she realized that we were a bit 'unclothed'. My upper body was still exposed and Tristana was still in her bikini.

My companion and I turned to the source of the voice, and we were greeted with a young woman whose appearance screamed of 'I am an evil overlord' while her current expression was one of genuine embarrassment and apology.

"...My apologies, I seem to have caught you in the middle of… coitus?"

"We were just bathing," I calmly replied, trying my hardest to not be too harsh about it, while Tristana frowned.

"Yeah… wait, were you peeping on us?"

"N-No, which is why I was surprised to find you two…" The woman paused, then sighed in an effort to calm down while steadying her breath. "Let's agree that we shouldn't jump to conclusions."

Quite the fair reasoning, which we both nodded at.

"Sounds right. How about an introduction first?" I offered, and saw her nod back at the proposal. "My name is John Bukharin, this Yordle here is Tristana."

"Hi!"

"Nice to meet you both, my name is Morgana and I was trying to inquire if you were lost and in need of shelter."

"We are not. Just taking a stop before going to Demacia to hire a chariot and move to Ionia," Tristana answered truthfully.

"Oh? You seek to find business in Demacia despite their hatred of magic?"

"We should be able to sneak past them by hiding it-" I tried to say, but Morgana shook her head.

"They have long learned of ways to know when magicians try to enter their city. It's not exactly a feasible task unless you are an excellent mage but… from what I can deduce, and I don't wish to assume any longer in this matter, you are not that."

"I am not. I kind of got hold of magic quite recently," I confessed and then offered a serious look. "Still, we were planning to go to Demacia so… could you please tell us of any other way without approaching Demacia?"

The woman leaned back and looked away while thinking about this.

"As far as I know, there is the means of going there by foot. But… since you are a novel magician, does it mean you do not know how to conjure items?"

I shook my head and I saw her snap her fingers and produce a loaf of bread.

"It takes time and discipline, but it is a surprisingly easy subject which I could teach you if you allow me to join your trip."

"...You want to join our trip?" The Yordle inquired with a hint of shock.

She raised a surprised bow. "Was it too forceful?"

"More like out of nowhere," I pointed out bluntly. "You do sound like you mean well but… why would you want to tag along with us?"

"Due to recent events, I have decided to… take a break from my lengthy stay in this region," Morgana admitted dryly. "I had a few issues with… Demacia. Mostly regarding their take on magic and on justice."

"The differences being?"

"I rely on Shadow Magic after I decided to leave my previous rank. The reason for my departure was my concept of justice. Rather than blindly prosecute people out of traditions and rules that have long been ignored for review, I sought a more compassionate path… at the expense of some moral choices I had to make. I wouldn't say I am an outright 'good person', but I still see my plans coincide for what I started this crusade of mine."

…Holy fuck, I never expected to find a morally-ambiguous character so early on. Not only that, but one that seems to crack on the stereotype of 'I left a good place to do real good things'.

It could still be a trap, I definitely know it could be one and… I decided to press her on it. After all, she was making it clear without being too direct that she was once a divine being and that she had been shunned for this decision, so surely she had a degree of pride to tap into after a while.

"So… just to make it clear, and I don't wish to sound disrespectful… you are not evil, right?" I asked and, I really mean it when I say this, I tried my hardest to be open-minded about it.

Sure, I shouldn't be judging a book from its cover but… her outfit and appearance screamed of 'I am an evil goddess that is trying to manipulate you both to be my new cultists'. Considering her behavior sounded quite genuine, I had a feeling that actually was not the case.

The woman paused, then frowned with a clueless look on her face. "Why would you think that is the case?"

…Wait, she didn't see that?

"It's the fact you're… well, super-scary evil-looking, miss," Tristana replied bluntly, causing me to panic at what kind of ill-thought assumptions could come from this… before realizing the kind of individual Morgana really was.

She just nodded at these comments. "I see. So, there's a chance that my current appearance may cause issues on this trip?"

"To an extent? Yes," I replied. "Even if many would ignore the childish idea of you being evil by appearance alone, they would know you are using powerful magic as your appearance also screams of 'powerful lady that has an organization to lead'."

Morgana nodded again and then she closed her eyes in a thoughtful manner. "This… explains a lot."

"My most sincere apologies, you just noticed this now?"

"I-I wouldn't say I was focusing much on my appearance," The Shadow User commented nervously. "I noticed some changes, but I never thought I…"

She paused and looked into the clean water of the river, her silence carrying on endless thoughts of clarity.

"Ah."

"John… right?"

I nodded and she looked a bit shaken.

"I think I understand now. And I know for a thing this may cause issues if we were to travel to Ionia. Maybe I should… change my appearance?"

"Yep." I snapped my attention to Tristana, the Yordle being quite bossy so suddenly. "You can use magic to do that right?"

"I can try to revert my appearance to one I am familiar and fond of but… it would still be easy to spot I am not a mere mortal."

As she said that, she switched to a completely new appearance. Gone were the darker tones of her color palette, all replaced by warm blue and white as she resembled an angelic figure.

"How… does this look?"

"Pretty," Tristana confirmed and I nodded in agreement.

"It's quite beautiful."

Morgana beamed with a red hue forming on the cheeks at that and… it sure felt odd to imagine this was some sort of deity.

This reaction sure felt shocking as it felt truly genuine. I wasn't completely sold to this new development but… I had a feeling that it was best to avoid Demacia for the time being.

What I didn't know, as we decided to set up a camp at the eastern edge of the forest, was that Demacia was not planning to avoid us.


AN

Reference for Tristana (i . postimg . cc / GhgKwdjG / Tristana-Bikini1 . png)
Reference for Morgana/True Form (i . postimg . cc / qqscfP4K / Morgana-Lo-L . jpg)
Reference for Morgana's Disguise/Dawnbringer (i . postimg . cc / wxbn6Bn2 / Dawnbringer-Morgana . png)