#thread: ashen bone and chilling traditions

[ferinehuntress]

◈　 ⇢  @shimmerbeasts　 ⋯　 Continued Ask . 　　　❝ Vi explains a sensitive subject to Caitlyn after the return of Jinx & examining a bone bullet. ❞

　⊰ ⸻ ⊱　The restlessness behind her made Caitlyn look over her shoulder and purred softly. "I'm right here, love, it's okay," Caitlyn offered in comfort. She had similar reactions when Vi left the bed if she woke first. The sensation of faded warmth and a body no longer near would easily stir the Kiramman awake. She had grown accustomed to the Zaunite being so close that even her scent soothed her troubled mind. She tapped her foot against the ground, a repeated motion to settle down her bafflement of this object. Jinx had returned, it had been almost three months since she last seen or heard from her but Caitlyn knew she was out there. As if biding her time and now she had struck at the heart of her home.

Again.

Fingers rested on her lap now, as Caitlyn started to massage her hand in a fashion to calm herself down. She didn't like the mark or the snow-white bullet. Human bones tended to be brittle and useless and yet this bone held up against the firing pin of a pistol. Just as her hand brushed up against the back of her neck in memory, she heard Vi's apology. She leaned backward, her head canting so she could look up at Vi. In this position, Vi looked upside down, and magenta brilliant hair gleamed from the sun that billowed through the window. Her hand reached up to brush against her cheek and her thumb lightly caressed her jaw. "It's not your fault, Vi," Never once did Caitlyn blame her. However, Vi carried her heavy guilt like Atlas and the earth on his shoulders. So Caitlyn always took time, quiet reminders, so that Vi would know the heiress didn't believe these things were her fault.

The choice had always been Jinx; she held the knife, cut the wound, and she shot the bullet. She made her own choices, Vi never once put the knife or gun in Jinx's hand and told her to do this. Moving her hand from Vi's face, she shifted to sit back straight and stared toward the bullet again. The eye of Zaun meant it was something important. It reminded her of the bullets she found on crime scenes that belonged to Jinx where the brass casings had the symbol of the monkey on them. So if the bullets with the monkey belonged to Jinx, then who did this bullet belong to despite Jinx firing it? She tried to settle her mind into Jinx's, to think as she would.

Vi's outburst caused Caitlyn's eyes to widen and disrupted her delving process to look at the tiger. "Careful, Vi, your face," She vocalized and reached over to place a hand on her back. Nails trailed down her spine, giving a light back scratch.

"Hey, it's okay," Caitlyn soothed through a wisp of her tone, gentle like a cool breeze. Her head canted sideways as her hair fell to the side. "Take your time, Vi. I haven't judged on anything I saw down there or seen before when you took me there. I know the undercity is far more different from the Piltover," It seemed Vi knew something about the bullet, something that hadn't been touched yet. Cait never believed she understood the whole culture of Zaun, there was much to learn and perhaps it might take years to know everything, but she always listened and absorbed whatever Vi taught her. Even if she didn't understand it right away, she always listened with non-judgemental curiosity.

"Would you like me to get you something to drink? I know you like the sweet teas I make," Caitlyn offered with a smile. She pushed back from the table and moved into the small kitchen (it was so quaint in her eyes) found a couple of metal cups and poured some of the tea into them. She grabbed a couple of cinnamon sticks she had left her when she knew that Vi liked the sweet spice. They dipped it into the cooled drinks and carried them over to the table. She set one down on the table next to Vi and then took a sip of her own. The sweet tea hit the right spot, wetting her throat as she let a little sigh escape her lips.

Setting down the tea, Caitlyn's hand moved back to touch Vi's back, a tender brush of her claws over her spine again til she knew she was ready to speak.

[moonbeamsung]

Sink or Swim

You plunged deep into an ocean of love for Huang Renjun, the boy who had already fallen for the sea itself.

member: renjun

au: sailor!renjun x gn!reader

word count: 2.7k

genre: angst, fluff, slightly dystopian

warnings: character death/drowning, mentions of water (one passing mention of a typhoon and a very heavy focus on the ocean), light profanity

recommended song: when i was older by billie eilish

author’s note: Not only did the lyrics to the above song inspire this fic, but so did the general mood and sound of it :) I would recommend listening while you read, since I think it really adds to the atmosphere. My creativity took quite a while to cooperate on this one but I like how it turned out and hope you do as well, feedback is highly appreciated as always. Thanks to @astroboy-lele for her help beta-reading this (like 2 hours ago), and enjoy!

taglist: @astroboy-lele @kyuwoyo @rvse-hvvck @nakamotocore @kisshim @hunjins​

network tags: @kpopscape @neo-constellations @culture-cafe @dreamlab-nct @k-dinernet 

The sleepy little fishing village you call home seems to sigh with the tides, waves lapping at the shore in a rhythm not unlike that of steady breaths. It’s the world’s way of inhaling the salty air, sometimes laced with the pungent scent of a fresh catch.

The sport itself is a life force here, the key to any sort of contact with the rest of civilization. Without it, the hill that the small town is nestled into might just swallow up the dozens of small brick buildings, reducing them to nothing but a memory. The murky waters would carry minuscule traces of its existence far and wide, but not even a name could break the surface.

Unfortunately, the village’s dependence on exporting fish leaves little room for the personal aspirations of its residents. At some point in your life, you’ll be called to assist with a certain aspect of the product’s distribution. The elders in charge find ways for even the most unskilled of hand and mind to participate, but they always save the hardest work for those who were born into it: the sailing families.

Quite literally, a love of the sea is in Huang Renjun’s blood.

His great-grandfather was around to see the beginnings of the seaside community, and he became the most famous fisherman known to the village by returning to the docks with large nets in tow, just bursting with sharp fins and thrashing tails. Those were the glory days, and generations later, the Huangs want their young son to follow in his footsteps, to become just as well-known for legendary angling expeditions.

But... he’s not really interested.

He would much rather take to the waves in a boat and chase the horizon, not bothering with casting a net or even a rod. To him, the ocean air is beyond suffocating, like a poison meant to expel any wanderlust from his lungs, to rip it from his soul. Renjun is a fiery spirit, and not even the crashing, slate-colored waters can dampen the adventurous spark burning bright and warm inside of him. It would take more than a typhoon to do so.

You admire that about him, too. How he holds a strong but steady resistance to the traditions of the village, the limited and meager expanse of the world that you’ve both lived in—no, been confined to—all your life.

Just think of the endless possibilities that await, beyond the hazy fog obscuring the fine line between land and sea. The faint shapes that loom in the distance, perhaps a trick of the eye but perhaps another sign of life besides you, seem so close but are still just out of your reach, teasing you both with what could lie outside this languid, ashen realm. Your heart races at the mere notion of such a thing.

The waves are impossibly blue when their image is reflected in Renjun’s dark eyes; you notice this one dreary afternoon as you let your feet dangle above the gentle ripples, sitting at the edge of one of the many docks that tangle through a mess of sailboats and fishing gear. The burnt orange of his threaded sweater stands out against the rest of the scenery, so monochromatic you sometimes swear the world is black and white.

He’s a splash of color, a splash of adventure and determination among a colorless mass of villagers who wouldn’t trade the way things are right now for anything. The dull, scuffed toes of his boots drag along the wooden planks as he trudges towards you, settling down at your side with a small gust of wind. Both anticipating and dreading the impending day when his father would teach him how to take to the seas and steer the boat that’s run in his family for generations, Renjun finds himself at the humble and rickety marina often. Anticipating because that knowledge would enable him to change the course of his own life on his own terms, and dreading because he knew of the harsh disapproval those actions would receive.

But still, Renjun stays right there on the dock next to you, diving past the shallows of his conscious mind and into the darkest, deepest abyss of his own thoughts, letting them bubble and sputter up and puff into the air like sea spray. If both your hearts are oceans of their own, they collide in this moment, as his ambitions and aspirations spill over into yours and settle on the seabed below. He’s chosen you to entrust these secrets with. You, the only other resident of the village with a familiar restlessness in your eyes when the sun disappears below the distant horizon, gaze wistful and longing to do the same.

And as if they’re the precious riches of a mythical swashbuckling pirate, you keep them there, each word a golden coin or sparkling gem hidden away in a long-lost treasure chest. The twilight sky that evening is the most vivid you’ve ever seen it, and daylight is fading fast by the time Renjun finishes telling you everything.

“I never knew there was someone who felt the same way I did about all this.”

The realization sets in late, just as the weathered surface you’re both perched on sways in the wind. You fear for a second that you might slip forward into the icy water; that’s how strong the breeze whipping through the air around you feels. That, or it’s due to the sheer force from your heart as it swells at finally meeting someone you’ve admired from afar for what feels like an eternity, ever since you understood what life was like and what it meant for you here.

Sure, Renjun’s grandfather may have been well-known in the past for one reason, but to you, Renjun is creating a legacy of his own for another, one of more than just adolescent rebellion and defiance. It’s one of undoubtable self-awareness, of an adamant refusal to conform to an existence he hadn’t chosen, and he’s finding a way to alter what he’s been seemingly destined for all his life.

“Me neither,” you shake your head, still in a small fraction of euphoric disbelief. “All that’s left to do now is stow away on a ship together in the dead of night, I suppose.” The comment is joking, but he takes it more seriously than you anticipated. The cloudy sky above brightens with his eyes.

You convene in shadowy alleys when no one’s looking, wasting away the hours as you mutually yearn for just a sliver of knowledge of the unknown, enthralled by the waves in the distance and what lies below and above and beside. Renjun sometimes whisks you away to a steep overlook that provides a panoramic view of the beach, the powdery sand so far beneath your bare feet gray enough to pass for finely packed pebbles. You find yourself melting into his embrace like the sea melts into the sky, blurring the already thin lines between air and water and between friendship and love. The way his fingers encircle your wrist with a curl like that of a cresting wave is telling enough on its own. His heart belongs to two bodies now.

You can’t help but notice all the similarities he bears to the element you’ve never lived a day of your life without seeing, without hearing the undulations of, without smelling or tasting the salty tang it brings to the air. Always moving, a force to be reckoned with, and evidently a possessor of the ability to travel far and wide on even the most fleeting of whims.

He’s utterly himself around the water, too. You’re almost positive he could effortlessly duck beneath the surface, take a breath, and his lungs would drink it in as if it was air. The only place he doesn’t feel like drowning is below the waves.

“Look!” Renjun points out an unfamiliar vessel tied down at the far end of the pier one day, sails torn in jagged lines as if they had been slashed by a larger-than-life creature. Upon closer examination, you find that the wooden bow of the sailboat is splintering and the windows into the cabin are shattered. The name carved into the hull is simply too faded for you to decipher the letters.

“This boat must’ve gone through hell and back,” you comment, your response delayed like an echo. “Who do you think it belongs to, anyway?”

He’s lost within a symphony of thoughts before he answers, “No one.”

Both incredulous and doubtful, you whip around to meet Renjun’s assured gaze. “No one ever comes and no one ever goes, it’s that simple. These same boats have been docked for years. They’ve belonged to the same families one decade after another.” The boy sighs, scanning the horizon for anything that might appear the slightest bit unusual. “The real question is where it came from.”

You have no answer for him.

“Regardless,” he speaks up again, quite matter of factly, “It’s ours now.”

“Ours?”

“Yes, ours. You said you’d sail away with me, right?”

It certainly isn’t the aspiration you would have envisioned yourself pursuing. You could have chosen to quietly obey, to live and work exactly as you were told by a community so rigid that you felt frozen to the bone. Not like the pleasant chill of the ocean, rather a restrictive pair of icy shackles, ever-tightening around your limbs and subduing your mutinous thoughts. But here you are, longing for a little something more both in life and with the only person that understands your heart’s deepest desires like they’re his own. And at their core, they are.

Without fear, Renjun takes a confident stride onto the boat’s deck, turning back to you and offering his hand as you mimic the action. “What are you waiting for?” He asks, eyes twinkling.

A warm thrill courses through your veins, growing hotter with each small preparation you make towards your inevitable departure. It’s an affair of many weeks, but at last you’ve gathered all of the necessary supplies and courage to carry out your plan.

The day finally comes, the day you’ll spring into action and take hold of your futures by the ropes, no one but yourselves telling you how or where to steer.

On the most moonlit night you’ve ever been alive to witness, you and Renjun both slip out from underneath your fraying comforters, unbeknownst to the rest of your households. Save for your two restless souls, the entire village is sound asleep, the unceasing lullaby of the tides casting its steadfast spell on bodies and minds like clockwork. Wooden floors so hollow and dusty that they barely creak under your weight, you successfully glide out your respective front doors in silence like translucent spirits.

No one else in the village had even acknowledged the foreign ship’s presence, but this shouldn’t surprise you, not in the slightest. The thick, colorless fog of life had long since settled around the shoulders of anyone and everyone who allowed it to, ensnaring them in a mind-numbing, monotonous routine. It blocks out the sun and the rain, the light and the darkness. It’s all so sickeningly the same. Empty eyes can’t pay any mind to their surroundings. Meanwhile, yours are full of hope, the brightest in the land.

In the distance, Renjun appears as vibrant and sprightly as ever. His form cascades down a flight of stone steps, leading from the sheer hills clustered with homes onto sea-level ground, and glides over the small dunes of sand separating you. He reaches the edge of the beach and your side a minute later, the thump of his heart keeping time with the tides. A nod, and you’re sprinting towards the docks, fingers trembling in excited anticipation.

It isn’t until after you’ve clumsily set sail that you see the ominous shadows of dark clouds laid out ahead, directly in your path. Even in the dead of night, a flash of distant lightning illuminates the world in a harshly jagged blaze for as far as the eye can see, as it strikes some unknown location out in front of the sailboat.

You’re certain the repairs you’ve spent days and nights working on with Renjun will be enough to keep the ship intact, despite the weather you’re sure to endure if you continue on this route. So you press on, missing the apprehension furrowing his eyebrows.

But because every force of nature has decided to convene against you both for reasons eternally unknown, the harsh winds weave their way in between the threads your careful hands had stitched on the canvas, meant to catch the breeze but being torn apart by it instead. Suddenly you’re struggling to hold on to your balance and you feel as flimsy as a leaf in a blustering current of cold, crisp wind.

Perhaps you should have practiced first. Renjun had not yet received a single ounce of training from his experienced father, and it was far from wise to leave the only life you’ve ever known without any knowledge of how to get to your next one. He’s trying to hide his panic now, wavering between the steering controls and warily glancing up at the gloomy midnight sky. One more flash of lightning, and all goes awry, all at once.

The water around you surges, as if physically drawn to the heavens, and more falls from above. Raindrops pelt down onto your arms and soak your hair, drenching the sails and filling the shallow hull almost instantly. Wave after towering wave crashes down, hard, and you’re no longer certain which way is up. About to lose your footing, you feel a pair of arms wrap around your middle like the snug hold of a life preserver.

Before all vitality can be lost and smothered by the raging ocean, a desperate Renjun holds fast to you, your thin clothes clinging to the damp skin of his hands. The storm is just too much, and there’s no way you’ll see the journey through like you had hoped. It’s difficult, excruciating even, to accept, and even more difficult for Renjun to let go of you like this. He’ll fight until the end, fight the fates and the invisible forces that life entails to hold you for just a few more seconds.

He won’t be able to live with himself, even in whatever afterlife may or may not come after the darkness he already sees, feels closing in on him, if he doesn’t sacrifice his last breath for a final moment of bliss, of you.

The sensation of Renjun’s wan lips pressing into yours overwhelms and surpasses all others, his palms tracing the edges of your figure like the tides trace the sandy shore. Urgently he draws you close up against him, trying his best to shield you from the inescapable terror of the sea. A lifetime’s worth of energy and emotion and passion is expended, making up for all the time in the world he wouldn’t and couldn’t have. The tang of saltwater meets your tongue, and you’re not sure if it’s the taste of him or of the ocean.

A weak tug on your palpitating heart, an internal scream in your ringing ears tells you that you should resent him for this, for propelling you forward in your apparently unachievable fantasies of living the life you wanted for yourself. But you don’t, you can’t. It’s no one’s fault, really. With this thought, a peaceful stillness washes over you amidst the chaos, and your awareness of the boy in your embrace fades steadily, slowly, then rapidly. Reality is getting paler, more black and white than ever, and you’re sinking further and further down towards the ocean floor miles below. The faint light of the moon becomes distorted from underneath the water, blurring with your failing vision. It all slips away, and then there’s nothing.

It’s a shame no one in the village takes notice of the two extra stars that blink into existence on that moonlit night, but yours and Renjun’s souls take their place among the rest, both a warning and a calling to anyone who dared attempt what you did. Two guiding lights pointing any other dreamers towards the hope of a better, brighter future.

[ferinehuntress]

A charming smile crossed the piltovan’s lips as she allowed the thoughts to process through her mind. She always wondered how she would get along with them, if she had been a part of their life sooner. She glanced away for a moment and then smiled tenderly. “I wished I had met her before.” How things would be different now. Perhaps there wouldn’t be the chaos or the troubles. A laugh echoed soon after at the idea of Mylo just flailing around. But the more she talked about Powder, the more it felt so much like herself. “I think so too,” Caitlyn nodded as she gazed back at Vi, always supportive in her words of the past and absorbing them.

But all of their comforts, all of their tender conversations and affectionate touches, quickly ended when the shimmer came about. Caitlyn’s chair sprang backwards, but her nimble body flipped and landed on her hands and feet and scrambled backwards quickly with a hiss on her lips. The fur on her shoulders had bristled as those large metal fists came down onto the table. Splinters flung through the air as she used her arms to cover her face, ensuring the fractured rubble that sprang to life from the attack on wood did not hit her.

The room fell silent, as Caitlyn slowly lowered her arms down. The adrenaline pumping through her body made her forget about her aching wounds on her neck, arm and collarbone. She carefully stood up, glancing at the decimated table and the jacket that covered it. “I’m about to find out,” Caitlyn carefully took her steps forward, posed for any danger and ready to leap at the first hint of danger. Her hand reached forward, pausing at first before grabbing the red leather jacket and then quickly flipped it over. It was hard to tell where anything had gone to. If Caitlyn didn’t know better, those gauntlets must have to turn it to dust at how hard she hit it.

“I’m pretty sure you utterly destroyed it. I’ll get your jacket washed, so any residue is gone. Last thing I think either of us wants is shimmer on it,” Caitlyn said, as she reached over for a bag and rolled it up and dropped it into it. “I need to buy you a new desk too... and two new chairs,” Caitlyn noted a few things before turning around and placing her hands up against Vi’s face. Her thumbs brushed softly, finding the spots against her cheekbones to soothe any leftover panic that came with the situation (and it helped calm herself down at the same time). A gentle purr rumble in her chest as she moved forward and brushed her face up against vi’s as well for added comfort.

“I think we had enough to deal with Shimmer and bones today,” Caitlyn admitted, all the more happy to no longer talk about Jinx or Shimmer or her ungodly return to the world. Of course, she knew she would have to come back to it, but right now, she didn’t want to. She had a bitten enough by the rabid woman and she was going to ignore her for now. “How about I order you your favorite meat sandwich? I think we both could do with some food. And I still need to figure out what to tell my father when I get back. You know he’s going to go into panic mode the moment he sees all of this,” she said, waving her hand at the bandages on her neck, collar, and arms.

Vi had a dumb grin plastered to her face at Caitlyn's words and nodded before she teased: "Oh, I can see that." There was no malice in her words, more like an entertained understanding. Vi had lost count of the nights when she would come back to The Last Drop, the rest of the group staggering behind her after they all had gotten into some scuffle with an enemy gang.

No matter how many knicks and bite wounds, she had sustained, Vi always ensured Mylo, Powder, Ekko and Claggor were alright first. Vander never chastised her for it, just helping her tend to the wounds in quiet. Vi used to think he was quite proud of how she handled her role as the protector and the gang leader of their little group.

Now as an adult, Vi had released how inexperienced and foolish these scuffles with the other children had been. It was Stillwater, which had given Vi a more comprehensive understanding of the gang culture, structuring Zaun's street. Prior, Vi had always assumed that being a gang leader meant punching every problem, you come across. Through Stillwater and people like Needle-Jim, Vi had discovered that usually, a true Chem-Baron had someone else do the punching for them and that there was just as much merit to a well-placed threat as to a well-struck punch.

"No shame in that", Vi remarked as Caitlyn admitted she had difficulties remembering to tend to her wounds. Her lips quivered as she briefly revealed her fangs in a raspberry. "Janna, that sounds awful. I am grateful that you had someone who could help you with your Vastayan nature. If only a little bit."

"You sound a lot like Powder", Vi revealed after Caitlyn had brought up how much difficulty she had with people in social settings, "She was weird too. Couldn't really stand most people, save for me maybe. And she hated being alone." A strand of magenta hair tickled her nose. Vi sighed sadly and shoved it away with her hand.

"Why did you leave me?!"

"I am not saying that any of us really understood how clan culture worked. Certainly not when we had barely grown our fangs and claws. You should have seen Mylo when his had come in. He'd flail around like mad, almost as if his arms were too long for his body. Pow-Pow meanwhile took to it all swimmingly. However, she still would withdraw so much. Find crawlspaces to hide in and watch from, freak people out with that fact. Would talk more to her inventions than to kids her age, save for Ekko. I think in another life you might have been good friends."

Green eyes dropped down her shoulder as Caitlyn squeezed it. As she brushed Vi's hair out of her eyes to look at her face, the young Zaunite quickly closed her hand around Caitlyn's and gave it an affectionate squeeze. She said: "I am glad I can be that for you."

"FUCK ME SIDEWAYS WITH A CHAINSAW! Are you sure? Shimmer in a bullet? IS SHE OUT OF HER MIND?!?!"

Vi bolted off her chair and bounced around the room in a sharp triangle before she landed, facing the bullet on the table, a few feet out of harm's way. Her mouth was slightly open and a quiet hiss escaped her lips. Vi's hairs stood on her neck. Even though Caitlyn had done her hardest to cut off the familiar sickly sweet smell, Vi had still caught a whiff of it. The blood rushed in her ears and her heart hammered in her chest. The whiplash, she had felt when Caitlyn had fed her the healing potion, still prominently thrummed in her mind.

As Caitlyn asked for a bag, Vi swiftly tore her leather jacket from her shoulders. Bolting towards Caitlyn, she wrapped her jacket around the bullet too, before picking up the Atlas gauntlets. Sliding them on, a brisk shout of "Out of the way!" was all Caitlyn got before Vi raised both fists and slammed them onto the bundle, smashing the bullet into a million tiny pieces, thus having the Shimmer soaked in their clothes, and cleaving the desk in two. Stepping back, Vi shook her arms and flexed her fingers. She asked almost sheepishly: "Is it gone?"

[ferinehuntress]

"I um.... got a little too focused on getting rid of that stuff," Caitlyn huffed at her intensity in taking care of Vi that she managed to forget about her wounds. And the worst part was, this wasn't the first time. It's happened before, many times. How many times did her mother tell her to stay in bed after that first explosion at the academy hall, or during horseback riding when she fell off and twisted her ankle badly, and she still decided to get up and walk? "I hate to say, but this isn't the first time I forget about wounds," She let out a half laugh and settled down with her.

A soft sigh left her lips. "It was difficult growing up in Piltover like this. Even chasing rabbits was forbidden, or giving into the more... primal nature of the beast. Prime and proper, that was the way of a Piltovan," She waved her hand as if annoyed with the concept. 

"It could be," Caitlyn let out a little chuckle. "I've known her for..." Caitlyn paused for a minute counting the years. "Five years now? maybe six. She showed me the ins and outs of everything, at least in terms of how to deal with the urges and struggles of nature," A smile crossed her lips as she bit the corner of her lip. "Yeah, I didn't care for most people. Honestly, I was more content talking to my cats or dogs than talking to people. I used to get so many lectures, that I would mess with people to get them to leave the house, putting salt in their tea or mustard in their biscuits. Bloody hell, I hated people; still do," That thought was sweet though, the idea of Vi's father wooing her mother. A tiger and an ocelot, made her think of her mother and father; a leopard and a lynx. "Well, my mum is a leopard and my dad's a lynx, not sure how my dad managed that," Her mother was as hard as nails and as sharp as glass; how her father got underneath her skin she would never know.

A hand reached over and squeezed Vi's shoulder, a gentle smile on her face. "It was, but I managed. And since meeting you, I don't... I don't feel like I have to hide that anymore," Her hand moved to brush against her hair, pushing it back to look at her face. Her eyes glanced over to the bullet and wished she knew what to do. Regular bullets she knew, but a bone? She pushed her lips to the side, reaching over toward it to pick up it. It shifted between her fingers, glancing over it. "Well, the casing is gone now, the bullet isn't much of a danger, so it co---," Caitlyn paused a moment, as she lifted the bullet closer toward her face.

At first, she thought it had been red markings, the blood of hers dried onto the bone fragment. A claw lifted, pressing into the bullet, and tried to pry it slightly apart. That's when the purple liquid slid down her nail, over her finger. Caitlyn immediately dropped it as she stared at her hand. "Fuck... that's why I went so rabid," Startled eyes stared at her hand, realizing that the exact substance the two of them fought against, had been within her bloodstream last night. "She's putting Shimmer in her bullets. If a bone bullet isn't crazy enough, she's dosing them with shimmer!" Caitlyn stared at the bullet on the table where she had dropped it, just barely a whiff of the shimmer in the air and it was causing her to growl in aggravation. Her hand reached over, grabbing a cloth and wrapping it around the bullet immediately to try and cut off the scent so that it didn't turn the both of them aggressive. 

"I need a bag, something that will cut off the smell, do you have anything at all?" Caitlyn questioned between gritted teeth and a slight snarl.

Vi lowered her teacup and stared at Caitlyn with an intense expression of shock and bewilderment. She whispered: "Cupcake, no offence, but how do you forget about a gunshot wound?!"

The young Zaunite was grateful that Caitlyn hadn't asked her about her harsh and averse reaction to pills or, worse, forced her to take them against her pain regardless. While Vi's logical mind knew that pills were medicine and thus supposed to help, the guards in Stillwater had perverted that concept so much that she could no longer look at these small objects and not feel an intense bout of fear and hatred.

Even before Vi had met Caitlyn, she had recognised the importance of jokes. The Undercity was a harsh and unforgiving place, dreary in colour if you didn't know what to look for, and sombre in mood. After a day of almost nothing but fighting and stealing, and having Enforcers breathe down your neck, you were often so exhausted that you just wanted to curl up somewhere and die. Joking around with her siblings had given Vi rare moments of light and brightness in such a dire day-to-day life. Laughter, it seemed, was the antidote to many emotional poisons.

Vi gave a cheeky smile as Caitlyn admitted that yeah, the image of Cassandra Kiramann trying to coach her daughter on how to use her tongue was indeed pretty amusing. Her expression grew pensive at Caitlyn's awe at this tidbit about her upbringing. She confessed: "I cannot even imagine how we are not supposed to learn this stuff. The idea of forcing someone to suppress their ancestry like that." She shuddered. "By Janna, it just feels wrong."

Vi gawked at Caitlyn, lips slightly parted, and whispered under her breath: "No fucking way." She smiled widely. "Is that why you were so chill about me? Because you had dealt with tiger Vastayas before. From what I know, most snow leopards are really antisocial. Especially around other big cats. On the other hand, my Dad, who was a tiger, managed to woo my Mum, who was an ocelot, so hey..."

Her expression turned serious as Caitlyn revealed what type of Vastaya existed in Piltover and how Piltovan society expressed distaste and dislike for any Vastayan heritage. "That must be hard", Vi said, "Living in a place, which does not accept you for who you are. Plus having to express your hunting instincts around all the other Vastaya." She placed her fingers against her temple and gulped. "Oh Janna, I'd go crazy."

But then Caitlyn brought the conversation back to the item, they had talked about prior. Vi shut her eyes. She couldn't look at that blasted bullet. White and unassuming, yet oh, so very lethal.

Vi spoke slowly and cautiously, choosing each word carefully: "I do not know, Caitlyn. If the bone is from Silco, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, then Powder will likely come back for it. He wormed himself so much into her head that it seemed he stuck around even after his death." She hated it. "I don't know enough about firearms to discern if there is any more danger from this thing. You are the expert here. Not me. What do you say we oughta do?"

[ferinehuntress]

"Yeah, just... kind of forgot about the gunshot wound," Caitlyn grumbled at herself, her hand carefully touching the furry shoulder and waiting for the discomfort to fade. "Should have thrown it with my other arm,"

Eyes watched Vi, seeing her sip at the tea, and she swore she could watch the stress fading from her shoulders. Good, no more of that stress if she could avoid it. She noted to make sure there were no pills and make sure her father didn't give any to her. She couldn't help but wonder why, what had happened that caused such panic and fear over the medicine. Is that why she reacted so harshly to that healing potion she had given her down in the undercity as well? Caitlyn deduced some of it must have been because of the ingredient of Shimmer, which was a volatile liquid in itself; but perhaps there was more to it? Questions Caitlyn wouldn't ask, it was easy to refrain herself when it came to Vi. Her comfort was far more important than the curiosity of questions.

With their tense lifestyle, constantly on edge, it was nice to have moments of reprieve, to have a joke or a poke at fun. Vi was practically the only person who could put herself at ease like such.

The sudden buckle of laughter caught Caitlyn off guard at first, staring at Vi who nearly doubled over in laughter. It took a few seconds to realize it wasn't the story she was laughing at (Caitlyn highly doubted that in the first place after all) but the picture of her mother giving her a lecture on how to pleasure someone. Caitlyn found her lips turning upward, a soft laugh on her lips that allowed the tension to fade once more. Again, proof that Vi had a way of helping her relax when she became far too wound up and tight in thought. "It is pretty amusing," Caitlyn agreed as she found herself just grinning as Vi lost it to the visual she presented. Once her laughter faded, Caitlyn's smile did as well and listened quietly.

"Amazing," Caitlyn whispered, as her mother never did that herself. They depended upon the brushes and combs, rather than those more natural animal instincts. "That's a way to learn, probably how we were meant to learn," Her family often tried to hide behind their human appearance, to be far more human than animals. It was the Piltovan way; a way she often pushed aside. Even so, that didn't help her learn how to handle it. "That's precious," Caitlyn mused, a little smile on her lips at the picture of Vi grooming her little sister. There was amusement though as Caitlyn laughed softly.

"Would you believe me if I told you there was a Tiger Vastaya up here in our bathhouses who taught me how to use my tongue and how to deal with all my vastayan traits?" From her tongue to her claws, even biting and more.

A small nod came over her head. "True, the vastaya around here tend to be more... prey status. Buffalo, deer, there's been a few rabbits too. Mum would hire many different vastaya at the mansion," She admitted but then shook her head. "No, she talked about it but expressed it was better not to engage in it. I visited the tiger at the bathhouse typically. She helped so that I could better cope with it," Her eyes widened at the thought of people paying for that! Caitlyn couldn't even imagine doing that though to each their own she supposed. A little grin touched her lips though, glad to know Vi enjoyed the idea of getting licked. "Well, I'm sure that'll happen at some point if you like being licked. I have a bit of a... enjoyment of doing that," Licking, biting, sucking, it was quite something she enjoyed.

But her mind glanced back over to the bone bullet and took a breath. "So what should we do about that?"

Without a single shard of hesitation, Vi closed her eyes. She regularly forgot that Caitlyn was more than just an empath. Her girlfriend could sense the emotions of other people with such intensity and perceptiveness as if they were her own. She claimed it had something to do with the shard of a Hextech Crystal, which had embedded itself into her skin when she was little. Of course, Cupcake would be able to sense that Vi was wrought by her trauma, even when she did her hardest to hide this fact.

Her fine hearing picked up the shovelling of Caitlyn's feet, the scraping of knuckles over a table...the shaking of a pill bottle being picked up. Vi's stomach clenched even harder, but she kept her balled fists to her side and pinched her eyes shut so much it hurt. Air touselled her hair after a couple of steps and as Caitlyn hissed in pain, Vi's head instinctively whipped in the direction of the sound and she called: "Everything okay on your end, Cupcake?"

Once Caitlyn sat back down in her chair and confirmed that things were alright again, Vi opened her eyes. The pills were gone. Not just the pills but the bottle too. Instead, all that was left, was the cup with the cat mint tea. Vi rose the mug to her lips and took a sip. The hot Ionian tea settled in her stomach, a comfortable weight, from which spread a warmth, which eased up her muscles and made her stress go down. The pills were gone. Caitlyn would make sure, she never had to confront them again. Vi could breathe again.

She noticed how Caitlyn seemed to shrink in on herself and her breathing quickened barely audibly. Vi carefully reached forward with a hand and placed it slowly upon Caitlyn's wrist. She said: "It is okay, Caitlyn. You are here. You are safe. I am with you. You are not alone."

There. Her silly joke worked. Vi breathed a sigh of relief as Caitlyn grinned and joked back at her. The light kiss on each other's lips was just what they needed to break up the sombre mood and grave worries, born from the topic of conversation. Vi settled back into the chair, calm and relaxed, crossing her arms but giving Caitlyn an encouraging nod to recount her own strange experience with the accidental consumption of human meat.

Vi couldn't help it. She laughed out loud, leg bouncing up and down and body buckling over. Wheezing and gasping for breath, she managed to stutter out: "I'm so sorry, Cupcake... I know I shouldn't be laughing... But oh my Janna, the image of your Mum trying to teach you... Why is that so cursed?! Bwahahahahaha!" Half laying on the desk, careful to not trip the tea cup over, she peered up at Caitlyn and through some spouts of laughter managed to gasp: "Give me five seconds. I promise I will treat what you told me seriously. I just need to get that image of your Piltie Mum teaching you out of my head...." More laughing.

Finally, Vi managed to calm herself down. Sitting up more properly, she said: "I am sorry that happened to you. That sounds pretty traumatic, especially if you are completely unaware of how barbed your tongue is. I remember when Powder and I grew up, our mother would always groom us more than bathe us. So, we were used to the whole barbed tongue stuff. And my Mum was always careful enough to not rip off skin. She could lick around your hair and temple and you never had to worry about getting scalped. She was that skilled with her tongue.

"And well, as I got older, I wanted to help Mum clean Powder. That was actually how I learned how to use my tongue without hurting somebody. Because Mum taught me how to groom Powder." A sad smile flitted across Vi's lips. "She used to giggle and struggle so much during those sessions. Once I got old enough to visit brothels by myself, I specifically asked to sleep with another tiger Vastaya descendant. Barbette had this huge woman. It was she who taught me how to use my tongue and claws for more sensible matters."

"I'm still sorry that stuff happened to yah", Vi said, "Pilties just aren't part Vastaya normally. So of course, they wouldn't get this stuff. Of course, it would freak them out. And of course, it would freak you out too. Did your Mum ever bring up how you have a barbed tongue and claws? Because in Zaun, that stuff would not have even happened. We grow up with the knowledge that our bodies have these gimmicks. Nobody bats an eye if you strip someone's skin because you licked too hard on accident. Heck, some masochists at Barbette's place even pay you to get their skin licked off in parts. Point is: You ain't a trencher tick, Caitlyn, and believe me, you can lick me at any time. Even if that leads to a little bit of blood."

[ferinehuntress]

　⊰ ⸻ ⊱　"Vi?" The question left her lips, as the bubbling feeling tickled the side of her head. That feeling of cold helplessness, the fear that wretched her mind as it hit her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes flicked over Vi, looking at her tightened hands against her legs and the tremors that wrecked her hands. She didn't need to be a scientist to see a trauma response and the feeling of it in the emotional capacity. She moved her, brushing her hand against Vi's face to purposely block the sight of the pills with her hand. "Vi, close your eyes. Trust me," Caitlyn asked, and once Vi did so, Caitlyn stood up and grabbed the pills.

Her fingers tightened around them and moved away from Vi, a little weak on her feet but enough to move as she grabbed the bottle. A click of the door came and she dropped the two pills into the toilet and then undid the bottle and dumped the rest of them into the toilet. One quick flush and they were all gone.

Caitlyn didn't know why, but she wasn't going to ask either. All she knew was that she needed to get the trigger away from Vi. "Keep your eyes closed," Caitlyn encouraged, so she knew she was still working on it. Her hand lightly touched Vi's shoulder and then moved past her toward the window. Putting the bottle in the trashcan would be no good, if Vi saw it, she might still react. Caitlyn moved over toward a window, as she unlatched it and pushed it open. The fresh air filled her nose as she let out a sigh and then threw the bottle out. A hiss left her lips, completely forgetting about the bullet wound in her shoulder, as she grabbed it and leaned up against the window. She held her left arm to keep it from moving and sat back down in the chair. "Fuck," she muttered, the pain sheering through her arm.

"It's gone, all of it," Caitlyn promised and placed the tea back in her hands. "I'll make sure to look up different kind of teas and herbs to help with pain if you need it. Does the catnip tea help?" The Ionian tea tasted wonderful, and she had added some catnip into it to help the both of them be at ease a little more due to their injuries. She lifted her glass to her lips, needing it more than ever with the understanding of this concept. She pulled the cup up to her lips, her hands shaking as she tried not to go back to the moment of fear and terror. However, it was impossible not to. Her hands quickly put the tea down as her hands brushed against her face, needing to remember that she wasn't muzzled.

Just a memory, just a memory. The cold pit of her stomach twisted and turned as she closed her eyes and tried to breathe. Anxiety welled up like a Tsunami wave that hit her with a flood of terrorizing sentiments. Once she worked through that, she knew what she needed to do. She knew she had no idea what it was like to have to eat that, day in and day out.

She focused on the joke at first, to help feel a little better as she grinned. "I'm sure the owner of the shop has a special deal with you. Open twenty-four, seven, for take out or dine in," There she was, the shift of her lips into a smile as Caitlyn leaned forward and lightly kissed her lips.

"It was... an accident," Caitlyn started as she took a breath. "I went to the local bathhouse and met up with a young woman there. We were getting frisky, the usual thing in a bathhouse, I was there for a reason," The back of Caitlyn's fingers brushed up against her lips as she let out a nervous laugh of mortification. "I went to lick her, and I brushed my tongue too hard against her back shoulder-blade, and completely stripped away her skin. It happened so fast, I didn't even have a chance to pull it off the barbs of my tongue and the skin was already in the back of my mouth and I swallowed. Worse was when she screamed and pulled away, for some reason I grabbed her shoulders and my claws dug in. For a brief second, I didn't want her to move, before I realized what my tongue and claws had done. I can't forget her screams or calling me a freak. I apologized so profusely," Caitlyn waved her hand to the side as she stared down at her lap with her leg bouncing incessantly. "It was just... supposed to be a fun evening, that turned horrifying,"

Why would her leg not stop bouncing? Her hand grabbed her thigh and squeezed it, trying to stop it. "should have seen my mother trying to tell me what happened and try to teach me. Yeah, that didn't work out well," Caitlyn laughed, waving her hand again trying to deflect with the humor, and shrugged. "Not the typical birds and the bees talk. 'Kitten, you have to learn to use your tongue properly, with the right amount of strength,'" Her fingers brushed against her forehead, scrunched with a little laugh again. "spirits, it was humiliating to listen to my mother trying to teach me," Her laughter faded off as she just stared down at her lap, unsure of what to say, and felt as if she was rambling now.

"It just added to the nobles thinking I was a freak, a misfit. They even started calling me a trencher tick that came from the sewers to live in Piltover. Oh, everyone heard, it was the talk of the town, and..." Caitlyn put her hand up to her mouth. "I'm going to shut up now,"

Part of Vi could more feel than hear Caitlyn's soothing words, having gotten used to her facial expression whenever her girlfriend was comforting her. Instead, all her focus was on the pills and the glass of water, Caitlyn had placed in front of her. What rationally she knew, was meant as a well-meaning gesture, caused her stomach to drop and her throat to tighten. There was a tremor in her hand as if it wanted to reach up and rub her throat. Vi fought the urge, however, and instead closed her hand in a fist, hoping that would make the tremors subside.

"I can't take those", Vi finally managed through clenched teeth before she forced herself to look at Caitlyn and give the conversation her full attention once more. If she just controlled herself enough and did not look at the pills, she was going to be fine. If she did not see them, then she did not need to think about them or feel the discomfort.

The Ionian tea was helping both women, though recovery would be a long and stony road. Like any true Zaunite, Sevika and Jinx had aimed to cause long-lasting injuries with their respective attacks. Vi and Caitlyn could count their lucky stars that they had not suffered the worst possible outcome of their wounds. They would survive. Badly mutilated maybe, but they would survive nonetheless.

Zaun hadn't been that ruthless in Vander's time, even with all these horrifying and gruesome customs, Vi had had such a hard time connecting to. How could she not? Piltover had made it clear again and again that trenchers like her belonged in the gutters and the sewage. And when digging her teeth into meat, which made her tongue bulge and her gag reflex turn every swallow into a painful ordeal, Vi was inclined to believe them.

Even when Vander had allowed Vi and Powder to perform the necessary passing rites towards their parents, for Vi, it had always felt more like the crude necessity it was, instead of the ceremony it claimed itself to be. She remembered the envy, with which she had eyed the graveyards, Piltovan society could afford, and how she had longed to escape this rut, Zaun had forced her in since she had been little. Those glistening buildings of white and that spinning gold metal and its azure ceiling, those large airships had been things, Vi had been chasing after in her dreams. Powder had deserved a better life. Not just her. A selfish part of Vi thought she deserved a better life too.

That bullet on the table, unassuming, hauntingly white and still, was like a part of her old life had found its way back into her new one. It caused Vi to grind her teeth. She wanted to slam a balled fist down upon the bullet and try to break it herself. She wanted to hurl it into the Pilt so she no longer had to look at it. She wanted to swallow it whole, and she hated herself for that last desire. She hated being the tiger. She hated everything, which made her Zaun.

"Yeah", Vi mouthed, "She did..."

There was no point in denying the information, she just had revealed. Her breath came in a shaky exhale. Even without seeing Caitlyn, it was all too clear where both of them were mentally. That horrific tea party, which still gave Vi nightmares. Specifically, they were both seeing the moment where Jinx had presented her ultimatum. It had been so much more than just asking for Caitlyn's death. Vi had known deep down that eating Caitlyn with her had been a twisted attempt by Powder to reconnect with her sister. Even so Vi just couldn't bring herself to do it, no matter whether Caitlyn was dead or alive. She meant too much for the young Zaunite.

"Yeah", Vi reconfirmed once more when Caitlyn realised that Jinx had wanted to eat her because she had been an enemy. Her voice was muted and sullen. What more could she possibly say that Caitlyn hadn't realised already? All Vi knew, was that Powder's clear hunger and delight in consuming Caitlyn had horrified her. She had never seen someone be so addicted to human meat before. She had never seen someone be so ecstatic about cannibalism before. Just what crazy delusions had Silco woven into Powder's head to make her believe that any of this was okay? Moreover, what did it say about Powder that with Silco gone, she still was as determined as ever to consume Caitlyn?

Could it really be that her sister had gone crazy?

Caitlyn's touch soothed her troubled mind. Vi's shoulders relaxed and she leaned into the caressing fingers and the kiss on her temple. It still felt her feeling strangely mushy and shaky whenever Caitlyn showed her affection and care like this. Vi normally fulfilled this role herself, so to be on the receiving hand of such tender caresses felt weird and a bit disorienting, but not unwelcome.

"I know...", Vi murmured, "And you have no idea how tough it is. I don't like... how my culture makes me feel like an animal." Her eyes gleamed in surprise at Caitlyn's reveal. "How did that happen? I mean, no offence, but you are a Piltie! You shouldn't come into contact with human meat at all."

Caitlyn's joke caused Vi to grin. She teased back: "I got half a mind to order takeout again tonight. Think you have open, Cupcake? Or is that an only eat-in affair?"

[ferinehuntress]

　⊰ ⸻ ⊱　"Hey, it's okay," were the first words that slipped her lips, worried about what was going through her head. And then when Vi hurt herself her brows lowered in concern as she placed one hand against her arm and the other soothingly rubbing her back. "Easy, easy," Caitlyn whispered, knowing that had to hurt. just her roar of words expressed how much it must be splitting her head in half. She reached over toward a bottle of medication her father must have given Vi, and she opened it up to plop two pills into her hands. That should take care of the pain and any residual headache she thought to herself. She set the two small circular pills on the table and then the cup to Vi.

A soft smile touched her lips to see her drinking the tea, hoping it would soothe her throat and let her forget about the pain a little bit. They both were in a pretty bad spot from their wounds and the pain would be there for a while. Her shoulder and her neck still hurt the most out of all her wounds, Jinx's fangs dug so deep into her neck that it was a miracle she hadn't bled out.

Leaning back in her chair, she rested the cup back and looked over to Vi as she finally found the words she needed. The way Vi spoke those words left a chill down her spine, looking at Vi's finger tapping the bullet. Caitlyn's eyes widened as she looked over at the bone. Human bones could not hold up in a bullet, but, Silco wasn't entirely human was he? Caitlyn took one of her clawed nails and tapped the bullet. It was a firm piece of material, harder than wood or regular bone.

"She... ate Silco?" Caitlyn slowly spoke, as she let out a breath of disbelief, and yet when it came to Jinx somehow it always wasn't a surprise either. Caitlyn flinched at the memory of the tea party and Jinx's voice, taunting Vi to eat her. How she would be a good meal, but she didn't realize it was part of the culture itself. Caitlyn's hands reached up to thread into her hair, trying to rid the memory that decided to pop up.

"We eat meat, oh I knew what was in those bowls, I knew what we had to do. You thought you were sly, but I know the taste, and it was delicious. This is food, and her blood makes your mouth water."

A shuddering breath left Caitlyn's lips as she let her hands fall to her lap and slowly opened them, trying to take a slow breath. "That's why she wanted to eat me. I'm her enemy," Caitlyn spoke quietly and then looked over to Vi as she finished talking and she watched her bury her fingers into her hair. Caitlyn couldn't fathom the idea of eating human flesh, it didn't evne make sense to her why anyone would partake in it. The one time she did it, it horrified her. She couldn't get the taste out of her mouth no matter how much she tried and she was sick for days. Caitlyn also realized why Vi was troubled, the last sentence.

Even I did it.

While she couldn't understand it, it was something that Zaun did, and seemed they must have done it for a long time. Caitlyn shifted her chair and placed her hand up against Vi's good cheek, and then leaned up and kissed her tiger's temple. "Vi," Caitlyn whispered gently, wanting to comfort Vi cause this was tormenting her. It didn't matter what Jinx had done to Silco, or what the Zaunites did in their culture. "Look at me love," Fingers brushed up along Vi's head as she soothed her tenderly. "What you did, was acceptable down there, and I can't imagine how hard it must be to explain that part of Zaun," Caitlyn's finger brushed along her cheek, with the same adoration she had before she even knew about this truth. "I can't say I know what it's like to be subjected to it every day of my life, and how hard it must have been. Assuming it must have been with how you are reacting," A quiet moment as she let out a little sigh and glanced down.

"I... accidentally did it once before a few years ago. I didn't mean to, but I can't forget what it tasted like, and just how unnerving it was," blue eyes turned back up to Vi and her hand brushed along her head again. "The way I saw the undercity, the struggles it bears, you did what was acceptable and what you needed to do to survive. I know that doesn't take away the memories or the taste, but if I can, you never have to do it again," The words sounded like a vow she made and then lightly nudged Vi. "Besides, I like the way you eat me out better than what they do down there," Caitlyn teased, trying to make light of the situation though she wasn't sure if her jokes were very good. She often failed to understand jokes or even make them.

It had taken three months after the Council building had exploded, Cassandra Kiramman had died and Piltover had pretty much lost its marbles collectively for Powder to make an appearance again. Not only had her sister reappeared in the heart of the City of Progress, but she had also chosen to attack Caitlyn near her own home. Vi could have kicked herself for having been so stupid as to focus only on Sevika and the gruesome facial injuries, she had retained from her, that she had not even been there to protect Caitlyn!

What was worse, was that Vi had a very good guess as to why Jinx had taken three months to make a reappearance. It may have been easy to assume that her grief had stupefied her (though Vi was honest, the idea of Jinx grieving over this bastard Silco sickened her to the spine), but Vi knew better. It was almost certain that Powder had done the one Zaunite ritual, which Vi had sworn off. However, if she had to go by physiology and what she knew of her own digestion process, it made sense that Powder had only been able to complete this funeral rite after three months.

"I know", Vi tried to defend herself fast, even as Caitlyn reassured her that this was not her fault, "It's just... I'm sorry..." For being born a Zaunite. She could not even finish her sentence. Caitlyn's comforting words, her gentle caress on her cheek, and the way those bright blue eyes stared up at her made Vi's stomach clench in hopeless longing and the way her guilt twisted up her innards. Sometimes, during particularly bad days, Vi felt like she did not deserve any of it.

Vi was about to ask what Caitlyn meant when she said for Vi to watch her face, however, then her face during her outburst answered the question for her. Sharp, stinging pain penetrated the left side of her face, flared up around her eye and splintered her skull. Vi held the side of her face and roared: "Ow! Fuck me sideways with a chainsaw!"

Caitlyn's claws, finer cut and trimmed, trailed down her spine in a trickling, soothing sensation. Vi rocked back and forth, nursing her face, her visible green eye dark from the pain and livid at her own stupidity. Caitlyn's soothing and crisp voice found its way through her pounding skull. Slowly, Vi's rocking subsided and she tried her hardest to calm down. It was true: Compared to Piltover, the Undercity was a whole other animal; and Caitlyn had never judged that animal, no matter how ugly and messy things got. Even so, whether intentionally or not, Vi had shielded Caitlyn from the worst of Zaun.

Vi gave a muted nod when Caitlyn offered to make her some sweet tea. A potential drink was exactly what she needed right now. She lowered her hand from the left side of her face - it had finally stopped pounding - and stared ahead in mute silence. "Thanks", Vi murmured as Caitlyn placed the mug of sweetened tea before her. She took a small sip, sighing in soft relief as the tea soothed her throat.

"I think I know whose bone that bullet is made from", Vi finally started to speak, "And I think I know how Powder acquired it." Her hand was pale as she tapped against the bone bullet. "That bullet was made from Silco's bones." She took another sip of her tea before she spoke again: "I also think I know why Jinx only showed up now, three months later. She must have eaten Silco. It's... it's a common funeral practice in the Undercity. Eating the flesh of your loved ones or eating the flesh of an enemy." Vi swallowed tensely and burrowed her hands in her magenta hair, carefully avoiding her injuries this time. "Eating human meat in general is incredibly normal. Even children do it. Even I... did it."