#quantum shatter

    Orianna was in pieces - literally.

    She'd been exploring an old building in Zaun when the floor had caved in. The Ball had shielded her a second too late and she'd gone down with it, aware of weight crushing around her. From the ruins of the crumbling building, she emerged.

    One arm had been torn off, pulled free from its mechanical socket. It was more of a nuisance than anything.

    She looked through the cloud of dust. The Ball moved, circling her with concern.

    " My arm, " Orianna commented, looking into the pile of rubble. Unfortunate. It would be inconvenient to  make a new one - she had been planning to leave for Demacia soon.

It was a mistake, a rookie one, he thought. 

Agonizing stabs through his leg and shoulder. 

A misjudgment. 

One second too late, that was all it took. 

Blood was a hot rush over skin and into clothes but Ezreal pressed on, white hot bolts of blue firing rapidly from the gauntlet in concentrated bursts. He had to keep up with Ekko, regardless of the injury. The things they fought, so augmented Ezreal wasn't even certain they could be called people anymore, were strong. And they certainly knew how to use their bizarre bladed weaponry with skill. They didn't bear the weaknesses of their fully flesh or fully mechanized counterparts, making them a struggle to destroy.

Ezreal's continous blinking in and out of existance kept Ekko from seeing the damages--probably for the better as he didn't want his friend distracted by it. The searing sting was difficult to ignore with how every step on the wounded leg jolted pain up his thigh and hissed breath out through clenched teeth. It wasn't the worst he had ever had, but damn if it didn't hurt all the same.

Tired of the games, Ezreal pooled his magic into the amulet, arcabe coalescing in the gem and building weighty static in the air around him. Skin tingled, eyes took on a glow and the explorer let out a steadying breath. The sensation of the buildup was hair-raising all it's own, particularly to anyone close in proximity, but the prodigy took a thrill in that power coarsing through his very core.

Loosing it sent the white-gold wave launching down the gritty alley, striking both of their targets at once. It was a blinding glow for a moment, the light flickering off the walls and bouncing back all around before it cleared the area. It left their assailants as damaged husks, collapsed into heaps upon the ground. Ezreal eyed them for a long moment to ensure they were down. He really wasn't certain They may very well not be, despite all the hits they had taken from not only himself but Ekko a well.

Everything swayed in a nauseating spin and Ezreal staggered. Was it the expendature of magic? The blood steadily draining from his wounds? It hardly mattered which when the weakness stole his legs from beneath him and brought him to hands and knees, cursing huskily through gritted teeth.

Despite not seeming very deep, Ezreal was begining to realize the threat was not just the blades alone, but what may have coated them or been contained within. He dearly hoped he had not just been poisoned.

Please just let it be exhaustion and bloodloss.

“We uh--we did it! Hah..” Ezreal forced out, a strained grin on his face.

Zaun wasn’t one of Kayn’s favored places. It was corrupted land with air so tainted one often needed a breathing aid to get through without illness. The people were questionable oftentimes. On the other hand, it was a great hunting place to get souls that no one would miss for Rhaast’s endless hunger. His awareness prickled with the feelings of so many souls all around as he sought the right one. 

The nearest one, however, was...strangely pure. Curious, Kayn approached, seeking that singular soul and honing his sense upon it until he discovered a strange looking boy. He eyed him, fully prepared for the kid to attack him if given the chance.

“I’m not here to cause any trouble...not with you, anyway.” he lowered his scythe and put his other hand up in a gesture of peace. Although at a moment’s notice he would be ready to turn on this young boy if necessary--not that he wanted to. Rhaast snickered in his head at the thought of Kayn potentially having to snuff such an innocent life.

“Let me clean your wounds…”

[ Ekko hissed lightly under his breath, grimacing at the pain that reverberated from his leg. Of course, he’d gone and gotten himself stabbed again. It wouldn’t be the first time, but really, he was just glad it was only a wound to his thigh, not to anywhere more important.

Luckily, it wasn’t too severe. Luckily, he had someone helping him. For this, he was beyond grateful; because in an unfamiliar setting, with an injury, after dark- Ekko was feeling much too uneasy to be alone. He looked up to Quinn and sighed out a huff of breath, partially from relief, partially from irritation; only with himself. ]

                   “Thank you. You didn’t need to do this, really…”

Quinn looked up at him with a harsh look. “Of course I did,” she replied easily, tightening the belt around his thigh in one swift, painful motion. Her Demacian accent sticks out like a sore thumb in the city like this. “I was a wild child like you once upon a time, myself.” 

Her gaze is careful, mothering, steady, and she barely looks at her hands as she brushes alcohol over the smaller cuts and scratches. Had someone like her been nearby when Caleb died, things might have had another story. She didn’t want someone else to bleed out in her arms like he had -- ever. End of story. She tightened the belt again. 

The 'yes or no' game.

You can ask me anything and I’ll answer honestly, but only with yes and no.

“Hmm. No.”

[Continued from here | @quantum-shatter]

[ The boy’s eyes searched over the assassin’s shoulder at the words of caution, eyes searching for the dangers that he hadn’t seen yet. It seemed to him that all Talon was staring at were some trees- however, he took his word for it, and, after glancing behind him briefly, Ekko looked back in front of them. His feet stayed planted where they were, as he’d been told, but his muscles tensed and coiled up, fingers itching to unsheathe his weapon.

Talon’s words had surprised the Zaunite more than a little- figuring they’d never been so close, they’d never even been… particularly friendly; but he figured that, even for a killer, the man must have some morals if he was willing to protect him instead of letting him wander blindly into danger. He wanted to believe that. He would, for now.

Dark eyes flickering between the shadows of the forest, Ekko searched for what Talon had already detected. Living in Zaun, he’d developed above-average perception skills; though they were nowhere near those whohunted for a living, and he wasn’t able to pick out what he’d been warned against. His words were short and stiff, low next to the man’s shoulder, not wishing to distract. ]

                   “What is it?”

Talon tilted his head as he stared into the darkness before him, his ears picking up the softest of voices - whispers, perhaps, or simply vague words, carried by the wind. He could hardly tell; not with the interference of swaying branches and, indeed, the other white noise of the forest: fading birdsong and the scuffling of nocturnal animals. Still, his hand itched to reach for the blade by his side, and he was not willing to ignore it at all. 

“I cannot be sure,” Talon replied, his voice soft as, cautiously, he took a step in the direction of the voices, frowning as he struggled still to pinpoint precisely where the voices were. “The forest is muffling the sound too much.” 

Talon did not bother glancing backward toward the child, although he held his bladed arm with more readiness than he had before, his stance now noticeably lowered - prepared should he need to strike, of course. He continued forward, tilting his head every so often to better catch the vague voices which grew clearer only incrementally. 

“At best, we have chanced upon some travellers.” 

Kayn made a face, very apparently disgusted by the younger man. He really wished he’d worn a shirt for once in his life–especially since the air itself here made him feel dirty. Kayn had never big in such a big city before, not since he was a boy in Noxus, and while he had few memories from his childhood, he could claim that Noxus was better than this. Why had he bothered to travel to Zaun again?