Chapter Text
" Hey what the fuck are you doing in here? "
The man raises his fist and swings, but Io, half paying attention, ducks and scrambles backwards grabbing the first thing his fingers curl around.
There's a curse in what he thinks is noxian, rat, his brain confirms.
He doesn't stop though, doesn't give the man the chance to continue his attack and instead, darts forward and slams the small figurine into his crotch. The sudden connection surprises even his own body, and his arm continues, his momentum bringing him forward and down.
"Come back here- " The man is on the ground as soon as the hit connects, shaking and holding out his hand, the smell of booze coming from the man is as jarring a scent as always and nearly makes him vomit. "Nope, ab-so-luuutely not! " Stuffing the figurine into the worn bag along with whatever else catches his eye, he brings the back of his hand up in a harsh dismissive motion towards the drunkard and sticks out his tongue, " have fun being drunk! ". He disappears from his temporary nesting ground and is gone before the locals even know what happened, but that's fine.
They're not always welcoming, he can only play off the merchant kid waiting for his parents routine for so long before free handouts turn into free stink eye. But this time, as he runs off the exhaustion from his near nap and nearer death, he realizes he's not nearly as fast as he needed to be, not yet. He can hear the drunkard swearing loudly, and it astounds him that he's already managed to get up, Seriously? Does this guy have balls of steel?
The first sign of a commotion signals the locals to poke their heads out, and he makes eye contact with a woman who spots him just standing there mouth agape. He turns just as she does and hears her shouting for her husband from over here's shoulder, "Alden, there's a thief!" Moments later, he's pounding down the streets of Bel'Zhun, his feet making all of the noise that is physically possible as they smash against the worn paths of the Noxian controlled city. He shouldn't have stayed here as long as he did, he knows he shouldn't have, but he did and now he might as well just die from the idiocy that he's shown to the world. But he'll need to do that another time, he pushes his bag further onto his back and swings it back, the rope is still there from his earlier excursion into the city and his hands luckily find purchase.
The shouts get louder as a mix of Noxians and Shurimian's exit their homes and make their way down the streets, he doesn't remember Shurima but he's certain that those who do still call themselves Shurimian, never Noxian. "Filthy rat! I'll drag you out from your hiding spot and beat you into the ground!" A woman dressed in beautiful silks struts up behind him, Io contemplates leaving but with the crowd it seems,all in all, like a rather dumb idea, the woman looks about forty with her hair tied up in an elegant knot on her head. She doesn't look like someone who was just roused from her sleep, in fact, it looked like she was in the process of conquering it.
"Well, it appears there's quite the party happening here tonight. Would you be so kind as to enlighten me on the current situation? " Two men flank her, and they wear the Noxian colours, the emblem proudly displayed on their armour. The drunkard, to his credit, doesn't actually spew all over her, and instead just looks like he'd rather be eaten by a void beast.
" Oh- uh, " Her face remains stony but kind, but then she looks up at Io, and sees right through him. He doesn't stay after that, as quickly as he can he jumps to the next building and doesn't look back. He doesn't hear any more cries as he settles down on the outskirts of the city, he can't travel at night but he can't very stay in the city either, both options likely to result in his death.
He sets his bag down undoes the straps connecting his sleeping bag, the night is even colder near the borders of the city, and he shudders at the sudden breeze. It carries the distinct smell of spice, those particular merchants only came in random bursts due to the treacherous conditions, even with Noxian protection it was a dangerous and often times fatal journey.
He sets his bag down under his head, moving some of the contents around so that his head isn't being stabbed by a silver spoon, and looks over his treasures, holding them up to the light, he notices that his catch is mainly expensive jewellery. " Like attracts like, huh, " he studies a particular pendant for a moment, it's smooth against his skin and the cool feeling of the gem causes him to shiver again.
Io wraps it carefully, mindful of the chain and the fabric he uses, maybe he'll head to Kalamanda next? The stone wasn't sun quality, but he could probably trade it off to one of the lower ranking jewlers.
With that finished, he eyed the figurine in his lap. It was smaller than a chess piece but it had a weight to it, the figure depicted in it had an imposing figure and sprouted two large jagged wings from his back. Curious, he brings it closer to his face, then back again and touches it with the tip of his finger. He finds it surprising that yes, the horns were also sharpened, who even does that?
Doesn't matter, sleep first, then Kalamanda.
He paused when putting it back, and vaguely wondered why he felt drawn to it, then swore he heard a rumble in the distance.