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“Caitlyn! Meet your new friend.”
The stormy night encapsulated Vi’s feelings on the matter: she had just lost Vander, Powder, Claggor, Mylo, and her home. Uprooted by enforcers, they put Vi up for bidding in Piltover on who her new foster parents would be.
Knowing Vi was a high-risk child, Greyson ruled that she would live with Mrs. Kiramann. Some… lady. Her daughter was there, too -- Caitlyn was her name, apparently --; the whole welcome wagon.
Approaching the house, Vi’s jaw dropped.
“You guys live like this?” she whispered to Caitlyn, who was holding an umbrella open for her.
Caitlyn nodded, inquisitive. She cocked her head. “It’s nothing special,” she said.
Vi, taken aback, yelled, “Of course it’s special! Do you not--?!”
“Alright, alright,” Mrs. Kiramann interrupted. She gave the girls a stern look. “I welcome you to my home, Violet, but I must enforce that you remain respectful. Around the adults, do not speak unless you are spoken to. And your homework--”
This was when Vi tuned out her new foster mother. She shot a look at Caitlyn saying ‘is she always like this?’ who shrugged in response.
They walked up the giant staircase -- was it covered in solid gold?! -- and made their way inside.
“This is even bigger than it looked on the outside!” Vi yelled, earning another stern look from Mrs. Kiramann.
“Dinner will be 6 o’clock, sharp. Caitlyn, show her to your room.” She marched away in what Vi learned was the ‘snooty rich person walk.’
Looking tired, Caitlyn took Vi’s hand. That was a mistake.
“Don’t touch me!” Vi yelled, falling into a defensive stance. Caitlyn recoiled. “Just… show me where I’m staying.” Vi pointed at a couch. “Here?”
Caitlyn’s eyes widened. “What? Why would we do something so barbaric as that? No, no, no! Follow me.”
VI complied, but stared through Caitlyn. “Barbaric, huh?” she muttered.
Once in the room, Vi had to physically refrain from her jaw dropping a second time.
“This whole thing,” she said, gesturing around her. “This is all yours?”
Caitlyn shifted. “I mean, yeah?” She sat down on her bed; another had been placed along the other wall. Both of them stared at the second bed.
“This isn’t a trick, is it?” Vi asked. She shuffled around the room, gawking and trying to hide it.
With a head shake, Caitlyn stared as Vi jumped into her own bed. Her bed! Vi had a bed!
“Wow, this is great, do you get gold meals, too?” Vi half-asked, half-teased. She laughed when Caitlyn flushed.
“We’re not that rich,” Caitlyn mumbled, not looking Vi in the eye.
Vi’s guffaw turned Caitlyn’s face redder.
“So lemme get this straight:” Vi said, sitting upright. “You get meals every day?”
Caitlyn nodded.
“And you have shelter?”
Caitlyn nodded.
“And your own bed?”
Caitlyn stood up, glaring at Vi. “Listen, I hope this place suits you well, but I have no idea what any of that has to do with anything! If you had any idea of the hardships it is--”
“Hardships?!” Vi did a spit-take. “What hardships could you possibly have? Look around and open your eyes! Your basic needs are met?”
“Yeah…?”
“Well most of ours down there aren’t. We wouldn’t be able to handle your dumb aristocratic bullshit because half of us are starving down there or don’t have homes!”
Vi shoved Caitlyn back onto her bed.
“But I bet for a second you and your prissy rich girl act wouldn’t last a day down there. No, a night!”
Caitlyn scowled. “Would too!”
“Psh. You don’t know shit about the real world. You live in a fantasy world. I come from reality.”
“What color is the sky in your reality?” Caitlyn said, crossing her arms.
“Ooh!” Vi laughed, clapping. She was delighted to see some fight in this rich girl. “Did you learn that at your preppy boarding school?”
Caitlyn looked away.
“Hah! Called it!”
Vi lowered her vision to match Caitlyn’s. She spoke low. “You have no idea what my life was like. My sky? Was red. With the blood of those I loved.” Vi stammered. “I-it isn’t a fair world out there.” Visions of Vander, of Claggor, of Mylo plagued her. Their deaths were her fault and on her hands. She was the reason Powder...
Her introspection was cut short by Caitlyn’s sharp retort, “Of course it is fair, that’s what the enforcers are for.”
With her hand balling into a fist, Vi had to count to calm herself. “The enforcers are Piltover’s bullies. They’d come after us just for their numbers, or whatever.”
Eyes wide, Caitlyn said, “I don’t believe that.”
A scoff. “Believe what you want. But know that there’s reality and there’s fantasy, and we come from two different worlds.” Vi straightened up. “Come talk to me when you’re ready to admit that.” She left the room.
Caitlyn laid back on her bed. Her heart was racing. It was like that poor girl had tried to get her to fight.
Her mother did tell her that Vi was a ‘troubled youth.’ Using words like ‘thug’ and ‘punk’ to describe her, Caitlyn thought nothing of it. She trusted her mother.
But after hearing what Vi had to say, Caitlyn wondered:
Was that the whole story?