better than the alternative
chapter 1
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summary: When, to her dismay, Caitlyn is assigned to be married, she runs away and meets her totally-not-girlfriend, Vi.
tw: light swearing, mentions of arranged marriages.
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also on my ao3 account!
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The day of Caitlyn's 15th birthday is supposed to be fun, right? And it is for the first few hours, until Cait's mother announces the news.
They're cutting the cake right now, the perfectly baked, vanilla frosted, chocolate cake is sitting on the fancy plating on the table. Caitlyn was sitting at the front, top, or whatever of the table, smiling as her mother handed her a slice of cake. Typically, her mother wouldn't like wasting her time on 'unhealthy foods', so Cait was determined to savor the dessert while she could. Forking bites of cake into her mouth, she hummed in pleasure at the flavor.
The tapping of a spoon on a champagne glass breaks her out of her thoughts as she looks up, where Cassandra is standing. The matriarch cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the party guests.
"Good evening, everyone," She started, a neutral smile on her face. "Tonight is a wonderful night for our young Caitlyn." Cassandra gestured to her daughter and the guests clapped politely before quieting down.
"Now, it has come time that my daughter is ready to be wed, to continue the Kiramman line," She smiled, and in turn, Caitlyn felt her heart drop. Her eyes widened, but she didn't speak up, instead keeping her mouth shut with an expression filled with dread. Ignorant to Caitlyn's obvious distress, Cassandra continued.
"We will be reviewing suitors in the morning, so please, if you are a house of influence in Piltover and have a child around Caitlyn's age, don't be afraid to ask." Her mother said with a polite smile, before reseating, taking a small portion of cake for herself as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Caitlyn felt like she was underwater. The noise of the party muted, fading into the background as she poked at her food, vaguely aware of a few people offering their birthday congratulations. She made the efforts to respond with a 'Thank you' or an 'I appreciate it', before her thoughts inevitably sucked her back in again.
She feels her mother tap her shoulder and she looks up, the piercing gray of Cassandra's eyes contrasting with her polite smile.
"Caitlyn, dear. Party's over, go to bed. We have much to discuss in the morning." The Piltoven woman adjusted her collar before standing back up and addressing the party guests that were straggling behind. Caitlyn stood up without another word and padded softly away to her room.
The lavishness of Caitlyn's bedroom was something completely unnecessary, but something she was infinitely used to at this point. The plush pillows, satin sheets, fairy lights she'd convinced her mother to buy her glowed a dim, baby blue in the darkness of her room. She unzipped the dress she had worn for her birthday, changing into her pajamas and carefully refolding her dress to wash later.
She was getting married. What the fuck. She scoffed at her mother's imaginary response to her crude language, but at this moment we could care less. She kicked back the sheets and curled into the comforter, the plush feeling doing little to sate her nerves.
What was she going to do? What 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 she do? Her thoughts raced, the never stopping ticking of the clock driving her mad. Just more time passing. Less time to get out of this mess.
The thought hit her suddenly, though it was quickly pushed down. Her parents would send Enforcers banging on every door in Piltover if she left.
Doesn't have to be Piltover you could go to.
Her thoughts suggested again. She mentally hit herself for that. Not in Piltover, seriously? I suppose Zaun. Maybe one of those islands or something. She'd always wanted to travel.
Fuck it. She ignored the mental scolding of her mother for her words and threw the covers off of herself. She threw on a pair of khaki pants and a navy-blue sweater, something inconspicuous, something that wouldn't draw attention.
She sat on the bed, tying her boots before standing up. She grabbed her bag, thinking for a moment on what to bring. She eventually ended up packing enough changes of clothes to last her a week, they have to have laundromats in Zaun, right? She grabbed a pocketknife, for self-defense, not like she could bring her guns, and much as she wanted to.
After packing a few more essentials, she zipped the backpack up, slinging it over her shoulder. This was it. No going back now. She took a deep breath, making it to the balcony as Caitlyn started the slow descent of climbing, or rather, half climbing, half panicking, down into the Kiramman garden.
Vi doesn't know which one to go with. She needs an answer, she needs to decide, but the watchful eyes of her siblings trained on her certainly isn't helping. Taking a deep breath, she made her move.
Vi hides a grin as she looks up at the face of Mylo, who's now spewing curses at her. She laughs; her lips upturned in a smile.
"Told you you wouldn't win!" She gloated. Of course, winning at Uno wasn't necessarily a huge thing to brag about, the distraction of the nerves from her upcoming 15th birthday is welcomed with open arms.
Vi stretched her arms over her head as Mylo begrudgingly picked up the playing cards, shuffling them back into the box. She heard the swing of the basement door, and she looked up, seeing Powder padding down the steps, tinkering with one of her gadgets. She walked over to Vi, sitting cross-legged next to her.
"Some of the customers kept saying there was a Piltie here, in the Lanes," Powder said with a shrug as Vi raised an eyebrow.
"A Piltie? This far into the Lanes?" Vi reiterated, tilting her head down at her. Powder nodded, a small pout on her face.
"Yeah... I hope they stay away," Powder mumbled, making her dislike for Piltover known, as if it was a secret. Vi hummed in thought before putting a smile on her face, ruffling Powder's hair, earning a playful punch to the arm from her as Vi chuckled.
"They will, probably get beat-up and scurry back to where they came from, don't worry, Pow," She assured as Powder returned the smile.
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