Chapter Text
“I forgot my notes at the café!” Jayce said without prompting as they were making their way back to the apartment that served as his makeshift laboratory.
Jayce immediately spun on his heels and charged back towards the (in Caitlyn’s mind largely unnecessary and wasteful) marbled spiral staircase that served as the only way in or out of the young scientist’s abode.
“I guess I’ll just wait here for you then?” Caitlyn called after him, but he was already too far gone to have any chance of hearing her. Too focused on retrieving his forgotten research. Caitlyn let out a small chuckle. Jayce certainly was a man of focus, though not so much a man of good organization.
Caitlyn approached the door to Jayce’s lab humming a tune and with a bit of a skip in her step. It had been a wonderful day so far. She’d had an excellent morning of lessons at the range (Competitive shooting was de rigueur at Piltovan social events and her parents couldn’t be more thrilled that their daughter was not only deeply invested in the activity but also a truly prodigious talent.) she’d met her good friend Jayce for a stroll around the park (Jayce, despite his scientific pursuits, had always been a man of motion. Prone to what he called ‘thinking jogs’.) and had had a lovely lunch at a little café that had recently popped up a few blocks from Jayce’s lab.
Caitlyn loved the tiny luncheon spot for its cozy atmosphere and exquisite la pate a tartiner, but also because of the family who ran it. They were an endlessly sweet little troupe who had clearly put everything they had into their dream of a classy Upper City café (repurposed wood polished to a mirror sheen for the trendy “oaken” bar, recycled granite painstakingly restored for their tabletops, handstitched clothing a half season behind the current fashion. Minor details even particularly snobby patrons would be unlikely to notice but that painted a clear picture of a family living ever-so-slightly above their means to Caitlyn.) Caitlyn considered it an honor to support them and if that meant she had to have delightful maple scones three days a week, well, that was a sacrifice Caitlyn was willing to make!
Jayce had been rather upbeat as well. According to him, he’d made some great stride in his research he was excited to show off. Something to do with the ‘hex-crystals’ he’d acquired a little while ago. Dreadfully dangerous things apparently, but absolutely pivotal to…whatever it was Jayce was trying to achieve with her parent’s patronage.
Now Caitlyn was waiting outside of his apartment for the brilliant but somewhat scattered scientist to retrieve his lost notes. Like any good Piltovan of means his door was certainly locked and giving Caitlyn a key, despite her frequent visits likely warranting such a thing, would have been unquestionably unseemly. He was a full decade older than her after all!
Which made it all the more surprising when she heard the distinct click of a clockwork lock releasing its catch to her left. She turned curiously and found herself mere inches from quite possibly the most beautiful eyes she’d ever beheld.
“Hello there?”
The heist was going off without a hitch! They made it in unseen, they had a huge haul of Piltovan valuables (whoever this guy was he or someone real close to him must have been CRAZY loaded) and with no one the wiser. Vander wouldn’t be able to say shit about it once they got back, not with all the scratch they’d get once they fenced all this junk! Now all she had to do was do one last quick run through, collect Powder and…
“Hey, you hear that?” Mylo said suddenly.
Vi stopped cramming her ill-gotten gains into her rucksack and focused her ears towards the door. She picked up the faint sounds of what could have been footsteps and maybe…humming? The place had one of those fancy stained glass Piltovan doors you could partially see through and there wasn’t anyone trying to get into the apartment they were in. Maybe one of the neighbors coming home?
“Everybody shut up!” Vi hissed. “I’m gonna check the hallway. Pack the shit and get ready to book!”
Vi crept towards the door she had heard the noise coming from, her ears focused on picking up anything that might give away the intruder. Well…the OTHER intruder.
The faint humming they’d heard had stopped and Vi couldn’t pick up any footsteps but she also didn’t hear any of the OTHER doors open or close. It’s possible whoever it was, was still in the hallway somewhere.
Vi caught Powder stuffing something into her tiny satchel, good little thief that she was, out of the corner of her eye as she moved down the hallway towards the apartment side exit. At the door she carefully, oh so carefully disengaged the lock and slowly, oh so slowly, eased the door open to peak into the hallway.
Now, Vi had been raised in the streets. Even before the enforcers took her parents from her she’d been a born sump snipe and had the inborn reflexes to show for it. If what had been on the other side of that door had been a bullet, a blade, a bludgeon, or a bomb, she would have been fine. She would’ve ducked the danger, grabbed Powder and sprinted out the balcony to safety in the time it would take most people to realize something was amiss.
Unfortunately for Vi, what WAS on the other side of that door, was a beautiful girl. And the only reaction Vi really had for one of those was wide eyed staring and perhaps a little weakness in her knees.
“Hello there?”
“…Sup?”