Mechanical heart (Viktor x OC)

20

The wind was whipping Elvira's hair around as she looked towards the shores of Ionia in front of her. She had been sailing for three weeks, and she was getting tired of just staring at the sea, drunk men, and birds. "Elvira! Come on, one more round!" someone yelled from behind her as she looked at her homeland. "That young girl sure can drink!" another one laughed.

During her first weeks at sea, a group of shuriman travelers had convinced her to join them in a game of tellstones, looser drinks an entire mug of ale in one go. Elvira was incredibly good at tellstones, as she had what she called split attention. She could use one part of her brain to focus on the pieces on the board, while the other focused on the conversations around the table, trying to confuse her opponent. She obviously lost a few times, but she won more than she lost, giving her quite the reputation on the ship. 

"We will reach shore before nightfall, I suppose one more round won't hurt," Elvira smirked as she made her way over to the table. "Who's playing?" she asked as she sat down on one of the old wooden stools, being careful not to get any splinters in her thighs, as she was wearing a loose thin dress. The air was much warmer in Ionia than in Piltover, and even though she was in the middle of the windy sea, she could feel the humidity and the warm air all the way out here. And not to mention the magic. 

Her skin had started tingling after being 2 weeks at sea, and she knew that they were close. And the closer they got to Ionia, the stronger her tingling felt. 

"Me," a woman with tan skin smirked before sitting down in front of Elvira. "And who might you be?" Elvira asked as she hadn't seen this woman on the ship before now, and considering that they were in the middle of the ocean, she hadn't exactly boarded the ship recently. 

"No need for formalities, just fun," she rolled out the playmat across the table, while one of the younger men poured ale into their mugs. "Sure thing," Elvira grabbed her mug and taste-tested the ale before they started. "You can start since I'm feeling lucky today," the woman said as she scanned over Elvira, figuring out how to play her. But Elvira already had a plan. 

The woman in front of her wore Noxian clothes and armor, and she had scars and ink littering her arms and chest, telling Elvira that this woman was an assassin. And she looked to be a proud one. And proud assassins often get lost in their own victories, sometimes getting careless when the situation seems calm.

So when she chose her first action, Elvira had put up her act, and the others had gathered around the table to witness the game. "Place the crown," the woman ordered, and Elvira did as told. She picked up the little stone with a crown carved neatly into the white marble and placed it on the playmat. "Place the flag," Elvira ordered when it was her turn.

"I've heard you play many nights during this boat ride, you have a keen mind," the woman said while placing the stone with the flag symbol onto the mat, already starting her ploy. "I have played a few times, I had never played before, so I was new to the game," Elvira spoke while keeping the stone symbols repeating in the back of her head. "Hide the flag." 

"You're from Noxus I assume," Elvira said while she turned the flagstone over, hiding the symbol. "I am," the woman responded. "A noxian heading into Ionia alone? That's risky," Elvira said while she looked over the board, thinking of her next move. "Add the scales."

"Who says I'm alone?" the woman smirked while adding the scale stone to the playmat. "Add the horse," the woman said while straightening her back, stretching her arms over her head, flexing her muscles. "I haven't seen you before now, have you been hiding?" Elvira tried to act tough to lead her opponent on the wrong tracks. In reality, she couldn't give less of a fuck about this woman. 

"Hide scales." Elvira looked over the woman to see if she could read her face, but her face was as unmoving as carved into stone. "Swap those." "I challenge you, what is the symbol of that stone?" Elvira challenged the woman, picking one of the stones she knew wasn't moved at all during the game, in order for the mysterious woman before her to gain a point. 

"Flag," she guessed, and Elvira leaned forwards and flipped the stone to reveal its symbol. Flag.

Elvira cursed under her breath, faking that she was mad about the point. "Well played, you start this round," Elvira leaned back again, faking confidence while the woman looked down at the playmat. "Hide horse," the woman ordered after placing her score stone on the 1 point mark. 

"Add sword." "Add hammer." "Swap." "Hide." "Swap." "Swap." "Hide." They went back and forth a couple of times before the woman decided to challenge Elvira on a stone. "Which one is this?" she asked while pointing her finger to the stone all the way to Elvira's right. She knew which stone it was, but she debated on whether to guess correctly or to guess wrong on purpose. 

"Horse," she decided to guess correctly, gaining her a point. "One-One," Elvira pointed out while placing her score stone onto the 1 point mark on her side of the playmat. "Indeed," the woman smirked while looking at the stones placed neatly in a line across the playmat.  

They continued going back and forth between swapping stones. Elvira challenged the woman on a stone, and she correctly guessed it, earning herself a second point. "You're good at paying attention I see, but I guess that's needed in your line of work," Elvira said, trying to distract the woman. 

"It is, and that's why I've learned not to let silly small talk distract me from focusing," the woman chuckled while landing from the board and up at Elvira. "So you're more interested in deep talk? I can do that, what do you think about Noxus invading Ionia?" Elvira asked, trying to push some of the woman's buttons. Anger often was the easiest way to break someone's focus. Anger, and seduction. 

"It doesn't matter what I think. I'm in it for the bloodshed. I don't care much for politics," the woman crossed her arms across her armored chest, waiting for Elvira's turn in the game, as well as her response to her statement. "I see, brawn over brains?" Elvira teased and the woman laughed in response. "Very much so," she sarcastically responded. 

"I know the line," Elvira said, choosing to try and mock her opponent. If she believed her, one point for Elvira and they would be two-two. If she told her to prove that she knew it, she actually did know the entire line of stones, all seven of them. And if she tried to counter, well Elvira doubted that she knew all of the stones on the line, due to her rapid eye movement going from right to left, probably going over the symbols inside her mind, over and over. 

And that kind of memorizing often led to being easily distracted. "I see, I believe you," she responded, giving one point to Elvira. "Two-Two," the woman smirked as she looked at Elvira. "It's the final showdown pretty," the woman looked down at the board before they went on with their game. Back and forth, back and forth.

"You say you enjoy bloodshed," Elvira spoke while they each took their turn in playing the game. "You lost something, didn't you?" Elvira asked, shocking the woman slightly. This was all falling into Elvira's plan like a glove. The woman pretended to think about her next move when in reality she was stunned by Elvira's words. How could she know?

"My hometown was raided," she spoke simply, not wanting to go into detail. "I know the line," the woman said, and Elvira knew she had gotten her with her questions. She had seen her eye movement stop when she asked about her past, and then she had a faint look of panic on her face before her eye movements resumed. She was trying to trick Elvira into thinking she actually knew. But she couldn't 't be too sure about that, so she decided to counter. 

"I know it too," she said while watching the woman before her. "Prove it," the woman said while crossing her arms again. "Sure," Elvira sat up straighter before leaning over the table and pointing to the first stone. 

"Shield," she said before flipping it, revealing the shield. 
"Flag."
"Hammer."
"Horse."
"Sword."
"Scales."
"Crown."

She had gotten them all correct, winning her the game. "Good game, you're sharp," the woman complimented her as she grabbed her mug and downed her ale in one big gulp. "Not too bad yourself there," Elvira downer her own ale, just for the taste. 

"You can call me Samira."

A/N: I have a few questions! First of all, are the chapters a good length, or would you like them to be shorter/ longer? 

And also, should I add some of the art I've drawn for this fanfic? And thank you to all who are reading, voting, and commenting, it makes me so happy to read what you have to say about my work!