Immortalized | Viktor - arcane

Happy Progress Day

As the sun set on the city it illuminated the room in stunning golds and gentle shades of orange. Mel couldn't have asked for a better ambiance for her fundraiser. She had gathered quite a crowd ranging from councilors to socialites with funds of plenty to burn. It was expected to be a busy night, and both Elora and Rose were expected to be at Mel's side.

"The fundraiser's going well." Elora said as she and Rose followed the councilor outside to the deck she stood on to hide from the crowd. "Your mother would be proud."

Mel only chuckled into her glass. "Would she?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Tired of mingling?" Elora asked looking back towards the crowd.

"These people have nothing new to offer me." Mel shrugged. "The only one actually worth my time is him." Mel gestured to an advertisement of Jayce being carried across the sky on a blip.

"The golden boy." Elora sighed.

Jayce had been announced as the honorary speaker for this years Progress Day celebration. He was the face of Hextech, and now as it seemed, the face of progress. Rose held her tongue as she listened to Mel talk. She didn't want to seem brash, but she ached to tell them Viktor should be sharing the title, Man of Progress. They were partners, the company was half his. But many people seemed to forget that while Jayce gave speeches and attended important events with Mel among his many sponsors, Viktor stayed behind in the lab continuing to produce breakthroughs and new inventions.

"He's won Piltover's heart." Mel said.

Rose could hear another guest entering the event and turned to see Jayce himself walking through the doors. "Speak of the devil." She said less than enthusiastically, restraining herself from rolling her eyes.

All music and chatter seemed to come to a stop momentarily, as if to announce Jayce's arrival. He stood at the far end of the room scanning the crowd for Mel's face before he finally saw Elora waving him over. Rose gave her a subtle side-eyed glance as she did so.

He nodded politely to both Rose and Elora before bending down slightly to whisper to Mel, "Can I borrow you for a minute?"

Mel nodded before turning to Rose. "Elora and I spoke earlier. The fundraiser will be ending shortly, you may head to the ceremony early if you'd like."

Rose blinked with surprise and turned quickly to Elora. "You don't mind?"

Elora shook her head. "I'm sure you'd rather be elsewhere at the moment."

Rose blushed deeply before thanking both of them and slipping through the crowd and away from the fundraiser. As she rounded the corner she saw Jayce leading Mel by the hand into her office for privacy. Normally she would ignore it, they were often seen sneaking away but by the look on his face Rose could tell something was wrong.

Every fiber of her being told her to move on and make her way to the theatre where Viktor was waiting. Everything she'd learned and been trained on told her to be polite and discreet. Elora had scolded her for eavesdropping many times before over the past ten years but it was a habit she couldn't seem to break.

She groaned at herself before following the couple. If Jayce needed to talk to her privately by the look on his face it probably had something to do with Hextech, and she didn't have the patience to wait for Viktor to catch her up to speed, and that's only if he was honest with her.

Even in heels she was silent as she quickly followed them. It was a skill she had learned growing up in the undercity, it was instinctual at this point. Her parents would encourage her not to do it in fear of her getting caught but Rose, Bea and Kai learned together how to be sly and had many tricks up their sleeves to get away with stealing and pit pocketing for change and food to get by.