Ill Omen's Light (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 7: Crossing Bridges

"Huh," Vi muttered, "Didn't see that coming."

Her eyes narrowed as she drew a fingertip through the ash caking the long scrape mark on the floor of Hexgate Airship Hangar Twelve.

Through the tall glass windows, the muffled cheers and roars of music of Progress Day celebrations filtered up to her ears.

That damn time again, huh? Vi shook her head. Pilties all patting each other on the back on how good we all have it up here. Must be nice to be able to forget.

Vi sifted the half-charred, fleshy leaf of an exotic flower propped against a shard of glass out of the ash and narrowed her eyes.

Contaminating the crime scene, Vi? Caitlyn's voice tisked in the back of her thoughts, and Vi couldn't help but smirk.

Or I dunno, finding the clues, Cupcake? Doing the whole sleuthing thing, that thing that I wish you were here to do? You're better at all the 'catalogue the evidence, record the findings, observe in scene without disturbing it' bullshit.

I gotta sniff things out my way. Undercity style. That means getting my hands in it.

"Huh?" her companion asked, bobbing over on light feet, "Didn't see what coming?"

She rose from her kneeling posture, still rubbing the ash between her fingers and turned her smirk on him instead.

"Ezreal, partner," Vi said oh-so-sweetly, then clapped him on the shoulder with one hand and grinned as he flinched. "You any good at planty-leafy-type science?"

Ezreal's brow arched, "Botany?"

"Ah, yeah, that's the one," passed him the shard and the bit of plant, "Tell me if you recognize this."

The young archaeologist turned the plant over in his hand a couple of times and frowned, then held it up to the midmorning light.

"Wow. Vi, you have any idea what this is...?"

It held a strange blue glow, with an iridescent gleam at the heart that grew stronger the longer they looked at it, until the piece of flower was shining like trapped sunlight in Ezreal's hand.

"Nope, I am literally asking you what it is because I don't know what it is. I thought you were supposed to be smart?"

Ezreal waved her off, "This is Storm Lotus," he said, "From Navori province in Ionia. Actually, it's pretty rare outside the Placidium gardens themselves, according to all the books. It doesn't do much on its own, but it sucks up ambient magic in the air like no tomorrow."

Vi blinked, "This flower...eats magic?"

"Yup!" Ezreal laughed and handed it back to her, so she could feel the warm glow tingle through her hand-wraps, "If it's charged up enough it starts to absorb other natural forces, too, like sunlight or even lightning – that's how it got its name."

"And you just happened to read a book about this?"

"...I mean, sure, I heard about it in a book, but that's not where I really learned..."

Ezreal flashed his cocky grin and raised an eyebrow and Vi sighed.

Here comes the story...

"...so, first time in Ionia, I'd cut a deal with the Ionian resistance for access to this one temple library – and let me tell ya, that Irelia? Total babe. Real class act. Dances with flying swords, you've never seen anything like it-"

"Sure, buddy. And she tells you about the flowers."

"No, she wants me to do a favor in exchange, I'm thinking maybe dinner and a sunset walk but no, she wants me to retrieve this artifact stolen by the Noxian invaders, so sure, I'm in, cuz Noxians, I hate these guys. So, I infiltrate their camp using this brilliant disguise-"