Crossing Winds

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Verin

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Striding through the halls of the Institute of War, Yasuo couldn't help but be in awe of its sheer scale. Of course, he'd been to many places that were massive, but none of them man-made. This place... Something about it spoke of the great power that was contained here. And perhaps that power will manifest itself as an answer. This thought was followed, as it always was, by another, very simple thought. I will reclaim my honor, even if it kills me and others. Wrenching his mind from that well-worn track, he decided he'd merely be an observer for today.

Running a hand along the stone walls, the samurai tilted his head. Were the halls normally this empty? Surely a place as big as this made use of the space it had, rather than having it there for mere decoration. Perhaps that was to reinforce the undeniable sense of importance the League seemed to always carry with it like a shroud. Running a hand through the hair at his temple, the outcast made his way to the practice area. He'd likely be using it plenty, given time, so he may as well see it now.

Encountering none of the other champions of the League in the corridors, Yasuo wondered briefly about them. He knew that there were a number of them, but they were absent from this section if the building. Making use of directions he'd gotten earlier from one of the summoners who called this place home, he stepped through the doorway and into the light of the evening sun.
 
Earlier in the morning Riven woke up suddenly out of breath. The snowy haired women gasped as she sat up quickly in her bed. For the first time in months she had nightmares. Her second year in the league and it had been nearly as long since she had a nightmare. Before she joined her past always haunted her, she dreaded going to sleep because of the fear that her past would creep up on her once more. "Riven The Butcher" was her name during the Ionian war. At the time she had accepted the name, welcomed it even. She believed what she was doing back then was something completely normal: the strong taking out the weak. This was Noxian way after all, right? She had been raised on that belief, but the very people who instilled that belief in her were the one's who broke it. Her final battle for Noxus was the very one that was sent to wipe out an entire village. The mission was going well until she came across an old women and another in what was probably her younger twenties, both trying to limp their way out of the village. Riven naturally killed the older women on the spot. The younger one on the other hand showed more resistance after seeing the other die. Instead of accepting her death she stared her in the face and threatened her for hear death in Ionian, of course this did not phase Riven, she had a job to do. But instead of striking her down she let her men take care of her. It turned out that the women escaped after killing all of them, she would also find out that the women turned out to be Irelia. This would be one of the first nightmares she would have that night.

The second one was earlier in her career as the Butcher. It was when she was invading another village that held an Ionian elder, she was assigned to kill him. While her army pushed the front lines she found a way through without confrontation to the temple of the elder. Upon meeting him he seemed to be...calm, even when he was approached by the women that would kill her. "I expected you to come here." His voice echoed throughout the room. Riven pulled her hefty sword from it's sheath and held it in an offensive stance. "If you truly did, then it wouldn't just be you here to face me." The fight lasted longer then most, the old man proved to be a worthy adversary, even in his old age. One thing always bothered her, why was it only him there? Why not have at least one guard protecting him in case for such an attack? For years the first dream haunted her, but the second one was something new. She barely even remembered that day, she only remembered the fight and the strength behind the old man. Why would that haunt her now? Was this a sign?

As Riven gained her breath that was lost in her sleep she held the sheet up to her chest. She hated this feeling that she would always get after a night like this. Her day already felt gloomy, and it was only he beginning. As she got up from her bed she stretched freely without and clothing to hinder her. Even though she had nightmares haunting her sleep, she still felt like she had a full night's rest. Sh scanned her room like she did every morning to make sure everything was in place. While it was rather bare it did contain the basics, she wasnt much for materialistic items. She did have a wall dedicated to newspaper articles about her, whether it was vanity or curiosity that made her gather all of those articles she was not sure. For some reason she was proud of that wall, mostly because it was filled with rather positive ones. "Riven no longer the soldier she was!" "Riven - an exile to be proud of." Titles like these put a smile on her face, and she couldn't help but want to collect these things. After getting cleaned Riven pulled on her typical clothing which included her gauntlet and shoulder pad. For a while people wondered why she wouldn't get a new set of armor, the simple answer was "I don't feel worthy yet." She felt like she had to prove something before she could treat herself to something like that. In other words - she had to redeem herself.

After she was dressed Riven grabbed her broken blade and sheathed in in her custom made sheath. This was the only thing she really allowed herself to have, and it was purely because Lux bought it for her. Even with her past the two were decent friends, and it was one of the few times that she felt like she could truly let her hair down, even if it resulted in the blonde always making her try on dresses and stuff. As she made her way down the hallways she noticed how almost nobody was around, not even summoners were bustling about which was odd. For a little while she made her way towards the trade district of the institute. Once she was there she instantly made her way into the bakery that she had spent a lot of time in. "Sinful Succulence" was the name of the bakery. For some reason Morgana enjoyed her company, which was rare because she hated pretty much everyone. "Well it's about time you got here!" The fallen angel exclaimed as Riven walked through the door. "It's been a week since you have been here, I was going to have to track you down if you didn't come by for another week!" The rather brash comment made her grin, which was rare for the gloomy women. "And here I thought you wouldn't miss me." she was instantly given a smack in the forehead from Morgana. "Don't be stupid! You're one of the few people I openly welcome in here."

For the next hour the two caught up with each other. For the most part it was the Angel who talked about the customers that walked in and how much she hated them. Riven on the other hand just listened as her friend went off. After a while Morgana did run out of things to say. "So what else is new?" Riven shrugged deciding to stay quiet but for a brief moment she thought about her nightmares, this was more then enough time for the angel to read her mind and smack her in the forehead again. "You're some kind of stupid you know that!?" Riven looked up to her for a moment and gave her a puzzled look for a mere moment before realizing that angels were able to do that. "You need to stop that shit! It's been a year since you have had nightmares, why would you start now!" The little pep talk made Riven nod, but once again she didn't say anything about it. After some more silence Riven decided to ask about the lack of champions around. "Where is everyone?" She asked genuinely curious. "Some championship in the Twisted Treeline, most of them are watching since nobody really ever pays attention to that area, so it's kind of a treat." Riven raised her eye brows, that was a rarity indeed.

After the two spoke for some more time Riven decided that it was time to leave, she wanted to see this match after all. As she made her way out of the bakery she was burdened with having to accept a basket of some sort of goods that Morgana made for her, normally she wouldnt accept it, but it was normal for the angel to do this for her at least once every couple weeks. Now with a basket in her hands she made her way towards the indoors area of the institute to get to the arena.

((kind of a long start, I know...it wont normally be like this :P)
 
Looking about the inside of the small training area, a pang of disappointment hit the outcast as he realized that it, too, was empty. Sighing, he turned and left the great room, determined to find at least one of the other champions of the League. His footsteps were soft as he walked through the stone hallways, a gentle breeze accompanying him and rustling his hair as it adds a slight bounce to his step. He looks about the hallways as he walks, searching for some person that could have some kind of answer as to where he is supposed to go. He could just wander about as usual until he found himself at his destination, but he decided that his pride could stand one admission of defeat. Resting a hand atop the hilt of his blade, he finally found the object of his search. A summoner, idling about with their nose in some arcane text in a script he could not identify. Walking briskly at them, he comes to a halt in front of the hooded man. Tapping his foot as he waits for him to acknowledge him, Yasuo couldn't help but think about how full of themselves these summoners sometimes were.

Finally looking up from the tome, the hood slides back a bit to reveal that it is, in reality, a young man that looked like he was still wet behind the ears. The look on his face is like that of someone that knew they were trouble, as he hurriedly begins to fumble an apology. Waving his hand impatiently, the wanderer interrupts "'No offense intended', right. Where is everybody?" His blunt manner strikes the young mage mute for a moment, before the lad manages to say "T-there's a match going on, a championship. At the Twisted Treeline. I t-think that's where everybody will be." Turning on his heel, Yasuo left the summoner. Now that he had a destination, he could figure out what to do. First, of course, he'd need to find where everybody observed the matches from. Making sure that his blade was secured snugly in it's sheathe, he gave himself a small tailwind as he made his way into a corridor at random.
 
Basket in hand Riven made her way towards the arenas, or more so the portals that went to the arenas. Along the way she bumped into a summoner who claimed to use her in her last match. "You. Were. Amazing!" He exclaimed. "I hope you thought the same way about me, will you perhaps accept my invitation for-?" He began to ask before pulling out a piece of folded parchment. For a moment the snowy haired women looked at him and examined him from a moment. Aside from the fact that he had a scar underneath his eye he looked like any other summoner, which meant the paper most likely had some sort of contract that allowed him to be the primary summoner for her. She shrugged before grabbing the paper. "I'll look it over." Was all she said before stuffing the parchment into the basket and continuing her way towards the portals. Along the way she noticed another summoner having a conversation with a man that she did not recognize. He wore armor and had what seemed to be a samurai sword. She paused for a moment to squint her eyes and get a better observation of the man. 'What are you...?' she asked herself. She meant this in the nicest way, everyone had some sort of allegiance to a faction at one point or another. From what she could tell from just his armor alone she suspected Ionian. Part of her felt scared at that thought, what if she did something in the past that directly effected him in a negative manor? Most of the Ionian champions in the league accepted, or tolerated her. She was even able to hold the occasional conversation with Varus without having to raise a sword. If she had to deal with another Ionian she was worried about how it would turn out.

Deciding to put her hypothesis to the test she walked in front of the man for some time before turning to the left into a different hallway. As Yasuo made his way to the intersection she was already halfway down the hallway waiting for him. As he showed himself she whistled loudly enough for him to hear. "{I'll show you where it is.}" She said in Ionian. If he understood what she said then he would follow, if not he would hopefully have the common sense to know what she meant behind the foreign words and follow her anyways, if not then it would be his fault. After a moment she spun around and continued her way down the hallway. For a couple minutes Riven mad an intricate and complicated set of turns that would lead her way to the portals. She made sure to take a longer way to one: test his patients, and two: see if he truly understood what she said. Right when she seemed to make an impression of not knowing where she was going she arrive to the front of a room that contained the portals. She waited until she saw the man come within eye sight to continue. Walking into the room Riven walked over to the second portal to the left and waited for him to enter. This time she pointed to the sign that said "For summoners only!" Hopefully he really was a summoner and not just a visitor, otherwise he was about to have a bad time. After her message was clear she stepped into the portal.

For what seemed like an eternity she made her way through to the other side of the portal. The first time she felt like nearly vomiting after travelling to a completely different location that way. But now she was used to it. Walking into the room she was presented with a stadium style of seating. Above the Twisted treeline stood a floating stadium that held all of the champions so they could watch the games bellow them. For a few moments she stood at the entrance before noticing Gragus a few yards to her right - drinking some sort of brew that must have been new. Almost instantly she noticed him as well. Oi! Lass, is that Morgana's pastries you have in that basket?" Riven grinned and nodded before walking over to him. He couldn't help but like the drunk, he was so friendly after all. "Indeed it is." was her answer. This made the man lick his lips and smile right back at her. "You know you still owe me for that one time I saved you from a gank from Rengar and Jax." Riven nodded. "I know, I know. Here." She said in a dismissive way before reaching into her bag, pulling out a muffin, and throwing it at him. "Blueberry, your favorite." Gragas laughed and caught it at the same time. "We're even, for now." He said before he began to tear into it. As she began to walk again she found a seat that was farther away from most. Deciding to just sit alone for a little bit she took the seat, sat down, and began to rummage through her basket to see what else the fallen angel gave her.
 
Having just left the summoner that he'd questioned about the whereabouts of the League's champions, Yasuo was surprised to find that what he assumed was one of those champions was now walking to who-knows-where. Deciding his chances were better for finding this match were better if he followed the woman, he began following her at polite distance. Studying her, he felt that there was something to her that seemed familiar. Probably the sword. But where...?

She was not wearing a large amount of armor, so that practically excluded Demacia and Noxus. Or, at least, currently a member of either. His musings were interrupted, however, as she turned down the side hallway. Coming up on the intersection, he looked down the side corridor. Seeing her looking back and calling out to him, in Ionian no less, decided it. Finally, an opportunity for directions without hurting his pride. As their path drew further and further out, he could feel impatience beginning to well up. Forcing himself to put a lid on his irritation, Yasuo continued to follow the strange woman. However, it continued to grow. Right before it erupted, though, they found themselves at the room containing portals. Hesitating slightly at the thought of taking this foreign gate somewhere, his resolve hardened as the woman stepped through. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the portal.

Moving through the portal was... Disorienting, to say the least. The samurai sincerely hoped nobody was watching when he entered. Finally dropping out of the doorway on the other side, Yasuo doubled over with his hands on his knees. Nursing a hell of a headache, now, he r raised his eyes to look about. The low lighting of the area suited him well for the moment, not driving any burning spears of agony into his head. Spotting the woman that had led him here, he forces himself upright and begins heading that direction. Nodding politely to the large drunkard, he slowly takes a seat, one hand on his head. Turning an irritated glare on the woman, he grumbles "Could've warned me."
 
As Riven rummaged through her basket she noticed some sort of pastry that had cream in the middle, she smiled almost instantly at the sight of that. Morgana knew exactly what she liked, and then some. She would have to get her some new oven mitts or something. Suddenly the commentators were able to be heard within the stadium, no doubt this startled the snowy haired girl. "Champions! Welcome to the finals for the Twisted Treeline championship!" He began which a loud hand of applause were heard from the champions, even riven couldn't help but chuckle at their rowdiness. For the most part everyone within the League kept to their little factions, but days like these brought everyone together. As much as they tried to hide it even Katarina and Shen were sitting together having a seemingly very good time. It was nice to see everyone just put aside their differences and enjoy the day, it made everyone seem so connected, not split apart purely by their factions. Even with this all going on Riven decided to stay by herself, not even Irelia was with her that day. Suddenly she her train of thought was interrupted by the words from the commentator once again. "On the blue side we have team Demacia, which is represented by: "The Might of Demacia" Garen Crownguard, "the Lady of Luminosity " Luxana Crownguard, and "Demacia's Wings" Quin and Valor." The introduction of the team made even Riven cheer a bit for them, it was obvious that she wanted them to win. "And on the purple team we have "The Hand of Noxus" Darius, "The Glorious Executioner" Draven, and "The Master Tactician" Swain!" Once again the crowd cheered, even Demacians who were not in the fight were cheering for them, which was a little bit odd. "Only if such differences can be forgotten just as easily outside of the league." She said with a sigh before biting into a muffin that she pulled out of the bag.

The game was just starting when the man walked up to Riven and sat down. She tried her hardest to not giggle at the look on his face, instead she just decided to give him a bit of positive feedback. "You aren't nearly as pail as I was the first time I took that portal." She commented before biting into her muffin again. After glancing at him she noticed that his skin was naturally darker than hers, which kind of defeated her point, but she didn't care to point that out. Instead she focused back onto the match bellow them. Both teams were just starting to get out of their bases, which meant they had a bit of time before anything major happened. "So you must be the new Champion everyone is talking about. I must say, I did not expect someone quite like...you." She said hoping he would not take offense to what she said. She was curious how thick his skin was, but from the looks of him he seemed to be a person who wouldn't anger easily, at least not so much to be vocal about it.
 
Watching the champions emerge onto the field, Yasuo inwardly admitted it was a good display. The champions seemed to have let go at least some of their animosity in the spirit of the event, so he decided he'd relax a bit. Sometimes, you just need to slow down and enjoy the scenery. Hearing her comment running along similar lines to his thoughts, he shrugged "If that were the case, the world would be a much calmer place. And, this place wouldn't exist." He gestures to the area around them, but also encompasses the portal to the Institute and the field below. "None of the people that are good friends here would have met. No, sometimes violence can bring some good things. Never enough to outweigh the bad, though."

Taking her comment about how he seemed to have taken the trip through the portal, he shakes his head slowly and points to his temple "It's all up here." As he makes himself comfortable in the seat, he stiffens a bit at her comment about him not being what she expected. Narrowing his eyes a bit, he tosses her a sidelong glance "And what is it that you were expecting? New people rarely take the form that you give them in your thoughts."
 
The man's comment about how different the world would be made Riven shrug. "How different would it truly be though?" She asked in more so of a hypothetical way. Although she was genuinely curious how things would be different if things were different, but what about people? Would half of these champions even be alive if it weren't for the way things have panned out? As he mentioned his headache she couldn't help but chuckle for at least a second. "Hopefully you aren't noxious or anything, if so please face yourself away from my direction." She said in a jokingly matter. Realizing how rude her observation of him her eyes widened as she quickly explained herself. "I didn't mean to offend you, I would just think that it was time for someone a little bit more....subtle to be joining us on the field. Gods know how long it's been someone along those lines has entered the league." After sorting out everything within Morgana's basket Riven set it down to the chair next to her. She leaned in to watch the match for a moment. All she could see was Darius getting into a fight with Garen, the two were bitter rivals, so it was obvious that they were going to try their hardest to win. Suddenly Garen seemed to have the advantage. "And suddenly with a heavy cleave Garen nearly ends the fight as soon as it started!" Riven cringed at the sight of how much pain came from the blow, but Darius wasnt finished yet. "Darius reacts though with a well placed pull to interrupt Garen's barrage of slashes, now he goes in for a spinning strike to Garen's ribcage!" The fight produced more cheering from the crowd, which probably hurt the man's headache more.

Once the cheering cooled down Riven looked over to him and knew it was best to at least continue the conversation instead of leaving it on the poor note from earlier. "So what brings you to the League of Legends?" She asked. For some reason she didn't ask for his name, probably because she didn't feel safe enough yet to give hers. She remembered it taking weeks before she even told Irelia her actual name. "Nevir" was what she called herself, and even though her friend knew who she truly was never said anything about it, at least until Riven was the one who confessed the lie. Maybe she would do something similar with this man, because something about him just screamed "do not trust with your name" to her. Maybe this time it would be Nivera, at least it seemed better then the last one.
 
"Who can say? It's not as though anyone can see what would happen if this happened and that didn't." Studying her as she speaks about what she expected, he makes a bit of a sour face "Subtlety. That's a word for people who tailor their choices to make people happy about them. Like anyone will ever take a bitter medicine happily." He closes his eyes, doing his best to get his bearings after a spike of pain that lances through his mind. Idly messing about with the wind that flowed past him with the breeze from this altitude, he sent a puff of it into the sky at random. The fight that is currently going on doesn't particularly interest him, as watching those two fight was like watching drunkards shove each other for a bottle. The only relevance it has is the shocks of pain it sends careening through his skull as the crowd cheers, but he manages to survive the noise barely.

Her question about why he joined causes him to stiffen slightly, as he quickly looks over at her. He weighs whether it's worth telling her or not, before deciding that he really didn't have much to lose. It wasn't as though he was going to miss out when it came to the match. "I came to find the murderer of someone I vowed to protect, and who died because I thought I would sway the tide of battle. Humility is not an easy lesson to learn, but that event may have driven it home...But I must find who did it. As it is, the people of my home believe I am the murderer." His eyes turn dark as he gazes at the distant sky, a wind starting to pick up as his mouth set in a grim line. "They sent my own brother to slay me. However, I was always the better of us two." His hand tightens around the hilt of his blade, the well-used hilt taking the pressure of his hand easily as he deepened the grooves his grip left in it.
 
As Riven listened to man she couldn't help but get this idea that he was a very spiteful man. Whether it was because he just had probably the worst experience with a portal in his life, or because he was just naturally like that she could not find out. He had good points though, his definition of subtlety did make her nod. "Poor choice of words, I apologize." she wasn't quite sure what she was trying to say, but she just didn't expect someone quite like him to enter the fields. Riven payed particular attention to his story and why he entered the league. When he talked about his reasoning for entering the League her eyes opened up a bit, why would he come here? Did he suspect someone within the League to be the murderer? "Do you have an idea who the killer could be?" She asked genuinely curious about the topic. Upon hearing the fact that he had to kill his brother made Riven shake her head. "Nobody should be forced to do that." She muttered. Looking back up to him she felt bad for him, he was banished from his home and had to kill his family, that was not something people should have to do. "So what do you plan on doing with your time here?" She asked hoping to change the subject and improve his mood.

((Gah....writers block. Might be time to change scenery or something soon))
 
"To hone my technique for a small part, but mostly it's about using some of the influence I gain to find the Elder's murderer." He leans back in his seat, a long sigh escaping him. He brings his gaze back to the present as it locks onto her face. He smiles bitterly, more of a grimace "And when I do, then justice will be served." The growing wind snaps to a stop, like a switch was flipped. Standing, he begins heading back to the portal "I need to find my own quarters. Best of luck to you." He begins walking away, slow enough that any parting words would not go unheard.
 
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