⏳ THE SCORCHING ISLE: Oracle Event One ⏳

[beleos]

ARRIVAL

All Bearers have heard whispers of them - the Oracles. Mysterious and unknown entities of an abstract nature, they serve as the heart of each faction’s cause - both as a means to an end and a very real stepping stone in achieving their objectives. To claim an Oracle means growing ever closer to victory: to see your homes restored as they were, or to herald in a new one of your making.

So you go.

A Cornerstone has been set up for each faction; one for the Zenith and one for the Meridian in Yima’s manor and Heliopolis, respectively. They warn you that upon transportation, your safety cannot be guaranteed and there is no telling what waits for you beyond - to be prepared. To make sure you have whatever you deem necessary with you before you go, as there is no telling when - or how - you will be coming back. CONTINUED HERE...

NOTES

Upon your arrival, you woke up with an HOURGLASS NECKLACE. Please refer to the Time Mechanics on the OOC Summary and bottom of this post for details on its usage.

The COURTYARD is frozen in time. Player Characters and the Great Tree are the only signs of moving, free life in the courtyard. During the intro, time magic does not work.

Characters are free to investigate but cannot move beyond the courtyard if you choose a prompt during the intro. You may mingle among your fellow Bearers or speak with [MR. TIBBS] if you so choose. (Also? LOOK AT HIM HELP)

Iconoclasts and Stargazers will notice Aspect benefits/detriments now.

All characters will be weak for the 24 hours - think like mild flu - and unable to leave until Mr. Tibbs has dispersed them. This is the time in which any threads with the NPC will be carried out.

The INTRO concludes with said dispersal of PC’s once interactions concluded. They will be sent to a location around the castle of your choosing; they are free to move about freely from here. Your prompts can start with you waking alone or in the presence of others - whatever you’d like!

Your character will innately understand how to use time magic from this point forward. It will come naturally to them, like a skill they were born with.

CASTLE: OVERVIEW (p a s t)

The Scorching Isles is home to the Atirat, a people of sea-dwellers who have the ability to walk on land. (Think mermaids with the ability to shift back and forth between human and mermaid forms.) As such, much of the Scorching Isles is covered in large bodies of blue water and glistening pieces of ice to accommodate their lifestyle.

THE CASTLE, however, is what dominates the landscape and it's where the Shard-Bearers will be spending their time. The white castle with colorful glass windows is obscured by a thick layer of clouds and fog. Nearly every location on the island has a thin layer of fog that rolls through it, which gives the entire Island an inescapable chill. The castle has artfully built rooms with a CAVALCADE OF DECORATIVE ICE, lavish mirrors, and white plants accented with blue decorations. Several portions of the castle are submerged due to the aquatic nature of the native residents.

And everywhere you go, you find them - STATUESQUE BODIES FROZEN mid-movement. They are haunting reminders of the power in your Hourglass - the very real power to decide their fates.

The castle has many winding paths to explore, as castles often do. There are sleeping quarters, HALLWAYS, a wine cellar, and a few large rooms presumably for diplomatic affairs. Players can use these rooms at their own leisure for whatever purposes they see fit. (Exploration, combat, or supply gathering.)

However, many of these rooms will require some strategy to access their full potential! Atirat were much more comfortable being underwater than many Kenosians may be. Therefore, rooms of higher importance may be COMPLETELY SUBMERGED or require swimming through an underwater pathway to reach them. Very minimal supplies will be kept out in the open for all to reach. More desirable supplies - such as warm clothing, small weapons, treasure, and the like - will be located past or within one of these flooded areas.

Players may gather supplies within and preserve their Sand or use their Sand to make other rooms accessible and gather whatever lies within! The larger the asset you attempt to unfreeze, the more Sand it costs - and the more drained/vulnerable you will be as a consequence, so choose your path ahead wisely.

Currently, a pervasive fog is preventing you from wandering beyond the Castle's limits. Should you try to venture past it, your Sand will rapidly be stolen and you will find yourself suffering the same fate as the islanders if you don't move back to safety quickly... However, if you ask Mr. Tibbs what lays beyond the mist - he will tell you about the thriving farmland, the once-bustling village surrounding the castle, and the beautiful coral reefs beneath it. Sadly, they're beyond your reach - but maybe if the Bearers decide to unfreeze them when the week is up...

LIBRARY (s a f e z o n e)

The ROYAL LIBRARY - A treasure trove of knowledge, history, and glimpses of a fractured past scattered throughout. The lower floor of the Library is void of much reading material and contains several intricate-looking art pieces on decorative pedestals.

A spiral staircase dominates the center of the room, with its once delicate structure overtaken by sheets of formidable ice; it leads you toward the upper levels where a sea of books awaits. There are isles and isles of books, most perched on intricately carved shelves. Many books lay in piles or are discarded onto the floor, and scattered papers are common throughout.

Curious Kenosians may pick out books from the shelves and read on various topics, but players may also pass through this room on their way elsewhere. This area will function as a safe haven where violence and the taking of others' Sand is not allowed; do not disturb the books or Mr. Tibbs won’t be happy!

NOTES

Characters who wish to receive a book with lore specific to the island may comment [HERE]. You will be RNGed a book from a pre-written list of topics. The books may give you a deeper look into the island, its inhabitants, and its history! (Only 1 book per player! Please assume all other books they read are about commonly-available topics.)

THE EATING PARLOR (p a s t)

There are no basic amenities on the island. No hot water, no warm beds, and no salacious magazines (that you know of. heh heh). That would make the Eating Parlour a wise stop for anyone. After all, this could be the perfect chance to procure some provisions!

The EATING PARLOUR has all the equipment one would need for meal preparation. Dried plants hang from the ceiling, and the walls are lined with mason jars filled with every strange manner of presumably edible thing (Is that a head over there? Hmm… maybe you should check).

The parlour also comes with a garden under a massive windowed dome so that the inhabitants could have fresh produce at hand. Many plants have withered, but there are some salvageable plants if you know how to look for them. But beware… Some of the plants have a strange blue glow. These plants can spell potential disaster.

If someone should make contact with these glowing plants, they will crumble into glass shards - glass that will quickly burrow its way under the skin and curse that person with Blight. Blight will make all resources within that person's vicinity slowly age and eventually crumble to dust. (Which I relate to on a personal level tbh.) Iconoclasts will be immune to its effects.

NOTES

Please see the "Blight" section below for more information on its effects.

TREASURE ROOM (f u t u r e)

Faint singing can be heard coming from this room. Once you hear the song, it dulls your senses and leaves you in a haze. There is no stopping your feet from guiding you to it through the doors and into the Treasure room. The door slams shut at your back, sealed with a wall of ice and magic.

Players will find themselves lured to an icy chamber bordered by a ring of cold blue fire. There is a deep pond that surrounds the platform you’ve found yourself standing on. Beyond its glassy surface and crystal clear water, one can glimpse all manner of treasures - from crowns, jewels, ornate statues in various statues of repair, scepters, spears, and books that seem impervious to the water's cold chill.

As you come to your senses, you will find yourself frozen in place and at the mercy of a large statuesque being before you. This beautiful and horrifying figure in a perpetual song is the SIREN, the only Atirat you’ve seen in person. She measures nearly 20 feet (6 meters) from her head to the tip of her long-finned tail. She cradles an icy shard in her arms, singing to it as if it were a child.

She sits serenely in front of a large hourglass filled with white sand, which is bordered by a spear and a lance. Emblazoned in faint text at the base of where she sits reads: “The future lies in our hands.”

NOTES

Welcome to the Siren’s Chamber! Players must use their wit, charisma, or some good ol' fashioned elbow grease to escape the room or break the Siren’s magic. The Shard that the Siren holds contains dormant time magic that players may activate by using the Sand within their necklace. Players can access the future in 5-second intervals and use whatever they find in that time period to escape their predicament.

For example, if they activate the shard by using their time magic, that shard will begin to glow blue. The room around them will shift, and it could change to a point in the future where there is a sword nearby. If you can grab it, now you have a weapon! When the 5 seconds are up and time returns to the present, you will still have that weapon on your person. You may also try verbal communication if you’d like. If your character is someone who would try and talk their way out of a situation diplomatically, they may give it a try!

It is up to player discretion/creativity to think of a scenario you’d like. Each “future" does not have to be the same across player encounters! What one group experiences may be tailored to the player wants (because branching timelines exist). Let your imagination run free!

HALL OF MIRRORS (p r e s e n t)

Should you reach the rightmost wing of the massive castle Library, you will find a door hidden in the very back of one aisle against a wall; it looks as though the door used to be concealed by magicks that have since dissolved.

The stairwell leads down and into darkness. Once you reach the bottom, shimmering light cast from an unknown source beneath sheets of glistening ice will illuminate your new surroundings; you are in a maze of mirror-like ice. This labyrinth is silent save for the quiet creaking of shifting ice that may disquiet you and leave you uneasy regarding the stability of this area… but it holds beneath your feet.

Mr. Tibbs had told you that the “Kaleidoscope” - where your Sand is counted - rests through here, so eventually, you must brave the journey. Is it a trick of the light? Maybe the product of an especially active imagination…?

Did you just see one of your reflections move without you?

NOTES

Please refer to the OOC Summary for details on the Hall of Mirrors!

THE BLIGHT and TIME MECHANICS

BLIGHT

Blight is an infliction that will age supplies and infect people with a creeping disease that steals their Sand. For objects, this includes weapons, food, and items like cloth. It will take a few days to deteriorate things beyond use - so watching your supplies and acting accordingly is in your best interest. Generally, it will make it more difficult for PC's to get by given that their already scarce resources will dwindle and deteriorate - especially since it's 'contagious' through touch.

The Blight will not act quickly enough to severely hamper infected persons, but repeated exposure will cause effects to a person's body - notedly protruding VEINS in the face and extremities, a lower body temperature, and increased agitation. These effects start out mild and grow more severe with each 'dose.'

Characters must touch an object/person that is Blighted to become inflicted with Blight themselves. When that happens, it will become easily identifiable as Blighted from the faint blue, shimmering outline around the infected subject, as well as the WITHERED, FROSTBITTEN or ashy appearance it takes as it progresses.

However, there is one single perk with Blight. (Or is it a perk?) Players will feel reduced impact by the cold surroundings, making the climate around them somewhat more hospitable. Beware of falling victim to a chill you can't feel...

TIME

To use your Sand, each character is granted access to and innate knowledge of a spell they channel from their Shard that automatically manipulates their Hourglass. This allows the remote control of Sand (aka gathering and dispersing), as well as the ability to pull Fragments of time from Shards.

Fragments are literal pieces of you taken from your Shard. They manifest as memories or images displayed on little shards of broken glass (think of the memory being played out in real-time on the mirror's surface), and can be crushed to convert into Sand automatically, either voluntarily or by force. The only stipulation is that the parties must be close to one another, and the Fragment must be exchanged while both Bearers are still. This means someone has to give it to you, or you need to immobilize them before you take it - one way or another.

Once the Fragment is crushed, the memory and associated time of that person's life is lost and your character will suffer amnesia until the Oracle is claimed. How deep this goes is up to you; they could lose a large chunk of time - even all their memories surrounding a person or place for a big payload of Sand, or they could lose very little for a meager net gain.

Sand is automatically gathered or distributed by your Hourglass and added/subtracted to your running total. No need to micromanage. Convenient!

Please note that using Sand to unfreeze anything (resources, a door which can be then opened, etc) is an unpleasant experience. Each time you use Sand in this way, your character will be left feeling weakened and flu-like for an hour or two, which will leave them vulnerable. This effect stacks and scales up to outright KO-ing them for a few hours if they go crazy, so unfreezing too large of an area is off the table!

NOTES

• An OOC POST will be coming shortly explaining how Sand is going to be tallied and the Oracle claimed.
• Should your character attempt to unfreeze any NPC's, please respond [HERE]. NOTE: unfreezing NPC's may result in physical violence with CW's for severe mental instability/illness and a potential reference to self-harm.
• HAVE FUN!!!

CODING

Comments

[shisho]

[ The Atirat he has saved with the cautious, clever use of his sand are numerous. Many of them are dead-eyed, their physical tics those of traumatized or haunted individuals. There are blankets around them, the children have been cleaned and their faces and hands washed clean; a bucket of warmed water sits nearby with a spare cloth, several empty pots of what must have been the stew he's cobbled together of them stacked to the side ( good to know that even in working on behalf of others, Reigen's still a fucking slob --- ).

He waits. Silco is doing something in that crazy brain of his, and Reigen has nothing but time to spare. Hah. ]

No, the suggestion was to use theft or bargaining to acquire additional Sand. There was no requirement placed on us to actually collect more. Mr. Tibbs only said it was a game. We placed the caveat to 'acquire more' on ourselves.

[ He waves his finger, spinning it in slow circles through the air as he speaks. ]

What if the point of his game, and thus the criteria to win the Oracle, was selflessness, not selfishness?

[zauneyete]

[ It is not, altogether, an entirely... poor theory, Silco thinks. It, of course, has the added caveat that it supports his actions of bringing these Aitrats to life, and further -- it means they will be a drain on their already strained resources. He thinks the man is wrong -- but only on action, not on theory.

Silco's eyes looked down at the kid, and they promptly ducked their head behind Reigen's leg, lest the man with the ever-open, eerie black and orange eye stare too long at them. He supposed not every child could be so perfect as to find comfort with him, could they? Really, only one person was that perfect in his mind, regardless. Way to be That kind of dad, huh? He smirked at the kid, and it isn't reassuring. ]

You're not incorrect that it was only suggested. [ He lifted his cigar as if to point it at Reigen in emphasis. ]

However, if we are to invest our sand in the end, what point is there to spend it now? If you're so concerned, would it not be better to pool our scant resources together, encourage others to invest the way we think is best, and release them all in the end? Would that not save a greater amount of lives, rather than bringing these back, only to... [ He then looked at the child, again. ] Fall back to the blight, before the week is over? Or perhaps they make it, only to starve because the resources were not released in large enough numbers?

[ A beat, and then he smiled. ] I'm just...looking at the big picture, of course.

[shisho]

[ There is a small don't be rude, I don't care if you just woke back up from Reigen, as he holds the Atirat child by the back of the head and urges them out from behind his leg with a small push. In a vastly monotonous mumble, the child seems to communicate back with him -- he can say hello first, if he actually cares to greet me beyond thinking I am a mistake that will need to be rectified. It'd be bratty, if the voice that comes from the little Atirat wasn't so deeply sonorous, far too mature for as small a figure.

Reigen looks back to Silco, breaking his gaze from the dark, severe one of the child(?) at his side. ]

You're asking questions that don't matter, Mister Silco. Nobody's going to pick the people.

[ Reigen has never lost an argument. He also knows better than to bother picking fights he'll lose, so naturally, his win rate is effective but falsified. He pats the child, who slouches their way to the ground as if exhausted by standing, their head leaning against his calf as Reigen's mouth tightens for a moment at the corners -- an indescribable expression, before he closes his eyes and gestures haplessly before the other man. A sigh escapes him, like it's a chore to have to explain what he already knows. ]

Neither Zenith, nor Meridian, is going to come down on the side of the people caught in the middle of our fights. You can't tell me that anyone here is going to invest their Sand in the end towards people, when they can choose resources to strengthen their cause.

[ He cocks his head: ] People are always going to be left to suffer, because we only look towards progress.

[zauneyete]

[ Silco's eerie, dual-toned gaze looked down at the kid, but it was not with the same kind of care that Reigen looks on them with. Silco isn't that cruel, to lash out actively at children -- he has a line, after all -- but he doesn't Care about this child. This child hadn't survived betrayal, and being tossed aside for being inconvenient, or helping. This child wasn't perfect, or the embodiment of every wild and free virtue that Silco held as paramount.

Then again, no child could be Jinx. He only regarded the child with a cold eye, and then a slight uptick of his lip, a smirk that said -- I can hear you --

But he turned back to Reigen, his words hitting him with a particular accuracy.

Silco knows what it is to suffer for progress after all. What it is to toil away, scrabbling your fingers raw in mines and breathing air so poisonous that it wreaked havoc on one's lungs. He knew what it was, to try, so desperately to get out of that, and to try to make something better, only to find that dream dead, because progress always demanded sacrifice. ]

Then let me ask you a question, since you seem to know so much about the people you supposedly care enough to give your sand for.

Do you know what it is, to be one of those people forgotten for progress? What it requires of them? What bringing all of these people back will mean for them?

[ He looked them up and down, the whole lot of them. ]

How many of them are blighted, for example? Or how many of them will starve once we leave? When you leave, what will your effort have truly done for these people, beyond giving them false hope?

[ Give the people hope, and then take it away, when one doesn't have the stomach for what it required. Oh, Silco knew that, and it's on his face, how distasteful it was. ] Or will you come back, to make sure they're taken care of, once this is over with?

[shisho]

Some of the resources have to go to them, naturally. This is their home, but we can argue for a majority cut of the spoils as our fee for coming all this way and helping them. Zenith comes out the winner, and looks great in the eyes of the locals. I'm not altruistic, come on -- I weighed the pros and cons before I even began this. For me, alone. I didn't factor in anyone else, since I figured you just wouldn't care.

[ Mildly accusatory, he flaps his hands like an errant bird; erratic and sighing through his nose, while his tired companion with the old eyes holds fast to his leg as though Reigen's the only thing keeping them standing. In the face of Silco's smirk, their expression flattens out -- distastefully, but without loathing. Maybe it's his personality they're just not taken in by, moreso than the ruin of his face. Reigen's not that much of a looker himself, but like Silco, he's infectious in his own way.

Maybe he just got there first. ]

When I get back to Highstorm, I'm going to look for a way to travel between islands that doesn't solely require cornerstones. I think the Atirat deserve to have the choice between their home and a new one, the same as any one of us who adhere to Zenith's ideals do -- I mean, look at this place. Isn't it proof that Meridian's wrong? What can they fix about this?

[ Again, a theatrical sigh as he slumps over, rambling in the face of Silco's question as a smokescreen while his mind wheels and turns. What is his plan? He never has a plan, only heart and the ability to bluff until he's dead from it. ]

Why would I not take the opportunity to guide them forward? 'Cause yeah, I do know what it's like to be a slave under the thumb of greater masters. It sucks. It's humiliating and boring. It's hard work all your life, for nothing.

[ he's talking about corporate japan silco don't listen to him

And that's when he sneers, a little mean-spirited and plenty confident in his ( nonexistent ) power. ]

Don't worry, when we win -- I won't say anything about how my foolish, kind actions took nothing of value away from Zenith's goal. This time.

[zauneyete]

[ Humiliating and Boring he says.

Silco does disregard this, because he has none of the acerbic hate and anger that Silco held, from working for too long for "greater masters". What it was like to live without, and to stretch resources so thin because it was the only way to survive. He looked at him, a single eye blinked, and Silco flicked his gaze to the child again, with their old eyes, gripping the pant leg of a man who saw them as pawns, and said so explicitly.

Was it kinder, he wondered, to be the pawn of someone who wanted to keep you alive, or to let one pass on for good?

Silco knew that this was the core of why he was here, with Zenith. Why he had signed on here, as opposed to Meridian. The rot that sunk deep into the bones of Zaun, from the fissures to the poisoned river, it all had a source, it was so obvious what it was like, but it also was far too different. This was not there. This world was shattered by ice and blight, these people could be sick within days, and they would not even know it. ]

Your foolish actions will cost us. Perhaps not now, and perhaps these now waking people will give you the glory for... [ A twitch in his face now, violent, knowing ] saving them from whatever holds them here. How grand.

And when they bring the blight to Highstorm? When they pass this sickness from here, to us, I'm sure I'll keep this in mind, that you cared for them.

[ Spread hands. ] What happens after is often just as important as the now. If you find a land for them, do you really think they'll thank you? Or do you think... this will happen all over again?

[ He's moving to the side now, steps cautious. He knows all too well, what it is to wrangle people out from their places in obscurity and to bring them to power. He knew how they were just as petty and unremarkable as the people above. ]

Are you worried I'm going to turn you in?

[shisho]

Listen. We've got enough people looking at the 'big picture'. I'm here to make sure nothing gets lost in the shuffle, falls through the cracks, and down into the pits. I don't think it's gonna impact your grand plans that bad, Mister Silco — it's just taking care of people.

[ What happens after IS important. He's full of a lot of tenacity and not a lot of far-sightedness, but he's not a complete idiot. If anything, he's got the horrible ability of vibrant nihilism, wrapped up and disguised as hope. The kids matter, that's the line for him, he'll damn others if he has to. ]

I think they'll be able to decide that for themselves. What choices they make with the resources they need to sensibly make them are their own, everyone is the leading lady in their own life. Once they have the means, they can choose their own way. Tear down their old world? Sure. Hate me for what I've done? That's fine. Find a new way? Ideal, really.

[ He props his hands up on his hips, following the way Silco begins to step around the room. His only motion to ensure that he's between that guy and the children, any of the still-frozen Atirat as well. ]

Would it matter if you did? I'm not going against Zenith's goals, really. Yours though... nah, not yet. I don't think it's a complication you need to eliminate. Yet.

[zauneyete]

Oh? [ Eyes slightly widened, mouth formed into an 'o' as he asked that. ]

You aren't? You've simply decided that for yourself, have you?

[ He disagreed. These people, if they were not strong enough to take care of themselves, not strong enough to hew out a place for themselves, were not worthy of his time. That they were locked away by this mysterious blight was a testament to how weak they were, that they could not have stood against it, or left in time. Silco had no use for weak things, weak people. He had no interest in them. Zaun had made an already hard boy into a harder man, and his eyes flicked to the child, another discerning look.

It was cold, for it was not his child, and didn't that mean everything? That these children were so important to this man, where his was gone...

Not that Reigen would know that this was an insult, but then again, Silco had been so careful about his daughter. So careful.

That didn't mean that her ghost haunted his every footstep, and guided his every action more than Zaun as motivation, for Zaun was gone, and could never come back. Jinx, at least, had a chance. ]

I disagree. By wasting your time and effort with these people, who couldn't even save themselves the first time... Well. If they manage to make it a second, they may take resources away from us in the end. Does that not work against our goals? I doubt they will happily harvest for us, once we leave.

[shisho]

Actually, I decided it as a mercy.

[ He flattens his palms out, upturned and empty as though the absence of a weapon upon his person is the danger itself. Inside, he's shaking like a leaf — arataka you idiot you moron you don't know half of these people or what they're capable of, you signed on with them though because they're STRONG. stop fighting them! — but the weight of a reminder sits in the breast pocket of his jacket, swaddled in cotton and tucked carefully into an old cigarette carton like a miniature grave.

( Shishou, Mob could say, you're the kind of man who always has to do something. )

Good old Mob. Everything he does is for that kid. ]

I didn't really introduce myself properly, did I? My name is Reigen Arataka. Back home, I was the greatest psychic of the era with a teenage apprentice with a brain like a nuclear bomb,

[ Silco has no use for weak people, and the man standing before him is the weakest thing of them all. Flimsy, helpless and boasting with his whole chest that he's unstoppable, that he's a mirror of the rotten man before him. A guy with a kid who defines his every action, moreso than the world that may or may not have been destroyed.

He takes one step forward, towards Silco. Empty handed, focused. Getting between him and the kid he just, keeps looking at. ]

Why're you so mad at them, Mister Silco? They're just kids, they might talk about us after we're gone. Meridian's home base'll know us as people who care about people, and won't that stick in their craw — but most of all, I don't actually care if they're worth anything or nothing at all. Everyone has a right to a future, and I'm gonna make a helluva' future for them.

[ Hotly, he huffs: ] Besides, my kid's gone. Just a shard now, so I gotta' do right by him so he has a great life to come back to. And friends, and a kind future, because he's worth everything I'm gonna do. Our resources are for that new world, after all. Unless you're not telling me something.

[zauneyete]

[ Psychic. Silco knew little of them, beyond what fairy tales he'd read Jinx when she was younger, or what fantasies people spoke of. There were always tales of such things, but they did not exist on Runeterra. (Or rather, in Silco's limited scope, as a poor piece of filth from Zaun, he knew not of them.) He knew, however, to be wary, and it's clear, with the wry smile on his face, as he says: ]

Going to read my mind, then, are you?

[ He goaded him, taunted him. Dared him to do so as he thought of why children like this would deserve kindness over the children of Zaun. Silco had grown up mining, a child laborer in the fissures where he'd learned to smuggle, and grasped to someone else to support him -- supported each other -- as they fought to work themselves out of mining and working away for their betters above, smuggling, founding the lanes, and then -- betrayal hot and white, filled with seething anger and fury.

Why did he hate these children, who were simply handed a future they did not deserve? Why did he hate any of these individuals, these other Zenites, Meridian, and unharmonized who deigned to waste the opportunity they were given?

Silco wanted to burn it all down because he was jealous, hated it, because these children didn't deserve a future Jinx didn't have, a shard though she was. That this man decided his should have friends just spoke to weakness. Friends betrayed. A lesson this kid would clearly not learn, and clearly would have no hardness to deal with.

He could not imagine a childhood so soft, had not offered a childhood that soft to Jinx, either. She was too strong to be wasted like that. ]

Perhaps as the greatest psychic, I'll leave that as a mystery for you to find out. I'm sure it will not take long, hm? I have not been quiet about where I come from, or what my past was like.

Not all of us get the opportunity of a future, and have to fight for the mere possibility.

[ How long would he have lived, in the mines? Scrawny, and small? If he had been left to wither away under Piltover's thumb? His hands still held the scars from injuries and cuts, his face a patchwork of more scars all over -- excluding the most obvious, the one that rippled underneath a heavy coat of makeup -- the man had held a hard life, even if he used derision and honeyed words to pretend it was less so. ]