Chapter Text
“All yours!” Vi called as she saw her brother coming in, wiping her hands in a rag that knew better times. She walked around a bar and threw the crumpled piece of cloth at him, passing the sceptre of the kingdom of the Last Drop to the new ruler. “I’m off.”
Mylo caught it deftly but frowned, immediately tossing the thing back at the desk with a disgusted scoff. “It’s all wet.”
“Because I cleaned everything,” Vi sneered back, nudging his shoulder as they swapped. “And I want to see it just as clean tomorrow.”
“Don’t be a sour ass,” he replied. His steps led right to the tap, pouring himself a beer. “I’m super tidy. Hurts how little faith you have in me. Cheers.”
Vi rolled her eyes. She was too tired to deal with his bullshit, so she wasn’t going to argue. She just fulfilled the never-ending duty of reminding her brother the basics, and now she was heading home. At least he was too old to be chastised for a beer at three in the afternoon.
Before she disappeared behind the door that led to the upper floor of the Last Drop, Mylo called at her.
“Hey-! Uh, thanks, actually… you did uh- lot.”
Vi glanced over her shoulder at her brother who scratched the back of his neck, and she simply nodded to end his suffering quickly. She clenched her jaw on her way up - not because her brother had tried his hardest to be nice to her, but because apparently, she still looked like she needed that.
She walked through the mess of their apartment right into her bedroom, closing the door shut despite her solitude.
With a tired sigh, she sunk into her armchair. The cushions, older than Vi herself, accepted her immediately, and Vi’s eyes blissfully closed.
She thought she was over it by now. Her mornings became lighter, and in the bustle of the Last Drop, surrounded by friends and patrons, it felt easy to stop ruminating in her thoughts. Then there were days when only an hour alone was enough for her stupid mind to remind her how broken her heart was.
Just as it was now. Aching again.
But she knew the drill. She would sit for a while, let it hurt; her mind would wander back to the fiercely red hair, to the plump lips that tasted so addictive, the feeling of fingertips sliding against her skin… but then she would remember that her kisses were just as sweet as the lies whispered into her ear, and the sourness brought her back to her senses.
She should stop bringing her back like that.
Yeah. She could do that. Maybe she was just horny. After all, sex was the best part of their relationship. That… never failed.
Vi opened her eyes, then took a deep breath and a look around her.
Last week, she began with deep cleaning her depressed room, as Powder called it. Time to continue. It felt good seeing her room becoming tidy, as if it was her own mind getting rid of all the mess. The thought made a sudden rush of enthusiastic energy run through her body, so she slapped the ripped armrests and jumped up on her feet before it was gone.
A chest of drawers, the beast she was afraid of the most, was already awaiting her. It had contained the most sporadic shit even before she got dumped, but it was time.
She walked to her gramophone (under which all her vinyls were already neatly sorted out), and played the newest of Powder’s findings. She hoped that the loud and funky beats would make her enthusiasm stay for a bit longer, and then she opened the first drawer with a bobbing head.
Yup, it was good.
Among the random items that Vi tossed on a separate pile to be dealt with later, there were crumpled shirts of various states and ages. She promised herself to throw away anything she hadn’t worn in the previous year, and so the second pile on the ground grew painfully but steadily, until one particular T-shirt stopped her spree.
“Wow,” she chuckled, staring at it. It was ripped. Severely. On the shoulder where she hit a metal traverse as they crawled through a narrow tunnel, running away from the Enforcers. She still couldn’t believe how much of a fuss a few stolen flowers from a Piltovan garden could make. There used to be little holes on the stomach because those flowers had thorns, but by wearing the shirt further, the holes grew much wider.
But hey, it was Vander’s birthday (which they accidentally forgot about), and they had just spent all of their money in a robot street fight Ekko had held that day. That little dipshit had promised his MetalJawCrusher would absolutely crush the other robots, so they had bet on him. The thing had broken apart in the second round. Second.
As an apology, he’d given them a tip on a rich ass Piltie mansion with gardens full of flowers, promising no one would notice a few missing. And no one would have if Mylo could have shut his mouth about how ridiculous it was to give Vander flowers, which had led to a fight with Pow.
They escaped, Vander was touched by the gift, claiming no one had ever given him a bouquet, and if he found out they were stolen after a bunch of Enforcers came to Zaun looking for four kids, he’d never told them. And Ekko quickly improved at constructing fighting robots.
Vi sighed. She just couldn’t force herself to toss the shirt on the pile of death.
Fuck it, that thing couldn’t go if it still fit. Her own shirt was down a second before she began fighting her way into the tight piece of clothing. It protested as she pushed her shoulders in, but luckily, the ripped fabric was stretchy enough to let her in, with just one hole ripping further. Maybe two.
Amazing. She looked at herself in a mirror. Vi remembered it used to be loose. Now it was strangling- sorry, hugging her arms around her biceps, and she surely couldn't lift up her arms without exposing her stomach completely, but that was happening anyway as the… ventilation holes were scattered around the whole front.
Good news, she didn’t have to get rid of it.
She turned around to observe the ripped part on her trapezius when she noticed a scar matching the shape of it, only noticeably smaller.
“Ohh! So that’s where it’s from!” she called out. How could she forget?
Laughing, she got back to work, humming and vibing to the music, picking up and folding the shirts with an ease she hadn’t felt for a while. That was until her hand hit something solid. She pulled the thing out. A little, purple, paper box looked too luxurious to be in her chest of drawers, but its worn edges said it had experienced a lot. She frowned at first because she didn’t recognise it, but once she focused on the image on it, her shoulders sagged.
A drawing of a God-looking woman, hovering in the hollow space of the universe, with her arm reached out, palm open and a glowing energy above it. The Universe. She was holding a Tarot deck.
Vi clenched her jaw, and her fingers tightened around the box. She was looking at an image of the Universe card, the exact one that was used to make her believe she was someone else's whole universe.
It was Sarah Fortune’s fucking Tarot deck. How the fuck did it get in here? The fire burning in her chest tamed a little as she laughed, because Sarah loved that one, and she was probably furious finding out she’d lost it. But the flames quickly took over once again.
She was pissed. She literally just started feeling better, maybe the best she’d felt in weeks, only to get the dagger stabbed back into her heart one more time. No matter how hard she tried to get rid of the woman and all the memories of her, they would always chase her back. Screw her.
Vi opened the box, just to make sure the deck was really inside. Sarah’s precious deck of cards. She remembered it so well, because that was one of the tools Sarah used to create the fake, mysterious, and irresistible aura around her - to effortlessly wrap people around her fingers.
Vi scoffed disgustedly, shaking her head. Of course The Lovers were on top - ready to be drawn any time as it was easy to shuffle cards while keeping the top one in its place. Her fingers flipped a few cards as they played with the deck mindlessly, but her thoughts were already spiraling in anger, each of the familiar drawings adding oil to the fire.
“Fuck this shit, seriously,” she hissed. A strong pang hit her heart as she once again remembered Sarah’s luring words, her stupid mind falling so hard for the woman, and she hurled the box to the ground. It landed on the pile of clothes, and the cards messily scattered around.
Vi’s hands ran over her face to rub the anger away, and then she slumped back into the armchair. Her head fell back, and her tired eyes fixed on a crack on the ceiling.
She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there, contemplating in her pain, but soon she noticed the vinyl stopped playing. The needle reached the end, and now it only made a rhythmic hum as the wheel spun. She didn’t care though. It was rather calming, but really, she could just… die here. Because why not.
Vi faintly heard a muffled sound coming from inside the apartment. Someone came in, but even when her door burst open without a knock, she didn’t flinch.
“You're gonna love this!” a girl called excitedly.
“Hey Pow,” Vi said, her words completely lost under her sister's voice. She noticed the rustling of a paper bag, but none of that was convincing enough to make her look.
“So there’s a new place that mixes fruit juice with tea and I know it might sound crazy but I really really think you should try it because I might have gotten obsessed, and I need someone to go there with me, and by that I mean regularly so pleaaase… could you?” Powder said in one breath, then sharply inhaled. She held the air in as she gazed at Vi expectantly, but then she slowly took in the scenery and exhaled. Vi heard another rustling sound, and she imagined Powder was putting down the paper bag.
“I got you one,” Powder continued in a more cautious voice. She looked around the room. Her eyes flicked from the mess on the floor, to the half-tidy drawer, and then her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed the gramophone playing empty noises.
“Thanks,” Vi answered, her head rolling to one side a little so she could glance at her sister. She tried to smile. “That’s nice.”
“Vi, what the fuck happened here?” she asked, carefully stepping around the scattered cards she was curiously ogling. “I thought you were better lately?”
“My nightmare,” Vi growled and then straightened up with a loud sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m… I’m fine actually, it’s just-” she stopped, gesturing towards the cards.
“Oh…” Powder crouched down but didn’t look like she fully understood.
“I was feeling better today, I did quite some work here, too, but then…” Vi shrugged. “Found these in the drawer. She must have left it. Pissed me off…”
Powder picked up a few cards, tossing them back on the ground one by one as she watched Vi sitting in the armchair with her clenched fist propping her head. Vi wasn’t sure if she would call her sister more angry than exhausted, but sparks of anger surely ignited in her eyes.
“So you found them, and since then you’ve been sitting there like a wreck?” Powder stood up, crossing her arms.
“I know,” Vi sighed. “I’ll be fine. Sorry… I just hate-” she clenched her jaw. “It looks like I can’t get rid of her no matter what. I just hate to give her one more day of my life.”
“Right,” Powder nodded approvingly. “As you should.”
“She used these to wrap me around her finger, you know… too many memories,” Vi explained, and then she shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Enough. I wanna know about the drink you brought,” she said and was about to get up, but Powder scoffed disdainfully.
“What a bitch. Seriously, Violet. This must end.”
Vi froze with her hands propped against the armrests and looked up at her, noticing her sister’s voice changed. “Yeah…?” she asked cautiously.
“I’m so done with this,” Powder snapped furiously, and then she bowed down. She began picking up every single card she found, stacking them up in her hand.
“Uh- what are you doing?” Vi’s eyes followed Powder’s every movement.
“Collecting your dignity,” Powder answered, kneeling down to reach for the cards that got under the bed.
“Funny,” Vi grimaced. “What are you really doing?”
Powder stood up, her icy gaze fixing on Vi. “I’m done with this bitch stealing my sister. So you say those cards are hers?” She lifted up the deck of cards, their worn golden rims shining in the light.
Vi nodded silently.
“Good!” she called and began shuffling them. “Well, sis, Sarah-fucking-Fortune’s cards are now going to tell you when you’re going to meet your true love.”
“What,” Vi perked up, confusion written all over her face. “What- do you mean?”
“I’m going to give you my tarot reading,” she answered.
“But that’s-” Vi stuttered, “you don’t know how to use them.” She blinked at her. “Do you… know how to use them?”
“No fucking clue,” Powder shrugged carelessly. “You?”
“No, not really,” Vi answered, watching her sister kicking the shirts on the ground to make herself some space.
“Do you have to ask anyhow specifically?” Powder asked, settling down.
“You don’t have to, you can just… ask and draw a card.”
“Amazing,” Powder breathed out, satisfied. “Sounds easy.” She finally looked up, sitting on the ground with the deck neatly in front of her. She grinned, but then her eyebrows furrowed. “What the fuck?”
Vi’s face couldn’t be more confused, but once again, she had no clue what her sister had on her mind. She looked around but found nothing.
“No, you dumbass,” Powder said, pointing a finger at her. “I raised you poorly if you think you can pick up girls in that T-shirt.”
Vi’s eyes dropped down, frowning. Then she started laughing out loud.
“I’m serious,” she raised an eyebrow at her, but Vi just kept laughing. “You’re not going down with that on. Definitely not next to me.”
“Do you know what ‘that’ is?” Vi asked, grinning, and when Powder’s answer was just a dubiously raised eyebrow, she continued. “It’s the one I tore when we stole those flowers for Vander.”
“Ohh!” Powder realised and started laughing with Vi. “No way! You had it this whole time? Sorry to break it to you, but you kinda grew out of it.”
“Apparently,” Vi nodded, raising up her arms and looking at them. The short sleeves had already cut a ridge into her skin, but Vi didn’t mind. Such childhood memories warmed her.
“That was a core memory,” Powder said. “I’ll never forget the furious faces of the Enforcers when they couldn’t catch a bunch of kids. Over flowers!”
“Right?!” Vi gestured confusedly. “That’s exactly what I can’t understand.”
“Well, I mean,” Powder snorted, smirking smugly. She fiddled with her necklaces playfully as her mind wandered back in time, the colourful beads clinking against each other. “We didn't take just the flowers, right?”
Vi frowned. “Wait, what?”
Powder cackled. “You don’t remember? Mylo was pissed that we risked so much for stupid flowers, so he decided to climb to the open window he saw. And I did, too. To get his ass back, of course, but…”
That took Vi aback a little. “I remember you fought because he didn’t like it as a gift. That’s how the Enforcers heard us.”
“Yeah, that, too, but that was just the trigger. Ah, we can talk about it later over a beer,” she replied, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. “I’m sure Mylo and Claggor would love to see you in the shirt.” Then Powder clapped, grabbing the deck and spreading the cards in front of her. “We have some work to do here!”
“This is ridiculous-” Vi shook her head but went to sit with her, chuckling.
“Gonna be easy-!”
“You can’t read the meaning, Pow.”
“How hard can that be?” She rolled her eyes, scoffing lightly. “You know what? Just stop talking and watch.”
Vi breathed in to say something, but Powder shot a pointed look at her, raising a warning finger. “Shush!” She got an annoyed huff and a grimace for an answer, but otherwise, Vi said nothing, and Powder grimaced smugly back.
“So…!” Powder started dramatically, her gaze dropping to the cards, and her hand hovered above them. “My dearest sister’s true love… The one that will turn her into a pathetic puppy once again, drooling and fetching a ball on a command, but this time with someone who actually deserves her. How is she going to meet her?”
“Uhh,” Vi hummed, “I think that’s too specific-”
But Powder’s hand was already drawing a card, flipping it immediately and tossing it in front of her.
The Queen of Disks.
They looked at it, both tilting their heads aside as they inspected the card. A woman was sitting on a throne made of branches, colourful petals of pink sakura tree filling the whole space above her. There was a sand path that led around her throne and then snaked around, going all the way to rocky mountains in the background of the image.
“Huh…” Powder grumbled thoughtfully, blinking, and Vi turned her gaze back up at her expectantly. “Alright, fine, I have no fucking idea, give me some clear answer,” she said eventually, and Vi threw her hands in the air, but before she could protest, Powder flipped another card.
The Chariot.
“Ha!” she exclaimed immediately, making Vi jump a little.
“What?”
She pointed a finger at the chariot towed by four white tigers. “She’s coming.”
“She’s coming?” Vi repeated, expecting her to elaborate.
“Yup, she’s coming. Pretty fast I would say,” she replied, picking the card up and examining the details closely. “Those beasts are not playin’.”
Vi stared at her silently for a moment, flabbergasted, before she spoke again. “That’s it? You draw a card with a chariot, and you say that she’s coming. Because… there’s a chariot? Which people use to-”
“To move around. And to get where they want to,” Powder nodded confidently. “So she’s coming.”
“Alright, Pow, I know I said I can’t read them myself, but I feel like I’m practically an expert next to you. You can’t just read from the image as it is, there’s symbolism underneath which is the important part-”
“What other symbolism can be in a chariot, Violet?” She cut her off. “Tell me!”
There was a dramatic pause with a staring battle before Vi sighed. “Fine! I guess you’re right, but keep that in mind for the next card.”
Powder just rolled her eyes, giving her just the tiniest gesture of acknowledgment. “Now! Where are you going to meet her?”
“This is even more specific, how do you think a card can answer that?” Vi questioned, but just as before, Powder ignored her and picked a card.
Ace of Cups.
“Hm,” Vi hummed, partially satisfied with the answer. It probably couldn’t answer such a question, but she remembered cups were about emotions, and the Ace of Cups meant love in its pure form, so-
“Oh wow, I knew you would find her in the Last Drop!” Powder exclaimed excitedly, and Vi opened her mouth in surprise, her eyes flicking from the card back to Powder. “I know, crazy, right? Would you believe that?”
“No!” Vi answered. “I wouldn’t. Where the fuck do you see the Last Drop in this?”
The card was basically just a cup of white wine, held by two hands as if offered to the reader.
“What do you mean? You don’t recognise the cup?”
“No, I don’t recognise the cup because it’s a random cup that some artist drew on this piece of paper on a random island on the other side of the sea!” Vi raised her voice, but the girl seemed too excited to pick up what she meant.
“Right? What are the odds that they would draw the same cup Vander uses to taste cider whenever he receives a batch from Ionia? Not a coincidence!”
Vi was ready to react, but it made her think for a second. The cup was somewhat familiar to her, but…
Powder took her silence as agreement. “That’s what I thought.”
“No, no, that is a coincidence. The deck is Ionian, Vander probably uses some traditional one he got from some of the Ionian merchants.”
Powder blinked. “It’s an Ionian Tarot deck?”
“Of course it is! There are Ionian people on it,” Vi said, losing her patience as her finger shot to the driver of the chariot and then the queen, tapping the paper. “And Ionian nature. How could you not have noticed?”
“Ughhh that’s unimportant, focus Violet!” Powder drawled out, rolling her eyes. “We have one more important question to ask, and you want to talk about geography, what’s wrong with you.”
“I’m just saying you must follow the symbolism-”
“That’s how Fortune Cookie did your reading, right?” Powder cut her off once again, her voice unwavering. “See how her readings ended up? Now shut up and listen to me.”
Vi just shook her head, carelessly gesturing for her to continue before she rubbed her face.
“Great. Thank you. So finally - who is your true love?”
Her hand hovered above the cards, traveling from one end to the other, increasing the tension of the situation if Vi wasn’t already completely resigned.
The Empress.
Vi glanced at the card, perking up a little. She knew Powder would give her some random explanation as to who her true love was, and she was resigned to that, but the truth was she did remember some of the explanation Sarah had given her for the cards. The Empress had always been one of the cards that attracted her sight. She was drawn to the image, just as much as she was to the symbolism, and getting this particular card for an answer gave her a little flame of hope that the reading might not be an utter nonsense. She tried not to look too invested, though.
“Mm-hm, yeah,” Powder nodded as if it was absolutely clear. “She has blue eyes, is super tall - like seriously, what the hell - and wears a ridiculous hat. I mean, she looks cool and dangerous,” she said, tilting her head to the side as she brought the card close to her eyes, “I guess she rules something… Or she will-”
“Oh, really?” Vi couldn’t help, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“But the scepter? Nah, who carries a scepter nowadays,” Powder scoffed. “That's nonsense. But maybe… a gun could be a substitute to that? You know, to gain respect. Sounds quite Zaunite, yeah,” she finished her thought, agreeing with herself before she cackled loudly, and then she winked at her sister. “I hope she doesn’t shoot you before you even get to… you know. Don’t piss her off.”
“You just…” Vi started, but then she stopped. Because was it worth it? Was it worth arguing with her sister about a ridiculous Tarot reading that eventually would have no impact on her life? No, it wasn’t. She absolutely wasn’t going to argue anymore, and so she decided to simply express her thoughts and ease her mind, without the aim to prove her point. “You just described the image - the Ionian Empress that’s on the card.”
“Exactly,” Powder nodded without faltering. “Look, I don’t make the rules,” she shrugged, gesturing towards the card. “I’m just calling it like I see it.”
“Sure,” Vi nodded. “Amazing. Thank you, my dear sister.”
“Always at your service,” Powder grinned, picking up the cards that were spread. “Any more questions you have?”
Vi shook her head. “I think your reading was far more extensive than I expected.”
“Thank you!” Powder was visibly proud, and Vi got up to grab the drinks she brought. She picked one and handed the other to Powder, who was flipping through the cards and looking at them curiously. “Are you excited to meet her?”
“Terribly,” Vi deadpanned and then sipped from her cup. “Mmm!” She swallowed and looked at it, impressed. “That’s weirdly good!”
“Oh, do you like it? Fuck yeah, we have to go tomorrow, pleaase!”
“Why not,” Vi nodded. “Oh, wait, I wouldn’t want to forget. When do I get to meet the chosen one?” She asked rather jokingly, reaching her hand down to help her sister get up, but Powder didn’t hesitate and handed her the last card.
Two of Wands.
“In two days.” Her sister was grinning at her so innocently that Vi couldn't help but laugh.
“Of course. Great. Let’s go downstairs,” Vi said, and this time she actually grabbed her sister’s hand.
They walked out of the bedroom, and Vi noticed Powder took the cards with her. She smiled. At least Powder liked them. She could keep them; it would be a shame to throw away such a luxurious deck Sarah had probably stolen from some Ionian rich merchant. Her eyes then fell on the glass beads and colourful stones on a fine silver chain around Powder’s neck.
“Hey, did you get new jewelry?” she asked.
“This?” Powder pulled the necklaces. “Do you remember when I told you I wanted to try and make some myself?”
“Do you mean…” Vi thought, “what you said two years ago? How I bought you that mini gas burner for Snowdown so you could melt silver?”
“Yes,” Powder nodded excitedly. “So I finally got around to it!”
“Oh, so you made it!” Vi was stunned. “Pow, it’s gorgeous!”
“Thanks! I’ll show you downstairs,” she grinned happily, and then her fingers played with the cards once again. She pulled the Empress closer to her eyes, studying it once again. “Damn, that girl is fucking pretty. You’re a lucky bastard, sis.”