Commission for GlaciesVir907

Cover art by Polkinart

Colorful yet melancholic notes tumble from a keyboard.

Fingers on the white keys were dimmed, the lights on the Reflection Chamber's stage low. The tune is reflective, some notes holding before changing to a chord right before their welcome is outstayed.

There's a quiet din of whispers, of clinking glass, and silverware in the darkness of the tables surrounding it. Nothing else interrupts the progression of the synthesized melody, as if the other elements of the song are standing in awe.

And in the darkest corner of the Chamber, three figures, draped in black, sat in the music's wake.

"Three?"

"Yes, three. It took a little longer than usual…but in the end, it was more than worth the effort."

"Still, Elle," a pale woman said, locks of purple covering one of her eyes. "seducing three Demacian paragons during one of their diplomatic missions…all at once, no less. Even I'm impressed."

"Are your expectations of me that low, Emmie?" the woman in question said.

LeBlanc giggled as she took another sip of the wine.

"Of course not. I just didn't know that anything other than the blood of Noxians could get a paragon's rocks off."

She giggled again, and the raven-haired woman sitting next to her giggled all the same. Across from them, with her arms folded, their friend forced a grin. She reached out to take a sip from her own glass before looking back uninterestedly towards the stage. The rest of the Reflecting Chamber shared a similar vibe as their table. Warm, mellow and generally slow, the activity of the multitiered room was limited to Summoners and Champions leaving to use the lavatory.

Syndra's eyes were bored. Her white hair was done up in a swirl behind her head, stabbed through with two ornate, obsidian hairsticks, matching the shimmering dress that tightly hugged her ample figure. Two long, loose strands of white framed her cheeks.

At this point, the keyboard was joined with the hiss and syncopathic rumble of drums. There was a tension that began to rise now, as if that earlier awe was building into something else. An invitation? A challenge?

"Well, with that aside, I feel like I don't need to share my exploits," LeBlanc continued. She was leaning forward on the table, her charcoal one-piece dress seemingly sewed onto her very skin. Her snowlike skin alluringly spilled over the dress' cusp as her breasts threatened to do the same.

Elise, the woman who was almost equally as pale and well-endowed, rolled her eyes.

"Yes, please spare us. Your name in that regard is almost infamous," she said. Her own dress was Ionian in origin. Something she thought might impress their new friend whose attention was still noticeable focused on the band instead of their banter.

"You're implying I'm a slut?"

"No, I'm implying you're a famous one."

Another small duet of giggles, another sip of wine.

And yet again, the woman in the black dress smiled forcefully.

The rising and falling of the drum-induced rhythm continued on and on as the keyboard's improvisations escalated in their esoteric dance. In the mesh of chords and dissonant but simple harmony, the atmosphere felt like something swelled to capacity. Like something was about to burst.

LeBlanc and Elise shared the woman's silence for a few moments. They stripped her with their eyes, letting the music onstage play out as they schemed. The woman still didn't regard them, still sipping with her body turned away from their booth.

The Noxian pair schemed for the most fleeting of minutes, then, they turned to each other. They grinned toothy smiles as electricity sparked between them. They both knew what they wanted to do now.

Elise spoke first.

"So, you're a virgin then, Syndra?"

The Ionian almost spat out her wine.

"Come again?"

She turned to look at the pair of Noxians seated across from her and almost gulped at the looks on their faces. Their eyes had…that look. That mischievous air coupled with those mischievous grins with those mischievous brows cocked. Gods, why did she even hang out with these two? Two bored immortals with a connection deeper than anything that should be healthy.

"You're a virgin," LeBlanc said, matter-of-factly before taking a sip of her wine.

Syndra was aghast.

"I am not," she said, feeling rosy pink fill her cheeks.

She could feel the two burn into her further.

"Is that so? Then tell us, our little Ionian lotus, why haven't you shared any of your escapades?"

"Maybe because I would rather not stoop down to that level of crudeness, thank you very much. I just assumed being so crass was typical of Noxian custom," Syndra said, huffing.

LeBlanc and Elise were obviously not buying it.

"Of course, of course…but we're your friends, aren't we? This isn't a…formal dinner. For gods' sake, Syndra, it's our night out. It's time to loosen up for once in our horrible, cramped little lives," LeBlanc said.

A few strands of silver tripped in front of her eyes and she immediately began to fiddle with them. Silence pervaded between her and the two Noxians boring holes through her skull until finally,

"Okay…I've only done it once," Syndra said, resignedly. She rolled her eyes at saying it the moment the statement left her lips. "It was just a boy in the village. We grew up together and when my power proved too great for the foolish leaders of that place and I had to leave for the temple, we decided to…consummate."

The way Syndra said "consummate" made Elise snort, further reddening the blush on the her cheek.

"There, happy?" she said, crossing her arms once more.

Elise was chortling now, but LeBlanc still had that grin on her face and her eyes were unwaveringly steady.

"Interesting. And why didn't you do it anymore after that? Surely you'd have men throwing themselves at your feet. I mean," LeBlanc said, gesturing up and down Syndra's body with her eyes. With her arms poutedly crossed, her curves pushed out against the fabric constraining them, supple and full. "just look at you."

Something flashed in Syndra's relatively young eyes, and Elise went a little pale (as pale as someone of her complexion could manage, anyway). Syndra didn't see Elise's hand frantically hitting the side of LeBlanc's exposed thigh, a gesture to which LeBlanc responded with a shooing motion of her own. In the span of a second Elise stiffened, as if bracing for something, and LeBlanc leaned forward, eyes sparkling with excitement, as if Syndra was about to deliver the greatest oration in the history of Valoran.

Meanwhile, the saxophone finally entered the fray, and the mounting melody of the keyboard ruptured. A torrent of chords made love and intertwined, as if the saxophone broke out of a reverie and accepted the drums' challenge.

"O-Of course they do!" Syndra said, her voice beginning to grow a little shrill. She suddenly put on this air of confidence that betrayed the redness of her cheeks. Her hands began to gesture wildly as if the grander her sweep of the wrist, the more convincing her argument. "And that's exactly why I don't. Surely you two would know. None are deserving of what I have to offer. Just like my dead master. Just like that village that cast me out." Her eyes were electric, sparking with unmistakable purple, her voice was rising and exaggerated in its intonation. Individual hairs that spilled from her bun subtly rose into the air. As her voice grew louder various cups and any loose objects around her started to shiver.

"Sexual pursuits are too lowly for me. It's merely the secretion of fluids caused by the friction of skin. There is nothing...nothing special about it, you know. I can bend space to my will! I can raze an entire city if I so desired. Indeed, why indulge in such carnal foolishness when I can attain infinite power. The power to control the fabric of the universe itself, the limitless grasp on the cosmos, INFINITE, INFINITE POWER. LIMITLESS STRE-"

Elise very visibly cringed. Thankfully, Syndra's lips were hushed by LeBlanc's finger.

Or rather, the finger of LeBlanc's doppelganger, who stood above the Syndra with the Noxian's signature grin curled on its lips. As if breaking from a reverie, Syndra blinked a few times before settling down. She looked across the table at Elise's grimace and knew she had gotten a little too excited. Again. She realized she had even conjured up two fist-sized orbs of dark matter in her palms, which she quickly vaporized with a flick of her wrists.

LeBlanc's physical apparition followed suit, crumbling into infinitesimal golden dust before fading away completely.

A blush bloomed on Syndra's cheeks as she averted the gaze of her friends.

"Sorry, I-"

"No, no, Syndie...it's okay," LeBlanc said reassuringly, reaching over to stroke Syndra's hand.

Syndra looked up bashfully at the two women, Elise giving her a sort of forgiving smile.

"However," LeBlanc continued, "I think that we can all agree on one thing: we need to get you laid."

Syndra shot her hand back from LeBlanc's. The blush on her cheeks spread, her entire face tinged a deep, deep hue of pink that was almost red.

"E-Excuse me?!"

"It just seems like it's been much too long since you've really let yourself go, darling. You might as well be an actual virgin."

At her side, Elise's features began to take on a likeness similar to LeBlanc's. The two shared another one of their malicious grins, eyes locking knowingly. Syndra was too busy stammering and furiously blushing into her glass of wine to notice.

Onstage, the bass guitar in the shadows finally plucked a cornerstone for the ongoing melody. With that, the spell was cast. The electronic whines of the keyboard kept the wails of the saxophone in check as they dueled, vying for attention while that bassline kept them going, resulting in a song that seemed like a rolling stone, unstoppable.

Syndra finally looked up as she bit her lip. Her eyes began to dart between the two Noxians. She could instantly tell that LeBlanc was being completely serious with her suggestion, so her gaze instead focused onto Elise with a plea. Alas, Elise had that evil grin, and Syndra knew whatever they had planned next, she would be powerless to stop it.

"Emmie does have a point. And maybe once you've bared yourself you can finally stop these ridiculous outbursts every time we go out," Elise said with a lick of her lips.

A nervous chuckle choked out of Syndra's throat.

"N-Not you too, Elise…" she said, totally unconvincingly. She knew Elise had fallen to whatever LeBlanc had silently conveyed to her. Their words were innocent and sympathetic enough, but looking at the two women across from her, goosebumps raised as if she was staring down two serpents, coiled to strike.

"Don't worry, Syndie. Elle and I are here to help!"

Syndra's hands clenched.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Unfortunately for her, the Noxian pair was already in action. They shared hushed, excited whispers, eyes scanning the tiered terraces of the Reflection Chamber like predators singling out the juiciest caribou of a grazing herd.

At this point, Syndra could only sit back and grit her teeth.

Her and her big mouth should have shut up. This wasn't the first time this happened. A sigh passed through her lips. So much control over the power she taught herself, the darkness she's harnessed over the past decade, and yet...almost no restraint in her words. Maybe she really should have descended from her fortress to mingle more. The solitude may have helped her hone her skills, but socially she was as inept as she was before her time at her master's temple.

Those pesky strands of white slanted into her vision again, which she absentmindedly tucked behind her ear as she noticed her glass was empty. She took another quick glance at the Noxians; they were giggling as they pointed out someone in the distance, probably some ill-fitted suitor no doubt. Another sigh and Syndra's finger pressed the dimly-lit refill button on her side of the table. Within seconds, in a small flourish of bubbles and a subtle arcane vortex, her glass was filled again with wine.

There was no getting through to Elise and LeBlanc in this state, she knew that through experience. This wasn't the first time one of their schemes came at Syndra's own expense. Hell, it wasn't the first time they tried to find her a boytoy to have fun with either. How could she have been so stupid, walking into their little trap with every single one of their goads and saccharine inquiries?

No matter.

She'd just scare off the man they'd pick out just like the other five or so men they'd picked out before. A glow of purple flame in her eyes and a dark orb aimed at their throat would do the trick.

In the meantime, Syndra would just have to wait. The two were surprisingly thorough with their selection, the process taking minutes at a time. She appreciated the effort; it really showed that they didn't just want to see Syndra make an utter and complete fool of herself (which, they absolutely reveled in, as evident by the memories of the Noxians doubling over in laughter after she scared off the men they'd chosen with either her deadly power or incredible awkwardness flashed through her mind), and that they actually wanted to see her succeed and grow more socially.

The sentiment brought a rare, warm smile to her lips as she gazed at them, but the moment passed, and her eyes drifted to the stage with wine warmly carpeting her tongue.

Silky notes of the keyboard solo slipped a tangent of nostalgia into her ears, and quickly, Syndra found herself closing her eyes, lips turning into a small frown. Instead of the memories of her previous escapades with her Noxian friends, she thought of the boy from the village.

What she had said to LeBlanc and Elise was true. It really was just a simple tryst, when her hormones were threatening to bubble over the cusp of her youthful desire. A simple tryst with a simple boy.

And all of a sudden, she was there again. Safely hidden from the judging eyes of her village, barred from the world with the vertical sea of green bamboo, the full moon lit the clearing of flattened long grass below her head. Here, she remembers how safe she felt. There weren't any village elders scolding her for standing out, for endangering her neighbors. No neighbors who sneered at her very existence, no jealous girls her age who would pull at her snow-white hair. Instead, she was caged from the world, trapped with the boy who seemed like the only person worth her time.

The boy, whatever his name was, looked down at her with that grin he always had. That subtle flash of white while he tilled the fields and she'd roll past with her bike on the way to the cave where she'd vent, or when he'd be sitting on the steps of his porch of his parent's house, or when he'd cornered her that one night during the festival when he brushed aside some of her hair to tell her she was beautiful.

And now, out of all the times she had seen that grin, the boy looked sad. She hadn't told him that this was her last night in the village. The last night she would probably ever see him again. But she could tell that he had found out somehow. An elder probably told him just to spite her.

If it wasn't for the moon behind his head casting a shadow over his features, Syndra could have sworn there was the glimmer of tears in his eyes. But in the moment, as the warm wind rustled through the forest and brushed over her bare skin, all she truly noticed was how bare his lips looked without hers.

She pulled him down onto her again. A flurry of warmth and hot gasps ensued. She felt his hand caress her thigh, pressing against her skin until she felt his other hand palming her breast.

It was all happening so fast that it took a few moans to realize the boy had stopped kissing her. As she looked up at him now, gulping at the sight of his chest as he ripped off his his shirt, it was her own eyes that she felt began to wetten.

Thankfully before the boy would descend upon her again, his thumb glided over her bottom lip. The motion seemed to instantly calm her excited breaths and anxious quivering.

"You've lost it again."

His voice was a soft tenor. It wasn't the deepest but it definitely reflected his playfulness.

"My...my what?" Syndra whispered.

"Your smile, idiot," he said. Syndra blushed and was tempted to pout if it wasn't for the fact that his fingers had found that heated crevice between her legs, making her arch of the ground in a breathless gasp.

He was pressed against her lips again. One whimper later and she was left panting. It was all happening so quickly, but right now, she was just glad that the glimmer of his pupils was there to comfort her before they went any further.

"Jeez, Syn...you lose it so often."

Despite herself, her lips curled into a grin.

She didn't say anything. Nor did she need to as the boy let her arms embrace him.

"There we go. Thank gods I was here," he said, whispering now. He was so close, a hair's width away, every single word from him soaking into her own lips. "If I wasn't, who else would have-"

"Found it!"

The pillow of grass behind her head receded, the bamboo walls crumbled into stone. She wasn't bare and embraced by the boy's warmth anymore, although the air conditioning left an artificial chill on her uncovered arms. She opened her eyes and that nostalgic tune in her ear led itself back onstage. Opening her eyes Syndra was back in the present, leg crossed over the other, her hand gripping a tad bit too tightly on her wine glass.

She blinked and looked over at her friends. Both of them were grinning triumphantly, eyes focused on her.

"Found...what?"

"Your target," Elise said after a victorious sip of her alcohol.

Syndra blinked again. Usually the two would snicker a little, give each other that look they always gave each other, maybe even whisper something with a giggle. But now...they were acting a little different. As if this was the man that would finally win over Syndra (or vice-versa).

Skeptical, she narrowed her eyes, sipping a little more on her wine.

"Okay...show me."

"Gladly," LeBlanc said. "I'm actually chatting with him as we speak."

With a little nod of her head, she directed Syndra's gaze to the Reflection Chamber bar a few paces to their right. Just as LeBlanc said, she was poised on a bar stool, casually shooting the breeze with the "target". Her doppelganger's finger was teasingly circling a glass of whiskey.

The man in the stool next to him reciprocated her advances. At her angle, Syndra could see the lines around his eyes bunching up together from a grin. From the back he seemed gruff, much less refined than previous choices for sure. Interestingly enough, his attire was definitely Ionian in origin, merely highlighted by the long ponytail that ran along his back. Syndra instantly spotted the platformed geta strapped around his feet.

It wasn't long before another closer inspection of his face made her eyes widen in recognition at who it was. She squinted to make sure. The man took another swig of his liquor, letting the light feature his profile. No doubt about it. It was who she thought it was.

Quickly she swiveled back to LeBlanc and Elise.

"No. Absolutely not."

"Oh? Why not, Syndie?" LeBlanc said, crooning.

"I just-...just look at-"

"My, my, there is much too look at…"

"Quite proud that we found him, actually," Elise added in. "Brooding, handsome, and most fortunately for you, he's Ionian too. Already some common ground. Not to mention his reputation with women."

"That's exactly why. I refuse to sleep with a ronin. Filth, clogging up Ionia. They're just perfect examples of how pathetic a human can be without power, without proper order, or direction, or-"

"Syndie." LeBlanc said sternly.

Syndra caught herself before she began ranting again.

"Sorry…" she said, clearing her throat. "But my point still stands. I refuse."

LeBlanc tsked, shaking her head. Elise gave her a grim frown.

"Mm...well, I don't think you'll have a choice in the matter anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is, I will do everything in my power to make sure that by the end of tonight, you will be leaving this bar with that man named Yasuo. Or so help me gods, I will chain you to a bed and throw a man onto you," LeBlanc said, a purple twinkle sparking on the edge of her finger. And yes, Syndra could tell that she was being absolutely serious.

Syndra let out another resigned sigh, tossing another glance at the bar.

She knew what LeBlanc's doppelgangers were capable of. She knew that even now, as it sat there spinning small talk to the Ionian it sat next to, LeBlanc could turn that conversation that would be devastating for Syndra and her dignity. And she knew that, other than her pursuit for power, her pride was probably the most important thing in the world.

LeBlanc was right. Like it or not, she really didn't have a choice in the matter.

After shutting her eyes for a few moments, she opened them again with a glare.

"Fine."

LeBlanc smiled broadly, clapping her hands together, letting a small puff of gold dust flitter around her fingers for the effect.

"Oh good, good. I knew you'd come to your senses. You'll like him, I can feel it. Just trust your friends on this one, okay?"

Syndra gave them another glare, half-wanting to pout, half-wanting to say "whatever".

Her eyes trained themselves on Yasuo's back and she let out another sigh.

"You'll have fun, Syndie, don't worry. And trust me when I say this: it's for your own good."