⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍—? ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ mic check, one-two. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 🤘🏻 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

a deep breath, and the diva recollects herself, a thumb subtly killing off any tears that might give her away. she leaned back and snickered. "random providence it is, will." the smile on her face was untamable. already, she was thinking of names for the place. "how'd you even get this...?"

scratch stares across at will. for a moment, there's a subtle crystalline glint over her golden irises. her gaze follows his hand, in silence. finally, the diva takes it, there's a tremble in her grip. then she pulls him into a tight, grateful hug. only partly so he can't see her cry.

ᛪ fun fact: with her lack of any formal education, paired with an undiagnosed case of dyslexia, scratch can hardly read at all. it's a focal point of a lot of insecurity for the diva, and something she hides from even her closest friends.

she's squinting at the paper, unsure what it could be, half expecting some kind of joke. the few familiar words she does recognize are enough for her to make it out; the address, the word 'ownership.' a stamp. her eyes lift from the dry ink. "will—" her voice stalled into a squeak. "is this...?"

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ there's this stray cat that roams around zaun every now and then. diva's crazy about her. 🖤 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ can’t sleep again, so she’s sitting on the bridge hanging above the lanes, a barely functioning walkman sputtering her favorite album to her. ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ streeeeetch. crack, crack. pop, crackcrackcrack. ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ squinting at her phone. ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ waking up way too late, face buried in a mountain of pillows. a long pained groan muffling out from within. ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ can always count on you. 😊 ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ SCREAMS. ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ‘never’ never lasts. ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ☹️ ⠀⠀ ⠀

scratch followed his gaze as it dropped. “you still play as much?” her chin nudged towards his arm as considerate as she could manage. “you’re always welcome at the studio, billy. piano’s only 72 keys, but…” she shrugged.

⠀⠀ ⠀ she kissed her teeth and shrugged. “been smoother. you know how it is.” ⠀⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ( a quick power chord erupts from her guitar. she shoots him a smile. ) billy it is. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ( eyes lifting from her notebook, darting left, then right. a nonverbal, subtle nudge of her head serving as confirmation. ) taylor swift and jasmine tea… topside princess’ll be the death of me. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ you know it, willy. 🤘🏻 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

think the underground would disown me forever if i drank ‘jasmine tea,’ doll. 💧

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ coffee instead of 'contraband' tonight. she's got songs to write. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ yeesh. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ if i were an animal, i'd like to be an eagle. you think one of the doctors could give me wings...? ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ snoring on the couch, her guitar in hand still. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ joint between her lips, guitar in her lap with boots kicked up. blowing smoke through her nose while she toys with some new riffs. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ how tall is the mohawk again? ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ hoh boy. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ there’s… a smaller vi now…? ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ diva can't sleep, so she's gonna make sure the rats in the abandoned theatre can't either. guitar in hand, amp on. she's shredding something fierce to the auditorium. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ we never go out of style. ♪ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 🤘🏻 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

ᛪ i’ve GOT to be the worst possible candidate to muse scratch i only listen to like TEN METAL SONGS 😭

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ convince the ‘big boss’ to let me 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 and i’m ( game. ) ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ vi can ( shred ?) vi can ( shred. ) ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ sorry folks, we’re hurting the little one’s ears. this diva’s been— unplugged. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ now i ( gotta ) shred some slipknot. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 𝐈’𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓. 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄. 🤘🏻 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀ boots kicked up, wishing she had popcorn. ⠀

⠀ i’m like her, but with a guitar. 🎸 ⠀

⠀ bolder and more daring came from the underbelly of zaun, where scratch spent most of her time, but still— hearing it from seraphine earned a slight head-tilt; diva must've been a terrible influence on piltover's golden-girl. then she smirked. "yeah, we can rock." a wink. she's biting back. ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ is that your way of asking to collab again, song? yeesh— we'll make a rockergirl out of you yet. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ of songbirds and eagles. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ would tell you my favorite track on this disc, but— y'know. 🤘🏻 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ welcome to the club, golden boy. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ y'know. never met her, but— i don't think i'd wanna see her mad either... ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀