Eyes and Ears | Silco x Reader

Chapter 1: Nightcap

Word Count: 1081

You pulled off your sheer stockings, slipping the fabric over your kneecaps, around your ankles, and off of your feet so that the clothing item was now inside-out. You tossed them haphazardly into the corner of your apartment, just barely hooking over a small white cloth hamper nestled behind a dying houseplant; the plant wasn't in such a sorry state due to a lack of care, rather the thick chemical smog of Zaun was inhospitable to any kind of life. You thought maybe it would do better once you had moved out of the fissures and into the lanes, but you had no such luck. Your fingers rooted around in your scalp, plucking out thin metal bobby-pins and setting them in a pile on your nightstand. Next to the pile laid a half empty glass of wine, a little nightcap before you shut your eyes for the night.

Your apartment was small, but for the under-city it was close to being considered luxury. The floors were made of creaky old wood boards, but you thought they leant a sort of charm to the place. Really, the apartment was one big room, save a small tiled bathroom equipped with a cramped shower, sink, and toilet; the basics. Nothing like the claw foot tubs of Piltover, filled with fresh bubbly water that smelled like a spring day. No, instead when you showered the water felt like it clung to your hair and skin; you were careful not to swallow it. You had a small kitchen with a few cabinets and a stovetop, no oven though. You heated most of your food in an old cast iron pan you had received as a gift. A gift, like so much others, that helped the space you lived in feel more like home; a patterned rug from Noxus (or rather, one of the lands Noxus had conquered), a metal jewelry tree, a pile of well loved books. Many of these gifts came from your most loyal clients, ones who had been seeing you for years. You wouldn't call them friends, but you had built up a fondness for some of them and they for you. Relationships weren't something you could easily cultivate in your line of work, but some of your coworkers and clients were the closest to friends that you had, and you treasured any measure of kindness they gave you. Sill, you preferred to be on you own, it was easier that way.

Your eyes scanned the room around you, settling on a pile of plates waiting to be washed in the kitchen sink; you groaned. You kept your space clean and tidy for the most part and it only got messy on days where you too exhausted from work to bother; days like today. You would deal with the dishes tomorrow.

You were what most people down here considered a prostitute, hooker, whore, person of the night; you preferred the term escort. You had been working in the business for a while, since before Vander lead the Undercity across the bridge in an ill-fated war with topside. Now, the Undercity was almost worse-off than before, enforcers more present than ever, crawling the streets. It almost seemed like they were looking to scrounge up trouble so they'd have more people to arrest. "More scum off of the streets". Your mouth soured and you took a sip of your wine before setting the glass back down.

You made a good living as an escort especially with the years you had put in; still not good enough to get you an apartment in the lanes, but enough to get by on without having to take up odd requests or work the corners. Of course, you were getting old for someone in your line of work, and in between days spent at Babette's, you mostly relied on loyal clients and high profile events; they were far and few between but had big payouts.

Still, how could someone like you have afforded such a nice place? Well, that was where the Eye of Zaun came in.

No, no, it was nothing like that. Silco wasn't in need of your "services" and despite your many attempts at trying to fluster the man, despite what others thought, nothing had ever happened between the two of you. You had been approached years ago by a tall, intimidating woman who you would later come to know as Sevika. Sevika had corned you in a room at Babette's with a rather intriguing proposition. Vander's kids had apparently stirred up some trouble topside and Silco was looking for extra ears around the lanes; people who got around and overheard certain goings-on, people who nobody would suspect. You had been selected primarily as one of Babette's only workers who commonly travelled topside for jobs, serving as arm candy at council galas and "charity" benefits; like any topsiders actually had a charitable bone in their body. The Eye had enlisted you, along with a few others in such activities, with you reporting back to him as needed. At first, you had only interacted with the man through Sevika, her being one of the only people he trusted with sensitive information; however as Sevika's schedule grew full with more tasks, Silco found it easier for you to come directly to him. In slower times, weeks would go by with no new news from Piltover or within the lanes and you would only have to visit the docks monthly. Still, you received a generous amount of extra income, enough to secure you a place in the lanes, enough that you had even begun to consider saving for a small place in Piltover before recalling what they had done to Zaun. Besides, it wasn't like you looked forward to your debriefings that much anyway, the massive aquarium and vats of shimmer gave you the creeps.

That was a long time ago though, now Vander and his kids were dead (well, most of them), Silco had taken over The Last Drop, the lanes had been flooded with shimmer.

Pulling your top off over your head, you flopped back onto your mattress, hair sprawling out onto the pillows around you. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, trying to block out the sounds of the lanes that trickled in through your window. Tomorrow, you'd be seeing clients at Babette's; it was gonna be a long day.