[OPEN] february catchall

[techmaturgy]

Who: Viktor and Friends
When: Early February
Where: Cadens, Nocwich
What: a little afterparty, Nocwich weekend, maybe some other stuff
Warnings: irresponsible cycling

i. the occasion

Despite various protestations and an insistence from Viktor that all of this should not be a big deal, a response to the Academy is sent, announcements are made, and invitations are distributed with the date and time. He maintains, until the very end, the possibility of renagation up until the hour of his award, but Viktor manages to attend, suitably cleaned up in a new suit that he most certainly did not choose for himself. The affair is formal and slightly stuffy, befitting of the Grand Academy, Aleksander Klinger’s usual dour demeanor providing contrast to both Viktor’s apparent discomfort and the small entourage of Summoned in attendance to show support.

The accolade does not kill him, but in the aftermath he doesn’t linger long. There is always more work to do, whether he is now in possession of a ceremonial degree or not, and Viktor is not the type to rest on his laurels, not when all of this has been more of a distraction from what he really wants to be doing, than anything else.

That, and there’s an afterparty to attend.

ii. the workshop

Viktor’s workshop is a familiar setting by now, especially to those who frequent the district of town lined with inventors' laboratories and machine shops. It can aptly be described as organized chaos. Viktor likes working on multiple projects at once, with pieces of clockwork mechanisms littering the worktables, and the walls are plastered with notes and schematics.

For those reasons, this is not a place conducive to gathering in ordinary circumstances, but Hilda and Jesper have done their best to correct that. Tonight, the more delicate projects have been stowed away, the plans carefully removed from the pinboards. The large bay door has been raised, and warm lights invite visitors in. The interior, too, has been decorated with strings of lights and garland, and at least one Hilda-Most-Certainly-Made-This banner that reads “CONGRATULATIONS VIKTOR” (he probably is doing his best not to acknowledge it).

If not for the decorations, the whole affair could be mistaken for one of the firm’s open houses, but instead of showing off current projects and innovations, an attempt at hospitality has been made, with drinks and snacks, an Academy-loaned gramophone piping soft music through the space. Mismatched furniture populates the room, clearly borrowed from other locations, offering comfortable—if no-frills—room to sit. Anything more, it seems, might be a little too much for the ostensible “host”, who despite his quiet gratefulness for the show of support, seems slightly overwhelmed.

Don’t worry about that. Make yourself at home.

iii. later

Once things loosen up a bit (once the requisite amount of alcohol is imbibed, to provide adequate social lubrication for certain involved parties), the gathering becomes livelier, with card and dice games, and possibly entertainment (to be continued). Viktor himself, now in a jacket that Hilda produced for him with the now-infamous decorative stud fastener, might be cajoled into demonstrating a few of his business’s offerings—all manner of tools and equipment for artisans and monster hunters, everything from a handheld gyroscopic laser cutter to night vision goggles that wick away moisture, to respirators for the desert.

There are slightly frivolous projects, too, like automatic appliances and magic-borne electricity dancing around in a faraday cage. The more alcohol involved, the more likely Viktor might be to show off (with some prodding) something…explosive.

And, of course, the automaton (complete with party hat and bowtie) is active, supplying refills and also fulfilling any requests for hi-fives and handshakes. Of everything that’s happening tonight, Viktor seems most pleased with this, and he can be caught sneaking glances at anyone who might be interacting with it—not unlike a proud parent.

iv. ooc stuff

feel free to use this log as a general mingle, otherwise open and closed starters of my own are in the comments. If you’d like something specific, just hit me up. I’m on plurk at whitticus and on discord also at whitticus.

Comments

ii.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard lingers as the party winds down. Someone needs to help clean up and see the last of the stragglers out. The dhampir is happy to provide the service, gathering plates up and handing them to the boetie wearing automaton. The metal friend is helping. Obviously.

He pauses in his duties though, when he finds Viktor. Leans against the nearest flat surface.]

You were right, you know. The bow tie really is a nice touch.

[techmaturgy]

They look nice in it, don't they?

[That's perhaps a joke, but now that the real ordeal is over and people are leaving and Viktor has a few drinks in him, he seems to have appropriately mellowed out. He might even be coming around to the fact that it's someone else's job to clean up, tonight.

The automaton's of course. And Viktor's not in a rush, seated on a couch instead, apparently taking it all in.]

I guess it wasn't so bad.

[cryptsleeper]

I think it should be a part of their wardrobe when they are being used for mundane tasks.

[Alucard's voice is light, but he's absolutely serious about this. Viktor can probably tell from the slight edge in his tone.

The dhampir leans on the sofa, placing his weight on his forearms.]

No, it wasn't. You made this your own, which is more important than whatever the city decides to give you.

[techmaturgy]

I should have welded it into the chassis.

[But that might be the wine talking. The corner of Viktor's mouth curls up into a little smile. This might not have been what he expected, and he can't say he's entirely pleased, to receive such accolades from an Academy he's often at odds with, but at least the afterparty has been nice.]

Or, maybe something with a magnet. So we can take it off for less delicate work.

[Like digging trenches, or something.]

[cryptsleeper]

I like the magnet idea. It lets you rotate the colors of the bowtie as well.

[Obviously that's the most important thing here.]

I'll stay to help clean up.

[techmaturgy]

[He laughs at the thought. It had been important, in the design process, to make sure that the automaton was not intimidating of frightening. The bowtie, while silly, certainly makes it seem friendlier.

Viktor, from his place on the couch, waves Alucard off.]

Let the party planners do it. They wanted this, they can clean.

[cryptsleeper]

I'm serious. There could even be a color code to help make it clear if it's safe to approach or not.

[It can be practical!]

Mm, but are they in the right frame of mind to do so right now? I imagine you'll want to just get back into the swing of things come morning.

[techmaturgy]

Why would it not be safe to approach? Look how friendly it is.

[He gestures, widely, at the automaton as it picks up discarded cups. Possibly he's enjoying the feeling of being comfortably inebriated, for once.]

If it's still a mess, I'll work at the Academy until they're finished. But Hilda promised me.

[cryptsleeper]

Yes, but people are not always smart.

[The automaton is in fact, an excellent friend.

Deciding that maybe Viktor's right about cleaning, Alucard climbs over the back of the sofa and settles into the seat beside his friend.]

She does keep her word, I've found. So there's that. And I don't think anything was broken tonight either. I'd go so far as to declare it a good party.

[techmaturgy]

Certainly one of the better ones I've been to.

[Even if it was for him, and he's been weathering some amount of direct attention all day. They might not have wanted him around at functions like this, in Piltover, but at least that meant he could avoid scrutiny. Not so, here.

Viktor can at least appreciate the fact that he doesn't need to put the workshop back in order, and that he has options in the event something is irrevocably damaged.

But, thankfully, everyone mostly behaved.]

Did you enjoy yourself?

[Alucard isn't one for parties either.]

[cryptsleeper]

Well, I wasn't dressed with my chest out, so I'm grading on a curve.

[He grins, a fang sticking out.]

I appreciated that it was for friends and associates only. It helped a great deal, I think.

[techmaturgy]

I wasn't about to fling my doors open to the general public. [He did that already!] Hilda and Jesper, thankfully, made some concessions.

[And in the end it had been the people that Viktor cares about most, who gave him their time this evening. Still, he's clearly depleted his social battery, and does not seem at all prepared to move from this spot in the foreseeable future.]

If I am simply ignored for the next three years, I won't complain.

[Except, now that all this has happened, they both know that won't be the case.]

[cryptsleeper]

[A soft laugh follows the word complains, one that's empathetic and just a little embarrassed to admit:] Viktor, my plan upon being freed from Thorne was to fix up a nice cave so I could sleep for a full century before engaging with the world again.

I can say with confidence you're absolutely not going to get those three years.

[techmaturgy]

Of course not. [He can be a realist, after all.] But it’s nice to think about.

[It’s also nice to think about running off to live in a cave. Maybe it’s not too late.]

I suppose I should seriously consider what to do with my newfound notoriety, instead.

[cryptsleeper]

[You can borrow his cave any time you want Viktor.]

Well. Imagine the best case scenario. Then the worst case. The middle path between them both will make itself obvious and tell you how to direct the boat in the wind.

[techmaturgy]

The worst case scenario will just upset the both of us.

[As in, Viktor is only receiving this accolade as a reminder that the Cadens government is watching, and the military is ready and waiting to steal his technology as soon as there’s something they can weaponize. But he’s trying to enjoy himself, and voicing his suspicions will only sour the mood.]

I admit I’m not sure what to do with any kind of…political clout.

[If that’s what he can call it. Viktor has never wanted recognition, exactly, just the knowledge that his innovations have left a mark and improved lives. Everything else that comes with that is secondary, and it’s possible he never really expected the side effects of having his name and face tied to his work.]

[cryptsleeper]

It will. But you know what to guard against.

[Politics though. Viktor's right. So maybe the dhampir's the one who needs to adjust his thinking approach.]

Maybe don't do anything for a while. See who comes to you and what they ask. Then you can make choices informed by existing perceptions and either support or counter them.

Or maybe don't listen to someone who's not lived in human society much. This feels like something Astarion might have practical perspective on.

[techmaturgy]

[It's difficult, to navigate all this without a buffer. Just the thought of having to be the sole face of anything is exhausting, even he ostensibly wants to share what he's doing.

And Alucard avoids this kind of thing too, but he has Jaskier, arguably much more suited to the interpersonal aspects of...everything. What he doesn't want to do is nothing, or wait to be approached. It seems wrong, not to be proactive about this--like a missed opportunity, not to use all this to his advantage, he just doesn't know how.]

Astarion doesn't care much for the...humanitarian aspects of my work. He wants the business to be lucrative, but that's not what concerns me.

[cryptsleeper]

What does, at the end of the day?

[There are fewer people around, but that doesn't mean that they have full privacy to discuss something like this. Alucard pauses long enough to gesture the automaton over, just to provide a little white noise against being overheard.]

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor doesn't even have to think about this, and he's sure Alucard knows this about him already. Everything he does is for one reason--so that what happened to him, and so many others in the Undercity, doesn't happen to anyone else.]

The purpose of scientific advancement is to--to improve lives. If I'm not using my abilities to mitigate human suffering in some way...all of this is pointless.

[He just wishes he didn't have to run up against so much politics to do it. Even the automaton has hit roadblocks.]

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard doesn't smile exactly. He lets out a soft huff, better suited for his fuzzier wolf form. There's real fondness there though, along with just a little bit of regret. That comes from what he's about to say.]

I don't disagree, but...it is something I've been thinking about. My mother would agree with you entirely. But experience says that nothing, not even scientific advancement, exists in this perfect bubble where society doesn't play a role. [Politics, he means.] And that's terrifying because that means you lose control of something that's meant to help and make things better.

[Way to be a party pooper, Al.]

I don't know what else you do besides keeping one foot inside that perfect bubble and one outside.

[techmaturgy]

[Yes, Viktor knows what Alucard is about to say. He's glad, he thinks, to remind his friend of what his mother wanted, but they both know how things ended for her. For his whole family. How things almost ended for Viktor, too.

He cannot simply lock himself away in the lab and work, even if that's what he wants to be doing. There is no other half of him to handle the political aspect and ensure the work is not compromised. It's daunting. It's exhausting--he doesn't want to do it, but the alternative is worse.]

No, of course not. [He wishes that innovation could exist in a vacuum, but that's never the case.] I'll just have to learn how to navigate it, somehow.

[It could be the alcohol, but his tone of voice suggest defeat, like this is already a losing battle.]

[cryptsleeper]

If nothing else, there's pure spite.

[Alucard can hear the defeat. He only had a single glass of blood wine, he's sober and he knows Viktor well enough by now.]

And I would very much love to have my cynicism proven wrong.

[techmaturgy]

That...can only take you so far.

[He should know. The universe has conspired against him at every turn, and often the only thing that kept him going was the thought that nobody and nothing else wanted him to. He's succeeded, in a way, but simply to survive in spite of everything is not a life.]

I'm supposed to be an idealist. Even that is hard.

[cryptsleeper]

That's...true. I think I've not witnessed the energy by spite run out before. Trevor was. Well, that's neither here nor there.

[Trevor also became less of a miserable drunk. But again, not here or there.]

If you're doing it constantly, yes. Maybe you could use a vacation?