[ CATCH-ALL ] and what you see is not the dark

[wiedzminka]

Who: Ciri & the friends(?) she made along the way
When: end of May - mid June
Where: Cadens, Nocwich, Horizon maybe
What: catching up after the wild and wacky 800 years that didn't happen
Warnings: in subject lines if necessary but probably none

it's just the gods upturning inkpots
'cause they know what you'll become

Comments

[wiedzminka]

It isn't the future. It was a... hypothetical. A mirage of what could be.

[ She has to believe that. Ciri's voice carries a hard edge to it, an insistence that says how strongly she agrees with him in that, despite their differences in opinion on the details. It's not a future she wants for herself, either. No surprise there. ]

The Singularity's hold on us-- I think there might be too much truth to that part. But what it showed us, what we experienced, it wasn't real. It isn't set.

[ They aren't doomed to repeat their mistakes; she has to believe that. But they may have been able to learn something from them, imagined as they were, regardless. ]

The dangers I know my powers can bring-- those are very real. I can't risk opening the door to them. Perhaps the Singularity shields me from their view. I don't know. But they are attuned to my magic, and if that magic escapes this realm, there's no telling how far they'll chase it.

[ Her gaze softens, almost pleading. She leans forward. ]

Viktor. [ A catch in her voice, desperation in the sound of his name. She needs him to understand. The cost is too great, he says, and it's all true, and they could put the whole world -- other worlds -- in untold danger. But then there is the personal cost. What she would lose. ]

This is the longest I've ever not been running, since I was a girl. Not constantly looking over my shoulder, afraid to get attached to anyplace or anyone. I know it sounds insane, with all that's happened, but this is the most peace I've experienced since... I can scarce remember when.

[techmaturgy]

[Ciri sounds more like she's convincing herself than anyone else, though Viktor can't exactly blame her. The thought of remaining here for long enough to become what he did is slightly terrifying, even if he can't help but be intrigued by it. It's the remaining here against his will that he finds unbearable, and now that he knows what Ciri can really do, the impasse they're about to encounter becomes increasingly clear.]

No. It can't be our future.

[But he stops before saying that he'll do whatever it takes to ensure it.]

He understands what she's telling him. That she has personal stake in this, and that if he continues he could put her and others in very real danger, as he did in the imagined future.]

I don't want to hurt you. [And that's where this will lead, if he opens the door and those that are after her can finally make their way through. She's telling him he needs to stop, but Viktor can't accept that as an answer.] But if there's a way we can solve it--

[wiedzminka]

It's a way that never came to us in that hypothetical.

[ She knows he's thinking of it too. How long they tried, how hard they pushed. He must remember she'd wanted it too. She'd wanted it for him, for the people she loved who lived every day with grief for their homes and their own loved ones. She'd wanted it for the sake of freedom, for the idea of being able to go anywhere she liked someday, a future she'd felt she deserved.

The cost was too high.

But none of it was real.

It's enough to leave your damn head spinning. ]

Maybe it's not impossible. [ Her tone gentles, but there's something sad in it, resigned. ] I can't blame you for trying.

Just... remember you may not be able to control what comes through a door you open. I learned that the hard way. I don't want you to get hurt either.

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor has nothing to say to that--if he couldn't puzzle it out over the course of eight hundred years, how can he possibly think that he'll somehow do it back in the real world? His shoulders sag in defeat, and it seems like he has no good answer.]

Can you?

[She can't blame him, even if he might put them all in danger? Even if he's decided the risk might be worth it? That the risk to her might be worth it?]

I don't know what I'll do next. I have a lot to think about.