[open] july catchall

[techmaturgy]

Who: Viktor and special guests and you
When: throughout July & August
Where: Cadens, the Horizon, Nocwich
What: ah oh no we were indirectly responsible for bombing the castle
Warnings: war crimes

[open and closed starters in comments! If you want a custom starter or something specific, just hit me up. full horizon details are here for any and all wildcarding needs. For everything else, I’m on plurk at whitticus and on discord also at whitticus.]

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[open] july nocwich

[techmaturgy]

i. oleuni square

[Viktor mostly comes to Nocwich to source materials he might not ordinarily be able to procure in the Free Cities, and to meet with friends from other territories. Now, just days after the attack on the castle, there’s an urgency to his presence here. Any plans of recreation go by the wayside—Viktor wants not only to make sure everyone is unharmed, but also scrape together any additional details about the attack that he can. If his suspicions are correct, well. Things are about to become more complicated than he might have anticipated.

Of course, the person he most wants to meet here can’t come. There’s separate frustration in that, but Viktor reminds himself that all of this is much larger than any of them.

He sends a few messages—posts up at his preferred tea shop and tries to get work done while he waits. It’s only a marginally effective distraction. As soon as he sees another Summoned, especially one from another territory, the relief is evident on his face.]

Sit, if you want. If you have any information about what happened, I'd...like to hear it.

[closed] river

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor is willing to overlook the slight awkwardness of the venue if it means they can meet safely. Despite his desperation to get his hands on the fragment that River has in her possession, he has to take a step back and remember there's a very real danger, when it comes to exchanging things like this, even in Nocwich. They will have to be discreet, and efficient. But Viktor is willing to take the risk, because he needs to be certain.

He does the leg work--arriving first, securing the room and messaging her where to meet him. Once that's done, he has little do to but wait, trying to release some of his pent-up nervous energy by scrawling at a notebook.

But he has nothing new to write. He won't be able to think of anything else until he confirms the thing he fears. When River lets herself into the room, he perks up with some urgency, though he doesn't stand from his chair.]

Do you have it?

[They didn't stop her with it, is what he means. He would have hated for her to have come all this way only to be found out with might be dangerous contraband. After a moment, he seems to realize that's not much of a greeting.]

I'm sorry. I'm anxious to see it, that's all.

[thoughts]

[ river enters the room swiftly and silently, hidden beneath a thin blue cloak as she locks the door behind her. when she lowers the hood and turns to viktor, her face is pale with exhaustion ( even more so than usual, if it's even possible ) and she seems visibly nervous. istredd and kyle are still being kept in the dungeons and yennefer has fled to nott, leaving river behind in a castle full of shattered glass and a blood-soaked throne. 

maybe it isn't smart to be risking so much right now - but this is important. she gets it, his nervous energy. the air is charged with it, in this room and all across abraxas. ]

It's okay. It's anxious to see you too.

[ she keeps her head ducked away from viktor as she walks toward him, one hand buried up to the elbow in her comically small purse to find the twisted bits of metal she collected from around the castle grounds. she places the two largest pieces in front of him, then sprinkles in a few tiny shards that aren't particularly identifiable or helpful; they may not even be related to the bombing, really. from the way she stands there awkwardly wringing the strap of her bag afterwards, it's possible she was just looking for anything at all, any possible way she could be useful in a situation that's frankly far above her pay grade. ]

This is all I could find.

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor won't begrudge her for being nervous--he's nervous, and has been since the coup. Kyle's imprisonment certainly doesn't help, and the news that other Summoned in Thorne recognized his technology pushes him over the edge. Maybe there's part of him that hopes River was wrong, and all he has to feel guilty about is making her come all this way for nothing.

He knows it's not true, though. She spent enough time in his workshop in the imagined future that she would recognize his arcana theory, both on paper and in practice.]

I wish it were under better circumstances.

[She digs out the pieces and puts them on the table in front of them. Viktor takes one gingerly, turning it over in his hands.]

I know it was risk, to bring these here. So. Thank you.

[thoughts]

[ she brightens just a little bit to receive his thanks, a faint curve to her lips as she finally sits in the chair beside him. river is well aware that in most cases, she's a liability, a burden to those that have been kind enough to look after her. whether it's in abraxas or on serenity -

well. it's nice to be able to help, once in a while. ]

We have a very successful fledgling enterprise, if you ever need goods moved from one place to another.

[ she's very proud of her smuggling, even if it really only entails some wine from ikorr, drawing supplies from thorne's library, and now scraps of a bomb that was dropped on their heads. her smile fades and her gaze drops to the piece in viktor's hands. ]

They came a long way to get here. I couldn't see how it was made, but... it was like it had your fingerprints, or - or the color of your eyes.

[ not literally, of course, but in a similar vein of inheriting something from him as a descendent of his work. ]

[techmaturgy]

I will keep it in mind.

[Not that he ever plans to ask her to do such a thing again. The mention of a fledgling enterprise is a little concerning, but since they're here to talk about something even more concerning, he'll let it slide for now.

He studies the piece for a moment, and then decides he doesn't like the contact with it through his gloves. He's been wearing them since returning from the emergent future, not wanting to upset those who took umbrage with the things he did to himself. River was not one of those people, however, so he decides this should be all right. Underneath the gloves are one natural hand--and one that seems to be made of a dusky purple metal. She might recognize it, from his augmentations in the imagined future.

Viktor doesn't address it, instead running his thumb over a symbol inscribed in the fragment.]

This is my arcana theory. I'm certain of it.

[thoughts]

[ river watches viktor curiously, taking the sight of his augmented hand in stride. the eight hundred years they never lived taught her a lot about this world and the construct of reality around them; she could never begrudge his efforts to control it for himself, to exert power over his own being when so often they are stripped of that autonomy.

she thinks it's part of the tension that exists between viktor's palm - flesh or otherwise - and the bomb fragment that rests in it. his autonomy, power, control - these things were never theirs to keep. ]

You didn't know.

[ it's an observation, not a revelation or even reassurance. river knew this already, assumed as much and can read it from his thoughts and demeanor now. she's not as good at things like emotional comfort, but she can work through the logical. ]

They took it from you. How?

[ they don't really need to wonder why. ]

[techmaturgy]

I had suspicions, when everyone described the explosions.

[The mechanical birds, the arcs of lightning. They've adapted the power core of his work into something that destroys, rather than heals. The idea, of course, was always that the Hexcore could perform any number of tasks, but Viktor had hoped they wouldn't be able to figure it out.

Now, they have. He can only hope they only know how to make those exact bombs, and nothing else. Not that it's a very comforting thought.]

There was a...device, that I built. An adaptive matrix, able to perform any number of instructions. I'd originally designed it to mimic healing magic, stronger than what was available in the Free Cities. I used it once, and then destroyed it.

[He's not sure what she remembers of his own past, from the imagined future--but he had been sick, and dying, and the Hexcore had been his only chance.]

They stole what notes they could, and the pieces of it, in the aftermath. I suppose I should be glad it took them this long to reproduce the technology.

[thoughts]

[ river remembers everything. she always has - it's just buried beneath layers of scar tissue, psychosis, and now eight hundred years of unreality. even now, it takes her a moment to sort through the information in her head to find something that feels relevant, staring at nothing until the words spill out on their own. ]

The Doctor of Illumination.

[ that's right. it's hard to believe that was only a few months ago when it feels literal centuries away. river's brows furrow as she thinks about jesper's post, when she spoke to viktor for the first time. ]

You were upset. You didn't want the title but they gave it to you anyway. Made it seem like award, an honor - an honorary degree and a party while they painted your legacy black.

[ if ever there needed to be an example of how power itself isn't inherently good or bad, but how it's used by the person wielding it - he saved his own life and they made a bomb. she frowns and ducks her head. ]

You said not to apologize, but I thought that showing you this would probably make you sad. It's not yours.

[ it's not your fault. ]

[techmaturgy]

I didn't want the title because I knew it was...a warning.

[A reminder, that the government stood ready to misuse his technology as soon as he gave them something they could weaponize. Viktor just hadn't realized it was too late. He's always been realistic, about what the military might want to capitalize on, but perhaps he was naïve, too, about their ability to unlock what he discovered.

He will have to confront them, sooner or later. For now, he's still trying to puzzle out the fragment in his hands.]

I needed to know. It's important that you brought this here. Maybe with this, I can stop it.

[thoughts]

[ she's quiet again as she considers that, still staring at viktor's hands and the twisted piece of metal. ]

Do you think it's possible? We dreamt of a future where Thorne crumbled and it didn't look like this. But time is a fluid construct and there are fixed points in a function, things you can't fix or change.

[ war seems inevitable at this point. river keeps getting flashes of it, the moment the bombs fell - blue lightning and shattered glass, screaming and crying and a desperate scramble for safety while all the king's horses and all the king's men burned to a crisp outside the castle walls.

for a moment, she gets lost in it. normally subtle enough to go unnoticed, the veins in her hands start glowing faintly, blue lines of starlight that resemble the form she held in the emergent reality. it shimmers as her heart races toward fear and upset, and when river raises her head again, she is very much a scared teenaged girl looking to viktor as an authority figure, someone that may be able to do anything at all to influence their situation. ]

What if it's too late to stop anything? There's no putting it back together again. Maybe it was always going to happen and we're the variables.

[techmaturgy]

I think that in the imagined future, and in this one, Thorne is...how would you say it? In over their heads.

[He knows that the kingdom falls in the vision. Now, with the Free Cities able to break through their magic wards, a similar outcome seems inevitable. The Summoned are not immune--no, now his worry is that Cadens will try again, and his friends will be hurt this time.

River seems to be coming to the same conclusion. Viktor's eyes widen, slightly, when he sees her hands, though it's less surprising than it might have been some months ago. The Singularity is changing them all, it seems. He's not sure how to be comforting, not when he feels so helpless himself.]

I will have to stop it, somehow. I can't let them use a device like this again.

[thoughts]

[ she cracks the beginnings of a smile at that, a wry sort of humor that helps the glow fade from her skin. off with their heads, the queen of hearts said as her uncle drove a dagger through her heart.

if they're already going down the rabbit hole... river eyes viktor for a quiet moment, feeling that desperation to do something, and squeezes the strap of her bag anxiously again. ]

I want to help, if I can. If you can do anything to stop them...

[ then again... she frowns. ]

But I don't want you to end up in the dungeons too.

[ she's worried about him. she's worried for them all, but doubly so for anyone with proximity to the authorities in any territory. ]

[diametrically]

[ Aside from the bike, Cassian has never seen Viktor's work in person. The work he'd seen in the dream is a far flung possibility, something that is undoubtedly the potential that Viktor can attain if he lives that long, but it isn't what he can achieve now.

It doesn't occur to him that the birds are his, or at least based on his work until it comes out on the network that that's the case. The scenario certainly isn't the most ideal way to see Viktor's work so that isn't his primary reason for seeking him out in Nocwich. Rather it's to check up on someone who had been close to him in the dream. Someone he had considered a friend.

He comes in at the tail end once all of his own business is complete, sliding into the seat across from Viktor. Cassian's own bags are filled with various orders for those in Thorne - but nothing so overly suspicious that it would raise alarm with the guards. ]

I'm not sure I can contribute much aside from what you've already heard.

[techmaturgy]

[It’s good to see fellow Summoned from Thorne, first to make sure that they’re all right and second to learn more about the bombing. Viktor wants to make certain that it was truly his work, before he confronts the government. He’s still not certain how to navigate relationships from the imagined future, but the relief he feels when he sees Cassian is real, and that must count for something.]

It doesn’t matter. Anything helps.

[Even if anecdotal evidence is not quite ideal, but if River pulls through, Viktor thinks he has a chance. He doesn’t outright say that it’s his technology used in the attack, but this is probably confirmation enough.]

I have to be sure, if I plan to confront Portam Hall.

[diametrically]

[ He almost opens his mouth to argue to the contrary but he stops himself, understanding. Cassian's work had never been used against him before but he understands needing to hoard and learning as much information as possible before drawing any sort of conclusion. ]

The accounts everyone have given you are right. There was a cloud that moved towards the castle. It seemed like it knew where it was headed and completely ignored Nott.

[ As a waitress approaches he cuts himself short, pausing to order. It's only once they leave that he picks up where he left off. ]

The impact was immediate. More than I expected - or any of them expected.

[techmaturgy]

They knew they could break the wards.

[Otherwise, why bypass Nott? Viktor might be impressed with his own work, in that it was able to break through such powerful magic, if not for the fact that the cost was the lives of a nonzero number of Thornean guards.

He waits, patiently, for them to be alone again, and then he lowers his voice.]

I have reason to believe that the Free Cities stole my work, in order to do this. I never wanted--you must understand that it was never intended to enact such violence.

[diametrically]

[ There's no love lost when it comes to the Thornean guards. They represent a system that he doesn't approve of but the sight of them doesn't elicit a strong feeling of distaste like the way seeing a Stormtrooper does. Quietly, he can't say that he's mourning any of the loss but he's not celebrating it either. Better them than Nott, who had suffered countless damage over the last several months. An opinion like that doesn't need to be shared here and now though.

The confirmation that this is linked to Viktor's work brings about a twinge of unease. It's not something that he can describe as blame. Technology itself wasn't the issue - it was the intent behind it. What he knows of Viktor, and what he hopes to continue confirming, is that he doesn't intend to hurt anyone with his designs. But Cassian is all too wary, all too familiar, with how good intentions can be twisted. ]

I saw you mention that you improved the designs for an incident that happened last year?

[techmaturgy]

No, it wasn't the birds.

[He supposes he could lie, and say that they stole his improvements for the little machines that carried the bombs. During the kidnappings, however, all Viktor had really done was link his own tracking system to their surveillance mechanisms, expanding their range.

This was the Hexcore, though he's not certain how he can or should explain that to Cassian.]

I have a fairly complex system of arcana theory, that I developed. I believe they used it to build the explosive devices that broke through the castle's defenses.

[diametrically]

I'm assuming you didn't intend for it to be used like that.

[ It's said matter of factly but quietly, he's still weighing what little information has been presented to him. Viktor had been a friend to him in the dream, had taken care of Bee and had gone as far as to try and recreate him. Actions alone had lead him to believe that he'd do the same should similar events occur.

There's nothing in Cassian's voice to suggest that he doesn't believe Viktor. And perhaps it's that friendship in the dream is what makes him give him the benefit of the doubt for now. That and why else would the man before him give off the air of urgency? ]

And if that's true, and you do go to Portam Hall, what are you hoping is the outcome? If they saw fit to use it for their own means, what will speaking to them do?

[techmaturgy]

I didn't. I would never--

[He's angry, having to suddenly assert that he never wanted his technology to be weaponized. There's still a great deal to sort out, with those he knew better in the imagined centuries than he does in the real world, but he wants to think that Cassian believes him.

If anything, the nature of this conversation is evidence enough that Viktor trusts Cassian enough to ask for help--or advice, at the very least.]

I don't know. Beg them to reconsider. [Which seems foolish, but what else can he do? They can break through Thorne's wards now. Why would they stop?] I could try to interest them in shielding technology instead, or--

[diametrically]

[ Something akin to understanding flits across his face at the outburst. He understands how easy it is for him to jump to his own conclusions; he's seen first hand what technology and innovation can do to a place and people. Whoever had designed the giant mines that sucked dry planets of their resources probably hadn't intended for it to ruin the lives of a whole people.

Rationally, Cassian knew that his anger or whatever lingering annoyance he had towards that shouldn't be directed towards someone like Viktor. Still. It's hard not to see. the echoes of that ripple out here. Separating what happened on Kenari from what had happened in Thorne is more difficult than he'd like to admit.

Cassian cuts him off before Viktor can continue down a rambling path that he can only read as a man trying to reconcile something that he'd inadvertently had a hand in. ]

Is there a way to take back the designs they took from you?

[techmaturgy]

[Even saying it out loud feels useless. They both know this won't accomplish anything, and might in fact open Viktor up to further abuses of his technology. Still, he isn't sure what else he's supposed to do. They know how his theory works, now, so nothing will stop them from expounding on it further, even if they're finished with these particular bombs.

Cassian doesn't necessarily strike Viktor as politically savvy, but it's clear he needs a sounding board for what he should do next.]

No. Once they understand the theory of it, and have a working prototype, who knows what they might build next?

[diametrically]

[ Stealing the designs of something that they've already used can only get them so far. And Cassian understands that. He may never have spent any time rubbing shoulders with government officials - nor does he have any intention to - but he knows that there has to be something to be done. ]

It would help if you knew how far along they were. Is there anyone in their research and development department that would know?

[ He's not suggesting that they just straight up destroy all of it but...well. ]

You need some sort of bargaining chip to go up against them though, don't you? Offering to build a shielding system is still offering to help them. I get the feeling you don't want them to have any more of your work than they already do.

[techmaturgy]

Yes. Unfortunately.

[Viktor doesn't particularly want to talk to Klingel. Beyond the fact that he now knows the man has no integrity--stealing and repurposing another scientist's work--he imagines he'll only say he was following direction from the military. Loath as he is to involve himself in those workings, he understands he needs to go above the Academy, in matters such as this.

Not that he thinks the military will be particularly sympathetic towards him begging for peace, not when they already have what they want from him. He manages a defeated shrug.]

I'm not sure what else to do. I have no leverage.