abraxaslogs | [open] july catchall

[ it feels like it's been much longer than it has since sam last visited viktor's workshop. years, centuries, lifetimes that sam still can't quite wrap his head around. he wasn't made to be alive for that long, wasn't raised or built to know how to handle centuries on centuries. it's left a kind of distance in the process of returning to what used to be normal, what used to be routine.

sam brings the wings with him, figuring that on top of this conversation, viktor might want to do his semi-usual check-ins. it feels a little strange, and possibly a little misleading, when sam is very aware the wings are not his reason for the visit.

the workshop looks about as different as sam expects it, new projects and experiments and constructions littered around the room. the sound of the welding iron draws his attention, and he makes his way through the workshop, coming to a stop not far from where viktor works away. he is looking at the automation when viktor lifts the helmet, head tilted slightly, trying... and not really succeeding to separate himself from the sinking feeling that he's been here before. that the automation, while looking nothing like ultron, does resemble it just enough. ]

Yeah- I can tell. [ it's said friendly enough, accompanied by a smile, as sam sets the box that holds his wings down on the closest, open table. ] I can come back, if you'd rather.

[The easy thing to do, of course, would be to return to work in silence. Sam is patient, and if he's here for Viktor to tune up the wings, he can certainly find something to occupy himself. But there's a conversation to be had here, even if it involves an admission on his part. Viktor knows he has to go to Portam Hall about the theft of his work, and he can begrudgingly admit that no matter how influential he is in the academic realm, he's out of his depth when it comes to politics.

Sam, however...]

No, I--

[With the welding mask lifted up his forehead, Viktor's slightly strained expression is evident. It seems that even this much of an admission is difficult for him, but he has to try.]

There's something I should talk to you about.

[ there's something in the sound of viktor's no that draws sam's eyes. he glances back over his shoulder and catches the strained expression and whatever else it might have been he had prepared to ease into for conversation purposes dissipates. ]

Yeah?

[ sam turns, head tilting curiously as his arms cross over his chest. he can tell this isn't easy for viktor, and something in sam's gut tells him this won't be... well. won't be good. while sam's expression is still friendly enough, there's a weight to his shoulders, an acknowledgement of Viktor's tone. ]

What's up?

Edited 2024-07-27 02:36 (UTC)

[Sam is clearly interested, though of course Viktor knows he isn't going to like what he says next. He's had enough conversations with people wary of his work to know that there are some who aren't certain of what he's doing, and now he's gone and proven them all right, all because he wanted to save himself.

He needs to take responsibility for his actions, but admitting that his work is something to fear is difficult to voice.]

I need go to Portam Hall. To talk to Reiner.

[Even hovering on the periphery of politics is uncomfortable to him, and Sam will likely surmise that he's mostly confessing this because Sam has experience in this realm. He needs help, even if he's not quite sure how to ask for it.]

They stole my notes, some time ago. And...I believe they finally discovered how to use them.

[ sam is interested in what viktor has to say, though there is some part of him that knows what's coming. this is the same conversation he had with geralt, all those months ago. the same conversation he had with Steve, back home. he doesn't know what it is that dooms men like viktor to this situation, to this fate, but he wishes he could have helped avoid it.

which is to say - he's not expecting what comes next, exactly, but he isn't surprised, either. his brows go up at the mention of Reiner, letting out a kind of whistle. ]

Good luck with that. Woman's... something.

[ but even as he says it, even as his tone is casual, his eyes don't quite leave viktor. something's going to follow, some kind of admission, and if sam's intuition is right...

well. yeah. they stole my notes has sam shifting, standing a little straighter, jaw a little tighter. ] They? You mean Reiner? [ a beat, and then more things seem to fall into place. sam's eyes go to the automation, and then back to viktor again. he thinks about the reports he's gotten about the attack on thorne, about how they were attacked. he'd been a little shocked that the cities just had that kind of tech available to them, but if viktor had his notes stolen...

sam's stomach drops, but his expression doesn't change. ]

What all did they steal Viktor?

[Viktor's face falls, slightly--he doesn't want good luck. He kind of wants Sam to do this for him, though he knows he shouldn't ask and he shouldn't expect it. This is his responsibility, and it's unfair to make such a request.

He doesn't deserve assistance, anyway. Not after he built the Hexcore knowing the risks, and then did nothing, when the government stole what they could.]

Reiner's people. I suppose. [Academy officials, the military--there's no difference. Klingel does what she asks, which means that the academia of Cadens is intrinsically tied to both the government and the ways it enacts violence.] Do you remember when they raided my laboratory? When I was in recovery? They took notes on a...device, and a fairly complex system of arcana theory. That I developed.

[ sam probably would do it, if viktor actually asked. but he doesn't offer, not quite yet, because he needs to see where this is all going.

which, he supposes, is a good thing considering all that viktor shares. sam, to his credit, keeps his reaction and expression still - even with the tension that shoots through him. reiner's people who could be anyone, a device.

after a moment, sam feels himself frown. he remembers viktor in recovery, and the mention of a raid does sound familiar. ]

I'm guessing there was enough there for them to recreate it? [ a beat, and then sam lets out a breath. he knows the answer, whether or not viktor answers. he's not here to place blame, really, though some measure of guilt, of you should have known curls at his own stomach. ] Did they take anything else?

It certainly took them long enough-- [Which is a testament to the safeguards Viktor did attempt, not that it makes him feel any better.] --but yes.

[As for the rest of it, he shakes his head. They don't need anything else. The Hexcore, once understood, can be made to do any number of things. In this case, it was used to break through Thorne's wards, and then provide a burst of explosive energy, to lethal results.]

Only the notes on the device. But if they can break through Thorne's wards with it...who knows what else they'll do?

Shit.

[ it slips out before sam really thinks about it, and after a moment he takes a step, moving away from where he'd been standing to take a few steps, needing to move. he knows what viktor means, that it took them this long to figure it out, but- ]

We're in a city full of inventors, there's no way to guess how many ideas they'll have. [ after a few moments, sam comes to a stop, his eyes turning to the large figure - the robot. ]

And you're sure they didn't take anything else?

[He knows that Sam takes some responsibility for the Summoned in Cadens as a whole, and it's difficult for Viktor not to feel ashamed. It's not an interrogation, really--he knows that Sam is just trying to get all of the information that he can, but it does put his failure on full display.

He never should have built the Hexcore, even to save his own life. He knew this would happen. And it might continue to happen, if he isn't careful. Viktor follows Sam's gaze to the automaton, immobile in its housing.]

I'm sure. [The notes, and the fragments of the Hexcore--though that would have been useless, burnt beyond recognition in the forge.] But that doesn't account for any additional spying.

[Sam must know that the government watches them all.]

[ sam can guess at what viktor is feeling, but there's no blame from his side of this conversation. because it's not viktor's fault - knowledge would be found, would be discovered, whether or not viktor was the one to bring it here.

but god, it's hard not to feel his stomach curl at the implications.

I'm sure viktor says, and sam does believe him. but sam's eyes still don't leave the automaton, memories that are now years, maybe almost a decade now away, somehow still carved deep into the back of sam's mind. ]

We've been spied on since the moment we showed up here. [ so yes, he is very aware they're all being watched. at all times. but that's not new, so much as it's something that maybe all the summoned also need to remember.

he sighs, finally pulls his eyes away. ] Does it have a failsafe? [ he doesn't mean just the automaton, but all of it. ] If- in some other crazy possible future where they might try to use all this against us, could we stop it?

Edited 2024-10-19 16:44 (UTC)

[Viktor knows that--that they're watched upon arrival, but he still feels defensive at the way Sam says it, like he wasn't aware, or was so naïve as to think he could build the Hexcore without the government's eventual interference.]

If I hadn't built the device, I wouldn't be here now.

[He had a choice, yes, but it was not a very good one, or one he'd wish on anyone else. Selfishly, he'd wanted to live, and now he needs to accept the consequence of that.

But with the Hexcore already utilized, it makes sense that Sam's concern would be with Viktor's current projects.]

The automaton? Yes. [Though if they cracked the Hexcore, this is probably next on the list.] But if you think I should destroy it...I don't know. By that logic, I should burn down the workshop.

[ sam doesn't wince, exactly, but he does hear the defensiveness in viktor and yeah, okay. he deserved that. the stakes viktor had been working against and the decisions he made while fighting them are not something that sam would argue.

he's seen men make much worse decisions when faced with their own mortality. and he's got a feeling viktor knows that more than anyone else.

still - sam can't shake that feeling. what happened in thorne, what happened in that attack, was because of the hexcore. so what were they supposed to do now? ]

I'm not saying destroy it. [ sam shakes his head. ] Whatever they're were gonna have, they have. I just mean if we end up on the other side of a line of these guys, are we going to know what to do.

[ it's hard not to have his immediate thoughts go straight to war, but given everything they've seen as of late, it'd be foolish not to see it on the horizon. ]

[In truth, Viktor is so devastated by this that he's sorely tempted. Hilda has talked him down from dismantling the automaton, and he knows that he doesn't have the conviction to destroy everything he worked for, but...it is tempting, in the sense that it would be one way to make things right.

He'd just have to resign himself to never building anything again, and they both know he can't do that.]

No. [That much he can admit.] I don't know what to do. I'm not a soldier.

[Even the thought of enacting violence in return is intolerable. But perhaps it will just take some creative thought. It's another moment, before he speaks again.]

I've been considering some kind of...pulse, that would disrupt new magic. That we could deploy, in a worst-case scenario.

[open] july catchall

1. the workshop

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