abraxaslogs | [open] july catchall

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[open] july catchall

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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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.

[ 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. ]

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.

[ 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. ]

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.

[ 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.

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.

[ 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. ]

I need to try.

[He'll start by talking to them, though he knows it might put him in danger to even recognize his own work, in what they did to the castle. The one thing he does have going for him is that he's well known--if they try to disappear him, it will be noticed.

That's not something he finds comforting to voice, however. He does his best to sound reassuring, regardless. To sound more sure of himself than he actually is.]

I don't think they'll throw me in the dungeons. That would be a waste.

[ she understands. she doesn't like it, but she understands; it's the same reason istredd stayed in the castle, why he doesn't seem to be worried now that he's in the dungeons. actually harming one of the summoned would probably do more damage to their authority than it might be worth.

still. she doesn't like it. she purses her lips and looks away, swearing under her breath a little. ]

Zìshēng zì miè.

[ for better or for worse. river's fear and anxiety are just as intense as when she entered the room, but at least she accomplished what she came for. it's in viktor's hands now, literally. she swallows her resolve and stands, ready to go find geralt or ciri or one of the many other people she fears for in the brewing storm. ]

I'll tell you, if I see anything else. And... shàngdì bǎoyòu wǒmen dàjiā, but be careful, please.

[Viktor knows a curse when he hears one, even if it's in a different language. He can't say he disagrees. All he can do in the moments that follow is sit quietly with his own thoughts, staring down at his hands.]

I'll let you know what happens. And...thank you.

[ she stands there for a moment, a child that can't hide her fear the way everyone around her seems to keep it tucked away in the corner of their hearts, and then rushes forward very abruptly to give viktor a quick hug.

river isn't generally one for physical affection like this, but after eight hundred years of turning into smoke anytime someone so much as reached toward her, she's gained a newfound appreciation for the simple comfort of having another living being nearby, warm and alive and right there next to you. she squeezes him tightly, trying to press some of that into him - it's not your fault and you're not alone and be careful -

and then she steps away without another word, flipping the hood of her cloak back up as she heads for the door. there's a brief pause as she stares at the door knob, not quite hesitation but steeling herself, perhaps, before she steps back out into the world - for better or for worse. ]

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