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[ It gives him some relief again with the easy physicality that's still there. Viktor's hair tickles his face and he lets out a soft breath.

He remembers Viktor explaining that there had been talk of weaponization before, how he felt like he was not an equal partner when it came to decisions regarding the council's wishes. He doesn't try to guess what was going on in Jayce's mind, or what spurred his decision to capitulate. ]

What did you do?

[ He does not see any way this ends well, despite Viktor's intentions. Kyle has his hands around his bare middle, can still feel the warmth of him in spite of the transformation - he can feel somewhat soothed by the understanding that when they leave Horizon the rest of him will be flesh again. Mortal. But in this future - no matter the good Viktor wishes to bring to those people, there will still be those who see him as something else, merged with his miracle. They won't fear that he is capable of weapons, they will see him as a weapon.

The Rifter escaped that fate, but it had changed him. Kyle does not want that for Viktor. ]

Edited (I added a bunch of useless introspection) 2025-02-09 00:19 (UTC)

[Somehow, recounting the events out loud after being removed from them is slightly ridiculous. Kyle, of all people, should understand the idea of predestination, but now fully back in Abraxas, some part of what he experienced doesn't feel right. Foolish, almost, that he would so readily wander back to Zaun with only an impulse to guide him.

Viktor turns, so that he can take one of Kyle's hands in his and start to lead him out of the laboratory, down the stairs. It will be an abbreviated version of his own journey, but it should give him an idea of what transpired. How far into the depths of the Fissures he went.]

I felt power, within me.

[He holds out his free hand, turning over his palm to show Kyle the purple light pulsing within.]

I healed someone. Augmented them.

[ Reluctantly, he lets go so they can walk hand in hand. This will be more of the Undercity than he has seen before, besides the cave system beneath the river. He had always wanted to see more - he just couldn't have known it would be under these circumstances.

Viktor offers his other hand, and Kyle nods, unsurprised and clearly taking care with his response - ]

Just like your miracle was always meant to do.

[ To heal his home. Kyle sounds happy for that, in a way, though the emotion is slightly muted. He watches the strange, purple light shift beneath the metal, a sign of the energy that would be the new body's life blood. He almost wishes he knew less, that he could see only the blessing of this power, and not fearful of what else it will cost him. Maybe Viktor's vision ended before any of that. ]

Yes. At the cost of a life.

[The lingering, unanswered question, then, is whether or not Viktor considers it worth the sacrifice. Kyle knows him well enough by now, he's sure, to understand that Viktor would rather it be his life, a thousand times over. He remembers one of the last things Jayce said to him, in his dream--that Hextech was no miracle, but a curse. Now alone in his own head, he gives more weight to the thought.

Kyle will find that Zaun begins in a livable state, but quickly degrades when the past the Lanes and head deeper into the Fissures. Deeper still, until industrial factories and chem-pipes and mines give way to destitution. The encampment is as he first found it, far from any sunlight and housing only ruined buildings and the tents of those forced onto the outskirts of even the Undercity.]

It was not my choice, to become this. But with these gifts, I can--I could atone. I considered it my responsibility to do so.

[Not only for time wasted trying to play by Piltover's rules, but for the death that he caused. She wanted clean air and water for the Undercity just as much as he did, and he accomplished it, finally, even if it was only localized to a small place. It could be more, with time. If he ever manages to return.

The space around them blossoms. Flowers, clean water. Viktor transforms the encampment as if pressing fast forward on a television remote. Soon, the thriving commune comes into being, though it remains empty of its inhabitants, the Horizon not exactly the best medium for reproducing human activity. Still, the sun that finally reaches the bottom of the cavern, emanating from his temple feels convincingly warm.]

Edited 2025-02-12 00:43 (UTC)

[ His careful mask falters briefly, his hand tightening around Viktor's at the reminder of that single loss of life - if only because he does understand, Viktor made his wishes clear, and knows the weight he carries. He should ask Viktor about this assistant - he should try to display some compassion. But the callous, fearful part of him doesn't want to know anything about this person.

He will ask later, once they have left this place.

The rest of his fears lay ahead.

As usual he's curious about the new surroundings as they travel down, though tempered by the circumstances. He's less distracted than he normally might be by all the new sights and sounds of the Lanes, the lack of people in the streets makes it all a little eerie. Worse is heading further down. The thickness of the air, the greenish tinge is strange - he expects this is also muted in recreation, but it's still far worse than the pollution he was accustomed to in Nayeshi. Basawar is a world that is withering, like the life is being slowly drained out of it. Zaun is being choked and poisoned, as Viktor had always described.

He's confused when they stop at the encampment. He doesn't like the thought of Viktor here. Worse that he describes it as atonement - even if he understands that feeling as well.

As the space around them blooms, it startles him at first. He reaches out to touch the tops of the yellow flowers, their soft, velvet-like petals brushing his fingertips. It's the dome-like structure at the center that his attention fixes on though. A glass palace in a garden. A temple. He stares at it for a long while, transfixed by the warmth, feeling as though he should kneel and equally terrified to do so. ]

Viktor - [ he starts before he fully knows what he means to say, his face gone pale again. ] ... how did you keep this hidden from Piltover?

[ This place is completely indefensible. ]

[He assembles the Commune as he remembers it, with its stained glass houses and workshops, churning water pumps, fields of yellow flowers, and of course the greenhouse. That's where he wants to take Kyle, because that's the real revelation--using the various cultivars within, combined with the adaptive power of the Hexcore, to purify the air and soil and water. As they walk, Viktor's appearance changes, too, closer to how he remembers it from the Commune.

The motifs, now, become evident. Fractal patterns, spirals on spirals, all taking shape, built into the architecture around them. The natural form of the Arcane.]

I...didn't.

[Viktor says this like it's never occurred to him. The figurative doors were always open to anyone who needed his gifts, Piltovan and Zaunite alike, as long as they surrendered their weapons at the entrance. It was only in the last few days of his dream that the politics of his world began to encroach. Vander and his daughters arriving at the gates with the Noxians in pursuit, at the same time as Jayce's return through the strange anomaly, cannot have been a coincidence.

Still, he knows Kyle needs an explanation.]

This place is deep in the Fissures. Piltover had other priorities than to investigate rumors of its existence, I imagine.

Edited 2025-02-12 23:50 (UTC)

[ They walk, and he takes in the size of the commune - the amount of small living structures, places for crafter's to work, the signs of self-sufficiency- and tries to estimate the amount of people living and working here. Drawn here, to Viktor.

It makes him nervous.

Viktor changes again too, though not as extreme this time. He reaches over to touch his longer hair. Lightly: ]

You look more like a priest than I do now.

[ Kyle no longer wears his vestments when they're together, not since the summer. ]

Edited (phone tag Mess) 2025-02-13 03:07 (UTC)

[Viktor glances as Kyle, then huffs a little laugh.]

I hadn't thought of it like that.

[He enforced no hierarchy in the commune, of course, but they called him the Herald anyway. Viktor understands how this must look, to Kyle, even if he gets the sense that his relationship with his own god is reframed, as of late. It isn't lost on him, that he dresses differently in the Horizon.

Viktor's hand brushes Kyle's arm, leading him into the greenhouse. He reaches for the large frond of one of the plants, skimming his fingers across it.]

These cultivars...hybrids, for reclaiming the soil and water. Cleaning the air. The yellow flowers that you see were the most successful.

[ Just hearing a small laugh from him briefly soothes Kyle as they enter the greenhouse. Of course Viktor wouldn't see himself that way, but it doesn't matter. That dome sits apart from the other structures, which all seem to spiral out from it - how many more will come? How does he maintain order, when Kyle knows he has no interest in any of that?

He stops a few paces away from Viktor, taking in the space, the earthy smell reminding him of somewhere else. It's beautiful, but he closes his eyes for a moment, frowning. ]

The people here assist you? With all your work and... keeping order?

[He isn't sure what Kyle is thinking about all this--Viktor knows he could reach out and discover it with only a touch, but he doesn't want to alarm him. There is still much about this he needs to handle delicately, if the frown on Kyle's face is any indication.

He wants Kyle to be proud of him, but he knows that this place that is strange and difficult to explain.

Outside the greenhouse, Viktor does his best to conjure the shadows of the Commune's inhabitants--less recreations of individual people, and more the patterns of work that occurs here. Smithing, horticulture, maintenance of the water pumps, new construction. He looks at Kyle, and nods.]

We have made this place a refuge. Everyone is welcome.

[ His expression doesn't change very much as he watches those impressions of people going about their business. ]

And - you still mean to find a way to get back here somehow? [ a pause ] To see this place grow?

[ Does he still mean to seek out the Jayce he lost here as well? ]

I...don't know.

[His mind feels slightly clearer, looking at all of this from the outside, with the added experience of his time here. He still wants to find Jayce, and might be closer to it than ever, given his newfound power. That, and he knows that the Commune is tenuous, hinging entirely on his own abilities. To make things right, he needs to return to them and puzzle out its long-term sustainability, otherwise his work will be for nothing.

All of this new information about the arcane, and his remembrance of those imagined years, however, makes things feel less urgent. He finds himself, perhaps unexpectedly, not wanting to give Kyle an answer that asserts the fact that they will eventually need to part.

But...what if they didn't have to?]

I would like to return here, yes. [To find Jayce. To complete his work.] But I know more, now. [About the nature of the universe--the places he might be able to go, and see, especially with his newfound power. The things he could discover, and bring home with him.] There's time.

[ He's back to looking at Viktor, still trying to reconcile the way he could be mistaken for a mystic with his loose garb and hair.

Viktor confirms that his plans haven't changed entirely from what they were only some hours ago, and Kyle can accept that. If in the past month he's come close once or twice to asking for or offering something impossible for both of them, reason and cowardice won out. But it's not those thoughts teasing him now - there's genuine concern about what Viktor is planning to return to - ]

What do you mean there's time?

[ Kyle's brow pinches, his tone confused. Increasingly it's felt like they've had less time with the rate events have been escalating here. They make the best of what time they have, when any of them could vanish in the space of a doorway, at any moment. ]

Edited (fixed janky phrasing in introspection) 2025-02-14 00:47 (UTC)

I saw something else, in the dream. An anomalous construct, self-replicating and self-annihilating. A pure, unbridled expression of the Arcane. I believe it could be used to travel between timelines. Between different worlds, even.

[He's not sure where Jayce reappeared from, only that it was somewhere else. Viktor wishes he had more time to study it. He'll conjure a vision of it now in miniature, holding it out to Kyle as it hovers above the palm of his hand.]

Can you imagine? With infinite universes at one's disposal, the linear progression of time becomes negligible as well. I could return to a precise moment of my choosing.

[Of course, that doesn't solve the problem of leaving this place--but if the imagined future is, after all, what awaits them, he knows he will eventually have the knowledge and power to accomplish this. And, after that, Viktor thinks he might like to discover what's out there, in the space between worlds.]

Edited 2025-02-14 01:55 (UTC)

[ Self-replicating and self-annihilating, creation and destruction always intertwined. He has been taught this since the priests took him. He has seen the same within Viktor ever since they met.

Kyle reaches out tentatively, pulling his hand back before his fingertips touch the anomaly. He can imagine it - this is how the Oracles exist in part, their bones are trapped but their minds are unbound by time and space. It drives them mad to navigate.

Viktor seems so calm and unconcerned.

Slowly, troubled - though not for the usual reasons when they speak about these things: ]

You'll recreate this here.

[ He had wavered from his path, thinking he might be allowed to choose for himself. This is all too sudden, he is scared of losing what he only just found - this relative happiness, much sooner than he expected. And he can't ignore the other signs, as much as he has been negligent in these past few months.

He isn't entirely thinking straight when he drops down to kneel, head bowed - not quite prostrating himself like he did in front of Jath'ibaye, but there is something uncomfortably deferential about his stance now. ]

Then - I'll go with you to Zaun when it's time.

I believe it to be our best chance of leaving this place.

[At least, it's more of a lead than he's ever had. Viktor believed he needed to learn and reverse the summoning ritual, but perhaps that doesn't matter when if he can figure out a way to override it entirely. Whatever the Anomaly is, it's powerful. It could be exactly what he needs.

Then, the possibilities will be truly limitless. What he doesn't expect is Kyle's answer, or his sudden deference. Viktor immediately hates the way he kneels, and is quick to join him, wanting to be on the same level. Wanting Kyle to know that he hasn't changed, even if they both know that isn't entirely true. He reaches out with both hands to cup his face, wanting to look at him.]

I would never ask this of you. [He cannot expect Kyle to give up everything and return to Viktor's world. The very thought of it feels like a selfish indulgence.] If I succeed, I could take you--you could go wherever you want. I would be happy to do it. That hasn't changed.

[All of this has always been about offering his fellow Summoned a choice. It feels closer than ever.]

Edited 2025-02-14 04:21 (UTC)

You don't have to ask.

[ Just like he didn't have to ask him to come to Cadens. He lets Viktor hold his face and lift it some, but his gaze remains cast down. ]

You want this place to grow and thrive - I will help you keep it safe. It won't - it won't be like your mechanical city in that vision. [ Fomalhaut was protected by the disease that kept any outsiders away. ] You will need to protect it from anyone who would want to see it destroyed, who would see you as a threat, a resource to be stolen, or a weapon to be used...

[ Like the Rifter had been bound and controlled by the Payshmura. He shakes his head in Viktor's hands, finally meeting his gaze with a feverish intensity. ]

Let me do this.

[ He has been conditioned all his life to serve. He does want this, that isn't a lie. ]

[Viktor keeps trying to meet his eyes, frustrated by how it feels like Kyle is pledging himself. If apotheosis is what truly awaits them, here, then there is no reason for subservience. He suddenly wonders if being so open about his dream was a mistake, even if he knows there was no real way to hide it.]

I'll come back to this place, someday.

[Or, insert himself back into this particular timeline form the moment he "left" it--that might be a more apt description. He owes it to the Undercity, after all.]

It is not your duty to accompany me, or to act as my protector. [He still believes that to be reserved for John, and now sees where he might have misstepped, showing Kyle all of this. Viktor seems slightly more desperate now, to snap him out of this fervor, to undo all of these new revelations and return to the bedroom above the workshop. He smooths a hand through his hair.

This next part seems difficult to say--he's not even sure if it's the right thing to say.]

But I may want to journey to other places, before returning home, and I--might like to do it with you.

Edited (sorry i screwed up my formatting) 2025-02-14 05:29 (UTC)

[ What is the difference between duty and choice in this case? He's only terrified for what he might lose - and his shoulders stiffens at the rejection. It makes him want to insist that Viktor is wrong - that this is something he can and should do for him.

He's about to move Viktor's hands away from his face and tell him so, but the next words give him pause. He lowers his gaze again, afraid to find pity in Viktor's eyes over this display, to find that he is already reconsidering - but after a long moment he seems to relent, some of the tension dissipating from his shoulders.

Quietly: ]

I think I would like that too. [ His brow furrows. ] I just... I want to keep you, for a little longer.

[ However he will have him. ]

[Viktor's gaze holds no pity--it's searching, wanting to assert that everything they've shared is real, and wanting Kyle to look at him without feeling lesser. He feels him relax underneath his hands, and that seems like a good start.]

There's so much I want to show you.

[And if that means they keep each other for a little longer, that's okay. It's more preferable, at this point, than saying goodbye. Viktor doesn't think he can, and if that's selfish of him, well. He's allowed to be, after everything.]

I promised you a choice. We can go anywhere you want, together.

Edited 2025-02-15 04:17 (UTC)

[ This is what he wants to hear, what helps him reel himself back from that desperate outburst. But he wrestles again with how uneven this feels at times - with Viktor always offering him so much more than he's able to do for him in return, how that feeling is magnified in this place where Viktor must belong to all these people in his community.

Viktor offers him choice, though in the end it doesn't matter where they go - just like it never mattered so much exploring the Free Cities, only that they were able to enjoy it together for a time. ]

Yes. Okay. [ He meets his gaze again, finding his fears of what he would find unwarranted, and studies the strange, shifting colors of his irises a little longer this time. A hand lifts to touch his face, tracing over where the metal blends with his cheek, down his neck. Whatever took hold of him a moment ago seems to have passed, though there's still tension across his features: ]

Will you at least take... some advice, about how you've let this place grow?

[ It seems he can't give this up entirely, even if it's not exactly time dependent. If he were mixing dangerous chemicals unknowingly, he would expect Viktor to intercede. ]

[Viktor looks relieved, and he lets out a breath that says as much, hand moving to the back of Kyle's head so he can lean in and press their foreheads together. There is still more to say, and he will get to it, with time. For now, Viktor is just glad that Kyle hasn't rejected this--or him.

And he sees the value of what Viktor has built, here, enough to offer constructive criticism, it seems. He wants to laugh.]

What are your suggestions?

[He will...consider them.]

[ He lets Viktor pull him in, accepting the physical comfort easily and relaxing a little more. Kyle only pulls back again when Viktor asks his question, letting his gaze sweep across the commune again. ]

If you needed to quickly evacuate these people, is there a plan?

[ From Ravishan's memories he knows the Fai'daum hid their settlements from the church and gaun'im in underground tunnels - not quite like this, Viktor has made it clear he's not hiding anything... ]

[He allows them both this moment, then pulls himself to his feet, offering hands for Kyle to stand after him. The greenhouse is what he's most proud of, but if there are concerns about the security of the Commune, Viktor is pleased to give him a tour, even if he doesn't necessarily have good answers to these questions, something that becomes evident on his face.]

I--

[Kyle is right, of course, and he remembers the Doctor's words--that if he perishes, his community will be soon to follow. Anything he says now is an excuse, but he finds himself wanting to defend himself anyway. This commune is an incredible accomplishment, and maybe part of him wants recognition for that.]

We're deep in the fissures. The need for an evacuation is..unlikely. Anyone who approaches is stopped at the gate.

[He gestures to it, a metal and stained glass arch between walls of the cavern.]

[ Kyle doesn't need help rising again but he allows it anyway, taking Viktor's hands in his own and studying them instead of the surroundings until Viktor points out the gate. Only then does he turn his head to look, still frowning slightly. ]

A child could climb that.

[ A small child, at that. ]

And just because it's unlikely doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared.

[ He pulls in a deep breath and turns to Viktor again. ]

You really let anyone in? [ He knows, given his own past - including how they met, he has no room to talk. But still - ] How can you be sure you can trust everyone that walks through that gate?

these old threads take me forever to find, so I'm just linking them for both of us lmao

bless you

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it's TECHNICALLY tomorrow now