abraxaslogs | [open]

Entry tags:

[open]

Who: Viktor and special guests and YOU
When: end of January/February pre-event
Where: Cadens, the Horizon
What: it’s canon update time baybe and things have become…weird…
Warnings: potential references to suicidal ideation, and also a manslaughter. arcane season 2 spoilers through episode 6.

title or description

[open and closed starters in comments! If you want a custom starter or something specific, just hit me up. Details on the canon update, including new powers are here. I’m on plurk at

whitticus and on discord also at whitticus.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We were developing hydroponics. This...is different.

[This is magic, which he now feels coursing through him, even without the physical presence of the Hexcore. Viktor smiles a little at Istredd's surprise, because other Summoned experiencing exactly this is what's made things more manageable for Viktor.

His new knowledge has not been received without mourning, but Viktor is able to see what can be done with his new abilities. How he might be closer than ever before, to offering the Summoned their choice.]

The Arcane exists naturally in the environment. Some have the inborn ability to use it, though they are rare. Jayce and I were able to harness it through technological means. I created an adaptive rune matrix, meant to direct these energies in specific ways through a runic system--like casting a spell.

That sounds like New Magic, right? Using technology and magic together. I'll admit we have no real technology in our sphere, but I've learned a great deal about it here.

[ Many of Istredd's friends are from places with technology so they've explained or showed him more about it. He doubts it'll ever come naturally for him the way it does for them, but at least he has some grounding of knowledge. This plant room though makes sense to him. If there's technology in there he wouldn't understand, it's hidden from view. He can see why this would be more magic-based, he's seen plenty of magic mixed with earth. ]

Ah, runes. That's a type of magic we are taught from the start. It can be very useful. Simple, quick spells, once you learn what they are.

[ That's more about memorization. Magic for him is a mix of that and also natural skill and experience. It flows in and out of him like breathing would be. It looks like perhaps Viktor's starting to go through the same thing. ]

What did you experience, if I can ask?

Yes, it was very similar.

[Which gave Viktor a unique advantage in the Free Cities, for better or worse. He'd used the arcana symbols as their own runic language, and had some success, but of course they could not keep the Hexcore active beyond its initial purpose. The attack on Thorne was proof enough that they made the right choice, in the end.

He has greater understanding, now, though that brings its own complications. He's glad, then, to be speaking with a natural-born mage, while Viktor tries to make sense of what he's become. It's difficult to explain, especially considering all of the context. Viktor will do his best to distill it to the finer points.]

I've awakened to certain abilities. An artificially-born mage, is what I might call myself, now.

[ Istredd isn't only a mage and has been for over sixty years, he's also a magic teacher. He's helped many Summoned learn how to use their new magic and taught the native Thorneans as well. So he can understand. ]

It's life-changing, isn't it? [ He smiles. ] Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. But I love magic, so I've never seen it as anything other than opportunity.

[ For greatness, for good, for a variety of ways that magic could be used in a life. That is probably why he was so open to their potential future as a god, seeing the transition as one that could be good for them, depending on their choices. He saw an opportunity there too. He was trained by power-hungry bastards though, so he tries to take it with a grain of salt. ]

It doesn't matter how you became one, only that you are one now. And look what beauty you've already created with it.

[ He isn't surprised that Viktor gained that power and created something good out of it. The man's always seemed to him altruistic. ]

Life-changing, yes.

[To put it lightly. Viktor wants to smile and be appreciative of Istredd's words, but none of his newfound power came without a cost. He's still deciding whether or not it was worth it--though no amount of healing for the Undercity justifies his own taking of a life.

This Commune is his atonement. He reaches out, brushing the frond of a large plant with his hand.]

These are meant to purify the air and water. It's what helped to grow the rest of this place.

Perhaps you could so something similar in the Free Cities. I know they are typically a desert area.

[ But someone with powerful enough earth magic could likely go past that if they truly wanted to. He's never heard of anyone trying but it's an idea if Viktor would like to continue his work in a place outside of the Horizon. He knows the man already works hard with his mind and technology, so throwing magical ability in there can only help.

Still, Istredd's perceptive, and he glances at his friend again, eyebrows raising. ]

Are you alright? When I saw the future it was very upsetting.

[ It haunts him to this day. Viktor doesn't seem haunted but maybe he's holding that closer to his chest. Istredd's gentle question is meant to encourage him, if he'd like to speak on it. ]

Healing the land on that scale--even I have not accomplished such a thing.

[The Commune, for all its wonder, is still very localized. His power, in the dream, was limited. Viktor still remembers the offer from the Doctor, to surpass those limits.

Istredd is right that none of this came without sacrifice, or distress. Viktor thinks he's still coming to terms with it. Easier, to think it's just a dream, though he still feels the need to atone. Confessing his wrongdoings seems indulgent, less pertinent than telling Istredd about how close things were to their time as gods.]

I admit that what I became in the dream bore...striking similarities to the imagined future we experienced.

[It makes him wonder just how much might be destined, no matter what, even across universes.]

Not yet.

[ If Viktor is relatively new to his magic, he may not know what he is capable of doing yet. Istredd's a magic teacher, he actively has developed people's abilities in Thorne and made them stronger and more skilled through concentrated effort. He's very proud of his students and he's only at his high level due to being decades as a mage. Possibility is out there. He thinks Viktor could do a great deal if he put his mind to it.

That isn't what he expects to hear, eyebrows shooting up. ]

You became a god in your sphere?

[ He does remember what Viktor was capable of doing in that imagined future so if he could do anything like that in his sphere, god may as well be the title. Istredd's said before they might as well call it its own species for people who don't like the worship aspect of the word. But for that to be Viktor's future too, how interesting. ]

I don't know if I would call it a god.

[That feels presumptuous, and he's only doing what people should do with this kind of power. Viktor is not invulnerable, either. He hardly considers himself divine, even if others might.

What's important is how similar it is, to the imagined future.]

But I have awoken to power, and a physical transformation.

[ Everyone has different experiences in their future but Viktor having a similar one to what they experienced here is interesting. All Istredd saw was the end of an era and a tragedy for himself, but he wonders if for some people, this is as inevitable there as it is here. An interesting theory, and Istredd loves thinking about those. ]

A transformation similar to what you experienced here? Were you ... robotic?

[ It took Istredd time to understand what a robot is but he has a robot literally in his domain now so he's figured it out. He remembers the way Viktor appeared and while robotic isn't the exact right word for it, there was something about the way he replaced his limbs and body parts into something stronger and better, that reminds him of that. He never fully understood the details of how he changed, only that he did. And that it disturbed Kyle, as far as he could tell after their falling out he never questioned. Not that he belives that would matter now.]

I'm sorry that happened. Or are you not sorry?

[Viktor doesn't know if he would call it robotic, either--perhaps bio-mechanical. All of that is a bit difficult to explain, though, especially when he can simply show Istredd. He takes a step, allowing his appearance to change into what he remembers from the Commune. Like this, Viktor's changed body is evident. It isn't exactly the same as he was, in the imagined future, but it's close enough, his living metal arm having overtaken his entire person.]

It was not a gradual augmentation. The circumstances...required that it all happen at once.

[And though Jayce had made the choice for him, Viktor had, after his first experiment, planned to do this to himself.]

There are some things I regret. But I have been able to continue my work. That's what matters.

[ Istredd's eyebrows shoot up as Viktor changes to his new shape, surprised to see the metal arm and then the change to the rest of his body and limbs. It is a drastic change and he wonders about the internal alterations that must have required too. It's extensive and that has to have had problems for him both physically and mentally. He's concerned. ]

It just happened all at once? That can't have been pleasant, to be altered on such a fundamental level.

[ He remembers that Viktor's changes did come slowly, piece by piece, in their god forms, so he could make these choices and decisions on his own. To do it all at once, that's significant. Istredd feels a way about it but he's mostly taking cues from Viktor's own behavior. Where he seems more accepting than happy about it, but that's necessary. To just adapt with what you have. ]

Is it all that matters now? Because you are sounding like your other self, my friend.

[ Who didn't care about much outside of work, not even people. ]

[Viktor sees the immediate concern on Istredd's face, but remains largely impassive. Though the dream was just as imagined as the strange future, he still feels as though he's had time to come to terms with all this. It simply is what it is, at this point.]

It was necessary.

[He'd been angry with Jayce at the time, but now understands his partner's actions, even if he doesn't necessarily agree. And now that he's continued to live, he's been afforded the opportunity to help others, which is all he's really wanted. When Istredd says he sounds like his other self, Viktor offers a huff that might be a laugh.]

Believe me, I know. It makes me wonder if certain things are inevitable, even across universes.

Possibly. Who we became in that vision is an extension of who we are now. I don't think some people want to see that.

[ There were people very unhappy with where it all ended up and Istredd was not one of them, but maybe that was part of it. He's used to introspective thinking and being in tune with who he is, for better or for worse. No one he saw change was vastly different from where he thinks they're capable of doing even now. Istredd didn't see anyone in that future and go 'now that makes no sense, they'd never do that.' ]

But I do remember that your loved ones were worried about where you ended up. I personally found you very reasonable, but I'm not them.

[ Istredd and Viktor didn't know one another well before that and since they've become friends, genuinely in his opinion, but it also is sort of a connection between two people with logical intellectual mindsets. No feelings are really involved.

Besides, they both know he's talking about Kyle. ]

[Viktor's lips pull tight--this is, of course, nothing he doesn't already know. After the imagined future, he'd resolved to do things differently, for those that care about him. But he's ended up like this anyway, hasn't he? It makes him wonder how much is simply inevitable. If he's doing himself a disservice by attempting to fight it. If it could have the same disastrous results as what came from trying to fight his illness.]

I've spoken with Kyle.

[So, Istredd is not the first to know. He's shown him his new form, the commune, and told him of his dream. He sees no reason not to put Istredd at ease, in that regard.]

We have an opportunity to do things differently, this time. And this form...it doesn't exist in the real world.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject