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............?!

[Alucard would like to hope that Viktor will give him a few moments to process everything happening here. It isn't that a change to someone's Horizon space is a surprise or even unusual, but this level of dramatic change means that something else has happened. What, Alucard cannot even begin to process.

But all in due time. His mouth is still agape, and in all of it, he extends his hand to Viktor's.]

Lead on.

[There's no destination in mind, not really, just a desire to share this with Alucard. He'll continue to offer his hand, as he understands this can be destabilizing--even alarming, depending on what Alucard expected when he entered Viktor's domain.

(Probably not this. Perhaps Viktor is too enthralled by the possibility of the arcane to really notice.)]

I had a dream, about home.

[He probably doesn't need to explain what that means, given how many times this has happened to others among them. Viktor pulls Alucard along, starry nebulae surrounding them.]

This was part of it.

[Alucard nods faintly. The context explains how such a dramatic shift could happen overnight. He remembers it happening to Jaskier and Geralt but never to this scale.

There's a faint ponderance of what happened in Alucard's head, but the vastness of this space holds his tongue. In truth, he can't remember the last time he was this genuinely awestruck by well, anything.

This all seems impossible, and yet the dhampir has zero doubt that this and more is plausible back home for Viktor.]

Only part...

[He exhales, drifting along the cosmos as easily as someone might swim. The weightlessness is so different here. It glides effortlessly. Almost happily, ignoring the rules of the rest of the universe.]

There is...a great deal to explain.

[Not the least of which is this place, and why Viktor looks like he does, and why he seems so comfortable, floating among the stars. Nothing about what he's told Alucard of his home would indicate any of this, and there seems to be a part of him that knows this beautiful backdrop hides darker truths--that much is evident in the slight sadness that tinges his smile.

He wants to enjoy this with his friend. He knows it's not possible.]

I'm still uncertain how much is real. Perhaps I should start from the beginning.

[Alucard looks around at the word explanation, wanting to find a chair or something to sit on or...some way to show that he's being attentive besides floating beside his friend. It feels so wrong, especially the way Viktor's smile tinges with something clearly bittersweet.

There's one way to delay the inevitable. An uncertain smile responds.]

Is Rio likewise able to manifest like this?

Of course.

[That's the advantage of the Horizon, though the mention of Rio does remind Viktor that he was never able to go back for her, even with all his newfound power. Her presence in his domain has always been some kind of atonement--to allow some version of her to have freedom.

Now, she joins them, weightless, her patterning the same shifting colors as Viktor.]

It's freeing, isn't it?

[There's Rio! Alucard extends a hand towards her to offer pets and affection, finding himself in need of something tactile in all this open space. He smiles, not quite cooing but very close to do so.]

Ah, you look even more beautiful like this. I hope you know that.

[Rio is Good Girl. Alucard focuses giving her attention, but he knows this conversation needs to keep going.]

I'll admit, it is taking me a few minutes to adjust to being so....open....but the weightlessness is quite taking.

I think she does.

[Rio swims through the stars as if it's water, and she seems more at home doing so than she is lumbering around on land. Viktor, for his part, enjoys the freedom she has here--though his expression is slightly wistful. Alucard is aware of her fate in the real world, now, so he decides not to address it further.

They have other things to talk about, anyway. Viktor drifts, thoughtfully, still offering his hand if Alucard needs to hold it for stability.]

This place is entirely metaphysical. You're in no danger here.

Good. Still important that she hear it constantly though.

[It's remarkable, seeing her move as naturally as anything else. Alucard could watch it for a long time, but no. They need to tether themselves to reality.]

I know, it is just. An adjustment.

[But he's okay. He's got it.]

Home seems as if it was quite dynamic.

Take all the time you need.

[To float around. To take it all in. Viktor knows that there's no sense to be made of anything without further explanation on his part, but if Alucard is frightened by the weightlessness of this place, they aren't getting anywhere.]

This is beyond the realm of the physical. [As in, it's not home, not as he's described Piltover to Alucard.] Rather, a psychic plane, not unlike the Horizon itself.

Edited 2025-02-07 02:12 (UTC)

[Alucard sends up settling into a sitting position, even if there's no chair. He's sat on the floor with books on his lap plenty of times. He gestures for Rio to join him, because is there anything better than a lap full of friend?]

I only meant to say that it seems like a lot happened. I've seen Geralt and Jaskier endure this before, but not....on such a cosmic scale.

[Rio obliges, resting her large head in Alucard's lap. She's as weightless here as anything else, so despite her size it's not uncomfortable. Viktor, for his part, will continue to float, occasionally reaching for a passing star, or stirring up celestial dust.

He seems at home here, strange as it is.]

I only dreamed of a few months. [A relatively short amount of time, if Alucard was worried.] In that time, my research on the Hexcore...evolved, exponentially.

Edited 2025-02-07 19:58 (UTC)

[Rio gets all the under the chin skritches she could ever need. She is a good girl.]

Dare I venture "astronomically" instead?

[Alucard's smile is small and awkward, acknowledging that it is a terrible joke.]

I'm listening.

Cosmically, perhaps.

[Because it is metaphysical, as he’s said. Viktor reclines, leaning back on an invisible surface, as if pondering how he’s going to start. It is, in fact, a very long and complicated story, even if it was only a dream. Even if the dream only covered a few months’ time.]

Jayce was forced to use the Hexcore, to save my life. It catalyzed a physical transformation.

[This is the part he knows that Alucard won't like, which is why he knows he shouldn't beat around the bush.]

One that might look familiar to you.

[Alucard is quiet. He listens. He's getting a fraction of what happened, he knows this because these dreams are never simple, straight forward things no matter how hard one might try to force them to be otherwise. No part of him is shocked that Viktor is starting broadly and--

--he laughs. It's the laugh of a man who knows that the universe has decided to one up him and that he simply must accept this fact. And so he does. Viktor's always going to do that, then.

His smile is bittersweet, but Alucard's tone makes it clear that he will work to accept this.]

Strange how that's a universal constant.

[Viktor watches Alucard's expression carefully for the realization, and perhaps he doesn't expect a laugh. He remains neutral, understanding that this is likely just part of processing the information. He's had time to come to terms with it--Alucard hasn't, and he will admit that the implications of a similar outcome across disparate universes does not bode well for the debate regarding their eventual ascension.]

I have been contemplating that, myself.

[That he would achieve such a similar form--and abilities--in isolated circumstances. He was not one to believe in destiny before, but now he feels he must reconsider.]

Convergent evolution.

Mm. Like how every vampire I've met here can't go into the sun, but other quirks and weaknesses vary from sphere to sphere. Not that I'm comparing--

[He trusts Viktor won't take offense, but it is worth delineating all the same. Alucard lets silence fill in for a moment, his hand rubbing behind where Rio's ears might be.]

How do you feel about it?

Something like that.

[Constants across universes. Viktor considers these implications to be slightly more serious, especially considering the imagined centuries, but finds himself less alarmed than he might have been, without the added context of his dream.]

I would have preferred it to be my choice. [Though he did fully intend to enact such a transformation on himself, before it catastrophically failed.] But, I suppose this was always meant to be the end result.

[The question of choice makes sense. Alucard can only nod in agreement. From the sounds of it, what Viktor had happen was sudden and not without his full sayso, compared to centuries of eventual modification.

Alucard's hand moves towards Rio's belly, trying to coax her into bellyrub mode.]

I suppose so. Did...has....this form held amongst others, or is there something else? And what happened after you gained this?

[Rio obliges, of course, rolling over to provide Alucard access (so that he might give her tummy rubs in exchange). Viktor smiles at the sight of it, though the expression is subdued. He understands that the circumstances are different--one all-encompassing transformation, versus augmentation over the course of centuries--but the result is the same. That is, functionally, what matters.]

I've been granted certain...abilities. Access to this plane is one of them.

...The others being?

[Luckily, giving Rio belly rubs means that Alucard's eyes are on her for the next few moments. He has to ensure he's rubbing just the right spot, and if it gives Viktor a moment to figure out how to put everything into words, so be it.]

[Viktor thinks, perhaps, that I can see into people's minds is likely not the best opener, for the various and strange amount of powers he's been given, thanks to his merger with the Hexcore. He hasn't exactly tried it, upon awakening, some clarity of mind reminding him that to do so would be an intrusion.]

I healed someone. Augmented them.

Instantly?

[Alucard's head picks up from focusing on Rio, no small amount of surprise on his face.]

Through magic or...?

Through magic, yes. The Hexcore.

[Bent to his will, in no small part thanks to his physical merging with the device. That had not been Viktor's choice, but he'd resolved not to squander the gifts, not when he needed to atone for his transgressions. To finally do something good for the Undercity.]

If it were here-- [It is not; he feels its absence,] --I would be able to use it with only a thought.

[All through the Hexcore. Alucard makes a thoughtful noise, acknowledging that the lack of the thing will change things here.]

And you've used it at home? May I ask what you've done with it?

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