techmaturgy: (pic#17553133)
Viktor ([personal profile] techmaturgy) wrote in [community profile] abraxaslogs2025-01-29 08:44 pm

[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 [plurk.com profile] whitticus and on discord also at whitticus.]
ushiri: (pic#16104200)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-04 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's no revulsion in his expression - to see Viktor almost entirely changed, not just his arm, is obviously a shock, but some of that is lessened by the fact that he'll leave this body behind when they leave Horizon. It makes it easier for him to think that this is only another possible future, willfully ignoring for the moment how this is now two separate visions of a similar transformation.

Kyle continues to stroke his face with one hand, letting the other one slide down his chest, tracing over the circular shapes from his brace now merged with his body, trailing as far down as the imprint of his belly button. He's warm, but beneath his touch he feels something else, a stronger current of magic than what he would feel with Viktor's arm. It makes him think of the yellow marbled stone of the Great Gates, and he swallows back a shiver at that. ]


This was the Hexcore. [ Not a question, just confirming what is obvious. There's a slight pause, his gaze flicking up to Viktor's face, betraying some fear now: ] Do you feel less?

[ Not physically. He had just started to worry less about that part of the future. ]
Edited (WAIT ) 2025-02-04 22:24 (UTC)
ushiri: (pic#16565790)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-05 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ His gaze tracks Viktor's hand as he gestures to himself and back up to his face, openly taken aback. ]

You're - [ he fumbles for the right word for a second, not liking the way any his mouth forms around any of them ] - joined?

[ Viktor takes his hand and he doesn't pull away, but there's a flicker of embarrassment that he should be the one needing any reassuring right now. One hand remains placed at his chest, uncertain but needing to understand. ]

How? [ Maybe he should've started with that, even if the broad strokes were explained up to a point - he was about to die, and his partner wouldn't let him. Quickly, he adds: ] How long?

[ How long did he dream of living in this future? ]
Edited 2025-02-05 04:37 (UTC)
ushiri: (pic#15992041)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-05 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's not sure what to make of that answer - he's equally unsure how to interpret Viktor's muted responses, if it's only that he's still reconciling this information himself, or if it's a sign of something else, a deeper change within him.

A few months. Not years, or decades. At least there's that. His gaze trails across Viktor's body again, his expression rendered indecipherable out of habit and caution as he continues to try not to let these past fears take hold.

He's alive, and that's what matters the most. Gently: ]


Tell me the rest. [ Everything that happened after this. He lightly tugs at Viktor's hand, wanting to lead him to somewhere to sit. Not that either of them technically need to in this realm, but it seems less awkward. ]
ushiri: (pic#15840013)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-07 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ He's had very little permanence in his life, he should be happy this lasted as long as it did. Instead of finding a stool to sit he ends up following Viktor to the workbench, glancing over what is summoned into that space. Kyle tentatively reaches out and traces the front of the journal, then fixes his attention on the blueprints. He doesn't need to understand the finer details or discern any of the unfamiliar handwriting to recognize the shape of a rifle on one of the blueprints.

His brow furrows, frowning again as he untangles more of this. ]


He didn't go with you?
ushiri: (pic#16565792)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-07 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Without looking up he touches the blueprints carefully, as though he might scald his fingertips. ]

These were... to use against the Undercity - retribution? [ For the attack on the council he described earlier. In a way, in all worlds, this sort of conflict is the same - he lived through one his whole life in Basawar, it influences his understanding. Maybe Viktor's man thought of it as preventative measures, though he knows Viktor well enough now to know there would be no acceptable reason for their design and creation.

His gaze narrows slightly in concern as he glances at Viktor. ]


What were you doing there?

[ Putting himself in the middle of a long brewing conflict. ]
Edited 2025-02-07 03:15 (UTC)
ushiri: (pic#15840021)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-07 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kyle says nothing to that, without more context he has nothing useful to add. There's discomfort, for once, knowing he would likely assess the situation in the same way - and has enacted such targeted strikes with both the Payshmura, and then in Alidas' service. The threat of war and violence hangs over them in Abraxas too, but for the past month he's almost felt like he could shed that part of his identity. He should know better.

He grimaces, and after a beat or two of hesitation carefully slips his arms around Viktor's waist from behind him, resting his forehead against the top of his head, trusting that if Viktor doesn't want him to touch him like this anymore, he will eventually say so. ]


You could have snuck onto a boat, sailed off to see the edge of the ocean...

[ Like they joked about doing here, when they visited Aquila. He sounds a little sad. Part of what he admired about Viktor was his dedication to his home, his desire to see it healed. He knows Viktor would always be drawn back there. ]
ushiri: (pic#15992041)

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

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-08 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ 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)
ushiri: (pic#15827096)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-11 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ 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. ]
ushiri: (pic#16104205)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-12 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ 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. ]
ushiri: (pic#15992039)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-13 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ 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)
ushiri: (pic#15840023)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-13 02:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ 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?
ushiri: (pic#15827118)

[personal profile] ushiri 2025-02-13 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ 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? ]

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it's TECHNICALLY tomorrow now

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im so sry

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