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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.]

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[Viktor knows, objectively, that this is a not-uncommon occurrence for the Summoned. That it is a possibility for him to sleep, and experience days or weeks or months or even years worth of time back home, sent to him as an especially vivid dream. He remembers Tony, wandering back into the workshop with new memories and new scars, and together they'd tried to piece together just what, exactly, the Singularity had done. He supposes it was always a possibility, that something like this would happen to him, but as time passed it always felt more abstract, than anything. He should not have let his guard down.

He awakens, slowly. It takes him a moment to come back to himself--to realize that the bed he's in and the room it occupies are both familiar. Viktor brings a hand to his chest and feels that it's warm and pliable, rising and falling as he breathes. The dip in the mattress next to him indicates the presence of another body, and when he looks over to seek Kyle, he realizes what must have happened.

Viktor breathes out. The implications are staggering, of course, but he finds himself too disoriented to make sense of it. Instead, he reaches out into the metaphysical space, the cosmos blossoming in his vision, only to find that he is alone. There are no other minds, no apparition. That in itself is disorienting, too, even if some part of him knows it's the logical conclusion, given the apparent absence of the Hexcore. He remembers where his corporeal feet are in relation to the actual floor, and slips out of bed quietly--Viktor is not so far removed from the physical world that he doesn't remember his crutch, even in this state.

The goal, of course, is to head down to the workshop, hoping that it will ground him further--that he can start to make sense of things. If he's lucky, he won't disturb Kyle as he goes.]

Edited 2025-01-30 03:27 (UTC)

i. orb temple (fine and normal)

[The first indication that, perhaps, something is different, is the state of the ravine. Most visitors to Viktor’s domain are likely accustomed to climbing the rickety metal stairs up the wall, to the overlook, then deeper into the laboratory. Now, the fissures are pleasantly lit, beckoning anyone who wanders in deeper into the gorge. The grotto appears unchanged, but instead of the wooden door leading into an ominous laboratory, there is a new passageway, an opening in the rock. Following the path eventually opens to the bottom of a fissure, light illuminating the cavernous space from above.

At the center is an orb-like structure, a strange mirror of the colossal Hexgate that is visible all the way back at the top of the cliffs. All around are clear pools of water, brought to the surface by enormous pumps with no discernible power source, and unoccupied buildings that seem to serve various purposes—one has an idle forge, another, baskets of supplies. And there are flowers, too, vast swaths of strange yellow blossoms

Perhaps you find him on your own, or perhaps Rio leads you there—Viktor is inside the central greenhouse, looking slightly out of place surrounded by foliage. He’s tending to the largest, most central plant, its large fronds nearly reaching the ceiling of the structure, and it seems he already knows you’re here.]

It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

[The plant. His gaze follows the curve of the leaves upwards, to the circular skylights, apparently not interested in explaining much more about what’s going on here.]

A marvel of bio-magical engineering.

ii. there is also an astral plane

[Or, perhaps you take a step forward only for the ground to dissolve beneath your feat, upending you into a vast expanse of stars. There is no gravity here, no discernible landmarks and no up or down, only the cosmos and what seems to be an endless fractal webbing. If you were expecting a (relatively) normal, corporeal Horizon domain, well. This is not it.]

Don't be alarmed.

[Says Viktor, who appears entirely at home here. He does, however, seem a bit solemn, as if he understands that all of this is very new, especially in comparison to the usual state of his domain.]

I suppose I should explain.

Edited 2025-01-31 01:58 (UTC)

i. the workshop

[Despite everything, the workshop is open. Viktor himself seems to be going through the motions when it comes to dealing with customers, but he does understand that there is still a need for his services between the damage from the earthquake and the relatively new arrivals. His reputation may precede him—if any recent arrival asks about where to go if they want something built or fixed or improved, it’s likely that veteran Summoned will point them in his direction. You might hear of his exploits involving his business, his various innovations, the one time the government raided his lab to seize an illegal experiment. All of that feels very long ago.

The inventor himself is currently perched on a stool, hunched over a worktable piecing together something complicated and delicate. The buzz of the soldering iron in his hand disguises the noise of someone entering, but Viktor is not so absorbed in his work that he doesn't notice. He sets down the tool, momentarily, and pushes his goggles up his forehead. His eyes are strange, shifting through different colors like an oil slick—or maybe it’s just a trick of the light.]

Do you have something for me?

[A project, a request, anything. He needs to busy himself—needs to work.]

ii. sarstina

[Things are beginning to settle in Cadens, though he doubts anything will ever go back to normal, not with the way the Singularity is acting and not when so many of them are still displaced. There’s still no word from the various governments about how they plan to solve this, which is fine by Viktor, because he has enough to handle.

It’s a day or two after he awakens from a new dream of home, with new abilities and a greater understanding of the arcane. His own future had been given to him in fragments, first by the few days’ time by which he and Jayce were separated, and then Violet’s account of the attack on the Council. At the time, Viktor had only been worried about Jayce’s involvement—why would he have been in the room? Now he knows how wrong he was. He may only have dreamed it, but knowing how things progress back home is enough. He needs to find a way to return, even if what awaits him feels more uncertain than ever.

When he goes to the Sarstina in the evening, it’s not to occupy his corner table with a notebook and a mug of hot tea. Viktor makes his way upstairs, all the way up to the roof where he can have some privacy, gazing out over Cadens. He has a scrap of paper in hand, and scrawls something on it before folding it almost reverently.

Set alight, the paper sets aloft as glowing red embers, carried away by the desert wind.]

Edited 2025-01-31 03:42 (UTC)

[ Kyle's lived in barracks, with roommates, with a mutated raccoon under his bed - there's a certain threshold for nightly noise that his unconscious mind is able to ignore owing to the need to get rest in close quarters with so many other bodies. Movement has a much lower threshold.

He's not fully awake yet when he rolls over and slips an arm around Viktor's waist like he means to pull him back into bed, making a muffled, wordless question-like sound, eyes not even open yet. ]

[Viktor is undergoing the slightly arduous process of lifting himself off the bed (what a strange feeling, after a dream of a new, stronger body, unencumbered) when the arm around his waist prevents him from going further. He pauses, momentarily, looking over his shoulder and taking in the sight of Kyle in bed next to him, wanting to pull him back in like his whole world hasn't been upended.]

Go back to sleep.

[He whispers it softly, gently moving Kyle's arm from its place. Viktor is not so removed from this life that he doesn't think this will work--but he needs to clear his head. To breathe for a moment, and sort through this before he drags Kyle into it.]

[ He lets go easily enough. Rolled onto his side and slightly more awake, he watches Viktor shuffle out of the room before closing his eyes again. Nothing about this has him alarmed, he expects Viktor is only going to the bathroom and listens for the sound of the door - instead he hears the fainter sounds of footsteps on the stairs.

Even that doesn't get him to move immediately. He waits, maybe a half hour or so, for him to come back upstairs.

When he doesn't reappear on his own, Kyle slips out of bed and down to the workshop, barefoot and shirtless - and forcing back a sliver of anxiety that's been building off of the memories of that other life - an overreaction, he tells himself. This isn't like that. ]

[Alucard has been managing his time in Thorne through extensive use of the Horizon and the knowledge that his friends are there for him. He visits Hilda almost every other day, and Jaskier twice a week or thereabouts. Viktor on a weekly basis at a set time, because there's something to be said for the frequency. All Alucard asks for is workshop updates and any important information about what is going on in Cadens. A window into normality and a way to keep abreast of any changes to things that impact Alucard's work.

Alucard expects the same Horizon as ever. To see Rio and give her a few gentle pats before they both amble off to find Viktor.

Except there's no Rio.

There's no ground.

There's no gravity.

There's....]

...Viktor?

[The wonder and confusion in Alucard's voice is soft and awed in the most true sense of the term. His friend's shape is celestial. Beautiful. And so deeply confusing.]

[He's at least aware that Kyle is awake, though when he hears no further noise from the bedroom, he continues downstairs. The workshop is exactly as he left it at the end of the workday, and objectively, he knows no time has passed. Still, it feels foreign.

Viktor makes his way to a worktable and starts paging through the notes and blueprints, re-familiarizing himself. More time passes than he intends, perhaps, but once he starts leafing through his books, it's difficult to stop as everything starts to come back to him.

When Kyle makes his way downstairs, Viktor is seated in front of the automaton, palm pressed against its chassis, looking up at it, studying.]

[ He steps out into the workshop, feet padding quietly on the floor as he takes in the scene, not exactly certain what he expected to find. ]

What are you doing down here?

[ Kyle sounds and looks bemused, eyeing Perry. He stops near Viktor's side, internally batting away an unwanted sense of deja vu. ]

[ As much as Ciri likes a change of pace, she has been experiencing something like a homesickness the longer she's been stuck in Solvunn, everyone scattered. It's a relief that Jaskier and Mog are here, but most of the people she's used to -- not to mention her horse -- are scattered elsewhere. The novelty is beginning to wear off.

She's grown soft and spoiled, used to living in one place for so long. Is this what having a home feels like, after so long without? She'd nearly forgotten.

Ciri takes Viktor's invitation to visit him in his domain without hesitation. If she catches anything odd about his explanation that there's something they should discuss, it doesn't really linger.

It's not until she steps into his domain that something feels different. Rio appears, as usual, and Ciri gives her the usual treatment of petting and cooing and a little treat, then follows her through Viktor's altered space to a greenhouse overflowing with strange and colorful foliage.

Her eyes follow the leaves up, lingering on the holes in the dome that reveal a sky above. ]

You've taken up gardening.

[Kyle's voice pulls him out of his reverie, and Viktor simply looks at him for a moment, his expression fond. But there's something else in it, too, like he's taking him in after some time away. Viktor is perched on a stool, and when Kyle occupies the space next to him, Viktor leans against his side.]

I couldn't sleep.

[Which is sort of true. He wants to be awake right now, some part of him worried that if he returns to sleep, he'll slip right back to where he left off.]

I had a dream about home.

[He hates to even say it, to know that he's about to upend their quiet domesticity--but such a thing was never possible for someone like him, was it?]

[ That something else in Viktor's eyes sets him on edge all over again. He's familiar with that look, he's experienced it twice with Jack now. Maybe, he thinks now, this was in Jath'ibaye's gaze too when they last met, beneath the shock and pain.

It's not just Viktor's expression, though. The moment he turns to look at him, Kyle clocks the change, he's too familiar with his strange, gold eyes not to notice how they're paler now, washed out almost to the same shade as his sclera. The effect is ghostly, and his body is tense for a second or two after Viktor leans against him. Kyle forces himself to relax. He lets himself put an arm around Viktor's shoulder, wanting to press his face against the top of his head, and just hold onto him for a little longer.

Instead, he asks in a quiet, level tone: ]

What happened?

[ He already knows some of what awaits one version of Viktor in the immediate future. ]

[Viktor already knows it was not just a dream, because if he tries he can reach out into that other space. See things that he's sure Kyle cannot. The Hexcore is not physically present, evidenced by Viktor's unchanged physical state, but he can feel the electric hum of the arcane, reaching out to him--he wonders if this isn't the Singularity. The source of all magic in this world.

The part of him that is a scientist knows there will be testing to do. To figure out how much of his abilities still remain.

Kyle seems to understand what Viktor has experienced. It's real and not real, all at the same time. Viktor is still sorting through it, wondering how it can be possible. When this happened to Tony, he imagined it would be the key to bridging the gap between worlds--to sending them home with memories and physical changes intact. Now, it feels like further assurance that apotheosis is awaits them, after all. The similarities between his visions of home and the god he became in the imagined future are certainly not lost on him. Perhaps some things are inevitable, after all.]

The Hexcore. [That seems like a good place to start, even if he already feels shame welling up from the pit of his stomach, to recount the events. Viktor is still struck by how strange all this is--to know that he hasn't really experienced any of it, but to have it feel so real all the same.] My first experiment was a success. So I attempted it again, intending to fully cure myself. But I wasn't careful enough the second time, I--I did not fully replicate what made the initial attempt successful.

[Viktor couldn't have, not with the blockade preventing him from acquiring more shimmer. But he's always suspected this, based on what he learned from Jayce. The one thing that would cause him to halt his research, and accept his inevitable death--because that kind of sacrifice in the name of progress would be unconscionable.]

It killed someone. My assistant.

Edited 2025-02-01 22:59 (UTC)

[ Even before their vision at the crater, Kyle might have been the one best suited to understanding these dreams about home that aren't dreams, even though he has never experienced one himself - and likely never will, he's come to accept.

Viktor had told him of a future, only days away from where he had left his world, where a version of himself had seemed to give up on the cure for his disease. It wouldn't make sense - Viktor was someone who didn't accept the impossible, who had succeeded in creating his miracle here. Kyle had admired him for that when they first met. He understood Viktor was capable of beautiful and terrible things, but that he was gentle, and believed he only ever wanted to help people. Kyle has already seen had badly it affected him to have his work stolen and used for violence in this world, the responsibility he put on himself. He would have protected him from that, if he could.

It was impossible, though - just like it's impossible now. Worse, that this time the circumstances sound more direct. All he can do is shift so that he's in front of him, standing in the space between his legs where he sits on the stool and wrapping his arms around him. ]

I'm sorry. [ That's only one possible future, he wants to say. You are here now. But he knows something has shifted irrecoverably for Viktor. ]

I think I always knew. What would bring me to that point.

[Harm to another person has always been non-negotiable. To kill someone, unimaginable. Kyle has always called the Hexcore a miracle, but they both know the inherent dangers of that kind of magic. It seems what always awaited him back home was not the success he enjoyed here, where he was able to save his own life, and it was foolish to think that the potential future as Jayce described it was some other version of him.

There is more to say, but Viktor allows himself this moment to mourn, curling into Kyle's embrace. It feels like it's been so long--even though no time at all has passed.]

I couldn't destroy the Hexcore. Not even after my efforts failed. I asked Jayce to do it.

[ All power has a cost. He had wanted to hope that Viktor's explanation of his world and the arcane could be different, but whatever mistake Viktor makes in his future exacts that toll despite his best efforts.

He lets Viktor hold onto him for as long as he needs, not wanting to interrupt with questions even if he has them - what was different? Viktor's plan was always to avoid returning to a future where he failed. And after a time, Kyle had accepted that he would help him.

There are some things he doesn't want to wrestle with either, though it's inevitable as Viktor continues. Viktor wouldn't use the Hexcore once it took a life. He doesn't say anything immediately, needing to just hold him like this, almost afraid to ask: ]

Did he?

[ Destroy it?

Knowing what he does, if he were in Jayce's position, he doesn't think that he could. This is different than the hypotheticals they discussed when they first met, of what they would or wouldn't risk to reach that person who mattered most. If the Hexcore was Viktor's last hope to survive, Kyle isn't sure it would matter to him if it killed a room full of people. ]

[Viktor has complicated feelings about the events he now remembers--but he does enjoy this strange astral realm, the feeling of being unencumbered by a physical body, peering into the secrets of the universe. He's glad this has carried over from his strange dreams, even if recreating it in the Horizon is the only way he can share it with the others here.

Alucard, most notably. Viktor is glad to have him, though of course he understands that he probably has some explaining to do. For a moment, however, he wants Alucard to take it in--the wonder of it all.]

Come with me.

[He's next to Alucard, now, holding out his hand--in case he's nervous, of course.]

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

[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.

[He's sure there are questions--he wishes he had better answers. It's strange, to be recounting these events without having actually lived them, especially when the contents of his dream would have been months in the real world.

Kyle already knows the answer to this question. Viktor shakes his head.]

No.

[Of course he didn't. Viktor had been angry at the time, awakening to his own changed body and blueprints for more Hextech weapons on the worktable, but he's not sure he can blame Jayce for what he did, especially knowing what he does now about his true feelings. Strange, to reconcile the knowledge gained here with the events of back home--he wonders how he might have done things differently, if he'd been allowed to keep that knowledge.

The council bombing seems unimportant, in the scheme of things, but he tells Kyle about it anyway, and the broad strokes of the political situation that lead there. How the only reason why Viktor was in the room at all was to make a bid for the Undercity's independence--his last chance at a legacy.

And then, the moment that changed everything--]

He saved my life.

Edited 2025-02-02 03:02 (UTC)

[ There's a moment of relief when Viktor confirms that his partner wouldn't destroy the cure - that there was still some hope. And while he understands the importance of Zaun's independence to Viktor, his thoughts can only circle what comes immediately after, the building dread that this story has an abrupt end (as though the color drained from his eyes must already be a sign).

So there's relief again when it doesn't. Some tension recedes from his muscles, and he realizes he's been gripping a fistful of Viktor's shirt at his shoulder as he's been talking. He lets the cloth unwind from his fingers and releases the breath he'd been holding. ]

Then - it worked.

[ The Hexcore. Just like it did here. That means they can be relatively certain that if Viktor were to lose his connection to his world, he wouldn't be returned to a death sentence. Kyle would thank Jayce if it were possible. Right now, he leans in to first place his lips on Viktor's forehead, his cheek, then to kiss him. ]

[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.]

[Kyle is relieved, his fingers relaxing where they grip his shirt. Viktor covers that hand with his own, trying to be comforting. Of course Kyle sees only the good in this, that Viktor lives. He's not unlike Jayce in that way, in what matters the most to him. Viktor still struggles with that--why he should be so special.]

It worked.

[Though, not exactly in the way he expected, or even wanted at the time. Viktor reminds himself that if the Hexcore had not taken and a life and if Jayce had not made the choice for him, he had every intention of completing the process himself.

Viktor allows himself the indulgence of the kiss, reciprocating gently until it reaches a natural conclusion and they part.]

I should show you something, in the Horizon.

[ Kyle has never been on a rollercoaster, but he imagines that it must to similar to listening Viktor recount his story. From hearing about one death sentence to a much more sudden, catastrophic one, right now he's having difficulty separating and focusing the details or questions beyond hearing that Viktor survives.

Viktor reciprocates his impulsive kiss, and it's only as they part that he wonders if he shouldn't have taken it. At the suggestion that they go to Horizon to see something, he seems slightly confused: ]

Now?

[ He senses that another shoe is meant to drop here - everything comes with a price, but he feels better prepared for it now, still riding on his relief. ]

[Viktor is glad to see Ciri here, even if he's not entirely sure how he wants to explain the things that have happened to him. There are the worries of the outside world, too--the earthquakes, the Singularity seemingly growing in power. As nice as it is to have Kyle in Cadens, it's come at the cost of many of his other friends, and until the territories make a move, things are in flux.

So, he knows that adding something like this into the mix is unfair--but he can't keep a change of this magnitude from his friends, and especially not Ciri. They deserve to know, especially given the looming specter of the imagined future.]

I dreamed of home.

[She'll likely know what that means, and Viktor offers her a small smile, attempting to be reassuring.]

I'm trying to recreate what I saw.

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