[open] march catchall

[techmaturgy]

Who: Viktor and special guests and YOU
When: throughout March
Where: Cadens, the Horizon
What: open stuff, closed stuff, general nerdery, horizon visits, whatever I WANT
Warnings: the usual references to terminal illness, will list additional warnings as needed.

[open and closed starters in comments! If you want a custom starter or something specific, just hit me up. full horizon details are here for any and all wildcarding needs. For everything else, I’m on plurk at whitticus and on discord at whitticus#8139.]

Comments

[OPEN] horizon

[techmaturgy]

[Of course he likes this—how can he not? Viktor is an inventor, someone who has spent his entire life building things, and once he makes his second trip to the Horizon, with an understanding of what it is and what he can do in it, he wastes no time.

Frequent visitors to the Horizon might notice that there is a new domain in town, a wall that follows the line of a river, cutting between two cities, one with a prominent skyline, the other built into the ravines below. The bulk of it is not accessible—more of a backdrop, the real contents of the domain contained inside the wall and in the crevasse below. Very little has been done to keep prying visitors out—might as well take a look around, right?]

i. you can't waste taxpayer dollars in the mind palace

[Most of the domain is housed in the interior of the wall—heading up the stairs (or lift) and past the clockwork machinery of what appears to be a water treatment facility reveals a long hallway and double doors. Not ominous!

Possibly it’s the sound of an explosion that brings you into the space. Something has most certainly just blown up—Viktor is standing in the middle of the cavernous room that is the lab and possibly also some smoldering ruins, seemingly thrilled with what has just transpired, and looking slightly maniacal. Apparently, given free rein to imagine up any experiment that he could possibly want, his first inclination is to do the most volatile thing imaginable. It quite literally can’t hurt, right? Possibly it takes him a moment to realize he has company, and when he does he has the wherewithal to look slightly embarrassed.]

Just, uh. Testing the limits.

ii. intellectual property

[When Viktor is here, the door to the study is open, and possibly this place is a little more welcoming to visitors (and less full of weird equipment test runs and explosions). This is clearly a personal space—there are books everywhere, and houseplants, and coffee, and even though he’s probably been here for like, an hour tops, every table and blackboard is filled with notes and schematics. You are welcome to take a look, but Viktor is quick to speak up from his workspace if you decide to peek at something he’d rather you didn’t.]

Do you mind? That’s proprietary.

[If you've met Viktor outsize of the Horizon, the difference may seem a little striking. Given the ability, he seems to have done away with whatever ails him in the real world—his face is fuller, less pale, and he stands straighter, using a cane instead of his usual crutch. If you haven't met him, well. Good. Less opportunity for prying questions (outside of the sensitive blueprints, of course).]

iii. what's this weird cave doing here

[If you’re particularly intrepid, it’s just as easy to go down as it is up, and exploring below the wall leads into a rocky crevasse. he water that flows through is unnaturally clear. One gets the sense that it's probably not this clean in reality, and is, instead, the result of a conscious decision to construct this place in a way that it could (or, perhaps, should) be. Continue on and the path heads underground, into a cave entrance and grotto.

It’s slightly rarer to find Viktor here—you’re more likely to be ambushed by the creature-in-residence, instead, but in the event of such misfortune he is quick to intervene.]

Don’t worry, she’s harmless. [Well, he hopes, but the real Rio had always been docile, and therefore it follows that his faithful mental recreation would be as well. Ideally. He’s still wrapping his mind around the apparent ability to conjure sentient entities within the Horizon, even if this is simply the recreation of a memory. It’s possible he looks a little bewildered, not only at someone finding their way down here, but at the situation itself. Isn’t this comforting!]

iv. casual b&e

[He is also, of course, snooping. A naturally curious mind, Faced with something so incredible as the Horizon, the first thing Viktor wants to do is test its limits. Though he seems to have enough awareness that it might be rude to actually enact changes or to otherwise encroach on someone else’s domain, that doesn’t stop him from, you know, taking a few little walks, leading to the inevitable.

He’s in your house (domain)!! He’s touching your stuff!!! He sees nothing wrong with any of this!!!! Maybe you should have locked it up better if you didn’t want anyone poking around!!!!!!]

i

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard had intended to enjoy some quiet walking outside of his own domain, skirting the edges of others. He likes his privacy, after all, and does his level best to balance curiosity without doing a light bit of b&e. There are a few places he knows he can walk if he'd like (Sypha's, Jaskier's), but--

--he has not seen a whole Horizon with a skyline like that before. On the outskirts, he has to pause and marvel, committing the shape of it to memory. The question of whose space this might be is...okay, he isn't going to assume, but the dhampir has a pretty good guess.

It is the only reason he enters the space without feeling his usual sense of awkwardness and guilt. Why he walks the streets with a careful eye, committing the sights to memory. The aesthetics are absolutely wonderful, and--

Oh, okay that was an explosion.

Alucard being Alucard finds his way to the source by the smell. A very strong one, that comes from a single room (that would match some of his father's castle's aesthetics) and--

--Alucard raises his eyebrows slowly.]

You've a remarkably resilient workspace.

[techmaturgy]

[It sure was an explosion!

The good news is that no real property damage is occurring (possibly that's the point of all this, to see exactly how resilient this place is, or how it can be repaired if damaged. Faced with, more or less, the unlimited power of creation, he's going to test everything about it that he possibly can. He's a scientist--how can he not?

Viktor looks momentarily surprised by the intrusion, but when he sees that his visitor is Alucard, he grins broadly in a way he doesn't necessarily do outside of the Horizon. It helps that he seems less generally exhausted, seemingly unhindered by whatever it is that plagues him in the real world.]

It's very important to determine, uh. Just how resilient.

[He would never do this in his real lab. Maybe. It's possible he's done this in his real lab. Viktor pushes the goggles up his forehead, disconnecting the two extremely ominous plugs he's holding, thick black cables snaking somewhere unseen, into the darker corners of the cavernous room.]

Which, I suppose is as much as I allow it to be. [A shrug, as if that's meant to explain everything.] I'm getting my bearings.

[cryptsleeper]

[As they say: 'sup nerd?

Alucard lets out a little sigh of relief as he crosses the threshold into the lab proper, casting his eyes about. There are little things that are familiar (which, okay, every lab is going to have some of the same equipment like nonreactive glass and clamps and so on), the rest wildly new. And Viktor is there--

--oh that's the grin of science gone wild.]

...It is all about what you'll allow it to be, in the end. Still, can't say I feel electrical experimentation to be the best venue for resilience, but that may be personal preference. I probably would have gone with something steam based.

[He shrugs lightly, not wanting to get too close until Viktor's deemed it safe enough.] For someone getting their bearings though, you appear to have gotten the meat of it down. I've yet to see a whole city appear in the Horizon.

[techmaturgy]

[Science gone wild!]

Oh, it's not about the electricity. I was...running a current through, eh. That.

[He gestures, vaguely, at the source of the explosion. It looks like it might have, at one point, been some kind of metal rig, but now it's all twisted, blackened steel, jagged rings of soot radiating out in a circle from the central point.

The nice thing about all this is that cleanup is more-or-less instantaneous. Viktor wipes it away with little more than a thought, signaling that it's safe to come closer. What's left is a worktable in the center of the room, the equipment (which seems to be some kind of Faraday cage-like structure, arcs of metal looping over a central point--a receptacle for something) restored. He takes a few halting steps towards his desk, leaning against it and folding his arms, the excitement still a little evident on his face.]

I'm afraid there's not much going on out there. [Implying that it's more a backdrop than anything truly accessible, and that everything important is contained within the wall, like the room they're in right now.] Were you exploring?

ii

[carmesi]

[she was not, particularly, invited, but she still felt compelled enough to walk in—making her was towards the city and the inside of the wall, giving way to high ceilings, high walls, tall windows. a door is open, and her curiosity wins her over as she presses a hand to its surface, pushing it further enough to allow herself space to walk in.

there's a familiar face for wanda, sitting at the workspace. he does look different, from what she remembers, and she can't help the small smile at the lack of greeting — just a bit of a scolding for peering at some notes scattered on a table.]

Don't worry. [wanda presses a finger to the flat of a paper, slides it a bit on the table.] I would not know how to make heads or tails of it.

[she raises her head now.]

You look busy.

[techmaturgy]

That's what they all say. Then, before you know it, you're in front of the university tribunal, trying to prove it was your work in the first place.

[That's a joke. She's given him no reason to think she's after his secrets, and he was the one who left the door open anyway, so perhaps he's only half-serious about the notes being sensitive. Still, he's not rude, so he closes his notebook and straightens, standing to properly greet his visitor. (Because that's what he should do, right? Even though he has no real idea of how they're all supposed to behave in this strange mind realm. Weird. It's fine. He'll figure it out.)

She says he looks busy and he casts a glance down at the desk, as if he's trying to catalogue what he's already recreated and how much is left to go.]

Well, there's a lot to remember. An incomplete set of notes isn't very useful.

[carmesi]

[she raises her eyebrows at his joke.]

A bad workplace experience?

[sounds shitty, especially if it's intellectual property. she doesn't hold much of any of that, but to not get the credit you deserve would definitely make a person bitter. wanda is... a little fascinated, because all the people she's ever met who deem themselves scientists were always on some spectrum of arrogance — selfish, unconcerned with the welfare of others.

well, granted, she's barely just met him.

wanda walks along, along the length of the table, towards his own workspace; arms kept to herself, curious glances about.]

Are you trying to replicate your work from home?

[techmaturgy]

Oh, no, that was--I was joking. I've never had that happen.

[Thank goodness! He seems a little bewildered that his exceedingly dry sense of humor might fly over someone's head, but to his credit, he recovers quickly. In an effort to be a little more welcoming, he gestures to one of the empty chairs, if she'd like to sit. Viktor moves to refill his coffee mug while he's up--not that he really needs it here, of course, but there's something comforting and familiar about going through the motions, even if it's all, quite literally, in their heads.

Another glance at notes and schematics, this time at one of the nearby blackboards.]

Yes and no. It helps to have a place to start, but I will need to make some alterations. There are some things I already know won't be available here, so it won't be the same, but maybe "close enough" is good. [A pause, like he's trying to remember how to be a host.] Can I offer you anything?

iii

[subhuman]

[ He's not exactly sure what he's doing her, but a rocky crevasse being guarded by a fearsome beasts seemed apropos. At least initially. Originally he'd come to investigate for the aesthetics alone and a desire to go down, down, as far as he can. There's something beneath the ground waiting for him, that's the sense he gets. So when he sees an opening he has to go for it.

But the beastie that guards it is...somehow not what he would expect. A little too.

Cute?

It's definitely cute. Definitely clashes with his own appearance, covered in hard black scales with a magma-like glow between the cracks.

Despite his own fearsome appearance, he regards the creature and her keeper with as much of a curious expression as his face is capable. ]

Not exactly a good guard dog if that's the case.

[techmaturgy]

[Correct. Rio is definitely cute but Viktor is fully aware that most people are probably not going to think that, upon first glance, so he makes an appearance fairly quickly in an effort to preempt any unfortunate altercations. The last thing he needs is violence, even if it's between a fellow summoned and something he quite literally conjured from the depths of his memory. He's still, perhaps, a little startled that he could even create something like this in the first place.

There are too many strange implications to think about, with regards to this place, but anything he was about to say doesn't make it out of his mouth because he's rounding the corner of some rocky outcropping and this guy is a whole entire lava monster.]

Uh--

[Okay, no. That's rude. Viktor needs a moment to wrangle his expression, and Rio (who is, in fact, extremely harmless), slinks back around behind him (which is at least a little funny, because she is very large and Viktor is not), apparently having second thoughts about this situation.]

This isn't--she's not guarding anything.

[This is just where the giant pink salamander thing lives, apparently. He's still figuring this out.]

[subhuman]

[ Dante cocks his head to the side. No, hiding behind the comparatively diminutive man isn't going to do much on the outside, but in truth it's probably the best thing she can do. If there's one thing he knows in this place, it's that humans are to be protected.

So as long as she behaves, there won't be any problems.

And...she doesn't really have the aura of a bloodthirsty beast, but appearances can be deceiving.

He looks up and around them, the glow between his armored scales pulsing gently. For as an imposing figure as he appears by default, his posture is relatively relaxed. ]

Then what is this?

[techmaturgy]

[He’s still not entirely convinced the threat is passed, if only because he doesn’t know just who or what he’s dealing with. A fellow Summoned? It has to be, but he’s sure he would have remembered someone like this at the summit—it occurs to him that if he can change his own appearance while in the Horizon, others might take a more extreme opportunity to do so.

Not something to ask outright, thought. He needs to feel out the conversation a little more, first. Rio, thankfully, is behaving, and after a few moments of Viktor’s hand on her to ensure that she won’t lunge, she scoots off into the darker recesses of the cave. He decides not to go anywhere, not wanting to betray any apprehension, even if it’s a little difficult not to show it on his face.]

I used to visit this place as a child. [Viktor himself seems a little bewildered that this is even here, but he supposes that’s the nature of the Horizon—taking things from the depths of his memory and making it a reality, consciously or not.] I thought it would be good practice, to see how much of it I remembered.

I can't resist! I.

[itookashot]

[ As soon as Jesper got through his first Horizon visit and learned how it works, he started trying more frequently to go. It's a surreal experience, especially when he's walking through places that are and aren't exactly like he remembers from home. But his area is frankly a bit depressing since it's connected so strongly with his loved ones, so he starts wandering. It suits his easily distracted mind to bounce places without meaning to.

He doesn't know whose place he's in at first, curiously looking around and appreciating it. It does kind of remind him of parts of Ketterdam. There doesn't seem to be anything clearly established as something he'd know, but he keeps wandering. Until he hears the explosion. He runs toward it for two reasons: Explosions are exciting and maybe it'll tell him where he is.

Jesper looks the same more or less in here than he does outside, but with a very fashionable suit of hunter green with a lime green button up shirt, and two beautiful pearl-handed pistols hanging off his belt. He gets those at least here. He brightens when he recognizes Viktor, smiling and waving a hand. ]

Oh I would do the absolute same. You don't really give off the explosives are fun energy though, in the real world.

[ More the serious scientist demanding exact metrics and stuff. ]

[techmaturgy]

[Controlled explosions are fun, thanks. Viktor looks a little surprised at the suggestion that anyone would think they aren't fun. Still, he's a responsible adult or something, and is not about to cause such destruction in the real world, where there are actual consequences. There is, however, something to be said for doing it where he theoretically can't hurt anything or anyone (including himself), and besides, this is all for science, anyway. Testing the limits of this strange realm of his own creation.]

Yes, well. I thought we talked about not making judgements based on appearance.

[Or energy, as it were. Viktor pushes his goggles up his forehead, the only indication that he was paying any attention at all to lab safety, and scuffs a blackened pice of metal across the floor with his shoe. He knows he doesn't need to make excuses for himself--it's his mind realm, and he'll blow it up if he wants--but there's still a part of him that strives for decorum, he supposes, at least when it comes to dealing with relative strangers.

Jasper seems enthused, however. That's a start.]

[itookashot]

Schooling me once again, Professor.

[ Jesper has already estimated Viktor as one of those types. An academic, without question, but he has authority to him, gravitas. He's a bit more eccentric than the professors that Jesper himself dealt with, once upon a time. He got a scholarship to a very good college at fifteen and ruined all of it within a few months of being irresponsible and distracted. He never intends to go back to school, probably, but he does respect the idea of education. It's just not really worked for him personally.

Although if there were more explosions in class, he might have actually paid attention! He didn't get to the fun parts of science that would do that. Not for the first time since meeting Viktor does he wish Wylan could meet him. He thinks they'd get along great.]

What are you trying to do exactly?

[techmaturgy]

[He gives a little shrug, as if to say what did you expect? Still, Viktor won’t linger on it for too long—he already knows that Jesper has an enthusiastic curiosity, and he’s more than happy to indulge it, even if it means he’s not being the best influence. Nobody’s paying him to be a role model for teenagers. He’s going to do what he wants, and deal with any potential repercussions later.]

Well, I wanted to see how much damage I could cause. [Responsible!] To see if there’s a limit to…how much rampant creation this place can take. How resilient it may or may not be, or if the only limits are self-imposed.

[This…makes perfect sense to him.]

iii

[funbreaker]

[ With the summit in the past and faction lines drawn yet again, Thancred realizes how vital the Horizon will be to existing in this world. It's the Summoned's secret weapon, a byproduct of their connection to the Singularity and something he intends to use to great effect. He can see now why Stephen had made a point of inviting him in, as this is going to make collaboration between factions much easier than it might have been otherwise.

There is the other mental link they have where they can send written messages, but it will be far more productive in most cases to meet "face-to-face," he would think.

He has made a habit of visiting the Horizon for brief moments daily, usually either right after he wakes or right before he sleeps. He doesn't want to do it enough to catch the attention of Thorne natives, but he also wants to learn as much about the domains of his fellow Summoned as he can.

During this particular visit, he comes across what looks to be an entire city, though it's quite different from Amaurot, gleaming and full of life. Though rather than being drawn to those city streets and the buildings they lead to, Thancred can't help but notice the other path, down into some manner of dark crevasse. That is the path he will always walk first, the one less commonly trod, the underbelly where secrets could so often be found or shared.

Thus he climbs his way down on sure feet, taking note of the perfectly clear water before continuing on into the interior of the cave system. He isn't expecting anyone or anything to be there, necessarily. He's walked through a number of domains without encountering anyone by now, and it's rare for two Summoned to be in the Horizon at the exact same point at the same exact time unless they planned it in advance.

When the giant salamander-like creature barrels toward him, Thancred reaches for his gunblade out of instinct before a voice follows, and he glances up to see none other than Viktor. He's not quite who he expected to find here, in all honesty.

Nonetheless, Thancred lowers his sword arm and gives the creature a more careful look, though doesn't approach just yet. ] Is she? Are such creatures common where you're from? [ There's no shortage of monsters of all types back home, of course, but most of them are not docile. A few have been domesticated, such as the chocobo or even Norvrandt's amaro, but Thancred's quite more used to something that looks like this thing being feral. ]

[techmaturgy]

[The truth is that Viktor is also a little bewildered by this--the lab, a study, the halls of the Academy--that had all been fairly intuitive. The more he worked, however, the more everything had expanded seemingly of its own accord, drawing from memory, letting it all iterate on itself until the domain was complete (for now, anyway). Some of it has caught him a little off-guard, his own subconscious producing places he hasn't been in many years (barring his most recent trip, though he's not sure it counts, when it looks the way it did when he was a child). He'd been tentative, at first, to try and conjure something living, but Rio seems to be an obvious test subject, despite the implications and he's almost surprised at how easy it is and how well it works.

The Horizon in general has given him a lot to think about, to say nothing of the slightly painful memories it brings up--so much so that he doesn't hear Thancred approach until it's too late, and he can't head off the potential altercation. Viktor sees the gun (gunblade, he remembers. He remembers thinking it sounded very ridiculous), and is quick to put himself between it and Rio, holding out placating hands in either direction before things get out of control.]

Not...exactly.

[Well. At least Thancred seems to understand that he's not in any danger, here. It's occurring to Viktor that this is probably a weird thing to explain, especially to a relative stranger, who probably did not expect the cave basement to belong to the generally reserved science guy.]

I only ever encountered one. [Implying that this is his recreation of that singular creature. The gunblade is lowered but Viktor gives it a prolonged glance anyway.] But you're not in any danger here.

[funbreaker]

[ It's true, Viktor is perhaps not who Thancred expected to find here. They had spoken of the use of magick in his world, yes, but not about the finer details of it beyond that. Thancred is no stranger to caves of this type, however, having delved into enough places like this back on the Source and the First that he isn't at all bothered by the dank surroundings.

It's more that Viktor himself who feels out of place, even more than this amphibious creature.

Feeling Viktor's eyes on his weapon, Thancred nods and returns it to its resting place against his back, then gives the creature another once-over. It's rather large, to the point that it could easily knock him to the ground if it wanted, but it seems to have calmed down with Viktor's presence. ]

My apologies, then. I did not mean to startle your... pet. [ Thancred nods to it, not sure what else to do, before glancing back up to Viktor. Is it just him, or does he look much better here than he did at the summit, even though that was a warmly-lit bar and this is a dark cave? Hmm. ] That city up above — is that also yours?

[techmaturgy]

[Okay, the gun/sword/swordgun is going away. He’s still wary of a potential confrontation, but Thancred had seemed entirely reasonable, at their Summit meeting, so he relaxes his posture a little.]

Oh, she’s not a pet.

[Said like that’s supposed to explain, well. Anything. Even Viktor comes off as a little unsure, like he hasn’t quite decided what to make of any of this. Perhaps he’s still a little overwhelmed that he was able to create an ostensibly living being that acts independently of himself. There’s really no good way to explain any of this, so he just decides to act as if all of this is the most natural thing in the world.

Rio, for her part, has decided that Thancred is no longer a threat—she inches forward, and if Thancred doesn’t stop her, she is absolutely going to stick out horrible monster tongue into his personal space an apparent bid to figure out just who or what she’s dealing with (you know, by licking him). Viktor is only tacitly paying attention to this.]

Above? Yes, though I’m afraid you’ll find it’s fairly empty. A city is a lot of work.

[More a backdrop than anything. Everything important is contained within the wall, and below, in these caverns.]

iii

[exoterminator]

[Once Samus realized with a little more concentration she could traverse and explore other Horizons, well, what was an intrepid explorer expected to do?

The divided cities are claustrophobic in both directions, buildings so tightly compacted together it's as if they had no choice but to build up and up. The verticality she's used to... the crowds, not so much. So she's eager to seek sanctuary in the rocky crevasse and caves. Upon seeing Rio she does raise her arm cannon but stands her ground, keeps her distance, still and calm. It's quickly apparent this creature means no harm. Samus, still with some reserved caution, carefully closes the distance. She gets down on one knee and when it seems safe gives Rio the attention she was clearly wanting.

She will definitely make a note of this place to come back later, whoever it belonged to. ]

[techmaturgy]

[Surprise it's this guy

And he's here, actually, just doing something outside (something important and sciencey obviously)--Samus gets in a few good pets before the sound of his approach interrupts the moment. He seems a little unprepared to find someone else in here, but to his credit wrangles his expression fairly quickly when he sees who it is and what's going on.]

Ah. You've made a friend.

[Is he talking to Samus? Or Rio? Probably both. Perhaps he's just pleasantly surprised that someone wandered in here and didn't immediately react with alarm or violence. This is. This is cute.]

[exoterminator]

[ Surprise, it's that guy. Viktor. Looking... more spry?

Her posture further relaxes though she doesn't stand yet, wanting to give Rio a few more head pats and chin scratches. ]

Does it have a name?

[techmaturgy]

[He’s always had the sense that Samus is a little more than she lets on—people this reserved and so thoroughly locked down always are, so watching her treat a strange animal with interest and mild affection is fairly amusing to watch. A soft spot? Secretly? Who could have possibly guessed?

(He could have, a little. It seems obvious in hindsight).]

Her name is Rio. [He says, like this is the most normal thing in the world. If Samus wants to keep petting her, Viktor is not going to stop this. Rio, for her part, seems to be enjoying it immensely.] I admit, most people are. Alarmed.