[open] september/october catchall

[techmaturgy]

Who: Viktor and special guests and YOU
When: Post-Nocwich, through September and early October
Where: Cadens, Libertas the Horizon
What: open stuff, closed stuff, Libertas stuff, 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

the horizon

[techmaturgy]

i. mind palace etc

[In the wake of the attack on Libertas, Viktor is less frequently found in the Horizon, though he’s courteously left a note for any Summoned in other factions who might be anxious about his well-being, given that, as he understands it, the actual location of Thorne’s strike against the Free Cities was not necessarily known right away. He makes no apologies for the hastiness of the message:]



[When he does find time to return, he’s more often than not he’s in the lab or his study, or even sitting in quiet contemplation at the overlook. He will most certainly be working on some kind of project, and may even explain it, though he’s a bit more terse about it than usual. Whereas before, he might have jumped at the chance to enter an involved conversation about applied mathematics or theoretical physics, right now he seems on edge.

He’s less often found down below, but more intrepid visitors might find something of interest in the cave system. Or, maybe it’s just Viktor and his weird dog. Everything’s fine and normal here, thanks.

If you've met Viktor outside 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 his various experiments, of course).]

peekin down in those caves. cool caves. party caves.

[ofthesword]

[Though the Horizon is very much not Nero's jam, he can at least say it's interesting. Got new places to peek in that isn't just Solvunn's communal drinking halls and trees. Look, he loves a good tree and all, but he's used to, you know... exploring. Fighting demons. Getting impaled on stalactites. Stalagmites? Whichever one's on the ceiling.

He can't dodge everything.

So a dingy cave's not the weirdest thing he's poked his head around, and at least there's no Behemoths down here trying to bite his entire ass off. (And the tail. At least he wouldn't miss that.)

So it's just him, hood pulled up around his head, and the big black panther padding silently at his side.

He turns a corner, dodging some dripping slime, into --]

Oh. Wow. Hey. [Into a giant, uh... lizard?] Hey, buddy. You're a cute one, aren't you? Totally not the ass-biting kind of guy, right?

[Yeah, he's talking to the weird dog. It's... actually, yeah, it is pretty cute. Shadow doesn't agree, and in a feline way, nearly seems to roll her eyes. Maybe she's jealous her eyes aren't the size of dinner plates.]

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor has more-or-less stopped trying to find some kind of explanation for Rio. She's here, apparently borne of his subconscious, but the particulars of how she works and is able to exist as an independent entity within the Horizon is still a mystery to him. For once, he isn't sure he wants to know, and it's been so long that he simply accepts this as part of the Singularity's power.

And, he has to admit, it's nice that she receives visitors so he doesn't have to, though he's always fairly wary of people poking around in the caves, trying to intercept such intrusions as quickly as possible.]

She's harmless.

[Viktor does not seem like a guy who does or should spend any amount of time down in weird caves, but here he is anyway, cane echoing on the stone as he gingerly makes his way down. It's possible he's hoping to stave off any potential animal fights, especially after he sees Shadow. Nero gets a cursory glance as Rio raises her head, alert, then darts toward Viktor to curl behind him.

Comical, really, given how large she is and how slight Viktor is. He doesn't acknowledge this.]

Are you looking for something?

[ofthesword]

Oh. [He turns at the voice. Not really surprised to find he wasn't alone. Real hard to find that kind of solitude sometimes around here, like everyone's just got people-pokin'-around radars.

Then again, he figures no one's really trying to climb into his van. Maybe he'd get the same alert.]

Kind of a coward, too. Hey, no offense. [He holds up his hands -- but that's for Rio, not Viktor, because he doesn't wanna scare any cute giant lizards. He's not even walking around with his sword! He --

Right. Shadow. He puts a boot on her side and pushes her, but she just flops over. Unfortunately, the Horizon's shoved her at him and most of the time he doesn't spend a second thinking about her. Or why she's here. Or what she means. Easier not to. Way easier. There's a quiet warning in the movement: quit scarin' everyone.]

Demons, actually. But hey, looks like your cave's demon-free! And a lot less wet than the ones I'm used to. Guess she must be your pet, uh.. newt?

[Newts are probably not supposed to be that big. But if you've seen one giant lizard, you've seen them all.]

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor shrugs, making no apologies for the fact that Rio would rather not tangle with a very large cat. Luckily, both animals seem to be relatively uninterested in going at each other, so he takes a step forward, and Rio slinks off to some dark corner of the cavern.]

Oh, well, as long as this place is demon-free...

[Just kidding. He knows it's demon-free. Whatever that's supposed to be about.]

A waverider. [He will not define that further, though calling Rio a pet doesn't quite fit.] A childhood companion, of sorts.

[ofthesword]

A -- huh.

[He recognizes the sarcasm, buddy, don't think you're so smart. Not that Nero was hoping it was demon-infested. (He totally was. People gotta have, like, mental demons, right? More like the Entity, less like metaphysical trauma. Or. Okay, those might be almost the same thing.)]

I guess she is kinda wet. [Like she should be in the ocean. Except not many oceans in caves, man.] This is just emotional baggage. [He scoots Shadow's tail out of his way as he walks past her, and she takes a huge swipe at his leg with claws out. Only just misses.] Yours sounds way more fun. Being a lil' goblin cave kid with a giant -- waverider.

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor waits for this to land, though he does kind of wonder if Nero is just the type of guy who wants to hang out in a cafe. His gaze drifts to the large cat, clearly wondering whether or not he should ask about the

Emotional baggage. Maybe not.]

Yes, well, the nature of the Horizon is such that it will often draw from one’s subconscious. To fill in the blanks, more or less.

[Clearly, this cave has nothing to do with anything Viktor is repressing. It’s all fine.]

I didn’t actually grow up in this cave. If that’s the impression I gave.

[ofthesword]

Oh, I get it. [He pauses. Wanda technically explained it to him, and he's not stupid, but he can admit -- even if he's here himself -- that he doesn't completely get why they come in here. Hang around. What it does. The whole thing just feels like the edge of some kind of precipice, and a giant living rock is pushing them all just a little closer.] Sorta.

[Might as well be honest.]

But it must be important. So. Goblin cave. Look, I'm not here to psychoanalyze you or anything, I just think it's cool. This place could use more sticky caves and less... edifices.

[techmaturgy]

[Somehow, Viktor doubts this, but he's not about to start a fight with a guy who insists on calling him a goblin child.]

You're welcome to spend as much time in here as you like.

[Since he seems to like it so much. A shrug, and a wide gesture to the sticky goblin cave. Anything he doesn't want people to see is behind a wooden door inset into the wall, and without context it will probably just look like an ordinary laboratory (in a goblin cave, but whatever).]

Rio won't bother you.

[ofthesword]

[He's totally not gonna psychoanalyze why the goblin cave's got doors, either. And Rio. Pet from home, but -- is she still around? He hopes so. Sucks to have emotional baggage cling to your domain. Ask how he knows.]

Nah. Didn't think so. She's too cute to.

[Viktor may live to be the only person alive to hear Nero call anything cute. Rio might be hiding, but he has this burning itch to, like, pet her. Her head, maybe. Look, the only lizards he's seen wanted to kill him.

He walks through, fingers sliding over the door, but he doesn't push it open.] Really? Free reign, huh. Pretty generous, thanks. [But now he's been invited, it feels kinda weird. Like he is gonna stumble into something he'll regret.] So, you, uh, been here long?

[Oh, this is going great.] I mean, not in the grand scheme of things, but, like. The whole kidnappin' thing.

[techmaturgy]

[Yes, that is the correct assessment. At being called cute, she sticks her head out from behind a large rock, but unfortunately for Nero, makes no other moves to re-emerge. Viktor keeps an eye on the way Nero brushes over the door, but otherwise doesn't make a move to stop him.

He heads back over to Rio, instead, to pet her. Obviously. Now that it seems their visitor means neither of them any harm, she seems more willing to come out in the open. Viktor meets her halfway, regardless, something protective about it.]

Half a year. Perhaps more.

[Said like he doesn't chart the days and weeks as his clock counts down.]

In Cadens. What about yourself?

[ofthesword]

[Nero gives the weird lizard a little wave but doesn't stare her down. He learned the hard way animals weren't into that, if that weird elk was anything to go by. Nero leaves Shadow to amuse herself, though the panther's so fucking lazy she just lays on her side with her tail flopping against the cave floor.

Nero bends down to run his hand through the purple, glowing flowers he thought, at first, were some kinda mushroom. They wiggle with the movement, the purple light glowing against his hand like a black light.

He plucks one up without really thinking about it. It's just -- kinda cool. And some part of him, maybe, expects to hear Nico calling out for him to bring back the weirdest stuff he comes across.

It's kinda pathetic to be beholden to someone who ain't even a ghost, isn't it?

Whatever. This place is lonely, and maybe he's been lonely thinking of all the people he left behind, and -- whatever, caves are lonely by definition.]

About the same, actually. But in Solvunn. Main settlement. Been trying to branch out since that kinda place... leaves you feelin' a bit in the dark sometimes. About what's happening out beyond the forests.

[techmaturgy]

[When Nero picks the flower, that gets Rio's attention, enough for her to leave her spot curled around Viktor's legs and waddle over to him, clearly interested in it. Feed it to her, Nero. You have no choice. Viktor will also not speak up and say that's clearly what she wants--he'll just have to figure it out for himself.

Viktor admittedly knows more about Thorne than Solvunn, so his interest seems to be piqued. From what he's heard from Wanda, it's mostly farming communities, and that much is enough to make him glad that he's in Cadens, given the relative level of technology.]

What's happening out beyond the forests?

kyle;

[techmaturgy]

[For the first week or so after Libertas, Viktor is largely absent from his Horizon--it's only after things begin to normalize that he returns, more often than not taking refuge in the study. A more place than the cavernous laboratory, or the actual, literal caves at the bottom of the wall, this is clearly a personal space—there are books everywhere, and houseplants, and coffee, with every table and blackboard is filled with notes and schematics.

There's nothing to indicate that anything in here is kept away from wandering eyes--the door is open, after all, but in Kyle's wanderings, if he chooses to take a look at one sheet of paper or another, Viktor is quick to speak up from his desk.]

Do you mind? That's proprietary.

[He's a bit chillier than usual, given what they've been through in the Free Cities, recently, but he makes no actual moves to get up, instead choosing to peer over the stack of books on his desk with a pair of extremely formidable eyebrows.]

NEBULOUS TIME SPACE sorry for the late tag-in, overestimated tagging speed while out of the country

[ushiri]

[ Kahlil has a simple rule when it comes to wandering these spaces: he doesn't attempt to enter any domain that isn't already open. Doors, gates, tangles of plant-life, as long as nothing looks explicitly closed, he lets himself in. It's one way to vent his frustrations at months of being trapped in Thorne and hindered by the wards, surrounded by what amounts to closed doors everywhere he turns.

This domain appears larger than most, though he's come to realize that some of the more massive landscapes are at least in part an illusion. He spends some time exploring the outer wall before making his way inside, observing the strange laboratory while keeping his hands to himself: another rule he tries to abide by. He won't go through drawers or anything like that.

The workshop doesn't need him to, though. There's papers everywhere, and he's too distracted by the odd schematics laid out in front of him to notice the figure hidden behind the stack of books - ]

Sorry. [ He bows his head slightly, but doesn't seem particularly contrite as he studies the other man, eyebrows raised. ] These are all your creations?

[ He lets his gaze sweep the room, and out the doorway toward the main laboratory where that strange device was... ]

me also apparently except without even leaving the country

[techmaturgy]

[It's certainly not that Viktor is opposed to visitors--despite being a naturally private person, the study is unlocked while he's present for a reason. More than once he's encountered a fellow Summoned with a similar interest in science and technology, and magic, and most importantly, the convergence of the two. That possibility is enough for him to be slightly less of a recluse, even if the prospect is, at times, tempting.

Now that he's made his stance on intellectual property clear, he emerges from his desk to give Kyle a look up and down.]

For the most part, yes. [He can't take full credit for everything, but he does tend to keep his personal projects in here, as opposed to the work that he shares with Jayce.] Do you have an interest in engineering?

[ushiri]

[ At the question he gives a shrug, and gives the honest answer: ]

A little. [ When it comes to the ins and outs of rifles he knows a lot, sure. But nothing like this kind of engineering or technology. It wasn't taught by the priests in Rathal'pesha, and most advances were outright discouraged outside of Vundomu.

Or, it was that way, in his memory. He shakes his head after a second. ]

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, I was in awe the first time I saw a television... [ He looks again toward the main laboratory where the glowing cube-like thing is. ]

What is that?

[ It's beautiful. ]

[techmaturgy]

[He seems to perk up at the word television, visibly brightening and all at once looking slightly friendlier.]

I'd never seen a television at all, before coming here. [He's apparently enthralled by the very concept of it.] Well, here. The Horizon. I'm familiar with photography, but the instantaneous transmission of recorded video...astonishing.

[Which probably makes the rest of this place in context, given the decor and the general state of technological advancement in all of the unfinished projects, except for the one in the lab. In fact, he's so focused on the mention of a television that Viktor doesn't seem to understand what Kyle is getting at until he looks towards the door, then he makes a little ah noise.]

A...conduit. For arcane energies.

[ushiri]

[ A conduit? He hums in response and wonders for what - though he sets the question aside for now, returning to the subject of television since that seems to have shifted the man's demeanor in a more positive direction. ]

There's a tavern domain called the Roadhouse that has a television, I go there sometimes to flip through the channels. [ Just for fun, when no one's around. He would add more content beyond what's already available, but considering it's not his domain that seems rude. ]

In Hoirzon if you were to take one apart to look inside, would it be empty unless the creator knew all the inner workings already?

[ He's never thought about it before, but he assumes it must be the same for televisions or any electronical device as it is for books - blank pages inside unless he's read the whole thing. ]

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor seems to prepare himself for follow-up questions, brows furrowing just slightly before he reconfigures and confirms that yes, they're talking about televisions, now. Okay by him.]

I had someone show me the interior. Someone familiar with how they work.

[In principle he wouldn’t have been able to imagine the interior in the Horizon without some understanding of how it exists in the real world. It’s the same principle with the books he’s populated the study with—he's filled them with the content that he remembers. Perhaps some of it is inaccurate. That's the nature of a place built by the imaginations and recollections of the people who shape it.]

Otherwise, yes, I believe so. I’d be able to make my best guess, but it isn't a substitute for those who are familiar with the technology.

[ushiri]

[ He nods. There's a lot of information sharing and teaching that can be done here, so long as you have a good memory. He's gaze sweeps the room again, his tactile nature urging him to touch some of the objects of the desk, but he keeps his hands to himself and folded behind his back.

A beat, and he raises an eyebrow. He's never seen this man around the castle, and he might feel a bit sorry for him if he landed in Solvunn, given what he knows of the settlements more rural nature. ]

You... wouldn't happen to be one of the men that were advertising their business out of Cadens some weeks ago? Making weapons and other useful things? [ A beat, then he offers an introduction himself. ]

I'm Kyle. Currently living in Thorne.

[techmaturgy]

[Perhaps Viktor wouldn't blame him if he reached out and touched something--he might even allow it, if it wasn't breakable (not that it matters, in a place like this, where things can be broken down and remade with a simple thought), though he doesn't otherwise offer permission.

To his question, however, he offers a nod, and a slight correction.]

I don't make weapons. [He makes the useful things, thanks. Viktor allows blades as a concession--because monster hunting is a legitimate profession, in Cadens, and also he's fairly certain that swords won't advance the Free Cities' military.

A pause. Then:] Viktor.

[ushiri]

[ It's a sense of respect and politeness he extends in these domains. They are part of the creator, to lesser and greater degrees. He might not mind someone going through the books in his temple, picking fruits or touching the tea sets, but those things are not so unfamiliar and possibly breakable to most.

Huh. There's a slight flicker of surprise at the correction. ]

You make things like - [ he juts his chin toward the strange glowing cube, curious again. ] - arcane conduits?

[ Circling back to his original question. ] What is it for?

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor, on the other hand, considers that to be answer enough. He follows Kyle’s gesture back to the Hexcore, and he offers a nod.]

Among other things. Tools and equipment for laborers and artisans.

[Which he understands does not explain very much about the conduit in question. Viktor has complicated feelings about bringing this kind of technology into the real world, when even he isn't sure of the limits of it, but he can’t deny that the sheer possibility of it still excites him, his own personal biases nonwithstanding.]

The Hexcore is designed to fulfill any number of purposes. It channels arcane energy and executes tasks according to the configuration of runes—instructions. Not unlike a…computer, I’m told. If you’re familiar.

[ushiri]

[ He nods again. With every conversation he's reminded more and more of Nayeshi. Computers were common, he remembers using on in a library. A boxy structure with a screen - not unlike a television, and a taller 'tower'. However, it reminds him nothing of the beautiful object just outside. ]

A computer for spellcasting. [ He frowns a bit. ] Where would it source energy from?

[ The Singularity itself? He can't imagine that would go over well with the factions. ]