[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

[techmaturgy]

[Ciri sitting beside him makes him feel a little less idle, at least, even though he knows that none of this is not a reflection on his willingness to help. Not that it isn't frustrating--Viktor has always struggled with the fact that his body can't keep up with his mind. Now is most certainly one of those times, as he does his best to breathe through the respirator.

He shouldn't be here. He knows it. That isn't going to stop him from trying.]

An understatement. [They both know this is going to last a long time, and the more days pass, the less likely it becomes that they'll find survivors.] How is your equipment? I can't exactly dig through the rubble, but I can make repairs, if needed.

[wiedzminka]

Thanks. I don't think I have anything in need of repair right now, but I'll keep it in mind.

[ She's mostly been using her hands, and her agility to get to places that would be hard for many people to access, rather than relying on the technology provided by the military. But in any case, this is an opportunity to rest right now, not get Viktor to fix something.

She leans forward, elbows on her knees, tipping her head to look at him. ]

How about you? Are you okay?

[ She doesn't necessarily mean physically. Ciri is aware this kind of carnage isn't something everyone's been unlucky enough to see before. ]

[techmaturgy]

Things always break when it’s most inconvenient.

[Or perhaps that’s just what he’s telling himself, to justify the fact that he’s even here. He’s certainly not being of use right now, but he knows that Ciri doesn’t necessarily care.

And he knows she isn’t asking about his physical state, because that much is obviously never “okay”. He knows he doesn’t strike anyone as someone who has seen this before, but the truth is that he’s tougher than he looks. Half a lifetime in a place like Zaun desensitized him to a lot of things, but he doesn’t think he’ll ever stop feeling the acute despair of seeing a place like this. Knowing that the longer an operation like this goes on, it becomes more “recovery” than “rescue”. Still, he tries to offer her a nod.]

I’m okay. It’s hard, but…unfortunately not something I haven’t seen before.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri nods. ]

Yeah... [ If she is surprised, she doesn't show it. Perhaps she's not surprised, even if it's not something she simply assumes. One never knows the nightmares everyone else lives with. (Though she's seen some of Viktor's.)

She stares ahead somewhere at the dirt in front of her boots. ]

I understand. I suppose... war and death look about the same no matter the sphere you're on.

[techmaturgy]

Disheartening, isn't it?

[Viktor considers himself an idealist, but in arriving here and discovering the existence of so many other new worlds and planes and entire universes, it's a little impossible not to be saddened by the way these places are all plagued with similar problems, with no solutions in sight. That's what makes him feel like he'd be better off at home, instead of fighting someone else's war, or having his work co-opted again.]

That this would happen over and over again, in so many different places.

[wiedzminka]

[ She shrugs.

It isn't a word she'd have come up with on her own, if only because she doesn't feel exactly disheartened by it. More like unsurprised. It is tedious, and she is tired. It's difficult to feel so strongly, in a general sense, about an unpleasantness she's so used to that it feels inevitable.

Ciri hasn't known a life without war, death, and destruction since she was very small. At least, here, she isn't running anymore. ]

Wherever there are people, they will find a reason for it sooner or later.

[ At least, here, she's not one of those reasons. ]

War after war has plagued the Continent. Humans against humans. Humans against nonhumans. Cities fall, and they rebuild.

[techmaturgy]

Logically, yes.

[He knows this. Knows that humans will fight, and that there will always be something to fight over so that there will always be violence. Now, staring it down in Libertas, his lofty goals of progress seem futile.]

But it makes my job difficult.

[That's something of a halfhearted joke--of course it's not Viktor's responsibility to save the world from itself and mitigate human suffering, but what else is scientific innovation for, if not that?]