[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]

[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?

[ofthesword]

[Oh. Hey. That's the secret, huh? Nero smiles when the waverider perks up, coming suddenly -- whoa. Very close.] Well, hey there. You hungry?

[Sorry, Viktor. He's not ignoring you, technically. She's just real cute. But it's not hard to figure out -- he's got the thing in hand and she lights up like he's held up bacon to a hound. He offers it out to her, dangling between two fingers.]

Haven't heard, huh? Man, you guys really don't get news out there much. [And quieter, to himself, he adds:] Maybe I should work on a newsletter next... [One Rio either slobbers over his hand or rejects the offering, he still keeps it held out in case she's interested in a pet, or sniffing it. Hopefully she's not got anything against demon blood.] More like what's in the forests trying to get out. I'm not big into the god thing, multiple or otherwise, but whatever they're worshiping, there's something there waitin' to respond. It's not just idle rituals and a few random prayers.

[techmaturgy]

[If Viktor's feelings are hurt by this, he doesn't show it (more likely than not, he's used to people plying Rio's affections with the flowers in the cave), instead watching the interaction with the slightest quirk of his lips. Rio is definitely slobbering all over his hand.]

We've been preoccupied.

[Thorne is the obvious and immediate threat, here. Solvunn, so far, has not seemed interested in taking sides, but of course Viktor is intrigued by this. He's also not big on the god thing, preferring to believe that there's a scientific or magical (or both) explanation for most things, but Nero does appear to be serious about this.]

You've seen something, then?

[ofthesword]

[Absolutely farthest from the worst thing he's ever had on his hand. He'll take slobber over demon guts any day.

Viktor's answer gives him a pause.] Shit. Yeah. Good point.

[Thorne's not made an enemy of Solvunn, likely because they're playing both sides right now. Until they fuck around, or get in the way. Until then, Nero's not shaking the feeling Solvunn's got tricks up their sleeves among that little council that no one else is privy to.

Once Rio's eaten what he had hold of, he wipes his hand on his pants.] Big sticky thing. I'd call it a demon, but I'm not really sure what constitutes demons out here. And it only showed up after one of the shrines reacted, so... gotta imagine something's infesting at least a few of them.

[techmaturgy]

[He offers a little shrug. Yes, it was a good point, thanks very much. Right now, it doesn't seem prudent to alienate Solvunn or accuse them of anything, when any allies against Thorne might be helpful. If anything, Viktor thinks that the Free Cities might be able to help Solvunn stand against Thorne's power, if it becomes necessary.]

I admit I don't put much stock in the supernatural.

[Because that's what this sounds like--Viktor is appropriately a skeptic, though perhaps less of one, given his dabblings in magic. Still, if Nero has empirical evidence, he's interested in hearing about it.]

What do you think they want?

[ofthesword]

[In hindsight, he is enjoying that he can drop words like "demons" in casual conversation and not get more than a bit of curiousity. The more he meets people, the more it's like they're all from extremely fucked up worlds, that more often than not got monsters walkin' around. Really helps Nero explain these things without having to dance around someone else's lack of belief.]

Don't really consider demons supernatural, I guess. They're just monsters. [He gestures to Rio.] Plenty of people would think she was, too.

[Demons just happen to be from, you know, another dimension. Whatever.

If he's gonna settle in with explanation -- and Viktor is actually interested, feels like -- he needs a seat. So he finds a little outcrop of rock that's flat enough it won't poke him in the ass, and takes a seat. Shadow curls up herself behind him, tail thumping against stone.] Hard to say. You know, most of 'em want simple stuff. Human blood. Chaos. Destruction. Bein' the king. They're not super complicated. But this one didn't attack or anything, so... if anything, I'd say it wants people out there, deep in the woods. For what reason, though, I got nothin'. So far. It might just be luring stupid assholes into the woods to feed something else. I'm sure plenty couldn't resist the temptation of finding whatever's hidin' out there.

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor supposes it doesn’t matter what they’re called, though demon implies a different level of power than the monsters one might find in the desert. Or Rio, fair enough. The rest of it is certainly interesting, though not necessarily something they’re experiencing in Cadens. Maybe he should be glad for that.]

In my experience, the correct solution is usually the simplest one.

[Nero seems to be ascribing behavior based on what he knows from his world, which could be correct, or entirely off the mark in a place like this. What Nero’s describing could be calculated. It could be an animal acting like an animal.]

Is there an indication that whatever it is—in the forest, I mean—is sentient?

wrap up around here?

[ofthesword]

[Nero snorts.] Yeah? Wish everything always stayed simple.

[Things could definitely be divided down in smaller parts. Made simple. But everything he's always encountered always ends up being so fucking complicated.

And for that reason, among others, he figures the thing he saw is just like a blinking neon light. A snare. The wiggling lil bit on those weird deep ocean fish. Very attractive bait to someone like a devil hunter.

At least he can say the appearance wasn't tailored exclusively to him. Wanda saw the same. But he wouldn't put it past it, if that's what it was posted at a shrine for.]

I wanna say yeah, but it's not a simple explanation. Call it intuition. But there's enough weird shit in the forest that something out there is definitely calling to people. Whether it's just a bigger monster is, you know. Up in the air.

good thread. enjoy your new lizard friend

[techmaturgy]

[In many ways, this is not necessarily his problem--it's highly unlikely that he'll be dealing with the monsters outside of Solvunn anytime soon, though there's no guaranteeing that similar entities aren't out in the deserts of Cadens, or that all of it won't bleed into the Singularity eventually.

He's not sure what he can do, but monitoring events like these seems to be a start.]

I would be interested in hearing about anything else you find. [If only to keep an eye on it.] You're welcome to come back. I'm sure Rio would enjoy the company.