[open] january/february catchall

[techmaturgy]

Who: Viktor and special guests and YOU
When: January through early February
Where: Cadens, the Horizon
What: open stuff, closed stuff, dangerous and illicit magical surgery, the usual
Warnings: the usual references to terminal illness including a steep decline and medical procedures/surgery. will list additional warnings as needed.

[open and closed starters in comments! This is also a general catch-all for Viktor’s do-or-die attempt to cure himself, and the events leading up to it, and his recovery (to come later). 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

tony (closed)

[techmaturgy]

[This is another late night in a sequence of them--not necessarily out of the ordinary for Viktor, but it's getting harder and harder to hide the fact that he's not able to weather these like he used to (said like he ever weathered them well in the first place). True to form, however, he puts his head down and ignores it, seemingly of the mind that if he doesn't pay any attention to it, his lab-mates won't, either.

The Hexcore is not perfect. It wasn't perfect back home, either, but that's all part of the process. Here, however, Viktor has a team--not only himself and Jayce, but Tony, too--to check the math and tweak the arcana symbols and measure the outputs. That means more to him than he can possibly express, especially given their time limit and the general dire-ness of the situation, but predictably Viktor chooses not to talk about any of that and instead focuses entirely on the work ahead of them.

At least, until he finds himself unable. He wears down as the night goes on, until finally he stops scrawling at his pages and pages of near-incomprehensible notes and pushes his stool back, scrubbing a hand against his face.]

I need some air. [He needs to show weakness and doesn't want anyone else to see it, and in that statement is a hope that Tony won't follow him out of the lab.] Put more coffee on while I'm out.

Re: tony (closed)

[industries]

Sure. [ Tony mutters, about eight fractal equations deep on the piece of paper in front of him. Viktor's statement only registers about three seconds after Tony's replied to it, and he raises his head to look at the guy. Spend enough time around Viktor – or several days of straight work, in this case – and it's easy to forget that he's pushing the same breakneck speed as everyone else with three bald tires and a faulty transmission. ]

You sure you don't want to take a break? [ Tony raises the packet of procedures and contingencies they've compiled, waves it in the air. ] Object permanence is a thing – this won't disappear if you take a nap.

[ Don't think it's the papers he's worried about drifting away in his sleep, a voice says, deep down. Tony shoves it away – they're close, and they're even optimistic about their chances, but...

It's a tough pill to swallow, after everything. The idea he might lose someone else. ]

[techmaturgy]

I'm going out for some air. That's taking a break.

[As in, any minute not spent working is technically a break. He knows what Tony is getting at, though, and heaves a sigh, because despite everything he's still incredibly resistant to people caring about his well-being. Viktor looks at Tony, then at the stack of papers in his hand, and after a moment seems to relent.]

Do you want to take a break?

[The implication being that if Tony wants to go him--out of the need to keep an eye on him, or for general company--Viktor is not necessarily going to object. He'll grab his crutch and haul himself up from the worktable either way.]

[industries]

I mean. [ Tony exhales as he drops the packet of paper, then stretches his arms over his head. He winces, feels his joints creak and stretch. ] No, but. There also isn't a very real chance I'll drop dead on the job.

[ He's started to get an idea how Pepper felt, all those nights he locked himself in the garage. How hard it is to stop the kind of frenetic energy animating Viktor's every movement – the pure, urgent conviction. Tony knows it intimately – the curse of knowledge, that survival may not be a right, but a privilege. Something that needs to be fought for.

And right now, Viktor's fighting like hell.

He drops his hands to the table, pushes up on them to stand. ] We're just rewriting the calculations to account for the variant energy input, right? Cakewalk. I've got it covered. It's fine.

[techmaturgy]

I would rather drop dead on the job than the alternative.

[But he's sure he doesn't need to elaborate further on that point. Tony knows what kind of person he is by now--knows that he would rather work himself to death, towards some productive end, than simply give up and succumb to disease.

He’s not going to talk about that. Anything he could say about his fears or reservations in that department are not anything he wants to voice—-not because voicing them makes them real, but because the last thing Viktor wants, even now, is to be seen as weak. He waits, a little impatiently, for Tony to decide that he’s going to stand up.]

Bring it with you. I don’t want to come back and have to check your math.