[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

[cryptsleeper]

No, not at all. [Alucard shakes his head, as if that might dislodge the thought itself. The gesture fails, and Alucard realizes exactly how hard he's backed himself into a corner.

Fuck it. Viktor is as close to blood family as Alucard will have here, save his actual parents appearing. He has a right to know.]

There are...parts of you that remind me of my father at his best. I only just made that connection.

[techmaturgy]

[Well, that isn't what Viktor expects to hear, though he supposes they were going to have a conversation like this one way or another. The microdosing was one thing, but Viktor had two not insubstantial doses of the serum to help him survive the procedure. Family in Zaun was more found than anything, but a true blood bond, especially one made voluntarily, can't exactly be ignored.

That said, what Viktor knows about Alucard's father isn't exactly, well. Good. Yes, Viktor knows he was a polymath, and undoubtedly brilliant, given the recreation of his notes that he's seen in the Horizon. He also knows that he had certain...megalomaniacal tendencies.]

Sorry, I'm uh...not sure how to take that.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard doesn't say anything. Instead, he looks ahead, and closes his eyes for a moment. What appears is the typical peasant village of Wallachia. Small. Rural. Smoke coming out of a few chimneys, but that is it.

In a moment, it dissolves. Becomes a castle of impossible proportions, with turrets attached only by corridors and no supports. It towers. Menaces. Demands attention for the skill in creation but invites no visitors.

The little doors on the castle open, and the model that seems to disappear into itself. Zooming in through the doors, beyond the grand entry way, and into a library of gleaming brass and perfectly kept bookshelves, inventions that are fully contemporary on display including lights and telescopes. The image lingers.]

My father spent 400 years of immortality inventing. Improving. Creating things that the rest of humanity will take centuries to achieve. That spirit was the best of him.

I don't know how I didn't recognize that same resonance before now.

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor can only imagine what’s going through Alucard’s head, to say such a thing, but he’s willing to give the benefit of the doubt on the matter. Luckily, he doesn’t have to wait very long, the shape of a castle materializing between them. The implication is clear—this is the progress that Alucard’s father achieved, and it could have been incredible, if not for his descent into madness.

He watches, quiet, while Alucard explains. He understands what was lost.]

It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. [Innovate. Help people. He’s still not sure if it’s a compliment, but given what he just put Alucard through, he’ll take it.] Now I have a chance. It wouldn’t have been possible, without your help.

[cryptsleeper]

I know. That's why I agreed.

[For anyone else, save perhaps Jaskier and Gideon, he would have refused. Jaskier and Gideon were friends, they knew the deepest and worst parts of him. Viktor still doesn't know the full of Alucard's life in Wallachia. He doesn't need to. Whereas Alucard had to spell out to Trevor and Sypha was would be lost with Dracula's death, Viktor understands instantly.

He won't say don't fuck it up. Alucard's thought the words already. Weighed the chance that history might repeat itself, and the act would fall to him again. It is something he's willing to do. It is something he expects he won't need to.]

So what will be first, then?

[techmaturgy]

Not because you like me?

[Viktor smiles wryly for just a moment until it dissolves into something more somber and sincere. There’s a great deal unspoken between them, but if Viktor has learned anything about his friend, it’s that trust is difficult to come by and easy to break. He knows that, despite everything, Alucard has put immense trust in him, and it’s his responsibility to live up to that gift. A privilege, one he does not intend to squander.

As for what he wants to do, well. It’s still a bit overwhelming to think about.]

Embarrassingly enough, I put a few smaller-scale projects on hold, while we accomplished this. A tactile alphabet translator for Matt Murdock, audio recording for Jaskier…Claude spoke to me about a gardening project he’d hoped to undertake. Hydroponics. I might like to work on simpler things, for a time.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard lets out a soft noise that might be a laugh on anyone else. He breathes out, and the image of his father's library disappears entirely, replaced by the same forest as before. This place is not home, unlike so many other Summoned who choose to recreate their own surroundings in their Horizon. Alucard has opted away from that castle entirely.

It is a luxury, sitting and speaking of the future. One Alucard doesn't take lightly and--

--Jaskier. Of course.]

Of course Jaskier might have that thought. [It is said warmly. Fondly. The bard is essential to Alucard's life at this point.] The gardening project would have the most use for the Free Cities as a whole though, given the environment. It sounds not....simple, but something with returns on investment that could really prompt change.

[techmaturgy]

I admit that giving him the means to record and distribute his music might be a mistake.

[It feels good, to joke around. There’s a sort of lightness in the atmosphere that he knows is radiating from both of them, given their recent success. He can’t deny that a burden has lifted.]

One of the possible uses for the Hexcore was environmental restoration. Imagine transmuting parts of the desert into farmland. [A dream, now that they’ve recognized the device for the inherent risk that it was. Better for it to be destroyed, given the current political situation and the fact that it was made clear during the procedure that none of them knew just what, exactly, they were truly dealing with.] But that’s ambitious. Possibly dangerous, given what we know now. I think it will be okay to start small.

[He has time, now.]

[cryptsleeper]

Technically it may mean more work for our firm, so I can't discourage this.

[Alucard can't even recall if he told Viktor about the office he and Jaskier now share. It's fine.]

An invention does not have to be massive to change things either. Something smaller is easier to control. Monitor, to make sure it can't be manipulated against intended purposes. [Alucard doesn't trust the Hexcore. It has too many possibilities, and the world is tense.]

If you pursue the gardening route, do talk to Jaskier though. He can probably serve in an advisory capacity since he has plant magic.

[techmaturgy]

Fair enough.

[Viktor is not a position to ask for payment for anything, ever again. Anything he does for Alucard—or his office, or the Libertas memorial projects—will be on the house. It’s the very least he can do.

He’s also come to understand, over these last few days, that Alucard is right. Sometimes small change is enough. Viktor nods.]

I’ll keep that in mind once I’m feeling better. [He still has a lot of recovering to do.] And if there’s anything you’d like to work on, well. I think we make a good team.

[cryptsleeper]

Do you want to take bets if I'll be howling as back up?

[Meant literally, and because Alucard can imagine Jaskier having some ideas. In a good way, because recording means playing with the music itself and adding elements that one simply cannot in live performance.]

You have the luxury of time now. [And isn't that a wonderful thing to have? Alucard knows that it is something they'll return to time again. Being present.]

If anything occurs to me, I'll let you know. For now, I want to finish Old Public Hall for good, and then move on to a few theaters for Libertas. The theaters may need some creative elements in the near future.

[techmaturgy]

If you're howling as backup, I'd just as easily assume that you lost a bet.

[Don't do it, Alucard, it's not worth it.

He does have the luxury of time. Viktor is still wrapping his mind around that--he's been sick for most of his life, and never really expected to make it even as far as he did. Now, all of that is behind him, and he's well aware his recovery is going to be more than just physical.

Which is why he needs projects. He's always at his best when working on something.]

I'd be happy to assist. It's the least I can do.

[cryptsleeper]

It's Jaskier. I'd help if asked, bet or no.

[Because it isn't about the bet, it is the knowledge that he'd be worn down in the best way possible. Alucard knows that, because he has relationships with people and he can account for the given and take. Jaskier teases. Alucard grumps and give guff back. Or they bounce off of each other perfectly. With Viktor, it is an easier flow. One no less treasured.

God knows Alucard understands the need for projects.]

Just don't built this up into some elaborate debt system that lives only in your mind, hm? We collaborate because it serves our respective needs and we enjoy the work. Nothing more or less.

[techmaturgy]

That's very kind of you.

[As in, Viktor would probably rather die before allowing himself to be recorded on one of Jaskier's songs. Maybe Alucard is a better person than him, for that.

On the subject of being indebted, Viktor's eyebrows furrow together. It's easy to see that he might have complicated feelings about being indebted.]

I tried to make a point of...not accumulating debt. I couldn't afford to be, back home.

[He's clearly not talking about money.]

[cryptsleeper]

Because of limited time, or what debt implies back home?

[Alucard realizes he may be prying. But he trusts Viktor to tell him to move away from the subject if need be.]

[techmaturgy]

Both?

[Viktor is planning on being forthcoming, knowing there's no reason to leave anything unsaid between them anymore. He's spoken a little about his home, but he does realize that he often raises more questions than he answers.]

My status in Piltover was tenuous, at best. The fewer people I owed, the better.

[The less power they could have over him.]

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard nods quietly. Class was...well, he never had to account for it. Vampires were vampires in the first place, and that took them out of human hierarchies. It had never mattered.

But from what little Viktor has shared in the past, he has an understanding of how it can be life defining in the worst ways.]

Whereas here, your name has been your own by merit.

[techmaturgy]

[He nods--they've been over that part before, that Viktor is finding it a new experience, tying his own name to his work. Not having to hide behind Jayce for convenience and politics.

The rest of it, well. He hasn't talked much about the Undercity beyond the fact that it was generally oppressed.]

It wasn't as though the Undercity was much better. Everything there is just as transactional--it has to be. And not kind to the physically weak, as you might imagine.

[cryptsleeper]

No. It seems the place where physical strength and looking tough is what helps one survive. Am I understanding it correctly?

[Alucard reaches out. A mug of warm coffee appears in his hand, and he brings it up to his lips for need of something to do while listening.]

[techmaturgy]

There is more, eh. Nuance, than what I described, but yes. You can get by on cleverness-- [He certainly had, for a while, but he's always known that staying in the Undercity would be a death sentence, for someone like him. It almost was.] --but luck will run out, eventually.

[He doesn't need to tell Alucard that, he thinks.]

And to enact the change I wanted to, I needed to go to Piltover. That's what I thought, anyway.

[cryptsleeper]

--You thought. [Which means it went wrong.]

You were forced to occupy two spaces and yet belong to neither of them.

[techmaturgy]

I suppose that's one way to put it.

[Piltover would never let him forget where he came from, but it isn't like he belonged back in the Undercity, either. That's reason enough for Viktor to be glad that he's here, instead, but he's still far too invested in improving the Undercity.

Now that he doesn't have to worry about his own life, maybe he can turn his attentions back to the Summoning ritual.]

The Undercity deserves better. Trying to change things from within Piltover's systems was never going to work.

[cryptsleeper]

Do you think you ever got close within that system?

[techmaturgy]

No, of course not.

[That sounds more than a little bitter, but Viktor tries to soften his tone as he continues.]

I had hope, for a time, with Hextech, but the greatest limit of scientific research is funding. We were beholden to whatever the Council wanted us to do, and they had no interest in helping the Undercity. It was a waste.

[cryptsleeper]

You got to the Hextech.  That isn't a waste.  Those are artificial limits bound by other desires and societal norms.  [Alucard huffs, realizing that yes.  This sounds like something that would come up in conversation with his father.]  And ethics, which...don't go well with politics, such as I understand it.