Viktor (
techmaturgy) wrote in
abraxaslogs2023-01-09 11:31 pm
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Entry tags:
- altaïr ibn-la'ahad; the magician,
- alucard; the hierophant,
- caitlyn kiramman; strength,
- cirilla of cintra; the devil,
- claude von riegan; the wheel of fortune,
- hilda goneril; the lovers,
- jayce talis; the magician,
- nadine cross; the world,
- stephen strange; death,
- steve rogers; the hierophant,
- tony stark; the magician,
- viktor; death
[open] january/february catchall
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.]
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.
no subject
He had books ready and stacked to the side for them to read, and also many of Viktor's non-Hexcore related notes if he decides to work once his brain is less loopy. Viktor isn't ready for real visitors outside of him and Nadine, but sooner or later others can come in here. For now, it's better for it to be just the two of them, on the other end of this.
He does remember the last time when they were in this situation, but all of those horrible memories have now been superseded by Jayce watching Viktor sleeping now in positive recovery. Not awaiting the worst. He watches Viktor's chest rise and fall, he has food and water ready, everything is ready for his comfort when he needs it.
Jayce is now most of the time by the bedside. Rio Enterprises is closed until Viktor is on the mend, and everyone can wait. Customers, Libertas, other Summoned, it can all wait, there is no where else he needs to be. He is writing in a journal, secret things, but looks up as soon as he hears Viktor's whisper. He gets up from his chair and immediately goes to the bed, sitting on the mattress next to him. He stayed off the bed so he wouldn't wake him. He's a big man, even a lean one way or another could do that.
"Hi to you, V." He reaches out to touch his forehead and then his cheek. "How do you feel? Do you need anything?"
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"Terrible," he replies, though there's a smile pulling at his mouth. "But that's to be expected."
Viktor apparently feels well enough to reach for Jayce's hand as it brushes over his face, searching for fingers to entwine with his. He takes it, and moves it in front of his mouth so he can press lips to the palm. It's weak, still, but he hopes the sentiment is clear.
"I can breathe."
The surgical incision hurts, sure--the residual pain of the procedure, but underneath that, there's a marked difference. Things feel clearer. Cleaner, almost. Like a weight on his chest has lifted, literally rather than metaphorically.
no subject
He lets Viktor have his hand and smiles tenderly at the kiss to his palm. Their fingers intertwine and he rubs the back of Viktor's knuckles with his thumb affectionately. Jayce is overwhelmed by those three words, they knock into his heart and make it hurt in the best sense. They already knew it worked, worked enough that he was planning the destruction of the Hexcore, but for Viktor to say it like that. For Viktor to be able to actually breathe again.
He'll say grateful things to the Hexcore before melting it into dust.
"Your lungs have been going strong. No hiccups. All within perimeters. Better than perimeters."
no subject
That much says it all, really. Viktor doesn't really like drugs that put him to sleep or otherwise cloud his mind, but he considers this a special occasion. There's no work to do. No race against the clock. His job now is to simply stay in this bed and get better, made much easier knowing that Jayce will be here, at his side, through all of it. He can't exactly move much, and his voice is hoarse from days of disuse, but he shifts towards Jayce regardless, cherishing the contact.
"We did it." Part of him still doesn't want to believe it, but he feels different. Lighter, in a way. Jayce has been the one monitoring his vitals, and he has no reason to think he wouldn't be straightforward. Everything seems to be fine, and though there's slight anxiety about whether or not the effects are permanent, it's a drastic enough change that he thinks it might be. This will change everything. "The Hexcore. Where...?"
Some anxiety creeps into his voice, at that. Most of the procedure was a blur, but the device calling out to him in its own way isn't easy to forget.
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He's glad that Viktor is not going to argue about them; pain relief is very necessary considering, and he has lived for so long with pain. It seems unfair, like now may be the start of time that he can be in less pain. His leg and back will always be this way, but with his illness cured, it doesn't have to be the same.
Jayce is on top of pain management and everything he'll need medically, and monitoring his health to a T. He has always been methodical, but nothing is more necessary than handling this post-op perfectly. Otherwise it would have been pointless. He measures out the correct dosage carefully, coming back to him.
"We did, V. It's not just me being optimistic. All the data is irrefutable." And he knows when it comes to Viktor, data helps more than feelings. "The Hexcore is locked up, when you make it through tonight and we have clean readings tomorrow, I'm taking care of it." It'll be enough days past the surgery to be positive of their findings.
He is wary though, not having forgotten Viktor's reaction to it either.
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Jayce is only away from his side for a moment, but in that time he confirms what they hadn't dared to hope for. Sure, he'll want to see the data, but he also knows he can trust what Jayce is saying. There's no reason to lie, at this point, unless he's expected to drop dead within hours, and Viktor feels a marked enough change to believe this. By the time Jayce returns to his side, Viktor is gazing up at the ceiling, eyebrows pinched together, trying to hold back silent tears.
"Sorry," he manages after a moment, pressing the corner of the bedsheet to his face. "I just didn't think--"
He'd tried to be optimistic, of course, but had never been able to chase away the doubt. The fact that they've done it, to greater success than he ever thought they could, well. It's overwhelming.
no subject
He injects it so Viktor can have some physical relief, while the emotions still are churning. Once that is done though Jayce turns toward Viktor and cups his face in his hands, brushing tears away with his thumbs. "You never have to be sorry about feeling things with me." Jayce is a crier. He stopped feeling embarrassed about that years ago.
He leans in to kiss Viktor very gently on the lips and then on the forehead. "You're going to live, V. A very long and happy life if I have anything to say about it." Jayce smiles, pulling back to look at him again. Despite being in recovery and weak, he still looks better. Soon he'll have color in his face again, he'll be able to put on healthy weight, be closer to how he was when they first met.
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Maybe that's okay. Probably it was a long time coming, and of course he's not going to be blamed, given the circumstance. This is, in fact, the only place where he can make known the full extent of his feelings, and the only person he's comfortable being this vulnerable for. That means more to him than he can properly express.
"I still can't believe it," he offers with a breathy laugh. You're going to live is a statement that, while true, he can't exactly wrap his head around. There's an entire future unfolding in front of him, now, and it's like his brain hasn't quite formed the synapses for it yet.
What he does know is how badly he wants to kiss Jayce, so he takes his hands and encourages him to bend down again. Viktor smiles even as he blinks away tears. "What will we do with all of this time?"
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Viktor lived with the knowledge of his death coming far longer than Jayce, who only found out less than a year ago. But after months of them building a real life together, something even bigger to lose, you're going to live is a big statement. A wonderful one. He smiles and leans down at Viktor's request to kiss him again.
"We're going to go on a vacation." This he sounds as sure about as he does anything. He has his confidence back again, considering they achieved a miracle. "Once you're feeling well enough, we're going to Aquila, and we're going to enjoy the sun and beach and not think about things for a few days." Jayce has been planning their getaway for a long time, but it was never the right time. This is going to be the right time. He kisses him again.
"And when we get back, we'll go back to the drawing board with the miners, you'll finish your projects that have been put to the side, and we'll improve Libertas." Relaxation followed by the thing they love best, staying busy.
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"No objections."
Viktor holds Jayce's face in his hands and looks at him for a few long moments. For as thrilled as he is about his prognosis, and the promised vacation, there's still a bittersweetness to it all.
"What we've done...this is a revelation, Jayce." The fact that it worked is a miracle--a testament to their combined intelligence and drive. Saying it out loud makes it more real. They were able to use it on him, yes, but no one else will benefit from the technology. They won't be able to refine it. Make it less invasive or explore its other uses. He understands why it needs to be destroyed, but that doesn't mean he feels any less conflicted about it. "I only wish we didn't have to lose it so soon."
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His expression changes when Viktor refers to what is clearly the Hexcore, from soft and happy to a deep frown. His thick eyebrows furrow. Jayce shakes his head. "No, it has to be destroyed. Do you remember what happened in the surgery? It nearly got you killed, it was ... mind-controlling you, you were fighting us." It was the absolute worst time for Viktor to start flailing his limbs and fighting them off. It was an extra miracle that they managed to save him on top of having to pin him down and adapt at a moment's notice. It almost went very, very wrong.
"I'm glad we were able to use it to save you, but it's malicious, V. It would only corrupt you more if we kept it around." Jayce would say it was evil but he's not sure he can put human terms on a strange artificial intelligence magical technology creature. Malevolent though, it definitely seemed like. He's sure it made sense to the Hexcore at the time.
He was very unsettled by it, and it shows now, in his concern, and no small amount of distaste to it. He understands now what happened, at least in some way, why Viktor said he couldn't destroy it in the future. Jayce will burn it happily. "We'll figure out something else. There will always be other inventions."
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The price is just the destruction of his work.
He wants to argue--to say that they cannot assign human morality to the thing he created, therefore it cannot act maliciously--but of course he knows that Jayce is right. Viktor, perhaps, owes him an explanation, or his best attempt at one.
"It called out to me," he begins, inviting Jayce to settle in next to him, so that he doesn't have to hover. "I don't think it wanted to control me. It was offering, a, a partnership."
A new kind of existence for himself, if only he could reach out and take it. Transcendence. On the other side of this, however, he knows it wasn't what he wanted, no matter how appealing it was at the time. The only partner he wants is right beside him.
"I wasn't strong enough to say no. If you hadn't been there--"
Well, he thinks maybe he knows what happened to the other version of him, the one that wanted to die.
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"There's no partnership you can have with that thing and stay alive. I think we both might have some insight into what might have happened that you haven't lived yet." How defeated and exhausted he looked, how sad he was when he said they lost their dream. It wasn't only Jayce who had failed to do good, he was talking about himself too, and the Hexcore must be a fundamental part of it. But Viktor was alone, and he isn't here, that was always the huge difference.
He settles down next to him and very carefully puts an arm around him. Gentle, making certain not to jostle him too much, taking his hand. "V, this isn't going to be the last thing we create that could change the world. You have an entire life ahead of you to make incredible things." Jayce is very certain about that.
no subject
"You're right, I know."
And in the end, he thinks he'd rather have his life than all of the advancements of the Hexcore. It's a selfish admission, but all of this has been selfish regardless, hasn't it? He'd feverishly completed the device because he needed it to live, both here and back home. Its potential greater benefits were secondary. But there will be other chances, other innovations. Viktor just has to focus on that, and the new opportunity afforded to him by the risk they took together.
"I hope you know that my extended timeline isn't going to make me any more patient." Even the prospect of a few weeks in bed has him restless. "You'll have to work very hard to entertain me, in the meantime."
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Jayce teases, kissing Viktor's cheek gently. He rubs his thumb over Viktor's knuckles in a caress. This is more or less an acknowledgment that the Hexcore will not be fought over. Its time is over. He is going to melt it tomorrow and probably feel a lot better after he does. They got what they needed, which was Viktor's life. Now his brilliant mind will be free to make a dozen other things as good as the Hexcore. Win-win.
"I think I've become very good at entertaining you." Jayce lifts Viktor's hand and kisses the knuckles now too, holding it to his cheek. He's alive. Weak and healing but breathing and their future is real, finally. It's hard not to feel incredibly optimistic and happy about that. So he doesn't stop himself from being flushed with that brightness.
"I know you're going to be restless the next few weeks, so I figured that was the perfect time to bring you some of the projects that were shelved. There are plenty you can do from here." Not everything needs to be physically made, sometimes the plans themselves are enough. Viktor's mind will take him so much further than most people. "We'll clear off the projects waiting shelf."
no subject
Not at all an invitation for Jayce to get Viktor to say things while on painkillers, though he's fully aware that he's softer in this moment than he usually is, given the circumstances. Now that said painkillers are kicking in, it's quite nice to settle into the mattress and their closeness. Jacye's warm face fills his vision, and he can't help but feel warm in return.
It's a good idea, to catch up on all the projects they had to sideline due to the urgency of the Hexcore. At the very least it will keep him busy through these weeks of recovery (even if he's also going to ask Jayce to read to him). He blinks slowly, sleepily, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth at the foresight of it all.
"I think, right now, I'd like to rest."
There will be plenty of time for this, soon. There will be plenty of time for everything.
We can probably start a new one later timing!
He can tell that Viktor's starting to drive so he gently encourages him to rest his head on Jayce's chest and curl as comfortably as he can into him. He doesn't mind spending some time here being Viktor's pillow, everything else can wait. "Rest, my love. I'll be here when you wake up."
does a little time skip
By the beginning of the second week, Viktor is awake more often than not, demanding the entertainment that they both knew he would want. To Jayce's credit, he's more than prepared to stimulate him (mentally, anyway), and they spend long hours talking and working on various projects that they sidelined while completing the Hexcore. When Viktor gets tired, Jayce reads to him. Sometimes they simply sit in bed together, enjoying each others' company. For as much as Viktor would like to be recovered and back to his normal activities, this is nice, too.
Since Viktor is feeling better, the two of them are more confident about resuming operations at the shop--he doesn't need supervision at all times, allowing Jayce to work on some of their orders, at least part time. That leaves Viktor to work on his own projects, and when Jayce returns later in the afternoon, he's sitting up in bed, scrawling in his notebook, perking up as soon as he hears the door open.
"How is everything in the workshop?"
no subject
It has made his mood completely different. Ever since they got through this, Jayce has been flying high. He smiles brightly, he is at his most charming and enthusiastic, they've sold more things from his sheer positive energy and handsomeness (typical). The Hexcore is gone and while it didn't work out the way they wanted, Jayce at this point feels confident there wasn't enough of it left to cause a problem. He burned it very well and managed to keep a tiny shard of a crystal. He would have put it on his bracelet, but then it would be public.
He was happy. Doing great. Feeling great. Until he ran into a woman with pink hair who haunted him by existing and here she is in Cadens. He knows it'll be good for Caitlyn, she's already seen her apparently, but it was a much different experience for Jayce. A reminder of something he has not left behind. Even recently with Dean he was talking about it, he isn't close to forgetting. Vi's appearance stirred up those feelings again, but the news she gave was also troubling. Or was it? He may be in a mixed state of emotion over it.
Still, he had to go back to Viktor and he is still mulling over everything as he enters the room. Is he in shock? Does he just not care? Probably the former, right? Because most people when faced with their eminent death would care more. Jayce is out of sorts when he comes in, carrying dinner for both of them. He remembered to do that before coming back.
"Um. Fine." They sold things. It's mostly working again, just different hours. He sets the food down, frowning. "So. Vi's here. The woman from the Undercity." Right to the point.
no subject
Can he be blamed, then, for sounding so pleased that Jayce is home?
All of that, however, lasts only as long as Jayce enters the room and Viktor can instantly tell that something is wrong. His expression shifts instantly to concern as he sits up in his pillows, immediately wanting to go to him but not sure if he should. Luckily, Jayce makes the problem known very quickly, and his face hardens.
"The woman you raided the Shimmer plant with," Viktor corrects, because he remembers. She's not just someone from the Undercity, she actively conspired with Jayce to do the one thing Viktor begged him not to do. The two of them have made great strides in working through their mistakes from home, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt, to be reminded. "What happened?"
no subject
He takes a seat, his brow furrowed, clearly troubled far past what happened between them at the factory. Every part of him feels tense so maybe it is shock. "Well we didn't get into a fight, so that at least was good." Jayce did think it was possible. They were in the inn too so that wouldn't have gone over well, but he can't deny he was angry the second he saw her. They both were. But it didn't end there.
"Jinx is her sister. When she approached the Council for help with Silco, she's the one who named her the first time, but I didn't know they had more of a connection." It was brave for Vi to come to them, knowing how little they gave a shit, and to put her sister into their sights because she felt it was right. It's extremely complicated. "They were orphaned during the civil war." Which definitely touched Jayce's bleeding heart, and reminded him how little he really paid attention to things he should have.
All of this is true as he explains, and he sounds fairly clear-headed, but there's something under his skin, something stuck in his throat.
no subject
So he's sympathetic, shifting in the bed to get closer to Jayce as he sits on the mattress. Jinx being Vi's sister does explain a lot--Viktor doesn't have siblings, but he knows full well that family in the Undercity was found, more often than not. To lose it, and, presumably, lose it to Silco was likely more than Vi could bear. No wonder she wanted to do something.
It doesn't mean he has to be happy about it. Viktor can feel sympathy for her circumstances--he remembers the failed uprising--and be frustrated by her actions regardless.
Still, he can easily tell that it's not just her arrival that has Jayce on edge. There's more to be said here, Viktor just needs to pry it out. "And? What else?"
no subject
Jayce doesn't know how to phrase it. It's not that Vi said it was for sure, she didn't see his body, but there was something so final about it too. Final to the point where Jayce isn't sure he wants to get into denials on this. The possibility of him being alive is real, but it's not the kind of thing to put money on.
He reaches out to take Viktor's hand, threading their fingers together. Because despite everything, the insane part of this is, it's going to be a loss for others. At this point, Jayce has no reason to think Viktor was anywhere near the Council. Why would he be? He hasn't met with Silco yet.
"She said she thinks I'm dead, V." What strange words to come out of him. "Silco died and Jinx took revenge by using our gemstone to power and shoot a weapon. Apparently one that could take out the entire council." Jayce doesn't know the exact details of how Silco died, only that he did. It doesn't ultimately matter. He told Vi he's not sure he even blames Jinx. Aren't they already enemies? Wouldn't it have been possible for him to kill her too, if he went down that path?
"I believe her." And all that entails.
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He can't bring himself to ask of those questions, grasping for Jayce's hand and then his arm, instead.
"No, that's not--" He wants to say possible, but they both know that isn't true. Still, Viktor tries to grasp at any evidence to the contrary. They can't know that Vi saw what she said she did. "She must be mistaken. Making--making assumptions, based on incomplete information."
Jayce isn't supposed to die. Viktor has never even considered such a thing. He just says it--doesn't seem to feel the same distress. Seems almost at peace with it. Viktor can't accept that.
"We don't even know if she's from the same timeline as the rest of us. You can't know this."
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"But does it matter? Let's say it's a 50-50 shot it's true. Are those the odds I want to play with my life? No." Jayce is not talking about them intentionally going back because he never had any plans for that, although he knew Viktor felt differently. Maybe that is why he is so calm now. If the Singularity sends him back, it's out of his hands, but he feels better, in a way. He's already embraced this life as the one he wants, and now he doesn't have to wonder, if he doesn't want to.
That is why he is showing more comfort to Viktor than him. Jayce has already been here. The fact he's probably dead is just a literal nail in the coffin. "I told Vi this is a place for second chances. I have to go with the assumption this is it for me, Viktor." Jayce has been saying that about Viktor this entire time, he is going to die back home, there is no hope. Now it's done for both of them.
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we can wrap on this one here or on yours!
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