[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

[techmaturgy]

[The joke is that Jayce was the one who wheeled him down here, but that's going to be his little secret. They've agreed, after two weeks in his bedroom, that the fresh air and being in the workshop will probably be good for him, so he spends time in here as he feels able. It's good for him, he's decided.

And, yes, it's probably not hard to guess where he'd be, especially while he's fairly limited.]

Yes, thank you.

[He's not going to say no, and in fact, seems pleased by her thoughtfulness.]

Are you well, Caitlyn?

[He's missed a week or two, understandably.]

[preferscuffs]

[Would Caitlyn be surprised by this news? No. She'd be more surprised to find Viktor made it here without Jayce being involved in some way honestly. But that's completely beside the point.]

It's my pleasure.

[If tested, it'd probably be determined that acts of service ranks fairly highly on Caitlyn's love language list. Not that she loves Viktor or anything, but she does care, in her own way, for Jayce's partner. So the coffee is placed nearby, where Viktor can reach it, but also hopefully somewhere that won't be in the way.]

I am, thank you. [A small smile, geniune.] I know, I know. It's probably called the Free Cities for a reason, but there's something incredibly feeing about this place.

[She's never been this far removed from Obligation and Duty before. Caitlyn's honestly still trying to adjust to it. It's a big change after a lifetime.]

[techmaturgy]

[The company is welcome, and so is the coffee--no sooner does she set it down on the table than he moves for it, taking a cursory sip before deeming it acceptable and setting it back down within reach. She'll find that there's always water in a kettle, and a drawer of various teas that she can help herself to, should she be inclined.]

Freeing?

[He asks, but of course it's obvious. Caitlyn is the scion of one of the richest families in Piltover, which carries a great deal of expectation. Even straying away from her mother's Council seat to become an Enforcer was the source of some drama, to his understanding.]

Were you looking for an excuse to quit your job?

[preferscuffs]

[Her love of tea being quite well known. Not that she'd assume such a thing was just for her, plenty of people drink tea after all. But for now, she's fine with the cup she already has in hand. Prepared at the same time as his coffee, no doubt.]

Quit my job?

[Caitlyn stills for a moment, honestly startled.]

So it wasn't made public knowledge then.

[She'd assumed as much, simply because if it had been Known she'd never have been able to get Vi out of Stillwater.]

I was relieved of Duty after the attack, Viktor. My mother saw to that. Jayce tried to get me to be his head of security, but I declined.

[There's no bitterness there. Not towards Jayce, after all he'd tried. In a slightly clumsy way, but he'd meant well. And not even towards her mother, despite everything. Honestly, she's more resigned on that front.]

My mother, she's... always had certain expectations of me. As the Clan heir.

[techmaturgy]

[He catches the misunderstanding almost immediately, and is quick to jump in, a hand held out placatingly.]

No, I didn't...hear about you leaving at all.

[He'd meant "quit" as a joke, in the way that being displaced here technically makes them all "quit", but now there's some concern in his voice. A worry that he might have offended her.]

That's my fault. I admittedly never paid much attention to things happening outside of the lab. Your mother had you removed from the force?

[He'd known, vaguely and through Jayce, that the Kirammans were generally displeased by Caitlyn's choice to become an enforcer. Of course they'd use the attack on Progress Day as an excuse.]

[preferscuffs]

I had thought maybe Jayce might have mentioned it. It's the only way you might have even known. It's not like an enforcer being let go would have been public news.

[His body language is telling and Caitlyn is quick to reassure. There's no real fault for him not knowing. It'd just been a surprise to her, that's all.]

You were quit busy for some reason. I can't imagine why.

[A touch of amusement in her voice, really Viktor it's fine. He'd had far bigger things to worry about than the career of someone who was more Jayce's friend than his. At least back then anyway]

She did. Though, I imagine Marcus was all too eager to comply given he was working with Silco. Even if she hadn't interfered, I imagine it would have been a matter of time.

[It explains a lot, about how he'd ignored her concerns about things. How he'd stonewalled her at every turn.]

[techmaturgy]

Jayce was…fairly occupied, in the days before I arrived here.

[He tries not to sound bitter about that, proclaiming it as a simple statement of fact, but the truth is that his last memories of Jayce before he awakened at the military barracks were not necessarily pleasant once. Viktor likes to think he’s moved past it, but there is that slight twinge when he’s reminded of it—or, more accurately, reminded of how different things were between them, back home. How their relationship now only exists because the unique circumstances of this place allowed them to pursue it. How, if they were suddenly returned home with no memories, they would never converge upon this singular point.

But he can’t get distracted by that. They’ve just had, arguably, their greatest success. The possibilities before him now are nearly infinite. He should choose to cherish that, but it is difficult, not to think of home.]

I understand. You must have felt stifled. [Sort of. Viktor never had a patron, much less a wealthy, important parent who had certain expectations of him. Still, he’s trying to get to know Caitlyn better, and this seems like an appropriate opportunity.] It must have been stifling.

[preferscuffs]

We all were.

[Which is true. The last few days prior to waking up here were some of the busiest of Caitlyn's life. For now, at least, she's content to take his words at face value.]

It's a little hard to explain. Before, I'd never really considered what it was like. It just... was?

[The words are picked carefully. There's a slowness to her speech that says she's having to think things through as she voices them. Because it's not something Caitlyn's really had to think about before here. Before now it's just been how things were and there was nothing to be done about it.]

All my life that Duty has just been there. No matter what I did or said, it's always been in the background. An invevitablity?

[That background has been wiped clean so to speak. Leaving Caitlyn to realize just how much it actually had been stifling.]

And now it's gone. It's strange, but not unpleasant. [A moment's hesitation and then a soft smile.] So I suppose yes, it has been quite stifling.

[techmaturgy]

[He offers a little exhale through his nose, indicating vague disagreement but otherwise uninterested in arguing the point.]

Well, when you’re raised in it, I imagine it’s difficult to see beyond, until you choose to.

[That’s more of a commentary on the state of Piltover than anything else. Her (and Jayce’s) ignorance regarding the Undercity wasn’t necessarily there fault, but it’s undeniable that they both benefited from the system in place. Perhaps he can commend her, for trying to break away from her mother’s expectations, though he doesn’t exactly hold Enforcers in high esteem, either.

He can, at least, sympathize with society expecting you to fulfill a certain role. Not allowing you to grow beyond it, and having to reach out and seize any opportunity to break free.]

What will you do now?

[She hasn’t made any moves to join the military, since arriving here, which he might find slightly relieving—though it does beg the question of what she wants to do, now that Duty has been lifted.]

[preferscuffs]

Sometimes it's not about choose to see. Sometimes it's about not knowing there's the option to see at all.

[And she'll let it drop there. Honestly, she's not exactly the most argumentative sort either. And even if she was, right here and now? Isn't a place she'd be in the mood to argue.

At his question she pauses, takes her time. It's... still something she's deciding honestly.]

Help with the rebuilding effort for now. In the long term? I'm not sure.

[Not joining the military that's for certain. But beyond that? It's really hard to say. The options are almost too great. It's hard to even narrow down where to begin. Which is why, for now, helping with Libertas seems like the most prudent course of action.]

[techmaturgy]

[Asking Caitlyn about her plans is a good distraction from thinking about his own. Suddenly having a "rest of his life" to consider has been a bit overwhelming, so he's more than content to keep the conversation pointed away from him, for now.]

They're building a memorial. I plan to go as soon as I'm well enough.

[Which will be soon, considering. He owes it to Alucard, too, to see his work once it's finished.]

You could always keep helping us in the workshop, though I don't want you to feel obligated.

[preferscuffs]

[Even if she knew that was his goal, Caitlyn wouldn't have objected. It's good to have someone to talk to about this. A way to start thinking some of it over outside of the echo chamber that is her own mind.]

Yes. To move on, but never forget. A noble sentiment. And a good place to visit.

[Feels like in a way that describes much more than what went on in Libertas somehow.]

It's no obligation. I've always enjoyed helping Jayce. But I'll never have the aptitude for it that the two of you do.

[Plus it's something that feels familiar. With how strange and new everything still was to a certain extent. It's nice.]

But I'm afraid it'll never be my calling the way it is for you both.

[What is? That... she can't say.]

[techmaturgy]

Sorry. That’s very personal. You don’t have to answer.

[It’s perhaps too intimate a question anyway, one that he’s not even sure he knows the answer to, after all this. His entire world has been upended literally overnight, and though of course it’s freeing to know he has all of the time that he wants, figuring out what he wants to do with it is another matter.]

I’m still figuring it out myself, to be honest.

[preferscuffs]

Personal questions are important when you really want to get to know someone. We can't focus on the trivialities forever.

[Which, given their positions in each other's lives would be a strange thing to choose.]

The important thing is you have the time and ability to choose now. There's really no need to rush. Not for either of us.

[Their situations might, overall, be different, but there's enough of a similarity that Caitlyn can kind of understand how he might be feeling about the whole thing. Neither one of them had ever really thought they'd have much of a choice before now, for one reason or another.]