[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]

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.

[techmaturgy]

That's what I told myself. Maybe if I had a decade more.

[He laughs at that--he has it now, but home is impossibly far away, and on the brink of war, just like this place. Viktor wants to tell himself that the arc of scientific innovation bends towards societal improvement, but he's less naïve now. Too often warmaking and weaponry comes first. It limits him in the same way that politics and economics had.]

The Council was mostly interested in the economic applications of Hextech. We built the gates--near-instantaneous airship travel--and they would have been content with that, and nothing else. Imagine, the sheer possibility of it, and they couldn't see past the lining of their own pockets.

[cryptsleeper]

That's...what humans do, isn't it?

[Alucard realizes it isn't the most impressive or even thoughtful observation. But he sits between two worlds so often that it is nice to say the stupid, simple things out loud.]

They care about their own well being and advancements. Whatever keeps one comfortable, or moving forward towards a goal.

I'm sorry they limited the scope of the work.

[techmaturgy]

For better or worse, yes.

[If Viktor could have excise that particular brand of selfishness and short-sightedness from the Piltovan elite, he certainly would have done so. Instead, he tried to work within the parameters, hoping he could get a foot in the door with something financially beneficial to them, moving on to his humanitarian work once he'd proved it viable. He'd underestimated the lengths to which people will go to maintain the status quo, even in the face of a scientific miracle.

The sentiment behind the apology is welcome, though he knows now that there wasn't anything he could have done. Viktor gestures vaguely into the air.]

It's all gone now, anyway. I've proven it works here, but it's still more of the same.

[Waiting, hoping that his work won't be immediately weaponized.]

[cryptsleeper]

I've been thinking about that part. [Since he got Viktor's note.]

It stands to reason that if anything is extrapolated, then yourself and Jayce should be able to wreck it all. They're still building off of your work. Work you know and can modify in ways they will never think to. It is a built in fail safe, and I expect that it will be impossible to obscure all parts that are native to your world.

[Cheery, Adrian. Very cheery.]

Did you have any allies, when you were trying to work in the system? Besides Jayce, obviously.

[techmaturgy]

That's the hope.

[Though he doesn't sound wholly encouraged. Call him a pessimist, but Viktor thinks a healthy dose of realism when it comes to wartime circumstances will serve him better. He made mistakes, back home, thanks to his own naivety. He won't do it again.]

Jayce was increasingly occupied, back home.

[That's a bit painful to admit, but there's no reason not to sugarcoat it. He'd taken up a Council seat, and that had pulled him away from the lab.]

It wasn't his fault. But it did make things...difficult.

[cryptsleeper]

I'm not opposed to going over the top with destruction. If need be.

[Will it be a risk? Probably. Has Alucard done worse? Absolutely.]

There was no one else?

[Alucard can see Jayce becoming all too easily sidetracked. That doesn't surprise him. But Viktor being that alone is...he's projecting is what he's doing. Alucard knows he can't be in full isolation, and can reasonably assume that's true for Viktor.]

[techmaturgy]

We've burned most of it.

[But, Alucard's right in that if Viktor needs an extra level of destruction, he has resources to call on. The tone of his voice, however, indicates that he perhaps wavered on the actual destruction. Probably a good thing, then, that Jayce and Alucard are here to make executive decisions.

This, then, is the most uncomfortable part of talking about home, simply because it's difficult to explain. He and Jayce are inseparable here. It's hard to paint a picture of the reality, back in Piltover, which is that Jayce was busy with the Council and politics and Viktor was alone.]

No, not for the work I was trying to do.

[cryptsleeper]

Only most?

[Alucard's question puts his thoughts on full and painfully obvious display. He'll abide by Viktor's choice, but he knows what the most correct thing is here, in his heart. It all needs to burn.

There's a soft sigh. One that understands how something could happen, even if Alucard would have been in Piltover and ensconced in money if he was from Viktor's world.]

I'm just glad it has worked better here. Truly.

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor shrugs, preferring not to say much more. It's his life's work--he can't possibly let all of it burn. He's well aware that both Jayce and Alucard think otherwise, so he isn't going to invite that argument, if he can help it. They're very fortunate they were able to pull off what they did--he isn't planning on trying his luck a second time.]

As am I. Obviously. [He gets to live now!] Maybe, someday, the time will be right.

[Peace, however, seems to be an ever-unreachable achievement.]

[cryptsleeper]

You'll live to see it.

[A blessing, a benediction, a prediction, or a hope. Whatever it is, it feels right in the moment. Alucard sighs, content. Relaxed. His breath fogs in front of him, and a gentle flurry of snow descends over the forest again.]