[Closed] Leave your tranquilizers at home

[theorems]

WHO: Viktor, Caitlyn, and Jayce
WHAT: Just a casual meet up, definitely nothing dramatic
WHERE: Godsblood
WHEN: Backdated to Viktor's arrival (Aug 9th)
WARNINGS: None so far

Viktor mindlessly touches the shard embedded into his skin, evenly placed at the center of his collarbone. Although clothed now, his naked form held hidden no secrets from Caitlyn as she discovered him, shivering and alone in the Seeker shrine. He can’t refute what she’s already seen- the sinew-like purple strips covering his leg and hand, and then the scars of magical symbols cut into his skin, only barely healed over. He knows what he looks like- an experiment gone wrong.

Along with the circumstances of their new reality… it would be an act of foolishness to cling to denial. He’s going to have to explain at least most of what he’s done. Whether or not he can bring himself to be honest about Sky is a matter he’ll have to decide once Jayce is in the picture as well. For now, it is just the two of them during their travel from the Pleroma lodestone to Godsblood proper, where Jayce is. Viktor promised her he would explain as much as she wanted, just don’t make him do it twice.

He's not going to speak up just yet. The shame being caught in a lie is bad enough.

Comments

[superbshot]

"...That was my last recollection at home."

Hell's bells, she had no idea how close she was from Viktor initially, but that was an eventful night. One she doesn't want to bring up with Jayce just yet.

She casts a quizzical look at Jayce.

"Other than transmuting your body, what other effects did it have?"

[deushexmachina]

A knot woven tightly in Jayce's stomach collapses into itself, an imploding black hole. A montage reels before his mind's eye—tearing of skin, the crack of bones reforged, the terror Viktor faced alone—he nearly doubles-over. Hand on Viktor's shoulder, Jayce looks him in the eye.

"I wasn't there." Spoken thickly on his tongue, a damnation of self. "I wasn't there, was I? Busy with Council crap."

Acidic against his teeth.

"Which formula?" As if he could solve it now; Viktor's calculations had always been so precise.

[theorems]

A bright flash of purple-white and she's dust in his hands, her fractured glasses scattered on the floor. How is it that they remained, while nothing else...

Viktor's eyes go hard. Unreadable, even to Jayce. He's not ready to talk about that part yet.

"For the best that you weren't." Jayce's hand is heavy on his shoulder, but he's grateful for that solid weight. The horrific image appears too quickly in his mind, of what it would look like for Jayce to be torn apart like that, to fall to dust—

"It was not the formula alone that did this. The Hexcore needed substances to complete the transmutation. A mixture of my blood and..." He doesn't feel guilty about this. He doesn't. He needed to do it, to survive.

The word comes out quieter than he intended anyway.

"Shimmer."

[superbshot]

Caitlyn's eyes widen with surprise, her mind spinning with the implications. She knew Viktor was sick, but if he'd done something with Shimmer...? Well, she really, really can't cast stones, given that she'd dosed Vi with it, but there was something Viktor wasn't saying. She could sense it in the air, a tension in the man, but all she managed to say was...

"...It...helped, then?"

Hopefully? There's no judgement in her voice at least, just curiosity and concern.

[deushexmachina]

"Shimmer?" The word like a hollow point beneath his teeth. "Viktor—that's dangerous!"

He always reverted to stating the obvious when anxious, desperate. Facts were obvious, and facts were foundational. He needed parameters before he could analyze the data.

"You're lucky you've come out of that alive," how could Jayce know the other side of his words, "you're—you—the probability alone!"

[theorems]

While Caitlyn carefully kept the judgement out of her voice, Jayce managed to carry all of it himself. Viktor's eyes narrow, the still purple bags feel even heavier, the exhaustion he regularly feels making itself known in full force as he realizes this is going to have to be yet another argument. Yet another time he has to defend himself.

"Yes," he says quickly, jerking Jayce's hand off his shoulder. What he had been so grateful for a few seconds ago now feels like a restraint. The sharpness not intended for Caitlyn even though he looks at her when those words leave his lips.

"Yes." Those still piercing eyes slide over to meet Jayce's now. "It helped."

He lived. Sky died, but he lived. Is he grateful for that? Or does he just not want her unintentional sacrifice to be in vain?

This is about the time he'd try and escape the conversation- it's that, or let it escalate into an argument. Only problem is he doesn't know the way out of here, so he looks to Caitlyn again, lips thinly pressed together. Maybe she'll read his mind, his pride too stubborn to let him ask out loud how to leave.

[superbshot]

Caitlyn definitely has enough emotional intelligence to know that Viktor needs an escape. She stands up straighter, stepping in to offer the slender man a hand up, if he needs it. She doesn't really know (or care) what happened to make this sudden tension flare up like that.

"Well, we know now. And you're okay. So we need to get you topside, and explain what's going on."

She gives Jayce a look, eyes glittering with a light that clearly is meant to convey the phrase Don't push this, Talis.

"Where would be best to start?"

[deushexmachina]

He looks to Caitlyn, eyes wide and lips parted. The backlash from Viktor takes Jayce by surprise; he still digests the risk, the implicit agony, the tremble of a secondary loss.

But she delivers that look to him, and he closes his mouth, he sighs.

"The whole situation with the Regent, I guess?" He's unenthused.

[theorems]

He knows he had a strong reaction, maybe too strong to be appropriate. He needs to reel it in, and he feels himself instinctively hunching a little, as he does when he's receding a bit into himself. He won't take Caitlyn's hand- habit, to not depend on others for assistance- but won't pull away if either of them touch him again, as he gets to his feet himself. His limp is significantly less pronounced, but not entirely gone.

"Any information would be helpful." A concession, softly-spoken. A glance to Jayce, an unspoken apology. Sorry. I just can't tell you yet.