mehanizovati: (43)
Viktor ([personal profile] mehanizovati) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2022-05-27 01:20 pm

june catch-all

Who: viktor and others, open to all with some closed prompts in comments
What: june catch-all, some tdm prompts
When: june
Where: various

content warning; terminal illness, arcane season 1 spoilers



misc lab stuff and various fruits.

[viktor's lab in the willful machine is usually left unlocked when he's working inside. friends or acquaintances have likely been told they're welcome to stop by if they like, either to say hello or to get help with whatever a vaguely sketchy lab could handle. of course someone he doesn't know can just walk in too or knock. maybe there's a sudden downpour and that ajar door is tempting? go for it.

the lab has been slowly filling with all sorts of nonsense on the various tables- lasers! tasers! some weird machine hooked up to a blood gem? it is not unlikely to be walking by and hear some minor booming noise and either a curse in czech or a satisfied 'a-ha!' feel free to investigate.

this month there's something else too, a bowl full of fruit. all the fruits mentioned in the tdm in fact, there to be tested on though it looks more like they're just for guests if people are unaware there's some weird shit going on.]


Just a moment, make yourself at home. [he might say to guest. that would include eating some fruit, right? enjoy. probably not the raw lemon though, that's weird.]

[ooc; if you want to memshare i am game, my only hard limit on memories is no suicide stuff please. self sacrifice is fine! feel free to ask to make sure one is okay. if you'd like a viktor memory let me know any hard limits and what sort of memory you might prefer!]



gaze and time loops.

[having lungs mostly working for the moment is pretty great, in viktor's humble opinion. it means walking around the trench doesn't come with the risk of coughing up blood and attracting beasts and generally having a bad time, along with added perks like not getting so easily winded and going for longer. it also means he finds himself out longer than he usually would, which maybe isn't the best, as it turns out.

for example, making his way home through gaze and hearing the chilling cry of a beast, sighing and trying to make his way around what turns out to be the wrong corner. maybe that's where he sees your character before the snarling of a too close beast starts in earnest.

and then snap! they're both back about an hour, where they passed on the street. the look viktor gives is somewhere between resigned and 'fuck this, actually.']
There is a term for this. 'One of those days,' I think.



[ooc; if you'd like to wildcard or do something else you can pm me here or find me at [plurk.com profile] dichotomy]
megatheorem: (101)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Yes, the ideal scenario would be the ghosts politely excuse themselves for an hour or forever, and they can go to town on this lumpy couch and not have to think about making peace with trauma just this once. Just one time!

Alas. Viktor's hands are another instant relief of that tension Palamedes has been studiously ignoring while on his own, the comfort and (comparative, since there are ghosts in the room) safety of physical contact, like this. 'I have a thing,' he'd said ages ago, sobbing on the floor, and it feels great to have it confirmed that the thing has not, in fact, conveniently gone away. At least he isn't crying this time, exhausted as he is by Cytherea's presence.

So. The much-welcomed cuddle is a pretty big deciding factor in how he handles the rest of this ghost evening, thanks.]


No, I know; I'm not asking you to go anywhere. But.

[But. Cytherea is the 'but,' of course. Not that he expects her to have a particular grudge against him, despite all odds; she didn't care enough about any of their lives to single them out personally in the first place. They were simply in the way, and so why should the afterimage of her loitering in Viktor's new study give a damn about either of them now?

Said ghost studies her nails for a moment, scoffing - audibly! - as if she's fully aware of Palamedes' thoughts, which considering she's most certainly a creation of his own psyche, she must be. Then she looks at them both, and when she speaks, her voice comes out as some unholy mix of Palamedes' and her own, soft and whimsical in the exact tones of someone putting on an act:

'You're going to die spewing your own lungs out of your nostrils, having failed at the finish line because you couldn't help but prattle about why you killed innocent people, as though your reasons were interesting...'

And that makes Palamedes' exhaustion sharpen to a much more furious point, although he makes no immediate move to pick himself up off Viktor's shoulder. He's not feeling very peaceful, as it happens.]
megatheorem: (105)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
[I won't do anything rash, says local man, moments before suggesting they start punching ghosts. Palamedes can't help but laugh, a short bark of a sound that he turns his head to bury in Viktor's shoulder before he does something rash to Cytherea's ghost over there. If he's here, holding onto Viktor close enough that he can feel the vibration of his voice and has that presence to anchor to, physically— then he isn't back in that goddamn room, standing there saying those words to Cytherea the first time.

First,]
I love you and I appreciate the thought, but you'd have to get up, and I'm not letting you do that.

[Thanks for staying here on the unsettled couch, he's very grateful. Cytherea, for her part, sighs and considers her nails again, as if having lost interest in the pair of them already.

Palamedes is quiet for a moment, pressing his anger down into something manageable and even before he speaks again.]


I didn't know her name until I was here; I could have gone my whole life without having to learn anything about her that might have made her seem like— like a person.

['Yes,' she pipes up then, bored, and the way Palamedes grinds his teeth through the rest proves it to be another recitation of past words, although without the overlaid edge of his own voice this time, 'but this wasn't really about any of you. Not personally.'

A beat.]


I think I'm being called a hypocrite. Do you think I'm being called a hypocrite?
megatheorem: (185)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
[Mm, a good reminder; Palamedes relaxes into him that much more, only an iota, but it's something. Better this than listening to Cytherea go through their greatest hits alone someplace, after all.

Viktor says he is not a hypocrite, which is nice, but Palamedes' bitterness instead supplies:]
Would it matter? This city can't possibly ride me for hypocrisy, of all things— I won't apologize to a murderer for not knowing her name.

[So like, fuck this town, actually! Fuck this town and fuck Cytherea, who titters airily at them from her table perch and continues not to disappear.]

Well, all I'm saying is, if the goal of this challenge is to make me apologize for anything I've done, I disagree. I won't do it.

[He dares a look over at Cytherea again, for this one, to see if she's going to spring into violence at his refusal; she does not.

So that's a twist. Despite his commitment, Palamedes' steely resolve - falters, somewhat. Uh, what is option two, then...]


Okay. It's lost me. You try, with yours.
megatheorem: (211)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
[There's a good point in there, Palamedes thinks - and in any circumstance besides dealing with Cytherea, he just might feel troubled about not feeling troubled. There would be valid concerns to evaluate if he felt nothing, although in his defense - it isn't nothing that he feels when he looks at her, when her words and vile behaviors crawl their way up into his conscious thoughts.

Just in case the city needs to hear it, he says, bluntly:]
I'll hurt her again if I have to and sleep like a baby about it tonight. I won't apologize for that.

[He has a short checklist for what will inspire him to do violence, he'd told Anna, 'it's personal' chief among the reasons there. He's already exercised patience to see if she'll leave; it's lingering concern that she'll lash out at Viktor that stymies his maybe-violence now.

So fuck her, how about this drug man. Hmm. Palamedes smooths his thumb over Viktor's sympathetically, watching Singed ignore them for notes. Hmm...]


What does he want from you, then? Are we both hypocrites in the eyes of the morally questionable? This is going to be a long night if our guests don't realize they're in the wrong.
megatheorem: (023)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
[See, kissing him is only going to encourage him to keep saying things like that in front of ghosts who could get violent at any moment. Palamedes is just deep enough in his bitterness that he's just barely surprised, leaning into the kiss with a rush of renewed excitement, like oh, yes - this is the worthwhile thing, not whatever is happening with her.

It makes it some kind of ironic when Viktor's ghostly visitor says what he says at that precise moment, leaving Palamedes rolling his eyes. Are love and legacy not parts of progress? Do they not motivate progress, more often than not? He's not going to get into it with a ghost, not yet.

Like, maybe. He's not working on how to make and install artificial lungs for the pure academic joy of it, after all. He winds his arm around Viktor's waist and watches Singed move around the room suspiciously, like, come and try something, old man.]


Changing your mind is worthy of a haunting, now?

[Dryly, he says it, like that's ridiculous, but ah - fuck, if that's true, then every time he's gotten in his head about how much he hates the Emperor and wondered if maybe Cytherea's rage, if not her methods, was understandable...

Hmm nope, he's setting that aside for now. Watching Singed, yes, that's the activity.]


This could just be simple harassment. God knows sooner or later there won't be any earth-shattering moments of personal growth left to have, but then what would the city do with us? Leave us alone? We should be so fortunate.
megatheorem: (185)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
If it's that simple, I should be haunted by another one of you, except one who keeps trying to feed me spicier and spicier foods.

[Ha ha. It's fine enough like this that he can make jokes about it, so there's that; Viktor is on his mind more often than Cytherea, so that theory isn't entirely great, either. They're swinging and missing quite a lot right now, so—]

Wh—

[So what the fuck, how did that ghost get over there that quickly, and what is he talking about now? Palamedes grabs for Viktor with one hand to keep him on the couch, they don't need any slapstick injuries from this ghost incident, and he thinks for some reason that if he's holding onto Viktor, the ghosts just simply cannot touch him, so—! Holding onto Viktor it is, at a somewhat uncomfortable angle, as he leans the opposite way himself to reach with his other hand and grab—

The blanket. The one he brought in to stay the night. He grabs the edge of it now and throws it up without really thinking about it, right up at ghost Singed's face making horrible sounds. Pro tier defensive maneuvers...]
megatheorem: (036)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, ten points for the blanket attack, at the very least. Palamedes lets Viktor pull him off the couch easily, staring at the spot where Singed stood as he fumbles back to his feet. It takes him a moment to blink himself out of the adrenaline spike and ease into Viktor's hold, lifting both hands to cup his face as he looks away from the couch to Viktor, properly.

Hey so, what the fuck? That was marginally more shocking than Cytherea borrowing his voice, all things considered. Yikes. They remain untouched, so-]


Well, it's clearly a game we have to win, so how do we do that? I'm already out of blankets.

[Some levity? Barely. In the commotion, Cytherea has left her perch to go over to a chalkboard, where she's begun to write a list of very particular steps, beginning with Step One: Preserve the soul...

They cannot have nice things with two ghosts mucking around in here at once; Palamedes staunchly ignores Cytherea's list to look around for Singed, instead.]
megatheorem: (073)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-20 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, if only Allen were here and actually the correct kind of exorcist, huh— Palamedes drops his hands to Viktor's shoulders, ready to yank him close and dash out of the way again if either of these ghosts go in for another horror loom. Cytherea's writing - he staunchly does not tell Viktor what that is, for both their sakes - is a dramatic upswing in her usual activity despite just being writing; he wonders if the two ghosts are feeding off each other, somehow. Someone could study this, if they weren't actively being haunted—

Ah, and then Singed physically walks through them, and Palamedes' world lurches into something else, a sight he can't make sense of until abruptly he can and the realization curls sick in his stomach. Psychometry is one thing, he knows how to handle the ghost within the thing perfectly well, but this is something else entirely; the assault on his senses of sights and sounds and feelings that aren't his, that he doesn't want. It's that hollow satisfaction that's the most cloying, the thing that seeps the most insistently past his usual defenses, and he's struck by the abrupt fear that if he doesn't get out of this vision, the emptiness is going to be stuck in him for who knows how long—

—And then it stops, and his awareness comes back up to reality as if from underwater, and Viktor is talking; Palamedes squeezes his shoulders and anchors himself to it, the sound of his voice if not the words. It's probably obvious at a glance that he's had a slightly different experience just now, ah-]


What did he— What do you want me to try?

[Please give him a task so he can think about something other than screaming and glassy eyes and the kind of man that could inflict that kind of suffering and feel such clinical, detached pride; anything will do. His fingers twitch - will he need to bleed real quick, just wondering - and over Viktor's shoulder he can see Cytherea continuing her list, somewhere around step four now of how to pin a soul and eat it correctly, and so he snaps at her:]

Oh, fuck off, that's your mistake, not mine.
megatheorem: (nerd headache)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-22 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
[Beakers! Now there are beakers flying around! Palamedes still ducks, gaze darting between Singed and Cytherea and then Viktor's busiest desk beyond. For notes, alright-]

Alright; I can only get you half the room.

[So let's hope this is the correct half with the right notes in it to solve at least one of their problems, he doesn't add; it seems too obvious. He tugs Viktor back with him, closer to the desks and to Cytherea, unfortunately, but she's done nothing but write sick directions on chalkboards so far, so if he had to pick a ghost...

The real world still doesn't feel entirely - there, almost, there's a very swimmy quality to things left over from that vision, but Palamedes is aware enough to throw up a ward that spans from one wall to the other. It's the same kind as his classic first meeting ward, the kind that is markedly not going to hold if he breaks his concentration. Still: it's something between Singed flinging books (what the fuck) and the two of them, and he still has the presence of mind to scoot with Viktor over to the desks before the blood sweat starts to break out.]


Well— [please go fast xoxo] Here's time.
megatheorem: (281)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-22 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Holding up a ward that's actively being attacked by jars and sharp things is - easier than it looks, actually, but that doesn't make it easy overall. Palamedes is, after all, bleeding from more pores than is frankly comfortable; but it could be worse. For example, the ghosts could attack the ward themselves rather than Singed just throwing things at it with ghost magic; not that Palamedes knows what happens to Trench-brand ghosts against this kind of ward, but slamming one breed of thanergy against another is probably painful!

So, he's doing his best. He's holding it up, and manages with effort to fish a scalpel out of a pocket of his cloak - which he is only now noticing he never managed to take off, thanks ghosts for the distraction - and hold it out for Viktor.

Now Viktor wants to endorse bleeding, etc etc, got 'em... He'll save it for later.]


And then? —Why does he throw more things at me than at you? Not the point; what's next?
megatheorem: (263)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-22 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh, that's his blood sweat, cool. Palamedes trusts Viktor to know what he's doing, mostly focusing on the ward— he can't help but be curious about whatever this ritual is, much as it turns out to be underwhelming, as actions go.

Still, the few seconds Singed is touching the ward are uncomfortable, in a way Palamedes can't explain; the ward is thanergy held up and made tangible, not any piece of himself. He reasons that Singed walking through them earlier is a good enough explanation as any for why he feels something off now, and then— there he goes.

Palamedes' gaze darts to Cytherea as Viktor smudges his head, and she simply watches. In the moment before she too disappears she tosses the chalk at the two of them with almost whimsical laxness; it rolls toward their feet and stops, and then she's gone. Palamedes glances up, past where she was, and says,]
Great.

[But he does drop the ward now, after an extra moment to be sure they're really gone. He's bloody and tired, reaching for Viktor to check him for any errant injuries from those first object throws. Cytherea's writing has all but exploded: the lyctorhood steps still sit in the center on the board, while 'YOU LIED TO US' is scrawled in increasingly erratic sizes all around it on the wall behind.

Well, her drama has to wait.]


Are you alright?
megatheorem: (076)

[personal profile] megatheorem 2022-06-22 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Please, save that sleeve, he can use his cloak for the rest of the blood sweat. He does that hastily, pushing his glasses up and askew in the process and humming irritably behind the fabric. Yes, they definitely fed off each other, what a lovely thing to add to the notes—]

They must have, [he says, half-muffled, oop] But that ritual of yours is handy. Who figured that out?

[He says all of this... into the cloak as he wipes his face and neck free of blood sweat... it's fine. Being kissed as soon as he puts the cloak down is a welcome non-answer to the important ritual lore questions and he leans into it like a drowning man. Good— they're good. Yet again, against all odds, they're good.

So, hm. He comes over to the desk and turns to lean back against it, tsking at the mess of broken glass and books and shiny orbs tossed all over just one half of the room. Weird vibe.]


I saw— something, when he touched us before. His memory? And his state of mind back then drew me in; I couldn't do anything but wait.

[Anyway, completely unrelated question,] Where's Rio?

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