Viktor (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mehanizovati) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2022-03-31 12:24 pm
mehanizovati) wrote in deercountry2022-03-31 12:24 pm
april catch - all
Who: viktor and others, open to all with some closed prompts
What: some late march/early april logs, including some tdm stuff. i'm happy to attach something else on if anyone's interest in doing something specific
When: late march through april
Where: various
content warning; terminal illness, arcane season 1 spoilers, likely game typical beast gore/body horror, potentially ableism mentioned, claustrophobic imagery
open prompts.
fishers of dreams - the lighthouse, early april (tdm)
a. while awake
[if you've been roped into this lighthouse business too you may enter to find a man already there. he seems vaguely disgruntled by the business, offers vague greetings but otherwise sticks to scribbling in his notebook. it looks like schematics and formulae, but anyone with an eye for either might notice they tend to trail off and start in odd bursts.
viktor will offer to cook when evening falls (or whatever seems to be the right mealtime in this place) so maybe that is a better time to strike up conversation. the smell coming from the kitchen is heavy on whatever spices the place stocks, promising pain to anyone who doesn't have the stomach for that sort of thing. worse if he finds the rotgut liquor tucked away, which he will pull out and offer despite smelling more like turpentine than anything edible.
these tricks of the eye though, flashes of people vaguely recognizable, he chalks it up more hallucinations. last month was mushrooms, so this? irritating, far more distracting, but it followed the pattern.
it isn't until later in all this he'll track whoever is with him down.] Did you see someone else come through? There, just up the stairs.
b. nightmare
[trying to reach the odd lighthouses is fruitless, the shadows converge and when the dark clears the area seems more closed in than before. it shouldn't be, he was just outside on the shore, yet now the dark sky seems to hang too low, lower still, suffocating.]
What now? This is another illusion of sorts, is it not? One this place is so fond of. [viktor sounds more irritated than anything, maybe defensive since the grip his has on his crutch is white-knuckle tight. in the distance seems to be a lighthouse, though the light is far and the area is so stifling, promising a tunnel that will close and snuff out the light entirely.
it's ridiculous of course, the walls are not that close, certainly not enough for this suffocating grip on the lungs and throat. there's no real explanation, less so when a few steps forward and the ground begins to dot with great metal cables, the distinct, sickly sweet smell of chemicals in the air. there are pools between them where the ocean should have been, this time shallow spills of what could be gasoline or something similar, slick rainbow puddles, oily and difficult to walk through without slipping or sinking.]
(ooc; for this one please, feel free to add your own character's nightmare in any flavor at any point!)
odds and ends - willful machine, early april
[viktor can be found around the vendors often enough, especially those specializing in scrap metal, tools or small machinery. for the most part he doesn't stick out, except for the fact often his massive omen often accompanies him, some sort of huge pink salamander/axolotl that he'll lean against or ask rather politely to help carry larger purchases.
he doesn't seem to notice or care about any attention, though the creature will blink curiously around. feel free to approach or find him haggling rather intently for such a stick of a man, accent thickening when it gets heated enough. maybe you want the same scrap? or are looking for something and he's standing nearby enough to notice a lost look and offers assistance?]
[one might also find him about by the sound of a nasty coughing fit. he stands with his back curled, a rag to his mouth as a makeshift handkerchief. it's a wet cough that shakes his entire frame, and when it's over his sniffs and clears his throat, straightening.
the cloth is stained in a pale color that catches the perpetual moonlight of april. paleblood, that he regards for a moment before folding the cloth in on itself with a small frown.]
closed prompts.
jinx - willful machine, late march
[viktor doesn't stay by the lamp exactly. he would usually but he hardly sees the point when this person he's meeting knows him by sight as far as he can tell. it leaves him feeling comfortable to wander within eyeshot mostly of the lantern, strolling down the canal docks to find a place to stand and watch the boats cut slowly through the water.
he likes it here, he thinks, in this district. the noise and foot traffic, the winding canals and dirty water, the boats bobbing to and fro - it wouldn't be a bad place to set up. a lab that will double as his home because he doesn't see the point in separating the two any longer, even if he can practically hear heimendinger's tutting about his work-life balance in his ear. it will be closer to the vendors, less of a hike to acquire what he'll need to start fresh. first a new brace for his leg and back, then some basic experiments into lunar energy to get a feel for it.
his lungs flare and burn, minor enough he manages to swallow it down without reaching for the rag in his pocket. he makes a note of the severity and timing, adds it to his growing mental list that seems to indicate his illness does indeed remain but is diminished. promising, if he's being optimistic, but at the moment he feels only a sense of irritation that now he doesn't know the timeline of his own life. one he might be shortening drastically with this ridiculous stunt.
a sigh and viktor goes back to watching the boats, trying to clear his head. he considers trying to message vi and ask her opinion of this but... no, he doubts he'll get anything. he's not sure if he disgusts her as a class traitor or amuses her in truth. better to just see for himself what he's gotten himself into like a fool.]
allen - willful machine, early april
[the 'grand tour' doesn't amount to much yet, the lab area just a large, empty space dotted with a few tables and a couple of desks, not even a chalkboard he's been keeping an eye out for or something that could do the same. one of the desks at least is littered with junk, at the moment tools and the starts of a knee brace, a table nearby with all the scrap he's managed to grab that could be useful in the future. one corner has a cot, maybe he'll clear out whatever other small rooms the place has later for a bedroom proper. maybe not.
viktor seems satisfied with it as he gestures around, and rio has commandeered one of the tables for her own to lie across.] A solid start, I think. I like this area, this eh... Willful Machine, that is.
[he'll never admit part of it is the boats. everyone's allowed a sort of childish interest, right? they're soothing, even if they lack the motors that fascinated him.] Have a seat, if you'd like. How have you been since the tombs?
wildcard.
[as i said, feel free to ask for anything else, including other tdm prompts, i am more interested in seeing the worlds built by others for the archway prompts so i didn't include any here. my plurk is![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
dichotomy or you can dm me here!]
What: some late march/early april logs, including some tdm stuff. i'm happy to attach something else on if anyone's interest in doing something specific
When: late march through april
Where: various
content warning; terminal illness, arcane season 1 spoilers, likely game typical beast gore/body horror, potentially ableism mentioned, claustrophobic imagery
open prompts.
fishers of dreams - the lighthouse, early april (tdm)
a. while awake
[if you've been roped into this lighthouse business too you may enter to find a man already there. he seems vaguely disgruntled by the business, offers vague greetings but otherwise sticks to scribbling in his notebook. it looks like schematics and formulae, but anyone with an eye for either might notice they tend to trail off and start in odd bursts.
viktor will offer to cook when evening falls (or whatever seems to be the right mealtime in this place) so maybe that is a better time to strike up conversation. the smell coming from the kitchen is heavy on whatever spices the place stocks, promising pain to anyone who doesn't have the stomach for that sort of thing. worse if he finds the rotgut liquor tucked away, which he will pull out and offer despite smelling more like turpentine than anything edible.
these tricks of the eye though, flashes of people vaguely recognizable, he chalks it up more hallucinations. last month was mushrooms, so this? irritating, far more distracting, but it followed the pattern.
it isn't until later in all this he'll track whoever is with him down.] Did you see someone else come through? There, just up the stairs.
b. nightmare
[trying to reach the odd lighthouses is fruitless, the shadows converge and when the dark clears the area seems more closed in than before. it shouldn't be, he was just outside on the shore, yet now the dark sky seems to hang too low, lower still, suffocating.]
What now? This is another illusion of sorts, is it not? One this place is so fond of. [viktor sounds more irritated than anything, maybe defensive since the grip his has on his crutch is white-knuckle tight. in the distance seems to be a lighthouse, though the light is far and the area is so stifling, promising a tunnel that will close and snuff out the light entirely.
it's ridiculous of course, the walls are not that close, certainly not enough for this suffocating grip on the lungs and throat. there's no real explanation, less so when a few steps forward and the ground begins to dot with great metal cables, the distinct, sickly sweet smell of chemicals in the air. there are pools between them where the ocean should have been, this time shallow spills of what could be gasoline or something similar, slick rainbow puddles, oily and difficult to walk through without slipping or sinking.]
(ooc; for this one please, feel free to add your own character's nightmare in any flavor at any point!)
odds and ends - willful machine, early april
[viktor can be found around the vendors often enough, especially those specializing in scrap metal, tools or small machinery. for the most part he doesn't stick out, except for the fact often his massive omen often accompanies him, some sort of huge pink salamander/axolotl that he'll lean against or ask rather politely to help carry larger purchases.
he doesn't seem to notice or care about any attention, though the creature will blink curiously around. feel free to approach or find him haggling rather intently for such a stick of a man, accent thickening when it gets heated enough. maybe you want the same scrap? or are looking for something and he's standing nearby enough to notice a lost look and offers assistance?]
[one might also find him about by the sound of a nasty coughing fit. he stands with his back curled, a rag to his mouth as a makeshift handkerchief. it's a wet cough that shakes his entire frame, and when it's over his sniffs and clears his throat, straightening.
the cloth is stained in a pale color that catches the perpetual moonlight of april. paleblood, that he regards for a moment before folding the cloth in on itself with a small frown.]
closed prompts.
jinx - willful machine, late march
[viktor doesn't stay by the lamp exactly. he would usually but he hardly sees the point when this person he's meeting knows him by sight as far as he can tell. it leaves him feeling comfortable to wander within eyeshot mostly of the lantern, strolling down the canal docks to find a place to stand and watch the boats cut slowly through the water.
he likes it here, he thinks, in this district. the noise and foot traffic, the winding canals and dirty water, the boats bobbing to and fro - it wouldn't be a bad place to set up. a lab that will double as his home because he doesn't see the point in separating the two any longer, even if he can practically hear heimendinger's tutting about his work-life balance in his ear. it will be closer to the vendors, less of a hike to acquire what he'll need to start fresh. first a new brace for his leg and back, then some basic experiments into lunar energy to get a feel for it.
his lungs flare and burn, minor enough he manages to swallow it down without reaching for the rag in his pocket. he makes a note of the severity and timing, adds it to his growing mental list that seems to indicate his illness does indeed remain but is diminished. promising, if he's being optimistic, but at the moment he feels only a sense of irritation that now he doesn't know the timeline of his own life. one he might be shortening drastically with this ridiculous stunt.
a sigh and viktor goes back to watching the boats, trying to clear his head. he considers trying to message vi and ask her opinion of this but... no, he doubts he'll get anything. he's not sure if he disgusts her as a class traitor or amuses her in truth. better to just see for himself what he's gotten himself into like a fool.]
allen - willful machine, early april
[the 'grand tour' doesn't amount to much yet, the lab area just a large, empty space dotted with a few tables and a couple of desks, not even a chalkboard he's been keeping an eye out for or something that could do the same. one of the desks at least is littered with junk, at the moment tools and the starts of a knee brace, a table nearby with all the scrap he's managed to grab that could be useful in the future. one corner has a cot, maybe he'll clear out whatever other small rooms the place has later for a bedroom proper. maybe not.
viktor seems satisfied with it as he gestures around, and rio has commandeered one of the tables for her own to lie across.] A solid start, I think. I like this area, this eh... Willful Machine, that is.
[he'll never admit part of it is the boats. everyone's allowed a sort of childish interest, right? they're soothing, even if they lack the motors that fascinated him.] Have a seat, if you'd like. How have you been since the tombs?
wildcard.
[as i said, feel free to ask for anything else, including other tdm prompts, i am more interested in seeing the worlds built by others for the archway prompts so i didn't include any here. my plurk is
no subject
An upset child with bombs. [he corrects, then snorts.] I won't say I didn't expect espionage or something like it but yes, that...? No, it felt like the sort of thing that happens in a comic book. Super villains and calling cards.
[and if what he gathered from vi is true maybe that's not too off. chembarons might as well be supervillains, they had the lackeys and the morals of one.]
A chalice that big would be more a very odd tub. [the image amuses him, a tilt of his head as he offers,] Maybe it could have similar but smaller bloodstones embedded in it.
no subject
Really? [huh!] That's— both better and worse, I think. At once. Did you find them?
[And - listen, maybe a tub chalice is normal. Palamedes has, in fairness, not seen a lot of tubs? The Sixth generously employs sonic showers, so a fancy tub covered in gems would actually be very unique, he thinks? That a big chalice is actually a silly idea makes him flush pink, which he will entirely blame on the alcohol, and he looks studiously at the big stone. Mmph.]
That makes more sense, I suppose.
no subject
[that's said with enough bite at the edge despite the flippant tone, shockingly not a fan? then again who would be, they're evil but also drew all over his lab apparently.
being endearing again, pal. to be fair who knows what a rich person would do, or what a pthumerian would do, those get kind of big as far as he understands. he risks a glance over again despite being caught the last time before refocusing on big stone.]
They should imagine it a chalice made to human standards then have to rework their plans when they actually find it. That would be amusing, I think.
no subject
[He's heard plenty about Jayce, and the boss-mentor, and Sky who is very fastidious, but none of those people are actually here, so some mysterious others leave him curious. Perhaps Viktor too has an assortment of quasi-strangers who are awkward to be around, that's... something.
Ah, but he clears his throat, willing his face to feel less hot any minute now.]
Now it's a comedy... That would make a decent twist in the third act; better than trite drama and a flash forward to every conflict resolved and everyone's surprise babies lisping adorably.
[Terrible. He'll have to remember to put 'timeskip with babies' onto the list of bad tropes.]
no subject
To be fair I don't think either of them like me much, they're both from the undercity as well and moving topside is seen as a bit of a betrayal. They're probably less abrasive around others.
[so probably safe for pal? he's still not sure about the blue haired girl at all, he thinks the protective part of him would rather keep pal away just in case. not quite having god hanging around in a bone house but still, he hopes it's at least somewhat useful information.]
Comedy elements, at times. Besides, a wrench in the works is exciting, no? [he does have to make a face at surprise babies because please, on the list.] One thing I have never understood about romantic stories or plotlines is they always seem to come together only at the end. Is the appeal really just the tension leading up to a confession?
no subject
But alright, he can remember Vi - decent and the other one - ??? easily enough.]
Well, I'm definitely entirely unbiased, [about Viktor, ahem,] so that should go swimmingly. I'll keep an eye out.
[And good, they agree about the relative badness of surprise babies; the face makes him grin.]
Based on the novel I managed to bring with me? Absolutely. There's no accounting for taste, and frankly, most people's taste is abysmal. I've read that book some fifty times- don't worry about it- and even flipping past the chapters of trite drama about the inevitable ending isn't quick enough.
["let them bang on screen" --palamedes' book review]
Ours won't circle the drain that long; this is only book one.
no subject
[does everyone find pal charming? he can't imagine why they wouldn't, but their loss if they don't in his humble opinion.
he does take away one thing from all that-] I am getting you more books. [firm, this man needs enrichment in book form, he thinks. he'll keep an eye out when he's in the markets, just add that to the List that is actually several lists now.]
Precisely, the professor used to drag me to plays and often I would sit through them wondering why these two people are even bothering when they seem to only know how to interact with drama. Why would the reward of the romance not be seeing how they do manage together once they have crossed that line.
Bah, it goes in with the misunderstanding nonsense. Anything for drama. [such a critic suddenly. he's finding it fun to have Opinions, who would have thought.]
no subject
[It's Proof of Bias and he loves it, actually. Get him more books, the bunker one hundred percent needs more books, and the firm resolution Viktor has adopted about it is delightful. Almost as delightful as his extended rant about romantic plays, oh... how can he inspire this to happen more often...
Unlike Viktor's little stolen glances, Palamedes watches the whole of this rant play out with overt enthusiasm, incredibly charmed. Yes, critique...!!]
The domestic lives of happy couples don't fill audience chambers. [Probably? He'd see this show. Ahem, and,] You're going to be appalled at the Sixth's lack of culture again, but I've never been to a play.
no subject
[it's be a nice touch, he thinks, which is kind of domestic in a way that warms his chest damningly.]
Ah, so something to add to the list. Assuming there are plays ever produced around here. [the maybe brothel has a stage, right? he'll have to look into it. he glances to pal with an assured grin in that-] You would enjoy it, I think. Most are either very tragic of very romantic in nature, sometimes both. Lots of doomed lovers attempting to cross social and physical barriers to music and dramatic costuming.
no subject
I did, that's a fair hit. I suppose I need something else to be Warden to these days — sure. You're going to have to listen to all of my opinions.
[Godspeed, this is now the standard dinner conversation: book reviews. That said, he makes a sort of half-indignant sputtering noise, too surprised to be an honest laugh at this dead cold read of his taste in media. Now, see here...]
I've read other things, Viktor. [but no he really is a sap all the way down, this is what he wants to see on the big glamorous stage that definitely exists, if Anna the crab knight plays music on it- still, he concedes with a tilt of his head:] Add it to the list. Let's plan on an outing that doesn't involve celebrating a crime next time, or it will start to be bad for my heart.
no subject
that and he does want to hear pal's opinions. it's fascinating to hear him go, how he thinks of even simple things like book plots.]
Hm, you'll have to prove that. Evidence so far suggests you have read one book fifty times. [he offers a faux innocent look for that, glancing one last time at the red they've been lingering in front of.] Fireworks and a play. Palamedes? I fear we're starting to develop real social lives. Our reputations might never recover.
no subject
[Not that Palamedes knows the first thing about putting together a bookcase, either, but he figures if Viktor points at the right spots he can wave a hammer? Maybe? It's, mm, the latest in a long string of pleasantly ordinary things that bloom warm in his chest - a whole miniature library in Viktor's lab? The easy suggestion that he can just hang around the lab without work to do, even warmer—]
I have read several books, actually. [Mmph. He leans in to bump his shoulder against Viktor's, amused.] And I'm afraid my reputation has always been questionable, but I'm happy to drag you down with me.
no subject
[he just needs to get some welding tools settled, maybe find a chair? libraries needed proper chairs, didn't they? that shouldn't be too hard, maybe actually buy one instead of make because he isn't sure how good he'd be at making something comfortable.
the bump makes him chuckle, glancing over with a fondness he doesn't bother to hide.] I think I'll manage the shame of it, somehow. [a pause and he admits,] I suppose we should get heading back before we're shooed away for loitering. This was... fun though. A well done celebration, I think.
no subject
[Same, though. Either way, the warm feeling is still there, and he gives Viktor an earnest smile before looking at the, ah, giant octopus one more time. Hmm, a point...]
Somehow we managed. [haha,] Let's go; you can tell me more about those plays you've seen on the way.