[CLOSED]

[sweetmilk]

Who: Viktor, the Machine Herald + closed prompts in the comments
What: A little pre-mission prep
When: In the weeks prior to the mission
Where: All over (will indicate in the prompt headers)
Warnings: Blanket warnings for surgery, body modification, body dysmorphia, will update as needed


Anyone interested in a closed prompt, feel free to hit me up at brutallyamish!

Comments

Accelerator @levelshift - Emberflit Alley

[sweetmilk]

[ Perched on a stool in front of his workbench, Viktor is delicately notching gears beneath a magnifying glass, utterly absorbed in the process. It's been his focus for the last few days, the tedium of it relaxing, as much as he can relax.

The doors to Emberflit, unlike in Zaun, have been locked since its arrival in Etraya. There are no Zaunites here to knock on the rusted steel door, and thus no reason for him to keep them open as far as Viktor is concerned.

Only today, he is expecting a visitor, and at the time decided upon, he sets down his tools and the half-finished gear and walks to the door, picking up his mask and settling it into place though he forgoes the rest of his armor. ]

I am surprised. [ He waits for Accelerator to step inside before closing and locking the door. Without wasting a second, he's back at the bench, notching the gear. ] I did not expect you to be earnest in your offer to assist.

[levelshift]

[The laboratory is difficult to miss, and when Accelerator arrives he spends a few minutes outside, looking the place over. It's got a certain aesthetic to it that he can appreciate, though maybe it's just the fact that it looks like something out of a steampunk manga and not the kind of cold, modern building that Accelerator had to experience growing up. He isn't sure, and he decides not to dwell on it as he heads towards the entrance.

When Viktor answers and he heads on in he pauses again to look around, curiously taking in his surroundings. He's only seen the space Jayce and the other Viktor were using in over at S.T.A.R. Labs, and it isn't every day you get to see two different laboratories run by alternate versions of the same person.

When he finishes, he follows after Viktor, answering casually.]

What can I say, I'm the kind of person who follows through.

[When he actually wants to help, of course. Getting past that first step is the difficult part, especially when it comes too adults.]

[sweetmilk]

[ In Zaun, Emberflit blended seamlessly into the rows of decrepit or abandoned buildings in the outer fringes of the Entresol level. It was an open secret that it was the laboratory for the Machine Herald as the Zaunites had taken to calling him, imposing to all except the desperate who came to him for help. That reputation suited Viktor, as it kept most at bay and allowed him to work in relative peace.

As Viktor crosses the floor to return to his work, he notices the interest that Accelerator seems to display for the lab. It's a familiar enough reaction to him that he doesn't comment on it. ]

I see that.

[ Viktor doesn't look up or put down his tools, but the Hex claw points towards a nearby chair by a drafting table, as close to an invitation as Viktor is going to give. ]

The preliminary design is there, if you would like to see it. It will have to be adjusted once I am able to test the alloy, of course, but I assume that is why you are here.

[levelshift]

[Based on the state of the lab, Accelerator has to wonder what exactly Viktor had for resources back home. Probably not a lot, and certainly not the kind of latest-and-greatest equipment that the Academy City laboratories were outfitted with. Being in Etraya, where the best stuff is only a few points away, is probably going to be a huge change.

He pulls his gaze away from his surroundings long enough to follow where the Hex claw is pointing. Oh, neat, designs!]

Yeah.

[Before making a beeline for the drafting table he pulls the alloy sample he had requested from Aurora out of the bag he's brought along, setting it down on the work table Viktor is at. It's in a sample bottle and everything!

Then he wanders over, scanning over the drafts curiously.]

I read through all the books you recommended, too. They've been catalogued at the library if you need them.

[He didn't see any point in keeping them, they're better served being available to anyone in Etraya.]

[sweetmilk]

[ Living in Zaun meant making do with what resources there were to go around. In his youth, those were scraps from his parents' work, and as an adult, the remnants of projects left abandoned when well-meaning but ignorant people realize that the lower levels of Zaun are as harsh, if not crueler, to outsiders than the natives. The lack of easily obtainable materials to work with made Viktor resourceful and... creative, with what he can get his hands on. The same is true here, because he is careful not to rely on anyone other than himself. If he can help it.

It's instruction done, the Hex claw returns to hovering above Viktor's head, casting a warm glow to highlight any imperfections there might have been in the gear.

Viktor hums, but doesn't say any more to give Accelerator the chance to look over the designs uninterrupted. That, and Viktor has never been particularly fond of small talk, least of all when he has work to do. ]

What did you make of the books? [ Viktor nods, mulling over the idea of flipping through the pages again. The hording of knowledge, of progress and innovation, has never appealed to Viktor, and he is pleased to know the books are available. ] I have been meaning to see this library. I am still surprised to hear it is available to all.

[ If Viktor ever foregoes a chance to throw shade on Piltover, he's dead.

Setting down his work, Viktor plucks the bottle off the worktable and holds it up with one hand, the other reaching up to disengage the locks on his mask and placing it down on the table. The glow of his eyes intensifies as he studies the alloy inside the bottle. ]

This will work. [ Spoken mostly to himself, but with a note of gratitude. ] Would you like to get started? We do not have much time to prepare.

Viktor @hexcorized - the Junkyard

[sweetmilk]

[ As usual, Viktor finds himself picking through the junkyard, callously tossing aside various scraps that do not meet his particular and rather stringent requirements. Typically, he would take as much as he could manage to carry, but with the mission announced, his time is more valuable than ever and there is already so little of it if he is going to complete the surgery in enough time to recover.

Of course, he has already calculated the likelihood that this will slow him down regardless though he has weighed it against the strain that his time in Auriel had put on his already damaged spine and found that the risk is worth taking by a great margin. Overloading his pain inhibitors is a manageable process; attempting to complete a mission with half of his body paralyzed should his spine finally collapse is not.

Viktor frees a promising bundle of wires and is studying it as footsteps approach. By the cadence of them, he suspects he knows who they belong to. He doesn't bother looking up, more than confident in his identification. ]

What are you looking for?

Not me being late

[hexcorized]

[ Viktor isn't normally found around these parts; it's harder to navigate with his crutch, but sometimes he likes to make the attempts when he's particularly antsy and unable to calm down. His health is deteriorating still, and with another mission on the horizon,n he busies himself with building parts for perhaps future body modifications for himself? Running into the herald gives him pause, but it also gives him ideas.

He approaches his otherself with a small cough. ]

A cure would be preferable. [ His tone is dripping with sarcasm. ] But I am in need of some wiring and filters, if you have seen either lying about.

[sweetmilk]

And you expect to find it amongst scraps?

[ Viktor is well aware of the sarcasm in the other's statement, which is why he answers with sarcasm. At the same time, the irony of his own question doesn't escape him, and he huffs, something close to a laugh but not quite.

Humming, he picks through some of the junk to his right, plunking out another coil of wire. ]

Filters for water, air, or are you looking for a respirator? [ Viktor is familiar with all three. ] The wires, you will have to tell me what you need them for before I can find anything suitable.

Ranvir al-Fayruz @phirouzeh - Outside Emberflit Alley

[sweetmilk]

[ Returning to Emberflit, Viktor pauses, glancing up at a creature perched far up above the warehouse-turned-workshop. It's odd, and he is certain that he's seen it around earlier when he had left. Viktor carefully sets down the box packed with samples of local flora and pulls the cloak off, folding it and setting that aside as well.

Having been in Pollux and now Etraya, he is familiar enough with magic and those able to wield it to know that there are those with the capability of appearing as animals, and considering he doesn't recall ever seeing a creature quite like the one he finds himself staring down, Viktor is suspicious.

The Hex claw hums softly as it charges. ]

I am giving you the chance to explain yourself and assume that you do not require me to voice the rest of that threat.

[phirouzeh]

[Damn, he'd thought a hawk innocuous enough to be able to pass. He probably should have chosen a raven or a crow for snooping--a mistake he won't make again. Still, it was only Ranvir's curiosity about the place that had caused him to snoop in the first place.

And it isn't as if he intends to be hostile, or too nosy, anything like that. Still. Having been challenged rightfully--he assumes this is the man who belongs to the building, or vice versa--Ranvir flaps his wings, lifts off, and glides down to a short distance away from his challenger, shifting back to human form as he lands. He bows, then--he's been rightfully caught, and he bows.]

This building wasn't here in my first few flights over the area. I was only curious; I mean no harm. Nor am I here for anyone, simply to satisfy myself.

[Is he paranoid much? Maybe, but that means he might be recognizing something like it in someone else...]

[sweetmilk]

[ Innocuous enough, perhaps, for anyone other than a paranoid, augmented Zaunite who has, over the course of his life, honed the habit of being overly aware of his surroundings so as to always be aware of any potential threat.

Viktor watches as the hawk takes flight and dives towards him though he doesn't move or flinch. Behind his mask, his brow arches as the man bows. ]

Do you make a habit of surveying unfamiliar buildings without knowing what they are? [ The modulator and the inhibitor are working at their full capacity at present, draining his voice entirely of any feeling and leaving him sounding entirely like the machine he has dedicated the better part of the last near-decade perfecting. ] What curiosity are you hoping to satisfy? If it is the length I will go to protect this building, you are in luck. I am prepared to show you.

Kirk Langstrom @godsandbats - Emberflit Alley

[sweetmilk]

[ Since the arrival of Emberflit Alley, Viktor has been careful and, quite honestly, stingy with any invitations inside. While the equipment itself isn't particularly special (because the real, so to say, magic of it comes from his own innate and honed skill), the designs, research, and half-completed projects are deeply personal and Viktor guards them, and the Alley, fiercely. While he'd never admit it, this place is as much a refuge as a workspace, and he is reluctant to let anyone threaten that.

All that aside, he did extend an invitation to Kirk, ostensibly to study the nanomachines they discussed previously, but Viktor is curious about his areas of interest and he considers the man as close to a friend as he'll allow himself to have.

Still, the door remains locked until the other's arrival and Viktor is busy with pouring over his observations about the nanotechnology in the handful of tokens he'd received in Auriel, only one of the handkerchiefs ripped apart so that he could study the threads woven through it underneath one of the microscopes he has set up on one side of the lab, the rest sitting in various solutions to test the resiliency and conductive potential. ]

[godsandbats]

[Kirk was surprised when he got Viktor's invitation. The Zaunite seems just as social as his alternate self, if not even less so. But they did discuss exchanging notes and it does seem like they have shared interests. So he accepts Viktor's invitation, interested to know more about Viktor and what he knows.

As he flies and approaches Emberlit Alley, Kirks finds the exterior architecture interesting and reminds him a little bit of the darker parts of Gotham. He vaguely wonders if it's how Zaun generally looks. If he hadn't been invited and instead found the new building on his own, he would be skulking about. But that's rude to do to a potential ally so he won't act on that temptation for now.

Kirk politely enters the lab through the front door and sees Viktor already at work. He purposely makes his footsteps audible as he walks towards him, not wanting to startle to him]

Viktor?

[Unlike their first meeting, Kirk looks more human again and is in his Batman suit. The nanites in his bloodstream are as active as ever though and his skin is far paler than any human's. Some would think he's corpse-like if he were to take off his helmet and goggles]

[sweetmilk]

[ Viktor jots down a note and with his pen nestled into the gutter of his notebook to keep his place, he closes it as he stands, turning to face Kirk as he approaches. His own face is covered with his mask of chem-treated steel, the orange glow of his eyes amplified by the lenses, but he is unarmored and his augmented arm and hands are plainly visible. ]

Welcome. I would pretend to offer something to be, eh, polite, but I do not keep food.

[ A joke, though it is true. Viktor doesn't need to eat, so he doesn't waste space with things like a kitchen when he could find better uses for the space. ]

[godsandbats]

[A corner of Kirk's lip makes a slight twitch at the dry joke]

I don't mind. Not like my food of choice would be here anyway.

[Because vampire of course. Kirk then sees what's on Viktor's workbench]

Anything interesting so far?

[sweetmilk]

No, I suppose not.

[ His tone is amused, though filtered, the modulator stripping the majority out of his voice. Turning towards his worktable, Viktor picks up one of the tokens that remains relatively intact. ]

It is fascinating, the ability this thread has to self-replicate, but it is the amount of data it appears to be collecting and transmitting that I find the most curious.

Sciel, @cache_coeur - Emberflit Alley

[sweetmilk]

[ Viktor isn't really the type to sit still or wait, and he only stayed in one place long enough to rewire something in his forearm before he threw open the doors to the empty greenhouse area. It previously had been filled with various plants from home, some from foreign shores, all of them thriving amongst each other and in spite of the fog of Gray that always threatened to creep in. The greenhouse was likely the safest room in the entire lab where breathing was concerned, not that Viktor was terribly concerned about it with his mechanical lungs that filtered the air better than the ones he was born with could ever hope to do.

That greenhouse had been proof that Viktor was more than the violent, inhuman monster Piltover claimed he was, because his work - the treatments for the chem spills, his augmentations that saved lives - meant nothing to them but they meant everything to Viktor and the people of Zaun who suffered.

Instead of simmering in that anger, Viktor tore through the empty beds, turning them over to prepare them for new plants. Still, he was mindful of the knocking, and true to his word, he opened the door, mask in place as always. ]

How many did you try before you found my lab?

Ahh, late!! Thank you for your patience!!

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel is bright-eyed and pleasant when the door opens, her tan skin tinged pink by the cold. She looks immediately pleased with herself, victorious at last, after trudging through all of Harbour Point. A challenge for the sake of a challenge, but who is she to turn down a bit of fun?

He looks… intriguing. The angles of his mask are sharp and intimidating, but he’s clearly more man than machine. Her gaze drifts over him, unselfconscious about openly sizing him up, and she smiles. He asked a question.]

Plenty. Thought I’d found you much earlier, but I found your neighbour’s clubhouse first. [“Neighbours” is relative; two people in the same region is close enough.] Is there a reason you decided to put your lab all the way out here?

[She’s leaning forward on the balls of her feet, ready to come inside and see what she’s working with, but she’ll be patient and wait for him to invite her in. For now, anyway.]

no worries!!

[sweetmilk]

[ Standing in the doorway, Viktor regards her with something close to curiosity. She has a similar enough accent to two others he's spoken with, something more obvious in person than it had been over the devices.

As for her own stare, Viktor is so used to it at this point that he doesn't react, waiting to see if she is the type to announce her observations or turn them over in her mind. ]

I am not used to having neighbors. To be honest, I do not interact with them if I have no reason to. [ And Viktor is very good at finding reasons not to. ] The anonymity of being in the middle of everything is preferable to standing out in the emptiness of the more open areas.

[ Viktor takes a step back, holding the door open for her. ]

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel steps in, immediately starting up unfurl her scarf and unzip her coat; winter is a miserable and bulky business. Her smile grows a little teasing:]

Well, I can be chatty sometimes, but don’t hesitate to tell me when you’ve had enough!

[Low social batteries, she’s got it. The coat comes off next, and she slings it all over an arm. Her gaze flits back up to his face, the hard planes of his face. Despite her cheer, the next question is a touch more subdued, though no less comfortable:]

Can I ask about the mask?

[sweetmilk]

There is a cabinet there.

[ Viktor gestures vaguely towards it. Nothing is inside except for a stack of blank paper tucked into a corner, and the hooks are bare and sturdy enough to support a jacket and a scarf at the very least. ]

You can ask. [ A pause. ] I do not have to answer.

[ Leading the way through the silent warehouse towards the start of the greenhouse, he adds: ]

What is it you want to know?

continued from Chirper

[ornithologist]

[ Harold in person as himself looks both similar to and different from his Fae persona. He's much more minimalist and modern in his sense of style, but he's just as sharply dressed in a three-piece suit of finely combed wool, the patterns pleasantly contrasting rather than matching exactly. Out of line with this he also, curiously, has a hand-knit scarf wound around his neck, the first half of which is made of meticulously neat rows of stitches... and the second half abruptly not, lumpy and misshapen and sprouting dropped stitches here and there.

He stands beside the circulation desk on the ground floor of the library, perusing a book, content to wait. The desk itself is not in use at all except as a place for people to leave notes asking for book recommendations or notes of apology that they aren't sure where to return volumes and are leaving them here. The library works primarily on an honor system, if one enforced with Harold's subtle but omnipresent surveillance network. Throughout the rest of Etraya, it's intermittent -- cameras placed covertly where he's had opportunity and seen the need -- but the library is what amounts to home turf for him, and just about every inch of it is covered.

Therefore, he knows exactly when Viktor arrives, but remains where he is, undisturbed. Harold slips the secondary communications device he uses as a monitoring tool into his suit pocket and returns to reading Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. ]

[sweetmilk]

[ Punctual out of a desire for efficiency rather than politeness, Viktor is often single-minded once he's agreed to meet anyone. His ability and willingness to tolerate anything social are both easily depleted, especially for someone like him, preoccupied by his projects but also overly wary. It's why he arrives to library with his frame wrapped in the carefully crafted armor he's perfected over the years, covered only slightly by the fabric of the clothes he wears over it, the long scarf that is more like a security blanket draped over all of it. And, of course, the mask that covers his face.

Viktor approaches the desk. His thickly accented voice is modulated more than it had sounded in the Fae glamour he'd possessed, but it is familiar enough. ]

I should tell you that my eyes are augmented.

[ Harold can take that how he wants, but Viktor doesn't mean it as a threat. More like a reminder. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a copy of one part of the schematics for his new spinal column which he then hands over. ]

This is only half of the column. I trust you understand why I cannot give you all of the specifications.

[ornithologist]

[ Viktor is so direct, it really is much like a computer in that way... but not quite the same. Harold spent years more or less raising the Machine to a semblance of humanity. She has a piercingly forthright way of speaking when she speaks at all, which is normally rare but became so much more common in her last days when she'd adopted Root's voice. Even then, she spoke precisely, every word a necessary component of an overall structure she'd put together in lightning-fast processing milliseconds.

It's this familiarity that lets Harold judge that despite his outwardly highly mechanical appearance, voice, and demeanor, Viktor is as Jayce said: a human being. He declines to participate in the niceties, perhaps, but he's aware he's declining them. A true machine -- and the Machine -- had to learn that they existed, what they meant, and how to handle them in each scenario from a purely probabilistic perspective. Viktor says I trust you understand why and I should tell you because he knows withholding information could be seen as adversarial, and it matters in society to be uncooperative.

There's a trace there beneath that that is professionally extremely interesting to him at the same time as he finds it painful, almost repulsive, to approach on a personal level. (The Machine is dead. He killed her, effectively, though it was with her consent. But she is dead.)

Harold processes quickly for a human being, and lets this all run through his head in a momentary pause before he makes a spare, noncommittal noise. Fair's fair; he sets up surveillance, and anyone who can detect it, augmented eyes or not, is entitled to that. He doesn't feel the need to address that. ]

I appreciate anything you're willing to share. And we don't have to go right to business if you'd rather see the Xerox Alto first.

[ His mouth quirks in a hint of good humor. ]

I know the slightest amount about your background, and I realize it isn't Earth, so I have to wonder if it's either more or less interesting in that light.

[ Harold decided on the spot to reveal that he does have some background knowledge of Viktor. Withholding information is, after all, uncooperative for humans. ]

[sweetmilk]

[ In the years after his expulsion from the white-washed walls of Piltover, Viktor had spiraled and turned himself into something nearly unrecognizable, an ever-changing twist of man and machine until the line began to blur. And there are pieces that he's lost of one in the pursuit of the other. It has been so long that some of those parts, exchanged for something he called evolution, he barely remembered, so thoroughly ripped out that there isn't anything left miss it or recall why it should be missed in the first place.

In his time away from Runeterra, separated from his lab and the Grey, the work he had dedicated himself to and the locus of his hatred (self or otherwise), he has been forced to relearn things and the process has been nothing short of faulty, stumbling, and marked by failure.

And it came with resistance and all on the unstable foundation of admitting that his visions of a glorious future came with a moral weight he couldn't overlook once he was forced to see it with the veil of his rage lifted and the machine giving way to the humanity he hadn't fully purged.

Viktor doesn't have an interest in ruminating on it any longer than he needs to for the purposes of maintaining the ill-plotted course he is currently on.

He does look around though, his eyes scanning for any pieces of technology that might be hidden. So long as none of it finds its way back to the lab, he didn't care what Harold did with this library. ]

Lead the way.

[ Viktor places the schematic on the desk between them. If it found its way into other hands, there was little they could do with it. ]

What do believe you know about it? [ While he has neglected to learn more of this alternate timeline, Viktor has heard parts of it from others here, and he is absently curious. ]

As for the technology, I am always interested in innovation, even in things that have already been improved upon.