[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

[godsandbats]

Understandable. There are much higher stakes than just yourself.

[In a way, it's admirable and Kirk is familiar with needing to take extreme actions]

[sweetmilk]

[ Viktor just makes a noise. ]

I do not believe you came to discuss Zaun.

[ There is no bother with segue; Viktor simply changes the subject. ]

We were not able to fully discuss your work in Auriel. What new tests have you done on the nanomachines you possess? It would give me an idea where we could begin.

[godsandbats]

[Kirk doesn't mind the segue. Bluntness can be efficient]

There lies the challenge. My own nanites were programmed to self-duplicate and resist to any non-magical changes, like spiked barriers against any antigens.

[sweetmilk]

Hm.

[ Viktor stares, his augments tracking the hum of technology — the nanites — as if he could make sense of their construction from here. ]

Techmaturgy is a combination of science and magic and it is my specialty. I lean... eh, perhaps a little more on the science, but I know enough about the magic side of things.

If you provide a sample, we can see how these nanites react to chem-tech.

[godsandbats]

[Kirk nods as his nanites continued with their day-to-day functions, almost like any cell if it weren't for the vampirism]

It's worth a shot. Magic is a blind spot for me and there could very well be other areas of science I haven't delved into yet to cure myself.

[sweetmilk]

It is simple if you look at it scientifically. That is how I work with it.

[ Viktor gestures dismissively. ]

Do you not have magic in your world?

[godsandbats]

We don't. Or if magic does exist in my world, it's well-hidden.

[Kirk became a a real vampire. Magic could very well be real as well on his Earth]

[sweetmilk]

[ Without any preamble, Viktor reaches up and disconnects his left arm where it meets the flesh by the elbow and rests it on the workbench. Having done this countless times for repairs and upgrades, removing the piece he wants is quick and efficient. He holds it up in the palm of his hand. ]

This is magic.

[ It looks like a small engine, glowing softly in the dim light. ]

It is like capturing lightning and using it to power an engine. There is nothing special about it. Do not think of magic as anything other than a force of nature. That is all it is.

If you can master chemistry or physics, you can master magic.

[godsandbats]

[Kirk bends to look closer at the piece with great interest. Every magic user he's become acquainted with in Etraya has told him fascinating details about their worlds' magic. The more he learns about it, the more feels like another branch of science]

Could anyone learn or does it require an innate ability as well?

[sweetmilk]

[ Viktor's gaze is focused on the engine, too, watching it burn through energy and generate in it in a continuous cycle. It had taken years to get to this point and he is always improving upon the design. Evolution, or something like it. ]

Anyone with the discipline to learn can harness it. I am not a mage and have no natural ties to it, but I can manipulate it to do what I need it to do.

The real question is how you want to approach learning it.

[godsandbats]

There's still a lot I need to learn about magic. But the more I hear about it from others, it more it sounds like another branch of science like chemistry or physics.

[And why it's become so fascinating to Kirk]

How were you able to channel it?

[sweetmilk]

It depends, really, on the type of technology you have available or can create yourself. In Zaun, we use our environment to our advantage and while eh, occasionally volatile, the inventions are adaptable. Piltover considers it 'unstable', [ and his voice is dripping with annoyance, ] but we do not depend on hextech crystals. Chemtech relies on chemistry to manipulate the natural elements. Hextech channels energy. They do not want to admit that is is similarly unstable. I would know. I studied it as well.

[ What Viktor won't admit is that he utilized some of that knowledge to build his augmentations. ]

In the case of this cell, I altered a crystal to recycle energy and it is able to release the excess to power the augmentations. Magic is simply energy. I do not bother with certain types because I do not have regular access to them, but understanding what you have access to is the start to learning how to manipulate it.

[godsandbats]

[Not for the first time Kirk thinks about the so-far untapped potential Krypton's database has. Maybe there's some knowledge about magic in there]

Biochemistry is my specialty. I could probably adapt well enough to Zaun's technology and Chemtech. My own world still plenty of mysteries yet to be discovered.

[sweetmilk]

[ Viktor fits the cell back into its housing, the orange glow shifting from dim to nearly blinding as the mechanisms return to life, powering up one by one. As Viktor reattaches the limb, the locks re-engage and he flexes his fingers. ]

If you are interested in learning, I am willing to teach.

[godsandbats]

[Kirk remains interested as he watches Viktor put himself back together. He turns his head a little away from the light as his eyes are sensitive, even with his goggles on. He then turns his head back once it looks like Viktor's arm is fully functional again]

Thank you. Hopefully we can both have a productive knowledge exchange.