Audience - Viktor

[holyspirits]

Comments

[hextech]

[It's for the best they don't know he vaporized her accidentally........] She was our lab assistant. [Science and things.] Did you enjoy it? [The way it dawns on him he never bothered to ask Sky shit. It's fine.]

[holyspirits]

[ yes. probably don't tell them that. ]

I did. There are many things I'm not as good at as the rest of the sisters, so I've always been happy to help with what I can do instead. If it makes their work easier, that's enough for me.

[ they are curious, though. ]

You said "our" assistant?

[hextech]

Sisters...? [A NUN... Mother Peter....] Yes. Mine and my partner, Jayce. [Former partner...? He does not like the sound of that, so he refuses to say it.]

[holyspirits]

The other members of the Sisterhood.

[ a nun.....! ]

You mentioned that name when you first showed up. [ very hesitantly: ] You said that he came to end you.

[hextech]

[Oh my god, I've connected the dots. (I haven't connected shit.)] He did. [He seems kind of sadly disappointed about this, for a little emoting as he does.] He said Hextech was a curse. He was... different. He had been touched by the arcane, I could tell. I thought he would understand.

[holyspirits]

It must have been difficult to see a friend changed like that. I've... heard of that sort of thing happening, though not seen it up close.

[ that said, ]

What is Hextech? Or the arcane, for that matter...? If you don't mind explaining.

[hextech]

[Don't casually drop that then move on hold on a second hello] I suppose he thought the same of me when I woke after this transmutation. [When your bestie becomes an Eldritch horror and it's your fault.] The arcane is the magic inherently imbued in our world. Hextech is the marriage of magic and technology, something Jayce and I created together.

[holyspirits]

So it is different from Mystic.

[ don't worry about it... ]

If he was touched by the arcane—what is it that transmuted you? And what did that change?

[ they're more concerned with viktor than jayce. who even is that guy. he's not here. ]

[hextech]

[me: BLUE ARCHIVE?] We were working on another project. [The echo appears in his voice:] The Hexcore; a mechanical, magical runic matrix. [And then it disappears again.] I had been studying it. It could evolve. We were in a council meeting, and there was an explosion. I would have died, but Jayce... transmuted me with the Hexcore. I became connected to it and the arcane. It works its miracles through me now.

[holyspirits]

[ who's to say... there's no way to know... ]

Then what is the difference? Between how you were both touched by the arcane. It sounds as if he wanted to save you with it, at first.

But it drove you apart?

[ and they will circle back to the miracles part. at some point. ]

[hextech]

[i'm so bad at guessing npcs anyway so it doesn't even matter!!!!] He had changed... after touching the arcane. His mind was suffering. He said Hextech was a curse, but... I was giving so many salvation, if he could only see it. Freedom from their pain. I suppose he wanted to stop me - out of love, out of hate. The emotions that cloud reason.

[holyspirits]

[ thinks about the things he has said about emotions. thinks about him saying he's been giving people salvation. MMMMMMMMMMMM. ]

... I... wouldn't equate the two, though? Love and hate.

Freeing people from their emotional pain by eliminating the emotions—isn't that taking away another kind of freedom from them? People need more than reason to live fulfilling lives.

[hextech]

The two are both emotions resulting in consequences. Good, bad. [Let him cook, damn.] It was meant to be a freedom from all pain and suffering. Mental, physical. I wanted to build an era of peace, of perfection. The commune was... a prototype. I understand the failings now. Everyone needs to be of one mind.

[holyspirits]

[ :unsure: intensifies ]

Everything results in consequences in some way. Even reason can come with mistakes and misjudgments.

What is it that makes you want to care for others? To make a commune?

Is that not love?

[hextech]

... [His brows furrow. The look in his eyes struggle to reconcile - love, it being love, it being a neutral benefaction. Viktor, full of compassion, given the means by a cosmic power understanding neither good nor evil. He looks at the files as if they will give him the answer to this question.] It was... a necessity.

[holyspirits]

Why is that?

[ lailah can accept a savior complex. they are more concerned with dissecting this weird anti-emotions sentiment. ]

Ensuring your own survival is a logical necessity. But ensuring the safety and survival of others is compassion. [ conclusion: viktor must be a kind person... ]

[hextech]

[Sometimes... you think emotions are the problem. And they are! They are 100% the problem. But it's a great problem to have, even if annoying.] It is an impartial one. My goal was to help everyone, but especially those who needed it.

[holyspirits]

But what is the motivation to help them? Did you need them for your own survival?

Because it it wasn't for your own benefit—that's love. Isn't it?

[hextech]

No. I have always wanted to help others. [Be glad he didn't say "we."] Helping the people where I was born, the ones in Zaun. [He can admit to that. He is not calling it love, but not because he wouldn't as himself, as Viktor, but because something needling in his brain is trying to disregard the need for love in favor of simply a neutral compassion.]

[holyspirits]

So have I. I'm glad that we feel the same way about that.

[ a little nod and - probably a smile. who's to say. ]

Did they need more help than others? Or was it just that you care more about your own, local community?

[hextech]

[Two of them... Except one is very insane. I guess both could be insane, but still.] Zaun was called the Undercity because it sat below the ground beneath Piltover. It was polluted badly. Many people struggled with mutations, or diseases, and later, addiction.

[holyspirits]

[ they are trying to find common ground. ]

That sounds horrible... [ gently. ] Where I come from we have black market districts, and some areas overrun with delinquents... But they don't face quite the same problems. [ mutations, disease, or addiction. or pollution. (that is all of the problems.) ] They're just a bit chaotic. It's a good reminder to count my blessings.

I understand why you would want to help and protect the people suffering under those conditions, though.

And I'm glad that they had someone with so much love in his heart to do it. [ :) ]

[hextech]

[:| Stop imbuing him with emotions...] Zaun's poor living conditions likely contributed to my own terminal illness, and perhaps even the bad leg I was born with. So I understood their suffering. I wanted to change their futures. Give them futures.

[holyspirits]

[ sounds like a request someone with emotions would make. ]

I hope that Heaven finds you in better health. [ because like logically it should but also we let everyone show up with whatever injuries they wanted to keep so i guess it doesn't. luck of the draw??? ] And I hope that the future you gave them carries them for a long time, now that you're here.

[ they haven't watched arcane................. they don't know.......... ]

[hextech]

I am. [Damn, they need to watch Arcane badly.] ...Thank you. [He isn't sure what else to say to that sort of knowledge. He should be grateful to have lived at all, doing what he could, creating. But it feels unfinished. He glances away, lips thin.] I hope so, too.