You do what you need to do for scientific progress.
Until we had the breakthrough in creating the baseline for Hextech. The building blocks of the Hexgates. They had burst through the door right as we finished.
That happened a lot later. [He doesn't say this rudely. Just clarifying.] About six or so years later when we weren't boys anymore.
Hextech had become a pivot part of our society. Travel, industry, trade, everything. It took a great deal of Jayce's convincing for them not to be wary of our endeavor.
[THEY WERE RIGHT]
The last meeting was about the fate of the disagreements between Piltover and Zaun. Of course, the council situated in Piltover was the one who was meeting to decide what to do about Zaun.
It takes years to perfect a project. For better or worse. [ the way they say this is a little clipped, but they move on. ]
It took years for the people on Earth to come around to our—my project. It didn't become common use until years after I was gone, but people's lives began to improve. But even then there were people who were afraid of letting go of the old way of living and opposed the idea. Resistance groups rose up and tried to do everything to overthrow the new way of life. And even when we met with the council for humanity, the chancellor wasn't on my side. Not originally.
[ there's a scoff. ]
And Piltover should decide Zaun's fate... why, again?
We ran into much resistance as well. [Quietly:] Unfortunately, I didn't have years. [Not angrily said, of course.] I would have been dead long before I ever saw my work changing people's lives. Much like you.
[And, of course, that hurt immeasurably. His pride, his work ethic.]
It's the question many Zaunites asked themselves for a long time and the cause of their growing animosity. It's why Zaun wanted their independence, but that made Piltover afraid.
People are scared of change. Almost as much as they're scared of dying. [ they look at viktor curiously for a bit. ] And even if you died for it, it would've still been enough if you did what you were meant to do.
[ an assumption? an understanding? something like that. ]
The people who work in the shadows are always afraid of their pawns finding out the truth. Keep someone under your thumb long enough? You should be afraid. [ okay, edgelord. ] Maybe a revolution is exactly what they deserved. But it feels... disjointing. To see the aftermath in a way you weren't expecting, because you weren't expecting it at all.
[His brows are low, pensive. His eyes search the ground in front of them, but his expression is thoughtful, distant. It's strange... He's not sure he remembers what it felt like to worry about dying.
One hand settles on the egg. The image of this is very mpreg, I'm sorry. IT'S JUST A SOUL EGG.]
I never wanted to be a part of the fighting between Piltover and Zaun. Not... at the end. I was attempting to keep things such as that from happening at all. To keep suffering from happening.
[ it is difficult to say where kiraman's eyes are, but it's possible they are still glued to viktor's face as they let him go through his five stages of grief with his mpreg egg. his mpregg. ]
I never wanted to be a savior. [ so, mood. ] You said you started the commune for people who came to you for healing. Is that how Jayce found you?
His expression crumples - confusion, mostly, but under it, Viktor himself, and hurt, sadness, frustration.]
Yes. I asked him, through the body of a council member he once knew, to come see me, to see what I had accomplished. He said Hextech... was a curse. He was different... He had touched the arcane, and it had changed him. [The echo returns to his voice.] Then he came. We brought him to me.
[It wavers back out.]
But when I opened my eyes, the look in his eyes... He had no other goal except to end me. I could see it.
So you used someone else to show off your new abilities, to someone who didn't understand, someone who was going to... judge, perhaps. But was it Jayce the arcane changed? Or was it you?
[ and all your creepy little hivemind echos. ]
... I wanted to make a god. Something like it, anyway. A just god, one to combat against someone who created something that would destroy millions of lives. In his prime, he was considered a genius. Me? Well, couldn't have been that smart if I solved something he spent his whole life failing to reach. He had to be stopped. Didn't matter everything he created, everything he'd done with his life. He was corrupted. And maybe... when someone's that warped, the only way to save it is from themselves.
[ it's clear that they only apply this kind of mercy killing to viktor, but the principle is the same. if something grows too out of hand, you may have to kill the thing to fix it. ]
And from there you can rebuild it. Rewire how it thinks, take it out of its framework and adjust the program so that the processes it runs become a new product. [ that is more said as an aside because the analogy got away from them a bit. ]
I thought Jayce would understand. [His voice doesn't rise, but the echo is back, fighting for the usual monotonous neutrality over the rankle of his usual sound.] We were both changed.
[He just doesn't know what divine inspiration Jayce saw. What was it?]
You're saying I should have been killed.
[He's looking at Kiraman now, the blue embedded in his eyes chilly. No. He can't accept that. He was nearly perfect? The epitome of the highest form of advancement. The peak of evolution.] We had the power to bestow upon everyone a salvation in a coalescent paradise, free of the humanity which destroys them again and again. [And free of everything else, including resistance.]
That is the glorious evolution.
[They're right. Sometimes, your compassion becomes twisted too far.]
[ hm. dislike. this is a lot of dislike, but kiraman holds their ground and appears entirely unruffled by this. ]
No. That is deconstruction. [ they point this out first, choosing to work their way backwards in the conversation. ] I never said you should have been killed, but if that was your takeaway... why did that resonate? It was just an assessment of character.
[ because it's the same point. because it's exactly the same thing, it's someone pushed by their ideas too far that they went to absolutely insane lengths to accomplish them until someone was willing to challenge and kill them. ]
Without you, who needed a partnership to begin with. You, who asked for the partnership because you knew you couldn't do it alone. [ a reminder. ]
The way your dream manifested might've become his nightmare. You and the arcane. You're almost one in the same now. [ and if the arcane is uncontrolled and not contained, wouldn't the thing that would unravel be viktor himself? ]
[He shakes his head, not in disagreement, but confusion.]
He made me what I am. Then he decided to regret it? [Just an educated guessing. A musing.] He would rather I be dead than be what he created? The arcane is wonderful. What reason could it be a nightmare to him?
[Sorry your Frankenstein's monster has become sentient, Jayce!!]
I wanted us to continue our dream together as partners. Why wouldn't he want that?
[Someone else has abandoned him!! Of course! He is just some nobody from the Undercity after all.]
[ this is a vaguely uncomfortable conversation for them for a few reasons, but they're ignoring that. ]
Some people think they have everything under control. That they know exactly what they're doing, or they're so driven by their goal that the results of how it gets there don't matter. Even to the point of destroying the creation.
[ yeah, weird how that happens. ]
You manipulated someone else to reach out to him in a show of power he's never seen. [ though, more curiously: ] Did you get to talk to him before he killed you?
It wasn't manipulation. [He wants to clarify that first even though it is a form of manipulation.] Salo was a part of our collective. He spoke to my mind first to tell me he had crossed paths with Jayce; I spoke to Jayce through him with his consent. I don't invade their lives or thoughts unprompted.
[...]
He killed Salo after our conversation.
[Which was rude, but he can understand this might have been scary for Jayce to witness. He can concede that, he guesses. Not sure WHY but okay.]
No. When I opened my eyes, he was powering his hammer. The last I saw of anything was him standing at the entrance with a strange expression.
[ they tip their head in acknowledgement. alright. not manipulation. they can accept that. ]
... reactionary. [ they are not thinking much of jayce in this moment. they are not sure how to think about viktor either though. this is a very interesting set of circumstances for them. ] You think he wasn't in control of himself either then?
[ wait. ]
A hammer. Like... [ mimics swinging down a giant hammer. ]
[Hmmm... He considers this, but what makes him side-eye what's said is "either," only because he believes he is perfectly in control of himself.
What Hexcore influence?]
Yes. [Hammer time.] It's a hammer he built based on our Hextech even though we said we would never use Hextech to build weapons.
It likely utilizes a hex crystal, so it can be charged to disperse a beam of energy.
[Above the mpregg, he pulls aside some of the blue blankie covering his chest where the mottled, healed crater has turned into an ugly scar. He truly got blasted. Heavier sections of golden metal begin here and disappear down out of sight.]
I was born with a stunted leg. I had to wear a brace on it, and later, I had spinal surgery to implant screws for the chest brace I needed. It fused with my flesh during the transmutation. The arcane does this to others when I heal them - if they have a physical malformation.
[He shakes his head.]
I had seen it one other time. I didn't ask any questions. [A pause.] ...
[He glances over his shoulder briefly before looking back.]
[ they shake their head. they can discuss what a video game is later.
instead, they are listening to viktor explain his tragic backstory. he cannot see what their expression looks like, but it seems as if that's giving them pause to think this over. ]
Even in evolution there's no escaping genetics. [ this is mumbled a little, because even if viktor was healed, those pieces of him remained for life. ]
So he went and made this weapon without you despite doing everything else together. And despite agreeing not to use your technology for weapons. And then blasted you. [ never mind they are a jayce-anti as well suddenly. they do not think viktor is correct! but both of these things can be true. ] Did you think you would end up here when you did die?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[So yes. But!]
And then I went behind the dean's back to get us both in his lab so we could experiment.
[It was worse.]
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How long did you get away with it?
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Until we had the breakthrough in creating the baseline for Hextech. The building blocks of the Hexgates. They had burst through the door right as we finished.
[He sounds fondly nostalgic.]
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And then the rest happened? The meeting, the explosion, and the fusion. Were they really so scared of the fact it would work?
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Hextech had become a pivot part of our society. Travel, industry, trade, everything. It took a great deal
of Jayce's convincing for them not to be wary of our endeavor.
[THEY WERE RIGHT]
The last meeting was about the fate of the disagreements between Piltover and Zaun. Of course, the council situated in Piltover was the one who was meeting to decide what to do about Zaun.
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It took years for the people on Earth to come around to our—my project. It didn't become common use until years after I was gone, but people's lives began to improve. But even then there were people who were afraid of letting go of the old way of living and opposed the idea. Resistance groups rose up and tried to do everything to overthrow the new way of life. And even when we met with the council for humanity, the chancellor wasn't on my side. Not originally.
[ there's a scoff. ]
And Piltover should decide Zaun's fate... why, again?
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[And, of course, that hurt immeasurably. His pride, his work ethic.]
It's the question many Zaunites asked themselves for a long time and the cause of their growing animosity. It's why Zaun wanted their independence, but that made Piltover afraid.
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[ an assumption? an understanding? something like that. ]
The people who work in the shadows are always afraid of their pawns finding out the truth. Keep someone under your thumb long enough? You should be afraid. [ okay, edgelord. ] Maybe a revolution is exactly what they deserved. But it feels... disjointing. To see the aftermath in a way you weren't expecting, because you weren't expecting it at all.
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One hand settles on the egg. The image of this is very mpreg, I'm sorry. IT'S JUST A SOUL EGG.]
I never wanted to be a part of the fighting between Piltover and Zaun. Not... at the end. I was attempting to keep things such as that from happening at all. To keep suffering from happening.
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I never wanted to be a savior. [ so, mood. ] You said you started the commune for people who came to you for healing. Is that how Jayce found you?
[ "why exactly did jayce kill you." ]
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His expression crumples - confusion, mostly, but under it, Viktor himself, and hurt, sadness, frustration.]
Yes. I asked him, through the body of a council member he once knew, to come see me, to see what I had accomplished. He said Hextech... was a curse. He was different... He had touched the arcane, and it had changed him. [The echo returns to his voice.] Then he came. We brought him to me.
[It wavers back out.]
But when I opened my eyes, the look in his eyes... He had no other goal except to end me. I could see it.
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[ and all your creepy little hivemind echos. ]
... I wanted to make a god. Something like it, anyway. A just god, one to combat against someone who created something that would destroy millions of lives. In his prime, he was considered a genius. Me? Well, couldn't have been that smart if I solved something he spent his whole life failing to reach. He had to be stopped. Didn't matter everything he created, everything he'd done with his life. He was corrupted. And maybe... when someone's that warped, the only way to save it is from themselves.
[ it's clear that they only apply this kind of mercy killing to viktor, but the principle is the same. if something grows too out of hand, you may have to kill the thing to fix it. ]
And from there you can rebuild it. Rewire how it thinks, take it out of its framework and adjust the program so that the processes it runs become a new product. [ that is more said as an aside because the analogy got away from them a bit. ]
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[He just doesn't know what divine inspiration Jayce saw. What was it?]
You're saying I should have been killed.
[He's looking at Kiraman now, the blue embedded in his eyes chilly. No. He can't accept that. He was nearly perfect? The epitome of the highest form of advancement. The peak of evolution.] We had the power to bestow upon everyone a salvation in a coalescent paradise, free of the humanity which destroys them again and again. [And free of everything else, including resistance.]
That is the glorious evolution.
[They're right. Sometimes, your compassion becomes twisted too far.]
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No. That is deconstruction. [ they point this out first, choosing to work their way backwards in the conversation. ] I never said you should have been killed, but if that was your takeaway... why did that resonate? It was just an assessment of character.
[ because it's the same point. because it's exactly the same thing, it's someone pushed by their ideas too far that they went to absolutely insane lengths to accomplish them until someone was willing to challenge and kill them. ]
How did Jayce change?
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Was his discontent for me... greater than our dream together?
[He was the hub, the circuit in which the malformed arcane flowed through into the rest, and Jayce had destroyed him without even hesitating.]
I don't know. He did not look like himself. I could feel the arcane within him, the same humming song. But he had abandoned our dream.
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The way your dream manifested might've become his nightmare. You and the arcane. You're almost one in the same now. [ and if the arcane is uncontrolled and not contained, wouldn't the thing that would unravel be viktor himself? ]
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He made me what I am. Then he decided to regret it? [Just an educated guessing. A musing.] He would rather I be dead than be what he created? The arcane is wonderful. What reason could it be a nightmare to him?
[Sorry your Frankenstein's monster has become sentient, Jayce!!]
I wanted us to continue our dream together as partners. Why wouldn't he want that?
[Someone else has abandoned him!! Of course! He is just some nobody from the Undercity after all.]
I would show him how amazing it could be.
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Some people think they have everything under control. That they know exactly what they're doing, or they're so driven by their goal that the results of how it gets there don't matter. Even to the point of destroying the creation.
[ yeah, weird how that happens. ]
You manipulated someone else to reach out to him in a show of power he's never seen. [ though, more curiously: ] Did you get to talk to him before he killed you?
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[...]
He killed Salo after our conversation.
[Which was rude, but he can understand this might have been scary for Jayce to witness. He can concede that, he guesses. Not sure WHY but okay.]
No. When I opened my eyes, he was powering his hammer. The last I saw of anything was him standing at the entrance with a strange expression.
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... reactionary. [ they are not thinking much of jayce in this moment. they are not sure how to think about viktor either though. this is a very interesting set of circumstances for them. ] You think he wasn't in control of himself either then?
[ wait. ]
A hammer. Like... [ mimics swinging down a giant hammer. ]
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What Hexcore influence?]
Yes. [Hammer time.] It's a hammer he built based on our Hextech even though we said we would never use Hextech to build weapons.
It likely utilizes a hex crystal, so it can be charged to disperse a beam of energy.
[Above the mpregg, he pulls aside some of the blue blankie covering his chest where the mottled, healed crater has turned into an ugly scar. He truly got blasted. Heavier sections of golden metal begin here and disappear down out of sight.]
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Pretty sure I played a video game like that once. [ but they do lean forward to peer at this scar. ouchie. ]
Metal from the fusion, too? [ cyborg... ? ] Did you know he made the hammer before he used it on you?
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Video game...?
[He's ""old,"" don't be saying that.]
I was born with a stunted leg. I had to wear a brace on it, and later, I had spinal surgery to implant screws for the chest brace I needed. It fused with my flesh during the transmutation. The arcane does this to others when I heal them - if they have a physical malformation.
[He shakes his head.]
I had seen it one other time. I didn't ask any questions. [A pause.] ...
[He glances over his shoulder briefly before looking back.]
I didn't think to at the time.
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instead, they are listening to viktor explain his tragic backstory. he cannot see what their expression looks like, but it seems as if that's giving them pause to think this over. ]
Even in evolution there's no escaping genetics. [ this is mumbled a little, because even if viktor was healed, those pieces of him remained for life. ]
So he went and made this weapon without you despite doing everything else together. And despite agreeing not to use your technology for weapons. And then blasted you. [ never mind they are a jayce-anti as well suddenly. they do not think viktor is correct! but both of these things can be true. ] Did you think you would end up here when you did die?
[ heaven, they mean. ]
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The way Kiraman is missing pieces of this long story. Not their fault. Just the jumble of conversation.]
Jayce became a councilor at another's behest. He became entangled in their ways, pulled between our work and their requests, his duty.
[An explanation for the weaponry.]
No. I assumed I would be pulled into nothing, or perhaps, repurposed within the arcane. [Peering at Kiraman.] Would you like to see it? The arcane.
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