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[techmaturgy]

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[techmaturgy]

I don't really view myself as very paternal--uncle feels more appropriate.

When can I see the clutch?

[ARE THEY HALF ROBOT]

[theidlemaiden]

[ Sadly, no, no half-robot lizards have been born today BUT HE CAN STILL BE A PROUD OWNER OF A NORMAL COLD-BLOODED LIZARD for the low low price of free. ]

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺.

[techmaturgy]

[he would like to see the baby]

You don't need to ask my permission to stop by and show me a lizard.

[theidlemaiden]

[ He will not just see one baby, he will see eight. ]

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵? 𝘖𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳? 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬?

[techmaturgy]

I would drop everything to see them.

[no customer is more important than that! also, he is only ever in the workshop nowadays, especially since moving into the flat above it, so that's a moot point.]

Yes. Maybe. I don't know. It's not important.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘚𝘦𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘢 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰.

𝘏𝘮𝘮...𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯. 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦!

[ ...It's a little more than soon because she's definitely stopping by the market to purchase some groceries and provisions for him that are easy to eat while he's working. ]

[techmaturgy]

Let's start with uncle. I'll be waiting.

[Because, again, where else will he be?]

[theidlemaiden]

[ There is life outside your apartment and workshop, Vikky. But Hilda understands. She hasn't been pushing the matter, instead taking the approach of trying to support him and make sure he didn't become a total waif of a human being. 

She hefts through the door of the workshop, arms laden with bags that are immediately taken by an unseen force to be distributed in the workshop kitchenette and the upstairs kitchen. On her back, she has a large fish tank strapped to her back with eight baby lizards, Veliki and Mali zipping around inside their little enclosure. ] 

I'm here! Sorry, I kept getting stopped because everyone wanted to say hi in the market. [ Is it any wonder with her toting around a giant tank backpack either? ] I brought some groceries for the week and some tea and snacks for when you're working down here, by the way! 

[techmaturgy]

[It's only when she hauls the tank through the door that he thinks it might have been better for him to see her, but the bags of groceries betray her ulterior motive. She wanted to come here, to check on him, and make sure that the pantry is stocked and that everything is in order.]

That's...unnecessary. [There's part of him that wants to object, because he can certainly take care of himself (he just doesn't really want to, at the moment), but he tries to swallow it down. Reminds himself to be grateful, that there are people here who care about him.] But, thank you.

[That said. There are more important things here. Eight baby lizards. Viktor makes quick work of clearing off some space on one of the worktables.]

Let's take a look, shall we?

[theidlemaiden]

We can agree to disagree. How are you going to work if you don't eat?

[ It's a cheery reply despite sensing that it might be seen as more of a bother and annoyance than anything else. Experience has taught her that there's no point in trying to pry a man away from his work when it's acting as his main source of distraction. It's becoming a constant thread that she's beginning to see amongst those that she knows. But instead of trying to strong arm it like she might normally do on any given day, she combats it with not-so-subtle reminders that if they want to keep doing those things they have to support the body doing said things.

She places the tank on the table with as much grace as someone carrying a giant tank can. When she's sure it's stable she holds out her hands with a flourish. ]

Everyone, meet Uncle Vikky!

[ Inside the tank, ten pairs of eyes blink up at him curiously. ]

[techmaturgy]

The same as I always do.

[She never knew him back in Piltover--the way he would rarely leave the lab, not even to sleep. Too many late nights on the sofa in their makeshift break room, untouched plates of food from the campus dining hall. This is just a lapse back into old habits. He's never had much of an appetite, anyway.

Besides, who can think about food when there are a bunch of lizards here? Viktor peers into the tank and tries to resist dipping his hand inside.]

What are their names?

[That is the most important thing.]

[theidlemaiden]

[ While the lizards and Viktor get acquainted, Hilda is already pulling out little containers full with meticulously cut fruit and a less appetizing jar full of dead ants and some tweezers. ]

I haven't come up with names yet. Two of them are going to Wanda and Himeka, and Claire is going to adopt one too. [ At his question, she huffs. ] Altair wants to call them Lizards One through Eight - can you believe it?

[techmaturgy]

[Oh, good. So at least three have homes already, ones that don't involve captivity at the Academy--not that he thinks Hilda would allow such a thing.]

I can believe it.

[Altaïr strikes him as a fairly utilitarian individual, after all, not so concerned with, say, the names of baby lizards. Viktor is practical as well, but not so practical that he doesn't enjoy this very much.]

You must have some ideas.

[theidlemaiden]

[ She absolutely wouldn't let that happen. Not to say Dr. Rutherford would have kept them either – he had already agreed to releasing them back into the wild if Hilda and Altaïr didn't want to keep them after they hatched. ]

I had a couple of ideas. [ A ripple of discomfort ripples through her body that she tries to wipe away. She holds out another pair of tweezers for Viktor so he can feed the lizards. ] At first I thought something similar to Veliki and Mali's names might be nice so they match their parents, but I'm not very familiar with Wanda's language so that wouldn't work. And the others just...don't seem to fit.

[ There's a pause as she fiddles with the lid, popping it off and placing it down on the counter. ]

I just want to make sure that they're perfect.

[techmaturgy]

Well, let's hear them.

[Viktor likes the idea of matching names, and he thinks he might be able to help out in that regard. Still, he understands her concerns.

(And he will feed the lizards. Thank you.)]

You don't have to decide right away. You could wait for their personalities to reveal themselves.

[theidlemaiden]

[ Viktor is right of course. A name doesn't have to be decided right away and they're so young at this point that there's no possible way she can choose based on personality. And besides, names could change, couldn't they? It wasn't like she particularly thought that Waffenzahn suited Waffle as well as his nickname did.

Her cheeks puff up momentarily, the air rushing out of her lips with an audible sound. ]

You can't laugh at them okay?

[ With the lid sorted she retrieves her notebook. There's several groups of names, all bundled by themes. Some of them are simply after things like flowers, others look like names of enchantments that have a nice ring to them, some are actual names like 'Sigiswald' and 'Pinelli'. Too embarrassed to read them aloud, she places the book in front of him instead. ]

I'm very open to suggestions.

[techmaturgy]

Hilda, I would never laugh at them.

[Names for lizards are serious business. It seems like she's been busy, and Viktor goes over the list, smiling a little to himself and pointing at the ones he likes.]

I suppose it depends how many you're keeping.

[theidlemaiden]

[ As he looks over the notebook she peers not-so-subtly over his shoulders noting the ones that he points out. ]

Well I guess I'll keep the ones that no one else wants to adopt. Altaïr looks after Veliki and Mali once in a while but I'm not even sure he's in his room at the Sarstina all that often.

[ She hums, starting a mental list of people that have agreed to take the lizards which is...really just a grand total of two. ]

I might have someone else in mind to take one of them. But that still leaves four.

[techmaturgy]

It's good to know they'll have homes.

[Not that he thought she'd be giving them up to the Academy, or anything, but it might be a bit of a feat to care for that many animals, Veliki and Mali included. He can kind of guess what she's getting at, but Viktor doesn't want to be presumptuous.

Still, it's too tempting not to say something.]

Do you want me to take one?

[theidlemaiden]

[ Well, to be fair she had opened up her message saying as much. She hadn't been joking about it otherwise she wouldn't have said it. Then again she didn't want to force him into doing something he didn't want to do so it was unlikely that she was going to bring it up herself again.

...Or maybe she would have brought it up once.

So all of that is to say she's positively hopeful when Viktor brings it up himself. Hilda's expression goes all gooey and fluttery. ]

Really? I know you said you were more of a fun uncle, but if you really want one, I think it'd be a great fit. It could keep you company and Veliki and Mali could see one of their babies regularly!

[techmaturgy]

I didn't want to presume.

[And he hadn't known whether all the lizards were spoken for. There's certainly room in the workshop, and now that he lives upstairs it will be less of an effort to care for it. He'll need to set up a heat lamp, and ensure the appropriate humidity, but yes, he thinks he can take one off her hands.]

But it will give you another excuse to visit.

[theidlemaiden]

Vikky!

[ She had been hopeful before but now her eyes practically sparkle with joy. In the same way he hadn't wanted to presume, she hadn't either. A lizard wasn't exactly a dog or a cat, but it would still provide company. ]

As if I needed another excuse to come by. Did you want to pick one out now?

[techmaturgy]

[Well, there's a cat too. But Viktor is confident he can keep Purrfessor out of the enclosure. Hilda seems thrilled--and he thinks that if he had to offload eight baby lizards, he might also be happy to find another taker, but her enthusiasm is contagious regardless.]

Now? I could.

[He peers, again, into the tank.]

Though I'd be happy with any of them. Who do you think would suit me best?

[theidlemaiden]

[ It's a tragedy that she has yet to meet Purrfessor and that needs to be rectified immediately. 

Hilda peers into the tank at the lizards inside. Most of them seem to be scurrying around, clearly bored of waiting for more food to be dropped down but one seems mildly enamoured by the faces hovering above them. Extending a hand into the tank she scoops her up and holds her out to Viktor. Their skin is almost iridescent in the light of the workshop. ] 

What about her? She's been one of the more curious out of the clutch. And she's pretty cuddly too. 

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor leans over the tank as well, as if trying to guess which one she's going to choose. He takes a step back when she scoops one up, cupping his hands carefully so as not to drop or injure the creature. It's probably not a secret by now that he likes animals, but his expression softens when he looks at the little animal gazing up at him from his palms.]

She's perfect.

[The smile he gives her is sincere.]

You'll come and check up on her, yes?