KARTERIA: INBOX

[techmaturgy]

@V

video ✥ voice ✥ text ✥ action

username

@V

name

viktor

age

32

hometown

piltover

codes by ✥ and ✥

Comments

first week, just bc @j.talis text; 1/3

[wondrously]

Hello.

audio; 2/3

[wondrously]

- can you hear this?

video; 3/3

[wondrously]

[ his face very CLOSE ]

audio;

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor does not turn on his video, but he will use the audio function. This is partially to hide that he finds this at least somewhat endearing.]

You don't have to hold it that close. I can see and hear you.

text. (sometime after Jayce idk)

[opposed]

[ This is so uncomfortable to do. She's started and rewritten this text easily four times at this point, torn between wanting something succinct and something that feels, at least, like she isn't trying to brush past the truth.

She tries to settle on something in the middle. ]

Unfortunately, it looks like these changes have caught up with me. Apparently, I have bird legs now. [ It's Great. ] But I wanted to reach out so you knew ahead of time, as I didn't want to blindside you the next time we see one another.

[techmaturgy]

[Well, that's. Viktor appreciates her getting to the point, but it's so ridiculous as to be almost comical. He reminds himself that most of the people here don't have the complicated relationship with a body that he does--this must be distressing.]

I should hope you don't feel ashamed. [Or that she thinks he might react poorly.] Do you need anything?

[opposed]

Shame is not the word I'd use.

[ Notable, she doesn't give any indication of what word she would associate with the feeling. ]

No, I'm fine. The pain has subsided. I can't walk for the moment but I'll likely stay in my room until I've rested some.

[ ... ]

I worry about Jayce's reaction to it, is all.

text; end of juuuune

[wondrously]

[ The next morning after Mel's changes, as he briefly leaves the room to purportedly use the bathroom and get food for them. ]

Viktor?
I'm with Mel.
The Augmenter did something to her legs.
She's having a hard time getting around.
She thinks she'll be fine again in a few days.
I think she's probably right, but I don't know
I told her we could design aids to help and she said no

[ He feels immediately guilty as soon as he hits send - Viktor is dealing with his own recovery, and Mel probably wants to tell Viktor on her own time, but as calm as he's been keeping around her since the night before, he was suddenly NOT calm as soon as he closed the door behind him. ]

[techmaturgy]

What can I do? Should I come to your room? I imagine she doesn't want to see anyone right now.

[But Viktor can and will offer Jayce support, if that's what he needs.]

[wondrously]

[ He's not sure Mel wants more company either, but after a pause- ]

I'm heading to the dining hall right now. Can you meet me there? I was going to bring back coffee and something to eat.
I could use extra hands.

[ He could probably carry everything back himself, realistically. It's a flimsy excuse to invite Viktor in. But Jayce is worried Mel will see through him as soon as he goes back, know that he was panicking - and try to comfort him. That would only make it worse. ]

We really need to get the hell out of here.

[ The Valentia. ]

Cabin - June - shortly after Mel's leg changes

[bloodypath]

Hubert was beginning to suspect he would become quite familiar with the path to the research station.

Picking his way through the woods to it for the third time in less than two weeks, he lightly touched the door, simply feeling--or listening, he still wasn't quite sure, given that the two sensations seemed to be blending together as of late. Faintly, he felt the telltale vibration of movement. Better that someone was here; it made entering far less troublesome.

Hubert raps sharply twice on the door.

His changes were largely hidden by the large robes Patho-Gen had provided them, though black chitin visibly crawled up the back of his neck, jaw, and hands. Far more obvious was the long scorpion tail curled into a lax disk behind him, a few inches off the ground.

[techmaturgy]

Thanks to all the comings and goings, it's increasingly easy to get out to the research station from the main city, and Viktor has come to expect visitors. They're actively soliciting samples, after all, and so this is to be expected, even if he'd much rather be left alone to work. Viktor is getting used to it.

He's feeling a little better, too, more in control of his own overgrowth, but he's holed himself up here to continue his recovery. The knock at the door, unaccompanied by a preceding message, has him furrowing his eyebrows--but he will answer.

"Can I help you?"

Hubert gets a once-over, taking in the corruption changes. Viktor himself has limbs that look like they're made of corded vines, verdant green just barely brushing his jawline. He makes no attempt to hide it, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

[bloodypath]

The once-over look is neutrally returned. Hubert tucks his hands behind his back for lack of anything to do with them.

"I was hoping someone would be here." A gaunt terra. "Viktor, I presume? I am Hubert. Mel told me to retrieve something from her spare bag. Do you know where she keeps it?"

video; beginning of sept

[wondrously]

[ His face will appear on the screen lit up with excitement, the Woods visible behind him as he walks at a hurried pace: ]

V - I'm on my way back to the city. Brickston and I, we - um, [ shuffling the Syntrofos from one hand to the other as he bends a low branch before it smacks him in the face ] - we've made a breakthrough on the uh, music project.

[ It should be easy enough for Viktor to figure out he means their communication attempts with Katalyth. ]

[techmaturgy]

[There is a fumbling sort of noise, Viktor scrambling to reply to the message and managing only audio first. After a moment, though, his own video sparks to life, Viktor's formidable eyebrows far too closer to the screen.]

A breakthrough? What kind?

[He pulls back, slightly, realizing he's too close to the camera.]

Tell me on the way.

SURE DID FUCK UP MY HTML ughhh

[wondrously]

[ Jayce holds back laughter when he's greeted by a close up of Viktor's eyebrows. ]

A response - a... [ hand flapping happening off to the side of the screen as he tries to explain without explaining, for their fear of Patho-Gen listening in on the network ] - a decrease, in output. From our musical friend.

[ This is frustrating! But he still seems ecstatic, and there's more waving of his non-Syntrofos hand. ]

Dinner. I'll explain everything over dinner, with Mel.

[ Nevermind that the two of them don't exactly eat much anymore. ]

end of december.

[opposed]

[ On Viktor's bed will be two packages sometime at the end of December. One of them is obvious: a set of empty notebooks and a fine pen. How novel.

The second is larger, squishier, and opening it will find it's essentially a cloak in Karterian fashion for the cold. The inside of its inner lining is insulated with Mel's feathers that are leftover. But the color is that of Hexcore blue, only slightly deeper than Jayce's stone color now. ]

Jan 4th

[bloodypath]

I understand Terras sometimes lay roots into soil and that this process is either necessary or appeases something about the soul.

Have you, or any other Terra you might know of, gone further with this root laying and sequestered yourself in a giant flower or tree trunk or anything of the sort during the process?

[techmaturgy]

[Hm. No comment.]

Is this currently happening to someone you know?

nebulous winter time

[wondrously]

[ He's been having a think. ]

Would you still love me if I was a worm?

[techmaturgy]

????

december party, nsfw

[wondrously]

( from here )

[ Historically, Jayce has always been (more than a little) vain, they're both well aware. His body, his face, his entire physicality became a commodity to help leverage better funding over the course of their partnership, and he'd be lying to say he didn't get anything out of the praise and approval.

Viktor's soft praise means so much more than any of that ever did to him. He's no different from the blooms winding across his arms, when they bend toward the sun. His back arches, pressing his chest forward as Viktor's slender hands glide across his arms, vein-lights following their trail. ]

Am I?

[ It's meant to be teasing, but he shivers, a psycho-somatic response, and guides Viktor's hands to where the crystal softens to false skin up his neck. He wants to start babbling, to tell Viktor about the quiet experiments he's been conducting on his own body, to excitedly explain to him that he could, in a way, reverse some of his own corruption - he could be softer for him, if he wanted. Instead: ]

Here, let me - [ With some awkward scooting back and forward he manages to free Viktor's ankles with relative expediency, taking a second to undo his own belt before ducking down again, kissing just beneath where a belly button would be. ]

[techmaturgy]

Yes. I wouldn't lie to you.

[Not about this, anyway, even if Viktor is aware that he's likely inflating Jayce's ego. He thinks it's allowed, after everything that's happened to Jayce's body. When his hands are directed back up to his face, though, Viktor lingers there, thumbs stroking his cheeks. It's not difficult to imagine that Viktor is taking a moment to commit this sight to memory.

But then it's back to work--he shifts so that Jayce can pull off the rest of his pants, leaving Viktor to shimmy out of his briefs. It's nothing Jayce hasn't seen before, but the way he bends to put his mouth on his stomach. Viktor sighs involuntarily, searching for Jayce's wrist to guide his hand.]

You can touch.

[Everywhere is sensitive.]

[text]

[feistro]

[It's the next morning, and guess who is texting. It's Pom. Pom is texting.]

You up?

[techmaturgy]

[Did he ever go to sleep?]

Yes, I suppose. Are you going to pay me a visit?