he will actually be mildly polite and drop his (non-heart) stuff on the ground and come over to show him while he's sitting down, brushing ashes off of it. the underlying emotion as viktor says that is a strange mix of genuine admiration and the self-satisfaction of hearing something you entirely agree with. ]
I wasn't planning on it.
[ he is kind of attracted to this whole deal, actually. ]
This is so nice for a guy who continues to rag him at every turn. He lowers the crutch against himself so he has room to look this ugly thing over. The eyes really say he'd dig right into it.]
[ yes? that is what you do with your friends? you bully them relentlessly and sometimes bring them the eviscerated hearts of creepy sci-fi children. there are other people around to do lots of gentle friendship speeches, he doesn't know how to do those. ]
[He leans just a bit against Lucien for a second so he can dig the multi-tool out of his pocket. He flicks open the knife.]
I have to at least know some of what he was capable of before I don't have the chance to talk to him anymore. If he can truly create a way to escape death...
It was pretty egotistical, though I don't doubt he was incredibly intelligent.
[He lets Lucien examine it because he also wants to see. He reaches out to touch it here and there with his uncovered hand. He doesn't seem to be grossed out or afraid of it.]
Luckily for you, I can usually disarm a bomb. What exactly were you trying to open is the question?
'Usually' is carrying quite the weight there, Vik.
[ yeah it's fine it's just a nasty heart that is covered in ashes still from being shoved in a jar. he doesn't think it's a bomb, though this thing is definitely haunted for SURE. he pries a claw under a piece of the machinery holding it together gently, trying to see if he can feel anything. ]
A cache the Red Debt had squirreled away, and apparently decided to trap to ward off greedy 12-year-olds who thought they might find a gold piece inside. I've only disarmed a few traps with my face since.
Well, unlike Scien, I have the decency to admit I may run into a bomb I can't disarm.
[Both brows rise, and he quickly whacks Lucien's finger with the flat of the knife blade. HEY. Don't just tell him your face got exploded and here you are shoving your finger into something they don't know.]
I don't trust you after saying that to me, get out of there.
[ he hisses at him, near animalistic, baring his teeth like an angry cat. but it's all bark, apparently - pulling his finger away from the blade, still scowling at him. ]
[He's tired as fuck, but manages to be a bit smug in the face of all the snarling. CARRYING ON LIKE LUCIEN WON'T JUST BITE HIS FACE OR SOMETHING.]
One.
[Hehe.
He slips the knife where Lucien had been, gently prying it up and taking the piece with his other hand so he can see if wires are attached beneath...]
But the hex crystals were extremely volatile before we stabilized them. They blew up the whole outer wall of Jayce's apartment. He never even bothered to fix it.
[ its fine he's just a kittycat that got told no so he has to make a show of it. it's not that scary when he can't currently melt brains or read minds.
as for the heart, I don't know what can actually be found in this thing but if (spoilers) it disappears in the morning I don't see why it can't get taken apart a little as a treat. ]
I just assume this heart is gross inside and lucien is just. holding it. he doesn't seem grossed out this is the not close to the grossest thing he's had to do but it's getting a little squishy in here. ]
[The way he is forcing Lucien to hold this while he works. He's too Nerd right now, so he also isn't grossed out. This is like opening a jar of candy in front of him.]
Are you asking me if he's attractive, or if he's a good person? [He doesn't even look up from the heart.] Because both.
[ the question was sort of both. and the penance for making him like squat here holding this thing is he gets pestered like this, so that seems like a fair enough trade. ]
Question was both, so, sure that works. [ he clicks his tongue. ] Got to be a limit to the latter if he's into politics though. Always something a bit rotten there.
[that isn't necessarily a condemnation. also what the fuck does lucien know about politics, he's from a place with literally no laws. ]
Yes, he was learning that the hard way, I believe.
[The inside is full of things he wishes he had the tools for extracting in a more careful way.
Scien would consider this is theft, but he does not want to damage it. He is respectful of the equipment. He doesn't try to break it open or dig around haphazardly.]
Did you know he told me recently people from the Undercity were violent? When he had to deal with some discontent at the edge as the security councilman. I had to remind him I was from the Undercity.
[ scien wanted to burn it, so it seems fair game to lucien. if he was willing to dispose of it, then it's fair for the taking - ignoring the fact that he clearly didn't want anyone else to have it. selfish, selfish. ]
People from everywhere are violent. Covering your ears and eyes and feeding street urchins, debtors and drunks to the service of the Red Debt and the Sour Nest so they can keep making gold and letting you sleep soundly in your bed is as much violence as throwing a stone at a guard.
Reese Jagentoth is a petty, stupid gang leader who pulls the tongues of those who speak against him from their slashed throats and he'd serve his place just as well on King Dwendal's council. Vess DeRogna is an Archmage with a seat on the Cerberus Assembly, the highest a mortal can climb from the bloody muck in the streets, and when she couldn't reach her magic, she shrieked and wheedled and threatened like any scrabbling peasant in the mud.
Fathers from the Shimmer Ward lash their children as much as the street performer on the town square, the belt is just a higher quality leather.
They just prefer to pretend it's something else because it wears a different mask.
[He works while listening to Lucien. The inside has circuitry, a conglomerate chimera of three different parts, but also... an organic heart, too. He isn't sure if he can do anything without destroying it.
It's frustrating. Trying to decide if ethics and morals should be cast aside for the sake of progress. Turning himself into a monster for the knowledge.
His eyes flick up.]
That is how Piltover works as well, yes. It doesn't matter who is a noble house, who is a Councilor, who is an Enforcer. None of them act any differently than those living in Zaun.
[ watching him peel back the layers of the heart, trying not to shift it in his hands - there's a low-lying frustration that so much of the inner circuitry both organic and not means so little to him. it's only viscera. he doesn't realize he's being looked at for a long second, too lost in the workings of it. ]
I'm going to change it. I'm going to leave it better.
[He continues to look at Lucien's face for a long moment, studying it. The words rouse an appreciative ambition within him. The hopeful squiggly is timid, as if it's been hurt, bruised.
He glances down at the heart, through it, and then looks up again.]
I also want to change it. I want to help Zaun. But first... I... have to find a way... to keep my body alive.
[ he'll meet his gaze at that point - at the very least, he seems convinced of what he's saying. it isn't hope, necessarily, but conviction. he will change it, because the alternative is laying down and dying, and fuck anyone and everyone who tried to make him do that. ]
Flesh and blood. Easy.
[ he gives him half a grin. he knows it's not a simple answer, but not an unsolvable equation. ]
[ he moves one of his hands slightly out from under the heart, the red eye on the palm streaked with ash. ]
Think we all want different things. Me, and my companions. Otis saw their mother drink herself to death, and Jurrell saw her town starve while the Empire diverted grain. Tyffial saw Jurrell get beheaded in Odesloe. Zoran I think just wants a four-foot cock. Or maybe someone to care. Cree wants what I want. And I want-- [ he pulls his mouth to one side. weirdly lost for words for how much he loves the sound of his own voice. ] To turn the lights back on in the house. I promised someone I’d try.
[WHY DOES HE LOOK UP AT FOUR FOOT COCK WITH HIS BROWS RAISED. Sorry, he had the pause because this was all so understandingly altruistic, and then there is just that.
He stays this way, looking at Lucien again like before, while Lucien tries to find the right phrase.]
And how far are you willing to go for that? Or... should I say, how far have you already gone?
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he will actually be mildly polite and drop his (non-heart) stuff on the ground and come over to show him while he's sitting down, brushing ashes off of it. the underlying emotion as viktor says that is a strange mix of genuine admiration and the self-satisfaction of hearing something you entirely agree with. ]
I wasn't planning on it.
[ he is kind of attracted to this whole deal, actually. ]
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This is so nice for a guy who continues to rag him at every turn. He lowers the crutch against himself so he has room to look this ugly thing over. The eyes really say he'd dig right into it.]
I'm going... to have to get some tools.
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You have some?
[ he assumes probably not. ]
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Not the ones I really need.
[He leans just a bit against Lucien for a second so he can dig the multi-tool out of his pocket. He flicks open the knife.]
I have to at least know some of what he was capable of before I don't have the chance to talk to him anymore. If he can truly create a way to escape death...
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[ yeah alright he'll be furniture for the moment. he turns the heart over in his hands, examining it before it gets pried into. ]
You know, the first big job I ever took with Cree literally exploded in my face when we tried to pry it open with a knife ...
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[He lets Lucien examine it because he also wants to see. He reaches out to touch it here and there with his uncovered hand. He doesn't seem to be grossed out or afraid of it.]
Luckily for you, I can usually disarm a bomb. What exactly were you trying to open is the question?
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[ yeah it's fine it's just a nasty heart that is covered in ashes still from being shoved in a jar. he doesn't think it's a bomb, though this thing is definitely haunted for SURE. he pries a claw under a piece of the machinery holding it together gently, trying to see if he can feel anything. ]
A cache the Red Debt had squirreled away, and apparently decided to trap to ward off greedy 12-year-olds who thought they might find a gold piece inside. I've only disarmed a few traps with my face since.
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[Both brows rise, and he quickly whacks Lucien's finger with the flat of the knife blade. HEY. Don't just tell him your face got exploded and here you are shoving your finger into something they don't know.]
I don't trust you after saying that to me, get out of there.
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[ he hisses at him, near animalistic, baring his teeth like an angry cat. but it's all bark, apparently - pulling his finger away from the blade, still scowling at him. ]
Feck off. How many bombs have you disarmed then?
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One.
[Hehe.
He slips the knife where Lucien had been, gently prying it up and taking the piece with his other hand so he can see if wires are attached beneath...]
But the hex crystals were extremely volatile before we stabilized them. They blew up the whole outer wall of Jayce's apartment. He never even bothered to fix it.
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[ its fine he's just a kittycat that got told no so he has to make a show of it. it's not that scary when he can't currently melt brains or read minds.
as for the heart, I don't know what can actually be found in this thing but if (spoilers) it disappears in the morning I don't see why it can't get taken apart a little as a treat. ]
Jayce. Half-giant with a hammer?
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Time to open this dumb heart up neither of us know any canon information for before it vanishes into the ether.]
Mm. My research partner. The face of Hextech. His house were toolmakers. He had just recently created a giant hammer which used a hex crystal.
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I just assume this heart is gross inside and lucien is just. holding it. he doesn't seem grossed out this is the not close to the grossest thing he's had to do but it's getting a little squishy in here. ]
Good face?
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Are you asking me if he's attractive, or if he's a good person? [He doesn't even look up from the heart.] Because both.
A little caught up in politics, however.
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Question was both, so, sure that works. [ he clicks his tongue. ] Got to be a limit to the latter if he's into politics though. Always something a bit rotten there.
[that isn't necessarily a condemnation. also what the fuck does lucien know about politics, he's from a place with literally no laws. ]
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[The inside is full of things he wishes he had the tools for extracting in a more careful way.
Scien would consider this is theft, but he does not want to damage it. He is respectful of the equipment. He doesn't try to break it open or dig around haphazardly.]
Did you know he told me recently people from the Undercity were violent? When he had to deal with some discontent at the edge as the security councilman. I had to remind him I was from the Undercity.
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People from everywhere are violent. Covering your ears and eyes and feeding street urchins, debtors and drunks to the service of the Red Debt and the Sour Nest so they can keep making gold and letting you sleep soundly in your bed is as much violence as throwing a stone at a guard.
Reese Jagentoth is a petty, stupid gang leader who pulls the tongues of those who speak against him from their slashed throats and he'd serve his place just as well on King Dwendal's council. Vess DeRogna is an Archmage with a seat on the Cerberus Assembly, the highest a mortal can climb from the bloody muck in the streets, and when she couldn't reach her magic, she shrieked and wheedled and threatened like any scrabbling peasant in the mud.
Fathers from the Shimmer Ward lash their children as much as the street performer on the town square, the belt is just a higher quality leather.
They just prefer to pretend it's something else because it wears a different mask.
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It's frustrating. Trying to decide if ethics and morals should be cast aside for the sake of progress. Turning himself into a monster for the knowledge.
His eyes flick up.]
That is how Piltover works as well, yes. It doesn't matter who is a noble house, who is a Councilor, who is an Enforcer. None of them act any differently than those living in Zaun.
They just do it wearing cleaner clothes.
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I'm going to change it. I'm going to leave it better.
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He glances down at the heart, through it, and then looks up again.]
I also want to change it. I want to help Zaun. But first... I... have to find a way... to keep my body alive.
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Flesh and blood. Easy.
[ he gives him half a grin. he knows it's not a simple answer, but not an unsolvable equation. ]
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[Don't GRIN. He puffs out a laborious sigh and looks back into the chimera heart. The knife is replaced by the pliers.]
Why do you want to change it so badly? [Like before, he doesn't look up. Just listening.] I have the excuse of being from Zaun.
But what's in it for you?
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[ he moves one of his hands slightly out from under the heart, the red eye on the palm streaked with ash. ]
Think we all want different things. Me, and my companions. Otis saw their mother drink herself to death, and Jurrell saw her town starve while the Empire diverted grain. Tyffial saw Jurrell get beheaded in Odesloe. Zoran I think just wants a four-foot cock. Or maybe someone to care. Cree wants what I want. And I want-- [ he pulls his mouth to one side. weirdly lost for words for how much he loves the sound of his own voice. ] To turn the lights back on in the house. I promised someone I’d try.
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He stays this way, looking at Lucien again like before, while Lucien tries to find the right phrase.]
And how far are you willing to go for that? Or... should I say, how far have you already gone?
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[ at this point he has to sit back he has been sitting here forever and is getting sort of tired. it's been a really long day. ]
I was at the threshold when I arrived here. All the pieces, all the players-- I simply need them at the right place. A few days away.
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