satisficing: (Default)
Vik "Da Vikky" tor ([personal profile] satisficing) wrote2022-02-24 07:28 pm
tombtaker: (49.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ this is so fucked up and insanely attractive of him. listen, he thinks viktor is a very nice boy and him being moral and stuff is a good thing to lucien weirdly enough but god the fucked up little scientist thing really does it for him. he is sooooooo strange and it is hot.

he'll take a couple steps towards it, just observing, but he's at least barely smart enough to not reach out and touch it like he was warned. he'll watch the electrical pulse for a moment, tilting his head.
]

Shall I?

[ turn it off, he means. ]
tombtaker: (30.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ a sensation that should be more unfamiliar than it is, but instead just rings an echoing mirror of a vision he's had again and again - the pattern, the pattern, the pattern. and he half expects a whisper, a berating any moment for hiding for so long. red eyes calling back the void. he barely notices when the scene changes and he's somewhere else. hallucinations aren't exactly new either.

the woman is new though. he's not so totally lost in his head that he doesn't remember what the memory experience is like - but it does take him by surprise. he'd thought this was over.

he'll follow close behind then. he doubts there will be any good in attempting to stop her? what has already happened, has already happened.
]
tombtaker: (4.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ everything old is new, and everything new is old. there's a rising sense of panic as he hears (hears?) the voice, calling. panic, and fear and anger. how fucking dare it address him now, after all this. if they're looking for lucien tavelle, that's not supposed to be him right now. if he presses forward into the memory, then they won't see.

the only way forward is through. the blink into the next part of the scene is easily accepted, dream logic works as you'd expect. it will work, because the only option is for it to work. he is tired of picking up the pieces. the dream of ████████ will make all things whole again, starting with him. of course it makes sense to reach out, make the trade. an easy one, considering he's spent so much of his life already trading blood for power.

he knows the price of a ticket.
]
tombtaker: (27.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ it is, it is ash. it's the ash of Sky and the ash of Aeor and the ash of-- the journal has been burned, but strangely he feels the phantom press of it now against his chest. oddly warm in contrast to the frigid, biting cold of Eiselcross. searing like scalpel cuts into the skin. Brevyn's hands pushing the book against him. Sky's hands around his arm and trying and failing to pull him back. a glaive twisting in his chest as the ribs crack beneath it. the price of a ticket. a life for a life for a life.

his eyes dart around wildly for a moment, first at Viktor and then at the Core, and then back to Viktor, face hot and flushed and panicked. tense like a rabbit about to run, or a snake about to strike.
]

Did you-- ... ?
tombtaker: (41.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 01:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the first touch on his shoulder seems to make him flinch as if he expects it to hurt - to burn to like every other thought he's just had, but he doesn't move away. the red eye on the side of lucien's under viktor's hand slides across the skin away from his touch. ]

I heard them-- I saw ... [ he keeps trailing off, which isn't helpful, but he doesn't quite know what to say yet. scrubbing a hand over his face, across his eyes, a sharp intake. he's muttering to himself which probably isn't a great sign, but he is known to have arguments with himself a lot. ]

Your memory, I think.

[ viktor had described what happened to sky, but seeing is always a bit different than hearing about something. ]
tombtaker: (28.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm staying.

[ A thought floats through his head. a woman's voice, haughty and assured. `You say that now because you are young and scarred only by tragedies not of your own making. Greatness inevitably requires action, and action begets mistakes.` he sets his jaw and shakes his head. It's not like he wants Viktor to start apologizing for ... what? exactly? getting his memories shared against his will? everyone does that.

Besides, he's not going to let that rotten cube of magic win their little battle of wills here. that's what that was, wasn't it? it feels pointed. like it was trying to rattle him on purpose. one by one, the eyes start to flare up and he makes a bit of a face as he watches the walls shimmer and crack through with flesh with the true sight, the chatter of every mind nearby starting to whisper at his ear, but the anti-magic will kick into life after a moment.
]
tombtaker: (23.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he's still clearly agitated - sometimes his eyes can be hard to track with the red-on-red of the iris but he's flicking between looking back at Viktor and the Hex Core itself. it's still beautiful, but many deadly things are. What are the chances he ends up like Sky did? nothing but ash and regrets? but Viktor had asked him to trust, and that's what he's chosen to do. taking a breath out after the kiss, concentrating on the eyes instead.

he's always more than a little smug when the anti-magic works, tilting his head and giving viktor a grin. shifting in place to cock a hip and put his hand on it, the red eye on his chest glowing brightly, but staying where he is so he doesn't move the field. he can probably see the boundaries of it because the air outside of it shimmers slightly at the edges.
]

Might want to hurry. Who knows how long it'll work, and I don't think it likes me much.
tombtaker: (26.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[ well he has a right to be cocky i spent some time googling anti-magic field and every post about it is reddit bros SO ANGRY the only counter to it is "send in a guy with a good old non-magical knife" so all hail the 8th level spell. anti-magic field: it's some bullshit!

he'll turn the eyes off then, tilting his head and watching carefully, following the streaks of magic energy.
]

Everything you dreamed of?
tombtaker: (28.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he raises his hand like a student in class. ]
tombtaker: (9.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ you can tell he's feeling more normal this week because the cheeky bastardry comes so naturally now. ]

As I've said, I have placed my trust in you and your understanding of this thing, and I believe entirely in your ability to solve the problem. But the nagging voice of the part of myself you so begged for me to listen to compels me to ask: if it learns from what it absorbs, is feeding it nine distinctly insane and malevolent mage ghosts going to be ... a good idea?
tombtaker: (20.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he pauses, and then goes to pull the amulet off from around his neck, holding it out. the little vial of blood in the middle sloshes around. ]

Could try with a smaller piece of it first. See what it does with it. That has the power of the Mind Rend in it, which I clearly don't need now that I can do it on my own again.

Otherwise, you should hold onto it. Good for you to have a defense of some kind, and it doesn't require any aiming. Just a touch and a thought.
tombtaker: (21.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-16 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's fine apparently the psychic damage ain't do shit around here!!!

he'll push it forward more insistently.
]

Yes, well, it is dangerous. You're going to do god's knows what with it. [ ... ] I told you that I trust you. I'm yours to do with as you wish.
tombtaker: (7.)

[personal profile] tombtaker 2024-04-17 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ As he reaches for the amulet, he finds himself frantically knocking on a door instead. The knocker is a face, made of gold and stretched into a desperate smile, and you’re bashing it as hard as you can against the door.

The clearing is calm, and peaceful - or would be, if it weren’t for the two of you careening your way through it. The red cottage sits in the middle of it. A strange sight in the Savalirwood, all things considered. Not much lives in here, let alone has a sweet little home. There’s birdsong, and the sound of a babbling brook, and shouting in the distance as the mercenaries of the Red Debt close in on you quickly. They don’t care that you’re scrawny, 12-year-old urchins, they’ll still slice your throats and leave the corpses in the Jagentoth Tomb as a warning to other upstarts hoping to take a Mardoon job.

“Azrahari! You owe me! You owe me!” And the voice that is meant to be demanding sounds pleading instead, on the edge of childish, angry tears. “Azrahari!

Cree is tugging at your sleeve, eyes in a panic and claws dug so deeply into the sleeve of your coat that they’re pricking your skin. “Lucien, we have to go! Not in the open! Not in the open—

There’s a part of you that hopes, maybe, the witch has abandoned this place. You’ve simply come here to cower as you die and maybe it will be over soon. But, mercifully or not, the door opens. Your knees nearly buckle as she emerges from the shadow of the door.

“What an unexpected surprise.” She smiles. Peace. Calm. A natural serenity. The woman is tall, taller than she should be, with an ageless sort of beauty about her. Icy-blonde hair in ringlets gathered at the crown of her head, and two gray horns sweep back from her forehead. Cree’s eyes widen in horror, her head snapping back and forth between the woman and where the two of you had run from. Calculating the seconds until your time is up. “Normally, I only greet visitors with an appointment, but for you... ” Her blue eyes narrow, looking at you, while a hand toys with the gold and silver amulet at her chest, “I could make a rare exception.”

You, however, can only stare at the witch. You can’t decide if you want to run, or vomit. She ruined your life. But she owes you.
]
Edited 2024-04-17 02:20 (UTC)

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