satisficing: (Default)
Vik "Da Vikky" tor ([personal profile] satisficing) wrote2022-02-24 10:08 pm
polliwog: (78)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-20 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he helps him wobble up onto his feet, scrounging up a grin. ]

Oh, enough apologizing! If anything, I wish you would burden me more. [ the smile is short lived though, flickering into a wince. ] ...I'd rather help you carry a weight than watch it crush you.

[ privately, he thinks this woman must have suffered her own share of watching viktor scrape and struggle. he pauses, trying not to sound tentative even as he grasps viktor's hand with a desperation of his own. ]

Could you rely on us a little? On me? This desperate understanding—it tempts you because you don't have alternatives. Or... time to find them. [ at least someone has doxxed that viktor is dying to him outright ] Can't there be more answers here, when we're looking with you? [ if he opens his eyes a little wider, couldn't his perceptions change? ]
polliwog: (28)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-21 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ it is pointless! he's stubborn, too. he doesn't know how much viktor means what he says, but maybe one day he'll beat it through his thick skull that he wants to be here. he bears viktor's weight easily, a little flutter moving across his fins. ]

Thank you.

[ there's some relief in the way his grip loosens, though it doesn't let go. ]

Viktor—when we were cursed, maybe those feelings were... manipulated. [ love arrows is kind of fucked up if you think too hard about it, which he hasn't before. he hadn't minded it, mostly setting it aside to be polite to his very shy co-victim. ] But back then, I told you I would tell you this often: I care for you. I love you!

[ he says it without any difficulty. ]

...I don't know if that frightens you. Or perhaps—...maybe you don't feel you deserve it? [ maybe he doesn't understand it, despite being a genius. the heart is very different from reason. ] Still, I'll remind you. Until you can believe it.
polliwog: (72)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-21 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ i've warned you repeatedly that i'm doing this?

the way this was actually a very dire moment and now he has to fish viktor's brain out of the primordial murk because—he really can be very dumb. has anyone said this to him before? lucien, maybe? they obviously have a connection. not that sidon minds, it doesn't affect his feelings any.

whatever those feelings may be... ]


I care for you? [ he pauses, then smiles finally, more wry than usual. ] Or, I love you?

[ is that what he's getting caught up on? ]
polliwog: (81)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-21 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ oh, so he melted that brilliant brain of his by saying 'i love you.' if only everyone could be felled so easily.

his smile mellows, tempered, even though he's often the type to laugh and bolt ahead. even he can be a little—abashed? not often, but on occasions like having to explain emotions to another grown man. he's not an expert on the differentiations of love.

it seems important to say anyway, in the case of someone who loves himself so little, like viktor. ]


Because that's how I feel!

[ why else would he say it? straightforward. while he doesn't tend to declare his love very often, because people might take it the wrong way from a prince, he does love openly. ]

But don't worry. It doesn't have to mean anything that you don't want it to. [ he doesn't need to freak out... ]
Edited (fixes a typo an hour later) 2024-03-21 06:09 (UTC)
polliwog: (fa44)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-21 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he watches viktor have a breakdown without comment, patiently waiting through the stumbling words. maybe this should feel more awkward, but having not had any expectations to begin with, he's just apologetic that this has sent him spiraling. it was supposed to make him feel better? ]

You don't need to think so hard about it! ...Though that's a pointless thing to tell you.

[ of course he's going to overthink it. still, there's no need to say anything in return; it only means as much or as little as viktor wants it to. there's so many types of love. he reaches out to fix viktor's hair from where he's mussed it all up again, largely failing as usual, and rests his hand against all the disturbed fluff there a moment after. ]

It's just something I wanted you to know. It's all right if you don't have a response right now.

[ or—even if viktor rejected such a feeling outright, it wouldn't stop him from saying it. he stands up, smiling almost casually. ]

—Well then! Shall we get out of this place? It's a bit dark for you.
polliwog: (86)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-22 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ WHAT IS HE ALWAYS SUCH A SAD LITTLE MAN FOR?? he'd rather usher viktor out of the caverns. he wants him to stop shrinking away and apologizing. ]

I want to see you.

[ though instead of dragging him out kicking and screaming, he travels his hand down viktor's hair to his jaw, keeping him from hiding in on himself all the way. he's careful with his nails, but not shy with his touch. ]

You know, you're not a machine. You can't turn off those emotions—you may as well enjoy the good ones! [ even if he claims to be allergic to feelings, he obviously has them. it's part of why he'd connected to viktor more naturally and personally than scien. both brilliant, both rational, but viktor's heart is more... human. ]

And you did get to try out love for a while. Can't you let yourself imagine doing those things in earnest?

[ with him, or—well, 'people' is definitely lucien. sidon isn't a genius engineer, but he has something in short supply, which is the ability to read a crowd. ]

Don't be afraid to give it some thought. That's all I ask.
polliwog: (49)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-22 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ imagine he just picks him up like a sack of potatoes

no it's fine they can go somewhere with actual lighting. the way sidon sleeps in a cave pool so he's down there all the time. he's curious what needs explanation, but... ]


All right—let's be off!

[ he'll pat his hand and usher them somewhere with like, light. the bar is low. ]
polliwog: (fa29)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-22 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ STOP he'll carry viktor around if there's suddenly some water they have to cross but otherwise his stupid stubborn ass can walk himself around.

he just follows the veins of light, the gentle illumination from the various floating life forms until they're out into the also dimly lit helly belly.

though he pauses at 'force.' he is being 'forced' to attend him. ]


Do you think I don't rely on you?
polliwog: (63)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-22 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ he shakes his head. ]

Your presence is never a burden.

[ he just affirmed that he loves being around viktor? hello? but he's realized that the damage he's sustained over so many years is carved deep into him. he hadn't understood why he'd been ready to fight scien. he hadn't comprehended basically any act of basic decency given his way. ]

I'm starting to believe you think too highly of me. That you would think your company is some weight I must bear.
polliwog: (107)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-22 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ he sits so he doesn't completely dwarf him, though there's a rare disdain in the way his lips thin together. sewer rat... truly viktor has just lived the most unfortunate existence possible. ]

Good! I hate it too.

[ but his displeasure bleeds out into thoughtfulness in a cant of his head. his tone turns almost staid compared to the norm, serious. ]

Royalty isn't about status so much as a responsibility you are born into. I serve a higher calling—that doesn't mean I exist above others. [ being a prince demands being modest, even. it's an important part of the job. ] Still, that isn't just a trait for nobility. Anyone can want to do... more. To make a difference.

[ he's always been drawn to that—it's the sort of conviction that immediately made him attached to link. ]
polliwog: (110)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-22 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ imagine, if you will, life as one of the handful of people who do not actively hate themselves. even on the days where his confidence takes a dive, he's not hitting the self-loathing juice. he answers brightly, a pleased little swish of his head-tail. ]

Hah—I just say what's on my mind!

[ he's not mipha, universally adored, but at least he's good at connecting with people. usually, anyway. there are people here who make him realize he still has a long way to go, like viktor. ]

...The more you tell me of your homeworld, the more I can see what hardships you've had to endure, my friend. There are Zora who look poorly on Hylians, but it isn't endemic. [ they don't have massive gaps of social standing. hyrule is a bountiful land, capable of supporting so much life. ] You've spent your life swimming in the dark. It makes you feel some great distance between you and others, who live closer to the surface. [ people like royalty. people who have looked down on him and zaun. ] Is that it?
polliwog: (72)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-23 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ he's had a lot of chats about humans since he's gotten here. they can be cruel. is it a human thing? an intellectual mortal thing? he's quiet a moment. ]

You know—there were a handful of people ready to attack me when we got here.

[ there's no grudge in his voice. he doesn't mind at all, and the people who did had their reasons, and it'd never gone beyond a first meeting—he has a disarming enough personality. still, of course he notices being different. it's impossible not to.

he's just never had to live his whole life as an outcast, where his own home might not even have a place for him. viktor has had that awareness, that knowledge of being different, being other, for his whole life. he smiles, swaying enough to bump against viktor's side. ]


But you were never afraid! Not from the moment you saw me. [ ... ] ...I'm sorry that people treated you so unkindly. [ he thinks about the little boat he'd picked up, a brilliant toy made up as a byproduct of loneliness. ] I'm grateful that it made you compassionate, rather than cold.
Edited 2024-03-23 02:07 (UTC)
polliwog: (fa44)

[personal profile] polliwog 2024-03-23 09:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ don't @ me I have insomnia

the way viktor stubbornly refuses his compliments! stubborn, stubborn. how is he supposed to encourage him? he'll find a way eventually. ]


Well, you weren't completely wrong. Neither of us will let you be.

[ STUCK WITH THESE MONSTERS ]

But is this what you wanted to explain? That you feel this distance with me, too?

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