satisficing | dion cachall

[YOU ARE SO BOSSY YOU CAN'T JUST NOT PC ME AND BARGE IN HERE AND EXPECT ME TO HAND YOU A DAMN MEMORY!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway

A void opens up and Viktor steps through because he is too busy distracted by conversation with idiot Dion. He supposes this may as well happen.

Dion is swathed in the chilly glow of tubular lamplight. In front of him is a cylindrical chamber not very different from the one Dion woke up in on the ship. Inside, bobbing in the murky water, is a large salamander-looking creature whose skin and eyes make it look almost dead, embalmed, pickled. But Dion knows it is not, it is alive. Dion knows it used to be a friend at one time; he used to feed it the glowing plants from the cave.

Dion stares at his reflection in the glass: withered, sickly, too pale, his eyes bruised and dark from sleeplessness. His body aches all over, feels fatigued. An itchy, gurgling cough sits in his chest, his throat, ready to erupt at any moment.

Behind him is a disfigured man sitting at a desk. Sometimes, you take terrible risks when you are a desperate and dying man.]

[ HEHE

anyway, everything about this memory is suspicious, from the lighting to the strange creature in the tube, to the vial that the masked man hands viktor.

when it fades, dion gives viktor a careful glance. ]

I am in no position to judge your decisions, Master Viktor.

[Wow, can't a fucking guy who doesn't want the strangling ethics of a high and mighty, rich society breathing down the back of his neck have his own lil guy lab underground? Damn.

Viktor is momentarily frozen in place, his right hand tightened into a stiff, gloved fist. He exhales, slow, deep.]

...It's fine if you do. I surely have.

[ looks just because he's rich doesn't mean he's not right ]

You regret your decision?

[He just gives Dion a look, both tired and maybe a little ashamed.]

Of course.

Then there is even less reason to cast judgment.

[ pats his shoulder ]

There are none among us free from mistakes. I certainly cannot fault you for wanting to survive.