a rich unhinged mongoose (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clavesregni) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
eastbound2022-10-19 11:06 am
clavesregni) wrote in eastbound2022-10-19 11:06 am
video, un: hopscotch
[Caitlyn enthusiastically shows off a small wooden box. Visible on the lid is an insignia of a Minaras governmental medical facility. Over Caitlyn's shoulder is a redhead looking wholly uninspired by this discovery.]
This was found following an altercation with a group of drunk individuals. One man was tall, must have been a little over six feet, with a blond beard, head shaved, and some sort of tattoo visible on his neck. Another was a few inches shorter, clean-shaven and close-cropped black hair, wearing a rather ostentatious, if tattered, blue coat. The third was a few inches shorter still, also clean-shaven, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and several scars along the length of his forearms.
[Vi rolls her eyes as Caitlyn rattles off these descriptions. Caitlyn, oblivious, continues:] Does anyone know who these men might have been? If they could be identified, they could perhaps be located and questioned as to how a box belonging to a medical facility came into their possession.
[Vi mutters,] Probably going to sell whatever it is to the highest bidder.
[At the interruption, Caitlyn glances over her shoulder to respond to Vi. Her tone is less critical and more like she's excited to brainstorm possible motivations.] We can't assume that.
[Caitlyn turns back to the contents of the box.] Yes. Um. There are herbs inside, they smell-- [She takes a whiff, wrinkling her nose.] --earthy. Musky. And faintly of fruit. And... [She smells again, and a horrified look crosses her face, as though she's just smelled the most odious smell imaginable. She quickly moves the box further away from herself, looking at it as though it's done her a great personal wrong.] Urine.
[Vi shouldn't look so amused at the posh description, but she does.
Caitlyn holds up a few of the whole dried leaves and flowers: foxglove, wisteria, passion flower, and valerian. There is a small sack visible inside the box containing more herbs ground up.]
Are there any herbalists in the group who might be able to identify these? What purpose could these serve, either individually or in combination?
[Vi leans in closer and says,] And by the way, I need to talk to the resident hextech genius.
[ooc: for the herbalists out there, this combination of herbs leads to memory loss]
This was found following an altercation with a group of drunk individuals. One man was tall, must have been a little over six feet, with a blond beard, head shaved, and some sort of tattoo visible on his neck. Another was a few inches shorter, clean-shaven and close-cropped black hair, wearing a rather ostentatious, if tattered, blue coat. The third was a few inches shorter still, also clean-shaven, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and several scars along the length of his forearms.
[Vi rolls her eyes as Caitlyn rattles off these descriptions. Caitlyn, oblivious, continues:] Does anyone know who these men might have been? If they could be identified, they could perhaps be located and questioned as to how a box belonging to a medical facility came into their possession.
[Vi mutters,] Probably going to sell whatever it is to the highest bidder.
[At the interruption, Caitlyn glances over her shoulder to respond to Vi. Her tone is less critical and more like she's excited to brainstorm possible motivations.] We can't assume that.
[Caitlyn turns back to the contents of the box.] Yes. Um. There are herbs inside, they smell-- [She takes a whiff, wrinkling her nose.] --earthy. Musky. And faintly of fruit. And... [She smells again, and a horrified look crosses her face, as though she's just smelled the most odious smell imaginable. She quickly moves the box further away from herself, looking at it as though it's done her a great personal wrong.] Urine.
[Vi shouldn't look so amused at the posh description, but she does.
Caitlyn holds up a few of the whole dried leaves and flowers: foxglove, wisteria, passion flower, and valerian. There is a small sack visible inside the box containing more herbs ground up.]
Are there any herbalists in the group who might be able to identify these? What purpose could these serve, either individually or in combination?
[Vi leans in closer and says,] And by the way, I need to talk to the resident hextech genius.
[ooc: for the herbalists out there, this combination of herbs leads to memory loss]
no subject
He's from Zaun, making weapons for Piltover. Weapons they leave around for others to steal. People...a lot more dangerous than her. Indignant doesn't even begin to cover that little extra speed to her pulse if she thinks too long about him being a traitor, but then what's she doing running around with an enforcer? That check is enough to let her momentarily consider his reasons why.
What was he doing... What did Viktor think he was doing? How did he feel about the possibilities? She squints a bit while staring at him. He had to know he was making weapons, so what should he expect? Is he deluded like Jayce? ]
I'm not sparing you. Just trying to figure out what you hoped he'd do; if you knew how dangerous those gemstones were. Did you know about the hammer? Don't tell me that was for smithing.
no subject
Do you think I wanted to build mining equipment? The gemstones are what's revolutionary. [The mining equipment was simply what he thought would get past the Council. Foolish, all of it. He knows that now. Knows that his work is dangerous in the wrong hands. How could they have anticipated the break-in? That someone would kill enforcers to get to their lab? Viktor resents the implication that somehow he allowed all of this to happen.] We fought, Jayce and I. It was our last conversation, before I arrived here. He wanted to explore the possibility of Hextech defenses--weaponry--and I refused.
[It sounds like she and Jayce, together, crossed that line.]
I don't know anything about a hammer.
no subject
But his admission makes even less sense to her than anything else. She's careful not to move suddenly, in case he damaged the gauntlet more, but she does slowly lean away while reconsidering his position in Piltover all over again. ]
So, if it wasn't for the fissures, and it wasn't to make weapons, then...what? Another Hexgate? ...What's so revolutionary about them?
no subject
[He gestures emphatically at the gloves, to indicate that the reason they aren't working is because the stones have been removed--but he thinks she already knows that.]
But the Council doesn't care about air scrubbers or water purification systems. So...tools for miners and artisans. To start.
[It feels stupid now that he says it out loud. None of it matters, because they couldn't even get any of it past Heimerdinger, to say nothing of the full Council. Viktor seems to realize how hollow this this sounds, and drops his gaze back to the gauntlets, picking a shard of metal out of the gash and setting it aside.]
Please, just. Tell me what he did.
no subject
Any curiosity she has about his real intentions continues to be hampered by his own incessant questions. She could just ignore him, and she probably should, but he's finally started to offer his own explanations. Some of them. Curiosity keeps her from shutting him down; that, and a need for someone to understand. She hasn't told Caitlyn even this much, if only because Cait had already started to make such a face before Vi could finish, and then the train had crashed.
Maybe Viktor here hadn't been excited about the ideas of weapons, but the weapons are already made and now it's a question of who uses them. If Vi has any chance at all against what's coming... ]
We were taking out the Shimmer manufacturing facilities. [ Her hands hide in her pockets, and she looks to see if has any reaction to the topic of Shimmer. There's something. ] Shimmer goons resisted. One of the kids got away from the enforcers. I, uh... Not sure how he got taken out, everything was happening too fast.
[ No matter what, it feels unnecessary to pin that on Jayce when he's not around to defend himself. Vi was the one who talked him into doing something. ]
no subject
He's quiet for a long moment. Viktor has Shimmer, here--a vial of it in the hollow handle of his crutch. He wonders what she might have to say about that.]
And? Did you accomplish what you set out to do?
[Or did they simply enact violence?]
no subject
Her hand, fingers curled but not quite forming a fist, thumps against the table. Vi already knows he's not going to want her to keep these gauntlets, not if he's for pacifism and only wants air purifiers, so she might as well speak her mind where she can. ]
We might have, if your man hadn't cut and run and left me to finish what we started. If he could have waited to have his little breakdown, y'know, we might have actually─ Maybe─
[ Another little thump, this time with her fist formed tight, her nose scrunched. Then, realizing she's probably messing up his work (as if it matters), Vi pulls her hand away to cross her arms with a breathy 'tch'. ]
Never mind, it doesn't even matter until we get out of here. If you fix those, it'll be a lot easier for me to make sure that happens.
no subject
But, being here is a special circumstance, and Vi is smart enough to appeal to that.]
The power source is missing. Even if I wanted to fix them-- [He does not.] --the gauntlets will remain nonfunctional without it.
[His words are pointed. If the gemstones really are missing, well. Nothing will functionally change for him. He has a feeling, however, that they're not.]
You don't know anything about that, do you?
no subject
[ No reason to lie about that, or why would she want the gauntlets fixed? She feels confident that he isn't exactly capable of taking anything from her that she doesn't want him to have, though there isn't much pleasure out of that knowledge. He looks so rickety, and she wants to avoid a scenario that leads to hurting him.
But, how much would he try to get the gems if she refrained from giving them? How badly does he want them? He seems pretty stuck on them, and it can't be to improve the Mouse House. They're probably too rare to use on a city that they'll all be leaving behind before long. ]
I know you have to have your own plans for it, so what is it? [ Back to the original question. Hasn't she shared enough? ] What would you use it for?
[ If he doesn't want to use it for the gauntlets, then she should just take them and look elsewhere. But maybe what he has planned could help the group even more. Maybe it's more important. She needs to know. ]
no subject
[Perhaps he has a different idea of "safe", though maybe he should be heartened that she seems to understand just how important it is to keep the gemstones secured.
He hates the idea of having to make an appeal to an empathetic side he's not even sure is there, debasing himself in the process. Admitting his dire circumstances. Still, he wants to be reasonable. He's desperate enough that he thinks he can compromise.]
Before I arrived here, I developed a kind of...adaptive conduit for arcane energies. A device that can learn to fulfill any number of functions. [He understands this might not make much sense, but it's difficult to outright admit to a relative stranger the truth--that he's sick, and he hopes the Hexcore will be able to offer him some kind of cure.] Most notably medical applications. It could be of use here, given the sickness.
no subject
[ She must be understanding wrong, and she figures she probably is since this isn't her wheelhouse, but if she's right then even Vi can see the dangerous possibilities of that kind of tech. It'd have to be impossible, right? It'd be amazing if true, but what if Powder...if Jinx stole that kind of tech?
The mention of the sickness slumps her shoulders a bit, and she finds a spot to lean again, with her arms folded. He could be lying, about it all, but she feels confident enough in sniffing out bullshit that she feels there's some truth to it. He's not sharing everything, but...neither is she. ]
Is this just a theory of yours, or can you actually do it? Didn't see any of those medical applications being used back home. People are sicker than ever, thanks to Shimmer.
no subject
[Of course, he might be having second thoughts, were it not for the fact that he’s fairly convinced he needs it to cure himself. Here, he can potentially keep it out of the wrong hands, if he can get Vi to agree to some kind of custody arrangement, when it comes to the gemstones.
At the implication that he could have given it to the Undercity, he bristles. Clearly she’s found a sore spot, though this one isn’t particularly difficult to guess, given his earlier talk about the Council being less-than-receptive to his humanitarian efforts.]
I’ve done it. [Not exactly true, but she doesn’t need to know about the fate of his plants. He has Shimmer, if it comes down to that.] The last few days, before I arrived here, I managed it. You’ll forgive me if that wasn’t enough time to scale up and distribute.