[ as soon as she looks at him, meeting his eyes with her own pink-tinged ones, he draws a sharp breath — shimmer stares him right in the face, and she smiles and says from home and the calculations for this particular maths problem are so easy a child could do them.
she has the gemstone; she must have been the one to steal it. and if it was her, then... ]
Your bombs, [ he says after a moment of regarding her with an unreadable expression, ] Quite good engineering, but you could do better.
[ and then, with a nod to where the gemstone now rests under her hand, ] That does not belong to you.
[ the sweetness of her smile melts bitter, and the scowl she now wears gets filled with hatred when the man insults the craft of her explosives. he looks like a zaunite, but he's presenting himself like a piltie. could it be he was one of those lovely people in the academy? who stupidly worked with marcus, maybe? because how else did he learn about her children?
holding onto the gemstone for dear life now, the grin returns, but there are termites in that smirk, and jinx very casually raises to her feet to square up against the sickly looking man. ]
Oooohh, I beg to differ. I've had this little bad boy for a loooong time now. I even licked it! — So, finder's keepers.
[ the way she carries herself is — different, a kind of confidence that's not cocky but volatile, and viktor looks at her and her blue hair and sees the hextech crystals in their original form, just as volatile and explosive, and he should have just walked away, shouldn't he?
if this girl is the one behind the bombings, behind the death of all those enforcers... he has absolutely nothing on her. he's a scientist, not a soldier.
and yet. ]
You did not "find" it, [ he says, the quotation marks somehow audible in his voice. ] It was stolen from our workshop. [ yes, "our". there's a dry undercurrent to his tone — the one that knows all too well that he is a footnote in the chapter of history that will be dedicated to jayce talis.
then, with a shake of his head, ]
I will not wrestle you for it. I've no doubt as to the winner. [ is it possible for self-loathing to sound so incredibly cold? somehow, yes. ]
[ "our"? suddenly, her expression perks and her mood twists into something else again — this time excited and enthralled. her pinks are even glistening as she tucks the gemstone somewhere inside her shark costume. there's definitely no way for him to get it now, if he decided to tussle with her. not with people all around, possibly watching. ]
Oh!! You're one of the smartypants...! Well, it's about time you've shown up! I've been meaning to ask you something for a year now.
[ jinx bounces closer to him and into his personal space, her voice lowering with a very dangerous smile plastering on her face. like she's about to reveal one big secret that only the two of them might share. ]
[ her expression changes once more, like a mirage, or reflections on water, there and gone again in the blink of an eye — it's unsettling to watch, and viktor fights against the urge to move away; but that'd be a weakness, and he may not have lived in the undercity for years and years, now, but he still remembers. so he holds still, head slightly tilted, raising one eyebrow at smartypants.
and then jinx is very up close and personal, her smile more like a knife than anything else, and viktor's amber eyes meet her bright pink ones. ]
Why do you ask?
[ his voice is level, revealing absolutely nothing — except a vaguely bored tone of give me your hypothesis and i might answer. ]
It woke up and exploded on its own once. And I thought that was pretty weird, because didn't you two dummies forged it so it WOULDN'T do that?
[ she takes a few steps back to give him breathing room, and since viktor is in such a bad shape physically, the girl holds the gemstone up again for the two of them to look over again. she flicks the crystal gently with her index, and the rock strangely reacts to the thump. not violently, of course, but it behaved like when a small child poking annoyingly at an older sibling, and they want the child to stop. ]
See? It doesn't do it always, just sometimes. Like it's unstable again. I've dropped this SO many times back home and nothing would happen. So what's the deal?
[ now his tone is animated, finally, like the person she's been conversing with until now has been a cold, pale imitation of who he becomes this exact second, eyes sharpening as she brings the gemstone back to view again.
she demonstrates, and viktor's brows furrow as he leans a little closer, as if trying to see if there is anything physically different about the gem. when he speaks, the coldness and hostility from just a few moments ago seems to have been replaced by intense focus and curiosity; viktor the person replaced by viktor the scientist. ]
Yes, I see. It is not supposed to do that. The calculations are perfect — the new shape completely stabilizes it... Jayce and I tested it extensively. You say this never happened when you were in the Undercity?
Nope! Never happened once in the Undercity. [ and when he begins to ponder, jinx decides to finish that "I wonder..." thought for him. ]
...Thaaaaaat it has something to do with this place? Because I was thinking that, too!
[ deciding to not bolt like she originally planned, the teenager squats back down in her previous seat, and then pats the vacant space of the bench beside her with her free shark fin (hand). it looks like, for now, there will be a truce? ]
Technology here is WAY more advance than Runeterra. There's magic here, but not like the Arcane. And all of this? [ she extends out her arm to gesture their surroundings. ] — Is not fully real. Think of it as...
[ jinx pauses then, contemplating. how to explain "computers" to in runetteran words. ]
... Playing pretend as a kid! You pretend to be pirates or a mage or... whatever, and you make up this little fantasy world for you and your friends. But DUH, you're not actually those things, but hey, you're stupid so it's cool.
That's what this place is. It feels real, the locals look real, the food DEFINITELY tastes real. But it's not. It's just one big kid's pretend show. With... weird technology and magic-y heebie jeebie somehow mixed in.
[ are you understanding, viktor? let's hope. ]
Anyway, I think this — [ referencing the gemstone. ] — and all of this is making the stone act super weird. Maaaaybe interference? The stone is too advance for this stuff? Too behind? Who knows!
[ truce it is, yes — this is interesting enough that viktor will risk this girl's volatile moods for it, and leaning onto his crutch, he moves closer and takes the space next to her.
and yes, of course he was thinking it's got to do with this place, the only variable in the equation that has been changed... though as she goes on with her explanation, he has to take a moment for it all to sink in. and while the way she decides to paint the picture of this place is certainly a unique one, he thinks he understands — to a degree, at least. he suspects he will have to ask someone else for a more complete explanation... but for now, this will do. ]
Perhaps, [ he says after a moment of silence, ] It is incompatible with this particular reality. After all, Hextech is reliant on the Arcane, on the runes... if those don't exist in the same form here, then — [ he shrugs one shoulder; it'd make sense that the gemstone wouldn't work the same way, either.
and yes, he said this particular reality. because, with a hum, ]
Reality is always both objective and subjective. If a coma patient lives an entire lifetime in the time they spend in a coma and emerge from it changed, eh, was it truly not real, even if it happened inside their head? The mages, too... the Arcane speaks through them, no? So there is a part of reality the rest of us never see, and yet it's no less real for that. Even if this is, how did you put it? A kid's pretend show? Even if this is one... does it obey a set of rules? Is it like a dream where anything can happen, or are there parameters that it follows? [ the questions are not really meant for her to answer, more spoken aloud as he stares up. maybe he should be more concerned about this whole thing, but instead he finds he's just intrigued. ]
[ while she gets a brief thought of, "WOW! he is worse than silco with his rambles", jinx imitates him by staring up at their sky too, listening and soaking in some of it like a sponge. her feet kick underneath the table before deciding to slide her once abandon tray of food back in front of her. the teenager casts a quick look at viktor, and then at her own plate, still having so much leftover. surely living in the luxury of piltover, there was no way this man was starving above her. but... he doesn't look quite healthy either, and serves him right for being a traitor to their own people.
...
she scrunches her lips, and skates her plate very casually to rest more towards his space than her own — posing as if she had nothing to do with the meal being there. the bluenette hums a little, then props her elbow on the table to look his way with her cheek resting on her palm. ]
If you're looking for rules around this joint, Professor Scientist, you won't find it. There's nooooo justice, no rhyme, no reason, no thinky-thoughts here! It's just the way I like it, because thinking gives me a headache and I don't see how you people do it every day.
[ thinking gives me a headache, she says, and of all things, it makes viktor's lips quirk into the semblance of a smile. ]
Viktor, [ he says after a brief moment of silence, ] My name is Viktor.
[ she might as well know that — and he glances at the plate that's somehow made its way closer to him... which is also a strangely sweet gesture, of all things. now if only he had an actual appetite... and as if in protest, his lungs twist up and he doubles up in coughs, his hand covering his mouth until the hacking sounds subside.
there are a few drops of blood on his hand. he pays them no mind. ]
You will forgive me if I will see about that myself. [ the rules and rhyme and reason, he means. and then adds, with a slight raise of his brows, ] You say you don't like thinking, yet seem to have puzzled out the gemstone well enough.
[she quirks an eyebrow to the scientist's direction, and the spot of blood doesn't go unnoticed, but jinx keeps her oblivious facade (for now) and picks something from her plate to munch on. zaunties growing ill or having diseases are a common thing, unfortunately, especially with the toxins littering the air. jinx would say she was blessed by janna that she dodged that bullet, but... her "jinx" might be by its time for the perfect age to strike her lungs.]
Oh, please. Figuring out how the gemstone works was like robbing a candy shop.
[which ironically, that is how she nabbed the gemstone twice.]
— Besides, I had a little help with your partner's notes. It was mostly boring. AND! I scratched out all his signatures and replaced them with mine. Definitely an improvement, if I say so myself...!
[ he makes a kind of aborted humming sound, one that isn't even close to a laugh but might be a sign of amusement regardless. and this is — strange, outright strange, to be conversing civilly with the girl who not only robbed their workshop but is also most likely responsible for the deaths of countless officers and possibly planning on attacking piltover with this very same gemstone.
it's been a strange day. viktor will chalk it up to just being a continuation of all that. and besides — in the end... she's a zaunite. she's from the undercity, too. and maybe she resents him for not having stayed there like she has — he knows he might, if their positions were reversed — but all he'd ever wanted was to help people... all the people. not make piltover prosper but to provide real help to those in the undercity.
(and look how that had turned out.) ]
I'm sure that will annoy Jayce significantly. [ still, ] If you understood all of his notes, that is not a small thing. What did you study them for?
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expiationlogs2024-10-14 08:59 am
surely this can only go well.......
she has the gemstone; she must have been the one to steal it. and if it was her, then... ]
Your bombs, [ he says after a moment of regarding her with an unreadable expression, ] Quite good engineering, but you could do better.
[ and then, with a nod to where the gemstone now rests under her hand, ] That does not belong to you.
no subject
holding onto the gemstone for dear life now, the grin returns, but there are termites in that smirk, and jinx very casually raises to her feet to square up against the sickly looking man. ]
Oooohh, I beg to differ. I've had this little bad boy for a loooong time now. I even licked it! — So, finder's keepers.
no subject
if this girl is the one behind the bombings, behind the death of all those enforcers... he has absolutely nothing on her. he's a scientist, not a soldier.
and yet. ]
You did not "find" it, [ he says, the quotation marks somehow audible in his voice. ] It was stolen from our workshop. [ yes, "our". there's a dry undercurrent to his tone — the one that knows all too well that he is a footnote in the chapter of history that will be dedicated to jayce talis.
then, with a shake of his head, ]
I will not wrestle you for it. I've no doubt as to the winner. [ is it possible for self-loathing to sound so incredibly cold? somehow, yes. ]
no subject
Oh!! You're one of the smartypants...! Well, it's about time you've shown up! I've been meaning to ask you something for a year now.
[ jinx bounces closer to him and into his personal space, her voice lowering with a very dangerous smile plastering on her face. like she's about to reveal one big secret that only the two of them might share. ]
The stones... are they alive or what?
no subject
and then jinx is very up close and personal, her smile more like a knife than anything else, and viktor's amber eyes meet her bright pink ones. ]
Why do you ask?
[ his voice is level, revealing absolutely nothing — except a vaguely bored tone of give me your hypothesis and i might answer. ]
no subject
[ she takes a few steps back to give him breathing room, and since viktor is in such a bad shape physically, the girl holds the gemstone up again for the two of them to look over again. she flicks the crystal gently with her index, and the rock strangely reacts to the thump. not violently, of course, but it behaved like when a small child poking annoyingly at an older sibling, and they want the child to stop. ]
See? It doesn't do it always, just sometimes. Like it's unstable again. I've dropped this SO many times back home and nothing would happen. So what's the deal?
no subject
[ now his tone is animated, finally, like the person she's been conversing with until now has been a cold, pale imitation of who he becomes this exact second, eyes sharpening as she brings the gemstone back to view again.
she demonstrates, and viktor's brows furrow as he leans a little closer, as if trying to see if there is anything physically different about the gem. when he speaks, the coldness and hostility from just a few moments ago seems to have been replaced by intense focus and curiosity; viktor the person replaced by viktor the scientist. ]
Yes, I see. It is not supposed to do that. The calculations are perfect — the new shape completely stabilizes it... Jayce and I tested it extensively. You say this never happened when you were in the Undercity?
[ hm. interesting. ] I wonder...
no subject
...Thaaaaaat it has something to do with this place? Because I was thinking that, too!
[ deciding to not bolt like she originally planned, the teenager squats back down in her previous seat, and then pats the vacant space of the bench beside her with her free shark fin (hand). it looks like, for now, there will be a truce? ]
Technology here is WAY more advance than Runeterra. There's magic here, but not like the Arcane. And all of this? [ she extends out her arm to gesture their surroundings. ] — Is not fully real. Think of it as...
[ jinx pauses then, contemplating. how to explain "computers" to in runetteran words. ]
... Playing pretend as a kid! You pretend to be pirates or a mage or... whatever, and you make up this little fantasy world for you and your friends. But DUH, you're not actually those things, but hey, you're stupid so it's cool.
That's what this place is. It feels real, the locals look real, the food DEFINITELY tastes real. But it's not. It's just one big kid's pretend show. With... weird technology and magic-y heebie jeebie somehow mixed in.
[ are you understanding, viktor? let's hope. ]
Anyway, I think this — [ referencing the gemstone. ] — and all of this is making the stone act super weird. Maaaaybe interference? The stone is too advance for this stuff? Too behind? Who knows!
no subject
and yes, of course he was thinking it's got to do with this place, the only variable in the equation that has been changed... though as she goes on with her explanation, he has to take a moment for it all to sink in. and while the way she decides to paint the picture of this place is certainly a unique one, he thinks he understands — to a degree, at least. he suspects he will have to ask someone else for a more complete explanation... but for now, this will do. ]
Perhaps, [ he says after a moment of silence, ] It is incompatible with this particular reality. After all, Hextech is reliant on the Arcane, on the runes... if those don't exist in the same form here, then — [ he shrugs one shoulder; it'd make sense that the gemstone wouldn't work the same way, either.
and yes, he said this particular reality. because, with a hum, ]
Reality is always both objective and subjective. If a coma patient lives an entire lifetime in the time they spend in a coma and emerge from it changed, eh, was it truly not real, even if it happened inside their head? The mages, too... the Arcane speaks through them, no? So there is a part of reality the rest of us never see, and yet it's no less real for that. Even if this is, how did you put it? A kid's pretend show? Even if this is one... does it obey a set of rules? Is it like a dream where anything can happen, or are there parameters that it follows? [ the questions are not really meant for her to answer, more spoken aloud as he stares up. maybe he should be more concerned about this whole thing, but instead he finds he's just intrigued. ]
Not fully real... yes, I understand.
no subject
...
she scrunches her lips, and skates her plate very casually to rest more towards his space than her own — posing as if she had nothing to do with the meal being there. the bluenette hums a little, then props her elbow on the table to look his way with her cheek resting on her palm. ]
If you're looking for rules around this joint, Professor Scientist, you won't find it. There's nooooo justice, no rhyme, no reason, no thinky-thoughts here! It's just the way I like it, because thinking gives me a headache and I don't see how you people do it every day.
no subject
Viktor, [ he says after a brief moment of silence, ] My name is Viktor.
[ she might as well know that — and he glances at the plate that's somehow made its way closer to him... which is also a strangely sweet gesture, of all things. now if only he had an actual appetite... and as if in protest, his lungs twist up and he doubles up in coughs, his hand covering his mouth until the hacking sounds subside.
there are a few drops of blood on his hand. he pays them no mind. ]
You will forgive me if I will see about that myself. [ the rules and rhyme and reason, he means. and then adds, with a slight raise of his brows, ] You say you don't like thinking, yet seem to have puzzled out the gemstone well enough.
no subject
Oh, please. Figuring out how the gemstone works was like robbing a candy shop.
[which ironically, that is how she nabbed the gemstone twice.]
— Besides, I had a little help with your partner's notes. It was mostly boring. AND! I scratched out all his signatures and replaced them with mine. Definitely an improvement, if I say so myself...!
no subject
it's been a strange day. viktor will chalk it up to just being a continuation of all that. and besides — in the end... she's a zaunite. she's from the undercity, too. and maybe she resents him for not having stayed there like she has — he knows he might, if their positions were reversed — but all he'd ever wanted was to help people... all the people. not make piltover prosper but to provide real help to those in the undercity.
(and look how that had turned out.) ]
I'm sure that will annoy Jayce significantly. [ still, ] If you understood all of his notes, that is not a small thing. What did you study them for?