the thing is, he shouldn't have been surprised to find viktor's corpse in the lab one cold winter morning. he's a scientist, he's observant, he'd been already worriedly tracking viktor's deterioration as much as he'd (badly) pretended otherwise. it's certainly less out of the blue than a sudden explosion, and at the very least he knows that death here holds far less permanence than back home. it would be no different than a medically induced coma to promote healing, he'd told himself on the rare occasions where he'd been able to bear thinking about it at all. he'd be more prepared for it this time.
(he hadn't been prepared for it at all. there is no ease in the familiarity of the sight of viktor's lax expression, the stiffness of his limbs, the deathly pallor of his skin - and for a moment, jayce chokes on the stench of smoke, his eyes gritty with ash and tears, heart drumming a million beats per second and breath caught in an unvoiced scream as he clutches the body to him tight and searches for a miracle, any miracle--
anyways. there's a couple pages of notes in the lab now missing thanks to coming into contact with a truly unfortunate amount of vomit. )
still, initial (and entirely reasonable) freak out aside, he thinks he's handling this fine? viktor's body lies untouched by magic or science, aside from drawing the blankets up and fluffing his pillow to make sure he's as comfortable as can be. and sure, maybe jayce hasn't left the lab since the incident, but that's nothing unusual for him and it's not like he can just walk away from a potential breakthrough when it's something this important. he's running multiple experiments and theorems at once, after all - a chalkboard covered with magical runes here, a design for an iron lung there, multiple blood tests that he really needs to keep track of in the corner - he can hardly be expected to just leave. or eat. or sleep, for that matter. he can sleep when he's - well.
the point is, he really doesn't know what caitlyn is so fussed about when he's doing frankly a lot better than the first time around. but she does eventually manage to drag him into civilization and a nap, and when he comes back to the lab - the body is gone.
( there may have been another freak out at this point wherein in his sleep deprivation, jayce immediately leaps to the assumption that someone stole viktor's corpse, then after a frantic search for clues realizes that's insane and instead panics that somehow the resurrection's gone wrong and viktor's been deleted from this simulation entirely, before finally landing on the much more reasonable conclusion that viktor just probably woke up and left of his own volition.
there may also be a hole in the wall now being guiltily covered up by the chalkboard. he'll fix it later. )
and really, that shouldn't have been surprising either. he's well aware of viktor's proclivity to disappear and reappear without warning, and by now he's long used to squashing down the instinctual surge of anxiety. while jayce's mind can follow his partner's down any road when it comes to matters of intellect, he knows there's still certain areas he may never be able to understand. viktor can more than take care of himself - and if there's somewhere in this town he can retreat to for whatever solace he needs, if he can just nonchalantly walk away from his death as if there wouldn't be people worried sick about him, then. that's a relief. really, it is.
( he thinks about laughing hysterically. he thinks about screaming. he thinks about maybe finally taking that long-delayed plunge off a roof just to see what the fuss is about, since that club seems to be so fucking popular these days. )
in the end, jayce just bites his tongue hard, rolls up his sleeves, and gets back to work. what else is there to do while he waits? ]
i
the thing is, he shouldn't have been surprised to find viktor's corpse in the lab one cold winter morning. he's a scientist, he's observant, he'd been already worriedly tracking viktor's deterioration as much as he'd (badly) pretended otherwise. it's certainly less out of the blue than a sudden explosion, and at the very least he knows that death here holds far less permanence than back home. it would be no different than a medically induced coma to promote healing, he'd told himself on the rare occasions where he'd been able to bear thinking about it at all. he'd be more prepared for it this time.
(he hadn't been prepared for it at all. there is no ease in the familiarity of the sight of viktor's lax expression, the stiffness of his limbs, the deathly pallor of his skin - and for a moment, jayce chokes on the stench of smoke, his eyes gritty with ash and tears, heart drumming a million beats per second and breath caught in an unvoiced scream as he clutches the body to him tight and searches for a miracle, any miracle--
anyways. there's a couple pages of notes in the lab now missing thanks to coming into contact with a truly unfortunate amount of vomit. )
still, initial (and entirely reasonable) freak out aside, he thinks he's handling this fine? viktor's body lies untouched by magic or science, aside from drawing the blankets up and fluffing his pillow to make sure he's as comfortable as can be. and sure, maybe jayce hasn't left the lab since the incident, but that's nothing unusual for him and it's not like he can just walk away from a potential breakthrough when it's something this important. he's running multiple experiments and theorems at once, after all - a chalkboard covered with magical runes here, a design for an iron lung there, multiple blood tests that he really needs to keep track of in the corner - he can hardly be expected to just leave. or eat. or sleep, for that matter. he can sleep when he's - well.
the point is, he really doesn't know what caitlyn is so fussed about when he's doing frankly a lot better than the first time around. but she does eventually manage to drag him into civilization and a nap, and when he comes back to the lab - the body is gone.
( there may have been another freak out at this point wherein in his sleep deprivation, jayce immediately leaps to the assumption that someone stole viktor's corpse, then after a frantic search for clues realizes that's insane and instead panics that somehow the resurrection's gone wrong and viktor's been deleted from this simulation entirely, before finally landing on the much more reasonable conclusion that viktor just probably woke up and left of his own volition.
there may also be a hole in the wall now being guiltily covered up by the chalkboard. he'll fix it later. )
and really, that shouldn't have been surprising either. he's well aware of viktor's proclivity to disappear and reappear without warning, and by now he's long used to squashing down the instinctual surge of anxiety. while jayce's mind can follow his partner's down any road when it comes to matters of intellect, he knows there's still certain areas he may never be able to understand. viktor can more than take care of himself - and if there's somewhere in this town he can retreat to for whatever solace he needs, if he can just nonchalantly walk away from his death as if there wouldn't be people worried sick about him, then. that's a relief. really, it is.
( he thinks about laughing hysterically. he thinks about screaming. he thinks about maybe finally taking that long-delayed plunge off a roof just to see what the fuss is about, since that club seems to be so fucking popular these days. )
in the end, jayce just bites his tongue hard, rolls up his sleeves, and gets back to work. what else is there to do while he waits? ]