dead to the power of two | OPEN

[runeing]

Who: celen's boys (aka charles and viktor), you?
Where: viktor's lab, lupin, the farm
What: viktor finally loses the battle against his illness and comes back. meanwhile, charles is learning magic (badly).
Warnings: death and dying, mentions of child abuse



PROMPTS IN COMMENTS.

▷ charles.
▷ viktor.

Comments

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[Caitlyn is flooded with relief when the door opens and she sees Viktor. He looks...good. Well, good for him, maybe? No worse than he had been, when he first arrived in this cursed simulation.

She has to fight every cell in her body not to rush forward and throw her arms around him. She settles for crossing her arms, keeping her hands to herself as she looks him over, finally snorting at his sheepish quip.]

I'm surprised Jayce isn't sleeping on your floor in wait.

[A slight tease, and yet, still something very Jayce. He's been beside himself, of course, since Viktor died. She's glad she was able to be more present this time, unlike how it was when he was in stasis back home. She regrets leaving Jayce alone then, but she had...other things, occupying her mind at the time.

But that's as much as she's going to say regarding that. She's not going to ask him how he's handling it. She's not going to ask him if he's alright. She has one question on her mind, and she has a feeling she knows the answer.]

Have you eaten?

[runeing]

[ her teasing words make him make a face, a little embarrassed — jayce had been there in the morning when he'd gotten back, of course, and knowing just how badly he'd handled things... well. it does make him feel quite terrible about it all.

that caitlyn, at least, can smile at him like this is a relief.

to the question, then, ]

Last night. [ which is better than nothing!! octavian cooked him noodles, but it had, quite frankly, only been noodles and butter, since that had been all he'd had — still very lovely, but now that he thinks about it, he... is actually somewhat hungry.

which he conveys by looking at cait with a quietly hopeful look. ]

[bulleting]

[Of course it's a relief. But she'd be lying if she said the biggest relief was that the Herald wasn't standing before her now instead of the Viktor they all knew and loved. She was terrified that maybe he would come back like that, and was just hoping and praying to all the gods that might listen that since he hadn't interacted with the hexcore, it would be fine.

She's glad that was the case.]

Why am I not surprised?

[She tsks at him as she shakes her head. For once, she did not bring any food with her!! She didn't want to carry a ton of food over here just in case he hadn't shown back up yet, so now she's feeling very unprepared.]

Would you like to go somewhere? Or I could order something in? So you can rest?

[She remembers all too well the anxiety and stress that came with her death here. How off she felt for days, weeks really. Hopefully he doesn't have it as bad as some do.]

[runeing]

[ he rolls his eyes at her — yes, yes, get on his case about his abysmal eating habits, that's fine!

still, he is quick to shake his head. ]

No, let's go. I would... [ truthfully, he doesn't feel quite so terrible; sitting quietly next to octavian had helped with the insistent buzz of anxiety inside his head, but alone in his lab, it feels almost suffocating, and he would rather, for once, be somewhere else. ]

I have rested enough. I slept a whole six hours. [ that, too, had been octavian's doing, convincing him that he did need sleep as well as food... and eventually, he'd given in, not wanting to argue the matter. ]