[OPEN]

[mechatheism]

Who: Viktor and YOU
Where: Panorama, the science trailer, other places
When: February/March
What: oh, you know. stuff.
Warnings: nothing yet!



[open starters in comments! If you want a custom starter, diffusion zone shenanigans, or something specific, just hit me up. Details about Viktor’s powers and associated permissions are here. I’m on plurk at whitticus and on discord also at whitticus.]

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[open] panorama

[mechatheism]

i. house call

[Viktor and Jayce handle machine repair in Panorama, finding the Scrapyard to be a bit too restrictive for their talents. Diversifying makes them more money, and for the two inventors, there’s no job too small. He likes staying busy—likes doing simple things with his hands. It’s a good distraction from everything else.

One of their major offerings, as detailed on a business card you may have come across, is appliance repair. Viktor is more than familiar with the shoddy state of many of the motel rooms and living arrangements in the blocks, and it’s not unusual to be called upon to fix some malfunctioning utility.

That’s why he’s here, at your door—though you might not have been expecting someone of his stature. Viktor tends to wear a hooded cloak when out and about, so as not to alarm the more sensitive Fluxdrifts with his appearance, but it’s probably not the nicest thing to see, when looking out one’s peephole.]

I’m here about your air conditioner?

[Or mini fridge, or leaking shower, or space heater. He does it all, and at a discount for fellow recent Fluxdrifts.]

ii. flower cart

[Viktor is not a recluse—the nature of his and Jayce’s work means he’s often running errands around Panorama, or otherwise keeping tabs of the goings-on of the town. The Rail is an exciting addition, and he can often be found at its terminus, seemingly just interested in watching the trains.

It’s there, though, that he encounters the flower cart, which he lingers on, at least momentarily. There’s a short exchange, and after some consideration joolies are exchanged, Viktor comes away with a small bouquet of yellow tulips wrapped in paper, which he gingerly arranges in a messenger bag that he carries at his side.

He seems slightly lost in thought, enough that when he turns away from the cart, he’s not exactly watching where he’s going.]

house call

[deliverant]

[ there is decidedly a presence in the room, viktor would sense - be it creaking of the floorboards or sound of breathing or even general moving around inside - but it all ceases the moment he knocks on the door. if he patiently waits though, after a couple of seconds he'd find the door cautiously opening about an inch or so, a blue eye peeking out through the gap.

listen, any unsolicited knocking has to be met with extreme caution, alright? though from vash's experience a lot of people would just shoot first and then sort through the rubble after for the bounty on his head, so this civility was perhaps even more alarming ...

with the light falling from behind, and the general gloomy (power saving) state of the corridor, it will take vash a second to actually notice viktor. that, and the fact that he actually has to raise the line of his sight to meet the hooded face of the other. which looks reeeeeeally familiar ...

wait, hadn't they met before? ]

Oh! I know you!!!

[ considering that you can't see anything of viktor with the cloak draped around him, that's surely a feat. ]

Hold on a second -- [ the door closes, the chain rattles off its place, and vash is opening the door again - wider this time - and beckons the other inside. ]

Come in! I didn't know you're the one on the card ... You sure are quick, aren't you?

[open] the fringes

[mechatheism]

i. the workshop

[Out in the fringes, as short drive from Panorama proper is a repurposed trailer—once abandoned, now cleaned up and active. It’s not exactly pretty, rusted siding and the remnants of graffiti most scrubbed off, but one gets the sense that it’s not meant to be. The trailer is functional, and driving by one might see or hear signs of life. Tinny music on an old speaker, or the sound of a power tool.

Maybe you’ve been invited here, given a business card and told to seek out the occupants for either vehicle repair or something more involved. Inside is an active workshop, with chalkboards, blueprints, and several bubbling tanks housing an unknown substance. Half-finished projects are scattered across a few salvaged work

Viktor himself is an alarming sight, if one doesn’t know what they’re walking into, or is otherwise expecting the other half of the partnership. He perches on a stool, all eight-something feet of him, third arm arched over his back acting as a soldering tool, a beam of light projecting from the three-clawed hand. It takes him a moment to notice there’s company, over the noise.]

Apologies. Usually my partner answers the door. [But Jayce isn’t here, at the moment. He manages to sound a little sheepish, despite a flat mask of a face that betrays no expression. Perhaps he’s aware that he’s a disconcerting presence.] Is there something I can help you with?

[A project, a commission, an idea. A napkin scribble. Or maybe you’re just here to see whatever’s in the tanks.]

ii. on the road

[Somewhere, along your drive to Panorama is a vehicle on the side of the road. As you get closer, you’ll see a figure attending to it. In fact, the decidedly not-human driver is wholly lifting the vehicle through mysterious means as he digs around underneath. Isn’t he worried about dropping a car on himself by accident? Apparently not.

Keep on driving, maybe—or pull over and see what this is about. Surely this is just a normal thing, here.

Or, the situation is reversed, and you’re the one on the side of the road. Viktor comes to a stop, though he stays some distance away, just in case, calling from inside his vehicle.]

Have you broken down?

on the road

[cryptsleeper]

The heater's stopped working, and it's making the rest of the car miserable.

[Alucard has found that sometimes if he stands outside of his car and shuts it off for a few minutes, the cold of the outside world becomes harder to deal with, making the inside of the car seemingly kinder. There is a reason he's begun to travel with a blanket in the passenger's seat, after all.

He then realizes that he's speaking to Viktor (which is ridiculous, how many giant not-quite-humans are there here besides John?).]

You didn't need to stop.

[bonus open] astral projecting since 199x

[mechatheism]

i. for psychics only

[He's made strides, lately, in the whole "sleeping" department, having previously been unable. It's a relief, to be able to rest--though Viktor doesn't need sleep to function, being awake at all times wears on his mind.

There are other things he can do, when he doesn't want to intrude on Jayce's mind in order to sleep. He wanders outside of his own body, through the psychic plane that he's become familiar with, since awakening to his powers.

Given recent events, it's difficult not to linger on the looming presence of the cube, which he attempts to study even if it's physically far from here. Other times, he seems to be studying a projection of endless fractal webbing, pulling apart strands of it as if trying to untangle the threads.

Or, he finds a thread that isn't familiar--but his curiosity gets the better of him and he pulls, following it to its end, another presence. Maybe that's you.]