let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2022-09-24 07:00 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2022-09-24 07:00 pm
Entry tags:
- 2ha: chu wanning,
- 2ha: mo ran,
- arc iv,
- arcane: caitlyn,
- arcane: vi,
- arcane: viktor,
- doctor who: river song,
- doctor who: the doctor,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- legend of fei: xie yun,
- legend of fei: zhou fei,
- mcu: kamala khan,
- mcu: yelena,
- oh! my emperor: su xunxian,
- original: red,
- penny dreadful: vanessa ives,
- shadowhunters: alec lightwood,
- shadowhunters: magnus bane,
- star trek: christopher pike,
- star trek: jim kirk (aos),
- star trek: leonard mccoy (aos),
- star trek: spock,
- star wars: finn,
- the unwinding,
- umbrella academy: allison,
- umbrella academy: five,
- untamed: lan sizhui,
- untamed: wen qing,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- warframe: kahl 175,
- x-men: charles xavier
the unwinding
Heya! Let loose for Serthica’s Unwinding — our event spanning 24 September-15 October that doubles as a test drive.
This round’s test drive participants do not require an invite to apply. Applications open over 8-14 October. Enjoy!
SPILL THE TEA | DRIP BY DRIP | ALL A DREA —
✘ NEWCOMERS | BARRELING IN
Soaring seagulls and splintered silence. You awaken on the shoreline of steampunk citadel Clockwork Serthica, recovered by the irritable witch Karsa.
She shares translation and communication devices, scarce healing and a rapid briefing: you have reached a world where undead forces seek to weaponise you in their battle for dominion. Karsa’s employer, the Merchant leads travel to beacons meant to return you home.
Other otherworlders have already infiltrated Serthica. Karsa steers newcomers into the impoverished underworld of the Mouse House, to board a rickety coal train serving the citadel.
- ■ Silver tongues can win you passage.
■ ...alternatively, hide in the obscenely large whiskey barrels the train also smuggles in.
■ Mid-voyage, the train quakes, slamming you into walls and windows. Around you, the stench of bleach, the warm crackle of embers and static magic that builds thick, nearly electric.
You feel faint and fainter, when you overhear Karsa’s murmured, “It’s too early” — “find” — “find” — “it’s like a drea” — “don’t unwind” — “all child’s play.”
✘ OLD TIMERS | INHALE-EXHALE
Eidris, Minaras, the Neutral Zone: all abuzz with residential whispers of imminent Unwinding — an annual fixture natives dread without fully remembering.
- ■ In the two days leading to the Unwinding, characters struggle to tell apart or remember the physical features of natives.
■ Some locals steal you into dark alleys, where they become suddenly stiff, emitting a rusty, guttural Ke-ke-ke sound. They do not recall this after.
The Unwinding kicks off at 6am, when both Eidris and Minaras are overground. Jim Kirk’s fixed music box begins to play, its chipper rural tune overtaking your thoughts: “Up the mountain, in the grove, hand in hand to Ke-ke-ke — Ke-Waihu, fresh harvest’s a treasure trove, each fall we feast anew.”
Earth shatters seismically underfoot, magic depletes, the citadel’s clock tower strikes 6:00 — and an urgent communication from the Merchant is interrupted by static, “You can we-we-we-…-stand it, the white man come — remembrrrrrrrrrrrr live, you are alive, do not be convinsssss —ssss — ssssd otherwisssssss —”
✘ DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Down and down, you tumble, Alice — through a cavernous tunnel that widens and chokes arbitrarily. Sometimes you float and fly, sometimes you’re thrust sideways. Mostly, you keep falling.
- ■ Beware objects falling into you: from grand pianos to mystical balls of fire, stray beds, love letters and sharp-pointed weapons. Even a blood-spattered umbrella that shields against anything.
■ You’re dropped unceremoniously into an underground lair, as items keep falling down. Unclaimed, they disappear within minutes. Three jackalopes smoking opiate pipes point you indifferently towards a locked door. On its handle sit a bone dice and a note instructing, ROLL FOUR TO OPEN.
■ The dice can only be thrown every 10 minutes and feels too monstrously heavy to lift otherwise. Each roll makes the effect of the previous throw disappear. If you get:- one: gravity fades, the dice floats out of reach. ( The jackalopes enjoy the breeze. )
two: the floor, barring a few narrow steps at great jumping distance, is lava. ( The jackalopes check ‘hell’ off their vacation list.)
three: an irked dragon coils beside you. (The jackalopes prepare to tan.)
five: the thrower grows and grows and grows, until they must contort creatively to fit inside. ( The jackalopes charge rent. )
six: the room fills with water that nearly reaches the ceiling. (The jackalopes are competitive swimmers.)
seven: everything about your companion irritates you. They even breathe wrong. ( The jackalopes find this awkward. )
eight: The floor slowly expands into quicksand. ( The jackalopes hoverboard. )
■ Roll four and the door creaks merrily open. A second note slips loose, I’m sorry. Head in, your newfound possessions abandoned — and keep U n w i n d i n g. - one: gravity fades, the dice floats out of reach. ( The jackalopes enjoy the breeze. )
✘ SPILL THE TEA
You wake, dressed to the steampunk nines, at a tea party, alongside a companion and a slew of eerie guests: cog droids, faceless people and animated human-sized burlap mannequins. You only hear static and white noise when they speak.
When you leave the table, a fox butler passes you the empty kettle, asking you to, ”Make tea and finish here”.
- ■ You’re inevitably stuck in a decrepit dollhouse. Heavily boarded doors and windows ultimately open to show plague sickness in the streets. The fox butler closes them, reminding, ”He’ll make it go away.”
■ Travel a corridor of repeating rooms to reach the kitchens, and don’t dally. Every time the clock strikes a new hour, the partygoers grab their sharpest knife and stalk down the house to pursue you. The frenzy lasts 10 minutes before they return to their seats — barricade in deserted rooms, hide behind curtains or climb up the chimney…
■ For tea, the mannequin cook directs you to retrieve juniper and rosemary leaves from the greenhouse, where plant tendrils try to trap you, leaving marks of mould; rescue the milk container from a cat that’s running on the crumbling staircase, and sugar from a dish in the lavish nursery room, where ghostly hands might seek to drag you into walls and send you back down the rabbit hole.
■ Supplied, the huffing burlap cook prepares tea. Just as you’re about to taste the black brew at the party table, a man in white takes and spills your tea out in a plant pot. You only hear, ”You don’t need this yet” — before you’re U n w i n d i ng.
■ On exiting the Unwinding, your pockets burst with plants or leaves of juniper and rosemary. They can alleviate McCoy’s sickness.
✘ DRIP BY DRIP
You wake up in bloodied clothes in a filled bathtub. You are hounded by urgency, as if you’re hunted. The unease never wanes, as you gather your bearings and join the bustling city streets, armed with a blood-spattered white umbrella. In your pocket, two paper notes: CHILDREN LIE and WHAT IS HIS NAME?(
Your memories are confused: half of you is certain you are a content citizen of Serthica. The other riots that you don’t belong. An excruciating migraine strikes when you try to remember how you arrived here.
Gravity’s a loose concept: you walk, or you float. The city is either perfectly still, or inundated with the screeching of hearses and criers. Locals — all faceless, or man-sized burlap mannequins — mill busily, despite the forlorn rain.
- ■ Hold on to your umbrella: linger uncovered in the rain, and your facial features slowly fade, while you desperately try to convince your teammate that you should stay here forever. You recover once dry.
■ The inhuman locals grow increasingly more hostile with time: carriages want to run you over, friendly burlap shopkeepers push you into a ditch. They chase if you ask their name.
■ Happily, this world is vulnerable to your desires: wish gravity undone, and you can walk on walls. Think a river into being, and it bursts ahead. Imagine buildings, and they pop up. Playing God comes at a price of bad luck: the staircase you envisage thins and breaks just as you cross it, your knife rusts after the first swing.
■ Your pursuers abandon you, when you reach a deserted marketplace and encounter a drenched, battered boy wearing a fox mask. He is playing with paper boats in the middle of a large black puddle. You feel deep and building hatred for him.
■ Seeing you, the child mentions one of you previously tried to kill him. He offers his name, in exchange for your umbrella:
a. Refuse or dally, and dark hands rise out of the puddle to pull you and your partner in, scratching you bloody. The last thing you see, before you wake up in the bathtub again (or out of the Unwinding), is a man in white who collects your umbrella. He holds it over the child, scolding, ”Did you forget again? This one never hurt you.”
b. To surrender the umbrella, step on the paper boats as you cross the puddle to the boy. Walking straight on water feels like stepping on knives. The child accepts your umbrella, whispering his name is ”Hyang-Won”, before you start to fade out of the Unwinding.
✘ IT WAS ALL A DREA —
New or old, as the Unwinding ends, you wake up in Ma’am Mariol’s modest orphanage in the Mouse House. Mariol, the orphans and Serthica at large recall nothing about the Unwinding. Karsa, who dragged you in, is pale and exhausted, her memory patchy. She urges everyone to recuperate before heading back overground.
- ■ Your body shows only a fraction of any damage sustained in the Unwinding.
■ Ma’am Mariol’s labyrinthine home offers limited accommodations: share beds, floors, and household chores, while the orphans led by curious Gavroche, peer in.
NOTES
- ■ You can make network posts outside of the Unwinding.
■ Feel free to mark if you're a test drive tourist or an old timer in your top level!
■ The Unwinding is a shifting of realities not a dreamscape.
■ You can opt out of the Unwinding by keeping characters in the Mouse House. Here, nothing seems amiss.
■ QUESTIONS!
no subject
It doesn't quite click yet that Powder would probably never have dumped them both off with their weapons in tow, especially with the hex gems in the gauntlet Vi carries strapped to her own back, but the realization will hit once she's had a moment to think. For now, she just basks in an uncanny swirl of relief and nerves. ]
I'm fine.
[ Caitlyn reminding her about Powder's assault serves to bunch her muscles back up, and the strain is back to her worried brow as she steps back, keeping a hand on Caitlyn's back and the other on her arm so they can move to follow the rest of the party. Vi isn't eager to follow strangers, but it seems many here are just as lost, and she doesn't want to abandon them, either. ]
I know, I'm sorry. Powder really got you good. [ At least the Karsa woman seems to have used magic to heal the absolute worst of it. As traumatic as it must have been to be cold-cocked by a minigun, Vi can't help but wonder why Caitlyn's focusing on that. Something far worse happened afterward. Shit, what if she's in shock? Vi wilts somewhat, hoping she's reading into this all wrong. ] Is that...all you remember?
no subject
She tries to hold her hand against Vi's cheek, wanting to keep Vi close, to comfort her. But as Vi steps back, Caitlyn reluctantly allows her hand to slip down to Vi's shoulder. It slides over the strap of Vi's massive pack, and she almost asks what's in there, curiosity momentarily overriding concern, but she's distracted by Vi's use of the name 'Powder.' Her frown deepens. She truly can't think of the girl as anything other than Jinx.
They could always strike out on their own, but Karsa has answers, and if Karsa wants them to get on a train, Caitlyn will do so in hopes of getting more of those answers. Besides, if this odd assortment of people they've ended up with needs protecting, she and Vi can be of use. So she doesn't object as Vi begins to steer them towards the train, and gratefully leans some of her weight on Vi. Whatever Karsa gave her to help her head hasn't worked as well on her leg, and though the injury is less painful now that the shrapnel's been removed, it's still aching and stiff.]
After... after you left, I went home. And she was waiting for me. The last thing I remember is... [Another frown, as she starts to piece her memories together.] A flash of something bright pink. It was as though her eyes were glowing. [Shimmer. It must have been. What else could have that effect?]
no subject
Which she may be. Both of them have lost a family member, even if Vi struggles to accept that reality. The smallest part of her has to hope that she can still reach Powder, because otherwise she won't be able to find the strength to walk. Right now, she needs that strength for the woman at her side.
Still, once she realizes that Caitlyn's memory is stuck in the past, Vi suddenly keeps her gaze straight ahead. Suddenly, she can't look her in the eyes. She may deserve the truth, but...she doesn't deserve the horrors that come with it. What would be the point? Until they get back home, there's nothing Caitlyn could do about it. Except blame you. Coward.
Her grip tightens, only slightly, around Caitlyn's waist as they slow down in the crowds near the train. It looks like people aren't just being let on willy nilly. Solving that problem may be easier to deal with than the reality she's suddenly having to carry by her lonesome. Knowing that Silco was dead isn't as comforting as it ought to be. ]
She... That wasn't Powder. After Ekko─ [ Jaw clench. Ekko. Maybe he wasn't dead. Powder had survived the blast, after all. ] After Ekko confronted her, Silco must have shot her up with shimmer. Maybe she was starting to come around. Maybe fighting Ekko got through to her somehow, they─ They used to be close. And Silco couldn't have that, I'm sure.
[ Suddenly, she realizes why Caitlyn had greeted her the way she did. The last time they'd seen one another...Vi had left her. Seemingly forever. Left her to be kidnapped and tormented. She couldn't leave her again. ]
We'll figure out how to get back. Find a way on this train, talk to this Merchant or whatever, knock out these 'undead' if they're in our way. [ They can't really be undead. Maybe they're just drugged super-goons, like Silco's lackeys. ] And get back home.
[ And...what then? She'll deal with that when the time comes. ]
no subject
Her mind is beginning to spiral, turning over and over too rapidly for her to make sense of her thoughts, so she looks to Vi again. Takes a grounding breath. And Vi... Vi won't look back at her.
She simply hums in response to Vi's words, unsure whether they have any basis in reason or are simply Vi's hopes. Jinx blew up the fairgrounds, killed six enforcers. She shot one of her allies on the airship. She was behaving erratically during her reunion with Vi. Shot at Caitlyn on the bridge with seemingly no concern for Vi's safety. Set off those firelight bombs even though Ekko could have been caught in the explosion. None of that can be explained by shimmer. And attacking Caitlyn in her home seems perfectly in line with the irrational, violent girl that they've been dealing with all along.
But for Vi's sake, Caitlyn hopes she's wrong. That Jinx really can come around. How many years was Vi in prison, separated from her sister? How devastated would she be if her sister were beyond saving? She can't bear the thought of Vi having to suffer that, so she nods.]
We'll get home. And we'll... we'll do everything we can, I promise.
[Why won't Vi look at her?]
I'll help you. You don't have to do it alone.
[They've made it near the front of the crowd trying to get passage onto the train, approaching a man who seems to have some authority. Her arm still around Vi's shoulders, Caitlyn straightens herself up, easily settling into the proper posture as she says,] We need passage on this train.
[The man waves them off dismissively.]
I'm injured, and my friend [There's the barest hint of a pause between 'my' and 'friend.' Friends don't wonder how soft each others' lips are or want to lose themselves in each others' eyes or forget to breathe whenever they think about each others' arms.] and I need to get where this train is going. Please.
[The main just raises a skeptical eyebrow at them.]
no subject
Yeah. We'll figure something out.
[ Still, she tries to scan their surroundings, keeping an eye for (other) pickpockets, for the risk of violence, for suspicion from locals. Always outward. That is, until Caitlyn starts trying to 'sweet-talk' their way onboard, and Vi's gaze snaps back to her at the way she hesitates to say 'friend'. What does she expect her to say, though? Just how would Vi introduce her to others? 'This enforcer lady that just doesn't get it and I wanted to hate, but also gets it in ways nobody else does so I can't stop thinking about her, and by the way she's got an ass that doesn't quit'?
'Friend' is probably simpler. It's better than 'acquaintance' or 'charge', which would have been like a knife to the gut for reasons that Vi is reluctant to investigate further. There's too much at stake for her to be getting that soft. No time to even consider that level of intimacy, and not enough bravery to trust it.
Still, her grip on Caitlyn's waist tightens a little, and she leans ever so slightly in front of her when the ticket-taker dares to look at Caitlyn in an unpleasant fashion. She'd like to just kick him in the stomach and force her way on the train, but she's not exactly about to hold an entire train hostage just to get moving.
Her smirk is spicy, to say the least. ]
Look, I bet you get a lot of stowaways. At least we're being upfront, and we can help. [ The man is listening. ] They suck up all the alcohol, right? Costing you money and making trouble? [ He glares as if to suggest there isn't any whiskey, but she can smell it from here so she just continues on. ] Let us board, and I'll keep any troublemakers in-line and far away from the...supplies.
[ He's considering. Vi won't do anything of the sort once the train gets moving, of course; she would never give up her fellow scoundrels for just trying to get by, but she acts convincing enough. Her patience is wearing thin while he thinks it over, though. ]
no subject
And yet Vi still won't look at her, and she can't understand why. Did Vi mean what she said, after all? Does she truly believe that their differences are so irrecconcilable that they can never even work together, let alone... Let alone anything more.
Perhaps this is all just a momentary reprieve. Perhaps as soon as they find their way home, Vi will leave again. But Caitlyn can't allow herself to become lost thoughts of Vi walking away, either. Focus on the task at hand. Get on the train.
Focusing is made somewhat difficult by the feeling of Vi's arm tightening around her waist.
She assumes Vi is being honest in her intentions. Though she's well aware of her companion's less than savoury proclivities, she sees no issue with Vi acting as security. But the ticket-taker still seems skeptical, so she chimes in.] She really is excellent security. Worth well more than the price of a train ticket.
[After a long moment, the man steps aside, albeit with skepticism still in his gaze. Relieved, Caitlyn sinks back into Vi's arms.]
Come on. Let's find somewhere quiet to talk. We've got to make a plan.
no subject
Crouching to stay at Caitlyn's eye-level, she's ready to jump up at a moment's notice should danger approach, but she's also occupied with looking Caitlyn's leg over. At least it doesn't seem to be bleeding again. She half expects Caitlyn to try and disregard it so she can get up and start questioning people. ]
My plan is to find that lady's boss and get more answers out of him. If he knows the way home, then we're heading there right away.
[ This city's problems aren't hers. She has her own war to fight. ]
That lady mentioned a beacon; you think she means a hexgate? [ Considering those popped up while she was in prison, Vi knows even less about them than other Zaunites. She'd only gotten a glimpse in her short stint on the outside. She had assumed they led to ports, but there doesn't seem to be a gate around here. ] ...How the hell did we end up so far away from one?
no subject
She never thought she'd see it again.]
She must have meant a hexgate. [What else could transport people across such great distances? But could they transport people across worlds, if they are indeed in another world? That doesn't seem right. But Jayce isn't here, and he's the only one who would know. Jayce or Viktor.
Vi's plan is rudimentary at best, but it's a good start.] And the others we arrived with. We hav eto help them get home, too. If we can.
no subject
She wonders how many are actually willing to trust Karsa's word. Vi doesn't, but for now it's the only breadcrumb she's got to pick at. She needs to try to think around that, and not let herself get dragged down by the horror she'd just been kidnapped from. She can't spiral again over Powder, or wondering when Caitlyn's memory might return.
Easier said than done, but damned if she doesn't try. ]
Gonna be hard to blend in when nobody here looks like they belong. A supply train like this isn't gonna be pulling into some fancy station, though. If it's anything like the undercity, the locals are gonna zero in on whoever's dressed the best.
[ And the cleanest. Another glance over Caitlyn's form suggests she's definitely too clean and dressed too nicely for a coal train. That, and her limp, will make her an easy target...at least, if Vi isn't at her side. She doesn't plan to leave her alone, at least not until they can both gain their bearings. ]
I may have to find you something else to wear.
[ "Find". It worked great last time, didn't it? ]
no subject
How in the world has it ended up back with her? If Jinx dumped them both near hexgates to be sent across the world, or to another world, did she manage to get her hands on the rifle somehow and leave it with Caitlyn as... what? As a kindness? No. Someone else found it then, and left it with Caitlyn, because... because they wanted her to be able to defend herself? Because they wanted her to be able to fight?
There's more in the case than just the rifle, though. A quick rummage turns up her badge, her notebook - with all her case notes on Jinx and Silco, wildly out of date now despite the last entry being a mere few days ago - and pencil, her camera folded neatly and strapped to the side of the case next to her torch. All of which will be useful, to one extent or another.
She almost objects that surely if she shows the locals the badge and explains that they're merely lost travelers trying to find their way home, they'll respect her authority and not harass her or Vi. Almost. The entire reason she broke Vi out of prison in the first place was because this - supply trains and seedy neighborhoods and people corrupt or desperate enough to steal someone else's coin to provide for their next meal - this is Vi's world. So instead of objecting, she simply raises an eyebrow.]
'Find?' [The last time Vi 'found' her clothes, multiple people ended up unconscious in a dumpster.
Her curiosity about Vi's pouch has been nagging at her, and now, while she's taking stock of their resources, is the perfect opportunity to ask.]
We've got my gun, a torch, notepad, camera, and my badge, which ought to do us some good. What have you got in there?
no subject
She hesitates before dropping her other knee down, deciding they're momentarily safe enough for her to relax (a little). Carefully, she pulls the pack from her back to set it down just next to Caitlyn with a bit of a clank. Keeping it behind the barrels so as not to draw attention, she'll unbuckle the top to pull it open just enough for Caitlyn to see. One's in visibly bad condition, like it's been stabbed clean through. ]
Your, uh, Councilor friend let me use them.
[ Please don't ask, please don't ask. ]
no subject
Jayce's-- [She quickly realizes they aren't alone and that drawing attention to the hextech tools may be a poor idea, and drops her voice to a whisper.] Jayce's Atlas gauntlets? When did you speak with Jayce?
[It's only been a few hours since the Council meeting, since Vi left her. Did Vi go straight from their parting to Jayce? Did she tell Caitlyn that they could never be together because topside and the undercity were too incompatible, only to immediately make her way to another topsider? Caitlyn can't help the betrayal that twists in her gut. The idea that Vi wouldn't trust her, would go to someone else for help, would go to Jayce, especially with the way Jayce had been behaving in the Council meeting...
He'd been speaking of war. Is that why Vi went to him? Caitlyn doesn't want a war, but she would have worked with Vi, she would have done everything she could to help take down Silco.
The conclusion she draws is the only one that makes sense to her: Vi wanted a war against Silco, and she didn't think Caitlyn could handle it, that Caitlyn needed to be kept safe. Caitlyn doesn't know how the Atlas gauntlets fit in - they're tools, not weapons. That bit of confusion doesn't change the fact that she's used to being treated like a delicate, fragile object by Jayce and her parents, but she never thought Vi would treat her that way.]
Why did you speak with Jayce? [She asks because, as obvious as her conclusion seems to her, it could be wrong. She wants it to be wrong. And she owes Vi the opportunity to explain.]
no subject
[ It's telling that Vi has already been wrecking heads without even knowing what they're properly named. It's not like she'd thought to find out, given the circumstances at the time. It makes her wonder just how familiar Caitlyn is with that Councilor's other projects. Does she know about that hammer of his? Considering the expression Caitlyn's sporting...Vi thinks, probably not.
She had to ask. Vi's sigh is heavy, and she's quick to cover them back up and buckle the pack shut. She doesn't want to lie to Caitlyn, not more than she already has by omission. Caitlyn had gone with Vi to the Council meeting to request action against Silco...but not in this way. Not with collateral damage. Vi knows that, or she would have used Caitlyn's influence to get to Jayce. There's a reason she had avoided that route then, and she wants to avoid it now. ]
Is that really important right now? All that matters is that we're both armed if we come across some undead army. It means we stand a better chance to reach the hexgate.
no subject
Is it because she brought Vi home? Did Vi see all the silks and satins, and walk across the thick imported carpet, and lie on the down mattress, and realize that someone who grew up in a place like that could only ever be soft?]
I suppose it's not.
[She can't hide the hurt in her tone. But what can she do? Nothing, right now. So she frowns down at the rifle lying across her lap and resolves to do whatever she has to. Fight undead legions or... or anything that will make Vi realize she can take care of herself.
Her brain catches up to something else Vi said.]
Armed? Vi, those gloves are for mining.
no subject
Of course, Caitlyn's too sharp to be fooled for long. Vi can't even believe that she buys Jayce's claim that they were only for mining. Even the golden boy of Piltover must be duplicitous, but that's something Vi expects out of everyone, which garners a dry smirk out of her; maybe it's sharper than it needs to be, but that bitterness is directed at her own turmoil.
Caitlyn isn't deceitful like the rest of them... She deserves to know what kind of person she's fighting alongside. ]
You'd be surprised what I can turn into a weapon, cupcake. I've got a little experience in improvising. Trust me, they work against people just fine.
no subject
One thing she's sure of: Jayce would never want them used as weapons. So did Vi really speak with him, or did she break into his lab and take them?
Perhaps the reason she deflected Caitlyn's question has less to do with her opinion of Caitlyn and more to do with the fact that she wants to hide her illicit activities.
But then, how would Vi have known the gauntlets were there if she hadn't spoken to Jayce? And it's not as though Caitlyn is unaware of her proclivities. Would she really be unwilling to explain that she stole the gauntlets? Perhaps stealing from Caitlyn's friend is different in Vi's mind than stealing from strangers on the street. Perhaps she thought Caitlyn would be less understanding. And if that is indeed Vi's thought process, perhaps she's right. If she had only told Caitlyn her plans, if they'd worked together...
Caitlyn scowls down at the gauntlets as she tries to figure out the answer to the question before she asks it.]
Did you go to Jayce? Did you talk to him?
no subject
She leans back onto her knees again, the screee of the train picking up traction fading before Vi lets out a big sigh and an even bigger shrug. She could so easily throw that Councilor in the line of fire, here, but why put off the inevitable? Vi isn't eager to lose anyone else, not when it's barely been an hour since she watched her sister commit an act that neither of them could come back from...
Brow furrowed, she's looking straight at Caitlyn now. She may not be ready to completely break her heart and tell her about that, not yet, but Vi knows she can't hide from this. Not with the gauntlets sitting right there beside them. ]
You heard him at the meeting, didn't you? He was the only one who wanted to do something about Silco. So he did. We did. Started to, anyway... He didn't have the stomach for it in the end.
no subject
And then suddenly it doesn't matter, because the train lurches and Vi is thrown right towards her. She inhales sharply, hands instinctly reaching up to Vi's shoulders to brace her. Vi's shoulders are...
Muscular.
It's not until Vi has backed away and is staring at her with those soft grey eyes that she remembers to exhale, her brain once again starting to worry away at all those possibilities, just in time for Vi to tell her the truth of it.
She hadn't known what she'd been hoping to hear, but now she realizes she would have preferred almost any other version of events. Vi did go to Jayce after all. And Jayce... The furrow between her brow deepens as she bites her lower lip hard. How could Jayce do such a thing? Why would he want it? She's known him since she was a child, he's always been her best friend, and she never thought he'd be... And Vi...
She's glad to have the truth, of course, but the truth isn't easy to hear.]
He wanted a war. You can't--
[A loud screech as the train careens dramatically, sending her flying into the wall. She cries out at the sudden pain as a harsh chemical smell starts to fill her nostrils.]
no subject
She doesn't even finish forming her thought, having been ready to interrupt Caitlyn, but disaster gets there first. They're both thrown, with Vi's grip on the barrel only serving to bring it with her before she lets it go to slam both palms against the wall on either side of Caitlyn, bracing against whatever comes next. That barrel, and another, both crack hard against her shoulder and then her back, but with teeth grit she at least manages to cocoon Caitlyn and keep her from getting smashed by the flying debris. Not the worst beating she's had, at least.
With a breathy grunt, she starts to ask if Caitlyn's okay, but the sharp scent of something else─not soap, it's too much─is enough to momentarily take her breath away. She can feel the hairs on her arm tickle and raise like lightning just struck nearby, and the very air feels like it could lift her up with how it seems to crackle. Instead, she's wilting downward, eyes drooping as she fights against a lethargy she's never known before. ]
Cait─
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Vi!
[Before she can check how badly Vi's hurt, she feels something like electricity crackling across her arms and the back of her neck, making her hair stand on end. And then, despite the adrenaline flooding her system, despite how fast her heart is hammering in her chest, her eyes start to drift shut. She grits her teeth, scowling as she tries to will herself to stay awake, but her eyes refuse to open more than the narrowest bit, just enough to see Vi - nothing more than a red blur across her darkening vision - begining to collapse.]
Vi...