The ship... is less surreal thanks to the Eudora, but the chambers with the creatures and the awful red warning lights make his heart leap into his throat. He stumbles to the closest one in his hurry, his reflection in the glass horrified. They don't look like Rio, but they remind him very much of Rio. He touches the surface as if he could truly do anything--about this at all, about a dream.]
No...
[He looks at the rest, at all the rest, and each one is just as terrible as the last. All Rio. All dying. He catches sight of the figure at the end and starts making a beeline for them.]
[ The red domes become darker, much like the creatures inside of them. They reach out, palm on the glass, as their forms petrify and immortalize their death. Their extra limbs are splayed and frayed, reminiscent of an angel. Viktor leaves them, so he can see them become a statue when their biome finally becomes ashy black.
He rotates the cube in his hand as he keeps his gaze on the domes before shifting his eyes. ]
My sisters are being drained the last of their life for human survival. The last run, the scientists termed it.
[Worriedly stunned, he glances at the cube in Knives' hand--doesn't like that Hex Core looking thing--but the words distract him into turning around to glance back at the chambers again. His expression pinches, falls.]
No...
[He's human, but he doesn't like this!!] How do we... [Well, that's pointless, isn't it? Here. He wants to stop it.]
This is... a memory? [He glances again at Knives.] This has already happened...?
[ Knives and Vash really are plagued with sapience. ]
Humans plague the planet for over a century after their fleets crashed onto it... Its lands are a desert with no source of water in sight, but Plants are capable of creating the resources needed for humans to survive in any terrain. They're man-made generators, siphoning energy from a different dimension to provide based on their specialty. It can range from food, water, gravity, electricity, and so on.
The number of Plants is finite, much like the amount of resources that can be extracted from the planet itself.
[ Knives thinks that's enough context and explanation on that front. Scarcity of... Literally everything. ]
Vash and I are independent Plants. We do not rely on a life support container like our sisters.
[No, this is enough. Naturally, he's nosy enough of a researcher to want to know more, but this is enough to explain.
Something sort of pings him momentarily, though he shelves it for now. He continued to frown in the direction of the chambers.] That's... incredible. That's why he was glowing in your dream... [More to himself than anything. Plants!!
[ he gives him a look don't notice his brother like that ]
No, and the technology to create more Plants is lost. That shouldn't matter—we shouldn't be snuffed without a second thought, forced to ends before living our full lifespan. We do not deserve this.
[ it's so funny for knives to be a preacher when he forced them all in this scarcity scenario ]
[HELLO? He can't help Vash was glowing IN KNIVES'S OWN DREAM!! Don't look at him like that, idiod.
Knives these are the consequences of your actions.]
You don't. But... it has happened, right? So you have to move forward.
[Peering at Knives, then at the cube.]
There are a handful of us here who could work on... remaking that kind of technology for you, you know. So that your kind can prosper. You can go somewhere else without humans.
[ it really is the consequences of his own actions... he doesn't even have any rust injuries because he has never really suffered in his life. ]
It still is happening, Viktor. My sisters are being used to the very last drop. [ Knives laughs at that... Regaining lost technology? ] How can we prosper under exploitation?
[ The scene changes so Viktor can see what a healthy plant looks like, then its progression to being last ran. It comes with their screams, the writhing, the last struggle to survive. It repeats, repeats, repeats, and repeats because Knives is so haunted. ]
I know, but--you have to get away from there. You have to leave to prosper. [He had to leave the Undercity to prosper in Piltover?] If you stay, they'll keep doing--
[What ISN'T fine is getting startled by the change, and then getting pummeled by bad. His expression visibly struggles with the upset of watching, of listening. He looks away, grimacing, then squeezes his eyes shut. All he can think of is Rio.]
Stop! Stop... Please.
[He doesn't want to see them DIE OVER AND OVER. STOP BEING HAUNTED. HE'S HAUNTED ENOUGH.]
[Great! Thanks! He slowly opens his eyes and exhales quietly.]
Why change a destroyed world when you can build a new one of your own?
[Just saying. He glances up, frowning.] I do understand. I want to change the Undercity, too. But I... had to leave first. [Not quite the same, but maybe the sentiments are.]
I remember their pain, too, while Piltover looks away.
[He's looking at the cube, not hungrily, not like he wants it... but like he's piecing it out, like he's surveying it. Thinking. His eyes slowly lift again.]
This is a long shot, but... can you show me how it works in your dream? [Thoughtfully to himself:] I wonder... if... the Hex Core can communicate with it at all...
It is reminiscent of the High Dimension Core I had, but I do not know if it acts the same. I can only show you what it could be capable of from my experience with a similar object. [ oh, but he is interested in this hex core deal. ] What are you planning, Viktor...
That's fine. Please show me anyway. I'm pretty sure they aren't functioning right now, so... Just theorizing.
[He scratches his jawline thoughtfully.]
The Hex Core is a runic matrix that I realized... responded to organic material. Some of my blood accidentally got into it, and it... changed. It learned. It evolved. The key to... life and death, to who knows what all else, lays inside it, but I just couldn't get it... to... work right.
[He shakes his head.]
Do you know what happens to... Independent Plants when they die by any chance? Like... physically. No, I guess you wouldn't know if you were the only two...? What about injury?
The tesseract is active, but in the hands of other officers for research.
[ oop. Well, the dream takes shape of using Vash as a portal with the core to enter the dimension where Plants draw their power. Just that whole deal, I guess, with that cyoa realm where Vash has to battle while he's an effigy black hole. ]
How interesting.
[ Viktor really going through it with these questions. ]
[WOW, NO? He hates this?! VASH!!! He looks visibly mortified by this process, stepping forward like he can somehow stop it until he becomes frozen in place by the inability to do so in a dream.]
This--this is... It's... Plants? These are... there. I think? The... vines... And it... Things regenerate? When we cut into it...
The ownership date was finalized today, so its capabilities are unlocked.
[ april fools very funny. Vash really does turn into an effigy with wooden vines that stretch out, flowers blossoming from them—dark purple geraniums with petals that glow a soft light on their edge. They roam and take over the space. Vash is just stuck in his little cyoa, frozen in time. ]
If you want answers, then you should ask clearly.
[ The scene disappears because Knives thinks that Viktor is too stimulated by it. ]
Thanks, Knives is learning. The flowers aren't lotuses which Viktor can now find interesting to remember when not HAUNTED by memories. He shakes his head.]
I don't even know what question...
[It's frustrating to boop into a place and not be familiar with a lot of things when you're normally fairly alright. He glances at the cube again, brows furrowing.]
[ AS WE CAN SEE BY WEDNESDAY THEY HAVE NOT EXPLODED
Sorry about Rio, Viktor. ]
... I don't know, but a number of you have had ideas. I as well wonder if that may be the truth. What I do know is that you all are in a place where we cannot reach you and most of your bodies are still in the stasis bay. We are taking the chance to consider it a reality.
Is there anything that has surfaced where you are that would support this theory?
His brows furrow again.] Almost... everything. It all just keeps adding up to... Well, we thought we were... digital at first, but... [He glances away.]
Something happened, and... we realized it wasn't digital. We're... I don't know, this isn't my area of skill exactly. We're maybe... consciousnesses, or something. But there's...
A lot of flesh. And now there's a place with... [Motions as if motioning where poor Vash was trapped in his own cyoa.] Plants? Roots. It looks... like... roots. They're pretty defensive. They tossed Luke out. I guess he was messing with what's inside.
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The ship... is less surreal thanks to the Eudora, but the chambers with the creatures and the awful red warning lights make his heart leap into his throat. He stumbles to the closest one in his hurry, his reflection in the glass horrified. They don't look like Rio, but they remind him very much of Rio. He touches the surface as if he could truly do anything--about this at all, about a dream.]
No...
[He looks at the rest, at all the rest, and each one is just as terrible as the last. All Rio. All dying. He catches sight of the figure at the end and starts making a beeline for them.]
What's happening?
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[ The red domes become darker, much like the creatures inside of them. They reach out, palm on the glass, as their forms petrify and immortalize their death. Their extra limbs are splayed and frayed, reminiscent of an angel. Viktor leaves them, so he can see them become a statue when their biome finally becomes ashy black.
He rotates the cube in his hand as he keeps his gaze on the domes before shifting his eyes. ]
My sisters are being drained the last of their life for human survival. The last run, the scientists termed it.
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No...
[He's human, but he doesn't like this!!] How do we... [Well, that's pointless, isn't it? Here. He wants to stop it.]
This is... a memory? [He glances again at Knives.] This has already happened...?
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It has... Over a century ago. [ Sometimes you're haunted. ] And this treatment of my kind continues.
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His expression falls. He looks around at the biomes again, lips thin and frowning.]
What... are you exactly? Why do humans think... they need you all for their survival?
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Humans plague the planet for over a century after their fleets crashed onto it... Its lands are a desert with no source of water in sight, but Plants are capable of creating the resources needed for humans to survive in any terrain. They're man-made generators, siphoning energy from a different dimension to provide based on their specialty. It can range from food, water, gravity, electricity, and so on.
The number of Plants is finite, much like the amount of resources that can be extracted from the planet itself.
[ Knives thinks that's enough context and explanation on that front. Scarcity of... Literally everything. ]
Vash and I are independent Plants. We do not rely on a life support container like our sisters.
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Something sort of pings him momentarily, though he shelves it for now. He continued to frown in the direction of the chambers.] That's... incredible. That's why he was glowing in your dream... [More to himself than anything. Plants!!
Finally, he faces Knives again]
There's no reproduction...?
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No, and the technology to create more Plants is lost. That shouldn't matter—we shouldn't be snuffed without a second thought, forced to ends before living our full lifespan. We do not deserve this.
[ it's so funny for knives to be a preacher when he forced them all in this scarcity scenario ]
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Knives these are the consequences of your actions.]
You don't. But... it has happened, right? So you have to move forward.
[Peering at Knives, then at the cube.]
There are a handful of us here who could work on... remaking that kind of technology for you, you know. So that your kind can prosper. You can go somewhere else without humans.
[...]
Is that from the auction...?
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It still is happening, Viktor. My sisters are being used to the very last drop. [ Knives laughs at that... Regaining lost technology? ] How can we prosper under exploitation?
[ The scene changes so Viktor can see what a healthy plant looks like, then its progression to being last ran. It comes with their screams, the writhing, the last struggle to survive. It repeats, repeats, repeats, and repeats because Knives is so haunted. ]
The cube? Yes.
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I know, but--you have to get away from there. You have to leave to prosper. [He had to leave the Undercity to prosper in Piltover?] If you stay, they'll keep doing--
[What ISN'T fine is getting startled by the change, and then getting pummeled by bad. His expression visibly struggles with the upset of watching, of listening. He looks away, grimacing, then squeezes his eyes shut. All he can think of is Rio.]
Stop! Stop... Please.
[He doesn't want to see them DIE OVER AND OVER. STOP BEING HAUNTED. HE'S HAUNTED ENOUGH.]
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[ I'm sorry, Viktor. You just have to suffering in Knives' wallowing and fears. ]
Who will remember their pain if not me?
[ It does stop, but on the corpse. ]
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Why change a destroyed world when you can build a new one of your own?
[Just saying. He glances up, frowning.] I do understand. I want to change the Undercity, too. But I... had to leave first. [Not quite the same, but maybe the sentiments are.]
I remember their pain, too, while Piltover looks away.
[He nods at the cube.]
What is it?
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The world isn't destroyed. It's simply incompatible with humans. I also have no intentions of being prey or hunted.
[ He doesn't believe that humans would simply let (his people) them go. ]
It's a high dimension core. To put it simply, it contains energy siphoned from a higher dimension than ours.
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Viktor's brows narrow. He... looks at the cube, at Knives, at the cube again. Oh no...]
That sounds... like the Hex Core.
[Knives doesn't need this at all.]
Do you... have this when you're awake? Do you actually have it from the auction?
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... That was the item you bid on, wasn't it. [ His is a cube shape, though. ] We do have it.
[ we not he ]
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[He's looking at the cube, not hungrily, not like he wants it... but like he's piecing it out, like he's surveying it. Thinking. His eyes slowly lift again.]
This is a long shot, but... can you show me how it works in your dream? [Thoughtfully to himself:] I wonder... if... the Hex Core can communicate with it at all...
[Then to Knives:]
Also... I have a question. About Plants.
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[ but go ahead and ask your Plant question. ]
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[He scratches his jawline thoughtfully.]
The Hex Core is a runic matrix that I realized... responded to organic material. Some of my blood accidentally got into it, and it... changed. It learned. It evolved. The key to... life and death, to who knows what all else, lays inside it, but I just couldn't get it... to... work right.
[He shakes his head.]
Do you know what happens to... Independent Plants when they die by any chance? Like... physically. No, I guess you wouldn't know if you were the only two...? What about injury?
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[ oop. Well, the dream takes shape of using Vash as a portal with the core to enter the dimension where Plants draw their power. Just that whole deal, I guess, with that cyoa realm where Vash has to battle while he's an effigy black hole. ]
How interesting.
[ Viktor really going through it with these questions. ]
We can regenerate and heal ourselves.
[ rip ]
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[WOW, NO? He hates this?! VASH!!! He looks visibly mortified by this process, stepping forward like he can somehow stop it until he becomes frozen in place by the inability to do so in a dream.]
This--this is... It's... Plants? These are... there. I think? The... vines... And it... Things regenerate? When we cut into it...
What is going on...
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[ april fools very funny. Vash really does turn into an effigy with wooden vines that stretch out, flowers blossoming from them—dark purple geraniums with petals that glow a soft light on their edge. They roam and take over the space. Vash is just stuck in his little cyoa, frozen in time. ]
If you want answers, then you should ask clearly.
[ The scene disappears because Knives thinks that Viktor is too stimulated by it. ]
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Thanks, Knives is learning. The flowers aren't lotuses which Viktor can now find interesting to remember when not HAUNTED by memories. He shakes his head.]
I don't even know what question...
[It's frustrating to boop into a place and not be familiar with a lot of things when you're normally fairly alright. He glances at the cube again, brows furrowing.]
Is the place we are... in another dimension?
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Sorry about Rio, Viktor. ]
... I don't know, but a number of you have had ideas. I as well wonder if that may be the truth. What I do know is that you all are in a place where we cannot reach you and most of your bodies are still in the stasis bay. We are taking the chance to consider it a reality.
Is there anything that has surfaced where you are that would support this theory?
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His brows furrow again.] Almost... everything. It all just keeps adding up to... Well, we thought we were... digital at first, but... [He glances away.]
Something happened, and... we realized it wasn't digital. We're... I don't know, this isn't my area of skill exactly. We're maybe... consciousnesses, or something. But there's...
A lot of flesh. And now there's a place with... [Motions as if motioning where poor Vash was trapped in his own cyoa.] Plants? Roots. It looks... like... roots. They're pretty defensive. They tossed Luke out. I guess he was messing with what's inside.
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