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I mean, it can't hurt to at least look into what binds with....whatever compounds you were exposed to. That won't kill you in the process.

[ She lifts one eyebrow at his heavy sarcasm, and lifts both of her arms, wiggling her fingers. ] Yeah, same way I want to be stuck in these for the rest of my life, I imagine. But hey, I love the tendency to short-circuit someone's brain from fifty paces. It's great.

Mhm. And even if it kills me, it's... eh, with my prognosis already, that's fine. I can make a last wish to my partner in this, hmm, research - he's a good man, even great, or noble in his naivete, if the world and I did not hold him back-

[Jayce Talis. Sky Young would also help. And prof Heimerdinger. All good people- cherished some way or another-
With affection-]
Jayce Talis wil make sure other people like me are cured in the future. That will also allow him to surely not step off the ledge on, ehh, a sorry impulse. Will ground him. To the people's suffering. Which will do them and him some good.

[Some light. In the darkness. Something good and noble and ambitious - that Viktor would not live to see--
His mother had told him once of how Viktor was born two months two early.
And now. The universe being set in some ways and unforgiving - of course Viktor had to exit the stage a bit too early for his liking.
But Viktor was NOT fair. He was going to exit stage, left or right, kicking and screaming and bleeding and leaving his scent like a wild dying animal
Marking the world as territory of his inventions and ideas and--
leaving a trail of chalk on all the chalk boards in his proximity
Maybe Viktor was being egotistical actually-
And unfair
And cruel-

Good. For just a few months, he could be, for... who would even be hurt by that?]
[So he could surely be for a few months harmlessly cruel]

Psh, what's the violence for? Only a limited mind can't find peace through diplom----

[Cough. Cough. Oh, greeeeeeaaaat, niw he can't even get some normal sentences out, thanks, universe, for not a single free gift - everything gotten from the universe Viktor had to claw out, while kicking or screaming or bowing or with strained smiles]

[Cough] through more diplomati--- or cultured--- ways in which we can forgive baser impulses, make Peace with them, Hop---

[Cough]

It's not a choice. Without the gauntlets, I am a conduit and capacitor for all electrical charges around me--they don't hurt me.

Unfortunately, they do hurt everyone else. [ One half an ampere, and enough voltage to push it through the heart, and humans are dead without a chance of being resuscitated. Noriko knows this intimately well. ]

Peace through diplomacy is a great option, I'll give you that. It's admirable, if all parties are amenable to diplomatic solutions; it sucks, but there are times when that's not ever going to happen. But if the goal is annihilation, occupation, or subjugation...diplomacy will never win. At that point...once violence is your last resort, make sure you resort to enough of it.

There's always a choice, [Viktor states, seriously]
And keep the gauntlents on, ms.

As for the others, if I understand right- do I?
If they want death, then.... change. That. Find out their other-- wants. Interests. Passions. Convictions. Goals. Reroute the ways--

Find solutions. Present-- evidence of your-- vision- of peace. Show the the attraction of it. Interest them in--- something other than violence. Bribe them? Make a show of strength without violence? Perhaps ensure mutual annihilation if they seek too violent a conflict...persuade.... Change. Their. Mind.

Die trying. Maybe-- that will --- show them.

Change their stance on, uhm, violence.

[He's almost hyperventilating now. Sorry. Give him a minute and he'll get that in order.]

There is always a choice, miss.

[There must be-]

[Breathe. Breathe.]

[Deep breath--- oh. Ok, that was too deep. So now let's go.... shallow.]

Edited 2025-03-25 03:51 (UTC)

[Ok. Shallow breathing. Better. Getting some oxygen now. Body no longer convinced of imminent death and panic]

[Ah-]

I was... babbling.

For which, I, hm, apologise. In my haste, I forgot to-- filter. My thoughts.

Let's forget it. Alright?

[He wobbles a bit. Good thing he's got a crutch. So it's fine]

Edited 2025-03-25 03:56 (UTC)

I have no desire to harm you, don't worry. And it's Noriko. Ashida Noriko. [ She waits patiently for the coughing to subside, and when he wobbles she reaches out a hand, ready to steady him or break his collapse if need be. He has a crutch, yes, but she doesn't know which way he'll fall and if it will be useful. ] Why don't you sit? There's no particular reason to stand just to talk.

As for the other... I come from a place where people do not merely look down on us. It's not just that we are considered to be less intelligent, less, physically capable, less than perfect, or even standard. We are thought less than worthy of living, of existing. There is no mistaking the aim of the people who do not like us: they want us all dead. They have tried to ensure that happens. For some of us, they have succeeded.

Death while trying to convince someone to change an opinion only results in death: your own, usually. I do not want to die.

[Like a little wild animal, Viktor won't so easily be touched by a somebody who's virtually a stranger]

[...sit...? Ahhhh. YES.]

Mhm. 'Make yourself indispensable to them, so that they won't kill you. And. Never. Talk back.' My parents tried to teach me so."

[Sigh.]

"But I talk back to topsiders, sometimes, still. Though I did make myself a little important. But not like that. I have other goals."

[Viktor sits down.]

[ Noriko shakes her head vehemently at that, drawing back her hand as she watches him sit, and kneels herself across from him, elegant and compact through she can pop back up to her feet as readily as anything. ] I will not beg to be allowed my existence. That is not a life.

I will not ask permission to take up my own space.

[scoffs, but fairly lightly, and then, utters] You were born in a large bed, weren't you, Miss? One surely covered with soft blankets?

But somebody who isn't has to either murder for one, or steal one, or sell one's body for one, or sell one's organs for one, or tinker and make some things, some new things, to get to buy one. That is the truth of the world, for this universe and for all other universes if any other exist, I am sure.

You had to sell something - no, you did not have to ask for permission, I have never asked for permission, only tried to give birth to as many fruits of my intellect as I could when I was a child and later a teenager for a time - as a teenager, I never stayed long with all the fruits of intellect's labour that I made, I always sold them - and my parents were always in awe, because I've never sold my body and I never will. So they called me independent, resolute, free, their beloved little scientist - and it made me proud. And they bought for me an Academy uniform. Topside Academy's uniform. When I first put it on and looked in a mirror, I momentarily became a god in my own eyes.

That, ehh, God thing - I can never share that fragment of thoughts with any Piltie - because even the best of the best of them would NOT understand. God? For some very basics? They wouldn't get it. They don't know they are gods. Well, no, not very good ones - they are, over half of them, petty, cruel, negligent, insoquential, stupid gods of idiocy, but-- they would not get it. Though sometimes, one can find some pearls among the topsiders, shockingly, or some emeralds. Heh.
[Viktor gives a small smile, that quickly falls, back to neutral expression.
He hasn't raised his voice here, not much any time, not once.
As if any voice raising was forbidden by some beautiful heavens above or acid stinking raging hells below. Or as if he was a calm man, always. Either or or both... who can tell...? hmmm?]

No, don't beg to exist. I can see you never had to miss. Glad to hear that. Truly, eh, glad, I don't wish my people's fate on anyone, miss, uhhh, trust in that, at least, I happen not to be a devil incarnate. Though some will beg to differ. Because they feel threatened by, uh, my brain.
[heh]

[cough. blood. into hand. Blood that he WON'T show her, as that would, in his put-together chiseled and cared for mind, put a dent in everything he's said to her. There would have to be a modicum of trust, first, for him to offer the sight of this blood freely without anybody forcing his hand]

[cough. cough. cough.]

Edited 2025-03-26 06:29 (UTC)

I was born to a family who professed to love me, yes. Until they didn't. And I have had to sell many things to survive, lest you think otherwise.

Do you need help? The coughing is getting worse.

Ah, I apologise. You are who you are and, not knowing you, I musn't I assume falsely.

... is it? No, not so much. This is a 'on a good day' version. And, hm, do you have a fear of blood? If so, I shall endavour to take my disease elsewhere.

[Viktor looks ready to walk or wobble away.]

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ahaha, I am so sorry

No prob, Bob or smth ;) 😁

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