Vander | Hound of the Underground (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cantilevers) wrote2024-12-20 06:57 pm
cantilevers) wrote2024-12-20 06:57 pmInbox (Etraya)
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Text | Voice | Video | Action
Text | Voice | Video | Action
Text | Voice | Video | Action
cantilevers) wrote2024-12-20 06:57 pm
text; cw: drug usage
[ Silco. Being. Silco...
And he doesn't address the shimmer. He's not going to. ]
Apparently we're bargaining for "Runeterra's Survival". According to what Aurora wants us to do.
[ Text doesn't convey tone, but well. Silco clearly hates it and hates that. He has nothing to bargain for other than continued survival, and that seems too easy. ]
Well, this child can control business that isn't ours. I'll ensure they think otherwise next time, if they go through with it.
[ silco......
He doesn't say how, of course. ]
If you control it, there are no such effects. Sevika has been using it for years with her arm. [ He's been using it for longer. ] Do you remember those old miners, the ones that couldn't do the work anymore, and how they were given those old medications. How some of them seemed to be just fine on them, and others took too many, spiraled, and then seemed to fall apart after a few years?
Addiction comes for anyone who is susceptible to it. It's all about control. You know that. Shimmer is novel, but it is not that novel.
text; cw: drug usage
[The only reason he didn't still have one in the first place was Jayce prioritized Cait over himself, which was a fact that he accepted without complaint. However, people underestimated that if he put his mind to it, he tended to actually get what he wanted.]
If we go to war with another group, we'll be doing penance for Runeterra's sake for a long time. I know you won't quit if it goes that far, and if Jinx is threatened, I may not either. All this because a kid can't think consequences.
[Vander knew that Silco was on the move, and that was very dangerous. At this point, he didn't have the bandwidth to interrogate the man, and honestly, if this went south, they may need what Silco had. Topside might stand to the sidelines and let them walk their own path after causing the battle in the first place. Typical.]
She mentioned, yeah. You've also been using for years. [It wasn't a question. He knew it. Silco knew it.] I remember them. I remember them in squalor living in the dark eking out an existence for some time before they died alone and forgotten. They medicated their pain to start but soon they medicated to either feel something or feel nothing at all.
Control sounds about right. You've always been about control, and this is just another avenue to do that. And I bet like everything else you'll peddle, the sacrifice of a handful is worth the overall goal. The human cost of your mechanizations was just the price of business, a sacrifice to rally others.
If I take it, I hope I do become that monster again. I want to see that look of terror on your face. Though maybe me being in control under the influence would be frightening too.
text; cw: drug usage
[ Likely... if Silco was involved. The moment he did something. He is aware. No, it's better to be where he expects. The ones who supposedly want "peace" even when they don't. The'll just start amassing more, otherwise. Keep the amount low, keep it from increasing. Let them have it.
Jinx can do so much more with it than they ever could with scrap and whatever Silco could procure. His brilliant, perfect daughter could do more than they could eve dream of. ]
There is a difference between medicating for pain and what I do. I'm sure you're thinking I can't go without it, but you would be very, very incorrect.
[ Microdoses only. Controlled Application in the most unpleasant way possible. It's the most effective. It does what it needs to do. But Silco could not say he's addicted. ]
You want to frighten me, do you? [ There's... both fear, and a thrill in that. A part of Vander still wants to be that monster, he knows it. The beast coiling and raging against the cage. He could stick his fingers in and find them snapped off. He still could, despite what the man says. How he pretends with everyone else. Silco fears it. He wants to see it. He wants to see Vander become the monster, because it vindicates everything that he knows to be true. It vindicates him. ]
You want me to say that I hope you don't? You won't hear that from me.
[ he wants other people to see it to. To understand.
That monster is in everyone. Even the ones they wish it wasn't in. ]
text; cw: drug usage
[It is unfortunate how much Vander had thought about it on his walk over, the contingency planning that came with being aware that he was potentially starting a fight and knowing how to come out the victor. When it came to a heist, he was better than most would consider him capable. All but probably Silco himself who has been on many heists in the past with him. Combat tactics were also Vander's strength.
And if Janna above, he and Silco worked together? He had no doubt that Piltover wouldn't stand much of a chance. It was probably best for that side that he and Silco had such a rift between them and this was as close to a civil conversation as they had managed to achieve in six months.]
I'm aware. You need it daily to keep what vision you have in that eye going. I saw the effect it had when you went without when we arrived.
[It did not surprise him that turning a drug that provided people the sense of freedom and power sold so well as a recreational use. For a people of downtrodden city, it was exactly the kind of medication that would fuel disputes as much as it would solve them. People could feel powerful, and there was often a lack of that for the little guy. The people Vander had wanted to protect most of all.]
If I have to, I will. Sometimes it's the only way to force you to retreat when you're taking a physical risk. [He knew Silco never would say such a thing, ask him not to. Too much pride, too much history there to warrant any kind of response.
After all, he had no doubt that Silco wanted to see him lose control. Not at him but in general to expose his temper to this place and vindicate the other man's feelings of hurt.]
I actually believe you hope I will. Publicly. Isn't that what our little tiffs are about? You pushing my buttons to see which will finally cause me to snap so you can point and tell the world how brutal and mean and awful I am. A wolf in sheep's clothing.
We both know how vicious we can be.
text; cw: drug usage (just leaves this horrible warning up)
The enforcer may be the only one with the skills, but don't discount the Wonder Boys, Vander. Talis has a perfectly soft exterior, but he's very much willing to take what he must, and if he gets that hammer of his, or powers it up, you'll see precisely how willing he is. I know you think you can handle it, but it would come at great cost.
[ Reminding him that Silco knows a lot more than he lets on.
Sure, he wasn't the combat expert, but he was able to collect, categorize, and point out the things that Vander didn't. This was the most civil conversation they had, but he knew as well as Vander did that if push came to shove, and it was topside versus the Zaunites... if Vander was on their side, and willing to actually do what was necessary? They were dangerous.
Wasn't that half the reason why Silco needed to be eliminated? Beyond the anger, beyond the strife... if Silco lived, Vander would fight back. ]
Clearly, Jinx needs a reminder of what not to say.
[ Heaven help him, his daughter could not keep her mouth shut. ]
Me? Try to provoke that? Why, Vander, you've got it all wrong. I simply detest you.
[ No, he's 100% right. Which is why he bald-faced lied. ]
text;
[And look at them working and strategizing relatively cooperatively. It annoyed him, but that could also be his current emotional state as he marched to the Kiramman mansion to steal. It could also be that this glimpse of what cooperation looked like was opening a door just a crack of them not continually fighting day after day, week after week, year after year.]
While I expect I should talk to her about that because you can't set a boundary with her to save your own damn life, I actually think she will listen to you over me. Remind her what is at stake.
[He almost threw a sardonic joke that if she did what she was told, Vander would be nice to Silco for 10 minutes a day for a week. He wasn't willing to risk that, and it would blow up this conversation to fighting immediately he knew.]
I can read your sugary sweet fake tone even in this text. You used it on kids all the time, but I see through it. [By Janna's tits Silco, stop lying about what they both knew.] Glad I can continually disappoint you, as usual.