#deathtohextech Th 1

[angelictragedy]

Take an Angel by the Hand and Witness a Second Chance ||@deathtohextech||

Meeting Wolfwood was.... A shock, striking his heart in a way that wounded him. It could have gone worse, truly, it could have. After all he'd done he's not surprised the man panicked and all but killed him yet ran for his life.

It was then he realized, despite his care and love for those around him, he hadn't really branched out. He'd isolated, retreated from the masses. Even during the moss, he hid rather than helped. During the Sonare he just anxiously stayed home and protected Legato whilst panicking about Badou. He doesn't talk about how he didn't act panicked about the man but fussed over his poor eating when he'd gotten home.

So it's here, walking the streets like a ghost that he all but rams head first into a new chance. Granted, they were quite a distance, but eyes watched the figure. A new Echo without a doubt, one leg looking framed, braced almost? Injured, old by the sight of it.

Then there's the energy.

It's potent in the way one becomes pungent when they bathe in perfume or swaddle themselves in layers upon layers of floral notes. It permeates his senses, but he can tell it's simply a lingering note rather than possession. Once gifted great power, or perhaps a twisted curse, he couldn't say. All he knew was it held a tang not unlike Plants, yet entirely different. Dimensional benders, quantum entanglements, magical in nature, but he had little to no idea beyond this.

Interesting indeed.

Even without recent events, his heart ached for the figure. Hair disheveled and hardly washed, a mop of unkempt as his body clearly went on without his mind entirely present. It reminded him of Eriks.

I couldn't be there for you, brother, but perhaps I can be there for a human. A change you'd be proud of me for doing, no? Perhaps even Wolfwood would approve.

The closer he gets, trotting over the street he inspects closer now. The man is swaying, squinting at the menu, at the bag of keys, looking wasted, but a quick scent of the air and there's no alcohol. Fresh from arrival it seems.

"Do you have any allergies?" He neared, Gato sniffing towards the man before looking to her handler, focused on his state of being as he smiled to the new figure. "I take it you too arrived in this world. Recently, if the confusion is anything to go by. If you like, I could help you, answer some questions. Once you're fed, of course." He opens the door.

It wasn't often he got take out, Legato always made divine food, but the scent of the Chinese shop made even his own stomach rumble.

"Consider it a welcome gift."

[angelictragedy]

Ah, the story sounded so sweet, so similar. He'd wanted to create a better world for his sisters, where they weren't tools... But he never knew how desperately they needed humans to maintain their habitat. In the end, he'd done what he could to fix things, saved Vash and ended his empire, then himself.

But what good did it do? He will never know.

But I suppose actions never do quite measure up to the face do they?

No. No, looking at the man before him, seeing how he'd been when they met, the seemingly relentless focus he expresses having to make things right-

I can't say I overly deserve it after nearly causing the end of my world.

The set line of the pained face just moments prior startles Nai for but a moment. It's too close for the Plant not to feel the possessive need to protect and watch this soul bloom into a dazzling flower. His hand slips into the other's without hesitation, shaking as he smiles softly, deciding he'll have to tell Legato they might have another table setting for the festival's dinner.

"As you will always be welcomed in house Saverem." The shake feels heavier, weighted with the promise between them, a vow to better themselves, yet knowing someone equally as pained is there to lean on.

"I would be honored to see your creations. I was considering getting back into tinkering for the holidays, it's been so long... I'm mostly a florist now." He settles back, their unnamed pact sealed. "Though, I'd like something a touch less like my people's things. The humans mostly just made guns."

That was... A lot to take in.

Echos never truly died? Every Echo was from a completely different dimension and universe? How many different scales of magic or culture was here? Then there was the thought of this greater power plucking them from death or their lives. Was there a subconcious consent formed somewhere before taking them? There were so many questions left unanswered that had Jayce reeling. His mere manipulation of the Arcane seemed childs play in comparison, a thought that had him looking to the warped metal along his arm where once a rune lay.

...That's right. He'd died- hadn't he? Ripped from his home, sent here after convincing Viktor to end it. The thought sours his expression with a low, weary sigh.

"I can't imagine you doing something so horrific- but I suppose actions never do quite measure up to the face do they?" Jayce commiserates, sipping delicately at his beverage. "If you're worried I would judge, I don't. I hardly can... I invented something I thought was to help people, unknowing it warped the world- and my partner- into horrors. We fixed it... Barely. I couldn't even begin to imagine the depths of the stars you have travelled."

Jayce looks up to Nai, face set.

"I suppose we're both given a second chance. To be better people, to be more mindful of the choices we choose. I can't say I overly deserve it after nearly causing the end of my world, but if you'd be willing to be friends after hearing my story, you'd always be welcome in house Talis."

A hand is offered, a handshake to cement their bond moving forwards.

"From now on... I'll stick to strictly non magical creations. Maybe I can show you them some time? My culture, and technology."

[angelictragedy]

The questions are heavy, a warm weight for Nai to dissect. After speaking with Wolfwood he's come to find a more direct way of explaining this place. One that's a little less 'this is the Paradise I'd longed for' and more something of, you know, logic.

"I have been here for just over a year now, or one Solar Cycle if that terminology better suits." He remembers hearing a few people talking about things in celestial cycles in passing. "Enough time to get an understanding of the truth." It was hard even now to truly understand it all.

"When I first arrived, I thought my sacrifice had finally created the Eden I'd dreamed of. A place where my kind weren't used as batteries and humans actually cared about us." He looks out the window, remembering his manic state, until Legato had explained it more.

"Truthfully. There is a force at play I haven't quite figured out. But someone or something, picks people from all around the expansive dimensional planes and drops them here. Either at their deaths, or in random moments of their life. People can get memories of what their life would have been were they not here as well. That is, if they weren't dead when they were brought here." He feels a bump, turning to see Gato with her front paws on his leg, head resting as big eyes look up.

He was growing distant again. How bothersome. But he rests a hand on her head, gently petting her as he smiles. This world was still Eden to him, even if he knows he's alive.

"As an Echo, something they call us, death isn't permanent here. We die and we will find ourselves awake in the tower we arrived in. We will still feel what killed us for a day or two, but we will be alive." He speaks with familiarity, his eyes glazing as he watches the pup stick out her tongue. "The same cannot be said for the locals born here." The moss, so many deaths, so many lost...

He should have done something about it. He will.

"You have the evidence of two worlds colliding, you and myself for example." He finally looks back to the other, eyes trailing to where the other seemed to focus.

Magic. Astarion knew about that, whilst Nai only knew it from stories. Many would claim what he can do as magic, but it can all be easily explained in detail with science. It seems whatever the other had been tangled up in was... Dark, a painful thing. He understood that pain, truly he did.

"Just started... Wow, so the Victorian era, how fascinating." He taps his chin thoughtfully, then pulled out his phone and flicked open a few things, revealing pictures of sketches he'd done, now framed in his home.

"For me, we were in a time of space fairing. We had ships filled with humans and my sisters travelling the starts to find a new home. My people were the power for these ships." He turned the phone to show the images, showing the man how to swipe through the photo album on there. "Imagine boats, but through the cosmos, that's what we were doing. We ended up on an inhospitable planet because, as a child, I discovered something I never should have." He pauses then, sighing.

"For centuries, I made wrong choice after wrong choice." Eyes trailed to just staring at the phone again. "Why a monster like me was chosen, I may never know. But I was given a second chance here, and I vow to be better." He smiles to the other, a soft, light thing, barely there, as if afraid to hope.

"I thought it best you know that I wasn't always a good person, but I am trying now. That is what this world does. It takes from you everything. Your weapons, your powers, even your special items reminding you of your sins. Takes it all, give you three things, a phone like this, a key for a new home, and something unique to you as a person to guide you on your new and better path. Usually with a soft message." He remembered his mug, the one with hexagons and leaves and their not so subtle jab at making friends.

It was time he tried in earnest.

"In short, this world is a second chance. You can take it this new chance and be better, or you can ignore it and find yourself suffering. That's what I've noticed at least." And suffering he had - somewhat - done.

The insistence to return the favour dies in his chest, accepting it with a weary nod. It feels strange to be on the receiving end of true honest intentions after so long of dealing with otherwise. A quiet part of Jayce notes it down for later- a potential point in some much needed therapy. "If you don't mind... How long have you been here? I- what is this place? You seem so calm and speak of Echos appearing so I assume this happens often. People appearing from other worlds?" The concept seems insane that entire people with lives from who-knows-where just... Manifested, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

No Mans Land was certainly not on Runeterra though, he knew that much. This individual before him was bare minimum not human, and highly likely not from his particular slice of the multiverse. It turns in his mind for a moment, fascinating his curiosity.

"There's magic where I come from but..." His gaze drifts down to his warped skin along his wrist, a lingering touch from the Arcane. "...It comes with too great a cost to be worth it. We mostly function on clockwork technology and electricity that's just started to come into fashion."

[angelictragedy]

The sounds the human made informed the Plant he'd made the right choice in helping him. Feral almost with starvation, the poor thing already was looking better, color returning to pallor skin, making the human look alive once more.

When the human ended with the gentle napkin wiping, the Plant covers his mouth to try and muffle the chuckle. It was endearing, a sweetness blooming in the Plant's heart, not unlike when he'd met Xuanyu. Another poor soul scrambling from a life of torment to find light in a dark world.

He will always try to be that light. This is his penance, from a master and god of humans, to their humble servant - to a degree of course.

He waves the other's concerns off, smiling to him. He watches him a moment, then clasps his hand, shaking it gently.

"Nai Saverem from the planet No Man's Land. Think nothing of the meal nor your previous state, we all come here tossed around a touch." He releases the hand then, pushing the drinks towards him.

He noted the other's pains about being a tinkerer, to lose hope in such passion, something that clearly means a lot...

"Perhaps whilst you find your footing, they can nap." It's a soft comment, offering the other comfort, yet a spark of hope, should he see it. "This place is quite interesting. There's so much to see and explore. You came at quite the time too, the winter festival just started. Take the holidays to calibrate yourself, then revisit where your sight forward leads you."

He looks to his nearly finished container, offering a piece to Gato who'd been waiting so patiently for him.

"The currency is quite fair, not a sharp incline for things like this. Finer clothing and intricate workshop gear will be a higher price, but many of the basics are affordable." He looks up then, smiling. "I'm quite comfortable as I have been here for quite some time. Please, consider this a gift for your arrival."

Jayce wastes no time in eating, for once doing as he was told without question or additional thought. He'd already gotten this far and the elaborate plot to poison a random stranger seemed incredibly unlikely. Whatever was placed in front of him he could only nod in acknowledgement he was being spoken too, far too focused on the delicious food before him. It took everything to not eat like a barbarian, lasting perhaps a few moments before shoving a whole spring roll in his mouth and savouring with a low groan. Food had never tasted- nor felt- so sinfully good. The inventor attributed it to his current state, shoulders slumped as the poor man relaxed for the first time in awhile. It was hard not to with good food, friendly company and reasonable conversation to be had. A refreshing change of pace after his recent escapades.

Only when he's finished his meal does the engineer finally regain some sense of decorum, wiping his mouth down with a napkin. "Thank you... I... Really needed that. I can't even remember the last time I had a warm meal from my own reality. With everything that happened..." Jayce falls off into silence for a moment, frowning as he tried to remember specifics but they elude his grasp for the moment. "...It was a lot. How much do I owe you?" He tries instead, wanting to ensure his debts were settled. "I'm still trying to grasp currency worth here, reading with double vision was not my finest moment- I'm Jayce though. Jayce Talis, from Piltover." A hand is offered out to shake, a smile offered that seemed worn down but sincere. His best attempt at extending friendship. "I used to be an inventor but I... Think those days might finally be laid to rest."

[angelictragedy]

Eggs. The man was craving protein. Probably been some time. He speaks to the lady, gentle with his approach he added fried eggs to the mix. When he was settled, the wings returned to Nai, slipping away into his body to be unseen, leaving him the simple looking man with his dog.

Soon, he found the other's side, some crispy rolled treats with a dipping sauce. Inside was an arrangement of meats and light spring time veggies. He placed an orange juice in front of the other and a water.

"Drink slowly. Judging by your lips you're dehydrated. These are spring rolls. Crispy outter rice wrap with soft, light fillings. It'll help your stomach prepare for the other food." He stands when he's called, slipping to the counter to fetch the remaining items in to go containers.

Once more he finds place, setting the plate of eggs down for him, sunny side up, still a touch runny.

"You're craving protein, understandable with hunger. Eat slowly or you'll get sick." He smiles, cradling his own small container of sticky honey chicken as he lets the other eat in peace.

"There's no rush to get anywhere today, new worlds are a headache to learn sometimes."

A... Wing? Jayce's face travels through a wave of expressions in such a short time frame it almost hurts, confusion, awe, amazement, then curiosity... Right before the empty feeling returned to the forefront of Jayce's mind once more. The rapid-fire information he hurries to grasp, relieved at least support was helping him stand upright, even if he wasn't entirely sure what spring rolls were. "Ah- I..." The inventor hesitates, glancing one more time to the menu before relenting with a worn down sigh. "...Sure. I'd really appreciate that."

Things were already strange so why not throw an angel into the mix? He tries not to marvel at them too much, his mind buzzing with questions but the server looks to him next and he blanks. "Uh... Honey chicken and spring rolls?" Jayce pauses and looks to Knives, unsure. "Do they still have eggs here? I'm not really familiar with well, anything."

A statement that rang true with the foreign architecture, landscape and environment. Even the accents were entirely unique and completely different to anything Jayce had heard in his relatively short life span. Trying to figure out a menu was hard enough when starved and dizzy. Even harder still trying to read a cuisine with no idea what a single dish actually was.

Jayce staggers inside with a touch of guidance, sitting heavily wherever the man could find a seat, a soft 'thank you' for the aid. This was probably the nicest anyone had treated him since before the battle for Piltover.

[angelictragedy]

That was.... A lot for the Plant to take in and process at once. Tired, exhausted, no wonder, weeks? The poor thing would be wasting away on deaths door if not for the essence, he'd wager.

When the world tips for the human he has but a moment to think, the need to care, to protect won over s it tends to these days. A wing bloomed from his back, unfurling to embrace the human, offering a wall of soft to remain stable, a second slipping under the man's chest as a place for him to hold should he need it.

"Arcanus City. As an echo, it's a place you get brought to by... Some sort of force. For many, they died before arriving here, for others, they were plucked right out of their worlds. No, it is not heaven and yes, people do just show up." His flat face softened, a smile gentle, timid almost.

"Come. It's time you ate something. I will pay as my greeting to you. How does some honey chicken and spring rolls sound?" He moves to enter the shop, a wing bracing the door as the ones around the man shift but don't push him to move, simply remain as supports.

The limb seems to stretch on, to extend from his back as far as he needs, the woman behind the counter seemingly used to the strangeness of Echos.

"I'll also take a Chicken chow mein with crispy noodles and two drinks." He smiles as he waits for the other to finish up the order, grabbing his own keys bag he doesn't use often. "I can show you the currency too. Small steps."

At some point Jayce finds himself swaying outside a Chinese takeaway, the joint looking rather charming & the scent of food alone has his stomach feeling like a lead ball had punched a hole through it. He was starved- who knows when the last time he'd eaten had been? From Piltover to discovering a cosmic truth to battling for the fate of everyone... Now here. Ghosts pulling at his grey matter, begging to be remembered. Not that he could... Which leads us to now, fresh from the spacetime weft from whence he came, eyesight swimming as he tries his hardest to decipher words with the double vision that plagued him. To an onlooker, he looked more like a scruffy drunk- but maybe they were used to freshly emerged Echos? Considering his current state, not many people were giving him the harsh stares expected.

"Do you have any allergies?" The voice from the newcomer jars him from his thoughts once again, a common theme forming as he turns around, realising he'd grabbed his hammer from his belt ready to defend himself only to realise the person was... Not at all aggressive looking. In fact, they seemed quite friendly if the resting face was ignored.

The following statements have his brain turning, confused by claims. What was 'this world', and was it so common people showed up that people would simply approach you in the street to welcome you? "I- Where am I? Better yet who are you? Do people just- just show up like that all the time?"

Jayce clutches his head again, swirling with voices and colour. Visions of fractals & infinitely repeating patterns cloud his view, leading him to stagger and hold himself up against the wall, groaning as joints threaten to cave in entirely. Ordinarily he'd be much more critical, but he didn't have much space to argue with the man.

"...No, I don't have allergies, just... Haven't eaten in possible weeks." Maybe longer, Jayce leaves unsaid. He isn't quite sure the passage of time since he last stood foot on Piltover.