#huge liar anyways to everyone but only bc they lie so hard to themself

[vhvrs]

What would Academy!Viktor think of MH!Viktor? Would they be surprised? Intrigued? Angry? Envious? All of the above? If they were somehow thrown into a room together, how would the Machine Herald interact with their younger self? Would they feel resentment or regret? Or would they be protective of this previous version of themself? I have many thoughts, I'm so curious.

the thing w viktor is they have such complicated contradictory feelings on everything so between mh n academy i dont see it being any different.

academy vik would probably be fascinated if a bit thrown off - any self loathing thatd turn them into the herald is still buried enough they can ignore it, confused theyd go that far, obviously not knowing. not wanting to get too close. a bit scared without the push yet towards that but more scared of how little they really fear it. quizzical about the how, how things work how theyre used, but not wanting to know that why.

machine herald would be... so weird. not admitting to himself theyre jealous of where this viktors at. not jealous of NOT being the herald bc that itself isnt regrettable when its been so helpful but definitely of the level of idealism and what hed call naivety thats there. (feeling something like regret over WHY they did this though over the end goal). definitely resenting that they were like that though. weird mix of wanting to protect him but also ruin him and give that push so theres a 'better' reason for it.

theyd both want to pretend theyre just intrigued by the possibilities and proud of what they accomplished though (knowing the others problems lying bc ofc they know that body language so well)