On the bright side, if there was to be a bright side, this one didn't do much in the way of throwing a fit or being generally annoying. Mostly he kept his head down, and Suyis had enough of a reputation, there were very few that decided to try their luck with him anyway. (Turned out, lots of people decided they didn't want to piss off a Beta Prime.) What he didn't realise was, he probably could've thrown his fit and gotten away with it, because Suyis would have merely ignored him. Perhaps found him amusing, you know, like how a slinky's amusing as it falls down the stairs. Misfortune shouldn't be amusing, but nobody'd ever used the word 'nice' in the same sentence as they used Suyis' name.

But, they were here in Aquila. Suyis had decded to bring Viktor here rather than expect McKenna to drop everything and go to Eridanus to get him, mostly because it was planting season and he was... quite busy. How'd he word it? Something about too busy to take a piss. Suyis couldn't quite remember. (If he was really too busy to take a piss, he really ought to examine his life a little.)

As they got there, of course, Suyis smiled a bit and said, "Welcome to the McKenna farm. Now we get to play a game. Where is the living person?" That was a great question, because he might be in the house, but most likely, he was somewhere in the fields. "Oh, or you can look for the puffball of cotton," Suyis mentioned. "Where there's a cottonball, there's a person not far. They tend to stick together." Funny how that worked out. But he and Zarinidia had been together since Lucius was a small, and despite Lucius not being Zarinidia's Losrian, it made sense to Suyis that she'd have hung onto him, anyway.

Some humans were good humans, and when you found a good human, you tended to want to keep it.

The good news, he supposed, was that Lucius really was a good guy. Of course, if he wasn't, Viktor wouldn't be being reassigned to him, but the Losrian didn't know that. Well, he could panic internally for a bit longer. Maybe somewhere between Lucius calling him his name and genuinely paying attention to him, he'd figure out the human wasn't so bad. Suyis did happen to know where his kid was. Unfortunately, his kid didn't remember him. His kid didn't remember much of anything, being fair.

"I'd scream and flail around until he magically appeared, but I think that'd be unpleasant for everyone." Maybe.

It was strange, not having Grace there with him now. It didn't matter, she was gone, and even Others did not defy death. It didn't matter how much their creator might want them to. The Losrian felt the ache, sharp in his chest. He kept it to himself. It didn't matter. Others died, it wasn't like the Republic liked having them around anyway. And he still had to do his job, or whatever.

Having a Beta Prime be his escort was a little unsettling. Viktor didn't think he'd done anything that particularly explained why someone of such a high rank would bother with him. After all, he was still only a Delta threat, if he remembered properly. Certainly that wasn't worth wasting a Beta Prime's time over? Of course, Viktor didn't argue, and when he was told to go, he went, with whoever it was he was told to go with, even if it did feel excessive.

Oh. Here? Viktor looked around a little, taking in the scenery for the first time in quite some time. Viktor couldnt' really say that he was up for playing a game of any kind, but finding his handler was probably kind of important, since presumably the beta prime wanted to leave surely he had more important things to do, after all.

But Viktor's powers really lended themselves to finding dead things, not living humans, so that didn't help much, and he didn't exactly know just how far the farm they were on went so there wasn't a lot of narrowing that down except by looking.

Viktor bit back his initial response to that bit about screaming and flailing, about how it would be most unbecoming of a beta prime. But he held his tongue, because the last thing he wanted to do was manage to piss the guy off. So, just, not saying that. "It would probably be best not to." Was what he said instead. It wasn't quite so... amusing, but it was less likely to be the wrong thing.

"I'll start looking." What else was he supposed to say to that, after all? He wasn't up for a game, but he did have a job to do, and as it turned out that job appeared to be with a handler here at the farm. Odd, but he wouldn't mind it nearly as much as some of the things he had been asked to do - maybe he wouldn't mind it at all.

Blue eyes skimmed over what he could see of the fields, seeking some hint of movement among the plants that couldn't be explained by the wind.

The Other couldn't help it. He snorted, rather loudly, at what the Losrian said to him at first. Suyis was not a kindly individual, though many tried quite hard to make him out to be so. It was almost as if they were offended by how Suyis never tried to be anything he wasn't, but they could be that, if they wanted to. It wasn't like it was any skin off Suyis' back. People either accepted who and what he was, or they learned to leave him alone, because surely, Suyis wasn't about to change for someone. Never that.

He smiled a bit whimsically. "Come on," he said. "I'm sure what you meant there is, Suyis, that'd be one of the most jerk things you've done the whole way here, the first of which was subjecting anyone to your existence, and you'd be right." Well, Suyis never did claim to be a good person. "I'd apologise, but we both know I'm not terribly sorry." He probably should be.

On the other hand, someday, maybe everyone would be thanking him, instead. Someday, far in the future, probably, presuming he lived that long, but so far so good. The Republic was getting sloppy, but Suyis also knew better than to bank on them remaining so.

In any case, the first place Suyis was going to look was the house. Just in case he happened to be there, Suyis toddled up onto the porch, tapping the door. Interestingly, the cottonball came out of the door, and sniffled like she had a cold or something. "Whad?" she asked.

"Lookin' for Lucius," he answered.
"He's ouddere inna field," Zarinidia replied, gesturing with a leaf-arm.
"That particular direction?"
"Yezz."
"Oh, well thank you."
I'm going bag do sleep," she said, and then closed the door and floated back down the hallway. ... how did one get a cold in summer...

"Well, at least we have a direction!" Suyis said, grinning, and happily skipped (almost very literally) out there the direction Zarinidia indicated. "Luciuuuuus~!" Oh, wait! "Hey, there you are," Suyis said, stopping.
"YIEK!" answered, and then a loud thud. That was the sound of Lucius not expecting Suyis to be on his farm ... why was Suyis on his farm. "What? Hi? Wait, why are you here?"
"You have a new assignment," Suyis said. "So here's the control bracelet, sorry-not-sorry for the lacking warning, and..." he paused, tapping on his InVisor tablet, and then Lucius' InVisor dinged, "and there's the files, enjoy, have fun you two okay nice to see you too bye."

With that, Suyis exited stage left, and Lucius just kind of scratched his head. "... this has to be a first. ... uh. Hi. I'm Lucius. Idiot's fine. ... please don't Mr. McKenna, that's my father." Yeah...

"Not really." Viktor frowned slightly, but he didn't say what he'd originally thought, because it didn't matter. It just... didn't. Did Suyis really think that being around him was so bad? Then again he was a litlte chaotic maybe some people really did hate being around him. Viktor hadn't thought it was bad by any means though.

He was alone for a moment while Suyis apparently went to look elsewhere, and that was okay. Viktor kept looking for signs of movement, at least up until Suyis came skipping (seriously, skipping?) back. Only the man seemed to go past him and straight for yelling for Lucius.

From there it was only a few moments before aforementioned Lucius was found. And it was almost that quickly that Suyis left. Hey wait - "Thank you, by the way." It was sort of rushed, not quite as personalized as Viktor might have preferred, but the other was already walking away and there wasn't a lot of time for that. He did turn for a second and give a sort of salute before continuing on his way.

What? Suyis had put up with his sour mood without asking any questions or making any particular demands of him. He'd just brought Viktor here, and as confused as he was for the fact that a Beta Prime bothered with him of all people, he also appreciated that it had gotten him out of the tower much more quickly than it might have otherwise. And being out of the tower was definitely an improvement, even if it hadn't made any real dent in his mood at first.

"I'm Viktor." Not that it mattered, because the new handler would call him whatever he preferred, and they both knew it. "Is he... always in such a rush?" He probably shouldnt' have asked at all, but the words sort of came out before his filter had a second to kick in and stop them.

Lucius. It was going to be very strange to call him by first name but that was... he thought he could handle that, if that was really what the handler preferred. But he was not going to use an insulting term, that was just asking for trouble, even if that was what the other said at first.

Given his new... probably a Losrian, said it, Lucius didn't bother adding a thank you. Really, Suyis was too busy to be doing things like dragging new assignments to their handlers that are in Aquila instead of Eridanus like a smart person. But, the fields didn't till themselves and that. It was either he was around for the Republic to drop assignments on, or he was growing people food, and the latter really seemed like the more valuable of the two options.

"Well, nice to meet you, Viktor. Mind if I call you Viki?" Just curious. "Suyis? Oh, yeah. He's a very busy guy, basically runs Pyxis anymore since the rest of the Republic just kind of gave up on it." It wasn't like anyone really cared if everyone else gave up on Pyxis. Suyis hadn't. Suyis and his still cared about it, and he was making improvements to it. Probably quite dangerous improvements, but there came a point after which nobody was asking permission anymore. Or at least, Suyis wasn't, and frankly, most days, neither was Lucius.

"He doesn't come by a lot," Lucius went on, "but when he is around, he's not around for long. Kind of unfortunate." He could use a vacation, or something, Lucius thought. "Well, know anything about farming?" Because that was pretty much the extent of what Lucius did day in and day out. It was good, solid, honest work, and he found ways of helping people with it, too. "Oh, I should probably warn you, sometimes the kids in Pyxis bring me seeds, or presents of nuts or flowers or fruits, so don't be too surprised if you wake up one morning to a bunch of stuff on the porch." It happened. Lucius appreciated it, but Aquila was quite a ways to travel just to leave some sacks of foodstuffs on the porch.

Then again, maybe it was Suyis; he did often send gifts, too.

"Nice to meet you too." Maybe, probably. They'd see, he supposed. But the worst that happened was that he hated his new handler - and that was... well. It wasn't pleasant but that was life, sometimes and Viktor had already figured out that all he could do was endure he couldn't really hope to do anything more than that. "Viki's fine." Weird but fine. Whatever the handler wanted to call him, he'd make it work.

As long as he could tell the guy was talking to him, it didn't really matter, after all.

Oh, well that made sense he supposed. Viktor nodded a little in understanding. "I see." So it really had been a weird waste of time for him to escort Viktor here personally. That was... still a little strange, but there wasn't a lot for it. Clearly it hadn't been anything bad since he'd just immediately vanished as soon as his handler was present.

So... well okay then.

"A little." Viktor admitted. "It's been a while since I've had to use any of it though." So he was probably pretty rusty. But he did know some - enough that he wasn't likely to accidentally kill a field or something by being an idiot, which was probably at least a small bonus here given... uh, the sheer amount of field around them.

That was strange. He didn't think they'd gone far enough to be within easy reach of Pyxis. But... maybe he was wrong. Not that it really mattered. He just nodded a little in acceptance of that - not that it mattered. He wouldn't ask questions of what gifts Lucius did or did not get. Those things weren't really his concern in the end.

This really was an odd choice of assignment location, if Lucius really did intend to stay here and continue to tend the farm. But Viktor wouldn't complain about the change of pace. ... I twas hard work, maybe, but it would be easier in many ways than missions to capture or destroy others or fellow Losrian.

Somehow, the particular tone and the look on his face made Lucius laugh, a little. "Suyis does whatever Suyis wants," Lucius said. "Today, that was escorting you to Aquila. Tomorrow, it might be making dolphin noises." Or something else likewise ridiculous. "I've long stopped trying to make sense of him," he went on. "I find it's better for my own sanity. So just remember he doesn't necessarily play by rules you expect. ... I'm sure he makes some sense somewhere, but that's clearly for someone that isn't me to know about." Clearly.

Well, at least he had some idea of how this farm business worked. It wasn't like Lucius couldn't teach someone else how to do it. He'd done so before, even from straight nothing. It just worked out a little easier, if he didn't have to figure out how to word things without sounding too patronising. It wasn't like Lucius was much of a patronising person to begin with, so it wasn't terribly difficult, at least.

It was a start. "Well, normally I have an Other out here helping, she's um... this interesting cottony puffball with a body attached. Hard to describe her kind of, anyway, her name's Zarinidia, or Zari for short. Anyway, she's great but she can't really do a lot, either, since she's so small. McKenna Farms has been around for three or four generations now, can't remember off the top. My great great whatever grandparents established it not long after the Dome was built, and we have some pretty high ranking customers. Just, don't say anything to them if you can help it, most of them are easily offended by anything not human so much as breathing in their vicinity, not your fault." Not really, at least.

"We cater for varying festivals, and a neighbour and I run a soup kitchen in Pyxis. If anyone asks, you had no idea that was a thing." If he had no idea and had no reason to have any idea, no one should really suspect that he did, and if anything happened, the hope was, he'd just end up with another new handler. In the long run, that wasn't that bad.

That... seemed very strange to Viktor. He let it go though, realizing that he was probably right about it being easier to not think about it too hard. Didn't make it any less weird but maybe nothing would. It was something Viktor would just need to put from his mind. ... Chances were he wouldn't do a lot of interacting with Suyis after this anyway.

Viktor nodded once, somewhat curtly at the description of the Other that was given. ... No, she didn't sound particularly useful for farming, but others were often surprising in what they could do if they put their minds to it, for someone who cared about them. "I think I can manage that." Not talking to people if they came around. It was fine, it wasn't like he was used to being able to socialize anyway.

It would be lonelier without Grace, of course, but he could tolerate it. It wasn't as if he had a choice.

"...Would the soup kitchen actually be a problem?" Then again maybe it would, not government sactioned and if you controlled the poor you tended to earn their support. "Forget I asked." He wasn't supposed to question his handler anyway, it didn't matter. Though it did beg the question of why Lucius would bother with a soup kitchen in Pyxis if it was going to get him in trouble.

That seemed nonsensical for a handler and a person who seemed like they should be making a pretty good life supplying food to the dome for whatever prices he commanded. Those who controlled the food, ultimately, had a great deal of power. Maybe especially here in the dome where land and resources were somewhat limited, if safer than the outside world.

Viktor took a deep breath and released it slowly. "So what are we trying to get done today?" Watering, weeding? It didn't look to be ready for harvest, but there might be a different field that was - it wasn't like Viktor knew his way around this particular farm yet.

Theoretically, no one ever outright said the soup kitchen would be a problem. There were no rules against giving things out for free without government endorsement or anything like, but Lucius was far from a doe-eyed, optimistic young man. He knew how the Dome worked. Most liked to pretend that it wasn't that bad, but he knew better. As both a farmer and a Republic agent, he knew things most didn't, things that sickened him, things that he did his best to mitigate and rebel against without getting himself killed.

But no. He gave something of a sad smile, there, one eyebrow quirking upward, and then Viktor backtracked and Lucius kept his trap shut on the matter. Maybe it was better that way, anyway, if he wasn't broken enough to accept that statement without argument.

He did want to ask Suyis why this one, but, he figured he'd learn that soon enough.

"At the moment," Lucius answered, holding up a fistful of green things, "we're weeding. Unfortunately I don't have anything in place to deal with the pests if they get past the fence, so there are a few plants that are damaged at the base, and have started to die. Pull those up. Normally Zarinidia, er, she's a ... like a puff of cotton sort of, not sure why she's still hanging around because she's definitely not my Other, but anyway, usually she's out here helping, but she caught a cold so I sent her to bed with some green tea and honey." She'd recover and rejoin them later.

Viktor wasn't really sure why Lucius had been selected as his new handler. He wasn't going to complain because apparently it meant he'd get to see the (artificial) sky and have a little bit of space away from the tower. It was better than the life he'd lived so far. And if Euphoria was going to destroy him, at least he could live in something that resembled peace for the last few months or so of his life.

There were worse ways to pass on, the Losrian knew.

"Weeding. Okay, I can handle that." That was probably easy enough, and he only needed a moderate amount of knowledge to manage it. He could relearn the rest over time. And learn specifics of the plants that Lucius was growing here.

"Well, I hope she feels better soon. It's always sad when they aren't well." At least if you cared about them at all it was. ... Lucius may or may not, to be fair. It wasn't his other, like he'd said. ... But still, Tyrrhenians sometimes formed bonds with others, and that wasn't so bad. ... Probably it was a good thing. Sometimes others couldn't find the Losrian that made them, and at least if they bonded with a person... then they weren't alone.