#another attempt to rob and cause mayhem. all while dreaming of something more.

[jacqcrisis]

I have kept thinking about the desert grungy sci-fi jayvik au. I don't have a real... plot for it other than a lot of disconnected ideas but I figure I'll write out about it a bit more with the world and Jayce and Viktor's specific backstories.

The world they live in is cutthroat. Most of the populace lives in walled off megalopolises separated by hundreds of miles of dry inhospitable land, controlled by an incomprehensible network of corrupt politicians and wealthy tech tycoons. Entry into these cities is based off citizenship or merit or wealth, and it is nearly impossible to get into one if you aren't already born there.

Outside of these walls, pockets of communities have cropped up to make some kind of a living. It's difficult, the land is lawless, crime rampant, and resources scarce but what do humans do if not carve out a way to live?

And connecting all of this is a highway, running between the cities and cutting through the desert. A long unbroken road, unprotected from the elements or the gangs that roam the place, looking for easy, unprotected vehicles to pick off for valuables and scrap. It's the only paved highway of its kind, and is necessary to cross the desert between the cities with any kind of certainty.

There, at the halfway point between Piltover and a smaller sister city, is Zaun, a tiny town of a few hundred citizens. Subsidized in part from Piltover originally as a rest stop, and kept alive by a small weapons factory, the excess energy sold off from the solar panels that run the place, and the travelers than pass through here, Zaun is a veritable dusty oasis for the lost and the downtrodden in the middle of nowhere. And it's most notable feature is the gas station that fuels and repairs the vehicles that brave the highway, manned by only a few employees, including two young inventors.

Jayce wasn't born here, coming from a smaller clan that got wiped out when Jayce was around 8, leaving him and his mom seeking out safety and work in Zaun. Jayce grows up an introverted loner, not wanting to cause trouble for his mom and more focused on the dream of inventing something that would get them into the fabled heaven that is Piltover and he spends most of his time with machines and car parts and dry manuals and engineering books. He didn't cross paths much with Viktor in this time as they ran in different circles but a few chance encounters has Jayce quietly enamored with the guy by the time he starts working at the gas station.

Viktor did grow up here, one of a non-insignificant number of abandoned infants that make it to the relative safety of Zaun every few years. Early in his childhood, tragedy strikes and his leg is crushed in an accident. Given there's one guy (Singed) in town who's barely qualified as doctor and medical supplies are thin on the ground, the decision to amputate is an easier one than risking death by infection, and what's left after the surgery is most of his thigh. Being an inventive little guy, Viktor's general interest in building things and mechanics gets tested and he makes several different prosthetics for himself over the years.

He grows up, makes a pretty good name for himself as a fix it guy, runs probably with the 'wrong crowd' a bit as he does auto repair and fine tuning for fucked up drag race cars in the middle of the desert for extra cash. Dreams of a better life for the people of his town and for himself as he gets hired at the gas station where in just a couple of years time, he'll be working with the very person who will either make that dream come true or ruin everything.

And they're going to be so stupid about each other while they do it. Jayce falls head over ass on conversation one with Viktor and Viktor doesn't even notice how far gone he himself has traversed down the 'falling in love with your best friend/coworker/roommate/science partner' road until he's too in deep. And you know they won't talk about, you know they're gunna let that shit simmer, you know they are going to be So.

Weird.

About.

It.

Between fixing all sorts of fucked up cars, dealing with customers, inventing their life changing macguffin, and interacting with the various denizens of their town including all the usual Zaun characters. I have so many scenes for this but nothing that's connected coherently.