boyofprogress | closed rp for [recursiveimpulse]

"She's the best," he agrees, his smile warm and bright. Miles away from the awkwardness of a few moments ago. "Maybe if we layer one or two of my sweaters over yours, the guise could work. Until she pulls you in for a hug, anyway. She's big on hugs." Which might explain why Jayce himself is so comfortable with physical touch. So generous with it.

That particular smile looks nice on Viktor. Jayce tries not to stare openly, but he's pretty sure both corners of his mouth go up, this time. It's sweet, almost.

After a beat or two (maybe half a moment too long of looking at the way Viktor is smiling), he shifts subjects. "You know, you're a lot more adventurous in your work than I initially thought. No offense but you seemed a bit... tight laced, at first? I was surprised. But not in a bad way!" he hurries to add.

It's fortunate that, amongst the things in Viktor's past that haunt him in daily echoes, the fact that he had grown up with no parents to guide him isn't really one of them. It simply is what it was. He sees little point in being jealous about it. It just means he truly is a self-made man.

A man who, also, is a little amused by the staring. He opts not to tease this time, though, letting it slide as Jayce tumbles over himself to avoid upsetting him.

"I actually get that a lot. I do not really know why. Is it the cane? The accent? Ehhhhh...." He gestures broadly with his sandwich. "But - no. No, I am not the kind of man who thinks you can pursue anything while sitting where it is safe."

"Oh, no," he says around his next bite, shaking his head a little. "It's definitely the vest. And the way you wear your tie like it's strangling you a little, it screams stuffy academic.

Whereas I," he gestures to himself. "Wear mine a little loser, and usually undo the top button of my shirt if I can get away with it. It makes me look very devil may care, like I throw away the rule book.

Besides," he adds, finishing off his sandwich and dusting crumbs off his hands. "Even if I shave in the morning, by noon I already have a five o'clock shadow. It adds to the, uh. The aura?"

"The. Aura."

All this gets a bemused, slightly stale look from Viktor - ironically, probably exactly the kind of look that gets him the reputation that he doesn't understand why he has. So what if he likes things that fit? And covering himself?

"...But why?" He arches a brow, a smirk tugging faintly at one side of his lip again.

"Who are you trying to impress here at the Academy, exactly?"

Viktor. Mel, now. The Kiramanns. Everyone on the Council who fought for his exile.

"No one in particular, I guess," he shrugs, crumpling up the paper that held his sandwich and tossing it with surprising accuracy at the nearest trashcan. "Why, are you unimpressed?" It's a bit of a needle. A tease, testing to see if Viktor will tease back. Take the bait, so to speak. Wanting so desperately to know where he stands with this man.

Viktor is a much slower eater than Jayce. While the younger man postures, he chews thoughtfully, watching the display with a faint smirk.

He lets the question hang on purpose for quite a long time, keeping his face neutral to watch if Jayce squirms....

"By how much you button your shirt? Not really. But your ideas, those are something else."

The pause is agonizing, leaving Jayce's mind to spin and spiral a little before Viktor finally answers. His shoulders sag a little on a relieved exhale, and his smile returns full force at the affirmation.

"All right, I'll take it. If you can't appreciate my keen fashion sense, I guess I'll have to accept you approving of my ideas."

Yes, Viktor is getting to learn about the type of man Jayce is. About how hard he's trying, and not only in the field of science.

But he can't really blame Jayce. Everyone has to find their 'in' somehow. Personality can count for a lot.

That will be good, should they need to address the public. He isn't really the speech type.

"I do not give compliments unless I mean them, Jayce. We are out on this limb together now, whatever happens. And your work? It is a strong limb."

...

Shit, that's a double entendre, isn't it?

It's not that Viktor is soft spoken, really. That's not quite the right term for him. No, he's... careful with his words. He only says what he feels needs to be said. Which, honestly, is a welcome attribute in a partner.

Goodness knows Jayce talks enough for the both of them.

The strong limb comment gets a slight laugh out of him, and he shakes his head a little. "Well, working in the forges will do that.

But seriously, Viktor -- there is no one I'd rather be on this limb with than you. Your ideas are sometimes unconventional, but they're brilliant."

They say opposites attract for a reason. It feels true here - something like the poles of magnets at work. Filling in the missing spaces.

He manages not to react more than a chuckle as his double meaning is caught - but then it's right back to compliments, compliments, compliments.

Viktor finishes with his sandwich, crumpling the wrapping in his slender hands and turning it this way and that, as if he's trying instincually to smooth it into a sphere.

"We've only just started to work together, Jayce - you have no idea just how unconventional I can get.

And speaking of that, I want to talk to you a bit more about - the rune. The experiment. Because I may have solved the equations, but you, YOU found the sequence.

How?"

Ah, yes. The rune. Jayce rubs his thumb over his cuff thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to explain it without it sounding like some wild hallucination from a half-dead child.

"When I was a boy, maybe seven or eight. My father took us on a work trip, out to see a new site for a mine. My mother and I decided to go explore the area a bit, and a blizzard hit. Out of nowhere, it just -- dropped down on us, it felt like.

We were stuck. Trapped out in the snow. But then there was a man who came by -- not from the mines, but from the other direction. He had a bracelet with rune stones hanging off it."

Jayce pauses, pressing his thumb harder against the stone. Reminding himself that this happened. This is real. "He was capable of doing magic, this man. And when he activated the rune, he did it with this -- uh this sequence of movements, I guess you would call it. He took me and my mother and he brought us back to safety. Teleported us.

Then he gave me his rune, and I never saw him again."

He drags in a breath, heavy with emotion, and exhales with a trembling sort of noise. Blinking hard to clear away tears. "When we were trying to figure out the sequence that night, I remembered his movements. I copied that sequence for the dial, and it worked. It fucking worked," he laughs, shaking his head in disbelief.

There's nothing at all in Viktor's face that betrays disbelief. Quite the contrary, he listens in great fascination, something in it all calling to him in a way that he can't put his finger on.

Of course, he doesn't stew too long on the emotions of it. (He does not remark on the tears, though they do play at his heartstrings.) Not when there's such intriguing concepts to play with.

"So - let me be sure I understand. That rune, that sequence - that was used by the Mage for...teleportation? At great distance?"

"Uh, yes." He sniffs hard, rubbing a hand over his face to try and collect himself. Of course, the sequence is the most important part of the story, in this context.

He'll visit his mother later, when they're done for the day. Hold her tight for a while.

"Sorry, yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. I saw him use this rune, this exact rune, with that sequence. And he brought both me and my mother out of the snow, several miles away."

It's not that Viktor is trying to be flippant about the meaning of it all - he'll probably regret this moment later on, in fact. But knowledge and potential looms large and low in this moment, and he would be a poor partner not to reach for it.

Pushing himself up to his feet (and wincing a little), Viktor starts scrawling calculations and geometry on a fresh chalkboard.

"If that's what this rune is for, what it's function is, then - I wonder. I wonder about scalability?"

The wince doesn't escape his notice entirely, but before he can protest about Viktor standing, his partner is already at the board, working, and Jayce's attention is caught by the equations. "You mean something more than just three people. Or -- a further distance? Or both, potentially."

He stands as well, setting a hand against Viktor's back to alert the man to his presence at the board, as has become his habit.

If there's one thing Jayce needs to learn quickly about his new work partner? It's the fact that if Viktor stopped for every discomfort, he would never get anywhere.

His leg throbs but he ignores it.

"Either! Both. Think of the applications, Jayce! The IMplications! We have the outline of a spell, we would just - need to refine it."

"Based on a rune and a memory? It's risky..." But it has worked. They saw it work, the other night. And isn't this what he's been waiting for since he started work on the crystals?

"I think it's possible." He rubs at his cuff, looking at the numbers Viktor has started laying out. "It could work."

"Anything worthwhile that we do from this moment on will be risky, Jayce. I have made my peace with that. You should, too."

But even as his words are a bit chilly, he's turning to rest a hand gently stop Jayce's forearm.

"You are not writing a thesis anymore, Jayce. You are in active testing. Think BIG."

"I think..." Jayce takes a deep breath, resting his hand on top of Viktor's. Finding comfort and something grounding in that contact. "I've had all these theories and hypotheses. These ideas. And to most people, to the Dean, it's been an interesting thought experiment with no real practical use.

I guess I'm just still trying to wrap my head around the idea that someone wants to take this journey with me. That there's even a journey to take, still."

"I understand."

His eyes flick down to look at his hand under Jayce's. So warm. Steady. Much larger than his own.

"I do. But I am here, I am not going anywhere except where those wild ideas take us. It's time for execution."

"Interesting choice of words, given how this started." But the comment is given with a wry smile and a pat to Viktor's hand to show he's trying to be funny.

"I thought it was over, and now here you are. Pulling me towards a future where all my wild ideas are possible. I'm so used to hearing no, I keep expecting it from you, still. But it hasn't come yet, and you're telling me it might never happen.

You have no idea what a weight off me that is."

That actually does get a laugh - the tinkerer seems a fan of dark humor. (And Jayce's hands are so, so warm.)

"And it is a weight I am glad to keep from your very capable shoulders.

But! We have to stop gushing long enough to do actual work."

The admonishment is gentle, though - and spoken with pink cheeks. He's not used to all this praise.

"Well I'm sorry you're just so brilliant that I have to keep telling you what a clever guy you are." But it's said with a sideways smile and a slight laugh, shaking his head a little.

But still, he gently (regretfully) moves away from Viktor's grip to look at the proposed equations. "Is it a bad thing," he says, following the line of numbers on the board with a finger. "That all I want to do right now is see if we can make ourselves float again? I know that wasn't the intended outcome, but it was pretty fun."

"Laying it a liiiiittle thick, Mister Signs-Every-Page-Of-His-Journal."

But, already, there's fondness in that tight smile, and when the flying is brought up? Well, it's his turn to get distracted. A childlike light dawns in his eyes, brightening his whole face.

"I have never experienced anything like that, Jayce. I felt - I felt...."

His hand tightens around the handle of his cane.

"It was freedom. Real freedom."

Oh, what a change in Viktor's expression. He looks half his age, bright and excited and really alive. His eyes, gods. Such a stunning shade of amber, reminding him almost of the glow of the embers in his forge. It makes Jayce want to do absolutely anything to see that expression again.

Right, steady on.

"Even if that wasn't our original intention, maybe we can try it again, sometime. Just for fun," he offers, bumping his shoulder lightly against Viktor's. Not with the aim to knock him over, just to be a little playful.

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