boyofprogress | closed rp for [recursiveimpulse]

"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.

While Viktor comes back down to earth pretty quickly - sadly, time and society have worn down that starry-eyed boy from the fissures - it's with a smile, chuckling at the nudge.

It's funny - that's the moment, for him. The one where Jayce's personality clicks for him. It's a little bumbling. A little roughhousing.

But it's roughhousing.

It's not treating him like glass.

It feels...nice.

"It would be an important experiment to repeat, anyway, after all."

Honestly, Viktor's attitude and sense of humour make it easy to forget that he uses a cane, most of the time. He's quick-witted and the smartest godsdamned person Jayce has ever come across, and he's proven already that he can handle the occasional jostle.

"Yeah," Jayce says thoughtfully, a smile creeping across his face. "To see if it was chance or skill that the sequence worked. If we can replicate the results, then we know the sequence is vital to our equation."

"Exactly." There's mischief in his smile. That same sense of play that had him cracking jokes under pressure that night.

He considers pushing again into talk about work, redirecting the conversation into territory he usually prefers to tread...but Jayce had been quite open with him. He feels inclined to, at the very least, let his new partner in just a little more.

Reaching into his satchel, he pulls out a very worn thermal flask, rubbed to bare steel in the spots where hands tend to sit. Uncapping the cup-lid, he pours the steaming white contents into it, offering it out to Jayce. It's opaque and frothy, flecked with and smelling of spices.

"Since you brought lunch, I'll give you something new to try. Here. This recipe is...well, it is all I have of my mother. I don't know if you will have had it before."

"I'll admit, I was expecting that to be filled with coffee." The worn steel warms his heart a bit, honestly. Seeing something so well cared for despite being so well used.

He takes the cup, carefully, holding it up to inhale its scent, first. Sweet, but spiced. It reminds him of a candy Caitlyn's mother used to give him, as a boy. Something hard and chewy, he remembers. He sips at it, making an approving noise at the taste. "Oh this is sweeter than I thought it was going to be. I like this. It reminds me of something my mom makes, actually. But hers is more cinnamon based."

"Eh, I can make coffee here. But people always assume and no one ever asks."

He takes a sip from the body of the flask, humming softly in enjoyment.

"It's called Sweetmilk. I have always found it comforting, and I always bring some with me to work."

"Sweetmilk," he repeats, taking another sip. Definitely comforting. It feels a bit like a hug in a cup, which he will absolutely not say out loud for fear of one of those little eye rolls. "The one my mom makes is called horchata. It's cinnamon and rice milk, and a few other things.

I may have to sneak from your thermos, if this is what you're bringing."

"Horr-chah-tuh. Hm. Well, I would like to try it sometime, yes."

But that last bit makes him chuckle, shaking his head a little. "You only have to ask. I can always bring extra."

His smile is wry, amused - but maybe a little fond. He already likes some of what he's seen from Jayce, and he's eager to get to learn more.

He's just...not as good at people.

"Okay!" Maybe it's said a little too fast, or a little too eager, but godsdammit, he wants so badly for Viktor to like him. It's like that with most people; Jayce is a people pleasure by nature, he might wither away and perish of despair if someone doesn't like him.

But this feels different. Viktor is the smartest person he's ever met, and he's got a weird little sense of humour that Jayce already finds so charming and Jayce craves his approval like a desert craves rain.

"I could ask, next time I go to her house for dinner. She always sends me home with enough food for the entire city, anyway."

Eager. Note to self - I need to be careful how I word anything that might sound like a request.

But even while he's thinking that, watching Jayce light up, he's smiling. They make such an odd pair, really. Jayce is bright and friendly and earnest, determined in a way that suggested that the world hadn't QUITE jaded him just yet.

It's nice, actually.

"If you like - and only if it is no trouble," he adds, waggling one finger in emphasis.

"No trouble at all. She'll be excited to learn she has a second person to spoil. I should bring some of her food to work, at some point. You'd be doing me a favour, taking it off my hands. I foist some of it off on a few of the other students, sometimes, but I have loads."

He realizes he's rambling again and ducks his head, looking sheepish. "Sorry, um. You just feel really easy to talk to." Which is the truth. Even just writing equations with Viktor, it feels like they're starting to finish each other's thoughts. It's incredible, and a little bit frightening. The idea of someone being in his mind like that.

"She sounds lovely." It could be dismissive - but there's no irony this time, nothing wry in the tone. He's being quite sincere. After all, Jayce had to get it from SOMEWHERE, right?

But the second part?

Viktor blinks owlishly.

"...You...really think so?" But he's smiling, all the same. He's been told either that he blends seamlessly into the background or that he is intimidating - but being told he's easy to talk to? That's new.

"It is...nice to have someone who is interested in talking to me."

Edited 2025-05-16 07:09 (UTC)

"Well, you're interesting. Why wouldn't I be interested in talking to you? But I -- " he laughs a little, and holds his hands up before Viktor can protest. "I won't start complimenting you again, don't worry.

I'm just saying I think we work well together. Our interests match."

It catches Viktor off-guard to be called interesting - faintly, his cheeks burn, in spite of his best efforts to keep himself composed. One hand finds the back of his own hair, twirling and twining it between his fingers. A peek behind that wry curtain to something...shy.

"Well - thank you. I agree. I don't think I have ever worked on anything even half as interesting as what we are doing now."

"It has so much potential," he agrees eagerly, pushing past the fluttering in his stomach at the sight of Viktor playing with his hair like that. A sweet, shy sort of gesture that hints at a little vulnerability.

"So many applications, if we can pull everything together like we've been wanting to."

"Yes, absolutely!" Back onto solid ground, onto topics that make sense and don't make him dizzy to think too hard about.

"Absolutely. And I think - I think we really have a strong first direction to develop in, with this....this acceleration rune of yours. If we can just begin with getting...a pen, say, across the lab, then...why not a person across the town, or...?"

"Yes!" He nods his agreement, moving back to the chalkboard to look at Viktor's equation. Trying to work out the next steps. "Start with something small, something easy. Perfect it on a small scale, make sure we have the sequencing correct before we move on to bigger tests."

He grins over his shoulder at Viktor, his tone light. Excited, easy. "Do you think the Professor will let us borrow his poro for live testing?" he jokes.

"Exactly! We just work in scale."

Viktor has to look away from that grin before its warmth floods his cheeks. He busies himself with his notes, chuckling all the same.

"No, but damn if that thing won't find its way into the experiments anyway. I swear he has it out for me."

"He's underfoot at the worst possible moments. One of these days I'm going to trip over him and go flying."

Jayce squints a little at the equation on the board and makes a few small adjustments based on his rune and the memories of the cloaked man. "We need to refine this a little, but I think it's a good start."

"Try getting around him with a cane."

But he's laughing - even as he pushes himself to his feet, shuffling his way over to stand at Jayce's side and taking up a piece of chalk. Looking at what has been written, he taps his lip a couple times, then changes one number.

"A very good start."

"He hasn't tried to steal it, has he? That seems like a potential problem. I've seen poros out in the wild before, but this is my first domesticated one. A group of poros," he informs Viktor with a flourish of his chalk, "Is called a fluft."

The number changes has him squinting at the equation again, reading back over their work. But he nods his agreement, "You're right, that makes more sense."

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