boyofprogress | closed rp for [recursiveimpulse]

"Isn't it fortunate, then, that you have found yourself with a partner who finds repetition to be soothing?"

He's already off in his head - creating charts, preparing his methods for categorizing his findings in a way that is useful. If anyone can bring order to chaos, it will be him.

He thinks.

"We should pick our first target object to test calibrate for. Something...very small."

"You mentioned a pen, but I'm a little worried about potential ink explosions. Not that I mind cleaning up after that in the name of science, of course." And not that he's unused to explosions, at this point, unfortunately.

"So we need something more simple, something with less parts to worry about."

"Parts, parts...a-ah! Wait!"

Suddenly struck by a thought, the tinkerer plunges a hand into his pocket...and from it he pulls a little cog, holding it out on the palm of his hand. "This one was...floating with us, yesterday. It passed THROUGH the field once already!"

"The gear!" he exclaims, excited by the idea and frankly quite touched that Viktor held onto it. But he pushes aside that soft, warm sort of feeling in his chest to contemplate later.

"Viktor, I could kiss you. That's genius. It's one solid piece, too, so we don't have to worry about the mix of materials."

Well. Viktor never said he wasn't sentimental. He just wouldn't admit to it if you asked him.

The first piece of that statement gets a raised eyebrow from the tinkerer - but he doesn't press or tease. He just smiles, setting the piece down on the nearest surface for them both to look at.

"AND we know it is possible already. It's a direction to begin in, anyway."

If Jayce realizes what he just said, he doesn't comment on it, too excited about this next step in their work.

"It is! We just need to narrow the focus, first. Make sure it's concentrated on one spot, and not filling the entire room. We've got power, but it's broad. To spread out for what we want to do with it."

Jayce steps back to study their work so far. Trying to pinpoint where things need to be shifted in order to scale things down properly.

"We have foci for the energy - the crystals - but...maybe if we adjust the mount..."

And just like that, Viktor is off - the man casually chatting about his thermos stepping away in favor of a near-mechanical technical mind.

He diagrams a new shape to the crystal mount, with wings to change the flow of energy - then steps back, frowning.

"Something is missing. The return will diminish too quickly this way...."

"Ugh," Jayce sighs, setting the chalk down and pushing a hand through his hair. Not realizing he's now smeared chalk dust across his face. "I wish we could just build it and test it now, but at the same time I want to make sure our theories are sound before we do that.

I just feel -- antsy, you know? I want to make it happen."

By the time Viktor snaps out of his focus, he has to stifle a chuckle at the white smeared through Jayce's hair. Reaching up, he dusts it out with a gentle tousle.

"You forget - you are out of theory now. This project is live, funded, backed. If we want to start fabricating a test unit... we can. Literally right now."

"Hm?" he asks of the hair tousle, turning his gaze up to try and look at Viktor's hand.

"Oh!" Jayce looks startled, a little, at the idea that he can just... do things now. This is their project. They can decide the timeline. "We could, couldn't we? We could start designing, start building."

"Chalk," he tosses back lightly, shrugging in dismissal.

But watching the way that his expression shifts as it sinks in that this is for real? That's the sort of reason why he's doing any of this. To fuel sparks.

"We could. We can. And if it doesn't work? We do it again. This is not an assignment, where we pass or we fail. We have iteration."

"Oh! Yeah, that happens. I go home at the end of the day and have to shake chalk dust out of my hair." But his laugh is bright and easy, now that he's adjusting to the idea of how much possibility there really is, here.

"They let me have access to my forge again. So anything we design in here, I can just run down and make. When you want to change the world, don't ask for permission, right?" he grins, reaching out to nudge Viktor's shoulder companionably.

"I guess I will learn quickly what you would look like with white hair." He's laughing too. This is still...easy. Comfortable. The start of a good thing, he thinks. Maybe the start of a real, REAL chance to -

He'd better not get ahead of himself.

"Exactly!" He nudges right back, a little awkwardly, but - it's an attempt. "For my part, I know my best work is done in iron, not on paper."

"I think you mentioned that." Oh -- that's adorable. The nudge back gets a smile and a pat on the shoulder, and Jayce moves a bit to perch on one of the desks.

"The uh, the tinkering, I mean. You like to build things? If you ever need access to the forge, let me know."

Well, good. Someone who isn't going to make fun of his somewhat clumsy attempts at socialization. It isn't that Viktor is anti-social, it's just...usually, people make some assumptions that grate on him, and it's easier to keep things to cool civility.

Not necessary here, it seems. That's nice.

"The Forge...I would love to see it, sometime, actually. I've never seen it in person."

"Would you?" Jayce looks surprised, but pleasantly so, at the idea of bringing his new partner, his new friend down to the forge with him. To show him the ins and outs of how he builds things.

"Yeah -- yes. I'd like that a lot. I'll give you a full tour, whenever you'd like."

"Of course. The Forge is where the things I work with are born. Why wouldn't I like to see that?"

But he understands - the novelty of someone taking interest in something you've had a hand in for as long as you can remember. So his smile is warm, his eyes glittering slyly.

"Careful. I'll show up unannounced."

"That's not hard to do, actually. I'd say to knock first, but the bellows gets pretty noisy. But honestly, I'm happy to share the space with you, just as much as the lab here. It all goes to our work, so you're welcome to all of it.

If you don't watch out," he teases with a grin, "I'll put you to work shoveling coal."

That gets a laugh out of Viktor - a genuine one, bright and gentle. He raises an eyebrow, leaning in a little towards the other man.

"Oh, I see how it is. I'm from the Undercity, so put me to work like a miner, eh?"

But it's playful. Easygoing, not defensive.

He's about to protest that that wasn't what he meant at all, but then Viktor is leaning into his space. Is laughing, and teasing him much like he had earlier.

Jayce blows out a relieved breath and shakes his head. "You're mean. Already, so cruel to your poor partner. Just for that, I'm making you sort the coal to weed out the smaller pieces, like my dad used to make me do."

"Oh, you wouldn't dare."

He laughs again. Everything feels warm right now, and his chest only hurts a little.

This could be the start of something good, he thinks.

closed rp for [recursiveimpulse]

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