Viktor, for his part, simply drifts for a moment, enjoying the feeling of it and trying not to think of the realities that await them outside of this room--this strange realm that allows them to perfectly re-create a memory. He wants to comment that they are frustrated by a project, but he doesn't want to ruin the moment. Maybe Jayce is right. Maybe they will figure it out, even if it feels impossible. Out of reach and out of time, but it's better, now that it's both of them.
Jayce has told him about the mage countless times, of course, but it's not like Viktor gets tired of hearing about it. He hadn't expected to fall so in love with magic, and everything about it--but after experiencing this firsthand, how could he not?
Jayce's own passion for it certainly helps, too.
"You've told me." A contented sigh. He opens his eyes--he's upside-down, not that it matters when gravity has lost its hold on them. "How lucky we are, to experience it for ourselves."
Jayce thinks they have a better chance here than at home, and in that, he finds his hope. There was too much in their way not to mention they can't turn back whatever Viktor did to make himself sicker, but he is doing okay so far here, and there's magic, there are ways maybe to pause it until they can cure it. That's the plan in Jayce's mind. Step by step. It does feel in this room like anything's possible.
He closes his eye and thinks about that defining moment, the mage, looking around in the middle of it, how beautiful it was, how significant. "All we could do was mimic it before, and we did that well." They created the Hexgates, and then went on to create other technology that had yet to be laid out. "But we can touch real magic here. Maybe not the same as his, but something real."
Jayce is so hungry for it. His focus is on healing magic first and foremost, and it's not as if that's him settling, any magic is amazing to him. He's always liked to fix things, so being able to fix injuries is right up his alley. But once Viktor is cured, who knows what Jayce could accomplish with magic at his fingertips.
"We won't have to settle for crystals that are hard to come by either." He is mirroring and paralleling Viktor above him, smiling up at him.
It's easy to be awash with possibility, in a place and time like this, where it felt like they had the whole world at their fingertips, and there was no limit to what they could do. It feels like that, now, even though Viktor is fully aware of everything that awaits them outside of this room. Jayce is optimistic, and it's at least a little contagious. He opens his eyes to find that he's floating upside-down, Jayce smiling at him.
"You've been dreaming about this your whole life."
Magic--real magic. Some measure of happiness bubbles within him, at the thought of Jayce finally being able to harness the ability for himself, not just fake it or channel it through a carefully-constructed mechanism.
Jayce has been mostly shuttling his joy about the magic to the side, since they have to focus on Viktor's health, it's the priority. And since he's going to be studying healing magic right away, he will get to experience magic, it'll be beautiful, he's excited about it. But now they're in this room and all opportunities hang between them, Jayce lets it settle into him. He is going to be able to do real magic. His dream. He has come the closest he could to it through Hextech.
His smile then is pure joy. "I have been." Waiting his entire life for this. He takes this as permission to be happy about it, to think only about magic for a few seconds and not the rest of their projects. Jayce has never had the talent, only a mind. Viktor knows how much it means to him, and he can feel his support in the way he says that.
"I'll probably cry the first time I do a spell," Jayce says with a laugh. It's also likely true. "So emotionally overwhelming, yes." But exciting. "Have you used any of it since getting here?"
All he can do is watch fondly--it's the same kind of passion from the trial, and Viktor can't help but be taken up in it, just as he was that very first night. The fact that it's going to be reality sooner rather than later, well. Viktor can't wait to see it.
"If you cry, I won't hold it against you."
Well, he might. A little. His smile says as much.
"I haven't tried," Viktor admits. It all seems a bit overwhelming, to know that he can, so he's put it off by immersing himself in his own work, as usual. "I'll be honest, I'm...not sure I know where to begin."
Jayce brings another gear to him and playfully flicks it at Viktor. Of course it's moving very slowly so it won't actually hit him unless he lets it. "You chose an emotional partner, you have to live with it." And if that includes crying, so be it! Sometimes he's a little embarrassed about the extent of his feelings, especially when they get out of his control, but it's also one of those things that are part of his personality.
He can't say he's surprised that Viktor hasn't used it yet. For one, he would have already shown it to Jayce, since he knows how excited he would be. For two, he has more pressing matters. If magic can help finish the Hexcore and get where they need to go, they'll definitely have to use it, but Jayce is more than happy to dive into that part.
"I've only just started looking into it, but they have academic magic which is not that dissimilar from learning science through our texts, there are books you can read and memorize spells through. I figured that would be an easy first step."
Jayce may have gone immediately to academia upon having a few minutes to himself to find out how to start. He is predictable. But that is probably the easiest start for two people who have always been academics at heart. Books!
This time he does intercept the gear, reaching out for it and inspecting it a little more closely than he did that night before flicking it away.
"I believe you were the first one to use the word partner. Technically speaking, you chose me."
That said, Viktor did make the somewhat rash decision to hitch the future of his entire career to Jayce's wagon when he barely knew the other man. He doesn't regret it, of course, but things could have ended much worse than they did. Even with a successful experiment, there was no guarantee that their personalities would mesh, or that they would be able to work together long-term. Lucky for both of them, he supposes.
"I'm aware there are entry-level paths. I'm also told that it's prudent to choose one or two things, to put all of one's energy into." If you want to get very good at it, that is. "Perhaps it's just indecision on my part, then."
Again, Jayce is very sentimental, as the smile on his face says. He's always so certain of this friendship being the best part of his life, and floating in this living memory of their union only underlines it. What they accomplished is frankly beyond words, and they've only really just begun. If they save Viktor's life as they plan, who knows what they could invent and change here and anywhere else. They're young and already so successful.
Honestly there were so many reasons that they shouldn't have worked. They're opposites in many ways, background and personality, but it's only somehow made them fit together better. Like two puzzle pieces that only make sense after they've locked.
"That's true of becoming good at anything. You and I probably could have become experts at any science we felt like." They're smart, they're determined. They leaned toward what their interests already desired, but they could have excelled anywhere. Jayce already knows what he is going to start with, so he doesn't have to think much outside of perfecting that first.
"Their new magic isn't that different from Hextech, the difference is we had to find the crystals and stabilize them, in this case ... our own power could be the crystals or make them." He hasn't figured out exactly how it works yet, but it will. And that means he doesn't have to spend years tracking down the crystal equivalent here.
Viktor rolls his eyes, but there's amusement in it, and he knows it's impossible to take him seriously when he's floating upside-down. How did the two of them get back on the ground, anyway? Between the excitement of completing the experiment, and the exhilaration of creating magic, perhaps the more mundane events of the night escaped him. It was a little awkward, he remembers, with his cane shattered after playing its role as a makeshift barricade and the spare all the way back in his dormitory. Jayce had helped--Viktor had let him, too caught up in the exhilaration of the moment to be overly-concerned about his pride.
It doesn't surprise him that the conversation turns to work. They're naturally industrious, and he can admit that he missed the ease with which they bounce ideas off each other.
"It's the conduit that's the missing piece, yes. If there is an equivalent to the crystals here, that might make things more flexible, but we don't exactly have the time to conduct the kind of search you did, back home."
One of the first gifts Jayce ever gave Viktor was a new cane. At first he planned on making it as a surprise, but decided quickly against it; if it was something Viktor had to use every day, he had to have a say in its design. Jayce wouldn't know enough to make a perfect cane for him, and that's what he needed to do. The fact that Jayce used Talis colors on it was a personal touch, but it made him happy, giving his new best friend something he could use every day. Something special that they both came up with. A little project, but an intimate one, in his opinion.
He uses his hands to swim upward and playfully does a flip, showing off but also it really feels so free and easy here. Nothing holding him down. All he can see are the possibilities again. This world presents many new ones.
"I'll go ask some of the professors, they seem fairly open to new minds." Jayce will enthusiastically ask all the questions he can think of and go from there. "I think in this situation they're ahead of us, but that's what happens when magic is everywhere. No taboo, no need to guess or work in secret." They just made what they wanted and the magic is at their fingertips to use. There's no way they don't already have their own thing.
"I wonder if teleportation is something you can learn here." There's no mystery as to why that is the first thing on his mind, outside of healing.
Viktor, for his part, drifts gently with his arms folded, simply enjoying the lack of gravity. Watching Jayce is amusing enough. It's the same sort of passion that drew Viktor to him in the first place, he thinks. Forward-thinking, focused on possibility. He's not so naive as to think they'll reclaim any of that, but it is nice, to relive the moment. Remember why he threw in with Jayce in the first place.
"I'm sure they'd appreciated a talented student such as yourself," he says, half-joking. Viktor's ideal in this place is possibly to secure himself a position at the Academy, but that thought is always in competition with his need to be engineering, to be doing something with his hands. Making. Building.
Using magic, apparently. He's still trying to wrap his head around the thought--another reason why Jayce is admirable. He's ready to jump right into it.
"Teleportation? I haven't investigated it. There are portal spells, but I've only seen them used under incredibly specific circumstances. What are you thinking about?"
It'll be nice to have this place for later. Jayce goes to the forge when his mind is in turmoil to get it out physically, but he feels like this will be inspiration instead. A place to go when he's stuck, not upset. This started the best time of his life. They had only just met but he never felt so connected to anyone in his life, instantaneous too. Without Viktor he would be dead, they both know that, but also if alive completely lost. Jayce sometimes needs a push.
He laughs at the student comment and shrugs. "I'm kind of an annoying student, but no one can doubt the passion is genuine." It shouldn't be a surprise. Jayce is definitely the one who would raise his hand eagerly, whether to answer a question or to ask his own. He's so engaged with learning, his mind hungry. But he probably wouldn't consider teaching, it's not his primary interest. He'd rather be a life learner and creator. If Viktor started teaching, he'd try to peek in and watch.
Jayce smiles sheepishly, swimming back down to Viktor, parallel to him and a little closer this time. As in if the gravity came back, he'd land right on him. Luckily, it won't. He's too heavy for that to go over well. "For purely sentimental reasons. So I can be like him." It usually comes back to his savior, the unnamed mage. "We should learn a wind spell so when the desert is hot we can have a fan." Hey, it's practical. Also Jayce runs so hot, it would be useful.
"Just don't get thrown out. We need a connection to the Academy."
That said, he's not really worried about Jayce's overzealousness for knowledge. It's one of the things he admires about him, after all. Still, it's been a long time since either of them were students, so things will be interesting, to say the least.
"The factions have a vested interest in keeping us apart. When we did convene, it was via the use of strictly regulated portals. I doubt someone learning teleportation could go unnoticed."
He understands where Jayce is coming from--that he's overwhelmed with possibility and drawing on past experiences as a frame of reference, but Viktor thinks that forging their own paths has value.
"They're not going to throw me out. And you can have a connection to the Academy if I do." As if that would happen. Jayce's traits are what make him, overall, an excellent student, but difficult in other ways. He's more likely to become a favorite. An overzealous favorite. "Hey if New Magic is basically Hextech, you should become a professor in it. You'd be great at that." Jayce thinks he probably would be a good professor. Maybe a difficult one to impress, but he likes smart people and he can usually break down what he knows into easily understood pieces for people if he has good reasons to.
"I think we are already extremely noticeable. But okay, fair enough." If he had a passionate reason for learning, he probably would regardless of the consequences, but Jayce is only interested in it for the symbolic purpose. "Priority is figuring out if we can duplicate Hextech here, find out how to bottle or transfer arcane magic to power what we come up with." Duh. "But maybe learn how to use the elements? Fire, water, air, earth. There could be a lot of uses for competence in them."
"I've been attending lectures. When I have the time."
Viktor thinks he's finished being a student, however. Ideally he'd get some kind of teaching position, which Jayce is quick to voice. He offers a little laugh at the thought--yes, he can see himself doing that again, though at this point he likes to busy his hands too much to ever fully become a professor, like Heimerdinger.
"Put in a good word for me, hm?" Not that he needs to tell Jayce that, and besides, Viktor's been around the academies a little himself. "I'm looking forward to seeing what powers you choose to develop."
Jayce would also make an excellent teacher, his enthusiasm and love of knowledge the type that inspires people day by day. But he too likes to make things with his hands and he thrives better as a student or a colleague. He likes to work in teams and with other people rather than independently. Jayce is Viktor's #1 hype man so it goes without saying he'll tell everyone about his partner and his genius and skills.
"Honestly, me too. For both of us." He likes to think some day Viktor might dive into the magic world too, even if he doesn't know what he wants yet. Jayce will just test some things out and let him know later. His eyes are soft and he looks at the blue light glowing over Viktor's face like it did that night, and he feels right then like this is all madness, but it'll be okay. They're together again.
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Jayce has told him about the mage countless times, of course, but it's not like Viktor gets tired of hearing about it. He hadn't expected to fall so in love with magic, and everything about it--but after experiencing this firsthand, how could he not?
Jayce's own passion for it certainly helps, too.
"You've told me." A contented sigh. He opens his eyes--he's upside-down, not that it matters when gravity has lost its hold on them. "How lucky we are, to experience it for ourselves."
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He closes his eye and thinks about that defining moment, the mage, looking around in the middle of it, how beautiful it was, how significant. "All we could do was mimic it before, and we did that well." They created the Hexgates, and then went on to create other technology that had yet to be laid out. "But we can touch real magic here. Maybe not the same as his, but something real."
Jayce is so hungry for it. His focus is on healing magic first and foremost, and it's not as if that's him settling, any magic is amazing to him. He's always liked to fix things, so being able to fix injuries is right up his alley. But once Viktor is cured, who knows what Jayce could accomplish with magic at his fingertips.
"We won't have to settle for crystals that are hard to come by either." He is mirroring and paralleling Viktor above him, smiling up at him.
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"You've been dreaming about this your whole life."
Magic--real magic. Some measure of happiness bubbles within him, at the thought of Jayce finally being able to harness the ability for himself, not just fake it or channel it through a carefully-constructed mechanism.
"It's an almost overwhelming prospect, isn't it?"
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His smile then is pure joy. "I have been." Waiting his entire life for this. He takes this as permission to be happy about it, to think only about magic for a few seconds and not the rest of their projects. Jayce has never had the talent, only a mind. Viktor knows how much it means to him, and he can feel his support in the way he says that.
"I'll probably cry the first time I do a spell," Jayce says with a laugh. It's also likely true. "So emotionally overwhelming, yes." But exciting. "Have you used any of it since getting here?"
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"If you cry, I won't hold it against you."
Well, he might. A little. His smile says as much.
"I haven't tried," Viktor admits. It all seems a bit overwhelming, to know that he can, so he's put it off by immersing himself in his own work, as usual. "I'll be honest, I'm...not sure I know where to begin."
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He can't say he's surprised that Viktor hasn't used it yet. For one, he would have already shown it to Jayce, since he knows how excited he would be. For two, he has more pressing matters. If magic can help finish the Hexcore and get where they need to go, they'll definitely have to use it, but Jayce is more than happy to dive into that part.
"I've only just started looking into it, but they have academic magic which is not that dissimilar from learning science through our texts, there are books you can read and memorize spells through. I figured that would be an easy first step."
Jayce may have gone immediately to academia upon having a few minutes to himself to find out how to start. He is predictable. But that is probably the easiest start for two people who have always been academics at heart. Books!
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"I believe you were the first one to use the word partner. Technically speaking, you chose me."
That said, Viktor did make the somewhat rash decision to hitch the future of his entire career to Jayce's wagon when he barely knew the other man. He doesn't regret it, of course, but things could have ended much worse than they did. Even with a successful experiment, there was no guarantee that their personalities would mesh, or that they would be able to work together long-term. Lucky for both of them, he supposes.
"I'm aware there are entry-level paths. I'm also told that it's prudent to choose one or two things, to put all of one's energy into." If you want to get very good at it, that is. "Perhaps it's just indecision on my part, then."
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Again, Jayce is very sentimental, as the smile on his face says. He's always so certain of this friendship being the best part of his life, and floating in this living memory of their union only underlines it. What they accomplished is frankly beyond words, and they've only really just begun. If they save Viktor's life as they plan, who knows what they could invent and change here and anywhere else. They're young and already so successful.
Honestly there were so many reasons that they shouldn't have worked. They're opposites in many ways, background and personality, but it's only somehow made them fit together better. Like two puzzle pieces that only make sense after they've locked.
"That's true of becoming good at anything. You and I probably could have become experts at any science we felt like." They're smart, they're determined. They leaned toward what their interests already desired, but they could have excelled anywhere. Jayce already knows what he is going to start with, so he doesn't have to think much outside of perfecting that first.
"Their new magic isn't that different from Hextech, the difference is we had to find the crystals and stabilize them, in this case ... our own power could be the crystals or make them." He hasn't figured out exactly how it works yet, but it will. And that means he doesn't have to spend years tracking down the crystal equivalent here.
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It doesn't surprise him that the conversation turns to work. They're naturally industrious, and he can admit that he missed the ease with which they bounce ideas off each other.
"It's the conduit that's the missing piece, yes. If there is an equivalent to the crystals here, that might make things more flexible, but we don't exactly have the time to conduct the kind of search you did, back home."
Months in the desert? No thanks.
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He uses his hands to swim upward and playfully does a flip, showing off but also it really feels so free and easy here. Nothing holding him down. All he can see are the possibilities again. This world presents many new ones.
"I'll go ask some of the professors, they seem fairly open to new minds." Jayce will enthusiastically ask all the questions he can think of and go from there. "I think in this situation they're ahead of us, but that's what happens when magic is everywhere. No taboo, no need to guess or work in secret." They just made what they wanted and the magic is at their fingertips to use. There's no way they don't already have their own thing.
"I wonder if teleportation is something you can learn here." There's no mystery as to why that is the first thing on his mind, outside of healing.
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"I'm sure they'd appreciated a talented student such as yourself," he says, half-joking. Viktor's ideal in this place is possibly to secure himself a position at the Academy, but that thought is always in competition with his need to be engineering, to be doing something with his hands. Making. Building.
Using magic, apparently. He's still trying to wrap his head around the thought--another reason why Jayce is admirable. He's ready to jump right into it.
"Teleportation? I haven't investigated it. There are portal spells, but I've only seen them used under incredibly specific circumstances. What are you thinking about?"
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He laughs at the student comment and shrugs. "I'm kind of an annoying student, but no one can doubt the passion is genuine." It shouldn't be a surprise. Jayce is definitely the one who would raise his hand eagerly, whether to answer a question or to ask his own. He's so engaged with learning, his mind hungry. But he probably wouldn't consider teaching, it's not his primary interest. He'd rather be a life learner and creator. If Viktor started teaching, he'd try to peek in and watch.
Jayce smiles sheepishly, swimming back down to Viktor, parallel to him and a little closer this time. As in if the gravity came back, he'd land right on him. Luckily, it won't. He's too heavy for that to go over well. "For purely sentimental reasons. So I can be like him." It usually comes back to his savior, the unnamed mage. "We should learn a wind spell so when the desert is hot we can have a fan." Hey, it's practical. Also Jayce runs so hot, it would be useful.
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That said, he's not really worried about Jayce's overzealousness for knowledge. It's one of the things he admires about him, after all. Still, it's been a long time since either of them were students, so things will be interesting, to say the least.
"The factions have a vested interest in keeping us apart. When we did convene, it was via the use of strictly regulated portals. I doubt someone learning teleportation could go unnoticed."
He understands where Jayce is coming from--that he's overwhelmed with possibility and drawing on past experiences as a frame of reference, but Viktor thinks that forging their own paths has value.
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"I think we are already extremely noticeable. But okay, fair enough." If he had a passionate reason for learning, he probably would regardless of the consequences, but Jayce is only interested in it for the symbolic purpose. "Priority is figuring out if we can duplicate Hextech here, find out how to bottle or transfer arcane magic to power what we come up with." Duh. "But maybe learn how to use the elements? Fire, water, air, earth. There could be a lot of uses for competence in them."
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Viktor thinks he's finished being a student, however. Ideally he'd get some kind of teaching position, which Jayce is quick to voice. He offers a little laugh at the thought--yes, he can see himself doing that again, though at this point he likes to busy his hands too much to ever fully become a professor, like Heimerdinger.
"Put in a good word for me, hm?" Not that he needs to tell Jayce that, and besides, Viktor's been around the academies a little himself. "I'm looking forward to seeing what powers you choose to develop."
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"Honestly, me too. For both of us." He likes to think some day Viktor might dive into the magic world too, even if he doesn't know what he wants yet. Jayce will just test some things out and let him know later. His eyes are soft and he looks at the blue light glowing over Viktor's face like it did that night, and he feels right then like this is all madness, but it'll be okay. They're together again.