[Circular sigils begin to burst and form from the crystal as an awestruck Viktor completely forgets the pounding on the door and watches--unable to comprehend what would be explained hours later and only understood at the end of the world. Whatever Jayce was doing, it was a mimicry of something seen elsewhere, a long time ago.]
[(For just the briefest of flashes, you can see this too; like being stuck between two radio stations, this one weaker for being a memory Viktor himself knew only secondhand. A figure in the middle of a snowstorm, staff in his hand making sweeping cyclical motions as he conjured the same arcane magic. Though his face was obscured by the hood he wore--something about his thin form and the way he moved was very familiar.)]
[The door crashed open at the same instant a shining azure light burst upwards only to crash back down, and for a fraction of a second you know Viktor's presumed last thought to be well, not the worst way to die. The force begins to lift you off the ground, and as it erupts in blinding brilliance you expect the crashing of stone and glass, you expect oblivion, you expect pain-]
[...and then you realize, for the first time in your life, you aren't in pain. Because there is no strain of gravity on a flawed and thin frame, floating near the ceiling in a shining glow of perfectly stabilized magic and the exhilarating feeling of triumph. Professor Heimerdinger is objecting to something, Councilor Medarda lingering just beyond the doorway, but you don't really hear or see any of it--for a moment, all that really exists is the two engineers and the resounding success between them. Viktor's face lights up in a brilliant smile unlike any he'd ever worn before or since, and the warmth in your chest burns ten times as brightly as the magic hovering in the air.]
[For just a second, you know his thoughts are focused entirely on the abstract realization that this man really can change the world, and that the concept of falling in love with the force of a hammer resonates as the desire to do absolutely everything it takes to see that dream realized. The present-day Viktor--his form the final result of where this magic would lead--simply watches the floating pair with a warm, nostalgic smile. No matter how it may have ended, there was nothing to thi memory but a genuine undercurrent of warmth and pride.]
['Will you please stop hovering?!']
[Lightly, Viktor called back to the floor with the edge of a laugh in his voice, 'I'm not sure how to do that, sir!']
no subject
[(For just the briefest of flashes, you can see this too; like being stuck between two radio stations, this one weaker for being a memory Viktor himself knew only secondhand. A figure in the middle of a snowstorm, staff in his hand making sweeping cyclical motions as he conjured the same arcane magic. Though his face was obscured by the hood he wore--something about his thin form and the way he moved was very familiar.)]
[The door crashed open at the same instant a shining azure light burst upwards only to crash back down, and for a fraction of a second you know Viktor's presumed last thought to be well, not the worst way to die. The force begins to lift you off the ground, and as it erupts in blinding brilliance you expect the crashing of stone and glass, you expect oblivion, you expect pain-]
[...and then you realize, for the first time in your life, you aren't in pain. Because there is no strain of gravity on a flawed and thin frame, floating near the ceiling in a shining glow of perfectly stabilized magic and the exhilarating feeling of triumph. Professor Heimerdinger is objecting to something, Councilor Medarda lingering just beyond the doorway, but you don't really hear or see any of it--for a moment, all that really exists is the two engineers and the resounding success between them. Viktor's face lights up in a brilliant smile unlike any he'd ever worn before or since, and the warmth in your chest burns ten times as brightly as the magic hovering in the air.]
[For just a second, you know his thoughts are focused entirely on the abstract realization that this man really can change the world, and that the concept of falling in love with the force of a hammer resonates as the desire to do absolutely everything it takes to see that dream realized. The present-day Viktor--his form the final result of where this magic would lead--simply watches the floating pair with a warm, nostalgic smile. No matter how it may have ended, there was nothing to thi memory but a genuine undercurrent of warmth and pride.]
['Will you please stop hovering?!']
[Lightly, Viktor called back to the floor with the edge of a laugh in his voice, 'I'm not sure how to do that, sir!']