crystal

[pathlit]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Jason Talons & Viktor Tendercrisp
RECIPIENT: One thread private to Cosima, Marcus, Yseult & the current Diplomacy representative; otherwise, open.
NOTES: Context under the cut.

[ It's an ordinary day in post-sieged Kirkwall. The air is muggy with intermittent summer showers that dampen dirt and stone, invoking the scent of earth and, in the lower streets, aerosolizing the stench of a crowded populace. Reparations continue, maneuvering around them normalized.

So it's an ordinary day in Kirkwall up until the exact moment that a workshop in Lowtown erupts with a brilliant hue of blue light bursting from every open window, door and crevice. The blast is felt more than heard; a subtle drop in pressure 'round the block seconds before acute release, its pulse strong enough to rattle the foundation and knock an average-sized human off their feet.

A pillar of fire shoots out from the building's chimney, high enough to be seen from The Gallows for all of a few seconds before abruptly vanishing. Light blue particles glimmer in its wake, as if suspended amongst the humid air, then gently float downward to vanish the moment they alight.

No casualties (aside from whatever creature may have been naïve enough to roost upon the chimney's crown). Mild property damage. Elation. ]

( open )
[Viktor's voice, broadcast to Riftwatch at large, is at first distantly quiet.]

What should I—

[Suddenly much closer and clearer:]

Ehh— should anyone happen to have noticed a combustion event on the mainland just now, please be assured it's nothing to worry about.

( closed to Division Heads )
[ Minutes later, the sending crystals of the division heads light up. ]

Hey! Hi, uh-- [ Jayce clears his throat. ] Hello. It's Jayce. Jayce and Viktor. Research div. There was a-- an incident in Lowtown. That was us, not an attack. Everything's okay. Could you let the Viscount know?

[From a few metres away, raised thin with excitement, Viktor's voice:] Tell them! Tell them what we've done!

[ Jayce, with a breathy laugh and an excitement scarcely backdropped by the worry of reprimand (and-or shock of success): ] Yeah, we've-- we've got it! Runic enchantment. Viktor and I figured it out. How to do it ourselves, I mean.

Comments

[wythersake]

[laruetheday]

Tell me you just blew up something I give a shit about and maybe I will.

[pathlit]

[ In the background: ]

We didn't blow up anything!

[grindset]

Not this time—unless you harbour some affection for stone chimney caps.

[dissolving]

Alright. Guard's probably gonna be looking for blast charges, anything looks like 's got a fuse. Mining shit, or recovered grenades. Long as she's upfront on that, better to leave it, focus on what we can't lose.

[cozen]

We could make a good attempt.

[ Obviously not. But he's not handing out apologies until they've agreed on one. ]

You rattled some teacups over here—at the Cliffside Cafe. If you need to know how far away it reached.

[laruetheday]

[ the giant pillar of fire seemed pretty explosionlike if you ask her ]

[laruetheday]

They're not really my thing.

[grindset]

Yes... yes, that is useful to know, thank you.

[—contains so much restrained delight.]

[grindset]

Then I'm afraid you must simply enjoy this.

[pathlit]

[ The irony that this situation draws parallels to the first time he and Viktor met is not lost on him. ]

That, um, [ splitting his attention between addressing Yseult and watching Viktor, ] that'd be the lyrium, our notes, and the hot plate. So-- so two griffons, yeah. Three, maybe. Uggie's good, he'll follow you...

[ trails off softer as he lets the crystal hang from the chain around his neck, with the sound of metal scraping against a hard surface briefly, followed by a hiss of smoke from the hearth as he joins Viktor. ]

[laruetheday]

I am.

[ There's a brief pause, and then: ]

Hey, would you guys want a telescope?

[grindset]

That's... good, very useful to know, thank you.

[OK, that's maybe a little too high—]

[grindset]

A telescope?

[A sudden, notchy change in gear; a look to Jayce on reflex.]

[pathlit]

[ Folding his gloved hand over the crystal, ] We need to scale back the output by at least seventy-five percent until we figure out why the regulator failed--

[ --unless it didn't, but ]

[pathlit]

Wh-- For stars?

[ That kind of telescope? ]

[pathlit]

[ Jayce stops in his tracks and looks down at himself, then heaves a heavy sigh of irritability and sets his half-gathered notes down to retrieve his shirt. After a Where did I put it? and a I swear it was right here, he finds it strewn over the trunk in which their lyrium supply is stored.

👍 ]

[pathlit]

Well-wishes, I hope.

[grindset]

I'm not convinced that was it. But you're right, a decrease would be prudent, regardless. We'll have plenty of room to noodle around with it once we're set up in the blast chamber.

[Noodle around: a verbal remnant of Tony Stark.]

[pathlit]

[ After a beat, he cants his head in Viktor’s direction. ]

‘Noodle’?

[grindset]

Yes, noodle.

[On a delay, he looks up. His face and his forearms are streaked with soot, and his hair's looking a little crazy.]

What?

[laruetheday]

... Yeah. [ Are there other kinds? News to her. ]

It's just. I have Ellie's, and I wouldn't get any use out of it.

[ She doesn't know why it's weird, but she is definitely feeling the weirdness and trying to back out of the situation now. ] But you're busy. Forget it.

—> private;

[grindset]

No, no—

[A hasty gesture tells Jayce to keep his crystal away for the moment; Viktor then gets on his own to lock this exchange to Clarisse.]

I know the one you mean. That's... that's quite a generous gift.

[thereneverwas]

Just glad no one was hurt.

I'd offer to help with the cleanup, but, you know,

[a thoughtful pause,]

it's all the way over there.

[pathlit]

[ That elicits an unexpected bark of laughter from him. ]

There’s not much to clean. [ Unless someone smites them. ] Appreciate it, though.