Inej has been trying to ease herself back into some semblance of a real pattern again, since the return to Cadens. Her job at Portam Hall is safe, at least for a bit, and she's taking what time she can to readjust.
Part of that adjustment has meant she's fallen back on helping Mags around the inn, run a few errands here and there. She's on her way back from one of such errands, products dropped off in the kitchen and heading back upstairs when someone bolts down the stairs and nearly into her. "Saints," she murmurs under her breath-
It's the quickly muttered apology she gets that has her stopping on the step, spinning on her toe toward the boy who'd nearly mauled her over on the stairs. Her hand reaches out quick as a snap and her fingers circle his wrist to tug him to a stop on the middle landing between sets of stairs, "Wylan?"
He's not paying attention to where he's going, wanting to be out and away from this place as quickly as possible for a little while. He doesn't mean to knock into someone coming up the stairs and immediately feels terrible, muttering out an apology.
It's good that Inej is quicker than he is and reaches out to stop him, saying his name. His head snaps up to take her in. "Inej!" And he's glad to see her, despite what Jesper told him about them all. It's only been two days for him but he had missed her, had missed her calming presence and the sense of security that came with knowing Inej was there watching his back.
He steps forward and pulls her into a tight hug. "Saints I'm glad to see you."
She doesn't hesitate to return that hug, squeezing him tight in return. "You too," she whispers softly as she steps back.
Only now, being faced with him here, does she realize that she's been relatively resigned to not seeing most of her friends again. Jesper has been here almost as long as she has. Kaz is almost on a year already... but the others have been rather elusive in this world thus far. She swallows the sharp thought of Matthias disappearing early in her days back in Solvunn.
"How are you? How long've you been here?" A gasp escapes her and she seems to look upstairs at something before glancing back at him. "Does Jesper know you're here?"
The small smile that was on his face falls off for a second before he forces it back on. "I just got here the other day. This is my first day in the city." He also glances back up the stairs.
"Good," she says, pulling back to look at him properly again. "then I can have you to myself for a little while," she smiles brightly and takes his hand in hers, continuing the way downstairs.
"You can stay here with us, of course," she insists. "We've got two rooms upstairs between the three of us-" A beat. She quickly adds, "Kaz is here, too. I don't know if you've seen him yet." She doesn't really know where to start, how much he's had explained to him, but those seem like good enough beginning places.
If he's surprised by how Inej is acting he doesn't say anything, just smiles and lets her lead him down the stairs and wherever she wants to. It wasn't often in their time together that he got to see Inej smile like that or be this relaxed. It's nice to see her like this.
"Jesper told me, but I haven't seen him yet. He mentioned that too, but he said I should talk to a Mags? She would get me a room?" He's still not really sure about anything, but Jesper did give him a pretty thorough rundown of the place.
Ketterdam is such a cold, unforgiving place, it’s hard to have much spring in your step there. Cadens has its issues, sure, but… it’s been good for her in a lot of ways.
She nods, “Yes, she’s the owner here. Basically the community Mum,” she smiles. “She’s stern sometimes, but she’s lovely. I’ll take you to meet her later, if you like.” She has a good working relationship with Mags.
“Have you eaten anything?” she asks, weaving them through the lower level tavern of the inn.
“That would be great.” He says relaxing a little at the thought of getting an actual introduction to the woman who he’s never met but is supposed to give him a room.
He shakes his head as he answers her next question. “No, not since breakfast. I was going to grab something here but I got distracted.” By Jesper and everything that had gone on there.
“There is a lot of that here,” distraction, that is. And she knows it is all just… a lot to take in. Something as normal and routine as dinner can be nice inside the sea of everything else that comes along with waking up stark naked in a pool in front of a crowd. She still has dreams of her arrival sometimes, never forgetting the disquiet of that moment.
“Let’s get something in your stomach and we can talk about whatever else you might want to know,” even if Jesper gave him the overview, she’s sure there’s plenty Wylan is left wondering about.
Viktor gives Wylan a few days to get settled in Cadens before sending him an invitation to the workshop. The truth is that he's never exactly mentored anyone before (if that's what this is), and taking on a potential employee is a little different than being a TA at the Academy. Still, he wants to foster an interest in science the way he was indulged, as a child, and it takes only a short conversation with Wylan to realize that they probably have a lot in common.
So, an invitation. True to form, Viktor works up until the moment Wylan arrives, not even getting up from his stool when he realizes someone is at the bay door.
"Oh, good. You're here." Instead, he makes a little gesture to indicate that Wylan should let himself in. "As much as I enjoyed the party--" (He did not) "--this is much more suited to our purposes, yes?"
Wylan had been excited to receive the invitation, mostly because he hadn't really been sure he would get one. Adults in his life hadn't exactly been reliable, and he had never had a mentor before. Sure, he'd had tutors growing up, but they were paid for by his dad, and more interested in making sure they made their money than anything else. And his dad...well once he realise Wylan couldn't read that was the end of their relationship. So someone who was actually interested in teaching him and working with him was new.
Wylan lets himself in as told, looking around curiously. This is definitely more his speed. "Yes, I'd have to say this is much better." He walks closer to Viktor's workbench curious but not wanting to touch anything without permission.
The crutch leaned up against the worktable is probably the best indication as to why Viktor is not getting up to greet his guest or show him around, but he's already made the assumption that Wylan understands. The stool he's on has utility, of course, and he swivels around on it, apparently in greeting.
"Please, make yourself at home."
He gestures, broadly, to the space. It's messy, but not necessarily disorganized, full of projects in various states of completion.
"Some commissions, some personal work. But I believe you were going to show me something of yours, correct?"
Wylan isn’t one to easily take offense and he doesn’t even really notice that Viktor isn’t getting up to greet him. He’s seen the cane and makes the connection, but it doesn’t really phase him.
He continues to look around curiously as he walks closer. Nodding and taking something out of his bag places it on the work bench Viktor is sitting at when he makes it over to him. It’s two vials, one has a substance that just looks like ordinary sugar and the other a liquid.
“So there was nothing mechanical I could bring, but Jesper convinced me to recreate something I had made back home. It’s a chemical weevil- although Jesper named it a Wyvil. It reacts to sugar, basically using it up and burning it down to a liquid form. I was tasked with creating it to destroy sugar cane crops. But it reacts to any kind of sugar at all, blood sugar, saliva, sweat.” He’s nervous about what the reaction to this will be. It’s nothing mechanical but it does show what he can do.
Viktor is interested in seeing whatever Wylan has come up with. He himself is not a chemist, but he knows enough about it to understand what he's seeing. The use for it doesn't entirely convince him, though Wylan is forthcoming about the potential catastrophic uses of such a substance.
"Who tasked you?"
A government? Some kind of military outfit? But he seems to realize that's three questions beyond where they are right now, and he gestures to Wylan to continue.
"Oh, umm, the leader of our gang, The Dregs. It's a long story." One he would probably go into at some point, but it was not that important right now.
He nods, taking a pair of gloves out of his sachel and pulling them on before first uncorking the vial of sugar and then the weevil pouring it into the sugar careful not to spill even a drop. He closed both vials and then waited. It didn't take long for the sugar to start bubbling and in a matter of moments it had been reduced down to a sort of goo.
He'll understand if Wylan wants to focus on the task at hand, first, but he can't say he isn't interested about his general backstory. How he came to learn these things or fall in with people who'd want him to make something so potentially destructive.
For now, he watches, eyebrows raising a little in apparent thought.
"I'm not much of a chemist," he admits, finally. "Would you say that's your primary discipline?"
[Left at Wylan's workspace is a package wrapped in plain brown paper, the wax seal. Inside is a portable chemistry kit, complete with any tools he might need on the go, including a portable scale. The whole outfit, drawers and trays and all, collapses smartly with brass hinges and clasps.
He will have to supply any particular explosive materials himself--Viktor will not be party to destructive technology.]
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Inej has been trying to ease herself back into some semblance of a real pattern again, since the return to Cadens. Her job at Portam Hall is safe, at least for a bit, and she's taking what time she can to readjust.
Part of that adjustment has meant she's fallen back on helping Mags around the inn, run a few errands here and there. She's on her way back from one of such errands, products dropped off in the kitchen and heading back upstairs when someone bolts down the stairs and nearly into her. "Saints," she murmurs under her breath-
It's the quickly muttered apology she gets that has her stopping on the step, spinning on her toe toward the boy who'd nearly mauled her over on the stairs. Her hand reaches out quick as a snap and her fingers circle his wrist to tug him to a stop on the middle landing between sets of stairs, "Wylan?"
no subject
It's good that Inej is quicker than he is and reaches out to stop him, saying his name. His head snaps up to take her in. "Inej!" And he's glad to see her, despite what Jesper told him about them all. It's only been two days for him but he had missed her, had missed her calming presence and the sense of security that came with knowing Inej was there watching his back.
He steps forward and pulls her into a tight hug. "Saints I'm glad to see you."
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Only now, being faced with him here, does she realize that she's been relatively resigned to not seeing most of her friends again. Jesper has been here almost as long as she has. Kaz is almost on a year already... but the others have been rather elusive in this world thus far. She swallows the sharp thought of Matthias disappearing early in her days back in Solvunn.
"How are you? How long've you been here?" A gasp escapes her and she seems to look upstairs at something before glancing back at him. "Does Jesper know you're here?"
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"Jesper knows I'm here."
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"You can stay here with us, of course," she insists. "We've got two rooms upstairs between the three of us-" A beat. She quickly adds, "Kaz is here, too. I don't know if you've seen him yet." She doesn't really know where to start, how much he's had explained to him, but those seem like good enough beginning places.
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"Jesper told me, but I haven't seen him yet. He mentioned that too, but he said I should talk to a Mags? She would get me a room?" He's still not really sure about anything, but Jesper did give him a pretty thorough rundown of the place.
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She nods, “Yes, she’s the owner here. Basically the community Mum,” she smiles. “She’s stern sometimes, but she’s lovely. I’ll take you to meet her later, if you like.” She has a good working relationship with Mags.
“Have you eaten anything?” she asks, weaving them through the lower level tavern of the inn.
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He shakes his head as he answers her next question. “No, not since breakfast. I was going to grab something here but I got distracted.” By Jesper and everything that had gone on there.
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“Let’s get something in your stomach and we can talk about whatever else you might want to know,” even if Jesper gave him the overview, she’s sure there’s plenty Wylan is left wondering about.
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So, an invitation. True to form, Viktor works up until the moment Wylan arrives, not even getting up from his stool when he realizes someone is at the bay door.
"Oh, good. You're here." Instead, he makes a little gesture to indicate that Wylan should let himself in. "As much as I enjoyed the party--" (He did not) "--this is much more suited to our purposes, yes?"
no subject
Wylan lets himself in as told, looking around curiously. This is definitely more his speed. "Yes, I'd have to say this is much better." He walks closer to Viktor's workbench curious but not wanting to touch anything without permission.
"What are you working on?"
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"Please, make yourself at home."
He gestures, broadly, to the space. It's messy, but not necessarily disorganized, full of projects in various states of completion.
"Some commissions, some personal work. But I believe you were going to show me something of yours, correct?"
no subject
He continues to look around curiously as he walks closer. Nodding and taking something out of his bag places it on the work bench Viktor is sitting at when he makes it over to him. It’s two vials, one has a substance that just looks like ordinary sugar and the other a liquid.
“So there was nothing mechanical I could bring, but Jesper convinced me to recreate something I had made back home. It’s a chemical weevil- although Jesper named it a Wyvil. It reacts to sugar, basically using it up and burning it down to a liquid form. I was tasked with creating it to destroy sugar cane crops. But it reacts to any kind of sugar at all, blood sugar, saliva, sweat.” He’s nervous about what the reaction to this will be. It’s nothing mechanical but it does show what he can do.
no subject
Viktor is interested in seeing whatever Wylan has come up with. He himself is not a chemist, but he knows enough about it to understand what he's seeing. The use for it doesn't entirely convince him, though Wylan is forthcoming about the potential catastrophic uses of such a substance.
"Who tasked you?"
A government? Some kind of military outfit? But he seems to realize that's three questions beyond where they are right now, and he gestures to Wylan to continue.
"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Go on."
no subject
He nods, taking a pair of gloves out of his sachel and pulling them on before first uncorking the vial of sugar and then the weevil pouring it into the sugar careful not to spill even a drop. He closed both vials and then waited. It didn't take long for the sugar to start bubbling and in a matter of moments it had been reduced down to a sort of goo.
no subject
He'll understand if Wylan wants to focus on the task at hand, first, but he can't say he isn't interested about his general backstory. How he came to learn these things or fall in with people who'd want him to make something so potentially destructive.
For now, he watches, eyebrows raising a little in apparent thought.
"I'm not much of a chemist," he admits, finally. "Would you say that's your primary discipline?"
december gifting
He will have to supply any particular explosive materials himself--Viktor will not be party to destructive technology.]