bakerstreet | My type

No, I get it! My last partner broke up with me for similar reasons.. [ she winces. ] I get really tied up in my work and kind of forget my romantic obligations.

[ an anxious little giggle. ] Well.. a little bit. Not much more than you, though. I'm a lot for people. Too much, I guess you could say.

[At first Viktor thinks she's saying that her partner left her because they were too busy to pay her any attention, and his mouth drops open to offer some sort of apology by proxy - but no, they're actually kindred spirits. What a relief. The tendency to live inside one's work isn't always an easy one to explain.]

Too much of what?

[Though he's genuinely curious, there's an implied criticism of the notion in the way his eyebrows shoot up. Sounds to him like somebody made their tastes her problem, which is hardly fair.]

Too much of.. everything.. I guess? I can be a little overwhelming, between my work and my worrying and my need to fix everything that needs fixing. Aaaaand I have brother baggage. And elven baggage.

[ she pokes her fingers together, head tilting a little and eyes sliding away. ]

And I get too excited about stuff. Especially creepy ancient elf devices that do horrifying but super creative things.

[Yeah, most of that definitely sounds like other peoples' critique. Things she cares about more than them, which is the real crime. Viktor's left more intrigued by the list, not less, especially that last part...]

You can't just say that without expanding on the natures of both the horror and the creativity.

[Viktor may be an only child and a human being who could stand to worry a lot more than he does, but on one of those points, at least, he's just as guilty.]

Oh! [ she brightens immediately, whipping back around to beam excitedly at him. ] For all that our gods were horrible people, their society really created some incredible things! Like this-- [ she lifts her left arm up, where what looks like several armor pieces or elaborate pieces of gold jewelry suddenly comes apart in a series of shapes that whirl around her arm. ] --which is less horrifying and more helpful, I guess? It's a kind of multitool! I've fixed all kinds of ancient magic devices by using it. It's very intuitive, but there is a teeny tiny learning curve at first..

[ the pieces settle back into their original shapes, and she flexes her arm before letting it drop again. ]

You know, I don't usually get to talk about this stuff except with a few people. It's kind of nice that someone else is interested.

[Viktor's pale, placid face likewise lights up with interest as he watches the golden shapes dance around her arm, brows furrowed one moment and up around his hairline the next. The description sounds almost like a Rosetta Stone for magic technology, and couldn't he and Jayce use something like that right now...]

Incredible... so your peoples' magic is God-given? Or were they simply the first to tame a more primal, eternal energy?

[Her remark brings a smile to Viktor's face - not the hints of half-grins he's worn so far, but a real smile.]

By some remarkable coincidence, my current work also involves the intersection of magic and technology. Ah - [As usual, the pleasantries of meeting someone new only occur to him once he's waist-deep into conversation with them, and he might have forgotten entirely if not for his statement requiring some explanation.] - I'm actually an engineer and scientific research assistant by trade. My name is Viktor.

[ she is delighted and it shows, because she immediately reaches out to grasp one of his hands with both of hers. ] It's so nice to meet you, Viktor! I'm Bellara! I'm technically a Veil Jumper, but most of my work there involves magical research and development. I'm also a little bit of a historian, I guess, but that's mostly to do with my people's history and not, you know, overall. Which I guess is typical of historians? I mean, picking one part of-- You know what, I'm rambling again.

[ deep breath, bellara. ]

As for your question, it's a great one! And the short answer is that we don't really know how magic came to be? It comes from the Fade, and our gods were the most magically- and technologically-advanced society that we've encountered so far, but they definitely didn't create magic. They were just incredibly powerful mages with nearly no limits to how they interacted with those energies. [ she spreads her hands then in a kind of jazz-hands gesture. ] There's a bunch of theories about it! I wish Emmrich was here so I could introduce you two. He's really our Fade expert, so he'd be a great source of information for this. And he's also a professor, so he's really good at relaying that information! I corresponded with him a lot before we met. [ another pause, then a little as an aside: ] Oh-- the Fade's a sort of metaphysical realm, by the way. It exists alongside our physical reality, and it's where magic, spirits, and dreams exist.

[ anyway! ] Sorry, I'm doing it again. Tell me about your research! Maybe we can exchange information. I don't know how it works here, but it'd be nice to have another colleague to collaborate with.

[Occasionally Viktor will open his mouth as though he's about to ask another question, but Bellara delivers so much information so quickly and steadily that he never gets a chance - and that doesn't bother him at all. If annoyance occasionally flickers across his face, it's only when she stops herself as if she's doing something wrong, which always prompts a dismissive gesture with the hand not holding his cane. Forget that, just keep talking.

By the time she wraps up her explanation, Viktor has his green leatherbound notebook out and is scribbling away madly. He holds up one "just a moment" finger to finish jotting down the last of his thoughts (and draw three looping circles around the name Emmrich for emphasis), then sets it aside and lifts his eyes back to her face with no small amount of wonder.]

Oh yes, future communications will be a necessity. You've already given me so much information to process and show my partner... you can expect many long, question-filled letters in your future. [It's probably not hard to see how people could find Viktor brusque and cold when that's how he communicates his desire to stay in touch with her, but his interest is entirely earnest.]

Now, my research - actually, the bulk of it should rightfully be credited to my partner, Jayce. He was the one who theorized a potential link between magic and technology, an idea that was rejected by the academy before it could be properly considered because our mages have always received their gifts through their bloodline. A good deal of distrust also festers between scholars and mages, a blind spot I consider shameful on the part of modern academia...

[Oop. Now he's the one digressing. And right before the good part, too, which becomes obvious when his smile turns sharp with vindication.]

... luckily, I happened to stumble upon his research when it was on the verge of being destroyed and saved it so that the two of us could fit the final pieces together as a team. The Arcane can be harnessed and utilized to push technology beyond the wildest dreams of the most brilliant engineers and mages who came before us! We hardly know where to begin with the next phases of development but that's the best sort of problem to have, wouldn't you say?

[ now it's her turn to dig a well-worn notebook out of her pack, flip past a few pages of notes and diagrams, and start scribbling along to what he's saying. ] I'll definitely give you Emmrich's information, then. He'll love that, we collaborate on a lot at the Lighthouse. Which-- Oh! You'll like hearing about the Lighthouse. Maybe you can even visit? It might help with your own research. It's in the-- No, wait, I'll tell you later. Let me just--

[ are there seats here? there are now, because she tucks her notebook under her arm and drags two up--he has a cane, maybe it'll be nice to sit?--and drops down into one, dragging her pack closer and whipping her notebook open again. ]

Viktor, there are already so many parallels we can draw between our worlds. [ she tucks her pen in the pages and makes a gesture with both hands, like she's drawing a line from point a to point b. ] There's a lot of misunderstanding about mages in my world, too, but it's mostly brought on by religion, which-- you know, typical, right? There's a correlation between bloodline and magic ability at home, but it's not a hard rule, and there's some really interesting theories on that, too. Why do some mages have a stronger connection to the Fade? Why does magic skip generations sometimes? I have-- I think I have a book I can send you, you might like it, about bloodline and the connection between families, spirits, and magic.

[ she and emmrich have so many books between them, she'll have to talk to him about what might help viktor in his own research.

in the meantime, though, she starts to lift her pen again, then taps it against her chin. ] When you say the Arcane, it kind of sounds like there's-- Is it an object? A device to built to tap into magical energies using technological advancement? Because if so, that's really cutting-edge! How did you solve the problem of etheric planar transference? Or does that even make sense? Oh my gosh, we may not even have the same language for magic, and isn't that so exciting?!

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god, i'm so sorry

don't you dare apologize this is the cutest shit i've ever seen

leave it to these two to turn a romance meme into a research opportunity 😩