After their talk through the network, Jayce got a little busy with an Aquila adventure with Viktor, a successful one he'd say, but he reaches out with a message to Wanda to meet at his tower. Rio as per usual shuffles out the second she senses someone in their space to run excited circles around Wanda in greeting. She likes to bring visitors to wherever her 'fathers' are, and in this case it's in the large lab they used to call home. The one in Cadens is smaller and rustic in comparison, so sometimes Jayce prefers to be in here with all its space.
He often is in here trying to think of bigger-picture inventions that he hasn't figured out how to make work in Abraxas yet. Some of it has to do with no access to the crystals, although if they can pitch the city something big and worthwhile, they'd probably get access or permission. While they were in some trouble after Viktor's cure, it seems to have all been forgiven after their successful tracker located the captured.
Today he has put on his desk two small cases. One that holds his Hextech crystals and another has the equivalent of what they have in Free Cities. They don't look ultimately that different, outside of the vivid color of his own arcane glowing. He told Wanda he'd show her what the crystals of New Magic looks like.
When Rio makes it up to him, she nudges his leg and then lies down in her giant bed he made like the princess she is. Jayce smiles at Wanda. "Hey, remember how we met the first time in here, and you were thinking about beating me up?"
[OOC: timing shortly before the Old Public Hall's reopening]
The reason Jayce invited Sam and Claude for a drink at another tavern is because at the Sarstina they're much more likely to be distracted or interrupted by other Summoned coming in and out. Which typically is fine but he thinks it's for the best that they can talk privately without worrying about that. He got them a table in a corner out of the way too and provided the drinks.
Jayce has been a part of a government body before and it went terribly, but he's feeling very optimistic about this. As he told Viktor, he's not worried with Sam and Claude involved. The problem with his past experience was in part due to the highly corrupt officials around him. Free Cities may have some of those, but this is about the Summoned.
"Okay, so drumroll." Jayce playfully taps his fingers on the top of the table. Not loudly or anything. Just for fun. "Not only is the Aquila portal approved of, but Jaskier and Alucard want us to announce it at their Old Public Hall re-opening festival. The first day is tomorrow."
The flyers are spreading out tonight and everything in Cadens will be signaling it as the five days go on. Jayce is excited to share the news with everyone. It was his motion so he put it in officially, and that's why he heard back. But it's a triumph for all of them, really.
"Aquila will be joining the festival so it's a pretty good display of togetherness. There will be a fee for the portal since they're very commerce-heavy, but it still beats two weeks on the road."
Hilda lets out a whine, forehead meeting the textbook in front of her with a thunk.
When she had asked Jayce for enchantment tutoring, the amount of homework and actual reading she'd had to do wasn't what she'd had in mind. Nor did she think that she'd have this difficult of a time trying to understand the sheer amount of information she was trying to force into her squishy brain. All she wanted to do was make functional jewelry that would protect the people she cared about was that too much to ask? In reality, she should have known this wouldn't happen overnight; this was, after all, maybe only the third or forth session they'd had together. But Hilda was used to instant gratification and got antsy when she wasn't given that.
"Jayce," her whine sounds tearful as she presses her forehead harder into the textbook. Maybe that would help her understand whatever concept he was trying to walk her through. If experience has taught her anything however, it probably won't. The anxious voice that had followed her for years stirs, stoking her embarrassment and insecurities. "I don't think I can do this. All of this is way too hard. I should just leave this to people like you and Viktor."
Jayce is an academic so homework is second nature to him, which is probably why he took to magic so easily. Not everything he learned was from academic magic texts, he was trained personally by Himeka in healing, but when it came to enchantments that is what he needed. Kell snuck him some books and that is how he and Viktor became skilled at them.
He knows it's not for everyone though. Hilda is not alone in getting stuck in all the constant words and the practice required to just do the same spell over and over. He couldn't help but revert a little to Heimerdinger energy when he taught; for all his faults (and there were many), his former mentor was a great teacher, from his experience.
"Hilda, you're doing great, I promise. I didn't know how to do any magic before I got here. It doesn't come easily to some of us." Jayce did take to it pretty well, but that was because his passion for magic has always existed. He created Hextech to have even a little taste of magic in his hands, although it would never be real there. He was determined to become a mage here.
"I'm just trying to set you up with the basic knowledge first, but honestly half of it is practice doing the real magic." It's that knowing the words and the background make the likelihood of messing it up lesser. But it seems like she could probably use less words and more actions.
Jayce brought with them a few pieces that he created himself. He is not a jeweler but he's managed to make some decent bracelets with Luna metal for people. He also brought a few of his knives. All the enchantments were stripped off them. "Here let's actually try one."
They're in his lab at the moment since it is a safer environment than most for experiments. Although his first ideas aren't unsafe. "So you have to memorize the spell, but a lot of it is about confidence when you say it. Let's try a protection from tear. We'll put it on this bracelet." He brought several so if it goes wrong, they can keep trying.
He points to the spell and sets the one next to her. "When you succeed, you'll feel it in your gut, like it has flowed through you."
It's a strange feeling, in some ways, to be on the outskirts of government once more after so long of simply... not. Though Claude has his reservations about the Free Cities mostly kept to himself - a chance to make a difference for those who are here, citizens and Summoned alike, aligns too much with his own hopes from home. The esteemed company of who he's with as they sit around this particular table also adds to the excitement what with now having a chance to work together to do what they can.
At the drumroll, he sits forward in his seat a bit and joins Jayce in the finger tapping to add to it but still lightly so as to not make it noticeable anywhere but to the three of them. Anything which has a grand reveal - and comes with being announced somewhere besides the Sarstina - is sure to get his attention. Both minor caveats are well worth it when Jayce announces what it is they've been waiting to hear and Claude leans back in his chair with a wide grin.
"Hey, that's great news! And not only because after traveling to Solvunn to get supplies for Libertas I haven't been looking forward to a long trip like that again, though that certainly helps." He's kidding, kind of, but lifting his drink to offer to clink all their glasses together is genuine as this deserves celebration ahead of the festival. "Considering traveling there by horse has its own costs, I'm sure the fee will be bearable enough for what opportunities it offers in return."
That's something familiar to him from dealing with nobility: money needed to make anything happen. Claude's not totally surprised to find it's the case here, but - "And it'll be well worth it in bringing those from Libertas to Aquila if they've never been. You've both been here longer than I have so you'd know better, but it doesn't seem like this has been offered before now."
The truth is, Sam welcomes pretty much any reason to get out and about the city. The Saristina isn't just a tavern, but also his home, and he's well aware of how easy it is to slip into work mode when you're there, even if that isn't the intention. So the invite to get a drink somewhere else isn't exactly surprising, but it is welcome, and it becomes at least semi-obvious when he sees Claude there as well.
Jayce has news, and Sam thinks he can guess what about, but he helps with the drumroll and breaks out in a grin at the news all the same. "That's huge, man. Restricting travel is the easiest way to isolate people, even within their own country. Having permanent portals across all the Cities is gonna help with a lot more than we can imagine. Not a bad first showing for the Summoned Conclave, eh?"
Becoming a part of the Conclave hadn't really surprised Sam, is only because he's gotten pretty used to this space - being a part of the Cities government, but on the outside. Having a say with Marlo when he needs to, but more often than not getting frustrated when his words aren't really heard. This group, this whole ordeal is so much more, and will actually be a way to make real change, and honestly? He doesn't know if there's anyone else in the Cities he'd want to be doing it with. He tips his own mug to the cheers, happy to have something to really celebrate as he takes a long drink from his mug before he turns back to the other two, brows up. "And we're announcing this tomorrow? Who's making the speech?"
As far as Hilda can recall, Jayce has yet to experience the joys (spoilers: there's no joy) on being on the receiving end of her crocodile tears.
To be clear, that's a good thing. A younger Hilda had employed them in stressful times with tutors she didn't like or subjects she didn't want to learn. Thankfully, she likes Jayce, he's been nothing but incredibly patient with her, and this is a subject she wanted to learn. At least she had thought she wanted to. Her tears have more to do with the frustration she's feeling towards herself along with a hint of laziness at having to put actual work into this. All of it combines into the sound of genuine distress in her voice - a dead giveaway that she might actually be on the verge of tears this time.
But Jayce's patience and kind tone is enough to convince her to hold off if just for a moment longer. She sniffles, rising her head from the book to look at him and then the bracelet. A beat later she's nodding even though she looks incredibly reluctant to do so. Her hand hovers above the bracelet, gaze fixed on the spell book. It's clear she doesn't believe what she's saying even though there's an immense amount of concentration being focused on the words being said so she doesn't stumble on them. When she reaches the end of the incantation, the bracelet lays on the table not doing much of anything. She visibly wilts. "That didn't work, did it?"
Jayce smiles when both of them join him in the cheesy drumroll and it probably just reflects well on how the three of them are on the same page. He knows that they all care about making their home a better place. And maybe this isn't the home that they chose for themselves, but for now, it's what they have, and that's worth putting in the effort for.
Jayce believes this is his only real chance at a future, Vi's sad news on his shoulders at all times, but he decided to turn it around. If this is his life now, he's going to put his heart and soul into it. No looking back.
"I know, this opens a lot of doors, I honestly didn't know if they'd allow it. I spoke to Fallon Marsh when Viktor and I went there recently, and I did come out of our talk feeling optimistic." On Fallon's side, at least. The man is a commerce king, he can see the value in making travel to his city faster and more accessible. The question was more about Cadens and what they'd allow.
"Starting off with a win is undeniably exciting. For us and the Conclave." He hasn't heard yet what happened with the other two motions, but he'll check in and find out. Jayce has considered talking about setting up a meeting with the others, but that can wait, they have to talk about the announcement.
He smiles at Sam. "I was hoping all three of us. If you two want to."
Jayce knows tears of frustration, he's been there more times than once. He had to go through it alone for many years as he couldn't talk to anyone about Hextech, his research wasn't legal. It wasn't until Viktor that he was able to bounce ideas off of someone else and that is why it ended up succeeding. He'll stay confident enough for both of them. He's good at that.
"Not this time. Hilda, you're doing better than you think. Do you think I just got good at everything right away? Believe it or not, there is a lot of effort that went into these." Jayce is willing to make fun of himself and also note things like the fact he is pointing at his bicep. Which is bigger than some people's heads. Most people looking at him would think he's a body builder, but he's really just a blacksmith, as everyone knows here. He built things and that naturally comes with hard work and training.
"I have seen you fierce and determined and accomplish a great deal when you believe in yourself. You just have to treat this bracelet and magic like if you were ordering Sylvain and Claude around." Jayce points at one of them and he firmly says the spell and he can feel it in himself, as he said, and there seems to be a touch of a glimmer on the bracelet. He sets that one to the side.
"I always see it as magic being part of us now. In our blood, somehow, when it brought us here. It is naturally flowing, and that means you are meant to be able to dot his."
"It sounds like Fallon must be pleased by this portal as well. It can only mean good things for Aquila."
And for Cadens, too; though he hadn't been here for long when it happened, the impact of the Libertas art walk on Cadens was easy to see and even more so when it lingered long after that portal closed. He nods in agreement as Sam and then Jayce speaks as this certainly is a win on many levels as they've both mentioned. It feels like progress for both them in having a louder voice with the government for themselves and also for the Free Cities as a whole - one step forward in others which might be potentially made to help benefit further.
Claude's lifting his glass but pauses with it mid-air at the mention of a speech, and it takes but a second for a grin to appear as the invitation to speak together sinks in. "I'd be honored to help. Especially since it was your motion to begin with, so I think it'd be best if you started it off because of that."
One sip of his drink to contemplate what a possible speech could be to brainstorming ideas between the three of them, and then Claude sits back in his seat. "If I might make a suggestion on what we could say for part of it," with a gesture of his glass towards Sam, "your point about this lessening the isolation between cities is a crucial one. It's not unlike what the war I went through at home was hoping to achieve. Though things aren't quite to that level of division here - within the Free Cities, anyway - it's still something important the portals will be able to lessen over time."
"I don't know. I feel like you were just one of those people who were great at everything you tried," she says with a watery laugh. "Don't go ruining my image of you now, Jayce!" she says bumping his shoulder. It's said in jest of course – she appreciates the joke at his own expense.
Hearing him share that he's had difficulties too soothes the disappointment, or at least it does marginally. Watching him effortlessly enchant one of the bracelets, she has to steel herself against feeling discouraged. The reassurance, coupled with the comparison to bossing Sylvain and Claude certainly helps too and her lips curl genuinely at that.
She wonders briefly when he says that magic is a part of their blood if Sylvain and Claude had told him about their Crests. Jayce hadn't said that explicitly of course, but it begs the question. Hilda has never been particularly cagey about her Crest, but she could see the pair of them not being so forthcoming even with someone like Jayce.
She trusts him though just like how she trusted Natasha enough to tell her. There's a bit of a self deprecating lilt to her laugh. "You say that but having a Crest didn't really help me with magic back home. And that's practically the equivalent of having magic in your blood."
"I can't imagine a world where he wouldn't be into the idea. Economics are economics when it comes down to it, and the only real limitation for them is distance."
Sam doesn't have a whole lot of experience with that side of things. Politics, city planning - he knows the basics but that's about it. But money will always be a motivator, and it has been for as long as he's been in Cadens. He's not surprised that it was a a positive conversation, and that the whole motion went through. It does leave him curious as to the other factions and their own motions.
But that's something else to worry about for another time. Right now Jayce is inviting them both to join him in on the speech, and Sam just kind of chuckles at how excited Claude is about the idea. Lord knows the three men at this table can give speeches, he just almost worries for how much they'll talk.
Claude's suggestion is pretty much right on the money, too, and Sam nods. "Yeah, alright. I can do that. Any chance I can remind the Summoned and the locals that we're not enemies is one I'll take. Especially with how jumpy everyone still is after everything."
"If only! I've always been good at thinking, but not always great at doing." Thinking is more about speculation and ideas. He envisioned Hextech when no one would have imagined it possible and he worked for years to see if it was possible, he could see it so clearly. But putting it into actual practice was far more difficult. It took Viktor to complete the work. As smart as Jayce is, sometimes it isn't enough.
Jayce does know about the Crests. There had been some discussion around them when he was asked to make Hilda's weapon. He doesn't know the exact details entirely, but he doesn't look surprised when she uses that word or confused. He knows what she means, which can probably tell her this isn't the first time he heard the word.
"Well not all magic comes naturally. I've learned a lot of spells here, but I feel like only some parts have taken. Enchantments and healing were easy, but even though I know the words, I've never really been great at fire." Jayce knows enough to give them light or warmth, but he's not sure why it feels less easy. It could be because he finds it more damaging, and he is resistant to offensive types of spells.
"I think maybe focus on your motivation. Why do you want to learn these? What are you hoping to do with them?" He assumes it'll be to help her loved ones in one way or another, whether it's making money or things for them, so keying into her reasons could help.
She knows that he's being honest with her. Jayce doesn't strike her as the type of person to lie to her just to make her feel better about her situation, but she has to joke all the same because really, how else is she meant to react to pure kindness? "Now I know you're just trying to make me feel better."
Hilda can't help but feel something akin to relief when Jayce admits without saying as much that he's heard about the Crests. It's a good thing too - it saves her some effort from having to explain a concept that she's certain she wouldn't do any justice explaining. Best to leave it to the boys. "Some of my friends had better luck with magic that we called Faith spells. They were more aligned with healing too which I guess makes sense since a lot of them prayed to the Goddess pretty regularly." That is to imply, more than she ever did. But then again, Hilda's downfall when it came to magic had always been a mixture of laziness and anxiety instead of lack of faith.
She mulls over his question a moment, worrying her bottom lip. "I want to make something useful. I used to make jewelry back home but it never did anything apart from look pretty - which, don't get me wrong, I still love doing. But after everything that happened," her voice trials off for a moment before finding it again, "I just want to make sure that people who wear the things I make can be safe."
"I'm not sure I remember what you're talking about," she says, then, but she's a horrible liar. Of course she remembers, but it's a bit of an embarrassing thing, isn't it? The fact that she was so aggressive with someone she had never met nor had the right to get angry at. "I don't think I was thinking of a 'beating', anyway."
Please, she is far more delicate than that.
With a short cough into a fist, Wanda walks closer to him and lingers near the desk. The crystals have definitely caught her eye. And yet—
"Why? You aren't thinking of pressing charges, are you? I know a good lawyer."
Her attempt at being a little funny and easygoing.
"It's why I liked you right away." To Jayce it couldn't be embarrassing because she meant well, and of all people, he is more than happy when he sees other people willing to defend Viktor. He used to be his only support system and at first he was a little insecure about the new friends he found here. But now Jayce just considers them both lucky.
It's definitely a memorable first meeting though. He smiles at her joke and shakes his head. "Yes, I'm pressing charges over you being a good friend. It should be illegal." The last time they saw one another was at Nocwich post-saving everyone from the cavern, but everyone's starting to settle back into their old lives.
He puts an arm around her shoulder and gives her a side hug because it has been awhile and he was so focused on the crystals he forgot. But he then waves a hand to them. "So the glowing one is Hextech, but the arcane magic we had in the crystals was unstable, overly powerful. They seem to have managed to power their crystals to the levels needed to do things."
Jayce is one of the worst liars out there so he wouldn't waste his energy unless necessary. He is comically bad at it because everything in him wants to be sincere. "Ask Viktor, I'm sure he has a list of things I was bad at first." It's not entirely true, Viktor is fairly blind to Jayce's flaws too, but he can be brutally honest when asked. Jayce won't mind if it will make her feel better. If he has a list, it would probably be alphabetized and itemized just for impact.
"I always wanted to use magic, my entire life I dreamed of it. It wasn't possible for me in my world so I made technology and magic together. It was the closest I could get." And Jayce loves Hextech. It is his greatest invention and the potential for it is endless. What he managed to accomplish in his search for magic changed his world. But it was still never going to be him being magic. Not until coming here.
Jayce nods as she answers and then puts a new bracelet in front of her. "I personally think magic comes from the heart more than the mind, so what I want you to do is think about someone you care for. Keep them in your mind and think of this spell as a shield you are creating around them."
The look Hilda gives him is one of utter, flat disbelief. She doesn't know Viktor a fraction as much as Jayce does, but she knows him well enough to know that the likelihood of that particular scenario panning out is unlikely. That and the last thing Hilda is set on doing is going around finding out what other people aren't so great at in order to build herself up.
She listens to his recounting of his previous desires and aspirations from home and gives him a little laugh. "You know, it's funny. I know that magic and technology are two different things, but after arriving here and seeing all of the technology and the things you and Viktor make together? It feels like magic to me." They only ever had the traditional sort of magic at home. She had never taken it for granted, but with technology in front of her as something tangible that everyone could use - that had been more of a surprise and wonder to her.
There's a look of doubt, or perhaps it's mild panic on Hilda's face as the new bracelet is set in front of her. After a moment though her hands hover above it the bracelet and her eyes gently close. She calls to mind how helpless she felt not being able to protect the ones that had been taken, how terrified she had been when she had seen Petra's form swallowed by the crush of snow in the mountains. A different emotion arises from the swirl of despairing ones and it's that firece desire to protect her loved ones that emerges.
It feels like a rush of warmth rushing from her hands into the bracelet - not so dissimilar to the feeling of when she's able to cast a healing spell from home. There's another beat before she cautiously opens an eye looking at Jayce first instead of the bracelet. Her breathe leaves mouth in a rush as she nervously asks, "I don't want to jinx it but did it work?"
"They are similar. Our inventions are steeped in both, here and at home."
The arcane crystals to power everything, but their designs are purely technology-based. None of their inventions here really are magic first, they're creation first, and then magic on top of it. They haven't fully moved outside of that, apparently, but whatever works. It's why he designs the jewelry first and then puts the enchantments on.
Jayce watches her and he can almost see her resolve slip into place, the moment between uncertainty to force. He thinks she's going to get it this time, it's just a feeling. He can feel the power coming off of it when he puts his hand close, but it's much better for her to witness it than agree.
"Let's find out." He picks up the bracelet and puts it to the side so he can put his body between her and it if this goes wrong. He doesn't intend on doing a dangerous spell, but you never know. And Jayce is now a mage, like he's always dreamed, so he's very cautious. They picked a defensive enchantment with metal that particularly protects against magic.
Jayce casts a fire spell and shoots it at the bracelet, so they can both see for themselves that it zaps at it and seems to be absorbed right into the metal itself. No harm is done to it, instead it only seems to glow afterward, and probably is warm to the touch. "See, you got it. I'll try a different angle."
Jayce does a wind spell instead this time and this time it doesn't absorb, it does bounce right off the bracelet and rustle all the pages and their hair in the room, but clearly whoever would be holding it would be protected from all of it.
Hilda had asked the question but it still seems to come as a s shock that Jayce is suddenly reaching for the bracelet so that he can test it. That's the only way either of them would ever really know that it worked after all - but logic usually had a difficult time winning against someone who was already so worried about something not working.
Her hand reaches out a beat too late to try and snatch the bracelet away from his touch but it's too late, leaving her to watch helplessly as he begins his testing.
The first blast of fire magic into the bracelet is met with baited breath - and admittedly, Hilda can't help but watch from between her fingers. Her hands over her eyes have less to do with the fact that magic is being shot at an object, and more to do with not wanting to see a misshapen lump of metal because her spell failed to work.
And somehow miraculously, it doesn't. Jayce is a relentless worker and teacher unlike his student. Before Hilda can even suggest that they maybe take a break, wouldn't tea be nice right about now? Wind is rushing around them. The expression on Hilda's face is stunned, as if struggling to figure out what exactly had just transpired in front of her. Slowly, her hands lower from her face as she stares at the bracelet before back at Jayce.
Bright patches of pink slowly begin to colour her cheeks as she hesitantly asks, "You didn't just put a shield spell in there when you picked it up to make me feel better, did you?" It's a ridiculous notion and one that she's certain Jayce wouldn't do, but it's the first question that manages to make it past her lips.
Wanda makes a bit of a face at the compliment that she didn’t ask for (because being ‘liked right away’ isn’t quite the thing that happens to Wanda Maximoff), mostly out of embarrassment, and looking away for a moment as she glances at the glowing crystals he has promised to show her.
It’s easy to tell that she is not all too bothered, though, by how she melts a little against him when he puts an arm around her for an easygoing side hug.
Time to listen to him geek out about these things if that’s what he wants to do.
“Why crystals?” She obviously knows why crystals, from a magical perspective, but it’s fascinating how the allure of magic and the strictness of science both agree on some aspects. “I— think the question would be, are they special kinds of crystals?”
She pulls away from where she’s been tucked in, under his arm, and reaches forward to grab hold of one of them, so she can look at the crystal in the palm of her hand.
It's true that Jayce liked her right away. She could not possibly have done something that would make him trust her better than wanting to protect Viktor. Not that he wanted to get slapped around the Horizon, but after so long as his only protector, it was really nice. And then he got to know Wanda on a personal level. She was there for him in his darkest time, and he's tried to be there for her the same way. They've become close, at least in his heart. It was exciting to see where she lived in Solvunn too.
"I think it has to do with the substance it is made from, it isn't glass or anything like that, it is a precise sort of make up. I don't know exactly what." He knows how they did it with Hextech, and he knows where they appear to mine these crystals in the Free Cities, but he hasn't been given specifics. "I'd definitely make my own if I could, so." They have to keep it more difficult to do, no doubt.
"Also it's small enough to easily function in any device. You can put one of these in the handle of a hammer and their larger crystals can power a bigger one. I think their intention is eventually to not need to use magic at all, or very sparsely." This is utilizing magic but in specialized arcane energy. If the technology itself is pretty much working without a power source, the probably are hoping to some day replace that power source.
"I think after Thorne being in charge of the rest of the continent, a lot of them when they became independent wanted to go the opposite of them. The Free Cities don't want to rely on any magic. Whether it's possible to go completely without in this world, I don't know, but that seems to be their ambition." And it is probably why they don't like the Singularity.
Jayce is very much a 'let's just do it and see how it goes!' type of scientist. It isn't always obvious at first sight, since he seems like such a grounded individual, but this is the man who imagined a type of technology that had never been done before. Even at a dangerous risk of explosion. He is prepared to shield her though in case anything goes wrong, but there's nothing better than physical proof of something working!
"I would never!" He laughs at her question and then moves to pick it up, handing it over to her. She will feel that it is warm to the touch from the fire, but otherwise still seems to be a harmless bracelet. She did it. Jayce grins at her, as proud as if it was him doing it for the first time. As she's his student. He knows this is how it felt for Himeka when she got him here.
"This is yours." Jayce made it but now symbolically it is more than a simple piece of jewelry. "The first object you enchanted successfully. You have to keep it." He reaches out to take her hand, hers little compared to his, but he's a gentle giant and his squeeze is exactly that, gentle. "See. You can do anything you put your mind to, Hilda."
There's a hesitation that reaches through Hilda's body as she slowly curls her fingers around the bracelet. It's warm to the touch, comforting and a symbol of her determination to keep those important to her safe even if she couldn't physically do that herself.
To probably many of the Summoned that used magic on a regular basis, something like this probably would have been relatively easy. An action that they could do with their eyes closed or without breaking so much of an anxious sweat. Her laziness bled into the mentality that she shouldn't bother trying because what if she failed? But on the odd occasion that she did try and succeed in spite of herself, what then?
Jayce's hand curling around hers with a comforting squeeze draws her away from her thoughts and her attention back to him. Her eyes begin to mist. It's difficult for her to determine if it's Jayce's words, the reassuring comfort from the gentle squeeze, his patience or a combination of all three that cause her to do so - but regardless, she has to squeeze her eyes shut in an attempt to get her emotions back in check.
After she swallows the initial lump in her throat she sniffles, giving his hand a squeeze back in return. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. This just one bracelet," she starts with a watery laugh, "I really appreciate it, Jayce. I wouldn't have gotten even this far without you. I don't know how I'm going to repay you and Viktor for being so patient with me."
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For Hilda
For Wanda
He often is in here trying to think of bigger-picture inventions that he hasn't figured out how to make work in Abraxas yet. Some of it has to do with no access to the crystals, although if they can pitch the city something big and worthwhile, they'd probably get access or permission. While they were in some trouble after Viktor's cure, it seems to have all been forgiven after their successful tracker located the captured.
Today he has put on his desk two small cases. One that holds his Hextech crystals and another has the equivalent of what they have in Free Cities. They don't look ultimately that different, outside of the vivid color of his own arcane glowing. He told Wanda he'd show her what the crystals of New Magic looks like.
When Rio makes it up to him, she nudges his leg and then lies down in her giant bed he made like the princess she is. Jayce smiles at Wanda. "Hey, remember how we met the first time in here, and you were thinking about beating me up?"
OTA - Cadens
For Sam and Claude
The reason Jayce invited Sam and Claude for a drink at another tavern is because at the Sarstina they're much more likely to be distracted or interrupted by other Summoned coming in and out. Which typically is fine but he thinks it's for the best that they can talk privately without worrying about that. He got them a table in a corner out of the way too and provided the drinks.
Jayce has been a part of a government body before and it went terribly, but he's feeling very optimistic about this. As he told Viktor, he's not worried with Sam and Claude involved. The problem with his past experience was in part due to the highly corrupt officials around him. Free Cities may have some of those, but this is about the Summoned.
"Okay, so drumroll." Jayce playfully taps his fingers on the top of the table. Not loudly or anything. Just for fun. "Not only is the Aquila portal approved of, but Jaskier and Alucard want us to announce it at their Old Public Hall re-opening festival. The first day is tomorrow."
The flyers are spreading out tonight and everything in Cadens will be signaling it as the five days go on. Jayce is excited to share the news with everyone. It was his motion so he put it in officially, and that's why he heard back. But it's a triumph for all of them, really.
"Aquila will be joining the festival so it's a pretty good display of togetherness. There will be a fee for the portal since they're very commerce-heavy, but it still beats two weeks on the road."
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When she had asked Jayce for enchantment tutoring, the amount of homework and actual reading she'd had to do wasn't what she'd had in mind. Nor did she think that she'd have this difficult of a time trying to understand the sheer amount of information she was trying to force into her squishy brain. All she wanted to do was make functional jewelry that would protect the people she cared about was that too much to ask? In reality, she should have known this wouldn't happen overnight; this was, after all, maybe only the third or forth session they'd had together. But Hilda was used to instant gratification and got antsy when she wasn't given that.
"Jayce," her whine sounds tearful as she presses her forehead harder into the textbook. Maybe that would help her understand whatever concept he was trying to walk her through. If experience has taught her anything however, it probably won't. The anxious voice that had followed her for years stirs, stoking her embarrassment and insecurities. "I don't think I can do this. All of this is way too hard. I should just leave this to people like you and Viktor."
SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TIME IS FAKE UGH
He knows it's not for everyone though. Hilda is not alone in getting stuck in all the constant words and the practice required to just do the same spell over and over. He couldn't help but revert a little to Heimerdinger energy when he taught; for all his faults (and there were many), his former mentor was a great teacher, from his experience.
"Hilda, you're doing great, I promise. I didn't know how to do any magic before I got here. It doesn't come easily to some of us." Jayce did take to it pretty well, but that was because his passion for magic has always existed. He created Hextech to have even a little taste of magic in his hands, although it would never be real there. He was determined to become a mage here.
"I'm just trying to set you up with the basic knowledge first, but honestly half of it is practice doing the real magic." It's that knowing the words and the background make the likelihood of messing it up lesser. But it seems like she could probably use less words and more actions.
Jayce brought with them a few pieces that he created himself. He is not a jeweler but he's managed to make some decent bracelets with Luna metal for people. He also brought a few of his knives. All the enchantments were stripped off them. "Here let's actually try one."
They're in his lab at the moment since it is a safer environment than most for experiments. Although his first ideas aren't unsafe. "So you have to memorize the spell, but a lot of it is about confidence when you say it. Let's try a protection from tear. We'll put it on this bracelet." He brought several so if it goes wrong, they can keep trying.
He points to the spell and sets the one next to her. "When you succeed, you'll feel it in your gut, like it has flowed through you."
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At the drumroll, he sits forward in his seat a bit and joins Jayce in the finger tapping to add to it but still lightly so as to not make it noticeable anywhere but to the three of them. Anything which has a grand reveal - and comes with being announced somewhere besides the Sarstina - is sure to get his attention. Both minor caveats are well worth it when Jayce announces what it is they've been waiting to hear and Claude leans back in his chair with a wide grin.
"Hey, that's great news! And not only because after traveling to Solvunn to get supplies for Libertas I haven't been looking forward to a long trip like that again, though that certainly helps." He's kidding, kind of, but lifting his drink to offer to clink all their glasses together is genuine as this deserves celebration ahead of the festival. "Considering traveling there by horse has its own costs, I'm sure the fee will be bearable enough for what opportunities it offers in return."
That's something familiar to him from dealing with nobility: money needed to make anything happen. Claude's not totally surprised to find it's the case here, but - "And it'll be well worth it in bringing those from Libertas to Aquila if they've never been. You've both been here longer than I have so you'd know better, but it doesn't seem like this has been offered before now."
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Jayce has news, and Sam thinks he can guess what about, but he helps with the drumroll and breaks out in a grin at the news all the same. "That's huge, man. Restricting travel is the easiest way to isolate people, even within their own country. Having permanent portals across all the Cities is gonna help with a lot more than we can imagine. Not a bad first showing for the Summoned Conclave, eh?"
Becoming a part of the Conclave hadn't really surprised Sam, is only because he's gotten pretty used to this space - being a part of the Cities government, but on the outside. Having a say with Marlo when he needs to, but more often than not getting frustrated when his words aren't really heard. This group, this whole ordeal is so much more, and will actually be a way to make real change, and honestly? He doesn't know if there's anyone else in the Cities he'd want to be doing it with. He tips his own mug to the cheers, happy to have something to really celebrate as he takes a long drink from his mug before he turns back to the other two, brows up. "And we're announcing this tomorrow? Who's making the speech?"
TIME IS A SOUP!! don't you worry 💕
To be clear, that's a good thing. A younger Hilda had employed them in stressful times with tutors she didn't like or subjects she didn't want to learn. Thankfully, she likes Jayce, he's been nothing but incredibly patient with her, and this is a subject she wanted to learn. At least she had thought she wanted to. Her tears have more to do with the frustration she's feeling towards herself along with a hint of laziness at having to put actual work into this. All of it combines into the sound of genuine distress in her voice - a dead giveaway that she might actually be on the verge of tears this time.
But Jayce's patience and kind tone is enough to convince her to hold off if just for a moment longer. She sniffles, rising her head from the book to look at him and then the bracelet. A beat later she's nodding even though she looks incredibly reluctant to do so. Her hand hovers above the bracelet, gaze fixed on the spell book. It's clear she doesn't believe what she's saying even though there's an immense amount of concentration being focused on the words being said so she doesn't stumble on them. When she reaches the end of the incantation, the bracelet lays on the table not doing much of anything. She visibly wilts. "That didn't work, did it?"
sorry for the wait i drag my corpse back to life
Jayce believes this is his only real chance at a future, Vi's sad news on his shoulders at all times, but he decided to turn it around. If this is his life now, he's going to put his heart and soul into it. No looking back.
"I know, this opens a lot of doors, I honestly didn't know if they'd allow it. I spoke to Fallon Marsh when Viktor and I went there recently, and I did come out of our talk feeling optimistic." On Fallon's side, at least. The man is a commerce king, he can see the value in making travel to his city faster and more accessible. The question was more about Cadens and what they'd allow.
"Starting off with a win is undeniably exciting. For us and the Conclave." He hasn't heard yet what happened with the other two motions, but he'll check in and find out. Jayce has considered talking about setting up a meeting with the others, but that can wait, they have to talk about the announcement.
He smiles at Sam. "I was hoping all three of us. If you two want to."
time is a LIE
"Not this time. Hilda, you're doing better than you think. Do you think I just got good at everything right away? Believe it or not, there is a lot of effort that went into these." Jayce is willing to make fun of himself and also note things like the fact he is pointing at his bicep. Which is bigger than some people's heads. Most people looking at him would think he's a body builder, but he's really just a blacksmith, as everyone knows here. He built things and that naturally comes with hard work and training.
"I have seen you fierce and determined and accomplish a great deal when you believe in yourself. You just have to treat this bracelet and magic like if you were ordering Sylvain and Claude around." Jayce points at one of them and he firmly says the spell and he can feel it in himself, as he said, and there seems to be a touch of a glimmer on the bracelet. He sets that one to the side.
"I always see it as magic being part of us now. In our blood, somehow, when it brought us here. It is naturally flowing, and that means you are meant to be able to dot his."
you're totally fine, take your time!!
And for Cadens, too; though he hadn't been here for long when it happened, the impact of the Libertas art walk on Cadens was easy to see and even more so when it lingered long after that portal closed. He nods in agreement as Sam and then Jayce speaks as this certainly is a win on many levels as they've both mentioned. It feels like progress for both them in having a louder voice with the government for themselves and also for the Free Cities as a whole - one step forward in others which might be potentially made to help benefit further.
Claude's lifting his glass but pauses with it mid-air at the mention of a speech, and it takes but a second for a grin to appear as the invitation to speak together sinks in. "I'd be honored to help. Especially since it was your motion to begin with, so I think it'd be best if you started it off because of that."
One sip of his drink to contemplate what a possible speech could be to brainstorming ideas between the three of them, and then Claude sits back in his seat. "If I might make a suggestion on what we could say for part of it," with a gesture of his glass towards Sam, "your point about this lessening the isolation between cities is a crucial one. It's not unlike what the war I went through at home was hoping to achieve. Though things aren't quite to that level of division here - within the Free Cities, anyway - it's still something important the portals will be able to lessen over time."
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Hearing him share that he's had difficulties too soothes the disappointment, or at least it does marginally. Watching him effortlessly enchant one of the bracelets, she has to steel herself against feeling discouraged. The reassurance, coupled with the comparison to bossing Sylvain and Claude certainly helps too and her lips curl genuinely at that.
She wonders briefly when he says that magic is a part of their blood if Sylvain and Claude had told him about their Crests. Jayce hadn't said that explicitly of course, but it begs the question. Hilda has never been particularly cagey about her Crest, but she could see the pair of them not being so forthcoming even with someone like Jayce.
She trusts him though just like how she trusted Natasha enough to tell her. There's a bit of a self deprecating lilt to her laugh. "You say that but having a Crest didn't really help me with magic back home. And that's practically the equivalent of having magic in your blood."
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Sam doesn't have a whole lot of experience with that side of things. Politics, city planning - he knows the basics but that's about it. But money will always be a motivator, and it has been for as long as he's been in Cadens. He's not surprised that it was a a positive conversation, and that the whole motion went through. It does leave him curious as to the other factions and their own motions.
But that's something else to worry about for another time. Right now Jayce is inviting them both to join him in on the speech, and Sam just kind of chuckles at how excited Claude is about the idea. Lord knows the three men at this table can give speeches, he just almost worries for how much they'll talk.
Claude's suggestion is pretty much right on the money, too, and Sam nods. "Yeah, alright. I can do that. Any chance I can remind the Summoned and the locals that we're not enemies is one I'll take. Especially with how jumpy everyone still is after everything."
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Jayce does know about the Crests. There had been some discussion around them when he was asked to make Hilda's weapon. He doesn't know the exact details entirely, but he doesn't look surprised when she uses that word or confused. He knows what she means, which can probably tell her this isn't the first time he heard the word.
"Well not all magic comes naturally. I've learned a lot of spells here, but I feel like only some parts have taken. Enchantments and healing were easy, but even though I know the words, I've never really been great at fire." Jayce knows enough to give them light or warmth, but he's not sure why it feels less easy. It could be because he finds it more damaging, and he is resistant to offensive types of spells.
"I think maybe focus on your motivation. Why do you want to learn these? What are you hoping to do with them?" He assumes it'll be to help her loved ones in one way or another, whether it's making money or things for them, so keying into her reasons could help.
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Hilda can't help but feel something akin to relief when Jayce admits without saying as much that he's heard about the Crests. It's a good thing too - it saves her some effort from having to explain a concept that she's certain she wouldn't do any justice explaining. Best to leave it to the boys. "Some of my friends had better luck with magic that we called Faith spells. They were more aligned with healing too which I guess makes sense since a lot of them prayed to the Goddess pretty regularly." That is to imply, more than she ever did. But then again, Hilda's downfall when it came to magic had always been a mixture of laziness and anxiety instead of lack of faith.
She mulls over his question a moment, worrying her bottom lip. "I want to make something useful. I used to make jewelry back home but it never did anything apart from look pretty - which, don't get me wrong, I still love doing. But after everything that happened," her voice trials off for a moment before finding it again, "I just want to make sure that people who wear the things I make can be safe."
🏃♂️
"I'm not sure I remember what you're talking about," she says, then, but she's a horrible liar. Of course she remembers, but it's a bit of an embarrassing thing, isn't it? The fact that she was so aggressive with someone she had never met nor had the right to get angry at. "I don't think I was thinking of a 'beating', anyway."
Please, she is far more delicate than that.
With a short cough into a fist, Wanda walks closer to him and lingers near the desk. The crystals have definitely caught her eye. And yet—
"Why? You aren't thinking of pressing charges, are you? I know a good lawyer."
Her attempt at being a little funny and easygoing.
crawls back from hiatus
It's definitely a memorable first meeting though. He smiles at her joke and shakes his head. "Yes, I'm pressing charges over you being a good friend. It should be illegal." The last time they saw one another was at Nocwich post-saving everyone from the cavern, but everyone's starting to settle back into their old lives.
He puts an arm around her shoulder and gives her a side hug because it has been awhile and he was so focused on the crystals he forgot. But he then waves a hand to them. "So the glowing one is Hextech, but the arcane magic we had in the crystals was unstable, overly powerful. They seem to have managed to power their crystals to the levels needed to do things."
crawling out of hiatus half-dead, my apologies
"I always wanted to use magic, my entire life I dreamed of it. It wasn't possible for me in my world so I made technology and magic together. It was the closest I could get." And Jayce loves Hextech. It is his greatest invention and the potential for it is endless. What he managed to accomplish in his search for magic changed his world. But it was still never going to be him being magic. Not until coming here.
Jayce nods as she answers and then puts a new bracelet in front of her. "I personally think magic comes from the heart more than the mind, so what I want you to do is think about someone you care for. Keep them in your mind and think of this spell as a shield you are creating around them."
it's okay you did ittt you got through it!!
She listens to his recounting of his previous desires and aspirations from home and gives him a little laugh. "You know, it's funny. I know that magic and technology are two different things, but after arriving here and seeing all of the technology and the things you and Viktor make together? It feels like magic to me." They only ever had the traditional sort of magic at home. She had never taken it for granted, but with technology in front of her as something tangible that everyone could use - that had been more of a surprise and wonder to her.
There's a look of doubt, or perhaps it's mild panic on Hilda's face as the new bracelet is set in front of her. After a moment though her hands hover above it the bracelet and her eyes gently close. She calls to mind how helpless she felt not being able to protect the ones that had been taken, how terrified she had been when she had seen Petra's form swallowed by the crush of snow in the mountains. A different emotion arises from the swirl of despairing ones and it's that firece desire to protect her loved ones that emerges.
It feels like a rush of warmth rushing from her hands into the bracelet - not so dissimilar to the feeling of when she's able to cast a healing spell from home. There's another beat before she cautiously opens an eye looking at Jayce first instead of the bracelet. Her breathe leaves mouth in a rush as she nervously asks, "I don't want to jinx it but did it work?"
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The arcane crystals to power everything, but their designs are purely technology-based. None of their inventions here really are magic first, they're creation first, and then magic on top of it. They haven't fully moved outside of that, apparently, but whatever works. It's why he designs the jewelry first and then puts the enchantments on.
Jayce watches her and he can almost see her resolve slip into place, the moment between uncertainty to force. He thinks she's going to get it this time, it's just a feeling. He can feel the power coming off of it when he puts his hand close, but it's much better for her to witness it than agree.
"Let's find out." He picks up the bracelet and puts it to the side so he can put his body between her and it if this goes wrong. He doesn't intend on doing a dangerous spell, but you never know. And Jayce is now a mage, like he's always dreamed, so he's very cautious. They picked a defensive enchantment with metal that particularly protects against magic.
Jayce casts a fire spell and shoots it at the bracelet, so they can both see for themselves that it zaps at it and seems to be absorbed right into the metal itself. No harm is done to it, instead it only seems to glow afterward, and probably is warm to the touch. "See, you got it. I'll try a different angle."
Jayce does a wind spell instead this time and this time it doesn't absorb, it does bounce right off the bracelet and rustle all the pages and their hair in the room, but clearly whoever would be holding it would be protected from all of it.
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Her hand reaches out a beat too late to try and snatch the bracelet away from his touch but it's too late, leaving her to watch helplessly as he begins his testing.
The first blast of fire magic into the bracelet is met with baited breath - and admittedly, Hilda can't help but watch from between her fingers. Her hands over her eyes have less to do with the fact that magic is being shot at an object, and more to do with not wanting to see a misshapen lump of metal because her spell failed to work.
And somehow miraculously, it doesn't. Jayce is a relentless worker and teacher unlike his student. Before Hilda can even suggest that they maybe take a break, wouldn't tea be nice right about now? Wind is rushing around them. The expression on Hilda's face is stunned, as if struggling to figure out what exactly had just transpired in front of her. Slowly, her hands lower from her face as she stares at the bracelet before back at Jayce.
Bright patches of pink slowly begin to colour her cheeks as she hesitantly asks, "You didn't just put a shield spell in there when you picked it up to make me feel better, did you?" It's a ridiculous notion and one that she's certain Jayce wouldn't do, but it's the first question that manages to make it past her lips.
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It’s easy to tell that she is not all too bothered, though, by how she melts a little against him when he puts an arm around her for an easygoing side hug.
Time to listen to him geek out about these things if that’s what he wants to do.
“Why crystals?” She obviously knows why crystals, from a magical perspective, but it’s fascinating how the allure of magic and the strictness of science both agree on some aspects. “I— think the question would be, are they special kinds of crystals?”
She pulls away from where she’s been tucked in, under his arm, and reaches forward to grab hold of one of them, so she can look at the crystal in the palm of her hand.
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"I think it has to do with the substance it is made from, it isn't glass or anything like that, it is a precise sort of make up. I don't know exactly what." He knows how they did it with Hextech, and he knows where they appear to mine these crystals in the Free Cities, but he hasn't been given specifics. "I'd definitely make my own if I could, so." They have to keep it more difficult to do, no doubt.
"Also it's small enough to easily function in any device. You can put one of these in the handle of a hammer and their larger crystals can power a bigger one. I think their intention is eventually to not need to use magic at all, or very sparsely." This is utilizing magic but in specialized arcane energy. If the technology itself is pretty much working without a power source, the probably are hoping to some day replace that power source.
"I think after Thorne being in charge of the rest of the continent, a lot of them when they became independent wanted to go the opposite of them. The Free Cities don't want to rely on any magic. Whether it's possible to go completely without in this world, I don't know, but that seems to be their ambition." And it is probably why they don't like the Singularity.
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"I would never!" He laughs at her question and then moves to pick it up, handing it over to her. She will feel that it is warm to the touch from the fire, but otherwise still seems to be a harmless bracelet. She did it. Jayce grins at her, as proud as if it was him doing it for the first time. As she's his student. He knows this is how it felt for Himeka when she got him here.
"This is yours." Jayce made it but now symbolically it is more than a simple piece of jewelry. "The first object you enchanted successfully. You have to keep it." He reaches out to take her hand, hers little compared to his, but he's a gentle giant and his squeeze is exactly that, gentle. "See. You can do anything you put your mind to, Hilda."
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To probably many of the Summoned that used magic on a regular basis, something like this probably would have been relatively easy. An action that they could do with their eyes closed or without breaking so much of an anxious sweat. Her laziness bled into the mentality that she shouldn't bother trying because what if she failed? But on the odd occasion that she did try and succeed in spite of herself, what then?
Jayce's hand curling around hers with a comforting squeeze draws her away from her thoughts and her attention back to him. Her eyes begin to mist. It's difficult for her to determine if it's Jayce's words, the reassuring comfort from the gentle squeeze, his patience or a combination of all three that cause her to do so - but regardless, she has to squeeze her eyes shut in an attempt to get her emotions back in check.
After she swallows the initial lump in her throat she sniffles, giving his hand a squeeze back in return. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. This just one bracelet," she starts with a watery laugh, "I really appreciate it, Jayce. I wouldn't have gotten even this far without you. I don't know how I'm going to repay you and Viktor for being so patient with me."