Wayfinding 10

[21:06] Taiga Rowan says, "Klaus..."
[21:06] Niklaus Rowan asks, "Mmh?"
[21:06] Taiga Rowan says, "I'm getting antsy, idling in one spot for so long."
[21:06] Niklaus Rowan says, "You're injured."
[21:06] Taiga Rowan says, "..."
[21:07] Taiga Rowan says, "Never stopped me before."
[21:07] Niklaus Rowan says, "I know."
[21:07] Niklaus Rowan asks, "Where do you want to go?"
[21:08] Taiga Rowan says, "...I've got no clue."
[21:08] Taiga Rowan asks, "Would you like to help me with my Wayfinding practice, perhaps?"
[21:09] Niklaus Rowan says, "Sure."
[21:09] Taiga Rowan says, "No clue how you're going to, honestly."
[21:10] Taiga Rowan says, "But I'd like for you to feel... helpful."
[21:10] Niklaus Rowan says, "I mean."
[21:10] Niklaus Rowan says, "You could teleport me or something. No pressure. You might cut me in half though."
[21:11] Taiga Rowan says, "A-"
[21:11] Niklaus Rowan exclaims, "...But if you're getting better with your practice, you won't!"
[21:11] Taiga Rowan says, "Ahh..."
[21:11] Niklaus Rowan says, "No pressure."
[21:11] Niklaus grins.
(Niklaus Rowan)
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[21:27] Taiga seems... mildly uncomfortable at the prospect, despite Niklaus's grin. He shuffles a bit in place, glancing around. How best to put it to words, he wondered? There's a long silence that fills the space between them, Taiga seemingly wary to speak his mind, but eventually submitting-

"...So far, I've only really been able to teleport successfully... once or twice. Even then, the circles have never really ended up taking me where I intend. ...The only real success I've had was under... extreme pressure. Life or death." He could remember it clearly, the moment he was cast down from the sky - falling, hurtling towards the ground with no chance of flying back up, having to rely on a one in a million miracle to survive.

Those chances... they weren't the kind he liked betting on.

"S-So ah..." He glances away. "I have tried... replicating... those conditions before, in an attempt to... expediate the learningprocess. You remember... my ankle, yes? I ah-" He sniffles a little, clearing his throat.

"Jumped off the roof and tried to make a portal to break my fall. But uhm… perhaps having you as incentive would be safer."
(Taiga Rowan)
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[21:32] In a moment of silence, he listens to Taiga explain his progress with the technique. Glancing over the water, he would give a short hum all the while as he considered the ideals and the prospects. "...So that's how you broke your ankle, huh?" Really reckless, wasn't he? A squint is soon delivered before he twists around, arms crossing over his chest.

"But this is life or death. If you don't do it right, then I'll die, won't I?"

Or he'd be really hurt.

"If you want to involve me, then you should do it this way. Show me your commitment to this technique. Teleport me somewhere. Anywhere."
(Niklaus Rowan)
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[21:47] Taiga grumbles loudly, obviously rather ashamed of the admission that he had only gotten himself more injured instead of recuperating quietly as he should. But Niklaus didn't seem nearly as pissed off as Taiga assumed he would be - and Taiga couldn't help but feel thankful for that much. Understanding as always, hm?

There's a hum, sitting down on the beach and crossing his legs one over the other. "...Give me a minute, at least. I want to go over my notes one more time... a-and no. It wouldn't necessarily be life or death - at least I hope not. I'd have to make some kind of critical mistake on one of the most important circles, like Netherworld or Conversion." Reaching into his inventory, he pulls out a rather large leather bound notebook. Not THE Wayfinding tomb, but his own collection of sporadic notations he had made throughout his studies. He's flipping through the pages rapidly, speaking gibberish to Niklaus more or less.

"---You don't even know what that is, probably." He finds a page with a long, long list of individual glyphs. A claw traces over them, flicking back and forth between the front and back side of the page. "There ah... the ones involved with connecting with the Spirit Realm and converting matter to energy. ...I've never tried teleporting anything other than myself." He hisses.

"So in order to make this safer... I'll have to get some measurements first. Do you ah... know your weight, off the top of your head?"
(Taiga Rowan)
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[21:51]
{LOAD GAME}

[22:00] Niklaus didn't particularly know anything that Taiga was spouting off, but he didn't seem too phased by it, either. His head momentarily tilts to the side as he listens on, and his eyes move down toward his nails as he clicks them together a bit idly. "I don't really understand a lot of it. I just remember being taken along on a Wayfinding trip by Koume, and that's it. Didn't look into the details, really..." His mismatched eyes blink a few times.

With pressure placed on Taiga despite him saying there wouldn't be any, he can't help but feel amused.

"I'm about two hundred and twenty-one pounds." He mentions, a hand waving. "But don't overthink it, alright? If you start freaking out, it'll just end up causing you to mess up."

His hand waves. If he got hurt, it was for progress. "Also, I'm six foot and four inches. My wingspan, though, I don't know. It's very wide, though." He glances between the wings there with a small hum.
(Niklaus Rowan)
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[22:13] "Two hundred and..." Taiga flips to another page, a fresh blank one, and with a fwip of his wrist he pulls out a pen from his sleeve! He begins copying a series of glyphs from his list to the fresh one. He couldn't help but remember what Ethan had told him about 'cheating' out specific runes, stealing them from the other circles and using them where they shouldn't necessarily belong. Like this, he might be able to skirt around a few of the specific details still lost on him.

"Alright... alright." Taiga gives a glance back to Niklaus, flickering his gaze to and fro again and again as he sizes up the other. He had seen the man for so many years now, he figured there wouldn't be a single detail he had missed thus far - but now certainly wasn't the time to let anything go unchecked. "We have to eliminate any variables - so I'm going to have to ask you to strip."

A pause.

"Your armor, that is. Clothes stay. Anything heavy you have on you, just... drop it somewhere. I need your measurements to be as close to precise as possible, after all." Finally, he accounts for the width and dimensions of Niklaus, rounded up a number here or there wherever he felt he could get away with it. Guessing on a few values - smudging a glyph in just the right way to get it to work for this. So... is this what Ethan had to do each and every single time he wanted to open a portal?

Perhaps the art of Wayfinding way, truly, this. Fitting the puzzle pieces together in just the right way...

Finally, Taiga had a completed copy of the circle written down on paper. All that was left was to copy it... into reality. "...Ready? I'm going to send you into the lake... hopefully."
(Taiga Rowan)
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[22:26] "Mmh,"

The armor would soon be dropped away, along with the likes of his weapon. Heavy leggings would be pulled away as he's left in a less heavy state for Taiga to work with. If it was a puzzle, then he was going to make it a puzzle easy enough for his husband to work with.

Glancing toward the lake, he would give a small breath inwards.

"I didn't expect to go for a swim today, but I'm as ready as ever, Taiga." He mentions with a nod of his head. This was good practice, and it meant that the other would stay the hell away from leaping off of buildings and breaking bones.

It was surprising that they, themselves, were not puzzles that needed to be put back together.
(Niklaus Rowan)
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[22:38] Taiga takes a deep breath, finally standing up and closing away the book. He'd need both hands for this, after all - and what he had written down still lay fresh in his mind, but not for long. He was going to have to simply bite the bullet and get this over with... as much as he dreaded it.

So he begins. Taiga begins to move, one hand over the other, drawing circles out of the air with traces of his mana weaving together to make circles. There was a certain gentle grace to his motions, finally practiced well enough to go through the glyphs and parameters without fumbling here or there, confidant in sections of the craft that had previously been entirely foreign to him. Setting things up so that they'd work with Niklaus instead of Taiga's body surely couldn't be all too difficult, no?

It comes down to the individual specifications of the circles, converting a certain amount of matter into a certain amount of energy and ensuring that none of it- absolutely none of it - was lost in transfer between this realm and the next. Much less tearing a hole open in reality and forcing his way through and more politely knocking on the door of the universe, giving it your passport and asking very nicely to be taken from one place to another. It was the kind of cordial method of transpiration that Taiga had decided on dedicating himself to. One that so many were after - but so few could master.

Ren Shi had been in this exact same position, hadn't he? At one point in his life, he too was struggling to learn this exact same art, going over these exact same steps.

And as Taiga moves from Travel to Interpolation, his finger dancing through the air and carving out rune after rune - he couldn't help but feel a certain sense of frustration at that fact. A motivation burning inside of him to prove his worth as a Wayfinder, to show them all that the prodigy of Neo Invidia would surpass and overtake all that he set his mind to. In this case? The object of his obsession was undoubtedly the man who struck Neo down.

This would be proof, in Taiga's eyes, of his potential. If he could make this work - if he could do this - then all the knowledge he had gathered wouldn't be for naught. He's lost in his thoughts, mindlessly working, carving and - occasionally - rewriting. Muttering to himself as he becomes completely transfixed by the practice.

It's a full minute before he's satisfied. A shimmering portal of blue and green energy lay before the both of the now, and as Taiga taps into the circle - reading its lines and connecting with the territory, it all seems to check out. Right above the lake, designed for someone between two hundred and fourty to two hundred and seventy pounds. With a bit of leeway given by an extra dose of his own mana to account for those wings.

"...Alright. Step through."
(Taiga Rowan)
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[22:46] If Taiga wanted to learn this art, he'd be the best support that he possibly could have for it. Incentive to not mess up was a good thing to help someone properly learn all the while. Shifting and watching as he traced out the runes causes him to blink a few times as he observes it. He wasn't going to interrupt the halfling during his work, that's a given.

Wings shuddered a bit behind him as he continued to observe the likes of the lake he'd be plunged into, and then he soon snapped his attention back over toward the other after he had completed the circle there.

Drawing in a careful breath, he tried to shake away the anxiety that had been there. One step backwards, and then he glances at the other with one singular pause:

"...better fish me out if things go awry. Love you," a small salute is given before he moves, aiming to step riiiight through that portal.

Where in the world would Niklaus Rowan pop up now?!
(Niklaus Rowan)
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Taiga Rowan rolled a dice and it landed on: 5

[22:55] Taiga prays silently as Niklaus steps through the portal, the leap of faith he needed to take - to prove it to someone else, to have someone like Niklaus wholeheartedly believe in his potential... this is just what he had to do. It terrified him, frankly, the moment Niklaus' body turned to energy upon entering the portal. The small, insignificant instant of time between him going in and emerging out the other side felt like an eternity. Just a heartbeat too long, just enough for his heart to sink to the bottom of his stomach.

But he needed that, really, so that his heart could soar once more upon the successful transfer.

Niklaus would appear... roughly where Taiga intended this time, right above the lake, dangling in the air for a split second before plummeting down to the waters below! It would almost certainly be a complete shock to his system, his body going from a completely dry boy to a beam of pure energy shot through the Spirit Realm and then a very, very wet boy splashing down in the lake!

Taiga is far more surprised than he has any reason to be, all the doubt he had shoved away to a corner of his mind suddenly burned away by the ravenous fire of excitement that roared through his system! "YES!" He literally jumps for joy, fisting the air and quickly scrambling back over to his notes before even checking to see if Niklaus was A-OK. It had worked -- and that was the important part.
(Taiga Rowan)
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[23:01] And he enters, his body becoming something more or less disjointed, energy in this strange form. He feels odd, even though he has traveled in such a manner prior to this. Having been on both sides from Riftmancy to Wayfinding, he couldn't help the droning, strange sensation inside of his body all the while.

How long would it take...?

Recollecting and his body no longer in the strange embrace of energy, he would suck an audible breath inwards, twisting a bit in the air as he looked around. There's a splashing sound as he crashes into the water below, not able to resituate himself and use his wings properly in time.

Sinking down, he would beat his wings and move his arms, pushing himself up to breach the surface. Soaked down to the bone, but--

"I'm alive!"

It's called out from the middle of the lake, likely very barely audible, but it was assurance none-the-less as he began to drift over to the edge of the lake.

...A serene look is on his features as he finally makes it back over to the shoreline, letting the push and the pull of the water rock him as he floated on his back.
(Niklaus Rowan)