Evening, after having come back and checked in at her work, has found Linnaea walking down the street away from the building, after firing off a number of text messages to various people. Some to check in and let people know she's alright, one to arrange to meet up and hang out. After the text messages are sent, the burner phone is turned all the way back off and tucked into her pocket, though. The streets are nearly empty now, although not quite, there's always the odd person working late, or those like the Gaian who actually /do/ live at work.

The Caddy pulls up into one of the nearby parking spaces, top down today; it's been cloudy but nice and springishly warm. Felix kills the engine and hops out, glancing around the area appraisingly, taking in the contours of the place itself as much as looking for Linnaea.

Linnaea isn't that far off, and there's little enough automotive traffic at the moment that she sees Felix parking, and crosses the street to go over to greet him. There's another glance backwards towards where the Terminus building stands, and she grins. "Evening," she offers. From her messenger bag, the Gaian brings out a small pair of binoculars, which she uses to look over the street in all directions.

"Evenin'!" Felix greets, flashing her the usual grin, and tilts his head, looking over the binoculars. "Bit late for gettin' your bird watch on, ain't it?" he teases, and stretches as if he'd been in the car for hours, which he almost certainly hasn't.

"Not if the birds are invisible life-sucking whatever we're calling its," the Brit responds, with a grin of her own. "Any of those being around would be kinda pants, really." Sometimes, it shows that Linnaea is foreign. "Hiya. So, how's it going?"

"Man, they're the worst KIND of birds. Good checkin', ain't no way I'm aimin' at cleanin' THEIR shit off the Caddy," Felix replies, hooking his thumbs absently in his pockets and looking around some more. It isn't as if he's likely to spot them without any tools, so possibly he has other things in mind. "Ain't bad. New Walker in town, seems pretty cool. Nothin' else much new anyone's let me in on, at least. 'sup with you?"

Seemingly satisfied for the moment, the Gaian puts the binoculars back into the messenger bag. "I haven't seen any of those birds all day," Linnaea says. "Got some pizza and took it over to hang out with Fetch, went to the fountain and talked to folks on the other side," apparently she uses the term 'folks' loosely, "called campus and assuming we're not dead, rescheduled my exams for during the new moon."

"A day without 'em is a better day'n with," Felix says, then considers a moment and amends, "Mostly. S'pose it partly depends on the day an' what exactly you had in mind. This comin' new moon, though? Or the next one? 'cause ain't that like... Friday?" He starts strolling toward the buildings, a pair with a relatively small distance between them, and eyeing that area up.

Linnaea follows after the Galliard. "This one, or I'm going to have forgotten all the lecture material by the time I take the tests! One on Thursday, one on Friday, two different buildings, and the one due on Saturday I just have to email in," she says. "Of course, I did explain that the 'family emergency' isn't over and I might have to reschedule suddenly."

"Folks hangin' out some Friday evenin'," Felix notes, and shakes his head, looking amused, "Still weird you're takin' tests on purpose. Bet they coulda been talked into droppin' 'em altogether." Neither building is terribly tall, given the area, one about four stories and more more like five, both with fire escapes into this space, as well as their dumpsters and a path slightly less well-kept than most of the actual sidewalks here. The Galliard glances around, looking reasonably satisfied. "How's Fetch doin'?"

"The exam's in the morning, I'll make it," Lin says. "If I don't take the exams, then there's material and concepts I miss and I'm going to need those in the summer, and then in the fall term for the next classes!" The Gaian is only mock-offended and somewhat less serious about being studious than she once might have been, though, and that's made clear by her expression. "He's doing good. Of course, I didn't hear the end of things until we got hot dogs." There's a snort. "Or rather, I'm still not hearing the end of it." Another grin. "And apparently, the leash I've got so that it looks less weird when we're out, is good for chasing."

"Wait, they teach you new stuff IN the tests? Well that just ain't fair," Felix says, "...although I s'pose that could explain some of the ones I took. I just figured I wasn't there that day." Which is still probably the correct theory. "Mm... hot dogs. Ain't had one of them in a while," he muses, and looks for a moment as though he may be trying to recall when the last time was. A sudden, somewhat wicked grin, and he shrugs, going a bit more serious as he moves further into the alley. "Okay. So, you ready?"

Linnaea nods twice-- once to the first question that the Gnawer asks, and once more to the second question. "The principles compound on each other," she explains. "So they put things together in ways that haven't been done before, and then next time, you start from point n instead of point a or point b, but they won't tell you that n equals a plus b afterwards." It's as good an explanation as any, really. "As I'll ever be," she says, and to her credit, she doesn't even look dubious of the alley. Much.

As alleys in the city go, it's a nice one. Upscale, even! Felix makes a bit of a face at the explanation, though it seems likely he gets the idea, "People keep insistin' on addin' letters. Ain't there supposed to be infinite numbers anyhow? Seems to me that oughta be plenty without draggin' letters into shit." He shakes his head again, and settles into a slightly different stance; it's subtle, but his weight is evenly balanced between both feet, and he's more still than usual. "A'right. First off, stand nice an' solid, close your eyes, feel the ground against your feet."

"And imaginary ones too," Linnaea says of numbers, and tucks her hands somewhat into her pocket even as she settles into an easy 'ready' stance. The theurge takes a deep breath as she does so. For just a moment, her eyes squint shut hard, and then settle at merely resting shut.

"I can imagine things a lot more fun'n numbers," Felix mutters, and watches the Theurge settle into position. After her eyes have gone to just resting for a couple seconds, he says quietly, "Feel the concrete under your feet? Listen. Hear the cars goin' by, past this block? Listen for 'em over on 13th, on Beaugregory. Try an' feel the buildings around you. The life in 'em, an' in the street under your feet."

Linnaea nods, and her breathing seems to slowly come into alignment with the distant sounds of traffic, the heartbeat of the city. The Gaian rocks back onto her heels ever-so-momentarily, and then back to feet flat on the pavement. The dubious expression has vanished, though.

Felix smiles as he sees her breath adjusting toward the city's pulse, and nods -- not that she can likely tell. "Good," he says softly, "Sense it, an' feel it. Feel the city in your bones, an' in your soul. You're part of it, it's part of you, both of you are part of the world, all the life that's happenin' in an' through an' around it. That's where you gotta be able to reach, you an' the city understandin' each other, feelin' each other, an' workin' as one. When you think you got a good hold of it, lemme know. Ain't no hurry."

Linnaea takes two steps to one side, all without opening her eyes, just far enough that she can lean against the wall of the alley as they stand there. The slight bit of a breeze blows the hair that's loose into her face, and the corner of one eye twitches slightly, but her concentration doesn't seem to falter. One minute passes in silence, and another, and the theurge mouths words that don't get fully voiced as she stands there, and then finally nods, once.

"Okay," Felix says, nodding back, "So. That's the heart of this Gift: you an' the city got to trust each other, and work together. As long as you got that flowin' in your heart an' soul, you fall and it'll catch you, you leap and you'll find it in your hands an' under your feet. Takes focus, especially at first, so you'll wanna practice with distractions you know are comin' sooner or later -- Briari liked shootin' at me. ...I mean, I think partly she just plain likes shootin' at me. But for example." He grins. "Next time it rains, practice some if you get the chance. Things feel different wet, as y'might surmise. For now..." He glances around, considering. "Let's start with, reckon you could get to the top of this buildin'?" He gestures to the taller one; it does have that fire escape, though the set of stairs that leads from the ground to the second floor is in the up and closed position. "No climbin' the stairs allowed."

Linnaea takes a deep breath in, but at no point at least does outright doubt enter her expression. "It kind of feels like learning to run before I've learned to run," she murmurs, adjusting the strap of her messenger bag so that it's behind her and not off-balancing her. The Gaian's breathing steadies once again, though. "Okay, I can do this." There's a quick glance at Felix, before Lin bounces lightly on her heels again and half-jogs, half walks over towards the taller building. That same pace, a little faster than she walks, and she jumps-- and manages to start climbing. Right up until she looks down from one story high, and that's when she loses her grip.

Felix nods at the assertion and glance, looking encouraging, and follows, staying far enough behind to stay out of her way as she heads toward the building. For the moment, he stays on the ground, watching her give it a try -- at least she isn't wearing a skirt today, so it doesn't look terribly untoward. And then she slips, and he's suddenly taller and looking plenty strong enough to catch a girl Linnaea's size from that distance, which is just what he endeavours to do.

The Gaian doesn't scream when she falls, but she does gasp and seem to brace herself-- for an impact against the pavement that never happens, and her breathing has gone a little bit ragged in the less than ten seconds since she lost her grip, and she looks up at Felix and then screws her eyes shut for a moment. "I fell," she notes, drily.

"That's why you gotta practice," Felix replies, with a grin that isn't quite as charming on the Glabro face. Still, as those go, not terrible! "Also why we're startin' down here instead of up there. Can tell you got the heart of it, from how far you got an' how you got there, so it's just a matter of keepin' hold of that connection, keepin' your trust. Let it flow in your blood, an' for now, don't let your focus go. Good to try again?"

Linnaea nods. "Yeah," she acknowledges, righting herself once she's set on her feet. Once again, she steps back to about the middle of the alley to be able to look at the building. Her eyes close and she settles her breath and centres herself, and then one more deep breath in again, and she opens her eyes. This time, she climbs steadily, without faltering, though not at any particular speed. Well, it's a little faster than she walks, but not by much.

Felix steps back once he's set the Gaian back down, and watches again. He doesn't shift back down, for the moment. Small nods, at several points in her climbing, and he grins again when she starts nearing the top. Slow and steady will, apparently, do just fine for the moment.

Linnaea seems to have found the hang of it, at least somewhat. She reaches the top and pulls herself to sitting on the ledge of the building, turning around so that she's facing into the alley. "That was easier, this time," she says. "Guess I should come down, though, so I can try again?"

Felix grins up at her, and takes a few steps back, giving himself a short run-up to leap for the fire escape. It's less of a notable leap than it would be at his usual height, but still a decent one; more interesting is the way he uses the momentum to toss himself up higher, bar to bar, bouncing off the building's wall once or twice, and swinging off the highest bar of the escape to flip himself onto the roof proper, on his feet. Show-off. "Gets easier every time," he says, grinning again, "An' yeah, I'd say head on down an' give it another go. Remember it works both directions!" He lifts a finger to Linnaea, and steps onto the escape's handrail, sliding down it with balance that shouldn't work and what seems like less friction than physics would allow. There's a leap as he hits the end of it, toward the building, where he catches a drainpipe and slides down it to the ground, landing lightly and looking up toward her.

Linnaea watches Felix and sticks her tongue out at the Fostern at one point while he's climbing, before turning. Another deep breath, and the Gaian starts down, though at first she's using the outside edge of the fire escape stairs as well as the wall, and when she gets close enough, she jumps from those down to the closed lid of one of the dumpsters. "It's pretty fun," she admits, with a bit more of a grin. There's a certain gracefulness that's not there in her movement, usually, and not much of it-- just a touch. The edge of the dumpster is close enough to the ground for Linnaea to make the jump, though she doesn't quite stick the landing, taking several stumbling steps forward.

"Gettin' there for sure!" Felix declares when she lands, looking pleased, "...an' yeah, ain't it? Some nights I just go roof runnin' for fun, 'specially when the moon's big an' I get restless. Plus, it gives a good angle for patrollin' some. It's handy if you gotta run down alleys, too, most of 'em ain't so neat as this. Had plenty of chances to compare doin' it without to with; it's a lot smoother if the city's with you."

Linnaea runs her fingers against the wall of the slightly smaller building, and there's a bit of a jump to get her started as she climbs up it, Spiderman-esque to the top ledge and sits down once again. "That makes sense. And people don't usually look up, really," she says. "Especially not far up."

Felix follows in her foot-and-fingersteps, using the cracks between the bricks and the occasional decoration or sill to make the climb, and plops himself down on the ledge beside her, legs hanging over the edge. "Yup," he agrees, "...even when they're actually lookin' for you on purpose, they almost never look up unless you gave 'em some reason to suspect you might go there. Lost cops that way more'n once, back in Memphis. I was thinkin' after you get a little comfier with the climbin', maybe we'll head somewhere a li'l less..." He trails off, looking around, and gestures vaguely, "...manicured, do a li'l runnin' at ground level. An' when you feel like you got it flowin' good an' think your nerve's feelin' steel enough, we'll go find us some roofs to run. Sound good?"

There's another grin as Lin stands on the edge of the building for a moment, and nods. "Sounds bril," the theurge agrees. "I don't know how long I can keep up, but..." She lifts her shoulders, "the only way to find out, is to try." That said, Linnaea turns so she can climb once more-- this time back down.