[open mingle]

[badfeyth]

WHO: Anyone helping with prom renovations!
WHAT: An open mingle log!
WHERE: District 4, Science Discovery Center Planetarium
WHEN: Anytime until December 2!
WARNINGS: Please warn for content in individual headers!




An open mingle for threads relating to prom setup and the planetarium renovations!

★★★
Possible renovation activities include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Ripping out and disposing of a couple of rows of chairs in the planetarium to make room for a dance floor
• Laying down flooring for the aforementioned dance floor
• Clearing room for and rigging four stations where food can be prepared
• Kitschy photography station design
• Installing light fixtures, darkness shutters, and other aesthetic additions provided by Kaveh
• Playing toolbox dodgeball (IF YOU CAN DODGE A WRENCH...)
• Impromptu caber-tossing match feat. lumber somebody probably intended to use for something important
• Assorted various OSHA violations

Anyone is welcome to drop in a top-level, just please warn for content as needed on individual thread headers!

Comments

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham does not even look up.] If you were to bump me or the table I would have to redo this whole sign. I'd like to avoid that.

[excaliburden]

[She'd like to say she wouldn't have bumped into the table, but she is not confident in that at all.

And this man's no-nonsense attitude really doesn't seem to invite Shenanigans.]

All right. I'll be careful and stay over here.

[Juuuust in case.]

I was coming over to see if you needed help with anything. Even if it's just fetching things, or anything like that! I'm great at fetching things for people.

[justscribing]

Is that the task they've given you. [Well, someone has to be the fetcher.] Are you equally good at deliveries?

[excaliburden]

Actually, I signed up to do protection magic and barrier magic on the things that are put up for the gala.

[But... you know.]

I can't do much until everything is ready, though, so... I figured I'd try to help out in other ways, too!

[justscribing]

Oh? [Well, actually having her deliver these finished cards can wait. This is far more interesting.] How does your barrier magic work?

[excaliburden]

Hmm... how to put it...

[She seems very eager to answer, extremely gratified by his interest.]

I can put up a bounded field to keep monsters and other bad things out, or I can put up a barrier of protection specifically on a single target. Both are, ah, magecraft.

[It matters less to the people here, she's noticed, but even so, she feels the need to clarify.]

[justscribing]

[Magic is a familiar concept that, even if he doesn't know the context of "magecraft" he can at least make sense of it.]

And how does your spell define "bad things"? Is it an intent to harm? Your own will of what needs to be kept out?

[excaliburden]

Mmmm... it depends on the spell. Usually, a bounded field just keeps out everyone and everything if they're done right, but my focus is usually on things that mean harm.

[She is not always great at doing them perfectly right.

It's fine.]

[justscribing]

That suggests that targeting things that mean harm isn't actually doing it right. [The flourish of his pen at the end of a word. Down to the next line, he still doesn't look up from his work.] You've modified the spell?

[excaliburden]

[Hmmm... Now that he points it out...]

I guess it isn't. The right way to do it, I mean. [The correct way is to have a point where not a single soul or thing can cross.]

But yeah, to better suit what I needed at the time. It was just a matter of fiddling with it until it worked how I wanted.

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham hums thoughtfully.] Most people find that their abilities are restricted here. Have you tested your barriers since arriving?

[Truthfully, he doubts it will stop anything their kidnappers attempt. They seem to have direct influence to their persons, but it'll soothe at least some people's nerves he's sure.]

[excaliburden]

Oh, I'm definitely much weaker than I used to be.

[A beat, and she rubs the back of her neck a little sheepishly.]

Maybe it's because I'm used to being that weak, but I knew right away. [The strength she's obtained has only just recently become hers.]

I can still make barriers and bounded fields, but they've gone wrong a few times. It is very difficult to predict.

[justscribing]

It would be troublesome if you were to accidently barricade the people who are attending the gala. [It would also be funny. It would also drive Kaveh into frustrated despair.]

How many of these barriers can you have active at one time?

[excaliburden]

Back home, it was more like a range...

[She looks thoughtful, tapping her lower lip with a finger as she thinks.]

I could cast a barrier of protection on a number of our soldiers, so long as they were within a certain range of me. But if they were too far away, I couldn't get a read on them well enough to cast it.

[She wrinkles her nose.]

Here, it may just be a few in a smaller range... but I'll do everything I can, and give it my best try...!

[justscribing]

You'll only need to cover a venue and not an army. If that's the case, is it possible to cast a barrier over the venue, and then a protection spell over one or two specific people within the vanue?

[excaliburden]

Yes, definitely!

[A beat. She considers how her abilities have changed since coming here, andddd follows that up with:]

Probably! At the very least, I'm confident in protection over two specific people, and the barrier over the venue might just have some holes in it...!

[justscribing]

To be honest, I think it's unlikely we'll experience any retaliation for this event since it isn't disrupting one of their experiments. But if it did, it would be best to protect the venue and Kaveh and Ghost specifically as the hosts. Would you be able to sense where holes in the barrier are?

[excaliburden]

[Ahhh...]

I'm not sure... I haven't really tried here. I could practice beforehand, though!

[Kaveh and Ghost, huh...?]

But I can definitely cast a protection spell on both of them! I know them both, so picking them out will be easy. You can count on me, really.

[justscribing]

[He nods once.] Good. Ideally it won't be necessary, but the precaution can't hurt. Practicing beforehand would be best so we can account for any gaps in your defense.

[excaliburden]

In that case... if I practice putting up a bounded field, would you like to see if you can get through it? I'll aim for total impenetrability, even if I don't really think I can do that here anymore.

[She wasn't always great at it back home even before she lost all of her power and strength, after all.]

[justscribing]

All right, we can test your barrier later when I've completed these signs. We can still trial it around the venue. You'll be warding against me, specifically?

[In case they need to tell other people not to try and walk in and out.]

[excaliburden]

Hmmm... I think in this case, I should start with a proper, regular old bounded field. So I'll be trying to block everyone.

Then after we have that, I can try blocking you specifically.

[justscribing]

All right. Then it should be tested later in the evening when less people need to be coming and going. I'll stick around after most have left.

[excaliburden]

That works for me! I don't have anything else important to do today.

[A beat. That does mean she needs to keep herself busy, though, in which case:]

... Did you have anything you needed delivered somewhere?

[justscribing]

[At the end of the current sign, Alhaitham points aside to a stack of finished and dried ones.] You can take those to Kaveh or Ghost. They'll know where to put them.