( log five | closed | a butterfly before it flies )

[dedikated]

Who: Katydid and a city in Cumbria (dedikated and tongueamok)
What: Just two neighbours. Using their powers. Planning things.
Where: Spire 4, the disaster floor (floor eight) - Carlisle's apartment.
When: Slightly backdated to the 7th.
Warnings: Nothing atm, but maybe later? IDK! Plans. Plans involving Kate. AKA disaster zone.


[ God, she's glad for the flow of her powers in her body again. If not for the constant reminder of what she did, at least for the fact that she feels whole again.

She can, at least, bear the guilt a little better with the ability to run across rooftops regained, with all her jumping and agility skills back to their full potential.

And she has... well, better ideas than the last ones. If she can get Carlisle to agree to them.

Hence the knocking on his door and the armful of papers with notes on them. ] Hey, you in? [ Why is she asking that he's always in ]

Comments

[tongueamok]

[Of course he's in. It's not as though he has anywhere to go or friends or people who actually want his company or anything. That, and he's practically a shut-in even on his best days.

At least he doesn't peer outside the door as though there's a bomb awaiting him on the other side this time. Carlisle pulls the door open, eyeing Kate up and down, his gaze stopping on the papers in her arms.]

Miss Kate. I'm not reviewing any more pamphlets for you, if that's what you're here for.

[dedikated]

[ Nope, you're not. That's why she shakes her head - looking very, very somber and businesslike as she does so. This was a very different proposal. ] Not that. [ a beat as she shifts some of the papers back into place and moves her weight from one leg to the other, and then: ] Been thinking about something my mentor tried designing a few years ago. [ not the massive thing that left her exhausted and made an apprentice quit, but the smaller ones Dagny called pointless when you have first aid. ] Need your help with it. [ well, technically she could probably go to any healer, but it seems more practical to ask her neighbour. And maybe she remembered him talking about wanting to make things up to people.

Maybe. Don't let anyone know she has a heart though. ] I come in? [ Can or May is the word you're looking for there, Kitkat. ]

[tongueamok]

My help?

[He looks puzzled by the very idea, and even more puzzled by her request to come into his home, but he steps aside to let her in. He's got some notes spread out on his dining table, the shorter coffee table by the couch occupied by a handheld game (Space Fight). He is a man of many hobbies, clearly.]

Are you sure it's my help you need? Not someone else's?

[dedikated]

[ she has no trouble walking in, sitting down and placing her notes on the coffee table. But at least Carlisle has the video games; all she has is work and running around like a maniac. They both lead the most fulfilling lives. ] Yes. [ Said like that is the end of the discussion. Even if the reasons are mostly practical - it's far easier to manage this project with the person who lives opposite than trying to organise meetings with someone who lives elsewhere - it counts. ] Would let you help us at the clinic without having to leave this place. [ And you know you want that, you hermit. She's always tended to negotiate like this, always been blunt and presenting the advantages to the other party (let me apprentice with you and you'll have more medical technology). ]

[tongueamok]

Really.

[Yes, yes he does want that. He recognizes a tone of businesslike negotiation when he hears one, though. He takes the seat in the far-too-tall easy chair opposite the couch, noting with a slightly disdainful look how she's made herself at home on his coffee table in less than a minute.]

What would I have to do, exactly?

[dedikated]

[ Sorry, Carlisle, she's gonna be part of the furniture soon enough. At least you don't leave the place often enough for her to start stealing in at random hours of the day. ]

My mentor [ and she keeps specifying that, keeps making sure Carlisle knows that this isn't her idea, not after what her last idea achieved, ] designed these devices. [ she passes over some of the sketches that show a random item - a metal bar, in this case - being filled with energy and then expelling that energy to heal a hurt stick figure. ] Few years ago now. Stores healing power to be used as needed. [ basically a much more convenient first aid kit. ]

[tongueamok]

[He eyes the stick figure dubiously. Nice scientific diagram there, Kate.]

We had similar, er... trinkets back home, but they were only able to store elemental magics, not aural channels.

[Which means he gets the concept, even if he isn't convinced such a device can be created.]

Did they work?

[dedikated]

[ no one said that she had to be an artist to work with this shit ok.

the question prompts Kate to exhale. That was where it got trickier. ] It tested fine. [ but these specific devices were never implemented, because Dagny saw no point in using something so complex for things first aid covered. ] Never put them in the clinics back home. They could only heal so much. Me mentor decided they were more trouble than necessary. [ there's a slight edge to Kate's tone that suggests she never agreed with Dagny's conclusions. ]

Thought they'd be useful here. [ where supplies and staff are far more limited and the danger likes to come in waves. ] Saves on stitches.

[tongueamok]

[He keeps eyeing those drawings and the notes with them. Notes are one of those things he's very interested in, if his own table of them is any indication.]

How much can they heal, then? Would they be worth the effort to craft?

[dedikated]

[ she pushes the rest of the notes to him, although with her shorthand and her world's terms, he might only figure out so much from them. They mostly talk about the process of enchanting the thing - the levels she needs to work at, the failsafes that need to be created. ]

Depends on how much of your power we can store. [ a hum of thought, trying to recall how draining they were to make, trying to judge how the differences between superhuman biology and most humans' would affect them. ] Probably... Think we'd be able to manage minor broken bones. [ for normal humans, anyway. ]

[tongueamok]

[She has all these great notes, and yet it's pamphlets on sexual education that she'd have him read instead. Sigh.]

Broken bones are no problem for a trained healer like myself, though I do wonder if the energy I channel will be compatible with your device, given that we're from different worlds.

[dedikated]

[ Carlisle do you really want to have to heal someone's infected knob DO YOU REALLY.

But there is a note about that! A little 'N2KM: C's power' that's scribbled in the corner of a page. ] Think so. [ Ah, part two of the plan. Really, step one, but there was no point in explaining it if he didn't seem interested. ] Haven't had trouble making my powers work with anything else so far. [ See: Sharon. Just because it went wrong doesn't mean it didn't work. It just didn't do what they hoped. ] We can check. If I can monitor your powers, I can make something that will drain and store them. [ To which end, she's brought her sunglasses with her. ]

[tongueamok]

[No he doesn't. Don't ever ask him that. Don't you ever ask him that, Kate.

His eyes trail up from those notes to hers.]

I see. And how does monitoring them go? You're not going to break your arm right here and watch me heal you, are you?

[dedikated]

[ Then quit your bitching because she doesn't want to have that in her clinic, either. ]

Using them does help. [ But no. ] I can try enchanting these- [ Sunglasses, the ones she's pulling off her head and tapping with an uncharged finger ] -until I find whatever wavelength yours operate on. Should be able to see them after that. [ And therefore means she can do anything else possible with her powers for them. But that's obvious, isn't it? ]

[tongueamok]

See them?

[He's versed in a fair amount of magic, but she's lost him somewhere along the way.]

[dedikated]

[ Oh for God's...

You know what. Demonstrating this shit is easier. Give her a minute to tap the basic enchantment in. ] Put these on and look at me. [ Because it is much easier to let him see her powers - something that looks very much like a circulatory system, all lit up in cornflower blue with splashes of yellow and lilac. It's bright, but there's still some patches and knots in lines of it across her arms - after effects from the power exhaustion that only ever disappear with time. Or a manipulator, but they don't have one of those here. ]

[tongueamok]

[Carlisle takes the glasses, holding them before his own so he can see through them. He pulls them back almost immediately, hesitating before taking a second look. He has no reason not the trust Kate -- it's just an odd sensation, being able to see magic the way a doctor would see blood vessels. They have potions for this sort of thing where he comes from, but it seems all Kate needs is a pair of sunglasses.

He offers them back, a few troubling thoughts entering his mind. If she could see magic, what else could she see? Could she see his curse, as well? Discover just what it is he can do?

He'd rather not ask, just in case. Better not point out what she does not fully know.]

Right. See them. Got it.

[dedikated]

[ much easier this way. Kate nods, satisfied that he gets it now. ] Any questions? [ more questions, things she still needs to clear up? ] Or we can start now.

[tongueamok]

[He looks like he's about to tell her they can start, but nope, he's got one more question:]

This... isn't going to end up like the last thing you tried, is it? Not that I'm doubting your abilities, but how likely is it things can go wrong?

[dedikated]

[ to be fair, that was one of the reasons she was hesitant about proposing this. she expected that question. ]

For one thing, [ her voice is hard, sharp and businesslike, similar to the tone she used when they escaped this place back before everything went to hell, ] I've got no plans in trying to push this through in under a week. Would rather take time and make sure it works. [ And things can go wrong, but; ] Something like this is less risky anyway. Worst case scenario, you drop it and I disenchant it.

[tongueamok]

[His brow furrows as he considers her words. At least it sounds harmless enough, in his case -- though the question of why she didn't do that with fog incident does occur to him. He assumes she might have drained herself, left herself too exhausted from spellcasting. As a magic-user himself, he knows that feeling well enough.

He could deny her, and that'd be that... but he wants to help, and healing trinkets does sound like a fair way to go about it. If it works, he gets to help without having to put himself through too much discomfort. If it doesn't, he has to visit people on foot, as usual. At least if his healing gets out of hand, it's mostly just energy expelled. It's not a monster-summoning fog or anything.]

All right. How do we get started?

[dedikated]

We see if this could work. [ she taps her glasses and lets the original enchantment drop. Step one, seeing if she can see his powers. ] Tell me everything you can about what you do. [ it helps, knowing what people do and why, she thinks. gives her a base to work off. while Carlisle talks, she'll be tapping out an initial option to test. ]

[tongueamok]

[He gives her a quizzical look, watching as she fiddles with her glasses.]

I... uh. I manipulate magical energy to heal people. Using myself as a conduit, I am able to use the energy to ascertain where the injuries are, then force it to mend them.

[A pause.] Do I have to talk about everything I can do? Or just the restorative arts?

[dedikated]

Everything would be best. [ she stops tapping and raises the glasses, frowns, amd puts them back down, scribbling notes on a half-written piece of paper before tapping twice to disenchant. ] Better to make sure I can separate them.

[tongueamok]

[He utters to himself.] Cisth there's a lot.

[Then clears his throat, trying to think of what all he knows.] Aside from healing, I know some minor conjuration.

[And he conjures a small globs of water in the air to demonstrate, figuring Kate remembers their encounter with the inky abomination well enough.]