1853/Device Shop Class

Device Shop Class
Date of Scene:	11 August 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Rashmi visits Molly at her Mom's tuner shop, and surrounded by cars and mechanics tools, helps her friend add a component to Starcrash, restore some functions, and gives her a lesson in making spells.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
It's early evening, which means the Skyline Mechanical and Tuning Shop is closed for the night. Which, on nights like tonight, means Molly is here after everyone else has left, and is busy sweeping the floors and doing some general clean up. Hey, if you want your parents to buy you a car sometime in the near future, never hurts to earn all the browny points you can get, and it also gives her time to oggle the various expensive and customized cars that are going to be inside all night; and the place is packed, with a car on each hoist up in the air so another car can be parked underneath them.

Molly isn't allowed to touch those. But she can peer in through all the windows and imagine herself driving them sideways around a corner with the tires squealing, and she totally does that.

She's given Rashmi the address (which isn't hard, it's in the same building as her other Mom's Ramen place, just on the ground floor instead of the roof) and instructions to just knock on the doors (the shop doors might be more effective) when she arrives. And until then, Molly seems to be in a pretty upbreat mood, in spite of the fact that half her body is covered in various degrees of bruising, and moving is generally unpleasant, but hey she managed to fight off a Youma and a terrible driver like that so sweeping shouldn't be all that bad.

She may also have taken copious amounts of painkillers over the last couple of days, so there's that too.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The moment it was learned that the warplane youma had a *compatible module* in its guts, Rashmi was... well, *displeased* is a strong word, but *worried* isn't strong enough. So she went to Hannah to beg the use of some tools, and spent a bit of time in conference with Nicomachea, and only *now* has she decided to amble toward the Tuner shop, knocking on the roll-up door. This, followed by a telepathic message.

<< Hey Molly-chan, is that you cleaning up? I thought maybe now would be a good time to take a look at that module you found? >>

Molly Skyline has posed:
<< Oh definitely! >> comes the reply, followed a moment later by the sound of a couple deadbolts being undone, and a chain rattling loudly on some pulleys as the door rolls up. (With an electric motor and not by hand, no less. Fancy.) "Hi Rashmi-chan!" she greets, with broom still in hand. "Welcome to my Mom's tuner shop, basically heaven for anyone who loves fast cars and... potentially boredomville for everyone else, but I understand." She waits for Rashmi to come through before hitting the button to lower the door again. The broom is leaned up against the wall, and the purplenette kneels to shut the deadbolts again, on on the floor on either side of the door.

"So... I got it stashed in by backpack," she admits, which she goes to retrieve off a worktable. "Which didn't leave my shoulder until everyone was gone for the night."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Once the door is lowered, Rashmi chuckles as she taps Nicomachea, and extracts from the Device a toolkit the size of a small briefcase, with Belkan lettering along the edges. "Honestly kinda makes me wish I was more into cars," she says, looking around. "This place looks cool but I wouldn't know what half of these things are even for! But um... I promised Hannah-chan I'd have these tools back before morning, so... let's get started! I want to make sure it's *safe* for Starcrash to install first, and afterward it shouldn't take long."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Honestly, outside of the cars, I'm pretty new to all this too," Molly admits, "But being able to schmooze with the mechanics has its advantages. Mom told me the secret was donuts. ...You bring them donuts, and they'll help you out with anything. Apparently jelly donuts are the key, and I already have one who's willing to teach me how to put tires on rims, and another one will let me watch while she changes the spark plugs on that Porsche there." She points to a baby-blue vehicle that's currently seven feet off the ground on a hoist.

As she speaks, Molly grabs a couple of stools and puts them side by side on an immaculately clean workbench. (The entire shop is extremely clean, you could probably eat off the floor.)

"Apparently it takes less time to learn to be a mechanic than it takes to learn how to make rice for sushi," she adds, as she plops her backpack down on the bench, and unzips it to remove an object that looks like it belongs in the engine of a fighter jet... somehow. It's a... thing. She takes off her earring, and sets it down beside it. "Alright, now it's your show," she adds, and slips onto one of the stools.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Okay there *has* to be more involved than that," Rashmi laughs. "I can't imagine it being *that* easy. It certainly wasn't for *this!*"

Removing Nicomachea from its cord around her neck, she holds it out in both hands. "Nicomachea: Active Mode, please."

A flash of golden magic later, and the large, heavy book is closed in her hands, which is set on the workbench, and opened. With that, she picks Starcrash up with equal care, and clears her throat. "So let's get started then... Nicomachea? Depot Investigation."

    << *BONG!* >> << DEPOT INVESTIGATION >>

A disc of light appears above the book, its surface marked similarly to a Mid-childan spell seal, and the earring is placed atop. Almost immediately, a multitude of holographic screens blinks into existence, as loops of rune-tape begin to rise and fall around the disc and its contents. "Okay," Rashmi murmurs, eyes flicking over the readouts. "Nothing really different from last time, no degradation is good... Okay. Let's see what came out of the gacha machine. Nicomachea: Secondary Analysis Platform?"

With a quiet *bing!* the platform supporting Starcrash slides to one side, to make room for a second, upon which Rashmi places the module. The moment the thing comes to rest, its own analysis begins.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly giggles softly, "Yeah, well, Mom said that you have to work in a sushi kitchen for like... a couple years before they'll let you even think about touching the rice, nevermind like, a piece of cucumber or a fish or something. If you're learning to be a mechanic they're impatient for you to get everything figured out as fast as possible so they can stop devoting their time to helping you with it." She shrugs, "But Mom also says if I really wanna go fast then an understanding of how cars work is essential. ...I mean hey, Ken Miles helped build the GT40 he won Le Mans with."

The purplenette watches intently, as Nicomacea does his analysis of Starcrash, and finds him to be (other than the device version of amnesia) in excellent health. And then the work on the component begins.

"So... mind if I ask you something?" And apparently Molly is confident that will be fine, as she just continues. "So, like, you go as Page Mage when you're in Henshin, right? ...I... never did get a..." she pauses, searching for words, "I dunno, super-hero name? Is it like... too late? I have no idea what to call myself. Other than Molly."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...So I never really used a hero name either," Rashmi says, blushing faintly. "Everyone else said I *should* have one though, and it was Usa-chan who came up with 'Page Mage.' I don't really *like* it as a name, but it seems like it's stuck, so... You *could* just do what Hanzo-kun does, that's the name of *his* Device. 'Starcrash' is a pretty darn good hero name, I think!"

The information coming from the module has her pausing, a puzzled frown on her face as she looks from its readouts, and back to Starcrash, and to the module again. "...Huh. That's... *weird.* ...I mean a good weird, but like... *weird.* So uh... I think this *is* one of Starcrash's modules, Molly-chan! Gimme a sec, I wanna see if I can figure something out..."

A tenth 'screen' blips to life, one that looks more like a Next Generation command panel than a keyboard, but Rashmi taps the buttons and icons with almost as much ease and familiarity as a bridge officer.

And then, what can only be a progress bar springs to life, and begins to fill...

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly mmms, and tilts her head in thought, "Mmmmm... maybe," she replies, non-commitally. "I dunno, I feel like it might get confusing if I'm Starcrash, and I'm constantly talking *to* Starcrash, since I can't give him mental commands yet." She pauses, and purses her lips, "Which I wonder if that might be in this module," she muses.

No such luck this time, it isn't.

"I dunno, I considered 'Spitfire' but maybe naming myself after a British fight plane is a little on the nose, especially after like... the other night. Also thought of 'Firefly' since I fly and use lots of really hot magic, but maybe it's also dorky. Which might be fine 'cause I'm a dork."

The request for a moment is given, and Molly watches the progress bar fill up. She doesn't ask what it's for, she knows she's find out when Rashmi is ready. "Hey, maybe when I get to drive my own racecar, I'll name it Spitfire," she muses. "That feels cool. I dunno if many racers name their cars but I don't have to be like them. I don't wanna be like every other racer, I wanna *win*."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Well 'Stellar' is already taken as a name," Rashmi murmurs as the bar fills up. "'Firefly' might work, sure. Really I guess it's just a matter of what fits best? Cos I think Starcrash is a pretty cool name all its own."

*bing!*

The progress bar becomes a screen, detailing some sort of arcane file structure that might be understandable, if Mid-Childa's written analog to English wasn't nearly so stylized. The structure is navigated, revealing scrolling chunks of what can only be programming, and Rashmi actually looses a triumphant shout. "Yes! Okay installing this puppy *now.*"

"Starcrash-kun... would you do me a favor and go into Active Mode for me, please? It'll be a lot easier to work on you that way."

As she waits for the Device to respond, she turns around to lean against the workbench. "Okay! So, I found a chunk of his Grimoire in there; that's the list of spells he has access to, stored in his version of a hard drive. He's already got presets for a more tunable Shield, a Time-Space Barrier, but the best part? Once this is installed *I can show you how to program spells.* ...I don't *actually* see telepathic interfacing though, which means any *testing* of your spells you do, you'll want to do under Barrier. Almost as good is, the fact that it's not just extra memory in that module."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly ooohs softly as she listens, and watches what's happening on Nicomacea's various screens. "So... I might finally start to get somewhere," she muses. "Like, you're just... awesome. I don't know if you realize that. But I feel like we both started at roughly the same place, and you've gone on to become one of the absolute coolest mages around -- I mean outside of that you were born just naturally cool -- but I've basically stayed the same this whole time. I still just have the same handful of spells I started with. So new stuff? I am..." She throws her hands up in the air, "SO *EXCITED*!"

As she's expressing her joy, she ends up wincing, given that she did get put through a wall again recently, by an ornery warplane, and lowers her arms sheepishly. "A better shield sounds like the best thing right now, given how often... this happens," she adds, gesturing at her bruises. "This time was pretty bad though."

Starcrash, meanwhile, complies. The device unfolds himself into a staff, and floats overtop of the space where Rashmi put him a few minutes earlier.

<< AFFIRMATIVE >>

"Starcrash, we gotta teach you some jokes," Molly sighs, "You're like the Terminator, but without the murderous intent." As she watches, she turns to lean her back against the workbench, and tilts her gaze up towards the ceiling. "Okay, I'm glad you also though Firefly was cool, because... I mean I thought of it, which means I think it's stupid until someone tells me it's not. So it's between that or Starcrash I guess. I'll think about it for a bit."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Molly-chan, thank you," Rashmi says, cheeks flushing as she ducks her head, "but I *know* I just got lucky. If Starcrash hadn't been taken apart when the ship exploded, you'd've had access to everything I do. You'd probably have *gotten* as far as I have, because you're pretty cool yourself, y'know? And with a programming engine, I can *probably* rig up a simple Storage Device as an add-on for you to have more memory for now. It's not gonna be *perfect,* but, you'll definitely be more than a glass cannon. Also? *Storage space!*"

As Starcrash unfolds, Rashmi opens the toolcase, and selects a pair of... well for all the world they look like futuristic dremels-turned-lockpicks, and Rashmi carefully removes the armoring covering the Device's 'crescent.'

"Now here's the really wild thing about Devices," she says, laying aside the paneling in a very clear order-of-removal, then turns to the module. "What we're looking at isn't actually their real form. Mid-Childan dimensional technology is *super* wild, because things like Devices don't actually exist in *three* dimensions, it's more like five. It's why they can have a Standby Form that's an earring, while active it's a whole staff. Like... have you ever seen MRI images being taken in realtime?"

As she talks, she taps a few buttons, and manipulates a slider, all with a careful eye on the screen.

And the object itself... well her question is *very* relevant to what's happening, as the module seems to twist and warp and change and never lose that mechanical-magical look.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Not it's Molly's turn to blush, and shake her head, "Nonsense, I'm just lucky you like hanging out with me," she mumbles, though she isn't sounding overly argumentative over the point. "And, hey, I'm not going to shoot for perfection. We're going to bulid Starcrash back up bit by bit whenever we find a module, and just... accept that improvement is improvement. And every fight I get into I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, and work with my creativity and whatever I've got on Starcrash at the time."

She bites her bottom lip, and blushes a little more, "Actually, I considered Hedgehog as a name 'cause I'm British and I think they're cute, and they get all spikey if you try to be mean to them, but it also has like... nothing to do with anything Starcrash does. So I kinda tossed it out."

She spins back around on the stool so she can watch more intently, and listens raptly to Rashmi's explaination of how devices work and how many dimensions they exist in. "My brain literally can't handle five dimensions," she admits. "But yeah, I've seen MRI's. I got really really bad headaches when I was younger so I had an MRI and I got to see it after. Turned out there was nothing wrong with my brain, I just needed glasses. ...I had no idea that I was supposed to be able to see things clearly. The joy of growing up in the care of the British government."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Well," Rashmi says, gesturing at the module, twisting and turning in mid-air. "What you're seeing is a three-dimensional 'slice' of something that exists in five dimensions. Which is why installing this module is gonna be tricky, because..." Rashmi stops moving the slider for a moment, as the module becomes something *much* smaller than it originally started out as. "...Yup, that looks like a connection port..."

Then she turns, taps a few more button on the Starcrash side, and...

Well at the very least, it's *interesting* to see the un-armored crescent part of the Device shift and change, even when it looks like half a nuclear warhead attached, somehow, to a long stick...

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Any particular reason why that part of Starcrash looks like it'll explode and take half of Tokyo along for an all-expenses paid free trip to kingdom come?" Molly asks this as the part of the crescent that looks like an actual warhead comes into view. "I'm pretty sure I'm not capable of an explosion even a fraction that big. ...Actually, I'm not capable of any explosions, but I feel like it's something Starcrash yearns to do in most fights, he just can't.

"I'm really glad you know this stuff. I'd be stuck without your help." She shrugs, "I mean, I could just get someone else I suppose, but... you're my best friend." She glances off to the side, and looks up at the variety of cars in the place, parked on the floor or suspended on hoists. "But... hey, eventually when I've learned? You ever need your car fixed, come see me. I'm sure by then I'll know how to fix one." She pauses, and adds at a quiet but intentionally heard mumble, "MIght even make it faster for you."

Molly watches for another minute in silence, before she sits up straighter, "Hey, question; since devices can reconfigure themselves between, like, big things and small things, like how Starcrash can be a big staff or an earing? Could other shapes be possible? Like say, if someone got real up in my face and I had to defend myself close up, instead of getting punted through the nearest brick wall like my usual strategy, could I have Starcrash change into like, I dunno, a halberd or a triden or something, if I had a module for him that allowed that?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Because you're looking at part of the *actual* hardware that turns magic into lasers," Rashmi says absently, manipulating both objects now as if solving a puzzle; both Device and module swell and contract, and give the impression of 'rotating' in space as they do. "Think of it like... if you could see the *entirety* of Starcrash's being, it'd probably be closer in size to an actual artillery mount. What dimensional technology does is, it lets you fit all the bits and things together in such a way that if you look at it *just right,* it's a staff, with all the actual machine tucked away at right angles to reality-- AHA!"

At the moment of her cry of victory, the module has become a large, boxy thing, and the machinery of Starcrash the size of a server rack, with several empty stations tracking up the back of the yawning void. Triumphantly, Rashmi snatches the module off its platform and reaches in, after a moment of fiddling plugging it in with a satisfyingly solid *KCHAK*

"Now we test for 5-dimensional parity before closing up," she says, though really it's Nicomachea doing the testing. "Otherwise when I rotated Starcrash back to active mode configuration, the thing might catch on some of the guts we can't see and do damage."

At which point she gives Molly a gentle smile. "Hey... you'd definitely have gotten better help than me, if you didn't mind maybe needing to get suplexed once or twice as payment. But not only am I glad to do this for you, Molly-chan? It makes me *so happy* that all the work I've been doing is giving real results for someone I care about. And if I ever *do* get a car, you're gonna be the first person I ask to make sure it's good."

The question about the melee weapon, then, gives her pause for thought. "I mean... maybe? Fate's Device has a mode that turns her staff into an energy scythe. But I'm not sure Starcrash has the *hardware* to do the same thing. Once you get real familiar with the programming engine, though, you could fake it with a spell?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Okay well, rule number one, no Hyundais. You deserve a much cooler ride that that." Molly flashes a grin, and shakes her head. "And honestly, if I had someone out there claiming to have been studying Mid-Childan tech since literally the dawn of time and wanting to take over, I'd say no, 'cause my best friend is doing it and I trust her way more." She leans over to look more closely at Starcrash's innards, "Also, the idea that I'm walking around with a piece of magical rocket artillery hanging off my right earlobe feels pretty awesome, not gonna lie."

The purplenette shrugs her shoulders lightly, an leans back once more so as not to get in the way. "I mean, faking it with a spell just seems... just as good, honestly? How I do it is immaterial, and it's still a backup plan anyway, but when I end up in close combat as I seem to more often than I'd like, it'd be cool to... y'know, like I said, not have 'punted through brick wall' be my go-to strategy anymore. ...And I think I'm excused of responsibility from the other night 'cause that thing was a jet airplane and it was ridiculous."

Molly smirks, "Anyway, if I use magic to give Starcrashe like... magic blades or something and whallop someone with them, I doubt they'll complain that it was 'fake'. Pretty sure it'll work just as well."

She pauses, and jumps to her feet. "Which, by the way, I'm super grateful for how fast you and everyone else came looking for me," she adds. "There's a couple vending machines up in the front for customers, by the way. You want a soda or anything?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Sure!" Rashmi says, beaming. "Surprise me!"

Nicomachea looses a cheery *ping!* and Rashmi looks over her shoulder. "Okay, Nicomachea! Close 'im up, and then we can show Molly-chan the *other* best part of you having your new module!"

The head of Starcrash warps and reforms much more rapidly than before, as his machinery scrolls back to Starcrash's 'original' dimensional coordinates. Once the Device resembles his original shape of a crescent-headed staff, Rashmi starts replacing the panels she'd taken off, in reverse order.

"Okay, Starcrash, now time for the real test; Guest User Command: Diagnostic Validation."

As Molly returns with the sodas, Rashmi turns back around and beams. "Now Starcrash gets to reboot and check out his new hardware, and integrate it with the rest of himself. Shouldn't take much time."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly isn't gone for long; there's the sound of a vending machine getting opened (it's great when you have the key) and a couple drinks just getting pulled out the back by hand. When she returns, she plops the requested surprise drink down in front of Rashmi.

"Boom Boom Lemon," she states by way of identification, having apparently gotten herself the same thing, which she twists the top off of and has a long pull from as she sits back down. "So we're almost finished?" She ahems, "Well, I mean, you're almost finished, you did literally all the work, I just sat here and marvelled out how cool my best friend is. ...And like, I dunno if a device is like a computer running Windows or anything, but I've never asked Starcrash to reboot before. Is that something I should do from time to time?"

Molly plops her drink down (far enough away that she won't spill it on either device if she decides to have a clumsy moment) and rests her elbows on the desk. "You know... maybe I was being unfair on all the people around me, the other day. It hurts me a lot, that my biological parents looked at me when I was born and just said 'No thanks'. But my Moms specifically chose me out of all the available orphans, and you picked me to be friends with out of all the available high school students. And I just wasn't thinking about any of that."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"*I* barely did any of the work honestly," Rashmi admits, cracking open the soda and taking a sip. "Nicomachea did the *hard* work. I just have *just enough* training to know what to look for. But no, generally you don't need to, *except* in cases like this, where you're plugging in new hardware. Think of it like three seconds of anaesthesia before surgery. Except the surgery happened *before* you went out and... Well the analogy breaks down easily. Anyway."

Pausing, she stares for a moment at the drink, eyebrows rising. "Wow this is good, I've never tried it before." Shaking her head, she looks to Molly, and chuckles. "Hey, it's okay. That's *always* been true, sometimes you just need to get past the dark parts to see the brighter ones, y'know? You got there, and that's what matters."

And, one last *bing!* but this time, from Starcrash. and all the special effects fade away, leaving the staff floating above a disk of light. "Okay, Molly-chan... What I want you to do is, close up your soda. Pick up Starcrash with your other hand, and touch the bottle to the crystal bit that you see writing on, when he talks. Then say 'Soda, Store.'

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I still have self-worth problems," Molly admits, queitly. "I look in the mirror and wonder what people see. I don't see anything. Just a dummy with purple hair. ...But then it's like, I mean... obviously people see *something*. So even if I can't for the life of me figure out what it is, I can just... accept that it's there. Maybe it's okay and I don't need to know what it is." She shrugs, "Same as I have no idea what's actually inside Starcrash. But it's there and I could knock over a building if I wanted to, so... it's fine."

She picks up her soda and takes another drink from it, before screwing the cap on tight before picking up Starcrash with her other hand. "OKay, let's...

<< BOOTING >>

"Uhm, alright, I thought you were ready but far be it from me to rush a bloke when it's getting dressed."

<< RE-ALIGNING HARDWARE >>

<< SYNCHRONIZING >>

"Oh well, wouldn't want to be out of sync now, would we. Pretty sure that leads to blue screen of death, I don't need that happening next time I've got a Youma that's, I don't know, either an ornery washing machine or a sherman tank or something breathing down my neck."

<< READY >>

"Alright." Molly taps the top of the soda bottle with the crystal, and takes a breath. "Soda, Store."

And the soda vanishes.

"...That is so COOL."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"And now when you say 'Soda, Retrieve' it'll look for the item marked 'Soda' in its storage, and pop it out into your hand. ...Which is best to be right in front of the glass bit," she says hurriedly. "Otherwise you might forget to, like, grab it."

Once that's done, Rashmi closes Nicomachea, and shrinks him back to his charm with a mental command. After reattaching the Device to its cord, she leans over and gives Molly a hug. "That's *exactly* what you can do, Molly-chan. Trust us to know what we're talking about, when we say you're cool. Because you *are.* And now you're cool with a Shield I need to teach you how to tune, so you can make presets."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I--" Molly trails off immediately, and wraps her arms around Rashmi to return the hug. "Thank you," she says, quietly. "I'm sure the other day won't be the last time in my life I get depressed, but... it's different now, 'cause I have a best friend and Moms and people around me who obviously like me, so... it's easier. Used to be I'd just be dealing with it by myself and that's the worst, I can guarantee you."

As she releases the hug, she holds Starcrash up by her hand. "Soda, Retrieve." And she promptly gets her soda back, and almost drops it. "Alright, that's awesome," she declares, plopping the soda back down on the table. "So basically I have a bag of holding now. What's the size limit? Like, could I stick a car in here, or is it limited to smaller stuff?" She blushes softly, "I swear I'm not becoming entirely obsessed with cars. At least not anymore than an aspiring racer shoulder."

The purplenette holds Starcrash in hand, and reforms the device into a staff, which she rests across her legs. "Alright, so... in the immortal words of the great Doctor Strange... 'Teach me'."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Smaller stuff," Rashmi says, chuckling. "I don't know the upper limit, but, I try to keep it to no more than a full shopping bag at a time, and clean it out on Sundays. It's not gonna be nearly as convenient without the telepathic interface, but... You'll still have enough practice that when you *can* think at him, it'll be so much simpler."

As Molly sits down, Rashmi nods, and brings Nicomachea on-line once again. "Okay," she says. "Now that you've got the programming engine, we can start with altering parameters. I want you to say 'Starcrash: Eclipse Shield -- Configure'"

And for the next hour, Molly gets an *exhaustive* lesson on the parameters that go into a Shield, what values can be altered, and how that affects mana drain.

More to the point, Molly learns how *all* her spells have variables that can be tweaked, and presets made to alter the behavior of her spells without changing them substantially.

Molly Skyline has posed:
For the entire hour, Molly is absolutely, without doubt, the best student. She starts by retrieving a notebook and pen from her backpack, and to go along with the exhaustive lesson, she takes exhaustive notes. Just in case she ever ends up on a deserted island somewhere, with nothing but her wits, her notebook, and Starcrash, she'll be set.

"So," she says, "I can configure this new Aurora Shield to be... all kinds of things different, like bigger or smaller, stronger, to guard against something specific really really well instead of just everything sorta good, or... get tricksy?" She pauses for a moment, flipping through a dozen pages of notes with a few hand-drawn diagrams. "And I can do the same sorta thing with beams and barrets... and come up with new utility spells? Ohmigod this is AWESOME." She chews on her bottom lip in thought for a moment, "So like... could I make my shield fiery, say? On the outside? So if someone is trying to hug me with pain and suffering it'll make them all crispy?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yep!" Rashmi says. "And it'll be a lot easier for you than it was for me, because I didn't *start* with any energy-conversion options in Nicomachea's Grimoire. But a Fire Shield is different enough from a normal shield that you're gonna have to register it as a separate spell. Also important thing to remember; any new spell is going to eat *hard* into your mana reserves for awhile. The more you cast a spell, the more efficient Starcrash can make it, but at first it's... *pretty* inefficient. The first time I boosted three people at once, I almost lost all my remaining mana, it was terrifying."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"So don't bust out all my new moves on the first outing, check," Molly replies, automatically. "Also, when you power-boosted me while we were fighting that Warplane? That was *Awesome*. Please do that again. Like, all the time. When you did that I felt like I could basically handle anything, even though my barrier jacket was a smoldering ruin, I was half-pulverized myself, and I was running out of mana from flying and constantly raising my... really basic and inefficient shield."

So, I should ask you--" She stops, "Hey wait, could I modify my flight spell, too?! Oh my god there's possibilities. And I have no idea what I want."

The purplenette blushes, and rests Starcrash against her shoulder. "Anyway. I'm really grateful for all your help, you're awesome. Next time we go see a movie or something, mind if I treat you? Treating people is a pretty common way to say thank you in Britain, anyway."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"That is," Rashmi says with a grin, "actually what Nicomachea is *best* at doing. And it's gotten to the point that I have no problem whatsoever boosting three people at once, and I will *always* be giving you support whenever we're fighting together, don't worry. I've actually come up with a few tricks for that, that you won't even need since you already have thermal magic loaded in. As to your flight spell... Maybe? Probably? But I really, really wouldn't mess with it until we've found Starcrash's telepathic interface; that is *not* something you want to test to destruction."

When Molly asks to treat, she chuckles, bobbing her head. "Then I'd be glad to let you treat, Molly-chan. ....Oh! Also! Don't forget you can throw a Time-Space Barrier now, so *don't* test any spells *except* under Barrier."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"OKay, no messing with flight until further notice. Much as I'd like to work out how to go faster." Because of course, that's her first thought; how to go fast. Yeah, she's an aspiring racer all right. "I'm definitely gonna start putting my creativity to work, but like... not all at once? I don't want to accidentally get myself killed or anything by trying too hard to be fancy."

Molly sits back, and has a look around the room, "Uhm, yeah, and Time-Space Barrier -- which I guess I should practice so I can cast it efficiently, it's no good if I blow all my mana right when I roll initiative -- to be cast every time I want to test something. If I accidentally blow up the Porsche my Mom's working on for someone, I'm pretty sure I won't just be grounded for life, but grounded for all eternity."

And then she grins, "Excellent, besties movie night it is. ...And sometime I'll have to show you Ford v Ferrari 'cause I'm a dork and I wanna show you the stuff I wanna do when I can drive. ...But I'll understand if that one's not up your alley."