milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The dilemma of the high school wizard: tedious physics homework, or tedious physics wizardries?

Nita is sitting at a table, gazing undecided between her manual and her textbook.

Eventually, manual wins (lunch hours are for homework, right?). She pulls out a notebook and pen, and starts making notes in the Speech. Occasionally she refers to the manual, bringing up this diagram in 3-D or checking that conjugation.

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"I'll keep an eye out." Laini chuckles. "The few Universities in Underhill tend to be much more lowkey, unfortuantely. And I'm guessing that even on your Earthside, they don't go in for that as much either."

She shakes her head. "No use for heros, they say now. Alas."

A deep sigh. "Ah, well. I'll keep looking."

She leans her chin on her hand. "And what have you been up to, Laini?"

Laini grins, and motions to the selection of circuits, wires, and other such things scattered on the table in front of her. "We're planning a trip out to a region of Underhill that's been rather quiet lately, to do some mapping and test out some new equipement. Milliways works rather well for calibrating stuff- rather like a false-positive null spot."

Intrigued -- "Null spot for magic, or space, or what?"

"Space and time. Magic- not so much." Laini smiles wryly, waving a hand in the air. "But as for the those two, here works well as a control. I'm still figuring out why- but not going to argue with it."

"Then again- I'm only calibrating half of the locators here. The others, the long and normal way back in the lab. So, its a bit of an experiment on that as well."

"Huh." She eyes the circuitry. "Interesting. I guess it makes sense as a spatial null-spot, but I wouldn't have expected it of time. Not with" -- she waves at the Observation Window -- "that."

Laini taps her fingers, thinking for a moment. "Ever see one of those biology timelines, that shows a kid holding a pin? The history of earth starts at his feet, and the start of life is the pin, and humans are barely the head of the pin?"

She nods to the Observation Window. "If you figure something the same for the Universe, with it being... millions of miles long, instead of a kid's four feet height, the dust speck on the head of the pin would be Milliways." A wry smile.

"So, the locators just sort of spazz on the time, and don't note anything down."

She snorts. "Makes sense. Spazzing out sounds right for electronics."

"Only when you want them to." Laini chuckles. "Just not out in the field when we want them working."

"Hopefully, anyway."

She waves a hand, grinning. "I'm prejudiced. My sister and my partner are the electronics types. I figure books never crash."

"Well, pros and cons and benifits to each." She shakes her head, amused. "Just a lot more pros for magi-tech in Underhill, since not a lot of people know how it works, yet."

Her eyebrows go up.

"That's a benefit?"

"In some ways." Her smile turns wry. "The others in being that I'm considered one of the best teachers for it, for kits who may have the knack for it."

She takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a laugh. "But, something new, not common? Tends to be rare and valuable."

Nita grins. "Well, yeah. You're a teacher? I didn't know that."

"Prolly not the best of them." Laini smiles wryly, shaking her head. "I don't really have the patience. At least Miroku and Stuart know the basics of things, so we're just going over specialities, really. And making more things up, with it being a new field at all." She chuckles.

"Stuart'd be a good teacher, in a few years time. Loads more patience than me, but his kind are usually good at that."

"Still, that's pretty cool." Very Serious -- "And it makes you more qualified to talk about exploding teachers' heads."

She puts her own head on one side. "What kind is Stuart?"

Laini grins at Nita. "What has four legs, two wings, and a historic penchant for riddles?"

". . . Is he really a Sphinx?"

Nita is delighted.

"Really and truely." She nods. "He's rather good at things- Miroku may jump to answers faster, but Stuart's the one to get to the right answer." Wryly. "If and when they actually work together, they do pretty good, but Miroku tends to just roll over Stu."

"Huh. I never would've thought of a Sphinx as a pushover. What kind is Miroku?"

"Eh- he's young yet, give him time- and experience in getting fed up with it so he stands up to it." Laini shakes her head, bemused.

"Miroku's a kitsune as well, though still young. Old enough to be a smart ass know it all, though." She makes a face. "If he ever learns to not trust in his genius to be right all the time without practicing and actually learning, he'll be good. As it is now..."

Nita snorts. "Sounds like my little sister when she started wizardry. It's hard to stop being hot stuff."

She rolls her eyes, cheerfully. "Unless something bites you in the ass when you're too busy being awesome and not watching what you're doing."

"Yeah. Talk about bringing you down to earth."

"Well, I'm still waiting for it to happen to Miroku." Laini shakes her head. "Has your sister dealt with it, yet?"