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xp_logsThe science and magic groups try to work together to find a way to deal with a portal. Backdated to March 1.
A patch of empty air had never been more fascinating.
Topaz walked around the hasty perimeter she had burned into the ground while they had been chasing Lyton, frowning. They had the stuff she had used to open it, but closing it was apparently... not an option.
"Well, I guess we could just leave the magical portal to Hell's Storage Space in the middle of nowhere," she said, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. "But it's possibly not recommended."
"Prooooobably not the best idea," Clint said, stepping through the portal and then right back out. "Also, still creepy as hell." Looking around, he quirked a half-smile at Amanda, then located Molly and asked, "Got anything good so far as readings go?" They'd set up a lot of equipment off to one side, hoping they could figure out the mechanics of the portal -- if there were any, that is. Considering it'd opened with a magical key and a poem or something in proto-English, he wasn't going to hold his breath.
Molly was as close as she could get to the portal without going through, waving around what appeared to be a teched-out looking wand attached to an chunky-looking tablet.
"Well...it's stable now so....at least no one would get trapped inside?" she offered, taking a step back. "It kinda reminds me of the bi-frost, except it only goes one way."
"Not to mention it's full of who-knows-what magical artefacts," Amanda added. She was huddled in her leather jacket, downwind from the others with a cigarette in her hand and a scowl on her face. "'S gunna be a nightmare to inventory all that shite and make sure it's safe."
"I mean, nightmares are what we do right?" Stephen rolled a stone between his fingers, charging it with just a little magical energy, the stone's motions leaving a blue trail like a ribbon as he wound it around between his fingers. "We just do it one thing at a time, how bad can it be? I mean it's not like it has super killer suits of armor...do you think it has super killer suits of armor? You know...suddenly I'm not sure i wanna explore it anymore."
Reed looked at the portal impassively, eyes darting between that and a few monitors. Naturally, nothing was making much sense, but that seemed par for the course in this place. Or really anything in his life since coming to the Mansion. "The patterns aren't relating to anything I know of; however, I am seeing slight glimpses of energy, not unlike quantum communication, although instead of a single photon, this would be able to transport DNA." He paused. "Not something impossible...simply highly improbable but perhaps if we merged a few biochemical principles with perhaps Takusue's work...." The scientist trailed off, talking more for himself than anyone else as he tried to figure out exactly how he could recreate the portal.
Topaz raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “I don’t think science would be able to explain this,” she said dryly before refocusing on Amanda’s problem. “I need a new project. I don’t mind dealing with inventory.”
"Takusue?" Clint asked, meandering over to stand a bit closer to Reed. "Combining pyrolysis and catalytic reformation? I mean, sure, if you wanna talk to ExxonMobil or whatever. Though if you completely reverse the technique, you'd wind up with biological material on the other side -- how're you thinking you'd stabilize the DNA, the nuclei, for the dematerialization and transfer? And then there's the whole 'make sure the person going through doesn't re-materialize as a puddle of skin and ooze' thing..."
"So we don't reverse it. If we can't close it without problems..we could give the portal a tether!" Molly said excitedly. "It's just energy right now, right? We can't absorb it or do anything with it like it is. If we give it like...a form using biochemical elements then maybe we can...I dunno...at least move it somewhere else? Like a magic inflatable pool ring."
"Move the entrance to somewhere other than a random field, you mean?" Amanda considered the possibility, leaving the Science the hell alone. "It's possible... I mean, I've read about it, tho' the usual practice is to open portals where you want them to be in the first place, and if they're in the wrong place, close 'em. But that's really not an option for this one. Too much juice, for a start." She glanced over at Topaz. "You think we can manage with three of us? You, me and Steve?"
"What are we going to do, shove it into a closet?" Topaz paused, then sighed. "Yes, of course we are, what am I thinking." She tilted her head back and forth for a long moment, considering the situation. "I think we can manage. We're pretty much at full strength, and I doubt the Incredible Stretching Bloke would notice if I nipped off his emotions. Kidding." Mostly. She wouldn't try, but she was pretty sure Reed wouldn't notice. "Stephen, any thoughts?"
The teenager flicked his stone at the portal pensively, the magically charged rock bouncing back from the entrance letting him catch it and flick it out again. "It looks pretty stable right now, you're right though Ms Sefton, we're not gonna be able to close it. Whoever made it looks like they wanted it to last." He bit down on his lip thoughtfully. "Whoever made it had to give it some kinda anchor right? You think we can tear it away from it's anchor and attach it to something else? Something more....portable?"
"Based on what Mols said about the stability of the portal on the other end, I think it's safe to say this side's ability to last," Clint nodded toward Stephen, "is directly related to its proximity to this." He pulled the box with its key out of his jacket pocket and stepped away from Reed so he could hand it over to Amanda. "And you got a rundown on the weird little poem or whatever from Doug, right?"
Amanda took the box from Clint, weighing it in her hand experimentally. "Some kind of proto-English, he said," she replied. "Usual myth-and-legend stuff about Avalon and protecting the world from what's inside. And protecting the things inside from the world, too, which is a bit unusual. Seems to be some kind of storage space. Like a library for magic items."
Topaz perked up slightly at the word library. "Finally, something I can actually help with," she said dryly. "Brilliant. So, find a way to pick up a magically charged patch of air and shove it into a closet. How hard could that be?"
A patch of empty air had never been more fascinating.
Topaz walked around the hasty perimeter she had burned into the ground while they had been chasing Lyton, frowning. They had the stuff she had used to open it, but closing it was apparently... not an option.
"Well, I guess we could just leave the magical portal to Hell's Storage Space in the middle of nowhere," she said, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. "But it's possibly not recommended."
"Prooooobably not the best idea," Clint said, stepping through the portal and then right back out. "Also, still creepy as hell." Looking around, he quirked a half-smile at Amanda, then located Molly and asked, "Got anything good so far as readings go?" They'd set up a lot of equipment off to one side, hoping they could figure out the mechanics of the portal -- if there were any, that is. Considering it'd opened with a magical key and a poem or something in proto-English, he wasn't going to hold his breath.
Molly was as close as she could get to the portal without going through, waving around what appeared to be a teched-out looking wand attached to an chunky-looking tablet.
"Well...it's stable now so....at least no one would get trapped inside?" she offered, taking a step back. "It kinda reminds me of the bi-frost, except it only goes one way."
"Not to mention it's full of who-knows-what magical artefacts," Amanda added. She was huddled in her leather jacket, downwind from the others with a cigarette in her hand and a scowl on her face. "'S gunna be a nightmare to inventory all that shite and make sure it's safe."
"I mean, nightmares are what we do right?" Stephen rolled a stone between his fingers, charging it with just a little magical energy, the stone's motions leaving a blue trail like a ribbon as he wound it around between his fingers. "We just do it one thing at a time, how bad can it be? I mean it's not like it has super killer suits of armor...do you think it has super killer suits of armor? You know...suddenly I'm not sure i wanna explore it anymore."
Reed looked at the portal impassively, eyes darting between that and a few monitors. Naturally, nothing was making much sense, but that seemed par for the course in this place. Or really anything in his life since coming to the Mansion. "The patterns aren't relating to anything I know of; however, I am seeing slight glimpses of energy, not unlike quantum communication, although instead of a single photon, this would be able to transport DNA." He paused. "Not something impossible...simply highly improbable but perhaps if we merged a few biochemical principles with perhaps Takusue's work...." The scientist trailed off, talking more for himself than anyone else as he tried to figure out exactly how he could recreate the portal.
Topaz raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “I don’t think science would be able to explain this,” she said dryly before refocusing on Amanda’s problem. “I need a new project. I don’t mind dealing with inventory.”
"Takusue?" Clint asked, meandering over to stand a bit closer to Reed. "Combining pyrolysis and catalytic reformation? I mean, sure, if you wanna talk to ExxonMobil or whatever. Though if you completely reverse the technique, you'd wind up with biological material on the other side -- how're you thinking you'd stabilize the DNA, the nuclei, for the dematerialization and transfer? And then there's the whole 'make sure the person going through doesn't re-materialize as a puddle of skin and ooze' thing..."
"So we don't reverse it. If we can't close it without problems..we could give the portal a tether!" Molly said excitedly. "It's just energy right now, right? We can't absorb it or do anything with it like it is. If we give it like...a form using biochemical elements then maybe we can...I dunno...at least move it somewhere else? Like a magic inflatable pool ring."
"Move the entrance to somewhere other than a random field, you mean?" Amanda considered the possibility, leaving the Science the hell alone. "It's possible... I mean, I've read about it, tho' the usual practice is to open portals where you want them to be in the first place, and if they're in the wrong place, close 'em. But that's really not an option for this one. Too much juice, for a start." She glanced over at Topaz. "You think we can manage with three of us? You, me and Steve?"
"What are we going to do, shove it into a closet?" Topaz paused, then sighed. "Yes, of course we are, what am I thinking." She tilted her head back and forth for a long moment, considering the situation. "I think we can manage. We're pretty much at full strength, and I doubt the Incredible Stretching Bloke would notice if I nipped off his emotions. Kidding." Mostly. She wouldn't try, but she was pretty sure Reed wouldn't notice. "Stephen, any thoughts?"
The teenager flicked his stone at the portal pensively, the magically charged rock bouncing back from the entrance letting him catch it and flick it out again. "It looks pretty stable right now, you're right though Ms Sefton, we're not gonna be able to close it. Whoever made it looks like they wanted it to last." He bit down on his lip thoughtfully. "Whoever made it had to give it some kinda anchor right? You think we can tear it away from it's anchor and attach it to something else? Something more....portable?"
"Based on what Mols said about the stability of the portal on the other end, I think it's safe to say this side's ability to last," Clint nodded toward Stephen, "is directly related to its proximity to this." He pulled the box with its key out of his jacket pocket and stepped away from Reed so he could hand it over to Amanda. "And you got a rundown on the weird little poem or whatever from Doug, right?"
Amanda took the box from Clint, weighing it in her hand experimentally. "Some kind of proto-English, he said," she replied. "Usual myth-and-legend stuff about Avalon and protecting the world from what's inside. And protecting the things inside from the world, too, which is a bit unusual. Seems to be some kind of storage space. Like a library for magic items."
Topaz perked up slightly at the word library. "Finally, something I can actually help with," she said dryly. "Brilliant. So, find a way to pick up a magically charged patch of air and shove it into a closet. How hard could that be?"
