suckstobestrange | Open Post

Once again, Claudia had gotten sorting duty, but instead of being sent to the Ovoid Quarantine, Mrs. F had shown up to explain that there was another area in need of some attention. Apparently the little side-room with its handwritten cards was a Caretaker thing, and since she had started taking a more active role, she could fill in from time to time.

It was a fascinating collection, that was sure, and several were in need of being packed up for shifting into more appropriate areas. It was one of those that had her complete attention as she carefully removed the protections that kept it in place for transport. The last thing she needed was to activate it.

Whatever he'd been expecting when he came in today? It wasn't another person.

Stephen stopped in the doorway, brows furrowing slightly in surprise at the sight of the strange redhead in the room. Even his cloak seemed a bit surprised, the hem ruffling a bit as if it wasn't sure whether it wanted to yank Stephen out of the room again or not.

"...I take it you're the one keeping this room from filling." The sorcerer commented as he finally crossed the threshold, letting the door swing shut behind him. His hands were empty, but there was a small bubble of softly glowing energy trailing over one shoulder, inside which was a small gold bangle. Stephen seemed content for the moment to ignore it instead plucking a pen and card from the writing desk alongside the nearest shelf, writing out the information on the captured thing.

"Nasty bit of business this one. You'll want a respirator while handling it." He was already writing that at the same time, in big bold letters along the top of the card, but if she was here, why not say it aloud too?

It was only experience that kept her starting from ending up causing more trouble than a little artifact whammy. She hastily finished the transfer and fastened the case tight before looking at who came in.

"Actually, this is my first time. Mrs. Frederick usually handles transfers, since it's not really a rank-and-file job," Claudia admitted. "I didn't know there were any more active portals to the Warehouse until she told me. But then, you never know with this place. It's what keeps life interesting."

She blinked a little as she realized he was talking about the bangle that was floating behind him, and it made her look even more startled. "What are you using to do that?"

"The Warehouse?" He nodded, glancing back at the door he'd come through. "Self-explanatory then. It's a rather useful place, I can see why the Sanctum coughed up the doorway finally."

It took a bit of time to get the card written- between the obvious tremors of his hands, and the ache of joints, holding the pen was... well it was a bit of a trial, and if he wanted things to be legible he needed to take it a bit slower.

"The barrier? Or the floating?" She was looking right at the enclosed bangle, so it made sense that was the subject of the confusion. "The barrier is a Shield of the Seraphim and the levitation is just a basic homebrew spell."

"If you believe in file-and-forget," she retorted. "Useful, well, that depends on her mood. People really don't get how dangerous it can be when something normally inanimate is mad at you."

"Shield of the... You're serious, magic? I always thought most of that was Clarke's Law in action. I mean, yeah, we can't really explain why Artifacts do what they do, but they exist, and they follow rules."

"Some things? It's much safer to keep out of people's hands." Like the stuff he drags in here. Nasty work every bit of it. "Angry? Like the time the Sanctum got pissed that Wong was gone and locked me out in retaliation?"

"I'm serious. Magic has it's rules, even if most of them tend to be summed up with 'because fuck you that's why' when you look at them from a straight scientific standard." Card finished, he opened one of the drawers, pulling out a clear case and a sharpie, which he used to draw out a combination of symbols on the lid and sides. "In all seriousness though, at it's core it's energy in versus energy out."

"You're making me glad my brother isn't around. He's a physicist, and it annoys him to no end that he doesn't get to study the Artifacts. I've told him time and again that twelve years in a dimension bubble is enough study to last a lifetime," Claudia said, rolling her eyes. "More like she'll be sending all the energy discharges from the suppression system your way. And she seems to know exactly how much electricity it takes to do maximum damage without lasting effects. Probably something to do with Tesla and Edison both being involved in the latest version's design. Along with M. C. Escher."

She considers the comment about energy though. "I assume there's still some loss in the transfer to appease entropy. Not sure I want to know how, personally. I've already got a lot on my plate, especially since Mrs. F is taking the whole future Caretaker training thing to a new level."

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