[1] Higitus Figitus, DMA

[Will Stanton]

"Can't say I rightly know for all of them. Some of them require going to places which just don't exist here, as far as I know -- or perhaps haven't been discovered yet, or have alternative locations here that I'm not aware of yet. Others require specific conditions to be met -- a tree that's been struck by lightning three times to get hemlockfire resin; ghostwater comes from pools where murders have occurred but no bodies yet buried. It's a tricky one, and may require some pretty quick and spontaneous movement to go grab some of them."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That raises so many questions. Does any arcing electricity do? Induced lightning? What if a victim is resuscitated, does it count as murder without a buried body? What constitutes death? Brain activity? Does accidental manslaughter count?"

[Will Stanton]

"Some of that is just natural law, and some of this is finding loopholes, which is a key part of the fae experience. In the end, these are all decisions that are clarified by the Fae Courts.

I have no idea what they're like in this universe, but pray you never find yourself in front of the Fae Courts."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I doubt I would enjoy the experience." she nods. "But I've spend ten years twisting myself through loopholes, I reckon I could give them a run for their money." she chuckles.

[Will Stanton]

"Headmistress, I say this with the deepest respect -- they would rip you apart and scatter you through the woods. You would think you were giving them a run for your money, and then realize you had accidentally agreed to give them the lighthouse, the cliff, and 40 percent of the air on campus."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Noted. Do not deal with the experts reinterpreting circles around me."

[Will Stanton]

"They'll make like Indiana and redefine Pi, and then you'll blue screen. Playing with expectations and rules is sort of what we live for."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That... seems like it shouldn't work, but maybe that's the point of magic."

[Will Stanton]

"Oh, I was being a bit hyperbolic there, they couldn..." he started, then paused.

"Well, not in that setting, at the very least. Even when you help define the rules, you still have to play by them."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"If you can define the rules than playing by them seems more like a polite concession than anything."

[Will Stanton]

"Mmm," Will said, tilting his head. "I'm not so sure about that. Think of it as...booting up in administrator mode. It's a Big Deal when the rules change."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"There's a rather large gulf between Big Deal and impossible but good to know they don't rewrite reality on a whim."

[Will Stanton]

"Of course. But when we do...

Alright, so. In my universe...erm. The Wyldclay's universe.

There are seven fae courts, corresponding to the seasons, and every fae belongs to one of those courts. And there are seven fae courts, corresponding to the colors, and every fae belongs to one of those courts. Right?

The Seasonal Courts have always been in charge since time began. And it's been that way since the 1960s, when there was a major civil war that changed which group was running the show. When you get too deep messing with the fae, you find yourself treading dangerous waters almost immediatley.

I have no idea what it's like here, and I hope I never do."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"If it's even remotely like that that's terrifying." she agrees. "But on to more immediate practical concerns. Do you need me to build a lightning lure to strike a tree or is this something that has to occur 'naturally'?"

[Will Stanton]

"I mean, that seems like both a great scientific experiment and a way to get the local fae to see what's going on.

So I'm all for it! We'll call it a project."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Then let's go assemble a tropospheric rocket." she smirks. "I'll run some calculations on the exact composition of the trail so it will disperse after three strikes. Hopefully there's enough charge present for it, otherwise we might have to add a payload of ionizing particles..."

[Will Stanton]

"Then let's go assemble a tropospheric rocket." she smirks. "I'll run some calculations on the exact composition of the trail so it will disperse after three strikes. Hopefully there's enough charge present for it, otherwise we might have to add a payload of ionizing particles..."

"I have no idea what that is, but then, you have no idea what I'm doing. Cross-departmental analysis is the point of these major universities, right?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Exactly. And really, all it is is creating a corridor that lightning is going to prefer discharging through. A gaseous copper cable, if you will."

[Will Stanton]

"We'll be sure to write a paper on the validity of artificial versus natural lightning when it comes to arcane ingredient collection."

[Ashlie Minamida]

About half an hour of assembly and calibration later the two emerge from the Point with a narrow, 20-inch long rocket. They make their way to an isolated tree that's large enough to hopefully withstand three successive lightning strikes. The sky is overcast but not proper stormy.

"Can you set it up near the thickest part of the truck that still has a relatively clear shot to the sky? I'll let you know when the angle is right."

[Will Stanton]

"You're sure you can get this thing to draw lightning down on a day like this? We don't need to wait for a storm proper?" Will said, carefully angling the tube.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That'd make it easier but also less controlled. It's all just a matter of energy differentials and there's three stages of short-lived ionizing radiation packed into that rocket to work with the ambient charge. Okay, that's good." she says once Will has adjusted the angle to a workable one.

She waits for Will to get clear of the rocket, then puts on a set of construction ear-muffs. There's only so reinforced bio-mechanical ears can get. And then the rocket blasts off. It's anti-climactic, comparable to an advanced high-school science project, really. But a moment after disappearing into the clouds above there's a very faint explosion, followed by a sudden crackling across the clouds that discharges in a thundering crack of lightning. Before it can even finish reverberating through their bodies there's another distant pop, followed by another lightning strike directly into the tree and a final pop-CRACK proves too much for part of the tree and a sizeable branch that's about a third of the trees canopy is blown off, leaving it and the rest of the tree with a smoldering scar.

[Will Stanton]

"Great googily moogily. Look out, Ororo, someone has come for your gimmick."

Will hurried over to the still smoking tree, and bent down, examining it closely. He poked at the charred outside of the tree, the charred outside falling away as he went after the resin inside. He dipped his finger in the still-smoking goo, swirling it around a bit, and bringing it up to his mouth for a taste. Immediatly, he made a face, frowining as he swished it around inside his mouth, and then began shoveling some into his prepared jar.

"That is some nasty stuff. Very acrid; would not recommend."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Most things aren't suitable for consumption. But does it meet the more esoteric criteria you're looking for?" she asks, walking over and taking off her earmuffs.

[Will Stanton]

"Well, initial testing seems familiar. A little smokier than I recall, but that could be any number of factors in play," Will said, holding the jar up to the light. "Color and clarity seem about right, but the proof would be in the proverbial pudding, as it were."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"On to your side of the experiment then. Is there something quick you can brew with it or does it need to soak up the light of a new moon first?"

[Will Stanton]

"Well, I don't have the ingredients needed for anything complex, but that's alright. All we need to do is test to see if this works as intended in anything, to see if this is viable.

Problem, as you might expect, is that contained lightning is volitle," Will said, tapping the outside of the jar, and watching the resin inside swirl and churn. "It's something you dip a sword in. Burns through enchantments and wards. Good for things that are supposed to ignite and catch on fire. Also, perhaps not coincidentally, a rare ingredient in love potions for when you really want lust more than anything else. More commonly used to spike someone's tea if you want to turn a grievance into a rage.

But I think I might be able to whip something a little safer up. You know, as a test."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"The magical world is rather... visceral, it seems." she notes as she follows alongside Will while tapping away on her phone to send a quick message and apology to the grounds-keeping team.

[Will Stanton]

"I mean, it depends, but is it all that surprising that's where I ended up? I'm a physical girl," he said.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"For all that you lack actual viscera. But yes, it doesn't shock me that your foray into science is a very... hands-on experimental affair. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a good engineering project, but it's more about seeing the numbers and calculations translated into an intricate whole."

[Will Stanton]

"And I feel that numbers on paper or a screen are...sterile and uninteresting. Theory is all well and good, but unless you can put something into practice, it's all just so much hypothetical wankery."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"At a certain point in particle physics, mashing two things together requires enormous infrastructure so deriving what you can from theory matters." she chuckles.

[Will Stanton]

"And yet, it doesn't mean anything until you get to mashin'. Good old fashioned science; knock one thing into another thing and see what happens."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"You'd be surprised by the amount of correct deductions that stemmed from pure math. But yes, some fundamental approaches never fail."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, that's just the thing -- the deductions may be right, but you won't know it until you find an example," Will pointed out. "It's all just conjecture and hypothesizing otherwise."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"An example no one would have looked for otherwise. But yes, pure theorizing on it's own is not worth much, proof bounties aside."

[Will Stanton]

"And besides, spending a day in a particle accelerator sound like just my cup of tea.

Speaking of which, shall I brew you something with this here resin, see how well it works? Anything particularly complex would require more, erm, unique ingredients, but I think I can whip up a quick draught with the mundane things we had lying around the Point."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Sure. I have no idea if or how it would affect me, so make enough to perhaps test it on someone with a less artifice-riddled physique as well."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, that's the tricky bit, isn't it? Neither of us are exactly a prototypical physical specimen. You may, frankly, be more biologically 'normal' than I am, and that's saying something."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Coffee and alcohol certainly have a noticeable effect on me, so it's close enough in some regards."