002 | video

[ringen]

[ Tonight, the video feed shows Gaby tossing a roughly palm-sized object up into the air and catching it repetitively; for those who venture to look more closely it's a door knob. For those who venture to look even more closely, there is a nearly-unhinged door somewhere in the background. Sorry, Heropa 006. ]

I'm curious. Now, I'm sure this question has been posed many times before, but I'd still like to know. How many of you already had powers before you were brought to this place? And how many of you were--for lack of a better term--completely ordinary beforehand? And how did you adjust to your newfound powers, if at all?

You see, I've been here for quite some time now, but still find it a little difficult to compensate for this--hm, unnatural strength? [ she doesn't want to call it super strength ] That I've been given. I assumed I would get used to it over time, but perhaps there's something more to it than just that.

[ She sighs, and stops tossing the thing up and down, now holding the broken-off doorknob up to be seen. ]

In other news, there doesn't happen to be anyone here with the power to fix doors very quickly, does there? I can certainly fix it myself, but I'm afraid I might make things worse instead.

Comments

[nofairsky]

If you can find the material I can change the knob to something sturdier, like steel. And line the door with it too. Would that work?

[ringen]

[ ... she's going to end up dismantling something else to get that steel. ]

Interesting. You would change the material of this very same knob, rather than make a new one? Is that what you're saying?

[nofairsky]

Sort of. I would change the casing, but keep all of the moving parts as they are; part of it would be the same knob, but part of it wouldn't be.

[ringen]

And you can do that because of a power that you have. Is that right?

[nofairsky]

Actually, it's science! I guess it would seem like a power to most people here though.

[ringen]

Science. I'm interested. Care to explain? I'll do my best to follow along.

[nofairsky]

Alright. [He’s always more than happy to talk science!]

It's called alchemy. Alchemists manipulate things in the world by breaking them down, and putting them back together using natural energy. Usually we have to channel that energy through circles like these, [He shows her the circles on his gloves.]

[ringen]

--Interesting.

[ And she does mean that genuinely. ]

I'd known alchemy as a sort of... precursor to chemistry, where I'm from. And this is something you've always been able to practice, or a power granted to you by the Porter?

[nofairsky]

It is? [That makes him wonder about the progression of alchemy in this world... He's going to have to do some research.]

I could do it before I got here, but not always. Like I said, it's science, so you have to study before being able to do it.

[ringen]

That makes sense. So, what would be a suitable candidate if you were to use your alchemy to make my door sturdier? I'll look into getting whatever it is you think we'll need.

[nofairsky]

I can transmute almost anything, so any metal would be fine but steel is probably easiest to come by. And I'll need a little bit of wood for the frame if there's any pieces missing.

[ringen]

Hmm. The frame is a little bit damaged, too. I'll see what I can find. So if I gave you, say... a kettle, would that help? Or I imagine you might need something bigger than that.

[nofairsky]

Probably bigger than that. I think... something about two feet in all dimensions would be about right.

I'd warn you that it'll be heavy but, I get the feeling that's not going to be a problem.