Most Likely A Refuge

[whatamithinking]

It was probably safe.

The bar was...unusually reticent, in the lower layers of her mind (and she hadn't pried further; she wasn't sure if she'd be noticed; she wasn't sure if offending would get her kicked out, and regardless of whether it was actually safe it was safer than anywhere else she'd been for the past...three years?) so she couldn't be sure this place wasn't really a trap of some kind, but the higher layers gave a plausible explanation that didn't involve being a trap, and whatever else it was warm and dry and had food. Her guard was probably a full 25% down. Positively trusting, these days.

Comments

[whatamithinking]

"In what way?" Cerebella asks.

[onceandforall]

"Like, are you surprised that her attack is a swarm of colorful roses, at all. My kind usually winds up with actual weapons of some kind or sometimes beams of energy."

[whatamithinking]

"Oh. No, there's plenty of beams of energy and actual weapons, but this isn't outside the norm."

[onceandforall]

"Huh." Bella inspects the damage dealt by the rose barrage

[whatamithinking]

The rose petals were traveling at high velocity and, apparently, behaving as though they were harder than whatever they hit.

[onceandforall]

Bella picks up a petal.

[whatamithinking]

It is soft and silky.

[onceandforall]

"I wonder at what point in the process they lose their rigidity?"

[whatamithinking]

"Probably when they lose their velocity."

[onceandforall]

"Makes sense."

[whatamithinking]

"Do you think we could borrow a sheet of steel or something from Bar? I want to see how well hard metals hold up against this thing," Rose says.

[onceandforall]

"I mean, if you wreck it you buy it."

[whatamithinking]

"...Does Bar even care if she gets it back broken? Worth checking."

[onceandforall]

"She doesn't care care, but she'll still put it on your tab."

[whatamithinking]

"I might ask anyway, about chunks of iron or whatever that would only be good for scrap anyway so it wouldn't matter how many pieces it was in so long as the mass was the same."

[onceandforall]

"I don't know her policy on that."

[whatamithinking]

She shrugs and heads back inside, repeating her query to Bar.

[alicornucopia]

If shapeless hunks of metal will serve, then I will not add to your tab if they are differently shapeless when returned.

[whatamithinking]

"That will do fine, thanks."

[alicornucopia]

Bar produces a heap of shapeless hunks of metal.

[whatamithinking]

And Edie...will haul them outside one at a time with her unaugmented strength, because if there's one thing besides despair living through five years of apocalypse will teach you it's stubbornness.

[onceandforall]

"...Do you want help with that?"

[whatamithinking]

"Sure, if you're offering."

[onceandforall]

Telekinesis!

[whatamithinking]

Oh, cool.

And when the metal is all set up it can learn that it is susceptible to vigorous petaling.