Chapter 1418: Chapter 1418 Fancy Boxes!
--- Kat ---
Breakfast was eaten and the kitchen had been cleaned. Sylvie was off at school and a touch disappointed she was going to miss out on the experiments… but even with Thyme's assurances they didn't want to take any risks. Callisto did promise to record it all for her at least.
So here they were outside and looking at the storage devices Thyme had supplied. Well except for the extra secure one intended for the alchemical candies that was left safely back in Kat's room with a sign over it that said 'Do not open for magical reasons'. Everyone in the house knew enough to leave it at that and any burglars? Well they'd likely think it was a joke and not worth taking.
At least that was the hope.
Kat was standing right in the middle of things, completely confident in her regenerations ability to let her survive any issues. Lily had pointed out that with space involved it was still a risk… but Kat had countered with 'Thyme said these were safe to test'.
With Thyme's reassurance Kat thought it reasonable that even if they weren't completely safe they wouldn't be anywhere deadly enough to actually hurt her.
Lily just sighed and didn't complain further. She was back with Callisto who had brought out two sets of safety equipment. This consisted off, safety glasses, gumboots, leather welding vests and heavy duty gloves. For even more safety, Callisto had pulled out a large sheet of plastic to block any projectiles that headed their way.
It wasn't quite up to the standard of bulletproof glass, but it was still quite solid and let you see through without any trouble.
Off to the side was a camera stand for recording everything and Callisto had a small notebook in her hand to record any additional observations that came up during the process. It was labelled 'Space Box experiment', something Lily was curious about. "What's with the name?"
"With actual magic on the table I cannot just state that outright. If anyone took a casual glance at the cover they might assume that I have gone off the deep end, or worse, figure out that I know something they do note. At the same time, I need to ensure that the title is still accurate enough for me to place what the notes inside are about.
"I have quite a few of these notebooks after all, and while the originals were just 'Experimental notebook 1-6' I learned that using the same notebook for multiple experiments and refusing to properly label things makes it a massive pain to find something if I need to double check old information," explained Callisto.
"Ah yeah I guess that could be an issue," mumbled Lily. "I don't normally need to go back and look over old stuff… but yeah if I DO have to it can be a pain. Perhaps I should organise my notes better. I certainly should with me newer stuff…"
Kat called out "So are we doing this?"
"Of course Kat, when you are ready," said Callisto.
Kat waited until they were both clearly ready for anything and moved to what Thyme considered the 'safest' box. Kat flipped it open and… nothing. "Ok, seems fine so far…" Kat reached a hand in and… no problems. She was able to feel all of the clothing that had been stacked into the box. Well, perhaps not all of them. Even when Kat had her entire arm in the box she couldn't feel the bottom.
The main issue was that unlike a lot of the fancier bags she also couldn't just call something to her hand. It was all packed into the box… and it was staying exactly where it was. Regardless of how much space was there, it was a mostly normal suitcase that just happened to be made of solid wood.
Kat was interested to see what would happen if all the clothes were removed but that could be tested later.
Kat then moved over to the bag Thyme recommended keeping the books in. For now, they were in a completely unenchanted bag for safety. Kat opened it… waited for a few seconds and then stuck her hand in. The bag was mostly empty but after feeling around for a bit she found the bottom and a piece of paper. Kat pulled it out and read "Just something for the bag so it isn't empty.
As in, that's all that it says,"
Callisto just jotted something down on her notepad and shrugged. Lily mimicked the shrug a moment later and they gestured to the next box in line. Kat opened it and… once again nothing happened. Kat shrugged and put a hand in. Once again, it was all fine. It seemed to be the same as the previous box to her eyes.
With a shrug Kat moved over to the corresponding bag… and nothing. But not the right kind of nothing.
Kat felt around the edges and frowned. "This bag is normal sized. As in, I can feel all the edges and it seems to be the same size as it actually is. I also don't feel any notes or anything that may have been in her at one point. I mean, it's a nice bag… but that's all. It's just a plain bag as far as I can tell,"
"Check the front pocket" suggested Lily.
Kat shrugged and did so… and it was just a normal pocket. Kat showed as much to Lily who pouted. "It seems like the fabric cannot hold onto the magic as well as the solid box… or perhaps the fact that it is a solid an immovable object instead of a bag helps keep things in place? It is hard to tell without more information but we can clearly see that something has gone wrong with that bag,"
"Seems like it," agreed Kat as she looked it over a few more times. "What do you want me to do with it? Put it to the side? Hand it over to you guys? Put it back on the grass? Actually why ARE we doing this on the grass?"
"Because the lawn is much more easily repaired then the concrete of the patio or floor inside," answered Callisto with a glare.
"Ah… right good point," mumbled Kat as she shook her head. *Really should have thought that one through.*
"Just leave the bag there," suggested Lily. "No sense moving things for now,"
Kat nodded and put the bag back down and then moved over to the next box. She flipped it open and the contents inside practically exploded. Clothing went EVERYWHERE. A good chunk hit the shielding that Callisto had set off, and plenty hit Kat with minimal effect, but most of the clothing was strewn across the yard. At first glance all the clothes looked fine.
As Kat started to pull the ones on her off she noticed they were all fine, well except for the one dress that had landed on her head, it had a big rip in it, likely from her horns.
"This is going to be a pain to clean up…" grumbled Kat.
"The bigger concern is if any of it ended up going into our neighbours' yards. I do not believe so, we have quite the large fence… but still something to worry about. If anyone asks we can just say there was an issue with the clothesline I suppose," said Callisto after a moment. "Just leave it all where it is for now, we can clean it all up once we're done,"
Kat nodded "Right… but what do I do about the bag corresponding with this one? Just open it like normal?"
Callisto chewed on her lip a bit as she thought it over. "Part of me wants to say you should point it at the ground. That way if the reaction is the same the clothes all hit the ground and do not spread out much. At the same time, there's nothing stopping them from just sliding out onto the ground if it all works. Perhaps have it all pointed slightly down?
Take a few steps back as well and point it somewhat in our direction,"
Kat nodded did as asked stepping back a bit and then opening the bag. A single piece of paper went flying out of the bag and smacked into the box in front of it. Kat carefully stuck a hand into the bag and found that it was now a normal bag. Shrugging she walked over to the paper and found it was just the general 'stuff was here' paper the first had in it. Likely the second as well.
Kat didn't want to know where that one went.
"Righto then last one…" mumbled Kat as she walked over to the next box. As soon as she lifted the lid, just the slightest bit there was a crunch as the whole thing seemed to implode on itself leaving behind a dense wooden block that probably contained some clothing in it just sitting on the ground.
"Yeah glad I didn't try to put my hand in that one…" Kat moved over to the bag that paired with it and watched as it seemed to tear itself up from inside out. This time Kat did frown. Her fingers were definitely over the threshold that time but she was completely fine. Even after a quick visual check to make sure. "Hmm…"