"Yeah, I'd want to be pretty damn sure about something like that or it'd just make things worse. It's an idea though."

"Yeah. No clue how to even begin testing something like that, which is probably why I'm not an engineer."

"I'm not an engineer either. I'm a Tinker, that's what they call us."

"Huh, yeah. I know even less about non-engineering building stuff..."

"Tinkers don't build things according to conventional principles. If someone who knew their stuff backwards and forwards in conventional engineering took apart something of mine they might be able to identify, like, which part was the power source? The rest of it not so much. And they couldn't copy me even if they started with the identical parts and followed along while I worked."

"Huh. Sounds more like magic then science, then..."

"It's a power, we don't typically refer to them as magic, but we definitely do not know how they work, yeah."

"Knacks are kinda like that - you can get a sense for them, but they're hard to pin down in a lab."

"Yeah, I'd call knacks magic but it'd make sense if you reserve the word for things less familiar?"

"There's kind of a debate slash cultural divide over whether they're 'magic' or 'science we haven't explained yet' or 'God-given gifts which are not magic because magic is witchcraft.'"

"Huh. I mean, I don't see why magic can't be explicable in scientific terms. It's a method, not just a - topic."

"I guess part of the disagreement's over how you're defining magic? 'Cause, like, I also wouldn't call using fire to do things magic."

"Lot of quibbling over definitions." Yawn. "I think I'll head back to where I'm crashing."

"Okay, cool. See you around, I guess?"

"I will hunt you up at some point for sure."

"See you then."

Lorica goes home.

The woman hosting her is politely curious about what she's done today.

"Salvage robot. It'll bring me parts and tools overnight."

"Sounds useful."

"Yup. I'm gonna make so many robots."

"What kinds?"

"I have a bunch of ideas but I might start with one to build me my own house, so I don't have to impose on you too much longer."

"You're welcome to stay, but I can certainly see wanting your own place."

"The robot might take a while to build me a house so I won't be out tomorrow night, at any rate, I really appreciate the crash space."