"Okay, different tacks, um. I'm a social person, I like people, I'm doing the networking thing, right, so it makes sense the kind of memory that makes it work for me involves that. You're different, you're introverted, more studious. What's the equivalent thing...?"

"I really don't know, I'm kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel here."

"Uh... Figuring things out? Learning new things? Getting things you want? Achieving goals? That's a you thing, achieving goals."

"I haven't achieved anything really major yet."

"Maybe the thought of achieving them, then? Uh, getting into the alchemy thing may count?"

"Okay, that's progress! Maybe after we make the panacea or the philosopher's stone that'll work."

"Most people don't have to make legendary alchemical rocks to cast a patronus!"

"Most people don't cast one, full stop. But that was a worst-case scenario, we just need something significant enough? Maybe? I mean this is just a theory, your mist getting a little bit better defined is definitely not enough."

"I'll try getting my pearl to work," and she tries that, and it's back to undefined mist.

"...okay, um, what does 'getting into alchemy class' have in general that just the pearl doesn't have in specific?"

"Prospect of legendary alchemic rocks?"

"Okay... so try to focus on that in specific, maybe? Visualise getting a legendary alchemic rock."

"Okay, yes, that looks like we're on the right track. Visualise... getting the Elixir of Life? Scaling it up? Everyone immortal and immune to disease?"

"Yeah, but we're on the right track, I think. Except, we're looking at lots of yesses, how do we falsify this hypothesis?"

"Well, the pearl indicates it's not alchemy in general."

"Yeah, but it's something to do with legendary alchemical things, and making everyone immortal and stuff, which points to a general 'getting what you want,' but it also could be a specific 'making people immortal' thing."

"Okay, so, as long as I'm imagining things..." Incantation. Mist. "It is not just a getting what I want thing."

"What did you think of just now?"

"Taking over the world."

"Yeah, okay, similar scale. So it's something about making people immortal? Is there a difference between a panacea-mist and a philosopher's stone-mist?"