"...Witch spells being 'do a single thing' is a strength if the thing is 'inscribe a rune to the limits of your material's precision', though?  But yes I was unclear with what I said, there, apologies."

And as for the bit about blocks of steel...

She facepaws frustratedly, looking almost like if she were a human she would be pinching the bridge of her nose frustratedly.

"I don't disagree that something that can contain an explosive failure would be very wise to have.  But that's entirely disjoint from trying to figure out how to make the thing maybe-succeed to begin with.  We can't figure out how much cladding we need until we actually know how much force will slam into things on a misfire!  It might be better to have the contact surface get disintegrated rather than explode, you know?"

"...I mean, if you had a witch spell, it would do either: Engraving things to the limit of your personal concentration or attention, or engraving the same thing each time like a stamp, or copying engravings..."

She also rubs her head.

"I was imagining sustained force over a long time? Days, maybe more? It sounds to me like you're imagining something instantaneous? ...I might need to be done for the day."

"...You don't need sustained force, as far as I know.  A single shock can do it; you can find diamonds in meteor craters...  I think.  I don't actually remember if that was something about already-existing diamonds getting compression-shocked into a different allotrope of carbon.  And - yeah, engraving the exact same shape would be good?  Especially if it was material-invariant...  Uh, anyway.  But yes, I think you can do it with a blast.  ...Pretty sure they did it on Mythbusters, actually, though like hell if I know why or even what the actual myth was if it wasn't blast-forging diamonds.  And even if that doesn't work, I'm pretty darn sure we are not going to need days of force.  Hours, at most, is my most pessimistic estimate for duration."

"...If you're out of thinky-ness, though, uh.

"...huh.  Hm.  Why do I feel this manic."

"I kind of am. I know we've only been talking for what... Fifteen minutes, half an hour? But... Introvert. Hmm?"

"Hmm.  And upon further review, I feel like I'm starting to feel like my magical reserves are filling up.  Which.  Honestly I hadn't been expecting that quite this soon, truth be told!  But if it is..."

"-I don't want to give you leading questions, describe the sensation a bit more?"

"...There's.  Hm.  Rising energy.  Feels like...

"Ugh, how do you describe this?

"It's.  Energy is being poured into a cup and the cup is me and it feels like it's going to spill over soon.  And...the water's all fizzy, I guess?  There's energy bubbling up through me anticipatorily."

"Hmm. Okay, that is pretty clear. Congratu-dolences, your Red Dream is close. Days, possibly as few as half of one. It's rather hard to tell exactly. What do you want to do?"

"Hole up somewhere so I don't happen to anyone unwillingly, or get taken advantage of without my consent, as I am informed can occur."

"Consent is complicated but I would definitely compare it to being... Drunk without impairment, if that makes sense. It's a lowering of inhibition and increase in arousal without any loss of ability or clarity. You seem as likely to get caught up in paroxysms of math or science as lewdness... Maybe."

Sigh.

"My idea for that is to fly you out to a mountain known as Windslab. It's the best combination of people-free and monster-free."

"...I would appreciate it, if you'd help me this way.  ...And, knowing how I was last time around, I wouldn't bet against getting caught up in a paroxysm of horny, though I will most certainly hope for a paroxysm of scientific endeavour."

"I don't really want to talk about my experience but it seems possibly helpful. The horny did... Win, I guess. I also stole stuff, mostly food, and ranted about whatever was on my mind, and fired off spells just because I could. It's... 'There's absolutely no consequences' was the feeling, like it was a game where I was going to load an earlier save. So let's just fuck around."

She winces.  "...Right.  Okay.  Spark madness, at best, except that it's only me swept up in my own wake.  That's.

"That could be pretty fucking dangerous.

"...That said, it could also break me through the...

"I haven't remotely started, with witchcraft, because it's not something that makes sense from the outside, and I can't get inside without first doing witchcraft, which is one hell of a catch-22.  But if I'm going to be disinhibited...

"Maybe I could figure something out, and then actually believe that I could do it.

"Or maybe all the horny I haven't been feeling lately will overwhelm me and I'll have to reenact a meme, but."

"...What's a meme?"

"...So much has been lost."

She paws out :.|:; , almost subconsciously.

"A meme, as it was originally defined by social sciences, is - the unit of information, a transmissible idea.

"A meme, in the sense that it was used by the masses, is an especially virulent idea - one that spreads widely and sticks around in the minds of its target audience - or a pervasively parodied idea, or an instance of a given expressive template format, where one - mm.  How to explain.  ...no, there's hardly going to be the right sort of political caricature to analogize to around here...

"Like how there are stock characters in tales and koans, except the 'tale' is compressed to nearly nothing; the symbols alone, and what was ascribed to them, carried the work.  They were usually images, but that isn't to say that there weren't text-based memes.

"In this case, I was reminded of an ancient series of posts analyzing whether a ...particularly phallic... rock was, in fact, fuckable.  ...The answer was mostly 'no', I believe."

"Oh, so, like 'Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird'."

Sigh.

"This is a side track. And on that note, well. If we discuss it beforehand I wouldn't necessarily mind being a... Distraction."

"Yeah except he turned out to be an asshole so all that's dead in my day."

But yes.  Distraction.  Focus, Alicia.

"...I...  Hm.

"I don't feel as though I should take you up on that, as stated?  Because, well...

"I don't want to have sex with people, that those people don't affirmatively want to have - or possibly prefer to is more right because, like, sex-positive asexuals exist.  Not wanting to not isn't the same as wanting to.

"On the third hand you could probably just distract me with the right words said in the right order, I know what I'm like.  But I'm not discussing that out here."

"Oh, maybe I should figure out a portable privacy thing... So, lots of tangled feelings here, but I think on net I'd prefer it? I am actually - trying to untangle feelings around it. Trying to become less scared. Because everything I see or hear about us says that logically, there aren't any bad consequences except maybe jilted feelings, like this whole subject might have had back home. I feel like, for all my grousing, I know you better than most anyone else. We have... Modern referents we share. It's nice, in contrast to sulking in a forest or being half worshipped as a 'holy fox' or come on to by guys who just see a kitsune or whatever, and. Words... I'd be helping prevent, uh, collateral damage, in a situation that I also went through, which is big sympathy feels, and. It would be nice just by itself, probably, I think, and-" Gods, she's blushing. "-I have to start somewhere if I want to be less blarg about it? My parents and the church were all - don't have bad thoughts, don't spill seed- And fuck 'em, not literally."

...Sigh.

"...oh.  Oh, same mood.  Not nearly... from the same causes, I don't think...  But.  I was definitely...  Body-shy.  Last time around.  And I'd like to.  Tell those feelings, the disgust and dysphoria at my own existence - to fuck off.  Too."

...This situation calls for as much huglike supportive energy as she can reasonably muster, if it looks at all like touch would help, here.

She will snuggle and scritch her fellow kitsune, yes. Her tail can even come out of its concealing position in her backpack-robe-rig to participate, not quite caring if people see right now.

"...I realize that sounded like maybe I would be just using you. Um. I..."

Hug.

"Absolutely not.  Don't you think you're using me, I'm honored that you'd trust me with this.  And I'm so, so unspeakably glad that I can trust you with me in turn."

Hug.

"...Feelings, how do they even work..."

Yeah, hug. Just hug for a bit.

"...There's a thing in my head that's a little bit like 'kitsune sisters represent'. Solidarity. There's... People can be so tiring, and petty, and mean, but they can also be... I mean, everyone is the center of their own story, and we help each other and care too and..."

She's maybe crying just a little bit while hug. Sniff.

"Don't know why I'm getting so emotional."

"...Because you've been hurting for a long time, now, and you're finally starting to feel safe enough to feel the feelings you couldn't when what you had to do was bottle them up and survive, probably."

"...Mmm. Mmm..." Sniff. Hug. "I'm trying to let go of anger. I mean... It's so easy to get angry at the system, at whatever higher power is present, at people ruining things. I'm - not used to being feminine. I don't hate it but I don't - love it either. It's... The social expectations are entirely different. I was just, some guy, manning up and handling it, and..." Sniff. "Different, like this. Kinda, vulnerable?"