"Oh yes, that does sometimes happen. Usually, though, by the time anyone notices, the clot has been in a problematic place for a while already. Might have some niche applications, though we'll have to wait for Aloise to test it tomorrow." She does add some more abstract tests to the agenda, though.

Can she stop a sugar cube from dissolving?

Looks like yes!

That has potential! Clara adds an impromptu battery of chemical reactions and biological functions for testing! Oxidation? Osmosis? Necrosis? 

Osmosis yes, the other two no.

Huh. Can she stop a small fire? 

Not exactly but she can keep the smoke and ash in place and that smothers it eventually.

It looks like the dividing line is physical processes (dissolving, osmosis) rather than chemical ones (oxidation, more complicated cellular mechanisms). They test several more of both to see if this holds.

Yeah, that's it.

That and the planned tests wraps things up for the day. Clara's verdict is that it's a niche ability, but with the right medical training, it could be a big help in enough cases to keep Isabella busy if she so chooses. She'll probably also get offers for dealing with patients who may need restraining, if she's up for that. 

Tomorrow will be mouse work with Alouise! 

Isabella shows up to experiment on mice!

And there's a new face when she does! "Hello Isabella!" says a petite woman wearing what looks like a phoenix motif, with crimson-feathered wings and a dress that looks like fire and seems to flicker when she moves in the right light. Her hair has similar flamelike highlights, and crimson feathers surround her head like a small crown. "I am Alouise Moreau. I will help you test your powers today." She has a fairly strong French accent, but enunciates clearly.

Prettyyyyy. She's too old for Isabella probably but she's still getting used to thaumosexuality. "Great, where do we start?"

"Clara has the plan, I believe —"

Clara does! It's been modified a bit after yesterday's results. They may as well try blood clots first, since Isabella wanted to give it a shot. 

Alouise touches a mouse and concentrates; soon the mouse is flopped. They have a tiny tiny insertable camera so Isabella can see what she's doing, and Science proceeds. Aloise, it turns out, can in fact cause a clot to occur, and various other problems for Isabella to attempt to stop in various ways. 

She can - with the camera helping - stop the clot in its tracks. She cannot really stop a process unless the process relies on atoms departing their home object; if they're merely jittering around while they remain part of the object she can't affect that.

The majority of the tests they run today come up "nope", and it proves predictably dangerous to the mouse to be freezing various bits of its innards in place. But there are still a few medical problems that can be stalled this way, and a few treatments it facilitates.

The two general categories that Aloise and Clara suggest are in disaster response, where there are likely many injured people who may need to be moved without worsening severely broken bones; and large-hospital emergency care, where one is more likely to run into situations that would be drastically improved by stopping something for a while, or in extremis by having the ability to restrain a thrashing patient who'd normally require the attention of half a dozen busy nurses. Both require substantial training, but that's true of most medical applications. (They recommend strongly against experimenting with magical medicine at home, of course.) 

Is there anything else Isabella herself thinks they ought to test? 

If they have nonmedical ideas for her she'll consider those too.

Well, the combat and law enforcement applications are obvious, though Aloise in particular completely understands a desire to steer clear of violence. Clara can think of a few ways it'd make research easier, holding a sample still for analysis or even freezing it in "snapshots" to allow close study of a fast-moving process, and she suspects this may generalize to some engineering as well.

Another tech observes that the ability to hold something steady or render it inert could work well in other areas of disaster response besides medicine. It wouldn't be as useful for construction and industrial work as general telekinesis, but it nevertheless has safety applications, especially for people working at heights. 

They mostly agree the research applications seem the most exciting, as "absolutely no give" opens up opportunities for study that would be impossible or prohibitively expensive otherwise. Even if she can't stop thermal motion, things like vibration and air currents constrain precise measurements quite a lot, and some expensive setups with the sole purpose "hold this thing still against outside forces" don't fully succeed at the job. 

They're just spitballing at the moment, though. Isabella should get a proper rundown of options from the Pax Corps once the results of the tests are in. (Though if she wants to go down an engineering route, there might be a separate battery of tests for that.)

"I don't inherently object to fighting monsters, but I have dyspraxia, I'd be tough to field. Can you sign me up for the engineering tests from here or do I need to do that separately through the website again?"

"You can mention it in your followup call," offers Aloise. "And I could try to look at your dyspraxia, though I cannot guarantee anything."

"Sure, give it a whirl. I can fly all right, I just suck at balancing on my feet, I can't run. Or ride a bike. Flying is fine."

"I will have some questions for you, then. It is fine if you do not know or answer, but I work best with as much information as possible." Aloise secures them some privacy just out of earshot of the other technicians, then asks some technical questions about Isabella's medical history regarding the dyspraxia.

She falls down a lot. She has to be really careful on the stairs. Her dad stopped trying to teach her to ride a bike when her twin brother had had it down for a week and she was beating her elbow pads all to hell falling off still. The wings help her balance a bit. She trips on things, but also on nothing, especially if her pace rises above a sedate walk.

Has she had any tests or scans performed? Ever been prescribed anything for it? 

She saw an occupational therapist for a while but the occupational therapist seemed to believe that she had a deep underlying desire to play sports for some reason and also had toxic levels of buzzword poisoning so they were not really on the same page.

This gets a sympathetic wince.

After a few more queries of this sort, Aloise says,"I now ask your permission to use my power on you. It requires a few minutes of physical contact; just the back of a hand suffices."