Luna does not restrain her own corresponding splutter.  "I can't believe that's a serious term of art...  Ah, maybe?  I've been a spirit bearer for all of a day or so, yet."

"It's new and controversial. You'll feel it for certain in time. Sometimes pushing will give you a new ability, sometimes no amount of effort will do anything. The key point is, changes to your weapon require potential, so it's not something to do on a whim. If you change a weapon you can then easily change it back- Assume I'm saying 'usually' three times a sentence- Changed weapons are better in every way in terms of handling, power, sharpness, so on, and you can also invest power into your weapon without actually changing it."

"I see.  Hmm.  That's...hm.  Hm.  ...I can just tell that this is going to involve either calculus or spreadsheets.  Dammit.  Alright, are there any studies on where the tradeoffs are, where the...what the relative growth curves are like, spells known versus weaponry investment...If anyone's figured out the XP rate..."

"There are wide, wide error bars. But yes."

Madam Pen will help her look up data. People have indeed made spreadsheets and speculative price lists, but they're guessing on the costs and totals and can't confirm any of it since it varies per person and have a few thousand sample sizes of one.

"Right.  Okay, then.  ...How hard can you actively cheat physics with weaponstuff and raimentstuff?  I have some ideas.  And even if guns are apparently right out, I want to get something ranged."

"Oh, that's certainly doable! If you don't want a crossbow or slingshot - both benefit greatly from actual skill, but that can be developed - wands and staves tend to come with ranged attacks. There are other options, I'm not an expert. I just use my pen." Smile. "Raiment will help you more if it looks good. Weapons can become very cheaty, with enough potential invested into them. A gun may well be the best choice despite the cost if the alternate ranged weapons are hard to use. Guns may be expensive but they're not impossible. Look here- Gloriana Whiterock's weapon, the Steinburger."

"Oh, I'm sure I can find something that doesn't look like a gun to the point that magic objects.  Probably something arm-mounted...maybe go full space future and do a powered-exoskeleton rig.  What's this about raiment helping more if it looks good?"

"The effect is limited. For example, if you fall a dress or cape can stylishly catch the air."

"Ah."

Yeah, no.  Capes are a hazard.

But.  Luna and Ophelia are finally remotely aligned about being stylish, with this new information, and Ophelia is quite happy to assist in the design of a new weapon system, to go with a slight update to the other's raiment.

It helps that she wasn't very keen on the original.

"So, how do you actually go about shifting a weapon or raiment?"

"Mostly? Simply will it. There are meditation exercises and instructional books to achieve specific effects, if you're nervous, I'm not an expert in that."

"Ahh.  I think I see.  Is it the sort of thing that might blow up in one's face, if you do it wrong, or...?"

"With weapons the worst that will happen is a disappointing result. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what you want to use it for and how. Perhaps practice with props. With raiment you can get a sort of backlash that makes further changes harder if what you try to do doesn't fit at all. Some people say it gets annoyed with you but I don't trust the anthropomorphization in that conclusion."

"I see.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to get a functioning arm-mounted spear-throwing coilgun with hydraulic shock absorbers on today's market, so I'll have to make do."

She can, at least, get herself a labcoat and some safety goggles!  (As her raiment; the ID stripe, being interrupted by an edge where she'd try to draw most circles, is incorporated on the rubber-ish fittings and elastic of the safety goggles, as well as on the labcoat's breast pocket.)

"Right.  Now for the hard bit, which I should probably avoid doing in here."

Her raiment can form the safety goggles, she was about due for a boost in fanciness level. The lab coat is a bit of a stretch. Her main garment shifts slowly, even sulkily, slowly finding a cut that looks stylish while still being plain and recognizable as a vivid blue lab coat. It takes a good couple of minutes of clear focus and nudging it along. There's a sense that much further change would be pushing it.

She mutters some...encouragement, as she focuses: "C'mon, c'mon, we can both have what we want here; isn't the space future a really cool aesthetic?  Yeah, like that, see?  If you want the fancy classical vibes, you know you have two whole outfits to mostly-unrestrictedly play with; now's the time for experimenting!  You could do tron-lines!"

Neither Clara nor Ophelia, who are both better placed to actually notice these things, are certain how much Luna's attempt to sate a hypothetical magical girl art director's thirst for the traditional aesthetic with them impacted this outcome, but it did make Luna feel better, so they'll allow it.

"...I'd probably better go back to the gym for this next bit, but part of me is loath to give up the advice of someone who knows how this works."

"It's almost 5 o'clock in any case. You have an appointment. And with you seeming to be multiple spirit bearers in one body it might... Complicate things. I cannot recall hearing of such a thing before."

"Huh!  You would've thought - actually, I wonder if some of the historic accounts of 'demonic possession' were something like that?  Anyway, yes, the appointment.  Ah...where should I be heading for that?"

"Perhaps I will look into it. As for Maeve, miss Riley knows the way to her office."

Miss Riley, who has recently returned after ducking out to do some paperwork, gives her a thumbs-up.