piper90 | [Video] [Encoded]

[The video comes up on a back corner of the library, where Sam's set up a little research table of his own. Not that there's much there. For all that they have a 'library', it's really not all that interesting. Definitely none of the things that he's used to being able to find.]

[Though it is at least a QUIET section of the library. Nobody much comes back there. Of course, if it was anybody other than Sam, they'd find that corner to be nearly devoid of wifi signal.]

[How does Sam have signal? Nobody knows.]

So. I know that there are a few of you here who aren't too keen on the whole idea of the supernatural and magic and things that don't make sense to the rational mind. And believe me, I get it. If I hadn't grown up with this sort of thing, I'd probably be right there with you.

I also get that we don't know for certain that what we're facing IS something that's supernatural. After all, there are other explanations for what she can do. Some of us have powers that we never had at home as an example.

However, if she is, there are a few things that you can carry that may help either ward her off or fight her off. None of them are heavy and we have access to at least a few things that would work.

[He reaches off screen and brings out a salt shaker from the cafeteria.] Salt. Table salt will work just fine. My brother and I buy a lot of Morton's back home.

Anyway, salt has been an ingredient in purifying rituals for millennia. It's often used to ward off evil spirits and cleanse an area of bad...juju, for lack of a better word. Back home, spirits can't cross a line of salt, so a quick and easy ward was just to pour lines of salt across any entrance to a room. Shooting rock salt into a spirit would disperse them, too.

There's stuff that works better when it comes to spirits, but I don't have access to the supplies I need for them. Salt is nearly as old school as blood, though, so it should do you in a pinch.

Second. [He reaches off to the side again and comes back with a firestarter.] This one is a lot more difficult to get hold of, so this may be something more to look for when we go on missions. Iron. Again, just about as old school as it comes. There are a lot of things that are weak to iron, including the Fae. If you have the ones from the right stories, at least. A good length of rebar that can be wielded like a sword or a bat is great. Again, good for dispersing a spirit, though it won't get rid of them entirely. It'll buy you time to get back up, though. So, again. Useful.

The third isn't really useful for ghosts or spirits, but if the salt doesn't work, then maybe this will. [Out comes a water bottle.] Holy water. Mostly works for demons. Won't kill them, but will cause harm and may burn them. Again, good for buying you time to get away and get help. Luckily, I was able to pick up a rosary on the last mission, so I can make as much as we may need. I tend to also throw a handful of salt in for a twofer.

As far as I know, we don't have access to any, but another good all around weapon against the supernatural is silver. I'd suggest keeping it away from those among the New Hires that might have an allergy to it, but there are a LOT of supernatural creatures out there that are weak to it. Again, purifying qualities that have been in use for a lot of centuries. And another thing to keep an eye out for on missions.

[Sam settles the items in front of him.] I'm not going to say any of this will keep you safe. That's not a promise I can make, especially since we don't know what, exactly, our enemy is. At best, I can say that they might be able to help. At worst, they're inert and you're no worse off than you were a moment before. At this point, though, I think we can use any edge we might be able to get.

[He folds his hands, leaning forward on the desk.]

Any questions?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ This response is pinging Sam's device well before he's done speaking; Malcolm hit the button to respond at right around the point Sam mentioned 'buying a lot of Morton's back home'. He waits until Sam has the time to respond before speaking, though, of course. ]

I find it interesting that you acknowledged a scientific explanation for all this but then talked for ten minutes about spirits.

[He sees the ping. He ignores it until he's done, rather than let himself get side tracked. So it's nice that the person pinging lets him.]

[Sam does turn to it soon enough, leaning forward on the desk.]

Well. That would be because that's what it looks like we may be facing. There aren't a lot of other things that can go through walls without disturbing them. But, it's also what I deal with back home, so I figured it couldn't hurt to share it out.

As the Bard said, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio"...

Shakespeare was not exactly a scientist.

And there are other explanations for reports of things going through walls that don't, ah, don't include spirits. You need to think about the fact that you're going to divert people's attention from the matters at hand.

The matter at hand is dealing with a murderer who is like nothing we've ever seen. In a place where she could, actually, be created out of the nothing around us and what we believe might affect her own limitations.

Right now, we're literally in the 'throw things at the wall and see what sticks' phase.

You're saying that believing the murderer can be affected will cause it to be affected?

It wouldn't be the strangest thing I've ever had to believe before breakfast.

[The alien on screen looks mildly irritated but it's not directed at Ian, it's because magic may be involved in all this and that is so annoying. ]

I say this as a scientist and a strict rationalist but the fabric of reality could stand to be slightly more prosaic.

Magic - as in confounding anomalous forces or beings that have a tenuous and quite frankly nonsensical relationship with proven physicals laws - is real. Disappointingly so.

Fortunately, magic sometimes abides by internally coherent limitations, even if there's no practical reason these limitations should exist. That said, it's entirely possible the proposed solutions Sam listed won't affect this being, even if it is magical.

The last time my team fought a being like this, only an artifact touched with the blood of one of Earth's messiah figures was able to seal it away from reality.

Regardless, the existence of metapowers with scientifically verifiable causes and explanations doesn't preclude the existence of beings capable of irrational and anomalous probability manipulation.

[There's a mutter from Sam's side of the connection.]

God, I hate magic.

[He sighs, shaking his head.]

The fact that it might not work is why I have been saying over and over that, at best, it'll buy you time.

Or just annoy her. There's a chance the careful application of physical brute force would buy someone more time than splashing her with holy water.

Furthermore there is the worrying possibility some of these methods might be used to her advantage if they don't harm her.

Salt may be magically inert, at worst, but would certainly be irritating to the eyes if she picked it up and threw it back in someone's face.

I'm fully willing to be the one doing the testing over anybody else. I just haven't run into her on my patrols. Also, always go for the eyes with salt or holy water or anything like that. Even if it doesn't work against the type of creature they are, it's irritating, like you said.

You're speaking with such certainty for someone who's saying something that's completely impossible.

Now...I do admit there seem to be powers here that defy explanation. But scientific laws are still scientific laws. There has to be a logical explanation for these things.

The obvious solution is chaos theory.

[Oh, so very dry.]

On a more serious note, I'd expect most 'magic' will turn out to simply be psionic abilities of some sort. "Oh, I cast a fireball spell!" is a lot simpler for someone to say than "I excited the molecules in that area until the air ignited."

[ He's almost taken aback, but then he laughs abruptly. ]

You're putting it in a better light than I could have done myself.

However, I believe the point you're making? Is that it's easier to call them spirits than explain every facet of their functions. If they can go through walls, as claimed. Well, ah, yes, indeed, but that only takes you so far, if it turns out superstitions don't work on them.

I'm speaking with the certainty of someone that's wielded magic on several occasions, due to the situation requiring it, with one of said situations being replete with toadstools and -

[A deep, deep sigh.]

A pointy hat.

[He rolls his eyes and looks faintly embarassed.]

I mostly did it to impress a girl.

A fascinating - and irritating - facet of my universe is that almost anyone can meddle with the dimensional fabric, provided they have access to the right knowledge and some aptitude for the more procedural aspects.

Throw together the right nonsense soup with the right words and a completely random person with no meta powers can turn someone else into a frog. It's a scientist's waking nightmare, trust me.

Magic is just another word for what we don't understand. There has to have been some explanation for your having witnessed something like that. A scientific one.

My scientific discipline has the distinction of being able to predict many improbable things that have happened, but...that doesn't make it magic. And calling something a ghost doesn't make it a ghost.

I could talk to you about spirits for a lot more than ten minutes if you need to get over that hurdle now.

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