"Mr. Rolander! I am trying to have a civil discussion. Please, cease these hostilities." Kobbsley said.

Reggie was seething, barely controlling himself. He just wanted to punt something. "I. Made. It. A literal knowledge god told me how. I understand how it WORKS, I understand the RISKS, so what's the problem?!" The office was well decorated, chairs stacked on the wall with small golden-framed robots scurrying about to find properly sized ones for the people in the office. The imp in charge, Mr. Kobbsley, was five-eights of a block tall. This was, in fact, very tall for an imp.

The white-furred imp sighed. "I am not sure about Professor Rattlescales concerns over the devices danger, a God wouldn't just hand these things out willy-nilly, but I will say this- There's a sharp difference between help from a trusted adult, and help from a god! You should have AT LEAST disclosed this in your papers for the exhibit, but from what I can tell you had no plans to do so!"

"Equally so," Rattlescale said, looking over the two. "There could be side-effects, dangerous ones. Just what IS the amber flash whenever it activates? How do we know you won't be left, I dunno, halfway stuck between two origins?" He was very, very good at sounding genuinely concerned over this, Reggie thought, looking over the two.

"There's- There is no side effects! Using it once or twice for a demonstration is perfectly safe! I'm gonna make a better model if I win, and that'll, I dunno- Go to like, everyone!" He was frustrated, Rattlescale was just *staring at him*, and he was an inch away from snapping when Claire saw him and grounded him. She just grabbed onto his arm, looking right at Rattlescale. "Stop- Staring at him! You know that screws him up!" He chuffed, and looked away.

Kobbsley just sighed. "Alright, alright, everyone calm down! It's clear that tensions are running high right now."

He looked to Reggie and Claire. "First things first. You cheated. Maybe it didn't seem like it at the time, but you didn't even make a note of literal divine assistance in your project! That in and of itself disqualifies you from the Grant. Secondly, I'm not going to confiscate this... Originator, as you call it, but I do think you shouldn't bring it to school. It seems like it's just begging for someone to get curious and grab it or something, and then they panic because they're suddenly an Imp."

Reggie was still, seething, but without those eyes on him, he was calming down. "Alright, I- I can do that." He said.

Kobbsley turned to Rattlescale next. "You! Stop trying to confiscate students things! You can't build a fortune off of stolen kids toys. I swear, if this turns into another situation like with that Taotie kid, your tenure won't save you." Reggie smirked. Busted! But then the unstoppable force known as Kobbsley turned to Reggie. "Also, and I almost forgot this- Whichever god you contacted, please ask them to get in touch with me so that WE can discuss this! I'm not making any accusations either way, but I don't want an angry god showing up over misuse of tools because you misunderstood the instructions."

Reggie blanched. "We... Kinda don't KNOW, their... Name?" He said, sinking into his chair.

Claire coughed a bit. "My, uh, cousins mom follows them, but I've never really known just... What the details are, just how to ask for help."

Kobbsley just kept his face carefully neutral. "... You contacted a god you know literally nothing about for help with a science fair project."

Reggie coughed a bit. "In my, uh- In our defense, we were panicking."

Kobbsley sighed. "Tell you what. You won't get the grant, but if you want a passing grade, figure out just who you bothered, because this is sounding like a white elephant type situation for you."

Reggie sighed. "Alright, me and Claire will do some research. But I'm not giving up the Originator!" He said, glaring at Rattlescale.

Rattlescale narrowed his eyes. "Until we know all the risks, or even just the limits of the device, it's unwise to let a child keep it. What if you lose it, or it gets stolen and the thief decides to use it to turn into some uncatchable criminal! The abilities of every origin at once, with no restriction on changing between them! That's- You can't just let a kid HAVE that."

Kobbsley massaged his temples. "Rattlescale, drop it! If it's a god worthy of trust, then I trust their judgement! And that's why I want you two to find out which god you bothered! We need to know it wasn't some random minor god deciding to mess with some kids for kicks!" He said, looking at the two. The imp sighed. "I understand that this is frustrating, but- Your theology courses should be teaching you these things! Gods aren't playthings or toys, they're people! And not all of them are good people. You got that?" The two kids groaned, but nodded.

"Alright. That's your new assignment then, hunt down that knowledge god, safely!"


Claire was calling her cousin. That was, that was step one, while reggie looked up weird lightbulb gods. Mipps was still just, barely not a kitten anymore, but she could get in touch with her OWN mom and then Claire could ask about just who they'd bothered. Still, Claire was kicking herself- Stupid, STUPID, this was such a horrible idea. She was sitting down, ears eeping at her from the noise of the phone ringing, before- "Hello? This is the Du-Mipps Redise-Residend- Residence!" Mipps said over the phone, sounding proud for getting it right.

Claire nodded. Go time."Hi, uh, Mipps, just- One quick question, can I talk to your mom?"

"Oh! Clairie! My school had a big school play! I was a tree and I got to eat a bee!"

Claire took a second to digest that, before trying to just continue. "I-, uh, that's great! Good job! But, I really do gotta talk to your mom!"

But Mippothy just continued on. "It was the, uh, the the the- The tale of the Crawl Warrior, yeah, that one! I hope I can punch zombies one day!"

Claire sighed. "Mippothy! Your mom, please!"

There was a gasp over the phone. "Oh right yeah that!"

The phone was passed off, to someone who sounded like they'd just woken up. "Milandra DuMipp speaking."

Claire coughed a bit. "I- Uh, hey Aunt Millie! I have a problem you might be able to help with? Me and my friend, Reggie-"

"Oh, your boyfriend?"

"He is NOT my boy friend PLEASE shush he is my friend who is a boy- Augh- Anyways, we contacted a god, but we don't know their name? But I remember learning about them from you."

Milandra sounded far less tired now. "I- What? Why?"

"School science fair."

"Your standards for science are far higher than mine. Anyways- The only god I know of that'd help is Kaynan the Chained Mind. But that'd, be a bad idea, guy's madder than a bag of cats on a good day- You could ask him for the plans for a doomsday device and he'd just hand it over even if you're like, twelve. Which you are. Did he give you a doomsday device?"

Claire gulped. "... Uh. No. It's some sorta watch that lets you change origins really fast? Reggie made it for the school science fair, but professor Rattlescale just wants to take it."

Milandra sighed. "For any other god I'd say to stand your ground but honestly with Kaynan you never know, it really could be dangerous. There's a reason he's the CHAINED mind."

Claire was silent, but she had to say SOMETHING... "I... really hope this doesn't turn out bad. I hope Reggie can keep his watch and nothing goes all, weirdy. But the omens lately have been... Bad. They've been that way for a while, actually, but the vibe of the town is getting worse."

Claire sighed. This was gonna be hard to explain to Reggie.