Challenge #01148-C051: Filling in Time

Channeling Bugs Bunny (maybe Shayde?): "I know this breaks the laws of physics, but you see I never studied law." -- RecklessPrudence

[AN: Yes, Shayde did study the laws of physics, but she also found some loopholes]

They were waiting for the dust to settle and Security had already confiscated Shayde's guitar. Possibly out of self-defence. Which meant a series of increasingly unlikely self-entertainments that she pulled out of her trans-dimensional 'pockets'.

One day, Rael supposed, they would learn that Shayde was pathologically incapable of sitting idle for any length of time and at least let her have a colouring book[1] or a cats' cradle.

But for now, she had ping-pong balls. She was juggling them with both hands, at least one knee, and, when she was being enthusiastic, her mouth.

Rael watched the multi-coloured balls zinging about in a plethora of arcs with half an interest. It wasn't as if there was much else to look at in Temporary Detainment. Besides the plaque on the wall that said, in GalStand, Please think about what you have done. With the subtitle for humans, You might not have thought before you did it.

And it was only because he wasn't focussed entirely on her show that he noticed... some of the balls were bouncing off of nothing at all.

Startled, Rael watched with more attention than he usually devoted to Shayde's idle shenanigans. Tracking one particular ping-pong ball on its eccentric series of arcs until...

It definitely bounced off of nothing at all...

Come to think of it, a lot of the balls never actually touched her hands, either.

"How...?" he said.

Shayde grinned. "I was always pants at jugglin'. Until I realised I could pop a wee confinement field up an' keep 'em goin' that way. You'd be surprised how few people notice."

"I think I might," he allowed.

[1] The appeal of colouring in things is practically universal and no longer contains age constraints.

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