"I'm conducting research on the viability of passively drawing magical energy from people, without drawing attention. Or, given my progress, how it is not." And, let's just lead away from my Grimoire. "It's hard enough to nail a good rate of draw where you're not drawing noticable amounts of energy from people, and the pay-off is barely worth the effort in the first place. Using more exotic materials and flashier casting can make it more efficient, but your drain radius still isn't all that great. Which doesn't say anything about how much staring you get for chanting loudly in the middle of the street, waving around glowing sticks."

"The idea was that you could set this up somewhere with a lot of people, let it sit for a day or two, and then collect some free energy. No one even notices anything. But, I just can't get the damn thing to work properly." She sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "I've been at it for awhile, and this stupid efficiency problem keeps on looping back to me."

By this time, the waitress had arrived.

Flipping back a page, Hex took a quick glance at the menu.

"Hey, I'll have a 'Blue Hawaiian', and a 'Bravo Burger'." Quite honestly, she trusted the name of the burger less than the drink. But, apart from the name, it seemed tasty enough by the description.