> Nene took a tentative bite, as if concerned that a tax lawyer
>would appear out of nowhere and demand that she claim the value of the
>meat as income. "... They really are good burgers," she said in a small
>voice.

On 2nd or 3rd re read this prompted sort of a RHPS reaction..

"Hey Nene, if you eat the evidence they can't prove nuttin!!!"

> In fact, to him it resembled nothing so
>much as a slightly oversized, modernized version of one of those Art
>Deco glass doorknobs from the 1920s, or maybe a stereotypical cartoon
>Huge Diamond,

Or the Silver Crystal of Illusion, especially if you factor in the glow and its being a source of incredible power. :)

Actually, since I have a RP character who 1) has deliberate callbacks to the Magical Girl aesthetic, 2) lives in a universe with super-advanced technology as well as magic and 3) specializes in gathering and converting energy, this gave me a mental image of her invoking one of those, as one would a magical artifact, in order to draw its power all at once and using it to power a Beam Of Destruction, or possibly a giant AoE similar to Nanoha's Starlight Breaker. It's a pretty awesome mental image. (Especially the line immediately preceding it: "I'm gonna need one of your Arc Reactors. *slight pause* You're not getting it back.")

Eyrie Productions, my source of Awesome Mental Images since 1997.