"Yes," he agrees. "Apparently it works better with living or 'previously living' substances, but I wonder if there's some issue with how organic the substance is or isn't which might be causing problems simply from my proximity..." He trails off for a moment, then comes back at the mention of 'magic'.

"You already know my views on that," he says with a sigh. "Besides, why anyone would want to trust in a substance that, by the definition of the term most commonly used, cannot be explained, is beyond me."

He wanders over to the remains of his workstation and starts picking up the pieces of his experiment. Again. "Unfortunately my strongest forcefields have a somewhat... limited range. And it's only happened twice so far."