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"Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?"
"An-"
"Well, a few things. Sometimes the needle in the compass will get demagnetized over time, unable to detect an electromagnetic field." Joan interrupted out of habit, throwing a finger up and looking down at it with furrowed eyebrows, before throwing another finger up. "Some have a detachable or rotating angle ring which can move, this just needs to be rotated back into the correct place. One of the most dumb mistakes, honestly." Another finger. "The needle has been physically restrained in some manner, such as the spindle on which it swings has become jammed or stuck, or the ends of the needle have become trapped on something."
Joan paused, using her fingers to drum on her things before popping up a fourth finger and her eyes jumping up excitedly.
"-or the field you're trying to detect is too weak or there's another electromagnetic field deflecting the compass's true north. Like power lines or-"
"-a huge underground, secret government lab-" Dustin interrupted with excited eyes towards Joan, who nodded in agreement, one finger on her nose and the other hand pointing towards the boy and continuing his sentence, nostalgia rolling off her in waves.
"-or, some kind of other massive electromagnetic interference-"
"-like another gate!"
"...Oh my God, there's two of them." Steve grieved, but his suffering was neglected yet heard. "Just one is enough, b-but two?!"
"It would have to be smaller." Dustin articulated to the group with Joan beside him bobbing her head in verification, hands moving towards themselves to gesture a small portal. "Much, much smaller."
"Snack-size gate."
She couldn't help it.
"The snack that smiles back, gol'fish."
Robin and Joan was ignored even though Joan nodded appreciatively at the nickname, while Dustin continued his explanation. Mind racing, Joan had figured that Dustin had already explained the conclusion of the compass and followed her little brother/future dad down the path mindlessly, wanting to finish the adventure sooner than later.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Steve interrupted the two quickly, blinking at the matching dirty looks from the two Henderson and rubbed a hand through his hair apprehensively with a whisper of Christ, two of them... "Eddie's still a wanted man and Joan is suspected to be under his-his curse or whatever, we can't just go around in broad day light with the two!"
"D-do you guys have some kind of mind reading between each other or...?" Robin probed at the way Dustin and Joan seemed to be in sync with each other, down to the way they glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "Some kind of Henderson superpower or-or curse?"
