"Oh uh."

Jim hands up a couple of the journals to Gale to free his hands up to grab the rest that had spilled onto the dusty stone. A quick shake and a sharp blow get the worst of the dirt and cobwebs off of them again and the ranger can start shoving them into his pack briskly. Both of the journals he'd handed off to Gale are written in the same elegant script. The penmanship oddly familiar to the sending scroll notes he's received before...

Did Jim write all of these?

"Just a few essentials. I've got my rough topography sketchbook I'll use to make maps of the areas we've been. That one's my field sketches of basic alchemical components to keep an eye out for, so I'll know what to pick and what to leave behind." He rummages through the books he's brought.

"This one is my transcriptions of the Illithid runic text I'm somehow able to read now. Thought perhaps it prudent to write it down and take notes on anything I find in that script in case I can no longer read it when we sort the worm problem. It uh, don't tell Lae'Zel but I've also taken notes on her explanations of Tir'su script in here too. So it's my Languages journal I suppose. Uhm. Oh! And this one's for observations I make on magic or spells I see used while we're out in the field."

"And you need...All of these. On you at all times." Shadowheart deadpans. Jim just looks up at her as if she'd suggested something crazy.

"Oh. Yes. The rest I keep in my trunk at camp." Because he absolutely has more.

Give him time and maybe he'll begin to believe it of himself, but so early on in their adventuring yet he still feels like he has to hide of himself from them. That he has so much to prove and so little to offer. Jim gives a small, embarrassed chuckle at what He assumes is more teasing.

"Could you? Is it difficult to reverse? I add to these fairly frequently. Although I suppose I could just. Learn to write or sketch smaller."

It turns out when Gale said 'smaller' he really meant it. Jim had no frame of reference here but comparing the tiny booklet to the some of the full sized journals left in his pack it really is an eighth of the size. There's no way Jim would be able to read or write this tiny but it DOES make for far more room in his pack.

"That's amazing!"

"You can't Use the books like that, what's the difference between just leaving them at camp?" Shadowheart muses, but Jim's excitedly gesturing to Gale all the while.

"Gale's just said he can change them back easily. Think of all the space we can save! AND if we find larger tools or equipment that could prove useful for the camp, we might actually be able to drag it back in a smaller state! It's brilliant."

With only minor sassmaking the four of them are able to finish picking the area as clean as can be before making back for their camp. Speaking of Karlach's carrying capacity....between her and Shadowheart they've been able to cart back the few books they found intact within the ruins as well as a few pieces of gear they can either make use of or clean up and sell.

Jim's also got a rather critical eye for random objects that might have value. As much as he does not mind being the team's resident alchemist, he's hardly a professional at it. The more complicated potions and elixirs he prefers to purchase from a professional. And those do not come cheaply.

Their fearless 'leader' has made his way back to his tent and is upending his pack to sort out all of his journals. Since the pack spilled earlier he needs to doublecheck they're all accounted for. He's busy knelt down laying them all out and grabbing a few more from his trunk when Gale happens by....

What, Gale? Not enjoying the view? Kirk's got a lovely spread of ass..ets on display here. Any bibliophile couldn't be blamed for taking a longing look over it all. His tube for his Maps, his journal for his mapmaking and topography sketches, field sketches, alchemy notes, general notes (there are so many loose threads of things to do, Jim has to take notes to keep it all straight in his head), his magical theory journal, and a daily journal he has been monitoring his symptoms in.

It's become clear that Jim also has a habit of scooping up pots of ink anytime they're out and about because he has a good four of them covered and set aside for use. He sits up on his heels at Gale's greeting, twisting to throw a grin over his shoulder at the camp wizard.

"Oh, these? Thank you. If you want to take a look be my guest." He scoots over a bit. "It's usually what I spend my evenings on. Working on one of these."

"Am I? I suppose it's partly based on how I was taught. Partly based on the career I pursued. Cartography is rewarding work but it requires good note taking and rough sketches to be able to accurately go back in and annotate a map later. I've learned the hard way that it's better to keep separate journals so my final work is well prepared before I put quill to...to uh."

He glances over and notes with a soft startled chuckle that Gale has stopped listening.

"Ah. Don't laugh at that. I've not a shred of talent for magics but it does not mean I don't have a deep respect for the craft or its theory."

"Ventured, yes, but I didn't get very far." Jim rubs at the side of his nose and shrugs a little bit. "I've been told very matter-of-factly that I have not a Shred of actual talent to utilize magic."

Jim's gaze falls to his journal briefly and then down to the rest of his books with a chuckle.

"Hasn't stopped me from being fascinated by the theoreticals. I find that many people with the talent to Use magic sometimes miss the more applied uses their craft could have."

"Well, I'd love to believe that." Jim replies with a somewhat hopeful grin. He's been told he's a waste of time and energy where the arts of the Weave are concerned, even after he's spent exhaustive hours teaching himself much of magical theory over the years. "Perhaps sometime we've a free evening you'd be willing to teach me?"

It's a grin only widening when Gale confirms he's made his own spells before.

"Fascinating! I'd love to observe if you did any of that here, though I doubt being on the road is any place for spell craftsmanship."

"Catflap of...how does that work? Where did it go to? Did you join it to a fixed location??? Like a uh...a dimension door? Or what???"

He needs his journal back he's aggressively flipping through it for a clean page to grab up a charcoal to start scrawling a diagram on to illustrate his question.

"How do you account for the instability of having the spell hold for longer than a minute?"

"Gale!" Jim snaps the journal shut and laughs. "You tease! Absolute scoundrel. You can't taunt me with something like that and then just drop the subject entirely."

With a scoff and a shake of his head, the ranger turns back to organizing his things.

"Can't believe I got excited for nothing."