"I never seen shields that intricate before."
Rory allowed himself a slight smile at the compliment, whether it was intended or not; even though they weren't weapons per say, the shield were his and, for all their faults, he'd put in plenty of work on them.
"Can you describe exactly how they are breaking down? Are they..." As Bobby's voice trailed off and his gaze shifted Rory followed his eyes to see what the other student was looking at, eyes falling on Anna. Had he seen this girl before somewhere, maybe in one of his classes? She did seem vaguely familiar, though for the life of him Rory couldn't place her. It wasn't uncommon for students to come to the library for peace and quiet, meditation included, so after a moment's thought Rory shrugged it off. She wasn't really bothering anyone, after all -- best to let her be.
"Here, let me show you." Activating the responsive pressure triggers on his right-hand vambrace with a well-practiced snap of the wrist, Rory's "weapon" whirred to life and a swift-moving cascade of interlocking plates seemed to unfold, one from behind another, almost like a paper fan opening. In the process some seemed to get stuck, or not quite deploy in the right spot, or emerged with clearly visible scrape marks from the small hydraulic arms or other plates. There were also signs of residual combat damage here and there, although the most badly-hit plates had seemingly been swapped out for new ones. When the entire kite shield fully unfolded after a few seconds Rory carefully slid his arm loose and offered it to Bobby for inspection. "It seems mostly to be an endurance issue, best I can tell. Even with my Aura going through it, it just doesn't quite seem to be holding up under regular use. The other one's much the same, even though I use it less... I'm worried it might be down to a flaw in the design or the parts I'm using, but I just can't seem to go more than a week without a plate or support threatening to buckle. It's a real headache, honestly..."
He added, suddenly apologetic. "I don't mean to be a burden -- even just your opinion would be fine, honestly."