Winter log

[faithfulsupport]

Who: Everyone!
What: Open Log
When: December
Where: The Hunter's Lodge
Warnings: N/A
Notes: This is a mingle log, so people are free to set up their own TLs under it. So tag in and tag around!


Snow has fallen outside and while it's not heavy it's set just enough down to gently cover the wooden benches and ground outside. The chairs have been removed but the lanterns are still out and lit (as well as the little lights that have been replaced with more festive ones) if people want to walk around outside and have private chats among the snow, the trees and the lighting.


Potluck - Food is all around. Got a story about how the food you brought is part of a long standing family tradition? So much the better! But Ignis for his part has been researching and working on bringing the foods he's heard about. So here you'll find an appetizer platter along with a cream cheese tree, turkey, ham, his version of the Crown City roast, stuffing balls, roasted potatoes and roasted vegetables, and of course a few different desserts.

So you can find him making sure the table is decked out in christmas colours and full of food. But as he sets the last appetizer tree down on the table, he nods. "Quite glad to see that you could make it."


Trim a tree A small group of freshly cut green trees are sitting in a corner with room to go around the back. Simple lights are already in place, but there are ornaments with hooks sitting in silent invitation to decorate the tree and gather around as well as different coloured garland too.

But there's plenty of supplies and being able to decorate a tree with Nida last year was all sorts of fun as it will be again this year. So the advisor is definitely happy that nature can come inside at least temporarily.

Ignis stands back and takes a look at the trees with a satisfied sort of nod. "I suppose after the holiday, I will see about replanting it outside." Turning to his guest, there's an easy smile. "It won't do to simply throw it away do you think?"


Gift exchange - Gifts aren't required, but people are free to do so. This can be as private or as public as wished! The royal strategist is busy arranging gifts under the tree, trying to make some sense as to how they should be grouped, so he's on his knees trying to keep the order straight. As soon as someone approaches, he acknowledges their presence with a smile. "Would you mind handing me that blue wrapped gift sitting on the chair right next to you?"


Wild card- Dancing? Snowball fights outside? Feel free to make up a thing here!

Comments

[monochromatically]

Mono thought that was pretty interesting, honestly. It was actually nice to learn things from people who were alright with having him around… Plus having the ability to talk at all helped.

The question gets a little rise of his shoulders. “I dunno exactly. I think it’s just ‘cause I’m bad at controlling what I do. Sometimes when I leave a television, the screen breaks behind me.” Which was pretty damn inconvenient if you needed to get back in quickly if you landed somewhere you didn’t want to be. Instead, he’d have to start running and hope he ran into another quickly enough.

[harrythelizard]

Harry nodded at that, still not completely following but at least catching on to the fact that the kid had some kind of teleportation power. It was possible it didn't even have to be a television, and may just utilize the reflective quality of the glass.

"Can we talk about that for a minute? We don't have to talk shop if you'd rather not."

[monochromatically]

The kid glanced up at Harry curiously. The guy had expressed an interest in it before, and seemed… Like he genuinely wanted to help. “I guess so?” If the guy decided his abilities might be a bad thing after all, Mono figured it would be easy enough to tell… “What do wanna know about it? I might not be able to answer everything, since I still kinda don’t get it fully myself.”

[harrythelizard]

"Okay, so, tell me about when you go inside the television. How do you do it?" It would tell Harry, first and foremost, whether Mono's ability was magical or inate. It was a necessary step to move forward.

[monochromatically]

That was a good question, and Mono fell silent for a good minute or two.

Tapping his chin with a very serious look on his face as he tried to figure out how to explain it, or if he was sure enough that he knew how to do so. “I kinda just press on the screen? It goes all weird and staticky and then I kind of get sucked in?” He responded with a little tilt of his head. It was hard to say if that was what Harry meant. “It’s kinda like it reacts to me? Like…” He wished he could show the guy. Showing was way easier than talking about it. “I dunno how to explain it good.”

He shook his head a little as he tried to describe how it worked. “I can't control it really good either. I thought for a while I was getting better at getting to a place by messing with the signal, but I was just getting tricked to go somewhere someone wanted me to. Most of the time, I just kinda end up at whatever other television is closest to where I go in.”

[harrythelizard]

Harry was quiet for a moment while he mulled it over. "So...you don't think about it at all?" That didn't really add up to it being an ability of Mono's then, at least not that he's aware of.

"Have you tried it with anything like televisions here? Maybe it's something about your world, not you specifically."

[monochromatically]

Mono blinked. “I mean, I kinda got a lot going on? Usually I do it when I gotta get away from someone or when I can’t find a way to go somewhere else. So I guess I think about how I gotta go somewhere else?”

It was definitely a ‘Mono’ ability, since Six couldn't do it at all. Not unless Mono had a hold of her when he was using his ability. If Harry asked, he could at least say that. The Man in the Hat could do what he could too, of course… But Mono doesn’t know why that is yet. Unless Harry got into very specific points, Mono might be a little lost on how to answer the guy. It’s not like he ever knew anyone in his world he could ask how he did what he could do. He just figured things out as he went.

“Um… I dunno. I haven’t found anything that’s like a television aside from the little screens on the phone thing. They’re too little for me to fit through, and I’m kinda afraid of getting stuck.” He responded, lifting his shoulders uncertainly. Maybe there was something enough like a television, but he hadn’t come across it yet.

[harrythelizard]

It sounded something like teleportation, but Harry wasn't sure how that was possible. Maybe he was opening a door through the Nevernever, or a place similar, a corridor only he could pass through.

"I mean something other than technology...like a mirror, or a reflective window."

[monochromatically]

“Oh!” Mono responded, kind of understand what the man meant a little better now. “I haven’t really tried with stuff like that, but it’s also never reacted to me the way stuff like TVs do?” Mirrors and windows just seemed.. normal to him. He could touch and interact with them without weird stuff happening the way that things broadcasted something did, so they didn’t seem useful beyond their mundane uses like looking at yourself or keeping the outside from getting in.

[harrythelizard]

"That...sort of makes sense." He nodded, starting to get a feel for it. "Mono, you might have the innate ability to use the TVs as conduits to travel through...or you might just be able to manipulate the electricity in them to fuel a transportation. That would mean you'd need some juice to move through any reflective surface." He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"You want to try an experiment? I'll need to do some research first, and I'll need your help with it."

[monochromatically]

Mono listened, face scrunching slightly with confusion as Harry spoke. He sort of understood what the man was saying, but he wasn’t really sure about some of the words. But it made Harry sound pretty smart, even if the kid himself couldn’t say whether the guy was on to something or not.

The question gets a careful half nod, between curious and uncertain of agreeing to an experiment without more details. “What would I have to do to help with it?”

[harrythelizard]

"Well, if we can find a television set, I'm going to need you to travel so I can watch you do it. I might be able to figure out how you do it, if I can watch it."

It was a place to start, and the kid didn't need to know he intended to use the Third Sight to watch him transport. He didn't do it lightly, but it might be the only way to assure he has a good understanding of just what it is Mono does.

[monochromatically]

“Ohhh, okay! I can definitely do that if you do find one.” If Harry found a working television, then he could easily show the guy what he could do! Not that he was eager to show off what he could do… But it would just be nice to understand it better if the man could figure it out with him.

Then Mono paused with a tiny frown. “Only, I dunno where I’d come out? I don’t really have a lot of control over that. Usually I end up getting out at the next nearest TV.” He didn’t have a lot of control yet, and usually he resorted to using the ability when he needed to get away or if his path forward would be blocked otherwise. “It’s something I was kinda practising as I went.”

[harrythelizard]

"That'll be part of the experiment. We'll find two TVs, and we'll make sure we know where they are, that way we can control the results."

It sounded like it would work to Harry, at least. He'd done experiments completely blind before, usually with Bob (which made it marginally less dangerous), but he was a magus, damn it. He could do this without his magical computer.

[monochromatically]

Mono probably didn’t need to know this was an entirely ‘blind experiment’ to Harry, or the fact that usually he had Bob. Besides, it sounded like it would work…? And he was pretty desperate for answers, after all. “Okay! I guess you can let me know if you find any TVs and I can show you how I do the… thing.” He waved a hand as if to simulate pushing on a TV screen.

[harrythelizard]

Harry gave him the thumbs up, nodding as he did so. "It'll be great."

And on hold until such time as Harry could find TV sets. "So, what was the plan today?"

[monochromatically]

Today? Mono shrugged his shoulders a little. A lot of people liked to ask that, but aside from when he was carrying messages, it wasn’t like the kid had actually planned his days out. “I dunno? More practice making snowmen until I get too cold and decide to go inside?” Which meant the slightly unsettling snowman army was going to grow. At least a few good sunny, warm days and they’d all melt away.

[harrythelizard]

"Yeah...okay." He frowned. He was starting to get the impression he didn't do much of anything.

"Do you...know how to play Go Fish?" He'd been that lonely kid with no friends and terrible social skills.

[monochromatically]

Given Mono had never played a card game before, or head of ‘Go Fish,’ his reaction was a bit amusing.

He tilted his head up at Harry, looking more than a little confused and a tad skeptical about the idea. “You can go fishing in the wintertime? Isn’t the water all frozen?” He also clearly didn’t know about ice fishing, but that wasn’t exactly the point. The point was, the kid definitely didn’t know how to play ‘Go Fish.’

[harrythelizard]

That got Harry grinning.

"It's a card game." He stood, stooped due to the low ceiling. "Tell you what. I'll run and grab us a deck of cards and teach you the ropes. I'll bet you'll be a natural."

[monochromatically]

A card game? Hm… He was pretty sure he saw adults playing with those sometimes around Aterat, but he hadn’t really known any of the games you could play with them… Mono had to ask something that sprung to his mind rather quickly. “Why’s it called ‘Go Fish’ if there’s no fish and it’s played with cards?”

But the kid was definitely enjoying the opportunity to learn how to play games now and then, especially learning how to them properly. The way he saw most games being played by the porcelain bullies in his world was… Far less fun. So discovering that they weren’t so bad when done properly was an experience. “But um… learning sounds like fun?”

[harrythelizard]

He turned from the doorway, as he was heading out, smiling. He'd never had siblings growing up, and in a lot of ways, Harry Dresden was just another big kid himself. He'd always wanted a brother to play games with, and while he's found out recently that he has one, some things you can never get back. It was all the more reason to give Mono a childhood worth remembering instead of one he wanted to forget.

"So, we each get to start with five cards, and the rest go in a pile in the middle. You start your turn by pulling a card from the middle stack, then you look at your hand and see what you've got. So, if you've got a card with a 5 on it, you could ask the other person if they have one. They have to answer honestly, and if they do, they have to give it to you. If they don't, the person who asked has to 'go fish' or draw another card from the deck. If that card is a five, they get to discard the pair they made, the one they had originally and the one they drew, then they get to ask again. This keeps going until there aren't any more pairs, and if they're lucky enough to empty their hand that turn, they win. That's the object, to get rid of all your cards by making pairs and discarding them when you do. Oh, and you get to ask again if your opponent had the card you asked for, too. Simple, right?"

[monochromatically]

Mono listened very closely to the explanation, though it did seem like an easy enough game to follow. You just had to ask questions and find pairs, right? Since there was no lying, you didn’t have to worry about being tricked or figuring out how to get what you needed to make a match! “So we just gotta ask the right questions and make pairs? That does sound really easy. I think I can do that!” And maybe if he paid really close attention to the questions and answers, he could work out easier if a card was in a hand or in the pile still!

[harrythelizard]

"Great! I'll be right back." And with that, he slipped out into the cold, a deck of cards to teach a kid who'd never had a childhood how to be a child.

(OOC: Might be a good place to wrap? They play card games in their fort for a while?)

[monochromatically]

(ooc: Definitely!! :D)

“Okay, I’ll wait here and work on my snow people till ya get back.” He responded with a little nod, though it was pretty easy to see he was kind of excited to learn a new game.

Still, he got back to work on his little snow people army after Harry disappeared, keeping himself busy until the man returned.

FTB