ninth.

[eaglet]

[Connor sounds slightly out of breath when he dictates into the journal, mostly because it's so cold outside but also because he's been working pretty hard out there.]

Before I came to this world, I had left my village for six months. I have now been in this place for nine. There are still things I do not understand about both this world and the world outside my village, but I am learning, I think. And there is much to learn.

I have been interested in exploring the Dead Zone again. The god of this place has the power to move us and to transform our surroundings, but I would like to explore on my own terms. There is much to learn here amongst each other, but I feel as though there is even more to learn out there.

[Connor can be found on the castle lawn, packing a long wall of snow about a foot tall, taking care to carve a furrow down the middle. He has acquired some gloves that don't really match the rest of his outfit -- they have a reflective strip down the side and are also neon pink.]

Comments

[molotov]

[Molotov and Mishka appear some time later, with Molotov holding a big box of assorted snacks, many of them Christmas themed.]

Connor, I forgot to have the ghost take this for you as well. What are you doing?

[eaglet]

[He looks up, glancing briefly at the cub. He also spends most of his time away from his room, so he has no real clue what she's talking about...]

I am making a track for snow snake, which is a game my people play in winter. What do you mean 'as well'?

[molotov]

You did not get the present I sent you? I told the ghosts to deliver it to your room...

[eaglet]

Oh... when did you? I have not been there in some time.

[molotov]

Christmas, yesterday morning. Where do you sleep?

[eaglet]

[He gestures around...]

The weather has not been too cold. In the woods.

[molotov]

Probably you should sleep inside, it is really too cold to be sleeping outside in random places.

[eaglet]

I do light a fire. It is not so cold.

[molotov]

Well... your present is inside. So there is that.

[eaglet]

[He nods, then peers at the snack bag.]

I will seek it out after I am done here. What do you have with you?

[molotov]

Oh, these are just some things I thought you might like to try. Some of it is Christmas-like, candy canes and cherry cordials, things like that. Others are just snacks and candies.

[eaglet]

[Peering intensifies....!!]

Do you have any ginger-breads?

[molotov]

[She pokes around in the snacks, and then pulls out a few individually-wrapped, pre-decorated gingerbread men.]

I have these.

[eaglet]

[He gingerly (!) takes one, looking it over.]

Do all foods in your time come wrapped in material like this?

[molotov]

Mm, it depends on where you get them. Usually foods are wrapped in some kind of packaging just so that they will last longer, or so that they will keep their shapes.

[eaglet]

[Glances up from the cookie!!] Are there many foods that are shaped like men?

[THAT'S WEIRD...]

[molotov]

No, only gingerbread men. I think they are made this way because of a fairytale, about a gingerbread man who runs from the woman who baked him.

[eaglet]

[A thoughtful hum as he picks at the plastic.]

The colonists cut them in the shape of saints, or so I have heard. I have never actually had any.

[molotov]

Well, eat it! Why did you never have any? Couldn't you have bought some, or had someone give you some?

[eaglet]

[He shrugs, still picking at the plastic. How do you even open this...]

I had only been among the colonists once. After I left my village, I went straight to Achilles's manor. It was only after six months that we went to Boston.

[molotov]

[She reaches out to help him... untie the ribbon so that the bag opens. She kind of thought that seemed obvious.]

Ah. Well, you should try it. I am not the biggest fan of gingerbread, but some people love it.

[eaglet]

[He thought it was just for decoration! Future stuff is stupid, he doesn't know.]

I do not know. I did not enjoy cheese...

[molotov]

When did you eat cheese? There are hundreds of kinds, and even more ways to eat it. You cannot just eat a block of cheddar, you know.

[eaglet]

[He shrugs, glancing back at the wall he was building.]

Shortly after you suggested it to me. It disagreed with me. I do not know what kind it was.

[molotov]

You must have eaten too much. I will take you for pizza some day.