paradisa | ninth.

[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.]

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I am Kanien'kehá:ka. The Haudenosaunee all play this game, though.

[Pretty much nobody even knows what he's talking about when he says these things though, so --]

The Iroquois.

[ Her eyebrows just peak higher and higher toward her hairline by this point. Effy doesn't even know who the Iroquois are. Anyway, she shrugs. ]

Show me how to play it then.

[He gestures at the half-completed track.]

It is not finished -- it needs more length. But the way is to throw a length of polished wood down the track to see how far it will travel. The challenge is for both the carver and the thrower.

[ Effy bends down as if to peer through that track and see how possible that is. ]

And if I win?

[This girl...]

Well... I do not have any prizes here.

Think of one.

[ Meanwhile, she'll wander off to find some stick to carve, kicking snow about and peering around for suitable branches. ]

[He frowns as she goes, but doesn't really say anything. Prizes indeed!!!! He just continues work on the track instead; maybe he'll just make something up if she wins.]

[ Wow so rude, Connor, wow.

Effy finds a suitable branch eventually, blowing the snow off of it and breaking off a few of the extra twigs from it. ]

Ready or not~?

[He can't help it -- he gives her something of an amused, sceptical look. There's more to snow snake than just taking a branch from a tree, but it's fine. He just won't have to come up with a prize.

In response, Connor picks up one of the lengths of wood he has for himself -- it's sanded and polished to look something like an oversized bullet.]

I will show you first.

[He goes to the mouth of the track, takes a step back, then lunges forward, throwing the dart down the track like a javelin.]

[ Yeah, that-- that's way more effort put into making a throwing stick than she expected, but Effy doesn't mind dropping her sad little branch to go behind him and watch. She even does a half-hearted clap at his throw, quite amused by the display and hardly worried about having to match it earlier. ]

Did you spend an entire day making that?

[The wooden dart makes it nearly to the end of the track before slowing, and Connor frowns at his progress before turning back to her.]

Mostly.

[ That's-- pretty awesome in her eyes, so he gets a slow clap out of her. ]

And you didn't think to call a friend to help?

[Maybe he wanted the time to himself... okay... Connor blinks at the applause, then shifts his feet a little sheepishly.]

Um... I wanted to do it myself.