[OPEN] look, i don't even celebrate this holiday

[whathawksdo]

WHO: Hawke & open!
WHERE: Various libraries, the farm, and one lab.
WHEN: Before Christmas.
WHAT: In which Hawke steals a reindeer. Sorry, Kel.
WARNINGS: n/a


i. various libraries, any city

[ When you're struck by an idea and can't quite shake it, well, going to the library for research is not — surprise, surprise — Hawke's usual idea on how to go about it. Yet, there she is, browsing the science and nature and pet sections out in the stacks. ]

Reindeer, reindeer... Why aren't there any books on just reindeer? [ She's currently flipping through one on flight for some reason. ] And why don't any of these mention them flying?

[ Yes, she is very disappointed in these bird and various other flying creature books, frowning down at the pages in vague irritation as she wonders if she's actually missed some important point here. ]

ii. the farm, de chima

[ And one zany adventure somewhere between the libraries and right now, there's a tiny bit of trouble out on the farm. It isn't up near the house, oh no. It isn't even up by the barn or the stables. It's out further into the property, down along the open road or by the fences that border other properties, in which Hawke is trying to coax what appears to be a real, live reindeer to come back to her.

It's definitely a younger one, not exactly skittish. It's just not interested in going back to her, in spite of her waving a bag of greens around in the attempt to lure it back. ]

Oh, come on. I didn't get you all the way out here for you to go wild on me! Come here, please? Pretty please? [ Nope. She slowly approaches, it looks up from grazing and takes another few steps away. Hawke stifles a growl. ] I know I'm not that Santa fellow, but this is ridiculous!

Comments

somewhere in between i and ii; closed to catherine

[whathawksdo]

You know, I kind of thought this was going to be one of those "hey, let's hang out, it'll be fun" kind of deals.

[ It had been a bit since she last spoke to Catherine, the first time having been in that virtual world. As she'd been kind enough to roll with the whole "can I be a dragon" obsession, Hawke hadn't wanted to let that one interaction be it, not when she seemed so interesting. So, naturally, she'd asked if Catherine had wanted to do anything.

As it turned out, yes! She had! Only... that 'anything' also turned out to be science. Apparently Hawke not going batshit insane despite the massive change from a human avatar to a dragon one was a curiosity to be analyzed, which leads to why she's not idly spinning around and around in an office rolling chair, in a lab, waiting for Miss Voice in a Machine to figure out, well, whatever it is she's looking for. ]

[arkproject]

Isn't that what we're doing? [ she counters perkily, Catherine being perfectly willing to tease. ]

I don't have a pilot chair to modify here-- I'll have to build one from the ground up if I want it-- so all I can do to figure this out is ask you questions. Talking is a primary hang out activity.

[ The office itself has a curiously abandoned quality to it. Not especially tidy, but not dirty, either, just disused. Catherine's server room, on the other hand, is spotless, but she doesn't need Hawke to be in there to talk to her. Not here, anyway; she has speakers set up connected to the network, like she's used to on stations at PATHOS-II. It disgruntles her, how low tech things are here. Catherine can't just settle into the building's network and control things, or speak over the intercom. She has to make do with phones. It's annoying, and limiting. ]

[whathawksdo]

Perhaps, but when the topic is 'so, are you sure you aren't insane', I'm usually in the middle of something a bit more explosive than sitting alone in a room.

[ Hawke definitely feels the need to point this out. Sitting in here, alone, talking to a disembodied voice. She spins around again in the chair, sinking lower into it as she goes. ]

ii

[illuminescent]

[Miss Lucy Pevensie - Queen Lucy Pevensie, thank you - looks like a farmgirl when she comes down the property line. She thought she saw a deer, or something that looked like a deer, anyway, when he was in the kitchen, so she put her hair up and her mudboots on and she, too, has been on the hunt.

Along with an enormous Rhodesian Ridgeback.]

Hawke?

[She looks up and-]

Ah, I did see it!

[whathawksdo]

[ Oh, Maker, this wasn't supposed to happen this way. Hawke gives a startled jerk at Lucy's voice and turns to look, raising a hand to wave wildly for her and Rufus to stop where they are. Especially Rufus. There's been no chance to familiarize the poor thing with dogs yet and starting with something that size...

The reindeer inches even further away, now watching the new arrivals. ]

Ah, no, no, you didn't! You absolutely did not see anything, I swear! Stay there. Actually, go back. Go on.

[illuminescent]

[Rufus wags his tail a little, and is about to bound up - Hawke, his very favorite person right after Lucy! - but Lu grabs him by the collar.]

No!

[He sits, then, and looks up at her.]

Am I....imagining it, then?

[Confusion is painted clearly on Lucy's face. Whatever she expected it wasn't this, but well.

Hawke can be a little odd herself.]

[whathawksdo]

[ Well, yes, Hawke is odd, but in this case-- ]

Yes. Figment of your imagination and all. [ No, it wasn't. There's a damn reindeer strolling between the trees just up ahead while Hawke's back is turned. ] But don't worry, I'm excellent at dealing with figments. You can go back to the farm without a worry.

[illuminescent]

Hawke, I am quite imaginative, but I do not think that you are holding that bundle of greens because you favor chewing them.

[Lucy is already reaching for those greens, too. Come on, Hawke, let a pro do this.]

[whathawksdo]

You do not think that, but how do you really know?

[ She might! She's Hawke. She's strange and does things for odd reasons! Of course, she'll eventually hand the greens over, but not without a moment of holding them out of Lucy's reach. ]

I could absolutely love chewing on leafy greens. Suddenly. Inexplicably.

[illuminescent]

Are you part horse?

[Lucy tilts her head a little.]

Your invisible friend is wandering further into the woods.

[whathawksdo]

[ Hawke wrinkles her nose at the very idea. Part horse! ]

Maybe part rabbit, with all the hopping around I've done tod-- [ Wandering further into the woods, oh, why. She doesn't finish that, instead whirling around back in the direction the reindeer is, indeed, wandering off into the woods at. ] Oh, not in there! I'll never get him out!

ii is for is u cracked?

[protects_the_small]

[See Kel. See Kel walking with a giant, green, robot deer. See Kel stop and stare at Hawke like SHE'S the weird one.

See the robot deer stand motionless once walking has ceased]

.............I assume that's not a new dog.

[whathawksdo]

Prancer or Dancer or whatever your name was, come on, just a little--

[ So close, she was so close this time. She almost had the lead still dangling from the rest of the reindeer's rather festive gear, but Kel's arrival with something that big has it leaping away again, startled. Hawke groans, great, just great, and turns to frown at Kel. ]

No, of course not. If it were a new dog, I wouldn't be having this problem.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel stares after the, indeed, prancing ungulate. The alterram stares down at all of them impassively.]

I'm going to assume this is fulfilling our 'one new animal a month' rule that somehow got added somewhere.

[whathawksdo]

Is that a rule? [ No, Hawke, she's being sarcastic. ] Then yes, yes it is. Now put that weird thing aside for a moment and help me?

[ Poor alterram, not quite real enough for Hawke to actually trust or, you know, like it all that much. It's too tall. Too... green? Too fake. It reminds her of a golem or maybe something with a spirit stuck in it and neither of those have ever been fun encounters. ]

[protects_the_small]

[Kel glances up at the alterram, still unsure of how much it understands]

Stay there, then.

[Reaching into her pocket, she walks casually towards the reindeer, pulling out the dried apples she keeps in there for when needs must]

Hello there, friend, you won't find better to eat out in this pasture.

[whathawksdo]

[ Hawke will likewise stay there. Well, not there there, but where she'd been already standing before, as to not startle the reindeer any further while Kel takes a shot at getting the blasted thing to come back. Of course, the dried apples help. They're much more interesting than greens.

The reindeer twitches his nose and ears and shuffles about a bit, trying to decide just how much he wants those apples.

In the end, he won't walk towards her, but he will stay put while she approaches. ]

[protects_the_small]

[Kel scoots closer, apples held out, still very very very verY VERY casual]

You know, Hawke, generally Midwinter gifts are small tokens of esteem, not large beasties.

[She is within fingers brushing the reindeer's neck distance, not that she's pushing that]

2

[helpline]

He wants a salt lick, by the way.

[ Where did the Doctor come from and how does he know what said reindeer wants? WHO KNOWS, but he's here, he's looking at the reindeer as well, and paying intently to the sort of snorfly reindeer noises the small little thing's making. ]

Either that or more of a mossy type of greens. I can't understand him when he's disgruntled like that.

[whathawksdo]

What? [ Hawke pauses in her useless waving of the bag of food, which is silly to do, anyway. Damn thing isn't interested. She turns, only slightly, unwilling to make any grand movements that might spook the reindeer, to stare at the Doctor. ] Oh. You again.

[ Of course the Doctor would show up. On the farm, randomly, without warning, again. ]

Wait, wait, you can talk to deer?

[ She sounds like she doesn't believe it (probably because she doesn't). ]

[helpline]

Me always.

[ Because if there's going to be anybody who'll randomly show up and talk to deer, let's be honest, it's going to be the Doctor. ]

I can talk to deer a bit. It's one of the languages I'm rusty at, but I can make basic conversation.

[ hey Hawke, time to play is the Doctor serious or is this 100% bullshit? ]

[whathawksdo]

[ She has no way of telling, absolutely no way, but he had done a good job with the truck and with the various other fixes she'd ultimately dragged him off to do. It might be better to put a little faith in him, at this point, but only a little. ]

I wasn't aware deer had a language. They're, well... [ She waves towards the now browsing reindeer. ] Deer! Though I suppose we have salt licks at the stable, if he really wants one.

[helpline]

Don't be stupid Hawke, everything's got a language. How else would they communicate? [ it's said as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Duh, Hawke. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's not a language.

But salt licks at the stable! Good, that means the Doctor knows where to go next. ]

That means we should head on over to the stable then. Lead the way!

[whathawksdo]

With... I don't know! Gestures! [ Vague hand gestures in the air included as demonstration, of course, bag of greens crinkling with every movement. ] But not words!

[ But fine, fine, she's turning stable-wards and heading that way. ]

You'd better tell him what we're going to get. Maybe he'll follow then.

[ Maker, here she is, believing he can talk to deer. ]

[helpline]

Languages don't have to be with words, you know. The only thing that makes a language a language is ideas, communicated through words, gestures, trains of thought, and so on. There's a species of alien on the planet Delphon, they communicate entirely with their eyebrows!

[ The Doctor wiggles his eyebrows a bit in a complex sort of wiggle motion. ] There we go, just said 'hello' to you. And oi! Bambi! This way!

[ he makes a short little whistling noise before gesturing for the reindeer to follow. Unfortunately, the whole 'speaking deer' thing is a good 80% bullshit. But the Doctor knows that the "look at me, I'm not paying attention to you in the SLIGHTEST" game is pretty useful to get things to actually pay attention to you. ]