Fifty-Sixth Theory [Action]

[i_speak_softly]

((Forward-dated to Sunday the 26th, after the village has cleaned up from the ice storm.))


[That was a good last try, Winter, but you are rapidly losing your hold over this ectotherm. He was trapped in C5 for several days, after Luke Skywalker’s guests shook off their movie-marathon stupor to realize they were iced in, but since making it safely back to House 55 he’s been increasingly alert and moving around with greater purpose.]

[Today he put on his heated snowsuit and struck out across the snowy village to the library. He had found this puzzle-box among his things, and he wants to work on it without his housemates hanging over his shoulders.]

[He also wants to strike up a conversation with anyone who so much as glances at him. Cold weather and semi-torpor don’t present many opportunities for socializing, and the normally-quiet Turtle has a lot of pent-up conversation in need of an outlet. It won’t be at his normal intellectual level, but it should at least be better than it has been in recent weeks.]


((Feel free to help Don with the puzzle-box, but I don’t want it to be opened yet.))

Comments

[herotypical]

Still...?

Well -- if it's any consolation? You're clearly not as dumnb as I am, as I say huh? You're like...Mister Smarty-Pants. Or you would be.

If you wore pants.

[i_speak_softly]

[... That is so much like something Mike would say. Don can't help smiling.]

[herotypical]

[ she drops casually into a seat across from him. ]

I think I need some annotations here. Just to get my comprehension off the ground. Why are you dumb? Or, more accurately, why are you saying that you are?

[i_speak_softly]

Winterbrain.

[That answers everything, right?]

[herotypical]

W-winter...brain.

[ no. no it doesn't. ]

[i_speak_softly]

... Torpor?

[herotypical]

What? Like hibernation?

[i_speak_softly]

[Nod - close enough.]

[herotypical]

...That's gotta be rough for you.

[i_speak_softly]

[He shrugs.] Not really.

[herotypical]

...What's it like? Is that too rude to ask?

[i_speak_softly]

[Shrug, headshake. You're lucky his inhibitions are shot.] It's normal for me. Restful.



Sometimes annoying.

[herotypical]

Like a post-workout crash. Nice to indulge; then you realize how much you haven't been doing. Only...seasonally. Am I right? Am I close?

[i_speak_softly]

[Nope.]

You get to crash after a workout?

[herotypical]

...If that work-out ends pre-sunset.

[i_speak_softly]

[At another time of year Don would reason this through pretty quickly, but right now it's going to take him a while to figure out the subtext.]





[He's trying though.]

[herotypical]

...Vampires. They tend not to come out before dark.

[i_speak_softly]

[Ah, gotcha.]

You go out at night, then?

[herotypical]

That's me. Buffy the night owl. Not...literally, of course.

[i_speak_softly]

I used to go out at night. [... That doesn't sound right.] You know. To do night-time things.

[herotypical]

...Maybe I know. What kind of night-time things? There's a variety.

[i_speak_softly]

Scavenge in dumpsters. Help homeless people. Stop petty criminals.

[Typical night-time activities.]

[herotypical]

Wait wait wait. Scavenge in dumpsters?

[i_speak_softly]

For food?

[Oh. Wait. Most people don't do that.]

Um...

[herotypical]

I didn't realize you were one of those...what are they called? Freegans.