Sessions Worlds and Stuff

@/ iftheylookallsidewaysateachotherinsteadofatyouandleavewordsoutwhentheytalkaboutthingssoyoudon’tgetit,that’sathingtheydon’twantsomethingaskedabout.
[:]/ *nods as they eat in agreement*
*seems the kids have a certain amount of experience with grown-ups dodging certain topics already...and have picked up on it*
————
*follows Ribbon down, probably not quickly enough to catch Factor’s reply*

'Do you recognize this as 'True' Dots?'

[!u!] [!~!] well... it's true. that is a way to tell...

'Thankyou recognized non-pilot Factor; ext; selective withholding and the diversion of attention to other subjects'

0~0 what's that? ? ! 0u0 ooh- what's That! *Ribbon thinks that the lamp looks pretty neat*

What a nice set-up!

[:]D Mommies!

@) yeah,feelsnice.

[!u!] just a little lamp, thanks to Halftone...

^u^ *Ribbon goes in for a quick hug* Hello you two! 0u0 0~0 Is Valdis back yet?

[!~!] not yet. might be a little while. lots to talk about.

0~0 mh. *Ribbon looks over to Sophie, trying to 'ask' if it'd be ok to start up with their own 'lots to talk about' for the two of you*


'how much weight should unit give to the information shared by others?'

[!~!] ooh... that's a tricky one... [!u!] well, for starters, there are Facts, and Opinions. do you have the definitions for those?

'... Yes;'

*Seems like Dots is doing well with Her PAL*

*she just shakes her head a little as she sits down with a serving of cake-pan - she doesn't want to start talking about the move until she knows whether or not Onponn's family is coming, too... it's two different difficult conversations... and pulling her children away from their first and only friends is not sitting well with her*
*for now, a cheerful outer disposition for the kids*
You two have been sleeping so well lately, we haven't had any time for bedtime stories. I know you don't get that from me.

[:]) *happy about the hug*
@? getitfromyou?

0u0 Sleeping soundly? ^u^ hmmhmm- that'd probably be from me.

0u0 Would a BreakfastTime story work?

*giving Sophie the chance to tell a story, if desired; if not, well Ribbon has some stories she could tell*

[!u!] Well, if someone has an Opinion, then that Opinion is 'fact' to them. it is 'true' that they may or may not like something. But Opinions can change. Sometimes it might be a surprise, but it's trying to understand that's important.

*Halftone is soaking it all in; Social interaction is such an imprecise thing*

*it takes her a bit to remember, but there are happy stories...*
...woods are good places for adventures. We know that plenty from the ones around here. But there's another woods, somewhere else - they call it the "hundred acre wood." A hundred acres is a very large area, large enough for many adventures, for the friends who live there.
They're a diverse group, these friends. Like our family. A Rabbit, an Owl, a Piglet, a Tigger, Kanga and her baby Roo... and a silly old bear who loves honey.
Once, a long time ago, Tigger told the bear a story about a creature called a Heffalump. He said that Heffalumps were big and scary, and that they stole honey. He probably meant the story to be funny, but it scared the bear, and all the rest of the friends, too.
So one day, they started seeing strange footprints around their homes, and hearing an odd trumpeting cry out of the woods - and they all knew, or feared, that it was a Heffalump.
The friends gathered tools and rope and went out into the woods, to set traps and capture the Heffalump. Little Roo was the youngest, and he wanted to go along too, but the others told him it was much too dangerous and scary. But Roo wanted an adventure, so when the others had left, he set out, too.
It wasn't long before Roo came across a creature like he’d never seen before. It was grey, and had four thick legs, and two wide, flat ears, and a long, curvy trunk of a nose. It was bigger than Roo, to be sure, but most things were bigger than Roo, and Roo had enough perspective to know that in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t very big.
The creature was wandering around the woods, playing games and singing cheerful songs, and eagerly invited Roo to join in. The creature said his name was Lumpy, and was very happy to have met a new friend. Roo had to ask, though – just what kind of creature was Lumpy?
“I’m a Heffalump!” Lumpy said.
It seemed strange to Roo that someone this nice would be a Heffalump, since Heffalumps were supposed to be scary, but he decided he probably ought to capture Lumpy anyway. So he told Lumpy that they should go back home and find the rest of his friends. Lumpy agreed, saying that he was looking for his mommy anyway, and maybe they’d find her there at Roo’s home.
But as they got close to Roo’s home, Lumpy grew afraid. He told Roo that there were scary monsters who lived in that place, and he wasn’t supposed to go there. Roo realized that the scary monsters Lumpy was talking about were his friends, the bear and the tigger and the rest – just like Roo had been told to fear Heffalumps, this Heffalump had been told to fear people like Roo.
Just then Roo’s friends came back, and seeing Roo with Lumpy, they assumed that Roo was in trouble, kidnapped by the Heffalump. Lumpy ran away, carrying Roo with him – and so they both fell into a trap, set by Roo’s friends earlier.
Roo climbed up high to undo the trap, setting Lumpy free – but accidentally getting himself even more stuck in the trap. Roo’s friends arrived, and were all set to attack the “scary Heffalump” again – but they stopped when they realized that Roo was in trouble, and Lumpy was trying to free him.
None of them could undo the trap; it was too big and tangled. So Lumpy stood up on his hind legs and trumpeted for help – and out of the woods came his mommy!
Lumpy’s mommy was a very big Heffalump indeed. It was her footprints they’d seen earlier, and her trumpets they’d heard – she had been running around searching for her baby.
With the help of Lumpy’s mommy, they undid the trap and saved Roo. And that’s when everyone really knew that there was no reason to fear each other, because they were all parents and children and friends, wanting to help each other stay safe and out of trouble, and have fun adventures together. And that’s how Roo set out into the hundred acre woods to capture a Heffalump, and instead made a new friend.

*or at least, that's how she remembers the movie*

[:]o *Lumpy being a Heffalump - and Heffalumps not being scary after all - what a plot twist!*
@D areheffalumpsrealoutsideofthestory?

Yes, though we usually call them elephants instead. Like at the zoo, remember?

0u0 ! ^u^ Elephants are Great!

*Ribbon LOVES the story! and a little bit more understanding about how people can sometimes be afraid of eachother ought to help after the PAL incident*

[^v^] *Dots liked it to; stories about making friends are always nice*

*Halftone gained plenty of information to sort through as well*

( 0 W 0 ) ~!~ [ 0 MMM 0 ] *Jofie & Jubila warp into the livingroom one room over*

( | w | ) >:Island?; *the discussion must've gone... Well?*

*further from the House, Nyx & their PAL run along, Marlow+PAL, & Valdis trying to keep up*

@? @D jofie!
[:]D *starts eating more quickly - it must be playtime!*

Slow down, Hamnet. You don't want to choke.

( | W | ) >:Hi Hamnet!; >:Hi Factor!;

[ 0 MMM 0 ] >:Hi!; '>: I am Jubila;'

0~0 you wouldn't want to bite your tongue either.

[!u!] What's up Jofie?

( | x | ) >:Told there was an island; >:Mack is helping Onponn Pack;

[:]) *eating more slowly... almost done though*

@? island?

*relief - and a little guilt, but mostly relief* So everybody's coming, Jofie?

( | w | ) ( | x | ) >:Think so?;

[!~!] *hmm 'think so'?*

7BD "Gunna go see Sand!" *Nyx is here*

0~0 0u0 well, I guess? Islands usually have beaches. *of all the things to be excited for, why sand? is Nyx still in a sand-castle mood?*

[B|] *Nyx's PAL contemplates the doorway, wondering how best to get in*

|/=@] *Valdis isn't to far behind, making their way around Nyx's PAL to get in*

=[|:|33] *Marlow waits patiently for the doorway to be clear*

@? whatisland?

*"think so" is a weird response... but then exactly what DID anyone tell these kids?* We're going to stay at an island for a while. *smiles* It's a surprise. Had to make sure everything was set before we told you, right?

[:]) *sounds fair* Done with breakfast!

@? dowehavetopacktoo?

|/=@] well, |/=^] Packing isn't all that bad. I'll help if you want.

|/=@] In fact, packing is exactly what Onponn and Mack are doing right now.

0u0 *Ribbon goes to help clean up your plate so you can focus on possibly packing*

7B3 'sniff-sniff' "Cake?"

[!u!] kind of. there's a bit leftover if you wanted it.

7B3- "mmmh..."

[ 0 MMM 0 ] *Jubila tries to open a channel to Halftone; the once quiet environment that Halftone had been trying to learn from has become a bit crowded, & Jubila believes that it will gain positive returns by sharing means of generating positive returns in a crowd*

*the speaker that is attached to the sun-lamp says,* 'Hello. I'm Halftone.'

( | x | ) ( | w | ) >:Hi Halftone;

[B|] *Nyx's PAL is processing many things; the interaction between the other PALs, how to get through the door... They take a page from their Pilot's book, & focus on the Physical; a brief Spacey-thing to briefly warp the doorframe into an opening wide enough to pass through, & it makes it on inside*

=[|??] *still not much room to enter, with Nyx's PAL just standing right on the other side of the door...* *But at least it's nice out* =[|:|33]

@? [:]? *they're not really sure what packing entails, they just picked up the word from Jofie saying it*

@? yeahhelpwouldbenice.

*fortunately they haven't really accumulated much stuff in the house... but she gets up to go upstairs and fetch the few things she'd put in her room*

|/=@] *Valdis follows you on up to your Room*

"So, what would you like to take along for the trip. You can just bring stuff to me, & I'll capchalog it for you."

---

*Downstairs, Dots is helping to manage everyone coming in, & getting things accounted for... It's actually a real relief to have gotten to do the most 'normal' stuff this morning. No trips to an Island tunnel, or telling others that it might be wise to duck & cover for a while out of worlds accessible through The Furthest Ring*

[:]? Um. *they don't really have a lot of things... but they go to pick up the legos, and the ABC book, and the book that their parents made for them* ((not sure what else is in the room tbh))
@?

*meanwhile, Sophie just, recollects what was in the sylladex, back into it. Books, picture, plush dog, rocks. A thought - and she heads downstairs again, going to go outside and find a rock*

|/=^] *Valdis takes it all, & sweeps around the room real quick to also get Baby's Pen, a spare shelf just in case, & all of the bed except the frame. not much has accrued over less than a week*

Should be ready to go soon. |/=@] *Valdis is briefly overcome with a bit of doubt... they have not yet gotten to see the 'guardian' of the Island for themselves... But, they'll try to trust Sophie & Ribbon*

---

7B3 *Downstairs, Nyx & Ribbon are watching Baby eat up their Lettuce, while Nyx eats some cake-pan* 0u0

*the others have more formally gathered in the livingroom, The PALs of Nyx, Jofie, & Marlow taking up a good half of the space; the rest of the room being taken up by Jofie, Marlow, & Dots... The speaker-lamp is also floating by Dots*
*they seem to mostly be conversing with their PALs, as they patiently wait for Mack & Onponn to arrive*

[!u!] ? *Dots wonders why Sophie is headed out, but doesn't interfere*


0~0 0u0 *Ribbon wants to go though, & goes to greet Sophie*
^u^ hey! 0u0 what's happening?

[:]) Where is the island?
@) intheforest?

—-

We’re almost set to go. I just want to grab something. *continuing outside... if Ribbon follows, she’ll explain*

|/=@] It's... actually very far away... But we have a little trick to make getting there & back again easier. Islands tend to be surrounded by Water, so it's hard to walk to them.

---

0u0 0~0 -~- *Ribbon has a pretty good guess to make, given the situation*

0u0 a keepsake? I think, I might want to get something to.

^u^ one of those Crystal berries that were by The rainbow apple tree. I had seen them when I had first... Arrived, and it might make for happier memories now. They also just look nice- and it'd be a shame to forget about them.

*the 'place' where Dots had lived for some time... not very far. it had been close enough that Sophie was able to regularly meet up with dots back when they were that rainbow-Sprite-thing... And back when this home had been nothing but an outline of Sticks and Rocks...*