Christmas Trollery in the Compy Lab!

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Oh, you humans. So much fuss over a basic feature of your own planet's orbit. A simple little solstice and everyone has a gaudy holiday full of enormous meals, family drama, and decorations everywhere.

Pssst: Spring will come even if you don't throw endless parties. And that won't be a gift from some magical sky fairy either.

I found a fun tradition, though. Somewhere in the school I've hidden a life-size caganer. It's got a few enchantments that might make it easier to find.

There might be a prize involved.

Comments

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

...good to know.

[He hadn't even thought of that yet. The knowledge that it couldn't kill anyone didn't make the mental picture better.]

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

This school has a lot of hiding places. Hard to choose!

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

You're not giving any hints, I take it.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

It's indoors and not near a window.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

...that's actually more help than I expected.


Thanks.

[And against his better judgement, he's off to search for the thing.

First stop? All the bathrooms. Just in case the idea is to make it so obvious that no one would expect it. That sounds about right.]

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

[a couple of hours later]

Fifth floor. Opposite a portrait of a very offended witch in a big hat. I don't think she believed me about it being a proper tradition.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Well done, Rory. Care to stop by and collect your prize?

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

You were serious.

[He's honestly not sure. But whatever the prize is, he decides it's better to get it over with.]

See you soon then.

[And so he heads over to Slytherin.

Well, this Christmas is going to be eventful.]

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

For anyone else, there probably wouldn't be any sort of prize. But the Master had a prototype of a project he'd been working on. He'd used a mobile phone as the base, and from there he'd got... creative.

It would be a bit of a double-edged sword, but really, would he ever give anything that wasn't?

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory hesitated for a moment, outside the door - right, here I am, outside the room of a psychopath who wants to give me a Christmas present. When did I just start walking into this stuff? - took a deep breath, and knocked.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Rather than inviting Rory in (his room was still firmly warded against humans, in case Captain Jack tried anything else 'clever'), the Master emerged, holding what at least looked like an iPad. "The intrepid hunter, come to claim his reward," he said with a mocking grin. Come to the common room with me, I'll show you how it works. I'll set the controls to isometric for you if you'd like."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory blinked at the - magic iPad? There's no way he made that just for this, whatever it is. Not sure whether that's a good sign... "What is it?" he asked, as they headed for the common room.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Do you remember the little hypnotism parlor trick I showed you?" He didn't acknowledge how stupidly vulnerable he'd made himself doing it; if Rory was smart enough to have realized, then he was also smart enough not to admit that he'd figured it out.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"...yeah." He nodded, trying not to look too uncomfortable and nearly succeeding. "Yeah, I do."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"This is halfway between that and a Pensieve. Not as much storage capacity as a Pensieve, but you can adjust the recall intensity level." As they reached the common room, the Master's grin broadened as he sprawled on one of the plush green sofas. "You can even adjust each sense individually. That was tricky."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"It's for - it's for storing memories?" And now he was just repeating the obvious. Not unusual, in these kinds of conversations...

He sat down as well, looking warily at the 'prize'. "So... how does it work?"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"More for revisiting them. Simple memory can be very flawed and subjective... with even a light trance you can call up a much more vivid recall, to the point where you might notice details you'd missed. You can use this control," he indicated an icon on the screen, "to adjust the trance induction mechanism, how deep you want it to take you, and when to bring you out of it. You can get just audio and visual replay without needing a trance state, but for real sensory immersion or to store the emotional context like a pensieve, you'll need it."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

And you're giving me this just because I won your game? ...no, he wasn't going to ask.

He nodded. "Right - and if I just want the audiovisual replay, how do I do that? To start with." Quickly trying to come up with a memory that wouldn't be too revealing.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"This icon will activate simple replay mode. You'll need to be looking at the device for it to be functioning. If you've activated it in trance mode, the memory won't appear on the screen; the device will just be guiding you."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"...okay."

That was a bit reassuring, at least. The idea of being
basically hypnotised in front of the Master was still unsettling, though. But I'll be controlling it...

...no, the thing will. The - iSieve?

He pointed to the replay icon. "Just touch that and - think of a memory?" He'd got one, now. One that was only a little embarrassing.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Exactly. Tap the screen or look away to stop it." He'd made considerable progress on a more advanced model, but there was no way he was going to show that to anyone yet.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Okay."

Rory took the device, carefully, focused on the memory he'd chosen, and tapped the icon. An image appeared on the screen - Amy backing away as Francesco the fish-vampire advanced on her - and he could hear his own voice, babbling "The only thing I've seen uglier than you is... your mum!"

His eyes widened. It really worked...

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

He didn't pay much attention to the memory, but the Master was inwardly mildly impressed that Rory would call up a recollection of whatever-her-name-was right away when he was being observed (although he had no doubt that Rory would be calling up memories of her often on his own). He'd have forced himself to play something more neutral in the same circumstances. Maybe it was a human thing.

"That's the most basic function, of course. But even on this level, you can spot details that you weren't focused on at the time."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

He'd been unable to think of any memory to call up that wasn't about Amy or just uncomfortably personal. Probably later he'd be able to think of ten of them. But the fighting-a-vampire-with-a-broom incident was at least one the Master had already heard about.

And it was an incredibly detailed playback. He was a little impressed with himself for managing to survive as long as he had, when he'd known nothing about using a sword.

"And to stop it I just..." He tapped the screen again, making the image disappear.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"As simple as that," he said, nodding. "It's not set to induce a trance so deep you can't pull out of it, but you can still set it to bring you out of it after a certain amount of time, for the more immersive functions."