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]

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."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Right..." He looked dubiously at the device again. Even if he could pull himself out of it - and he did believe he'd be able to. He didn't actually think the thing was a trap. At least, not one that obvious - even if he could, there was no way he'd be hypnotising himself here and now.

...he's done it in front of you. To be fair.

Yes, but what could I have done to him?

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

He hadn't expected Rory to volunteer to be hypnotized; he knew the man wasn't foolish. Instead, he explained the functions of the trance-control settings; the ones for adjusting the potency of the varying senses, the one that controlled the setting of how deep a trance could be induced and the timer setting.

"Pensieves are also meant for storage, but this will only hold a few hours' worth the way they do. A memory stored like that is completely out of your head; you'll remember the bare facts of it if it had been told to you. That wasn't what I was going after."

If Rory did want to do that on any real scale, let him get a pensieve. The Master didn't think much of the idea; it was memories that shaped the personality and gave it continuity, after all.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory worried for a moment what would happen if he got the settings wrong, until it occurred to him that he wouldn't exactly have a problem with forgetting the instructions. At least in theory.

He nodded at the last remark. "I've read about Pensieves. When I first... when I had all the new memories to deal with." A shrug. "Didn't really like the idea though. Just pulling things out like that..."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Memories are part of how a personality develops. Continuity is a core part of identity... not usually as big a problem for your species, of course." The Master's grin at that was only a little sarcastic. "Ripping out the emotional weight of a memory is like pulling a loose thread on an afghan. Not something I'm interested in doing to myself. But a short-cut to a deep recall trance, that's useful."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, exactly." He gazed down at the device. It did just look like an iPad, really. Something innocuous. "I've had my head rearranged enough."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"And yet you compensate so well," the Master said wryly. "I'd suggest ignoring the removal-for-storage function entirely. If you want to be dull and practical, of course, you could use it to refresh skills that have been dormant for a few centuries."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Just in case I get into a sword fight." He thought about this for a second, and sighed. "Aaand that's actually not at all unlikely, is it."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Or if there was a recipe for metheglin you just couldn't quite pin down all the ingredients to," he agreed with a shrug. "Or some long-gone fresco you wanted to see again. But sword fighting does get a bit more urgent, doesn't it?" He laughed; he'd always found swordfighting to be great fun.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Just a bit." He shrugged. "Although I have managed not to be attacked by any fish-people or mad exploding demons while I've been here. So far."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"There are plenty of forgotten corridors and undiscovered rooms for lying low here," the Master said by way of agreement, then smiled sourly. "Which I often have cause to resent."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"...yeah." Rory looked away, in what he suspected was that terribly awkward the carpet in here's suddenly very interesting fashion. "It's - it's like a maze, this place."

(He'd wondered, on and off, whether the castle might be bigger on the inside. It wouldn't surprise him.)

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"One that needs more than a ball of yarn for navigation," he agreed. "It doesn't help that it seems to have an innate sense of whimsy." A dimensionally transcendental Hogwarts seemed fairly insignificant to the Master, but a sentient one could be a complication. He had his suspicions.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"I swear one of the second floor corridors was just - leading me round in circles the other day." Rory relaxed a little now the conversation seemed to have come back to safer ground. "Took me half an hour to find a staircase."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it was," he mused, shrugging. "If so, it's good that it's so easily amused. With the contents of some of the rooms in this place, a meanspirited castle would be trouble."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"That - is a terrifying thought." He gave an automatic nervous glance at the walls, which didn't show signs of doing anything sinister.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it's a universe full of terrifying things." The Master grinned, but didn't look quite as unhinged as he might have. "But you're hardly harmless yourself."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Compared to most of the people who end up here, I am," Rory pointed out. (Which wasn't saying much. And he realised that.)

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

The Master raised an eyebrow and smirked. "No, you just act that way."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory opened his mouth to protest, cut himself off, tried again and eventually ended up with a quiet "...maybe."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you know I won't tell." The Master smirked. "The only person I would should know better. Although if it turns out you need to school someone on how harmless you're not, I'd love a front-row seat."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll let you know. Send you a text. ...or, you know, an owl."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Or you could show me after," he said with a grin, shooting the device he'd built a quick glance.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"You..." Rory blinked at him. "You do know that's not going to happen, right?" Of course he did...