03. mirror

[bespectacle]

[The rumpled wizard in the sliver of mirror, adjusting his glasses. He's standing near the shouting rock, which has a new boulder rolled up near it. On the surface of a the boulder, there's what looks like an enormous poster, black-and-white, the details hard to make out.]

Morning, everybody. I hope most of us are more-or-less unscathed from the bloody weird wind that blew through the other week, may Mr. Mendoza rest in peace.

Today, I'd like to present a map. [A beat.] Kind of.

Some of you remember Hermione. She and I put together a-- sort of a map. We photographed the terrain from the sky, as much as we could cover before the tether kicked in. The shots are now spelled together, so it's continuous, but you'll see that it's... animated. Like a movie on loop. [More sophisticated and less predictable than that, but it seems ludicrous to get bogged down in technical detail, so Harry doesn't.] Don't worry, it can't be used for spying-- everybody's too small to see, and it isn't realtime. [He knows y'all and your sundry paranoias. He has some, himself.]

[Harry angles the mirror to view the 'map^{[ooc link]}.' It stretches five feet up and across, is roughly circular, attached to the boulder's face with a sticking spell and proofed against the weather. Trees obscure loads of the detail, their tops reduced to a semblence of broccoli heads swaying slightly, but you can see where the river flows and how the canyon begins, protruding from underneath the Tranquility's nose. Trees bob far below. Some flocks moving by as well, too far below to make out in detail. It's a little funny— out of the edges of the circle, occasionally you'll see a foot or the front end of a broom swing in.]

I've also got a cat. [His face darkens slightly. Mostly, he looks sad.] Please inquire within.

OOC: For future note, will be needed to 'renew' the map! If left neglected, it will eventually fall apart into individual pieces, peel off the boulder, and suffer from wind and rain. Please PM me if you have other questions.

Comments

[mead]

How do you make it move like that? [ Diana's leaned in close to her mirror, like that'll make it zoom in or something. ] And how'd you get up there?

[bespectacle]

[Harry instinctively backs his head up when Diana's head gets bigger, and then he smiles. Turns his own mirror so she can actually have a closer look at the map.]

I can't take credit for that, [he says, like a voiceover to the vista of faraway, wind-rustled trees.] All photos taken with a wizard camera come out that way. And I was flying on my broom. If that sounds like rubbish to you, you've been missing out on some of our local wizard action, I'm afraid.

[mead]

[ Diana laughs a little self deprecatingly. ] I don't know if I'd say it's rubbish. I just got here.

[ She hesitates. ] I didn't realize there were magic users here?

[ Said as a question because while she's pretty sure that's what he's saying, he also didn't say it out right so... ]

[bespectacle]

Oh, welcome. [Harry abruptly returns the mirror to his face to verify she's not actually offended at his light tap at her ignorance.] Yes, we've got magic users here. Quite a few of us, really.

Hermione and I were from the same world. Sirius, Remus, and James are, as well. You'll see us running around a bit. Or-- flying— [all right, Harry. No need to over-explain. He blinks.] Have you got magic?

[mead]

[ She pulls back when his face pops back up, partly surprise at seeing him again and partly because she doesn't need to be quite so close. She smiles a little, nodding. ]

Yeah. My name's Diana. I'm a witch. I've never flown on a broom or anything before, I'm not even sure that's possible for me. At least, I don't think we were ever able to back home.

[doggedly]

Cartography.

[Sirius wipes away two invisible tears with the flat of his hand--left undereye, right undereye. He sniffles. [(Snuffles?)]

I'm so proud.

[bespectacle]

Following in, [Harry has to censor himself from my father's,] your footsteps. More detail would be nice--

[But he shouldn't be self-effacing. He knows that Sirius won't stand for it anyway.] Don't suppose your tricks with wards and such work in something like an enormous circular field of trees and mountainish terrain.

[doggedly]

[Nobody has time for self-effacing behavior, okay. More than a little eagerly, Sirius grins, pleased by the association with this brilliance, pleased by the acknowledgement.]

We could have a go at it. See what we can do to fit the two together. It's not as if magic gives a damn about rocks and trees and things. Have you still got a broomstick, then?

[bespectacle]

[Harry backs the mirror up, and turns it slightly so Sirius can see the broomstick in question. It's leaning up against the olive-green tent that Harry has been calling home.]

At your disposal, mate.

[benumbing]

How did you do this? Technology?

[bespectacle]

Magic, actually. [Harry grins.] From the same world that this mirror magic is from. Hello-- I'm Harry. I suppose I should have said that at the initial announcement. You are?

[benumbing]

It's incredible. [It's a rare non-derisive moment. The closest thing to magic that Jack has in his world is the occasional miracle, normally focused on his sister.] Jack Benjamin. Do you learn this magic, or are you born this way?

[bespectacle]

[Harry certainly appreciates earnest enthusiasm for magic.] It's a pleasure.

I was born this way, but it took a lot of schooling to learn to control it and capitalize on the power. I attended a place named Hogwarts. [there's a lapsing pause. ieza wasn't very impressed by the name, back when, so he adds lamely:] It's very prestigious. We all went there, the wizards who came here from my world.

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi is suitably impressed, and also more than a little glad that he's taken to leaving his shard of mirror out lately to keep up with what's going on -- even if it is a little loud sometimes.

He lets out a low whistle.]

Huh. Maybe I should give up tech and see if I can learn some magic.

[Never going to happen. For more than a few reasons, but he still gives a lopsided smile.]

Nice work, Harry.

[bespectacle]

We'd be in a tougher spot without technology by far, [Harry offers by way of protest.] Thank you! Once I get my mitts on one of those network devices, we'll have a frozen-- err.

[A beat.]

Still... copy, [he says slowly. Is that the right term, Tadashi.]

[tadashiwashere]

[Wow.

Tadashi ducks his head to hide his grin. He's never going to quite get over some of the terms that slip out when Harry talks.]

The moving version is sweet, but a hard copy would definitely be useful. If there's anything I can do on the tech side of things, you'll let me know?

[bespectacle]

If you'd like to come by and photograph it, that'd be brilliant. [Harry jerks a thumb over his shoulder.] I keep getting all sorts of glare when I try with the flash and everything.

[vdova]

How far were you able to go?

[bespectacle]

I think it was about twenty-five kilometers in each direction.

But it got very hard to concentrate toward the edges, so I wouldn't quote me exactly on that.

[vdova]

Including up?

[ Interesting. The restriction, that is, not the flying. That's old hat. ]

[bespectacle]

[Harry shakes his head.] Hermione thought of it, but we were worried what would happen if we lost control all the way up there.

We're sturdy people, but-- that would've been a long way down. I don't suppose we know anybody who could withstand that sort of a fall, for sure? I might be able to carry them up, sort something out. Catch them if they drop.

mirror;

[romancekiller]

An animated map? How were you able to do that? [clarke had been wanting to map out what they were able to explore so far since she had the knowledge from what her father taught her but without much in terms of drawing tools or anything like that it was easier said than done so this? it definitely catches her interest]

[bespectacle]

Wizard camera. [Harry grins.] I can't take credit for making it, I just hit the button. Shutter button. Thing.

All the photos come out that way. Portraits can be very funny. I got a shot taken of me for the paper once, but because I hadn't wanted to be in it, me-in-the-photo kept hiding outside of the frame while the other person tried to haul me back in.

[romancekiller]

Wizard camera— oh, so it's because of magic? [it's still kind of amazing despite her own skepticism about magic even though she knows it's also what is tied into making the mirror to be used for communicating like this.

she listens though and hearing his story about the portraits she laughs slightly] It knew that you didn't want to be in the picture too?

[bespectacle]

[Harry nods his head.] Yeah, that's about right.

It sort of captures the essence of what's going on. [It's quite a phrase, but by now, Harry has already said it to one person. It comes smoothly.] Anyhow, if you watch the map quite closely, you might see indications of, uh. High spirit of adventure. And minor themes of adventure horror. [Joke.

But not really. 8(]