This month's wanderings

[killedwithlove]

Who: Cole and anyone who doesn't get away fast enough
Broadcast: No
Action: Everywhere but the Marsiva and Tourist. Sorry Fenris, the Three Twins is fair game again.
When: During this month.

[Cole does this thing, where he parks the Pathstone alongside other ships, and then visits. He does this in a big circuit and then keeps doing it.

He likes visiting. Be prepared to be visited!]

Comments

[mikangirl]

Okay. A pinwheel is a miniature version of that-- it's a piece of carefully folded paper, or sometimes coated material, cut into patterns and attached to a tiny pole. [She draws out a vague shape of one with her finger on the console.] They're often brightly coloured and they clack in the wind.

Apparently I found our sheriff really scary when I was a baby, so he stuck one in his hat to entertain me instead.

[killedwithlove]

Oh.

Will you show me how to make one? I have paper from my basket, and my knives for cutting.

[mikangirl]

Sure. I can show you a basic one! After that, you can decorate or colour them as you please.

[killedwithlove]

I want to show Elize. I think she'll really like them. She likes drawing, and singing. Maybe she'll like making things too.

[mikangirl]

How old is she?

[killedwithlove]

I don't know. Eleven?

I'm not good with ages. Or... time.

[mikangirl]

Well, I loved them around that age. I think you might be right.

[killedwithlove]

[For a brief moment, Cole perks up, everything about him a bit younger and more open. Happy that he got it right.]

I'll go get the paper. I'll be back soon.

[He vanishes in a curl of smoke.]

[mikangirl]

Sure I'll--

[...huh. Neat trick.]

...just wait here, then.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole isn't gone long. When he returns, it's with some sheets of plain, printer paper.]

[mikangirl]

[Did he also bring scissors? Because otherwise Nami will start the hunt for a pair, or a sharp knife.]

That's useful. Is that how you got here to begin with?

[killedwithlove]

[No scissors, but at the thought of needing them, he pulls a knife from a sheath on his back and offers it over, hilt first.]

No. I'm the pilot of Pathstone. I docked the ships together. I can't move over distances that are too big.

[mikangirl]

Oh, that makes more sense. I was just thinking that's the kind of jump you don't wanna mess up out here.

[She takes the knife from him.] This is a little more exact with scissors, but if you've got a sure hand a knife will do. Here, I'll show you the shapes to cut in the paper.

[killedwithlove]

It's not a jump. I just move without walking.

[Probably best not to ask too much.]

I have a very steady hand with a knife. I have to, to make kills clean.

[mikangirl]

Figure of speech.

[The comment about killing gets a measured look, but he doesn't seem the murderous type, so after a moment Nami holds up a sheet of paper.] If you have difficulty remembering this I can draw the lines you need to cut and you can keep it as a template. But for now--

[She's made enough of these over her childhood that she works on automatic, laying the paper flat and drawing lightly over the right places with the knife tip.] That's how you start. Then the rest is folding.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole watches attentively, trying to memorise it so he can show Elize. he'll have to do the cutting for her, she's not trained with a knife.]

I think I can remember.

[mikangirl]

They get easier with practice. I doubt you'll have much trouble, but make sure to let Elize know that if you want to show her. [Carefully separating the paper along the knife lines. She didn't press hard enough to cut all the way through, but a simple tug will take care of the rest.]

...huh. We need a pin, or some tape. I forgot that part. [Considering-- ah, but she'll reach up and unhook a small pearl earring from her ear.] I can use this to show you, anyway.

You fold the paper in like so to make your pinwheel blades. [Demonstration forthcoming.]

[killedwithlove]

[A pin is one spot where he can't help, but he imagines a small piece of wire could be bent to get the right effect.]

Oh. That's very clever, making shapes from the paper.

[mikangirl]

You can make all kinds of things if you've got the thought for it. Paper planes are pretty common. So are cranes. Have you ever heard of origami?

[She fastens the corners in the centre with the pearl. One pinwheel, minus its pole.]

[killedwithlove]

[He shakes his head. He's never heard of origami, which doesn't mean it doesn't exist in Thedas, but doesn't exist in the areas he tends to frequent.]

I think Dorian made a plane out of a sheet of parchment once. He threw it over the balcony at Solas.

[mikangirl]

Yeah, that's generally what people do with paper planes. Annoy other people. [Heh.]

Okay, this is only the top half of the pinwheel. But the second part is easy-- you just need a straw or a stick or something straight that this pin here-- [Tapping the earring]-- can stick into. If you do that, the pin keeps the head on and the blades will spin in the wind.

[She's fishing out another piece of paper now. May as well show him an origami crane while she's at it.]

[killedwithlove]

All right. I think I understand that.

[He nods slightly. A small piece of wire or nail and a stick. He can probably work out both of those.]

[mikangirl]

When you get used to it you can probably find coloured paper or colour it yourself, or work with different kinds of metal or plastic. But the easiest ones to make are of paper. I haven't really made any professional ones.

...here. [One crane, put on the table in front of him.]

[killedwithlove]

What's plastic?

[Sorry about that, Nami.]

[mikangirl]

It's a...

[Pause. What is plastic, anyway?]

Manmade material. Kinda hard, kinda flexible.