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Date: January 8th, 2001
Status: Public - Adam and Brian
Setting: Brian's room and the bar
Summary: Just innocently checking in...

While Pepper was talking to Wensley, Adam decided to seek out Brian, just as he'd promised. So he headed to the room diagonally across from his own and knocked lightly on the door. "Brian?"

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"I dun't think Dog would like bein' a footstool," said Adam thoughtfully. "He likes bein' a dog better'n what he was before, anyhow, an' it's not fair to keep changin' him around all the time."

"Exactly." Luna smiled at Adam. "Is Dog here? Fido could play with him."

"Nah, I left him back with my folks. There's too much stuff goin' on 'round here an' I don't want him gettin' hurt." Adam didn't even want to think about what people would do to his dog to get to him...

"Oh. That makes sense." Luna scratched Fido between the ears, and smiled as the footstool panted. (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/135341.html?thread=2898861#t2898861) "I guess he must be hungry."

Adam watched quietly for a moment. "Say, uh, Luna. Do you make everybody forget if they see Fido? 'Cause it don't seem fair to me to make somethin' interestin' an' show him around if you're just gonna be upset when people notice..."

"Oh, not everybody. I don't make everybody forget. Just... people who don't understand, like Muggles, you know." Luna looked up. "Why are you worried, Adam?"

"Jus' seems like you're makin' people curious an' then punishin' 'em for bein' curious," he pointed out. "Don't seem very nice. Jus' 'cause they can't do magic don't mean you c'n do whatever you want to 'em. If you wanted to hide your magic stuff, maybe you should try harder so it's not their fault if they see somethin' you don't want 'em to see."

Luna looked at Adam. It couldn't be called a stare, but it was owl-like in intensity. "That's true, and generally we do. I just forget, sometimes, because I think that there's no point in dividing the world up. One of my teachers called me an idealist. Then sometimes, there are accidents. And also accidents that are not really accidents." Luna paused and thought for a moment. "I wouldn't really call it a punishment because they can't really miss what they don't know isn't there, can they?"

"'s not your choice to make," he said shortly. Adam felt rather strongly about free will...

"It is our choice to protect ourselves, and *only* to protect ourselves. Even though we have an advantage magically, they have the advantage numerically. This I acknowledge to be true. Thus, until we can get Muggles to understand and accept us, we have to modify their memories so that *we* can be safe. We have to look out for us, you know," said Luna. Her expression did not change. If Luna had known about Adam's thoughts about free will, she would have asked him, "When the intents of two people collide, where does one person's right to free will end and the other person's right the free will begin?"

"Lookin' out for yourselves don't mean modifyin' other people's memories without their permission," he insisted. "Why don't you try workin' on gettin' not magic people to understand and accept you, instead? It works both ways. And when the intents of two people collide, the people compromise so they both get somethin' they want or need. It's a matter of carin' an' respect."

"I *do* try," said Luna. "Some of the others - well, they don't care so much. Or sometimes we see that the Muggle is not ready to understand and accept us, so we modify their memories so that they can remain as they were, instead of becoming confused and angry, and possibly being labelled as crazy, if they try to tell other Muggles about us.

Then there's also the problem of the Wizarding World's distrust and scorn of Muggles, which was exacerbated during the Witch Hunts of the 13th to 16th century. We never do forget." She sighed. "So the rot goes both ways, and it will take a long time to root it out."

Adam frowned. "Well, let's start now then."

Luna blinked, almost-blankly pleasant. "Well, in the interests of improving Wizard-Muggle relations, would you like learn how to play some Wizard games," turning to include Brian as well, "and then you can teach me how to play some Muggle games as well?"

Smiling for the first time in a while, Adam nodded. "I'd like that. What kinda games do you know?"

"Well, if it's just the three of us, there's Wizard Chess, Exploding Snap, Gobstones, Shuntbumps and Swivenhodge ... although the last two need to be played with broomsticks, which I only have one of. If we had more people we could play a little Quidditch." She'd neglected to mention some of the more dangerous games because they were more obvious, like Aingingein - it'd be difficult to hide a course made up of flaming barrels floating in the air. "I've found that some of our games are just magical derivatives of Muggle games, like Gobstones - Muggles use these ordinary glass balls known as marrrbles to play them, and nothing really happens if they lose a point," Luna said, rolling the 'r' in marbles vigourously.

Blinking at her in surprise and unconcealed enthusiasm for learning new games, Adam said, "I like marbles. What happens to you if you lose in wizard marbles?"

He didn't mention that producing more broomsticks would be easy...

"Why, you get squirted, of course," said Luna, matter-of-factly. "And you lose whatever stones you played, like in Muggle Gobstones. Sit, Fido. Good dog. (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/135341.html?thread=2903725#t2903725) I used to have a set - I got it from a Christmas cracker - but I think Dad gave them away because I didn't play very much."

"Squirted? How come? And with what?" he asked.

"It depends on the kind of gobstone you use, generally, although there are Ever-Changing Gobstones that squirt all kinds of liquids. They don't allow those in the International Gobstones League, though. And you get squirted by a gobstone for losing a point while playing." Luna skritched Fido just behind two tassels, and the footstool whined happily. "I think I still have my pack of Exploding Snap cards, but they might have all exploded already."

"Do all wizardin' games hurt or punish you if you lose?" Adam asked. "An' do you have anythin' you need for us to play one of 'em?" He wasn't adverse to pain in play as that disastrous but rather amusing rugby game showed. The Them had always played kind of rough.

"Well," said Luna after some consideration, "Yes. Wizards *do* tend to be more resilient than Muggles - our magic protects us from real harm if it is not in the intent that surrounds us. I think... I only have my set of Wizarding Chessmen left with me, and a tentative pack of Exploding Snap cards. We'd have to get another set of Wizarding Chessmen to even start playing anything."

"So we can't play any games now is what you're sayin'," said Adam, disappointed. "When do you think you c'n get the stuff we need?"

"I was thinking of going on an errand run to Diagon Alley soon - I'll be able to get most of what we need there." Of course, with Luna, soon was more like 'in a couple of months'.

"Neat," said Adam. "Let me know when you're back an' we c'n play somethin'. Mebbe I c'n give you some money and you c'n buy us whatever we need."