[Open Post] In Which Eeyore Has to Explain some Magical Happenings

[thistle_muncher]

The old grey donkey Eeyore has had Something Unusual happen to him: he wished to be Tall, and on speaking to a mysterious and magical young man, Just That Happened to him. He's roaming about the Mansion at about the size of a horse, surprised to be looking *down* on things he usually looks *UP* at. And he's likely to be Very Surprised to be looking

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[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka stops into the library and immediately spots...an enormous donkey?

"Eeyore....??" he says.

[thistle_muncher]

He's taking down a kid's book of Greek myths (it had Apollo's chariot on the cover, and the horses made him curious), which he sets on a table that he usually walks under. Spying Hisoka, he says, "Hello, don't mind me: just enjoying the books I usually have to ask someone to take down for me."

[in_summer_leaf]

"It must be nice to be able to do that for yourself," he ventures. It's not that Hisoka has never seen people go through unexpected transitions. It's that Eeyore is so unruffled by it. "You like Greek mythology?"

[thistle_muncher]

Eeyore might be gloomy, but it's a zen sort of gloomy. "Never read it before: liked the picture on the cover. Books with horses or donkeys on the cover look interesting to me," he replies.

[in_summer_leaf]

"That makes sense to me," says Hisoka. "Say, there are a lot of them in the children's section..." He goes to a shelf whose organization he remembers from when he was helping Saetan put everything back, and brings back a book with Pegasus on the cover.

[thistle_muncher]

"A lot of good stories in them, as well," he says, nuzzling the book, then, typist willing, he'll take it gently and take it to a nearby table, laying it on the top, then gently nudging it open. "What books do you like to read?" he asks, looking up.

[in_summer_leaf]

And of course, the book was for Eeyore, to read and enjoy!

"Oh, a little of everything, I guess. I've always loved stories of all kinds. But lately, I guess partly because of all the building projects I've been involved in since the spring, I've been reading books about making things, constructing things: boats, bridges, buildings..."

[thistle_muncher]

"Have you ever built a house?" he asks, lifting his ears, curiously.

[in_summer_leaf]

"Yes, I have. (But mostly boats.) You've built your own house every winter, too, haven't you?" He thinks of Eeyore's carefully constructed stick shelter, and imagines it as an engineering problem, the same as any other structure.

[thistle_muncher]

"Snow knocks it down," he says, ruefully. "Might be staying in the stable, if I stay this size."

[in_summer_leaf]

"How would you feel about staying in the stable?" asks Hisoka. Would it feel right to Eeyore, considering he's not just any beast?

He finds himself making some quick mental caculations. If Eeyore stays this size, he will need a structure of such-and-such a height and width....and Hisoka has milled way too much lumber this past spring and summer; there is going to be plenty left over even after Genkai's dojo and Temeraire's pavilion are finished...

[thistle_muncher]

"Might be nice to get my straw without the horses stepping on me," he says. Then tilting his head the other way, he adds, "Would be lonely, not having people to talk to all the time."

[in_summer_leaf]

"Horses stepping on you does not sound fun," says Hisoka, "and neither does lonliness. I'm wondering if maybe you need a house that is built for you, but is right beside the main house, or near it, so people will come visit you often? And you can have friends come and stay, if you like? What do you think?"

[thistle_muncher]

"Would it stay up no matter how hard the wind blows or how much snow is on the roof? My little house kept falling in, every time it snowed or blowed," he replies. "I'd like that, if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

[in_summer_leaf]

"It would be no trouble," says Hisoka, softly. "And it will stay up no matter how hard the wind blows, and I will give it a peaked roof so that the snow can't collect on it, at least not enough for it to cave in. You can tell me what has to be in the house, and I'll make a drawing tonight. Shall we go and walk around the Mansion and pick a spot? If we start building tomorrow or the next day, I'm sure we can finish it before the first snow storm."

[If Eeyore has an idea of what he'd like, he could tell it to Hisoka, here. And then shall we handwave the expedition to choose a site? And we could assume they're working on it for the next 2-3 weeks.^^ I like this.]

[thistle_muncher]

"Doesn't have to be fancy, long as it has a floor off the ground and a bench inside for people to sit on if they visit, and a window or two, to see out," he says. His ears perk up as he describes this. For Eeyore, this is the height of excitement.