Second floor common room, Friday evening

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

Ender had told him about television when he'd been trying to explain the computer and holograms: light that was shaped into things. Hiccup hadn't actually made the connection between the box he'd seen in the common room and television until he'd come wandering in search of food and seen the pictures playing across the glass.

Quest for food forgotten, he dropped to his knees in front of it, eyes wide, one hand on the glass. There were people and animals and machines and some sort of magical liquid that promised to make him irresistible to girls if he sprayed it all over himself. There was even a man on a horse.

Enraptured, Hiccup just kept staring, eyes about six inches from the screen.

[OOC: Open, of course! But you may have to shove the Viking out of the way if you want to watch TV.]

Comments

[notmyownage]

Claudia wandered in.

"You know, they say that's bad for your eyes."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"Oh well, eyes, I can get more of those," Hiccup replied off-handedly. No, no he couldn't, but he was having trouble looking away. "Have you seen this?" With a supreme effort he turned around to grin at her. "It's just light, but its trapped in this box and it makes all these pictures!"

[hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com]

After walking in the room and toward the noise therein, Blackagar had to pause and see just what held so much interest to the boy. So far, nothing seemed to be of interest.

...other than a man on a horse. Why was there a man on a horse?

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

Hiccup was wondering that himself. But it was was on the television, so he was fascinated. "Have you seen this?" he called without turning around, because obviously television was the most epic thing ever, and, just as obviously, no one else in the world had ever seen one.

[hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com]

He did manage to attract one of the people who hadn't actually seen one before. It was primitive and colorful and alluring in an odd sort of way. They were just lucky it wasn't Rumor Gal or something girly.

Who knows what anyone walking in would think then!

Blackagar shook his head, taking a seat on the couch to watch whatever tiny, tiny story it was continue on.

[notmyownage]

"I have," Claudia said, rather bemused. "But the light isn't trapped. It's projecting through the screen."

At least he wasn't talking about people being magically trapped in the box?

[notmyownage]

"Don't tell me you've never seen a TV, either?"

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, grinned, then turned back. But he did edge sideways slightly so his head wasn't entirely obscuring the view. "See, it's this box but it's got light inside it, and the light gets, gets forced into all these shapes," he gestured at the screen which currently showed a lot of very pretty people drinking colourful drinks, "and then they make stories, I think they're stories, anyway, this one doesn't make much sense, and sometimes they stop and get replaced by other, shorter stories."

Hiccup was watching the television, but he was far more interested in how it worked than what it was showing. "I'm Hiccup," he added belatedly, "silly name, I know, feel free to laugh."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"Projecting through the screen, okay, yeah..." He trailed off. "Nope, nakes no sense. You're telling me you know how this works?" He sounded more than a bit excited about that fact, and he turned around to face her.

[hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com]

Is that what it was called? Blackagar pointed at the device in order to be perfectly clear on the name. She could be talking about...

Okay, there was very little she could be talking about here. But you could never tell here.

[notmyownage]

"Well, yeah." How could she put this nice and simply? "It's just basically like very very small light bulbs. Each one can light up a bunch of different colors, and when they all light up together with the right colors, you get a picture."

[hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com]

Yes, Blackagar was becoming quite happy with the very short stories. They seemed to end happily every time they came on.

He smiled, shaking his head at the offer to laugh. Then, after a moment of staring at the television some more, fished out a card from his pocket.

My name is Blackagar. I am unable to speak.

Yes, that made things easier to have pre-written.

[notmyownage]

And now he was pointing.

Okay, then.

"Yeah, that's a TV. Short for television. I could try and explain what it does, if you want?"

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith came to the common room in search of some of their human food. It might be dreadful, but a girl had to eat. She stopped to stare at the thing with the images. "What is that?"

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

All Kitty had to do was look at the guy's positioning to smile and say, "You're new."

[hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com]

People were allowed to point! It was a perfectly reasonable response to the device and all the small, happy stories it told. He especially enjoyed the one with the small bear rolling on a blanket.

Fishing out a car, he handed it over to her to clear a few things up.

My name is Blackagar. I am unable to speak.

He had so, so many of these things.

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

Hiccup read the card, nodding as he did so. "Good idea on the card," he said with a smile. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" he pointed at the television.

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"It's amazing is what it is," Hiccup replied, practically bubbling over with enthusiasm as he threw a smile over his shoulder. "It's called television and it takes light and makes it into all these, these things!"

[notmyownage]

"That explains a lot." Claudia grinned sheepishly. "I'm Claudia. I . . . kind of obviously can. So! TV."

[notmyownage]

"That's it, I'm making signs."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"I am new, very new," he replied. The television flashed into another of the small stories and he managed to pull his attention away to smile at her. "I'm Hiccup, mighty Viking, feel free to laugh at the name."

[notmyownage]

Claudia was rather pleased to see someone who looked nicely contemporary.

"Tell me you know what the TV is."

[abitlegless.livejournal.com]

"There's light bulbs inside?" Hiccup pointed up at the ceiling. "Like those ones? I'm not allowed to pull them out," he added, "or stick anything in the socket to see what makes them work." It had been explained to him that that would be a Bad Idea.

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"My name's Kitty. You wouldn't believe some of the comments I've gotten," she assured him. "...Viking?"

[notmyownage]

"Really really little ones." He was like a very early scientist! Claudia found that adorable. "And, yeah, only light bulbs go in the light bulb sockets. Otherwise, you might get electrocuted. But I could totally make you a diagram of how they work."

She was maybe a little too enthused about that idea.