5078/Lessons with Grasshopper..

Lessons with Grasshopper..
Date of Scene:	01 August 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Harry and Molly work in the lab to maie communication stones..
Cast of Characters:	Harry Dresden, Molly Carpenter

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Harry Dresden has posed:
It's 7 in the morning on a saturday and Harry has had a very busy morning, showering first, then taking Mouse out for his morning walk before his jog. Having invited his apprentice over he's started clearing off the workbench down in his lab rubbing it down with alcohol and then a citrus spray leaving the slight breakfasty smell floating in the air..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
"Harry, are you actually cleaning?" Molly's feet appear on the steps as she comes down carrying the usual offering of coffee with her to add to the current citrusy scents here. An eyebwor lifts as she regards the fact that he was cleaning off the workbench. "You know that stuff really isn't good for the wood. Dad could give you some oil that would... Hm. Maybe it would affect stuff we're working on though," she has to reason. "It's kind of all-natural."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden glances up the ladder/stair combo "just workout out a space for us to work on something." he explains. "We're going to be doing a little bit of Thaumaturgy, something my mentor taught me and had me create for the two of us." he explains moving over to a near by shelf he pulls out a small leather case of tools, a block of white quartz that's about five inches long, by three inches on each side, and a cigar box filled with random rocks and pebbles.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter comes down entirely and moves aside a book from her own work table area to set the coffee down well out of the way of what was currently to be worked on. "Which mentor? Not the first one I hope," she teases lightly only to peer over at the quartz brought out. "Huh. Okay, color me curious. What're we working on, Miyagi-san?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden takes the coffee "mmm, keep up with the jokes before I've had my morning cup of heaven, and I'll have you out hand washing the bug. I think it's still got a little bit of troll in the grill." he says taking a long pull of the coffee "You know. you make a better pot than starbucks, why do you always bring me the store bout stuff?" he asks somewhat playfully.

    Setting down the coffee and opening up the box he pulls out a smooth palm sized piece of obsidian. "we're going to be making one of these, a communication stone.. Isn't as handy as a cellphone would be, but during pre-set times, you and another wizard with a twin can communicate cross planet." he explains holding up the stone to her..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter glances over at Harry with a little smirk of amusement. "Did I ever tell you that mom and dad think we may have slept together?" Her grin deepens knowing how he might feel about that before she continues. "If I brought you coffee every day from home they'd get even more suspicious. Plus there's this cute barrista I chat with there," she adds rolling her shoulders. "He gives me a discount."

Moving off the topic of coffee, other than taking the time to grab her own for a chug, she turns her attention to the obsidian. "Huh. A wizard walkie-talkie. I can get behind that."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden is taking another drink when that little bit of news is given, causing him to choke on his coffee. "What? Why? And how long have they thought this? I mean... " he coughs again "Charity has been her normal caustic self with me, and I have all my body parts so neither She nor Michael decided to test out a new practice sword or axe on my person." he says somewhat in panic mode thinking that murder is just a Carpenters visit away..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter watches the reaction with a carefully schooled expression trying her hardest not to laugh. Oh that was good. "Harry, look at me. Not trying to be vain but I'm a healthy young woman in the prime of my life. When was the last time I went on a date with a guy?" There really wasn't an answer to that. "I've been cramming to learn as much of this wizardry stuff as I can, helping you out at the office, and that's about it. I haven't been around any other men in probably way too long." There's a thoughtful pause as she considers. "I did run into this guy in New York when I went there to check on a Paranetter that hadn't checked in for awhile. That's about it though."

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter clears her throat with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Regardless. They're starting to get concerned."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden nods.. "YEah.. and I've not really been 'out on the prowl' either.. and with the late nights working can sometimes cause.. " he looks like he wants to melt into the floor and his skin has a slight green hue on it. "So... What should we do about it? You know your parents better than I do. What do we do that keeps my head firmly attached to my shoulders? and possibly all your body apparts attached where /they/ should be too." he adds the mornings lesson all but forgotton.

    Momentarily his eyes get a bit of a distant look on them before he just shakes his head clearing away what ever thought he was having his eyes darting to the skull in the corner for a moment as well before his eyes turn back to Molly.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter leans back against her work table watching the worried Harry with a bemused smile. "They aren't going to do anything, Harry. You're dad's friend, you've saved my family's life numerous times, and even little Harry is named after you. Yeah, they're concerned and keeping an eye on me, but they're not going to come after you. I'm a grown woman now." The coffee is raised to take another little sip. "I started laying out some apartment finder booklets at home. That should help if they think I'm trying to keep an eye out for a place of my own. Which... to be honest I probably should start looking into. Before I become more of a problem at home than a help."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden nods thoughtfully "Still doesn't mean Charity won't want blood.." he says with a laugh.. "been thinking that for about a year now.. you're twenty-one tomorrow. Hell, DAniel has been in the army for a year already and Matthew is old enough to watch the two or three jawa's that aren't old enough to be unsupervised." he says with a grin.. "If you had ever been told when you were fourteen that you would be twenty one and still living at home, I think you'ed have cussed the messenger out." he teases..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter makes a horrible face at that thought, scrunching her nose and sticking her tongue out. "Ugh. Yeah I wanted to get out as soon as possible, but after..." She trails off, her expression softening to stare at a spot on the floor. "I think I needed family more after that. I guess part of me was scared that if I changed too many things, it'd be even more tempting to stray. Realistically, too, it was better to put some savings away before getting out on my own." Sighing deeply she rolls her shoulders with a helpless shrug. "Yeah. It is about time I started moving on."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden sets his coffee down and moves over to wrap Molly up in a bear hug. "Grasshopper, it's not moving on, it's just growing up. You'll still be seeing them probably half a dozen times in a week, from dinners, to stealing the washing machine, to dealing with other things.. When things break down at your apartment, Michael will be right there with his tool belt fixing it up for you." he says kissing the top of her forehead. "You'll still be family." he adds quietly to the top of her head..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter stretches her arm out so that the coffee is set back on the desk behind her. The hug is what she wanted her hands free for as she leans in against Harry, tucking her head down against his shoulder. Which wasn't so much 'down' as the perfect height given their height difference wasn't as severe as some would be. "Thanks. I just mean time to move on with my life a bit. Get back on track some." A deep breath is drawn in, and she gives him a tighter hug for just a moment. Then she lets him go again. "You're family too Harry, whether you want to believe it or not. Even if mom doens't always like you." Mock sniffing she leans her head up to grin at him. "Enough of this mushy stuff. You were going to show me something cool?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden grins.. "I'd say it's pretty on track already Molls, after tomorrow you can apply for your own lisence." he says talking about the PI gig you have under him as yet another 'apprenticeship.' "yes, the magic.." he says moving to undo the leather strap to reveal several wickedly sharp looking saws and other stone working tools. "The first thing you're going to want to do is prep the stone, since it's one piece right now, cutting it into the sections you want for what you're working on will be rather easy. Then once you have them in the shape you want it's a matter of setting up the circle to link the two perminantly through their thaumaturgic resonance.." he explains his voice animated like any geek talking about his favorite subject..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter steps over to the work bench beside Harry giving him plenty of room to still be able to move with his greater wingspan. "Since they're made from the same object as well, wouldn't it also work as a tracker spell in a pinch?" It stood to reason. There was absolutely nothing wrong with a magical item having multiple uses, so long as they didn't corrupt the original purpose of use.

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden nods. "They can" he says in reply as more supplies are brought out.. "the more identical you can make the pieces while you're working them by hand, the easier it'll be to attune them." he adds as a paint brush of blue liquid is brought out to wash over the stone. "Blue Dicum, it'll wash off with soap, isn't perminant, but can be scratched into to have clear lines of attack." he explains as he starts showing some of the tips and tricks for making the stones..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
The stone with the dying compound on it is regarded thoughtfully. "I remember during one art class in high school they gave us chunks of this marble. I don't remember what type but it had this nice pinkish swirl to it. We were given a bunch of files and told to carve it. Except you can't really carve stone with just files. So we all just worked grooves into our pieces and gave them some pretencious name like a sculpture." Looking over the tools on the work bench she considers thoughtfully. "The saws might work, but shouldn't we be using chisels?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden brushes his fingers over a series of small handles their ends hidden in the sleeves of the leather. "stone working chisels, wooden mallet, whole nine yards. The stones don't have to be fancy, just cut and prepaired from the same block." he explains pointing back to the piece of obsidian. "that's plain enough that it would just be ignored in my pebble box there." he adds pointing to the old cigar box.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter gives a solemn nod at this. "I'm a girl, I can get away with just about anything being 'normal' for me to have. A shiny stone in my pocket? Yeah that's pretty much par for the course. Of course," she adds as she regards the block with a finger tracking over the side. "I could also fit this onto a bracelet or necklace. Providing that putting a hole in it ... Or there's wire wrapping," she mumbles to herself considering. "Mom would know how to do that."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden shakes his head. "That'll be too small, you want it no smaller than the the size of your palm, and about half an inch thick, otherwise you don't have enough 'twin' material for the link to stay perminant." he explains "keep it in your pocket? sure.. but making it into jewlery.. can be awkward, not to mention both pieces have to be near identical." he adds

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter sighs a bit. "Killjoy. I could see the wire wrapping. It takes natural stones, or semi-polished stones, and makes a pendant out of them by wrapping wire around it in intricate shapes. So it's not actually affecting the stone part. Wouldn't really work for you though." She looks Harry over with a once up-and-down sweep of her gaze as she grins with amusement. "I don't see you as the chunky jewelry sort."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden snorts "sorry, got all my accessories here.." he says holding up his force rings and flipping his pentacle out of his shirt. "anything else would just look gaudy and goche, cept for maybe a wedding band." he comments looking at his empty left hand. "But gotta find someone first, fall madly in love with th em, and then get told yes to the question."he says accepting h is forever alone status.. "well lets get to work, I'll watch, and see where things are.. if you are about to make a mistake I'll chime in, but for the most part you're doing this on your own, I'm just the safety wheels." he explains..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
"Oh, is that why that hand is empty?" Molly grins a little bit though she opts not to tease any more on that topic for now. No, there was still a lot of things that were awkward around certain topics for her. "I've got this. First off is to break it in two equal parts." This makes sense to her so she grabs a tape measure to measure it. Just like dad taught her measure twice, cut once. She's precise with her lines, divvying up the block of stone into two equal portions which she then uses a saw to score down the center of. A starter for when she reaches for the chisel to place in the center. "Okay. Here goes everything." Taking up a hammer she gives it a good whack to crack down the center splitting them in half.

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Good job! now you take the two halves, and start shaping them." he says pulling out a file folder that's filled with nothing but sand paper.. "what I like to do is start with the coarser grit, strap it down to the bench over here, and then work the stone to the paper, instead of the paper to the stone.. is less awkward." he adds

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter narrows her eyes at the sandpaper. "I know about grits, Harry. You know my dad could just use a bench grinder on these and..." She trails off with a sigh as she reaches out to take the folder of sandpaper. "Let me guess, has to be done by the wizard. Builds character, imbues our energy into it, yadda."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden grins giving her shoulder a light pat "nah, belt grinder will just fry itself after about a minute of working the stone." he says "So it has to be done the 'authentic' way.. " he says cheekily "You know.. sometimes I dream about being able to use power tools.." he sighs dreamily.. "And besides, you're already a character, I don't think you need any more." he adds ruffling her hair

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter flips through the folder searching for the various grits of sandpaper that would help with this. Given the task at hand she sets to work, laying down the 400 grit on the desk using the sticky side down to hold it in place. Before she begins though she measures out and determines a shape for each peice - triangles with rounded edges that were as requested about the size of her palm. "That should do." Reaching back with both hands she gathers her hair up and whips it back into a quick ponytail. Then she leans in, working the first peice of stone on the paper putting her body weight into it. One leg is planted back, the other slightly bent forward, as she works with quick, determined motions that set her ponytail bouncing.

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden plops down on the chair that's down there, relaxing and resting as he just watches her work, there if any advice is needed. "You want to go to the finest finish, minimize the scratches so the two are near identical again.. using the same sandpaper on each piece, basically going through the same motions on each." he continues to explain coaching a little here, and a little there..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter was able to do rather well with it. She counts each stroke on each side of the stone, flipping it over and going to the next side to work the rough shape out. Once done she grabs the other peice to do the same with the same counts for each side. The methodical way she works has her hips rocking forward with the force of motion. Biceps flex, thighs clench... Really, it was obvious that she was in shape for all her time behind a desk. "Got it, Harry. I just needed the right rhythym."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden snickers "that's fine, I'll just stay quiet here and enjoy the show." he says a bit cheekily having relaxed a bit in the years since your apprenticeship started.. "You're looking good there." he adds in encouragement talking about your form in working the stones..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter tosses her head sending her ponytail back over her shoulder. The look over her shoulder thrown at Harry has an eyebrow arched as she smirks. She's paused in her work to give her hips a quick side to side wiggle taunting him in return. "And you wonder why my parents think we're screwing." Chuckling to herself she turns back to the task at hand. "It's going to take a long while to do this but I can manage. What's the plan for lunch? I'm going to be starving."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden shrugs.. "I can't help it if you've got a form to be appreciated.. at least now you're old enough that it's somewhat approprate and I'm not a creeper.." he says simply "Macs? My treat?" he suggests. "Steak sandwiches, and lemonade. Or we can do burger king, and you and I can do mac's tomorrow when you're of age and can have some of his ale.." he says "or someplace else.. cept McDonalds, or Big Belly Burger.." he adds vetoing the ananthama to the food of the gods that is King..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter groans a little bit with her eyes rolling toward the ceiling. "No fast food today pleeease. Mac's sounds great... though I do like the idea of ale too," she has to admit. "I mean I've had beer but not the good stuff." Wait, when was this? Quickly continuing on without explaining herself she suggests, "How about sushi? I know you're not a huge fan but it'd be a nice change of pace. Broaden your horizons, boss."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden stands up and groans making his way back over to reach out and cup her cheeks turning her to look into his eyes his own only four or five inches away.... With a sigh he nods.. "fiiiine..for you, sure..but only cause I like you and it'll be an early birthday gift." he says smooshing her cheeks for a moment before letting go. "Then tomorrow, Mac's and steaks. No work, not schoolin' You can even pretty yourself up if you want." he says hip bumping her andmoving to plop back down on the chair.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter blinks in surprise when she's caught up by his grasp and turned to meet his eyes. There's a little warmth that rises to her cheeks easily felt by his fingers. Before she can really process the moment, he agrees to go for sushi earning a bright grin from her. "Yesss!" A fist pump is given as she chooses not to mention him squishing her cheeks. For now. "Darn straight I'm going to get dressed up. I haven't had a reason to in ages. I'll go easy on you and we can get a California roll. No raw fish, just some veggies and crab. Spicy California roll."

With her mind already on lunch she gets back to work until she's sweating just a bit from the exertion. Finally she turns, and leans her hips against the counter with a hand reaching up to wipe over her forehead. Dust coated her fingers, and up her forearms. "Okay. They're as equal as they can get. Could use a lot of smoothing and polishing but the main shape and size are worked out." Dropping her hand she stares at it a moment only to stick her tongue out. "I'm going to need to steal your shower."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden smirks.. "hot and sweaty's sexy though." he teases before notting to the ladder and then grimacing.. "your clothes are still in your drawer in my dresser." he says as he realises just one more /thing/ that can further the 'ya'll are /together' fallacy.. "Geeze... " he says starting to say something, but then thinking better of it and stopping.. "yeah, go get cleaned up, I'll take a shower after you and we'll go have food that'll have me hungry an hour later." he says with a snicker..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter rolls her eyes as she turns to the ladder to start up. "You can get fried rice, too. That'll fill you up," she points out before vanishing upstairs to take that shower she was much in need of. "I'll make sure to leave you some cold water!"

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden laughs "Good thing that's all I've got." he murmers having never bothered to replace the water heater after it gave out due to it just not being able to survive in a wizarding house.. Making his way up the ladder/stair combo he plops down on the couch Mouse coming over for scritches. "Mouse, what will I do with myself.. Her parents think we're sleeping together, and hell, she /is/ practicly living here.. between the clothes in the bottom drawer of the dresser, and her tooth brush.. " he just smiles to himself.. "I don't know if trying to clear the air with Michael and Charity would do more harm than good.. " he just shrugs scritching Mouses ear..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Mouse responds by flopping his head down into Harry's lap. It was really the only part of him that would fit without smooshing the wizard at all. The ear scritches are accepted, even encouraged, though the question earns an upward roll of his doggy eyes. Maybe he did understand what was going on. A little 'wurf' is given as if saying 'I understand.' Or maybe that he was overthinking things. Either way Mouse was, as always, a good listener.

The sound of water running in the shower comes along with singing. Granted the lyrics were 'Cold cold fucking cooold' but it was rather melodic for what it was.

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden grins.. "You know I live by them!" he calls through the thin walls "helps wake you up, get the blood pumping, and beats the libedo down with a brutal passion!" he teases leaning his head back to relax and close his eyes, dozing off as he waits for her to finish getting cleaned up..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter is remarkably quick about it in spite of the whole 'women take forever' situation that sometimes occurs. The cold shower likely had something to do with it. While he dozes she gets dried off and changed into a clean t-shirt and jean shorts before heading back into the livingroom. "Tag, you're it," she states as she twists around to fall down on the couch next to him letting her weight cause the ancient sofa to bounce beneath her likely jarring him awake.

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden wakes up and opens his eyes to look over at her. "Hey you.." he says reaching out to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. "ok.. give me a bit and I'll be pretty for you and we can go." he says patting her knee and getting up to make his way to the shower..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter gives a little snort of laughter at that. "Might need more than awhile to make you pretty," she teases back lightly. "But I'm used to you like you are. Fresh towel in there for you." Of course it helped that she sometimes snuck them over to her place to use the working washing machine. Niiice and fluffy. Probably another reason that her parents were wondering about them. While he's gone she takes over Mouse petting duties, and kicks her legs up on the couch to stretch out until she dozes off.

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden takes a normal shower, use to the cold water, the summer months helping with the temperature of the water. Soon he's coming out, clean shaven, wearing colone and a plane black T-shirt and jeans. "Alright blondie.. lets go eat weird foods.." he says reaching out to hold his hand to her to help her up.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter cracks an eye open to regard him with a lazy smile. "Oh, wow, you weren't kidding. I might be under-dressed now." Unfolding her arms she reaches out to take his hand. Legs swing off the couch to plant as she uses his grip to spring up to her feet. A step is taken in closer to him, her head ducking down toward his chest to take a sniff. "Mm, even smell nice today, Harry. You should do this more often. You might attract more than killer fae." Winking, she tips her head toward the door. "I know a place that has some good stuff. And chicken as well for you, big chicken."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden smirks.. "maybe, maybe.." he says slipping his arm around her shoulder and giving a squeeze. "Hi, I'm Harry Dresden. What do I do for a living? Ohh, I'm a Wizard... No, I wasn't named after the potter kid, no, not like birthday parties or bachlorette parties... I fight ghosts and gouls, goblins and gremlins.." he says "then watch them exit stage right.." he adds pulling open the steel door and leading her out to The Ambush Bug..

Molly Carpenter has posed:
"Well you might want to skip that part at first. Get them suckered in to begin with," she reasons with a nod. "Then hit them with the whammie. Not an actual whammie, just you being you."

Harry Dresden has posed:
     Harry Dresden shrugs "we'll come back to this later.. right now I'm hungry and you're wanting to torture me with weird food.. Closing his door and setting the wards, he leads her on to the car to head off for a well deserved lunch break..