Check In
Each person saying, at the start of a gathering, where they are — before any work is done.
A round at the opening, one person at a time, uninterrupted: glad to be here, or tired, or carrying something that will otherwise sit in the room unnamed. It is short. It is not a status report, and it is not therapy; it is the minute that makes the next hour honest.
It is load-bearing because unsaid states steer decisions. A person who is grieving and does not say so will be read as disengaged; a person who is angry and does not say so will argue about the wrong thing. A table that checks in can tell the difference between a bad proposal and a hard week, and can also see, week by week, what The Way Out calls the floor beneath the cards: when a member is in danger, the Cell acts first and records later. No card is more important than the person at the table.
How it is played. Second of The eight movements, after arriving and opening. Everyone speaks, briefly, in turn; no cross-talk, no fixing. Anything that needs attention is noted and taken up in its place rather than in the round. In a room of several houses, checking in is also where each person says what they carry that is not theirs to give away. What is said in the round belongs to the room, and is treated with the room's stated terms. At the close, the mirror of this is Harvest and Close.
Also called: Check-In Round · check-in · Tend the Temperature Stands on: The Turn · Weave Spirit, Hearts, and Minds · Listening Opens onto: The eight movements · Harvest and Close · Mend a Tension · The Way Out · Terms In play: table · Room Sources: the Player+ Modules lexicon, check in (met first in Safe Sparring) · The LIØNSBERG Playbook, §Operations and §Caring (draft) · The Way Out (current best understanding) · lionsberg.wiki: The LIØNSBERG Playbook Open: The Playbook's Plays for this were not opened individually in this pass; the practice described is composed from the module lexicon and the Turn. · Whether an agent in a room ever speaks in a check-in is settled elsewhere in the negative: the person speaks.