Dual Video

[overarching]

[ Caroline has perfected the fine art of selfies and video chat angles, so there's but a small tumble of her hands when she gets the phone's recording rolling. A shot of her face, not offensively close since she knows technology, honed gaze and blonde waves all about. Then, she holds the phone farther out, squinting just so and making sure that the brunette beside her, Elena Gilbert, is also in the frame.

The lighting outside really isn't optimum for the best pictures on these things, though. Either way. ] Hi, Hadriel. I'm Caroline, and this is -- [ she shoots a glance and smile over to her friend, her best friend, waiting for her to fill in her own name. Caroline doesn't actually want to hog the whole debut video! ]

[ Oh, her turn? A smile from her, too. ] I’m Elena. We’re new.

And, as we think happens to maybe anyone new around here, we could use a bit of help from someone when it comes to the weird -- [ back to Elena, nose scrunching ] kind of an understatement, but, anyway. The stove. And microwave. We can't get them to work. Correctly. So, we'd like to meet someone who knows how, and afterward... [ she's always the more generous talker, but they're doing this together. ]

[ She knew they’d be broadcasting together, but she didn’t expect ending whole sentences. Maybe she should say more. ] Caroline will make you dinner. [ Caroline will. If anything, Elena can chop. Or, handle the salad. Nobody wants Elena cooking for them. ] Or, lunch if you can’t make it until tomorrow, but we really need the help. We’ve never seen symbols like these and I froze our last attempt at breakfast. Literally.

[ Caroline's eyes go extremely wide at that, lips pressing together as she holds her head back from fully nodding. ] Kind of alarming. So, if you're up for it, let us know. We'll be...around, and we can always meet you somewhere to talk -- first. And, if this is a regularity with creepy cave appliances to the point that no one ever gets to do any cooking, [ annoying, if so ] let us know and tell us some recommendations for where we should go to eat instead.

[ A beat. ] Thanks! [ She gives a final look to Elena, along with a teeny, quick, and pleased shrug of her shoulders, giving Elena a chance to smile in parting. Just as Caroline does before the message cuts off. ]

[ Caroline is blue, Elena is green. Replies will come from both Caroline, and Elena! ]

Comments

[rehashing]

[ Elena would appreciate meeting these nicer people. She hasn't met them. Well, she met one. But, one out of several doesn't count really. Not when she's told the majority are dealing with their defiiciency as she and Caroline will probably refer to it from now on. That, and the person she met was as new as she was. So he probably didn't fall into the category Cashmere meant.

Elena can be notes girl. Setting the bag on the kitchen counter, she reaches in. ] On it. [ And Elena retrieves the notepad and the -- pencil she stares a long time at before -- using it because it's still a pencil. Pencil at the ready, she leans over, watching.

She illustrates the squiggly one and the other one, draws an arrow and writes COOKING. ] We won't be pushing it. [ Then, draws the other symbol and draws a crude x over it, an arrow and a NO, showing it to Caroline with a raise of the eyebrow. ]

What about that one? [ She points to a fourth symbol, not touching the one Caroline and her froze their last attempt with. ]

[overarching]

Thanks. We'd really appreciate that, too. [ Caroline isn't certain how many nice people there might be in a place so dark and depressing, but there's power in positive thinking! Or, at least in not dwelling on the inevitable.

A glance is spared over to Elena when the bag's note taking contents are mentioned. Her body shifts as if she's about to move for the notebook, but Elena has it covered. She'll try the hands on approach right along with Cashmere. Or, the looking in close at the appliance, anyway. She gets distracted by the pencil's odd shape, corners of her mouth pursing down. Back to the stove, though and taking in what their new acquaintance has to say.

Her eyes go wider (no one wants anything to catch fire!), and she can't help but smile a hair awkwardly at the one she sees on Cashmere's lips. Nodding, she hears Elena writing, glancing over when she shows her the notes. Another nod. It's all a good learning experience! ]

Rips apart space and time, maybe? Makes it rain inside? [ Ah, wry Caroline. But wait, does it even rain there, at all? A soft chuckle, happy with the symbol they'd originally pressed and ruined breakfast over being passed right on over. ] Is everything here like this? [ She looks over to the pencil and notepad again. ] Wild and...difficult to figure out?

[64th]

[ Cashmere wonders what it would have been like if she'd had someone to guide her in her first few days in Hadriel. less confusing, probably. but the network wasn't functional then and they all sort of wandered around hoping to accidentally stumble across helpful information. ]

I guess it might rip space and time and I haven't noticed. It actually does something interesting. [ she makes a show of pressing the button with an exaggerated gesture. the stove plays a short, cheerful melody. nothing else happens. maybe someone in a nearby apartment is wondering why their lights are flickering. it's probably fine. ]

Kinda cute, huh? Weird, but cute. Most stuff here is just strange. There's books we can't read, food that looks one way but tastes another, no sunlight... we've been able to make it work. And if you ask and are willing to do something in exchange, the gods will get you what you want. That's how we got a coffee cart.

[rehashing]

[ Her eyes travel to Caroline, then to Cashmere. She actually lets out a laugh. ] The Entertainer.

[ That could get old.

She scribbles down the symbol however and writes that it pertains to music. ]

What did you exchange for the coffee cart?

[overarching]

[ Caroline gawks at the tune that carries out from the stove. Her lips round, a 'whaaaa' silently shaping. And then, hesitantly -- ] Wow, okay...this place has an...interesting? [ a beat, her nose scrunching up in questioning doubt of her own word choice ] Sense of humor.

[ No sunlight is both good and bad, but mostly bad. She feels over the daylight ring on her forefinger, looking to be mindless about it. She'd be safe in the sun (hopefully, the ring would totally work, she thinks), and natural sunlight is healthy for humans. For moods. For everything! She gives a resigned sigh.

Her brows furrow with the same question that Elena presents, looking to Cashmere for an answer. ]