1 [@necromantica:video]

[burntbridges]

[Letha's confusion over this new technology is clear from the first moment of the video. She's turned on the camera facing away from her, showing her desk full of neatly organized piles of paper, all forms with neat cursive scrawled across them. The angle is skewed, camera shaky, and she keeps moving it as she tries to figure out the device.]

There's absolutely nothing like this in my world...

[Sure, she'd tried very hard to follow the orientation instructions, but she's handling it much like a grandmother with her first smartphone. She finally gets it turned around, but that just gives viewers a worm's eye view of her shocked face as she sees the unflattering angle and turns it back around to her desk.]

If only I could write on these, it would be so much simpler. Well, anyway. Can anyone hear me? I thought it might be prudent to contact this 'network'... and see if anyone who understands these... inventions better than me could lend me a hand.

[Go easy on her, she's never even seen a telephone or typewriter before.]

Comments

{ video }

[inthemoonlight]

[ Oh, someone who is also struggling! Cecelia opted for a tablet, because it was closer in size to a book. She feared she'd leave the smaller device somewhere and lose it, so she asked for this one. The video she has figured out, but it is quite a hassle to hold the tablet out for long periods of time, so she's carefully propped it up on a table, anchored by mugs on either side and a bowl behind. ]

Hello, hello. I can hear you, and I admit these things are quite strange, are they not? My name is Cecelia Wynn, and while I am not the expert you are seeking, I simply had to share my woes with you. [ She chuckles. ] I fear I have forgotten half of what I was taught about how to use these things already!

[burntbridges]

[This gets a bright smile out of her, although Cecelia won't see it since she's still too in the dark to figure out how to show her face.]

I had a great-aunt named Cecelia. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance - my name is Letha Regis. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person having trouble with it.. I've only met one person thus far that didn't seem to be from the distant future.

[inthemoonlight]

[ Cecelia smiles back. It's strange to not see the face of the person she's addressing, but she can hear that Letha is pleased. ]

Did you? I am afraid I've not heard the name Letha before, but it sounds lovely. Are you a Miss or Mrs Regis?

[burntbridges]

Mrs, although my husband isn't around in this reality. At least not as far as I know.

[That, and she's dead so they technically aren't married anymore. But both of them tend to ignore that fact.]

And you? Do you have a husband?

[inthemoonlight]

I did, yes. Sadly, he passed away.

[ And her life sort of fell apart after that from the rumors and suspicions alone, hence why she appeared here. ]

I would be more concerned with being here had I left him behind, but there is nothing really tying me to home any longer.

[staystrong]

I always wanted my own cell phone, so these aren't so bad.

[She got a fancy smart phone, like what one of her neighbors had before the shit hit the fan.]

My handwriting is crap anyway.

[burntbridges]

Is that what these are?

[The word 'phone' really means nothing to her... and going from sending letters by post to having a touch screen at her command is way too much of a shift.]

[staystrong]

Well yeah. I mean, I think most of them were. I know we could pick from a few types, but they were all basically phones and other communication devices, I think.

[Can she play solitaire on this? She has no idea how to play it but she might try and figure it out anyway.]

What's yours look like?

[burntbridges]

It's... big? One of the bigger ones they offered, I thought it would be harder to break. It's sort of shaped like a book. A short one, granted, but those are often the least dull.

[She's still trying to figure the tablet out, so Clem gets a shaky view of Letha's desk and little else.]

Are you from a world where these are normal?

[staystrong]

... Sort of.

[They used to be normal, anyway. The whole zombie apocalypse thing had taken care of that. No one would be coming out to fix the wi-fi any time soon.]

I never had one, though. Carrying around a bigger one sounds like a hassle.

Video

[ragnarsson]

If you figure this out, be sure to let me know.

[The vaguely European accented voice comes from a teenager with not only blue eyes, but blue sclera. Ivar had been struggling to use his own phone for a while. The video is all out proportion, so he'd settled for propping it up on something, and scooting back a few feet so that he can actually be seen. Fortunately, he's smart. He'll figure this out eventually.]

[burntbridges]

I suppose it's only fair...

[Oh, this person looks different. She doesn't seem particularly bothered, more curious than anything.]

Say, your eyes are quite blue. Are you some sort of magician?

[ragnarsson]

[The mention of magic gets him to grin.]

Hardly. I'm a Viking. [Then he sobers a little. His mother had always said he had Ragnar's eyes, the same ice-blue tone to them.] The eyes...couldn't tell you why they look the way they do. I got them from my father. I think it's the gods' way of marking me.

[burntbridges]

A Viking? Why, that makes you from an older time than I am!

[And here she worried she was the odd one out, being from old-timey England.]

Do your eyes do anything special? Or are they simply blue?

[ragnarsson]

Judging from this place and people, I must be from very far back.

[It's very strange to him. The past for everyone else has always been his present.]

Nothing of note. Like I said, I think the gods' used it as a way to single me out as a cripple. They've got a twisted sense of humor.

Video @lolococo416

[threatenwithcuteness]

Your world must be really boring.

*Gee Lola, way to jump right to a judgment. Lola's using her own phone so she's not really having any adjustment issues to this network. Some of her apps don't work here, but she figures that's because they have nothing to connect to. She's got this confused little look on her face.*

How do you keep in touch with people without a phone?

[burntbridges]

Oh, it's quite interesting when it wants to be.

[Although, it chooses not to be pretty often.]

I find it's fastest to find someone and speak in person if I need to talk to them. Of course there's written letters and contact through the Netherworld, but the effort often outweighs the urgency of information.

[threatenwithcuteness]

See, these are way faster and more personal than letters. And you can do it without leaving your house like in person. I have no idea what contact through the Netherworld is, but it sounds creepy.

*Not that technology isn't without its downsides, but Lola doesn't generally bring that up without prompting.*

[burntbridges]

It's not creepy, it's convenient. And it's the fastest and most personal method I know of. The Netherworld is the place that souls go after death, and... necromancers like myself and my family can visit there with each other and the dead. I can't think of anything more personal than that.

[threatenwithcuteness]

So you talk to the dead, and don't find it creepy?

*Sorry, dead things are creepy. Dying things are creepy. Why would you willingly talk to the dead. She is not hiding her 'being creeped out' at all.*

Anyway, if you want a tutorial on how these things work. I can do that. I'm Lola.

@R.Greenhilt: Video

[greatcleavage]

These really are strange devices, aren't they?

[Roy can't really provide an answer to her question, but he's only looking for an excuse. He'd noticed the woman a couple of times, most particularly during that terrible storm, but never had the chance to approach and check on her. Now he has a means!]

I'm sorry if this is prying, but are you doing all right here? These have been rough times, after all, with adjustments and the, say, local difficulties.

[burntbridges]

Oh, I've been doing fine. I'll admit the storm had me worried, but I'm sure worse has happened before. I met a few nice men while I was waiting it out.

[And here... Letha pauses. Forgive her, she's from a different time.]

Are you someone's servant, sir?

[greatcleavage]

[The implication fortunately misses Roy by some distance, leaving him arching an eyebrow in confusion at what is, for him, a question completely devoid of context.]

Uh, no? My name is Roy Greenhilt, and I'm an adventurer, and incidentally a perimeter guard here.

[burntbridges]

Oh! Forgive me, that was improper to assume.

[Back in her world, she's only seen a handful of people with darker skintones, and they were always helping traders with the heavy lifting. She's always just sort of assumed it was a tan from working outside.

She clears her throat and moves past it awkwardly.]

My name is Letha Regis, I was a housewife back in my world. I've taken a job as a clerk here.

[Which she's pretty sure puts her at a lower ranking than him... and that has her clearly embarrassed at her mistake.]

[greatcleavage]

[Oh, Roy doesn't think his skintone is anything special. It runs in his family, after all.]

[Ba-dum-tish.]

I'd noticed you a couple of times. If you'll forgive me for saying so, you seem -- less inclined to a life of some hardship than many of us who've come here. [He hopes he's putting that delicately enough to not be offensive. He isn't trying to be by any means.] Not that you're the only one in that camp, but... Well, I did want to make certain you were adjusting.