video: un: crashtestdummy

[inkbled]

Okay, so this is the coolest place I've seen.

( hello, Avalon. welcome to the life and times of an excitable, gushing teenager. she swings her phone camera around with the ease of any good teenager and shows off... well, typical Camelot architecture. houses built into trees, rain puddling down in chunks as it rolls off the leaves shielding her from the worst of the April weather. )

You guys, like, really live like this? How do you heat a house when it's attached to a tree? Isn't that, like, a fire hazard?

( look, they didn't teach her much about nature back in Dewell but they did teach her that trees = wood = burn-y. )

Oh, so, um, funny story! I was, like, scrolling while I was on my way here and ended up with a job selling bags! ( ah. there's the reason this video's happening. Rosa moves the camera back to her to reveal a handbag in, well, her hand. )

I've got a buncha 'em still for sale so, like, tell me which you want! Otherwise they're gonna get — ( her words are cut off by a shrill yelp as a giant blob of water drops down her neck. ugh, cold. so cold. ) — soaked! Like me, okay, byeeeeeeee!

( yeah, a girl's gotta turn this off and find a place to hide from all this rain. )

Comments

[inkbled]

( well that's inconvenient. and as for the tent suggestion, well, Rosa's world has better options than that, really. )

I'm, like, not even sure what that is.

( some sort of cover, obviously, but beyond that, she's clueless. maybe it's a non-city thing. but she doesn't have things anyway, so even if she did know, she'd be doomed. )

[reloves]

.. wait, you don't?

[ That's the more puzzling part to Minako. Though she isn't too sure if it's not just because she's been in this world for so long that it's started to rub off on her by now.. ]

It's, um.. kind of like a stall? But with cover from the back too! [ Which is a good thing in this weather, considering the rain is sometimes whipped around so much that it seems to be coming from all sides.. ] Surely you've seen stalls before, right? Like at festivals!

[inkbled]

( well, she knows what a stall is... )

So, it's like, made of steelite?

( this place hasn't exactly seemed like it was teeming with steelite, though. )

[reloves]

[ Okay.

Now Minako is well and truly lost. She's heard about a lot of stuff while being stuck in this place and meeting people from other worlds, but this.. ]

What's.. steelite? Some sort of metal? [ There's the word 'steel' in it, after all. Minako is at least smart enough to pick up on that much. ]

[inkbled]

( oh.

somehow it never truly occurred to Rosa, in the couple of days she's been here, that not only would Avalon be entirely different from home, but other people's worlds would be the same.

it seems so obvious now she thinks about it. )

Yeah. It's, hm... We call it, like, a "hyperlight" metal. ( man, it's a good job she knows what it is, because the other thing that this highlights is how much she takes for granted as normal.

what if these people don't know what a burrito is?! tragic. ) So, it's, um... one of the thinnest materials we have and it gets used for everything. Like, a lot of e-car components feature it, and we also make stall tops out of it because it offers really good heat insulation.

... I dunno how it holds up against rain. ( that wasn't a concern the city had to deal with, either. )

[reloves]

[ Minako is being kind here, and making sure to not mention that she has no idea what 'hyperlight' means in this context, or what 'e-cars' are...

It's one of those wonders of being from the very early 90s on top of everything else. Not quite modern enough yet to imagine all these wild futuristic concepts.

Instead she just decides to roll with it. ]

Oh.. no, I don't think they have that here. I think they usually just make them with covers and wooden frames here..?

[ Sorry, Rosa.

Welcome to the weird fantasy past, even if Avalon is still pretty modern by those standards. ]

[inkbled]

Y...yeah, there's a lotta wood here, isn't there?

( trees for houses, wood in those carriages that took them to the springs... sure, it still sees use at home, but it's almost everywhere here. it's so weird. )

Is this, like, as modern as it gets?

( the phones are pretty neat, and not that far behind her own back home, but... hm. Concerning™. she hasn't even seen a single basic car. it's all horse drawn things. )

[reloves]

I mean...

[ Minako pauses, her voice trailing off momentarily.

But then she continues with: ]

There's karaoke?

[ You know, like karaoke is somehow the pinnacle of everything modern. That's the way Minako is presenting it right now. (She might actually think this, yes.) ]

[inkbled]

( well. at least she's heard of it? and the concept fills her with a bright smile. )

Really? Awesome! We should totally go!

( yep. definitely forgetting the original point of this conversation. )

[reloves]

[ Definitely forgetting it. And while Minako herself didn't forget - for once! - she laughs all the same, seeming to be happy to go along with this.

After all, karaoke's fun! ]

Wellll, I happen to know a pretty good karaoke parlor here.

[ Because that's just how this place is. She's accepted it by now. Equal parts weirdly medieval, yet at the same time also weirdly modern in other ways. ]

And I happen to work there too, so I could get us an employee discount! [ And she can show that she's drawing in new customers. It's like a triple win situation for Minako here. ]

[inkbled]

( it'll take a while for Rosa. a lot of Avalon is so... natural. more wood and green than she's ever seen outside of pictures in her school texts. )

Love it!

( discounts are great. maybe she'll find a job that gives her some too. )

Oh! Sorry, I totally didn't introduce myself. I'm Rosa.

[reloves]

Rosa, nice to meet you!

[ Minako sure doesn't seem to mind the late introductions. Pfft, decorum is something for people who actually care, obviously. ]

My name is Minako, Minako Aino! [ She smiles, even doing a small kind of half-joking salute as she's saying it. For dramatic effect. ] Just let me know whenever you want to go there, and I'll make sure to reserve some spots for us right away!

[inkbled]

( definitely! they learned the important things, like their shared love of karaoke. who needs a name? )

Sure! Um, let me sort out a job here and I'll, like, text you?

( a girl gotta have money for karaoke snaxx. )

[reloves]

[ She nods. ]

Sounds good to me.

[ It's not like they're in a hurry to do this, after all. Sure, Minako is pretty excited to do it ASAP since it's just fun, but it's not like it'll kill them if they wait a week or two before having their fun karaoke get together. ]

If you end up having trouble finding one, you can let me know too. I have contacts, you know? [ .. that's definitely not as shady-meant as it is shady-sounding, especially with the way the girl winks after saying it. ] If push comes to shove, I'm sure I can help you find something!

[inkbled]

( She's quickly getting the picture that people here are incredibly generous. Which might take some getting used to, really. )

Really? Thanks! I'll let you know if I, like, do.