Video Post #1

[streetkingdom]

[The dirty face of a very young boy appears on the screen. He smiles and doesn't even seem to notice the fact that he's filthy or that his clothes are in tatters. Humming, he pushes a few buttons since he doesn't know the thing is on.]

There's a funny little light on here. Wonder what that means...

[Singing softly, he pushes some more buttons

Comments

[stillneedsakiss]

Need some help with that?

[streetkingdom]

[Hooooooooold on. The box is speaking now. He laughs again and picks it up, turning it over while he looks for the source.]

[stillneedsakiss]

Try turning it back over so you're looking into the screen.

[streetkingdom]

You're still talking, little box.

[Turns it again and there's a person!]

Hello, Miss What's-your-name. How'd you get in there?

[stillneedsakiss]

[Aya giggles.]

My name is Aya. I'm not actually in the box. The box has a camera in it-- you look the same on mine as I do on yours. You're new here?

[streetkingdom]

Never seen anything like this before.

[Not that that's going to make his smile go away.]

Where's here?

[stillneedsakiss]

I hadn't either when I got here. It's called a Dreamberry and is a little like having a telephone, video camera and ... I can't think of what little doohicky would let you send text messages to other little doohickies, but it does that too. Everyone gets one when they arrive here, here being Somarium. People from all sorts of different worlds and times end up here. They're lots of fun and pretty useful once you learn how to use them.

[streetkingdom]

So it's like Heaven. Never knew that would happen.

[Stiiiiiiiiiiiill smiling.]

What's a telephone and a video camera?

[stillneedsakiss]

[That makes Aya stop for a moment.]

Well... Maybe like heaven. But we're not dead... at least, that isn't the general theory. People sometimes disappear, and may or may not come back. A-anyway...

A telephone is the same concept that we're using right now to talk to each other even though we aren't in the same place, except telephones don't have the ability to show live video with it. You can fix the settings on your Dreamberry to only allow voice, though. A video camera captures both sight and sound and records it so you can watch it again later. I'm sorry, I just assumed, and I shouldn't have. Where are you from?

[streetkingdom]

I think I'm still in Heaven. It looks friendlier than what I know Hell.

[He looks at her for a moment.]

Wherever I want! But I was at the barricades last.

[stillneedsakiss]

[See Aya ultimately fail to process that first part. Defense mechanisms are Go!]

Barricades... I'm sorry. What I meant was, what's the name of your country? Of your world?

[streetkingdom]

[Gavroche laughs because seriously? How does she not know?]

France, Ai-yah!

[stillneedsakiss]

Oh. Earth then. Some people aren't. I'm from Japan... What year is it for you? It was 1999 for me when I arrived here.

[streetkingdom]

1999? How'd you go and do that? It's only 1832.

[stillneedsakiss]

[Aya's eyes widen just a little.]

Like I said, people come from both different worlds and different times. There are people here who also knew me from where I came from-- like my brother. He's here, but he's from two years in my future. He's 23 now and he's supposed to only be 21. And one of his coworkers that's here is from three years in my brother's past.

[streetkingdom]

Makes some sense.

[Only not really but he takes everything in stride.]