cape_kore | video; day 51; 004

[ Laura only really uses the network when she wants to talk to everyone - this is no exception. Pay attention, residents of Kore! She's offering up her services again - like hell if it's grave digging again though. This time it's far less morbid, and her cheerful demeanour says just as much. ]

So, fellow kidnap-ees! None of us like starving, and none of us like waiting on mysterious food drops for help? Well, a few people have brought it up, and we can't be stuck in winter forever, right?

[ She's been doing really well at super confident, dazzling smile up until now. It's slipping though, the closer she gets to actually suggesting useful ideas, the more nervous she seems to get. Laura is no public speaker, after all. ]

Basically, I lived on a farm my whole life. Like, literally. I worked on it my whole life too, and basically ran it the last year or so. So I figured, if anyone wants to learn how to do this stuff, I can show you, and if we start now? Well by the time we can actually start doing anything useful, everyone will know enough to help out.

[ She shrugs, offers another bright smile and gives a little wave. ]

Anyway, that's pretty much it so just, let me know okay? Okay.

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[ The smile grows less awkward and more genuine at the easy praise. Seriously, everyone here is so nice, it's like he's tumbled onto the other side of the looking glass. ]

Ned. I'm good at lists. [ Which is probably going to be just about his only useful skill, in this freaky town. Her encouragement makes him bold (by Ned standards) and he offers ] If you'd like I can do an inventory of what supplies we have. Keep track of weather patterns. That sort of thing.

Ned, nice to meet you Ned. I'm Laura and I suck at organising anything. [ Seriously. No one should ever let her do anything. ] Want to be the brains of the machine? I'm seriously hopeless with all that.

I can try my best, anyway. [ Ned is used to doing his own inventories and keeping everything regulated and under control and predictable for himself; he isn't entirely sure how well he'll do if 'being the brains' means keeping other people organized, but what harm could there be in trying? Well, a lot of harm, potentially, but he's still going to do it. ]

This has got to be a pretty big change, then. If you were living on a farm before, I mean. [ He's actually glad to meet some more people here who aren't psychics or robots or otherwise out of the ordinary. The more he does, the more he begins to convince himself that, perhaps, he was brought here randomly. That the mysterious 'they' behind the cameras really don't know about what he can do. ]

I wouldn't ask for any more. [ So long as someone is willing to help out with organisation, Laura is happy. She's going to realise one of these days that doing all the things probably isn't the best idea, but that day is not today.

...And she's all ready with another big grin and witty retort, until he focuses on the farm thing. No one else has really asked - well, Jet, but he's different. He's allowed to ask those things and not get the brief drop of the smile and quiet pause. She screws up her face for a moment, and the video feed shakes as she shrugs before she scrapes up her smile again. It's a little weaker than before, though. ]

Yeah, it's...hugely different. Small town mentality is kind of the same, that's nice, but- yeah, it's different.

[ ~~Oh no, he killed the smile.~~ Ned can tell that what he said struck a nerve - probably didn't like being reminded of all the people she'd left behind - and isn't sure how to correct his mistake. Cue nervous ramble. ] I mean, of course it's different. There are cameras everywhere and sabertooth tigers and we're all trapped here by God knows who. I don't get how everyone's so calm about it.

[ She's very careful in her response, still smiling because it's what she does, but clearly proceeding with a lot more caution. ] I get the impression that quite a few of us would prefer this fucked up place to whatever it is we've left behind. I think that might be it.

[ Pause, awkward cough, and then. ] Sorry. Fudged up. I don't know man, I guess freaking out doesn't really solve anything, you know? Not going to get us home.

[ Okay, it's just going to take Ned a minute to wrap his head around even the idea of preferring imprisonment over anything - unless it were a different, more strict form of imprisonment. Ned has perhaps more than the average dose of healthy appreciation for his personal liberty. ]

I guess you're right. [ He makes this concession aloud but thinks, privately, that that doesn't mean freaking out is something one can just turn on or off, helpful or no. ]

[ She falls silent for a moment or two, eyes tracked pretty firmly on the floor as she tries to muster up something more than a sad smile, and then she just shrugs. ] You get used to it. Isn't much else to do now, is there.

[ And she's just going to hold that melancholy thought a little while longer before clearing her throat and beaming again. ] Wow, downer though! Let's uh, move on swiftly. So, Ned who's good at lists, tell me about where you're from. Bet it's way more interesting than a farm, right?

[ He isn't sure he's ever going to get used to it, but her reassurance helps, a little. Ned is at least able, for the most part, to keep himself composed if the people around him are coping ]

I don't know, I lead a fairly boring life. Sure, I live in the city, but I really don't get out all that much. I had just opened my own shop - a pie shop. That's what I do; I make pies. And other pastries, but pies are my speciality. [ Ned smiles a little, just at the corner of his mouth ] Not a really useful skill, here, what with the shortage of supplies.

Hey, if you can make pies I'm pretty sure you just made yourself a lot of friends.

[ Maybe. She knows they've got things to put in them, but - well, how do you make pastry again? Hopeless Cooking 101 classes are held by Laura every day in her house, after all. ]

I will fight every mechanical bear in that damn forest if it means getting an amazing pie, not going to lie.

video; day 51; 004

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