Doug & Gaia | Telephone
Oct. 16th, 2024 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated Doug tracks down Gaia to get her mansion phone turned on. It is a struggle.
It was easy to not be found in the mansion, if one didn't want to be. There were a plethora of nooks, crannies, and empty rooms to tuck away. Gaia's current favorite was a small, forgotten space, thick with the smell of dust. It may have been a study at one point, or a lounge. Now it seemed to be storage, boxes piled high. Either way it had a very comfortable window seat where she could curl up and nap in a sunbeam, or watch rain trickle down the glass when it rained.
Gaia was currently occupying herself with the latter, dozing lightly as the downpour continued. She much preferred the sound of rain to the ever present whir of appliances.
Finding a phone that had been switched off could be accomplished, if tricky in the particulars sometimes. Finding a phone that had never even been switched -on-, however... That was a separate kind of challenge, though Doug had some advantages over commercially available phones. After all, he was often the one setting the Xaviers phones up, so they had technically been connected to something, even if their recipient had not used them at all. And large as the mansion was, it was still a finite place. So eventually Doug found Gaia doing her best cat impression in a dusty out-of-the-way room. He leaned against the doorjamb and rapped his knuckles lightly on it to get her attention - no sense in startling a new arrival.
The girl glared at the intrusion, important task of afternoon nap disturbed. This was not someone she knew either. Laura perhaps would have been forgiven, but a stranger was not extended the same grace. “Yes?”
Doug had been glared at by far more intimidating women. (He'd also dated some of them.) So the glare just sort of slid off of him like the suds off a freshly washed car. "I wanted to see if there were any issues with your phone, since it hasn't been turned on yet," he said, offering a fig leaf so he could suss out what the actual reason was.
The next look given to him was one of slight confusion. “You mean this?” She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out the shiny black device. “It is just a mirror, yes?” It was a bit strange to be gifted a looking glass upon arrival, but she had found this world to be exceedingly vain.
Doug pinched the bridge of his nose, hard. There was no way this refugee from another world would get the reference if he said 'that's not what Black Mirror means', followed by a deep dive on whether the symbolism of a phone used solelly as a mirror would fit within the theme of the show. "This is what going mad feels like," he murmured to himself. "It's a..." he almost said phone again, but clearly she lacked the context. "It's a communication device," he finally managed. "Helps you talk or write short messages to people when you're not in the same place."
“Hm.” Gaia regarded the device with an air that suggested doubt in its capabilities to do that.
Doug held up his own phone, the text window currently showing several unread messages from a handful of mansion residents. He tabbed rapidly between several other apps, attempting to show her the utility of the device without letting her read his personal correspondence. "It can do lots of stuff."
A slight frown graced her features. “And this.. is truly necessary?” She attempted to copy his movements on her own dark screen as if to practice, but it looked incredibly awkward. Technology did not seem her forte.
This was karmic, Doug decided, trying to avoid pinching his nose again in such rapid succession. He had offended some demigod of technology or the like (maybe this universe had a Nikola Tesla ghost like the last one?) and this was his punishment for whatever real or imagined crime he had committed - to be saddled with this completely technology-illiterate girl. "If nothing else, it means you can easily let people know where you are if they need to find you." Like, say, the very situation they found themselves in.
“That is useful, I suppose.” Though there were not many situations Gaia foresaw that happening. She tilted the screen back and forth, watching the reflection catch. “How?”
"Here, I'll show you." Doug walked the girl through the basics of turning the phone on and off, locking and unlocking the screen, and calling and texting. Given what he'd heard about her background, he supposed it made sense that she wouldn't have picked up a bunch of familiarity with technology by osmosis the way others would have. So that impending headache of his wasn't really her fault, entirely.
Gaia watched with a blank curiosity. The black box made noises and contained images, apparently. “Is that all?” Surely it wasn’t any more advanced.
Doug closed his eyes to recenter. This girl couldn't get on his nerves any more if she was trying to, seemed like. "Games, finding information on the internet, technology can do a fair bit." He shrugged at Gaia. "But I'll settle for you having it on so people can contact you in an emergency."
“Okay.” She could allow them this. Perhaps some use would come of it, but Gaia could already feel a headache coming on from looking at the two screens. “I would like Laura’s ‘contact’ then.”
"Already in the device." Doug showed her. "I figured having your roommate's info pre-loaded would be useful."
It was easy to not be found in the mansion, if one didn't want to be. There were a plethora of nooks, crannies, and empty rooms to tuck away. Gaia's current favorite was a small, forgotten space, thick with the smell of dust. It may have been a study at one point, or a lounge. Now it seemed to be storage, boxes piled high. Either way it had a very comfortable window seat where she could curl up and nap in a sunbeam, or watch rain trickle down the glass when it rained.
Gaia was currently occupying herself with the latter, dozing lightly as the downpour continued. She much preferred the sound of rain to the ever present whir of appliances.
Finding a phone that had been switched off could be accomplished, if tricky in the particulars sometimes. Finding a phone that had never even been switched -on-, however... That was a separate kind of challenge, though Doug had some advantages over commercially available phones. After all, he was often the one setting the Xaviers phones up, so they had technically been connected to something, even if their recipient had not used them at all. And large as the mansion was, it was still a finite place. So eventually Doug found Gaia doing her best cat impression in a dusty out-of-the-way room. He leaned against the doorjamb and rapped his knuckles lightly on it to get her attention - no sense in startling a new arrival.
The girl glared at the intrusion, important task of afternoon nap disturbed. This was not someone she knew either. Laura perhaps would have been forgiven, but a stranger was not extended the same grace. “Yes?”
Doug had been glared at by far more intimidating women. (He'd also dated some of them.) So the glare just sort of slid off of him like the suds off a freshly washed car. "I wanted to see if there were any issues with your phone, since it hasn't been turned on yet," he said, offering a fig leaf so he could suss out what the actual reason was.
The next look given to him was one of slight confusion. “You mean this?” She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out the shiny black device. “It is just a mirror, yes?” It was a bit strange to be gifted a looking glass upon arrival, but she had found this world to be exceedingly vain.
Doug pinched the bridge of his nose, hard. There was no way this refugee from another world would get the reference if he said 'that's not what Black Mirror means', followed by a deep dive on whether the symbolism of a phone used solelly as a mirror would fit within the theme of the show. "This is what going mad feels like," he murmured to himself. "It's a..." he almost said phone again, but clearly she lacked the context. "It's a communication device," he finally managed. "Helps you talk or write short messages to people when you're not in the same place."
“Hm.” Gaia regarded the device with an air that suggested doubt in its capabilities to do that.
Doug held up his own phone, the text window currently showing several unread messages from a handful of mansion residents. He tabbed rapidly between several other apps, attempting to show her the utility of the device without letting her read his personal correspondence. "It can do lots of stuff."
A slight frown graced her features. “And this.. is truly necessary?” She attempted to copy his movements on her own dark screen as if to practice, but it looked incredibly awkward. Technology did not seem her forte.
This was karmic, Doug decided, trying to avoid pinching his nose again in such rapid succession. He had offended some demigod of technology or the like (maybe this universe had a Nikola Tesla ghost like the last one?) and this was his punishment for whatever real or imagined crime he had committed - to be saddled with this completely technology-illiterate girl. "If nothing else, it means you can easily let people know where you are if they need to find you." Like, say, the very situation they found themselves in.
“That is useful, I suppose.” Though there were not many situations Gaia foresaw that happening. She tilted the screen back and forth, watching the reflection catch. “How?”
"Here, I'll show you." Doug walked the girl through the basics of turning the phone on and off, locking and unlocking the screen, and calling and texting. Given what he'd heard about her background, he supposed it made sense that she wouldn't have picked up a bunch of familiarity with technology by osmosis the way others would have. So that impending headache of his wasn't really her fault, entirely.
Gaia watched with a blank curiosity. The black box made noises and contained images, apparently. “Is that all?” Surely it wasn’t any more advanced.
Doug closed his eyes to recenter. This girl couldn't get on his nerves any more if she was trying to, seemed like. "Games, finding information on the internet, technology can do a fair bit." He shrugged at Gaia. "But I'll settle for you having it on so people can contact you in an emergency."
“Okay.” She could allow them this. Perhaps some use would come of it, but Gaia could already feel a headache coming on from looking at the two screens. “I would like Laura’s ‘contact’ then.”
"Already in the device." Doug showed her. "I figured having your roommate's info pre-loaded would be useful."
