[⛤ VIDEO #1 ]

[sparkofgoodness]

Soooo, that was unpleasant.

[ Crowley is recording while sat at a desk with a few books scattered around. It's clearly Odinhaus, to anyone who has been inside, and also clearly Aziraphale's to anyone who recognises it.

This is not especially a surprise to anyone else who lives there, given that his voice can probably be heard from somewhere in it nearly all the time. ]

Tree thing. Bad tree. Gnome thing, too, very weird -- wouldn't expect that of gnomes, kidnapping people and all. Thought they just hung around in gardens and looked after princesses.

[ Isn't that right? It's possible Crowley's information is, uh, irrelevant. ]

Anyway, speaking of trees -- I did learn something about the other tree. The, uh, main big tree.

[ The name has a lot of letters and he keeps getting it wrong ]

Big, important tree.

[ A sedate, if slightly frustrated background voice says Be clear you're talking about Yggdrasil. It's definitely Aziraphale's voice. ]

Yeah, that one. So, turns out the uh... whole... absorbing you without the bracelets thing might have something to it. Or, at least, the tree definitely does that -- I mean, less absorbing and more... unravelling you, sort of... permanently... from having ever existed. Little bit murkier on if it's definitely connected to the jewellery not being worn, but proving that seems... difficult.

[ 'Hey, do you mind taking off your bracelet to see if you get permanently deleted from history' seems a bit of a hard sell. ]

Anyway, interesting though. Weird, but interesting. Oh! Another thing --

[ Crowley turns his recording so there's a quick pan of some of the tiny room in Odinhaus. ]

Bit pokey, aren't they? These little dorm rooms. Feel like I'm in a budget hostel.

[ It isn't... that bad... ]

Has anyone moved out of these places? Must be other places you can live.

[ Aziraphale's voice pipes up again: Other places you might live where company is allowed overnight, he specifies. Crowley shoots him a slight frown off screen, tries to act relaxed about this correction. ]

Yeah, you know, places you don't get kicked out early.

[ Right. That. ]

Comments

[tealeafs]

[ The slightest pause, and then-- ]

Have you seen any native giant bears here?

[ She hasn't heard anyone mention them. But even so it sounds like the question isn't born out of suspicion as much as it's just curiosity.. If there really are giant bears, she'd like to be prepared. ]

We didn't see any out on the road to the outpost, I think.

[sparkofgoodness]

Well polar bears are white, blend in with the snow don't they?

[ He's helping.

This is what helping looks like. ]

[tealeafs]

[ Clearly. ]

W.. Wait!

[ .. okay, maybe it's not helping a whole lot. It's mostly just helping Chizuru panic. ]

Are you saying there could have been giant bears all along and we just passed them without knowing it?!

[sparkofgoodness]

Yeah, it's camouflage. That's how they hunt, polar bears. Blend in.

[ It's simply A Fact. ]

[tealeafs]

That's so scary..

[ She definitely doesn't want to go anywhere near that sandy road again now, thanks. ]

I wonder if everyone else knew about it. I know I'm usually a little slow to catch on to those things, so maybe they did see it.

[sparkofgoodness]

Oh, I dunno. Might not be polar bears where they're from, they might not know to look for them.

[ This is still helping. ]

[tealeafs]

It's a good thing we have you around then! [ Yes, Chizuru. Because that's clearly what this place needs. A troll polar bear expert. ]

And honestly, more than anything I'm just glad nothing happened involving the bears on top of everything. The incident with the gnomes was already scary enough.

[sparkofgoodness]

[ It's exactly what the people need! Still, at the mention of The Incident Crowley scrunches up his face. ]

Yeah, not convinced by that. Who thinks a good way to get to know anyone is to kidnap them and bury them?

[tealeafs]

[ Judging by how she goes quiet for a moment, Chizuru very much agrees with that sentiment.

But with the way she is, she can't help but want to make sure to not judge people too quickly either, so.. ]

Their way of living must be very different than ours. They probably didn't think being buried in the sand was a bad thing.. [ As weird and awful as that sounds. But even she has to concede-- ] They should've asked first though.

[sparkofgoodness]

[ Technically, if these weird gnomes live underground this is entirely true.

Crowley, however, does not feel sympathetic. ]

Oh, they didn't think at all. Watching us for a few minutes would have told them we clearly live above ground.

[tealeafs]

So.. you think they had bad intentions from the start?

[ It's not as if she can't imagine that kind of scenario. She's seen people back home before who also had bad intentions from the start, after all. But since she prefers to think about things optimistically, the scenario he seems to be thinking of wasn't the first one she assumed. ]

[sparkofgoodness]

[ Ehhh, well... ]

Might have. Might have just been stupid, too. Lot of really bad things happen due to basic incompetence.

[tealeafs]

[ .. well, that answer is more unexpected. ]

Really? I.. I didn't think they seemed stupid at all though! [ Then again, she's far too polite to ever call anyone that way. ] Especially since it seemed like everyone could communicate with them just fine after..!

[sparkofgoodness]

Humans communicate just fine with each other plenty, doesn't mean they don't also make stupid mistakes. I'd call not bothering to watch people in their own space and talk to them before dragging them underground to look at a pretty stupid mistake.

[ In his opinion, anyway. ]

[tealeafs]

Hmm.. well, calling it a stupid mistake is maybe more appropriate.

[ Although the polite side of Chizuru is still screaming internally at that idea. ]

At least now they'll know not to do it in the future. Even though that probably won't make up for how bad the people who it happened to must feel.

[sparkofgoodness]

[ Bad is an understatement. Something flickers across Crowley's expression, suppressed irritation. ]

Do you know something, I'm pretty sure if you asked anyone who got buried under the ground how they felt they'd probably user a stronger word than bad.

[tealeafs]

[ She blushes a bit at that. ]

W-Well, I didn't want to use a word that was too general and just assume how they must feel! [ This is the curse of being overly polite, clearly. ]

[sparkofgoodness]

[ I mean, fair. Still: ]

If you imagine, for a moment, being buried a few feet under the ground. Just dirt and rocks around you. No idea why you're there or if anyone is going to come for you. Now, I am pretty sure you'd have stronger thoughts than bad at that point