Second Floor Common Room [Tuesday afternoon]

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

It had been several weeks, now, since Po had arrived in this strange land, and he felt fairly educated about his new surroundings. The indoor lights and running water had fascinated him, certainly, as had these mysteries called "electronics," but he felt confident that now, at least, he understood these things in theory, if not wholly in practice.

Today, though, he was left with questions as he stared in confusion at the television. He had been told these devices were for entertainment, and thus he'd happily watched as people behind blue boxes bearing their scrawled names had answered questions about this world, moments earlier. But for the last twenty minutes, an older man had appeared and attempted to convince him that comfortable sleep was nigh unto impossible.

Po frowned as he watched, unsure what this strange man's purpose was. He made sleep seem as though it were a mission that could never be achieved without this pillow -- surely the same audience that so enjoyed the questions before wouldn't fall for this spiel? It seemed like misplaced advertising.

And, also, a really stupid pitch for a fairly useless-sounding product, but Po supposed that was neither here nor there.

[this post brought to you by the endless My Pillow infomercial that has been airing on every TV I've happened to see this week. Open!]

Comments

[justbeingbay]

Bay watched for a moment from the doorway. Playing with power tools really worked up a girl's appetite; after shop, she was both hungry and a little bored, and the common room seemed like the easiest place to solve both problems.

"God, I hate how stupid the people on things always are," she said, by way of greeting as she went toward the fridge. "The pancake maker one is even worse."

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"Pancake maker?" Po asked, glancing over at her with a small smile. "There are more like this? I can't imagine what their purpose is -- surely no one is so dim as to have this much trouble with such basic tasks."

[justbeingbay]

"Like, it's a little batter pitcher and a skillet with indents?" Bay volunteered, glancing over to him with her own little smile. "And if you don't have it you're doomed to a life of inadequate pancakes. Scary part is, somebody somewhere has to be dumb enough to buy all this stuff."

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"I'll readily confess I've never had to make a pancake," Po admitted, "but...it seems that the people who have cooked for me have never had need of this device. My world is a bit different from this one, and we survive without most of your modern conveniences, but while I can see the benefit of electrical lighting I simply don't see why I should invest in that pillow over my feather one."

[justbeingbay]

"My dad can make pancakes, and he is not the cook in my family," Bay said. "And nobody really needs this stuff. It's mostly so cheap it'll fall apart right away anyhow."

She went into the fridge for a moment, emerged with bread, lunch meat and mustard. "I cannot imagine life without electricity. Are you adjusting okay? And do you want a sandwich?"

[pursuedthestars]

Jim ambled into the common room with no real purpose in mind. It was something to do and sometimes people tended to be around which meant he didn't have to be alone.

And lo and behold, there was someone in the common room and he was watching something about...pillows.

"Huh," Jim said after staring for a little longer than needed at the television. "This seems really stupid."

Stating the obvious there, Jim.

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"Doesn't it though?" Po asked, fascinated the way one might be with a particularly gruesome car accident. "Is this common for this world? Do people require assistance in finding a pillow this badly?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Your guess is as good as mine, man," Jim admitted. "I'm getting the feeling it is, though. I'm not exactly from this time. Where I'm from, people are a little too busy to wax poetic about a freaking pillow."

It was a pillow!

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"Same," Po agreed. "As far as I can tell, pillows are a sack with some feathers in it, and you rest your head upon it. Not that I've often been involved in the construction of pillows, but surely it needn't be this complicated?"

[pursuedthestars]

"You know that and I know that but people are still gonna buy this," Jim said, shaking his head. "And then they'll go to sleep at night and realize...they just bought a really expensive pillow that feels just like they're other pillow."

[justbeingbay]

"This is what I said," Bay agreed from her post at the counter. "I think infomercial people may be a different, dumber breed from the rest of us."

[pursuedthestars]

"Infomercial?" They weren't really prevalent in his time but he thought he got the gist of what they were. "It's just...it's a pillow! Do people really need a sales pitch this long? Are some people really that hard up to spend money?"

[justbeingbay]

"Don't ask me, I don't make them," Bay joked with a shrug. "But seriously, there are way better ways to spend $29.95. Like ... buying a better pillow not from TV."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm sure everyone else has already covered this," Natalie noted after a very brief look at the TV, before continuing on towards the kitchen area, "but that looks pointless."

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"Doesn't it?" Po asked, somewhere between amused and horrified. "I'm wondering how much is a trick of the mind. Perhaps this man places his value on making people imagine that their sleep is so awful that they must send away for his 'special' pillow."

[whenshewasnice]

"Advertising is the greatest use of modern psychology," Natalie shrugged, perring into the fridge. "It's kind of amazing. Also terrifying."

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"It seems harmless enough in this instance, but I can only imagine if they were trying to convince me of something more nefarious," Po said, arching his brows.

And given that they existed in the television, he wouldn't even be able to use his abilities. Hm.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

By the time Kate wandered in, there were multiple people sitting around watching a freaking infomercial. Not that she could decide if that was better or worse than reality TV. Still, infomercial.

"You know you can change the channel, right?" she pointed out as she snagged an apple from the side, just in case that idea had been overlooked.

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"...change the what now?" Po wondered, eyeing the girl.

So...no, that was a new concept to him, still. Progress!

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Channel," Kate repeated, winding around the side of the couch. "You can make it quit showing you pillows and give you orange celebrities arguing or people cooking, or... something decent instead."

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"I can tell it what to show me?" Po asked, wide-eyed. "I thought the device itself decided!"

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Toby wasn't sure if anyone was still pinging but was gonna ping in anyway because REASONS had nothing better to do, so... common room it was.

"Crappy pillows have ruined America?" he echoed the TV disbelievingly. "That's- that's just sad."

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"I didn't know that pillows wielded such power," Po mused.

[I AM ABOUT TO RUN OFF TO OTHER JOB ACTUALLY. Your timing is epic as always, dude, but SP is good on my end if it's good on yours?]

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it's the work of some diabolical genius," Toby mused. "And this guy's come along to overthrow his reign of down-filled terror."

[ONE DAY. ONE DAY WE WILL BE ABLE TO DO A THREAD IN NON-SP.]

[rings-of-grace.livejournal.com]

"That is a far more sinister possibility than I had previously considered," Po mused, looking mildly alarmed.