Jeff, God of Biscuits: Saturday afternoon

[advicefrommice]

Coraline had gotten up early this morning. Dressing in her warmest clothes and her new jacket, she'd gone exploring

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[therhimineecat]

Seregil had been out exploring the town -- always know your surroundings as best you could -- and stopped at JGOB on the way back, lured by the sweets on display.

After some discussion with the shopkeeper, he ended up with a cup of something called hot chocolate and a pastry that had more of this chocolate along with lots of sweet cream.

He smiled at the girl who was drinking something similar. "Are you a student at the school?"

[advicefrommice]

"I will be on Monday," said Coraline with a smile. "When classes start." Technically it was true; she couldn't be a student without classes, and they hadn't begun yet. "Do you want to sit down?"

[therhimineecat]

"Thanks," Seregil said, joining her. "I'm Seregil. I'm new here too."

[advicefrommice]

"I'm Coraline Jones." There was a slight emphasis on the 'line' part of her name. "It's nice to meet you, Seregil," she said, offering her hand to shake. "I've never met anyone named Seregil before."

[therhimineecat]

"I'm from another dimension," Seregil explained. "Coraline is a beautiful name."

[advicefrommice]

"Thank you," she said politely, pleased that yet another person had pronounced it properly.

But that wasn't anywhere near as interesting as the other thing he'd said. Another dimension.

Coraline's eyes were bright with interest as she leaned forward, hot chocolate forgotten. "I'm from England, which is only another country. Will you tell me about your dimension?"

[therhimineecat]

That seemed to be something a lot of people wanted details of to some extent or other. "What do you want to know?" he asked with a polite smile.

[advicefrommice]

Coraline thought about that carefully. She wanted to say everything but knew that would be rude. "How many questions am I allowed to ask?" she asked, then added, "And I'd be happy to answer your questions about this dimension."

It was only fair, after all.

[therhimineecat]

"I'm sure I can think of plenty to ask," Seregil admitted. "Things are very different where I'm from."

[advicefrommice]

"It must be difficult getting used to being here," she said sympathetically. "What if you ask a question, then I'll ask a question, and we can take it in turns until," she smiled impishly, "both of us are completely sick of it, we know everything, or the shop runs out of hot chocolate."

[therhimineecat]

Seregil smiled. "Sounds like a plan. So, first question. Hot chocolate? Is this a common thing?"

[advicefrommice]

"Hot chocolate is very common," she replied, taking a sip of hers now that she'd been reminded of it. She made a face when it turned out to be cold, and put it down.

"It does need to be hot, though. You can buy cups of it in shops like this one, or you can get it to make at home. Usually you make it by mixing it in milk, but you can get some that you just pour boiling water over. That kind isn't very good."

[therhimineecat]

"If you're just pouring boiling water over something, best to stick to tea," Seregil agreed. He took another sip. "But this version is pretty good."

[advicefrommice]

Coraline nodded in complete agreement. "And it's my turn, so--" She considered all the different options carefully, and then asked, "What's the biggest difference between this dimension and yours?"

[therhimineecat]

"Well, for one thing we don't have electricity or electronics back home," Seregil said, carefully pronouncing the new words.

[advicefrommice]

"None at all?" She spent a moment thinking of all the things she wouldn't be able to do if there wasn't any electricity. "Has anyone told you about microwaves yet? And fridges, and televisions?"