"That's really good! I like it."

"Okay! Is this about the length you want? I can guess right now some of what people will ask, so you could decide to answer those questions without waiting to be asked."

"I think it's maybe a good starting length, but I can add a few more answers. Some stuff that has really long answers should maybe have a different video, though."

"Some of the obvious questions are how you might be getting home and when, whether you'd come back, what you do instead of castes, and what name people should use for your mom."

"I can stick 'and they'd call my mom Combing Sorrow' after mine, and 'we'd use portals, but mom doesn't know how long it'll take. We'll definitely wanna go back and forth, though' after saying we're trying to get home? And the castes thing should maybe get its own video since it's different and I'd want mom's help?"

"That all sounds good to me! Have you ever recorded a video before?"

"Nope!"

"Often what we do is record several takes. That means we do it a few times, and then check out all the recordings and see which one seems best, or even mix parts from one with parts from another if it's a complicated enough video."

"Like practicing a show except you pick the good one instead of showing off just the last one?"

"Yes, like that!"

"That sounds okay."

"Okay! Do you want to go see if everything's set up in your vlogging room?"

"Sure!" She explains to her mom where they're going. (Mom's accompanying her.)

"Do you want your mom in or out of frame?"

"Maybe out of frame? Since I'm the one talking."

"Sounds good to me."

The room has been set up to look cozy, if generic; the vibe is sort of "we have not locked our alien in a featureless concrete building", with nice colorful wall hangings and a stuffed animal on the bed and a potted flowering plant in the window. There are lights, all pointed artfully toward a sturdy swivel chair that should be able to cope with Bright Sorrow's weight and still spin if she wants to spin it. Viko shows Combing Sorrow where to stand so she can see what's going on without casting any unwanted shadows, and shows Bright Sorrow how to start the recording and stop it again. "If you do it, it'll lend some extra authenticity - can't do anything about people noticing the professional lighting without having things look worse, but you can hit start and stop!"

She investigates the room a bit but is more interested in the equipment.

"Okay! Where should I look?"

"Right here!"

So she makes sure no one else is in the camera's view, and sets about her first try on recording - using the exact same wording they'd agreed on.

Ziard wants three takes, but they're all good enough that he'll call it enough after that lest she get bored. Does she want to look through the takes with him?

Sure!

Here they are! He likes this one best, but likes these parts of that one and these parts of that one; there aren't any cuts to splice them in, so he'd rather go with the overall best one.

She can see that! She'll keep in mind how she did on the good parts for future videos. And they can put cuts in some of those!

Yup! Longer videos, especially if she shows off anything that shouldn't be done in this room, can have cuts.

"This will go up online tomorrow, probably," he says. "They're still making sure there's a sufficiently official website and that everyone who might need to is ready to corroborate; we don't want it to look like a prank!"

"Okay! We can learn more stuff until then I guess?"