Laurel left the blog to accumulate notes and got up.

"I kind of want to go explore, and I kind of don't want to at the same time," she said. "Should we?"

"We might as well, if we're allowed," Doreen said with a shrug. "Could be fun."

Laurel grinned and slipped her phone into her pocket.

"Let's go look around, then," she said.

Doreen grinned and followed her out of the room, starting to explore. Any door that was open she peeked in, just getting a better idea of the layout for now.

Laurel did the same, although she actively avoided anything that looked like high technology embedded in the walls. She didn't want to accidentally touch something and mess it up.

Doreen was also cautious of the tech, and she did manage to trip over a chair (and catch herself before she hit the ground), but it was fun to explore.

And then there were things like the coffee pot. And the toaster. And the Roombas.

Laurel jumped and shrieked at the Roombas, at first, but after that she was fascinated. She took pictures on her phone of everything: the Roombas, the toaster (and its little sign on the counter that read, "My name is Calcifer"), and the coffee machine with the word "Spike" written on a strip of duct tape stuck on the side.

"I feel like I'm trapped in a funhouse," she muttered to Doreen after a little while.

"A funhouse with eyes," Doreen muttered back. "At least one of them is watching, apart from the very subtle cameras." She wasn't kidding about the subtle part; she'd only seen a few, but she had the feeling there were cameras all over.

"And I'm pretty sure I can't use any of these pictures," Laurel added, scrolling through them on her phone. "Not that anyone would ever believe us even if I did post them." She did glance about uneasily when Doreen mentioned the cameras, though.

"I do not think Mr. Stark would mind, but the public may not be ready for that kind of picture," Jarvis said gently.

Doreen jumped and whirled around, looking around. "What the hell?!"

Laurel jumped and looked around frantically as well.

"What's going on?" she squeaked, trying to find the source of the voice.

"My apologies. I am Jarvis, Mr. Stark's AI. I have access to the whole building, and Mr. Stark has instructed me to keep track of the two of you. I apologize for startling you."

Doreen just made a vague squeaking noise, still looking around. Okay, cameras everywhere suddenly made much more sense.

"Of course he did," Laurel said faintly, clutching her phone and looking at Doreen. "I've heard about this. I thought they were lying."

"Apparently not," Doreen squeaked. She was taking a bit longer to get over this shock. "Okay, AI installed in the building that has eyes everywhere. Okay. Of course. Why not?"

"Makes perfect sense considering the Roombas and coffee machine and toaster," Laurel said, only rambling a little. "Perfect sense, sentient technology, oh god Dori we are in so far over our heads."

"Might I advise you sit?" Jarvis said, sounding rather amused now.

"So, so far," Dori squeaked, although she obeyed the magical voice in the ceiling and moved back into the living room.

Laurel followed, managing to plop herself onto a chair before she fell over.

"We had no idea what we were signing up for," she said to Doreen. "Not a clue."

"Not at all," Doreen agreed, sitting as well. "Okay, it's not so bad, we can work with this. Sure, this is the strangest place ever, but we can manage, we just need to get used to it and we'll be fine."

"Sentient toaster, Dori," Laurel said. "The toaster. I mean, sure, they make programmable coffee machines out there, upgrading one isn't too much of a stretch, but a toaster? And a pack of Roombas!"

"...Okay, yeah, I got nothing," Doreen admitted. "I have no idea where those came from or why. This is just crazy. We stepped into Wonderland willingly and of our own free will."

"Roombas," Laurel stressed again. She slumped in her chair and looked at her phone, checking the blog one more time. "I'm going to need to ask exactly what's off-limits for posting pictures and stuff of. There's too much here that I'm not certain about."

"That's probably something that will be figured out over time too," Doreen said, trying to think logically. "We'll have to talk to them about it too, see what they don't want us sharing with people."

"I'm going to go ahead and assume personal stuff is a given," Laurel said. "Until we're told otherwise. But things like the toaster and coffee machine and Roombas, those are in that weird gray area I want to ask about."

"Yeah. Same. Get some ground rules." Doreen shook her head. "Eventually, anyway."

"Yeah," Laurel agreed. She glanced around cautiously. "Where did they all go, anyways? We can't possibly be the only ones here."