Diary Of A Mad Man,

Chapter 13, Video

"This is stupid! Muggles are stupid, and I hate their tech!" The utterly unhinged shrieks were coming from Marlene McKinnon. As the words left her mouth, the I Pad thing she'd decided to buy two days previously sailed from her hand to crash into the television Rabastan had bought at the same time at Sunflower's suggestion. She felt exposure to Muggle shows would help them to learn of the culture in a more palatable and entertaining way. Thus far, Rodolphus hadn't been impressed with the cop shows, but then again they'd all had enough of prison and Aurors to last ten lifetimes at least! Police shows seemed to be all Muggles liked to watch. That and their ghoulish news programs and sports, which involved several sorts of balls, none of which had wings. It was all painfully dull not to mention difficult to understand. After a few hours with the television, he'd given up, so wasn't very bothered when the I Pad thing went crashing into it.

"I recorded that entire video, edited it and even added pretty graphics and shit, then uploaded it to stupid youtube, but when I go to add tags the stupid thing is gone," Marlene screamed indignantly. Her eyes flashed with rage, and Rodolphus found himself having to bite back a chuckle. She was learning. "I went to upload it again, but it's gone from the fucking I pad somehow!"

"Well... Um... Did you accidentally delete it or whatever it's called," Rabastan asked after a moment of thought. "If so you can retrieve it from trash I think."

"I did not delete it but I did look in trash, Rabbit, because I am not stupid," Marlene said. "But it isn't there either. All that bloody time wasted! I hate Muggles!"

"Well at least you learned something today," Bellatrix said with a smirk. At that, Rod finally chuckled. Marlene had always attempted to take a neutral stance when it came to their politics. She claimed to understand why they hated Muggles, but likewise she claimed to understand where Mud-bloods were coming from, so just stayed out of it for her own piece of mind. It was pleasant to see her waking up.

"If this is all they have to do with their time," she shrieked, stalking toward the I Pad and kicking at it angrily. "They need to be... Oh I don't know what!"

"I'm sure we have a few ideas for you," Bellatrix murmured, chuckling again.

"All that time I put into my video, making it all pretty and fancy, gone," Marlene ranted. The video she'd spoken of had been her idea. It was a little Lestrange Vlog, as she called it. She'd researched a bit, and learned that Muggles loved seeing Vlogs on You Tube thing, so recorded Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan having lunch and talking about their day. Apparently that vlog was no more. "You look so hot right now," Rabastan told Marlene. As he spoke, he sauntered up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. "Want to go in my room?"

"Yes," Marlene said sulkily. "Time to burn off some frustration."

When the two vanished into said room, Bellatrix rose from the sofa where she'd been sitting with Rod, and wandered over to pick up the I Pad thing. "Damn! It isn't even broken," she marveled. "At least it doesn't appear to be."

Rod turned on the television thing to discover that it wasn't broken either. "Go figure," he murmured, turning it back off again. Later when he turned on the computer to make some more tweets, because the followers he'd amassed there seemed to impress Sunflower, he got a notification from You Tube that their video to Lestrange Lair was uploaded. "Hey Marlene," he called.

As it was several hours later, she was in the kitchen making everyone a salmon salad for dinner. "Yeah," she called back.

"Looks like your video uploaded after all. Want to come use the computer to do tags?" She'd bought the I Pad because it was portable like the phone but with a larger screen. She'd vowed never to touch it again due to her immense hatred of the thing, though, so he was wise enough not to suggest she use it.

"Okay," she said. "Just let me wash my hands." When she was ready, he gave over the computer chair. All was quiet for several minutes before Marlene let out an impressive volley of curses.

"The stupid video is literally blank," she howled at the end of her impressive cursing stream. "Entirely bloody blank! It is even ten minutes long like your vlog was supposed to be, but it is just stupid nothing! Never again. NEVER!"

Rabastan smirked. "If Sunflower suggests you continue to join us in this sort of Muggle interaction, just tell her it isn't good for your mental health," he advised. Rod gave a sigh of envy, because he had a feeling if he, Bella and Rabastan tried that line as well, it wouldn't work for them.