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[kampfgeist]

[ the video comes first!

heine films from where he's sitting on top of a mailbox on a street corner. it's a slow pan across an empty intersection just northeast of the bank—the bank building itself is visible, as a landmark for where he is, but he also makes a point of filming as much down each street as he can manage. master film director heine is not, but at least he manages to pick out a few identifying storefronts so people can triangulate themselves!

there's no talking, or really any sound at all (which for heine is still one of the worst parts of this place). once he's filmed enough that he thinks the location has been conveyed, the video cuts off.

when he uploads it, it's with a text accompaniment: ]

let me get this out of the way first: i'm not trying to die
and i also don't want to kill anyone [ today, anyway! ]


but if you're also here without the weapons you're used to
don't want to get stuck with your thumb up your ass if shit goes wrong
and think you could use a good fight to keep your skills sharp

then hopefully you can figure out from the video where to go
if you can't then [ he is judging you slightly ] ask for directions



rules:
1) i have knives but if you want to use something else that's on you
2) no sparring bullshit, we fight like we mean it
3) i'll go easy if you need but don't ask me to teach you

Comments

[kampfgeist]

hey doc

hopefully it won't come to that
but if it does i'm sure they'll appreciate the services

[ heine is serious about trying not to kill anyone though!!! ]

[kampfgeist]

i can fight with anything, in theory
but i'm limited by the surroundings
knives were the easiest thing to find two of

[ he stole them from the back of house of some restaurant he passed... ]

so yeah i'll be fighting with knives. or fists
long answer to a short question

[kampfgeist]

[ he's done enough falling off tall buildings to last a lifetime, thanks! ]

see vid for location



:)

[justscribing]

[He is wondering if Heine has kitchen knives or something more suitable for combat but he expects that's an answer he'll get when he finds him.]

That makes sense, if disarming us is the point. There's not a single blacksmith in the city to procure most weaponry.

I'm about fifteen minutes from your location if you expect me to come find you now.

[kampfgeist]

[ they are at least fillet knives... but definitely kitchen knives. :( although heine's poison of choice is a pistol over a sword, he sympathizes with the absence of weaponry! ]

expect is a strong word. you can come whenever
i don't live far and i have nothing else to do with my time
just message when you're free

text | un; banished

[guitarpicks]

are we doing our own gladiator games since there doesn’t seem to be much else to do? is that’s what’s happening here???? [ jfc people!!!!!!! jfc!!!!!

but like also maybe good logic. maybe. ]

[kampfgeist]

[ well..... ]

basically. except nobody dies
i think dying was a big part of the gladiator thing

[ he might be proposing street fights on the network but he draws the line somewhere okay ]

and like you said, what else is there to do

[guitarpicks]

[ nobody dies but take is seriously… ]

not 100% of the time sometimes they did spare them

drink? spiral into existential panic? smoke a joint?

[kampfgeist]

interesting. then i guess we are gladiators

✓ existential spiral though
how do you think we arrived at the gladiator battle

[ we can be honest and admit this is not super well-adjusted behavior! ]

i only recently found out drinking works on me
kind of a long story
short version is i've never smoked a joint

[justscribing]

Then I can meet you in an hour.

[As his schedule is tremendously flexible, and he needs to pivot his focus for a while to something besides this opaque city mystery. Testing his own adaptability in case a fight is necessary is a productive use of time.]

[guitarpicks]

why is the answer always violence against animate things?
why can’t we just break shit?

never?
do you wanna see if it’ll curb your violent urges?
it’s pretty good on curbing the spiral though i can’t guarantee you won’t find a new fixation like the floor

un: gepard

[def]

No weapons, just fists.

[ like he's ever needed a weapon in the first place ]

What happens when you receive several challenges?

[kampfgeist]

then i get to escape boredom several times
i'm pretty good at this

but for everyone involved it's probably better if we don't all fight at once

[ heine can keep himself from killing anybody in a 1-on-1, but involve a bunch of people and he can't be held responsible... ]

[kampfgeist]

it seems like violence against animate and inanimate things have the same consequences around here...

[ which is totally normal and cool and not stressting him out even a little bit!

the idea of weed being able to curb heine's violent urges is laughable but also sort of tempting, not going to lie. ]

okay sure
in lieu of a fistfight we can smoke a joint
heine, by the way. feels like we should know each other's names before you give me drugs

[guitarpicks]

do they? [ he's been avoiding shit, ok? ]

not always necessary in my business
at least not real names between dealer and buyer
but i'm eddie

so how curious are you?

[kampfgeist]

[ honestly... stay that way, eddie

however, "dealer" and "buyer" in a city with no capitalism... pls!! ]

i have bad news for you about money
the bad news is there is none
if you're dealing and i'm buying i hope you take alternate payment


curious about what, drugs?

text ↪ action

[zangetsu]

kurosaki. orange hair, can't miss me.

and yeah, no problem.

（ one does not simply ask an elder millennial if he can figure out a phone map.

so it's, you know, a respectable and not-at-all shunpo enhanced time later that he strolls up. he's hard to miss — tall, lanky, with a bright mop of hair that's probably the envy of many bad dye-jobs the world over. he's dressed simply, dark clothing that offers minimal restriction of range of motion and suggests a sort of... peacock's preoccupation with walking that line of Effortlessly Stylish and Obnoxious Tryhard.

he is walking it very, very carefully, as it were.

there's no one else in the area to mistake as being the dude jonesing for a fight — just a big swath of nothingness, empty buildings and streets. no trash, no bugs, no souls, no sound. the lack of life is like a persistent, low-level ache. like a full-body sensation of chewing on tinfoil, discomfort crawling across every livewire nerve.

(it reminds him of a distorted, funhouse mirror version of the dangai. he wouldn't be able to articulate why if asked, but —) ）

Oy. You Heine?

（ peep that slightly off-kilter pronunciation. high-nay. ）

[guitarpicks]

i'll take good company
but if you're shitty company, bring something useful to trade

we're all poor here [ which does make him feel a bit better about it because no money but! hey! everything's provided. this is the sort of utopia that would have reagan's panties in a twist. ]

yeah, man

are you down to smoke now
or are we scheduling an appointment or something?

[def]

I see.
My powers don't work here properly so that would be for the best.

Do you have a jacket with you?

[kampfgeist]

[ from where heine is sitting, still on his mailbox perch, he sees that head of orange hair coming from all the way down the block. (vivid indeed—probably only a couple shades lighter than badou's.) but that's not what heine is most interested in, what he's actually looking for in his first taker.

it's more about the way ichigo carries himself, the way he's dressed. someone who understands what his body can do, his range of motion and how to accommodate it. whether by force or by choice, heine has made his life's work understanding the weaknesses of the physical form and then exploiting them, and he can already tell that finding ichigo's is going to be a challenge.

he'd tried not to have high expectations, posting how he did, but heine can't help looking forward to this a little. ]

Yo. [ he lifts a hand, as if it could be anyone else. the intersection is just as abandoned as it was in the video he sent. picked intentionally for the wide streets, fewer things to slam into. ] Heine.

[ high-nuh, with a schwa. but ichigo was close enough. they probably don't speak german wherever, or whenever, he's from.

heine gathers his legs under him, bringing himself into a crouch. deep breath, in and out. lets the tension go from his shoulders. ]

First touch or first blood? You don't look like you need kid gloves.

[kampfgeist]

[ is he curious about drugs? sort of—heine knows drugs, sure, just doesn't know how they interact with him. he supposes technically that's a yes. ]

sure, i guess


i'll come by later [ he has fistfights to finish! ]
just let me know where to meet you

[kampfgeist]

[ oh, powers. you and heine both, buddy. :( ]

a jacket?
brought one. not wearing it though


why?

[guitarpicks]

rad
don't come all black and blue
or if you do
the weed can help with that, i guess

[ attached is an address! ey! he's learned how to do that. ]

[def]

It might get cold when we start fighting.

[ like tshirt-in-32-degrees-temp cold ... ]

I'd rather not give anyone hypothermia.

[kampfgeist]

[ oh, powers. okay, heine can admit his aren't that cool. (ha ha, get it?) ]

so noted. thanks for looking out
i could use a break from the heat


just shoot me a message, i'll be here whenever
white hair, red eyes
hard to miss



[ also happy to move to action or toss 'em into a catchall, your choice! ]