» the city network

[ good morning city-folk, how's your day? today's broadcast is brought to you by our sponsors Fuck This Place, in partnership with Fuck Heine Especially. the video begins after the phone's owner sets it on the ground, so the camera angle is a little strange, but he never claimed to be some marvel of photography here so you get what you get okay.

badou also plunks himself on the ground in what appears to be the sidewalk in front of some nondescript convenience store. the shelves of which he'd just raided if the plastic bag he sets down beside him is of any indication. within its contents one can find a bright pink energy drink, a generous helping of cigarette cartons, and what appears to be a family-size bag of off-brand twizzlers. #bachelorlife, amirite?

there's bruising on his neck that's only just begun to fade, and a splint around his left wrist that's already got various crude drawings on it, all courtesy of mr. artist himself. he works on fishing himself out and lighting up a brand new cigarette before even addressing the camera (made all the more difficult by that fractured wrist) so enjoy five minutes of nicotine addict ASMR. ]

Hey. 'Sup. How ya doing. Have y'all seen my dog? Lost him a bit ago, about yea high, real pale, red eyes, no eyebrows, answers to the name Heine or Fuckface.

[ for ease, he's provided a supplementary visual, which he holds up to the camera with all the flourish of a child's first finger-painting. BEHOLD his uncanny portrait! yes, his commissions are open. ]

( cut for image :') )
[ he crumples the paper with perhaps a lot more ire for someone supposedly "missing" his ""dog"" but a deep drag of his cigarette quickly calms him back down. there's a beat-up lighter in his hand he can't seem to stop fiddling with. ]

Thought about putting some signs up and slappin' 'em on some milk cartons but who knows what the fuck whoever's-in-charge-here considers """vandalism""" and I ain't about to go around testin' it like some of you can't seem to stop yourselves from.

[ a-hem. ]

Speakin' of — that survey we were given here. How many of ya answered that honestly? Shit's startin' to get real personal, though I think I'd remember if I'd been asked about the worst fuckin' day of my life.

[ which begs the question he's sure everyone's already thought about by now: how the fuck do these people know them that well? ]

---

( EDITED: because someone (me) forgot to include injuries.... smh )

( It's everyone's favorite person, Kromer!!! She whistles to announce herself, then more properly introduces herself— )

Been a while, hasn't it? For those who don't know me, the name's Kromer. Pleasure's mine. I posed some questions last time I posted here, but I won't bother repeating them for you—I got the picture the first time. ( She pauses, then laughs shortly. ) Actually, speaking of questions—

I'm sure you've seen them! The kiosks over at the tourist center in city hall. You can ask them questions and you can get mostly useless answers. They've got some interesting ones every so often, though, like how this isn't the first time this has happened.

( She's been thinking on that answer for a while, and now she's just casually dropping it into conversation. Whatever. )

I'm collecting questions and their resulting answers, so if you've posed any, let me know... or you can pass them along to Junpei instead, if you're familiar with him. We're partners. ( in a way. ) It's nice to be able to make sure we're not needlessly going in circles, right? And putting all the information in one place makes it easier to put the pieces together.

( ... )

That's all. Let's do our best to work together and find a way home, alright? Chin up, everyone.

[Good day city-zens, it's User Name Junpei here with another paranoid rant about god only knows what. Just kidding, he's laser focused his paranoia these days, so, ahem:]

Hi, uh, I'm Junpei, if you didn't know. [A brief pause, while he internally laments that he will never get his goddamn codename, but okay. He's made peace with it. He holds up two fingers.] Two things.

[He leans forward and his head and shoulders go out of frame for a moment, while the rustling of papers can be heard somewhere beyond the camera. Should he have gathered his materials beforehand? Yes, for sure, but such is life. Enjoy this view of his t-shirt while he swears and drops something back there...

When he leans back into frame he doesn't hold anything up just yet.]

First, since it looks like people are going missing now, do you guys think we should have... I don't know, a system? To keep track of each other? I don't mean something like the buddy system— [Although he doesn't NOT mean the buddy system, always investigate mysterious liminal cities with a friend!!--] —But... something. Besides running around looking for signs every time. We need to figure out where they're going.

[He's convinced they're still in the city but Taken Somewhere, you see. Where, though... mmm. Workshopping that. He sits there looking grim for a beat, then sighs himself out of it and lifts up one of his papers.

It has beautiful birds drawn on it. Some people may recall his canary symbol idea from Setsuna's meeting, ahem...]

Second is... this. Somebody out there's gotta be better at drawing a bird than me. If you see these hung up anywhere... be careful of whatever's around. [Another beat.] And, uh, if anyone wants to contribute to the cause, I'll pay you in beer and gummies? Normal gummies.

[sorry, he has no edibles. also never mind that one can get beer and gummies without joining his danger birds cause. sign up for art club!!!]