un: junpei | video

[coolerjunpei]

[The video opens on Junpei in an office chair - in his Secret Club Meeting Room (read: generic office building conference room) although this is not a secret meeting. This is Junpei spinning slowly in an office chair while he holds the camera up, tilting as far back as he can without tipping the chair over. So it's going great.]

So, city-zens, [.....ahem,] I've got some miscellaneous questions for you.

First, time travel: real? Let me know. [......,] I mean, you know— Before you got here, that is. Like how experienced are you in the realm of quantum... quantum-y goodness? I just thought that maybe it would be real for somebody else by now, but I dunno... Let me know that one instead.

[Cough. Anyway.]

Second, are we all just, uh... hanging out now, I guess? Um, like— who's trying to clip through the weird fog and get out still? Anybody? I'm looking for group, or whatever you call it. We can do code names.

[Junpei is not a gamer.... don't believe this... he's just cringe and thinking about half-press-A-ing through the universe, to wit as he spins faster in his chair:]

Third, whoooo's all in for simulation theory? [as dryly as possible, womp...] Eh? Woooo yeah... simulation theory...!

[The video tilts as he lets go with one hand to hold up... a pinched-fingers hand puppet 🤌... it's still fine, he's doing great. He pitches his voice up higher for the puppet, because of course he does:]

But Junpei, how is this a simulation? Well duh, why else would this place be like a city that doesn't know what a city is supposed to be like? And all the weird loading fog? C'mon! Buuuut Juuuunpei, are we all full of tubes and stuck in goo pods like in that movie?— [Ah, ahem, cough. He puts his hand down.] Maybe.

Or uh, whatever else is in the theory pile. Half the people I was messing around with about theories went and disappeared, soooo... Well, I'm gonna get serious cabin fever if I can't figure something oUT—

[Local Man Tips The Chair Over and Totally Wipes Out, stay tuned for updates. The video ends when the phone drops face down onto the floor, bye.......]

Comments

[coolerjunpei]

[That's the spirit!! Anyway, huh, a birds-eye view is the magic word, as Junpei perks up some from where he's now on the floor—]

Do you know how to build a drone? My drone team keeps disappearing on me, so...

[aceslow]

Not really. I work on automobiles. Nothing that takes to the sky. But I may be able to try to cobble something together, now that we have access to more resources.

Even if we can only figure out how to get something to go as high as possible, we could tape a camera to it, see what we can get. It wouldn't be as precise as a drone, but it would be a start.

[ Not even gonna ask him if he's okay, Kim? Rude. ]

[coolerjunpei]

[He's totally fine, it's Drone Time.]

There's a toy store with model kits and stuff... Maybe they've got something with a remote control we could modify? My friends who disappeared were gonna build from scratch, but apparently that's doomed to fail. Might as well choose the easy option now.

[aceslow]

Exactly. It's not as though this is a one and done thing. We can keep trying from several different angles. Model kits, at least, I know how to put together -- I can probably rummage together something that can carry a camera's weight well enough to be doable.

Sorry about your team going absent, by the way. Hopefully they're back home now.

[coolerjunpei]

Yeah. I hope so too.

[Well, for most of them, anyway... Some of them are from such shithole cities he almost hopes they're just in cold storage somewhere having a nice nap.

...But that said, brief dork break,] So uh, what kind of models are you into?

[aceslow]

Huh?

[ Oh... he supposes he did rather give that away, didn't he? There's something a little sheepish in his expression as he clears his throat, deciding it would be more embarrassing to deny it. ]

Khm. Just ordinary models, really. Mainly vehicles -- aerostatics, cars, things like that. [ He shrugs. ] I find them relaxing. And yourself?

[coolerjunpei]

[Embrace it, Kim!! Embrace your model car nerd!!]

I like a big battle robot. Some of 'em turn into cars, but not usually the ones you can make. There's a toy store here that has model kits, you know.

[He's Just Saying. The other model kit dork he went to the toy store with has disappeared, soooo...]

[aceslow]

You have models that are robots that turn into cars?

[ Do you hear that, Junpei? That's some middle-aged excitement you see going on here. This is next level. You just introduced a car afficionado to the world of gundam. It's taking all of his willpowerr not to hang up the phone and run over there right now. ]

They don't have anything like that where I'm from -- only replicas of machines. They have those here?

[coolerjunpei]

[Secret middle-aged nerd excitement activated... Goal achieved!!]

Hell yeah, they do! They've got 'em in this toy store I found, like, uh... a month or so back? It's gotta still be there, and it wasn't like anyone was grabbing up all the stock.

[Soooooo,] You wanna check it out?

[aceslow]

...oh, what the hell. Why not?

[ Is that even a smile? Kim, you dog. You know you're not supposed to show something like happiness over a new toy. ]

You'll have to show me the best ones. And more about how the hell they thought up a concept like that.

[ Translation: he would very much like to hear about the robot cartoons. ]

[coolerjunpei]

[DOUBLE HELL YEAH]

Yeah? There are these shows... [Get ready for the whole Gundam franchise to be summarized from memory, but without names to avoid copyright strikes.]

I'll save the details for the store. You want to meet me outside City Hall? We can walk from there.

--> action, handwave, pick your poison!!

[aceslow]

Sure, sounds good. We can search for a drone while we're there, see how far we get.

[ It's a quick walk to City Hall from where Kim has hunkered down in his half-empty apartment building anyway. He mainly said the thing about a drone to make it feel like he's not being completely frivolous.

Mainly, he just wants to hear about the giant robots. ]