citynet | Video | un: czerny

[When the video started, the camera was facing the wrong way.]

Oh! Oops.

[Noah was quick to realize it, at least, poking the screen until the camera changed to display his face. He was alive again but he was still pale, like he hadn't spent a day in the sun. Actually, he probably hadn't since arriving and finding himself in a living body. At least, not long enough to develop any sort of tan.]

Hey! Um.

[It was a little late to realize he wasn't entirely sure he knew what he wanted to say. He knew, but he didn't know. There was an important difference.]

Okay, so like- I think I'm starting to get the hang of things around here. The whole 'we take what we need and we don't have to pay for it' thing.

[It still felt a little like shoplifting...]

But- so, the apartment I picked doesn't have a bed. Is it a faux pas or whatever to just...take a bed from one of the others that no one's using? All the ones I looked at with a bed felt creepy...

[Don't ask him where he'd been sleeping. Actually, don't ask him if he'd been sleeping at all.]

I'd need some help, too, if kidnapping a bed isn't like- dishonor on your family, you know?

Also, this is probably a long shot, but does this place have a gelato parlor?

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[Oops!! He didn't mean to cause that sort of reaction.]

Okay, that's good. Cause that'd be, uh...really uncool. Like, if people are being coerced or influenced.

[And Noah would never put himself or someone else in that sort of position.]

Also, sorry.

Y-yes- I mean, I agree, it would be terrible.

But it's alright- [ he waves his hand ] I mean, terrible things happen here, but nothing like that.

Go-

[-od. Except not good. Sort of good but also not. He'd specifically been told 'this place isn't the worst', so hearing about terrible things? Not a confidence booster. Alright, so he'd heard something about ghosts too and that hadn't sounded good either, but still.]

Terrible things like what?

Well... there was a mall. [ there still is. The mall is still there ]

The mall is still there, but when it opened and we went to check it out, some of us got locked in. There were things chasing after us, to hurt us.

They looked like people we know.

Oh. That sounds awful.

[It was all too easy for him to imagine how traumatizing it would be to have things that looked like people you knew trying to hurt you.]

Is the mall safe now? Is there still a chance for that stuff to happen?

I haven't been back there yet. But some people have and they say it's fine now.

[ kaneki pauses ]

Honestly, it's not just the mall. The university dorms were as well.

I don't blame you.

[Noah certainly wouldn't be eager to go back and test things out, himself.]

So...would it be faster to list the places that are safe to go into or the places that aren't?

[He was sort of joking. But only sort of.]

Ah- no, no. There are safer places than there are dangerous places. [ kaneki doesn't know it's sort of a joke. maybe ]

I mean, the garden and the icecream parlour do weird things, but they aren't dangerous.

I believe The most dangerous places have been the mall and the university dorms.

Oh! Good.

[A pause, while he considered things.]

What weird stuff does the garden do?

[He liked knowing what he was getting into.]

The plants talk about you, for example. And the vines try to grab you.

I'm still not sure what exactly they want from you. [ but kaneki doesn't trust them, and is certain it's probably nothing good ]

[Gossiping plants? And the vines sounded very rude. The gossiping was rude, too, probably.]

That is weird. I definitely wouldn't want plants trying to grab me. What if they eat people?

[There were, after all, movies about carnivorous plants. Exaggerated, of course, because the real deals were...kind of boring. Cool, but also boring.]

Yeah, it's... best not to try it, I think.

It's good to be alert, in this place.

Yeah, I've been getting that impression. I'll do my best.

[...But he'd probably still end up doing something he shouldn't, simply out of curiosity.]

Thank you for telling me about these things.

Oh, it's no problem. I think it's important that we are all aware these things happen.

I'm kaneki, by the way.

I think it is, too. Like- there's no reason to not tell someone about something that is or could potentially be dangerous. We're all in this together, you know?

Also, I'm Noah. It's nice to meet you.

Hm- exactly. This way we can all try to figure out what is happening. [ kaneki still hopes that they can ]

It's nice to meet you as well, Noah-san.

Yeah. It'd be nice. Like- I'm sure there's a lot of people here who want to go home.

[And if they could figure out what was happening, maybe they could figure out how to get the people who wanted to go home back to their, well, homes.]

Or even just like, to want to feel safer here.

I think most do.

.... don't you? [ some people are dead back home, Kaneki has heard. In fact, Ken himself doesn't know if he is alive back home or not, so he gets it. ]

I'm...

[Noah knew he had important things to do before he faded away, back home. He had to make sure everything worked out like it was supposed to. But he also knew that would be the end of him after that. He wasn't sure if that, specifically, bothered him or if it was the fact he had to struggle with decaying first.]

I don't know. My friends need me, but I...I didn't have a lot of time left.

O-oh... I'm sorry.

[ kaneki lowers his head a littl ]

Some people don't want to go back. I don't think we can blame anyone for that.

It's okay.

[It wasn't, but it also wasn't Kaneki's fault. Noah'd had a long time to come to terms with his death and yet the idea of decaying and fading entirely was still frightening. Without the decay, he would have been content to exist and tag along on his friend's adventures and journeys through life.]

Yeah. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to go back if like, being here is better for them. No one deserves to suffer.

[= Kaneki nods ]

I hope this place is better, for most. I hope people can find peace here. [ peace isn't permanent. But he hopes at some point this place feels more like "home" to some ]

Video | un: czerny

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Sorry it has been so long, December was a Month. Feel free to ignore if it has been too long <3