» the city network

( Thank god the week is done, I feel like a zombie gone back to life... )

★★★

( [Separate Posting: HELP WANTED] )

[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?

i know we lose our powers and stuff
but did anyone else have someone else in their head and lose them too?

do those people show up here?

just in case

[ Then, because grandpa raised him to be a polite boy - ]

sorry, this is yuji itadori! nice to meet you!

[A gentle clearing of the throat, and a man speaks in a clipped, poshly accented voice. Every word perfectly enunciated.]

To all fellow unwitting tourists,

What is the singular fact about this city and/or our presumed hosts you wish someone had told you upon your arrival?

Much obliged.

[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.......]

I'd meant to do this before, but honestly last month was a bit of mess. So, here we are, the stakes lower and less obnoxious felines involved.

Clinic update: I am, ideally, looking to work with Kaveh in arranging an actual building instead of the shoddy apartment I have myself set up in. I doubt that'll be complete anytime soon, but suffice it to say the clinic is still in operation as-is until further notice.

It's been brought to my attention a few times, but in light of our many incidents here, I will be arranging classes for proper first aid. I will be doing this on each weekend unless a medical emergency arrives. Hopefully that'll ensure the lot of you know how to better set a bone or a papercut, hm? Let me know if you intend on participating.

Lastly, and less important but... we'll say it's a bit of curiosity: I'd like for you to share your favorite poem. I don't really care about genre, just share it here. Thanks.

good day! or, well, good evening, i suppose. it is rather laTE, ISN'T IT? OH, BOTHER, I DO BEG PARDON, I'VE DONE SOMETHING AGAIN. HOW DO I MAKE IT

there, did that do it?

goodness, i'll have to be more careful, i don't know how i keep getting so turned around with it. yes, well! good evening. it seems as though people often use this little magic device as a way of asking questions and so i rather thought i would i would ask a few of my own if it's all right.

the first is, is there by any chance someone here from the other world? the one where shakespeare comes from. i've been sitting up trying to remember how one of hamlet's speeches goes and i'm afraid i keep getting rather stuck. it's "to sleep perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub" but then i don't quite recall what comes after that. i don't suppose anyone happens to know?

the second is, would anyone happen to have a good remedy for nightmares? the dream sort, that is, not the, er. creature.

thank you! now let's see if i can maKE THIS OH DRAT IT ALL IT DID IT AGAIN

there! awful thing

[Normally, Brook would be perfectly happy to make a video post. It'd just be like his weekly recorded updates for his blog back home. Given the state he's in, though, he doesn't want to risk putting his face on camera. What if he looks as bad as he feels?

Why does he feel bad in the first place? Nothing makes any sense.]

ok, i know that for whatever reason, everyone's powers and shit have been weakened since they got here.
but has anybody else been feeling... weird?
like wobbly or your head hurting. or your legs not working right.
or like you have to lie down for a while until your eyes go back to normal.
idk, is this smth else that just happens here like weeds trying to eat you?

((OOC: Brook just hasn't realized that nerfing means he has to eat and sleep now, so he's been wandering around on little more than a Starbucks cake pop and no rest for days. That said, once people help him figure that out, he'll likely react to the thought of eating with disgust. This might hit a little close to disordered eating patterns, so please keep yourself safe if that's a trigger! Brook also has a permissions page with a long list of content warnings and an opt-out form, because I'm the Grim Reaper is a minefield of common triggers, and I don't want to suddenly spring anything unwanted on anyone.))

So there's a problem.

[Introductions? No, none of that.

The video comes online to show two individuals: Alucard, who clearly has seen better days on account of how grungy he appears, twigs in his hair, and a bottle of wine in his hand. Rosella, clearly dressed in a gown fit for a princess, is on the ground with eyes closed and not breathing. As Alucard moves his phone to show her looking kind of dead, it's clear that both these people are in the recently revealed gardens where the suspicious tea party is located.]

I found this young lady like this, along with an empty tea cup. Presumably, she's been poisoned, but I lack any ability to undo the damage done. I don't believe she is dead, but who knows how much longer she has.

[He has a drink from his bottle before he continues.]

If someone has any knowledge on these teas and what best to do next, that'd be ideal.