Network | Video

[doubled_speed]

[Hello all. Enjoy a dude offering a panorama shot of the city at sunrise from the top of one of the dormitories. As it moves around it becomes clear it has to be the Gray building because the others are all seen in the shot. And then there's the Tell Phone being turned around the rest of the way to catch a perfectly framed shot of a white haired youth grinning wide.

Because hey, if you aren't going to use your baller skills at social media, what the fuck are you doing with your life?]

Yo all. I'm Tommy. How much hell are we in here? Figure you should let the new guy know. I think I met a few people when I first got here, sorry I've been laying low for a bit. Been getting jobs all lined up to keep me and the kid fed. Still, I wanna know what all shit has been going on here. Some of you are experienced, I've heard about these Aspects, but stuff gets fucked up in specific ways, right?

So tell me. Weirdest thing you've ever experienced here. Best story gets some of these coin things? Or you can pet the sloth.

Yeah, I know you guys gotta get this whenever someone new shows up. But the last place was fucked and I need to know what I'm getting into now that I'm in it on my own.

Comments

[Audio]

[monochromatically]

[Mono didn't even need the shot from the gray building to know this was the new guy, he paid very close attention to who entered and left the building. The kid had lived there alone for the first couple months, and it was interesting to see what apartments people ended up in as the place started to get new residents.

Tommy would have to forgive the lack of video, he still didn't trust that function much... He would also have to forgive the static interference when Mono spoke, he couldn't control that.]

You're the new person that moved in? [Static, and a youngish voice mixed in. His tone is bright, though, as though he's hopeful he can help.] There was a spooky fog a few months ago, it was almost as thick as the stuff back home... And there were these crab people in it that caught people, they had pinchy arms and everything. [A little pause,] and there was this pollen stuff that made us say things were were thinking, even if it was stuff we didn't wanna say.

[Okay, so... it was his turn to ask a question... Right? Right.] What's a sloth?

[audio]

[doubled_speed]

[Well that was the most ominous noise he heard since arriving. Fun that.]

Did anyone try eating the crab people. Maybe that's why they were angry. And pollen making you say strange stuff isn't that strange. Been there, done that.

[But yeah kid, definitely question turn. Tommy considers how to explain.]

They're small, fluffy creatures that live in trees and go very slow.

[Which might seem like an odd pet for a guy that moved at impossible speeds.]

[monochromatically]

[He knows it's ominous, having powers you didn't understand kind of sucked.]

I dunno, that'd be a lotta crab to eat if someone did. They kinda went away though, I think the aspects got rid of them. [Mono paused, the pollen wasn't considered weird? Huh...] So pollen being stupid like that is normal in other worlds? It's annoying, but it's gone now.

[Small fluffy creatures in trees that were slow... He was trying to think of something, but he couldn't say he ever saw something like that.] Like racoons? They aren't slow though... Slugs are slow, but they aren't fluffy.

[doubled_speed]

[Dude, sometimes having powers you DID understand kind of sucked.]

Not pollen specifically, just shit like that happening. Happened in the last place I was in. A lot.

Wow, Racoons are not slow. And Speedy is nicer than them.

[monochromatically]

[Clearly they just need to bond about powers that sucked.]

Oh, okay... That's annoying. I didn't even like it the once.

[He fussed with his phone a little. This does not help the static, he needed to put the phone down while he talked, honestly.] They're not, but I've seen them in trees and they're fluffy!

I guess I can't picture what a sloth is. But that's neat if they are nicer than a raccoon.

video

[soulsword]

What an enticing reward you offer. [ It's not really that enticing and her somewhat bored expression may show that. ] The most...fucked it up it seems to get is when said Aspects attempt to help us.

[doubled_speed]

[Oh shit! Scary magic lady that Billy says is cool and David winces whenever he mentions. He wasn't expecting that! Or maybe she just looks like that lady.]

Oh don't judge me here, I don't have a lot to trade right now other than that and my abilities.

[Ugh, helping. Tommy winces.]

Because that ever really helps.

[soulsword]

What abilities would those be? Maybe they're more interesting. [ It wouldn't take much to be a bit more interesting. ]

They seem to know less about this place than we do. It's impressive.

[doubled_speed]

[Oh, they're more interesting. A lot more interesting.]

I go fast. Really fast. Last place I was in I was a courier. Back home, I basically just used it to stop bad guys and help people.

Wait, if it's their world, how do they not know it?

video;

[cetrary]

There were evil spooky spirits recently that impersonated someone important to you. When they got you alone though they were made up of a bunch of gross materials and pretty awful to look at. Then there was some pollen that made it impossible to not tell the truth. Both were pretty weird.

[doubled_speed]

[Ouch, those both sound horrid.]

Well that's coins for the devastatingly beautiful lady. But seriously, evil spirits is the worst. I don't know how to mess with those things. I'm more brute force and ghosts don't deal with that.

And you can't outrun pollen.

[cetrary]

[ She lets out a tiny chuckle. ] Luckily their physical form could be destroyed. Though I guess we don't have any real proof they won't just come back again in another form. [ Well. She hadn't actually thought of that. Now she's just depressed. ]

It felt like you couldn't get away from the pollen at all.

[doubled_speed]

Well, if they make new forms, I'll blow them up or something.

[Well, you could hide in the water, but what's that going to do? The moment you come up for air, bam, pollen.]

But hte pollen is done now?

[faithfulsupport]

You will have need to keep your coins.

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, me more than most. But I've already got a job lined up, and apparently you can make money at the coliseum and I'm doing some gatherer shit for that magic shop. And I'm looking for more jobs.

[He can handle it. Probably. But he's got to try.]

And, like, apparently working at the Lodge means I get a meal as part of it? I think that was what the dude implied.

[faithfulsupport]

That's quite the ambition.

[So says the guy juggling a lot of things at the moment. But the last part had him stop a moment.]

You're working at the Lodge are you?

[Sure, no one tell the head chef.]

[doubled_speed]

Not really. I can handle it all. Might need a bit more. I, uh... Well, it's complicated.

[Don't blame the owner, Ignis, it was only finalized late last night. He's got his first shift coming up, after a gathering run.]

Yeah, I start for lunch shift today. Apparently the dude needs to be sure that I can actually handle myself before a dinner rush or anything. Just waiting tables or something. Apparently I don't know enough about cooking to be an assistant or something. Which is silly. No way their chefs back there wouldn't want me working with them.

video;

[harrythelizard]

[Because holy crap, he remembers you...and the sloth.]

Well, this weird kid with gray hair showed up with a sloth in his backpack, once.

Re: video;

[doubled_speed]

Wow, sounds like a fucking baller person that is totally worth knowing.

video;

[harrythelizard]

Somebody who carries around a sloth in their backpack is either a baller or an exotic pet smuggler, and he doesn't really look like a criminal, at least not one who supplies the black market.

[doubled_speed]

See, if they carried around a sloth in their backpack they'd be a smuggler. But someone who carries one around in a messenger bag? Totally baller.

So I guess not a criminal.

audio;

[mostlycloudy]

There were spirits who tried to kill us. They built bodies for themselves with the garbage laying around. It was gross.

[It was as good a place to start as any, and the fact that this isn't the first place this guy's been got his attention, even if he's loud.]

[doubled_speed]

Ouch. That sounds like shit from back home. Or the Sphere. But geez, at least attack us with not-trash?

[mostlycloudy]

I'm pretty sure, wherever they came from, they hate us.

[doubled_speed]

Why us though? What did we ever do to them?