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[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

[doubled_speed]

No, but people in charge rarely are.

[mostlycloudy]

True enough.

[He pauses for a moment before continuing.]

You're used to stuff like this?

[doubled_speed]

Used to is probably really pushing it, but this isn't my first rodeo, so to speak.

[So he didn't have faith in these Aspects because he had learned faith in the Sphere had been so very misplaced.]

[mostlycloudy]

[Then he's got a leg up on Cloud...sort of.]

What was your first rodeo?

[doubled_speed]

A place called the Sphere. Turned out most of the people there weren't, you know, real.

[And that had been upsetting.]

[mostlycloudy]

Given everything he'd experienced recently, both here and back home, he gives Tommy's explanation a bit of thought.]

How did you find out they weren't real?

[doubled_speed]

Oh, we found out when they disappeared and people asked the Sphere about it. And it confessed that they weren't real people.

[mostlycloudy]

...how were they not real people?

[And is something similar going on here?]

[doubled_speed]

Dude, I don't understand magic or tech. So I don't fucking know, man. They just weren't.

[mostlycloudy]

How could we know if the people here are real or not?

[doubled_speed]

Like I fucking know. Gotta ask the Aspects about that.

[mostlycloudy]

I doubt they'd know.

[doubled_speed]

You should probably ask them anyway.

[mostlycloudy]

Yeah, right. [He scoffs.] If they aren't real, and they do know, do you really think they'll talk?

[doubled_speed]

I really don't know. The Sphere didn't admit to it for a while.

[mostlycloudy]

Right.

[There's a moment of silence ]

What do you plan on doing while you're here?

[doubled_speed]

Don't know. Need to make money somehow since this place has money. Need a lot of food to feed myself.

Last place I was a courier to keep myself busy, but I don't see something like that going on here.

[mostlycloudy]

Courier, huh? Never tried that.

[A beat, and a little voice in his head told him to say something else, something about friends.]

I was a merc, back home.

[Home. Was that what Midgar had been? No. It was a stop-over.]

[doubled_speed]

I mean, I was super fast, so it made me good at that. Packages delivered within minutes, no matter the distance. WHich was impressive because the place wasn't always structured the same.

[A mercenary? Oh man he's frowning at all of this.]

Like, you hurt people for money? Not cool man.

[mostlycloudy]

Huh. Sounds like it could be ... Fun.

[A pause.]

Mostly it was monsters. I stopped being a SOLDIER.

[doubled_speed]

Of course it's fun. I get to be there before they know what to do with themselves, and race myself.

Monsters?

[mostlycloudy]

[He'd actually meant the idea of delivering packages, but now he realizes how lame that sounds.]

Right.

And yeah, monsters. You know, fiends.

[doubled_speed]

[So did Tommy.]

I don't know fiends. But I've met monstrous people.