network: HUMANSONA420

[sweariff]

WHO: bigby & you
WHAT: small, angry new yorker yells at small, purple phone: the genesis.
WHERE: over the network.
WHEN: before the event, aka right now, but can also be backtagged throughout it and after.

[This? This is not a phone. This is a little glowing square crafted from (presumably) plastic and fueled by (obviously) hatred with way too many picture boxes and keys that are too small for his fingers. Plus, it looks like it has a camera attached to it. So, clearly not a phone.

It is, however, the only usable item he's been able to find in past hour since waking up, excluding a walkie-talkie without batteries — which feels like some cosmic force's idea of a joke, just like everything else in this shithole. After what feels like a wretchedly long amount of time hitting the wrong buttons because, again, they're too goddamned small, Bigby finally reaches the screen he's looking for and somewhat literally takes a shot in the dark.]

hello

[That... also looks too small. Isn't there a way to make this shit bigger?]

hELLO

[Perfect.]

GOT A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS
MAYBE YOU'LL HAVE THE ANSWERS
1. IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE FROM NEW YORK CITY
2. WHAT YEAR IS IT
3. WHERE CAN I FIND BATTERIES

[There's a pause on his end for a good two or three minutes as he stares at his screen, then something else occurs to him.]

4. WHAT THE FUCK IS A HUMANSONA420

Comments

@iCu

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

one yes where in the city pardon two no three sorry sorry i domino

[her phone's text-to-speech capabilities are...not the greatest.......]

[sweariff]

[something tells him typing back a flat "what" would be considered kind of rude, even if it's just text they're dealing with. still, it's tempting.]

I ONLY UNDERSTOOD THE FIRST PART OF THAT
[a beat, then:]
MANHATTAN. UPPER WEST SIDE.

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

sorry thank you do you have pardon a radio

[sweariff]

NO
I MEAN SORT OF
THAT'S WHAT I NEED THE BATTERIES FOR
OTHERWISE I'M STUCK USING THIS THING AND I'M NOT SURE IF THAT'S A GOOD IDEA

[because knowing him, he's just going to end up breaking it.]

@D4D_J0K3Z.

[ascocarp]

1. NO
2. NO
3. NO
4. YOU

[sweariff]

[oh, good. that didn't take long.]

YOU KNOW FOR SOMEONE WHOSE NAME SORT OF LOOKS LIKE JOKES YOU'RE ABOUT AS FUNNY AS A CAR ACCIDENT

[ascocarp]

WHEN I WANT YOUR OPINION ILL TELL YOU IT

WOW YOU REALLY SUCK AT THIS
YOURE LIKE THE WORST ONE YET

[sweariff]

YOU MEAN YOU'LL ASK ME FOR IT

[if he's going to get shit on, he wants it done right.]

OH GOOD I WAS WORRIED I WOULDN'T MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION
IS THIS HOW YOU ALWAYS ARE OR ARE YOU JUST IN A HELPFUL KIND OF MOOD TODAY

@xxDARK_STARxx

[omniavincit]

Sorry, I'm from Connecticut.

[sweariff]

YEAH I'M SORRY TOO

[in more than one way. :^)]

[omniavincit]

If you're feeling homesick I can recommend a phone booth that smells like urine.

[ But he relents, a little. Whoever this is, they likely are homesick. And clearly confused. ]

What year was it?

[sweariff]

SO I CAN JUST BE REGULAR SICK, RIGHT? [hey, he's getting the hand of this punctuation thing!]
AND IT'S NOT HOMESICKNESS. I JUST WANTED TO SEE WHAT COMMON GROUND I HAVE WITH THE REST OF YOU.

[there's a small pause as he glances at the next reply.]

1986

@n1CxC4Ge

[calculo]

least your name's easily readable.

( robbie still has no idea what the hell his name is supposed to be. )

los angeles here. no idea on the year. what do you need batteries for?

[sweariff]

RADIO
FOUND ONE IT WON'T TURN ON

ALSO YOURS LOOKS LIKE A CODE
GIVES ME A HEADACHE BUT ID RATHER HAVE THAT THAN THIS DRUNK SHIT

[calculo]

mine is a bunch of letters and numbers shoved together. pointless.

( he'd tried to figure it out for about five minutes before giving up. )

you just get here or something? i don't think i've seen your name before.

@D33Z_NUTS

[chainsawman]

[ There's an uncomfortable amount of vibrating in his back pocket. It's only after Denji pulls out the source of all the commotion that he realizes what's causing it - this little piece of scrap he'd picked up and all but forgotten about as he was scavenging around for food. Before long, he realizes someone's trying to talk to him, and he may as well answer.

It takes him half an hour to realize that speaking to the thing doesn't do anything. It takes him another ten minutes to realize he can press the keys to both make the screen scroll down, and to type a response. After a long, painstaking hour of messing around, he manages this: ]

shit

[ He doesn't even realize he's sent that yet. ]

[sweariff]

[It's been a good while since he's heard anything back from the Network, enough for him to get comfortable with the silence... until the not-phone buzzes like an angry hornet against the hard, flat surface he's set it on. Jesus, that's unsettling. Bigby reaches for the device and holds it like it's radioactive material set to explode (hell, it's already glowing), skimming over the screen.

His eyes narrow at the single word reply he reads back. Well, you can't get more articulate than that.]

FUCK

[Or can you.]

[chainsawman]

[ Whoa! That was fast. So very fast, and yet, by the time Denji reads the reply, he's completely forgotten what he's even sent. He thinks it's his own message. In a rare moment of self-reflection: ]

Didn't I write something else?

[ Yes, Denji, you did. It takes him a second to piece everything together after deciding he definitely wrote shit, not fuck. Once he figures out how to reply, he begins to realize how frustrating it's going to be, typing on something as small as this. ]

YOU TALKING TO ME ?

@TARGYLE

[decisiveconquest]

1.) I have never heard of that city.
2.) I haven't a clue as to the year.
3.) What are batteries?
4.) I believe that is your network name.

[sweariff]

ANY WAY TO CHANGE IT?
THE NAME I MEAN

AND BATTERIES ARE LITTLE BULKY PIECES OF METAL YOU CAN POWER SMALL MACHINES WITH
THEY'RE LITTLE PORTABLE ENERGY SOURCES

[That he should even have to explain this makes him wonder where and when this person is from. Maybe a different time period, or... maybe from the Homelands themselves? The possibility seems good if she doesn't know what New York City is.]

[decisiveconquest]

I have yet to find a way. (Hers makes her wince after she learned of argyle.)

What are their shape? There are many pieces of metal scattered about.

network: @XXXtra_TerrestriEL

[itselbitch]

four isn't a couple, it's two couples.

1. yeah sorta

2. wouldn't matter even if i knew. time moves around inconsistently here in different areas so the only time you can really care about is right now.

3. do you have chargeable ones? i can charge them.

4. wait you live in new york and don't know what 420 is?? have you never passed washington square on april 20?? [ do you even go here???? ]
answering the other part requires you knowing about furries do you know what furries are at least

[sweariff]

[wew this is a lot to unpack.]

NO NO AND NO. PRETEND I LIVE UNDER A ROCK AND GO FROM THERE. [Honestly, that's not too far off from the truth.]

AND NO, I DON'T HAVE BATTERIES PERIOD
YOU KNOW ANY WAY TO GET A RADIO TO WORK WITHOUT THEM?

[itselbitch]

[ if eliot watched cartoons, he'd ask if this guy is patrick star, but eliot is cultured and not a child like his friend q, so. no joke here. ]

why pretend??
you lived in NEW YORK come on
don't tell me you're originally from jersey or some shit

well other than be me I guess you'd need to find batteries somewhere
what kind you need? I have some AAs

@XXSK3LLYXX

[ragnarsson]

1. No. Where is that.
2. No idea. Last I knew it was 819 before coming here.

[Yeah, that's not a typo where there's a missing fourth number. He's from a year with triple digits.]

3. Scavenge like the rest of us do.
4. No idea.

And why do you sound like you're shouting as you type?