animus_network | 001 BITE. VOICE.

Ain't that the truth?

But, can't sit around bitchin' and moanin'.

Very true. [There's a noise that comes from the other end of the line that sounds like he's stretching.] But, I mean, chances come up to kick 'em around a bit -- but only chances. Otherwise they got so many layers of smoke and mirrors between them and us that everybody ends up dying.

Eh?

What are you talkin' about?

Oh boy. [He sighs.] Alright kids, get in a circle for story time.

So, the first thing you gotta know about this place is that dying? Isn't a thing. Someone mows you down, you come back to life the next morning. It can happen over and over. So anyway, when I got here, the whole tower was out of commission, right? All the lights were off except emergency ones, place looked like a dump 'cause no one cleaned it, monsters prowling all over the place. Apparently that's because all the guys who run this operation just decided to drop what they were doing and go do something else.

So yeah, they don't know how to treat anyone.

Anyway, there was a bunch of guys who decided to go figure out where they went, and I chipped along with them, because I want answers as much as the next dude, y'know. Long story short, we found them, and it was so easy because we literally rode the fuckin' elevator. But we only saw them for a second -- and hell, I'm not even sure it was them, because the next minute they had us running all over the place from God knows what, and eventually all of us died.

So yeah, they're kind of really shitty hosts, if you ask me.

... wow.

Then, this is like a videogame, huh? Infinite lives, eh?

[ No, he's processing everything else, but that's the part that is sticking out most for him. ]

That's one way to call it, sure. You are now inside the world's nastiest video game.

Don't you mean universes'?

...Universes', yeah.

[He likes this guy.]

What's your name, bro?

Goro Majima.

[ He thinks of giving his entire title, but shrugs and decides against it. ]

Ah, nice yer callin' me 'bro' and not 'uncle' or 'old man.' Most punks do.

Beat.

You're not a cop or an asshole, so I don't care.

Pleasure.

A cop? Ah, farthest from those snakes.

[SCORE. He didn't sound at all like a cop, granted, but that was basically a shot in the dark.]

Good. Very good. If you were a cop then we'd have some serious problems. [Like, for example, the fact that his version of cops are brainless drones ordered around by some of the biggest maniacs in Tokyo.]

Oh?

And, well, I can't say they're all snakes. I like a few of 'em, but the majority of 'em stink.

We don't even have that comfort. They got a badge, they're worthless, through and through.

Sorry to hear that.

I met at least three I'd stick personally. [ And that's a compliment in his book. ]

Huh. I guess we all knew they were pretty lousy as far as police went anyway.

What do you do, then? [He could guess it's something illegal if the cops were a constant problem, but past that, nothing.]

Let anyone in these days.

I'm a member of the yakuza. If that means anything to ya.

[o h s h i t]

...Yeah, it does.

Proper greetin's then.

Goro Majima, patriarch of the Majima Family which was part of the Tojo Family. I wonder, does that mean anythin' to ya, kid?

[ Not really about intimidation, but could someone else have survived from his world? ]

The names ain't familiar.

[Beat... yeah, Beat is basically a street punk? No titles to speak of, and definitely no member of the friggin' yakuza.]

[ Sighs. ]

Well, it was worth a shot.

So, after I finish havin' to be forced to eat this vomited chunks of meal, am I gonna be allowed actual food?

Yeah, you are. Choke down the oatmeal and you'll be able to stomach other stuff again.

Good.

Hate to wear my throat to nothin'. Somethin' like medicine, eh? It still is a shitty way to start livin' in this place.

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