[Audio+Action]

[wereperrito]

Hello? Hello! This is Jack.

Um, I am in one of the back trailers in the second convoy. And I have found sewing supplies and more fabric, and I thought, well, some of us have been going through, erm, changes. These can be hard on our clothing or make wearing certain clothing difficult.

I am not the best tailor in the world, I cannot make a patch or mended tear invisible or create clothing from scratch, but I know how to mend very well if you do not need it to be invisible. Also I can probably take your old clothes and alter them to fit you better.

I will be down here all evening if you would like to stop by. I will try to be here most evenings after dinner but before bed in case anyone needs help fixing your clothes. Okay? Okay.

[And with that slightly distracted-sounding final note, as the sound of fabric rustling around marks him getting back to work, he signs off.

He will indeed be down in the shops section of the convoy all evening, working diligently to patch, mend, repair, and alter clothing for anyone who comes by. If no one comes by, he's working on his own clothes or trying to work out how to make a pattern so he can learn how to make clothes from scratch, preferably with as little wasted material on mistakes as possible. He has no idea if he will ever find more, after all.]

Comments

[wereperrito]

The high-five-slash-three surprises Jack a little, but he's from 2025. He's seen those before, so he just kind of grins and shakes his head.

He considers Leo's feet seriously a moment, then shakes his head. "I probably can't actually make you any shoes," Jack says apologetically. "Not real ones. I am not a cobbler, that's much more complicated than clothes. I could maybe make some sandals? Though I would need something sturdy enough for the base, I don't have anything here for that yet."

[wereperrito]

[Jack can tell there's a question not being asked there. He sighs.]

I am familiar with things like that. Come to my little shop and I will tell you about it. I can look at your shirt, too.

[faceguy]

“Eh, that’s okay.” Leo waves it off. “I’ll probably find something eventually…”

He’s found ways around the problem back home and he can do it here, too. His scales protect him from most but the most extreme weather.

“Staying warm is more important. I have a little human in me, but I’m still mostly turtle.”

He enjoys a good heat lamp when it gets cold.

[constantvrunning]

The programming in these vehicles is minimal.

[If there's anything Wrong, it's damnably difficult to detect at this level.]

We would need a lot more power - and better ways to detect what's already out there, for sure.

[And sure, they all have motive power, but most of their vehicles and independent stores are too small to justify independent action.]

... If people have survived here, I strongly doubt they can do so alone.

[Even the monsters mostly hunt in packs.]

[undyingcrow]

Fair enough. Just give me a moment to get my bearings, and I'll head that way.

[True to his word, Akechi makes his way over, having removed the blazer and shirt from his school uniform. In their place, he wears a simple T-shirt, carrying the aforementioned clothes in his arms.

Of course, the short sleeves unveil black, scaled skin like a corvid's legs, with sharp talons poking through the fingertips of his leather gloves.

Otherwise, he looks perfectly human.]

[serialmurderbot]

It waits a whole 4.2 minutes of Jack working before it settles in, arms crossed, at one of the tables, staring at the opposite wall. Its expression goes vague, abstracted - from the outside it might seem to just be spacing out as it waits, but of course it's taking advantage of the wait to play media - episode 12 of Sanctuary Moon, which isn't as good plot-wise as later arcs but was the point when the show started to find its footing, as far as SecUnit is concerned.

And it's monitoring the language, too - it has hints of one of the Preservation standards that overlaps with one of its Corporate modules, with enough differences in dialect to need the local translation module's help. It filters and parses it in background.

None of those inputs are enough to occupy enough processing space to surprise it when Jack finally makes his request. It shrugs, then turns the gesture into lifting its arm in silent permission. "Sí," it says, slipping into the closer language module.

[wereperrito]

[Jack also looks perfectly human, unless you count the blue-gray hair with the white streaks in it-- until he stands up and moves around the table in his little shop to greet Akechi. Then it's obvious that he has six fluffy fox tails, about the same color as his hair, waving restlessly behind him. Apparently one of the first alterations he had to make was for himself, because no way are normal trousers staying up around those.]

Hello! Hello. Come in. Let me see what you brought.

[wereperrito]

Jack blinks over at it. "You speak Spanish?" he says, in Spanish, somewhere between surprised and delighted. Nobody else has seemed to either notice when he swaps languages, or else has noticed but not understood.

He does get up at the lifted arm, so SecUnit doesn't have to hold it up forever, hurrying over to hold the sleeve against it, not touching, but just making sure the length is right from shoulder to wrist.

[wereperrito]

"It's very easy to lose heat through your hands and feet," Jack says sternly. "Also the top of your head. I will come up with something. Sandals with socks perhaps." Yes it's fashion taboo in some places, but frostbite is worse! By a lot! "But I am sure we can come up with trousers and maybe a poncho? That should not be too hard. And I already had to take apart my own trousers to deal with the tails, a little bit, so I sort of know how those work."

[wereperrito]

Yes, I am hoping that this Nirvana we are going towards is a city of survivors. Everyone has better chances together than alone, whether stationary or on the move. But especially on the move.

[Stationary can be a tempting target unless it's too tough to crack. Which is what he's hoping. The convoy's shield technology on a large scale.

He shakes his head a bit, and asks,]

Do you feel a little better now? Probably not a lot better. There is too much uncertainty. But a little?

[constantvrunning]

[V thinks over the possibility, and the hope... resonates.]

Yes. We'll make do with what we have.

[They gesture back at the locked room.]

And speaking of - any other offers to scavenge?

[faceguy]

"Socks with sandals!?" Leo looks scandalized. "What do I look like, a single dad going through a midlife crisis?"

No thank you! He doesn't sound very excited about the poncho idea, either...

"Why am getting the feeling this won't be fashionable..."

[undyingcrow]

[Akechi pauses for a moment, taking in those tails. They're not unlike those of a kitsune, which isn't all that strange. Apollo became a dragon, after all.

So, after a moment, he makes his way forward with the folded blazer and folded shirt in his arms.]

It's not a lot, but I figured it might help to look at the initial holes torn by the wings before we worry about future proofing other clothing.

[wereperrito]

These could probably be repaired, though they will not be as pretty. Especially if some of the torn fabric is missing.

[But if they just leave the holes and tidy them up, that would solve that problem. He accepts the blazer and shirt, setting them down on his table and pulling up first one then the other to examine the holes.

As he does, he says,]

I was different from a human before I came here. Not the tails, those are new, but-- have you heard of a werewolf?

[He doesn't think the Japanese have werewolf myths. He's not even sure they have wolves, actually. They're more of a Europe and America thing. But he might know some English mythology. Always best to ask first.]

[wereperrito]

"If you want fashionable, get me quality fabrics and give me six months to learn how to build clothing properly," Jack sniffs at him. "I am what you have right now, and you said you do not want to be cold. So I will try to keep you from being cold."

[wereperrito]

Not yet.

[He hasn't specifically asked, though, either.]

Still, I imagine some people will find things and bring them in, now that they know what I'm doing. And I'll be looking. I am good at scavenging.

[serialmurderbot]

It shrugs uncomfortably - is this that weird? It thought this was one of the common language clusters in at least some places, given the fact that the Company had bothered to give it the module on it.

"I guess." Which... sounds like a shitty explanation for it, doesn't it. It elaborates, "Preservation uses it a lot. Captain Consuela Makeba has some speeches recorded in it." Or reproduced in it, in the case of historical genres.

Once Jack is done with the measurement, it folds its arms, but doesn't retreat quite so much. "I've got two of the historical dramas about it."

[undyingcrow]

Werewolves are one of the most classic monsters in western horror, though depictions certainly vary.

[They may not have been an innate part of Japanese culture, but cultural osmosis and imports exist, and the west has heavily influenced Japan.

He cups his chin in hand as best he can with those talons of his. It's not too difficult to read between the lines...]

[wereperrito]

Well, I am one version, anyway. One night a month, I turn into a, well, a monster.

[He gives Akechi a slightly crooked, apologetic smile.]

Usually it is the full moon, but here it is apparently the moon warp. I lose all reason and simply wish to hunt. Normally I lock myself up, but I do not think there is anywhere in this convoy that can hold me, so I will next time try to get far enough away.

[He lays the blazer out on its back, running fingers over the holes. It does look like some fabric is missing. Best to just roll up the edges with a neat stitch, then, probably.]

I do not know if my experience will help others here. But as we are all experiencing changes, I am trying not to be as secretive about it as I would be, in my world.

[wereperrito]

"I should not be surprised, I am sorry," Jack says, returning to his table to fold in the hem and start stitching again, but he's smiling. He talks even more easily in his native language, so it's probably no surprise that he keeps talking. "But you are from somewhere that seems very far away from me, and I did not expect it. Also, I admit, mostly I do not find people who know that in addition to their own language. Usually if they don't speak English, they choose that, and if they do, they don't bother to learn another language."

He tilts his head, glancing up again from his work briefly at SecUnit. "You have historical dramas? In your car?" Or... well, it is a construct of some sort. Maybe it has some kind of... player in its head?

[constantvrunning]

We could scout together sometime. If you would like that.

[Strictly speaking, it's also just a Good Idea, but V isn't going to insist on coming with Jack on every trip he makes.

They try and smile.]

None of us have to be alone.

[It feels good, to reiterate those words.]

[undyingcrow]

You aren't the only one.

[Akechi looks down at his school blazer, a reminder of his time as the pristine "detective prince." Perhaps it's fitting that it's been torn by wings, a symbol of greater freedom.

They aren't the worst change, even if they didn't stay.]

I suppose our pasts hold less meaning in a world such as this. However, your actions in your transformed state are certainly different from conscious acts of violence.

[Akechi had reason before. He simply cast it aside.]

[wereperrito]

No, I know. I have come to terms with that. And I do my best to keep other people safe. It is other people who I would be concerned about, with the telling. There are people who hunt people like me, where I come from.

[He shrugs a bit.]

Probably not here. Not if so many people are becoming what those hunters would call monsters. It is only whether sharing what I would would help others, or not. How much my experience will be like everyone's here. You know?

[wereperrito]

[Jack turns a warm smile on them.]

Yes. Exactly that. I would love to have you with me the next time we spot a house or shop or something.

[He looks amused, then, and adds,]

SecUnit is very emphatic about us not going places alone, after all.

[undyingcrow]

Sadly, I have a sinking suspicion that such hunters exist here, given the emblems on the Chromehounds and carved into the monster corpses.

[There's unseen opposition. On one side, a cult that worships the moon. On the other, a group that despises it...

Still, he nods along. Jack's logic is perfectly sound.]

My current hypothesis is that "Moon Warp" gave us a taste of what we'll eventually become. Thus, it'd almost be foolish to eliminate those holes when I could very well sprout wings once more.