o1. → text;

[hollowly]

Normally, I would think what I'm about to ask is an odd question, but given the location and the circumstances, maybe not so much.

( this is gonna make for a good first poke at the network, innit, sammy? )

How many of you actually know about monsters? Spirits, things that go bump in the night, that sort of thing? Because where I'm from, they're pretty common, and I've noticed from meeting others here that it isn't that way for everyone.

( which is how it should be, if you ask him. nobody should know that the thing in their closet is real. )

Next question. Would anyone be interested in learning about things like that, and how to protect yourself against them?

( there. it's out there. he's doing a good thing. )

第2: [text] -- backdated to 4/8, about 1 hour after chris's post

[unfollowing]

because everybody keeps asking, i am going to tell you what an emoji is

it's a few things:

1) fancy emoticons (before anyone asks, that's emotions + icons, pretty self-explanatory)

2) it's a japanese word: 絵文字 (e mo ji) - that means picture character

TECHNICALLY 絵文字 is also a chinese word, but i don't speak or read chinese, so i can't tell you how to say it. the word "emoji" is JAPANESE, though. and before you ask about THAT, since some of you are from who the fuck knows where, japanese and chinese share a little of their written language, but they are DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. do NOT fight me on this, DO NOT

so don't fucking ask again. if you do, i won't draw any emojis for you

but chris will, so go give him shit about that

[middle finger emoji; smiling emoji; middle finger emoji]

01 | video

[thetruestbeliever]

Um. Hi. I'm Henry.

[ He knows full well how to use a smartphone so there's no awkwardness there, it's more the fact that he's addressing people he can't see and hasn't even met in person yet. They all do it so it's nothing new, it's just figuring out how to start this that has him fumbling for words for a moment. Some people might not even really care who he is and what his name is, but he likes to be friendly. Might as well be authentic, even in a place like this. ]

I've been here for a few weeks now, I...haven't met a lot of people yet. And I was thinking about where we all come from.

[ There's a lot to fear or at least be worried about when it comes to this place, so idle chitchat like what he's initiating might not be super welcomed by everyone, but messages like these are easy to ignore, he figures. He's curious and he wants to know people better; the ones who are willing to listen and respond, anyway. ]

I know of a lot of places, some of them...kind of bad. But I didn't know a place like this could exist. So. I was thinking maybe there are places even worse than this out there. Or maybe more places like where I come from, where things are more...normal. Ish. [ The 'ish' is because, well, his hometown doesn't even technically exist. But that's a story for another time. ] What's your home like? Is this place better than what you left behind?

[ And, because he is a teenage boy: ] What do you miss most? I miss really good New York pizza. And my family. I really miss my family, but at least my mom's here. Well, one of them, at least. [ Oh. Right. That's another story. That'll have to wait. ]