[muffled old timey radio noises] time for an advice column

[yesdoubt]

Name: Momo
Date: March 5th
Format: audio radio!

[After the expedition last month wrapped up, in the next few days, radio listeners of Aefenglom may have noticed a newcomer to the airwaves. Despite being a fresh voice, there's an air of experience to how he takes his programs, upbeat and cheerful but professional, talking with other hosts and guests and drawing out the interesting and comedic things about them for a good fun show.

And now he's here to get some talk show comedy out of the locals and Mirrorbound, wrapping up an informative little segment about local music to transition into that most loved and dreaded of call-in shows--

--the advice column.]

...Now we're back to just Momo, and you know, I've been in a real bind since I got here last month...I had all these juniors running around to give advice to, and now I've come to another world all fresh and inexperienced, my advisory skills as a weathered old-timer are getting rusty! [He's...26...] I've got to keep that stuff sharp like any good mother does, so if you need advice or a sounding board on anything that doesn't need me to know the deepest lores of this place, call in - or send a text in if you're shy, anons welcome too - and I'll help you out with it! Maybe someone else is having the same worries as you, so everyone benefits, you know? Send your daily quandaries, your work problems, your sordid love triangle stories...though not too sordid, we're still on daytime radio!

If you've got a question I can't answer, like monster or magic problems or something, then I'll put that to the audience and maybe we'll get some interesting answers from them, too! But whether we're talking it out or I'm reading it out for the audience, I'm sure we can solve some people's problems today. Even the weird ones. [Read: he welcomes the possibility of outright silly and questionably true responses.

The watch connection he gives for the calls isn't his own device, but rather one the radio station owns, because he's not here to tango with questionable calls after the show is over. He does enough of that at home. As for the texts, he puts up a post for those alongside the opening of the segment, so he'll both be talking and texting in response to those (and non-radio listeners can spot it even if they weren't listening to the segment).]

[[Tag-ins will be presumed as chronological, e.g. the first tag-in would be the first call/message and so on, so reacting to stuff from before your character sends their response is valid. Any question Momo puts to the audience will be open to threadjacking from when he does.]]

Comments

[foundfamilies]

[Youngest, but only second shortest! She's glad that he isn't teasing her and it helps her to calm down a little more quickly. And, since she's turned down the radio, she doesn't know that her watch picks up the sound of exhaling the deep breath she'd taken to help calm down.]

Thank you, Mr. Momo. So...what I was hoping to ask is -- do you know which parts of the city are safe for a Mirrorbound to walk alone during the day? When I first arrived in Aefenglom, it was Faiolleach and I spent most of the first two days exploring the city on my own. But I found out later that there are some parts of the city that are more dangerous than others, and I don't know how to tell what they look like.

[yesdoubt]

[That's actually a difficult one since he's new, but he has done a lot of wandering since he got here and made a lot of observations. It's also a more serious question than he was expecting, honestly, so he takes it with full consideration.]

I'm pretty new myself, so if I get any wrong or miss anything, other callers feel free to correct me, but I've found most of the city is okay in the day, at least. As a general rule, it's always best to stick to where there's a lot of people and not go hunting down alleyways and stuff, because where people can't see you is where things can go wrong. Things are definitely a little bit rougher down towards the harbour, so you might want to ask for company there...and the bit of the Residential District across the river gets pretty dangerous close to the Wall, I turned back there myself because it looked like there were some criminals and stuff hanging around. [Not because he can't deal with criminals, but because he didn't really want to at the time.] Out of curiosity, how much of the city did you explore? If there's anywhere you really want to see or go back to, then it might be easier to say if it's dangerous or not.

[foundfamilies]

[Leslie is nodding at her watch as though he'd be able to see it.]

I was told to keep to busier streets and to talk to the city watch if I get in any danger...but the harbour and near the wall, huh....

[Oh, right, the question.]

On the first day...I went south of the Haven towards the mouth of the river, and I walked by the harbour until I came across the tattoo parlour. Ink-chanted? [So approximately passing through the area around the border between the eastern residential and aristocratic districts, through the middle of the entertainment district, into the shopping district (and thankfully being steered away from the red light district by someone who found her not that far away from it) and further on to the harbour.] The second day, I went east. There wasn't much going on that way, but I was able to get a view over the Wall. [Residential district, mainly.] But I haven't left the Haven on my own very often since then, except to go to the Coven for classes. [The third day of Faiolleach was the day of the Rathmore trial.]

I think I have been able to find a way to the Coven that is mostly pretty busy, but I'd like to find a good way down to where all the stores are. When I have been doing part time work, I have been trying to find a time when someone I know is also going there, but it would be much more convenient for everyone if I could go there on my own, wouldn't it?

[yesdoubt]

[Momo hums a little as she mentions her paths, mapping it out in his head - if she went straight south, he can see how that would've been fine to begin with, at the very least. That said, he is aware of where the red light district is and how likely it is she would've walked into it on that heading, and he's half wondering if someone impressed the dangers of the city on her to make sure she didn't wander into that area unsupervised.]

Just around the Aristocratic District, where all the rich people live is gonna be better policed in any city, so it's less likely you'll run into any criminals or roughhousing kinds of people. There's a big street at the border between the Haven and the Eastern Residential District that goes down along the edge of the Aristocratic District, and through part of the Entertainment District - if you follow that to where it splits off into two other big streets to the left and right, you should be right at the edge of the Shopping District.

[The big street also happens to be on the side of the Haven furthest from the red light district, so he's hoping focusing on that route will keep her away from it.] If that's as far as you follow the road, it should be pretty easy to get there and back, and since it's a big road you can guarantee it'll be busy too. I think there's a few shops across the river, but since that's near the dangerous bits of the residental area, I think you might want to take someone with you if you ever need to go over there. [For Reasons that definitely have nothing to do with the nature of parts of the Entertainment District by the river.]

[foundfamilies]

[Leslie’s impressions of the dangers of the city came more from asking the wrong questions to a couple of depressed fellows, who gave very frank assessments of the situation in January and their reads on the general mood of the populace. The one who found her not far from the red light district for once did not use fear as his method of choice, though he may have provided the most direct proof that the city can be dangerous when he was chokeslammed into a wall by someone mistaking him for a child predator.]

I don’t know if I feel much safer about the Aristocratic District than any other district. [Even setting aside the now deceased Rathmores, Leslie’s experience with nobility in her own world has been two families who more or less mark the extremes on the good-evil axis of her mind and she’s been someone they both paid attention to.] But if the road is as busy as that, and the City Watch will be there...thank you. That will help a lot.

I never knew there were shops across the river — but I have yet to cross the river even with other people at all. Maybe I will accompany someone there one day.

[yesdoubt]

That's fair, everyone has their own opinions on that kinda thing. Just on a practical level, there's probably gonna be more Watch around in an area with rich people in it to protect them. [Not that it always helps, but as a celebrity in his own world, Momo's lodgings were quite safe bar that one time someone with comparable power and influence decided he wanted a piece of him. He'd be a bit more frank that the extra policing is probably more to protect rich people's interests specifically, but this is public radio and rich people happen to be a lot of the population who own radios here.]

I haven't really been across the river much myself either, so I'm not sure what you're missing out on. But maybe I'll go over there again sometime, and then I can let you know if there's anything interesting!

[He mostly passed through while he was trying to establish what at all was on the other side of the river, so he needs to do a more detailed pass sometime.]

[foundfamilies]

I was told that I could trust the City Watch, so that does make me feel better about it. [Leslie hadn't been sure if she should mention her worries about nobles for a similar reason, but in the end, she doesn't have the same level of experience with speaking in front of an audience and forgot about it by the time she actually said it.]

Thank you. Both for answering my question and for the offer to follow up on it! I've never listened to something like this, but I really enjoyed your radio! [She has no idea what a radio program is supposed to be called.] I will have to listen to it more often.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo gives a genuine, pleased sort of laugh at that.] I'm glad to hear it! Hopefully I can keep making you happy if you keep listening. Radio shows are a great way to stay informed if you want to know what's going on in the city.

[It might help out in the sense of her knowing about potential disruptions to her route or things that might otherwise seem unusual.] Did you need Momo-chan's help with anything else, or should we say our goodbyes and listen out for the next caller?

[Since she'd seemed awkward about the initial connection, Momo figures offering her a more obvious out to the conversation might be a helpful cue. Phone etiquette can be hard even for modern people.]

[foundfamilies]

I am sure you will. [And she does sound confident in that.]

No, that is everything I wanted to ask. I'll go back to listening. Goodbye, and thank you again, Mr. Momo.

[She's not sure if she's supposed to hang up first or not, though. Ah, phone etiquette.]

[yesdoubt]

Alright, it's been fun talking to you, Leslie! Stay safe out there, okay~? Bye bye!

[Since they've both done their farewells, he saves her the trouble of deciding who hangs up by doing it himself, because otherwise he's pretty sure it'd just start that awkward chain of fifty goodbyes before someone decides it's okay to put the phone down. Still, he'll be keeping an eye out for a kiddo when he's out and about on the town now.]