Foreigner and Foxtail waved at Peepers while halfway across the plaza, watching him meekly wave back and slink into the warehouse. The two walked through the alleyway in relative silence. Foreigner could feel Foxtail steal glances at him from the corner of his eye, her hands fidgeting and prodding at the holes in her hoodie.

“Spit it out, kid. What do you want?” Foreigner asked nonchalantly. She pouted before letting out a sigh, looking at him without any of the playful levity he’d seen previously.

“Why haven’t you asked about Peepers and me, huh? You see a girl disappear in front of you and a boy with eyes like a kaleidoscope and I don’t hear a word from you about it? What gives?” Foxtails brows were furrowed, the few hairs coming out of her hoodie bristling like a wild animal. Foreigner rolled his eyes.

“Is that it? I figured if it was so important of a detail, you’d mention something all on your own. You’ll give me an answer when you’re ready.” Foxtails brows remained furrowed but she was mulling over the statement.

“Hmph.” She pulled ahead of him and walked with a brisk pace. Foreigner shrugged and kept up with her, taking longer strides. The both of them remained silent up until the sound of shuffling feet got louder and the steady stream of people walking about could be seen.

“Listen. Right now it’s looking like midday. We need to be back at the warehouse before the sun goes down. I can make it, no problem, but if you don’t want to end up disemboweled in the alleyways, you’ll heed my advice.” Foxtail stated, slowly approaching her playful demeanor.

“I’ll keep that in mind, kid. I’m sure it's something else you can give me info on while we’re walking to… Wired Oceans Company? I just realized I don’t even know who or what they are, I just took the boys' word for their usefulness.” Foreigner frowned.

“Well it’s a good thing you’ve got a District 24 native to show you the ins and outs of this place.” She smiled widely. There was so much to learn and so little time to learn it. Or it was robbed from him outright with most of his other memories…

“Okay. What’s the kind of information I need to know to avoid getting killed, the kind of information that’s useful as a local, and the kind of information that can boost my survival rate?” Foreigner awaited for answers from his guide.

“We can start with the information to avoid getting killed first, because I’d get a reprimanding from Peepers if I just ‘forgot’ some information again. You’re already familiar with the Ensemble and you’re now aware of the curfew.” The two slinked from the streaming crowd into a less crowded roadway, probably a shortcut of Foxtails. “The Backstreets are deadly at all times, which means you should be carrying a weapon at all times. Doesn’t matter if it’s as big as your cement borer or as small as my steel cleaver,” with a flick of her wrist a knife with a blade length of my hand appeared, the metal shimmering in the light with a traceable zigzag pattern at its core, “You carry a weapon and you’ve got to be prepared to use it when there’s no other option.”

No wonder the civilians were either vacant of their surroundings or armed for war. “Oh, there’s also the District rules.” Foreigners eyebrows furrowed.

“The District rules?” He asked.

“Yeah, the District rules. I only know it’s something worth mentioning because Peepers has been to another District before and he said they ran things differently where he’s from. Anyway, the District rules are simple; the first one is that you can’t knock on the wall that separates us from the Outskirts.” She began. He held his tongue to ask more about this Outskirts and why she would know about the wall knocking.

“The last rule is that you can’t have a device that tells you the time. We’re allowed to gauge time with alarms or markings or using the sun, although that won’t be effective most of the time due to our proximity with the lingering Smoke in the Outskirts,” she trailed off, running over to a door with a faded neon sign above. The symbol on the sign depicted a singular bundle of cables spreading outward in a bouquet like pattern, each strand a distinct color from the black mass of its origin. “We’re here. We can talk about this place when we’re inside.” She opened the door and walked in. Foreigner followed suit and was pleasantly welcomed with the sound of music. The voice of a woman singing a somber melody on fuzzy instrumentation carried forth from stacked shelf to stacked shelf. There were no customers, only devices with lenses, cabling, and more obscure purposes he couldn’t put his finger on.

“Hello? Is anyone back there?” Foxtail was at the shop counter repeatedly mashing her hands on a bell, peering over into the doorway with merely a black curtain obscuring the view. Lights flickered where the black curtain did not meet the ground with sparks of blue, yellow, and white. It was a bit, with Foxtails persistence, that the lights abruptly stopped and an individual emerged from the back end. Their face was vacant in a different way, as if they registered your presence and the presence of everything else with this thousand yard stare. Their black hair was cropped short with wires interwoven and extending slightly beyond their natural hair length. Their skin was sallow, burnt in sections, and covered in a thick black film in others. They wore overalls and a grease smeared white T-shirt.

“If you are looking for the Meister, he is not here. If you are looking to purchase something, bring something up.” They stated in a monotone, waiting for a response from Foxtail or Foreigner. Foxtail took the initiative.

“Hello. You are Jin, correct?” Foxtail asked.

“Correct. This is Jin. If you are looking for the Meister-” Jin was cut off.

“No, no. You will do as well. My name is Foxtail and your client is Foreigner here.” Jin responded with the mildest frowns.

“I am merely an apprentice. I cannot sully the name of the workshop by producing subpar work and as an apprentice, all work is subpar.”

“I’m pretty sure that Peepers wouldn’t have asked us to talk to you specifically if he didn’t believe in you.”

“Peep...ers? I am unfamiliar with this name.” Foreigner and Foxtail looked at one another.

“He’s a kid about this tall,” Foreigner gestured with his hand, “Scrawny looking. He has shimmering eyes like colored glass? Soft but well spoken? Ring any bells.” Jin stared blankly at the both of them before making a slight nod.

“I understand. I know him by another name but the description is the same. Come, follow me into my station. We can talk away from prying eyes and ears back there.” Once more, the two looked at one another with puzzled glances before following the individual past the black curtain.