is it a toktik or is it a business ad? @chocobo

[mesospheric]

[ It begins with… a blink. Some guy with gravity-defying blond hair looks around, as if surveying the area for passer-by before he engages in what must surely be an embarrassing affair, like the filming of a TokTik. ]

This isn’t necessary, but—

Do you… need things done?

[ He sort of starts off strong before trailing off in classic Embarrassed Delinquent-esque reluctance. His eyes, locked ahead. His expression, stony. ]

For a fee, certain troublesome tasks can be done for you to satisfying completion. This includes but is not limited to: monster slaying, bodyguard duty, and… errands.

The fee will fluctuate depending on what a hassle I find it to be.

[ Another blink. Another look around. Something surely comes next, right? Damn. Is Cloud his own PR department? ]

… I look forward to working with you.

[ And just like that, the feed ends. ]

MERC WORK
contact Cloud Strife for more info

Comments

@ typhoon

[photosympathies]

This was so much suaver than when I told everyone I was a rent boy. Good job, buddy!

[mesospheric]

A
rent boy

Yeah wow, okay. I can agree on that without a problem.

[photosympathies]

I didn't know what it meant. I just wanted to be helpful.

( 🫠🫠🫠 )

I gave flyers to people on the street, it was real bad.

[mace_pray_love]

[just a lurker scrolling though the comments and getting scandalized, please disregard]

[photosympathies]

( HE'S NOT.

IT'S NOT ONE OF HIS FOUR JOBS, HE SWEARS. )

[shadowban]

you should add context whenever you bring this up, vash-san. it's a bit alarming.

[photosympathies]

...

Man, I did it again.

@Goldilocks

[likemybooks]

This was before we started wearing our new jackets right???

[PLEASE DON'T ASSOCIATE THEIR COOL CLUB WITH THIS]

@kon, text.

[shadowban]

i have an errand for you. how much?

[ no beating around the bush, okay. ]

[mesospheric]

[ Excellently forthright. ]

What is the errand? I don’t do flat rates.

@BAD DADDY

[zauneyete]

And what are your limits?.

[mesospheric]

Freebies.

@simba

[baeber]

[ Okay this is...new. Is this how mercenaries get work in the future? Not very clandestine, even if it's visible only to other Outsiders.

She will give him a pass. If only because he bears a passing resemblance to Bedivere. ]

How many years have you been a sellsword?

[mesospheric]

[ Now that’s a question he finds himself catching on. In a face-to-face conversation, he could just shrug it off, but the ocular is a traitorous entity, and it snags on the wreckage of his thoughts like clothes on barbed wire. ]

▊▊▊▊▊▊▊

fi▊ fiv v v year
s
five
o▊▊ 1
last ye▊▊
how many years have you been a sellsw▊rd?

For a while now. Long enough to know what I’m doing.

un: forgety

[misclassed]

The hell have you been doing to that sword? Hitting rocks with it?

[mesospheric]

[ well, yes, but also fu ]

Hitting kaiju mostly. What of it?

@greatvalue

[newphew]

At least you aren't telling everyone you"RE a rent boy.

[mesospheric]

[ Ah. There it is again. That unbidden twitch at his mouth. Sorry, Vash. ]

At least. At least I spared myself the gil by foregoing the flyers, too.

@Goldilocks

[likemybooks]

[Oh, come on. Taryon did better when putting out flyers seeking an adventuring party, though he was paying them to hang out with him, not the other way around.

That, and his two part-time jobs back home were more about one-on-one persuasion. But he's going to throw in his own advice!]

Where's the style? Where's the confidence? Are you going to put this advertisement out to the public? You need to keep your focus straight on the camera! Puff yourself up! Speak loudly!

Listen, I know a thing or two about getting people to come to you. How about showing us what you can do and proving that you're more than capable of handling monsters and bodyguard stuff?

[mesospheric]

[ Who’s this, a media agent?

Oh, no, it’s just that genteel guy with the moustache. ]

It’s already advertised to the public it needs to be.

Do you want a sideshow with all this? People will call or they won’t.

@litanytime

[mace_pray_love]

Great job Cloud! I'll hire you again next time I need something done.

[Although she probably still owes him from the last time he helped her out.]

[mesospheric]

As long as your pockets are deep enough, I’ll be there to do it.

[ or so he says, but he hasn’t asked anything for that time in Mexico, and his last pay from her was a carnival prize still holding down his shelf at base. ]

[shadowban]

what did he do?

@R.A.P.H

[redangelofpreventingharm]

I don't think I could afford anything right now but how are you with animals?

[mesospheric]

Not terrible. I can handle birds of various sizes and... large animals.

[ Does Red XIII count as one? Dog? Cat? Beast? Guy??? Whatever, fudging the details is the name of the game. ]