[ she's put this off for almost a month now. what with looking out for madoka, keeping an eye on oriko mikuni, examining the surrounding areas and moving in with three other magical girls... there simply hasn't been time for something as frivolous as this. nonetheless, it's something that needs to happen at some point, and thus she has holed herself up in her room with her tablet at the ready.

today is the day homura akemi finally contacts the network.

when the feed comes on, a young woman with long black hair can be seen. some of you may already know her, for any number of reasons; her cool, formal demeanor is in effect as always, even if it's significantly less icy than it's been over the past few weeks. ]

My name is Homura Akemi. I arrived here a little over one month ago, and I've been working on settling in ever since. [ her words have a certain practiced, muted tone to them, as does the slight bow she gives the camera. ] It's nice to meet you all.

[ she closes her eyes, takes a breath, exhales- when she finally opens her eyes again, she resumes speaking in that controlled way of hers. ]

If the network is reliable, I've been to this place several times already. As such, some of you have likely met me before. I'd be very interested in meeting with anyone I once knew.

[ a slight pause, another breath, and then- ]

Thank you for your time.

[ and with that, she unceremoniously reaches out and closes the feed. ]

So.

[The haphazard mass of glass bottles covering this little worktop vary considerably in shape and size, but there's one thing all of them appear to have in common: the opaque white liquid visible inside them. If you squint, several of the bottles also have condensation running down the sides; they can't have been out of the fridge for that long. One of them, towards the front, is half empty, and therefore probably the most exciting thing on the scene.

But if you only had audio to go by, you could be forgiven for getting the impression that Ed just tied an unconscious puppy to some train tracks. He sounds like he's about five seconds away from hauling off and driving over it himself, too. It's a good thing he's not recording his face right now.]

Who wants some of these? C'mon, don't be shy - it's your lucky day. Plenty to go around. Unit 302. Offer ends soon. Just come up and take it.

[You might also notice that the fridge just off to the side still seems to be open. At least from this angle, it looks a little bare...]