[At least, for once, this is an intentional video. He is, however, much more casually attired than usual -- which, in this case, means with no suit jacket, no tie, and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. And he appears to be leaning on a car, cigarette in hand, as ever, and an errant smudge of grease or two on his face.]

I have two questions for the City at large. Call it... research.

[One of those tiny, polite smiles, and then...]

First of all, if there were one thing you think this city is lacking -- and "a means of escape" isn't a valid answer here, I'm afraid, since we all want that -- what would it be?

[A long pause.]

Second of all, I've been informed that I'm in need of at least one "modern" outfit, whatever that means. Is anyone here willing to assist?

[ VIDEO ]

[The video clicks on, and Frankie is seated, looking serious and rather resigned, his arms folded on the table. He shifts a bit, somewhat uncomfortable, but doesn't look away.]

Halloween's done so I figured, maybe it'll calm down some, probably I should say something.

[He takes a breath, half a frown twitching his lip briefly.]

If something happened between you and me, one of those weekends, I'm sorry. That's about all I can say, 'cause as bad as I feel about it... wasn't me. Curses fuck everyone up.

Don't think there's much I can do to make it up, but we can talk if you want. If not, that works too.

[Truth be told he doesn't want to talk about it, but he can't shake the feeling that he should be trying to do something for anyone he hurt.

Without another moment's hesitation he reaches forward to turn the camera off.]

[Penny has been MIA since October thirteenth. Close friends and workers at the Centers knew about the first disappearance, when she stayed in the hospital until the twenty-third.

Fewer people know about her second disappearance. Suffice it to say, she never returned to work after the first visit.]

Last month was awful. I'm sure plenty of people're still recovering from it... and maybe there're a few who won't ever get over it completely. If you're one of those people, don't hate yourself for not being able to put everything behind you. What's important is that you're still here.

What I mean is... you know, life's hard. There're plenty of good and beautiful things in the world--in all worlds, I mean--but there's also pain and suffering. People get hurt for no reason, people die senselessly or way too young, children starve to death, zombies attack. It sucks. It really does. Almost everyone here has seen awful things... had awful things done to them. But we're all still doing what we can to live.

I'm not going to say that everything happens for a reason or that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger or anything like that. Everything just happens, and some of those things are terrible. Sometimes we can bounce back from terrible things. Sometimes they hurt us so much that we'll never be the same again. Either way, we keep on living. We keep appreciating beautiful things like love and sunrises. No matter how much we hurt or suffer, we hang on because we're strong enough to get through the bad to get to the good. The strength to do that comes from us, not from what happens to us.

It takes courage to live. I think that's what I'm trying to say. A lot of courage.

I hope everyone's doing okay.