You know the drill! If you have any comments or complaints regarding my playing, please feel free to post them here. Anonymous is ｏｎ, comment screening is　ｅｎａｂｌｅｄ, and IP logging is　ｏｆｆ. Have at it! o/

[When the feed clicks on, you can see Marta kneeling down to brush the hair out of a--presumably dead--body's face. Anyone who looks close enough might be able to recognize it as Netherlands, but otherwise it just seems like a somewhat odd action. She sighs.]

You know, this really isn't the picnic by the seaside you said we could have on my birthday.

[She stands back up, taking a look at the communicator, but when she notices that it was already recording she just gives a half-smile. She just--she doesn't even know how to react to things like this anymore.]

I'm not the only one seeing bodies this time around, right? I woke up today only to open the door to the dead bodies of a lot of my friends, the ones who aren't even here anymore. Man, talk about the worst birthday present ever. I'm 17-years-old and all I have to show for it is having died twice and not being able to leave this place once for a whole year. Happy birthday to me.

[It was certainly interesting to say the least, waking up in the hospital only to find that the people who should have been waiting for you weren't there at all. The sight of the hospital room ceiling was all too familiar, what with her having died before, but at least then... there was someone who responded to her right away. Rushing back home only to find an empty apartment--there was no way to even describe it.

Maybe they'd come back though. Sure it sucked being dragged here, but to have been gone being dead or who knows where while they all left? That was just too much.

But here she was, still alone, in an apartment she'd helped build to share but was completely alone in.]

So... would you say it's pretty safe to say that someone's not coming back after three or four weeks? It seems pretty silly to keep waiting on a slim chance like this.

Oh, but this reminds me! [She puts on a smile, but it's obvious that it's not a very real one.] If anyone's looking for a place in Discedo, the place I'm at is pretty open! It's, uh--jeez he picked a long name for it--the Christian Frederick apartments! A lot of us helped build it and it looks really nice to be honest, I'm not just bragging, and... yeah.

It'd be nice to see people here is all.

[For anyone in Discedo today, they might come across the unfamiliar sight of a girl riding through town on a chocobo. She's laughing exuberantly, seemingly quite glad to be in a decrepit and ruined city. Then again, you probably would be too if you spent the last few weeks camping near some people who were ready to shoot you...

In any case though, she'll be stopping by quite a few places today, including:

A. The barn! It's been a while since she was able to check up on it, and she really wasn't happy with having to leave it in the first place.
B. The harbor/port area. Unlike earlier, she seems a bit... sad actually. Her earlier cheer is gone, and she's looking out over the water solemnly.
C. ANYWHERE. Seriously, we've got a girl riding through the whole city on a giant bird. Feel free to say something.

And later, she turns on her communicator.]

Hey, maybe I just missed something over the network or while I've been out of the city, but does anyone know what those big box things are? I don't really remember them being here before.

Hey, has anyone heard from Netherlands recently? I tried contacting him but... his frequency didn't really work I think. [Yeah, she's pretty sure that means he's gone, but she can't help but hope.] Just thought I'd try asking about it. Thanks.

[There's a sigh then a tiny mutter right as she clicks the feed off.] You said we'd go on a summer picnic...

Wait, we're doing this again? We're kinda busy you know, we don't have time for this!

[Oh, wait a sec. She has one request.]

Okay fine, I don't really care anymore, but just no more dead people! That was just weird.

[So you know how in movies and stuff people can run around and play in the rain and it's totally cool they'll never get sick or mild colds or anything like that. Yeah well. This is Discedo and not a movie so obviously things have to be ten times worse than they usually are.

Which is why Marta is in bed and looking rather miserable.]

Honestly, when's the last time I caught a cold... Does anyone know what else you can do besides rest to get rid of a cold? I'm tired of staying in bed all day. There has to be something you can do.

Can someone explain to me what this is?

[A fully-inflated life jacket appears on the camera, Marta's confused face just behind it. This... thing makes no sense to her okay, technology was not a specialty of Sylvarant.]

I tugged on this string on it earlier and it sort of just... sprang to life. Is it supposed to be some sort of clothing or something? I can't say it looks that good if it is.

[She's about to turn the communicator off when she remembers something at the last second. Her smile shrinks a bit, but she keeps it up as best she can.]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone would want to help out with the barn a bit? With Rika and her friends gone, I thought we could use a little more help around there. Just wanted to let everyone know.

[There's a tumbling noise and a clatter as Marta's communicator falls down to the ground and switches on to video, its shot from the floor revealing her half-carrying and half-dragging the familiar form of Norway. In fact, when she's finally finished and places him down, you can see quite a number of people propped up against a wall: Denmark, Iceland, Billy, and Pamela--all unconscious.

She's visibly shaking, trying to make sure they don't start falling over each other, and she doesn't even bother to try and hide it when she walks back to pick up her communicator.]

D-Does anyone know what's going on? I d-don't think this has ever h-happened before. Everyone just s-suddenly collapsed a-and I don't know what to do--

[She sobs, once, and sinks down to the floor to cry. The communicator shuts off as she drops it once again.]

[Good day to you Discedo! Were you enjoying your average, normal day? That's about to change as the feed switches on to reveal some sort of... purple, crusty creature. Are those scales? Who even knows. Whatever it is, the camera finally moves away from it to show a somewhat confused-looking Marta.]

Does anyone know if this thing is edible? We caught it in the lake, so it's probably a fish... at least, I think it's a fish.

[Someone steps into view then, and lo and behold, it's everyone's favorite blond: Seifer.]

It's a fish... Tch... What else would it be.

[He is obviously real unimpressed with this bizarro aquatic creature. There's some headshaking and he takes the thing away from Marta.]

It was still kickin' when we caught it wasn't it? What's the worse that could happen?

[He'll just be cutting that sucker up yeah who wants fish fillets.]

Er, still, you don't have to start gutting it right now... [Seriously, broadcasting this was not what she had in mind.] Besides, if you're worried about food, don't worry! I packed a lunch earlier, so we can just split it.

[With that, she reaches around to pull out a deceptively nice-looking lunch box and switches off the comm.]


[ooc: Orange is Marta and pink is Seifer! They'll be replying to tags separately. o/]

[So after appearing back at who-knows-what-time, Marta had simply been too tired to get up from where she was. Three days' worth of exhaustion had finally caught up with her, and she had slept right on the ground for practically the whole day.

Which was why when the video turned on, one could see a pool of dried and in-the-middle-of-drying blood circling around her. With how long and soaked her hair was, it was a surprise she could even lift her head up. Miraculously though, the flower-shaped hair accessories are still clean; even in that place, they were too important to her to get dirty.

Looking into the camera finally, she opens her mouth, then closes it. The process repeats a few more times, as if there's so much she wants to say but simply... can't.

She finally settles on something.]

... I'm back.

[And with that, the device shuts off.]

[For anyone who usually sees Marta, she hasn't been anywhere she's supposed to be today--not at the apartment building project, not the cafe, not even her own place. When she finally does make an appearance, this time over the network, it's obvious that she's been in a few run-ins with some monsters. She's dirty, probably covered in some miscellaneous monster blood/guts, and breathing kind of hard when she looks into the camera.

Basically, she looks exhausted.]

Has anyone seen Emil? I haven't seen him all day, and when I try to contact his frequency thing-- [She stops herself; she refuses to even consider him having actually left.] W-Well, you never know when something might have happened, right? I don't know, he just... isn't responding. I'm worried.

Anyways, he has blond hair and green eyes--no, wait, he might have red eyes right now. Um, if you have seen him and he had red eyes, sorry for whatever he said. It was probably a bit of a hassle.

[Shaky laugh goes here.] Right then. Thanks in advance.

[ooc: For anyone who wants action, she's at the barn right now! Tending to her chocobo listlessly while he makes concerned chocobo sounds at her, but at the barn nonetheless.]

I was just wondering... is there any medicine that can help you go to sleep earlier? Or keep you from dreaming? Some anti-motion sickness medicine would be nice, too, but this is more important right now. I can't remember the last time I slept this badly. It's like I can't stop dreaming about Mom...

[Dying, basically. The same memory of her getting crushed to death by a giant, rampaging tree, not to mention the whole town being destroyed by it.]

Ah, well, that's it I guess. [She gives a weak smile and moves to turn the communicator off, but as she looks down into it her expression suddenly changes: surprise, confusion, fear.]

Wha... what is this...

[There's blood all over her hands, and the communicator drops as she brings them closer to her face, completely forgotten as she doesn't even see it anymore. Whose blood is this? Certainly not hers, right? But when she looks down again--]

Dad... dy? Daddy?

[It's her dad, lying on the ground dead with his chest covered in blood--and Marta's weapon stuck in him. There's a short cry before she collapses on the ground, sobbing hysterically.]

N-No! Daddy, wake up, please wake up! This wasn't, I didn't--I knew I had to defeat you, but not like this, anything but this! I never wanted this, so p-please! Please, wake up...

Fires, visitors, new monsters... jeez, does anyone know what's going on in this place? Sure, it might be silly to actually expect the peace and quiet to last, but that doesn't mean tons of things have to happen all at once now.

Though I'm kinda curious now. Were those lizard monsters really that surprising? [She comes from a world of dragons and giant turtles don't blame her.] I haven't seen them before, but they didn't look all that special to me.

Everyone seems really excited today for some reason... what's going on?

[There's a sharp intake of breath followed by short, shallow gasps. It takes a while for it to even out, and when she speaks it's obvious that she didn't even know her communicator was on. So, guess who just came back to life?]

W-What? Where am... I?

[Then it all comes back to her. The soldiers, the fighting, getting shot and... dying. She starts crying, the sudden realization that she's alive and breathing both amazing and frightening.]

I-I'm alive. I'm actually alive... I can't believe it.