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.

[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.]

So this is what a war's like, huh... [A bitter smile.] Daddy's so dumb.

[Marta's ducking behind a tree when the feed turns on. It's dark, but from what you can see she looks exhausted. Her wounds aren't terribly terrible, mainly glancing wounds and bruises, but days of fighting can really take your energy (not to mention, y'know, FRIENDS DYING). Still, she tries to brighten up when she looks into the camera.]

Hey, how's everyone holding up...? Netherlands, Tir? And, uh, Sora and... Quatre... [She starts trailing off, the exhaustion finally catching up with her as her eyelids struggle to stay open. Gathering your thoughts is hard when you're dead tired and adrenaline just isn't enough.]

Hey, where's the hospital again? I'm running out of bandages...

[Guess who hasn't been updating her communicator? There's a slight hiss from the shock as Marta looks into the communicator, and she's pouting as she starts addressing it.]

So I guess these things really do shock you... man, how creepy.

[There's a pause, and her frown turns into a more worried look than irritated.]

Hey, are there any apartments that can hold a chocobo? I haven't really been living in one, but with what's been happening recently... it just suddenly seemed like a good idea.