[As if the cries about some evil soul has filling the pool with piranhas wasn't bad enough later in the evening another alarm goes off. The SOS activates, the shrill noise piercing through the city with the sight of long pink hair falling to the ground as if just cut. Suddenly the world is spinning, the fading light of the sun washes everything for a moment before there’s a splash and the entire image blurs. Silence fills the feed, the light twisting and dancing along the surface of the water.

Towards the edge of the lake a piece of paper flaps a little, folded in half pinned there along with a few of the locks of hair. The message is written in a manner that is made to look almost identical to the graffiti that had been painted on the walls on day 517. It reads “The ashes of your existence will fertilize the soil for the universe to follow.”

Yuiko is nowhere to be found and the bracelet will be sitting in the water at Gefion Park. There won’t be much else there, no signs of a struggle, or of any unusual traffic accept for a Longtoothed Reinhare that seems rather distraught.]

[After having his bracelet returned to him, Soushi was having a difficult time readjusting to his current situation in the city. It was as thought all the memories, all the guilt, and all the emotions that were haunting him had returned at full strength; or, maybe, it had doubled in strength while he was grey. Whatever the case may be, he felt sick to his stomach. Very sick. But even so, he can be found sitting in one of the benches at the park, head lowered to the ground as he begins his latest transmission.]

...it would seem I have returned from the grey spell. I am uncertain over the length of time I had vanished, but it feels as thought it was a while... [There will be a pause before he admits.] ...my chest hurts, and I currently feel nauseous...

[Then there will be silence as he tries to find a neutral tone to his voice. Allowing his more formal tone of voice to return instead of the hollow and quite voice he was currently offering.]

( what's new, asgard? other than having a sick guy asking friendship and self-worth questions in the end there )

[ it has been a while since Kaworu showed his face and made a post, hasn't it? This time around he is at the park. His really pale skin is red from the sun - probably burnt, too, because Kaworu is like an albino - and it's obvious he is feeling the heat, but he is sitting under a tree in the shade ]

Hello. [ have a gentle smile, everyone! ] I hope everyone is alright, even though recent events show us it is getting more dangerous. Even so, there is still much to see and learn in this world. Only recently I've found there are small fans to place inside houses to refresh the place. [ yeah he didn't know about that sort of fans )8 ] Even after so long here, there is much for me to learn.

I suppose it makes me curious: what is the most fascinating thing you have seen in this world?

I do have another question. [ but of course. And it'll be a bit more personal ] After the war has ended and if the Gods and the travelers win, would you wish to stay in this world, or would you rather return? And why?

[Seimei had made his way to the welcome hall and sat in his room for some time thinking and studying. He didn't like it, having to stay so close to others; going so far as to being forced to share a bathroom with someone else. He had already locked to the door leading to the other from the inside so that it wouldn't open for the poor soul stuck with him.

There was no Neisei, no Soubi, nor were any of his other 'allies' to be found in Asgard. Instead there was a single name that he was able to recognize. First he would need to find someone to finance him, and a few contacts that he would be able to use, there were still a lot of things he needed to know about the gods as well, once he had that then he would be able to plan what to do next.

Starting the feed Seimei changes to a bright smile and has a very upbeat tone to his voice.]

It seems there are a lot of things to adjust to here. And it's very nice of them to give us a place to stay, but I was wondering if there was anyone that had a place that might offer a little more privacy. I would prefer somewhere that might be a little quieter and easier to think in.

I would be willing to compensate you for it of course once I am able to find employment.

Also there have been several people who seem to have recognized me, but I'm afraid that there is only one person that I know here. So if you could please introduce yourselves once again it would be helpful.

[Filtered to Ritsuka.]
Ritsuka, I'm here.

Um, hi everyone. I have a question... [ Madoka pops onto the feed with a black cat snoozing on her lap and an icepack balance precariously on her head. She looks as though she hasn't been sleeping well. ]

Has anyone else felt sick, lately? I know people were having memory problems, and hearing sad voices, but I'm wondering if it was just me. I usually don't get fevers or stuff like that, but this is...um, concerning. There's no way I can shoot straight with this kind of vertigo. [ a tiny sigh, and adjusting the ice pack ] And it hasn't gone away.

O-Oh, but I'm not saying this to worry anyone...! Just in case. All things considered, I think I'm doing okay.

[ she makes to disconnect the feed before thinking a moment, and adding quietly ] And Homura-chan, Sayaka-chan, Mami-san, Kyouko-san, Ikezawa-san, if any of you guys are still here...please give me a call, okay? Thank you.

[Yuiko was scared, she was terrified. She had been trying to hide it with a smile and laugh as she talked to others on the network but between the nightmares and now people telling her it was useless and the worlds would rot and die anyways, Yuiko felt sick to her stomach. Crying hadn't helped much either, but finally she managed to put a little courage together.

She had to at least try, wasn't that everyone had told her. She was still a little shaking when she started recording her message, he ears folded back slightly and her expression still uncertain in what she was doing.]

I was wondering if there's anyone that could teach me how to use the powers that we have here. I haven't used it at all, and don't know if it will be helpful but I want to try.

I want to help. There a lot of people important back at home, but also there's someone important here too I want to keep safe. [Yuiko blushes a little thinking about it]

I'd do anything it takes to help.

[It's immediately clear that Ryan looks and feels like death warmed over. He's exhausted, pale to the point of looking almost ill, disheveled-- and there's none of the usual expressiveness in his weary face, no interest as he looks at the feed. No light in his eyes.

He pushes his hair out of his face, exhales; his tone is just as lackluster as his expression, utterly worn out.]

So. Guess we're hitting that point, yeah? You saw the message yesterday. It's not the only one, and I get the feeling neither of these is going to be the last. It's all starting to roll downhill. Unravel. Fall apart. Pick your overdone metaphor, it means the same damn thing.

[He stops there for a moment, with a brief false start before he shakes his head and continues on.] And what I want to know is- what are we even accomplishing, here? What are we doing-- we get told we're changing destiny, we're going to save the worlds, but you can see what's happening now. Maybe we delayed it but this is what happens when you try to fight what's meant to be, when you try to push at what wants to happen. It pushes back at you. It lets you know you can try all you damn well want, but it's going to have its way in the end. I mean, what-- it was supposed to be this war ending it, wasn't it? That final battle? We changed that. The Big One hasn't really gone down but just look at this, things are ending no matter what we do.

All of this, all of the shit we've done, it's a dam. That's all. It's holding the flood back as well as it can but it's still raining, isn't it? It's not going to stop raining. And eventually it's going to overflow no matter how high we keep building, because we can only do so much and this is bigger and more persistent than any of us are. We're just pulling the bandage off slowly and it's only going to hurt worse for that in the end.

[This time, the pause is longer. Ryan leans back away from the screen, the back of his chair propping him up, and just eyes the feed for a few moments; when he carries on again, there's finally something more to his voice, something hurt and angry and broken that rises while he speaks 'til it's near feverish.]

So what do we do now. Are we going to acknowledge it's not going to work, or are we going to keep at this while worlds shrivel up one by one? Are we going to keep pretending we're doing anything at all until not a single fucking person here has a home to save anymore? And what about us, what about the people who've already lost everything--

[It's there that his breath hitches, catching in his throat, and the anger floods out of him all at once. He almost visibly deflates, exhaling one more shaky breath, his voice small.]

What are we supposed to do now? Tell me that. What do we do now.

[Oh dear. This is definitely a bigger congregation than he's used to - and today he has even remembered he is supposed to be a Catholic priest. The thought that he'd forgotten his faith, even for just a few hours has him rattled, and he reasons that he can't be the only one.]

Good morning, Asgard. I know that things are hard on us all at the moment, and that some of the things that are happening are... disturbing, to say the least. [The sight of Margaret as a ghost will stay with him forever.]

I can't help you stop seeing the things we are being plagued with, but I can help you deal with it, offer some comfort, and for those of a religious persuasion like myself, a safe place to pray and seek guidance in peace. It's likely we all need moments of peace right now. Don't worry about which religious persuasion you follow - I'm used to dealing with many different faiths, and there's always some common ground.

[He grinds to a halt, not quite sure what to say now, instead giving a little wave to the screen that might or might not have been the sign of the cross.]

Now that Spring is here, almost. I thought I'd remind all the boys and girls of Asgard that I run a little survival group known as the Scouts after school. No popcorn or cookies, but hey, we have pocketknives. [ this is a totally legit bribe for small children, right? ] Plus we get to go camping. [ okay he might be a monster at heart but he seriously hates camping. hopefully they can kill some small animals or something before he loses it completely. ]

Speaking of... [ this is not related at all!! ] This is going to sound odd, but it is my job back home to worry about these sorts of things. I found a room? Spattered with-- [ should he say blood spatter in the same post as boys and girl scouts? he just doesn't know. ] Biomatter. [ because that's better. ]

No one that you know is... severely injured, are they? [ it was a lot of blood, okay. ]

So, yeah. Sign up with me, Dexter, or let Headmaster Snape know you're interested. In the Scouts. [ not blood, though that would also be relevant to his interests. tell him in private!! ] We start on Monday.

[ he gives a little salute at the screen, though it's clearly the nice-guy salute and not any sort of military gesture with how limp it is, followed by a bright smile. ]

[Seimei had actually slipped away from most of the activity. One might have seen this strange guy with cat ears and a tail, just like Ritsuka and his friends, roaming about the city. But he was busy chatting up the greyest locals, bugging them in various ways and with apparently intent curiosity. He was quite persistent, in fact, and showed no interest in the network! At least, it seemed that way...]

It's too bad there's no internet! It's so strange to not have the world's collective knowledge and curiosity at your fingertips. At least there's some video games that function well enough without the internet, even if I miss MMORPGs. Are there other video game fans? I'd love someone to play against - I need a good challenge. Hah, and those of you who are from worlds without video games... you should play them. They're good for you! They increase your brain's plasticity, or put more simply, they make you smarter.

[He's been skimming through the help wanted signs to decide where to get himself a little job. He'd like to buy himself some games, after all, and get at least one game that he can play with Ritsuka. Speaking of his little brother,]

Also, if anyone is a friend of Ritsuka's, I'd like to get to know them. I want to thank you personally for spending time with him while I wasn't.