So...you engineering people who said you'd work at getting the subway trains working again. Any luck with it so far? Or do we need to clear out more track to test?

And we need to go food hunting again soon, Gohl. Pantry's thinning out.

...You know, it's not so bad that Seifer went home. He sounded like he might've been getting sick.

Sometimes I think I spend too much time on my own block. Yorda? You go to those Sunday things at the high school for food usually, right? Maybe I'll meet you down there tonight. Or at the lights. I'll take you down. Your pick.

[There's an unusually lengthy pause when the communicator goes on, a hesitation before Prydain mumbles, disoriented. For those who know him, it's far from his usual, perhaps overly-emphasized sure-footed confidence.]

I....I forgot what I was even going to say...

Oh! I....just need some space to think. I've been pacing around the apartment all morning, and probably driving you crazy, so I'm...just going to go out for a walk, and-

And I don't know how long. Umi, you're in charge till I get back.

Some days, it all just has to circle right back around to square one. Hnph...

I'll just go scrounge up some new Kool Aid...or something.

The subways clearing project's been going okay...no major accidents with the monsters, or anything caving in.

I just hope we can really get all the way through to Dissimulo before spring.

Guess there's going to be none of all that crazy 'Discomas' stuff this year, huh.

Also, does anybody know what's up with the high school? The practice staffs kept falling off the racks this morning, and the gym doors kept- Is someone playing pranks?

( [Private to Roxas, Namine] )

( [Gohl Lock]] )

Hah! This again?

Well...Fourth time's a charm.

Maybe there's some old faces around.

It's been a whole year since we fixed this place up, after the Heaven's Smile blew up our front stoop and the stairs, and part of the roof fell in.

...another time to sit back and think "A year moves fast". Gohl was a lot different then.

It feels like something big is missing, without Iroh and Beat and now Haseo around. Especially ol' Coldfoot. He was one of us since practically the beginning. After Kadaj, my second friend, really. He'll go back to his World now, find Shino and Ovan and all of them he was always talking about.

Maybe it's time I start looking forward. Memories aren't something that...usually change, and I don't want them to.

A new ladder to replace the part of the rope that've rotted from so much of being used, and I'll need to check the rest of my fix-up list.

I should be down to the gym soon for practice! Then back to the subway work. How's everyone else been doing on the clearing-out? Run into any big trouble down there?

[Prydain's got a spread of masks in front of him, trying to choose one to wear. There's a small pile of candy wrappers beside them.]

It's almost funny, what these scientists always think are everyone's biggest priorities.

But...well I guess it's something interesting, for a change.

And has anyone seen that zetta freaksho around? I was serious when I said 'get that garbage off our walls'.

Yeah, yeah, usually when I've got something to say, Discedo, it doesn't have a whole lot to do with most of you. But this time it's a plan that's too big for just my own friends, so...

After going to Dissimulo and seeing the situation of there for myself, talking it over with some people, my long-term project plan's got three main parts.

Phase 1) Clearing out the Discedo subway station, and the Bonito Line of tracks all the way to Dissimulo. That means doing a full sweep of all monsters, getting rubble off fallen in parts and fixing it up down there. We need strong fighters and builders, and some volunteers to help move around the debris. Even if we do it in teams, it'll probably still take us most of the fall and winter, but that's okay.

Phase 2) Engineers and people good with technology and science: It's your job to get the subway trains back on track. Make a new generator for the station and get it running- I've got no clue how that works, so it's all you. Maybe fix up the inside of the cars, so they're better for cargo supplies.


...So now there's a way to get back and forth between them quickly, without trooping up that mountain, or going through the woods that's harder to keep clear of monsters. Which leads us up to-

Phase 3) Expansion! Come spring, we'll start a new farm colony up in Dissimulo. I've been up there and there's much more space, the houses are more spread out, there's a big field we crossed to get there. The ground doesn't look as bad, the ash probably helped fertilize it. So with the seeds Yorda's got, and maybe more, plus maybe setting up another barn and butcher house there, we can have a settlement and make all of Discedo's fresh food, then train it back to the main part of the city. Some would stay up there to keep us permanent, and others could just go back and forth on the train to work in the field.

So. What do you think?

...And has anybody seen Riku around lately? At all? 'Cause I've got a bone to pick with Mr. Chocobo.

Whoever can tell me anything about who was responsible for doing that to Namine, and who's willing to bring him in, gets all the help me and mine can offer you.


[Private, Gohl Residents]

Think we all need to sit down together and get back in touch. It feels like...stuff's gotten a bit out of line, and we've gotta start over with organizing things before cold sets in again.

And...well, because we're friends. And we shouldn't just work all the time. So Umi's got...some surprise planned, with food, and you'd all better be there!


[ooc: Yes, I'll put up a backdated log up for tomorrow, that'll take place IC this evening]

"Dissimulo." [He reads, off a fallen over sign that once welcomed people at the edge of town. The population part's been scratched off, as well as the founding date. Communicator's video is a bit grainier than usual, but you can see the desolate buildings, a lot more fallen in, and the gaping crevace down the center street. Ash thickly blankets the ground.]

...Well this is our first real stop, looks like.

They must've been much closer to the volcano up here. The whole town's still sooty, and it's a mess. Looks like it's more of a country town, than a city like Discedo.

We'll check out all the houses, see what supplies are left around.

So far, nobody's hurt or anything...so no worries! What a hike, though! How's it all going back in the city?

Slower slogging through this forest than last time.

Was it so steep uphill then, too? Or maybe it's just all this mud leftover from the August snow that's left things such a mess.

Anyway. No reavers yet, but  we <i>did</i> catch a quick look at a rabbit the size of a <i>polar bear</i> yesterday. Shame we didn't carve that one up for meat, huh? But we got out of there fast. Also, there's some nasty plant things....anyway, no twisted ankles yet, even Pence is keeping pace alright. (I'm sure he's got an even better report, being team 'historian' or whatever we're calling him and everything) We'll see how our luck holds out, till we get up to that bridge.

Sometimes it feels like there's only a few people around here who actually care about making enough of a life in this place to stay. I guess lots of you count on getting your day where those scientists will pull you out of here, back to wherever-you-come-from-home.

Just for the record, I never have. And I never want to. I'd rather them keep their hands off and leave me here, now that they've taken the trouble of putting me in the place.

...But that's no reason to keep to the city.

I've almost got all my own stuff for the trip together. Check in with me, this is last 'I'm In!' call for everybody who I've already talked to about going. We head out Monday morning from the east end of the shipyard, Tuesday if the fog's bad.

About that exploring team plan...

If nothing too crazy happens in the next two weeks, and as long as those reavers don't keep attacking my place, I think we'll be set to go out. So...we'll plan on leaving then, okay? Everybody who said they'd get supplies ready, you've got two weeks.

And since we should expect colder weather to creep up on us again soon, I'm guessing, lets make a to-do list for stuff around here that needs some serious work put in.

[Private, to Namine]
You wanted to talk about something?

So there's another slew of monsters running around, huh?

Gohl House, I think we've all been around here long enough to know the drill.

We hold the fort, and we'll rotate shift to start holding a line to keep these things off the block...and make sure we're careful with our supplies!

And if you mean to go help out down at the Hospital, good luck to you, but you're on your own...anyone who leaves forfeits sanctuary till we come off the lockdown.

Good news! Found something lucky out in the melting snow, while digging out. Looks like a big dogpile of those gator-sharks beached up and froze along the edge of the lake, down by the water treatment plant. At least we get something good out of this crazy cold snap. Don't know how long they've been buried dead there, but if anyone wants to thaw out some meat...

Heh. One thing I know: Gohl's eating good tonight.

So while we're waiting for the snow to melt, I need to know how many hands we've got on deck here.

Some of us in Gohl are planning to go on an expedition once the weather's a little better, see if we can get back up to that Ghost town maybe, if it's any easier to explore the rest of the buildings there this time around, or try crossing the lake once the ice floats thaw off.

So far Layton, Umi, Pence, Sanji...who else is in for a team? You've gotta have skills to hold your own and keep up. So that's me for leading, an inventory man, water and magic, a cameraman, a cook... we also could probably use a medic or something, and a few more good fighters.

If there's enough people who wanna get out of this place for awhile, maybe we could even make two teams, go off in two directions. See if there's anything useful to find. We've sure been stuck here long enough.

...what's the story, anyway, with all these people getting sick? It's not some mutant form of the Atropos virus, is it? Maybe those scientists have got some way of shoving the vaccine for it in the chips now, so that when you take it out...hnh. Well I'm glad I've taken the shot for that already.

That mountain...

Come next month, it'll be a whole year since I've really been that far outside the city. It's been feeling so boxed in.

Last time there were ghosts in that town that's not far off, but...would anybody be brave enough to try it again? Maybe when the snow melts.

I just hope we can hold out for the rest of this summer-winter.

Just bat-things and broth for dinner again. This stupid snow, driving all the good game-monsters away. I'm about to give up on keeping the front stoop swept clear.

Okay, okay, I'll use this stupid thing!

Guess what? The weather's still miserable. I've been busy making sure the house doesn't fall apart or we don't run out of food

And we just got through our last packet of drink powder. The least you could do is send more Kool Aid, you lousy scientists.

Hey Shinji...if that roof of yours still needs the work, I'll give what time I can today, before that rain starts up.

And people who feel like living under my roof, free of acid burns, lets stock up what we can quick again and geez, all of you, please won't you stay inside this time when things go bad!? (Yeah Pence. I'm looking at you.)

...and since this isn't a Kingship I'm running at Gohl or anything, if you think we need anything else, speak up.

What a miserable month it's been here, huh?

[Prydain is sitting on the couch in Gohl's first floor frontroom, in hunched over the coffeetable, which is spread with some damp thin rags that look like they might be cheese cloth, a roll of duct tape, rubber bands, some double sided velcro strips and some other loose scrap materials made of rubber and foam.]

It's like a snowfall of ashes out there, and I'm this close to gagging on the stuff every time I step outside...

So I thought, since this could be a problem for awhile, and especially with Haseo's asthma close to acting up, I'd try to make some breather masks, to go over mouth and nose...  [He holds up two or three makeshift attempts.] does anyone have any better bright ideas on how to put these together?.

I haven't been out yet today, but it's true what you're all saying? The whole city was covered in darkness?

Guess the monsters have been shaken up and lying quiet for now too. I was expecting a lot more. There's no...place where anything fixed exploded, right?

In the morning when the sky clears, I'll head back up to check building damage, but for now I at least think Gohl's still standing. If we've got to it that dumb roof one more time...

I just hope everyone else has got enough supplies to hold out. But we'll get through it. Us here in Discedo always have.

Haseo, Iroh, and anyone else who decided to go out and play rescue brigade, I really hope you plan on getting back in here soon. We'd feel a lot better knowing everyone's accounted for.

There's been a little...rumbling, like something's moving under the ground. I don't like the looks of that.

After those chimera's came up from the sewers and those subways opened up last summer, if there's anything like round two coming up, I wanna be ready.

So to be on the safe side, I'm calling it a stock day today, Gohl. I know it's some....wish-holiday or something, but we can it celebrate later.

If you're free now, come help fill up inventory for the cellar. Report in with what you've got, and 'cause we can't afford any more people getting hurt in house, please go out together with someone. Later we'll talk emergency plans, since there's newer people in the house who've never been through something like big monster seiges before. How to hold down a fort right, like we've always done here.

The rest of you in the city should be on your toes too. We've had trouble from shaking ground before...if you want your evidence, go take a good look at the upstairs on Marshall Street. Make plans with your friends... the worst thing is to be caught unprepared.
( Private- Namine, Yorda, Zoro )

A whole year now, since that earthquake when the Chimera-things attacked, and people got buried underground in that subway tunnel.

And look, Marshall Apartments are still (mostly) standing, somehow.

Looking back on a whole year of memories, its a shame its mostly always the big miserable things that stick. There have been smaller, nicer times, but those don't seem to stay so clear the same way. Only a few....the special ones.

You count up the things that changed, the stuff that's mostly the same, the people gone away and the newer ones now...and then you start wondering if you've changed too, at all.

[His voice is brisk but exhausted, over the quick sounds of boot steps hitting pavement.]

Gohl, I'll be back really quick. There's just something I've got to get back.

All of this has only taught me I've gotta keep a better eye on things. On all of my friends. 

And trust some who I assume are on my side a little less...but isn't that the sort of thing I've always been learning?

[a sigh]

So that was her...

I'm just glad it's not lost for good.

So what exactly has everyone figured out so far about this Monster Temper Tantrum Red Eye Disease-thing? Who's actually got it, and who's just angry that it's going around? Because I'm  pretty sure I'm still definitely the last of those two.

And Lucca? I can't believe you're actually using that brainwashing thing. You really are a crazy scientist just like all the rest of 'em.

Before I make the trip, does anybody who's ever made a run down to the hardware store place have any really tough wood glue? Beat the Incredible Powerkick Genius of Enthusiasm over here has done a good job setting the bolts back, but the doorframe's a little cracked and needs some more work for it to keep holding...

Oh, Riku. Is your friend okay and back yet... and are you coming over here or what?

( [Gohl Lock, also filtered from Hayner and Raidou] )

Hayner!

Where are you?

Just what do you think you're doing!

[He's a little quieter-toned than usual,  reflective. Or...maybe that's just measured, shallower breaths he's taking.]

It's been...a whole year, today, since we came back from going out on the lake. Another memory to look back on and think, 'Wow, its really been a year since then'. A year since everything with Torn and Razor in charge, and all those fights about who got to get their chips out, and the dead sea bird, and the shark-things and the jelly tubes and...all of that. (Umi, that week we went out- I never called you out on it, but...heh, you had all the girls over the building then, didn't you?)

Some of my friends have stayed the same since then, and there's also been new ones. I just never expected so much time to go past. Come a long way since.

Its nice to have memories that are all yours, and real.

...

Hn. Guess Beat's sister coming back has got me all...tch. All mush-hearted today or something.

....Yorda, I'm going to be up to help you, in a little while.

[And now we're back to the loudmouthed confident kid you're used to, although there's an awkward pause or two, a faint short hitch to his breath. Possibly some cracked rib pain he's hiding.]

Uh...So no slacking at Gohl, crew! There's stuff around that needs doing and the front door's gotta be put back on, and...probably some supplies, someone get on that, and...make sure we all know 'bout anything weird going on straight off... Also, say hello to Beat's sister Rhyme and to Alkaid, another one of Haseo's friends from 'The World'. Also, hey, who's getting chips out when again here? We need to know who's expected in and out of commission.

[There's a slight cough and a pained hiss, just before the communicator shuts off.]

Ahn-  Stupid noise things, 'm still shakin' it all off...

[The communicator pans up to show Fortuna's moons over the lake, nearly full, the horizon indistinct, but some stars are pixellated in, and the moonlight shimmers over the water. It's a nice view from someone's opened window.]

It's a nicer night at least. Getting warmer, soon we'll be baking in these stuffy buildings all over again.

[The communicator's leaned up on the windowsill, facing inward and although the dim light only shows blurred dark shapes, these look like fingertips held up close to the camera lens]

Hey look, see? My hands are almost like yours now, Yorda.

[His hands pull away, and he flops back onto his mattress arms behind his head on the pillow, level with the sill. You can just about see the whites of his eyes in the bad light.]

But...now that they're all in those bigger pots I found, I'm...gonna get back on training at the gym mornings now...I'll still help you on my breaks through, okay?

So! Sora's back, surprise surprise. You scientists really can't ever make up your minds, can you?

And would anybody mind telling me what happened with Beat today? I came back from supplies to hear what was that? Who's jumping my housemates now in the street, and who do I have a bone to pick with? You'll be soon sorry, zetta-boy, you didn't wanna start up something like this with my friends.

...That is, unless the police are taking their 'assault and battery' seriously this week or not. Who knows? Tch, so when's the trial for this jerk who killed Kadaj gonna be, anyway?

And Namine, tell me private later when you're getting your- We'd better start planning for how to figure that best so its safe for you and...well everyone.

[And greenhouse-dirt-caked-under-the-butterfingers here reaches over the casually turn the thing off...and the communicator falls over and tips out the window, taking a story fall and landing with a fainst shoomph in the lakeside sand bed, face up and remaining recording.  Prydain fumbles himself halway out the window to squint down and look for it in the darkness, the red light catching his eye quick. His voice echoes a little over the open air]

Tch-OW! [That was head meeting the top of the window frame] ...Well that was dumb of me! Ignore that!

[He dissapears back inside, and the recording eventually times out]

[There is no sound at first but a heavy, shuddering breathing, before a voice mutters low and thick, pained with guilt]

I'm sorry ... I'm really- I'm sorry Yorda...

Sorry... I had to. I know they're yours, my own...my gift, and you'll be mad at me, but It was either that or-

[The voice strengthens a little, a regretful sigh.]

There was a price, a sacrifice, and so I had to do it...I'm sorry. They were nice trees,

[OOC: SO! Everyone in the vicinity of the High School who's used to seeing lush greenery and those freakish elephant trees on the roof may notice a violet-black haze hovering like a blight-aura around them in the night. The apple and other fruit trees remain untouched, but all of the trees from the Christmas stocking seeds have been touched with Dark Firaga, blackened, twisted and shriveled to ugly fat stumps.]

The stars have returned. Slow, but the dark is fading.

I still don't know why. I asked it why, all day, and it didn't answer. My own doesn't feel as strong as it did back in Oblivion...or maybe it's just the rest of me that's caught up. Or maybe the Darkness just doesn't cooperate with me the same way it used to, who knows.

Don't really use it so much anymore, anyway. For hunting sometimes, but not needing it like I used to. Maybe it's jealous or something. I've got other things on my heart lately. I'm sure it wasn't Riku's Darkness covering the whole place, his would have made itself known louder. And Jackie's...his would've come knocking for a personal visit for sure.

And there weren't any more Heartless than usual- I'd feel that.

This can only mean there's someone else out there who knows it, who just set it free again. And I hope they know what they're doing.