video;

[keep_smiling]

[Exsilium might not be expecting to see a smiling face on their network so soon after the battle, but that's what you get with this guy being among your ranks. He gives the camera a little wave.]

Hello! Is everyone recovering from the battle? It's good that the Initiative can resurrect people, don't you think? Otherwise that would have turned out rather badly.

Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to the people who tried to come to the rescue of my world. If we've not met, I'm Elmer C. Albatross, the person who was sent back. After what happened, it might be hard to think about this positively. But there's a few things we can take to heart! Like the fact that people can be ressurrected, or that while one world may have been taken over, it probably wasn't your world, and you might still be able to return to your own someday!

As for mine, well... Not much can be done about that, now. I suppose Exsilium is my home, now. The friends I was travelling with are like me, so they'll survive no matter what. I just hope someday things will return to normal there, so the survivors can find reasons to smile again! You're all still here, fellow transports, so I hope you continue to smile on as well!

Comments

[keep_smiling]

My world? Yes, I need to get back to someone there eventually :)

[whatsupcroc]

Okay. Then we'll get it back.

[keep_smiling]

Now that's the right attitude! =D

[whatsupcroc]

It's one you share, I bet. We need to igure out if the Initiative actually has information about where in the UE these guys oeprate out of with portals. They had a spy once. That information might still be good.

[keep_smiling]

It is! Spies, huh... Has the Initiative ever tried the reverse? I have some experience in this area, though it's been a few hundred years. :)

[whatsupcroc]

Yes. But I think that any talk on this is better in person?
Geez, and with a few other people I know good at stuff like that. Feel like going out to tea?

[keep_smiling]

Good idea, I agree! I would love tea.

[whatsupcroc]

Say, meetcha down in the lobby or out in the courtyard in a few hours for tea?

[keep_smiling]

Sounds good to me! I'll be sure to wear my best smile. /o/

[whatsupcroc]

( A few hours later, Collette's there, readjusting a scarf around her neck. It's well into spring, and the weather keeps tending toward wintry!

She waits, sitting in her wheelchair, and looks out every so often to the light rain of the outdoors. Not a bad day, for Exsilium. )

[keep_smiling]

[Elmer does show up, giving Collette a wave and a smile.]

Hi there! Are you my friend for tea this lovely afternoon?

[whatsupcroc]

It's gray and gross, but yes, that's me! Mind giving me a push while we pick a place?

( It's an offer she never makes, because she wants to talk as they go; easier to do so this way. )

[keep_smiling]

That's a good as it gets here! And sure, not at all.

[He does so, with a smile of course.] Is there somewhere nice to go here for tea? I haven't noticed any yet.

[whatsupcroc]

Then you seriously haven't been looking!

( She announces promptly. )

Head three blocks south, then turn left, and go four blocks that way. After we hit the light, turn right. There's a great place over there!

( Once they're moving outside, she pipes up again. )

Are you in shock?

[keep_smiling]

You got it! [He trots along at a good pace.]

Hmm, no, I don't think so. Perhaps. A lot of people seem to think I am, because of what I said earlier. But it's how I truly feel.

[whatsupcroc]

That's messed up.

( Blunt. Her eyes aren't smiling, not like her lips. )

I get focusing on the bright side, but you either gotta let out the sad parts, or you're crazier than some of the people out here. Which isn't all bad!

( But she wonders, hesitating before mentioning what she really wanted to in the first place. Was talking about stuff with him really going to go over well? )

It's probably shock.

[keep_smiling]

[It helps being crazy to start with. He shrugs lightly, his expression unchanging.] Maybe! Ask me how I am in a few days, then. Maybe the answer will be different. [Spoiler alert: it won't be]

[whatsupcroc]

Okay. I will!

( and so she shall! )

Now, first off... what kinds of tea do you like?

[keep_smiling]

All kinds. Blame my English blood. I think I like green the best, though.

[whatsupcroc]

They've got good green tea. You're originally from England?

( She's curious to hear this! )

Does the way this England is bother you a little?

[keep_smiling]

I was born there, and lived there as a kid, but it's almost so different that I don't even know if I can compare it. I was born in 1690, after all. After that I lived in Italy for a few years, and then I just kept travelling.

[whatsupcroc]

Elmer... how old are you?

[keep_smiling]

Three hundred and twelve years young, if you must know!

[whatsupcroc]

Woah! That's a lot of years young! You're not quite human in the way I know it, huh? What are you?

( So intensely curious! )

[keep_smiling]

That's correct. I'm an immortal! Drank an elixir that gave me eternal life.