[hey so Arthur's been practicing with this infernal device. so this post has more of an air of a Public Service Announcement than his shaky uncertain previous attempt. it will be slightly ruined by all the complaining he's about to do, but for the first few seconds he is a prince, composed and regal and everything.]

No matter what stupidity this city is visiting upon us, there are still matters that I have to take care of. I need to know, first, if there is any who comes from a place where sorcery and age are such a problem. How long can we expect people to be children? It's ridiculous. And with that, if there is anyone that sought training from Haruno Sakura, she is-- [this is so stupid and a pained look crosses his face momentarily.] --Well. Her defense program continues. I will be helping with the instruction of this training.

Though not everyone enchanted is a child, some have only-- forgotten being in this city. [or other, more serious things, and his expression sudden sobers and darkens for a moment. Morgana, she is a perfect example of this latter condition, but he doesn't say that.] How long can we expect for them to remain? Is this change to be permanent?

[if some part of him wishes it to be so, he ignores it. a tiny glimmer of hope, maybe, and then--he squashes it, and moves on.]

And I also need-- [and he's practically counting off these demands on his fingers now, one after another--] --anyone that has any experience in hunting outside of this city, and anyone that knows of any horses that are here--I will need two of them, for several hours. And I need anyone that could teach swordsmanship to a young woman. Fairly, and properly. [no louts or lecherous weirdos need apply; that's evident in his suddenly stern expression.] There will be several rounds of interviews for this latter position.

That's everything for now. [and somewhat irritably, he adds:] There. And all of it accomplished on my own.

[so now certain people can stop implying that princes can't do anything for themselves, thanks.]

[When Rose appears on the camera, there is definitely something wrong. She's standing in the center of her apartment, and is holding the Thorns of Oglogoth in her hands, the dark energies of the wands encapsulating her entire body, a sort of festering shadow that seeps and writhes off her form. She has one wand pointed forward, presumably to where the camera is, and it jostles faintly, apparently held in the air by her magic. Her expression is still pretty calm though, if somewhat annoyed.]

Og'lith t'n v'shrn qun.

[She starts to speak, then hesitates, frowning at the camera, and the annoyance in her eyes gets worse.]

Bith v'shrn o'lith'gor fib'ru mrup vis'th tor q'yub vas sh'n g'hruug. G'ron fnlth g'rsash j'rg htlath k'fvash ogl'athr v'ashtar. [She waves her other hand around some as she speaks, as if she is explaining something very important.] T'lsh a un'glo glon'a vish hys'lin stul'von 'ultp bom. V'ultkinta, tish vn'ah usl'p gr'othrs h'rp tho'ag s'hign, ths, vnp, otot. H'rugleth?

[She seems to be waiting expectantly, and then after a few moments she just makes a frustrated noise.]

Shruggot.

[With a wave of her wand, the camera shuts off.]

[On the feed, you can see a pretty blonde girl staring at the screen. She's brushing her long hair with one hand, reaching to poke around on the screen with the other.

Finally, she lets out a little sigh, and mutters:]

Same shit, different day, I guess.

[She'll finally look directly into the camera, now, and put on a bit of a smile as she continues brushing her hair.]

So, it looks like I'm one of the few people whose age didn't get screwed around with. Anyone else out there?

—It's okay! We don't have to keep this stuff a secret.

[ THAT SURE IS A GLOVED HAND COVERING THE CAMERA but never fear, she figures it out after a moment and waves sheepishly. Exsilium, say hello to one half of your new magical girl duo. ]

Looks like there's been a bit of a problem, huh? Lucky for you guys, magical girl Sayaka is here to take care of everything! [ She holds her sword up with a grin, cape fluttering behind her. ] Just leave it to me! If anyone needs any help, I'll definitely be there straight away.

[A second later, another little magical girl face pops up. There's some fumbling around when she and Sayaka nudge shoulders and push together for room, and then she clears her throat and begins, nervously:]

If you say so...are all other magical girls this flashy?

[Mami-senpai had not mentioned it. She had also stressed the importance of keeping their magical girl personas a secret, but surely in this strange place, it wouldn't matter much, right? ...She hoped so.

Kyouko bows her head toward the camera politely, and speaks up a little louder.] Excuse me, everyone! I don't mean to be too forward, but...

[She straightens up a little, gets her game face on. She's holding a spear about twice her size, but it doesn't look like she's struggling to hold it.] We noticed there are a lot of kids around, and we want to help! So - please count on us! We'll help gather all of them up.

[A pause. She turns to Sayaka, and in a stage-whisper:] Did that sound cool enough?

You sounded fine! Geez, Kyouko, you worry too much.

[ ooc; tags will come from both in separate threads! edit: threadjacks are happening. feel free to action it up if you run into them anywhere in the hold, they will be all over. ]

Oh my god. Oh my god.

[The camera isn't on Jesse. He's using it like a camcorder, dizzyingly turning it from one spot to another to another. He's in his apartment. There's a table. There's the ceiling. There's the kitchen counter.]

Are you kidding me. This is so sweet. Oh my god...

[There's his hand, with its familiar black tribal tattoo, touching the slick countertop. Then the camera turns sharply again, this time on the floor while he walks a few steps. His sneakers and his ridiculously oversized jeans are in view for a few seconds while he walks down the hall to the bedrooms. He opens the door to one - and apparently realizes it's a girl's room, because he whispers:]

- Oh shit, oops...

[And then he continues on to the next one, shaky cam bouncing with every step. When he opens that door, he gasps again in amazement.]

Is this really my stuff? Sick crib, holy shit. Look at this -

[A leather jacket comes into view. There's Jesse's hand again, picking it up, and something falls out of the pocket when he does. To those who don't know any better, it looks like a baggie of blue rock candy. Jesse practically squeals at the sight of it, and for a brief moment the camera glimpses his overjoyed face (not much younger but somehow much more youthful, framed by messy blonde hair that hasn't been shaved off yet) - and then the camera goes black all of a sudden as he tosses the communicator face-down onto the bed. He's still audible in the background:]

Score!

[ When the video feed flickers on, it catches the girl from an extreme angle. She comes into clear view as she holds up the tablet and frowns at it.

The face is familiar, but there are differences. Thin always, she's too skinny now; her eyes are almost too big on her face. Her hair is a little longer and raggedly cut. Her clothes, a once fine page's garb, have turned to rags.

Sitting on the ground, Arya turns the tablet over. Her legs and the ground come briefly into view. She tosses the tablet aside with a frustrated sound. Enjoy that shot of the sky. Well. Clouds. ]

This is all stupid.

( Oh hey, it's that questionably metrosexual guy with some other dude's voice and bright green eyes again. It's like he can't conjure [haha get it because he's a mage or some shit] an expression that isn't a scowl or something. Damn, what an asshole. )

I'm certain you're aware, but unless you were quite a bit too dense to notice -- the sun does not seem to shine here. At all.

I have been patient in my time waiting for any sign of its familiar illumination but it seems to be entirely in vain.

( Frankly, this shit doesn't make a lick of sense, and he isn't happy about it. )

I cannot be the only one bothered.

( Well, that was... harmless enough, right? Probably.

Click. )

[ If by any chance you've been wondering where that bizarre golem has been for the past month, we are here to inform you that she has been on a very important mission. ...Important to her, anyway.

When the feed cuts on, the video shows Shale's upper half, and for all appearances it looks as though she just emerged from... well, the ocean. Water is dripping and draining from her various cracks and crevasses, and an assortment of seaweed and other plastic ocean debris seem to be clinging to her. Still, her ridiculous appearance doesn't seem to be dampening her otherwise serious expression, as she has very pressing matters to address: ]

Some time ago, I overheard a discussion that mentioned [ shudder ] flying fish, and when I went in to investigate I found... nothing! Nothing at all! It was completely devoid of life! ...Aside from me, that is.

I have little experience with bodies of water, so correct me if I am wrong, but are there not supposed to be fish in them?

I don't care either way for the creatures, but I admit I am curious to know what could have caused it. With any luck, perhaps the birds will meet the same end. Oh, I can picture them now, falling from the sky, splatting on the ground, bursting into flame perhaps! The possibilities are endless!

[While unaccustomed to addressing the public without a mask, Lelouch appears entirely at ease when the transmission begins, if a little bored. Certain aspects of the week had been altogether too eventful for his tastes (hi, Kallen!), but he's ignoring those in the hopes that they might go away. Besides, this place could be downright dull sometimes, futuristic dystopia or no. That aside--]

I had been wondering, has anyone been keeping tabs on the Transport population? Our numbers, worlds of origin, dates of appearance and disappearance, things of that nature? I have a feeling that the Initiative has records if no one else, but given their frequently difficult nature, there seems to be little point in asking.

Beyond that, there seem to be a fair number of Transports who have combat or leadership experience in some form or another. Would those of you who fall into either category be willing to share what that experience has been? Naturally, if you fall into both categories, the question is doubly relevant.

[There's a slight pause, then--]

On an unrelated note, would anyone be interested in a game of chess?

For those of you who may not know me, I’m Nathaniel Howe, one of the newly promoted sergeants of the transport section of the Exsilium city watch. I will do my best to protect the citizens and the transports, and offer my services whenever needed.

However, there is something much more important that I need to discuss. I and my fellow Grey Warden Duncan have just returned from a brief reconnaissance excursion in United Earth territory. We weren’t able to glean very much new information regarding our enemy, but we did procure this:

[Nathaniel holds up a small vial--approximately half the size of a standard test-tube--filled with some unknown liquid]

We found this on one of the citizens of the United Earth, and we have great reason to believe that it contains the drug that is being used to keep the citizens docile, and to prevent them from rising up against their leaders.

Unfortunately, neither Duncan nor myself has been able to determine what exactly is contained in the solution. We are, of course, sharing what we’ve found with the Initiative, but I am also calling on my fellow transports to see if there is anyone who has the knowledge or means to possibly determine what ingredients are in the drug, and to hopefully find an antidote.

If you are interested in helping, please let me know. I’m also willing to answer whatever questions anyone might have about what we learned.

( OOC INFO behind the cut )

[Jesse is completely tweaking, which might be apparent to those who've gotten to know him, as his energy level is doubled. Not over-the-top, but a change from his default state of dead-eyed depression. He's excited!]

Hey, yo. 'sup, new guys. I'm Jesse Pinkman and I'm sorry I wasn't around to say hello the day you all showed up, but I was kinda busy with some real stupid shit. Anyway, that's all over now, so I'm all like - hey, let's do the friendly neighbor thing. 'cause, you know, it sucks balls showing up here at the end of the world all outta nowhere.

Anyway, I baked a bunch of cookies and shit, 'cause that's like the only thing to do around here since we don't even got TV. So anybody with some munchies or whatever, looking for some fine baked goods, you just drop by room 409 and I am here to deliver. It's delicious, yo. Ask Collette or Rin or Claire. They'll back me up on this.

You wanna stick around and smoke or drink, too, that's cool. I ain't saying it's a party, but it's a party.

And, um, hey - everybody who came down to my murder trial and put in a good word for me: thanks. Like, seriously. You literally saved my life, so you're awesome. I love you. I love you. I love you. Thank you.


(( Action threads are cool if you just want to show up at Jesse's place! ))

[As background noise to Lilith's frantic chattering, there's the loud revving of what seems to be a very large chainsaw. The fact that she's either running or getting out of breath is also clear in her voice.

Truth be told, she's chasing after something. And on her first day here. Impressive business, Lilith.]

Hey! Hey, I uh, I kind of need some help here. I'm new to this place and I got that sentient weapon and everything and I picked out this really badass one I mean, it is totally swank. It's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of shit.

Oh, but anyway, I revved it up and it's got a helluva lot more kick to it than I thought it would and it kind of got away from me. It's also pretty sharp. I mean, it cut up this lamp post-looking thing pretty quickly and now it's just sort of flailing around ruining the ground even more. I tried shooting at it but I think that just made it angrier or something. I tried apologizing and told it that it needs to stop, but it's not really doing that and I can't really grab it I mean I'm pretty sure if it's pissed it'll just cut my freakin' hand off and I sort of like my hands.

So uh, can anyone give me a hand here?

[There's a pause.]

I don't mean actually giving me your hand, I meant help.

ooc: so Lilith has lost control of her sentient weapon! It's a chainsaw katana, something along the lines of this. People are welcome to find her with action tags or whatever!