Oh! Andaran atish’an! This is such an interesting way to talk to people, don't you think? I can see your face and you can see mine! It's like a mirror, but it reflects other people back at you.

[Merrill waves, smiling broadly, her large eyes sparkling with delight.]

My name is Merrill, and I'm looking for my friends. I appear to be a little lost. [She swings the tablet around too fast to really see anything useful. Just a lot of stone.] Did you see that? I'm lost. But I have friends who can help me become, ah, not lost.

Sometimes, when I was lost in Kirkwall, Isabela - she's one of my friends - would swoop down from the top of a building and tell me where to go. She's very pretty, with dark hair and a lovely blue bandana. Oh, and a necklace. It's quite hard to miss her necklace and what's below it. And there's Aveline, but sometimes I worry she doesn't like me. She has red hair, like the sun, and quite a lot of freckles. I like her freckles. I wish I had freckles... [Merrill trails off, tapping her fingers against her cheeks as if counting freckles. She comes back to herself suddenly.] I'm sorry, I tend to get lost in my thoughts. I think that's how I ended up here. Do you ever do that? You start thinking and then you just don't come out. What was I saying before?

Oh, yes, my friends! I have quite a few of them. Isabela and Aveline and Varric! Varric is a dwarf, and he's very funny, but his stories aren't always true. He tells me stories about pirates, but Isabela says they're mostly made up. And Fenris, he's elvhen, like me, but--that's not going to be trouble, is it? In Kirkwall, they make us live in alienages, and they're very dirty. I had a nice house, but it was very small. No one in Thedas seems to like the elvhen very much, and living in the alienage is very uncomfortable...

[She stares past the tablet screen for a moment, thoughtful.] I hope there aren't any alienages here...

If you know my friends, would you tell them I'm looking for them? Ma serannas for your troubles. Or, if you recognize this place-- [She ducks out of the frame, an alleyway filling the screen for a few seconds before she fumbles the tablet and then drops it. Merrill's face pops into the frame again, a worried expression on it.] Oh, dear, I hope I haven't broken you...

[ooc: Feel free to engage the very lost Merrill in actiony posts. As a Dalish elf, she tends to speak in the elvhen language frequently. You can hover over the text with your mouse to get a translation!]

Our labor has not entirely been for nothing, it would seem.

[Elissa's actually out in the city, sitting somewhere and watching a few of the new arrivals sort themselves out. It's safer to be using the audio function if only so that her displeasure is not so easily seen. She still has several misgivings over what they've done to the earth in order to arrive at this point.]

But any victory is not without its costs. I attempted to speak to a few of the shop owners to ask them about what had transpired before now and no one could answer me. In fact, they all start looking at me as though I had grown three heads and horns. They do not seem to remember the change in scenery or even the monsters. One woman told me I must have been on the bottle.

[Considering the last time she had appeared on the network, this garners a brief snort.]

I suppose I'm the only one that finds all of that troublesome. I don't think I'll ever understand these time changes. A shame, too, because it seems like a fairly interesting concept.

[Too bad it just seems too far-fetched for her.]

And this talk of parties reminded me that I - we, really - would be celebrating a holiday if we were home. [Though it's been a while since she's done any sort of gatherings or parties.] I suppose that's a shame too. But I'm not the first to miss an important holiday or occasion, now am I?

[And being away from home isn't going to stop her from doing something for Satinalia. It's just going to mean a little bit of creative thinking on her part to find gifts suitable enough with the coin she has.]

The free high-tech laptop is a nice touch, but the whole "let's get ready for a war" thing isn't. Though I guess the onslaught of monsters is pretty convincing...looks like you guys need all the help you can get!

...too bad you picked the wrong girl. Your warrior princess is in another castle, I'm just the magical support. Hi, the name's Kaycee, the girl you're looking for is named Ariel. Y'know, blonde hair...blue eyes...white... [she tugs on her ponytail of mussed up, black hair for emphasis] the people in charge of this place obviously missed their mark.

[she looks totally nonchalant and familiar with using technology. though honestly, she's from a time where touch-screens weren't as wide-spread but hey, she got her hands on an iPhone or two before technology became borked and she found herself in a shitty fantasy world.

nice to have something that reminds her of home. even if she graduated from a fantasy cliche to a science fiction one.

something seems to cross her mind and she shifts topics.]

Hey, when and if this monster infestation is all said and done, does anyone know a good river or lake or something? I need to get stoned.

And by stoned I mean like, find stones. Which I need. To throw at people. I'm being completely serious. If someone pops up and gives me a look I swear...it was a rock joke. And even if it wasn't a joke you're not my mother.

[Hello, Exsilium. Here is a clearly frazzled man in a clearly rumpled dress shirt fidgeting in front of the camera. It's clear his hands are moving, despite only his shoulders and head being visible. It's obvious he hasn't slept–there's dark circles under his eyes, though his face remains meticulously shaven. He gestures as he speaks.]

I um. I apologize for the poor timing here. And, um, I'm dreadfully sorry for asking this when there are monsters around–especially when I haven't done anything to help. I mean, not that I could if I… did. But. Well. The sentiment's there, at least?

[What… was he talking about again? Oh. Right.]

Anyway, I really appreciate being kidnapped and at least provided for. I'm sure somewhere that definitely classifies as the most polite… case of kidnapping but I have just… one question? [Nervous chuckle and a quick, sheepish smile.] I um. The apartments. They're very nice. Very… tidy. And… cluttered. I–I was wondering if there's any way there could be less items in them. Maybe an… extra room with less things. [But then again, it is a nice apartment they're supplying him with. Maybe he's being too demanding. Quick, make amends:] I mean, I can live with a bunch of items. I, um…

[Return of the nervous chuckle and a weak half-shrug as he jabs his thumb back at nothing.]

–There's Advil here, right?

[It's extremely obvious that someone who isn't used to this kind of technology has been unleashed upon the tablet. And this is the most successful attempt. At least Varian has managed to find the text function.]

i will not be taking part in any of your games do you hear me? if you think i will be rolling over and just accepting that you are taking a man hostage in the most dire of times then you are thinking wrong. i do not care what your reasoning in i have things that require being taken care of back in stormwind

how dare you, that you have even attempted this. you wILL SEND ME BACK RIGHT NOW. DEATHWING'S ARMIES ARE ON THE MARCH UPON THE WORLD AND YOU HAND ME SOME KEY AND TELL ME TO GO LIVE IN A HOUSE? I WILL NOT TAKE THIS SITTING DOWN I WILL SPEAK TO YOUR LEADER AND YOU WILL SEND ME BACK. I DO NOT CARE HOW THIS HAPPENED I ONLY CARE THAT YOU WILL FIX THIS AND FIX IT RIGHT NOW. EVEN THis device is some gnomish contraption that is a pain to use. someone had better be reading this. who's in charge? where are they?