[The video feed is almost painful to look at. It's fragmented, and disorienting. Someone hasn't fixed the lens they cracked a while back, apparently.

But at least the video is short? For once, Yosuke's not chatty. He gets right to the point.]

I'm in ten-oh-five. My name is Yosuke. I...can a doctor come here? The clinic is far. I can pay.

[And then for good measure:]

Please?

[The kid isn't bleeding, and aside from being damp and dirty -very dirty, he must have just come back from a hike- doesn't appear to be in bad shape. But he does sound sincere about the request.]

(Ooc note! He's back from his hike tonight guys, and if you were in on the log go on and do your own things. It's that time. I sent out charts so you know what to do!

Anyone else? It's not contagious, don't worry.)

[ Squeak squeak squeak squeaksqueak squeak squeeeeeeak. ]

People just love having pets, don't they~? ♥

[ Xerxes Break is in the marketplace, broadcasting as he walks along. The picture is wobbling up and down with each step. People who tend towards motion sickness might wish to look away. ]

Unconditional adoration from a constant companion--

WHO DOESN'T CARE HOW PATHETIC YOU ARE!

[ This last outburst seems to have come from the blonde, blue-skinned, horribly-grinning doll on Break's shoulder. He chides her, waggling his finger: ]

Now, now Emily. One mustn't blurt out the truth like that, people don't like it. As I was saying, a pet is a maaaaaaarvelous thing, isn't it? Always with you, underfoot, getting in your way, knocking against your shins, and being utterly and completely...

[ Squeak squeak squeak squeak. ]

--ah, haha! Well anyway, it's worth it, all that bother, in exchange for the warm feelings you get, right? Alas, alack and well-a-day, I have no time for such things, so I thought perhaps I'd offer my pet up for adoption.

[ Now the camera angle tilts, to show off Break's "pet": it's a little red wagon, following him through the marketplace, moving entirely on its own accord. One of its wheels has a high-pitched, persistent, eardrum-drilling… squeak. ]

I can't give him away for free, of course, but I'm willing to entertain all reasonable offers. I simply want to see him in a gooooood home, that is to say--

[ SQUEAK! ]

--not mine!

[Pippin looks unusually somber today, so people should guess something is amiss before he even speaks. When he does, his voice is soft and sad.]

I believe I heard when one cannot find their friend's name written upon the tablet's list, that it means they have been returned home. This has happened to Frodo's name. Frodo Baggins. He is my cousin. But he no longer appears. He is home now.

[And this would be the part where most people would say, "But don't worry; home's a better place than here!" But no such empty words pass Pippin's lips. Frodo is going back to the Dead Marshes, and Cirith Ungol, and spider poison, and succumbing to power, and to a finger bitten clean off. He's going back to all that, and when the journey is over and done, he will dwell in the Shire where he grows weaker and weaker.

Finally Pippin shifts, clears his throat, and forces a smile. He tries to sound like himself again, voice a bit lighter, but there is little joy there.]

I was thinking of having an adventure outside this city. I wish to journey to the wild and have a bit of a look around. But worry not; I had heard of the creatures that lurk out there, and so I was curious if any would wish to accompany me? We could set a date that suits us all.

[Nothing like a rude awakening at 2:30 in the morning, right? Well, you're in for a treat fellow refugees. It seems like one just flew over the cuckoos nest. Not that you can tell initially. At first this just looks like some inconsiderate kid with rings under his eyes and messy hair, breathing down the camera lens a little too up close and personal.]

Yo. If we haven't met yet, hello. I'm Yosuke. But...but if you're new, you should count to three and then stop listening. Okay? One, two...three. Alright, go away. It's for your own good.

[For emphasis, he clicks the lamp beside him off, and the video goes dark. Nothing to see here, apparently.]

Listen. Guys. I'm curious what people do here for fun. Because uh-look. I've tried sleeping, and training, and then I tried going outside. And talking to the people in the market, and you know. Looking for animals. And I found some, but they were really creepy and mutated. You know? So it's impossible to forget this place is so...

[The light comes back on with a soft click. The phone-roll-up is on the bed table now. Yosuke smiles down at it tightly, and shrugs. Then something thumps in the other room and he jumps at least a foot, gesturing wildly and knocking the device off the table. Someone get the kid some decaf.

He hangs over the side of the bed and gazes at the mobile, his image now fractured like a kaleidoscope, and gives a rather put-upon sigh for a guy who was just trying so hard to be personable.]

Damn it. I'm cracked...

Thieves.

[ River is currently pacing around anxiously in front of the tablet where it's sat on the bed she has not slept in once in the week she's been here. ( Has she slept at all ? ) She's playing with the ends of her hair, head bowed, but wide eyes with dark circles dart over to the tablet on every other pass. ]

You're all - thieves and thefts, criminals and their crimes. They told you to go and you went, toy soldiers lined up in a row, and they took it all. Took everything, took you -

[ She stops for a moment, just to stare, before her pacing grows a little more jerky and frantic. ]

You're not you anymore. They mixed the signals and broke it apart, tore you into pieces and put you back wrong. You are a soul and you have a body, he said, but when you take someone else's brain and put it in someone else's body, can you still be called you? Were you even you to begin with?

Nǐ suǒyǒu de shuōhuǎng zhě, it wasn't yours to take and you took it, stole it away, and I - I know what they're trying to do. I can see you, and you're wrong.

[ A hand buries in her hair, shaking. ]

They want help. They need help, they're trapped and they - put it in my head, you cut it out and put it there but that doesn't make it right. Who decided you were right?

[ She lifts her head suddenly, fingers still tangled in her hair and eyes gone even wider. ]

Where are you? Whose side are you on?

[ ooc; as per usual, hover for Chinese translations and please check out her permissions post! you might notice that her name as it appears on the network is listed as "Mǐnsōu Shí," which is the alias she'll be using while in Ex. The first name is an anagram of her brother's name and composed with hack-job Chinese characters that don't actually mean anything, which anyone that can speak the language is more than free to call her out on. :') ]

[The feed starts off a little shaky, almost telling of a technologically incompetent user on the other side, but he seems to have it. After a moment, a long haired man shows up on the screen, inspecting his device to make sure it's really on, and yes, it is.]

So, I got a question. Someone mind explaining to me what these 'missions' are? 'Fraid I'm really not that studying type so going through this backlog is something that's not happening. Figured it'd be easier to ask all of you, since it seems I'm here for the long run. May as well get settled in best I can, and that seemed like something that's necessary to know.

And while I'm asking, anything else I should know? Secret handshakes, passwords, people to avoid, places with good desserts, how do make a dollar or two to survive, you know the basics.

[He smirks for a bit, about ready to turn off the device, then wait... right... manners.]

Please and thank you.

[So that may have been sarcastic but he figured he didn't want those moral types to be on his case for not saying 'please' or something.]

Hey, I finally got this working!  Kinda embarrassing it took this long. Can't even work stuff like this and I'm not even old....  Wait, wait, I just might be able to make this a lot more interesting.

[there's that tell-tale static of a microphone being turned on.]  Gotcha!  Man, this little thing is so cool!  It still doesn't make up for, you know, any of this.  Honestly, breaking and entering, kidnapping, forced labor...what the heck would they even need with ordinary people?  Wouldn't they want super heroes or trained soldiers instead?  This all seems way too fishy for me.

First things first...where can a guy find a decent meal around here?

[Okay, that annoying kid with the bunny rabbit or whatever it was is back. He looks a bit more serious this time, and determined. He spends a good amount of time adjusting the video angle, trying to capture the image of a bird that seems to be staring at him like he's the strangest thing it's ever seen.

Bird in focus, the kid hops up onto a low hanging branch of the tree, causing the camera to give a dizzy whirl and the bird to, predictably, startle away.]

Damn it! ...birds out here, but not many...kind of a rodent, and...earlier video.

[Yep, he's still attempting to send video footage of wildlife back to you guys. And surprise, he's still too far out of range, even up the stupid tree. Whoops.]

(Ooc note: mod okayed this one time double posting obnoxiousness. Yes you can -and probably should- tell Yosuke to shut up and knock it off. Kids these days, huh? ETA This post is in response to this conversation, which I should have said right away. Sorry guys, 2am brain.)