[It's hard not to notice just how low the counter's gotten. Riku still remembers when the number was up in the triple digits, but now it's dropping lower each day. How much time do they really have to turn things all around? And just what can they hope to do in so little time?

When the video starts up, Riku appears hunched over the keyboard, fingers tapping at the desk.]

We've got less than two months now. I wonder what we can really do. I'm definitely not gonna give up hope, but we're gonna have to start thinking ahead. Planning for the home stretch. We've made a ton of progress. I just hope we can keep the momentum going.

[He pauses briefly, looking down at the ground.]

Things have already gotten tense. For those of you who didn't get flung outside the tower, how were things from your end? Hopefully better than what we went through. Out there, it felt like I could've exploded at any second. Almost like this lousy, wireframe body just couldn't hold me anymore. All those dead bodies sure didn't help much, either.

[Heaving a soft sigh, Riku finally leans back in his seat.]

I just wonder if it'll get any worse than that. Probably just jinxed us by saying that, but you can never really tell with this place.

[He'll just leave it at that for now, ending the message with a click.

Anyone perusing floor 3 may spot this Riku waiting at the computer, with a colorful looking Dragon doozing at his side.]

[ooc: Going to try and hit my backtags tomorrow. School just started, so I've been a bit slow.]

[Prussia is sitting in front of the Network screen like nothing ever happened, like he hadn't just poofed out of the tower for a good deal of time. His yellow bird is in its customary place on his head, and not even that recent network post he spotted questioning whether the pets were real could make him do anything else with it. It didn't matter if it wasn't "his" bird; he'd accept whatever made him comfortable here. That, of course, is beside the point; he's got some serious catching up to do.]

Hey, everybody. Guess who's back and awesome as ever? Prussia. Yep, awesome. [He's not putting much gusto into the word today.] Had my initiation oatmeal and everything.

I dunno if anyone noticed, but I've been gone for a while. Did anyone see a stone in the graveyard for me? Just wondering. So, because of that, I need someone to catch me up on just what's been going on in the tower. I have no idea how long I've been gone, because being stuck on a dead world kind of screws up your sense of time. So, if anyone could tell me what I've missed, that'd be greeeeeat.

Oh yeah, another thing. Is Enoch still here? Just wondering.