1st Message

[moontothetide]

I-Is this thing on?

[The screen shows Tara, looking more than a little confused and lost as she fiddles around with the settings on the terminal. Those of who you know her might be able to tell that she's different in appearance. Gone is most of the softness to her body. Now, muscles can be seen on her arms, as her shaking hands move over the terminal's settings. Her face is leaner, more angled, less round. Even so, she still looks healthy. She's lost weight, since being voted out and dropped back into the tower. But she hasn't starved. She's taken care of herself.

She also looks like she's been crying. Even now, Tara takes a swipe at her eyes as though chasing away the last few tears.]

It's...is it usual for people to be just...gone? To just...go away and, a-and not be here anymore?

...does anyone know what happens to them? I mean...our worlds, th-they're gone, right? So...if they're not here...w-where are they?

[But she knows. She knows in her heart what's happened. And so Tara plunges on, onto new concerns, onto new friends, onto new life and new problems that she might just be able to do something about. Tara wipes at her eyes, sniffles a bit more, and then forces herself to look back up at the camera.]

Well...it looks like the food's back, a-and the power, and...I've seen some people that, th-that I thought were in the pods with us. Guess that means it's over, right? That's...th-that's good. That's s-something.

Are you all okay? Everyone? Being back here, and all. I mean...I-I can't do a lot, with healing. But I can do some. I know a potion. Trust me. I-It helps. So, i-if you're still not feeling great...give me a call.

...I'm okay. [Some of you will know that this is directed very deliberately at you.] I mean, I'm tired, but...I-I'm okay.

[Tara turns to go, but stares down at her feet when she apparently bumps against something. Her eyes go wide in recollection.]

Oh! [Here Tara reaches down to her feet, and comes up holding a much battered library book. The title reveals it to be a book on edible plants. All in a rush, Tara forces out this last, sounding as though she's practiced it in front of the mirror] ...for later once, um, everyone's rested a-and gotten back on their feet a bit...I, I kind of think maybe we should prepare? In case something like this happens again.

I mean...it seems like they fight a lot. I, I wouldn't be surprised, if they all started fighting and left us here some time again. So, um, if anyone's interested...maybe we could all meet up? Swap tips? I only know about, um, plants from my world. Didn't know if, if there was anything else f-from somewhere else that I could have eaten.

...th-thank you.

((ooc: Holy frack, sorry for the TL;DR. But these were all the points weighing heavily on Tara's mind, and I thought it made sense for her to get them all out of the way at once. I'll be making a proper log post in a couple of days, in case anyone would prefer to catch her there.))

Comments

[text]

[syncingdoll]

Welcome back, Tara.

_{[Nothing is wrong at all here, nothing at all--]}

Somehow, I managed to take care of myself fairly well, so there's no need to worry on my part. I might be able to help you a little when it comes to the plants, though.

Re: [text]

[moontothetide]

[Tara somehow figures out how to switch over to text, but not before Kohaku will see a look of absolute panic on her face.

She's actually been back for two weeks, you see, but had been making use of an invisibility spell whenever she'd returned to her room. Purely due to the risk of seeing Kohaku.

...but, well, this had to happen sometime. Tara laboriously types out a reply.]

I'm glad you're okay, Kohaku.

[...]

And I'd really appreciate the help.

[syncingdoll]

<sub>[Kohaku, for her part, hadn't appeared in their room at all until the day before - she'd been hiding out herself, though it's just as likely they'd just kept missing each other.

Oh, she saw that look. But she won't mention it. Better for everyone to let Tara think she'd switched in time, right?]</sub>

Heehee. Well, I'm sturdier than I look. No need to worry.

How about I come see you and we'll look over what all is in that book, and I'll see if I know anything from there, hm?

[Video]

[hachitaro]

[The screen shows Taro - physically looking all right, but his expression is tired. He does seem glad to see her, though.]

Tara! Where are you?

Re: [Video]

[moontothetide]

T-Taro?

[Tara smiles - beams, really - in relief at the sight of him.] I-I'm on the, the twenty-eighth floor. Th-The one with all the instruments. A-Are you okay?

[Video]

[hachitaro]

... I'm in one piece, yeah. Mind if I come up and visit you?

[Of course, alone time is okay too. But yeah.]

[video]

[happygolucky]

Hi, Tara! I'm here, I'm okay. Good to see ya.

[Zidane looks worried about her, but he's smiling a little, too.]

Anything I can do? If you need something, you can ask me.

Re: [video]

[moontothetide]

I know. [She does. She trusts Zidane for that, because just by meaning that he's helped her through a lot. But, Tara shakes her head.] Um, I'm okay. I'd...I'd kind of like to see you face to face but, um, it can wait, until you get s-settled in again. I, I know you're probably tired.

[video]

[happygolucky]

Me, I'm okay. [It's true that there's a lot to deal with here, but he's resilient. And also, helping other people is more important!] Whenever you want! Like I said, just let me know.

[A pause.]

And I still don't believe what they say about our worlds.

[He won't believe that people who go back die.]

[ video ]

[chainsawn]

[ She clicks the feed on to response quickly, eagerly.. but once she does, Urotsuki actually isn't sure what exactly to say - the memory of Tara just.. well, dying like that is still fresh, along with everything else. So it just leaves an awkward lingering silence for a few moments before she speaks up, her soft and slightly blank tone not having changed at all over time. ]

.. Yes. We're.. back.

Re: [ video ]

[moontothetide]

Urotsuki?

[Tara's clearly trying not to smile like a dork when she sees the girl on the other end of the feed, but...it's obvious enough that she is so very happy and relieved to see the girl again. She gives a little wave.] It's, um, r-really good to see you again. Hi.

I...I missed you.

[chainsawn]

Hi. [ and then slowly - mostly thanks to those last words, since despite the painful memories it means Tara didn't forget about their promise to see each other again - she starts smiling thinly as well. ]

.. I missed you too. It was a little more lonely without you..

[video]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch again happens to pass by a terminal on the dorm floors when this message plays. He approaches and sits at it to reply.*

Are you certain it isn't...as it was with the pods?

Re: [video]

[moontothetide]

[Tara gives him a tiny wave and an attempt at a smile, remembering him from the incident with the hellhounds.]

...I-I don't know. That's, um, kind of why I was asking. I didn't know if, um, anyone else had been taken, when they put us back.

Re: [video]

[warriorscribe]

If they've been deceiving us, perhaps they've gone home.

Or...there are places other than this where worlds meet. They might have found themselves in a... *What word did Sola use to describe how they wound up in Meridian?* ..."rift" to another such world.

[video]

[kungfubomber]

[...

Bomberman's a little reluctant to ask this of her, especially since she looks and sounds so upset. But she's the first person that he knows of who actually participated in this "game" he's been hearing about from other people in the tower.]

If it's all right with you...would you mind telling me what just happened the past month here? I'm fresh meat here, so I'm a little out of the loop on things.

Re: [video]

[moontothetide]

Oh. [Tara looks sympathetic. She knew that new people were still arriving, but that doesn't change the fact that arriving to the tower in the state it had been in over the last month had to have been difficult.] Um, y-yeah, I can. I mean...I-I was only there for, um, a couple of weeks, but...yeah.

Well, um, near the beginning of the month, the power w-was already off, and the people who worked here were gone and, and the food had stopped coming. S-Some of us, um, got a note, telling us to gather together. When we did, w-we were divided into three groups. Each one was, was managed by one of the people who's s-supposed to run the tower.

They were competing, to see who was, um, best at running it, and...and they used us to see.

[video]

[kungfubomber]

[He frowns.] That doesn't make sense to me. I'd understand if the people in charge did, like, a survey of the people in the tower to get their opinion, but...making the residents compete against each other? What would that have proven? And you're talking about Dax and Jason and [hold up what were the other names he was told] Riki and Zo, right?

[video]

[nemophila]

From what we've been told, our worlds have been destroyed, and wiped out by... something. [He knows his own world is gone for good, but he can't really be sure what caused the other worlds to be destroyed.]

[Regardless, he frowned. He didn't really know this girl, but...] Are you sure you're OK? You look like you've been crying.

Re: [video]

[moontothetide]

I have. [Why deny it? It's Willow. Why shouldn't she cry over Willow, even if this Willow didn't love her?]

She was...sh-she was, um, the only person I had, from my world. I mean, it, i-it wasn't even my world, not the same one, but...it was her, and we hadn't seen each other, in a while.

...do you believe it? Th-That our worlds are, are gone?

[nemophila]

I'm sorry. [His frown was a bit more sympathetic, but mostly it just seemed tired.] I understand what it's like to lose those you're close to. [He was just lucky enough that his friends came here and weren't gone again...]

... [At the question however, he grew silent, before answering.] Yes, I suppose so. I've had experience with the end of my world, so it's not that much of a stretch for my imagination.

[text]

[chronomancer]

my moirail shes
Gone noww
but she wwas VVery Interested in plantlife
an stuff
i mean i dont knoww nearly as much as she did
but
if you wwant some help

im Pretty Decent at handlin a shovvel

Re: [text]

[moontothetide]

[It might be written out, but the voice Tara hears those words in is...somehow familiar. Hm. Small tower.]

Thank you very much. I've never done any really big gardening like this before, so I'd really like some help.

And I'd like to hear anything you or she collected. Especially about plants from different worlds. It would be good if we weren't confined to just food from our worlds, especially if this happens again.

video;

[godofshawarma]

What reason do you have to believe your world has truly been destroyed? I would not lose hope merely for a letter, maiden.

Re: video;

[moontothetide]

[Tara blinks at being called "maiden" - it's not a word she hears tossed around a lot.]

I, I know I shouldn't. But, um, it's, it's kind of hard, when my world has shown to have a...s-sort of tendency to almost being destroyed. Really, um, it w-was probably just a matter of time...