I wanted to express my appreciation to whoever assisted me in the infirmary in realigning my arm, but given the state I was in at the time, I am unable to recall who that person was. If you are that individual, or if you know who that individual is, please let me know. I’d like to give them my thanks in person.

Uhmm.... this may sound really awkward and out of the blue but Darr-- my husband's birthday is in October and uh, does anyone know how to make a cake?

Like a legit cake, not the kind you get out of a box and it has to taste... well good?

[ god this is so awkward. She can't even say this without sounding like and idiot. ]

I don't want to give him food poisoning and I really want to give him something for his birthday, even if it'sa little bit in this hell hole....

I'll owe you anything. Just name it. Really.... please? A girl could use some help with learning how to be a good .... well wife... I guess.

....god this is awkward.

[ With that Ishtar's face flusters a bit before she cuts the feed. ]

[A rather severe looking man in a black turtleneck addresses the network, oddly calm for someone who has just found out that his world was destroyed. He's a bit battered, having spent only a few moments on dressing and a hasty cleanup before heading for the nearest network terminal. There's quite a bit of dust in his hair, along with bruises and faint smears of what might be blood on his face and neck.]

My name is Howard Link. If there are any members of the Black Order present, please state your status and location. Anyone familiar with the facility, I would request your status as well. [Because last he checked? The station was pretty broken. Or well on it's way there, at least, and if he was pulled to this place? Well, there have to be others here.

He hesitates for a second or two before speaking again, glancing down briefly at something near the floor.]

... If there is anyone here familiar with the construction or repair of mechanical prosthetic limbs, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

 [Hey folks, a familiar face from months ago appears on screen, though he looks...less than pleased. In fact, he is quite angry, and doesn't wait long before finally speaking. And by speaking, he shouts everything.]

Alright, I wanna who the hell threw me out of here and into a dead friggin facility! Do you have any idea how much I got lost on that rust bucket!?

Anyway, what the hell happened while I was away? And is there any good food this month? If there ain't, I'll just kill a shark or something and eat that.

[He would do it too..]

Also, who the hell took my magazines!? I want those things back right now!

 [Hei is on screen, not looking much better. Considering he just recovered from his first death, he is calmer...sort of. Recall the same emotionless face that was there before? Now it seemed to be angry, particularly within those dull cobalt eyes of his, giving a particular shine one may not have expected.

And he's now holding up a small chalkboard, his fingers close to this.]

Due to circumstances, I find myself needing to make sure this message spreads across further. Forgive me for what I am about to do.

[And what follows next is a series of noises that are painful to the ear. Oddly enough, Hei is unfazed by it. After a few seconds, he stops at last, taking a deep breath.]

I had hoped to never do that, but apparently I need to. You are all hurting, as I can imagine. My own heart is still in pain from what happened, knowing I nearly took away the one person closest to me, and then losing others as well, and not just here, but at the facility as well. Minako, Raven, Yin, Homura, Elena, Reno, Lucy, and countless more here and at the facility.

For those unaware, the facility was similar to this, experiments done weekly, and chaos brought about by others and those that ran it. At first, I was willing to say the facility was the worst place to be because of all of that, and having to know our friends' bodies were burned, and could almost never be recovered because of the sickness we have.

Some might think death would be paradise compared to the hell of this tower. I disagree, because of what Ruana is capable of. To some, especially given facts may have been revealed that were meant to stay hidden, that this is the time to give up hope. At a time like this, there was someone who would say something crude, though I would say something more tasteful. For once, I will follow his logic.

( motivational speech worthy of Yusuke here )

 [Hei's up, though if you look closer, you can tell he is very tired. The one thing that might let people know he is more awake is the little mogwai poking at his face, and the eye-twitching he was having.]

My apologies for being absent. [Not that it was his choice.] At any rate, I have been told a few things, but if there is anything I missed, I would appreciate being informed.

I am still recruiting teachers for the school system now in place thanks to Ishtar. For those that missed her network post, I am recruiting various people to put together a bunch of teachers to teach others within the tower. Currently, there is a listing here, and there is not set limit so far on the number of teachers for the subject, as new teachers can offer new input or new ways to educate the subject matter. Students are free to attend as well, and all those interested should meet at the library.

Currently, Cecil and I are teaching combat in place of Reno, for those that are unaware of his...absence. Cecil specializes in weapon's training, while I shall stick with hand-to-hand combat. Just a fair warning: during my training--[He finally growls a bit and sets Mao down onto the floor before looking back at the camera seriously.] I don't hold back during those sessions, at least not by much. Fair warning.

That is all.

[The feed cuts just as you can hear the whine of the Mogwai, and see Hei about to pick him back up.]

Hey, guys and gals how's it going?

[ Ishtar waves into the computer as she sits there with a bright look on her face. ]

Hei's kind of unwell right now, so I was asked to take place setting this up for him. You know the school idea that we were all aiming for a while ago? It's going to happen today and I'd like to have all the teachers/professors, or whatever report to the library. I am not really good at this stuff, but once you guys are reporting there, I guess I should also invite the potential students too.

If you're a student and you want to learn things, like anything, then please do come by the library. I'll try to space it out so that none of the students and other teachers clash heads or anythin.' Plus, you're free to take your students where you want to if other locations suit them better. For example cooking teachers might want to take their kids to the kitchen and stuff. Yeah.

Oh right, I'm Ishtar by the way, and I'll be teaching the first aid class for those who want to learn how to fix up wounds etc. I'm not the best teacher and it's the first time I've done this for anyone, so I hope I can get some feedback in the future.

On the bright side, I've set up a Roster for all the teachers and such. Hei also said that it should be cool if anyone still wants to teach anything. You'll just have to give me your name and stuff. That's all for now and please do come by guys. Thanks!

[ there is a file uploaded after her spiel and Ishtar would end it there.

also: log link here! ]

 I trust everyone has recovered from their illness. In any event, I wanted to propose an idea I I share, one that originated back in the facility:

An educational system, or a school if you will. While there are lessons on fighting by others and training your body, I believe there needs to be a system to help balance the mind, and hopefully, make those not comfortable with each other slowly ease into that state. It is a flawed idea to be sure, but nothing in any world is perfect. Not even the tower moderators.

For those that wish to join, you can find me in the library or the kitchen most often, or simply reply here. Classes aren't mandatory, but are recommended. After all, there are many children here being deprived of some education.

[Would you rather have death on the mind, kids?]

And, to those I attacked while I was hallucinating under the effects of the disease: I am sorry.

Huh, that time of the year again huh? Man, I feel so old.

It's been over three years huh? I wonder what everyone's doing now.

[ She's not really paying attention to what she's saying over the computers, but she knows the computer is recording. ]

I wonder how everyone is...hmmm.

[ ooc: Ishtar's Birthday and she's reminiscing the past. silly pointless post but feel free to bother her. She'd be happy to make new friends :> ]

[Jade's finally awake, but he doesn't feel like he is. As the sleep paralysis wears off slowly, Jade becomes aware he's not in his own room. Nothing felt right, not to mention that he never slept in his uniform, even if it wasn't the complete thing. When he could move, Jade pushed himself up in the bed, wincing as his joints made complaints at the sudden movement. Seeing the notes, he picked up the first and glanced it over briefly, a frown crossing his face. Immediately concerned, Jade tried to get out of bed, only to have the lingering effects of the sleep paralysis turn him into a jumbled mess of blankets on the floor.

When he's finally back up, muttering to himself about the damn situation, he seems to search for something and finds the collar around his neck. After a few good minutes of attempting to remove it or find some sort of catch, Jade gives up and he's heading to the door. When he opens it, he leans on the doorframe and rubs his eyes before he surveys the area.

This was entirely abnormal and Jade did not like it one bit. There seemed to be people around, so he wasn't the only one who'd apparently been kidnapped. The Tower? Auldrant was destroyed..? No, there had to be some other explanation. He wasn't stopped, so he assumed the environment wasn't as hostile as he'd initially thought.

Jade finally spotted a Terminal in his searching. Being at least somewhat decent at technology, he approached it and began to fiddle with it, figuring out just what to do with it and how in a few minutes. He didn't have control of the system, so 'Corpse Hunt' was certainly not a command he could use. Too bad this wasn't the Tartarus.

When he did figure out the video function, Jade appeared over the network with a stern expression, the dishevelment from before smoothed out.]

This Commander Jade Curtiss requesting to be properly informed on the situation immediately.

[Even if this was going to result in setting off an alarm, he'd get some reaction from the place that would explain the situation a bit better. At the very least, he'd get some answers.]

For anyone who wishes to have an alternative source of health care that is not ran by our captors me (Shion) and Hojo are going to be running a clinic in the upstairs lounge. That is floor thirty eight. Feel free to drop in any time if you need help, or come and find me I live in room 2-12.

Anyone who can heal or has any medical knowledge is welcome to come and help.

Thank you. If you have any questions please ask me or Hojo.

[locked to Reno]

Don't worry, I won't leave him alone with anyone. I promise.

So how does it feel to think that we're all the ungrateful friends of a lonely little girl?

[He doesn't care. About Ruana, about many of the things he'd glimpsed on the network yesterday before it was all deleted, or even who might be reading this.

One thing he is learning is that in order to glean truth in the Tower, knowledge is power. Knowledge provided by the Tower is unable to be proved, but only so many people can make the same observations. Power was important.

Besides he's not moving far from the first few floors today.]

Would someone mind telling what the hell is going on? Yeah, I got the note. Fat lot of good that did me. It didn't explain a damn thing! I know this isn't where I'm supposed to be, so why am I not there? Where exactly are we?

Oh yeah, one more thing. Why the hell am I wearing a collar? I'm not some damned pet!

[The video feed comes on first, for an instant showing Kariya's gaunt, haggard face. The left half of it is badly scarred, wasted away, the muscles slack, his left eye dull and pale. He blinks, then frowns at the screen, and the video cuts off as he switches to voice. He didn't mean to show himself.]

Hello. My name is Kariya Matou.

I know so many of you have been suffering, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that's been done to you. If there's anything I can do to help, I'll try to do it. Even if you just want someone to talk to. I don't think we should be alone here.

[He pauses to catch his breath, a little winded. He's not really sure how to broach his next subject, but he forges ahead.]

There's a question I want to ask, too. If someone could help me-- I have a condition, and I was wondering... If any of you know anything about magical healing, can you contact me? Thank you.

Okay, first thing's first role call. [ ignoring the fact that she looks like this right now. She's trying to keep herself alive and well trying not to hurt anyone else. She was trying her best to help out and all that good stuff. Well, keyword was tried. She might not like where this was going. ]

If I kind of know ya, or we've talked before, please tell me you guys are okay? No one's hurt right? The place has been really annoyingly weird, especially with these annoying costumes and freaky ways of dying. If you need healing or anything at all, please tell me so I can get to you. To all the people I know very well and we're really good friends or something, please tell you're okay as well and I need to know where you guys are cuz I'm seriously going to start freaking the hell out if I can't find anyone.

I hate this month.......

[ There's a momentary pause before Ishtar turned around, feeling a shadow creeping up on her. There's a surprised jump, knocking off the computer as the large monster made its way onto the screen before it turned off with Ishtar leaping out of the way of being swiped.]

[The video feed flicks on to a visibly unnerved Gilbert, eyes wide and breathing heavily.]

M-man, I just wanted to figure out how to work this network thing, and what's the first thing I see? There's this girl in front of the monitor and she looks really banged up... then suddenly BAM! Something pulls her back and she's hanging from the ceiling! And I mean hanging in the executed sense, not just dangling there! Then this other girl shows up and is talking all freaky about playing a game and- and-

WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH?! No, it was an execution. That's what I watched. [It's not like he hasn't seen those before, but this was just... something else. He'd never seen kids kill each other like that, even with all the killing he's seen over the centuries.]

God damn. This place is messed up. And there's no way out, is there? Or some of you would have taken it already, right? Dammit!

[He looks from side to side, as if someone might be watching.] Y'know what? I'm going to do something weird. If you think you're in danger, let me know and I'll protect you. I've got a sword, after all.

[Suddenly, shuffling footsteps can be heard from offscreen...] Wait... oh god, there's something here! Shit! [An Imp as described in the bestiary appears from the side just as Gilbert turns the feed off...]

Alright guys, let's try and keep this short, alright? I'm friggin starving.

Got knocked out after the whole shadow shit, damn good nap, and stuff probably went down, some good stuff too. So are the shadows gone? Everyone done crying? And did I miss some torture the assholes were doing? I'd rather know right now than later. 

Also, we get anyone new? Anymore guys from the facility? Doubt it, but hey, I know how assholes like these guys can be. Just wanna know.