I guess this is what they meant...

Don't suppose anyone has some candles laying around...

Is it safe to come out now? Because that's a week I'd rather not relive any time soon...

Venom? It may take me a little longer than I thought to get that stuff together for you. Sorry.

I just realized it's been an entire year since I came back. It's probably not an anniversary I'd choose to celebrate, but I honestly didn't think I'd even be around to see it. I never really noticed how much I let that cloud hanging over me limit my life until it wasn't there anymore.

Anyway, how's everyone else doing? Getting settled in?

This place is a little overgrown, huh? Could be worse, but I don't think I'm going to like the humidity very much.

Maybe we should organize some sort of scouting party to check things out... would be a little safer than everyone wandering around on their own.

[Gren is sitting on the beach looking rather disheveled and a little sooty, with a couple of bundles and the saxophone box stacked nearby]

Hopefully everyone's doing the smart thing and evacuating. Nice to see my packing wasn't premature.

I suppose it's occurred to someone other than myself that with the whole forest burning, we're pretty screwed when it comes to supplies?

[There's a piano playing, but it's cut off abruptly and replaced by the sounds of things clattering around as another tremor shakes the settlement. It dies down after a moment replaced with some barely discernible muttering]

How the hell is anyone supposed to concentrate with all of this going on?

[The piano starts up again after a moment, though the playing sounds distinctly less calm.

[The door to a club stands open, light and music spilling out onto the sidewalk, tempting others to enter. Inside, the energetic music slowly dies down as the musicians take a break. Gren sets the saxophone aside as he steps off the stage and moves to lean against a wall, looking at all the customers, seemingly content.]

I was out taking a walk and... I don't know, maybe I'm just seeing things, but I think that giant hole in the ground out there is getting bigger. That can't be good.

[There is not actually any Gren on said video, because Gren is locked in the bathroom. Possibly having a nice quiet nervous breakdown. Either way, he does not seem inclined to come out any time soon. This may be problematic to his housemates, but he's not too concerned about any of them at the moment.]

They used to do TV shows about this sort of thing. I think they were really popular for awhile there. Can't say I see the appeal, personally.


[Private | Hackable]

I'm not going to lose it over this. It's just a week, the room is plenty big enough, and I'm not stuck here with a bunch of hardened criminals. It's not the same. I mean, it's clean and everything, right? It's obviously not a prison cell... even if that's exactly what it seems like. I can deal with this.

[/private]

That's over with, at least. I suspect most of us will be happy never to think about that again.

( Private | Moderately Hackable )

You know, usually, I try to give these damned birds the benefit of the doubt. I mean, they're annoying, but I should also be dead twice over, so complaining would be a bit ungrateful, but...

This is going too damned far. If they had to pull this kind of sick stunt, they could have had the good grace to leave me the hell out of it.

Next time, I'm writing my scores out with waterproof ink. This is a mess. [a few notes being played out on the piano] This seems all right, at least. Think I'm going to need a damned shovel for the rest though. [a sigh, before the transmission cuts out]

I don't know about anyone else... but I'm not exactly keen on wet shoes. I think it might be time to pack up and head for higher ground for a little while. Been awhile since I did anything resembling camping anyway...

Anyone care to tell me just what the hell happened? I was minding my own business last week and then... nothing. I have this vague sense of time passing... but nothing really registered until I woke up again this morning. I'd hate to think I was compensating for the insomnia with week-long naps, all of the sudden.

[There's a sudden flurry of notes from the saxophone, not the usual smooth melodies, but a cacophony of sound that may sound like nothing more than noise, though if one pays attention long enough it's clear that there is a purpose behind it, and it continues for a few minutes before trailing off]

Well... my skills haven't gone rusty, at least.

Things have been strange, lately. I don't know how to put it, really. Everything just seems out of sorts. It's not just the tension in the air--that's part of it of course, but a lot of it... a lot if it is just me, I think. Things haven't been the same since that little war curse, which is inevitable, I suppose. Funny, that whole thing was just ancient history to me, but being there--even if it was all fake--was so much like Titan...

I guess when it ended I had a hard time separating the two in my mind. Maybe I still am. I mean, I never really had a chance to make my peace with it... too much happened afterward. I forgot... for as long as could, for as long as the drugs would let me... I could fade out of existence and pretend none of it touched me, retreat to a world that was just the music.

I have that, I suppose. The music has never abandoned me.

In that way, I suppose it's not surprising so many musicians become addicts... the music is like that. You want it... you want the feeling it gives you... and I suppose we just turn to anything that will give us that feeling.

I chased away my demons a long time ago now, but that itch is still there. It never goes away.

I need to get out or... something, I don't know. It's a weird feeling, like having to stretch my legs, but it's all mental. I'm trying to bully my way through it, keep working, keep my mind off of all the things I just can't do anything about right now, focus on the music, but it's not quite right, and it's not like I can go looking for a change of scenery.

I don't know. I don't know about anything right now. It'll work out, I suppose. It has to, right?

[Gren can be seen leading a horse towards the stables, looking a little tousled, but otherwise happy]

I do enjoy traveling... but there's nothing quite like crossing back into your own country again. I've been away for too long... it feels so good to be home again.


[Have Grencia, a knight for Zwei, who's just back from a mission~]

Look... I'm sorry, all right? You can stop avoiding me. I'm not going to bite or anything.