[Voice]

[maddest]

[The device flicks on. Static.

And off. Three seconds, then on again.]

What-

[Then off.

Then to video- there's a shot of someone's elbow, and it's off again.

On. Rap rap rap. Someone's knocking it against a table to see if it can be broken open.]

-most troublesome.

Comments

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

[In a moment of clarity, Yuca switches the communication relay to video, the small screen lighting up with his smiling face.]

Hi. Sorry about that. [A soft laugh.] These things are communication devices. They connect to one another and you talk through them to other people a ways away.

[Voice]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't know what to press to switch his feed to video, but his voice gets closer. He's leaning in, fascinated.]

Look at that, Emily, there is a tiny little person in the box.

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

[Another laugh.]

I'm not really inside the box. It's just-

[....how does he explain this sort of thing?]

Do you know what a television is?

[Voice]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

[A voice from slightly aside; it's Break, technically, but in a squeaky falsetto that might almost belong to another person.]

He's making up words!

[And in his normal voice again.]

Hush, Emily, don't be mean to him. No, I'm afraid I've never heard of a television.

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

[Yeah, that was Yuca facepalming.]

...I suppose you'll find out soon enough.

Anyway, you're a new arrival here, I take it?

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

[He pushes the right button, and video finally comes on. Break's red eye glitters, maybe a little malevolently.]

Yes, that much is safe to say.

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

[Yuca nods, not perturbed by the image in the slightest (he had, after all, recently dealt with Kurotsuchi).]

Well, as far as I can tell, we've all been sporadically transported into this new place. There's plenty of people from different sorts of worlds here- umm. Like alternate dimensions, I suppose.

Anyway, my name is Yuca. Pleased to meet you.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

And given these little things to communicate through, I take it?

Please, call me Break.

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

Now you've got it.

The city is pretty big, but we're all fenced into a circle- if you go outside of the fence, you wind up in this Wasteland type thing... lots of monsters, or so I've heard. So you may want to be careful.

[Another pause of thought. Is there anything else? Oh-]

Right. And be careful of the rabbits around here. They're carnivorous.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

I'm curious- you were able to reply to the message I- what did I do? I sent it? How did you find it, or was I accidentally replying to something that you had said?

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

Oh- the buttons on the PCD- that's the 'box'- send out a frequency to the network. It's all a little complicated, but basically by pushing the buttons, you sent a message to a database- sort of like a library, or a bulletin board- that anyone can access from their own PCD.

The first button you pushed sent a message of your voice speaking. The one we're on now is video, which means that I see an image of you, just like you see me right now.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

[Is that the case? He waves at Yuca's image.]

I'm not sure I understand entirely.

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

[Yuca waves back, cheerfully.]

It's a hard concept to explain. Just- as long as you know that by pushing those buttons, you can send messages to other people, then I think you should be alright.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

What an interesting idea.

Why was this left with me?

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

There's a few theories, but I'm not sure anyone knows, for sure.

There's a group of scientists that brought us here- I've yet to find out if it was purely accidental or not- but I suppose these devices are key in forming alliances and protecting one another from various monsters and... unpleasant effects this place tends to generate.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Well, in that case it would probably be best to track them down and order them to send us back, wouldn't it?

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

Obviously. They're so not easy to get ahold of, though. Occasionally, one will post to the network, but for the most part, they stay locked up in the center of the city, where we can't reach them.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

I think that might be a project for another day.

[In the mean time, he continues to poke at the buttons on the device. Voice. Video. Map display. Video.]

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

There's one more thing-

[Break's image is flickering as he presses the different buttons. Yuca is amused by the other's confusion, but figures he's at least obligated to inform him of the Animus.]

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

What is it?

[The button pushing stops.]

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

There are- spirits? Well, I suppose you could say that. People call them the Animus. Every now and again, they make... rather chilling posts to the network. And then, strange things start to happen.

I haven't been here that long, but- when I arrived, everyone had lost something important to them. Not long after I dropped in, books and pictures of our lives randomly began to appear. It was a little startling.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

[Break doesn't bat an eyelash, but he does turn that over in his head. Interesting. Strange, but interesting. He hadn't really believed he was in the Abyss, but that makes him wonder just how all that must be connected.

It suddenly occurs to him- he can't feel the Mad Hatter.]

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

[Upon getting no verbal response, Yuca shrugs.]

It's nothing unendurable. Even if it was, death isn't real in this place.

[Video]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

That's a curious thing to say. Death isn't real?

[Video]

[neverquitedies.livejournal.com]

Apparently not. Everyone just... comes back.

I haven't witnessed it personally, but I've been told that, once someone dies, they simply return the next day- only, they're missing something. An important memory, or valuable skill... something like that.