[ roy's week has been better.

between the removal from shehui and the now impossibility of being trapped in some sort of magical hellscape, and multiple people vanishing, and still more people appearing, he's had something of a time of it. but keep calm and carry on is the mantra of the day, even if roy sounds noticeably . . . not off, necessarily, but definitely more tired and muted than he typically is. he normally sounds confident and in control, but at the moment, he just sounds somewhat fed up. between shehui, riza being taken, hughes showing up, and about 20% of the coven up and vanishing, he's had about enough.

that being said, he has appearances to maintain, so he tries not to let his frustration and exhaustion leak into what he's about to say to the coven. someone needs to round everyone up and make sure they're okay. it may as well be him, especially considering what they're all seeing and going through. ]

To those who don't know who I am, my name is Brigadier General Roy Mustang. Whether you use my title or not is entirely up to you; I'm not going to police your comfort level with the military, nor does it mean much here other than I have experience in dealing with catastrophe.

[ he is normally not so blunt, but. times are hard, man. ]

Given our current situation and the sudden absence of multiple people from the Coven, we need to regroup. Staying together is imperative to our safety, and wandering this place alone is a recipe for disaster. I'm sure most of you have already figured this out, but to those who haven't: avoid the hotbeds of magical activity and do not drink the water. Hallucinations tend to occur when either of those things happen, and we can't afford any of our own being incapacitated. We're trapped here until further notice, and with little-to-no guidance from Qri or our former captors, [ because honestly, fuck the reason they're in shehui in the first place, but he'll try to keep his bitterness concerning qri to himself ] we are on our own. Rely on each other, and we will be fine.

[ he pauses. ]

I know many of you are still recovering from the atrocities that Shehui inflicted upon all of us, and that this is far from an ideal recovery place. There's no need to pretend to be fine if you aren't, but rely on those who can help you, if able. Check in with me if you are still here. I'll send my location telepathically to the entirety of the Coven; find me, and we will begin to set up a temporary campsite until we figure out how to best get out of here.

[ there's another pause before he sighs, running his hands over his face to have a moment of thought to himself. ]

If you have any questions, concerns, or require any supplies, speak to me. If you have specialized healing abilities, say so to the Coven on this feed. People are hurt. [ hughes, specifically, needs more help than roy gave him, but. he won't say that out loud. ] We will begin to divvy up responsibilities when we are in a centralized location. Make your way here before focusing on anything else you are told. And remember -- ignore the hallucinations; they are not real. Thank you.

[ and as the feed ends, a location is sent, telepathically, where roy has set up camp near a grove of trees.

[ x,y ] ]

[ ooc: feel free to threadjack and use this as an open log to generate some plots! i do not care how many people threadjack or if folks interrupt roy in the comments. lay it on each other. :)

EDIT: here is a log for the tasks y'all are plotting out below! if your character has volunteered something, please feel free to throw up a top level for volunteers. ]

Hello, everyone. This is Jay. If you don't know who I am, I was involved in the plan to free our captives from Shehui's prison, and I also maintain a map of the hub island and some other useful things. I'm contacting you all to talk about Qri, and how we might get more answers out of her.

You may or may not be aware that Qri answered some of our questions before we arrived in Shehui, and implied that she would answer more, personally, at a later date. I thought it would be a good idea to decide collectively on what we'd most like to know before that happens, so we can take a unified approach.

I realize that Qri is . . . indisposed at the moment. However, I have to assume she'll be back to normal sooner or later, possibly with the help of some of our healers, and it's not like there's anything else to do while we wait for that to happen. Especially for those of us who've had our credits frozen. [There's a dryly amused tone to that.]

So I have a small poll for you. I've come up with ten questions I think are particularly important to ask Qri, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know which you find most urgent, or if you have other questions you'd like to ask about. I can be found at [He gives his location, in one of the public parks.] if you'd like to come by and register your preferences with me. Once I've collected that information, we'll designate a person to ask her those questions.

( Poll under the cut. )

If you've got general questions about Qri or this situation we've found ourselves in, feel free to come to me as well. I was with the very first group Qri brought to the hub, and I've been with the coven for six or seven months at this point.

((Jay is tabulating the votes in his notebook! He will show you how many people voted for which question, but not who voted for what--that's just visible as OOC knowledge. Feel free to vote in the poll without responding to this post!))

[ time spent in this . . . chaotic landscape of shifting dimensions and new worlds has been something of a hit the ground running experience for roy. he's located a select few people he's found somewhat competent, and he's also located (more importantly) the people from his world that he trusts. specifically, alphonse and riza. edward, it seems, has been taken back to amestris.

hopefully.

but to those who haven't met roy mustang, you are suddenly faced with an image of a relatively young man in his late-twenties/early-thirties, with messy-ish black hair and piercing eyes. he looks like someone who knows what he's doing, to a certain extent. certainly comfortable with the notion of a bunch of strangers listening to him speak, at any rate. and when he speaks, to those that are familiar -- he's definitely military. from his posture and his commanding tone.

that being said, he definitely looks somewhat less-than-put-together, for someone with military experience.

roy is a work in progress. ]

I hope you've all enjoyed the . . . festivities. [ roy, for one, has not enjoyed feeling like big brother has been watching his every move and being told to stay in a room due to some arbitrary lockdown, but he supposes the party has been nice. or something. whatever. ] But I'm afraid I'd like to address something slightly less charming and more pragmatic than celebration.

Since being in the -- employ of the deity who brought us along on this adventure, I've noticed that there seems to be a lack of structure among those of us who are here, for better or for worse, against our will. Many of us have abilities that have been stripped from us without our consent or knowledge [ and while roy has his tone level and calm, as if speaking about the weather, it's fairly obvious that this is a bitter sticking point, for him ] and while I'm certain many of us are capable of living life without said luxuries, I'm certain many others have difficulty. Regardless of what camp you're in, you're definitely not alone.

That being said, when I first arrived here, I came at a time of relative crisis. From what I've been told, there's not much of a structure for coping with said crisis, particularly with our current residents, and the population seems to be rather young. [ WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TEENAGERS ] I'd like to speak with those here, particularly those who have been a part of this journey for some time, on the formation of said structure. Particularly with those with experiences or talents that could lend to said cause of a response team of sorts, or even those who want to have a more forward-minded effort toward understanding our fellow man on this bizarre journey we've all found ourselves on.

[ here, roy pauses, and he gives a somewhat sheepish smile. ]

I don't really expect so much information for free, so, by example: my name is Roy Mustang, Brigadier General of the Amestrian Military. Central Branch. State Alchemist. Currently on assignment in the Ishval region, to headline the reconstruction effort. None of that will carry much weight with most of you, but to make an extraordinarily long story short, I recently took part in an attempt to save the world, with a surprising amount of success. I'm particularly good at organization and delegation, but fail spectacularly at micromanaging. I also enjoy a good game of chess, and entertaining company.

[ pause. ]

And for the naturally suspicious, I'm certain Alphonse Elric will speak highly of me.

[ go bother the teenager for references if you need them, thanks. ]

ooc: this is dated before the communication issues!! we're good. :)

[ unfortunately, this wholly accidental broadcast of thoughts isn't a very pleasant one. around midday, while the interrogations are still taking place, the sounds of a young girl's sobs are transmitted through the signet's telepathy. those who have interacted with ruby are likely to recognize her voice, but you don't need to know that much to understand that something bad has happened. ]

I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to tell...
 
[ the apology is repeated intermittently between her sobs. she doesn't seem to be very consolable... with what's been going on today, it might be obvious as to what she's talking about. for roommates, the door to the room that she's being interrogated in bursts open as her outward sobs can be heard, but only the monitor seems to be visibly there.  ]

Hey guys! Sonic here! What's happenin'?!

[ the energetic voice of a teenage boy rings out in everyone's minds loud and clear. Without an image, there's no reason to assume it belongs to a short, anthropomorphic rodent. But it does. After being here for a few months, however, he's learned it's easier to talk to people if they don't have to deal with the shock of seeing him. ]

Just thought I'd pop in and say hi... oh, and ask for a hand. Anyone wanna help a guy build a ramp outside the apartments? All you gotta do is help me move some snow around! I'm working on it myself, but things go pretty slow with just one hog on the job. It'll be worth it when we're done, though, promise! Plus, I got a bunch of juice boxes to share with anyone who helps.

[ it's definitely capri sun. ]

Oh, and one other thing. Anyone had any luck finding winter clothes that aren't made for humans? I'm freezing over here.

You know, I've been thinking. If magic isn't allowed here, does that mean we're breaking the law every time we use our telepathy? But even if we are, will the people here know? As far as I can see, they don't seem very... magical... here but maybe it's because they're just good at hiding it.

[There's a short pause before he continues, quietly.] On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have asked this in this way.

[So. This is a Problem. Yusuke'd heard that there were vines to be found in the western part of the island and that a few people were gathering them because you can never have enough rope, and he wants to be helpful so he thought maybe he could do the same!

And then he got a little lost. But he found his way to the vines eventually!

And then he, like the easily distracted by art boy he is, got distracted and started toying with a few of the vines in an attempt to see if he could do anything with them other than use them as rope.

And now he's in trouble. Thank God for telepathy?]

If-if anyone can hear me, I've found myself in a...situation!