[video] now with extra dragon hugs

[renegadedriving]

[Well, there's a face we haven't seen in a while. Shepard is holding the D-Terminal fairly close to her and looking rather grim, and not just her facial expression. Her hair badly needs a trim and a wash, there's dirt on her face and what's visible of her clothes, and she even appears to have lost weight.]

Commander Shepard reporting in.

[Her voice is the same strength as ever, though.]

Looks like randomly ditching me all the way across the damn island by myself is this place's idea of a joke, so I'm going to need an update. And preferably a check in from a few of you, just to make sure nobody's gotten themselves blown up while I was gone.

[This means you, heroic-type friends and boyfriend. There's a quick flash of purple at the bottom of the screen, and Shepard's expression shifts from solid irritation to a sort of rough affection.]

Stop nuzzling me, Cadet.

I've been looking everywhere for you, Commander!

[Shepard pauses before reaching down to pat her partner on the nose. She looks back at the screen.]

I should go.

Comments

[calibrates_big_guns]

If that's your way of asking if we've had another ... incident with a rocket, we've managed to avoid a repeat. Lucky for me, there are no angry mercs here.

[Angry digimon tried, but she probably doesn't need to hear about that just yet.]

What about you?

[renegadedriving]

[Well, there's a face she's missed.]

Garrus! Glad to see you're in the same number of pieces as when I last saw you.

[She grins.]

Hungry and tired, but if the void of space can't kill me, hiking certainly won't.

Video

[wall_flower]

C-Commander...?

[Marley blinks down at the screen, a hand covering her mouth. She looks like she's about to start crying, and her voice is definitely giving away how emotional she is. ]

Is that... You're back? Where.... Where are you? We can come get you!

video

[renegadedriving]

[Well, there's one kid still alive and well!]

I'm at the edge of town, Monodramon somehow got to me before I got home-- I'm okay, Marley, promise.

[Let's establish that right off the bat before she causes any more distress. Assuming it's her that's causing the distress? Hopefully nothing's gone horribly wrong in her absence.]

[video]

[fuhrinkaed]

[Hey so this video is of Ed. And he looks to have roughly been through hell and a half, judging by the bandages on him and the fact that he's calling from bed (though this is because he just managed to reopen them again more than anything)]

Shepard..! You missed a lot.

[video]

[renegadedriving]

[Shepard frowns and there's a bit of dread in her expression.]

How badly are you hurt and is anyone dead?

[Video]

[headup_stickontheice]

[Do you recognize this face? It's a really excited one! ...Oh, and there's a cast on his left arm decorated with Neku's scraffiti graffiti, but who's keeping track of that?]

Miss Shepard! You're back!

[Video]

[renegadedriving]

[. . . Well, it's an improvement over Ed. After seeing him and talking to Marley, Shepard is starting to expect things to be an absolute mess.]

Good to see you're... mostly in one piece, Cam.

[She's grinning, just a little.]

Video

[bigsoftie]

[Did everyone just up and disappear in the last two months? At this rate Leatherhead is gonna have to tape all of you down to the floor.

The former mutant's body hasn't really fared well, but the bandaged around his chest, visible even through his shirt, are an old injury. Don't worry Shep, he's fine.

Leatherhead's more worried about you, Shepard.]

It would take worse to kill me.

But you should eat.

Video

[renegadedriving]

[Good lord, physical well-being is going out of style around here, isn't it.]

Looks like you're faring better than Ed, at least.

[She shakes her head.]

Heading over to food now, actually.

video

[scratchitti]

[Neku looks... tired. And bruised. His crest is sitting openly on his chest- he's no longer ashamed of it. Terri is nowhere to be seen.

He opens his mouth to say something, and his throat clicks dryly. He, in the back of his mind, had be *sure* she was dead. But letting his doubts show would only hurt their friends. So in the end he had hidden it, kept it down. Seeing her now, after what just happened at the castle, breaks him]

J-Jane.

[And he gives in, eyes screwing shut and squeezing tears out]

video

[renegadedriving]

[Oh shit. This is officially much worse than the reaction she got from Marley.]

Neku... Hey, I'm okay...

[But she knows that's probably not all that's wrong.]

. . . How bad are things on your end?

[Video]

[robotfightclub]

I was wondering if you were still alive.

[That's it. That's the welcome back.

Not that she'll say it out loud, or at the very least not right away, she did miss Shepard.]

[Video]

[renegadedriving]

I'm not dead quite yet.

[She's grinning. She missed you too, Arcee.]

[video]

[dressup]

[+1 in the bruised and really tired department. There are bandages on her arms, her hair is down from those pretty pigtails. Baron is still sleep next to her, but she forces up a smile, even when almost beaten up from that castle battle... She thought Shepard was gone yet here she was...]

C-Commander! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!

[video]

[renegadedriving]

[Oh lord even the little ones are caught up in this.]

Good to see you too. How are you holding u--

[Monodramon pops into the screen.]

How much ass did you guys kick?

[He always assumes a fellow dragon has kicked ass. It's a thing. Shepard frowns vaguely at him. Come on, Cadet, language.]

[eatmybow]

[There's a girl Shepard probably recognizes on the screen, just kind of staring for a moment. Cam's mentioned Shepard a few times, and Maya feels the need to introduce herself.]> Hi. I'm Maya.

[renegadedriving]

[!! She knows that face.]

Maya! Cam mentioned you were here. It's good to finally meet you.

[betrayalcutsdeep]

Jin managed to sprain his ankle a couple'a weeks ago.

[renegadedriving]

[Shepard grins.]

Should've known he'd get involved. How's it healing?

[Voice]

[innermonologues]

Sounds like you had fun.

[Voice]

[renegadedriving]

Wouldn't exactly call myself a hiking enthusiast after the past month.

[Audio]

[wheeljackofalltrades]

Looks like ya had yourself a little camping trip.

[Audio]

[renegadedriving]

[She snorts a little half laugh.]

Next time, I'm bringing a map.

[audio]

[greatwork]

Oh, it's the porno police.

I've been working on an update on what happened, it's over on the network now. The short version is there's a virus that's quite probably going to kill us all, though indirectly, and some shady bastard attempting to engineer the aforementioned kill us all.

[audio]

[renegadedriving]

[Ignoring the porno police line!!]

Great. It's like biological warfare and technological warfare got married.