[18 ~ video]

[blahblahblah]

-and then if I set this glyph like this, then... did that do it?

[This is a face that hasn't been on the community in a long, long time, it feels like. Rita's leaning over something as the feed comes on, but as it stabilizes, she waves a hand over it and grins.]

Ha! I knew I could replicate that damned blastia if I worked on it long enough. Uh... hey, everyone. Sorry I've been gone a while. It's kind of a long story. Long enough that Estelle is writing a book, and most of us have moved on to bigger, better things. Or whatever Yuri does... I'm getting ahead of myself.

I can talk about what happened to me if anyone really wants to know, but what's important now is that we had to give up all blastia on our world in order to fight something that was going to end our world. That included little things like the blastia I used to connect to the community, so I've been trying to figure out how to reconnect without it, and it looks like it works. As annoying as it is, there are some people I liked talking to, and now that I don't have to worry about saving the world every damned day, maybe I'll have some free time for that.

[She scratches the back of her head nervously; up until now, it's basically been a status report. Now she's got to actually talk about herself, and that's not exactly something she's ever been good at.]

If there's anyone on here that's new since I was here last... I'm Rita Mordio, genius mage, consultant to Brave Vesperia, savior of the world, and researcher at the Imperial Blastia Research Laboratory. I guess I should apologize in case I say something weird; I tend to talk first and worry about ruffled feathers later. [With only a little bit of a sullen expression:] Pleased to meet you.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say for now. It's weird, but... [Rita smiles again, and it's honest for once.] I'm glad to be back.

Comments

[aquaticrush]

Rita-san! Rita-san!

[blahblahblah]

[Rita's eyes widen. She knows that voice.]

Retasu-!? Is that you?

[aquaticrush]

Yes! I'm here! You aren't hurt, are you?

[blahblahblah]

Hah... no, I'm okay. Just a little tired. Gotten into any trouble while I was away?

[aquaticrush]

Well, I don't think anything really bad happened.

[You know. Not like last time.]

We haven't had a virus this month, though, so it's a little concerning.

[blahblahblah]

That's good... no virus yet, though? Sounds like I might have come back at a interesting moment. I should probably page back and figure out who else I know is still here...

[aquaticrush]

Maybe it'll be like when the community moved itself. Were you there for that?

[blahblahblah]

Moved itself? No, I don't know anything about that. It exists outside space and time, though - what does "moving" even mean?

[aquaticrush]

The address changed and everything that was blue became red. During that time, we had no viruses.

[of_many_treasures]

Good to see you again. It's been a while.

[blahblahblah]

Kaitou. Somehow, I had a feeling you'd be here still. You've always been tenacious.

How's it been?

[of_many_treasures]

The usual. Rider Wars, superhero wars, Tsukasa being an idiot.

[blahblahblah]

Business as usual, then. Stolen anything important to anyone lately?

[of_many_treasures]

I took Tsukasa's Rider Card. He can't transform anymore.

[blahblahblah]

That's a big haul, all right. Isn't that going to cause a problem somewhere down the line?

[of_many_treasures]

Only he stops being a jackass.

[blahblahblah]

Guess you're still keeping a tight leash on him, then. At least he's not getting people into trouble.

The days just keep ticking by, huh...?

[mightletyouknowme]

Hehhhh?! You're back!

[Have a grinning, happy, joyful, pleased, ecstatic Sena.] I knew you'd save the world! That's what heroes do.

[blahblahblah]

Yeah. I'm back, Sena. [This might be more praise than she'd gotten in her own world, at least to her mind. Maybe Sena's words just mean more than some stuffy researcher's.]

I didn't- well, I did do a lot. Changing the entire basis of our world's magic and technology all at once isn't something I can make light of. But it was close for a while. Too close.

[mightletyouknowme]

It might have seemed like it was but the hero always wins. If it's easy, then just anybody could be the hero, instead of only special people.

[Video game logic.] But more importantly, you're back! We-we should celebrate...

[blahblahblah]

If the hero always wins, I'm not sure why I'm still here. Yuri's pretty bad at being the hero, in a lot of ways. I guess I should be glad I made it out alive. [Because that last fight made her feel like the fate of the entire universe was riding on her shoulders, and blacking out a few times in the process did bad things for one's confidence.

Sena's mood suggesting the party, though, makes her grin.] I'd like that. I'm not sure where, or how we'd get everyone together, but it'd be nice to see everyone again.

[mightletyouknowme]

That's easy. Papa has a summer house we can go to this weekend.

Eh... Did the monsters disappear so people could go out without the shields? [She'd bet Yuri they would, and she wants to know how it went.]

[blahblahblah]

That's... oddly convenient, but I'll take it.

And no, they didn't. When the barriers went down, they stayed down. But between the knights and the guilds, there haven't been any major incidents... yet. As we make new breakthroughs in reproducing artes through the spirits, it'll get easier to hold the lines.

[mightletyouknowme]

[Being rich is convenient. It has a beach and everything.]

Heh, then tell all your friends. Papa won't know about it, if we clean up. [If somebody does.]

Huh... it's supposed to end with everything right.

[blahblahblah]

I... don't really have a whole lot of friends I'd want to bring. But I'll be there, Sena. I'm not sure how I'll get there yet, but I'll be there, if we're doing it.

Don't think this is over, though. In some ways, our job is only just getting started. Sure, we saved the world, we got rid of the world-ending being, we carved out our place in the night sky. That's all well and good, but it doesn't mean anything if we can't survive in the world we changed to save ourselves.