So, really weird Survivor-style place. When do we start voting people off the island?

Okay, okay. Seriously speaking, though. Any of you need some help with getting fires lit to cook and stuff, I'm your guy. [ He grins, evidently mischievous. Clearly, the whole new world thing hasn't dampened his spirits too much. ]

Ladies, any of you wanna have a warm body right there beside you during those really chilly nights? I'm definitely your guy. [ He snaps his fingers, a flicker of flame glowing bright at the tip before it dies out. ] Gotta tell you, I'm a great cuddler.

I’ve captured two of them.

[ Erik is still short of breath, teeth and eyes cut bright against the mud smeared swarthy around the cinderblock of his head. ]

Juveniles. They’re penned in the clearing outside of camp.

[ He blinks hard, blind eye rolling white in its socket. ]

I’m not sure what to feed them.

OOC: Backdated to just after the stampede. OOC post with details here.

[Oh, but this will be short and sweet. Still, she wishes the new mirror network functioned a little differently right about now. What she wouldn't give to be able to hide the slight tremble in her voice, or eyes that are just a little shinier than they should be.]

Has anyone seen Fitz?

[even though the feed is garbled, rikkus' frustration and something akin to fear are clear in her voice]

Don't be ▒▓▒▓ing idiots. Get to medbay or somewhere not en▒▓neering! Trust me, you don't want a▒▓ of what's here.

[there's a short pause]

I need my engineering cr▒▓ on deck though. Stay together, stay safe. Find Fitz, stick with him. He'll ▒▓▓▒▒▒

[the feed abruptly cuts to white noise]

There's somethi▒▓ very wrong with engineering. [ The announcement's accompanied by a convincing visual: a view of one of the lower walkways in engineering, the rails on one side twisted. The ladder up to the next level is warped, too, cut off several feet from the landing it's meant to be attached to. One of the walls just to the right of the camera seems to buckle as the view's turned away.

The shrill sound of metal distorting and grinding wavers in and out, a steady background noise that's broken only by short bursts of static. When the camera turns to face Fitz, the lights flicker and stay dim. Very horror movie chic. ]

I can't get back to the ▒▒ive or out of the blo▒▓ hallways, and it's— [ He pauses, glancing off screen for a second. There's no clear evidence of what's got his focus, but another low whine of metal makes it easy to assume. ]

Rikku says it's the s▒▓▓ ▒▓ the last time engineering went tits up, but I haven't been able to fi▒▓ her or anyone else since it started. [ A louder crash of noise this time that begs a second of distracted silence, then a curt: ] If you get anywhere near engineering, use ex▓▒▒▒ ▒aution.

[ Then the feed stops. ]

( OOC: Replies will happen, but they may be icly delayed! Post coincides with second part of July 31 plot. )

Our time is short, so I'll be brief.

[Since fighting could break out any minute]

Over the past few years, I've managed to amass a rather... non-Alderaanian collection of weapons. Far more than I could ever use myself, but I suspect we may need such things in the near future. The blasters are probably the most useful, but I also have a... slightly absurd number of lightsabers if anyone can use those.

[Filtered to Comms]

I'll leave one of the blasters in the department so we have somethin available at all times.

[the video flips on, and rikku is running a hand through her long hair. she is doing this in a very nervous way, but there's a smile on her face so... that's a good sign, right? right.

she takes a deep breath.]

So... about a week ago, this showed up on my arm. [she flashes the inside of her wrist, which now has CEO in front of her ID number. she only shows it for a second, and then goes back to playing with her hair.] I thought it might've been some kinda mistake, but it's still there and I dunno. I guess I'm in charge of engineering now.

[alright, she seems to puff up a little bit with pride. damn right she's in charge!!!]

Yeah! If you're interested in gettin' your hands dirty with some other technophiles, hit me up. [for effect, she uses those spiffy new in-game mechanics to manifest a neat old wrench in her hands. she points it at the camera. it's called showmanship.] Seriously. We're the best department.

[her two little robots, scout and scoutette, whirr and chirp from where-ever they're hiding in her room.]

[ The feed clicks on, showing the gunnery main room just behind Natasha as an extreme close up of her face adjusts the camera. It swivels, for a second, because phones are a pain in the ass to keep steady even if you’re holding them, but she manages to get it aligned properly and she sits back in her chair, arms crossed, looking serious. ] So. Our little Problems [ and yes, the capital P is there verbally ] of the last couple of jumps have made it very clear that we need to get our asses in gear about our defense systems. Not. [ she says, holding up a hand. ] That I think we should have shot our guests down.

[ Not at first sight, anyway. jax still advocates shooting on sight, but that’s besides the point. ] However, Jax and I have been discussing it, and if something like that happens again, we need to be prepared. [ She reaches forward, tilts the phone so that Jax is in the picture now, a little ways behind her. ] We don’t have enough manpower here in gunnery to do it all on our own.

[ jax leans forward, elbow on the arm of her chair. he’s tied his hair up and back, possibly in an attempt to look less unkempt but most likely to keep it out of his face.]

We got a few people pulling extra shifts down here to help us cover the spread. But if anyone who knows how to tweak our systems or rebuild some of the destroyed shit around here has the spare time, we could use you. You don’t have to switch departments, and me and or Natasha here’ll be happy to babysit while you do your thing.

[ casually throwing away the rest of his and her free time, because that’s apparently how jax rolls. ]

And we’ll trade you some beer and cigarettes for your time. What’s better than that?

Not much. [ Natasha supplies helpfully!! ] We’d really appreciate it. Getting caught with your ass hanging out isn’t a good time. Trust me. If you have any questions, let either one of us know.

And for the new guys -- my name is Natasha Romanoff and this is Jax Teller. We’re part of Gunnery. Nice to have you aboard.

[ jax winks, like the asshole he is, and kicks back in his chair to take out a cigarette. ]

That’s all, folks.

[There’s a little shuffling and confusion as the camera is adjusted to just the right angle. A frowning face takes the place of the blurred hand that blocked the lens a moment ago and Tadashi fiddles with the feed a moment more before stepping back.

He hesitates, then pulls a baseball cap onto his head after running his hand back through his hair.

There. Everything is settled. Tadashi tugs a lopsided smile into place, but his expression is still thoughtful.]

This is Tadashi Hamada speaking.

[Another hesitation. He runs one hand over his face.]

My brother and I have been on board this... this ship for a few days now. I haven’t met many of you in person yet, so I wanted to go ahead and introduce myself. I'm taking the time to go through all of the information that's been provided and I'm still working on getting my bearings, but I just wanted to say that I'm willing to help out wherever I'm needed for now.

Back home I was a student of robotics. I was working with AI systems as well. If that's of any use to anyone, please don't hesitate to call on me.

[Tadashi offers something of a half smile, reaches forward, then disconnects the feed.]

[She's settled before she addresses the network at large, posture straight and hands resting in her lap. Jemma's still not entirely convinced that they've not been set adrift on a Hydra vessel or some other enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D., but one has to take risks eventually, don't they?

She even looks decidedly upbeat about it.]

I suppose we should start with a proper introduction, although it's been brought to my attention that I may have spoken to some of you before. It just seemed a bit rude not to, since I might not..remember you. My name is Jemma Simmons. I've just arrived, but can I say that, unanswered questions aside, I find this all to be a little exciting. The final frontier and all.

[Exciting and maybe just a little bit scary. But so far, so good.]

I've also applied to one of the Science Departments, but I thought I should mention it here as well, in the interest of sharing with the class. I specialized in biochemistry back at the Academy, but I could certainly lend a hand in medbay or anywhere else where an extra scientist is needed.

[One might get the impression that the way she says "science" should be accompanied by a heavy sigh and possibly hearts in the margins of this post.]

Oh, and if Fitz has already told you anything about a cat and its liver, please overlook it. He's a little bit sensitive in the olfactory department.