You know, there's really nothing like spending time in caves to make you appreciate the great, unenclosed outdoors. [ though the scenery leaves something to be desired. ace misses the sea like burning.

buuut that's not actually why he spent time figuring out this new holographic, folding tablet thing. (look, it's a pain in the ass for someone who's used to communicating via snails. i'm not kidding.) he clears his throat a little awkwardly. ]

Ah, I know everyone's still rebuilding, but... Does anyone know if there's any place around here where a guy can get a tattoo? Or are there any artists on this thing? Thanks.

I've been curious about something lately. How does magic work in other worlds?

[ A somewhat ironic question, coming from him. In his 'universe,' he supposed, it was fairly universal. But from what he's seen lately... it's slightly more complicated than that. And he's curious if he can learn other spells besides the ones he already knows. ]

[When the all clear goes up to return to the surface, the first thing Luffy does is look around to see if the food stores and restaurants are okay. Hey, he's got to make sure his food supply is still around. Some of the stores are all right, some aren't. He'll continue wandering around the city just to see how bad some of the conditions are, maybe dropping by the housing to see how his room is (that being his actual room, not the apartment he's staying with Ace in).]

[Later on, he finally turns on his notebook, fiddling with it until he assumes it's recording.] So, is it normal to have all that stuff around here? The bombs and the gas and those weird mask guys? 'Cause they sure seemed pissed at you guys.

Everyone breathing okay?

[One easygoing looking man grins into the camera. He just got his netbook after the bombing ordeal calmed down a bit and he's been fiddling with it all day! Now he knows how to use it and he's so proud of himself.]

Yes? Nice to meet you. The Initiative brought me in to help out this Resistance project of theirs, so I guess that makes us comrades? That's nice. You know what they say about friendship.

[What do they say about friendship, Nick? He has no clue.]

Anyway... I actually had a question. Is there anywhere around here I could find some playing cards? I was talking to someone down in the tunnels last week and thought game night might be a fun thing to do sometime. Maybe poker for some fun prizes? Haha.

[... He does not introduce himself. He thought it might make him mysterious, and it'll be a way to start a conversation later, right?]

[when the feed turns on, a young woman appears on screen. she looks a little tired, but that's expected after what had just happened. she is sure to straighten out the netbook before speaking.]

I'd like to start an army, or something like it. I know we barely know each other, and I'm sure some of you prefer to work alone, but I feel like we could work together on this.

[she pauses, thinking for a moment.]

If this works, we can come of with something more planned and our efforts won't be as scattered.

[a brief smile,]

Anyone interested?

[Someone sounds like she's been drinking iron filings. Hoarse, in a word.]

Wow. I take everything I said about it being so weird that they weren't just smashing us back. I liked it like that. Peaceful was okay.

[A cough, and she switches over to text.]

Maybe we should be training down here? But I'm not sure I'm up for that yet. Let's play a game or something. Who's up for twenty questions?

Or, if you've passed through other worlds before, who'll talk about that? I'm just curious.

[ Oh hey, it's that confused looking barely-dressed lady that had been wandering around the courtyard in a haze of bemusement earlier! She's looking a little worse for the wear tonight. Her white fuzzy bathroom is blood spattered and torn at one shoulder, and there's strange tears at her cheek and nose. And possibly more attention-grabbing, there's a whole lot of blood coming out from under the hand cupped over one of her eyes.

Needless to say, she doesn't look pleased. ]

Finally. [ UGH THIS WHOLE TECHNOLOGY THING REALLY SUCKS. ]

Tell me someone can fix this.

[Emma doesn't advertise the fact, but she's pretty good with electronics. Which means she knows to dial back the resolution and select a highly redundant compression algorithm when she decides to make a video post over the currently-unreliable network.

So there's Emma, grainy and with some fuzzing around the edges, as unimpressed as ever, hair pulled up into a messy knot that somehow seems like she meant it to look like that.]

There are ground troops looking for the catacombs.

[How does she know that? Telepathy. Clever deduction. ]

Unfortunately, the surface is...inhospitable. If you don't need to breathe, or can otherwise shrug off a gas attack, I want to take a group up and see what we can do about thinning that herd, and perhaps getting a few answers.

[If you don't already know that Emma can turn into diamond, she looks ludicrously unqualified for what she's proposing, but her bearing shows no uncertainty at all.]

...Stark, that means you.

[ the video feed opens to a pair of pale blue eyes, slightly wide as they observe the device, although other than that, the expression of the young girl they belong to remains neutral. there's silence for a good ten seconds before she's sure that it is, in fact, recording, though this is a quiet realization and her voice comes suddenly as she addresses whoever might be listening. ]

I would like further information, if at all possible. [ her accent is rather heavy; german, and her speech sounds a bit flat. the words are practiced - perhaps not out loud, but they're carefully selected, and the broadcast is not made by improvisation. ] The woman that spoke to me did not give many details.

[ a beat. not knowing how to really handle the situation, she falls back on what she does know -- what her father taught her. so she begins to recite: ]

I live in Leipzig, Germany. Population zero point seven million peoples. I live at number seven Vicenza Platz. I like literature and sports, in particular tennis and athletics. I go to school at The Klaus College Gymnazium and my best friends are Rudy Günter and Clara Scheitz.

[ a pause, before she quickly adds, ]

I also have a dog named Trudy.