video;

[reptiledysfunction]

[ for one of the few times in his life, Connors is actually using the video function. And, he's sitting in a nice little lab with a small smile on his face. ]

Pretty nice, huh? I finally got up the courage to ask about a promotion. You're looking at an actual research biologist now--no 'assistant' attached.

[ yaaaay still smiling. And then...that smile falters for just a moment as Connors pauses, regains his strength, and then starts talking again. ]

That's not the only reason I'm making this post, though. There's something that I need to tell people. It's...been a long time coming and honestly, I should have done this earlier. But, I'm telling everybody this now, while- [ while he's still got the courage ] while it's relatively quiet.

I know I've been a bit cagey about what my power is, and here's the reason why. Many years back, I tried to regrow my arm by injecting myself with a reptile DNA based experimental formula, designed to help stimulate cellular regrowth. Obviously, it didn't work. In fact, I'd say it made things worse. [ pause, take a small breath, continue on. ]

My power is that occasionally, in times of stress or high anxiety or simply even surprise, I change into this...this monstrous lizard thing. And I'm not myself. The way I understand it is my mind lies dormant--but it can be reached. Spider-Man's managed to save me by reminding me of my wife and son before. Anyway, it's dangerous. If I transform into that, I'm dangerous. The Lizard...it's killed people. And if you're a human, or what it thinks of as a "mammal," there's a high probability that it would try to kill you. So if I transform again, you've got to take me down before anybody gets hurt.

[ There's a pause where Curt scratches at the back of his neck for a moment. ] So that's...that. Not exactly a fun topic of conversation. [ said with a small chuckle, look at him trying to lighten the mood a bit. ] But it's something that needs to be done.

video. backdated to 10/10

[agog]

[ after giving herself a bit of a pep talk about how she can do this. without fitz. about how she's capable and this is what needs to be done, the camera turns on to show jemma in a lab coat, in a lab (a stark lab) with a clip board in her arms and a smile on her face.]

Hullo. My name is Dr. Jemma Simmons. I am still a bit of a new arrival to this place which means I am curious as to how this place works. More specifically, as a biochemist, I would like to know why is it some of us arrived here with abilities we did not possess before or as some of you may call them... "powers". [ she prefers a more scientific name but she's trying to keep this easy to understand. layman's terms and all.]

So let me cut to the chase: I would like take some blood samples from you. For testing. [ she's quick to add:] This is completely voluntary of course! All I would need is a very small sample. [ she holds up a small vial before she holds up a sheet of paper.] And I would have you fill out a survey I've created first once you contact me via this post.

I assure you, I am quite professional and your samples will remain anonymous to everyone but myself. And they will be destroyed once tested. [ she offers another smile, a little more confident but it's very hopeful.]

Thank you for your time.

01 | Video, unfortunately

[dionychus]

[A video post is almost happening.

"Almost" being the case because this is the first time that Diego has picked up and played around with his communicator. He should probably be more enthused about this weird future tech but he...was only half listening to the explanation about how it works. Much too distracted at the time by...literally everything that's been happening to him in the past few hours. He doesn't want to ask anyone on the street or his new roommates for a refresher course either, but...he'll just play with parts of it right now and then put something out for the public and see how it goes.

Five minutes later, after getting used to pressing digital pictures to do literally anything on this thing in a general sense, a video finally pops up, revealing a young man in a well lit room who definitely has a familiar-looking face to a few unlucky people already here...frighteningly familiar. The same arched eyebrows, the same aggressively British pointed nose, same high cheekbones, same strong chin, same full lips, same long and semi-wavy blond hair...he's even wearing a jockey's helmet with the letters D I O on them. The only major difference is his eyes, which are a clear and icy blue, and they widen a bit in surprise because Diego just noticed the little window at the bottom right that shows what the video looks like. It's clear that this is the first time he's seen a video recording before period, much less one of himself.]

...My God. [Sporting an aggressively British accent, he brings the comm closer, giving everyone an accidental close up of his face in the process, especially his eyes, mouth and chin. Obviously he's enthralled by the concept of a video recording and, good Lord, is he actually smiling?] I, Dio....look incredible! This is amazing. [He was about to cancel this video a few seconds in because this was only a test, but fuck that! Everyone gets to have a good look at him now! In fact, he's so caught up in this that he almost forgot what he was initially going to ask, adding his question in almost as an afterthought.]

Oh! Right, quick question. I don't suppose anyone has come across any doubles while they were here, have they? It's very important. [But not important enough to elaborate on at the moment, apparently. Now, if you'll excuse him, he's just discovered that you can take still photos on here and has now stumbled upon the concept of selfies.

Nature is incredible.]

3 ⚙ Video

[viced]

You know what's easy? Taking things away from people who aren't participating the way they were supposed to. I know it's...easy to be mad. Particularly about what's happening, and if I were to have my benefits cut, and my other benefits in question, I'd be mad too, more than that, I'd be scared.

The problem is, when you decide to do things when you're scared. I've done it before, and the problem is that thinking clearly isn't something that really comes to mind, and that's...where problems come in. I don't want to see us get in trouble, by not thinking. But I don't want to let people get walked over, either. The problem is that they haven't heard from us, and while I've pushed in my own way, it's been...ineffective. I'd like to sugarcoat it, but I won't, it was a mistake. The fact is that we need to push in a different way, and it's time to change tactics, if you're unhappy with the way things are.

For the people I haven't spoken to yet, I'm your representative. I've been advocating for import rights with our military benefactors, but unfortunately, the military is as restrained to the budget as anyone else, and that's the simple fucking fact of it. We can't change the budget, particularly when the porter's kept up like this for so long. There are a lot of us, and I don't know if they were prepared for so many people, and such a diverse crew. We've been lucky, honestly, back in the City, when we first started coming through, there were problems with destruction -- but then again, we had fucking Godzilla there.

I guess, I should really promise that I'm going to do better, for you. However, I'm one voice, and these sorts of things need a bit more than just empty words from one asshole who looks like he belongs. I need things from you guys, tell me why you chose what you chose. I'm not...looking for debate, exactly. We all have our opinions, and our reasons for choosing registration or not registering. What I'm looking for is the reasoning. why does registration make you uncomfortable, why did you choose not to? What can the government do to encourage you to do it? I know that sounds pretty damn trite but... [ He reaches up, to run a hand through his hair, the camera doesn't move, it looks to be affixed at computer length, from his desk. Behind him is a (mostly) obscured list of the senators currently in office, with [x]x and [y]s next to the names. It's a map of how they voted, obviusly. ]

I guess, what I'm saying is, give me something to take to them. Let me see if I can start pushing in the right direction, to see if we can change some minds. Tell me why you chose the way you did, what made you do it. What's your history with this kind of thing. Showing how diverse we are as a community will do more good than anything else.