[ There is a blast of static before the video feed clicks on. The only elaborate thing he owned that stood out against all the drab issued-on-arrival furniture that dotted his bare as bones suite was a cherry wood desk. Laid out on its surface was a gutted and dissected glove that looks to be made of metal and snaking cords of copper. Even behind that white wood mask he looked displeased with whatever project lay the electric glove in pieces. ]

While experimenting with finding alternate power sources for these devices in the wake of yet another series of tragedies and misfortunes, I decided to turn my attention elsewhere. Not to arsenal but to my fellow foreigners.

The divide between those who possess preternatural and even god-like abilities and those who do not is wide, and I find this distressing. While we are all unequal in the eyes of the Emperor I believe she does wish us to be capable of standing on our own two feet whenever the next cataclysmic event occurs, or whenever the supposed apocalypse fires start.

Taking time away from my free clinic in the Earth sector I will start offering to teach those with little to no formal training in the basics of martial arts: specifically, chi-blocking and hand to hand, closed quarters combat. Without demonstration I can best describe chi-blocking to the uninformed as a school of martial arts that places emphasis on temporarily rendering muscle function useless and even dampening chi or energy based powers. If nothing else, those who feel defenceless can take some initiative.

Kyle Rayner has agreed to supply rooms at EA-3B for training a small number of students at a time so I won't be far from my clinic. In the meantime I hope to attract a small student body and cooperate with anyone here who has experience in close-quarters combat and/or martial arts. It would be best to introduce something so demanding and exact as chi-blocking slowly. A sort of teacher-student arrangement.

I will be taking names of interested foreigners and answering any questions through my personal console, or in person at my clinic.


Standard encryption: private to M. Pontmercy

It's entirely up to you, but I must insist you take up these lessons.

[ Amon comes into view; he sits at a cherry wood desk that is an elegant piece with waving designs carved into the wood. So faddish that it appeared to enjoy a pride of place against his otherwise spartan suite. On it before him are two glasses. In one glass is crystal clear water catching the light coming in from an unseen window, and in the other is a murky sludge with black sediment at the bottom.

With no preamble Amon opens proceeds to delve right into the matter at hand. ]

Efforts are being made to clean the water that suffered the worst of the pollution in the Water Sector. I bring this to your attention because I'll be seeing to it that there is water safe for consumption made available to the clinic I work at in the Earth Sector, and in any homes here in the Water Sector as it never hurts to have an emergency supply on hand should rationing start up again. Or should you wish to have water on hand when making the trip off the turtle now that another landfall is on the horizon.

That still leaves the deplorable state of public waterways here, but we're doing what we can. You have one Namorita Prentiss to thank for spearheading the initiative; I am merely playing my part.

[ There is a brief lull as Amon shifts in his seat. The only movement he's made throughout his little spiel as the mask obviously obscured any facial expressions. ]

Something else I wanted to touch on that is unrelated to recent events. It occurs to me that, among the foreigners, English is the dominant language. For someone whose native language is far removed from English, specifically Mandarin Chinese, I find text posts and anything written to be an obvious challenge. [ If this confession is an embarrassment for him it doesn't show, not even in his tone of voice. ]

I find it in our best interests to be on common ground in any possible respect, and that includes communication. If there are any native English speakers willing to take on a student I would be forever indebted to them.

Also, I invite others who share my problem to consider my proposal of broadening their grasp of written English. Might come in handy down the road as this place is quick to remind us that nothing is for certain. One of these days we could very well be faced with another crisis, and one that impinges on our ability to communicate.

( encrypted 30% private to Tarrlok )