time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.

[pyroelectric]

Who: Azula + y'all
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: HS MARSIVA BABY
When: Idk, now.

[Oh, she's furious at first. Waking alone in a strange place, with no one to answer for her predicament? Azula is not happy about that. But she refuses to lose her cool under pressure. She won't waste time throwing a temper tantrum. Instead she gets to work. When she can't find anyone, she looks for exits. When she can't find any exits, she finally resigns herself to examining the-- the "communications log", her augment helpfully supplies.

Hm. That's new. She absorbs that information and continues. Figuring out how to use the system is somewhat of a learning curve at first, but the augment helps her along until she has the gist of it. She snorts in derision as she reads and watches one log after another, published by individuals clearly once in the same predicament as herself. Every post the same as the last. "Where am I? How did I get here? How do I get home?" How ridiculous, she thinks. If only they had bothered to take a few extra minutes to figure out how to access the network records, all their questions would have been answered, and they would have been saved the indignity of looking like a fool. Well, no-one will catch her looking like that, that's for sure.

The more she reads, the less she likes. Her scowl deepens the longer she spends. After a while, few unpleasant facts make themselves readily apparent:

1) This is not home. Few here will recognise or respect her authority as crown princess of the Fire Nation.
2) Her ability to threaten or intimidate people into doing what she says while she's being held captive on a completely separate vessel to everybody else is virtually nil. First rule of thumb: don't give threats unless you can actually follow through on them. Otherwise you only look stupid.
3) She currently has no money with which to bribe people with, either.
4) Her brother is here, has been here for a while by the look of things. She doesn't understand how that's possible, but there's no point in debating the facts. He's also had time to make allies.
5) She, on the other hand, has none.

All in all, it's an extremely unfavorable position to be in. All her favourite tools have been summarily taken from her. Arms crossed, one finger tapping on her arm, she tries to think of the best way to spin this horrible situation to her advantage-- at least until she can leverage herself some bargaining chips, or isn't on the Marsiva. She reads further back on the network some more, until one particular post gives her an idea. A brother, separated from his siblings. The sympathy pouring in for miles. It's a masterful stroke, really. ... Well, that settles it. Mind made up, she uncrosses her arms and turns on the video feed, prepared with her most innocent smile.]



Good evening, citizens of this... ah, fleet. I am Princess Azula, of the Fire Nation. Your newest arrival, of course. Not to worry, I've already availed myself of the answers to the standard newcomer questions.

I'm addressing you today because I believe some of you may already be acquainted with my dear brother, Prince Zuko. I do hope he's all right-- ever since we were young, you see, he's had this knack for getting himself into trouble. If it's not too much to ask, I'd be extremely grateful to anyone who can put me in touch with him. Or at the very least, let me know how he's doing. From what I understand, apparently he's switched his message apparatus off to take a long nap. I wouldn't want to interrupt.

In any case, I look forward to ... co-habitating with all of you. [No, she absolutely does not.] I suppose if you wish to introduce yourself, you may do that too.

[If it's a competition the Atroma want, she doesn't intend to lose. But she can't do anything from her current position without backup and information. As irritating as it is to have to fake interest and politeness, this will help her get the lay of the land much more efficiently than causing a scene right off the bat. There will be time enough for that later.

Plus, it will absolutely infuriate Zuko, and that's always hilarious.]

Comments

[honorbends]

[ this is so beyond bizarre. ]

I wasn't asleep.

[ did azula try and contact him first, is that how she knew his communicator was off? why would she do that? why would she bother looking for him in the first place? obviously he hasn't defected yet, to her, if she's still referring to him by his title, and not "thing that needs to be destroyed." ]

I'm guessing you haven't found anyone else that we know on the Marsiva.

[ if ozai turns up here zuko is quitting ]

[pyroelectric]

[Pity.]

No. It appears I'm the only one here.

Is it common for people to expire from boredom before they reach their assigned crew?

1/2

[honorbends]

[ god he hopes so ]

[honorbends]

There might be more people who arrive soon. There's usually not just one person.

[ he pauses ]

What's the last thing you remember from home?

[pyroelectric]

[What does that even mean?]

... Are you getting senile in your old age, brother?

[honorbends]

It's a simple question, Azula, you're not stupid.

[ pointedly ]

It's important.

[ for... him, and that's... it, but she doesn't need to know that. ]

[pyroelectric]

[She sighs.]

Fine. I was in the process of going to find you to tell you anyway.

I just finished successfully giving the Avatar and his little friends the run-around in Dad's bunker, as per our plan for their laughable little invasion attempt. No thanks to you, I might add.

[honorbends]

{ the day of black sun. and when azula goes to find zuko, he won't be there. because zuko went to confront ozai. and then he left, to find iroh. only to find he was not there. ]

I was busy.

[ you know, deciding to actually preserve the future of their country. just zuko things. but it's said absently, before he continues. ]

Besides, you obviously could handle it yourself.

[ azula has never needed zuko before, why start now. ]

[pyroelectric]

Well, of course I could.

But it would have been nice to have you there, dum-dum. We do work so much better as a team, remember?

[honorbends]

Right.

[ no, we don't. at all. the thought of working with azula at all makes him feel repulsed, but she'll be fine so long as she's kept ignorant. ]

... you're going to be put on a ship with a new crew in a couple of days or so. You won't have any choice in where you go, so try to get along with the people you're stuck with.

[ please do not let it be the huntress or the blue fish because zuko can only take so much tbh ]

[pyroelectric]

Of course. I wouldn't dream of anything else. I'm hurt you would think otherwise.

[honorbends]

No, you're not.

[ it slips out before he can stop himself, but azula isn't. she's never hurt, and she's never sorry. she's unapologetic. she's infuriating.

but she is his family, and suddenly zuko is regretting ever telling sasuke that his relationship with his family isn't complicated, because now his little sister needs him to babysit her and ensure she stays the delightful little sociopath that she should be.

the alternative is worse. ]

[pyroelectric]

You're right, I'm not.

I have to say, you're even more sullen than usual today. I thought you'd be more happy to see your sister. Blender drama got you down? [Oh yeah, she read about that.]

[honorbends]

[ of course she went through the network ]

I'm having a bad day.

[ flatly. zuko is always having a bad day. ]

And I'm never happy to see you, so I don't see why you'd think that would change on a spaceship. I already asked if you were alright.

[ and zuko did mean that, though he meant it in a way that wasn't entirely... caring. ]

[pyroelectric]

Zuko. You're being awfully rude, you know.

I know we've had our differences in the past, but I thought we'd finally put all that behind us.

[honorbends]

[ how much of the network has she read, does she know he's living on the blue fish with the rest of team avatar... ]

I'm not apologizing for the truth.

[ azula please stop that ]

Have you been on the Marsiva long?

[pyroelectric]

[Here Azula frowns for the first time.]

Long enough to discover there's no way out, and that fire on spaceships is a bad idea.

[Yeah, she's not happy about that.]

[honorbends]

[ ... ]

They'll probably charge you for whatever damage you caused.

[ which is kind of hilarious, to her, and gives him some slight amount of joy in this bullshit dark time ]

[pyroelectric]

Not to worry. I have a feeling I'll be coming into money in the near future.

Speaking of time spent, though... how long have you been here, dear brother?

[honorbends]

[ so she's figured out the ratings system? ]

... months.

{ he doesn't give an exact answer, but he also doesn't lie. there's no point. azula will find out soon enough. ]

[pyroelectric]

Obviously long enough to make "friends" with the Avatar's little friends, in any case.

I have to say, I'm impressed. I didn't think you had it in you. You've never typically been a very good liar.

[honorbends]

[ she's baiting him. ]

... the Avatar isn't here.

[ he knows she knows more than she's letting on, and she's dug around and collected information and probably knows more than he does. as usual. ]

He hasn't been since I've arrived here.

[ but zuko won't say who else, exactly, is here. azula probably already knows, but he's not going to talk about them more than necessary. ]

[pyroelectric]

I didn't say he was. Believe me, this conversation would be happening very differently otherwise.

How did you get them to trust you?

1/2

[honorbends]

[ by admitting i was wrong. by breaking sokka's father and suki out of prison. by teaching the avatar how to firebend. by helping katara seek some form of peace about her mother. by deciding to end the war, rather than continue it, and take his rightful place as fire lord in order to preserve the honor and integrity of the fire nation, which you and father have destroyed.

by being myself instead of pretending to be someone that i hated, and by accepting that father never loved me, and he doesn't love you, and the worst thing that happened to me was trying to force father to love me when he just didn't. ]

[honorbends]

My sparkling personality.

[ it's a low tone, dry. a little forced.

zuko, after all, is a horrible liar. but while he doesn't want azula to know the future, or what happens to her, or their father, he also isn't going to lie and say that he manipulated his friends. he can't. ]