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

[avaricious]

Kinda depends on what circles you run in, don't it? But if that's the kind of thing you like, you're more clever than you're acting. But this routine doesn't seem to be getting you all that far with your long lost pals from home.

[Some of these conversations are nearly as rude as the ones Greed got - and he'd announced his plans to take over the galaxy.]

[pyroelectric]

Zuko always did have a flair for the dramatic, it's true. And the Water Tribe peasants have good reason to dislike me. I won't begrudge them that.

[There's no point in outright lying about anything that can be easily fact-checked, after all.]

But I thought we could put all that unpleasantness behind us here. I'm trying my best. They're the ones who are acting like children.

[Which was exactly her intention, to be honest.]

[avaricious]

[This prompts a good and hearty laugh.]

Oh man. That was nicely done. I almost started feeling sorry for you.

[pyroelectric]

Save your pity. Truthfully, I could care less if the Avatar's little gang likes me or not. They can throw all the tantrums they want. It won't send me home.

I'm simply trying to make the best of a bad situation.

[avaricious]

[He doesn't even know who the hell this Avatar is.]

And you're just looking to find a few friends, right?

[pyroelectric]

Of course.

What every girl wants.

[avaricious]

While I'm not much for friendship bracelets, you're more than welcome to sign up for my crew. I could always use someone else in the rotation.

[He does have far too few pawns right now.]

[pyroelectric]

Your crew? [She looks amused.]

A generous offer, to be sure. But as Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, I'm sure you can understand why I cannot simply go pledging my loyalty to just anyone who asks.

Now, if you were to join me, that would be a separate matter entirely.

[avaricious]

Just a crown princess, huh? Sorry, but that's a few too many rungs down the ladder for me to even think about.

[They could really go on like this all day. But he already has Xing ripe for the plucking if he wants it. But that's just too little for Greed to really concern himself with. Same with her Fire Nation.]

[pyroelectric]

[Well that's a new one.]

Oh? How's that?

[avaricious]

You might have chanced to look outside that big viewing bay. That's a lot of stars out there and a whole lot of worlds. How could I possibly satisfy my avarice with only one country on only one planet?

[pyroelectric]

[... The galaxy, her augment helpfully supplies. That's the scope he's talking about.]

... Well, you're certainly ambitious.

But any old hack can say they want to rule the world. Or multiple ones. To actually do it requires a certain amount of power. What makes you so sure you have what it takes?

[avaricious]

[This earns her a chuckle.]

I can't just go giving away my plans to just anyone. But the long and short of it is, I've got a recipe for success waiting for me once I've ditched this fleet.

[The souls of about fifty million Amestrian citizens and the essence of God will be all he needs to spread his ambitions across the galaxy.]

[pyroelectric]

Ah. Yes. The good old "I've got a plan" line.

You'll have to forgive me for not jumping to fall in line behind that.

[avaricious]

[A chuckle.]

Well I can't blame you for skepticism. But you'll have to forgive me for not just flapping my lips about it every chance I get.

[There's not even a point in making it a private feed. The one person who can screw up his plans the most is Ling.]

[pyroelectric]

Of course. It's not surprising-- you're hardly anything new. Every man with ambition has some sort of "secret plan," after all.

[avaricious]

You might be right, if I was just every man. But I'm something a little different. I'm the living personification of Greed. That means I crave everything you can possibly think of. I want wealth and power, status and glory, women, fame, money, and everything else in this world. I demand the finer things in life. So naturally, I crave the universe itself. So what makes me different than you princess is that while you might crave the same things, I wanted them long before you ever did.

[pyroelectric]

I see.

Well you talk a good game, but so far I haven't seen anything to prove you're not just a lot of hot air.

[avaricious]

Tell you what. Once you're off the Marsiva, how about I give you a little demo?

[pyroelectric]

... I look forward to it.