Video

[sizzle]

Who: Zuko
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Bishop
When: Now

[ When the video starts up the face on the screen sure doesn't look happy, but then again it so rarely does. ]

I've been here long enough to have gotten my bearings, so I won't waste time with that. Right now there's only one thing I want to know, and I refuse to believe no one can answer that for me.

[ His jaw sets. And he does his best to make sure it looks like he's standing up straight and means business here. Even over video he wants to come across as having a certain air of "no nonsense allowed". ]

I'll keep it short. Tell me who or what is Atroma, and where can I find them.

Comments

Video

[alwayscomeback]

There's the face of infinite sunshine our little gang has been missing.

[Hey Zuko, hey. Sokka really does look happy to see him, at least.]

They're the people running this thing. My guess? They're probably on the Marsiva, that really big ship? But there doesn't seem a way to get into it. I've been collecting maps and star charts, trying to find a way to break free and get outta here. I'm working on it.

Video

[sizzle]

Sokka? You're here too?

[ See, Zuko? See the sort of things that you could have learned if you'd just posted to this network sooner? He looks genuinely surprised, but at least pleasantly so. This is a lot better than he thought, at least he's not alone here.

Catch up can come later though. Business first. ]

The Marsiva? So you think they've been right here this entire time?

[ His tone gets lower, and he looks off to the side. Not actually in the direction of the ship, but he's currently inside a sealed up room right now, so he can't really tell which way that'd be at the moment. He'll find a way in no matter what if that's the case though. Mark his words.

Though hey, there's some other information that Sokka just gave him that sounds important too. ]

How far have you gotten with the maps?

[ So where's the friendly banter. The catching up with each other? No? None of that? Just straight to business? Alright then... We'll do it the Zuko way since you're so insistent. ]

Video

[alwayscomeback]

[This is what happens when you're antisocial, Zuko. This is exactly what happens. ]

Yeah, for...uh seven months, now. Don't ask me how, I'm not sure, time works weird. Aang, Katara, Suki and your uncle are here, too. Not for as long, but still.

[He has been alone for way too long, he's so happy to see you guys.]

I think so. It wouldn't make sense to be too far away from us. They'd want us somewhere near, somewhere they could keep a close eye on us.

[He sighs, shaking his head. ]

It's not going great. MOst of what we can find are star systems we haven't come across yet. But I figure, if I collect every one I see, eventually we have to land on one and be able to chart our way through it.

[And, because he genuinely worries about each of you:]

Are you holding up ok? What's the last thing you remember from home? Some of us are...different, there.

Video

[sizzle]

[ That list makes him pause for a second. Aang, Katara and even Suki are all expected given his time point, but... ]

Uncle too...?

[ He's not disappointed to hear that, but he is a little anxious. He doesn't know how to talk to him after everything he's done. Will his uncle even want to speak with him? It's a thought that's been plaguing him for awhile, even with Toph's reassurance that his uncle will still love him.

He has to debate with himself for a few moments if he wants to sidetrack to the conversation into something else, but he's having trouble justifying putting his own personal problems ahead of the overarching issue at hand. ]

I see... So right now we don't have much to go on except your theory that the people that brought us here are in the main ship.

[ That's still a starting place, but not much of one. Also Zuko's really not sure what to make of Sokka's questions and statement, but he doesn't like the sound of it, and his tone gets sharp. Sounding angry about a situation that worries him is the absolute shittiest defense mechanism in the world. ]

We just finished watching that awful play. Why? What do you mean by different?

Video

[alwayscomeback]

Uh huh. He's on the Red Fish. [A small smile, he hears that anxiousness, buddy. Personal problems are helped here, it's what friends do.] He'll be really glad to see you.

Pretty much, yeah. There are these two people who announce stuff, sometimes. Beau and Diamond. They never respond back to you, though. I don't know if they are Atroma or if they're prisoners like us or what the heck is going on with them. This whole place is surrounded in that much secrecy, it's like hitting a brick wall every time I think I'm getting anywhere.

[He's frustrated, and it's there in his tone. He's the Plan Guy, and how can he make a plan when he knows next to nothing? ]

Oh, you're behind all of us, then. The last thing I remember? We were in the middle of the battle against your dad. Aang and Katara remember right after that, and Suki is a couple months after that. I'm not sure about Iroh. He does that whole mysterious thing and I don't really get it?

Video

[sizzle]

[ A frustrated sound as he stops to grab his head. ]

None of that makes any sense! How can we all be from different times? Wouldn't you remember if I'd gone missing before?

[ Wait. Maybe they did? Maybe he disappeared from their world, and they followed after. In that case-- ]

And if they remember what happened after, then what happened?!

[ This is very, very important Sokka. He can absolutely wait a few minutes on the timey wimey bullshit to learn the fate of their world. ]

Video

[alwayscomeback]

Time stops? I don't really buy it, but apparently that's what happens.

[Sokka pauses, raises his hands in a slow upward motion as he breathes, and then lowers them as he exhales. ]

Deep calming breaths. In. Ouuuut. I've worked a lot on these ships and I can tell you that they really won't do well if, for instance, there's suddenly a lot of fire. So calm thoughts, OK buddy?

They say that we won? That Aang defeated your dad by taking away is bending somehow? We're all okay and definitely not dead. Yay, us?

Video

[sizzle]

[ He's not joining those deep breathing exercises, but he does take it down a notch.

... Okay, so he does take one deep breath, but seems to hold it after that. So much of this doesn't make any sense to him, but he wants to believe it. Aang defeated his father without killing him. It seems too good to be true. ]

But how is that even possible?

Video

[alwayscomeback]

[Come on, Zuko, that's not being a Team Player. Please don't forget to breathe out. ]

Heck if I know. Weird Avatar stuff? I'm the Non-bender, remember? None of this makes any sense to me.

Video

[sizzle]

[ He breathed in! He's meeting Sokka halfway! Stop giving him a hard time!!

He's letting that breath out finally in a hiss. Actually, he let the breath out when he was talking, this is an entirely different breath he's hissing out now as he rubs the spot between his eye. ]

Then he's the only one who will know the answer. Where is he right now?

[ Aang, he means. Some things never change, and Zuko's endless search for the Avatar is apparently one of them. ]

Video

[alwayscomeback]

[THAT'S HIS JOB ]

He's on the Caprine. He'll probably be all over this once he hears you're here, though.

[It's the natural order of things. ]

Video

[sizzle]

[ Slack on the job and someone's gonna take your place, Sokka. ]

Then I'll make sure to find him later.

[ He already agreed to meet up with Katara, so hey, that means Sokka gets first dibs too. Just... what he always wanted? No? ]

Video

[alwayscomeback]

[RUDE ]

Feeling less freaked out yet?

[He's worried but won't admit it because that's not MANLY. ]

Re: Video

[stayinthecar]

[ You must be the friend with the guess! ]

Excuse me, but there is no film crew on the Marsiva -- I'm on it now and there are only a few people, all recently arrived and confused. My name is Zee. Do you think I could see your charts sometime?

Video

[alwayscomeback]

There's no film crew on the SS ships, either. We don't know how they're filming us, they just are.

Sure, we got them safe in the library on the Bishop for everyone to have a look at. Maybe they'll eventually jog someone's memory.

Re: Video

[stayinthecar]

Is there any proof they are?

I might explore the Marsiva a bit more, see if I can't get off this deck.

Video

[alwayscomeback]

...

You raise a good point. Maybe they aren't. Maybe everything is a lie.

You do that, I'm gonna sit here and deal with my currently shaken worldview.

Re: Video

[stayinthecar]

Okay. Good luck, we're going to go cut through the ship's walls.


[ Poof. He'll check back in a few hours. ]

Video

[alwayscomeback]

What? WAIT!!! DON'T CUT THROUGH AN OUTSIDE ONE, YOU'LL DIE!!!

[...]

HEY? HEY GUY?!!! YOU THERE?

[Fuuuckity.]

Re: Video

[stayinthecar]

[ Zee comes back after awhile, looking UTTERLY PERPLEXED. ]

It did not work. There are no outer walls to this deck, somehow.

[alwayscomeback]

[Palm to face in 3...2... ]

UGH. Well, that's good. Punching holes in the side of the wall will kill you, and everyone else on the ship, probably. Don't do that.

[stayinthecar]

What? Of course we would not have penetrated the hull of the ship.

[alwayscomeback]

Are you sure?

[stayinthecar]

Extremely. There's an inner wall and an outer wall even to internal structures. We couldn't reach any outer walls... because were very strange workings in the space between. I'm supposed to be an engineer and had no idea what most of it was. They're keeping a lot from us.

[alwayscomeback]

So am I.

I...never noticed that. That's...really freaking weird.