4th Wall - [Action/Voice]

[markofthewise]

Wow guys... the ocean, the ocean is amazing. I forgot what it's like to see the sunrise over the ocean.

[Sokka, along with the rest of the Gaang and some others that accompanied him, is out by the ocean, having settled in despite the cold weather. What's a little thing like being nowhere in the middle of nowhere to keep him from being harassed by everyone?]


((ooc: This post is a joint post for the Gaang! So expect to see Sokka, markofthebrave, barefoot_bender, and sokkafangirl in this post! Feel free to tag any of the harassment posts or start a new thread and try to net all four!))

Comments

[markofthewise]

[So is he. He's immediately at his feet, hand at his sword.]

Azula.

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[She rose as he did, her stance both casual and predatory.]

Peasant. Relax. I'm not here to attack you.

[The unspoken: I don't even know where here is and you might have useful information so the attack can wait a few moments.]

[markofthewise]

Good. Great.

[Not relaxing. Silently wishing for backup.]

Let me guess. You want to know where we are, right?

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[Oh he is smarter than he looks. Not that that would be hard...

She smiles slightly. It's not friendly, but it's not 'I've got a dozen Dai Li agents just waiting to pound you into the ground' either.]

You could start with why you suddenly have wings.

[Don't be disturbed. That's not an 'all the better to pluck you with' light that just appeared in her eyes.]

[markofthewise]

[He has wings... time to play this carefully.]

It makes me more aerodynamic.

[Did he just lay some Earth Science on you? Oh hell yes he did. Have fun eating big words.]

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[Unlike uncultured peasants, she grew up with this little thing we call a 'dictionary.' And she's been privy to all the plans for the Mechanist's airships. She's unimpressed.]

Did your bones become as hollow as a bird's as well?

['All the better to snap them with.'

Because they look far too small to support your weight.

[She's noted other differences as well. He's taller. His hair has changed, and there have been changes to the musculature as well. The stance is more confident. Something is very odd here, and she's going to play this pleasantly until she figures out what it is, but she has lost not one iota of her confidence.]

[markofthewise]

Just think of them as a fashion statement. Most people here have them. Try not to feel left out.

[He just has to let her not get under his skin. He knows where Suki is. Heck, he knows where his dad is. She's stuck here in Luceti and given she doesn't look like she's changed one bit, at a disadvantage.]

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[Ah. That answers that question, then. She'd wondered if she'd been similarly afflicted.

It answers another question as well. 'Here' is definitely not at home - quite possibly not the same world at all, she's heard rumors about things like this in That Other Place.

She smiles a bit more.]

You're still so tense - I told you, I'm not here to attack you.

[And in fact her own stance relaxes to become almost friendly.] After all, we've been allies for weeks now.

[It's a bald faced lie. But she is very, very good at lying. And if they are not in their world, well, anything is possible, isn't it.]

[markofthewise]

[Allies? It's been a year and he definitely doesn't recall their relationship ever progressing to that point. He knows for a fact they left her in a mental ward.

Maybe she got better?

Ehhh... she seems so confident about it. If she's bluffing, it shouldn't take too long to call it, right?]

Why would we ever be allies?

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

Someone needed to teach the Avatar firebending.

[Sadly, Azula is taken from before the end of the series, so she can't pretend to have 'recovered' which would have been easier. But that's okay. She'll just take the blood traitor's place. If she can keep from throwing up as the lies fall from her lips like truth.]

You don't remember?

[markofthewise]

Yeah. I remember that. Zuko was the one who did that.

[But... but she was an ally, kind of, for Avatar Sokka. Different universes. Ugh, why did Luceti make things so complicated.]

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[And her eyes widen at that.] Zuko?

[She takes a half-step forward, appearing to be wrestling to remain stoic.] He's still alive?

[markofthewise]

[... okay, that was pretty good.]

He's here. Well, not here here, on the other side of the mountains in the village.

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[If you like that, you'll love this.

Here's when - appearing to be close to overcoming emotion - Azula turns her back on you to regard the ocean. Her shoulders slump in apparent relief. Really, it's just a way to keep her body language from giving her away. Turning her back to an enemy makes every nerve stand on edge.

The relief in her tone, however, is near genuine. If Zuko was here right now, this would become infinitely more... complicated.]

That's good to hear.

[markofthewise]

[He's still skeptical. There has to be some kind of way to establish she's lying. If she's from some alternate universe, though, that makes things difficult. However, if they were hiding out together...]

... so what are you saying happened to Zuko?

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[A quick sigh and a hint of anger.] Do we really have to go through this again? Isn't it enough that I had to prove myself to all of you the first time?

[And she quickly turns around, looking at him with a new question.] Is everyone here? Or is it just you and [the briefest hesitance] Zuko?

[markofthewise]

The rest of us are here.

[... except Aang. But everyone else in Luceti is here, so it's no lie. She's welcome to assume Aang is too.]

[burns-blue.livejournal.com]

[And assume that she does indeed. Which means that her hopes of simplifying this - just kill them both - are squashed. She'll have to stick this out until she can find another alternative.]

That's good, isn't it? With all of us - and the Avatar - we should be able to find a way home.

[Back to where things make sense.]

[markofthewise]

Don't count on it. I've been here for a year.

[Which should explain quite a bit for her.]