1st Cartwheel

[thepinkest]

[Action]

[So the clothing shop seems to have acquired a new mannequin -- a girl in her early teens, in a New Feather dress, with her cheerful pink wings neatly arranged as she slumps in an overstuffed, poorly upholstered armchair on a display in the shop. Yep, that sure is Ty Lee, with wings to match her aura!

All of a sudden, she comes awake with a start, giving a small gasp and shaking her head.]

No! I totally wasn't sleeping at my lesson, I swear! I know exactly what the capital of the-

Oh.

[No, that was just a bad dream about the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. She's definitely not there anymore!

But where is she is the question. She peers around with an air of befuddlement, then pushes herself out of the chair and turns to give it a look.]

Eww. What's that doing... here...?

What'm I doing here? Is this some kind of joke?

[Wait for it...]

...

Who took my clothes? This isn't my uniform! This isn't mine! It's like I'm dressed for a funeral...

[Which is kind of scary, actually.]


[Video, some time later]

[Well, she managed to find some clothes that aren't white, and that fit her -- it's not exactly a Kyoshi warrior uniform, but it's not a white dress or anything like what she wore in the Fire Nation, so good enough for now. And apparently someone's told her about the journals, because she's peering intently at it, the tip of her tongue sticking out as she messes with it.]

Weeeird. This isn't any kind of a normal journal! I thought journals were just for you to put your own stuff in, not... not do whatever this does!

Anyway, hi! Uh, if people actually do look at this thing, I dunno. Talking to a book is really strange. I mean, I know some people say books are their best friends, but this is just silly! (And so are they, if you ask me.) So if anyone's... listening to this book, whatever, nice to meet you!

Comments

[thepinkest]

Hmph. [She's going to fold her arms sulkily about that, but she won't keep arguing.] If you say so...

But you're all right, that's the important part. So what are we supposed to be doing here?

[ex_tessen852]

I am.

Well, we kinda just... live. There isn't much to do until the experiments happen.

[thepinkest]

Well, then I guess we'll have to come up with something fun, huh? Just living is boring!

[ex_tessen852]

Trust me. It won't be after the things we're put through here. Being taken is only the tip of the iceberg. We're experimented on. There are missions we can go on. Not to mention things like death? They're not permanent and can lead to some awful things.

[thepinkest]

Whaaaat? You mean dead people just... come back all over? That's creepy!

[ex_tessen852]

They come back normal.. for the most part. It's... complicated.

[thepinkest]

For the most part? But what about for the other part? The... not-most? Is that all messed up?

[ex_tessen852]

Um, I don't know if this is my story to tell, but ask Sokka. Let's just catch you up on some other things.

[thepinkest]

Sokka...?

[She frowns, thinking about that.]

Huh. Well, his aura did look a little weird when I talked to him on this journal thing. Is he okay?

[She pauses there, studying Suki's expression.]

Are you okay? If stuff is weird with him...

[ex_tessen852]

I'm fine. I promise, but there are some things that I guess I should tell you.

First though, what's the last thing you remember from our world?

[thepinkest]

Stuff I need to know? [Okay, but she's willing to be a little sidetracked by the question.] Oh! The party after Zuko's coronation as Fire Lord!

[ex_tessen852]

Oh! You're only a year behind me. [Which was good.] My last memory has us back in the Fire Nation protecting Zuko.

[thepinkest]

We were, huh? Sounds pretty important.

[It's so weird to think about all this time weirdness, but acting as bodyguards for Zuko -- no, that's at least something pretty rational. A Fire Lord needs guards, after all.]

[ex_tessen852]

Yeah... it is. [She's not going to say everything. Not because she wants to hide things from Ty Lee, but she doesn't want to tell her about Mai walking out on Zuko. Too many sad things at once isn't good.]

Well, just because things are happening there... it doesn't mean it's gonna be here. I mean, well, Sokka and I, we, um, we aren't together here.

[thepinkest]

You're not?!

[Her eyes go wide for a moment -- okay, it's not like she's had a lot of time to know them as a couple, but it isn't like she and Suki didn't talk at all while they were both in prison... she knows how much Sokka means to Suki.]

Is that why his aura's all messed up like that? [And given how Suki looks about it...] Well, serves him right if he did something awful like dump you!

[ex_tessen852]

Actually... I broke up with him.

It's a long story, and it's mainly because of this place. I'm... I'm going to try and be his friend though.

[thepinkest]

You did?

[It's actually enough to stem the tide of questions. If Suki broke up with Sokka instead of the other way around, then there has to be a good reason, not a dumb one -- Suki doesn't do things for dumb reasons.]

I guess you had a reason to, huh? If this place can make you do stuff like that... [It's actually kind of scary to think about.]

[ex_tessen852]

It isn't that important, but... just in case. I didn't want you to accidentally say anything. Not that you would've gotten into trouble or anything.

[...]

We should change subjects, shouldn't we?

[thepinkest]

[That caveat is kind of important -- because for most of her life, a slip of the tongue like that would have gotten Ty Lee into trouble, with the wrong person.]

Y-yeah! Let's talk about something else.

Hey, I'm kind of hungry. Are there like restaurants and stuff we can eat at?

[ex_tessen852]

There are a lot of places. Plus, everything's free, so we can go to the store, grab some food, and just eat back at my house.

[thepinkest]

Everything everything? [Man, is that cool.] Well, that makes things easy! What kind of food is there?

[ex_tessen852]

So much! Foods I've never even heard of before. It's pretty amazing. Just wait until you see it. [Leading the way~]

[thepinkest]

[And following with a bounce in her step!]

Oh, oh! I wanna try everything! [In reasonable doses, of course. She likes her figure~]

[ex_tessen852]

Then that's what we'll do. The store might be overwhelming.

[thepinkest]

Oh, we'll see! I don't overwhelm easily, after all.