thebastion | Event: Day 336 [open]

[Umbreon nuzzles at Anna. Did she win? Does she get pets now? Are they going to play again?]

Umbree?

[Her ears and tail twitch as she looks up at Zuko. Are you the one in charge of the game?]

[There's Colin, coming in from the south... he's also paying close attention to the store house's vicinity on his sensors.]

[After all, they just cleared out a lot of their top number to catch one thief, another could get in very easily...]

Good girl, Umbreon! Come here, lemme give you some pets for that.

Is she okay?

[Oh boy...everything seemed under control for the moment, but Ippo sure hope the poor girl didn't get too startled by that Umbreon. He'd keep a few paces back for now, but he was concerned nonetheless.]

[She's unhurt, but she is very upset and is crying.]

[...Someone crying? No, we don't like this.]

[But she was told to cover the entrance, and she still believes that's important. ~~Dang if her heartstrings aren't being plucked a wee mite, though.~~]

[Zuko puts a hand on Anna's shoulder. Gotta calm her down before she can answer any questions.]

Hey. It's all right. No one's angry with you.

[Umbreon licks Anna's face, making inquisitive noises. What's wrong? Why are you crying? Did she play the game wrong?]

[But oh! Pettings! She trots over to Colin and sits down in front of him. You may begin the scritchin'.]

[And petting you will receive, Umbreon.]

That's a good girl. She was probably scared. You did a very good thing.

[Scratching behind the ears, along the neck, and over the back.]

Ippo, can you gather the compasses?

[He watches Anna, and he glances around for Stewart. His eyes lock briefly on Ikuri, and he gives her a simple nod. You're doing good over there, Ikuri.]

[Meanwhile, Zuko seems to be handling things all right. One of the many reasons he called for her.]

[- her expression calms back to neutral before she returns the nod. Position secured, sir: nothing to worry about here.]

[There's a brief but meaningful shift of her eyes to the child, and then back to him, even as her head is turning away. "Please take care of her. I can't, since I'm over here."]

[You can be assured the gesture is meant compassionately, and not in annoyance.]

[Back to the job.]

[Stewart is right there, kneeling down on the other side of Anna and helping her to at least sit up.

Anna is the one who talks, though.]

You're all gonna be mad at me!

[Oh look she knows what she was doing is wrong.]

No, we're not.

Just tell us what's going on. We'll figure out what to do about it.

Maybe, maybe not.

I'm sure you've got a reason for doing what you're doing, Anna. We're not gonna get mad at you without knowing why.

[Still scratching Umbreon behind the ears. Good Umbreon, we need to play later, yes.]

Edited 2015-08-01 17:02 (UTC)

[She does, actually! Which is what she is about to try to explain.]

Everyone keeps going out on the Skyway, and then they don't come back, or the end up like Crona-

[She has to fight to keep in a sniffle there.]

These things are what make people leave, so if they're not here anymore...

[A tight frown when Colin speaks. Don't interfere with her pseudo-parenting, Colin. In fact, don't talk at all, she doesn't want to accidentally snap at Anna. Too bad she can't pull the amulet removal trick again without being unable to talk to the girl either.

She lets out a short breath.]

Anna... I know how you feel. But hiding in the Bastion won't keep us safe. You remember what happened when it ran out of power?

Our best chance is in working together, and being honest with each other. And if Nathaniel's right, we shouldn't have to risk the Skyway for too much longer.

[Umbreon paws at Colin, before wandering over towards Anna again, picking up one of the compasses in her mouth and dropping it on Anna's lap. You wanted these, right?]

[Her actual parent is RIGHT THERE Zuko... He appreciates what you're trying to do, he brought you here for a reason after all, but quit making promises that aren't your place to make.]

[But he's not going to push the matter, instead he's going to help Ippo gather up the other fallen compasses while the emotionally intelligent people handle things. Barring the one Umbreon took, naturally.]

[Speaking of Stewart, he is comforting his daughter as best as he can, but he's not...really the emotional type. But he'll speak up now, since they seem to have an answer from Anna.]

She seems to be a bit misguided, that's all. I can't imagine how she got this idea into her head, but I can talk to her about it and explain things to her.

[He's right though, Anna wouldn't have thought of something like this on her own, she was never told what the compasses were for. Itty kids not needing to go out on the Skyway, and all.]

[Colin furrows his brow slightly, and he looks between Stewart and Zuko. Is nobody else picking up on this?]

Anna... Did anyone talk to you about this? About these? These compasses are so people can find their way back here, not so they can leave and never return...

[There's that nagging paranoia again. It COULDN'T have been so easy as to be a scared kid...]

[C'mon, the only thing Zuko promised was that no one would get angry at Anna. Which she can't exactly keep, but she can absolutely fight anyone who does get angry at her.

But it doesn't seem necessary. Even her father just wants to talk to her.

She's about to get up and call it mission complete when Colin speaks up again. She grits her teeth, but there's nothing in his question to put blame on Anna so she'll just wait for the answer.]

[Stewart picks up on what Colin is doing, and he nods to Colin and stays quiet.

Anna rubs at her eyes as she answers.]

Nate told us all about the compasses and what they do, but Sammy said that everyone who takes them gets lost. Mr. Zahi said Sammy's just reacting badly to people disappearing and not to worry too much, and that only people who know what they're doing will take them anyway. But I was still worried, and he said that if it made me feel better then I could hide them and only give them to people who could fight.

[She looks down at the ground.]

But Nate kept making more, so I had to keep hiding them.

[Zuko frowns, this time in some confusion. This could still be a case of misunderstandings and miscommunication, but... it's sounding a lot hazier.]

Hiding them? I thought you'd been getting rid of them.

[And as far as Zuko knows, she never did approach any of their fighters about this. Zuko should have been one of them, too.]

[Now we're starting to get somewhere... He gives Zuko a quick glance, then he looks back to Anna.]

Could you show us where you've been hiding them, Anna?

We're not mad, we just really need to know where everything has gone.

[He suspects that SOMEONE is playing games here... he doesn't like to think it's Zahi, but he definitely hasn't ruled it out either. He ALSO really wishes that there were a telepath here so they could hold a conversation without frightening the kid...]

[Anna points to the edge of the Bastion.]

Out there. Nate and Mr. Zulf fell off and came back, so these'll come back too, right?

[Child Logic]

[Are we looking for something? Umbreon sniffs at the compass, and heads in the direction Anna's pointing. She will sniff out the thing!]

[Someone should probably stop her before she tries to sniff the thing out over the edge.]

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