First Spell // Action - Voice

[anita_hero]

[Action]

[Anita wakes up halfway and considers staying that way until she comes to the realizations that A) she seems to have fallen asleep sitting up, B) she managed to do so outside, and C) her back is killing her. At this point, she jerks to full consciousness and flinches when her back grinds into the surface behind her.

Oh. That...isn't right.

What follows is a panicked flailing at the vicinity of her back that probably looks hilarious to any observers and ends when she catches a handful of feathers and yelps in pain. She scrambles to her feet and looks around wildly, and...oh. Fountain. She was sitting next to a fountain. The sky is gray, but the water is still enough to see her reflection in, and...

Oh. Oh. That definitely isn't right.

Caught between a mild state of shock at her wings and a slightly more pronounced one at the fact that she's in public and someone took her clothes and replaced them with a dress she's never seen before, it takes Anita a moment to notice the book at her feet. It has her name on it, which is disturbing, but at least it's something to go on.

She picks it up, resumes her seat at the base of the fountain (taking care of her inexplicable new appendages), and cracks open the journal.]

[Voice]

Okay...I'd be lying if I said this was the first time I woke up on a strange world with my clothes missing - unfortunately - but this a little too much, mon. For one thing, there was usually someone around that I knew... I don't suppose there's anyone here who knows me?

My name's Anita Fite, but if you're from Earth, you might know me as Empress. [No harm in revealing her secret identity if she doesn't have family here to protect, although, shockingly, knowing that they're not here doesn't make her feel much better.] If you do know me and you want to find me, I'm in this place called Seventh Heaven, because it was a little chilly outside considering - well, I hate to sound like a broken record about the missing clothes.

I'll be the girl in the corner with the white dress. I would have worn a corsage, but I thought it was a little much for a first date.

[She closes the journal halfway before a tiny flutter of hope compels her to say one last thing:]

And, by the way...does anyone know of absolutely any way at all I could get some kind of message back home? I just...want my parents to know I'm okay.

Comments

[anita_hero]

I'm really hoping not to have to even think about that until I'm way older.

[markofthewise]

But think of the family reunions!

[anita_hero]

Forget that; think of the babysitting.

[markofthewise]

Well, you won't have to do much of that here. Our infant population is pretty much one.

[anita_hero]

Oh, yeah - I was talking to the new dad. Mr. Wolfwood, right?

[markofthewise]

Yeah. That's the guy. The new dad around here. {Sokka does not sound... entirely comfortable talking about him.]

[anita_hero]

[None of her business, but...]

...Not a friend of yours?

[markofthewise]

I wouldn't say that! We barely even know each other.

[anita_hero]

I barely know him either, but he seems nice. Of course, I barely know anyone here, and most people seem nice.

[markofthewise]

Yeah, well, welcome to Luceti. You get used to the niceness.

[anita_hero]

I guess it makes sense. People have to help each other out when they're banding together against a common aggressor and stuff.

[markofthewise]

Well, there's that. And there's the fact that this place is pretty much packed with people who save towns and countries or the entire world.

[anita_hero]

[Guilty as charged.]

Yeah, I guess there's that, too.

So what do you do, Sokka? Are you the world-saving type?

[markofthewise]

Yeah, pretty much. I haven't saved any worlds recently on account of, you know, being here. But back in my-not-having-wing day, I did my part to ensure evil didn't take over.

[anita_hero]

Cool. What's your world like?

[markofthewise]

Well, seeing as I know nothing about yours, it's kind of hard to compare? But generally, the key differences can be summed up as bending, what you'd call 'hybrid animals' and four nations based on the four elements. And our technology level is pre-industrial.

[Yeah. He's been in Luceti for a long time.]

[anita_hero]

I guess it was kind of a silly question. Um, my world is post-industrial, has regular animals, and - what's bending?

Oh, and we have metahumans. Some people have special powers or abilities that most people don't have, and sometimes they use them to either fight or perpetrate crime. Apparently not everywhere has those. Which is really weird to me; it's almost like being told I don't exist to some people.

[markofthewise]

Well... we don't exactly have those. [But the idea is familiar from the people he's met in Luceti.] Benders have the ability to control the elements. Usually just one of them. It's a pretty handy skill. I don't have it, though.

[anita_hero]

Elements? [She's thinking periodic table, here.] Control them how?

[markofthewise]

There's really not any scientific explanation for it. It's supposed to be a spiritual thing. If you're born with it, you can wave your hands and control one of them with your mind.

[anita_hero]

Oh. [Spiritual. Other elements. Right.] That sounds pretty cool, mon. I wish I could get a demonstration.

[markofthewise]

Well, you kind of asked the wrong guy for that. Pretty much all I can show you is sharp and deadly weapons.

[anita_hero]

I like those too!

[markofthewise]

Well if you ever want to drop by, I happen to have a whole smithy full of them.

[anita_hero]

Really? I might do that, then.