AUDIENCE: ZUKO

[retellers]

Comments

[retellers]

No, since the Realm doesn't know what's going on yet. The fact that we're all here means that it's desperate and needed outside help.

But, in theory, we should be able to figure out if it's some type of being, or a natural event, or whatever, now that we're here.

[cuedoves]

Did anything happen between you getting here and us getting here...? Aside from your..... gift bags and picking jobs and that stuff.

[ since they arrived a few days before the gang ]

[retellers]

It was mostly us getting the crash course on everything and preparing for you guys. There really was a limited amount of what we could get done without you.

[cuedoves]

And how much did you know about us before we arrived?

[retellers]

Just what's on your profiles. The Realm apparently didn't think what you guys did before you arrived here was important for us to know, thankfully.

[ tiger... does not care about your tragic backstories. ]

[cuedoves]

Probably for the best.

[ considering..... ]

How badly do you want to win this 'competition'?

[retellers]

I'd like to win in the sense that I think I deserve a prize for dealing with how ridiculous this all is?

[ did they agree to do this for free. they want to know. ]

[cuedoves]

[ he laughs a little but ]

Well, the same could be said for all of us.

[retellers]

Oh, you guys definitely have a really shitty end of the deal. I don't envy you.

I'm just not really a fan of repeating myself, it seems. This job requires a lot of it.

[cuedoves]

Yeah, me neither.

[ that's why he's not asking what lux i mean nova is. ]

Can I ask you something? What makes you so sure all this is real? I still don't really get how the Realm is communicating with you.

[retellers]

I mean, did you have to learn how to breathe? Or think? Or did you just suddenly start doing it automatically without being aware that you are?

It's like that. We just suddenly knew what the Realm wanted us to do. It's not verbally talking to us, but it's communicating with us.

[cuedoves]

That must be weird.

[ being connected to a realm... like that. ]

And it's one-way, right?

[retellers]

Yeah. Well, sort of.

[ a wave of their hand. ]

I'm pretty sure it understands what our responses to it are. But it doesn't let us know whether it acknowledged them or not, since it's... whatever the fuck it is. Like you're having a conversation with someone, but the other person isn't responding to anything you're saying and instead just talks over you. Get it?

[cuedoves]

Yeah, I get it. It's like yelling into the wind, basically?

[ he knows the feeling. he's been on both ends of it ]

I bet it's probably not the listening type.

[retellers]

Probably not. But it doesn't usually deal with people? It never had to directly until now, and it only grabbed all of us as a last resort.

[cuedoves]

Yeah. It seems pretty desperate to be grabbing this bunch.

... Not you. But the rest of us.

[retellers]

[ they snort. ]

Everyone is always questioning why the Realm set things up the way it did, but they're all picturing a person who thinks and acts like we do. It's not that. The consciousness is has it barely like ours, and it only really understands people from their nova. Like, the way you'd understand an animal--you can learn all that you can about it, but you'll never actually know what it's like to be it. That's the Realm trying to figure out what to do with us.

[cuedoves]

Everyone just wants an easy answer to the situation we're in.

[ himself included ]

And I don't think anyone ever thought of it like that. I know I didn't.

[ but it makes sense ]

[retellers]

I mean, understandable. When I first got here I also wanted the Sparknotes version--still do, since the longer explanations give me headaches.

[ they hate it. ]

But I think situations like these are easier to deal with when there's a clear villain figure, and villain figures are simplier to understand when they're person shaped.

[cuedoves]

[ he doesn't really get what sparknotes means but he can guess from context. ]

[ he rubs the back of his head. ]

Yeah. It was... hard not to be suspicious of you all, when I first showed up. Sorry about that.

[retellers]

Eh. We expected it.

... well, most of us.

[ goat did not expect shit. ]

[cuedoves]

Yeah, but I feel like a jerk.

[ jerkbender.... ]

[retellers]

[ ... ]

Listen, to be real with you, you're like low on the jerk scale compared to others.

[cuedoves]

Yeah? That's a first.

[ a bit of a wry smile though ]

[retellers]

Hey, didn't say you weren't one! The competition at this place is just pretty stiff, yeah?