vault66 | 1st Team Meeting

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1st Team Meeting

WHO: Azula and any vault dwellers who show up.
WHERE: The Rec Room
WHEN: Three hours after her annoucement.
WHAT: Azula's "War Council" to disseminate information and introductions...also snacks.
WARNINGS: Possible discussions of violence and/or dark backstories.

Azula had attended a number of war meetings growing up as well as social affairs for meeting with important members of the public or military. This was different for a number of reasons, the largest being that this was a place no one seemed to have any respect for her title.

But she could handle that. It had taken her half a month to come to terms with it but here the title "Princess" was only as important as she made it.

Unfortunately that meant having to play "Nice" having to bite her tongue and not get frustrated when she wasn't catered to. That would have been harder for her two years ago, and impossible a year ago.

But here we were, with her waiting patiently near the entrance to the Rec Room to greet people as they came in. Oh how far she'd fallen.

"Come in, help yourself to some snacks. We'll get started soon."

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"As I introduced myself before, I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. A place I am aware most of you probably have never heard of."

Though for a moment she glances around the room hoping for some look of recognition. Even if they knew her true nature she would almost prefer it to this feeling of being so far away from home.

"My kingdom was the strongest in our world, the most advanced though not nearly as advanced as the technology in this place. We were on the verge of establishing peaceful relations and unity for all the kingdoms. Though I fear I may never see that come true now."

Sure that "Peace" would have been after her nation dominated all the others with fear and fire but she didn't need to share that part.

"I have some combat training, though I've been cut off from my fire bending. But a warriors greatest weapon is her mind. I won't let what I've lost get in the way of our claiming victory over this place."

She's a fucking warlord.

"Peaceful relations and claiming victory sound like opposite things."

Azula is going to be a problem, he's realizing. If something happens in here, she's the one to take down.

"And what's fire bending?"

She rolls her eyes at his comment.

"Did you wish to establish peaceful relations with the Rats and bugs? Or perhaps those unfortunate creatures we found in the testing chambers?"

Honestly sometimes she had to wonder if anyone outside of the Fire Nation had sense.

"My people are born with an affinity to manipulate fire. Not that it matters here since I seem to be cut off from it."

Something that was bothering her more then she expected. It felt like part of her was missing and whenever she took too long to dwell on it...

"I was quite the prodigy as well. If I could somehow regain my power we'd have no problem opening these doors or fighting off those beasts."

Yes, that's exactly what he wants, but no one will ever agree to it.

"Ideally, yeah."

Peaceful relations with the rats and bugs, and the experiments that are alive.

"I think that's the case with everyone. Everyone who had abilities anyway. I could have gotten us out of here too."

Now he's kind of useless in this situation, which is irritating him.

She pauses for a moment to consider his proposal. As much as she relishes the idea of grinding an enemy under her boot with their limited supplies and resources, constant fighting is a poor choice.

"And do you have suggestions on how we can establish that sort of peace with the creatures? Because it's going to take something solid to convince us to not defend ourselves when they attack."

It's unfortunate to think that they were all being held back from their full potential. But it probably made it more interesting for whatever twisted mastermind was behind all of this if there was one.

He doesn't have any good suggestions, because he can't just talk to them.

"Self defense is fine. I'm not saying never hurt them, or even... kill them if you need to. Just... maybe not antagonizing them or going into it like they're the enemy when it's this Overseer guy and the military or whatever the fuck."

He's bad at explaining things, and doesn't have room to say anything about antagonizing.

"If we can get them to trust us or work with us somehow..."

It's a half formed thought.

Azula actually smiles at that.

"Now that's something interesting to consider."

She shifted her weight into a more casual, thoughtful posture.

"When I spoke initially perhaps I was too specific. While the creatures have proven hostile the Overseer is still questionable. I assure you though if he or any other outside forces threaten our well being? Then I'd fight along those disgusting creatures in a heartbeat."

"Good to know."

He comes from a place where there's a very black and white thinking about non-humans; monsters, demons, abominations. He took everyone, no matter the species, individually.

"It's ideals and subjugation that should be fought."

"Interesting you should say ideals."

She'll just breeze past that other part. It doesn't exactly apply to her needs.

"While we don't know how much truth there is to any of this, suppose for a moment the intentions of this vault are what they claim. That we are the last of humanity and we must rebuild and flourish such as we are."

The idea seems laughable especially now that she's looking at the others in the room but she'll press on.

"What sort of ideals would you want to instill in this new beginning for humanity? As one of the founders you deserve a say in how we try to form our new society don't you?"

"I don't have any ideals for it."

He doesn't want to be one of these hypothetical 'founders' either.

"Humans are animals and we shouldn't even be re-building a society. If what they're saying is true, and it was war, we're the ones who fucked it up and we'll just fuck it up again if you want some structured society back."

Azula looks like she's listening and then sighs shaking her head.

"Disappointing. But we can't live without some form of structure and goals. We're not animals, not in the sense that you're making us out to be."

Though peasants were fairly close to animals sometimes.

"It may be acceptable for you to let nature reclaim the planet but I won't give up just because other humans lacked the hindsight we've been given and the foresight to not follow in their footsteps."

They disagree entirely on the human race. They're not superior to anything, and Jiro is fine with nature reclaiming the planet.

"Have fun with your little dictatorship, then. What's your plan for the new society?"

This was fun in a way, someone so aggressive yet so completely beneath her.

"It wouldn't be a dictatorship because our numbers are small enough we can make decisions as a group. So if that was your biggest concern you can relax...that is if you know how to relax. Have you ever relaxed before?"

Besides it was clear now she didn't have the influence nor the means to lead this group. It would take more time and planning to have that kind of power and sway over these strong willed fools.

"Second, I would suggest we focus largely on protecting what we have even after we make our way to the surface. Expand slowly, work together. Try to salvage the pieces of life that we found important before all this began and work them into our new world. After all there's more to life then just surviving."

"I'm fucking relaxed!" He is obviously not. "And I don't care what type of political system you're using!"

He'd gone with dictatorship because it's the first one he thought of with a negative connotation. Azula's plan gets a puzzled look, because it amounts to nothing but wandering around and potentially clinging to dream worlds.

"What kind of plan is that!?"

"It's a start. And it's more of a plan then yours. I never expected you would be the kind to just give up and let the world decide for you how things should be. But I guess we're both disappointed tonight."

He wasn't wrong, if that was her only plan it was barely worth mentioning. But what good would it be to waste her breath on him?

"You've given me the impression you don't particularly like when people talk too much anyway and rebuilding a society takes more then a few sentences and some easy to understand bullet points."

"I'm not letting the world decide! I just said I didn't care about replicating a society. That's making a choice."

It just wasn't the decision she apparently wanted.

"This shouldn't even be a discussion right now; we should be focused on getting out first. Then you can plan your agenda."

Bullet points would be very helpful, but he'll never say it.

"You're the one who asked." she reminded him "Once we do get out you're free to wander off into the wilderness if you want but the rest of us want to survive and that's going to require some detailed planning."

Oh how she missed the days when she could have guards escort people out of the room for irritating her.

"You are sensible in some ways. I've said it before and I meant it. But humans need structure and rules."

"Because you asked me first!"

Does she not remember?

"I'm free to do whatever the fuck I want at any point, which is kind of my point here! No one needs rules!"

Rules are made to be broken. Repeatedly.

She does. But this is more fun.

"I knew you were selfish but I didn't think it was quite that bad. I don't know what world you grew up in that allowed you to live only for yourself but until we leave the vault? We share resources and that means having to work together and agree on boundaries."

Honestly how anarchists like him survived she would never know.

He throws up his hands, because she's just talking in circles.

"We're working together right now! All the societal speculation was after we get out!"

He cannot communicate effectively whatsoever.

"Then why are you still getting so worked up if you don't want to think about the future? It's best left to people who actually care what happens to the rest of us after we get out. Not someone who wants to just run off and vanish into nature."

She can't help but wonder if he'd get along better with the Avatar. After all the Avatar and his team spent more time living in nature then they did in cities.

...actually Jiro probably would find a way to hate them too. It was like his special skill.

"Because you're pissing me off!"

He crosses his arms and glares.

"No one needs to think that far ahead because shit happens and everything changes. It's a waste of effort."

Jill is curious about her, naturally, but she doesn't interrupt and is polite enough to wait until the younger woman finishes speaking.

"I don't mind volunteering to help you learn more about some of the technology, but anything intensive like hacking would take a long time to learn -- especially since the terminals all seem pretty keen on keeping me out."

She was used to stumbling through it if it all boiled down to the worst of it. But she's never quite been that lucky, she supposes. While the personal information is curious and interesting, it's nothing she thinks can be utilized immediately.

"I wouldn't say that a mind can beat a well-placed roundhouse. In my line of work I deal with people who play the superior mind game all the time. It's important to have your wits about you, but in a fight you can't necessarily outwit someone -- or something -- into rolling over dead." The rules of this place were pretty black and white. It seemed that way to Jill, anyway, and while brains would certainly help, they weren't going to be safe on the front lines. "If you're better with tactics, it might be a good idea to gather before any excursion and have you work with the planning, however."

Azula had been concerned that this one might be more aggressive, but she came off as reasonable, if not a little stiff. Not unlike many military types she'd met back home.

"I would appreciate any assistance I could get. Some people make for better teachers then others." She nodded her head in the direction of Jiro. "While he was helpful for figuring out the basics of the Food Processor I can't be sure he wasn't just making it up as he went along."

As for the combat part she actually smiled honestly, a rare thing for her.

"And as satisfying as it is to out think my enemies I will admit there's a feeling of satisfaction in landing a perfectly executed blow that puts them down isn't there?"

She didn't mind the idea of them turning to her for tactics and she nodded at Jill's suggestion, "I'll do my best of course. This is far from a traditional war or battle but there's plenty to be gained from planning ahead."

Jill can be pretty aggressive, but she doesn't see a reason to push toward that sort of attitude for the moment. Although she is able to be softer or more friendly, at this moment she feels using her experience in her authoritative occupation is best to rely on. It's serious, after all.

"I'm decent in regard to combat training, but I can't promise I'll be the best with tech. I could work on teaching you the map system better first. Typing, though, is something you have to get used to yourself through experience." The map system is the most important, she thinks. Reading the topography style isn't always easy, even though it shows their locations at all times. That, alone, does bother her. Who else has access to their locations? She suspects someone must. "Some tech is different than others, obviously. It's like fighting styles. Everyone makes it their own."

So it's pretty clear that Jill gets it. At least in terms of fighting.

"Ha, well, you're not wrong there. But it's best to play to one's strengths. I think there's value in all skills and it'll be better if we play to each individual's abilities." Jill could plan on the fly, but actually sitting down and pre-planning wasn't her greatest skill. "Well, your wit is strong. So something non-traditional might suit you better."

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1st Team Meeting

Azula

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