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[earthrhythms]

[ This'll hold some kind of voicemail eventually. ]

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[earthrhythms]

[ She rubs at her eyes, blinking the dust out of them as she follows Ellie. ]

What's a bike?

[tonsofpun]

It's got a seat, two wheels, and pedals, and you push the pedals with your feet to make it go.

I don't know how to ride one, though.

[earthrhythms]

How's that thing that passed like a bike? Do they all look like that? The, [ she imitates a motor sound, ] thingies.

[ It's not the first time she hears noise like that, but it's the first time outside of battle. ]

[tonsofpun]

There aren't any trucks or busses here, so yeah, I think they're all the bike-type things.

I can drive a truck.

[earthrhythms]

And what are trucks and buses? I'm guessing they make the same sound.

[tonsofpun]

You can only fit about five or six people in a truck, and you can fit like forty in a bus.

They're no big deal, but yeah, they all have engines, so they make the sound.

[earthrhythms]

Right, that's the word. Engine.

Good to know they're used for other things than just tanks and stuff.

[tonsofpun]

You know tanks, but not trucks?

[earthrhythms]

There was a war for a hundred years. I think people were more concerned with making weapons than anything else.

[tonsofpun]

What happened when they had to move a bunch of civvies around? -civilians.

[Damn it, soldier talk still slips out.]

[earthrhythms]

I dunno. They walked, I guess? Didn't really happen a lot.

[tonsofpun]

Isn't that dangerous? Bunch of people who don't know how to fight going between towns with a war going on?

[earthrhythms]

Well, yeah. I mean, I guess it was mostly out of necessity? Most people were traveling to Ba Sing Se because it was the last stronghold and for a hundred years not even the best general of the Fire Nation managed to get through its walls.

[tonsofpun]

I guess I can't blame 'em, but they'd be easy pickings for hunters along the road, especially if they were moving in big groups with everything they had.

[She talks like she knows, like she's been on some side of it, but with the worry in her voice, it's probably been on the opposite side of the hunters.]

[earthrhythms]

They weren't big groups, for the most part. Not until they got to the dock for the ferrt that would take them to Ba Sing Se. That place was crowded.

[tonsofpun]

I wonder why the soldiers didn't just wait at the dock with the refugees and get in that way?

[earthrhythms]

They didn't know about it.

[tonsofpun]

Shit. People really kept that secret well, then.

[earthrhythms]

I guess they did.

Are we there yet?

[tonsofpun]

Juuust about. We should be seeing Riley any minute now-

[everysecond]

[Riley appears out of nowhere behind Ellie to suddenly tickle her sides.]

BOO!

[earthrhythms]

[ WOW THAT IS NOT OKAY IN SO MANY WAYS. ]

Whoa!

[ She steps away, narrowly avoiding punching Riley or something, though her hands are definitely raised as though she was about to. Monkey feathers, as Aang would have said. ]

[tonsofpun]

Motherfucker!

[Ellie squirms and pushes Riley away, but she loses because she's already smiling.]

I just about stabbed your stupid ass-

[... poor Toph.]

[everysecond]

[She's laughing her ass off over here.]

Holy shit! Your faces!

[earthrhythms]

Very funny. I'll give you something to laugh at.

[ She cracks her knuckles and takes a step towards Riley. Is she actually going to do anything? She might, but she also might not.

Maybe it's a good idea to calm her down. ]