Avatar Zulera

The night passed slowly, something about the cool weather made it seem longer than before. The first of the sun's rays were just appearing on the horizon when Mei woke from his slumber. He realized, first, that he didn't hear anything outside, and second, he had a slight headache which he assumed was from the drinking. He blinked a few times, muttering something he didn't understand to himself.

Mei smiled, stretching his arms, a flood of memory poured through his mind. Zulera was still there, and, with the same gentle touch as before, he lifted her up, given her stature, and his, he found he quite liked holding her. After lifting her, he walked her to his bed and laid her down. He turned, and picked her clothes up off the ground, laying them beside her, and turned, walking to the door, slipping out without making a sound, closing the door behind him.

He stood outside, the air was crisp, and cold, no one else was out yet. Did something happen the pervious night? He walked around the deck, searching for any signs of something unusual. There were marks on the inside lip of the walls that enclosed the deck, similar to the grappling hooks he'd seen in previous journies to the Water Tribes.

"Odd..." He shook his head, and peeked over the side, no Water Tribe ships. He turned, walking toward the door to the lower deck. He opened the door slowly, descending the stairs. The doors were either locked, or baracaded from the inside. He knocked lightly, "Hello?" It was Xiayu's room, "If you're in there, it's Mei. Xiayu! Lieutenant!" No reply. He recalled pirates had been known to attack ships, but a Fire Nation Battleship? No, that's not possible, is it?.

Mei leaned his head against the door, nothing, not even breathing. He stepped back, lifted his foot, and kicked forward, the first blow did little more than twist Mei's ankle, the second made a ear-splitting scream sound, further damaging his ankle, the last caused the door's hinges to buckle inward, and the door swung open.

The room was trashed, icicles still clung to the cieling, large puddles formed underneath them. He shook his head, "No way...no, no, no, no, no, no..." The room was, at some time recently, completely frozen on the inside. And it appeared Xiayu didn't leave it without a fight, burn marks scarred the walls.

Mei stepped out of the room, stumbling back up onto the deck. He had to half-hobble to avoid stepping too heavily on his left ankle, finding he'd managed to hurt it pretty well. He wasn't aware Zul was awake, and hadn't heard her from within the barracks area.

Zulera Joanna Tallarico

Zulera followed the banging noises, assuming it was where Mei had gone. seems that something, probably that alcohol, had had a lasting effect on her that she was now feeling. either way, she didn't care much, and just wanted to find him while her vision recovered, and to see what else had happened in their absence. soon, she stumbled across him, still rubbing her eyes (And naked form the waist up). "Hey... there you are..." she mumbled softly.

Mood: Strangely Dizzy Condition: Sleeping

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Mei half shrugged-half nodded, "Oh, hey...um, I thought you'd be asleep a bit longer...so..." He sighed, and leaned against the wall beside him, "It looks like there was a reason no one showed up to fetch us last night.", he said. "Maybe...well...I'm not biased...but...I remember the grappling hooks I've seen in the Water Tribes...and..."

He walked slowly, and painfully over the the distinct marks he'd found, "If I'm not mistaken, these are them...and...it appears my crew is missing, at least, I got into Xiayu's room, it was trashed and half frozen." He glanced back at Zulera, "It may have been pirates....but if I had to guess it's rogues from one of the tribes...maybe I made some enemies I didn't know about."

Mei was silent, wandering along in his memories, trying to find something, anything to connect himself to Waterbenders. He closed his eyes, and shook his head, "No. I haven't had much contact with Waterbenders in quite a long time.", he said, "Aside from you. That, or course, just goes back to the off chance pirates attacked, and successfully subdued an entire Fire Nation battleship...but...that seems really unlikely..."

He realized suddenly what his final comment implied, "Not that we're better...but it's a battleship...not some fishing vessel, and these are trained soldiers, not just common civilians..."

Mei glanced up at Zulera, "I never really thought of pirates as one's to just leave...maybe they have the crew locked away somewhere...but then, where's their boat if they are?" He looked over the edge again, "And where would they be?" He seemed to have more questions than answers on this issue.

Mei listened to Zulera, appearing more and more unsettled. He strode past you, up the stairs to the upper deck, "I think a quick cabin search couldn't hurt. We need to see if any of the crew are still inside the ship. Second, if there are subs out there, I want to find them, and lure them up if I can..." He closed his eyes, and chuckled, "Who knows, maybe they'll listen to you instead of trying to fight."

Mei sighed, "It's up to you. The barracks will have to wait.", he said, the last part absently to himself. He took off his jacket, tossing it into his room without the slightest hesitation. He turned again, taking a short bit of rope, about thirty or so feet, and tying one end to a sturdy metal bar that was used for holding Scout Balloons to the deck while people boarded. The other end was tied around his waist. "Um, if I'm not back up soon, promise you'll check on me.", he said weakly.

Mei closed his eyes, turning, and looking down at the water, it looked cold. He shook his head, about twenty feet to the water, which gave him about twenty feet of exploring room. He took a short breath, and dove over the side.

First, he was right, the water was icy, probably from a current caught from the south. Second, the first thing he saw was a sub, in fact, he slammed into it, head first, and was suddenly seeing stars. The third and final thing he noticed, was that the water around him was beginning to churn, and writhe like a snake, the waterbender stared at Mei without the slightest bit of mercy in his eyes. He was in fact, intent on drowning Mei before he could resurface, and he was sure the man was yelling at someone about an unsatisfactory search.

Mei was more or less, dizzy, and disoriented, but not completely useless, he managed to, at least, grab hold of Zul's waist, his voice was muffled, but he spoke anyway, "We want them out of the water Zul, attract them out." He hoped that she understood, because his lungs were begging for oxygen.

At this point, he swam up for air, savoring the breath of fresh air he recieved as he surfaced. He'd never recalled enjoying the taste of air quite so much.

Mei smiled, and nodded, "I think I'll sit here for a bit." He looked a bit pale, gripping the rope, and being dragged behind the boat. He never mentioned he feared it was Kai, but that wouldn't really be necessary anyway, it wasn't, and that was that.

He closed his eyes, focusing on ignoring the pain that spiked through his head. Why did he have to dive right into it? Terrible luck. "Good luck, don't hurt yourself, I'll be ready to move when you're done."

Mei shook his head, climbing up the rope as soon as Zul began declining, he untied the end, and dropped it down for her. He glanced up at the frozen subs, "That was amazing, you are amazing.", he said to her. "I've never seen anything like that before."