open | think of this like a low effort network post but it's in 3D

[doooooog]

CHARACTERS: Jake (& Finn) and You!
LOCATION: Sunlight Room AKA right outside the teleportation platform
DATE: Minutes after the crew arrives back from the latest mission
CONTENT: Missing Orbs? I don't know what you're talking about, there are two giant pleading puppy eyes waiting right here for you! (translation: Finn & Jake are apparently back on the ship after going missing thanks to orb malfunctions, just in time for yet another Orb Malfunction. Say Hello!)
WARNINGS: N/A at the moment, will update in thread subject lines if that changes!

[ Confusion. Caution. Unknowable consequences, crackling in the darker corners of Ximilia's sprawling layout. All of it served another larger C-word, something the Orbs could never seem to get enough of.

Chaos, specifically. Get your mind out of the gutter.

But for all the chaos that may or may not have been bubbling in the transportation room, the vibe just outside couldn't be further from all that tumult. There, sprawled out with almost comical serenity in a patch of sunwarmed grass with a leg stretched up behind his head to was... a dog.

Not just any dog, either. ]

Oh, uh--hey there! [ Jake says, with an easy warmth and good humor that didn't distinguish between strangers or old friends. After all, the latter would know that Jake didn't often bother with such distinctions to begin with. ] Sorry about that. Guess you caught me with my hand in the cookie jar. Uh, so to speak.

Who're you talking to, Jake? [ The voice comes from high within a nearby tree, though its owner is scarcely visible aside from a set of white bear ears. The dog looks over his shoulder, hand cupping around his mouth (stretched into the in the shape of a flesh megaphone, naturally). ] You gave up on ground goss when you chose that tree life, bro.

Bliz to that, man. [ The voice sounds aggravated now, underscored by the sound of rustling branches and a sudden thud. Finn, in all his wobbly glory, barely sticks the landing... though the thrill of not landing on his face is enough to spread an unbidden grin across his lips.

It doesn't last long. Finn had a bad habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeve (some of them, anyway), and one look at the returning crew is enough to drive a deep crease between his brows. ]

Whoa. Are you guys okay?

[ Upon Finn's approach, Jake echoes his concern. Only, strangely, without any of the actual concern part.]

Yeah. [ He scratches at his ear, sounding for all the world like he was commenting on the weather. ] Y'all look like you've seen a ghost or something.

(( ooc: we're treating this like a network post kinda, so please put whether you'd like a response from Finn or Jake (or both!) in the subject line ))

Comments

[deaddrop]

[Natasha has seen better days, but she's seen a lot worse too. It looks like in the chaos toward the end of the last mission, she got a little bruised and tossed around. Nothing serious. No broken bones or gushing blood (except maybe a cracked rib or two, and hairline fractures don't even count), but she's moving a little gingerly and there's a dark mark under one eye.

These things happen.

None of those things are responsible for her expression when she sees Finn and Jake though.

Natasha nods at the question.]

Just someone I didn't expect to see.

give me BOTH of them BOYS

[coordination]

[ Yzak looks more mad than he does injured or anything ... so really, it's business as usual here. But there is a this aura of frazzledness that seems to have set around him thanks to the tail-end of their mission that usually isn't present. And the whole missing orb thing isn't helping, either. Especially when they're so close to completing their primary mission.

So Yzak heads off as he usually does, perhaps first to his room if only to clean up before busying himself with something else. But as he moves through the sunlight he's caught completely off guard by the returning faces. ]

H-huuuuuuuh!?

What the hell are you two doing back here!?

Jake

[legalcy]

[When you're made of metal, it's easier to look tough and composed: no clothing or hair to tussle or ruin. It's his posture that gives away how tired he is. What a mission. What a stressful set of weeks.

He steps forward, eyes the figure on the floor and above. Why are they here.]

You're back?

[He needs to rest, but his friends have returned. This takes priority.]

[shadysided]

[Ziggy had come back from the mission covered in scrapes and bumps, frazzled from the fact that the orb just vanished out of her hand at some point before arriving in the teleportation room. And all after being mentally messed with by the weird giant eyeball in the sky who had made her almost kill her mentor-brother, and who had apparently turned Finn into a weird mannequin guy — ugh, don't worry about that part. Point is, she's feeling really stressed.

So when she hears the two familiar peeps talking, she figures it's just her still kind of losing it. She stares for a long moment between the two of them, having not even had time to scrub Wei Wuxian's blood off her shirt or twigs out of her hair. Her eye twitches.]

'Like you've'... Are you serious?

[She looks almost mad for a moment. Sad the next. Disarmed soon after.

Ultimately, she drags both dog and boy into a tight, relieved hug.]

You fucking assholes.

hauls self in anciently (both s'il vous plait)

[softshoes]

[With his fractured arm healed via magic, Yujin looks more tired than injured. He'd spent the rest of his time on-mission spent treating the wounded and shuffling people about, rather than getting into any more scrapes with companions-- thank goodness. But the exhaustion of the last couple of weeks still shows through in his weary bearing, the dark circles under his eyes. All he wants to do at the moment is eat something that tastes normal, then pass out in his own bed.

Until, of course, he hears Finn and Jake's voices in the sunlight room.

He straightens up immediately, hurrying first to Jake, then shooting a quick glance at Finn as he approaches. The boy's face is just as expressive as usual; Jake, though a little impassive, is present and whole. Alive.

It's been a very long two weeks. Enough that he tosses being proper out the window, sweeping them both into a tight hug.]

You're back!