Bleak meter: Slight bleak

Timeline: After Season 10/MotO

Context: A little bit of tie-in to "One Foot in Front of the Other," but nothing you'd need to actually read it for.

JustRandom: Dragon or not, what worries me most is that he's got sharp teeth and an animal mind I can't reliably read. I feel the same way about dogs, for all that.
Same thing though—she already knows everyone in the village knows. :P
Yes I absolutely would do that, I'm afraid. Consider this your warning. Muzzle's a worse dog than half of 'em, in the end.
I've been steeped in meme culture too long, my friend, I'm very uncomfortable around anything that isn't either bitter or ironic. :P
Hehe, yep! But First Realm ghosts are blue, not green, and they have slightly different mechanics. They usually don't go far from where they died.
That's very nice of you to say. ^_^'' Little by little I'm trying to work myself towards writing something original . . .
Superstition's been the only thing keeping me alive this past year. XD
Jet Jack is just full of life and energy and doesn't sit still well, but you'd never shackle her down to predetermined dance steps.
I'm wheezing so hard over the exchange between Jet Jack's parents. XD It would appear Jet Jack takes after her mother, then.
Hey, I'm not judging. Even if there wasn't a difference; the Hunters' behavior is based on the people I see every day. I've come to accept it.

After the final battle with the Oni, it was quite a while before Faith got back to the First Realm. Part of it was necessity: it took a while for her to heal from her injuries. Another part was transportation issues: she'd ticked off Firstbourne and for the longest time the giant dragon refused to acknowledge her, let alone let her ride. But Wu and his ninja did have Traveler's Tea, and thanks to that Faith had eventually been forced to admit one additional factor: part of her was scared to even go back. Jet Jack would have been running the realm for something like a week by the time Faith's injuries healed. Faith wasn't sure there would be anything left to return to.

As such, once she finally sorted everything out and Firstbourne was ready to take her back home, she made a deal with Wu and his ninja. They had told her that radio signals crossed realms; that explained the radio ghosts. But it also meant that, hypothetically, Faith could stay in contact with Ninjago even after leaving. A two-way frequency might be trickier, but Zane and PIXAL thought it should be possible, and Faith was given to understand the Nindroids knew things.

The deal was, though, that the ninja would wait a month before trying to set up a connection. That would give Faith time to sort out whatever apocalypse Jet Jack might have orchestrated, and they wouldn't have to stress about whether a lack of response meant that society had crumbled and Faith was dead or that their connection just hadn't worked.

In hindsight Faith would've been just as dead a month later, but ah well; it had worked out.

As the agreed-upon day slipped closer, Faith found herself thinking about the planned radio link more and more often. Having reliable communication with Ninjago would be a huge benefit. They knew much more about farming, medical care, living in a temperate climate. Both sides could easily contact each other for help if there were more attacks by Oni or other creepedy types, instead of struggling a half-dead dragon through interdimensional wormholes. It irked her a little that Ninjago probably had better knowledge and resources on almost every count and her realm would mostly be in debt, but she consoled herself with the thought that they at least had the dragons. It would be helpful for the ninja to have an easy route to summon the dragons' help too.

She told herself that was basically the entirety of the matter. It felt dirty to have a personal interest in the project as well as a practical one; she was supposed to be thinking about what was best for her people. If she sometimes missed everyone back in Ninjago so much it physically ached, that wasn't strictly relevant. Besides, while she'd been in Ninjago she'd missed these heathens instead, so no matter where she was there was going to be a problem and that was just stupid. Get a grip.

She didn't tell too many people about the planned radio link, because she had no idea if it would actually work. She'd told Muzzle though, obviously, because he was the radio king, and whatever Muzzle knew Daddy No-Legs knew. No-Legs probably told a few people, because Faith occasionally got requests for things to ask the Ninjagians when the call went through.

A week before the date she started keeping a mental list of all the things she'd want to ask. How did you water large fields in Ninjago? Was there any way they could be refining fuel better? How did you keep things from molding? Did Jay ever find those cat-print socks he'd pitched such a fit about losing?

No! She shook her head, frustrated with herself. This was going to be a business call. No dragging personal questions into it. Those weren't relevant.

It was a hopeless game, though. Every time the upcoming call crossed her mind, she would catch herself wandering off somewhere impractical. Wondering who would be running the radio, what they would say when they first established the link, what would make a good answer. She could guess how each of them might say hello once the connection went through. She wondered if she'd get to hear from Wu; it had taken a while for her to come to grips with how old he was now, but once she got used to it she had gotten to grudgingly appreciate his wisdom and quiet sarcasm. She could do with hearing Misako's sensible voice again. And all the ninja and PIXAL, with their chaotic squabbles and laughing and talking over each other. If she knew them, there was no chance they'd keep this conversation entirely practical anyway.

The day finally arrived. Faith hooked herself onto the side of the Dieselnaught's cab and watched as Muzzle tinkered with the radio, his brows knit in concentration. It was a tricky business: the First Realm didn't have numbered frequencies the way Ninjago did. Figuring out which frequency would align with the signal from Ninjago had been heavy guesswork.

Now that the moment was almost here, Faith had no clue what to say. She chewed her lip, debating. A few sarcastic first lines flashed through her mind, but one by one she tossed them aside. There were a lot of other Hunters working nearby, and Muzzle was right here. She didn't want to tip her hand, make it too obvious that she was fond of the Ninjagians. People might resent it; at very least they'd talk.

On the other hand, she didn't want to start off too cold, either. The crew back in Ninjago had been very kind to make this offer. The least she could do was to be a little warm in return.

Screw it, she just wanted to hear their voices again. The conversation would sort itself out after that; talking to them was always easier.

The radio gave a shrill warble, electronic tones pulsing over the cloud of white noise.

"I think I"m close," said Muzzle, his fingers tightening over the frequency knob.

"You've got it." Subconsciously Faith was leaning forward a little too. "Keep trying."

The radio gave a final squeal, then suddenly the shroud of static seemed to clear away partially.

"Ninjago to First Realm, please respond. You are on an open frequency, please respond. Ninjago to First Realm—"

That was Zane's voice. Muzzle looked eagerly to Faith, asking if this was the right channel; Faith was already leaning forward, her boots scraping for purchase on the door of the Dieselnaught's cab.

"First Realm, we hear you! Come in!"

"Faith!" That was Jay's voice, cutting right into the middle of Zane's sentence—it must have been pre-recorded as a channel beacon. "Ohmigosh ohmigosh! It works! We hear you! Oh my gosh it's—"

Suddenly the soft choosh of background static swelled into a roar again, drowning out everything else. Faith thought she heard a babble of the other ninjas' voices for the briefest instant just beforehand, but when the static lulled again, the voices were gone.

"Hello? . . . " No answer. Faith's eyes snapped to Muzzle again. Growling worriedly, he tinkered with the dial. The static wavered, shifting volume and pitch, but no more voices came through.

"Give me a second . . . " Muzzle's eyes were anxious. Losing frequencies was not uncommon.

Faith could already feel something inside her going heavy. She watched as Muzzle trawled the dial, sweeping carefully back and forth across larger and larger swathes of frequency. Static. Static. Static.

All too soon they heard the tinny notes of a pop song. Proof they had strayed far enough to hit entirely different frequencies, not the predetermined one from Ninjago. Muzzle, desperate, swept carefully in the opposite direction, testing every frequency and sub-frequency, until they hit another channel, this one playing some kind of incoherent advertisement in a language they didn't know. Somewhere in between those two was Ninjago's frequency, but for all intents and purposes that one was dead.

". . . Well." Faith sank back, her boots coming down hard on the Dieselnaught's running-board. "At least we know they're alive."

"I'm sorry, Chief," said Muzzle.

"It's not your fault," said Faith. "You did your best."

Muzzle still looked disheartened, but Faith found she didn't have it in her to reassure him any further. She swung down from the side of the rig and turned back to work.

If everything seemed a little pointless for the rest of the day, she told herself that was only her own fault. She had asked a little too much there. The two realms had spoken long enough to let each other know they were alive; that was already more than she might have expected. If she had gotten her hopes up imagining something more, and if she had turned her back on realistic expectations, and if she was smarting with disappointment now—this was the First Realm. That was on her.

Prompt was "Anticipation."