Beware the Tiefling

[tailforbrains]

WHO| Neeshka and OPEN
WHAT| A very angry little demon-child
WHEN| Morning on the second day of Arena 05, after she's been revived and released
WHERE| Stalking the streets
WARNING/NOTES| As the title says. Beware the tiefling and her angry-words.



Neeshka is not a happy camper. She didn't even last a whole day. Not a whole day! Some-- some bitch just came up behind her and mocked her, not even to her face, and as she was trying to turn around, bam. That was it. She hadn't even had a chance to see who her attacker was!

Oh, she knows now. She's seen the instant replays. And next time she sees that blue bitch, someone is getting cut. Or something. Neeshka is better than that, and she knows it, and that just makes her more angry. So instead of sitting and stewing in her rooms, she's walking and stewing, and for once not paying attention to the shop windows or the pockets of people around her. She's just walking, shoulders hunched, hands in her pockets, toes kicking at the snow, and tail lashing about.

Approach at your own risk. She's not likely to be very nice, if you mention her horrible, embarrassing death....

Comments

[buildingreality]

Ariadne recognised the Tribute the moment she rounded the corner; it was hard not to, after all. She had been out trying to find a handful of art supplies so she could take up a hobby - her usual work, though here, it was a hobby - when she came upon the girl, frowning.

"Are you all right?" She asked without hesitation, once she was close enough to see that Neeshka wasn't really that happy.

[tailforbrains]

Neeshka, on the other hand, didn't recognize Ariadne at all. She looked like any other dark haired girl, really, when you weren't paying all that much attention. She did look up from her glare at the ground at the voice, half-sure it wasn't actually her being addressed, but finding Ariadne's eyes on her, she blinked.

And frowned, still. "No, I'm not all right. I got dead, before I could even do anything!" she grumped.

[buildingreality]

It worked out well enough for her; she didn't really like being recognised anyway. It was part of the reason she still managed to dress the way she used to, though with just a touch of Capitol flair. Enough to keep people from noticing that she was indeed a Victor.

"It happens. The Cornucopia tends to be a fairly brutal place; I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the first time, either," she replied, perhaps unhelpfully.

[tailforbrains]

"What-- it so is not!" Neeshka squawked, visibly offended. And even angrier. "Last time I got taken out, it was from a rampaging mutant turtle! That's totally different!" And back home, well, she'd never had a strike like that before-- just people with sleep spells, which was totally unfair. And not possible here, thank you very much!

[buildingreality]

"Don. Don't mention that around him; he doesn't really like it," Ariadne offered mildly, almost completely unperturbed by the fact that Neeshka was even more angry than before. "I meant in the future. What with everyone being brought into the Arena time and time again, there's only so many times you can get to the last round."

[tailforbrains]

Looking mutinous, Neeshka pointed out, "I haven't made it to the last round once yet. But I don't get my tail pulled out immediately, all the time, either!" She was a solid middle-of-the-run Tribute, and really? She was at least sort of okay with that. Rogues didn't usually win all-out battles, anyway, though she did wish she'd last a little longer next time!

[buildingreality]

"Then you know what you have to do next time, don't you? Watch your back; train a little harder. Make sure you watch the other Tributes in this round so you know their weaknesses for the next one," she pointed out, unsure of quite why she was giving this many tips out.

[tailforbrains]

Considering Neeshka hadn't really trained much at all prior to this arena-- it'd only been a couple weeks, after all, and she kept her hand in, in other ways-- she flushed and looked even more mutinous. It was good advice! But that didn't mean Neeshka liked hearing it.

"I'm fine, gods, I just-- got distracted, that's all," she muttered, looking away and folding her arms. Her tail was twitching like a cat who wanted badly to pounce on something. "I'm usually a lot better than that, you know?"

[buildingreality]

Ariadne tipped her head to one side, studying the other woman. "But you can't get distracted. Not unless everyone else around you is distracted as well," she pointed out, her gaze still levelled at Neeshka; it only faltered when she glanced to that tail, frowning a little to herself. "Otherwise you're just begging to get killed."

[tailforbrains]

Impatient and embarrassed at being told things she already knew, really, and had just kind of... forgotten... in the arena, Neeshka turned the conversation around, or tried to. "Why are you bothering to tell me all this? Who are you, anyway?"

[buildingreality]

"A Victor. From Arena 03," she replied plainly, unperturbed by the attempt to turn the conversation back on her. It never really worked, not when Ariadne was self-assured enough to know that she was good at some things, and strategising had been one of them. Sure, it had taken two tries, but it had taken her two attempts to design a maze that took a minute to solve - that couldn't be solved, even. Third time's the charm.

[tailforbrains]

Neeshka had only talked to her own mentor, not others, especially not new ones, so she boggled a bit at Ariadne. "And you're giving me advice why?" she asked, not out of dismissal, but out of honest bewilderment. Why would some random victor, from another district no less, want to give her advice? Wouldn't they all just want everyone else to fail, except maybe their own?

[buildingreality]

She rolled one shoulder in a nonchalant shrug, glancing over her shoulder briefly, eyes scanning the nearby surroundings. Truth be told, she was almost bored by the conversation, by the ire that she was being faced with; she found the buildings almost more interesting. "Because you seemed to need it. Or do I need another reason?"

[electriccandlelight]

Valeria is equally absorbed in her own thoughts as she walks, trying desperately to spark some sort of creative genius. The fresh air isn't working as well as she had hoped and she's concentrating so hard on her own problems that she doesn't see Neeshka until she bumps into her.

"Oh, sorry dear," she mutters automatically, moving to brush past her.

[tailforbrains]

Neeshka almost settles for making a rude gesture at her, but then she recognizes the face, and she snorts. The panicked woman from the party where the guy got shot on stage. Who, as she recalls, had left in something of a tiff.

"Oh, I'm 'dear' now?" she shoots back in response to the mumbled apology.

[electriccandlelight]

"Hm?" Valeria looked up with polite disinterest before the words sunk in. She frowned. "What?" She finally took a second to actually look over the other woman and her eyebrows rose. "Oh, it's you," she said flatly.

[tailforbrains]

"Yeah. It's me," Neeshka mimicked snidely. "You really call anybody and everybody 'dear', just running into them in the street? That's just stupid, come on." She felt like being nasty to someone, and Valeria was just such an effective target last time.

[electriccandlelight]

"I hardly go around charging at people," Valeria protested, stung. She was still unused to these strangely outspoken Tributes. "And it may be a foreign concept to you, dearie, but we try to be polite around here."

[tailforbrains]

"Yeah, but 'dear' isn't polite," Neeshka pointed out, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "It's condescending. Unless, you know, you're actually a friend or something." And never mind that she hadn't actually accused her of charging at people. Valeria took the unintended insult and ran with it, and felt badly; that was good enough for her.

[electriccandlelight]

Valeria sniffed. "Well, perhaps I'm the friendly sort, hm? And if you're hearing condescension, maybe that's your problem. People with self-esteem issues can such problems hearing what people are actually saying, you know."

[tailforbrains]

It didn't take much to get Neeshka bristling, and calling her on self-esteem problems (which she did not have, thank you very much! hmph!) was apparently one of the many ways. "Hey! Now you're being insulting! Make up your mind! Are you nice or not? Huh?"

[electriccandlelight]

"I said I was polite, thank you, not nice!" Valeria, in fact, considered herself a very nice person, but she was hardly a saint. "There is a difference, if you understand basic dictionary definitions, sweetie. And on that topic, there is a difference between an insult and a simple observation. "

[tailforbrains]

"And there's a difference between being polite and being condescending, which you obviously don't get," Neeshka grumped back. "You don't call somebody 'sweetie' in that tone of voice without meaning it as an insult. I'm not dumb, you know, I can tell when someone's just being a bitch." So there. Nevermind that she, too, was being somewhat bitchy at the moment.

[electriccandlelight]

"My dear, we passed polite a long time ago," smirked Valeria. "I am being insulting right now entirely on purpose, and I'm doing it without resorting to vulgarity, may I add." Not that Valeria really cared about such language generally, admittedly.

[tailforbrains]

"What's wrong with vulgarity? It adds spice to any likely chat, I say." Neeshka flipped her tail and donned a condescending sort of expression. She wasn't very good at it. "But I guess not everybody grows up living on the streets, so not everybody gets used to dealing with all kinds of conversation."