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

[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?"

[tailforbrains]

"I dunno, do you? A lot of people would. Most people don't like helping other people unless there's something in it for them." Neeshka's defensiveness was relaxing, at least, in the face of the utter lack of care. She squinted at Ariadne in confusion and growing interest. "How'd you win?"

[buildingreality]

Ariadne's head tipped to one side slightly as she stared at Neeshka, wondering if all this was working well for the Tribute. The defensiveness, the outbursts. It might get her a reputation as hard to deal with.

She hoped that she wouldn't have to watch another one murdered in cold blood, then quickly pushed the thought out of her head. "I had good allies, and I knew how to fight. A good strategy only gets you so far."

[tailforbrains]

On the whole, really, Neeshka wasn't so bad-- Ariadne just caught her shortly after being mocked and then summarily killed before she had a chance to even respond, and then questioned her skill level. Neither one was bound to have her in a good mood.

Besides, why would the capitol kill somebody who was so gung-ho about the Games? "Well, sure," Neeshka shrugged, back. "You've also gotta be fast and lucky and good at hiding. And have somebody to be the brawn while you strike from behind."

[buildingreality]

She did understand it, at least - she'd been there once. It wasn't like dying again and again was all that good for the self-esteem. Providing, however, that it was just a momentary blip - Ariadne honestly couldn't say that the Tribute had stuck in her mind terribly well, though that didn't mean much; she just wasn't interested enough in most of them, though she watched the Games intently - she'd probably be fine.

"I wasn't that good at hiding. Or being fast. Luck might have had something to do with it, though."

She frowned, tipping her head again; at first glance, she thought that it might have just been because of the Games, seeing Neeshka in action, but now she remembered. "I killed you once."

[tailforbrains]

"You did?" Neeshka squinted at her, thinking back. She'd only died three times now, of course, and she'd not even seen the third one. So though the thought of dying and the surprise of coming back had mostly displaced the face in her memory, it didn't take long to come back. "Oh! Right! Haha, at least I got to put up a fight on that one. That wasn't too bad."

Well, all right, it had sucked... but she'd come back. That was something. She gave a nervous sort of laugh. "I seriously thought I was done for, that time. Nobody'd told me about the coming-back part."

[buildingreality]

It was interesting how they'd hit the point of forgetting who'd been killed, and by whom; Wyatt's death still stood out in her mind, but after that, they all seemed a blur. Especially all of those she had racked up in her third and final Arena. "They tend not to. I think they like the element of surprise. It was probably to keep people from just killing themselves, though I think it's failing a little bit now."

[tailforbrains]

"Yeah, not gonna work so well unless they start not bringing people back for suiciding," Neeshka agreed. The rational-- and interesting-- conversation had effectively diffused her bad mood, at least for the moment. "More dignified to do it yourself, I guess, but not as entertaining for the folks watching. Probably more entertaining to watch people who don't know, too-- why else keep bringing in new people?"

[buildingreality]

She tipped her head to one side, wondering if the Capitol would hear that and get an idea in their head that it was a decent idea; it was, from their perspective. If those Tributes wanted out so bad, then they could stay out.

Suppressing a bit of a shiver, she lowered her eyes, the entire gesture appearing as little more than a slow sort of blink. "It must be. Especially if some of them have been in for a number of Arenas, and only seem to hate it more and more each time around." At least she had gotten into the swing of things, the idea of killing for fun.

Though the thought still plagued her; she wasn't wholly certain that she still had any sort of morals remaining at that point. She was fairly willing to do anything now. Not like the comparatively hesitant girl who came in.

[tailforbrains]

"It doesn't bother me that much, really," Neeshka shrugged. "I mean, dying like that bothers me! But not having to fight. I had to fight my whole life just to stay alive. This's just making it official." No, all she had problems with was the part where she had no real freedom to run away if she wanted to-- not that she really wanted to-- and that her one friend here seemed bothered by it. She wouldn't mind getting Wyatt out of the arena fighting sooner than later, if she could manage it.

She just doubted she had much say in the matter. Maybe if it came down to her or him, but she didn't think that was likely at all.

[buildingreality]

"Then I suppose you just have to do everything you can to prevent yourself from dying like that," Ariadne replied with a mild tip of her head. It struck her as fairly obvious. If you hated dying in ways you didn't have control over, then you just had to fight back and win.

[tailforbrains]

"Well, yeah," Neeshka agreed, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. And Ariadne was right, it was awfully obvious. "I'm not about to just let it happen!" She was still confused and annoyed as to how it happened this time. How had she not even had a chance to fight back? So not fair!

[buildingreality]

"But you did," she pointed out. "So something went wrong with your plan. Which means you need to fix it."

[tailforbrains]

"And it was my first time getting taken by surprise like that!" Neeshka protested, defensive again. "I'm going to do better next time. Didn't I already say that? Gods. I'm not stupid. I'm pretty sure I said that, too." She didn't need to be reminded that she'd failed, and failed hard, again in this conversation.

[buildingreality]

Ariadne merely twirled a finger in the air, looking perhaps a little exasperated. "It's fine to say things, but unless you can properly back it up, then it doesn't mean anything. You can't just walk around moping in the Capitol when everyone else is back at the Training Centre."

She lifted her eyebrows pointedly, the movement almost imperceptible, but indisputable.

[tailforbrains]

"Oh, come on," Neeshka exclaimed, decidedly put out by the implication that she was somehow slacking off. "It's been one day. Nobody's actually working yet. Everyone's still in the arena, practically, anyway!"

And being out here helped her keep her hand in, in other ways, anyway.