(open) Could have gone better

[unjoined]

Who| Korra and whoever has the patience.
What| A not so great first day.
Where| Training Center, District 10 suite
When| After the arena
Warnings/Notes| Nothing yet!


(a - district 10 suite)

She's left in this strange room with just a vague explanation full of things like honor and luxury and battle to the death so it's no surprise that Korra doesn't really know where to start here. She's gotten to be around the wealthy enough to understand that decorating means having a lot of unnecessary stuff. What even is half of this?

Hesitantly she walks into the main living area, touching the surfaces of beautifully carved wood furniture or gleaming ornaments until she awkwardly settles down into a nice couch, not at all comforted by its softness.

Luxury. Right.

A television is on, reporting the latest updates and gossip about a recent game. A "mover", is what she thinks. Moving pictures had only just been revealed back home and were a hit but they were nothing like this. This had color, for one, and beautiful quality like she were seeing everything with her own eyes.

And see she does. Replaying clips of the latest game flicker every once in awhile, between emotional and delighted speculation. Bloody, violent pictures that left Korra pale and feeling sick. It's not fake. These people, some of them children, couldn't act this kind of horror.

Korra is looking physically ill and starts searching for the light projection, wherever it is. Kinda desperately want to turn this off.


( b - later, out and about )

Korra's first mistake is going to the Peacekeepers. They'd been the first people she'd seen and well, whatever they were they knew something, right?

It doesn't go so well.

Most attempts go poorly, where her question is either waved off or they tell her something that just really doesn't cut it. Getting frustrated, she huffs and tries again. From a distance anyone could hear her voice raising as she gets closer and points at them, saying something like why don't you just skip that and say something useful?

Her second mistake is making them mad. They move like they're going to pull out something and for a moment she enters a stance that shows she's ready for a fight if they are. Even if she did have her bending she could take them without it, probably.

But she remembers she doesn't and suddenly backs off, begrudgingly turning to leave with a halfhearted apology. The fact that she can't bend distresses her more than she'd like to admit. Enough to make her cautious and avoid trouble. Which says a lot.

Korra, looking dispirited and frazzled, slows a few yards away to slump against the wall. "This is the worst."

Comments

b

[earthborn]

Shepard used to spend the first few days after The Games obsessively combing through the footage, gauging mistakes, taking notes to correct her various proteges and cracking jokes with whomever of her friends who was still alive. Right now, coming off a week of torture and six more in the arena, she's taking it easy.

More specifically, she's drinking expensive spiced beverages in a fancy little cafe not too far from the Tribute Center.

Now, new people, they were easy to spot. They always made trouble, argued with the cops, tried to implore the populace to action, or wandered around in a daze until someone redirected them. Shepard happened to play witness to Korra's entire exchange and had only gotten halfway through her latte by the time the guy had reached for his taser.

...Lucky girl, or smart. And here she comes, looking like someone just kicked her puppy down a flight of stairs. This is the worst.

"You don't know the half of it," Sip, swallow, sip again. Who doesn't love Pumpkin Spice? "Not a great time to be a tribute in Panem, not that there ever is."

[unjoined]

Korra is all of that to the T, though a little late for the peace talks. She considered it. It's not like everyone in a big city like this could turn a blind eye, right? Obviously they'd think it was crazy to go along with this.

But after taking a step outside and seeing the expensive, lavish shops around and the passer-by's glittery clothing and heart shaped hair-dos, that train of thought sputtered out there. For now, at least.

When the woman speaks she lifts her head, cautious-- and then hopeful.

Technically, to Korra, Shepard still looks way strange. Mostly because no one here so far has looked like anyone back home. But she was getting used to that and it was a better kinda strange than the sparkly people.

"Finally, someone who sounds like they know something." You have her full attention. She almost sits herself down then and there.

"...what do you mean?"

B

[baaarbie]

You'd have to be a blind idiot not to see and feel the tension in the air every time the peacekeepers were around. At least for the tributes, Barbie was largely ignored himself; the most attention he got while walking around was a sneer or a dirty look. He was still wearing the silver band on his wrist that marked him a traitor to his own government and those peacekeepers that knew the details of what he'd done weren't too pleased with the fact he'd made fools of them.

But he was slowly regaining some respect from the city officials and reestablishing himself as the Capitol's 'Golden Boy' no matter how true that was. So when he saw a girl he recognized as a new tribute--one from...10 he was pretty sure, not one of his--mouthing off to one of the peacekeepers, he stopped his walk to watch. This couldn't end well.

Luckily, she backed off at the last second and retreated, but a moment later, Barbie watched as they followed after her while saying something about 'smart mouthed tributes needing a lesson,' not a hard message to understand. The mentor followed them, picking up his pace as they shouted after her, anger and violent intent in their tone and posture.

Luckily for him, Barbie was taller and his reputation as a fighter far exceeded any other reputation he had so when he took the arm of one of the peacekeepers, it got their attention.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, what good timing. I was walking past an alley a few blocks down and I'm pretty sure I saw someone trying to sneak into one of the upper levels of a shop there. I knew I should leave it to the professionals, so I came to find you right away."

He was all charm and pleasant smile, charisma bleeding from him like sunshine.

"And I thank you for finding one of my tributes, we got separated earlier and she's new so I was afraid she'd gotten lost. Keep up the good work, gentleman."

Luckily, most peacekeepers didn't pay enough attention to the games to know Barbie was lying through his teeth, so hopefully they'd buy it and leave....and hopefully this girl would work with him long enough to diffuse the situation.

[unjoined]

When Korra heard the shouting, she knew she'd gone too far this time. Causing speedy chases and disgruntled public officials were like her calling card. She'd like to think she's gotten a little smarter than before.

Might be surprising to hear, but she has a bit of a temper. Over the years it's gotten better but being in this situation, confused and as far as she knows alone, well. Old habits die hard.

Gritting her teeth, she whirled around, ready to defend herself if possible but--

"Who are you," comes out of her mouth first. And just when did he get there? She was immediately suspicious but finally noticed the livid Peacekeepers from before. It takes a few seconds of looking between him and them for it to dawn on her.

"... to, uh, leave me like that." A nervous laugh and a wave. Her acting couldn't beat his by a long shot but she'll play along.

"Yeah, thanks for the help, guys! I was really lost." That might be a jab, yeah.

[carnagecarnival]

Even in Capitol, with its insane fashions, and in the tribute tower full of off-worlders, he stood out. But he finds, since his avoxing, it's been easier to blend in with the walls. Maybe it really was about presence.

It helps for staying up out of the way. It's a thing what he needs now, a sort of survival trait, when as he sees the peacekeepers being aggravated. They've changed his old instincts from fight to flight and being restored to life with a tongue again ain't change that conditioning.

He watches from the wall as the new girl turns on the fuck away, letting the strife fizzle out. And of course, he hears her speak.

"It's survivable," he says.

[unjoined]

To be honest, she's just starting to get a clue of what to expect around here. Definitely a vague sense of 'very different, very fast'. Just figuring out the nice kind is the trick, probably.

Korra turns to the voice, lifting her head and- oh. He definitely looks different from the residents she's seen so far.

"Yeah?" Whoever they are (a spirit, maybe), they sound like they have answers.

"I've heard fight to the death enough times to start to wonder."

[failbender]

In the actual training area of the training center someone was hard at work and he had been for most of the day. He would continue to be hard at work almost every day from here on out, in fact.

This was because the enemy they were facing was extremely powerful and far better armed. That meant he had to better arm himself.

Zuko planned on learning as many styles as possible from the array of people here, as soon as he found out people worth studying under. He also planned to teach those he was better than.

Right now he was shirtless and soaked in sweat, watching instructional...light thingies. He didn't know what they were called yet but some rooms had fake people that appeared, that looked almost like they were made of colored light or pieces of glass that could demonstrate proper techniques with certain weapons and act as imaginary opponents. (He thought he'd heard someone call them "ologrums"? Or something?)

He'd dragged a whole stand of various weapons into the room and was trying to learn how to use them.

All of them.

At the moment, he was trying over and over again to learn to wield an ax and was doing miserably with it. After yet another time of throwing himself off balance and leaving an opening for his ologrumic enemy he was starting to lose his temper.

And yelling at the ax.

"ARGH! Why can't I learn to use this stupid thing?!"

It was so unwieldy and graceless.

And yet he threw himself into trying to fight against his imaginary opponents again. The arena wasn't going to magically provide him dual swords every time. He needed to learn how to use as many weapons as possible and how to use the strange weapons that shot metal if there was any chance of him being better in the arenas and helping in this fight against the Capitol.

[unjoined]

Korra wasn't a fan of the expansive stock of weapons. Seeing them just reminded her of what training with them could lead up to. While the idea of killing someone wouldn't be too fun no matter what, with blades and maces it was like there was little room for any other choice. It raised the stakes.

Bending was dangerous but she could find a way to use it without hurting someone too badly, usually. She didn't know how she'd be able to handle fighting without bending against an enemy armed. Would she need to learn, to stay alive? She hated that thought.

But that's not all the training room must be good for. At least she could get a grasp on the situation in here.

Korra had noticed the boy awhile before but hadn't paid too much attention since he seemed to be doing the same thing again and again. It was only when he yelled and she happened to be nearby that she jumped.

"Uh..." She doesn't come too close, since he seemed pretty wound up and she didn't really want to be a target any time soon. But she'll lean over and get a glimpse at the graceless, rude axe, at least, without really looking at him.

"It looks heavy." Why was he so desperate to learn how to use this particular weapon? Korra didn't want to think about it.

"Are you sure this is what you want to use?" She said it kindly. "Don't push yourself too hard."

b

[smarterthanthem]

"Well you're not wrong." says the little girl who walks up to where Korra has chosen to sit after the Peacekeepers have move away. Clementine keeps a cautious eye on them to make sure they aren't going to change their minds and come punish this girl for giving them lip after all.

She's watched the whole thing unfold from a short distance away, trying to look more interested in the book she had than like she was listening in. Clem's tentative idea was to pretend to recognise the teenager and try and pull her away but luckily the girl had recognised her predicament and extracted herself first.

"Sorry, you're new, aren't you?"

[unjoined]

She looks up, kinda sheepish. She'd clearly asked the wrong people and the right people got the opportunity to see her mess up. But at least some came forward, like this little girl. She didn't look like she belonged here any more than Korra, which was a comfort. She always got along great with kids.

Hopefully still does, even with some unheroic first impressions.

"Yeah, I guess so. Just found myself here today," she sighs, glancing in the direction of the Peacekeepers again. "Uh. Was that pretty bad?"

A - hello D10 roomie

[pimpcanes]

It's as Molotov said. Tom wakes up whole, with no knife in his throat, no bullet wound in his thigh, no broken nose, nothing but the bad leg he got well back in his twenties. He isn't shocked by the thoroughness of it - he's been the medical test subject of magicians and scientists before, the beneficiary of varying degrees of miracles. He's only grateful to be alive.

He takes a shower, finds some high-quality clothing provided in his closet, much better than anything he wore in the mall. He must have been cleaned up while he was asleep, because his facial hair is freshly-groomed. He does his hair and asks the tongueless servant lurking around the corners of the room for a cane, and the Avox brings him something classy and understated.

He's already liking this place so much better than the Arena. He doesn't immediately bother to find out which of the two hapless nuisances he was trying to kill at the end of the Arena won; that can come after coffee. Well-dressed and feeling alive, he heads out to the common room.

He finds it empty, bar for the young woman fiddling with the television and looking near the verge of upset. Were this a more crowded room he'd feel it within the bounds of common courtesy to ignore her, but since they're the only ones and she seems to distressed, and since, more importantly, something about her reminds him of his beloved niece, he speaks up.

"Need a hand there, lass? I've a deft hand with electronics, I'm sure I could figure it out."

He picks up a remote off the table, raising an eyebrow.

yess clearly this is a party

[unjoined]

When he walks in Korra jumps a little, not realizing that other people would be about. Or maybe it was just the recent images of violent deaths, accidental and not, still pictured perfectly in her mind even as she tries to look away from the screen. Mostly the blood and the faces of fear she catches.

He didn't seem like the Peacekeepers or whoever else she'd spotted on her way here. Not like the brightly smiling gossipers on the flashing screen, either. Maybe a good thing.

At the offer she's immediately relieved, having to keep from collapsing where she sits. Instead she leans forward to hold her head in her hands and nods quickly.

"Yeah. Yeah, please," she gets out. "Does it-- can you make it stop?"

[actually112]

"Tell me about it." A little boy with airbender tattoos stops near her. Aang had gotten into a little altercation with peacekeepers--he had been demanding that they tell him why they did this, what made them think they were justified in making people suffer for entertainment--but a firm swat to his back had made him move along. He could have taken one or two, but he couldn't take on a whole city without bending. Frankly, he's lucky he's small and nonthreatening, or they probably wouldn't have let him leave without bruises.

"I haven't met anyone who doesn't hate this place yet."

[unjoined]

Korra is looking pretty defeated. She's learning, slowly, but nothing seems to be looking up. Everything sounds pretty hopeless but she can't accept that. Not yet.

When the boy speaks she nods slowly, still contemplating her predicament. "It's like it's unreal. How could something so bad even exist?"

The voice sounded kind of young. She looks to up. The word she was in the middle of saying next stops in her throat and if he notices she's stopped talking, it's because her jaw dropped.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Nah," Mindy said, who'd been admiring the girl's physique from afar, "the worse would have been pissing them off, trust me. You don't get a momento like this by backing off."

She gestured to the branding on her cheek, which she was taking in better stride since the arena. She'd take ugly branding to burned and blind in one eye any day.

"But you're new, of course you're gonna have questions and be angry, right? Hell, they COULD have just thrown you into the Arena to start off. You're pretty lucky there"

[unjoined]

If Korra looked like she checked out halfway through that, sorry. After the young girl showed her cheek to Korra she couldn't stop herself from pausing in disbelief. And anger.

You've got to be kidding. "They did that to you?"

She doesn't know what the girl means about the arena, but she does feel lucky in comparison and it's no comfort. What's happened to the people here? She's hasn't been there for a day and this girl's brand is enough to make her seethe. Her fists clench.

"What is WRONG with them? If they think they can get away with doing these things to people- they're crazy!"

b

[privilegecheck]

Kankri tends to make a very deliberate point of not even being in the Peacekeepers' vicinity. That's a difficult thing to do these days, though, when the Capitol is essentially crawling with them and all they want is an excuse. He's gotten one black eye already, though it being a few days ago the bruise has mostly faded now, and he's just about the most inoffensive Tribute in the Tower.

When he sees the new girl arguing with them - and she has to be new, because who else would argue with the Peacekeepers with all that's going on lately - he winces and hurries over. He can see the way they're looking after her, even after she breaks away, and new Tributes hardly deserve a beating on top of the trauma of arriving here in the first place.

"Hello there!" he says with false cheer, bustling over and tucking a few fingers into the crook of her arm to pull her ever so gently away. "I found us just the place where we can sit down for a nice chat and a snack. I'd still love to hear all about where you're from and what your culture is like." Lowering his voice, he says to her, "I'm Kankri. Another Tribute. The security officers are very on edge of late, we should leave quickly before they decide to bring us in." They might not, but after the brutality visited on most of his friends before the last Arena he's not taking any chances.

[unjoined]

Would you believe this happens a lot? Anyone patient enough to pull Korra away from the trouble she causes are a blessing to her.

She stops in her tracks for a second, just long enough to discern whether or not she were being tugger by a mugger. When she realizes she's the more likely to look like a potential rascal between them, she lets him pull her along.

"Um, are you sure because-" Korra's looking around for someone he might have her confused with, pausing when his tone changes. She frowns and casts a quick glance behind them at the Peacekeepers before turning to him, nodding gratefully. "Korra," she whispers. "Thanks."

There's a big, friendly grin on her face then, and she speaks normally again. "Actually, sure, that sounds great! Where to?"

[ruffntumblenut]

"Yeah no kidding. You stopped before the best part."

A lanky blond girl smirks, having watched the entire argument unfold as well as Korra's backing down. She had a scruffy sort of feel about her despite the fact that her hair looked clean and her clothes new. They were rumbled and had dirt on the knees of her clingy pants.

She was leaning against the same wall and dug a hand in the pocket of her dark green leather jacket to produce a box of candy shaking some into her hand and offering it to Korra.

"If you push them really hard they shoot you with this thing that feels like being hit by a lightning bolt. Your whole body freaks out and you're on the floor in like, a blink." She chuckled.

[unjoined]

Korra hadn't noticed the other girl in the beginning but if this isn't a peace offering, what is? She wasn't the kind of sad soul to turn down candy so she was ready to listen to whatever this girl had to say.

She wondered about asking about her clothes but let's not bite the hand that feeds us, Korra.

Her face contorted into a wince. That sounded familiar. "Yeah?" She shook out a few after tossing out a quick thanks and handed it back.

"I think I know those. Got hit by them back home." Not fun. "You saw it?"

b; if the lisp bothers you, let me know and I can type his dialogue normally!

[onthelii2p]

Sollux has been wandering often since his death in the arena. Exploration isn't the cause anymore; there's no real secrets to discover in this place, certainly none that he as a tribute could freely dig around for. He's seen the training level, and the ground floor, and the roof; much else is just district floors, and the plan looks roughly the same for each. His visits there are generally brief, a quick check to see if he spots any of the people he's wanted to find, and a smooth departure if not.

There's people he knows and wants to sort things out with, and others he has yet to meet but has reason to. When those causes are beyond him, he meanders about to keep from the dwelling on things that inevitably sinks in at his room. He generally doesn't bother people; though he stands out for his species and further oddities among them, he's not particularly social.

It's just kind of hard to miss an argument, is the thing. He hears the raised voices and follows to the source, spotting a young woman and the peacekeepers. He watches for a second, and he would be content to go back on his way from there - if not for the almost-fight. It tenses him up, and he wishes far from the first or last time for psionics he no longer has here, but things end before they can even start. As Korra turns to leave, that's what prompts him to finally approach.

"You might not want to pithh thothe guyth off," he says, volume down but audible. "Though I know it'th got to be tempting. I know I wish I could get away with it."

Apart from the skin, eyes, and horns, he looks younger than her by a handful of years, though he wouldn't know how to convert his age.

nope, it's fine!

[unjoined]

Korra has seen some strange things in her time and to be fair, she's one of the strangest people from her home world. In a past life, she was great friends with a bipedal lemur spirit that called her Stinky. Basically, things get weird sometimes and when you're the Avatar you've got to learn what to take in stride.

As for whether or not that includes this strange looking younger boy, she'll get back to you on that. His appearance definitely gets a second glance or a few and a bit of squinting but he's still a kid after all. Right?

She huffs, folding her arms. The opportunity to complain is welcome. "I could've taken them." True, but still a bad idea. And a little childish to say. "They're ridiculous! The only reason people would listen to them is because they have numbers."

And their power and agency held captive, but whatever.

b;

[stotte]

Things had gotten worse in the Capitol in the past few months. If things had already been bad when she had first come in, the restrictions had only gotten worse with time. Even Astrid hadn't truly known what real torture had been until recently, now sporting a branded scar on her lower cheek that announced publicly her attempted crimes.

When she sees the girl try to toughen up against the Peacekeepers, she's reminded of how she would have reacted herself, never letting anyone else push her around. But things had changed since she'd begun to to walk with that brand on her face, something she shared with her friends, reminding her that no one was invincible here.

"It could get much worse, trust me," she mutters as a sort of warning when the girl distances herself from the guards. She wasn't one to normally make conversation, but the nostalgia of her past tempted her to make sure no one else faced the same thing she had to learn on her own.

[unjoined]

Admittedly, it wasn't the best plan. Going off on the local disciplinary force of the people who kidnapped you? Could have thought of something better, Korra. There were options.

She pauses, turning to where the voice came from. She knew by then that it'd been a mistake even her gut told her she wasn't the one in the wrong here. But- when she sees the mark on this girl she realizes how right her words were.

A heavy pause. "Yeah?" She walks up to the girl, deciding it'd be good to pay attention and learn a thing or two. "I think I'm starting to see that. They're not like the police where I'm from."

These guys weren't even police to her, not really. Just persecutors with firepower to back them up.

a

[atippleoftransparency]

"Remote's under the couch, newbie."

Lyle moves quietly even when he's not actively sneaking around, so it's possible that this new sentient hadn't heard him come in from the kitchen. He takes a large bite out of the apple he just liberated, showing only mild distaste as he gazes at the television screen, as if the images don't bother him as much as they do. Chews, swallows, keeps it down even as someone bleeds out on screen.

"Not the best show to keep your appetite to, huh?"

[unjoined]

She hadn't registered there being someone else in the room, and even when he speaks it takes her a bit to try and locate the source. She turns to look at him and frowns. His casual indifference felt irritating as she's still just coming down from her own reaction.

"Looks like you're managing." Sending him one last questioning, disdainful look she gets up (making a point to not look at the screen) and feels under the couch until she finds the... remote? Sure.

"...Uh..."

Looking between him and the remote and not really feeling like asking for his help after his first comment, she guesses and presses a button. The guide pulls up.

B

[dingadong]

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," a young man says, leaning sideways on the same wall as Korra. "We could be dead, after all." He's got hair so blond it's very nearly white. "Though I daresay even the dead might rise, when faced as many pretty maids as this city contains. Yourself included, of course."

[unjoined]

She turns but her gaze somehow travels up several inches so she can squint at his weirdly fluffy, weirdly yellow hair.

How does it stay up like that?

Korra comes back down to earth just in time to hear something really lame. "You're kidding, right?"