driftfleet | Action - Second Arena

Who: Aang and YOU
Broadcast: No
Action: Iskaulit
When: During the drift

[Aang has spent the last three weeks or so on 24/7 alert, hiding out in the desert and then hiding out in the trees and air ducts of the Iskaulit, waiting for some catastrophe that hasn't happened. It's driving him nuts. Is that what the Capitol is trying to do? Make him go crazy from paranoia?

Well, he knows the Capitol. He knows how to provoke them. If he does something really crazy, they'll retaliate, and at least he won't have to put up with this tension anymore. If there's no retaliation, then maybe, just maybe, the Capitol isn't as involved in this as he thinks.

He picks a lovely spot on the Iskaulit--out of the way, separate from the hustle and bustle of the most frequented areas, but still public and accessible. He carries out paint, rollers, brushes, and sets himself up like he's going to paint the walls.

Which is exactly what he does. He paints down a white undercoat in record time with the help of waterbending and airbending. Then he has a pencil, and he starts sketching out the bare bones of what he will paint. He blocks out the twelve different sections he wants to make, and then he starts writing.

He writes names. Name after name after name in each section, so many that Aang needs to balance on a ball of churning air to write them at the top of this planned mural. Each name is carefully, lovingly written, given the amount of respect and grace it deserves.

There are exactly 1,747 names. They are the names he memorized for his televised rebellion against the Capitol. They are the names of all of the Districter children who died in the Hunger Games.

Aang is tense as he writes, constantly aware of who is around him and what might happen, but his expression is stern and his mouth is fixed in grim determination. Come at him, Capitol.]

[OOC: Since The Games had lots of people AU'd in from other canons, feel free to assume that a name from your canon is up there if you like.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Sokka's forge is on the Iskaulit, so he's always moving back and two between the Blue Fish and there, especially during a Drift. When he comes across Aang, the work is well underway. He's learned not to approach the same way he would normally with Aang- instead keeping his distance and making sure Aang was aware of his presence. No sneaking up. ]

Those are a lot of names. What's that about?

[Aang still has... complicated feelings about 'Sokka' and 'Katara', but it's obvious that they're both trying to make him comfortable, and he does appreciate it even as he struggles with the fact that he needs to be 'made comfortable' in the first place.

He at Sokka and forces a smile, trying to project cheer even as his task feels less like art and more like undertaking.]

I'm just checking to see who's watching. [Aang waves his pencil around, gesturing at all the cameras that are probably surrounding them now, even if they can't see any.] If the Capitol is in control, then they're going to attack me really soon.

[Sokka glances up at the cameras which are there but invisible to them. He almost corrects Aang- but honestly, whatever Aang has been through, who is he to say its not something Atroma would do, too. If he had watchers for his experience, the likelihood of them being one and the same is pretty high.

He looks back at the names.]

Solid plan. These Capitol guys must have been real pieces of work, huh?

Yeah.

[Aang avoids looking at Sokka. He doesn't really want to see how Sokka looks at him while he talks about this kind of thing, so he focuses instead on writing the names. He's meditated on these names for a long time, trying to remember them all, and it takes concentration to remember so many names.]

I got them really angry last time I wrote these names on TV.

Why, do they not like you guys remembering who they trapped in their world?

[Atroma seem to love that a LOT. Anything for the drama, after all. ]

These weren't people they trapped.

[Aang backs up from the list he's already made, stretching out his wrist. He's going to be here for a while.]

Or... I guess they were, but all of them were already from this world. All of these people were from the Districts. The Capitol is scared that seeing all the names will make the Districts rebel.

[He's never talked so brazenly about it before on camera, but he's so sick of waiting around and he's already dropped a bomb by starting this mural in the first place.]

So they were from the place you were taken to?

[That's...pretty awful. Sure, there are natives here, but aside from when stupid crap follows on the Fleet's heels, they seem to live pretty fine alone, on their own worlds and waystations. ]

So you're seeing if they react? What if they don't?

Yeah. They were. [Aang pauses mid- pencil stroke, staring at the number of names he's already written down, and all the names he still has to write. The Capitol doesn't keep any publicly available written record of Hunger Games losers, so he had to watch the original arena footage to find out their names. All the deaths have just blended together in a mess of blood and tragedy narrated by brightly colored Capitolites.]

If they don't react, then this definitely isn't an arena. [Although it might still be an induced hallucination meant to torture him or extract information about the rebellion.] So I'd have to start thinking of this like it's something else instead.

Well...that's something. A step in a good direction.

[He just hopes Atroma don't just react for shits and giggles, because this is the kind of physiological warfare bullshit they LOVE. ]

I'm here for you when that happens, okay? Whatever you need, just call for me.

I won't. If the Capitol's in charge, then there'll be no fighting whatever they do. They'll just kill me, and you too if you try to help.

[Aang says it matter of factly, like he's forgotten that that's the kind of thing someone might find upsetting to hear. Dying multiple times has just become a fact of life for him, and getting ready to possibly do it again is just an unpleasant necessity rather than a source of terror.

The Capitol is efficient when it wants a Tribute dead. Mutts, acid rain, sudden fire--and if all else fails, just mess with the chip in their head and they're gone. Aang knows that going in.]

But if they don't do that, I'll come find you.

...Well, thanks for that cheery thought, Buddy. You sure know how to set a mood.

[He's dealt with a lot of pretty awful stuff in his years here- but that's some high end awful. Atroma at their worst. Maybe even beyond what Artoma are capable of.]

Well. Good. You know where to find me, right? [He doesn't want to feed into Aang's paranoia, but he'll play along for now.]

I'm always here when you need cheering up.

[Sure, his sense of humor may have darkened in the last year or so, but it's still humor. When he shoots a smile at Sokka, it's a real smile with real amusement in his eyes, even if it's small and belied by the seriousness of the situation.]

I know where to find you. The Blue Fish, with Katara.

You're my go-to guy for that, it's for sure.

[Every time he sees glimpses of that humour, it gives him hope. He knows all he needs is to give Aang time, he might never be fully healed, but there's a chance he'll get close to it, and that would be wonderful. ]

There you go. You can't miss it, on account of it being the best ship in the Fleet. It just calls to you like that. "Sup, Aang, I'm the best."

That's weird. I could've sworn it was the Red Fish that did that.

[His smile gains a little more humor. He had to say it.]

[HOW VERY DARE!!! Sokka gasps in (possible faux) shock. ]

You take that back, the Red Fish is clearly the inferior fish!!

Mmmmm... [Aang puts a hand on his chin in mock thought, almost smearing graphite on his face.] Nooooooope. I'm pretty sure it's the superior fish. You might want to get your head checked.

Action - Second Arena

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