Action - Second Arena

[actually112]

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.]

Comments

[alwayscomeback]

[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?

[searingedgelord]

[Velvet really doesn't understand what all this is about aside from the vague things Aang said when they first met. But from her perspective this kid is clearly a delinquent. And honestly, she respects that.]

Thanks for not doing this on the Red Fish.

[She likes to keep the ship clean, ok. But vandalism in general is fine.]

[actually112]

[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.

[actually112]

[Oh hey, it's this one again. Aang does his best to smile at her, but it's a little hard when he's writing down the names of nearly two thousand dead children.]

No, I wanted this to be public. Not enough people go to the Red Fish.

[searingedgelord]

[It’s okay, she doesn’t seem to be expecting smiles. She glances over the mural thoughtfully.]

Yeah, vandalism is best done in public, I guess.

[poisontippedcure]

[Undoetunately for Aang, the day he decides to start on the mural is the day that Rose decides to visit the Iskaulit's garden. Despite being one of the bigger ships in the Fleet, it's still rather small, and it doesn't take Rose long to find her crew mate.]

[First theft, now vandalism? Not a great record.]

[She approaches Aang cautiously, remembering how easily he was scared before. Even if she's unhappy, it's clear that she isn't angry. At least, she hopes it is.]

What are you doing?

[samahl]

[Cyril knows that the most of the time, when someone writes names in a public space it's usually in memoriam, so he pauses and looks at the names before looking at the one painting them.]

What's this? [He asks with his tone carefully sympathetic.]

[alwayscomeback]

[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?

[actually112]

[It seems like people are learning to approach him slowly and while making it clear they're coming, which Aang appreciates. And of course, the answer to her question is 'Seeing if I can provoke the hostile dictatorship into killing me again', but that seems like the kind of thing that Aang shouldn't say.]

I'm checking who's watching.

[He angles himself so he can keep writing names and see Rose at the same time.]

I'm going to make a mural. [Assuming he's not killed within the next hour.]

[actually112]

It's going to be a mural.

[Assuming Aang isn't struck down for even going this far, though he would have expected the Capitol to jump on this a little faster.

It doesn't occur to Aang that the man is asking him about what the names are. So far, most people have been more concerned by the action of drawing rather than what he's actually writing.]

I need to sketch out what it'll be before I use the nice paint for it.

[samahl]

[Cyril nods at that.]

Could you use some help? I, um, I may not be as talented at this sort of thing as others, but I manage.

[He pauses for a moment, as he considers the half of his arm that is a prosthetic. He has a long tunic on, but the more that Aang speaks with him the more it might be clear he is missing most of one of his limbs. The prosthetic has vines painted along the fingers and top of the palm that he did himself.]

If nothing else I can pass you things so when you're at the high levels you don't have to keep coming down to get the paints.

[actually112]

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.

[actually112]

[He wouldn't have thought of this as vandalism, but after a moment's thought, he nods.]

Yeah, I guess it's vandalism.

[He doesn't seem all that concerned with it. If he were vandalizing walls in the Capitol, he may be more careful, but arenas had always been treated as free for alls.]

It's going to be pretty vandalism, though. [Assuming he doesn't get killed first.]

[actually112]

[Historically, Aang has got along well with people who have prosthetic arms. You'd think this wouldn't be such a large demographic for him, but it is.

But still, he's hesitant to let anyone help him at a task he suspects will lead to his gruesome death.]

I don't know. If the people I think are watching see it, they'll probably attack anyone who helps.

[samahl]

[Cyril raises his brow a bit. He isn't sure why Aang things Atroma would do such a thing, but now that he's said it, Cyril can't just let him face that kind of thing alone.]

Well if that's the case then I definitely want to help. Two are better at fighting off an attack than one.

[poisontippedcure]

The only person watching you right now is me.

[And the viewers. But it would probably be a bad idea to mention that right now, considering the state he already seems to be in.]

I can see that you're making a mural. Is there a reason you're doing so by vandalizing the walls of the Iskaulit?

[alwayscomeback]

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. ]

[actually112]

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.]

[watermarks]

[ It would be fair to say that Katara is on the Iskaulit at least once a day, usually in the evening to check on her garden and practice her bending. As such, Aang's probably close to done when she starts heading down the hall...? ]

[searingedgelord]

[For her part Velvet doesn’t seem to disapprove. Kind of the opposite, really.]

I guess that’s good, if you can manage it. I don’t know much about art, myself.

[When she vandalizes stuff, she tends to just break it.]

[alwayscomeback]

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?

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Honestly, Sam is planning on turning around the moment he sees Aang. It's nothing against him, it's just - it won't be the Aang he knew back in the Capitol, and he's not sure he can handle another double right now. He doesn't want to pretend like he doesn't know him, doesn't care about him, and he's not up for answering any questions about how.

But then he sees the names.

Sam was in District 13 when Aang pulled his rebellion, but he'd still seen it - and there's no one else who'd know those names but someone who's from Panem.

He moves forward, without quite consciously deciding to. ]

Little bird?

[actually112]

[Aang has almost finished writing down all the names in pencil. He's had to stop to go over the names in his head a few times, and he will have to go back over it all with paint once he's finished penciling out the design. Not that he will finish that for a while. The names are only part of the design.

When he notices Katara approaching, he doesn't pause in his work, but he does turn to wave at her and offer a smile, though it is somewhat forced due to the solemnity of his task.]

Hi, Katara.

[actually112]

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.

[actually112]

I've never tried to make a mural before, but I like painting. I figure it's basically painting, but on a bigger canvas.

[So that's what Aang's going with. This is just a really, really big painting.]

You'll see. It'll turn out nice, if I can finish it.