WHO: Azula + Others WHAT: Various starters. WHEN: July! WHERE: Places! WARNINGS: Not quite yet. There will be doppelgänger bodies, everything else added in time.
⟪ With one of the more reliable food sources destroyed, Azula is back to where she started a couple of weeks ago: trying to ensure that she doesn't die of starvation any time soon. She's (noisily) rummaging through a drawer right now, but comes up empty-handed.
No matter. Game face on. There's got to be something somewhere. And really, all told, she looks to be in slightly better spirits than she's been the previous week. Her shirt's reasonably clean, her hair is still messily cut, but at least it's brushed, she's all too happy with the available showers – and she's even gone through the trouble of pinning a golden pin to her shirt. It's got a bird on it, which doesn't really do anything for her except remind her of the messenger hawks from back home, but in lieu of the finery she's used to, she's happy with it.
Unfortunately, it's not strictly speaking her golden bird pin.
When she hears steps approaching, she freezes, turns – and relaxed, at least a little. ⟫
Haymitch. ⟪ Guarded, but reasonably friendly considering who she is and how she usually expects people to fall to their knees and bow when they see her. At any rate, she doesn't seem to be considering that he might change his mind after their last talk and try to murder her, because she turns back to the task at hand: methodically going through every possible closet and drawer in search for resources, evidently having mapped out the room from left to right. ⟫ Looking for something?
⟪ In the righthand corner, there is a closet. It would be a shame if someone opened it, though, because whoever opens it will be greeted by a body that looks eerily like Zuko's. ⟫
[He's still got his backpack, but it's a fair bit lighter these days. He's not unused to starving, but at least in 12, there were sometimes outside sources of food. Here? There's a finite amount of food, and he doesn't know how long they're all going to last.
But that's a problem for later.]
You?
[He joins her, going through cabinet after cabinet-- but it's not long before he reaches the closet. It's stupid he doesn't feel the weight against the door, but it is what it is. At least it isn't a trap.
The corpse of a sixteen year old boy tumbles out, falling in a heap at Haymitch's feet. He leaps back, knife already in his hand-- but though he realizes what the threat is almost immediately, he doesn't move to grab it, not yet.
And he doesn't say anything so stupid as don't look. She's going to look. The only thing he can do is observe right now, glancing over at her with a grimace.]
It's not real. Don't-- it's not real, I promise you.
⟪ She confirms it, dark undertone and all, because it's starting to look a bit bleak, doesn't it? There are some cans hidden in by her sleeping spot and she's got a bag of her own slung across her shoulder, but that's not going to last long. Couple of days, maybe.
Not half as big a problem as what drops out on Haymitch a moment later. He's jumped back and gotten his knife out so fast – honestly, she could come up with a list of soldiers who could take a lesson from that – but there's no real time to point that out, not when she realises whose body it is before it even hits the ground. ⟫
How would you know it's not real? ⟪ Her voice is clipped, almost... raw, maybe, as she slips past him to do just what he's kept from telling her not to do: to look. And it's Zuko, alright, not an inch worth of doubt to it, from the black of his hair to the gold of his good eye. Formerly good. Fixed in a death stare now. He's even wearing the disgusting orange shirt he's worn when she last saw him.
That's what she's fixated on now, not bothering to figure out the zipper and instead pushing the fabric up, all the way to where she recalls her lightning catching – but he's scarless. That makes sense, of course: he told her the Agni Kai never happened.
She drags the shirt back down, as if covering him up helps, and pulls her hands back, rubbing her own arms instead, as if trying to remember what living skin feels like, or trying to rid herself of the sensation of how awfully unnaturally cold he'd been. Evidently, she's reached the very end of her emotional horizon, because she's breathing rapidly, but she's not crying – honestly, she's caught between processing and trying to figure out of this is a good or a bad thing.
And then she freezes, as if suddenly remembering something: ⟫
Do you know him?
⟪ She isn't at all considering the option that a dead body might be considered a disturbing encounter regardless of whether it's a stranger or not, she's just hearing alarm bells ring at the idea that Haymitch might know how they're tied together. ⟫
[Zuko doesn't know why he's back here, again, except that something about the place has been bothering him since his encounter with the not-spirit. And if there's anything Zuko's good at, it's sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.
It's just... he's trying to actually be smart about it. Trying being the operative word. He's standing outside the entrance, mostly at a loss, as he tries to figure out how he wants to go about exploring this place.
He knows there's something to the crawling feeling of being watched in there. He knows there's something in there. But for the life of him he can't figure out where, there's nowhere to hide for long in a store when someone's walking around in it, and he doesn't want to tip off the whatever-it-is that Zuko is looking for it. So he stands in front of the doorway and thinks. Mostly he's just stumped.
He's absorbed enough in thought that he's not entirely paying attention to his surroundings, is the point. Someone coming in from his bad side would be able to surprise him.]
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➣ haymitch
No matter. Game face on. There's got to be something somewhere. And really, all told, she looks to be in slightly better spirits than she's been the previous week. Her shirt's reasonably clean, her hair is still messily cut, but at least it's brushed, she's all too happy with the available showers – and she's even gone through the trouble of pinning a golden pin to her shirt. It's got a bird on it, which doesn't really do anything for her except remind her of the messenger hawks from back home, but in lieu of the finery she's used to, she's happy with it.
Unfortunately, it's not strictly speaking her golden bird pin.
When she hears steps approaching, she freezes, turns – and relaxed, at least a little. ⟫
Haymitch. ⟪ Guarded, but reasonably friendly considering who she is and how she usually expects people to fall to their knees and bow when they see her. At any rate, she doesn't seem to be considering that he might change his mind after their last talk and try to murder her, because she turns back to the task at hand: methodically going through every possible closet and drawer in search for resources, evidently having mapped out the room from left to right. ⟫ Looking for something?
⟪ In the righthand corner, there is a closet. It would be a shame if someone opened it, though, because whoever opens it will be greeted by a body that looks eerily like Zuko's. ⟫
no subject
[He's still got his backpack, but it's a fair bit lighter these days. He's not unused to starving, but at least in 12, there were sometimes outside sources of food. Here? There's a finite amount of food, and he doesn't know how long they're all going to last.
But that's a problem for later.]
You?
[He joins her, going through cabinet after cabinet-- but it's not long before he reaches the closet. It's stupid he doesn't feel the weight against the door, but it is what it is. At least it isn't a trap.
The corpse of a sixteen year old boy tumbles out, falling in a heap at Haymitch's feet. He leaps back, knife already in his hand-- but though he realizes what the threat is almost immediately, he doesn't move to grab it, not yet.
And he doesn't say anything so stupid as don't look. She's going to look. The only thing he can do is observe right now, glancing over at her with a grimace.]
It's not real. Don't-- it's not real, I promise you.
no subject
⟪ She confirms it, dark undertone and all, because it's starting to look a bit bleak, doesn't it? There are some cans hidden in by her sleeping spot and she's got a bag of her own slung across her shoulder, but that's not going to last long. Couple of days, maybe.
Not half as big a problem as what drops out on Haymitch a moment later. He's jumped back and gotten his knife out so fast – honestly, she could come up with a list of soldiers who could take a lesson from that – but there's no real time to point that out, not when she realises whose body it is before it even hits the ground. ⟫
How would you know it's not real? ⟪ Her voice is clipped, almost... raw, maybe, as she slips past him to do just what he's kept from telling her not to do: to look. And it's Zuko, alright, not an inch worth of doubt to it, from the black of his hair to the gold of his good eye. Formerly good. Fixed in a death stare now. He's even wearing the disgusting orange shirt he's worn when she last saw him.
That's what she's fixated on now, not bothering to figure out the zipper and instead pushing the fabric up, all the way to where she recalls her lightning catching – but he's scarless. That makes sense, of course: he told her the Agni Kai never happened.
She drags the shirt back down, as if covering him up helps, and pulls her hands back, rubbing her own arms instead, as if trying to remember what living skin feels like, or trying to rid herself of the sensation of how awfully unnaturally cold he'd been. Evidently, she's reached the very end of her emotional horizon, because she's breathing rapidly, but she's not crying – honestly, she's caught between processing and trying to figure out of this is a good or a bad thing.
And then she freezes, as if suddenly remembering something: ⟫
Do you know him?
⟪ She isn't at all considering the option that a dead body might be considered a disturbing encounter regardless of whether it's a stranger or not, she's just hearing alarm bells ring at the idea that Haymitch might know how they're tied together. ⟫
backdated to haunting bc i suck
It's just... he's trying to actually be smart about it. Trying being the operative word. He's standing outside the entrance, mostly at a loss, as he tries to figure out how he wants to go about exploring this place.
He knows there's something to the crawling feeling of being watched in there. He knows there's something in there. But for the life of him he can't figure out where, there's nowhere to hide for long in a store when someone's walking around in it, and he doesn't want to tip off the whatever-it-is that Zuko is looking for it. So he stands in front of the doorway and thinks. Mostly he's just stumped.
He's absorbed enough in thought that he's not entirely paying attention to his surroundings, is the point. Someone coming in from his bad side would be able to surprise him.]