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That doesn't answer my question. [It's not like she knows Chekov is your adopted science baby.] You have no right to be here!

Yes, it does.

[Story end. She would possibly be kinder if Korra were somewhat less incensed, Marie feels as if any emotionality on her own part (which is lacking as it is) would only fan the flames.]

HOW?!?! [Maybe, maybe not. Marie's complete lack of feeling is certainly not helping. It frightens Korra (reminding her too much of Hei in his blacker moments), and when Korra gets frightened, she gets violent.]

[ Stationed by the food table, 'Li' glances around frequently. To an outsider, it looks like he's enjoying his lively surroundings, trying to take it all in. Or perhaps that he's waiting for someone, looking up from time to time to see if the other party has arrived. But his main objective is surveillance. When he spots Marie and Korra, a dull frisson he'd like to call dread -- but which is really the opposite -- spreads through him. In such a closeted environment, it's inevitable that the two women would run into each other. The air around them practically fizzes with tension. If there's an altercation, breaking it up isn't his concern. ]

[ Then again, he supposes he'd made it his concern -- when he wrecked Marie's lab. ]

[ Sidling over to them, he lets 'Li's sweet-faced mask slip in place. ] Is everything all right? [ One hand is curled around a fruity drink. The other skims Korra's shoulder, a brief, casual point of contact. A light tap, followed by another. One means Don't do anything stupid; two means Calm down, it's okay. ]

[Korra glares at Hei. Of course he'd be here, and of course he'd be wearing that idiot face he puts on in public. She hates that face, hates everything about this situation.]

No, everything is not all right! This is the woman who SHOT me!

[ With the messy fringe of his hair falling across his face, Marie's can't see 'Li's eyes. There's a coolness in them that borders on stern, as they settle on Korra. I know. He doesn't need to say it. His look spells it loud and clear. She'd probably pitch a fit if he said something like But you're not dead or paralyzed or Everyone in the City has a sob story or People get shot all the time. Korra's bubbling with spastic emotion as it is -- it's apparent in that pinkie-finger crease between her brows, her hot glare and the pitch of her voice. Except she's planting the roots of emotion in dead soil, by appealing to Marie's rationality. That woman's issues run deeper than a hasty trigger-finger. No seeds of softness, nothing to latch onto to spread out and grow. ]

[ He knows too well what that's like. Most days, he is that. ]

[ To Korra, he says, in 'Li's gentling murmur, ] You should discuss that with the Police. Not, well ... here.

[Truthfully, Marie doesn't even bother to watch them. If her immediate safety is not being threatened, then she is not rattled. This is a party, a party for Chekov no less, and she quietly takes up her wine glass and moves to relocate herself.]

She doesn't belong here! [What if she plans on hurting Chekov? This woman is a MENACE! Why is everyone acting like she's the lunatic? That woman hadn't been cursed to shoot Korra; she had done it of her own free will. The fact that everybody else seems perfectly okay with her presence is mind-boggling. (And by "everyone else," she really means Hei, because who else here knows that Marie shot her?)

She turns away from Hei, because if he says another word to her in that stupid, condescending, "gentle" voice of his, she will punch him in the face. That's when she notices Marie walking away.]

Where do you think you're going? NAGA!

[The polar bear dog comes running from where she had been playing in the ocean and stands directly in Marie's path. Making note of the tension radiating from her friend, Naga begins growling softly.]

Don't move.

[She turns her head to stare at Korra, her expression still painfully empty.]

Get on with it.

[Outside on a beach, surrounded by enthusiastic party goers, raised voices don't immediately attract attention. An angry-looking polar bear dog, however, stands out significantly. Chekov, who has been waiting for something to go wrong--it's the City, after all, and heaven forbid they be allowed an uneventful day on the beach--ducks out of his current conversation to investigate.

It's no surprise that Korra (and Hei) are at the epicenter of the disturbance. What is surprising is that Marie is there as well. Chekov doesn't catch their conversation, but it's obviously not a friendly one. He steps between the two women.]

What is going on?

[FINALLY. Somebody with some SENSE.]

This psycho was trying to crash your party!

[ Stupid woman. ]

[ Hei isn't sure if he means Marie or Korra. (Maybe it's both of them.) By the time Pavel joins in, his head is buzzing with vague irritation. But he'd be lying if he said he'd like a stiff drink and a dark empty room to retreat to. If anything he feels dismally, apathetically at home. This type of input, the high drama, the screaming, the cursing, the fuss -- he wonders if he's gotten used to that over the years, if he's unable to function without conflict in his world. The warped energy he grew up with. ]

[ Still, it's a whole hell of a lot more tedious than engaging in combat. There are no weapons for this thing except words. He stays reserved, hiding behind 'Li's furtive body-language while the rest of him observes. When he speaks, at last, his words are pitched for Korra's ears alone. ]

The psycho is one of Chekov's colleagues.

[Her attention turns immediately to Chekov, it is the first sign of emotional reaction from her thus far.]

I apologize, ensign.

[It is... probably insult to injury, that she would apologize to him and not the girl she shot.]

I will leave.

[It's not out of fear of Korra or Naga, it's the desire to let her science baby enjoy his birthday.]

[Psycho? Seriously, Korra?

While he doesn't know about the shooting incident, Chekov can only assume that Korra has a reason for insulting one of his favorite people in the City. This, combined with a desire to keep everyone present relatively calm and happy (or at least away from the throats of other guests), keeps his irritation in check. Mostly. To Korra, exasperated:]

I will guess that you have met my friend, Marie Delacroix.

[And to Marie, apologetically:] No, please, it isn't necessary for you to leave.

[He glances over at Korra and Hei, tacking on an unspoken and if you don't like it, fight me.]

[YES. SERIOUSLY.]

She's your FRIEND?! [omg Chekov WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? WHAT ARE YOUR CHOICES? ~~ignore the fact that she's hooking up with an assassin~~] She's the person who SHOT ME!

[ Hei has no interest in fighting Chekov over something so trivial. Instead, while Korra blows her top, he half-turns to knock his drink back, focusing on the sloshing pink nuvo in the glass. It's meant to be a self-conscious gesture, as if 'Li' would rather be anywhere else but here. But it has the added benefit of concealing the dull boredom in his eyes. Marie's attitude isn't surprising, any more than Korra's is. You can't wring apologies from someone by shrieking threats at them. Particularly if they're not sorry. But he can't blame Korra for the tantrum, either. It's justified -- but she needs to learn that revenge isn't about punishment. It's about the equity of damage. ]

[ In that sense, Marie's already gotten a good fraction of her just desserts. Korra simply isn't aware of Hei's hand in it. ]

[ 'Li'-like and coaxing, despite his limited patience, he murmurs, to no one in particular, ] Maybe this isn't the best time? [ He almost wants to snort. As if dysfunction and drama occur at a set schedule. ]

[Marie shot--no. Or... no, that's within the range of possibility, although Delacroix must have had her own reasons, as she isn't psycho (paranoid and a little too fond of drinking, yes, but not psycho). That doesn't make shooting Korra okay by any means.

Chekov doesn't know who to be mad at, as he doesn't have the full story. That full story is going to have to wait, though, because he's going to enjoy himself, damn it. Maybe if the situation can be diffused and dealt with at another time...]

Korra, I would like to hear about this later. Not now, please. [This is said partly to Hei in the hopes that he'll, like... physically restrain Korra if this goes downhill.

To Marie:] It would maybe be for the best if you left. It was good of you to come, since I don't think you enjoy parties so much.

[She touches Chekov's arm lightly, in complete agreement with him, and if he wishes to discuss it later, she will tell him whatever he wants to know.]

[Then she goes.]

[Korra just stares at Chekov. Not now, please. Not now, please?!?!?!]

What is wrong with you?!

[ It's true that if one hundred people are witnesses to a gunfight, there are one hundred different versions of what happened. One hundred and two, if you count the gunmen. Only by gathering all the different stories and weaving them together can you come as close to objectivity as possible. Except Hei isn't a judge or a detective. Objectivity -- fairness -- isn't his purview. He only knows that Marie had damaged something -- someone -- he's peripherally possessive of. So he'd responded by wrecking something Marie held valuable in return. Admittedly the rationalization is a simplistic one. But sometimes it's easier to have a spark of clarity in his life, given the shifting, ambiguous world he's from. ]

[ Despite Pavel's meaningful look, Hei has little interest in restraining Korra. If she's going to go on a rampage, it's not his job to play referee. He watches impassively when Marie exits. But something about the vibrations of Korra's words, What's wrong with you? -- the hurt and disbelief in them -- prompts him to say to her, ] Why don't I take you somewhere for a little air. [ Inflected like a plea, but actually it's more of a command. ]

[Korra redirects her glare at Hei. She is not yours to command, and how dare you treat her like she's being irrational, hysterical, unreasonable, an embarrassment. That crazy woman shot her! She was in traction for a week. She had to use a cane for months. She nearly lost the last thing that made her Korra, and everybody's acting like it's No Big Deal.

Some friends they are.]

A little air sounds great. [She nearly chokes on the words, and she has to forcibly unclench her fist.] Something here stinks.

Come on, Naga.

[Ignoring both Chekov and Hei, Korra mounts the polar bear dog, her thigh twinging complaint (or is she just imagining that?), and canters off.]

[This is one of times where Pavel knows that he messed up but can't puzzle out what it is, precisely, that he did. What was he supposed to do? He didn't have enough information to judge the situation; isn't that when it's most appropriate to step away, gather all relevant facts, and go from there?

But if Korra is referring to the shooting incident that he thinks she must be, it was reasonable for her to treat Delacroix as an enemy (and, perhaps, also reasonable to treat him as an enemy as well). Then again, Chekov believes that Delacroix's action was the result of a curse, making her culpability questionable. If everyone was held accountable for what they did during curses--

Well. They can't be.

With Korra gone before he can find words that won't worsen the situation and Hei doing nothing to help, Pavel trudges over to the drinks and helps himself to more vodka than he should be enjoying if he wants to keep his head about him. What's wrong with him, indeed. Whatever it is, maybe it will be less wrong once the part of his brain that tries--unsuccessfully, sometimes--to navigate the perils of social situations stops trying to be helpful.]

Edited 2013-09-28 08:21 (UTC)

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/gleefully eschews thread order srry

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/bounces out :3

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