braavado | IC CONTACT (FOR HAVEN)

A place with all-female warriors? That sounds amazing. [Korra sounds excited just talking about it.] She sounds just like the type of person who would be in that League of yours.

[A pause.]

Why...do you say you're not like them, though.

She's really great.

[ Rose sighs, not sure she wants to have this conversation over a phone where people are listening, but the distance helps. She doesn't need to think too much about Korra's reaction if Korra's not right in front of her, and she should feel guilty that she doesn't care, but guilt comes and goes. ]

[ She'd like to keep Korra as a friend, and friends were honest with each other, weren't they? Rose just didn't know what that looked like when she was involved: she only saw it from the outside. ]

[ She picks being selfish. ]

You were born the Avatar, right?

[The sigh tips Korra off, making her wonder how touchy this usbject actually is.]

Yeah... I don't know if anyone's told you, but the Avatar is the same soul, just reincarnated. Why?

[ That's pretty cool, but she won't say so out loud. ]

[ She doesn't know how to do this any other way than blunt, so blunt it is, ]

I'm the daughter of an assassin [ but he's not just any assassin, just like Talia al Ghul isn't just a pretty lady with money ] my world's best. My brother [ died ] failed, so... guess who wanted me to take over the family business.

[ She falls quiet, expecting a rejection. ]

[Korra listens, though she's a little puzzled at first. It explains why Rose is trained in all types of fighting, at least.]

He asked you to do that? What did you say?

[ The lack of judgement heartens her, but she still expects it. ]

I said no. [ 'I'm not a murderer'. ] Problem with my dad is... he doesn't really take no for an answer.

[There's an irritated huff on Korra's end. She's so offended on Rose's behalf.]

Well, that's just rude. Just because he's your dad doesn't mean he gets to tell you what to do. What happened after that?

[ Rude is such an understatement and oddly appropriate that Rose laughs, the tension in her dissolving. ]

He gave me a drug - the one they used on him. He thought it'd do the same thing to me, he didn't know I already had his powers. I didn't know either.

[ She'd been born that way, she always thought he was naturally strong and faster but she never expected she was anything more than human until the day she'd finally met her father. ]

I don't remember anything much, but — [ only half a lie, she had lucid moments, few and far between. For all Rose's composure and bravado, her voice is quiet when she continues, ] I killed a lot of people, Korra. I'm pretty sure they didn't deserve it.

[ Superman definitely didn't. ]

[She's quiet for a long time, and even then her voice still shakes with anger when she can talk again.]

He did what? What did the drug do?

[Rose doesn't remember a lot of it. That reminds Korra too much of her experiences with brainwashing.]

[ She takes a breath. Facts. Facts are easy. Just another mission report. ]

My father and I are a kind of metahuman known as a super-soldier. We're stronger, faster, we can take more pain and heal more quickly than ordinary people. He wasn't born like that - he volunteered for an experiment and it turned him into one by accident. They kept manufacturing the drug and trying it on other subjects because they wanted more, but he was the only success.

[ A steady exhale. ]

Along the way they made variants of the formula. Turns out, when you give more juice to somebody who's already a super-soldier, it drives them bugfuck crazy. Or my dad might have used something completely different - he's smart enough. I don't know what's in it. I just know what it did.

[Korra's heard enough, she thinks. At least on the phone.

I killed a lot of people.

She has a feeling she knows where this is going and this isn't something she wants to talk about at a distance.]

Where are you, Rose?

[ It's a silence she doesn't like - she can't tell what's coming at the end of it. ]

I'm on the roof of my apartment block. Why?

I'm coming over. Which apartment are you in?

[No, you don't get a choice in this, obviously.]

[ welp ]

Block 9.

I'll be right there.

[Rose might hear a soft whooshing sound as Korra boosts herself up onto the roof with her air bending.

The next thing Korra does is go in for a hug, because to Korra, it sounds like she really needs one. Even if this is all in the past and she might have already gotten hugs to make up for everything already. She's getting a hug from Korra anyway.]

Uh, just checking. If your dad ever shows up here, you won't be offended if I punch him, right?

[ See Rose? Isn't used to hugging, and didn't get any of them after she left her father. She's completely tense, unsure what's happening, but there wasn't any violence in Korra. Bending is more of an art than a fighting form, and she's still getting used to how they move. ]

[ Slowly, she lets Korra fold her in a hug, and reaches out to hug her back. ]

Punch him all you want. He's kind of asking for it.

[Korra doesn't let go even after Rose has relaxed and hugged her back.]

I'll make sure it hurts. He's a jerk for doing all of that to you.

[And...now the part that she wanted to say in person.]

It's not your fault, you know.

[ Rose pulls away, tilting her head. She doesn't want to reject that assurance (she needs it) but at the same time, she does think it's blatantly untrue. ]

It kind of is. They're still dead.

You said you don't remember a lot of it. When you killed.

[Korra doesn't try to keep her there, but she doesn't move away either.]

The drug he put in you messed around with you. Didn't you say that?

Yeah but — [ she should have fought. She metabolised it faster when they were on the job, and she built up a tolerance - she just should have fought harder ] that's...

It's my fault. Why don't you get that?

[Korra just looks at her, feeling like she might be understanding this, and herself, a little better, too. Something's finally clicking for her.]

Do you want me to blame you?

Yes!

[ She backs away a few steps, not meeting Korra's eyes. ]

Everyone does! Why don't you?

Because... I know how you feel. Or...something like it, even though it's nothing as bad as what you had to go through.

[It was Yao Corp, not her dad who had put her in that situation, but it had still hurt a lot.]

Would you blame me if...Yao Corp controlled me into killing someone here?

[ She has her hackles raised, still, but Rose never could ignore someone in pain, especially if that she is coming to consider that someone a friend. ]

No. Of course not. That's their shitty decision and they should pay for that.

[ She should say something else: her situation was different, she remembered, or something, just. She can't handle the idea of not being at fault. ]

Then why can't you say the same about yourself?

[Korra sighs, looking away, too. Her voice is soft when she speaks again.]

I...I get it. I don't know if it's the same for you, but when I woke up covered in Wan's blood, and he was just right there, bleeding to death because of me... [She swallows hard, voice small.] Wan's told me it's not my fault, but I keep thinking, maybe if I'd fought harder, resisted whatever it was more, then he wouldn't have had to die like that.

I still can't forgive myself for it. But I can tell someone who's going through something like it that they should.

[She breathes in and forces herself to look at Rose.] If the drugs made you forget yourself, then what happened wasn't your fault, Rose. I can't blame you for any of it.

IC CONTACT (FOR HAVEN)

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