Watch It Happen // [Karia]

Cause baby you're a firework, come on show 'em what you're worth
make 'em go, oh, oh, oh

It was sunset, a beautiful one, despite the falling winter light. Duchess pushed back the metal training center door, stopped to admire the colors streaking across the sky. They weren't deep as they could be, when the summer warmth and smog ignited the sky, but there was a subtly to them, a pastel shading that was truly gorgeous. She wanted to capture some of those colors, put them into her clothes, her makeup, use them to make herself even more beautiful.

She took one last deep breath of the salty musk of the center and then let the door close behind her. There were still plenty of Careers packed inside, doing endless laps around the weight equipment, straining to add another five, ten, fifteen pounds of muscle. She couldn't push herself any further though, not without a meal. Kobaloi had requested that she return after dinner, but Duchess thought that was unlikely. She hadn't done her homework in over a week and she had a few stops to make on the way home, just to check in on friends.

There'd been some waves lately, hiccups in the social order. That happened in the winter; tensions ran high after a long semester, and everyone just needed a break. Even knowing that, though, wasn't much comfort. She was just one person, after all - she couldn't solve everyone's issues, even if she wanted to. And the truth was that Duchess actually preferred peace and harmony, the Games notwithstanding. She'd rather be able to talk to everyone in school instead of worrying about who had dated whom, or what clique everyone was in.

But as long as the system was in place, Duchess would own it. She pushed her finger tips into her gloves, wiggled them around even though they were still sweaty and rough from the kettle bells. Just as she dug out her beanie from her jacket pocket she looked up and saw a small figure just on the outskirts of the center. It took her another couple of strides to figure out who it was, and then Duchess smiled. She sped up a few paces, jogged a little, to catch up to her.

"Hey! Evanoa, wait up!" Duchess called ahead, and then bent forward so that she didn't take the winter wind full in the face. When she finally matched the girl's stride, she slowed. "You're Jennifer's sister, right? I'm Duchess Grant." And when she smiled, the world held a little more balance. Duchess turned her cool eyes to the girl, and offered her gloved hand.