1st Testimony: Early December Catchall

[paybent]

[Dick Gumshoe, a local earthbending police detective who wishes he was a metalbending cop but is perpetually down on his luck. The good detective can be found at a few locales throughout the city.

A. Sitting on the steps of city hall during a lunch break. He'll be eating from a dinky container of Flameo Instant noodles while also dabbling at a sketchbook. The sketches are far from professional, but they seem to be reflecting some kind of badgermole-like creature.

B. By the police station! He'll mostly be there to do business... or just chat up everyone in the area and look for cases to latch onto. And if someone doesn't seem to belong there, he may pop over to see if they need to be questioned. He may also have a dog with him.

C. In an empty-ish lot within the spirit wilds, where he practices his earthbending. He's also set up a tin can on a dormant vine, and he'll make many a valiant, exaggerated effort to bend it. The result is him holding a ridiculous-looking pose while staring the can down for several minutes.]

Comments

A

[braavado]

[Korra doesn't usually bother strangers outside of the city hall, especially when they're so engrossed in what they're doing--eating and sketching, in this case. But once she catches a glimpse of the sketches, she can't help but stare. There's nothing like that around the city hall, from what she can tell, so where exactly is he drawing the inspiration from?

Don't mind the girl in blue peering over your shoulder, Gumshoe. She's just being a little nosy (as usual).]

[paybent]

[He's experimenting with drawing eyelashes on a badgermole face when he finally becomes aware of the girl peering over his shoulder. He is immediately and dramatically startled.]

Whoa! [He stumbles back a bit while keeping his hold on his drawing pad.] You almost gave me a heart attack, pal!

[But he blinks as he looks towards the intruder. Doesn't she look familiar?]

[braavado]

Sorry! I was just looking at your sketches.

[Korra rubs at her neck, offering him a sheepish smile.]

I didn't mean to scare you or anything.

[paybent]

[A sheepish smile? Now she's spaking his language! He's a bit flabbergasted as he tries flashing his own pearly whites back at her.]

Don't think anything of it! I was just - hey! [He points a finger at her with very fragile confidence.] You're the Avatar, aren't you?

[The Avatar's looking at his sketches? Way to make a guy feel self-conscious!]

[braavado]

Uh-- [Wow, caught out already? Though if he's working with the police department, then he must've seen her around pretty often. And even then, it's not like her face hasn't been in the papers recently either.

Korra shrugs. ]

Yup. That's me.

B

[windfire_donuts]

[Nezha (pointedly NOT carrying an illegal polearm today) has managed to find himself near the police station in his continuing quest to familiarize himself with the city's layout. Truthfully, probably not the best place for him to be loitering considering he's still on their shitlist, but whatevs.

It's not the first time his interest's been drawn by a dog rather than its owner, but there's just something about that little ball of fluff...]

Hey, dog. [The teenager calls, kneeling beside it and extending a hand.]

[paybent]

[Missile seems friendly enough, at least at the moment. He sniffs at Nezha's hand inquisitively and then licks at it a little. Gumshoe approaches, cheerily at first as he focuses on Missile.]

Aw! Found a new friend, didn't ya, little pal? [He chuckles softly and then blinks as he realizes that he doesn't know who this guy is.]

C

[fallensun]

[He's been watching this go on for a while and trying very, very hard not to laugh and ruin the whole thing. Seriously, where do you find guys like this? Are there more? Are they all this dumb? You can't buy entertainment like this.

When it gets to the point where it looks like steam is going to start coming out of the poor guy's ears because he's concentrating so hard, Judar focuses on the can and uses his combustion bending to blow it up.

And then makes sure he's well hidden behind a nearby vine.]

[paybent]

[BA-BOOM! Gumshoe jumps back with a start.]

Whoa - duck and cover! [He leaps down onto the floor, covering his eyes for a moment. Then he slowly opens them and sees the can's smouldering remains.]

N-no way... Did I do that?

[fallensun]

[Once Gumshoe has had a chance to see what's happened to the can, Judar slips out from behind the vine.]

Wow, check that out! I've never seen that happen before! You must be pretty powerful, mister!

[Really? This guy can't even handle a little explosion without taking cover? This whole thing keeps getting sadder and sadder.]

[paybent]

[Gumsoe rubs at his head uncertainly as he rises and looks at the can, not paying much attention to the boy.]

Wuh... whoa! Gee, pal, I didn't know I had it in me!

[fallensun]

You totally demolished it.

[He goes over and pokes at what's left of the can. It was a pretty small target, but it was stationary when he hit it. Not all that impressive, really, as far as his abilities go, but if someone else could pull it off, it might legitimately be worth writing home about.]

Is that why you're practicing out here all by yourself? So you don't hurt anyone?

A

[motheroffaces]

[A soft shift of robes, a footstep . . . and there is someone bending over the page to peer at his work. Long, dark hair slips forward, brushing the edge of the paper.]

A

[paybent]

[Gumshoe sees the strand of hair suddenly dangling onto his paper... and he immediately freaks out.]

Oh no! [He startles just a bit until he looks up and sees the lady there, and then he bashfully scratches at his head as he tries to regain his composure.]

Sorry ma'am, just got a little spooked there...

[motheroffaces]

[The woman gazes back at him, eyebrows slightly raised. She's quite tall, almost too thin, dressed in ornate robes that look almost archaic in their design, as though she belonged to some bygone era -- and fairly impractical-looking for the cold. Her hair trails down the length of her back, almost to her knees, long and loose.]

[Her eyes are somber, shadow-dark in a too-pale face. They flick from his face to the page he was working on without apology -- as though his surprise is just an inconvenience distracting from the matter at hand, and she is not to be blamed for it whatsoever.]

It is a badgermole.

[And she muses on it a moment, leaning back over him to get a better look.] It is not a poor semblance, though the addition of eyelashes seems . . . arbitrary.

[paybent]

[Gumshoe glances up towards her uncertainly. Even for someone who could be as dense as Gumshoe tends to, a lot of the oddness in her features and her clothes stares out. She still seems pretty, sure, but definitely unusual. Maybe she's from some obscure village.

He frowns for a moment as he hears her criticism and then turns his attention down the the notepad.]

Arbitrary... is that a good thing or a bad thing? See, this design, it can't be just any old ordinary run-of-the-mill badger mole. [Now he puts on a more proud smile.] Nah, pal, I've gotta design the Blue Badgermole... It'll be the pride and joy of the Republic City police force!

[motheroffaces]

["Pal?" Has she just been called "pal?" Shadowy eyes spear into him.]

You may call me Uma. "Pal" is unacceptable.

And "arbitrary" in this case merely means that there seems to be no point to it. It adds nothing.

Why must the police force have a blue badgermole at all? And furthermore, why must it be designed?

[She's thinking of the animal, and no one designs those . . . except for her.]

A

[paishodown]

[Asami has been paying visits to City Hall more and more often with the contracts Future Industries has been getting about rebuilding the damaged portions of the city. Her own sketchbook is tucked in her shoulder bag.

Here's another member of Team Avatar peering over your shoulder, Gumshoe.]

A badgermole?

[She asks politely. Asami ain't no life drawer, but she's done more than her share of drafting for machinery. Comes with the job.]

[paybent]

[It's like he's awakening a hydra of conversations, except instead of snake heads it's pretty ladies. He's less startled by this one at least.

But just like with that other girl who turned out to be that Avatar who wrecked the police office, he can't help but feel this girl looks familiar.]

Not just any badgermole! [He smirks confidently.] When I'm done with this bad boy? He'll be the Blue Badgermole, pride and joy of the Republic City police! Even with an unfinished design, he's been drawing quite some attention today!

[paishodown]

Hm.

[Asami hums a noise of approval with a small smirk.]

You know, I wouldn't put it past the old chief to bring in actual badgermoles to help with police work, either. He looks good.

[Not that Asami can even remember what Toph was like, but...]

[paybent]

[He's not sure which old chief in question she means, but he chuckles sheepishly anyway. Another voice of approval.]

Really? Is there anything you'd change? If this really takes off, we might even try to get a costume for people to wear around!

B! (presumably backdated a bit)

[mercuryadept]

[After a fair amount of scouring the city for the police headquarters (though at least the description she was given of the building was correct; look for the building with a big statue of a woman outside it), Mia finally makes her way inside the building and is looking for someone to talk to. She isn't in a huge hurry, but at the same time she's also fairly keen to get this taken care of sooner than later. And so, with that said, she comes up to a desk and knocks politely at it.]

Uhm, excuse me; can you possibly help me?

[paybent]

[The detective looks up from his desk at the knocking; he may have been just starting to doze off. It looks like he keeps attracting nice girls today! So he greets her with a crooked with a crooked smile.]

Sure thing, pal! What can I do for ya?

[mercuryadept]

[Mia looks a little apprehensive. She's definitely a little out of her depth here (or at least so she feels), and she knows that she's probably going to be a bit disappointed all in all, but she's here, and this is the start.]

Well, my name's Mia, and I'm trying to find my cousin Alex. [She takes a moment to open up a satchel that she has on her and pulls out a photograph of a blue-haired man.] I imagine this is probably a wild turkey duck chase really since Republic City probably has more people than you can keep track of, but he left the North Pole about two weeks ago, reportedly on a ship headed for here. You haven't by chance heard anything about or seen him, would you?

[paybent]

Mia, huh? [The scruffy detective raises an eyebrow. Why does he have the oddest feeling he's heard that name before...]

I'm Detective Gumshoe, but you can call me Dick. Glad to meet you and I'll be even gladder to help you. [He reaches for the photograph and fumbles. Before he looks it over, he flashes her a toothy, reassuring grin.]

Hey, you never know! The lost and found's full of things no one ever comes back for, so you never know what kinds of things end up here! Plus after two weeks those things become free... [He quickly clears his throat!] Now let's see here...

[Now he actually looks over the photo and frowns as he studies it.]

Hm, can't say I've ever seen this guy before. I can check around some records if you'd like, if he came here there's gotta be something on him. [He doesn't even think to question her motives at all.]