the gauntlet discussion

Guardians are pretty big on reading the stars and whatnot.

Arkula had, for the most part, expected for her performance to not be stellar. For it to be as bad as it was, though, was greatly disappointing. She could be proud of the fact that she had made it out in time and was not injured. A more thorough review of her performance and training regiment was now required, though. Even if she had no hope of winning, she could at least make herself a contender. Tucking on her braids back into her bun, the dark-eyed girl's gaze landed on someone else in the planetarium, and by the looks of it, they were none too pleased by their own performance.

"You alright there?" She figured she might as well check on them. Coming closer, the girl looked vaguely familiar, but she had not gotten around to completely matching names to faces yet. Something she figured she would need to do if she wanted to scope out prospective connections.

Arkula had expected most of the others to be fairly...competitive. Enough that their attitudes towards others were not all that great, but the girl — Sophie; she now had a name to put to the face — seemed amicable enough. She shook her hand, grip firm but not too tight; just the way she'd been taught. "Arkula. You can call me whatever, as well, Sophie."

Her brow had quirked at the mention of the stars. So she was into astrology. She made a mental note of that. "What's your star sign?" Arkula was no expert on the stars, but it would be a good bridge into a conversation. Maybe she would learn a thing or two, as well. She glanced over at the girl, gaze lingering on the disarray of her hair for but a moment. She, unfortunately, didn't have anything to help her with it at the moment, other than the holder that was keeping her bun in place.

Arkula had never thought much of her name, aside from liking the way it rolled off her tongue. She shrugged, shoulders rising and falling with ease. "It's spelled the way it sounds, so I don't usually have trouble. Just the 'k' tripping everyone up." This was punctuated by another shrug. She couldn't offer up a star sign, considering she had never taken much of an interest in it. "I guess the stars are somewhat in your favor, then." She flashed Sophie another smile before lowering herself beside Sophie.

"I see the bright as the sun part is also true." Compliments tended to work, from her knowledge, in getting people to like you. Or they were considered a good show of humor to some people. That, she wouldn't really be able to understand for some time.