Welcome to the center of Rock and Hard Place

[baaarbie]

Who| Barbie and Open
What| Barbie makes his way back to the training center to go back to being a mentor.
Where| All over the training center. Literally each floor.
When| Currently
Warnings/Notes| Feel free to find him/run into him anywhere since he's going to be all over this tower.


For a man moving to a new place of residence, he didn't have much on him. Dale Barbara had two bags to account for his thirty years alive and they were both easily slung over one shoulder. He used to have more--so much more--gifts from capitol citizens, junk he'd accrued when life was easy and his mind narrow. He'd had stuff before the games and he'd only gotten more once he'd won.

He'd slowly cared less and less about it as time had gone on and the parties and talk shows had lessened to almost none at all and now that he was coming back to this new and improved tower, he found he didn't care to take any of it with him. Only the important stuff.

No matter what he thought about it, Barbie still strode in with every ounce of confidence a Career might be expected to have. This place was home now and he belonged there, so he might as well act like it. The first place he stopped was the district 1 floor. He found his room, dropped his bags off and barely stuck around long enough for a 'hello' before he was off again. His plan was to check out every single floor, get a lay of the land as it were, plus there were a couple people he was keeping an eye out for.

He lingered around District 3's floor, mainly to try and catch Jessica and say hi. Maybe Eddie too, they weren't exactly close. He hadn't really announced he was coming back and the official announcement wasn't to go out until that evening so he figured finding old friends would be a good first step rather than letting gossip let them know he was there.

He did the same on 12's floor; Effie was...well some of the things she had to say made him more uncomfortable these days, but he found her company pleasant enough. All of the floors in-between got a cursory look through, as though he'd stumbled on to them while lost and looking for something else.

Once he'd gone through the place, he went back to his own floor to get more acquainted with it and those on it, settling himself in the common room to hopefully catch some of the people he was supposed to be mentoring.

Comments

[not_cocked]

De hadn't exactly done poorly in the games, especially considering the videos she'd watched after, but she didn't want to be unprepared next time. She wasn't sure yet which approach she was taking; being prepared to get herself out, or being prepared to get other out.

Either way, training seemed like the best approach right now, while she sorted her brain out.

So she ended up entering the District 3 common room sweaty and tired, looking for a cold drink, only to see the incredibly attractive new comer.

"Uh. Hi."

[baaarbie]

Oh...well, that worked out well. He'd been paying attention to the new Games for a while and he knew which ones were going to be his; running into De now was convenient.

He gave her one of his more charming smiles and approached, hand outstretched in greeting. "Hi. De, right? I'm Barbie, your new mentor."

[not_cocked]

"I thought you'd have bigger tits."

Her laugh started out strong, and about half way through she realized that a mentor here would likely have no clue what a barbie was.

Opps.

The laugh trailed off awkwardly as she reached up to scratch her neck. Super smooth there, Winchester.

"So, you won these things?"

ohai

[silberfuchs]

Barbie may have taken a peek into the third floor to find the mentors but instead he gets a tall, silver haired German making coffee. Albert may have been spending the majority of his time on floor 2, but every so often he'll pop back up here to see who's about if he ha questions, or simply to try and meet the other tributes in his own district. He seems to keep missing them.

The arrival of a new face has him wondering if he's finally managed to be in the right place at the right time to meet one of the other district 3 combatants and Albert quirks an eyebrow at the man peering into the room.

"Hello," might as well be polite. "Care for some coffee?"

[baaarbie]

"Hello..." Barbie cast his eyes to the other man, distracted in his search for the other mentors. But after not initially spotting them, he decided it wouldn't do to be rude, even if this wasn't one of his.

"Sorry, um, yeah, I would. Thanks." He came closer, finally taking a moment to have a proper look at this tribute.

"You're one of the new ones. Albert Heinrich, right?" He'd stopped trying to remember all of their names back in his earlier days of being a mentor, but since these new Games with recycled tributes, it seemed more appropriate to try and remember.

[silberfuchs]

It takes Albert a moment to remember that his life is no longer private and that's where this man would have learned his name. "Yes, that's right." Doesn't mean he has to be happy about it though.

Albert pours two cups and slides one in the newcomer's general direction. "You have me at a disadvantage."

[retrieverchef]

Eliot was just stepping out of his room, sleep pants hanging low on his hips, when the new Mentor comes through. He smiled in greeting, not recognizing the man. Honestly, he hoped he was a Mentor, not a new Tribute. Not that he could say that here, of course.

[baaarbie]

Barbie looked around the area, only nodding once to the boy before returning his attention to his search. The fact he was put out by a lack of result didn't make it to his face as he turned to return his attention to Jessica's tribute.

"Hi, sorry to bother you, I was hoping to catch Jessica. Or maybe Eddie, if he's around." Eliot, this boy's name was Eliot, that's right.

[retrieverchef]

"I'm not sure if Eddie's up yet." Eliot shrugged. That answered the man's role here. "Ya can wait around for him if ya want."

(V);,,;(V)

[crabulous]

What was Zoidberg doing in the living area of the D1 suites? Nothing attractive, that was for damn sure. He'd just laid out a crabulous spread of food options onto one of the tables, tied a bib around his neck, and prepared to dive into his meal when he caught sight of the imposing and highly masculine figure striding into the room. The crab let out a soft whoop of surprise and lowered his eyes to honor this great and powerful man.

:3

[baaarbie]

When the usual crop of tributes is made up of people who look very much like you do, it's hard not to notice and remember one that doesn't and Zoidberg was no exception.

Honestly, Barbie still didn't know what he thought of this particular tribute, but he was one of his and he wasn't about to abandon him just because he was an alien.

Any mixed feelings were completely withheld from his tone and expression as he approached the crab-creature and sat across from him.

"Good afternoon, Doctor, I'm Barbie. I'm gonna be one of your mentors now."

[crabulous]

His milky eyes grew wide with wonder, turning up to gaze upon Barbie. Slowly, Zoidberg lowered his utensils and sat up in his chair, no long quite so fearful.

"It is an honor to be in your presence, Barbie." The tentacles on his face dangled as he spoke. "I had no idea you were a male mentor. Imagine my surprise at this very moment!"

[confidentially]

While she maintained a base level of laziness, Jessica remained highly motivated when it came to certain things. Shopping was one of them. Of course, she needed to train her Tributes and prepare them for the next arena, but she also had to make them look good while doing it. It was a totally basic part of being a mentor, and while she appreciated the hard work of the stylists, she wanted to add a few special touches of her own.

She was in a flutter as she exited the elevator for the District Three suites with arms loaded with shopping bags. She had presents to distribute to her Tributes, and they were going to be super grateful of her efforts, or else.

So, imagine her surprise when she rounded the corner and came face to face with someone she hadn't seen in forever!

"Barbie?! Ohmigawd!" The shopping bags fell unceremoniously to the floor as Jessica squealed in delight. "What are you doing here?!"

[baaarbie]

It never failed: whether he was playing Darling of the Capitol or in his more recent withdrawn role, Jessica still managed to make him smile. "Hello, Jessica."

He stepped closer and knelt to pick up a handful of her bags for her. "Here specifically, I was actually hoping to find you. Here in general, I'm here to mentor for District 1. My 'grand return' as I'm sure it'll be spun tonight." A small hint of sarcasm, there, but not overly noticeable.

They still had appearances to maintain after all and he didn't want to make a wrong step so early on. "You look good."

[confidentially]

She was delighted to see him, she really was. She had always had a soft spot in her heart for him, especially since he didn't treat her like garbage because she wasn't a Career and she wasn't exactly always on her best behavior. He'd been a good friend to her, someone she liked having in her back pocket in case of emergencies.

"You're going to be a mentor now?" Jessica's eyebrows shot up as she essentially attached herself to his side for the duration of the walk to the suite. "Did you piss someone off or something?" It was a joke, of course. Not every Victor was like Jessica. Some of them were good at mentoring Tributes.

[wiredup]

"Well look what the cat dragged in."

There was a wide, lazy grin on Eddie's face as he saw Barbie walk in, but Barbie could tell he wasn't exactly rolling out the red carpet any time soon.

Sprawled out on the couch, he didn't jump up to greet Barbie. Or even lift a hand. Instead he let his head roll back, hazel eyes watching the other man sharply.

[baaarbie]

Ah, there he was. After being told Eddie wasn't even up yet his first time through, Barbie had come back to check in at a time he thought it might be more likely. Seemed Eddie hadn't changed too much.

"Seems to me the cat's done some dragging with you too."

Barbie crossed to sit in a seat cross from the other mentor.

"How re you?"

[wiredup]

"You know that old cat. Terrible taste."

Eddie sat up as Barbie moved over. Clearly being from one, Eddie wasn't in any rush to be besties with Barbie. But he also wasn't the kinda guy to be an asshole just for asshole sake.

"All right. Got me a girl." The smile wouldn't stay away at that. "And trying to figure out this whole new system. You?"

[orestes]

Elevators are still somehow unsettling to Enjolras, so when Barbie stepped into one in transit from floor to floor, the Frenchman's usually sour expression was, if possible, more severe. He preferred being along in experiencing the strange feeling of weightlessness and adrenaline the lifts generate, but moved to accommodate the company. Even in his comparatively short time in the Capitol, Enjolras had learned the standards of elevator etiquette; greet and then ignore, drop your eyes, and keep as far away from the other person as is physically possible in a four foot by four foot box.

"Monsieur," he offered to accompany a polite, but disinterested nod. His expectation was that this interaction will be as limited as possible, the typical awkward intimacy of having someone forced too closely into your personal space for the purpose of transportation.

[baaarbie]

Were it anyone else, Barbie likely would have left the interaction limited. However, it was hard to forget the winner of the arena that made you decide to come back to a job you were avoiding.

"You're Enjolras, aren't you?" He turned a bit to look at the other man properly. "Sorry, I know this seems a little cornering, but I figured I should say hi since we're both mentors." At least now.

"My name's Barbie."

[orestes]

It did seem a little cornering, and in an elevator, no less, but Enjolras tried not to think too much of it. The man's logic was sound, it was the circumstance that made the interaction worthy of comment. In an attempt to be obliging, he adjusted his stance, easing off the wall of the lift with its chrome-plated handrail.

"A pleasure, monsieur." Another polite nod followed. He hadn't actually bothered to review the tapes. It was possible that Barbie's Arena had been as questionably won as his own, but Enjolras still found it difficult to shake the idea of having as little to do with his fellow mentors as possible. Still, there were certain games in Panem that needed to be played, and some of them had nothing to do with death arenas.

"You have me at a disadvantage, I fear. If it is not too bold, what District is it that you represent?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's aware that there's going to be a new Mentor in District One. After having gotten the brush-off from literally all the Mentors that came before this one, his hopes aren't terribly high. Career Mentors had little interest in a small, emaciated kid whose skills mostly fell in hiding and dying tragically.

He slinks around the corner of the District Suite, watching Barbie from behind an armchair, dipping out of sight with the Avoxes. With his quietness, jittery nature and clear malnutrition, he could fit in with them if he decided to change his clothing. Once Barbie settles down, Howard pokes his head from behind the chair and watches him, all owl-eyed.

"You're the new Mentor, I guess?"

[baaarbie]

He'd only gone up and back down the tower and already a part of him was wondering what he'd been thinking. His life would forever be a circus now, but at least while not being a mentor things had been a little more quiet. He didn't feel like he needed to sit up straight all the time and cross all his 'ts' and dot all his 'is' just to keep himself in good favor.

He hadn't stepped out of line yet, just gone quiet, but if a favored Career started acting up, he had no doubt there'd be hell to pay for it.

His thoughts were cut off when he noticed the boy practically hiding behind the chair like Barbie was some massively frightening being. It honestly wasn't that hard to recognize one of his tributes he hadn't met yet.

"Yeah, that's me. You don't have to stay back there, I'm not gonna bite you, Howard." He gestured to a seat not right next to him, but still near enough to be considered a conversational distance.

[tis_allgood]

Cuthbert caught the newcomer in District 3 as he came in and watched him until he felt uncomfortable not saying anything. Which wasn't all that long at all, honestly, Bert had trouble with long silences.

"Another new tribute? And just in time to miss out on all the fun. But not to worry, settle in and you'll see it all on repeat."

Sorry this is late

[baaarbie]

The new voice caught him off guard, but he turned to face the other man, half a smile forming on his lips. "Not exactly. I'm a Mentor and I've been keeping up with the fun for the most part."

He tried to run through the names he knew to try and place a face, it was harder with so many tributes and a turnover that happened faster than a year, but he tried to pay attention to one's for obvious reasons and three's because at least one of the mentors he considered his friend. Root for your favorites, after all.


Bert, was that it? It seemed off somehow, maybe he was thinking of the wrong person.

"I'm Barbie."