thecapitol | (no subject)

Who| Signless, Gary, and anyone who needs a distraction!
What| Signless and Gary do what they do best: draw a crowd, so that nobody notices the actual important things going down.
Where| A Capitol park
When| Backdated to the day of the break-in
Warnings/Notes| Nothing in particular; will add if something comes up.

In one of the largest available Capitol parks a stage has been set up. It's festooned with colorful fabric, riddled with microphones and wires and lights, and surrounded on either side by stalls with food and drink (there are, of course, funnel cakes). Most of that was Gary's doing, but Signless deferred to him on the logic that Gary knew better how to do one of these things in public than he did. All of his experience was in keeping these things quiet and secret, which is the exact opposite of what they need to be doing.

Guests are invited to take a seat on the grass before the stage. First on the program is an 'authentic' troll sermon much like one of the ones the Signless would have given back on Alternia. It's billed as a way for those not familiar to participate in a piece of troll culture and history, though the subject is less radical rebellious philosophy (for very obvious reasons) and much more Capitol-appropriate and safe. He speaks for a good while, often inviting his listeners to contribute to the discussion, and after the sermon proper is finished there is a short question and answer session. True to his word it really does follow the same format one of his talks might have back on his native planet.

Of course not everyone is here to listen to a troll ramble in a park. For them there is the debut concert of Gary Epps which takes place after a short intermission so everyone can grab a funnel cake or a corn dog or two. The grass in front of the stage is now a makeshift dance floor and the guests are encouraged to let loose and enjoy the very, very loud and very, very upbeat music. It may be bubblegum for the ears but it's fun and the beat is good -- perfect for drowning out thoughts of why there are so very many parties all going on on this day in particular.

[This is going to be much like a crowning: a party-style post where you can put up top levels and tag around to others at any point during the festivities. Go ahead and mingle, and have some fun before everything crashes and burns! I'll be putting up a transcription of Signless's sermon shortly for characters to react to amongst themselves, and Gary will also of course be joining in!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Psii checked and re-checked his codes before dashing off to find Signless. If anyone was going to have a terrible reaction to Initiate's network post, it would be Initiate's moirail. Whether Psii needed to hold him back or just hold him, he had to hurry. He knew Signless's pale/pailmate/thing Roland could do the same, but he didn't strike Psii as the technology type. He wouldn't know what happened until later. If Signless saw it first and Roland wasn't close by....

He spotted Signless near the public ablution blocks. Psii had procured a blanket, pretending he had used it to sit in the grass the whole time, instead of having disappeared during the concert to one of his hacking stations. Without preamble, he wrapped it and his arms around Signless's head and shoulders. He leaned into the private pocket of darkness the blanket provided. To a camera, it would simply appear to be an intimate moment whilst surrounded by people, not unheard of at crowded events.

"I have thome bad newth. Initiate left a methage on the network. Thingth don't look tho good. There might be cathualtieth."

He was slowly edging towards telling Signless that Initiate might be one of those casualties. All the signs pointed in that direction. Usually so blunt and efficient with delivering terrible portents, he hesitated.

At Psii's words, Signless's face went carefully, stonily blank. The only thing that betrayed exactly how hard his stomach had just dropped into his feet was that way his jaw tensed.

'Might be casualties'. He knew what that meant even if Psii wasn't going to come out and say it immediately. In a way he was glad for the softening of the blow, even if he knew it had to come eventually.

"We knew there might be. How many? Was it a complete failure, or...?"

If the mission itself was successful then at least anyone who died would have died for a reason. That would make it in some small way better.

The curt, careful way Signless looked and spoke mirrored how Psii remained firm in dire situations. Sometimes Psii was blindsided by how his friend had changed in his time here. Psii might berate others for not being as intelligent or careful, but truly the last thing Psii ever wanted was for someone to become more like his own sorry self.

"I don't have a proper report, only what I thaw pothted on the network—Don't bother looking now, it'th been erathed. The human Steve Rogerth wath talking about giving up hith life before hith methage wath cut off. And.... Initiate thaid the thame."

Psii didn't usually use Initiate's title, preferring "clown" or "douchebag." Psii tightened his hold on Signless, as much to give him strength as to restrain him from doing anything reckless. Never before had he dreaded giving bad news so much.

"Look at me, Kankri. Do you remember our contingienthy planth? We could be thuthpected of being in on it. I need you to be ready. We'll know if it wath a failure if no one returnth at all."

And there it was. Signless took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out again in a shaky sigh. He'd known this might happen. He'd known, just as he'd known there was always a chance he might be culled on Alternia for his own acts of rebellion. It hurt, but it was not a surprise -- he'd been mentally preparing himself for it since the anonymous network post. He had no trouble meeting Psii's eyes.

"I can handle it. I've done nothing they can use to incriminate me and if they decide to haul me in for questioning anyway... it isn't as though I haven't see the inside of a Capitol jail cell before. You're the one with physical evidence linking you to this. How quickly can you destroy everything?"

Psii gripped a little harder as Signless let out his unsteady breath. He had learned to read his friend's more understated signs of disquiet. Everything was more subtle here under watchful electronic eyes.

"Very. I wath on my way to do that, but I worried...." He worried Signless might do something stupid before Roland or any of Signless's other dependable friends found out and tracked him down.

"You take care of your own planth. Find human Roland and thtick with him. I thaw him here earlier, near the front of the crowd."

Psii hesitated, as this wasn't a thing he did often, then pressed their foreheads together, as much to comfort as to draw strength. Signless's forehead was warm like a flame in the dark seasons. Psii needed to be quick, but he didn't want Signless to think he was alone in this. Psii wanted to be dependable. He was not shaken--Initiate wasn't his moirail, after all--but he feared for what might become of those who were captured. He also feared that he might fuck up in some way, leave some code lying around, or utterly fail to save his comrades.

He nods. It's a good plan: find a source of steadiness and comfort, don't let it go. He can't afford to break down and he certainly can't afford to do it publicly when that alone could be seen as an admission of guilt.

"I will. There's a reason I asked him not to get involved and it's so I would have something to fall back on." He leaned into the forehead touch, bumping their noses together. Even just that contact was bolstering. Even if the Initiate was dead -- and he had known it might happen -- he was not alone.

"Stay safe, Mituna."

"I've already acthepted that we might not be able to return home. If that'th true, then I've already lotht two memberth of my family."

Sam Wilson had told him about human families, how they could be close-knit or complicated. The one common factor was that they were inexorably tied together for an indefinite amount of time. No one could ever replace Disciple or Dolorosa for him. And, dabbling in quadrants or not, Psii's friendship with Signless was carved deep.

"I can't lothe another one."

Psii stepped back before his voice could waver too much, leaving the blanket to drape on Signless.

"Move your ath."

Acknowledging that he'd likely never see the Dolorosa or the Disciple again was not something Signless did much anymore. He talked about them often -- he could never, ever pretend that they wouldn't always be a part of him -- but it was sobering to have the Psiioniic remind him of things he tried to keep neatly tucked away in the back of his mind.

"You won't, promise," he said softly before Psii stepped away. Whatever it was that they had, a friendship or a quadrant or something else entirely, the Psiioniic was important to him and that was what mattered. He'd made a vow the very first day Psii showed up that he wouldn't lose him again, and he intended to stick by that.

He took a few moments to carefully rid his face of any worry. Then, shifting the blanket back so that it was wrapped around his shoulders, he turned and headed off into the crowd. Hopefully someone will have seen them and mistaken it for a quick semi-private makeout session. There was no better cover story here, he'd found, than romance.

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closed to Signless

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And this is probably done!