(no subject)

[petitgamin]

Who| Gavroche and OPEN
What| Getting used to being alive again
Where| Training Centre.
When| A few days after his death in the arena
Warnings/Notes| Erm, none so far but probably talk of a small child dying so, there's that to be considered.

He'd woken up in a big bed. He'd never been in such a big bed before, so he wasn't so sure what was going on when he found himself in one. It was a little ... what was that word he'd heard Courfeyrac use once? .... Disconcerting, that was the boy. He looked around the room, a little confused. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten back here. After all, last he remembered he was scouting for stuff in the arena and then ... well, then nothing.

He slid out of the bed, catching sight of himself in a nearby mirror. Someone had washed and cut his hair, leaving it in a neat little cut that somehow made him look younger than he was. He was also in some weird all in one suit type thing, that covered his feet, leaving soft little noises as he walked around. There was a hat thing attached to it, with a face on it, Gavroche pulled it up to inspect it in the mirror, before quickly shoving it down again.

He made his way out of his room. Maybe he could find someone to tell him what was going on.

Comments

a few days later

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat stumbles away from the clutch of human reporterrogators--they want to know more about trolls, all the capitol humans do--having just spent nearly an hour explaining the intricacies of Troll Romance to them. With his luck, they didn't understand any of it.

He doesn't mean to bump into the small human in the silly-looking animal suit, but he does anyway. Blinking as he stumbles back, he notices that it's the same human that was his second cull in the arena.

[petitgamin]

By this point, Gavroche had watched his death footage a fair few times, as though he were trying to memorise every scene of it if only to make sure he didn't go through that again. He recognised this person he bumps into though.

"Oy!" He yells. "You killed me when I aen't never done nofing to you!"

[sleeplessinalternia]

Shit. It's the other kid he culled. Fucking wonderful.

Karkat rolls his eyes. "No duh I did! That's the entire point of being in the arena! You try to cull as many people as you can before you get culled yourself!"

[petitgamin]

"Aen't gonna kill no one who aen't done nofing to me!" Gavroche snaps back. "Weren't hurting you, were I?"

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Your point? If you only kill people that have already hurt you, you'll lose in the arena. It's not my fault you suck at being a Tribute."

[petitgamin]

"Aen't asking to be one, am I?" Gavroche snapped, crossing his arms angrily over his chest. Of course, in the suit he was forced into, it was a laughably adorable image but it did nothing to hide his anger.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Do you think I asked to be one either?" Karkat snorts. "I'm not going to apologize for playing the game the way it's meant to be played!"

[petitgamin]

"Shouldn't have to play the game at all," Gavroche's voice dropped to an almost silent mutter, the warnings his sister gave him of his tongue being cut out chosing that moment to come forth and remind him they existed.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Signless would just love you," Karkat mutters under his breath. He sighs. "Look, dipshit, 'shoulds' don't matter here. Right now we're slaves of the Capitol. We fight and die for the highblood Capitol humans' entertainment. That's just how shit is. This is nothing new. They do games like this back where I come from--just not with so many people fighting at once. Except we're luckier than all the poor dumbfucks back home, because here that they bring us back from the dead and give us a chance to fight again."

Fuck, this was ridiculous. "Do you even know how to fight?"

[petitgamin]

A shrug. "Aen't bad with a pistol"

[sleeplessinalternia]

Oh good. The wiggler wasn't totally incompetent. "Okay, fine, that's something, but I don't think they actually let people have guns in the arena."

[petitgamin]

"Maybe I c'n find one," he thought he had heard shots when he was in the arena last time.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat rolls his eyes. "Oh, that's a great idea, pin all your hopes onto maybe finding a gun. Do you know how to trap people? Do you know how to kill people without guns?"

[petitgamin]

Well, he has seen Montparnasse knife someone a few times, and hanging round the Patron-Minette means you see stuff that you might not want to see but get to see anyway...

"Might do," is the only answer he gives to that question. "Knows how to fight, I does."

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Really," Karkat says. It's evident from his tone that he's not entirely sure he believes this kid.

[petitgamin]

"Don't survive on the streets without knowing hows to," Gavroche said, picking up on the tone. He may have only been litle, but he knew he was worth ten of anyone taller than him.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Show me," Karkat says, wondering why he cares. But he's got nothing better to do today. "Let's go down to the lower level of the Tribute Hive and you can show me."

[petitgamin]

"... Alright," he didn't expect that to come out of his mouth. Having said it though, Gavroche squares his shoulders, making sure to look his tallest. "I'll shows ya."

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Fine," says Karkat. He starts striding off in the direction of the elevator, expecting Gavroche to follow behind him.