thecapitol | (no subject)

WHO| Elias and Amy
WHAT| Mentor and tribute bonding.
WHEN| After she returns to the Capitol
WHERE| Various Capitol locals
WARNING/NOTES| None atm.

In the decade or so Elias had been mentoring, Amy had been the closest to winner material he had come. Not the closest to a winner, but there was a subtle but relevant difference. The later was just a matter of how long before you got killed.

Winner material sometime got taken out too, obviously. And sometimes someone stumbled their way right out the other side who didn't have a drop of winner in them. But that wasn't here or there.

Because with Amy, not only did he have winner material, he had winner material that got another chance. And another, and another. He wasn't obtuse to the kind of toll going in over and over would take on her (he himself wouldn't go near any arena again) but he was going to do his best to support her.

Maybe get a win out of her. Maybe get her out of the arena for good.

She had the right attitude.

And the right face, of course.

So for the first time in his history as a mentor, Elias was actually a little hopeful.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Amy, on the other hand, felt nothing at all.

She'd smiled at the camera, she'd gone through the motions, but she felt hollow. Still broken in half, like she'd felt when she ran away from the group, still like there were two sides of her fighting it out. Only now she couldn't hear either of them. It was all drowned in white noise.

She struggled to even make that broadcast.

She curled up against the nice, soft pillows of the bed (she'd taken a shower a few minutes ago, and it was... almost as heavenly as she'd hoped). And she waited for Elias.

When he entered, she glanced up, and forced a smile.

"Hi again."

She looked...rough. Blank.

He knew that look. Most kids coming out of the arena had it. He had seen it in the mirror for years. Still did sometimes.

And none of them actually went through being killed. He imagined that made it a bit worse.

"Hey. May I?" He gestured to the couch across from her with a warm smile.

"Sure," she said, curling her knees to her chest. "Go ahead."

Her mouth went tight, briefly.

"I'm sorry I ran away," she said. "I don't know what came over me. It was stupid. I should have stayed with the others."

"Hey, don't worry about. It isn't the worst thing I've had a tribute do."

Then again those tributes were dead for good. But that didn't seem prudent to point out now.

"Just gives us more time to prep for the next round."

"Die sooner, get a longer break," she sighed. "Don't die at all, you never have to go in again. Great. That sounds great. Just great."

"Yeah. I wouldn't recommend trying to die though." Elias didn't know what would happen if someone did, but he had no doubt that Capitol did know. In detail. They didn't take kindly to people who tried to buck the system.

"We can work on getting you out of there. You have...no idea how popular you were. Are. And here, popularity is what you want."