thecapitol | (no subject)

Who| Joan and OPEN
What| Joan wakes up, and goes to watch the Games for the first time.
Where| District 11 suite
When| Beginning of week 5, after Joan wakes up in the Capitol
Warnings/Notes| Death

Joan gasps, her eyes flying open. She breathes hard for a few moments, eyes rolling, taking in the room. She's okay. She's okay. Her body doesn't hurt. She can breathe. Her mouth doesn't taste like blood. Her breath steadies, evens out. It's over. She's alive.

Then she blinks, frowns, and sits up quickly. She narrows her eyes, trying to think. Before she died...

It was fuzzy with pain and oxygen deprivation. But she could swear...

"Oh my god," she mutters, getting up and heading for the door. "Sherlock."

Her thoughts are reeling as she heads toward the common room. She wants it to be true, because she's missed her friend badly. She feels guilty, though. This is a terrible place, a brutal, painful place, and she wouldn't wish it on Moriarty, much less Sherlock.

She doesn't know what to hope for. But it doesn't matter. It won't change whether or not Sherlock is here.

When she reaches the room the screen is on as it always is, and she sinks to one of the couches to watch. It's her first time actually watching the Games, but she doesn't think about that. She just searches the screen for her partner.

And there. There he is.

"Oh my god."

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"Four. No, five," he said, after a moment's thought. "They all roll into one after a while." He chuckled, although there wasn't much mirth behind it. "It's enough to have got the hang of how it works anyway."

"The hang of," she responded, her smile having faded. "But hopefully not used to."

She was quiet for a moment, then continued in a lighter tone.

"Where are you from?"

"No, not used to," he agreed quietly. He was never going to get used to the arena.

"London," he replied. "Have you ever been there?"

"I haven't, but that's where my partner is from." She nodded toward the screen. "Although he lives in New York now. Well. 'Now.'"

He nodded. "What brought him to New York?" It was a long way to decide to move to do a job that he could have done in London.

"Personal issues."

The death of the woman he loved who turned out to be the invention of a criminal mastermind, and the resulting nosedive into the rock bottom of a heroin addiction, but Ian would never be able to tell from the light tone of her voice.

"Have you ever been to New York?"

Or in other words, don't ask. So he didn't.

He shook his head in response to her question. "I'd love to have visited, though. What's it like?"

"Like nowhere else," she said, her smile conveying her fondness for her home. "There's always something going on. More than that, though, my family is there, and most of my friends."

She glanced away, back to the screen, her smile fading. If she never went home, she would miss her mother, Em, Marcus and Captain Gregson. But Sherlock is here.

"That's what makes somewhere home," he said softly. "It's not the same when you're forced to kill the new friends you make." He sighed.

"I won't kill my friends," she responded just as quietly, then looked up at him. "But I won't kill anybody. Will you?"

"Not if I can get away with it, no." He wasn't surprised to hear it, because who did want to kill their friends. He was surprised, though, that she was happy to say out loud that she didn't want to kill anyone. "You're not worried about what the capitol will do to you for refusing to kill?"

"It's not like I can hide it after three Arenas," she pointed out. "As I understand it, some people like to cheer for the underdog. It's a different storyline. Variety is good, makes things more interesting."

"I suppose so," he agreed, although he could see why some people would cheer for her as the underdog. "As long as no one minds, then I can't see that it matters whether you kill or not."

"It matters to me. And in the end, isn't that what matters?"

She was wearing the snake bracelet that Maximus had given her, a reminder that what mattered the very most in this place was staying true to herself.

"That's all that matters," he said confidently. "If anyone else is bothered, then that's their problem." And if the capitol weren't making it their problem, then it didn't matter.

She gave him a slight smile before turning back to the screen.

"Not that it isn't hard. I have friends who have had trouble, staying true to themselves in all this."

"I can imagine," he said, nodding. "When there's so much temptation and so much enticement to kill it can be hard to ignore all of it."