open;

[onlyimmune]

Who| Ellie and OPEN
What| Ellie has a bit of a good yell, and tries to take her mind off things around the capitol
Where| District 1 suite, Common room, and some places around town
When| Any time after Ellie's death (end week four) to the end of the arena
Warnings/Notes| Language



[Option 1: District One Suites]

Ellie awoke with a choking gasp, her eyes flying open and she sat bolt upright in bed. She was sweating, flushed with adrenaline, her heart hammering away in its chest as if it had just relearned how to beat.

In a way, it had.

It took her a few minutes to remember where she was, the cool dark of her room broken only by the faint glow of the city lights outside her window... screen... thing. Finally, silently, she pulled herself from the sheets and stumbled into the room, clutching her pajammas around her. She raised a shaking hand and scrubbed the tears from her eyes before they had a chance to fall. She was fine. She was fine, and she was alive, and she was back in the city. No matter how very, very fucked up that concept was.

"Shit," She muttered to herself, her voice cracking slightly before she drew in a breath and slipped out into the suite common room in the dead of night.

She needed to find a television.


[Option 2: Common Room]

She was quieter than she usually was. Most of her friends were still in the arena (in fact, nearly all of them), so she kept to herself and tended to watch a lot of it on the television. She hoarded popcorn, building a little fort up around her of blankets and pillows as if she could build herself a cocoon and keep the world away.

When the television flipped to yet another commercial for tribute action figures, she groaned loudly and threw popcorn. "You fucking stole mine, you bastards!"

[Option 3: Out on the streets]

She was still a bit wary, around so many people. Even in the quarantine zone, the sheer population of the place had never been this high, and after weeks in the arena she'd gotten used to people being a thread, and scarce. So she kept to the sidelines, weaving in and out quietly, though she did slip into the pastry shop (and actually bought one, rather than stealing it), coming back out of the shopping and nibbling on it as she looked over the crowd. God, but the capitolites were a strange bunch. At least it made the tributes fairly easy to spot....

[Option 4: In the Park]

When she found the park, she could help but feel her heart lift again. It was one of the things she had really loved about the outside, beyond the walls of the quarantine. Despite the infection, despite the nearly constant danger, being able to actually see natural rather than endless drab concrete was something she relished. So she didn't bother to hide her pleasure as she strolled through the park, knowing she was completely safe (or as safe as possible). She ran her fingers over the bark of the trees, slipping deeper and deeper into the forest. All sense of civilization around her was lost, as if she was entering another world.

Only then she realised she wasn't alone, and that sense of security was shattered.

"Who's there?"

Comments

[wantwhatiwant]

"Well it wasn't destroyed anyways." Another world where everything had gone to shit? There were a lot of them it seemed.

[onlyimmune]

"Hey, that's always a plus," Ellie said, offering him a lopsided smile that was only slightly awkward as they hit a lull in conversation.

She was saved the embarrassment, however, when the waiter finally appeared with two roasted ducks, and her face immediately lit up.

"Aw, yeah!"

[wantwhatiwant]

Ian grinned as well, that was a lot of duck. "You know, I'd never wish any of my family here, but Carl would love this." He grinned as he tried to figure out the best way to go about eating this.

[onlyimmune]

"Carl?" She asked, looking up as she tore the leg off her duck with her hands and immediately began mashing it into her face.

She was hungry, okay.

[wantwhatiwant]

"Kid brother." He explained, before taking a bite of his own duck, smiling at her enthusiasm and really hoping she wasn't going to be ill from this.

"He's a few years younger than you I'd say."

[onlyimmune]

"Oh cool! I never had any siblings."

She couldn't even remember her mother, and had no idea who her dad was, so.

"I know what you mean, though. It's like... Joel came, you know? I shouldn't be happy that he's here, but I am anyway."

[wantwhatiwant]

"Really?" He smiled, a little sadly, "I have five."

He nodded though, at least she understood what he meant. "Joel?"

[onlyimmune]

She whistled. Five whole siblings. That was completely unheard of, where she was from. There was no way that someone could have five children, keep them all alive, and make sure they survived.

"Yeah, Joel. He's uh - He looked after me, back home. We traveled together for a while."

[wantwhatiwant]

"Good you had someone to stick with." Ian told her with a small smile, he knew from this last arena especially how much being alone sucked.

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah, he's good." She smiled, warmly.

"But I know what you mean, about both wanting and not wanting them there. At least here we have duck," She added with a laugh as she stuffed some in her face.

[wantwhatiwant]

"Yeah." He grinned, "And the ducks great."

He ate in silence for a little while, wondering if she was going to manage to eat the entire duck. He wasn't sure if he would be able to, even if he had all the appetite of a normal seventeen year old boy.

[onlyimmune]

There was no way she was going to finish it, but she was going to try - even though she started to slow down, after a little while, so that she didn't make herself sick.

"So did you have like comic books and shit in your world?" She asked amiably.

[wantwhatiwant]

"Yeah." He nodded, "I never really had any but they exist." He grinned at her, "Dare I ask if superheroes survived whatever apocalypse happened in your world?"

[onlyimmune]

She snorted. "If by survive you mean you can still find the odd comic book, yeah. If you mean whether they made any more? Hell no. What factories are left are pretty tightly controlled by the military, so, not a lot of call for comic books, if you know what I mean."

[wantwhatiwant]

"Yeah, guess they aren't really needed." he wondered if there were comic books here, other entertainment that didn't involve watching people slaughter each other on live television.

"You like them? Comic books I mean."

[onlyimmune]

"Comic books are fucking awesome!" She said enthusiastically.

"I used to rifle through all kinds of shit to find even just one. I mean, I love books, but come on! You get to read and look at pictures at the same time. Who wouldn't fucking love that?"

[wantwhatiwant]

He grinned at her enthusiasm, "They are pretty great." He agreed picking at his duck. "You found any here?"

[onlyimmune]

"Nah, not really, not yet. I should look around though." She paused thoughtfully.

"What the fuck do you think the Capitol would write about in their comic books, though?"

[wantwhatiwant]

"We probably don't want to know." He pulled a face, "Though at Christmas I found some kids who were fans of Harley, they made a comic for her."

He shrugged, "It was a bit weird but nothing too bad and she seemed to like it."

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah?" Ellie asked, suddenly incredibly interested.

"Do you think there's like, comics about us around then?"

[wantwhatiwant]

"Probably." He smiled at her, "There's action figures of us after all. You're probably featuring in your own line of comics without even knowing."

[onlyimmune]

"Oh maaan," She moaned, "I so would need to get my hands on that. That would be so fucking awesome."

[wantwhatiwant]

"I'll keep my eyes out." He grinned at her, "Any I find I'll bring to you."

wrapping this up!

[onlyimmune]

"Awesome!" Ellie said, grinning, and launched into a very long story about comics she had read, while she stuffed her face with duck between every other sentence.

Ian was pretty good company, all things considered.