thecapitol | i've seen more places than i can name; OPEN;

Entry tags:

i've seen more places than i can name; OPEN;

Who| Joel and Open!
What| Joel is figuring things out, his first week in the Capitol. Possibly checking in on some people, and bumping into new ones!
Where| Various locations - see the open starters for details.
When| The last week or so of the arena, leading up to the crowning.
Warnings/Notes| Maybe some cussing. The thread with Hawkeye will undoubtedly include descriptions of gore, child death, body horror and general brutality. Also drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

[1. D8 kitchen]

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, before the world went to hell, Joel had been a pretty normal guy. A hard-working, single dad, even. One who did normal things, like errand running, doctor appointments, soccer games.

He'd even, sometimes, cooked an actual meal. He was never a gourmet chef, of course, but out of necessity - being a single parent - and also partly because he just liked himself a good chili sometimes, he'd picked up a few things here and there. Now, after twenty years of scrounging and scavenging and - if he was lucky - cooking over a campfire, he found himself presented with a large, gleaming, state-of-the-art, fully-stocked kitchen. And plenty of leisure time to mess around with it.

Right now, he was mostly just digging around in drawers and cupboards, seeing what-all they had, matching it up with his memories when he could, and sometimes just pulling something out and staring at it in confusion. What the hell is that even used for?

[2. D8 suite]

Sleeping was never one of Joel's strong suits. Sleeping for eight hours at a time, on a big, soft bed? It just wasn't going to happen. He was too, too used to sleeping on the hard cold ground, in short, bite-sized chunks, plagued with nightmares to even contemplate sleeping through a whole night. Tonight, it was worse even than usual, only his second or third in the Capitol since dying in the arena, anyway, and Joel got up out of the nest of blankets he'd made on the floor to stretch his legs.

On entering the common room, he spotted the eerily familiar blue glow of a television screen - eerie, because it had been so long since such a thing had existed in his world, and familiar because it had been so ubiquitous in his life before the outbreak. On the screen, even this late at night, is coverage of the arena. It takes him a moment to work out what it is - a highlight reel, recapping some of the more dramatic moments of the past several weeks.

When his own face appeared on the screen, he froze, tensing up, unable to look away as Ellie's death was replayed in front of him like a movie. His fists clenched tightly and his face became hard as stone.

[3. A coffee shop]

Joel mostly found the Capitol distasteful. Too many people, on the whole, and all of them dressed ridiculously. And they stared at him, like he was some kind of circus freak. Like he was the weird one. But getting the lay of the land was old habit for him, and he knew at some point he was going to have to leave the main Tribute center again - it was better to know the major landmarks, at least, no matter how nervous the crowds of people made him.

Anyone watching him would just see an older man, shoulders tense and slightly hunched - at least, until he caught a whiff of something he never thought he would smell again. Coffee.

Goddamn, but that was coffee. Words could not describe how much he had missed coffee over the years - one of the few vices he'd had, before the outbreak. And now here it was, a goddamn coffee shop, right on the corner of a bustling intersection, like some kind of miracle, like an oasis in the desert. Joel ducked inside, overwhelmed with the smell. He was going to get him some fucking coffee.

[4. Tribute training center]

Joel never in his life did anything like training. Maybe that was why this place fascinated him - this clean, sterile place for people to just, what? Throw knives at targets for a while? Do workout routines? Oh sure, he remembered gyms, fitness centers, places where people used to go to exercise back when running and hiding and killing wasn't something most people had to do on an everyday basis.

But standing around, practicing different ways of killing people? To be able to do it better the next time? It kind of blew his mind. He ran a rough hand over some of the equipment, like he was trying to figure it out. Figure out how it might be helpful to anyone.

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"She mentioned that one," Joel says with a sort of half-smile, more at the memory of her talking about it than anything else. "A lobster that thinks he's a scientist, or somethin'?"

He sips at his coffee. Jesus Christ, but it's good. It's like heaven on his tongue, if a bit scalding.

"I'm Joel," he offers belatedly. He doesn't offer his hand to shake, just a sort of friendly nod. How well this guy knows Ellie will probably reveal itself depending on whether he's heard Joel's name before.

"Yeah. Dr. Zoidberg."

Howard cradles his coffee, waiting for it to cool enough for him to drink it without burning the already sensitive, chapped, rashy skin around his mouth. He picks at his lips from habit, and it shows.

"I'm Howard." He's glad there's no handshake. He doesn't like personal contact. "Ellie talks about you a lot."

Howard. That name rings a bell, and Joel nods. "Yeah, we'd been... travelin' together for a while." He's not inclined to revealing too many details of the whys and wherefores, that's really her story to tell, not his.

"She's mentioned you, too. Says you've been a good friend." Knowing who he is immediately brings him higher in Joel's estimation - if still a bit pathetic in his current state. But now he can put a face to the name, at least.

"I put on her birthday party." He doesn't want to say Ellie's not a friend, because that isn't true, but something about the words makes his skin crawl. He tugs his sleeves down over his hands. "I don't got many friends."

So, this is Ellie's Joel to Howard's Wyatt. Howard's not let down so far.

Joel nods. "The, uh. Laser tag thing." He still wishes he'd been able to see that - Ellie deserves every chance she can get to be a regular kid, and Joel takes a kind of vicarious pleasure whenever he gets to witness it.

He always wants to be around for those good moments.

"Not many do, where we come from," he points out. Friend is kind of a weird word, anyway. The connections people make tend to be more out of necessity than just enjoyment, in Joel's experience. But sometimes they become strong enough to qualify for friendship.

"Yeah. I figured, you know, she talked about how she didn't get birthday parties and we go to so many bullshit parties here where we have to wear gross outfits that she should have a chance to actually have a good time." Howard exhales onto his coffee. "Anyway. It looked like she had a good time. I'm not big on parties myself."

He nods at Joel's statement. Joel's right, of course. It's part of the reason Howard and Ellie get along so well. There's a shared history there.

"So you're not her real dad, right? Are you her stepdad or something?"

"I bet she did," Joel says almost fondly. "Wish I could've seen it, not very often she gets to just have fun."

He sips at his coffee, pausing mid-sip at the question. Then he finishes, swallows, considers how to answer.

"Nothin' you'd put on a piece of paper," he says eventually. "She just kinda... fell into my hands through circumstance. I made a promise, to look after her." It's basically how he'd explained it to Henry, all those months ago, when he'd asked. Not the whole truth, by a long shot, but it's how he likes to think of it. That what Tess had asked of him that day encompasses all this. Well, he considers the promise binding, but even if it wasn't, at this point, he can't imagine leaving her behind. After Wyoming, he knows he'd never willingly part from her. And especially not after Colorado.

"Wyatt does that for me." Howard reaches over and grabs a napkin from the table, ripping it up in his fingers, trying to distract himself with his hands. He isn't sure what to do, what smalltalk to make, what Ellie's said.

He might as well ask.

"Does she ever talk about me?"

Joel nods faintly. "Wyatt's a good sort to have on your side." He's only met the man a couple of times, in the arena, but even those brief meetings were enough to cement that in his mind. The man is a good ally to have - if he ever needs one.

He seems the type to be a protector, too.

He studies the younger man for a moment at the question, watching his hands move in that nervous, skittish way he's familiar with - a lot of people back home are like that, especially people used to being in the relative safety of the QZ who suddenly find themselves on the outside for the first time.

"A bit," he says vaguely. "She's got a lot of friends, sounds like. Says she trusts you as one of 'em." Which means Joel will give him the benefit of the doubt in a way he wouldn't for a total stranger, at least.

Then again, if Howard ever does anything to betray her trust, well.

Howard nods. The idea of an expanded friend circle is still a strange and difficult one to him, but Ellie's certainly inside it, and though their alliance in the Arena was brief it established a certain level of trust. Their bond outside the Arena is stronger.

"I'm going to try to back her next Arena, if I'm still around." If he petitions his way out, he'll throw his money behind her. If his petition is denied...he doesn't want to think about that.

Howard puts the napkin down, feeling scrutinized, and takes a glug of coffee.

If anything, the scrutiny intensifies a little at his words. Joel is still working out how things work in this new world, after all, but he was pretty sure Tributes couldn't do anything to back or sponsor other Tributes.

"Back her how?" he asks curiously.

"I'm petitioning out, and I can buy her things from out here." Howard crosses his fingers without thinking about it. "So I'll just be watching, I guess. I done six of these, man. I've done my time."

Six would probably register more strongly with Joel, except petitioning out is what he hears first, and it captures all of his attention in one sudden, shocking moment. He sits forward, his back straightening.

"Wait a goddamn minute. There's a way out?"

Howard pauses. "Yeah. No one told you about the release program?"

Joel is as surprised as Howard - he'd think someone might've clued him into that fact before now. Why hadn't Ellie said anything?

He's going to be having Words with her later.

"What kinda program? What do you have to do?"

"I have an application, I can show you. You get citizenship here and you don't have to do the Games, and there's interviews, I think."

Joel scratches at his chin thoughtfully. "I'd like to see it, yeah. What kinda criteria do they use?" He can't imagine they have much incentive to let anyone petition out, but maybe...

Howard reaches into his ever-present backpack and pulls out a folder, then holds it out to Joel.

"It wants talent. It wants all this information about my birthplace and stuff that I don't even know." He shrugs. "All I know how to do is die."

Only know how to die. That's most people in Joel's world, and he elects not to comment on it.

Instead, he inspects the application materials carefully, scanning the information being asked for. He has some useful skills, if they are a bit (a lot) rusty. It's Ellie he'd be most worried about - she's just a kid, after all, didn't even finish school. But in the back of his mind, he's already brainstorming ways to spin it - his skills, and hers.

"There's gotta be a catch," he mutters quietly, handing the folder back.

"What, you think living in the Capitol's going to be easy? My bet is that they lord it over you forever and turn you into their slave. Maybe Avox you if you step out of line. It's not like just bam, you're a citizen, nothing ever sucks again."

Howard's hands are shaking again. "But me, I'm out of other options."

"Kid, after what I came from, dealin' with that shit is like a walk in the park," Joel says wearily. His only real goal was how to get he and Ellie out from under the immediate thumb of these people - once they weren't under quite so much scrutiny, presumably they could leave the Capitol. Maybe go out to the districts, live somewhere quietly.

But getting her out was the first order of business. Everything else - that has to come later. "Nobody's got options, in a place like this. We gotta play by the rules they set up, if we wanna keep breathin'."

"Yeah, yeah, we know!" Howard suddenly snaps. "You and Ellie come from the worst place possible and no one else could have any idea, any idea, what it's like to fight for their lives! It's not like I spent the last three years scraping by by my teeth or anything!"

The outburst is a little surprising, and gets Joel's eyebrows up. But he doesn't react in kind, just puts his hands up and makes to stand.

"Take it easy, kid. Enjoy the coffee, and thanks for the info."

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i've seen more places than i can name; OPEN;

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