thecapitol | (no subject)

Who| Some, utterly open.
What| A resolution that he have no strangers in an arena again.
Where| All over the place. Specify in your tag where you're running into him.
When| Week 7. Any thread on the roof or outdoors takes place after dark, otherwise anytime.
Warnings/Notes| None yet.

After Some woke up in his room, a few days ago, he gave himself time. A little peace, a little space. He stayed in his room, he favored his restored leg. He tried to get reaccustomed to the paste they pretended was food for him. He stole a pair of tribbles from the room down the hall, and rebuilt the nest that the avoxes had tidied away in his absence.

On the third day, though, he armored himself in shawl and hat, deliberately asking Two's stylist to help him choose clothes to be a little silly, a little disarming. He wanted to be approachable. And then he headed out. He rode the glass elevators, looking out, down one and up the other and down again. He visited the rooftop garden, and and picked twigs there off the potted trees. He went to the dining hall, to eat, or play along in that pretense again at any rate. He left the tower, going out into the streets and looking for a cafe he thought he remembered from before. And everywhere he went, he sought company.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kili needed to be away from the training center, he needed to be away from the stylists that couldn't seem to understand what he wanted for braids. More than anything, he wanted a friendly face, someone he could talk to, but with the questions he had following his death, he didn't know what he could say. If he sought out a helping hand, would that make him look weak? And what of the reason for his braids in the first place? If intimidating was his goal, he would have a hard time proving it if he looked for consolation and reassurances.

Still, when he came across a café, he figured it to be as good a place as any to sit and rest while getting something to eat. Of course, he had a small stash on his person, but something fresh might help with the fear that threatened to take over any time he went more than a few blocks from the training center.

Just as he was about to order, he glanced up to see Some. Kili straightened and considered for only a moment before standing and waving to try and get his attention.

Looking up from his little shopping bag, Some caught sight of Kili and straightened. Changing course through the other pedestrians, taking full advantage of the way they all wove out of their way to avoid contact with him, he crossed over to the cafe to join him.

"Hello again. I am glad to see you out."

Kili absolutely beamed as Some approached and sat back down at the table, gesturing for the waiter to bring another menu. Not that Kili could really read it with such tiny print, but Capitol foods have thus far not let him down in terms of creativity, color, and taste. Usually pointing at some option would bring him something he would enjoy and then he would hold out the little card and no one seemed to bother him for coin.

He hoped today would be much the same.

With a brilliant smile, he pushed out the chair across from him with his foot. "Is it too bright for you with the sun?"

Perfect sensitivity right out of the gate with this one.

Some pushed the chair aside, sitting on the floor where it had been. Tall as he was, that was best. He accepted the menu that the waiter brought, careful to keep his teeth concealed as he smiled at the human.

"Yes, usually. I stay out of the sunlight. Do you?" The dwarf had called himself caveborn, after all. "And how are you?"

Oh, Kili didn't expect that and he didn't bother hiding the surprise that splashed across his face. However, once Some did indeed sit, it more or less put them on eye level, and returned the smile to the dwarf's face. Good idea, that one.

"I like the sun, even if we're more suited to the dark," Kili replied with a shrug. "It's an interesting place, this Capitol."

He didn't like it, really, but all of the bright colors and strange people served as a welcome distraction from the memories of the arena.

"Did you...?" He began then trailed off, what few manners he possessed getting the best of him. After all, it must be quite impolite to ask about another person's death.

Some waited a moment, before he realized what Kili must have been referring to. "Oh. Yes. It was clean, though." His normally clipped accent went briefly more so, and he couldn't help but draw his foreleg a little closer in. "Yours too, I hope?"

As soon as he noticed the brief change in Some's posture, Kili silently cursed his apparent inability to not talk about arena deaths. He's not sure what he's even looking for in asking the question in the first place. Perhaps some strange consolation that he wasn't alone in dying horribly at the hands of someone he may have wanted to be friends with.

"I..." He begins to apologize before he stops himself and nods briefly. "Yes. It was."

The memory, though, makes any appetite he had before disappear.

"That is good." He said it delicately, with a little rocking gesture of his hand, qualifying the word. Better than the worst, he meant. Such things were relative, just like anything else.

"They should pay us for dying well."

Good. Kili supposed it could be considered good that at least their deaths were clean; he's never had to think over such a thing until he arrived here in the Capitol. That doesn't make it any easier to wrap his mind around.

"Seems that way," he replies, though he's not quite convinced of his words. " 'd rather not die in the first place."

Some shrugged, and then paused, regretting the gesture. "It is no small thing," he agreed. "Not to be brushed off. But as yet, there is nothing to be done for that."

Kili glances up quickly at Some's reply, not quite sure he can believe it. His brows furrow as he replies without much hesitation, "We could be doing something about it."

But he's seen the avoxes, how most of them simply walk around with their heads bowed, unable to say anything to anyone. Kili would never wish that on anyone.

His head comes up, the smaller six eyes darting around independently, checking to see if anyone is listening. You never know, after all. "They listen to us, you know," he says with a deliberate lack of emphasis, speaking mildly in just the softer voice from his lower mouth. "More often than they don't."

Oh. Kili hadn't actually realized that and he stares blankly over at Some before it hits him what that means. Every breath, every murmur, could be held against him. It sends a spike of fear up his spine, so cold it steals his breath away.

He swallows with a thick click of his throat.

"Oh," he replies quietly, trying to think of something to say that would outweigh his previous statement. "That's... good."

Subtlety is not this dwarf's strong point.

Some resettles his shoulders, and adjusts his hat, trying for casual. "It is a very nice evening, I think. Would you like to go walking?"

"Yes!" Kili replies eagerly, grateful indeed for the distraction from the terse topic in conversatoin. "Yes I would very much like to go walking."

Nevermind that they had yet to receive their food, but Kili finds his appetite has disappeared entirely.

Some might have forgotten that Kili would have been there for food. He certainly wasn't.

Once off the grounds of the cafe, Some turned them down the street, towards a side street he liked to walk alone, one with shade trees and few neon lights.

"I think they have gotten used to us as a whole," he said casually, after a few moments. "They pay us less attention than they used to, the citizens."