thecapitol | Living inside the shell

Entry tags:

Living inside the shell

Who| Mindy, open
What| The victor returns to the Capitol.
Where| Various Places
When| After being patched up
Warnings/Notes| Mindy, so foul language and descriptions of violence.

After the last few weeks, it was a breath of fresh air to be back in the Capitol. It was not something she would have easily admitted to herself, but at least here there was a sense of ease, knowing that she didn't have to be watching her back for death.

Mostly.

It was strange too. She almost felt alien, coming back here with the win. Death had at least made her an equal: now she was an object, to be striven for or hated or stared at or asked questions to. The crowing would come soon enough, she knew that, and what a pain that would be. Words to say,things to plan, and really, all she wanted was to make sure all her friends were all right. certain ones would hare her now, of course, but that was expected. She had, after all, let the games' nature affect her.

She was more than happy to be restored though: all the bleeding and the aching had taken a toll on her, and she was ready for aching she at least only inflicted on herself. There were several ways of going through with this.

1. The Training room. It was always Mindy's "go to" place, and even now there was no reason not to go. She was aware of the stares and the whispers, but she ignored these: after all, she'd come here last time after her defeat, why should her victory be any different? Mindy is hard at work on the treadmill, looking to see if she can increase her speed. There was a lot to think about, and this was the perfect way to NOT have to do that right now. Cut everyone out, hear some mindless music, run like the wind. Easy.

2. Eventually though, there's a place she needed to go: over to District 12, at the top tower to see Sandy. She hated, more than anything, to apologize or even explain herself unnecessarily but in this case it was needed. Sandy wasn't just some girl to her: she was one of the first friends she made, and after what she'd done, she needed to at least talk to her about it. The girl might not listen or care, but Mindy still needed to explain herself. She might run into anyone in District 12 though.

3. In her own tower, she made the unwise choice of attempting to sleep. After that, she thought a mushroom trip might have been more peaceful. Now she just had visions of the worse things in the Arena: beheading, throat slitting, bombs going off, and all of the dead looking at her as if she were the cause. It was pretty gory, and Mindy had awoken wide eyed and breathing hard. So anyone in the Tribute tower, especially in her District, can see the girl sitting in the room now, oversized shirt on, watching a replay of the games, almost glassy eyed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She ran her fingers lightly over the buttons, a tight smile on her lips.

"Me? French? Not at all. I'm English, actually." She might've sounded vaguely offended, were she not in fact a rabid francophile herself. Still, she had a great deal of pride in her Englishness. "And I suppose you are an American?"

"Sorry. Thinking more that you were around their time. They all seemed to come altogether, so I just figured."

In retrospect, that was pretty stupid. She didn't even have the accent.

"Yeah, New York. Again, sorry for the mistake. I don't remember those two getting along a lot, now that I think about it."

"They came in together and stick together." It was all rather typical. She didn't expect that they should actually care to socialize with anyone outside of their own ethnic group. After all, they were French. "Historically, we're all rivals. Though, I suppose if one wanted to qualify it, Americans were a more recent rival of England's." At least in Fee's time.

"I guess, but not all of them." Eponine came to mind, although it was probably best to keep that to herself.
"Kinda funny that America and France got along then, and how we're cool with England but have a pretty shit relationship with the French. Go figure."

She was back on the treadmill. "How did you do?"

Fee's cheeks very nearly turned pink, frustration from her poor showing in the arena washing over her.

"I was positively dreadful. They shoved me into the tube and I was in the museum before any of it could be explained. I only lasted two weeks before that nasty Cindy woman stabbed me and let me bleed out."

It had taken her nearly ten minutes to succumb. Then entire time was spent in agony before Marius had arrived and rocked her until she died. That had been the most embarrassing part of it all.

"Aw," Mindy said, not faking sympathy. "That is pretty shitty. I almost died of a leg amputee in my first run. Had a Guy kill me so that it wouldn't go on, and by that I mean he volunteered. Jesus. Cinderella wasn't playing around then. She's a cold bitch."

She tried to sound as even as she could, as she actually did mean that as a compliment, having already met her.

"Are you any good at, you know, defending yourself, weapon to weapon?"

No matter how she tried, Fee still hadn't quite adjusted to the crude language of the people of this future. Still, she managed not to flinch at Mindy's speech, lips pulling into a tight line.

"I was practically born with a sword in my hand," she said, not caring that it came out as boasting. "And I am an accomplished archer."

She'd studied under the goddess of the hunt. Perhaps she was within her rights to brag a little.

"No kidding."

This definitely interested Mindy. She was good, but she was also young, so to her there was still a lot that she could be learning. Sword play sounded awesome, but it was archery that she needed to attempt to master. She was still behind there.

"You ever practice with anyone?"

"Not often." Not here, anyway. She'd done a bit with Jet, but that was more playing around than it was actual and honest practice. "I'd like to change that, however."

"You should. Training are is a great place to get stronger, find some people to fight with, teach you a thing or two. I'm not bad, but there are obviously people older than me who've mastered shit I can only dream of. I wouldn't mind getting better with the bow and arrow, for one thing."

"Then perhaps we can strike a deal," Felicity said, something devilish flashing in her eyes. "I could trade you archery lessons for something else? Another form of combat?"

Damn, she sure knew how to get to the point. Mindy liked that, actually: cut the bullshit right in half.

"If I know it, sure, I'll teach you. What did you have in mind?"

"You are a good shot," said Felicity. Though she had purposely avoided watching the finale, she'd overheard the commentary regarding it. "I have always wondered what it would feel like to fire a pistol."

"Oh, I'm a great shot," Mindy said, not at all willing to be humble about it. Now, was she the best? No, even she knew that distinction went to Wyatt, although she was getting there. "I can teach you that easily enough, although I guess its only be simulated. They don't have guns around here, and you're not likely to find them in the Arena."

"That would be perfectly acceptable," the older blonde agreed. "Where I come from, it would have been unheard of for someone like me to fire a gun, even a simulated one. I don't expect them to be in ready supply, but should I ever need to use one, it'd be a great help to know how."

"They won't," Mindy sighed. "But fuck not knowing how to handle a gun. If you have the means, know. And I'm not even going to hear 'because you're a woman' shit. We can have sexual desires and actually NOT like men, who knew? Fuck."

She shook her head. "Anyway, what do you think you can handle?"

Fee wasn't sure how to react to everything Mindy just said, especially the last line of her little bent. She wasn't exactly ready to declare her desires herself, but she appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

"I should start with the easiest to master, wouldn't you agree?"

Yeah, that was a bit over the top. Mindy would have admitted that. Considering the woman wasn't fainting from shock though, it let her know she could continue.

"Ok. A simple pistol then. Let's start with seeing how you can aim, to start."

"That sounds easy enough," Felicity agreed. She knew a thing or two about aiming, due to her archery training. However, aiming a pistol and aiming a bow were not exactly the same thing. For starters, her positioning would be terrible. She wasn't even certain how one should properly hold a pistol.

"No, no, not like that," she said, taking the gun. "You're starting out, so start with an Isosceles Stance. Keep your legs apart, bend them slightly. Yeah, just like that. Keep your shoulder and feet steady. Now, aim the gun with your arms locked in an Isosceles triangle, and aim."

Hating to fail at anything on the first try, Felicity took a deep, humbling breath and made a second attempt. Her stance still wasn't perfect, but there was some improvement over her first attempt.

"This is better, isn't it? I might actually be able to shoot something like this."

"The trick is getting your center of gravity. Once you get good at it you don't even think anymore about it. You can just trust yourself to get the balance right. It's the best thing about a pistol: they're lightweight, pretty accurate and don't require you to be balls on accurate."

Not that she wasn't always, of course.

Felicity practiced assuming the stance a few more times before she was certain she had it down properly. Of course, she'd need more practice in the future to assure she'd memorized how to use the weapon as an extension of herself, but she felt rather confident considering it was her first go.

"Are the other guns much more difficult than this one?"

"Of course, because every gun is a little different. They fit you hand different, they might shift your stance, they might have a recoil once you get to something bigger. You always want to be familiar with your piece, or who knows what might happen?"

Mindy was right, of course. There was so much Fee had to learn, she was so poorly prepared. If she wanted to stand a chance at winning, or even at protecting herself, she had to know all of these things.

Her confident facade faltered for the slightest of seconds as she wiped a golden curl from her brow. "May I ask you something? How many times were you in the Arenas before you won?"

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