thecapitol | [open]

Entry tags:

[open]

WHO | Ariadne, Elias, and any of the other mentors who want to jump in
WHAT | watching the Games
WHEN | a few nights into the Arena
WHERE | the mentors' green room
WARNINGS / NOTES | none right now; will update as necessary

Ariadne found very quickly that she didn't really enjoy the Games much more outside of the Arena. Of course, at least out here, she could put herself to some use. Getting the odd sponsor gift for some of her more preferred Tributes, those she wanted to go far, and generally ignoring the rest of them.

At that particular moment, she was only paying just enough attention to know exactly what was happening; her other eye was on the rest of the room, keeping watch over the other mentors.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Someone about to die, usually. Or something that shakes up the arena. Flood, fire, storm." He shrugged, face tight as he looked up at the screen. "Or something else awful. You know, the usual."

He gestured to the screen. "We have the only truly live feed anymore. Well, besides those running the show. There's a delay now, for editing to the Capitol. For the things a little too awful."

"Yeah. It's..." he hated to admit this, but it was true. "It's getting interesting."

"Of course," she replied, her tone simultaneously dry and amused. "I should have known. The Gamemakers do have their ways, don't they?"

Though his next comment had her frowning a little, glancing to him, "Well, like what?"

Ariadne tipped her head to one side, pondering that, flicking her hair back over her shoulder in thought. "Who do you think will win?"

"I think it was officially put into practice after the kid who started eating people. But there's been some dark things...rape always is cut out. They have their limits." He didn't really wanna lay it all out for her. It wasn't pleasant.

"It's strange, to me, that they can do all this, and then suddenly something is too much...but thank god."

He shrugged. "Right now? It's anyone's game."

She wrinkled her nose at that, the implications suddenly heavy in the air. If there were limits, she liked to think that the Gamemakers would have honestly put a stop to all of this. But they hadn't; it went on and on and on, with them merely censoring the truly horrific parts.

There was something inherently disturbing there.

"I agree," Ariadne murmured, frowning down at her hands before looking up at Elias, eyes searching him briefly. She wanted to ask if anyone had ever tried to right that wrong, if anyone tried to do anything about it, but she didn't know how without getting herself flagged.

"True enough. Even some of the lower-ranked Tributes seem to be coming into things a bit more." The frightened, suddenly murdering as if it had been second nature all along. But wasn't that what she had been like? And here she was, a Victor. She shook her head a little, dismissing the thought.

"Yeah. It's..."

There was something deeply disturbing, on a fundamental level, the way children could change in the arena.

There was a whole new level of disturbing the way the Capitol was altering these people. Changing them, over and over.

He leaned in. Their conversation need to be quiet, but he was fairly sure he could get her attention quietly.

"Something needs to change."

She hesitated, frowning a little when he leaned in, when his voice dropped even more. She was sure that everyone else's attention was elsewhere, on the screens, on figuring out what they were doing next. On everything but them.

It was working out in their favour.

Ariadne tipped her head towards him a little bit, turning his attention fully to him, "What are you thinking?"

He shrugged, leaning back with a smile. A smile that, to anyone else, would look like nothing more than some friendly flirting.

Maybe more than friendly.

"I just think I should take you out, when we get our little rest."

Ariadne was no stranger to flirting, friendly or otherwise, nor was she a stranger to just going along with it. Rarely were such comments rebuffed in any major way, not when she could go along with it and see where it took her. Besides, this was Elias - she might not have known him as well as some, but she was fairly sure that he could be trusted in that regard.

"All right," she replied lightly, pausing briefly, pure curiosity driving her. "I'd like that."

"Good." He smiled, biting his lip in a way he knew many people found very charming.

"There's this little place I can take you to. Great seafood. Assuming you like seafood."

This was, if he ignored their circumstance, actually a little enjoyable.

"I like it well enough," Ariadne allowed, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind one ear. Her focus was on him now, rather than the screens. It wasn't like anything was really happening anyway.

And besides, it really was considerably better than the Games themselves. More pleasant.

"There are pluses to having lived here for a while, I guess."

He laughed softly.

"In some ways I'm just as new here as you all. With locations and all that. Before this..." he waved his hand vaguely, behind him. "We were usually only here for a month or so a year. Most of us. Unless someone called us here."

And wouldn't he love to be sent home right now.

"And now you actually live here. Quite the change, though that must be just another way you're just as new as us. It's not like it's been that long since such a major change took place." She could remember vividly her first Arena, after all. Still, even Limbo was preferable to that time; the Capitol wasn't much better.

"Still, you know your way around at least a little bit. I wouldn't mind learning it a bit better," she pointed out mildly.

"I can show you around. What I know at least. It's a big city, lots of dark corners."

A warning, or a hint? He wasn't even sure which.

Either way, she was willing to take it.

"Thank you. It's considerably easier with a guide than having to run around learning the ropes myself." Not that she was adverse; she'd already gone to the trouble of exploring the entire training centre, figuring out where each and every camera was. The rest of the Capitol was hardly a step up to someone who built escape route upon escape route into her every maze.

"We can figure it out."

He smiled, warmly at her, before the room burst into action as two tributes game into contact. That's right, death match and all that.

She returned his smile, feeling a more pleasant sense of comfort budding in her at the strange situation; she imagined that it wasn't just what it seemed like - things rarely were - but she would go with it all the same.

Tucking her hair behind one ear, Ariadne's attention returned back to the screen, noting with some disappointment that the Tributes weren't any of hers.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject