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[ka_sera_sera]

Who| Roland and anyone
What| Hey, tributes, meet some of your newest competition. He's making a fabulous first impression.
Where| District 4 suite and/or anywhere in the Training Center accessible by elevator
When| minutes after Roland's arrival
Warnings/Notes| none so far?

The light overcomes him, and he screams "Please! Not again! Have pity! Have mercy!"  It's what he's always screams. The one moment in which he truly can choose to say anything, the one in which he is fully himself, and he always cries out the same thing. A part of him always knows this, and the rest of him is always too overcome to care.

He's too overcome, even, to take much note of the little details. No smell of alkali and dust here, no baking heat. White light instead, a vision amidst it, a single blade of purple grass. He sees these details, but does not really process them. He thinks of only the doorway, the pull of his body toward it in that moment before the light reaches him and begins to burn. Some time later, he'll think that Cort probably would cuff him for it. In a life full of important moments, this is the one that dwarfs them all, and he is too overcome by something as petty as his own horror and panic to deal with it in any manner befitting a gunslinger. When he thinks this, later, he'll wonder if it might be an offense worth giving up his guns for, and when he remembers that he already has done so, that it would be too late in any case, he will not laugh. What little humor he possesses does not stretch so far as that. But almost.

But that is later. In the now he is stretched out on a cold, hard surface, looking at cold, sterile walls and it is so unlike any moment that has ever come after that he just blinks up at the ceiling and thinks nothing at all. Waits for the dizziness to set in, the thirst, his own plea echoing through his mind and the smell of roses.

What happens instead is a pair of strangers who come, who speak, who take him by the arms and usher him into an ele-vaydor that opens into a set of rooms. In a scarred, two-fingered hand he clutches the small machine he's been given, feeling the cold of it bite into his palm and thinking little of the feeling. He stumbles in a circle instead, one shoulder pressing against the wall as he watches the ele-vaydor's doors close. His face is slack, surprised; he's amazed that he remembers what it is at all.

And if he uses it, just because he can? If he steps inside and presses a button or two, wondering vaguely if the doors will open again on somewhere familiar? Should you see this shocked, wasted man wandering around your suite, or the training room, or anywhere that moving coffin of a room can reach, know that he is at perhaps the most vulnerable point of his life, and please do be gentle.

Or don't. Hey, don't let me tell you what to do.

Comments

[dividedgirlofmine]

Susannah is reading a book in the common room of the District Ten suite when the elevator bell dings. A guest? Zoolander back from wherever he's been Zoolanding? Another new tribute for their district, like Sai Easter Bunny? But it's none of those things that stumbles out of the elevator. Instead it's--

"Roland?" The word tumbles out of her mouth before her brain completely processes that he's there. "Roland! Oh Lord, Roland, they got you too?"

And she's on her new mechanical legs (porcelain, blue flowers on white, forspecial) and running over to him so that she can wrap her arms around him. "Roland. I'm-- I'm sorry."

That he's here. For the way they parted.

"I'm so sorry."

[ka_sera_sera]

"Susannah?" He frowns down at where his arms have wrapped themselves around her, at his fingers, running over one of the curls of her hair. "I think I've lost some time somewhere," he murmurs, "I--"

There his voice catches, his eyes stop a little ways above the floor. They look like stockings, at first, except for the way the light shines off them. "I've never seen the like." He hasn't. His arms slide off her and he hunkers, running a hand behind one knee and then squinting up at her.

"Which time did you get these? I don't remember."

[dividedgirlofmine]

Time? "Yesterday," she says. "I earned the money by killin' in the arena. You shouldn't recognize them, honey, I never had 'em when I was with you." She crouches down--pleased she doesn't overset herself, like she did last time she tried to crouch--to where she's level with him. "Roland, honey, you sound delirious. C'mon. Why don't we sit down on the couch together an' I'll give you some water to drink an' we'll figure out how much you know about where we are."

[ka_sera_sera]

She's talking as if her time with him is at an end. Yet here they are. He blinks up from his absent study of those legs and the flowers climbing up them, and considers her words. Ever reasonable, isn't she? Ever kind. Ever strong enough to be kind.

"That sounds fine." Instead of rising and following through with her suggestion, Roland stays squatting there, spends a moment taking in her face. "You look fine. And fine it is to see you again. You deserve a better sendoff. A gunslinger true and brave as you. Perhaps I'll try to give you one."

[dividedgirlofmine]

Of course she is. She'd left him to go through the Unfound Door--only to be snatched away as soon as it had shut behind her.

She reaches to touch his face, to caress his cheek. "Okay. We'll sit together for a spell. I'm guessin' since you're talkin' like I left you that you're from after me. They can grab people from anywhen, Roland, but I don't think they're Sombra. I-- I don't think the Crimson King had anythin' to do with this, this is pure human awfulness." She breathes out slowly. "You can tell me about reachin' the Tower, if reach it you did."

[tis_allgood]

Bert isn't sure what to make of the person who wanders into his district. At first the face looks utterly familiar, but then the feeling passes. But Cuthbert can't ignore the tug in the back of his mind that this is someone different. So instead of lounging and sniping at this stranger as he normally would, he gets up and follows him as he comes deeper into the district.

"Hile, stranger, can I be of help?"

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland turns to face the voice, and it's a good thing there's a wall nearby, because he needs it, loose as his knees have suddenly gone. Color starts to drain from his skin, until he's gone about as pale as it's possible for him to be.

"Hile, Cuthbert Allgood that was," he rasps, and slips into the High Speech. "If thee be a spirit, I beg you take yourself away, for that's a face I could not bear to banish."

[tis_allgood]

It doesn't take long after that for Cuthbert to figure out who this is and he has to stand agape for a moment before he acts.

"I'm no spirit, Roland Deschain, no more than you are." He tears up and a little and only manages to hold himself back for a moment before he goes in for a very long overdue hug. He does not give a wet fart what the rest of his district thinks of this reunion and he's not about to censor himself over seeing the one man he wanted to see most in the world.

Too bad it's followed by a wave of anger because he wouldn't wish anyone the indignity and pain of being in Panem right now.

[ka_sera_sera]

The body is solid under his hands, warm, and he flexes his fingers in the clothing, noticing but not caring when the machine he'd been given falls from his scarred right. Either this boy is a spirit or he is, but Roland has never cared less for whys or hows and he clutches the boy closer, bows his head.

"Cuthbert," he says. Forces himself to say. No boy, this. There's not a thought for the tears that leak into the dark hair under his cheek. No thought for anything in particular. If there's an explanation for this he doesn't want to know it, in case any hint of reason entering his head will blow the figure away like dust.

Roland draws back, intends to kiss his old friend's brow but ends up pressing their foreheads close together, instead, and thinking of nothing at all.

[tis_allgood]

Cuthbert can't stop himself from smiling. This is definitely his Roland, his friend and dinh. It's more comfort than he could have asked for or ever expected.

"Look how old you've gotten. Now I'll never be able to convince Suze you were a boy once. Not that you've ever been all that young inside. But now you match all over. And now you're here and to hell with Ka and the wheel and the tower and the whole gods damned thing. You're here. I wish I could send you away again, this is not a good place to be."

He will just keep babbling until Roland stops him. There's too many things he wants to say that he can't say, so he'll just let all the rest of it spill out of him. If that isn't proof enough that this is the real Cuthbert Allgood, nothing will be.

[wiredup]

It wasn't unusual to see a new tribute, and Eddie just gave him the briefest glance at first, as the elevator slid open. He had plans for the day, bouncing around in his head. Lunch with a sponsor, the need to grab a few things out shopping, the miscellaneous chores of the day bouncing around in his head.

He paused as he looked into the old man's face. It was an intense face, and one that caught him, unexpectedly.

"Uh. Morning."

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland's eyes widen, a smile crinkling over his face as a hand drifts up to cup Eddie's cheek. "It might all be worth it. For the chance to see you whole and healthy again. Oh, Eddie." He leans forward, and if Eddie doesn't move out of the way, he'll probably soon find himself being kissed. Probably on the lips.

[wiredup]

Eddie doesn't move at first, because, seriously, what the hell.

No, seriously.

Finally it clicks in, and he steps back, holding up a hand to ward of Roland long enough for his brain to kick in.

Except it's Eddie, so of course his mouth kicks in first.

"Whoa, buddy. I am down for a wife from another land, but I didn't sign up for no husband."

[ka_sera_sera]

"I don't mean to marry you, Eddie," he says, laughing. "As pretty a sight as that face is. But won't you kiss me hello again, after all this time? Or hasn't it been very long for you? No matter. It's... it's good, Eddie." Smile softening, he reaches up to try and clasp Eddie's shoulders. "It's more than that."

[wiredup]

A little of the shock having worn off, Eddie's mind kicks back into gear.

This person knows him.

There is a him in another world. Suze's world.

Hence, this person is likely from Suze world. Because if he's found another world he's in, he isn't sure how he's gonna feel about that. Though, h is gonna be sure not to let the Capitol catch wind of it.

Eddie, the multiple dimension master.

"Are you...do you know Suze?" He asks, because what do you ask someone who clearly knows you way better than you know them? He already doesn't want to let this guy down.

Which was also kinda odd.

[retrieverchef]

Eliot looks up from the stove when the elevator opens. He doesn't recognize the face. So a new Tribute or a new Mentor. He smiles slightly in greeting, stepping away from his cooking. "Can I help ya?"

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland takes in the scene briefly, the smile and the food, then turns away, looking toward the windows. "No," comes the distant, abrupt answer, before he drifts a few more steps forward and frowns at the view. "Unless you know where I've put my horn."

He squints down at himself, slapping at his pockets like a man who's just forgotten his keys. "If I've yet gotten it. But of course I..."

There he stands, one hand moving over his jaw, company forgotten.

[retrieverchef]

"They just brought ya here?" he asks, his smile turning sympathetic. "I'd guess they either didn't bring it with ya or they took it."

[ka_sera_sera]

"They?" He turns again to face the man, wondering vaguely how he'd forgotten someone else was here. "Of course they." Roland takes a couple strides toward the ele-vaydor, completely ready to charge away and take it back. Then he stops. "Where would they have taken it?"

[retrieverchef]

He sighs. If only it were that easy. "Who knows. There's places in the city we can't get to. Could be any one of 'em."

[celebrityskinned]

She's used to shell-shocked. Venus used to feel some sense of affront at the other Tributes, who wandered the halls like zombies, who floated through the Training Center like ghosts, as if she was offended that they didn't have the shame to hide their horror. It was always tempered by empathy, though, and lately the feeling of disgust has vanished entirely. She feels only sorrow as deep as if it were her own.

She's on the way back from the gym section of the Training Center when she runs across Roland. She's already switched her shirt to something that isn't sweaty, but the dampness of exertion is still there in her hairline, which is trussed into long small braids today. She pauses on her way to the elevator, and a wrinkle forms below her lip.

"You okay, man?"

[ka_sera_sera]

He frowns, focuses. Smells the sweat on her, hears grunts of effort and metal-on-metal in the distance. Roland himself smells of dried sweat, too, and maybe very faintly of roses. He keeps grasping at the air above his hip, keeps forgetting whatever he's looking for isn't going to be there. "I don't... Should I be?"

[celebrityskinned]

Venus' eyes flash down to the tic in his hand, the palming for a holster that isn't there. It calms her, in a way. Someone who relies on a gun is less likely to throw a punch.

"Well, that depends. There's no immediate danger here. I'm a friend."

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland only blinks a moment, making the effort to focus on her face. He doesn't recognize her, not at all, which is strange enough that the sight only ends up disorienting him more.

"Do you say so?" He eyes her, trying to assess how much of a threat she might be, but loses interest in it halfway though. If she is a threat, he'll surely soon find out. And if she's not... "Maybe I could use one right now."

The scarred, two-fingered hand begins to run down his jaw but he pulls it back, frowns at whatever's clutched in it. The machine the strangers had shoved at him, he remembers dimly, and spends a second just frowning at it.

[celebrityskinned]

"Ah." She looks to the device, then to him. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Some of the people here have a hard time getting the hang of it too."

She holds her hand out, a disarming smile on her face. "I'm Venus, by the way. And I been here a while, in case you're wondering, and they brought me here same as they brought you."