thecapitol | [SEMI-OPEN] And all the promises you've made

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[SEMI-OPEN] And all the promises you've made

Who | Sigma and Diana, Eponine, M. Thenardier, Initiate, and YOU and your loved one!
What | Catch-all log for Sigma and the "Thicker than Blood" plot.
When | Any time after the start of the plot.
Where | All around the Capitol, specify where.
Notes/Warnings | Thenardier and Sigma likely will get into a fight, warnings to be added as they come. Prompts for specific threads in the comments! Interactions with Diana are closed, but your character can tag in and have Sigma meet their loved one. Open posters can make a top comment. Also, Sigma and his lover have a significant age difference, so heads up!

[OPEN:]
Though she had been well thusfar, Sigma feared Diana's nervous constitution would get the better of her should they be ambushed by fans or tourists. It had taken years for Sigma to overcome his anxiety in public, and it was not a trait he had been cured of completely... and to the woman who had inadvertently had a hand in a mass extinction, he suspected unplanned spontaneity within the Capitol would not do her well. But the whole truth was that he had yet to explain Hunger Games to her and his part in them, and though it hurt him to lie he kept an eye on the programs she watched, the people she spoke to. They were both survivors of a long line of death games and she would not take the discovery well.

And so, as Diana began to fall asleep that evening, Sigma kissed her goodnight and dressed to head out on his own. Nye trilled and leapt onto the bed, seating himself on the blankets over Diana's legs - she sighed, but did not move. The Doctor watched affectionately as she drifted to sleep... how dearly he loved her. Were she to leave him again, or if someone were to hurt her... well, Sigma was uncertain of what he would do. Perhaps the fight the Capitol had been trying to goad out of him would finally spring to the surface. He'd cross that bridge as he came to it.

The Doctor took his leave and started out into the Capitol, hoping to come across familiar faces.

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Sigma had met the Initiate's family and knew well what to expect; and though it was not his business, there was still one child he worried about. These concerns kept him up at night, nearly tormented him, until Diana finally took notice and asked him why he could not sleep. The next morning Sigma started the day early, hoping to search the Capitol for one Eponine Thenardier. There was something he had to be certain of, and something he had to make right.

If it had been Eponine's father that the Capitol had brought here... something inside of him told Sigma she needed his support, and possibly even his protection.

Eponine's... she's a little bit tired and a little bit sore. Thenardier had laid claim to her bed immediately upon seeing it, and Eponine couldn't be bothered to argue that point. Babet had gone for her little chair, which left the three siblings to share the floor space. She rolls her shoulders now, easing out the ache which came with sleeping on the floor. They'd been up late, her Pa and her, schmoozing with the hoity-toi of the Capitol. Or at least, he had been schmoozing. She had been trailing in his wake, smiling when he pinched her elbow, blowing kisses as ordered. And now he has her up again, much too overdressed in a fine Capitol style ball gown and too much makeup, eating a breakfast she could ill-afford in a restaurant filled with all the sorts of men who liked to sponsor Tributes.

They had been seated in the window, an advertisement for the business, obviously, which meant that more and more of the rich socialites were ducking into the restaurant to have a goggle at this new-style Eponine and her father. For her part, she's staring miserably out of the window, trying to ignore her dad and the people staring back at her.

Schmoozing is, horrifyingly enough, not a terribly difficult trade for Thenardier. He's hijacked Eponine's Stylist and convinced her to dress him in only somewhat ostentatious fineries, and his wicked tongue is proving excellent at flattering the needy egos of the rich and bored here in the Capitol. He seems all too eager to play up the plight of his poor, sickly, battered daughter, and Eponine's probably getting her share of humiliation, too, as he harps on how they were so poor that she had to go without education or bathing. The people around them give little gasps and titters.

"You don't look like you're enjoying yourself," he whispers at her, frowning. "If you aren't going to make a show of it then you need to act grateful, at least."

In contrast to Eponine, Sigma looked and felt years younger, Diana's presence nurturing him better than anything the Capitol, in all of their vast wealth, could provide. There is health and determination in his step as he searches the Capitol for Eponine. It is no small job.

Perhaps it is by random chance or by the whispers of enchanted Capitolites that leads him to the restaurant. From afar, he finds Eponine in the window and freezes - she looks so unlike herself, and so perfectly miserable. As a figure approaches to whisper to her, rage boils hot in Sigma's stomach. It's her 'father'. Before he can think better of it, Sigma walks quickly into the restaurant and requests to be seated. As one who did not kill, he can barely afford this meal himself, but he has no intention of eating.

"A place near the window, if you can manage it," he tells the server. He's not a popular Tribute by far and his presence is not nearly as valued as the girl's. He does, however, take priority over most of the waiting list and despite the crowd Sigma is given a seat a relatively short distance away from the window, one out of immediate view of passers by.

He cannot simply spirit the girl away without making a scene or being pursued, and he's aware of Eponine's disdain for him. Instead, Sigma watches and waits for an excuse to intervene.

"And what am I grateful for? You telling all these idiots I didn't wash for months on end? For tellin' 'em about the fleas and all?" Eponine hisses back, before flashing a quick smile at some of the closest Capitolites. Her cheeks are flushed a deep red now, and they seem destined to remain so for quite a while as citizens find a new game in asking her to spell difficult words, tittering at her mistakes.

"They ain't gonna give us money for this, Pa." She leans into him, placing her mouth close to his cheek so that it looks, perhaps, as if she is giving her dad an affectionate kiss. From this close, she can smell the sweat on Thenardier's skin, and that dirty, unkempt odour so familiar to her.

Despite Eponine's predictions, though, money, and a random copy of 'Learn Your Letters with Eponine' start to land on the table.

"People are all the same, doesn't matter where you go. Remember that." It's less imparting fatherly wisdom than a command for the sake of bossing. He most graciously bows and indicates that Eponine ought to curtsy and kiss a hand here or there, thanking the patrons for their kindness.

He has a keen survival instinct, likely more than anyone else in the family, and is well used to watching from the corner of his eye for the undercover detective and the horse-straddling policeman as much as the fellow criminal looking for an upper hand. As such, he notices the man with the strange eye watching them, and makes a mental note not to turn his back on him.

"You know him?"

It would almost appear as if they were getting along, as if her father were truly trying to help her, if not for the stories Sigma had heard. This man was a snake in the grass, and despite the front Eponine put on, despite the money and attention the girl was receiving, Sigma knew well that what smelled in public was rotten in private-

-He's been noticed. Sigma ducks under his menu, leaving just enough space for his cybernetic eye to continue to watch Monsieur Thenardier, but braces himself for a confrontation nonetheless.

Eponine glances up, following her father's gaze.

Oh.

Oh, it's Sigma. She'd been trying her best to avoid Sigma, to keep her father away from him. It hurts, you know? It hurts to see the two of them so close together, the man who dragged her up and kept her close out of need for money, and the man who had just loved her and looked after her.

She glances back at her father, at his greasy hair, and his sly eyes and his exuberant clothes, and turns back to him.

"His name is Sigma. Sigma Klim, Pa. He's a Tribute, too. He's..."

She pauses, struggling to come up with a description of exactly what Sigma was to her. She glances back over her shoulder at Sigma, at his funny magic eye and his funny arm hidden beneath his shirt.

"He used to love me. He looked after me in the arenas. He saved my life." She turns back to her real dad. "More than you've ever done for me, anyway." Slowly, trying to be subtle, she shakes her head at Sigma. The last thing she needs is for him to see her family in all their grimy glory.

He'd smack her if they weren't in front of proper company. How many of his sous had gone into putting good in the mouths of his worthless daughters, into keeping their shrill mother happy? And yet this man knows Eponine for maybe a year and has already earned her allegiance.

He grabs her by the elbow and starts to walk her over towards Sigma.

"'Used to'? That's a shame. You can't wring anything from a 'used to'." He stops the two of them right in front of Sigma's table. "Ahem, Monsieur."

His hearing is not so sharp that he can eavesdrop on their conversation, but it's clear to him without the words that he is being spoken of. Sigma raises his eye and tries to hold Eponine's gaze, undaunted by her warning. This must end today, he decides.

Once confrontation becomes inevitable, Sigma, for some reason, finds himself relieved. Let it not be said by anyone that he instigated a fight. Sigma lowers his menu, smoothing it out across the table, before he lifts both his organic and metal eyes to the man that fathered Eponine in one sudden and sharp movement. "If you are to say anything to me, I would advise you release her, first," he suggests coldly. "She is not to be forced into anything." It's a silent admission to the girl that he was wrong, as well.

She had dragged her feet the whole entire ten metres to Sigma's table. Whilst he tries to meet her eyes, she determinedly keeps her gaze on the floor, only raising her eyes when they reach Sigma's table. The entire way, she had been hissing her protests, that she wasn't going to 'wring' anything out of Sigma, but now she falls silent, imploring with her eyes that Sigma won't say any more to her father. Sigma's suggestion only shows that he cares, something that, perhaps later, with her father gone, will warm her to think of. But for now, it makes her look a liar. And it makes her father more likely to exploit Sigma for everything he's worth. Goodness knows Eponine doesn't want that.

"Monsieur, do not interfère. My Pa cannot make me do nothing I don't want to." She wrenches her arm away from Thenardier, just to prove the point.

Eponine is, of course, the more stubborn of the two daughters. Thenardier has occasionally idly wondered if it's because he allowed her mother to spoil her during the formative years, back when they still had the Inn. He lets her wrench her arm away.

"I'm afraid we're at something of a misunderstanding, here." He smiles, and it's one of those grins that shows too many yellowed teeth in the wrong places. "But I've heard you've been a generous sort of person with my girl."

Unconvinced, Sigma's eyes pass from Eponine to her father. He has the feeling this man is trying to win his opinion, somehow, but the Doctor reminds himself of Eponine's stories and it's enough to put a scowl on Sigma's face.

He must watch his words, lest the elder Thenardier turn something around on him. "I think fondly of her. I do not believe she does not deserve basic human decency, true. Why do you ask?" The Doctor hates himself so much that it is rare he considers himself above anyone, but Thenardier wouldn't be mistaken to interpret Sigma's words as condescension.

" Pa! Leave it." Eponine speaks sharply, talking over Sigma.
"Come on. Let us go. There's nothing for us here. Monsieur Sigma shan't give us a sous. Will you?"
She glares at Sigma, willing him to agree with her.

"Don't be stupid," he says to Eponine, although without much bite. "They don't barter in sous here. I only wanted to introduce myself to one of your benefactors."

He looks as if to bow, although he doesn't. Everything about him seems slimy, exaggerated servile now as the condescension rolls off him. "And to thank you for your generosity."

Sigma's eyes do not leave Thenardier, but he wonders why Eponine protests so. Is it possible the man would hurt her over something he says?

His eyes narrow, he can feel his anger beginning to boil. How dare this man pretend as if he were truly looking out for Eponine's interests. "Your thanks do not concern me. I would have helped her with or without your presence here. I am amazed the Capitol thought of you as a 'loved one,' to be frank." That was the purpose of this publicity stunt, was it not? To show Tributes that they had the people they loved in the palm of their hand? Sigma does not know the true art of ice cold composure as Akane did, but he tries nonetheless. He had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows earlier, and places his cybernetic arms on the table now to join his fingers. A few spectators have heard Sigma's words, and they watch him curiously. He does not back down.

He knew how angry Eponine became when Sigma spoke of her as if she were not there, so he turns to her at last. His expression becomes gentle and fiercely protective at once. "Eponine, my dear, I will not allow this spectacle to go on. Why don't you take a break from this crowd and the two of us go elsewhere?" He would have an opportunity to speak with her alone, that way, and to assess what he father had done to her.

She glances at her father as he speaks, and curtseys as he makes as if to bow. That is how they play it, isn't it? Polite, all manners, subservient to the great benefactors. Even if Sigma isn't really a benefactor at all - he's a friend, someone who cares, who saves her, a man who seems willing to love her for real no matter how awful she is. But it's so easy to be swept away with the old familiar, even here, and she finds herself dancing to her father's tune.

She's openly shocked at Sigma's words, at the implication in his assertion, and she looks back to her father to see how he takes it. He won't like it - but will he laugh it off here in the open?
She glances back at Sigma only when he talks to her directly. He wants to take her away. He'd promised to look out for her, a long time ago, if her father ever did arrive in Panem. Dear old Sigma, always so loyal, so good. But she hesitates, looking back at her dad.

"No." And it isn't because doesn't want to. On the contrary, she does want to go with Sigma. But she's quite positive that her father will fleece the wrong person and it'll be she who is being carted off to jail again. Either that, or he'll be making all sorts of deals without telling her.
"It ain't a good idea, Monsieur. Not for now. I will see you when the Capitol rid me of my Pa again."

"Here you're speaking like you're her father. Not that I mind," oh, he minds. Thenardier minds, "but that's some nerve, don't you think? What sort of nonsense has she been filling your head with?"

He reaches over and pats Eponine on the back, ignoring how she pulls away from him. "My little girl's always full of tall tales. She gets the storytelling from her father, I like to say. I hope you know better than to believe it."

Eponine has decided against liberating herself from this man, and while Sigma respects this decision, he does not drop his argument with her father. "I find that reassuring, sir. It is imperative that at least one of us does." He carries on to answer his question without missing a beat. "If there is one thing I know about Eponine, is it that she is honest with me. She has made her past and how she feels about her actions quite clear. When I have done something to displease her, she does not hesitate to let it be known. Therefore, I have no doubt that what she has shared with me is the complete truth and I certainly trust her word more than yours." An accusatory tone grows in his voice. "I will have you know that food and shelter are given freely to us in Panem. From what I understand... that means all that you could possibly have to offer her has run out."

Eponine just closes her eyes.

Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Why is he still talking? Why is he going against what her Pa says? Has she not told Sigma enough times that it is fine to protest once, but then you give in before it goes too far? Why is he doing this? Is he stupid.

"Leave it, Monsieur. Do not make this your fight." She glares again at Sigma, before turning back to her dad.

"So I am a liar as well, Pa? I tell tall tales? Papa, when was I your little girl? At the inn p'raps. The first time you sent me out, p'raps? I think we should go away now. I have had enough of you both."

And she doesn't care about how many Capitol citizens are staring. She's fed up with both men and she wants to go and hide a while.

"I'm still her father, ain't I?" Thenardier's voice takes the edge of a knife but then Eponine, too, is sassing back at him. It's not that Thenardier's unused to being talked back to, but in public Eponine's usually cooperative enough - that's how she gets food in her belly.

"We'll be leaving, Monsieur." He gives Eponine a look as if she's going to regret this embarrassment later. When he looks back at Sigma his gaze is outright murderous.

Sigma glances to Eponine, admitting with a sympathetic expression that it is too late, before he decides to finish this. Perhaps it would be best if Eponine were to leave for what he is about to say. His words to Thenardier are slow and punctuated with ice; he considers all that Eponine has said to him, all that made her believe that she was worthless, and gathers up every bit of his revulsion against what he knows to be the source. "You are no father to her. You had a hand in her conception, and like any dog that sires pups that was the end of your contribution."

So he's leaving now? Part of Sigma is grateful that he's been convinced to no longer make a public spectacle of Eponine this day, but he cannot let this go. "Why do you leave, so you can beat on her in private for someone daring to stand up to you?" Sigma rose from the table and raised his voice, incensed that Thenardier would threaten them both silently. He is not a man who often resorts to violence, but Sigma cannot hold his tongue.

"If you dare to lay a finger on her-" He decides to change his wording in case he implicates Eponine as one who would run and tell him- "If I were to find a single bruise on that girl, I will see to it myself that you are never able to use your hands again." There was no going back, now. Sigma was completely prepared to take this discussion elsewhere.

For once, she's gobsmacked. She literally cannot think what to say and she stares at Sigma with her mouth wide open. She probably looks a bit like Azelma.

How could he say that? How could he think any of what he's saying is okay? She looks worriedly to her Pa: he won't like those accusations.

"Shut up." She says at last. There's venom in her tone, aimed straight at Sigma. "Shut up, you stupid old man. You know nothing of what you say and you make bad accusations against my Pa. You are stupid! Now shut up and leave us be, Monsieur."

She doesn't know what else to do. She looks back anxiously at her dad. "Come. We'll go now, Pa. There ain't nowt for us here."

"What I do with my own flesh and blood is none of your business, Monsieur!" Thenardier hisses it, the same venom as Eponine's in his tone. There's a certain acid to their voices that runs in the family, a capacity for hurt and for hate that is in kind. His lip curls and he grabs Eponine by the elbow.

"Come on, my dear, we're going." In agreement with that, at least, they flounce.

Sigma freezes up at Eponine's accusation. For a moment he's as stunned as she was, and when his eyes settle on Eponine he is visibly hurt. Wasn't she the one who had said she could not handle her father again? Why, then, did she turn against him now? Where Sigma had once believed he'd known her well, Eponine had become an enigma to him. Did she truly take after her father so?

He does consider letting them leave, but his guilty conscience will not let him: he will remember it as the day he failed to protect Eponine from a monster for all of time. Certainly that was an admission that Thenardier would hurt her, and even if it made Eponine despise him, he could not allow them to leave together. And so Sigma decides if words will not part them, he shall have to resort to desperate measures.

He rises from his table and approaches Thenardier with hateful, merciless eyes, a gaze he had practiced for forty-five years as he endured his time as Zero. With all the strength his cybernetic enhancements will muster and without remorse, Sigma seizes the wrist Thenardier held on to Eponine with, wringing it slowly until his order is obeyed: "Release her."

Eponine had already been yanking her hand away from her father. She had no intention of going anywhere alone with him, especially anywhere private. She knew that tone and those expressions too well, and she didn't want bruises on top of everything else, to deal with.

But then Sigma gets up and interferes again and makes it worse. Again. Can't he understand that he is making it all worse? Does he not realise that he is putting her father in a foul temper, one that he will probably unleash on Eponine and her sister. Eponine can't let Azelma deal with that, and so she'll bear the brunt of it. Again.

And then he actually grabs her father - her own arm, of course, moves with Thenardier's. She stops struggling to pull away though, going limp.

"I can look after myself." Eponine spits. Always he talks as if she's not here. But she makes no effort to move. Instead, she glares first at Sigma and then at her real dad.

"Papa." She switches her gaze between the two men so it's not really clear who she's addressing. "Papa, do nothing more now. Let it go. Please. For me."

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[SEMI-OPEN] And all the promises you've made

Eponine, Sigma and M. Thenardier

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