thecapitol | (no subject)

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Who| Elsa and Dave
What| Elsa checks up on Dave
Where| D9 commons
When| Shortly after the family goes home
Warnings/Notes|

[This little… event… has been strange for Elsa. She's seen so many people's families show up, she can't help but feel a little awkward. A part of her wonders why her own parents weren't brought in, but she thinks that maybe it's for the best. Those thoughts are only confirmed when the family members are taken away. Elsa can't imagine how traumatizing it must have been to have them taken away so forcefully, and she's truly glad that she didn't have to experience that herself. It had been hard enough losing her parents the first time around, and if the Capitol had done that to her then she might've shut down.

Mostly, Elsa found herself worrying about the wellbeing of those she had met during her time in the Capitol. Most of them were her age or older, so she knew that they would most likely be alright, but there was one in particular that stuck in her mind- the younger boy, Dave. When she had met him, he had been a little exhausting to talk to until he had calmed down. She'd liked him well enough and she'd seen him around with his elder brother, so she knew that he'd had to witness his brother being taken away. Elsa can't help worrying about him. With how much younger he is than a lot of people she knows, she wonders how he's coping with it. It's hard not to compare the situation to herself and Anna, and she knows if they were forcibly separated like that it would be devastating. So after thinking about it for a long while, Elsa decides that she'll check in on him.

She doesn't come empty handed, either. She makes two mugs of hot chocolate for them both, thinking that maybe he would like it a little better than the tea or coffee she usually favors. Elsa does remember that he mentioned liking coffee, but she doesn't know how he likes his, so hot chocolate is the best decision. Either way, she manages to track him down in time for the drinks to have cooled to a nice, sip-able temperature, finding him in the District 9 commons. Elsa approaches him carefully, unsure what sort of state he might be in.]

Hi...

[She offers a small smile.]

Would you like some hot chocolate?

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[As far as taste tests for the shit that goes down here goes, that had been the equivalent of trusting a taco bell breakfast not to send your stomach into conniptions later. It had been fun while it lasted, but the payout would be seared into his memory for an eternity. He'd seen Bro die before- or well, he'd seen him dead. He'd pretended not to care about it then and everyone knew he was BSing, but being dragged away alive and well to god knows where to do god knows what, that's a little harder to accept than death.

Luckily, there isn't a game to keep up with here, not right now anyway. He didn't really know many people in his District, he didn't think they'd notice if he ever so casually forgot to leave his room for a few days. Or his bed, for that matter. It's easy to pretend he isn't doing it to hide from ramifications or seeing other people mourn. He's tired, he needs to appreciate the warm embrace of a bed while he has one. Alas, that excuse only lasts so long. He starts to miss being around people, oddly enough. Kind of eases the focus on all the crap going on in his brain. He doesn't even necessarily want to talk to anyone, which is made obvious by the fact that he hasn't approached anyone. He's just bundled up on the couch, watching mindless Capitol Game Shows and switching channels whenever they make a reference to the events of the visits.

Despite coming out of his cave with the intent of socialising with other living, breathing humans, he barely notices Elsa enter the room until she speaks. He sort of jerks up as if she snuck up on him and didn't walk in like a normal person, settling immediately once he realises who it is. He doesn't have it in him to try be smooth, so he just shrugs his skinny shoulders and lifts the remote to turn the television off.

He opens his mouth to search for something witty to say, but his brain feels like a dry sponge and he actually really wants that goddamn drink, so he just nods.]

That'd be great. [His voice is a little hoarse from both a bit of yelling and a lot of silence. He clears his throat, a little awkwardly, finally forcing a quip.] Only if it's organic, I just got my lips done. [He's putting on a bit of a Capitol accent there, but it's hard to sound genuinely concerned about anything but chocolate being in his hot chocolate.]

[It may have been a half-hearted attempt at a joke, but the humor of it isn't lost on Elsa. She knows that Dave is making fun of the Capitol and what they stand for, what with the accent and all. So she really can't help it- she snorts, only to stifle the following giggles with a hand after quickly setting down the cup of hot chocolate. A snort is so un-queenly, she feels a little embarrassed.]

You're so silly...

[She extends the remaining hot chocolate to him, settling down on her knees in front of the table in front of the cup she'd set down.]

You remind me a lot of my sister, you know- have I mentioned that before? Maybe I'll introduce you two one of these days.

[She gives him a smile, before raising her cup to her lips to take a small sip. She decides that instead of beating around the bush, she ought to get to the real point of why she's here- as rambl-y as he can be, she's sure that he appreciates it when people get to the point. Or at least, she's making that assumption.]

So... how are you? I can't help worry a little, given the circumstances.

[She might be ashamed of the snort, but it's wonderfully disarming. She's nice, plenty nice, but she's an other worldly kind of beautiful that makes Dave just a little bit worried she won't get his jokes or want to listen to his crap. When she lets up the grace enough to snort at a half-assed joke like that, it makes him think they really could be friends or something.

Of course, the fact that she's bringing him hot chocolate helps foster that feeling, but he can't help wanting to shy away from being doted on.]

Yeah, I get that a lot. People call me sissy all the time. [He responds dryly, lifting up the cup to take a big damn sip of it. Eating. Yeah. That's definitely something he's been forgetting to do.

When she gets to the point so quickly, he almost chokes on that big sip, but somehow he manages to swallow it down gracefully.]

Me? [He asks like there's any real confusion as to who she could be referring to.] I'm fine. I've been through worse. [He shrugs his shoulders.] Like ripping of a bandaid- this hot chocolate is too good to be organic.

[Elsa is starting to think that the two of them could be friends, for sure. In fact, she's already starting to like Dave if her concern is any indication. She doesn't realize that she comes off that way to Dave- if she did, she might try and tone it down and act more casual.

She decides to address only the second bit, as she isn't quite sure how to reply to his sissy comment. The idea of him having dealt with worse than this is very sad to her, and her expressions falls a little. His attempt at deflecting her attention to the hot chocolate is noted, as she's attempted similar deflection tactics in her lifetime.]

To be honest, I'm really not sure how the hot chocolate is made, I just followed the directions on the box.

[Her voice is patient.]

I'm not going to make you talk about anything you don't want to, but... I just want you to know that I'm here and I know how upsetting it must have been. I saw the two of you, you know. It was... cute.

[Elsa's idea of casual is probably a stretch from what Dave would consider it to be. She's a queen from the past, he's a kid from the 2000's with a crude sense of humor. Until he knows her better, he'll always be a little worried that he's creeping her out or that she's just tolerating him and his crap.

Regardless, he's happy for even tolerance right now. He feels a little far removed from his friends. Things are awkward with Terezi, Karkat doesn't remember being as close as they got and he just can't help feeling replaced. It's an awful, awful frame of mind for a place like this. He knows there are bigger fish to fry than worrying about cliques, but in his heart he's still a socially awkward teen.

At her words, he isn't feeling too much comfort. He just feels himself closing off to them more and more, trying to ignore the feelings they stir. He doesn't want to think about it and he certainly doesn't want her to think he's thinking about it.]

He's already died before. [He purses his lips briefly before shrugging his shoulders.] If he dies again, it's whatever. He'd be happy to know he's the Jesus of the 21st century. These assholes want us to freak out about it, but for all we know the people they brought in were just doppelgangers or hired actors. [He distracts himself from getting anymore emotional with his words by drawing out a long sip of his drink.] They didn't bring in anyone you knew, did they?

[Her stomach rolls at the mention that Dave's sibling had died before. She'll never be able to get over the way time works here. One of the biggest fears she has, that she tries not to think about, is someone from her future arriving and telling her that everyone is dead because of her ice. So she can't imagine how it must feel to know someone is dead and then have them show up.

It must feel like a slap in the face. And then to have them taken away so forcefully? It's awful.]

Doesn't... I'm sorry- I know this is probably hard to talk about. But doesn't seeing him again make it worse? I mean, you had to deal with him dying once. But twice? That must be really rough.

[She shakes her head slowly.]

No. I'm glad they didn't. The only person they could have brought were my parents- my sister is already here. I'm not sure I could handle seeing my parents again, it would be too painful.

[If he knew how much it personally affected Elsa, he'd probably ease up on how callous he's being about the situation. He knows she has a sister, but he doesn't know what she's been through with her, this is just his general approach to situations he doesn't want to have feelings about.]

Who said he died? Or if it was even him. It could have been anyone, we'd never know. [He shrugs, well aware of what a flimsy alternative it would appear to be.] They're probably all tied up down in some nasty ass dungeon, blind-folded with their hands tied behind their backs wondering what the fuck we did to get them there. [He draws in a sharp breath after saying that, not intending to get so dark. Finally, he relents a little, not wanting her to be freaked out by his lack of reaction.] Yeah.. It's rough. I hope you don't expect me to mope over it or anything, that's not really my scene.

[So, the moment she says something about herself, he's quick to jump on it again.] Well, I ain't gonna believe they're not proud of you, so I'm guessing maybe, something happened to them?

Edited 2014-06-10 09:28 (UTC)

Well I guess- Uh... It's just an easy assumption to make.

[She sighs, regretting her choice of words already. This place is so murder happy, it's easy to assume death over anything else. She looks at him apologetically, hoping that he knows she's sorry for making it take such a dark and depressing turn.]

Maybe I'm so used to moping that I've come to expect it out of people. I'm sorry, Dave.

[When he deflects it back to her, she closes her eyes.]

My parents are gone. I mean... back home. They passed away a few years ago. I'm not sure if the Capitol simply couldn't bring them, or decided against doing so for some reason.

It's fine. It's an easy assumption to make. I'm a teenager, moping is like, what? Second nature. Seems a little tacky to act the same way I would if I got cast as a tree again in the school play. Only this time I won't T.P the music teacher's car. I'm just not gonna let them get a rise out of me. It's what they want, right? There's no satisfaction in it for me, that's for sure.

[He finally pauses again, realising he's talking far too much and embarrassing himself at a highly inappropriate time.]

That's rough. [He sucks at this.] Maybe they like you or something. I dunno if that's necessarily a good thing, though.

That's... true.

[And a little sad, to be honest. He's clearly been around the block and he sounds much older than he really is. But either way, the intent was to come and cheer him up, not dwell on sad things.]

It is rough, but- anyway. We should do something! I don't know what, but something that isn't sad, or upsetting. Maybe we could go out? Have you explored the Capitol much? There's so much to see. We could get dinner, or go shopping, or- I don't know. What sort of things do you enjoy?

Word of god, man. [He says plainly, like that isn't horribly egotistical of him to say.]

I dunno. The people out there kinda freak me out, and they'll probably ask about it and wanna know why my pants look like I rolled through a McD's kitchen floor. [He shrugs.] I like long walks on the beach, deep meaningful conversations about candles and video games.

[She gives a light shake of her head. It might be egotistical, but she'll let it slide on account of all the trauma he's surely gone through.]

It does take a lot of getting used to, yes. I still am- I mean, you obviously come from a time where this stuff isn't out of the ordinary. You have things called cars that can get from one side of the Capitol to the other in just a few minutes...

[Probably exaggerating just a little, Elsa.]

But where I come from, we ride horses.

[She lets out a small laugh.]

Enough about that, though. Tell me more about your interest in candles, I'm sure you would rather talk about that.

[Elsa might be teasing, just a little.]

It's pretty weird, even for me. It's a couple of years in the future, if not more, but once something is invented the base concept stays the same. Kind of hard to do more with a fridge. But I was in space for a few years before I came back here to earth anyway.

[He says that like it's the most normal thing ever.] People ride horses where I come from too. In Texas, we call them cowboys. It's ironic. [No it isn't.] Uh. You ever notice when you take too long to blow out birthday candles you end up with wax cake? And sometimes you get a chunk of it when you take a bite of cake? I like that. I like eating wax.

[There is so much about what he just said that is very weird to Elsa, but she tries to keep her expression one of interest and not weirded out- though, he's definitely weird in an endearing sort of way.

But the term "cowboy" definitely brings to mind a lot of strange mental images.]

Well, I've never gone that far, but I did enjoy licking the icing off of candles when I was younger and my birthday came around.

[You know, before things got depressing.]

So I sort of get what you're saying... [Sort of.] But hey, would you mind elaborating on cowboys? They sound so interesting!

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