open;

[aintyourdad]

Who| Joel and OPEN!
What| Joel's (not so) auspicious return to the Capitol. The arena messed him up pretty bad, and now he's got stuff to catch up on here.
Where| Various; see starters.
When| Week 6, possibly into week 7.
Warnings/Notes| Lots and lots of manpain. Probably some cussing, possibly discussion of child death and zombie violence.

[ 1: D8 suites; ]

Joel spends the better part of three days after his return in his room. He's got a stash of food, and he's used to not bathing for long periods of time. He can't bring himself to leave, regardless. Not after all that happened. Not after Sarah. He couldn't save her, again. He couldn't save Riley. He couldn't save Clem. Clem. Christ. And now Ellie's alone in that hellish place, and he can't face it.

He can't.

[ 2: D8 common area; ]

When he finally emerges from his room, bleary and sleep-deprived and thinner than before he went into the arena, Joel makes a beeline for the kitchen area. It's one of the things that he can always do to calm himself down here - cook. Fresh food, good food, is in abundance here, and Joel takes advantage of it. It's almost therapeutic for him.

Of course, there's no avoiding the multiple television screens that are always on in the common area, proclaiming the latest "news". A news report catches his eye, and for a while he's enraptured, unable to look away as the anchor details the plague, the quarantines - and an entire district, blown off the map.

Joel's face darkens, into a scowl, something tight and disgusted but not surprised, not horrified. If anything, it's all too familiar. No wonder it's so quiet around this place.

"Jesus Christ," he mutters, and then goes back to his cooking.

[ 3: Training Center; ]

Eventually, by the end of the week, in need of something else to occupy him, Joel ventures to the training center. He doesn't think training really does him much good - his skills were all acquired through long practice. But it gives him occupation, and it can be a good idea to check out who else is around, and what they're doing

Size up the competition, so to speak.

[ 4: A coffee shop; ]

By the end of the week, with the quarantines lifted and the fear of disease essentially gone, the city is getting back to normal - well, normal by Capitol standards, anyway. It's strange, to see a place recovering from a disease. Joel's world never recovered. It just fell apart, completely.

But there's no point dwelling on it. If he does that, he'll just start to think about things better left alone. His old life. Sarah. Hell, even Ellie. At least getting out of the Tribute Center gets him away from all the screens for a while. He watches sometimes, to see if they're following Ellie at all, but just as often he can't, doesn't want to, doesn't see the point. So he finds a coffee shop, a secluded one, away from the big touristy areas. Good strong coffee is what he needs.

Comments

[dying]

"Our planets of origin vary, but we are from the same place." Of course, Thane hadn't meant literally the same world. They had known each other prior to arriving here. There was no need to complicate things. "Humans and aliens, such as myself and Vakarian interact with each other at times where we're from." He wished he could say frequently, but there was still racism between the various species, even though Shepard seemed to build many bridges between them all.

"Exactly. And it is a show for them, after all." He had a hard time imagining enjoying it.

[aintyourdad]

"Yeah, I got that part," Joel says with a shake of his head. The weird fuckin' things he sees here, honestly. Aliens and trolls and monsters.

If this was a slightly better world - if they weren't made to fight in all these death matches - Joel is sure Ellie would love it. Really, really love it.

Hell, he probably would, too, in his own way.

"Mm," he says nonchalantly. He hates it - it disgusts him. He's not one to pass moral judgment on most people, given the terrible things he's done in his life, but even he finds this kind of blood sport despicable. The things he's done? He's done in the name of survival. Because he had to, not because he wanted to or took pleasure in it.

That, for Joel, is what separates people from monsters.

"Been here long?" he asks finally, suddenly aware that he's gone quiet and the conversation is threatening to stagnate.

[dying]

"I arrived in the previous match - the museum," Thane answered. There's nothing that could convince him that this place is better. Sure, he wasn't dying in he same way he was back home. As far as he was concerned, he was still a dead man here. It just had become a cycle versus an end.

"How about yourself?" he asks. He is genuinely curious. There is nothing about this place that he thinks is right or just. He has done many wrong things in his life, but he couldn't imagine doing what they were doing here.

[aintyourdad]

"Same, actually. Showed up in the museum. Weird as hell, that's for sure." Joel shakes his head.

"Got any other people here, besides Shepard?"

[dying]

"Shepard and Garrus," Thane answered. Of course, he was not about to indulge that his son had been their briefly. He had been taken from him as quickly as he was brought there. Thane tried heard to not wear his heart on his sleeve, and although he often concealed it, sometimes it broke through the cracks. It was why he pushed that thought so far into the back of his mind.

"I have seen you with a girl in the arena," Thane said. "I have spoken to her." She didn't seem too keen on him, though.

[aintyourdad]

"Ellie," Joel says, nodding. "I've been lookin' after her, back home. So I do it here, too."

Which is kind of an understatement, but Joel doesn't really have words to describe his relationship with her, so he doesn't choose to. In his own way, he's as private as Thane. It's nobody's business.

[dying]

"Yes, Ellie," Thane nodded. He took a sip from his tea and observed Joel for a moment. He appreciated that Joel chose not to indulge too much information. He wasn't out to make friends, but having someone that he could get along with was a bonus in the arenas.

He chose not to pursue or ask about their relationship. "You are fortunate. Many do not have people from home, I have noticed."

[aintyourdad]

Joel snorts faintly. "I'm not sure I'd call that fortunate. I'd kinda rather she wasn't here. She could be at my brother's, safe. Not havin' to fight and die anymore."

[dying]

"It is fortunate," Thane answered, "having someone to not let you get lost in this place is preferable." Thane's memories kept him centered, but he even knew to make the best of a bad situation. "No one should be here, but we are." Once again, making the best. If Thane was the loner that he had been before Shepard - without Kolyat and with Irikah dead - he probably would have ended up caught in Panem's politics. it was easier to stay out with her and home.

[aintyourdad]

"You're right about that. We are here, that's all that matters," Joel says quietly. Hypotheticals are for people with more time on their hands and less concern for surviving to see tomorrow. "What-ifs are kinda pointless."

He sips at his coffee. It's good - strong and black, the way he likes it. If there's one thing he can appreciate about the Capitol, it's the coffee.

[dying]

"What-ifs are pointless in this instance," Thane answered. He could use them for training and preparedness, but in reality - when something couldn't be changed - it was best not to consider what other options there were and deal with what you had going on at the moment.

"How is she dealing with it?" he asked. She wasn't too fond of him, but he was accustomed to teenagers far more than he would have been six months before arriving. He didn't imagine she was doing well with this.

[aintyourdad]

"Not so different from where we were, in the arenas," Joel points out with a shrug. "Except she's... made friends. Has people she cares about, wants to see them safe."

[dying]

"Ah," Thane answered. He didn't necessarily completely understand their world, but it must not be a great place if he could compare it to here. "She is wary of me," he seemed a little amused by this fact. Many people were.

[aintyourdad]

"Well, no offense, but you look like a walking, talking frog," Joel says with a shrug. "And your buddy Garrus killed her a couple of arenas ago."

[dying]

"I would never take offense, my species does share similar qualities to frogs of Earth," Thane said. It was unsurprising that it bothered her that Garrus had, but Thane understood (even if he did not condone it) why it happened. People were pushed into things here, and not everyone was good at being a professional about it. After all, the arena was nothing more than another job, for which the Capitol had hired him.

"Garrus did, yes," Thane answered. "An unfortunate situation, as it is."

[aintyourdad]

"That's one way of puttin' it," Joel says lightly, sipping at his coffee. He doesn't need to tell this guy what will happen if Garrus - or anyone - lifts a finger against Ellie, probably. He has to know, has to have some inkling, right?

"Not sure what's worse, bein' there in person, or watchin' it later like a goddamn sports recap," he mutters quietly after a moment, thinking of Sarah, and Ellie. All the close calls, even before they ended up in this place.

[dying]

"Watching it," Thane answers. He barely has to think about how he feels on the matter, too. There was so much helplessness knowing that you could have been there - should have been there - to keep someone you love from dying, and not. Knowing that you were too caught up (or dead, in some cases here) in what you were doing to do anything about it.

He takes the warning to note, but Thane would never be able to kill a child - regardless of said child's attitude towards him.

[aintyourdad]

"Sometimes bein' there is just as bad, though. Bein' there and still helpless."

Joel shrugs faintly, not willing to elaborate.

[dying]

Thane has a hard time with the feeling of helplessness. He always feels like (knows, really) he should be doing something, even if he can't. "I know," Thane answered. He, too, chose not to elaborate. He had just met Joel, and he wouldn't even share those with people he had known for some time. Only Shepard.

"As it is, it would be personal experience." It said a lot about Joel without him having to say it, really.

[aintyourdad]

Joel is all too familiar with that feeling - of not having any control, of not being able to do anything to change things, to save the people you love. It's happened to him far, far too many times.

And that was before he ended up here.

But he sees no need to tell this guy about it - or anyone, for that matter. Of course, that leaves him with very little to say, since he's shit at small talk - especially with a guy who looks like a frog.

"Yeah, well. It was... nice finally meetin' you," he offers absently to fill the growing silence.

[dying]

Thane bows his head. He was making every attempt in all conversations to remain polite, especially since he knew that his appearance alone wasn't the preference for many humans. "It was nice to meet you," Thane answered. Although he knew that he'd decide after time if it truly was nice to meet him, for the time being, he had no reason to hold any grudges against Joel.

That wasn't the type of person that he was. He bowed again before he made his leave from the coffee shop.