aintyourdad: (Default)
Joel ([personal profile] aintyourdad) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2014-06-30 10:22 pm

open;

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.
frozenfractalsallaround: (23)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-02 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
Alright, Joel, you win this round because Elsa's eyes light up when he mentions that they involve superheroes. "Oh- why didn't you mention those before?" she asks, obviously interested in the idea. "I've been wondering about superheroes! I would love to see books about them."
frozenfractalsallaround: (20)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-04 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
"But she isn't here, so it's up to you!" she says, regaining a bit of her cheer. But then she pauses, remembering her little snip from earlier. "I'm sorry for my rudeness a few moments ago," she says. "I didn't mean it."
frozenfractalsallaround: (Default)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-12 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
Grateful that he's forgiven her, Elsa will gladly move on from it. "Well, I'm not really sure about specifics," she admits. "I mean... I don't know, there's so much about them. They aren't something that exist where I'm from." She'll follow along towards the store with renewed eagerness. "So just learning about them would be fun."
frozenfractalsallaround: (23)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-12 08:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Isn't it a little weird, then, how there are a few here?" she asks, raising her eyebrows in wonder. "I mean, Thor has powers. And so do a few other people I've met. We probably have enough people with powers here that we could make our own team of them..." She lets out a laugh, though the idea is... surprisingly fun.
frozenfractalsallaround: (03)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-17 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
"I was one of those people," she says casually. By this point, everyone knows about her powers so she doesn't feel afraid to talk about them. "It's a shame that you didn't get the chance to stop by my ice house."
frozenfractalsallaround: (40)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-17 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
"It has a lot of uses!" she says, a touch indignantly. "I mean... I used to think it was a curse, but now I'm starting to see the usefulness of it. That arena was a good example- it comes in handy during the summer. I'm not a fan of heat and neither are a lot of people. I can keep cool easily." She bumps into him on purpose, lightly. "I would have kept you cool."
frozenfractalsallaround: (43)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-18 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Elsa has lived her whole life believing it's a curse, so she can't help but refer to it as such sometimes- but thankfully she's changing her tune lately now that she's getting a grasp on it.

Luckily she's looking ahead, so she doesn't quite notice the look that Joel gives her, though she can feel his eyes on her. "Hopefully next time, I can help you both out."

It's around that point that they arrive at the comic store, and Elsa perks up a lot more. "Oh, this looks interesting already!"
frozenfractalsallaround: (63)

[personal profile] frozenfractalsallaround 2014-08-21 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, that sounds fun!" she says, moving closer to him so that she can peer at the comic he's holding. She's never read anything like it before, she feels like she's going to come out of this with a lot of different books to read. "What kind do you like, yourself?"