thecapitol | And all the people hurried fast, real fast [OPEN]

Entry tags:

And all the people hurried fast, real fast [OPEN]

Who; Rose and Open!
What; Rose exploring, attempting to make new friends??
When; The Days after Rose leaves the arena
Where; Mostly around the tributes tower, possibly around the capitol if you prefer I am coo with whatev
Warnings/Notes; Trolls are Rose's trigger, so. Be aware it's gunna be neg CR for any Trolls? And unsure face at any other aliens.

Rose has only been out of the arena for a few days, and it's a few days she's spent mostly by herself, reflecting as well as trying to find out what she can about this new place. The news of District 3's annihilation is still new enough that she hears it, stores it away. There's obvious unrest in this place and she can practically hear the whispers of rebellion. Good, she might need something to do.

Because reflecting is more just her beating herself up. She had lost controlled completely, let herself be devoured by a power she's tried so hard to tame. Se doesn't blame Bro for what he did, after all, when there's a rabid animal, you put it down. He did what he needed to do, and she can't hold it against him.

So Rose tries to occupy her time with wandering, exploring where ever she can get into. It's not too hard, she's a tribute, though she's quickly found the way the Capitol people so easily recognise her, the hushed whispered and obvious staring to be an annoyance, making her feel even more unsettled. So she spends little time outside of the tribute tower, prefering to go out in shades and a headscarf when she does leave.

But the tower has more than enough to study, from rooms to people, Rose studying anyone she runs into to try and judge if they'll be worth her time should she speak to them

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well sure. No one has the same style, and we're in the Capitol. You figure that the way a stylist gets known is how they showcase their tribute. So they have to make us stand out. It's like we're in a dog show."

For the moment, biding her time was a struggle. She had already seen a few of her friends harmed by the Capitol as a lesson and the failure of one to surface again. Mindy had thought not getting embroiled with feelings was possible, buy clearly this wasn't the case. Those bastards were going to do whatever they wanted.

"Depends on who you ask. There are quite a few people newer than me, but some of the older are still kicking around. I'll even admit, there are people who have been here longer still running around in the Arenas. I was just resourceful enough to get out after my second run."

And smart enough. And lucky enough.

"Yes, from what little I've seen it almost seems like Fashion Week on some sort of steroid." It was all a bit over the top to Rose and it's partially that and her disliking how these strangers all seem to know who she is. She had never been too fond of fame despite sending years as a known name.

"People seem to come and go then?" she'll have to keep this all in mind, and try to track down those who've been here the longest. See what else they can tell her that Mindy isn't aware of. Or is holding back on, either or. Not that she feels like the girl is.

"Did you come in mid way through your first?" Either way it's impressive. And incredibly lucky Rose knows that much. It would have taken a lot of quick planning and even more good fortune to get that sort of success so quickly.

"Don't I know it," Mindy chuckled, and immediately took a liking to a mention of the insanity that was fashion week. "You think you can escape it, but the Capitol is all around you so that's pretty impossible. Gotta suck it up."

She nodded. "Unfortunately, that's been happening a lot lately. One minute everyone is nice and accounted for, the end of the Arena we're low on people again who lived out their usefulness. You just hope that they're still around."

Mindy shook her head. "No, lucky enough to have the beginning. That was helpful. I still lost after two weeks, but by then had an idea of what I had to do."

"There are little bubbles here and there or so it seems. They can't come into the tower very far, correct?" Of course that could make the tower more of a prison than a safe space, but. She's trying find positives, pushing past her natural cynicism.

She nods, digesting Mindy's words as she thinks it over. "Does anyone know where they go? Are they sent back or do they die permanently?" Straight to the point no dancing about death with this girl.

"Yes, it seems you only need a few weeks to get the gist of how it is in the arena." she murmurs and she slides from her stool with grace, searching the cupboards. "It seems the real games are out in here, in earning the people's favour like you said."

"Do you drink tea," she adds, as if it's an afterthought, having found a teapot and some teabags, Rose moving to find a kettle.

"They try to keep this place away from others, and make sure we don't kill ourselves, so yeah, I should say its out of the way enough."

She sighed. "No one does know. I'm thinking death because what do they care if we don't get back home again? The Capitol is not known for a warm and friendly return policy."

Mindy shook her head. "Never doubt the arena. The pain in the ass is here, of course, the home of the capitol, but out there people get maimed, turned into zombies, eaten alive, splattered, the works. There are a million ways to die."

She laughed. "Uh, more of a hot chocolate girl. I don't think I ever even had tea unless I was sick."

"Maybe," she muses, thinking back on what Bro told her in the arena. But she's not yet sure if that's something to keep to herself or not. "Have there been any you've met that have seemed to have... gone and then returned?"

"Death is everywhere though," she says, over the water boiling. "You could just as easily trip down a series of stairs and snap your neck out here as you could find yourself impaled on a weapon in there." Death hasn't scared Rose for a long time, not when in the end no one can do anything to you after it. Living seems to be the harder thing, the scarier thing.

She laughs, softly, glancing back. "Would you like to try some now?"

"Now that you mention it, there was this one girl, Anna, the sister of a girl in my district. She was gone a short while and then came back, but didn't remember meeting anybody here. That was weird."

Highly suspicious even, but last on her list of thoughts compared to everything else.

Mindy snickered. "If that was an option, people might take it. If they failed no doubt they'd just be avoxed."

She bit her lip, than shrugged. "Probably taste better than alcohol anyway."

"Anna?" she echoes, the name ringing a bell. But Anna is a common name, at least to her and who knows how many there are here.

"Oh?" That gets her to lift her head and look over properly, brow raised in interest. "And what's that?"

Softly Rose laughs, studying Mindy again. "You seem a little young for that." But what can she say really, many of her alternates were still in their teens when they became alcoholics. "I'll pour you a cup, and if you really find it so terrible i suppose we can always find some whisky to give it a bit more of a kick."

"Girl from this place, Arendell. You'll probably know her sister more, Elsa. Somehow she's garnered more of a reputation."

She pulled a grimace at the next question. "You know how people tend to be rebellious and disliking the whole being captured and forced to fight and kill against your will? Capitol has an easy fix for that. They take out your tongue and go into your brain so you're subservient and pliable to the Capitol. The avoxes are those guys you see picking up our messes."

She shrugged. "I'm kinda young to be killing and cursing, hasn't stopped me yet. We can wait on the alcohol though. I only drink for certain reasons. Bring on the tea."

"Haven't heard of her actually. But I'll keep an ear out for that name."

"Mm, I've heard that's a fairly typical reaction to the concept." She pauses, listening and digesting Mindy's words. To her credit she manages to mask her disgust, though her eyes turn cold for a second. "I see. A fate worse than death for many."

"I suppose we're not really living by the 18+ rule of thumb here." She won't push though, but she might keep it in mind. While Mindy doesn't seem like the sort of go overboard, Rose is aware how quickly it can creep up on you.

Quietly she pours two cups, watching the steam curl for a second before moving to fetch a few more things, sugar and milk, honey for herself before she brings to cups over. "Milk and sugar will make it sweeter if that's your preference." she says, carefully mixing a spoonful of honey into her own cup.

"We have a few redheads here, but very few with freckles. Trust me, she'll stand out."

She nodded, looking no less bothered. "It's a mistake for the few that get under the capitol's skin, though lately I think they're getting a little more Avox happy with it. Bottom line, stay in good graces. They can eventually bring you back, but you don't want to count on that."

It sounded like a fucking miserable existence, and it made her sick knowing it was Starkiller's fate.

"It's be a pretty shitty thing to do, wouldn't it? You can't drink, but you can totally fucking die for us! The hypocrisy would be staggering. But I don't go overboard. There are more than enough alkies around here."

She raised an eyebrow. "Milk and sugar in tea? I thought you were only supposed to do that for coffee."

Now that Mindy describes her she can picture her. Red hair and freckles, a description that matches the girl she met in the arena. But she doesn't let it show, simply nodding slowly. "Well I'll likely run into her, sooner or later."

"It seems that change is in the air. They're likely just trying to remind everyone of the power they wield." She says, lightly, as if she cares neither way. But her mind is digesting that, Rose glad that she's been stepping lightly so far.

"You're American, aren't you?" The accent is familiar enough. "You should be used to the rules not making sense. You can enlist at 18 after all, but drinking still stays stubbornly at 21." She's proud of the way that she doesn't even flinch at the way Mindy says that, though she lifts her head. "No AA meetings in this fancy new utopia then?"

"Depends on the tea," she says shoulder shifting in a half shrug. "Tea is still caffeine all in all, and some are ok with having it bitter. This is a black tea, so you might find it better sweeter."

Carefully she pushes the cup over. "You can always add after you taste. There's no real hard and fast rule to how you should have it, despite what many say."

"Of course you will. If you don't see her in the Capitol, you're gonna in the Arena. Just the way things are."

Remind them of the power they weld. That was just a nice way of saying make sure that they remind you that your life belonged to them. Anyone trying to convince her otherwise was just blowing smoke up her ass.

She nodded. "And you? It sounds like you come from a place where we're still somewhat similar to each other. You'd be surprised at how many dystopia's we all come from. None of them match up quite the same...except maybe a few. I know Dave and I can still talk about shit from our world that we recognize."

The comic book people was always weird. Having them walking around to begin with was a head trip.

"I'll start without then. If its too gross, I'll try it with the sugar and milk."

She drank, then made a face. "Ok, sugar and milk it is! Fuck."

She just nods, letting that train of topic die. She's right, they'll run into each other sooner or later, especially since they're forced into these close encounters. No point mulling over it in the end.

And that was Rose's basic meaning behind the words, a more polite wording of that fact. A safer wording of it all, one that can so easily be taken as a positive if she's pushed.

"Upstate New York, mostly," she says, sipping her tea. "And yes, my little dystopia is still in it's beginning stages so everything is essentially the same, countries and city wise at least." Another careful nod, Rose studying the liquid in her cup as she muses over it. "Interesting. So many different little takes. So many different worlds. It's a wonder they've managed to gather us all here in the first place.

Mindy's reaction gets a slight amused smile from her, Rose pushing over both the sugar and milk. "It can be quite strong if you're not used to it. Similar to coffee in many ways."

"Upstate? Not as familiar with that, me and my mentor lived in Manhattan. Looks like you guy are more refined there, or maybe that's just you? Can't really tell."

She chuckled at her own ignorance. Hey, even she can tell when she's out of her element. At least they were from the same region. "I've wondered a lot about that myself. How their tech can take us so easily. How they were able to get it in the first place. Why they would use it just to hold onto this world and its miserable people."

Mindy shrugged. "Coffee should be sweet, but doesn't usually need milk for me. Tea is new."

She laughs a little at that, one shoulder rising in a shrug. "I wouldn't say that. I spent a little of my life in the city when I was younger, but I found upstate to much more my style. Quieter, calmer, you can easily find a place where you don't have to see your neighbours which I am admittedly fond of." She sips her tea. "That isn't to say the city doesn't have it's benefits. I enjoy the energy at times."

It's nice, a little, to meet someone who knows the area she's around. Though she has to wonder what time period Mindy's from, and what the differences there own individual worlds have, assuming they are from alternate versions of Earth. It's lucky she's already familiar with such topics, it does make adjusting easier.

"They have power here. Attempting to take over another world would require vast quantities of many things, willing soldiers for one. Resources can be used up quite quickly in war, and when they already have a secure foothold here they're wise not to risk losing it but reaching too high."

"Well there are plenty of ways to take it to. Cream instead of milk, lemon for some blacks. Herbal teas, green teas, white teas. " Rose waves her hand idly as she lists them all out. "The key is experimentation I've found, until you find what blend is right for you."

"The city is where the crime is, where the big bastards are, so I really didn't have a choice, you know? You kinda have to stay where the action is, and in this case, the city is where crime lives. Makes me a little annoyed that I'm not there anymore, you know? There's sop much that's probably happening now."

She thought that, but really, she didn't mind not being there as much as she said. Without dad, a lot of whys he liked being there was gone, and she wasn't liking the idea of just being there adopted, living a normal life. That ship, she learned, sailed a long time ago.

"I can get that, but what I don't get is why they take us out of our world just to make us do the games. If their aspirations were higher, wouldn't they try to force us to be their soldiers? Instead they depower us and then throw us into the games whenever they feel like it."

Yeah, even Mindy didn't think her having won would keep her out of the games for good. After all, they had put Azula there, hadn't they?

"There are different blends?" Mindy never did bother to learn about teas, just coffee. Some education there was likely to help. "And that stuff's to relax you, right?"

"I wouldn't say that crime and action are only in the city. Crime can be everywhere, and action too depending on where you are." Another small rise of her shoulder and Rose studies her. "You seem a little young to be fighting crime. I could make a joke about the police accepting people so young but I'm assuming you're not operating with them."

"Human will is hard to break to that degree. Fight, flight or freeze is an easier reaction to provoke. And maybe their aspirations aren't that high in turn, who knows. We seem to be working with assumptions here and you know the clichéd phrase about those."

And Rose hasn't been here long enough, interacted with those who are native to this land long enough to make a proper assessment yet. But it's early days.

"Of course. There's many different things you can add to get what you desire. After all, there are many ways to take your coffee correct?" A small nod. "Some can. Chamomile is good for that."

"I was saying there is more OF it in the city. You're sort of used to it there, like an unhappy marriage or something. But you'd be right not to assume I work with the cops: its them and their bullshit that got my dad arrested. Hell, he used to BE a cop. For me to work, I had to go rogue."

She looked hesitant. "That depend on the human though. You have people who are totally willing to sell someone else out for their own benefit. Not only applicable to humans I bet, but you still have them. You have a point on assumptions, but it never hurts to keep them in mind."

She nodded. "So if they're not only for relaxing? What else would you use it for?"

"There can be, yes," she amends, half shrugging. "But I imagine a lot of that is more in line with petty crimes, is it not?"

"There are always going to be people like that. Everyone has a price I find, but not eveyone's price is easy to predict. For people who wish for glory with no care to how it's achieved I'm sure this place is heaven. But many have a seed of humanity nothing completely kills, though it doesn't always show until the final moments."

"Of course not. You can use teas for either I find, relaxing or energising. Some say that certain ones can help with certain ailments, but it all depends on what you believe in."

"Not with what I do. Petty crimes is a pickpocket here or some stupid ass graffiti. No, we were going for murderers, rapists, the guys who were yes men for the higher ups. Cops could go after the petty shit."

She nodded. "No, you're definitely right about that. There are things that people trade up for, and some give in to what they know. I know a few who can do the Arena and not have the burden of killing. They treat it as the game they call it, or they're too used to killing. The sliver of humanity, though? Sometimes it holds you back."

Donatello could attest to that.

"I believe I know about tea as much as I do about romance: jack shit. So any information you have will help."

"Ambitious." It's all she can think to say to that, though is studying Mindy a little more now. It's not every day you meet a teenager who can confess to doing such things. It's almost as if she's something ridiculous, like a superhero or such.

"Sometimes you have to do what you need to," she says quietly, tone neutral. "There's a phrase, the good of the many outweighs the sacrifices of the few, and some people apply it to situations like these." She knows she had, before she understood what this all was. "For some you need to learn how to ignore that sliver, and that is the price that they can take from you."

"Are you telling me that in this land of technological wonder information on tea is so difficult to gain?" Snarky, a little, but she means it with no true cruelty, just curiosity to see what happens.

Edited 2014-07-16 06:06 (UTC)

She's settle for the word vigilante. At best she was an anti-hero, at worse a psychopath. She knew enough that for her, the shoe fit. You just knew enough when to dial it down.

"Yeah, you do," she said, "because like I said, they will notice if you don't, and they punish you for it. As for the Spock saying, well, it applies. It kinda has to. In the end, with the Arena, victory is for those who really want it, and that might mean getting your hands dirty. You can be troubled and bothered in your conscience later."

Or stay up at night, of course. Never fun.

"No, but I'm pretty sure you figure its not been something high on my priority list. Leisure for me is kid shit where I get to turn my brain off. Most of the time I have to play adult as a sponsor, and it gets even more annoying when you have to remind people that you ARE an adult to begin with, at least for that."

There are words she's keeping an ear out for, words that she knows she should take interest in and Mindy drops one of them right then much to Rose's luck. "Punishment like what they do to those who are avoxes?" She half tilts her head, sipping carefully from her tea and she lets Mindy continue until she says another thing that coupled with Rose's knowledge of Mindy's victory gets her attention again.

"Talking from experience?" she asks, tone light, but she focuses on Mindy more than she has before. The girl can deny it if she pleases, but Rose is watching carefully to see if there is a reaction at all.

Tea talk can wait a few minutes.

"One form of punishment, yeah, but I don't want them to get creative. I already know if they really want to start ruining your life, they bring up bidding, and that'll be enough to shut you right the hell up. They already did that to a friend of mine, and he still is dealing."

Something that she was only now able to say aloud without feeling homicidal rage.

"I have a few people that like to think a kid like me isn't going to know what to do in these adult situations. In a way I understand, since some of the kids here, they just run through the Arena. But I'm not stupid enough to think playing kid is going to help my tributes. They need a good mentor who tries to get them sponsors for the next arena."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject