thecapitol | Open!

Who| Helena Wayne and OPEN!
What| Helena dealing with undeath and meeting new people.
When| Post-Announcement
Where| District 4 Suites; Common Area; Training Centre
Warnings/Notes| None as yet?

[Prompt 1: District 4 Suites]

For the past few days, since returning back to life, Helena has holed herself inside of her room, fiddling with the communicator, studying a map of the city (because it was always good to be familiar with your surroundings) and listening to this whole destruction of District Three thing. She doesn’t have any emotional connection it, not yet. She’s still dealing with the fact that, somehow, she’s alive after having been killed.

I’m going to kill Loki. Possibly literally.

Still. It’s time for her to venture out. She can’t stay holed up forever. It’s not like her.

[Prompt 2: Commons]

Food. Food is good. Food is always good. Though what she’s craving is something hideously junky and laden with carbs and sugars and possibly everything that’s bad for her, she’s fought against the urge. If she’s going to stay in tip-top shape, if she’s going to win next time (and Helena really does hope that she’ll win), then she needs to stay healthy. Lean meats, lots of veggies, milk, and water. All the things a healthy, growing teenage girl needs.

And all I really want is a cheeseburger topped with bacon, chili, onion rings, and barbecue sauce.

But no. She can reward herself later. For now…well, for now, she’s going to try to be serious and healthy about this.

[Prompt 3: Training Centre]

She’s a fierce little fighter, but there’s not a lot of finesse there, as anyone watching would see. She’s a tough brawler - all street fighting fury but no martial artistic finesse. But she is working out her anger and her frustration, which is probably a good thing. She needs to be calm, cool, collected, and centered. She’s lost, but this place more than anywhere makes her feel comfortable at some sort of level. After all, this was what she’d done for hours at end back at home. Fighting, training, honing.

Between it all, though, she takes breaks. Rests. Watches everyone else, and scopes out the competition.

And maybe the possible allies? I don’t know. Can there be such a thing here?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sorry," Helena replied. "Despite some of Mom's vices, I'm solely a ginger ale sort of girl." That's what her dad drank at all the parties, too. "But no. I wanted to be Robin. I should be able to handle all of this without the sugarcoating. I'm not in grade school anymore." If anything, she was a very determined young woman.

Her smile melted into a sticky gooey one at her earnest and uncorrupted attitude.

"Well so long as you never give up sweets." She winked before her face became more solemn. The expression seemed unnatural on her usually smiling face.

"If that's how you feel kid...well there's some heavy big bombs I've been holding back. If you think you can handle em then I'll tell ya the worst of it. But if you wanna work up to it we can keep eating. Maybe swap stories about your mom." An encouraging half smile.

Helena grinned back, marveling at how odd this was. Back home, Helena would have traded quips with Harley before attacking her with her throwing talons. intent on bringing her in to Arkham.

Here...

Here everything was different. Alliances shifted. Priorities changed. People who might have been enemies instead turned into people who you'd like to call friend.

"I have too deep seated a love for chocolate malt milkshakes and peach rings to ever give up sweets," she chuckled. "I'm game to talk about Mom," Helena nodded. "Or, you know. Be bombed. Because I have to get used to that too, right?"

"Good girl, go with the flow, that's the spirit."

Clearing away the empty wrappers and half eaten ice cream to one side she met the girls gaze.

"In my first arena some others from Gotham came. My Gotham. None of them are here anymore." She felt awful having to deliver bad news but the girl needed to know.

"Bruce Wayne spent weeks protecting men, women and children from the arena, but when his son was dragged into the lake by a giant snake, he dove in to save him. The snake died, the boy lived, Bruce was eaten by the fish in the lake before he made it to out."

Harley sighed hanging her head "and the Capitol didn't seem to think he was worth bringing back. Shows what their taste is like."

"Well, you know how it is. You have to learn to bend, or you'll break." More of Selina's words, from Helena's gymnastics training.

The slight smile that had been on Helena's face faded as Harley told her about Bruce's death. A numbness - not dissimilar to the kind that filled her after Selina's death - crawled up her spine. She opened her eyes wide and blinked repeatedly. Not my dad. Not my dad. Not my dad. "And his...son?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Didn't come back either. And the other sons that arrived later also never came back from their respective arenas. You are the latest in the Wayne family line to come to the Capitol...and well you're off to a good start having made it back from your first death." she explained softly.

Then offering a smile she squeezed the girls hand.

"And you've got me. The others only ever acted like they were keeping an eye on me. They never actually trusted me to help them out. I'm hoping you'll be a little more flexible."

"Well, maybe I'll succeed where the men in my family have failed," she said a little more confidently than she felt. "After all, I'm sure none of them had Selina Kyle's DNA in their mix." There was a heavy sadness in her eyes, though, and she squeezed Harley's hand back. "My mom was the queen of Gotham's underworld for awhile," she said softly. "She reformed. I don't see why you couldn't have done the same." Selina had still had a sort of dark streak, sure, but she was also one of the fiercest fighters in the Eight Wonders of the World - and she'd been living proof that a person could change their ways. Helena believed in that more than anyone.

Harley's smile broke into a grin.

"Reformed is such a harsh word. Let's just say I've made some "Adjustments." She winked.

"Because if there's one thing that Bats was never good at, it was being impulsive. And around here when they're already so many steps ahead of us we gotta work with what we got which ain't much. So being unpredictable is helpful."

"Adjustments. Reformations. Whatever works," Helena smiled. "Yeah, my dad's always tried to...tame me sounds like so the wrong phrase. Discipline me. Yeah. I mean. You know..." Of course Harley knew, Helena presumed. After all, the woman had probably fought against some form of her father before. "Not saying I'm entirely unpredictable, but..." the cat in her liked a little bit of chaos sometimes.

Just not the kind that got people killed.

That's enough to make her snort and laugh.

"Of course he did. He's gotta be some kinda control freak. That's probably why my Kitty hasn't settled down with him yet."

An encouraging grin and she waves the server over to get some refills for their drinks.

"So how good are you at fancy parties?" She teased with a curl to her lips not unlike a smug cat.

"I was raised on them," she grins. You didn't get to be the first Wayne daughter in generations and not become a part of Gotham's high society. Cotillions, her first junior debutante ball, fundraising parties, Helena had been to all of them. Her mother had loved dressing up and going to parties. While it had never been her father's cup of tea - he'd rather have been in his Batsuit, prowling the streets of Gotham - he'd also had an image to uphold.

"There are few things I'm more comfortable in than a designer gown and jewels, mingling and drinking ginger ale." A cape and mask was one of those things, though.

"Perfect!" Harley cheered and took a napkin scribbling down some information.

"I'm heading to a donor party tonight. I know technically your mentor should be introducing you to these things but I've never been one to keep my nose out of other peoples business." she winked.

"They'll have plenty of fancy outfits for you in your room but if you can't find something you like ask your stylist. They'll hook you up and make you feel like an idiot while everyone tells you how hip and fashionable you are." She laughed knowing full well just how ridiculous Capitol fashion is.

"You do the fancy party circuit and make friends with the right rich bubbleheads and they'll give you the gifts you need in the arena to keep from checking out early. You last long enough and you've got a real shot at winning your way out of the arena before anyone else we know shows up."

All of this was a great way to distract from the utterly horrific situation or the crushing knowledge of the Waynes that had come before her.

Harley's words ran in Helena's ears as she took the napkin from the blonde. I'd rather not have to go up against Mom or Dad one day, that's true. Or worse, Kara or Kal. Or even Diana. There were many people in her life who were stronger, faster, more powerful, and better trained than Helena herself was.

Her eyes darted towards Harley for a moment. Definitely don't wanna come across the Joker either.

"Make friends, win fans, get people to like me, and I might win? Gee, nice to know that this isn't a popularity contest at all."

"Well all the friends in the world won't save you if you're unlucky." She smirked. "But any daughter of Selina's has that black cat luck." She teased.

In a more somber tone that didn't suit her she added "All we can do is prepare. Build you up as much as we can and let you loose on the next arena. After that it's all on you to make use of what we get you."

Open!

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