thecapitol | blah blah void blah blah spiders blah blah science [open]

Entry tags:

blah blah void blah blah spiders blah blah science [open]

Who| Carlos and anyone
What| Since Carlos's survival hinges on his ability to act like he doesn't care, he's going about his business as usual. Even though he and Cecil had a very short-lived but very public romantic relationship, he's acting like he doesn't care. Come make his life harder. Come ask him how he feels.
Where| The D10 rooms, a coffeeshop, and the Speakeasy
When| After Penny and Cruentus's classy, classy announcement.
Warnings/Notes Possible mention of torture, drinking in the last prompt. Also, the first two prompts will involve Carlos denying any real feelings for Cecil. If you want an honest discussion with him, it'll have to be in the Speakeasy.

PROMPT A: D10 common room

Carlos had known what to expect. Penny had announced that Cecil would be avoxed, after all. He had known this was coming.

That had not made keeping a straight face during the broadcast any easier.

He turned off his communicator and knew that if he was going to make this act convincing, he couldn't hide up in his room all day. Carlos hated this act. It was like he had told one lie in the Arena and hadn't been able to stop lying since. It disgusted him. However, he knew that at this point, he had no choice.

There was no need to fake the irritation on Carlos's face as he walked out into the D10 common area and sat down in one of the chairs. He pulled out a notebook and began to scribble in it. Was he writing or drawing? It would be hard to tell...

PROMPT B: TRIBUTE CENTER COMMONS: GENERIC CAPITOL COFFEESHOP

Here Carlos was, sitting in the very place Dave had brought his last words to Cecil, drinking something too hot for the midsummer weather and talking into his tape recorder. If you get close enough, you might hear snatches of what he was saying:

"--correct about my impending death--"

"--new tactic--"

"--willingly cooperate--"

This part of the Tribute center was open to the public: anyone might pass by and see him.

PROMPT C: THE SPEAKEASY

Carlos wasn't one to drink out of sadness. Not usually. He had been in and out of the Speakeasy these past few weeks, having important discussions about the rebellion.

This time, though, he was after some self-administered emotional numbing.

"I don't even know what's in this," he muttered to himself, staring at the half-empty glass in front of him, which was a mass of swirling colors.

PROMPT D: ELEVATORS

Being two floors from the top meant that Carlos stood a solid chance of sharing an elevator on the way two and from the D10 rooms. He was used to it, and usually, didn't mind it. Today, however, it was all but a guarantee that whoever he ended up in the elevator with would be awkward as hell, and Carlos was really tired of dealing with it. He shifted from foot to foot in his lab coat, trying not to sigh when the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"No, thank you," said Carlos. "I'm still working on this one." He held up the swirling, sparkling concoction of Goddard knew what. "...and I'm not sure I can ethically allow a minor to buy me alcohol," he added. Going drinking with Punchy was one thing. Mindy Macready was another. Carlos frowned.

"You know, usually, it's the minor who has the drink bought for them," he said, buzzed but not drunk yet. "I've never seen it happen the other way around before."

"Trying to be polite," she said, "and introduce myself all stealth like. You remember me, don't you?"

She didn't have a drink this time, which clearly seemed to be an anomaly: the bartender watched her with caution.

"Had my share of drinking. Not in the mood for that now. Have enough real time things happening that makes me feel drunk enough, if you get my drift."

He understood what she meant, about reality seeming like delirium. It happened to Carlos more often than you would think.

"Of course I do," said Carlos seriously, looking her in the eye. "I couldn't forget what happened last April if I tried." His tone and expression made it clear: Carlos wasn't ashamed of what he had tried to do for Ian.

"A shame that irony has a way of making that whole thing fucking superfluous. We did our best to get him not tortured, we get caught and flailed, and the last run was Ian's final death. Got that word from Eponine. I think July's gonna be another bitched out month."

She took a small drink. "And a whole new crop of Avoxes. Christ."

"I know." There was a weight to Carlos's words, and a strain, too, as he went on. "Fortunately, the ones who are also Tributes will have their voices returned to normal after dying in the Arena. The ones from Panem aren't so lucky."

This was a difficult subject for Carlos to discuss, but that hadn't stopped him from discussing it blithely in front of the cameras. He took another drink, making the colors swirl again.

"I didn't know." It was still tough seeing them that way, no matter how you sliced it. Mindy knew that, and from the look on Carlos's face, there was someone he knew who had suffered that face.

"But...there's a reason I was looking for you. Think about all the shit that's gone down recently. There's rolling the fuck over, and then there's at least being able to look at yourself in the face in the morning and get to bed at night. Wanna guess which one I'm hoping for?"

Carlos would be surprised to know that Mindy wasn't aware of his connection to Cecil Palmer. Their very public romantic relationship had been extremely short-lived: a week, which was a personal record for Carlos. Usually his failed relationships were much more drawn-out than that.

But he looked at Mindy, looked her right in the eyes as she talked. "Mindy, did you know that this building has several very interesting scientific properties?" Carlos asked, pulling off his glasses dramatically as he talked. "Specifically, there are no cameras or microphones anywhere in this bar. I'm sure about it -- I've tested it. Now, with that in mind, I want you to ask me what you came here to ask me."

After the garbage that Mindy had seen the Capitol pump out about some of her friends, she wasn't likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. What was more, she could not have given less of a shit about who was with who UNLESS they were in her little group.

"And here I was, trying to be all vague and mysterious. Sure, I'll get the point. Call it being around a mentor whose prerogatives are her own, I don't know, but I'm late to the game in looking up who likes to ruffle the Capitol's feathers, and that's because I kept my nose to the grindstone for once. Funny thing though: once you're not caring about fucking saving your tributes, you get a nice piece of reality for your trouble. So to be blunt: that shit you had in our failed raid came from one of our off color tributes. I want to know if there's a way to get in contact."

He knew what she was referring to. The problem was, Brainy's secret identity as Lonestar wasn't the kind of thing Carlos could go around telling people. Sure, some people went directly into his brain and took the information whether Carlos wanted them to or not (looking at you, Charles Xavier) but it still wasn't Carlos's place to deliberately out Brainy.

"The devices all came from Lonestar," Carlos told her. "If you want, I can tell him you want to speak with him. He'll probably get in touch with you over the Network, so keep an eye out for a message on your communicator. But, Mindy," he asked, leaning forward and gesturing with his glasses, "I'd like to know. Is it one specific device that you need, or is your interest in the...let's call it the feather-ruffling, more ideological? Do you just want the technology, or do you want to get involved?"

Man, really Professor X? That was fucked up.

"Lonestar. I heard rumors about him, but I'm always out when he comes calling. Yeah, if you know how to get in touch, let him know that I'm around. I'll encrypt my shit, I know how to do that much."

She looked at him slowly. "No. Technology is not what I'm after. I'm a mentor stuck cozying up to sponsors to get my Tributes favor. If he wants me to do anything to undermine these fucks, I am his girl."

Oh, it wasn't the first time Carlos had been unwillingly brain-scanned, not by far. He had learned to pick his battles; having his thoughts read barely bothered him anymore.

"Lonestar isn't an organizer," said Carlos, matter-of-fact, as he slid his glasses back on. "He's a genius, and I'm very grateful for his help, but he's not the one leading the movement." He fixed Mindy with a piercing look. "The person you want to talk to is the Initiate. He was the one who told me about District 13, and he's looking for more Tributes who might be willing to fight."

Ordinarily, Carlos would hesitate more before informing anyone of Initiate's subversive plans. However, Mindy had already proven that she was willing to act against the Capitol, and also that she knew the risks. He was confident in his decision to bring her into this.

"The Initiate." She contained a smile. "Haven't spoken to him until very recently. But now at least that's a place to work with. So there's a Lonestar, and then there's, well, you know who, whose probably the other guy, am I right?"

She wasn't going to go around repeating his name even if they WERE in a relatively covert place. No reason to go and give up people that they didn't want found out about.

"Wait...what's this about a D 13?"

Carlos wanted to ask which other guy Mindy was referring to, but if Mindy didn't know about District 13, that was more important. He leaned forward, lowering his voice.

"Listen," he began. "You know how Panem's industries are divided by geographical location. Farming, lumber, textiles, fishing -- one industry for each District. Well, District 13 specialized in nuclear technology, and years ago they used the threat of nuclear war to get the Capitol to let them operate independently. The Capitol bombed the surface to rubble, most likely for publicity, but the inhabitants of 13 survived. Now, the Capitol pretends 13 was completely destroyed. However, if you look closely, you can tell that the footage of 13 in the news broadcasts is fake, or at least very old, it's hard to tell. The important thing is," Carlos finished, "that District 13 is the center of the rebellion."

Edited 2014-07-13 18:19 (UTC)

The other guy Mindy was talking about was, of course, the OTHER hacker. She may have been a little out of the loop, but she knew there were two people that were sparking for a rebellion.

"So. I should have figured that they would have tried to fortify their strength through nuclear means. So if District 13 is still around, that means they've had time to strengthen themselves. It's starting to make a little more sense. Maybe that was why they were so intent on getting people from other worlds: they're looking for some of us to quell uprisings, including the ones started from that District. What better way than to get people who come from even more violent worlds than their own?"

Oh god, the theories. Mindy's mind was blown.

"Have they tried to contact us yet?"

"The hacker is from District 13," Carlos explains. "You know, the one who turns the network into an anonymous forum who isn't Lonestar? That guy. I know Lonestar has spoken with him, and I've heard that one of us has made it to 13 before. I don't know who, or how, but it's been done, Mindy." A breath. "And they're planning to do it again, to more of us."

Or at the very least, Cecil. Carlos didn't know what District 13 would be like, but it could not be worse than being an Avox in the Capitol.

"Oh," Mindy said, the wheels in her head turning. When Carlos mentions some of them being sent to D 13, she nodded.

"Good. Some of the people here need to get the fuck out. The family members in District 5, for instance. You know they're just going to use them against us first chance they get, and that's the last thing anyone needs. After that, some of the Avoxed, including that Cecil guy. He put his ass on the line for us. We owe him that much."

"Wait. What did you say?" Carlos asked, his breath catching in his throat. "Do you mean that the people who were brought in before the Arena are alive?"

He hadn't had time to look through the Hacker's post; Carlos had planned to, but he obviously couldn't do it while on camera, and he couldn't spend too much time in the Speakeasy or it would start to look suspicious. This was news to him.

He had assumed that the Cecil from his world had died. Now, if Mindy was right, that wasn't so.

"That's what Stephen told me," she said. "It's been wrapped around my head, and I've been trying to get the word out to people who actually wanted their families or whatever there. He'd been sitting on it after looking through some of the papers he had."

Granted, the news was probably seeping through to people by now. Something like that you couldn't sit on for long.

"Like I said, might be a good idea to gather them up, you know? Otherwise, well, its only a matter of time before they use them as leverage against us."

Carlos nodded, still visibly floored by this revelation.

Cecil's alive.

One Cecil was Avoxed; the other was in Capitol custody. Both of them were still alive; neither of them were within Carlos's reach. Hope and worry battled each other in Carlos's heart.

Okay. Okay. If he got the Cecil from Panem out to District 13 like the Hacker was implying would happen, then that would be one of them relatively safe. The other...

"You said they were in District 5, right?"

Carlos couldn't get there. He couldn't leave the Capitol, and his only contacts were in the Capitol and in 13. His brows furrowed, and his shoulders slumped.

He couldn't help the Cecil from Night Vale. Not without winning the war. And there was no guarantee that the people in 5 would be kept alive that long. Worry twisted in Carlos's stomach -- he still wasn't used to feeling worry for Cecil.

"Yeah," she sad quietly, seeing that this was definitely something that Carlos had an investment in. Granted, so did SHE. She knew that meant her dad, who was dead and now alive, was being held, and likely would be some collateral for the fucking Capitol. She wasn't stupid. There would be no other reason to hold them in another place.

"So you're thinking a lot about this too. Good. You have any idea how fucking awful it is to hate every single thing about this system that cripples your mind so you don't care you have nothing to say or do that they don't police? That you caj only smile so much before you feel like your teeth are gonna break?"

Carlos took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. There was nothing he could do right now for the other Cecil. (When had the Cecil from Night Vale become the other Cecil? Carlos didn't know.) Acting hastily would do no one any good. As much as Carlos hated it, he would have to wait, and plan. The only comfort he really had was that the Cecil from Night Vale was used to municipal re-education and government detention, and could probably hold up a while longer with his sanity intact, no matter what was done to him.

He listened to what Mindy had to say, seeing her anger, recognizing her frustration -- even if he didn't share it so strongly. It was always strange, to Carlos, to be reminded that these reactions were the normal ones, and that his own acquired tolerance for dystopia was the anomaly. "Mindy, this isn't the first time I've lived under a restrictive government. I've learned to live with a lot of what the Capitol does: the surveillance, the banned speech, the citizen sacrifice -- I've seen a lot of this before. It's not impossible to live in a place like this, you just have to learn to pick your battles. In Night Vale, finding a way to close the hole in space-time that was letting aggressive pterodactyls loose was more important than worrying about the thought-scans from government helicopters. It's the same here. With District 13's help, we might be able to stop the Capitol permanently, but until then, we have to make absolutely sure the Capitol doesn't guess what we're up to. Now I know that's harder for you and me than it is for most other Tributes, since our records aren't exactly clean, so it's very important that you keep smiling, Mindy, no matter how hard it is. Okay?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Mindy said this casually, though she was certainly a little irritated by the question. "I've had to watch my tributes killed, my friend taken and tortured, another friend avoxed, another lose the person most special to her, watched the Capitol parade my accomplishments around like a cheap whore and live every day with my wings clipped. I am patient, Carlos, because my desire for blowing these moterfuckers away is more important than petty offenses."

Even saying that, of course, it became much more apparent what a strain she'd been under the last few weeks. It sucked, and honestly, the only way to get that out was to spend time with her friends. At least playing at being in a normal place would be better than actually remembering how much she hated everything.

His brows creased. Carlos knew how she felt, probably better than he could express: he had seen scientists on his team die in Night Vale, his -- what was Cecil to him at this point? -- get Avoxed, and he had not been allowed to perform real science for months, not until the disease disaster. But Carlos had always had trouble putting his feelings into words, so in the end, this was all he could say.

"...I cared about Cecil," he admitted. "Doing nothing to help him, it's...one of the hardest things I've ever done."

Both Cecils, really. It was just that the one from Panem had the more immediate problem. But Carlos hoped that this admission would make it clear to Mindy that he did understand how she felt.

"Good, then you get it. When I say that these people clipped my wings I'm not just saying words. If we weren't living in this kind of state where they have security on security, I would already be fucking blowing shit up and beating and torturing people to find our more about what we have to do. But only an idiot does that, and they pay for it."

Just like Starkiller.

"I'm waiting for my time. You should know that meeting you is the first step in figuring that out."

For a moment, Carlos felt very glad that Mindy was on their side.

"The Initiate can tell you more than I can," he said with finality.

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