and i'm eating at the beat like you gave a little speed to a great white shark on shark week

[plushaeusrumpified]

Who| Bro and prompts for multiple people
What| Bro is recovering after the mini arena and meeting up with people
Where| All over
When| Shortly after the mini arena
Warnings/Notes| THINGS GOT SMUTTY WITH JOLIE BEWARE

[Closed to Jolie]

After his meeting with Dave, Jolie is the first person he seeks out. Jolie's quickly become one of his favorite people here, aside from his own family. They mesh well together, and he trusts Jolie, even if it's in a slightly guarded sort of way. Jolie is and always will be a Capitolite, but as far as Bro is concerned, she's one of the more harmless ones. The truth of the matter is, this arena, mini as it was, has been really damn emotionally taxing on Bro and Jolie is the only one he can think of to really talk to about it. Sure, she might not understand since she's never been in an arena, but she's still adult company and he can talk more openly about it to her than he can with someone like Dave. Or at least, as open as Bro is willing to be, anyway.

Bro's half tempted to grab a bottle of booze on the way to her workshop, but then he remembers what happened last time booze was involved and decides against it. Whether or not anything like that is going to happen this time remains to be seen, but he isn't crossing it off of his list. For now, he really just wants to talk, but if it escalates from there then he's really not going to complain. Hell, it might help him get his mind off of things better, or at least put a stop to the constant flashbacks to shark week.

Either way, Bro arrives at her workshop around early evening and gives a few knocks on the door. He doesn't have enough manners to wait for her to open the door, though. As far as he's concerned, it's not as if it's her personal room. It's public enough that he feels confident enough to just barge in after the knock, like the courteous guy that he is.

"It's me, ho," he'll say as he closes the door behind him, turning around once it's closed to look 'round for her.

[Closed to Rose]

When he slinks out of Jolie's workshop later, he's trying to be subtle and act like he didn't just spend a very long time there. He knows it could look suspicious, and he doesn't want to draw attention to himself, so the key is to act like nothing happened.

It's kind of hard, however, to pretend like nothing happened when you've got a lipstick stain on the collar of your white shirt. That's pretty telling, to be perfectly honest. But he doesn't even realize it's there as he makes his way through District 8, on his way to the elevator so that he can head back to his room and wind down. As luck (or the opposite, all things considered) would have it, he happens to catch sight of Rose.

Now he's a good bro-dad-thing, so of course he's not just gonna breeze through without saying hi, so he strides up to her with all the confidence of somebody who just had a good time but is trying not to let it show. "Daughter of mine." He gives her a nod, his voice deadpan. "How you doin'?"

[Closed to Stephen]

It's a couple of days after arriving back in the Capitol that Bro is told he needs to meet with his district's escort. He doesn't know what for, and he doesn't particularly care. The idea of having to meet with someone like that so soon after the arena is annoying. He's still in the frame of mind where he wants to unwind and relax so that he can try and stop having shark week flashbacks. Having an interview or meeting with Capitolites that aren't Jolie just doesn't appeal to him.

So on the day of the scheduled meeting with Stephen, Bro's decided fuck it. He's not even going. So he's going to just sleep in, because fuck mornings. He and mornings don't mix. Half the time, he doesn't even go to bed until morning- or at least that's how it was back home. Not so much the case here, since he has to get up earlier sometimes- but not today. He refuses today.

If Stephen decides to look for him, or send someone to look for him, they'll find him snoozing in his room.

[Closed to Clara]

By far the most awkward meeting he's going to have this week is with Clara. He can feel it. But it's a meeting he knows he's going to have to have, so he's sucking up whatever awkwardness he feels in order to do it. He watched the reruns of the mini arena, and of course the Dave, Clara and Clem parts were played up for maximum drama. He'll probably never be able to express it in its entirety, but Bro is grateful for Clara's role there. Considering he was shark food and couldn't be there for Dave himself, it's nice to know there was somebody there watching out for him. Also she's a total MILF, which is reason enough on its own to want to meet her.

He isn't quite sure how to go about this, though. Ambushing her in her room just reeks of awkward, so he wants to do this as casually as possible. It can't look like he cares that much, after all. That would just be uncool. So he asks around a little for her usual haunts, until he has a good idea of her schedule. He'll casually sneak around corners and lurk in the shadows, until he finally sees her walking down a hall. Then, he'll casually step around the corner as if he wasn't there at all, and look a little surprised.

Much less awkward than ambushing her in her room.

"Oh, yo, hey. You got a minute? I've been meanin' to talk to you about somethin'," he says, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, the epitome of cool, casual and collected.


[Closed to Anna]

It's annoying how certain people can worm their way into your life in a significant enough way that you end up thinking about them in more than just a passing way. Anna's full of energy, excitable and not to mention annoying, yet somehow he's endeared to her enough that he can't help but get it in his head to wonder how she's doing after the arena. If it was emotionally exhausting to him, he can only imagine how it must have been for her.

So eventually he just decides to go look for her, because otherwise he'll just keep thinking about it and feel like an ass for not doing it. He has no idea where to even start looking, so he asks around and finally just settles for looking around her district. Along the way, he gets the idea to grab a piece of chocolate for her, just for the hell of it. She obviously has a thing for chocolate and if she's feeling down then he figures it'll help a little. Maybe.

When he does find her, she's off in a corner being antisocial, which is strange to him considering it's Anna. He has to wonder if this arena really has done a number on her. Fucking boats, man. It must've traumatized a lot of people. When he's a few feet away from her, he tosses the chocolate at her as he says, "Catch, princess!"

Comments

[arosewiththorns]

Watching them both in the arena had been one of the hardest moments in Rose's life. It made her sick to her stomach that she could only watch, unable to help in anyway. She had never wished for some alcohol as much as she had in that short space of time. It had taken every inch of her will not to turn to the barkeep when Bro was eaten, and she had found herself having to physically leave when Dave let go, nausea in her stomach and something that she refuses to call tears in her eyes.

But she's trying not to dwell on it. They're here, they came back, they're alive. Those are the things that count, that matter. Still, she's been keeping to herself, unsure about how she will react to seeing Dave again, and not wanting to upset or scare him. It's fine, she can use the time to go over plans in her head, trying to calculate the success, a job much harder now that she's been stripped off all her abilities.

She looks as if she's staring off into space, face too grim for 37 when Bro calls out to her and Rose jerks, caught off guard. Still she tries to cover it quickly, masking it under a pleasant smile as she rises.

"Father dearest," she shoots back even though it makes her think of another Strider, but Rose doesn't let that show, stepping closer to brush an air kiss over his cheek. It's when she goes back on her heels that she spots the smudge of lipstick, brow raising and smirk starting to form as she reaches to catch his collar with two fingers. "Not too bad, though it seems you've been having a much better time."

[plushaeusrumpified]

Her reaction is amusing and he returns the air kiss enthusiastically, but up close he can see the subtle signs of her tiredness. A mask is strong from a distance, but up close you can see the stitching and lack of detail. He considers asking if she's alright, but she's a step ahead of him when she suddenly takes his collar and speaks again. He glances down and behind his shades, his eyes widen.

"Whoa, how'd that get there?" he asks, as if he has no idea how it could possibly have happened.

Fuck him though, he had been so careful.

[arosewiththorns]

"Ah it's a mystery to all of us then?" she says, her amusement clear in her tone and Rose tuts softly, shaking her head. "This will not do. We can't have random people accosting your person without your knowledge. What will people think of your ninja skills then."

Still, her mind is ticking over. He's in District 9 and Rose is half sure it's not because he came to see her, call her a pessimist. So that gives a strong indicator that it's someone here. Not her, of course, and her mind runs over the other women... Oh.

Oh.

You better believe she's smirking. "Did you hook up with my stylist?"

[plushaeusrumpified]

Well, shit. It's disturbing how easily she nailed it on the head, but at the same time it's also pretty fucking obvious. But he isn't going to just admit to it like that. He's Bro, he's a secretive old fart.

"Did I hook up with your stylist?" he parrots back, "That sounds like the start of a really bad and unironic joke. What's the punch line?"

[arosewiththorns]

At first Rose just stares at him, one brow arched. Please Bro. Please. She's spent more than half her life reading a Strider, she knows all the tricks of avoidance in the book. Add in the fact she, you know, can do similar things over different topics and he's not fooling her in the slightest.

"I suppose I could just ask Jolie," she finally says, and the dare is in his court as she moves as if she's going to march on over to her Stylist's suite. "I'm one of her favourites, I'm sure she'll share the juicy gossip."

[plushaeusrumpified]

Goddamn Lalondes. Just seriously. Goddamn them. He hates how it feels like it's impossible to lie to them, like they already know the truth without even actually knowing it. How they do it, he doesn't know. He can troll people easily, but times like this it just comes naturally to Lalondes and it's downright disturbing. But he's going to stick to his guns, mostly because he doesn't want it spread everywhere that they banged.

So he rolls his eyes. "You can go ask Jolie whatever you want." He's pretty confident that Jolie wouldn't spill the beans. "So go for it. In fact- here." He takes Rose by the arm and pulls her over to Jolie's door.

"Ask away." He'll knock on Jolie's door several times pointedly, giving Rose an unimpressed look.

[reallynow]

By this point Jolie has moved from the little workroom closet she consoled Bro in so she could wash her hands several times and fix her make up. Damn messy boy smudged it with all his needy smooches. Men, seriously.

As such, she's entirely unaware of the conversation brewing and a little confused as to why anyone would need to knock that much on her fucking door. She stomps over to it and swings it open, yelling "Knock it the fuck off!" in the face of whoever happens to be doing it. And that person is Bro, and Rose is there too and suddenly she's feeling very attacked.

"I didn't order any room service." She gives them both a dead-eyed stare.

[rediscover]

Emotionally exhausting is putting it lightly.

She'd thought for sure that her second arena would be better; that she wouldn't be so useless. But the ship had been sprung on them so last-minute that she didn't bargain for being unprepared emotionally as well as physically. Really, she hadn't even needed to use any of the training she'd had in the few weeks she was in the Capitol, because none of her encounters on the ship had necessitated it. She'd spent the whole time panicking and floundering, and at one point she'd had to be dragged up from belowdecks by a very nice man named Steve.

Only to be crushed by the ship's anchor as it had crashed down the tilting deck. The nightmares haven't been pretty.

Thus, she's sort of been avoiding people since she came back. She'd woken up in her own bed, pale and shaking, and although the temptation to stay there was strong, she knew from last time that it was best not to hole herself up and wallow. So she takes to hiding away in corners instead, dragging a book with her but barely seeing the words on the page. In fact, she doesn't even hear anyone approaching until Bro's voice is calling out, and she's promptly beaned in the face with a piece of chocolate.

"Huh--ow!" She rubs a hand over her face and scrabbles to pick up the offending object. When she realizes what it is, though, she can't help but smile, just a teeny one as she unwraps it.

"Hey, thanks."

[plushaeusrumpified]

Oh. Whoops.

He'd pegged her for somebody with better hand/eye coordination, so he isn't expecting the chocolate to ding her in the head the way it does. Not that he cares too much- shit's funny. "Yeah, don't mention it." He's just gonna move and plop down beside her all casual like. "So. You look like you're full of angst and depression. Wanna talk about it?"

Ew feelings. But hey, he can be nice sometimes.

[rediscover]

Anna pops the chocolate into her mouth, still rubbing at her cheek where it'd hit her, and scooches over to make room for Bro when he flops down next to her.

"Uh, kinda." She laughs, but there's not a whole lot of joy in the sound. "Sure."

Heaving a sigh, Anna brings her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. "It was just...really hard, being on that ship." She closes her eyes, but keeps talking. "My parents--" Ugh. This is possibly her least favorite thing to talk about in the universe. "A few years ago, they were sailing across the sea for a wedding, and their ship sank."

[plushaeusrumpified]

Ah. That uncomfortable feeling when you realize you were right about somebody being an orphan. Bro isn't surprised, but it's still not something he's really sure how to handle. He guesses he feels sympathy, but it's hard to when he's never really cared much about not having parents himself.

After a moment or two of silence, he reaches out and gives her a pat on the shoulder. "That's rough, buddy."

Okay he knows he needs to say more than that, but uh. How the fuck do you even say words to this. "Seriously. But I mean, hey. Look at you, you turned out... spunky. Good job not letting depression take over. Gold star."

[rediscover]

Anna's had a lot of time to think about it, but going through that nightmare of an Arena brought back a lot of unwanted memories that she's finding it hard to push back down. So when he pats her shoulder, she goes ahead and just leans her cheek against his hand. She can use all the physical comfort she can get right now.

"Thanks, I guess. I don't feel so spunky right now." It's obvious that she's not herself at all. "I just...can't stop thinking about it, you know?"

[plushaeusrumpified]

Bro nearly pulls his hand away as if his hand has been physically burned, but he resists the urge. You don't just do something like that to a girl who's all upset over her dead parents and shit. So he just leaves his hand there, even if this is fucking weird and he doesn't know what to do.

"Yeah, well, we all have days where we lose a little spunk."

All of a sudden he bursts out laughing, because he realizes how dirty that sounds coming from him. Fuck, he just laughed in front of a princess talking about her dead parents. Shit. "Uh- fuck- I'm not laughing at you. Ignore me."

He's so dumb. "Anyway, so like. What part of it has you down? The being on a boat part, the dying, or the whole thinking about your parents thing?" He says this quickly, hoping she'll focus on it instead of being pissy that he laughed during her moment.

[capitolprivilege]

Stephen goes to look for him personally, of course. There is a knock on Bro's door.

Then another knock, louder.

If there is no response, Stephen is going to come in there, glitter and all.

[plushaeusrumpified]

Bro doesn't hear the knocks. Not the first one, not the second one. He's pretty damn well asleep. It's only when Stephen opens the door that he actually hears it and sits up blearily. This is too early in the damn morning for him, goddamn. Bro's hair is sticking up everywhere, and orange eyes are squinting and trying to adjust to the light.

"Who the fu-" He stops, as he realizes who it is. "Oh." He rubs his eyes, but it becomes clear that the reason he can't adjust to the brightness is because Stephen is walking glittery brightness incarnate. "Can you go into settings and turn the brightness down? Goddamn."

He's still half asleep.

[capitolprivilege]

"Is this a case of innocent oversleeping," Stephen asks lightly, assuming that the brightness comment is referring to the level of light in the room and not his not-at-all obnoxious clothes, "or am I being snubbed?" He tilts his head to the side and fixes a level gaze on Bro, an I'm-not-mad-but-I'm-calling-you-out gaze.

[plushaeusrumpified]

Bro has to think about that for a moment, still rubbing his eyes as he tries to adjust to the brightness. He'd been really damn deep asleep, too. He's groggy as fuck and it ain't fun. "Well," he says. "You were bein' snubbed." He finally gives Stephen a good, long once-over, not at all bothered by that look. "Until now. I forgot you were kinda hot."

Otherwise he might've reconsidered sleeping in.

[capitolprivilege]

A blink. A raise of the other eyebrow. Stephen wonders if Bro has a brain-to-mouth filter at all, or if it's just the sleep talking. He really can't tell.

"I'll take it," he decides. "Throw some clothes on and come out to the common room. There's coffee," he adds.

[plushaeusrumpified]

The truth is he definitely lacks a brain-to-mouth filter. Sleepiness doesn't help, but he would probably say it regardless. He rolls his eyes though. "Why can't we do it in here?" Heh. Do it. "And besides, what is it, anyway? Whattaya want from me?"

[reallynow]

Even from brief glimpses of the Arena through shot glasses, Jolie could see that it had been a particularly harrowing one. Maybe not as brutal as others, there hadn't been time to really pit people against each other, but the time sensitive nature really made it a nail biter. Even so, she couldn't help being a little thrilled when her little guy Charles made it through to the end. He was such a sweet guy, she couldn't be happier for him.

Bro on the other hand, well, nothing about that had been pretty to watch. She couldn't even enjoy the look of him in such an ugly coloured suit. Breaks her fucking heart thinking about the way he went over board there. She doesn't hold any hope of seeing him for a long time after all the crap he went through. As such, it's a massive fucking surprise when he's there, at the door of her workshop, so soon after.

She retreats into her fabric closet to check her make up in her handy little mirror, opening the door and rolling her eyes as she sees he's let himself in. That earns him a pin cushion thrown at his back so she can stand in the doors of the closet and look disapproving. "What's your sorry ass doing here?" She wouldn't be here if she wasn't blunt, but she's holding out her arms for him.

[plushaeusrumpified]

As it turns out, when he sees her it's more than just a little difficult not to throw himself at her. All those urges he's been holding back around her come at him full force. But he resists the urges, like always. Gonna be the good Bro he always has to be, or whatever. He takes a few steps closer, letting out an amused scoff at her words.

"Oh, you know," he says with a shrug, stopping a few feet away from her. Because if he gets too close, he'll probably do something that'll get them in trouble. "My sorry ass got eaten by sharks and it was traumatic as fuck." He tries to sound casual about it, but there's a faint edge to his voice that'll let her know that he's still not actually over it. "So maybe my sorry ass is here for a little comfort sex."

He's joking.

Maybe.

"And to see if you enjoyed the show this time around," he adds quickly, in the effort to fight off any awkwardness that may arise from his statement.

[reallynow]

Jolie rolls her eyes at him when he stops a few feet away and puts her hands on her hips instead. God, she hates him. He says everything so casually but it's still so goddamn sexy. Well, apart from the mentions of his trauma that she's not entirely sure he feels so flippantly about.

She lets out an exhale of air she didn't know she was holding, a chuckle coming in at the end as she shakes her head. "You're unbrolievable." If he doesn't want to rock her pantyhose off for that, she doesn't know what will.

"In that ugly suit?" An eyebrow arches and she turns into the walk in closet, letting her hips sway as she does. "You bet I did." She assures, winking over her shoulder at him.

[plushaeusrumpified]

Oh, he already wanted to rock her pantyhose off, but when she drops a bro pun? Bro wants to get all up on her right there without warning. Holy shit. His cheeks even get a slight tinge of pink to them, and it stands out more because he's pale as fuck.

But then she's turning away, and his eyes are glued to her ass as it sways so damn temptingly. He's already moving to follow without making the conscious decision to actually do so, as if guided by a brain that dwells a little further south. He'll grin when she adds that last bit over her shoulder, and he'll move a little faster to catch up. Once he's directly behind her, he'll just reach out and grab her hips, his grip a little firm to stop her from moving.

"I'm tired of resisting you," he murmurs, his arms slinking around her to pull her close.

[reallynow]

She quickly notices that blush, not that it matters with how fast he's moving. She can't help looking a funny mix between delighted and incredulous, he's just the strangest guy and she can't help adoring him and the way he makes her feel.

"Oh, but you wanna really fuck?" She quirks her brow at him when his hands grab her hip, not able to hold a squeak of surprise back. She was sure he was kind of slutty, but she's still a little impressed with how fast he moves and she's starting to verge on the edge of a giggle fit at both his line and how cornily sexy he's being.

"You're so damn cheesy." She sniggers under her breath, but her arm is looping around so she can put a hand on his cheek and leans up to kiss his chin. But there's a niggling feeling there, something about what he said when he came over and it makes her hesitate, pulling back a little so she can look at him. "Are you sure you're alright, baby?"

[plushaeusrumpified]

There's something slightly embarrassing about being asked that, but he tries not to think about it too much. He's aware of how contradictory he is, what with wanting to talk and then wanting to fuck. Being Bro is hard and nobody understands.

He lets out a faint hum as her hand comes up to rest on his cheek, and he leans in willingly as she kisses his chin. He's a mixture of aroused and amused at her own reactions to him, and he slides his hands up and down her waist slowly as he waits to see what she might do or say. When she finally does speak, his eyes fall shut and he lets out a sigh.

"Does it matter?" he asks, and then realizes that that answer alone is pretty telling. He sighs again, annoyed at himself for being so obvious. "You want the truth, then no. But manpain ain't sexy, so why don't we just brush it under the rug where it belongs?" He's good at brushing shit under the rug. It's only when the rug gets so lumpy and noticeable that it becomes a problem. But his rug is really damn big, okay. It's capable of hiding a lot.