thecapitol | Suspects' Holding Cell

The vans drive for what seems like an hour before they come to a stop, and Peacekeepers blindfold and forcefully drag even the most cooperative suspects into a building.

The suspects are all held in one cell, a large, metal room with a thick door and a single ledge that serves as a bench. Bright fluorescent lights beam from overhead. There are no windows and no clocks, no sign of where they might be.

The Peacekeepers take off the blindfolds, though without much care for whether they come off all the way or chafe or stay slung around the suspects' necks. The suspects' hands are left cuffed behind their backs, and even the most ingenious of them won't be able to pick the lock on their restraints, but they're otherwise left to roam freely through the space.

Suspects are removed, one at a time, at unpredictable intervals, by Peacekeepers armed with tasers. Some take three hours to return, while others are back within only a minute. Each of them comes back having been clearly roughed up and pressed for information that they may or may not hold; some are bleeding or sporting the beginnings of black eyes.

They'll be sleeping here tonight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I've been tortured before." And it's true, that. Eva's suffered worse and lied in the face of worse than the interrogation here. Her accent fades in and out, something not from the Capitol but not identifiable to someone foreign to Panem. "It's part and parcel of being one of the illustrious Victors of the Hunger Games."

She leans her head forward and uses her shoulder to brush loose hair out of her face. She's still wearing yesterday's makeup, although it's starting to look ugly by now, half-faded from her lips and smudged into the bags around her eyes.

"I don't think we've met. I'm the Mentor for District Nine."

Rose can tell by the accent enough that it's from someone whose a native here. Curious, that they're doing this to even one of their own. It should relieve her, or something to know that, and yet it doesn't. It just shows her how willing they are to go as far as they need. "Interesting. Did this previous interrogation occur during your games?"

Rose's lips are their natural pink, and somehow that is what feels oddest about this all. If she had her lipstick, that dark almost black purple she thinks she'd feel a little better. It's like warpaint, by now.

"We haven't," she confirms, "Rose Lalonde, District 8. Have you been away from the capitol?" Because she should have met her, Rose thinks. She had been making it her business to know those of Bro and Dave's districts after all.

She shakes her head.

"I've been on an extended vacation after forty years of service." Eva snorts, but getting punched in the face dislodged blood in her nose, and there's an unpleasant burble to the sound that culminates in blood dripping down her upper lip. "But I've been in the Capitol. You can take the Mentor out of the Training Center, but you can't take the Training Center out of our heads."

She presses the lower half of her face against her shoulder again, getting the blood on her clothing, the rumpled lapel of her collared shirt.

"But they'll interrogate you here if you so much as sneeze funny. Not that sneezing would be very funny for me right now. Probably more disgusting than anything."

She watches Eva passively, nodding carefully at her explanation and Rose watches the blood trickle from her nose to her lip.

"I'm sure it was a well deserved one." But it does give her an answer, confirmation to her own suspicions. After all, she could have been a victor from when these new Games started, someone who had picked up the accent to fit in more. But the offered information on how long she's been a mentor confirms she's one of these people. Originally from a district, sure, but Rose honestly hadn't thought one of their own people would fall under suspicion. It makes Eva an anomaly. It makes Eva interesting. But Rose wouldn't trust her as far as she could throw her.

"I'm sure they're just on edge. After all, it sounds like such a tragedy that's occurred." Rose shifts carefully, picking her words more for those who may be listening. "I've only been here a short time, but she seems to have played an important role in making things run smoothly."

"Hsiang Jiao was a tyrant, a sadist and a bitch," Eva says, spitting the last word before licking the blood from her top lip. All she really manages is to smear red and saliva across her skin. Shame. "And everyone here knows it. You'll notice none of the Peacekeepers here are in mourning - even her closest lackeys hated and feared her."

Eva was fortunate enough never to cross Penny. The now-victim had a well-earned reputation for unpredictability, glee and unparalleled creativity in the torture chamber. It was a deadly and fearsome combination. Eva doesn't know if she could have withstood it.

Eva laughs, and it's a dry sound. "I'm interested to see who they dredge up as her replacement."

Rose hums, neutral in tone as she studies Eva, watching the blood get smeared across her skin. The woman is a mess, and still Rose feels little sympathy towards her. Something just doesn't wring true, and it's an instinctual feeling, and Rose trusts those. The way she so openly speaks of her dislike for Penny doesn't help that much either. Words are a weapon that few wield, but they're effective all the same. Agreeing here could cost her.

"I'm sure they're are others that mourn." Mourn her creativity and glee in harming others she means. People like that can be rare and difficult to replace. "Are you familiar with those they may consider?"

"Not as familiar as I'd like to be." There's something vicious in the way Eva says it that suggests her interest isn't purely academic curiosity, as if she's a spider wanting to suck the secrets like blood from bloated, trapped insects.

"Kurt Wallander, current head detective, but he doesn't have the stomach for it. Buddy Glass, although he doesn't inspire fear so much as a lingering sense of corporate sterility. There are a few others, but they're going to have to look hard to find someone of Penny's loathesome ilk."

"Still more than I." Rose's smile is polite if distant. She doesn't care about the viciousness in Eva's tone, nor what the woman thinks of her. Information is information, and if Eva's spilling Rose will listen. The opinion of a Capitolite is on the bottom of her list of opinions she cares about.

"They'll want to put someone in quick I suppose. Who knows what the masses will do if they don't feel there's someone with authority at the very top." She smile turns a little sharper. "Hopefully they'll increase the security of whomever they do pick. We wouldn't want another tragedy after all."

"Careful, don't imagine that they're too stupid to pick up on sarcasm, Tribute." There's something demeaning about way Eva says there, as if she doesn't have a terrible amount of respect for people in that position. "The Peacekeepers are stupid, but they're not entirely brain-dead."

Rose smiles at Eva's word, a smile with closed lips that doesn't reach her eyes. She knows the warning for what it is but she also knows that responding in either acknowledgement or denial could cause her more trouble than it's worth. "Of course," she finally says, voice even. "I would never assume that in any case, Victor." There's an equal bite to the way she says that title to the way Eva says tribute and Rose's smile grows by the slightest millimetre.

Eva's leaves, not because she's threatened or insulted but because she's lost interest in Rose. Whatever Eva was looking for, this new woman isn't about to give it. Eva sniffles up her blood and stares at the prison wall.

Suspects' Holding Cell

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/wrap