thecapitol | [open] CATCH ALL

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Who| ALL Y'ALL it's a ho down
What| A catch-all reaction log for the plot developments. Saves you from making 5 logs each tbh.
Where| All around the place
When| During and post lock down, 3am~ sunday onward
WARNINGS| Panicking, talk of murder and violence. Singing the songs of panem.

When things like THIS and THIS are going down it's probably a good time to touch base with one another. Face caressing, crying and meaningful stares abound as the Tributes and Staff drag their knuckles hopelessly in an effort to figure out what the fresh hell is going on.

Make your own prompts, feel free to make them closed to specific people.

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"... she wasn't the nicest person." Clementine is unsure just how much she's allowed to say bad things about the recently deceased Penny. She doesn't want to get dragged off too. "I, yeah, it's just... Mindy and Sandy are my friends, Stephen."

She doesn't thinks Sandy would have done it, and Mindy... Mindy she thinks would be capable, but she can't believe she'd have done something so risky either.

When she says that, Stephen's face softens. When he speaks again, his voice is quieter. "I know, Clem," he says. "I know someone in there, too." What he doesn't say is that her alias is Black Widow and she just might have been capable of assassinating Penny.

"Sometimes, doing nothing is the hardest thing to do," he tells her quietly, "but the best thing we can do for them is to stay out of trouble." It tears at his heart to tell her this; she's so young, and her friends are being tortured, and all he can say to her is don't make it worse. Stephen finds himself hating the decisions that led to this, hating the system that made it possible, and hating the people who gave the orders.

"I'm sorry." she says, heartfelt, when she hears that. "Yeah... I..." Clementine sighs, her shoulders slumping a little.

"Will they get a trial?" When her own world went to hell Clementine was only eight years old, too young to be interested in or pay attention to how laws worked. She'd only known the big laws about what was wrong and right. Don't steal, don't kill, that sort of thing.

But she remembers enough to know that when people broke the law they got arrested and had a trial before they went to prison.

Stephen thinks about that very seriously. He's still getting used to seeing the Capitol clearly, and he's not as good at predicting its moves as he would like to be. However, he does have years of experience working with publicity and public relations to draw on.

"Probably," he concludes. "The arrest wouldn't have been nearly so public if they weren't planning to hold a trial. At the very least, there will be a highly publicized investigation. The citizens will want to know that the culprit has been found and stopped."

"That's good, I hope so." The public nature of the tributes wasn't always a downside when you looked at it that way. The Capitol wanted to keep their people happy which meant at least pretending to keep them in the loop. The Capitol lies though, she knows that, they could make up evidence or...

"I'm glad nobody from our district was taken."

He has an idea of what she's thinking. Stephen has been thinking the same thing.

If she'll let him, he'll reach out to take her hand.

"Me, too."

Clementine hesitates for a moment, her own pride and desire to prove herself brave and strong to those around her are what's behind it but Stephen is kind, Stephen has been understanding. He's always done his best to help her from the start, one of the few Capitolites she knows who does actually see them as people who need help.

She puts her small hand in his, eyes looking back at the television again. "It'll be okay."

It's hard for him too, she knows.

God, he's being consoled by a teenager. What has Stephen's world come to?

"If they were going to execute everyone who was arrested, they would have done it," Stephen says, following her gaze to the continuing broadcast. "The suspects would have disappeared quietly without the camera crews. That means the Peacekeepers want to find the real culprit, and that everyone who isn't found guilty will be released."

He doesn't mention what condition they might be in by the time the Capitol lets them go.

"What about the one they find guilty, what do they do with murderers here?" The Capitol don't seem the types to be big on long jail sentences.

So long as they come back they'll be okay. Clementine knows how much horror people are capable of withstanding, some people anyway. She doesn't want to think that her friends might end up breaking under what happens to them... but if they're still alive there's hope.

"...for a high-profile assassination?" Stephen's lips pull tight. No, he's not going to lie about this. "I can't see them settling for anything less than execution."

"I thought so." her fingers are holding onto his a little firmly. "They watch people die for fun, they wouldn't excuse them when they actually did something bad. ... do you think any of the people they arrested are the culprit?"

The real one could still be here in the training centre.

"I don't know." It's an honest answer. "I don't know any of the suspects very well. Even Natalia -- she's still a mystery to me. I really couldn't say."

"I only know Mindy and Sandy." Clementine sighs. "This is scary."

"I know," he sighs.

A beat of silence.

"Can I get you anything?" Stephen asks. It isn't out of disrespect or callous disregard for the suffering of the detainees; it's to take Clem's mind off of this, to maybe make her feel better. "A cup of tea, or hot chocolate?"

"Thanks, but I'm okay." she says, just that at first before explaining further. "My stomach feels kind of queasy, like butterflies but worse."

It's nerves and maybe a drink would actually help settle it but Clem isn't sure she could drink anything right now.

"Well," he says, "as an adult, I ought to tell you to get some sleep. It's very, very late, and exhausting yourself won't help anyone. That said," Stephen goes on, looking at her sideways "you can stay out here as long as you like." It was up to her; if she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, then there wasn't much point in sending her to bed.

Clementine looks at him with a small smile for the words. "Thanks." not that he could really order her to do anything she didn't want to but the gesture was important. "Just a bit longer, then I'll try to sleep."

Stephen was right, if she went to bed now she'd have to contend with her racing thoughts and probably end up studying her ceiling instead of sleeping. That said she was eleven, so he shouldn't be surprised if later on she ended up yawning heavily or outright falling asleep on the couch despite herself.

He nods at her. If Stephen catches her yawning, he'll gently usher her off to bed, but if she falls asleep on the couch, he'll leave her there and keep the other Tributes in the common room as quiet as he can.

Poor girl. She didn't deserve this. They all deserved so much better than this.

Clementine manages to make it back to bed under Stephen's guidance, sleepily mumbling a 'thank you' as she does. She's out like a light as soon as her head hits the pillow in what seems like thankfully deep, dreamless sleep that will take her through to the late morning.

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wrap it up here?

Perfect!