thecapitol | Caring for people is stupid

Entry tags:

Caring for people is stupid

Who| Pruna and Sandy
What| Breakout!
Where| Jail and then around the city as they run
When| During jail breaks
Warnings/Notes| We have tiny child murderer, other tiny child having been tortured, description of branding, and likely frank conversations about death. I will add if anything else happens

She was going to kill them all. Every peacekeeper and every Capitolite in this city. This Pruna vowed as she approached the jail. She had found the darkest, loosest clothes in her wardrobe and her feet were once again bare. She was not going to mess this up because of stupid shoes.

Killing would come later, getting Sandy out of the jail was the mission tonight. It felt strange to be doing a mission of her own violition. No orders, no briefing. Just her own plan. She had to hope it was a good one.

She had thought about getting help, and then decided against it. She didn't want anyone elses stupidity to make her fail. However now she was close she thought someone like Shepard might have been useful, or Initiate.

Still she had made her choice, it was just her and the darkness and all the knives she had managed to steal from the kitchen and training rooms.

The plan was pretty simple, break into the jail, kill anyone in the way as quietly as possible, grab Sandy and get out.

The jail was difficult to navigate, since she had seen no plans, no maps before hand. A guard was pickpocketed and left to his own devices. Pruna scowled at the lack of keys but wrinkled her nose at the cards, but the tribute towers had keys that were cards so she grinned.

Her biggest problem was that she didn't know where Sandy was, Pruna had done jailbreaks before and more often slipping in weapons or poisons to prisoners who her guardians needed not to speak. But this jail was like nothing she had ever seen.

Someone had to know where all the prisoners were, there had to be some organisation. So Pruna kept moving, keeping out of sight, on edge because she was trained to avoid human eyes, not stupid technology.

When she saw the centre and the computer she frowned. She hated not knowing all the facts and computers were hard. She could use her communicator but outside of that...

She sneaked forwards and tried pressing a button, nothing happened. She stared at it in frustration, and looked around for anything to help. No papers, no lists, no floor plans. Not even a locked box or cupboard.

She stared at the computer again and noticed the thin slot. Well she had never heard of a key for a computer but at this point anything was worth a try. She grinned triumphantly. It took longer than she would have liked but she finally had a cell number. She pulled the card out and hurried on her way.

It took her a while to find the cell, once she worked out the pattern of where they were. She put the keycard into the slot and frowned when nothing happened. She took it out and put in another- they looked identical to her but what did she know about stupid technologies.

She saw her, curled up there and her eyes narrowed at the bandages on her face.

"Sandy." She hissed, she could only hope that the other girl could hear her, and was sensible enough to stay quiet.

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It was a busy night in the facility. Multiple break ins, security was being compromised left and right. This would make it easier for Pruna to find Sandy curled up on the floor of her cell with her face wrapped in bandages. It would almost be hard to tell who she was if not for the size and shape of her body. Pruna would know it well.

She didn't stir at the hiss having thought it was just her imagination. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep or dead the guards would leave her alone and she wouldn't have to go back for more pain and crying and screaming.

"Sandy." This time it was louder and Pruna stepped forward to get to her friend.

This was followed by a yelp, quickly shut off as Pruna slammed into the emptiness. "Motherfucking assholes." She hissed, the curse sounding even stranger with her blank, empty voice. Pain bounced at the edges of the shield she had put up around herself, a different pain than anything she had felt before.

She noticed the slot in the wall and messed about with he cards until she got the right one. She ran in and to Sandy's side. "Sandy! Be waking up."

Sandy gave a start and in a panic scrambled across the floor of the cell on all fours. Once she hit the wall she spun around to face Pruna with only one wild and frightened eye on display.

Her face was so wrapped in bandages she was hardly recognizable. One of her two eyes was hidden behind the stretchy white fabric while the other one was twitching and scanning the room like a nervous mouse. When it finally settled on Pruna her voice was a ragged whisper. It was scratchy like she'd screamed herself hoarse.

"P-Pruna?"

Pruna skittered backwards a bit as well, lips curling in a snarl as Sandy ran away from her. She wasn't angry at Sandy, not really, she was angry at those who had hurt her.

Pruna had no idea how to deal with this, she knew how to torture people and she knew how to endure torture without giving up information but she didn't know how to deal with people who had been tortured.

Especially when they were leaky eyed babies like Sandy. Part of Pruna wanted to growl at her and the other half wanted to make sure no one ever hurt her again and Pruna didn't know what was right.

She had been so convinced that Sandy was the reason why she had became weak, but seeing her again. She just wanted her to smile and be happy and for none of this to happen to her at all.

But whatever Pruna's strange feelings they had to get out of here. She frowned and pointed at the door. "We do no be having much time. Be following me."

Sandy didn't move.

She kept her back to the wall and was wild eyed with fear, her sight darting back and forth between Pruna and the exit.

"Could be a trick." She muttered "Run through the door, more pain. They'll hit me again...how do I know?"

But she wasn't speaking to Pruna, more like she was speaking about Pruna. Conversing with some yet unseen entity about her choice.

"What...what is the name only I call you? And why do I call you that?" she hissed inching along the wall towards one of the force field barriers.

Pruna had seen fear before, she had helped her guardians torture people before and this level of blinding, all encompassing fear. She knew this, it was a sign they had succeeded.

She had never had to deal with the aftermath. And never when it had happened to a friend, not surprising because the only people she called friends were in this world and the greatest of them was in front of her now.

She whispered a quick prayer to the dark god, not that the dark god could hear her here probably, but she needed strength.

"Ash... you do be calling me Ashley because your dad did be telling you stories about a great warrior who did no be being very strong but then demons did be hurting all his friends he did be killing them all, hundreds and thousands of them. All dead. And his hand did be a roaring blade and he did be having a boomy stick and did be blowing peoples heads off and he did be being really cool."

She sighed, "And I do be being a great warrior and that's why I do be getting you out of here."

"Ashley..." Her voice trembled in a whisper and she launched herself off the wall, stumbling a few steps and landing on her knees. She thrusts herself back to her feet and wobbled over to her with a mix of wonder and relief.

"M-mindy...she said you were back. I was didn't think I'd ever see you again." Her voice trembled and she sounded on the verge of tears. But with only one eye visible it was hard to tell. "I was so angry."

"Good." She nodded, "You should be being angry. You should be keeping being angry and we will be getting out of here." She couldn't risk Sandy going all leaky faced on her. Not now, not until they got somewhere safe. Pruna tried to make her voice sound kind, whilst also authoritative. It came out just a bit blank sounding but it was better than nothing.

"I do be being here now and we will be getting away from here. Can you be walking?"

"I can run." She promised in a more subdued voice. The trembling was still there but she wasn't whimpering now. upon closer inspection her fingers were all bandaged as well and she had clearly gone days without a wash. The purple under her visible eye had a ring of exhaustion around it. She hadn't slept in awhile.

"Good." Pruna had taken in her appearance, but it wasn't something she was going to focus on until they were safe. Get out of the prison first, deal with Sandy's injuries next. The important thing was pushing forwards so they had some chance of escape.

She held out a hand tentatively, "We do be running then."

She too hesitated, a flash of anxiety in her visible eye.

But it was only a moment and she seized the hand and let Pruna take the lead. After all she had gotten in she had to know how to get out.

Her mind flashed for a moment on the faces of the others that had been in her cell. People who had been kind to her. People who had helped her.

The sound of heavy footsteps down the hallway made her stomach drop and chased any hope of rescuing anyone else right out of her head.

"Run!" She urged.

Pruna's fingers curled around Sandy and she ran, her bare feet made no sound and at this point speed was better than stealth. The guard had probably found his missing key cards by now and so they had to get out before it was too late.

The moment they got out of the building the turrets began firing and Pruna dragged Sandy along, trying to move in such a way that they would not hit them.

As desperate as Sandy was to escape she was fueled by only the adrenaline in her veins. She was hungry and thirsty and tired.

But she was also scared, and that went a long way.

She was wearing shoes that had been issued to her by the facility but they weren't doing much to help her traction so she kicked them off and kept right on Pruna's tail barefoot as well.

Pruna kept her hand tightly round Sandy's, darting towards the nearest cover and hoping Sandy had enough sense to be quiet.

The buildings in the capitol were stupid, they were all massive, too tall to climb and too smooth to try even if they were going to risk the height.

So Pruna darted through the streets, sticking to the shadows, listening in case they were being followed.

Suddenly, without much warning Sandy's grip tightened and she yanked Pruna down a path between two buildings. It was such a small gap it would go mostly unnoticed by anyone who was passing by.

The alley was made up of a few trash bins and a single back door leading into the building on the right. Sandy breezed past both and came to a stop at what looked like an access panel.

"In here." She urged casting worried glances at the entrance to the path.

The access panel could be pried off easily enough, closer inspection revealed that the screws had all been stripped and were merely decoration now. Inside was a jungle of pipes that twisted and curled along the walls of this manmade cave.

A pile of dirty clothes and cans of spray paint were nestled in one corner.

Long ago when Sandy had first started as a tribute in Panem, Cinna had taught her how to get around Panem avoiding detection as best as possible. He gave her a few blind spots that he knew of and even taught her how to dress to avoid attention. She used this knowledge to slip out in the dead of night and spray paint mockingjays on buildings until she had been cuffed under suspicion of being a traitor to the Capitol.

This was the remains of one of her blind spot dens. Only the barest of light filtered in through some cracks in the ceiling. Directly above them was the storage room for a shop that specialized in stupidly elaborate hats. The shop was closed for now meaning the only sounds were those of the two girls breathing and their hearts thundering in their chests.

Pruna made the transition from leading to following pretty easily, not tripping at all. Part of her was just very glad that Sandy was taking the initiate, it was a sign she wasn't completely broken. Pruna thought anyways, she knew nothing about this.

Her eyes widened as they crawled into the den, she recognised it for what it was, a safe house. And the cans of spray paint let her put the rest of it together, one of the places Sandy had used when she went about trying to make the Capitolite's think and not be stupid.

Something that had failed. She put the panel back and took a torch from her dark clothing, she had bought it in case she needed to read anything in the jail. It hadn't been dark after all but at least it would come in handy now. She shielded the light with her hand, keeping it low but moving close to Sandy.

"We will be being okay here for a few hours."

Edited 2014-08-13 08:22 (UTC)

Sandy flinched as Pruna moved closer and began to tremble once more. The light caught her eye and she cringed like it was threatening her even with Pruna's hand covering it.

"We're dead...we are so dead." She mumbled "Couldn't have stayed, shouldn't have...wouldn't stay. He wouldn't Papa never stayed locked up willingly but this is different we're different...what are we gonna do?"

The short rambling was broken by this last question directed at Pruna. Sandy's voice was a shaky whisper and sounded rough. It had been less noticeable in the cell but now that everything had settled down it was easier to tell her voice was almost gone.

Pruna just stared at her, taking in her rambling but trying to think past it. Trying to come up with a plan. She hadn't really had much of a plan past getting her out- she'd never had to plan such things before and she realised she should be better at it. Should have thought ahead. Where would they stay? What would she feed Sandy?

"Be breathing. That do be being what you do be doing." She pointed at the flood, "And be sitting down. You do be needing to be resting."

Sandy blinks slowly and takes a deep breath before abruptly sitting down. She doesn't have far to fall since the roof is so low in this space both of them are hunched over.

Once seated she lets out the breath Ina woosh and the nervousness babbling continues.

"I'm so sorry Ashley. I thought you were gone and I thought it was my fault and I tried to be strong but I was so sad I just couldn't do anything for weeks. And then they threw my door open and we're yelling and hit me and drug me outta bed. I don't know where duck is I'm so sorry!"

At least she had the good sense to keep her frantic words low so the sound wouldn't carry up through the floorboards. Sweat was beginning to stain her bandages, but her visible eye wasn't watering yet.

Pruna sat down as well, easier than crouching and listened to Sandy babble, she had forgotten how much her friend talked. How much everyone talked here, talking out whatever they were feeling. It was hard to get used to it all over again. "Duck do be being safe." She told her. She didn't tell Sandy that she had seen her get arrested, she felt bad that she hadn't attacked then. Grabbed Sandy, killed them all and ran.

"Mindy did be telling me you did be being strong. I do be believing her." Pruna shuffled a little bit closer to Sandy, still not sure what to say or do. Her mind was all muddled and she had never been trained to help people.

That subdued her thought the nervous shivers and twitching didn't stop. Every little groan of the pipes had her starring at them hard. She cautiously inched closer to Pruna.

"I killed a thing that looked like you." She blurted out awkwardly. "It attacked me so I hacked it apart with an axe. I died afterwards from zombie bite. Did you know Clem can do that? I didn't know Clem could do that."

Apparently aware of herself, Sandy shoved a fist into her mouth and bit her knuckles to silence herself. A bit of blood ran along the curve of her wrist but she didn't cry out in pain.

Pruna let her come closer, still blinking at her and trying to get her head around everything. She nodded, "I did be seeing, on the screens. When I did be coming back." She had saw the strange thing that wasn't her following Sandy around, and she was glad when Sandy had killed it.

She had no idea who Clem was, but she had seen Sandy's death and now she had a name to go with the girl who she already hated.

"Can you be waiting here?" She hated to leave Sandy alone, she should have gotten supplies before she rescued Sandy, she had done it all backwards. "I do be needing you to be being very silent and still, can you be doing that?"

Sandy let out a noise of panic and gripped at Pruna's sleeve as if the girl might vanish on the spot.

"But what if you don't come back!?" She whimpered "You always came back before but then you didn't and everything went bad and horrible and they burned me and hit me and screamed at me because I wouldn't talk about it!?"

Her fingers curled tight and she looked ready to bolt after her if Pruna tried to run, she might need some more convincing.

Pruna froze as Sandy gripped her sleeve. She wanted to shake the other girl but she knew that it would not make anything better. And it would probably make Sandy run. Sandy was good at running, better than Pruna. If Sandy ran from her Pruna would never be able to catch her.

The words made her angry but they also reminded her why she needed supplies, if Sandy had been burned...

Pruna wanted to kill everyone, but she just raised her hands to touch Sandy's.

"You can be coming with me if you do be wanting." Not what she meant to say, but she couldn't insist Sandy stayed when she looked like that. "But you do be needing to be being very very quiet."

That left her torn, because she clearly didn't want to leave either. Wracked with indecision she rocked back and forth wide eyed and trembling again. Another pathetic whimper.

Finally it seemed fear of the outside world overcame her "Promise me you'll come back? Promise if I wait quietly that you won't get taken away again?" She begged in hushed tones..

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