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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Pruna disappeared into the shadows out of sight, but stayed there a few moments, checking to make sure Sandy wouldn't bolt.

She made her way up through one of the cracks as silently as she could manage, going through everything she knew about torture as she did so. She knew how to torture, both how to cause pain and how to invoke helplessness.

She knew how to endure pain as well, how to not speak. But she realised that no one had ever told her how to deal with afterwards. She had no idea how to help Sandy, she could help her ignore and put away the pain. But the rest of it?

She sighed, first off practical things. Bandages, medical kit, food. This warehouse seemed to be full of hats, and material for making hats. It was pretty useless, though she did swipe a pot of material scraps that could make good bandages.

A bit more searching discovered a small kitchen. She frowned, knowing there would be cameras. But she had never been able to find any in the tower and doubted she would be able to here. She just had to hope that the peacekeepers couldn't look everywhere all at the same time. If all went well they would be out of here in a few hours.

She had no idea where they would go but she put that out of her mind as well. For now, food and water.

There wasn't much, a make things cold box which was empty except a few bottles of milk, a few pots on the side, most of them just smelled funny, some could have been tea one was sugar which was not as good as honey but still sweet.

She hid next to the make things cool box for a while, just to check that no one had heard. It seemed like this building was empty at least at night. She found a jug and filled it with water, hiding again until she was sure the running water hadn't alerted anyone.

Nothing. Pruna forced herself to breathe, now for the hard part, she found another pan and turned on the fire. She was glad of Peeta's cooking lessons now, she could do it with as little fuss as possible. Milk went into the pan and sugar and it all went onto the stove.

So it was a little while later that Pruna crept slowly back down to the crack she had found.

"Sandy?" Her voice was a quiet whisper.

The crawlspace was seemingly empty when Pruna returned...had Sandy bolted?

Seconds passed before a tiny squeak of a voice from above broke the silence.

Sandy had...apparently gotten worried about being found and crawled up into the pipes that were just above the entrance to the crawl space. She was wrapped around at least three with a fourth that she was clearly doing her best not to touch. It was too hot.

Seeing it was Pruna she began what looked to be a very difficult process of removing herself from the pipes. As if it weren't hard enough to avoid the hot water pipe she was still hurt and when she finally wriggled free she lay on the ground breathing heavy and trembling once more.

"owowowowowowowowshitdamnfuck." She mumbled in a hushed mewling.

The few seconds were enough to make Pruna begin to panic, where was she? Had she ran? Had Pruna been too long?

Pruna gritted her teeth when Sandy began to move, relief waring with the urge to snap at her to hurry up. She didn't though. She gave her a few moments to her mewling cursing.

"Sandy, can you be helping? I do be needing to be passing some things down before I can be jumping."

Obediently and without a word Sandy rolled onto her hands and knees before scrambling over to offer her help. As much as she was clearly hurting she couldn't hesitate when Pruna asked.

"Are they out there?" She whispered anxiously as they covered the entrance once more.

"No. It do be being silent." She told her once she and all her supplies were safely inside. She took the lid off the pan with the water, it had a cup in it as well. "Be drinking."

She had to look at her injuries, but she wanted to make sure that Sandy was comfortable first, it could wait five minutes whilst she ate and drank. Pruna opened the second pan, it wasn't as hot as it should be, she hadn't wanted to wait around too long and it had cooled on the way back since she had had to balance it on top of the cold water pan to carry. She filled the big spoon with the sugery milk. She had gotten lucky, there had been bread in one of the cupboards and Pruna had decided they wouldn't miss one slice, so that had gone in as well.

"Be eating too." She held out the spoon for Sandy.

Once again Sandy didn't hesitate and she ravenously drank at are the offerings, only slowing to breath and make sure she didn't spill anything.

"S 'good." She managed to croak out between spoonfuls of the sweet sort-of-soup. "Thank you." She added apologetically.

About halfway through she slowed again. "You should have some too."

Pruna smiled, for the first time since she had found Sandy. She was glad she liked the food, Sandy liked sweet things as much as Pruna did.

She shook her head, "I did be making it for you. I will be having some water though." She wasn't hungry, at least not as hungry as Sandy, but the running had been thirsty work.

"Be eating it all."

Sandy hesitated a moment longer then nodded and resumed eating till the pan was empty. She even licked the inside of the pan getting some on her bandages.

"They didn't feed us much." She gasped and slumped with a belly full of the concoction. "Then they shoved mush in my mouth and I choked on it."

But it was calmer when she spoke, the food was helping to steady her. The darkness, Pruna's face, all keeping her grounded.

"Mush do be being stupid." And she was going to kill everyone who did that to Sandy. All of them. Slowly and horribly.

Sandy sounded calmer though and that was good. Pruna gathered the other things, the rags and a towel from the kitchen.

"I do be needing to be looking at your injuries." She told her softly, "And cleaning them."

This caused Sandy to stiffen once more and she hesitated before nodding gently. She and Pruna had dressed each others wounds before in the arena, not to mention sitting down at the table in the training center and learning some skills in first aid. The first time they'd met after all they'd needed Howard to help fix Sandy's mangled leg.

Of course Howard was gone now too. Released into the Capitol society as a citizen of the very people who had done this to Sandy.

She sat up a little straighter and waited for Pruna's guidance to see what she wanted to look at first.

Pruna wasn't sure where to start but she nodded when Sandy did, glad that the other girl still trusted her.

Hands she decided, hands were important, as where arms. She reached out for Sandy's to gauge if there was any damage or injury.

Sandy held out her hands where each of ten fingers were wrapped in ragged bandages. As they peeled away they revealed to just what lengths the Capitol had gone to make the girl talk.

First came the most obvious injuries, each fingertip and her thumbs had been burnt badly. The skin had blistered and it was likely if there were any nerves left in her fingers that every motion she made with them was a painful one.

Almost more horrible and off putting though was the bloody ragged mess ontop of each finger. It looked like her nails had been forcibly ripped out.

She looked away with shame.

Anger hummed through Pruna, thoughts of what she would do if she ever caught who did this to Sandy ran through her mind. But apart from the anger there was very little reaction, she didn't look disgusted or afraid.

When Sandy looked away she frowned, this was what she didn't know how to deal with. She could clean away the blood, she could wrap up the fingers, nails would grow back but all the stupid feelings inside.

Pruna couldn't fix them. She didn't think anyone could, she had never heard of any doctors or healers who could fix feelings. She reached out and poked Sandy on the head, going for an uncovered part so not to hurt her too much. "You can be closing your eyes, or be looking at me but you do no be having to be looking away."

The poke made her blink and relax ever so gently. There was something familiar in the action that reminded her of Pruna's previous attempts at help.

Turning back she nodded looking at the fingers in their new clean white bandages.

"They made me take out the nails. They had a thing, it went under my nail and I had to hit this pad. They said they'd believe me if I took them all off..but they didn't. They knew I was a liar. A stupid girl but they knew. Even when all the nails were on the floor they didn't let me go."

She barely kept her voice hushed and when a particularly high whimper came out she clapped bandaged fingers over her lips equally bandaged lips*

Pruna listened, because she couldn't do anything else and because she thought she should listen. Sandy had always been noisy about her feelings and Pruna guessed that was because it was good for her to be noisy about them, so she shouldn't make her be quiet about them.

"Of course they did no be being." She nodded, still frowning. "They would never be believing you, no never, no matter what you did be doing."

She couldn't really meet Sandy's eyes properly because of all the bandages, Pruna took a deep breath and reached up to begin untying them.

Her lips were the first thing exposed. Cracked and swollen she'd clearly taken a hit or two from someone much bigger. She was even missing a tooth much like Pruna used to.

Her cheeks were also battered, with dark discoloration on each. She was holding very still now since everything was so tender. A cut on her right cheek looked to be a knife wound, not too deep but fresh. Like they had just wanted to scare her.

Mission accomplished.

Her right eye was still purple and swollen shut with stickiness possibly from tears that leaked from the lid. It twitched like it was trying to open but couldn't quite get there.

The other eye, thankfully remained untouched but a deep bag and purple ring betrayed sleeplessness.

Just when it seemed the worst was behind them it was revealed on her forehead. A deep blistered burn, still dark and fresh. This wound unlike the others had been tended to. It was clearly meant to heal properly and serve as a symbol.

That symbol was round and bore the familiar logo of the Capitol, just as it appeared on banners and the television. It had been seared into her flesh with iron like she was livestock.

"Is it bad?" She whispered in that same apologetic tone.

Pruna wavered on the edge of the emptiness, because she was angry and didn't want it to show on her face. She made herself study each injury, and try to remember what she had been taught about dealing with them.

She noted which ones would need to be re-bandaged, which ones could stay uncovered. The brand though sent all thoughts spiraling out of her head.

Pruna didn't know all that much about branding, it wasn't something she had learned about. Most of the work she did was secret and silent, a brand was not. It was loud, it was a distinctive mark, it was easily traceable.

She quickly went through what she did know. It was sometimes done to slaves, those that would be slaves for a really long time. She had seen a boy once with a brand on his face and had asked Taiwin about it. He had explained that it was most often used to claim ownership or to teach a lesson that could not be forgotten.

Pruna retreated further into the emptiness as she dipped one of the scraps of material into what was left of the water and began cleaning the cuts gently. "I will be killing them all." Her voice was empty, without emotion. "I will be taking their eyes and cutting out their tongues. They will no be getting away with this."

This was strangely comforting in it's own way.

"If I see the guy who did it I'll tell you." She promised softly blinking slowly and working to keep her eyes on Pruna's as unsettling as they were when she was in the emptyness.

"I tried to go to the Emptyness like you taught me...but he broke through really fast."

"You will be doing." Pruna nodded, meeting Sandy's eyes as she continued cleaning the cuts, her gentle hands at odds with the fierce words and empty tone.

She shook her head, "It do be being difficult to be staying in the emptiness and they do be being experts at breaking people I do be thinking." It made her angry but there was also fear at the edge of the emptiness and Pruna withdrew further into it to keep the fear out. "You do be being alive, I do be thinking that do be being an achievement." Alive and though she was clearly hurt, frightened and broken she still had her mind, she could still speak and look Pruna in the eye.

It seemed her girlfriend was tougher than Pruna had given her credit for.

Sandy flinched gently at the stinging as the disinfectant worked on her cuts, but it was more of a reaction then actual pain. She didn't draw away and she didn't take her eyes off Pruna.

"What was it like back home?" She asked softly looking for a distraction as the memories of her torture began to bubble and rise into the forethought of her mind.

For a moment Pruna broke eye contact, looking down when the question was asked, fighting to keep the emptiness. She succeeded eventually and met Sandy's eyes again, "It did be being stupid." She started, she would have liked to stop there but she knew Sandy was looking for a distraction.

"I will be going to the temple, the one I did be telling you about. Priestess Elina did be telling me, if I had no been brought back here I would have been going already. She do be wanting me to be training to be being a warrior."

Sandy blinked slowly and struggled to understand.

"But...what about all the training you've already done? You already had a job didn't you? Why change it?" Her freshly bandaged fingers played with the hem of Pruna's shirt to give herself something to do while they spoke.

Pruna scooted closer, if Sandy was okay with touching her then she didn't have to worry so much about touching back, to begin cleaning the brand, carefully and gently.

She shrugged, "I do be guessing she did be deciding I would be being more useful there. I will still be having my old job, I will just be doing it somewhere else, there do be being a lot of dark god followers at the temple. They will be continuing my training."

Cleaning the brand made her flinch, it was so clear the design they had gone for and the stabbing and blistering had not had nearly enough care. Gripping the hem of Pruna's shirt tighter Sandy shuddered but held back her sounds of displeasure.

"Am I still allowed to come with you?" She whispered clearly worried about if that would crush their plans.

Pruna concentrated on making sure it was clean, trying to ignore her flinching because she knew that it hurt, but it would also help.

She blinked at the question, she had almost forgotten that promise, that they would both go back to her world... "You can be if you do be wanting to be..." She looked down, "I do no be knowing really what the temple do be being like but they do be accepting anybody who do be wanting to be learning."

It was maybe a better plan than before, in the temple Sandy could learn to fight and she wouldn't be stuck with Pruna but they would still be able to see each other.

There was one problem though... "But... when I did be being home... I did no be remembering, no here, or you or anything..."

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