I'm sorry to interrupt. [closed]

[reallynow]

Who| Jolie and Steve
What| It's not a safe day to be a Capitolite- rebellion confessions and blackout snogging
Where| Tribute Tower
When| During the Eva-lution
Warnings/Notes| Kissing!?

It's been a hell of a night so far, but Jolie expected no less. People are going balls out crazy, the Capitol is struggling to get the upperhand and Jolie is stuck somewhere in between. She made the choice to side with the tributes long ago, when they'd showed her unconditional amounts of concern when they owed her fuck all. When the Capitol was targeting people around her and she realised that her life isn't as safe or as valuable as she envisioned it was. The time to step up came and she took it, but now she can't help being scared. More scared, that is. She'd been scared since she agreed to help, since they singled out Stephen and missed her and now that Capitolites might as well have targets painted on their backs. She needs to play the field to alleviate suspicion, so she's aware that she looks complicit in the oppression of tributes and districts and anyone who wasn't born into the luxury of the Capitol.

This isn't a safe place to be right now, especially not head to toe in drag of all things. It isn't like she's had a chance to change between trying to confess her seditious leanings to her Pro-Capitol friend while both helping and avoiding people stuck in the chaos. Her heels have long since been abandoned while she slinks through the halls, looking for someone she knows and can stick with rather than trying to brave this alone. She hitches her skirt up and marches along like she isn't afraid of anything, coincidentally finding just the kind of person you want to be around when you need a shoulder to lean on. Or hide behind. Whatever. She knows that ass anywhere, so she's trotting toward it with gusto.

"Hey, honey." She tries not to sound too frantic. "Keeping out of trouble?" The smile she gives him is more than a little dubious, the brand on his face makes it pretty obvious he's incapable of doing that, but she's going to loop arms with him anyway.

Comments

[aboveangrybees]

A hell of a night is one way to put it. Despite the heart wrenching message - a mother bereft of her child and doing what damage she could on her way out - he wouldn't waste the opportunity and gift. He was up and out of the tower within minutes of the powering going down, knowing what needed to be done on his part while he had the time. He had no need to deface the capitol or join the riots that will surely ensue, he had no want to hunt people or to kill - the ones he would want to take down would surely be where the, suddenly sparse, peacekeepers have gone.

No, he had a shield and hammer to retrieve.

And successfully so at that.

He just had tucked them away in the device Lonestar made him, before heading out to help people, to stop blood shed and attacks, to protect those who needed it. While he can understand why his fellow tributes might want to attack other people, a lot of innocent people were going to get caught up in the crossfire or wrongly targeted. He might dislike the capitol, but most of the people here are ignorant, blind by the normality of it all, they aren't bad people. It's something he's always believed, but it's people like Jolie that solidified it.

So, it's an enormous relief when she shows up, returning her smile with a crooked one of his own. She looks relatively okay, despite the frantic note in her voice, but he knows that this all must be terrifying. He puts his hand on the arm she loops with his, in a show of keeping it securely there, to comfort. But as he does so, he angles his face to mask his brand in the darkness more - a subconscious action, he's never been vain, but it's still something that feels ugly.

"I've never been very good at keeping out of trouble," yeah, he usually goes looking for it. "Especially, when trouble come finds me," it's a tease, something he hopes will ease her.

[reallynow]

There isn't much doubt in Jolie's mind that Steve would be at least a little impartial between Tributes and Capitolites. She was certain he'd never hurt anyone without good reason, but maybe he has good reason? He has no idea what they did to him in prison, but she'd seen his face and felt overwhelmed with guilt that she has no outlet for. It had been bad enough seeing Stephen get cuffed for his efforts, but people are being horribly tortured and she got off entirely.

It isn't a surprise that he'd disappeared for a while, not that Jolie had been particularly looking for him. The amount of people out of the Arena that she could trust was limited enough to make it notable, but she won't ask or think too hard. The anxiety is already pretty sickening for her.

"Well you know shit is bad when trouble is troubled." She drawls, feeling more at ease with his play. Still, there's something niggling on her mind about this whole blackout and what she can do with it. It seems a waste not to lay down her gauntlet as much as possible, right? She pauses to give him a nudge toward what looks to be an unoccupied room. "Can I steal to you for a moment? --Another one, I guess."

[aboveangrybees]

He looks the direction she nudges him, seeing that she aims to further seclude them. It's a good thing he trusts her or he might resist. After all, it really is ideal circumstances to murder someone, but that doesn't even cross his mind. Jolie is troubled and he'll do what he can to help her out.

"You got me for as long as you need," he says it with a nod, taking a glance around them before leading them in the room, only stopping long enough to take a glance into the room and confirm that it's empty.

With the door shut, he gives her a concerned look, "What's on your mind?"

[reallynow]

The fact that trying to herd him somewhere more private could be perceived some sort of half-baked murder attempt doesn't occur to Jolie either. Less because she could never murder him and more because the idea of her taking on someone like Steve Rogers is just too hilarious to consider right now.

"You might be here a while, then." She admits, not devoid of the ability to flirt even if it's mostly an instinctive response at this point. Flirting is a natural mechanism in any situation.

"A lot." She heaves her shoulders in a shrug, perfectly content to be dramatic in her gestures since they're standing around in the dark. "Look. It's about you. All of you. Tribute things." She waves a hand flippantly, glancing around warily despite knowing they're alone. "I'm on your side." She says finally. "I helped shit along with the jailbreak and.." What? Is she trying to earn brownie points here? Does she just want to get it off her chest? She knows there's a reason Steve in particular seemed like someone she wanted to tell.

"..And I wanna. Keep helping. I guess." She offers with another little shrug, suddenly feeling all kinds of uncertain about everything but one aspect of this. Steve was definitely the right person to tell, Jolie doesn't regret that much.

[aboveangrybees]

The mention of her helping with the jailbreak makes his eyes immediately dart down to her wrists, looking for a cuff, but when he sees none, he feels immensely relieved. She got away with it. He hadn't thought anyone got away with it. That means they're actually capable of doing more under the capitol's radar than he initially thought. There's holes in their system.

But right now, he's focused on Jolie and her unusually halting cadence. Like she was doubting herself at every word.

He takes her hand in his, holding it securely. His voice isn't judgmental in the slightest, he understands her hesitation completely, after all, there's no shame in wanting to stay alive. "I can't think of anyone I would want more on our side. But that doesn't mean you're obligated to help us either, if you choose to or not to, I'll always do all I can to protect you."

He pauses, because he needs to be more real with her on this, he needs to know she understands what's at stake here. "But we both know I won't be around all the time," arenas, incarceration, possibly district 13 in the future, death, "this is dangerous business, you could lose your life or worse. I don't want you doing anything you're unwilling to."

[reallynow]

Steve's line of vision isn't beyond Jolie's notice, so she raises her hands to make it easier for him to see. It's not difficult to imagine what he's thinking, but considering it just scares her. She's like a leak in a boat, she's a fault in the system and it's a matter of time until they find her and take care of her.

Still, she can't help the way her heart flutters when he flatters her like that. When a few words are enough to make her feel special, like this isn't a bad choice because he believes in her. God damn, when did she get mushy? Her brain is an embarrassing place right now, but at least her train of thought takes a more serious turn when he keeps talking.

Yep. There it is. That's the zinger. She takes a deep breath when he mentions the possibility of her dying, even though it's something she's considered about a thousand times before. "I know." It sounds soft, so it bears repeating with more conviction. "I know, I definitely know. I'm not unwilling, I just.." She trails off, shrugging her shoulders when she does. "I've been in this business a long time, Steve- Back when it was kids. Dumb kids from the Districts who never even held a knife before." Her voice wavers again, because it's the hardest thing to talk about all the kids she didn't think much of before.

"If they can put their life on the line for something they don't even want to do- I can do this. It's the least I can do." She raises her hands, as if urging him to stop talking before he's even started. "I don't know what I'm in for if I do this, but I know what'll happen if I don't do anything." She can feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, but that's the most confident she's sounded through all of this.

[aboveangrybees]

In this moment, she reminds him of that skinny kid from Brooklyn, the one who did everything he could to do the right thing, to help people. The one who broke laws and risked imprisonment just so they would send him overseas to die. (There are men laying down their lives, I got no right to do any less than them.) Sure, there are still major differences - she's more able, more frightened, smarter - but she's no less brave. Maybe braver because she's scared and doing it anyway.

It's admirable. And though he never needed proof, she's exactly that, proof that the natives of the Capitol can see the folly in the wrongs of their government.

He gives her a small smile, something private between them, his hand coming to rest on her upper arm. "That's more than enough to convince me," he gives her arm a reassuring squeeze. "Maybe you don't know what you're in for, but you're not in it alone, kid," the old-fashioned endearment rolls off his tongue easily and without regret.

"And I'm in your corner. Just do what you believe in, what you feel is right, and if anyone gives you any shit, well, I know a few people who have your back," a few is understating it, especially with the way he gives her a knowing smile. She's endeared herself to a lot of the tributes, he knows that much.

[reallynow]

There's something very disarming about Steve's calm approach to it all. It both panics her and reassures her to know that he's handling this so well. After coming back from talking with Holly, who had quickly descended into panic, it's jarring. It makes her feel both irrational and rational, everything he's saying hits the right notes and she never realised how much she needed to hear it. It's scary when you cast yourself off from the Capitol, like you're walking a tightrope with no safety net. There's no certainty that the Tributes will want her help or deem her useful enough to help in turn, but it feels silly now to ever assume she'd be totally alone.

It's hard to be afraid when you have someone like Steve, a known pillar of strength and justice and basically everything that opposes the Capitol, backing you up all the way. Yet, it's scary that she even needs that and it's scary that she could turn him down and get him in more trouble. There's a lot to be worried about, but in the wake of what she's realising just how liberating it is to tell someone. Now two people know, two more than Lonestar and Stephen. If she goes missing, someone will know what happened and maybe, just maybe, there's a glimmer of a chance that she'll be saved as well.

Her nose crinkles when he calls her kid, clearly a little thrown by someone who looks to be much younger than her using a term like that. It brings a small smile to her face and she lets out a faint laugh, a little overwhelmed for words for the moment. She can't help it, when he smiles like that she's a little bit like a moth drawing towards a light. She tilts her chin up, as if in challenge, leveling a sly look on him.

"Well, when you put it that way.." She trails off, leaning up to press a decidedly chaste kiss to the corner of Steve's mouth. It's casual, but it lingers just a little.