who are we to be emotional

[fight_like_a_girl]

WHO| Steph and YOU!
WHAT| Arrival Shenanigans
WHEN| Today after she gets dropped in Panem
WHERE| Training Center, District 8 Suites, Rooftop
WARNINGS| None at the moment!


Training Center

This isn't the first time Stephanie has woken up in a strange place, but it was certainly the first time for a mob of armed guards informing her that she was now apart of a battle royal to the death. She'd insisted that they must be joking, but when they got nasty and threatened violence, she backed off. Contrary to popular belief, she didn't actually enjoy getting beat up. There was also the nagging feeling that something was very wrong with her, she just couldn't place what, which is why she's here in the training center.

It doesn't take long for her to discover that they're somehow blocking the serum in her body. Her punches don't move the sandbags like they used to, and she gets winded so easily that it's alarming. Steph stops the bag from swinging, breathing hard and fast. None of this boded well.



District 8 Suites

The district suites where they dropped her off are ridiculous to say the least. They're huge and gaudy and she can't quite decide if she likes them or not; It's so much space for so few people. She might be biased in that respect, but there's no denying the scale and luxury of it all.

Steph is poking around the common areas and the kitchen, investigating all the bells and whistles. It's not like she has much else to do.



Rooftop

After everything that's happened so far, Steph has wandered to the rooftop for some fresh air. She has to admit that the view of the city is is impressive. It's still a whole different world, hostile and controlling, apparently feeding on death and pain like it's going out of style. It's frustrating to be so powerless in the face of such gross injustices. But none of that means she's about to give up. No, she's just got to come up with a plan of attack. And there's no use rushing headlong into trouble.
 

Comments

Training Center

[metalicarus]

He honestly hadn't been coming around to the training center as often as he should be since he'd come back to the capitol, maybe it was that feeling of wanting to relax and pretend he wasn't trapped in a death cycle the few weeks leading to his wedding. But that was silly when another arena might be just around the corner, what with their new attachment to mini-arenas.

So he was down there, practicing with his knives and daggers and making a real mess of the dummies he was training on. He just pretended they were capitol officials and the people behind all of this mess and it became really easy to focus really fast.

Normally, others doing their training went ignored if he didn't know them and a quick glance said he didn't, but when he stopped to take a break and noticed how winded she was, he decided a little socializing wouldn't hurt...besides, it was getting a little too quiet for his liking.

"You should take a break, if you hurt yourself now, you won't be in good shape for the next arena."

He realized after he said it that she might not be in the mood to talk or to even hear advice from another tribute (the more he looked at her, the more he was fairly sure she was new) but he'd already spoken faster than his brain could think, so it was too late now.

[fight_like_a_girl]

She'd been ignoring anyone else who's come down there, not out of rudeness, but because she's been taking this one step at a time. There would be time to talk to people once she's wrapped her head around what's going on.

Not that she's any closer to a real answer that this point. The other blonde is right, she really should give it a rest before her lungs decided they don't want to work any more. Chronic breathing problems where never much fun.

"You're probably right." She pushes her sweaty bangs out of her face before turning towards him. "Though I'm not exactly looking forward to it."

You'd have to be crazy to enjoy getting thrown in a death match.

[metalicarus]

"Yeah, most of us don't...some do, but you'll figure out who they are pretty fast."

They were the crazy ones that blew people up and drove cars around a mall to run people down, they was hard to miss. Jet moved closer to her, leaving the cut up targets to be cleaned away by the avoxes.

"What kind of weapon're you used to using? It's a good idea to have a back-up in case they don't have it. Like you're gonna find guns are in short supply here."

She could obviously fight, so he assumed she was a fighter of some kind on her own world. He just hoped she didn't mind him trying to help a little. Jet didn't have a reliable mentor being from District 2, so he'd gotten used to reaching out to others and figuring out his own way.

On ze roof

[arrogantalloy]

Tony was already up on the roof, like a great many people he had taken to the free space well enough, that and it being good and high up didn't at all hurt him as he does sorely miss being up good and high. He made no effort to sit in places that would make him feel more isolated like some tended to do up here. Mostly because when Tony wanted to be alone he knew more than a few ways to cut himself off from the world.

So right now, he's just leaning his arms on the railing as he looks out at the skyline, pretending it's New Yorks. Hearing footsteps he looks over his shoulder at her taking in her overall look and demeanour.

"Looks like you've been hit by the welcome wagon."

Is all he says before he looks back out over the skyline.

[fight_like_a_girl]

Steph stops dead in her tracks at the sight and sound of him. Out of all the people she expected to meet here, he was certainly not one of them. She's startled, but supposes it's not too much of a stretch that they brought more than one of them there.

"Tony." She walks over to talk to him, leaning on the railing beside him. No sense in yelling across a rooftop. "When did you get here?"

[arrogantalloy]

"Uh. Five months, three weeks, two days ago."

He replies with casually. He's gotten kind of used to people knowing who he is here, not that it was overly hard for him to adapt to at all. However he had to admit there was a certainly level of familiarity coming from her in the way she spoke to him that felt like more than the 'I've read comics about you' or 'I go to the same coffee shop everyday just to see if I can spot you flying off in your suit.' kinds of familiarity.

And as such he looks at her like he would look at anyone else he doesn't know who knows him. With a neutral expression.

Rooftop

[tasermaiden]

Darcy's found that, sometimes, things in the tower get too intense. Emotions run high. People lose their shit over having to share a bathroom with other people. Things are said, objects are thrown, and crazy Russian spies with eyepatches are apparently prone to losing their shit in the most epic of manners.

And when that happens, she grabs the iPod that Steve had liberated during the black out and returned to her and goes up to the roof. She just focuses on being surrounded by her music and the wind and the sight of all the other rooftops and tries to imagine that this is all some bizarre fantasy.

When Darcy sees the blonde, she can't help but stare a little bit. She's new. Or at least Darcy thinks she is. She's never seen her before. And...wow. She's gorgeous. Like, supermodel gorgeous.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Darcy asks one she finally manages to pick her jaw up off the ground.

[fight_like_a_girl]

She's used to people staring, it happens a lot back home and for varying reasons, but she knows enough to see that the girl doesn't mean anything bad by it. Steph smiles and shrugs.

"A penny won't buy you much these days." See, she's still got her sense of humor. Maybe. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything."

[tasermaiden]

"I'm not used to pennies being some to buy anything. Dagnabbed inflation." Sorry, Steph, she's a hopeless 90s and on kid. "I don't even know if they have pennies here."

Note to self: look into how currency here works. That's kind of important.

"That makes two of us. I'm Darcy, by the way. Darcy Lewis."

Training centre

[tookthewheel]

By now he's long become accustomed to the limitations that they've placed upon his body. His time in the training centre is now dedicated to getting used to those limits, exploring and learning to cope with them so the next time they go into the arena he'll be as deadly as he can be. As he needs to be.

He's tired of failing and the events of the recent arena sit like open wounds on the surface of his mind. Bucky can do better, he will do better. It doesn't matter when they tell him it's 'okay', that he doesn't have too, he's still failing the mission goals and the Soldier's conditioning remains strong enough that he expects punishment for it after.

Or maybe it's not just the asset that feels that way, maybe James Barnes never sat well with failure either.

The metal arm is bare when he works out, his desire to cover it negated by a need not to overheat. Bucky picks up a bunch of small throwing knives, inputs instructions into a computer display to start targets moving at a rapid pace and then begins to throw.

[fight_like_a_girl]

Steph has been purposely ignoring anyone who happens to come by. She's usually not that antisocial, but it's harder to think when she has to carry on a conversation. There's time for making acquaintances later.

But the newest arrival catches her eye. That arm is very, very familiar, but it's on the wrong person. However she doesn't recognize him, so she stays quiet for the moment. Instead she takes a break from beating up the sandbag to watch him.

training!

[gladiayyygirl]

Training is an important part of Gannicus's day - it separated the long evenings of drinking from the long mornings of being hungover. And he's got his work cut out for him: there are so many weapons here from beyond his time, so many skills yet to learn. The gulf between the arenas of his own time and the arenas he has been thrown in to lately has been difficult to cross. But training, learning, absorbing all he can from the strangers and aliens he is forced to call allies - this is his strategy now. This is how he spends his days.

Today it's rock climbing. He's been fighting his way up a wall of shifting pegs and moving blocks all morning and working up enough of a sweat that he's had to roughly tie his hair back in a low ponytail. In a pause between sets he wanders to get a cone of water, bringing him close enough for the blonde at the sandbag to catch his eye.

Gannicus watches work the bag for a few long moments then says:

"You possess good form." He grins appreciatively at her, nodding at the bag. "Should you wish to try your hand against real flesh, I would volunteer my services."

[fight_like_a_girl]

His voice startles her at first as she hadn't realize anyone had been watching her. She pauses in her assault on the bag, stopping it's swing before turning to him. He reminds her a lot of Thor, with the way he speaks. He kinda looks a little like him too.

"Thanks." Steph gives him a small smile. "I try to stay in shape."

She's still worried about exactly what has happened to her body. She's slower, weaker, and her endurance is reduced, but she's not totally as she was before the serum. Thank god for that. She didn't think she'd get very far in that state.

So she has to get a jump on keeping in fighting form. There's no telling what ability she'd lose if she didn't.

"I might have to take you up on that sometime."

district 8

[reallynow]

Speaking of ridiculous, Jolie really just adds to the decorum when they drop Stephanie off. She's sitting at the table in a gaudy dress with equally extravagant hair and make up, flicking boredly through a magazine before perking up at the entrance.

She's on her feet immediately, crossing toward Stephanie with a wide, bright smile. "They finally sent me another girl." She chirps, her voice just a little masculine, but not very telling. Her hands clasp together excitedly, taking in the finer details of Stephanie's appearance before it occurs to her that she ought to introduce herself.

"I'm Jolie, by the way. I'll be your stylist- yes, you have a stylist and no it's not optional." Have another smile. "On a scale of one to ten how freaked out are you?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

The contrast between the surly guards and Jolie's exuberance is jarring. Steph isn't sure what to do or say at first, as she's still reeling from the whole experience, but she can't stay silent when she's bombarded with information.

"Ah," Okay, answer the question before asking your own. "A nine, maybe?"

How do you even put a number on getting kidnapped? Steph scrubbed at her face with a sigh before continuing.

"Back up, what's a stylist?"

training center;

[stotte]

It's been a few weeks since she'd returned from the arena, but it was now that Astrid was really dedicating herself to training harder. It comes from experience that one learns that anything could happen when you're playing the games and no matter how stronger someone thinks they are, there's always things that could knock you out.

Already an expert with the axe, she begins practicing with other weapons to improve her variety in ability, but decides most of the training should go into making better use of her own body. Setting down the weights, she decides she's done fairly well for the day until she spots another blond across the room who seems to be doing a bit better.

Even if the stranger might believe she's weakened, in Astrid's eyes, it's still a very impressive sight, not often seeing too many girls with that amount of physical strength. She doesn't tend to approach first, but she's curious, walking closer to her without really thinking too much about it.

"That's quite an arm you've got there."

[fight_like_a_girl]

The training room is a lot busier than she thought it would have been, but it's not unreasonable for people to be here. It is a gym after all. An over the top, morbid sort of gym, but one none the less.

It's the fact that there's another woman here that really grabs Steph's attention. She's seen girls about, sure, but not as many of them down here.

"Thanks." She's also really bad at taking a compliment, because she considers herself no better than anyone else. But it's still nice to hear it. "You look like you could hold your in a fight."

Roof!

[sizeofyourbaggage]

He's been up here a lot, the past few days since he woke up here. It's a lot to get a handle on, and he's always felt most like himself when he's close to the sky.

But he always keeps an eye out for other people up on the roof, since finding out a number of people come up here for similar reasons. So he notices her arrival, and gives her a nod.

"Hey," he greets, tossing her a smile. "Pretty great view for a prison, huh?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

"Yeah, it is--"

She's rarely alone up here, as it seems to be popular spot for those looking to get away, so a new companion isn't unexpected. But she does a double take at his voice and when she sees him her face lights up.

"Sam!" Steph has more than a few mixed feelings about him being here. On one hand, it's great to see someone she knows for once. On the other, this is terrible and he deserves better than this. "I'm so glad to see you."

Y'know, in a friendly sense, not an 'I'm glad you're in the death game too' kind of way.

Another rooftop visitor

[silberfuchs]

He's been happy this past week. Which is surprising given how long it used to take to recover after arenas. This one especially didn't sit well with him, having killed Jet and then been killed by a diminutive torturer. Instead of focusing on that, or perhaps to avoid it, he's been honed in on the impending wedding. Flowers, guests, music, he's made himself so busy that he hardly has time to think of anything else before he tumbles into bed at night.

Which is why it's inevitable that it all catch up to him eventually. It's not all at once, just little things. Seeing Pruna across the lobby and having to fight down a wave of emotions so mixed they're almost unidentifiable. Mentions on television of the tributes to not return from the arena, Cecil and Fili and so many more. Even talking with Venus recently had taken a turn for the morose. He supposes he felt better after airing some of his dirty laundry, but needing to at all is a weight in and of itself. All these things combined are what brings Albert to the roof in an effort to just breathe for a moment.

He leans against the railing, back to it with the near-silent hum of the force field barely audible to the corners of his hearing. Normally he can't hear the fields at all, but the one on top of the tower he guesses they wanted to make more obvious, a deterrent if anyone wished to jump. Albert drops his spent cigarette to the small collection of butts at his feet and immediately lights another one, glancing up as the tall blonde woman steps out onto the roof among the topiaries. She's familiar somehow, but he can't put his finger on why. Maybe it's just the general aura of 'new tribute'.

"Do you smoke?" He normally doesn't approach strangers out of the blue, but he's been too much in his own head already today and needs an out.

[fight_like_a_girl]

She sees him across the rooftop, chain smoking like it's going out of style, and it reminds her of some of her men from her own unit. Everyone had their own way with coping with the stress of war and the things they had to do to keep the people back home safe.

"No, I don't. Sorry." She tried once, a long time ago before the serum, and had nearly landed herself in the hospital. Bucky had almost killed her for almost dying. "Smoking held health benefits" her ass. "But thank you."

She won't begrudge him the choice to though. It's still a nice thought to offer to share with a complete stranger.

"How long have you been here?" She asks, as it seems like this whole thing has been going on for a while.

Training Center

[wizardplease]

It had become far too obvious to Haruto that he and everyone else were in for a very unpleasant time. And lacking his rings, his belt, and any flicker of his magic, it was also obvious to him that he'd need to learn to compensate for their absence. Without big gaudy chunks of magic rock on his fingers, he could certainly get away with punching things if the situation called for it.

So Stephanie isn't the only person at the punching bags today. But she's doing a lot better of a job than this guy. Who has reasonably good punching form, but no real resistance to punching things built up. He's been grimacing this last while... and then he finally stops, hisses through his clenched teeth, and shakes his now loosely balled hands out. Wizards shouldn't be punching things, apparently.

Suddenly noticing that his partner in practice punches had also stopped, he gives Stephanie a glance. And then his grimace becomes an awkward grin. "...think this'll do us any good?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

She totally caught every minute of his less than promising routine on the bags, but hasn't said anything because she doesn't want to intrude. She can't tell who's new like her and who's been here a while already, because she's seen all variations on age and ability, but his question give him away.

"It certainly can't hurt." She pauses for a moment and looks at his hands. "Well, maybe it can."

It doesn't have to though. She's not used to training other people but she'll lend a hand when needed.

"You should probably tape them up if you're just starting out." Or in general really. But we're not going to talk about how used to be able to get away with not doing it and how her knuckles will probably be bruised in the morning.

Training Center

[letthemburn]

For the most part, Iskierka doesn't really bother with the training center. Very few of the things there are made for someone of her generalsize and shape, and so for the most part she simply pokes her head in now and again so that she can say that she has gone somewhat recently, should anyone bother to ask her.

Besides, she figures if she watches long enough maybe she'll get an idea of what the things are for. Enough that maybe she'd be able to make something of them herself. But that's for later, if at all. Right now, it's Stephanie that's the more interesting.

"Surely there are more interesting things to attack?"

[fight_like_a_girl]

"Not particularly." She answers before turning to see who's talking to her, and immediately does a double take. And stares a little.

That is most certainly not a person standing in the training center. That is... good lord, is that a dragon?

Okay, there's a possibility that they're really just an alien that happens to look like a mythical animal, like "gods" who came from the other ends of the universe. Or something. So it's startling, but Steph has seen things much bigger and much more intent on killing her in the past. She can work with this.

"Uh," But the whole dragon thing is still kinda intimidating, especially with the mysterious vanishing of her abilities. "Hi?"