thecapitol | (no subject)

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WHO| Don and EVERYONE EVER MAN
WHAT| A new challenger approaches!
WHEN | 5/12 and onwards!
WHERE | The training arena, the quarters...and really anywhere else you want to drag him.

This wasn't the first time he'd been told he'd be fighting to the death. Or found himself on another planet. Or really just been in a tight spot. When you were a member of his family, those kinds of things just came with the territory.

This was the first time he did it and was considered a celebrity, however. Someone people actually wanted to know about. Indeed, by the time he made it to his (REALLY nice) quarters, the news was already out and people were fighting to get a look at him, to talk to him, to see if he was real. EXOTIC NEW TRIBUTE REAPED FROM DISTRICT 9! Instead of revulsion, there was curiosity. It was like being in a rock band.

Which made Don uncomfortable. He wasn't exactly used to this kind of attention. So for now, he's trying to avoid it, get used to it. Especially since he knows, at least vaguely, why they are so interested in him. Because they want to see how long he lasts, and what he can do.

How do I keep ending up in these situations...?

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Lottie was still dazed from the arena.

The fact she'd almost made it, and then...didn't had left her disappointed. Waking up, after dying had left her overwhelmed and confused.

There were so many parties, but she wasn't quite ready. Which for Lottie was confusing all on it's own. But her mentor was pressing her to do something, so she had gotten dressed (which had brought a little spark of happiness to her) and called the elevator to take her down-

-and let out a little shriek when it opened to a giant green monster.

...Well. The more things change...

At this, Don gives the woman a...slightly awkward wave. Hopefully she wouldn't completely go into hysterics and run off screaming. Hopefully.

"...Hi?"

A monster.

That just waved and said hello.

"Oh Jesus, Mary and Joesph..." She said softly, blinking at him with big blue eyes. "Are you real?"

"I...am, I'm afraid." Don gave a sheepish smile. Just keep her calm. "Um, but trust me, I do understand where you'd...be a bit surprised?"

At least he's a polite monster.

"If you want I can just...use the elevator by myself and then send it back if you don't want to. I'm just going to the training rooms."

"Oh. I. Uhm."

Well not she felt awful. Because he seemed...sweet. A sweet giant green monster. Her southern manners and her logic were fighting out. Looking at him for a moment, she suddenly blinked.

"Are you a turtle?!"

"...I am! Actually, a red-eared slider, to be more specific. Though...to be fair I'm not surprised that you've probably never seen one as big as me."

There's a slight, ever so slight, narrowing of his eyes as he analyses her and her accent. She's definitely southern, so it is likely she knows of his native species. The inflection, however, does share some similarities to the way Raph talks, of all people, so taking that into account-

"Pardon if I'm being a...bit nosy, miss, but you wouldn't happen to be from...New Orleans by any chance, are you?"

"Sir, I have seen many a red-eared slider. I have had a few even as pets. And never have I seen one who walked and talked and-oh!" Her eye widened at his last comment. "Why yes. Yes I am."

She paused.

"But they are still much smaller than you."

"Most people haven't seen a turtle like me." He gives her a little smile. "I'm a mutant turtle. That's how I can walk and talk and am a lot bigger than a normal slider, ma'am."

"A...a mutant?"

Her nose crinkled up as she tried to place that word, before finally giving up.

"What's a mutant?"

"Um, well..."

What would be the best way to describe it to her without using jargon?

"Basically a freak of nature."

"Oh."

Well, that actually seemed fairly reasonable. And seemed to sum everything up. She didn't really know what else you'd call a man sized talking turtle that walked on it's hind legs.

She also realized they'd been standing there, holding up the elevator. There was still, well...a lot of reservation about getting on with him. But with what she had survived...she stepped on.

"Going down?"

"Ah! Yes, I am." Don politely stepped aside to let her on. "Which floor are you going to, miss...?"

"La Bouff. Charlotte La Bouff."

She managed a small smile at him, heart still pouncing. But he hadn't attacked her yet. And if she closed her eyes and just listened he seemed like a nice enough fellow.

"I was just going down to explore. Get some fresh air, you know?

"Oh, yeah, I can understand that."

He's not going to attack her any time soon either. Actually, he's inwardly worried about the fact she seems to be in the Tribute quarters, but of course he doesn't say that.

"I'm actually going to go to the training arena, maybe see what they have down there myself."

"Oh. Yes. That."

She sighed. She should go train. But the idea of recognizing the fact that she was going back into that dreadful place at all just...sent chills down her spine.

"Are you...one of the new tributes?"

"I'm afraid so," Don nods. "No way around it."

At this, he presses the button for the training area.

"Where are you planning on getting off, by the way?"

"Oh! I'm still not use to all these flashy future thing a ma jigger's. I need to go back up to the ground level."

She gave him a smile, a real one, before shrugging.

"I'll get use to it. Uhm...good luck, with your training."

Was she suppose to wish them good luck?

"No problem!"

Ground floor it was.

She must really be from the far past! But it would be rude to ask. Then again maybe if he asked who the president was he'd know since elevators per se if they existed in her time were probably not like this one; heck, they weren't quite like this in his time and he had elevators and he was thinking into this WAY too much--

Ground floor it was.

"Thanks!" He gives her a smile as well. "You too, Ms. La Bouff-"

Oh shell.

"-Ah, I totally forgot. Sorry. My name's Hamato, Donatello. Or...just Don works."

"It's nice to meet you Don." She hesitated, before sticking out her hand. "And call me Lottie."

For a giant monster...mutant, she had decided he was alright.

"I'll...I'll see you around."

There are too many cameras around here, too many people with funny hats telling him what he should and shouldn't be doing, and it's frustrating as all hell, because... seriously, what the fuck? They tell him he's 'welcome' here but won't let him leave the building. Yeah. That's not very welcoming. Goddamn lairs...

He'd arrived here with nothing but the shirt on his back, and he feels more vulnerable now that he would care to admit, so far from anything that belongs to him. Not a suit or even a goddamn computer he can touch because everyone here is watching. It makes his skin itchy, and he sure as hell can't sleep.

They call it the Training Center, but it's basically just a pimped-out gym. Tony wanders there after a bite to eat. At least the food as good, he'll give them that.

There's a punching bag in one of the corners, and quite frankly, it will feel good to hit something. He's only been there a few minutes before he catches sight of him walking in the room and Tony stops and stares right at him.

"I... I've got nothing," he says, mostly to himself, but gestures to the... guy?, that just walked in, as though someone was actually listening to him. "I've just been rendered speechless."

"I get that a lot."

Don hears him, giving him a reassuring smile as he surveys the area. Hmm. What exactly should he start with? Probably his weaker attributes. Maybe throwing or the bow...

If he were any other person, he would probably just let it go; leave the poor, uh... guy, in peace. Because giant, walking talking turtle, yeah, that's weird. But most people probably have courtesy enough not to gawk at him; ignore the elephant in the room so to speak. Not Tony though. Curiosity has a vice grip on him, and Tony has never exactly learned how to drop something.

Tony walks straight towards him, "Sorry, I just have to ask. What is this?" he gestures to basically all of him.

"This..." At this Don gestures back to himself. "Is a turtle."

At this, his eyes narrow slightly, his hand on his chin. He has spotted that faint glow on Tony's chest.
What was...

"Nice pacemaker, though...right?"

Tony actually laughs at that, drumming the center of his chest with the tips of his fingers, "Something like that," he shrugs.

"No, but seriously, on the scale of say... tadpole to dragon, how nonsensical are you on the evolutionary scale? Is it a lab experiment gone horribly wrong... or I suppose horribly right if giant turtle was the goal there. Uh. No offense."

"...Actually, it was an accident with radioactive alien waste that mutated my DNA. No lab experiments. But not improbable." He goes to pick up a bow. Hm; he'd only ever used one a few times. He picked on up, trying to figure out the weight of it, the grip he could use. "No offense taken."

"That sounds, uh... messy. But you know, good for you. Opposable thumbs is all the rage now-days." Tony moves takes a small side-step to get out of his way. Not that he's about to give him any space, but he's not excited about getting accidentally elbowed in the face, either. "I bet that makes family reunions weird though, you don't keep your mom in a shoebox or anything do you? How did you learn to talk anyway?"

Tony is never really aware when he's being offensive... or, maybe he's a little bit aware, but curiosity always overrides that.

"Um..." Yeah, that second to last bit was a bit awkward. "I actually never knew my mother. We came from a pet shop."

He takes up an arrow.

"As for talking, we all just learned like any normal human would." Hmm, notch it... "Some of us never learned how to stop talking...but...judging by your reaction, I'm guessing you definitely haven't met Mikey."

Speaking of which, he was wondering if he was the only one Panem apparently took. Cracks about Mikey tended to be much funnier when his little brother was there to react to them...especially since how often did Don make them?...

Tony quirks an eyebrow because he's pretty sure that jab was directed at him. But that's never really stopped him before.

"Right. Pet shop. Should have guessed. But what is all this 'we' business, Koopa Troopa?" He watches turtle-guy here notch his arrow, studying how he does it. Tony has never picked up a bow in his life and has no desire to embarrass himself by trying to attempt it now. But knowing the basics could be useful. Maybe. Who the hell knows....

"There's more than one of you?"

"Three brothers and my sensei."

~~Does he look like a Koopa Troopa, seriously-~~ With that, he brought the bow up, pulled the string, aimed, and fired.

And managed only to hit the target in the shoulder.

Well. At least he hit it?...

"Nice," Tony almost teases. It's better than he could do, but... well, he won't be calling him Robin Hood anytime in the near future he doesn't think. "Sensei must have been more of a kung fu master I'm going to assume. Uh... no offense."

God, sometimes he just doesn't know when to put a lid on it. Its a shock more people haven't punched him in the face over the course of his lifetime. Maybe he should just change the subject really fast before he can turn around and smack him with the bow in his hand. "I'm Tony by the way. I hear you and I may have a camping trip coming up in a few days."

Tony is lucky that its Don and not Raph. That punch to the face would have been a guarantee. Don, on the other hand, isn't as easy to rouse - even with that quip towards his father. ~~Considering Master Splinter has caught arrows and other projectiles shot at him mid-air, its not exactly an insult...~~

"You could say that." The turtle shrugs. "I'm Donatello. Though I think its less of a 'may' and more of a 'will'."

"I've never really understood the whole camping thing, personally. Getting away from it all; experiencing the great outdoors and what have you. Not that I have anything against the outdoors. They're great. Outdoors. But then again, I didn't have a lot of that growing up. Not even summer camp. I'm still pretty sure there was a lot less murder going on at summer camp though."

Tony shifts his weight and crosses his arms as though he's settling in to stay and watch.

"I'm pretty sure most camps didn't have much murder going on." Donatello gets another arrow ready. "Otherwise I've got to wonder what the Boy Scouts in Manhattan and Queens are up to on Long Island."

"Long Island? Really? I'm that obvious?" Tony is either impressed that the guy managed to guess that at all, or just totally gave away that's where he grew up by Don's random statement. It wasn't as though New York was an unheard of and rarely-referenced place. But it sounds like he's making a statement, and if he is... well, kudos to him.

"A little." Don gave a small smile. "When you've lived in New York long enough, you can tell who comes from there by the way they talk."

"Eh, well, guilty as charged I suppose. You know those urban legends they have about baby alligators kids flush down the toilet who grow up to be giant mutant swear dwellers who eat people... you don't think there's any truth to that do you? Most stories stem from some kind of truth after all... but I'm just thinking aloud here. What part of New York did you say you were from?" he raises an eyebrow, even though he knows Don never actually said anything of the sort.

"Well," Donatello aimed. "I'm pretty sure Leatherhead tries not to eat people if he can help it."

Twang. Neck hit. The target would bleed out slowly if it was real.

"Around Central Park."

Even if you took away the part where she was about to be forced to fight to the death on camera, Momoko couldn't bring herself to really like the Capitol. Sure, it was luxurious, sure she wanted for nothing (except, you know, to go home), sure she had access to all the Lolita clothes she could ask for...but the people

Well, the servants were nice enough. They were quiet and ignored her as much as she ignored them. Everyone else refused to stop talking, couldn't understand why she wasn't so honored at her eventual fate, and worst of all was the fashion.

Jusco nothing, she was pretty sure that one was walking around in a giant turtle costume.

As closely watched as he was by the citizens - seriously, just how many autographs has he signed since he got here? - Don could not help but notice that one girl in particular was staring at him rather hard as he walked the street. Sure, he could have just stayed inside and asked the servants to get him supplies, but for some reason he just didn't feel comfortable asking them for spare computer parts and the like.

So now there was a rather dolled-up girl looking at him. In the end, he couldn't just ignore it. So, he finally turned to face her.

"Um...hi?"

Momoko jerks, realizing belatedly that she had in fact been staring rather hard. "Oh," she says quickly, not wanting to upset a Capitol citizen just yet. "I'm sorry, I was just...admiring your...style." That was painful, though to be fair, it was a very good costume. Or was it surgical? She'd seen evidence of that, and anyone who could bring back the dead could probably do wonders (or more accurately, horrors) with plastic surgery.

"My...style?"

At this, Don looked down at himself. He...was practically wearing nothing but his bandanna, pads and belt. It wasn't exactly a fashion statement.

"Uh...thank you." He rubs the back of his head. "Its not exactly, uh...hard upkeep, all things considered..."

~~Wait, this girl wasn't thinking of-~~

"Really," said Momoko skeptically, looking him up and down again. "It looks very...complicated."

"...Actually..."

Oh, this was awkward.

"...If you're thinking this is a costume...its...not."

Momoko stared, her eyes widening slightly. When she considered that it was surgical she hadn't been serious. "Oh," she said finally. "You're very." She stopped, unable to think of the right word. "...Dedicated."

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