tell me how you got so far

[reassures]

Who| Nill and YOU
What| Nill just got dropped off. She has somewhat questionable ways of dealing with this.
Where| District 9 suites, training room.
When| Throughout the day.
Warnings/Notes| Vomit and mentions of character death in the D9 one. Also crying.


(a) - District 9 suites, morning

It's just barely past nine in the morning when Nill wakes up on the hard metal cot, shivering and disoriented, and all of it's in her head because Nill can't figure out how to cope yet. The guards - whatever they are. Nill could hear one of them trying to tell her they were peacekeepers, on more than one occasion, but it goes in one ear and right out the other. The guards try to get her to her feet, get her moving, but every time she tries to so much as stand all the strength saps out of her limbs and she slumps. One of the guards must either be frustrated with her or sympathetic, because every time it happens she feels a hand against her shoulder shove her back towards the cot so she doesn't end up flat on her face on the floor.

It feels like hours before she can move right, but one of the peacekeepers mutters about her being one of the longer ones, confirming it's only been about 30 minutes, and it's the last really independent thing that either of them say for awhile. Nill wraps her arms around herself as she's lead through the facility and to the elevators, trying to piece together the situation in her head.

The last thing she could remember was dying. Her breath shudders out of her in something that might have been a whimper if she had the vocal chords to pull that off, and one of the guards curses, tells her she'd better not collapse again. Nill simply leans back against the elevator wall without sparing him so much as a glance, no matter how sick the memory makes her feel.

The last thing she had done was get she loved killed, and then she had died. Horribly. And suddenly she was waking up here, and though the setting was less alien to her than it should have been she wasn't capable of making the right connections, because there was nothing to connect. Nill had no idea where she was or what she should be doing, but she doesn't get to linger on it long, because the memory of the death is the first thing that makes her realize she doesn't own the clothes she's currently wearing. Panic spikes in her chest when she realizes that not only does she not own the clothes, but whoever picked them gave her a top low-cut in the back so as not to restrict her wings. Whatever had revived her had been able to look at her long enough to make that realization, get her clothes, and dress her.

With panic comes adrenaline, and with adrenaline some of the disorientation seeps out of her, her mind going more and more on high alert with every pump of blood rushing through her. It's only then that she notices the guards are talking, and she feels more and more violated with almost every word they say.

"--not gonna do well, not like this..."

But they notice that she seems more aware of them now, and one of them actually grins at her. Tells her how pleased they are to have her for the games. They can't wait to see how she'll do, they're sure she'll be great. At Nill's utterly confused expression, another tells her, it's the hunger games, the hunger games, they're fantastic, just you wait. They're sure she'll make it past day one, she obviously has some hidden talent that will make her the best killer, and Nill doesn't even notice the patronizing tone because her mind is stuck on the part where she needs to kill everyone else playing.

They stop in front of a door and grin as they open it, gently nudging Nill out of the elevator and into the suite. This is where her district stays, one tells her. She should remember it. District 9. The other says he'll be rooting for her. The patronizing one's grin widens.

"May the odds be ever in your favor," he says, before the elevator doors slide shut.

Nill stands there, staring at the doors. It takes about ten seconds for the trembling to reach from her hands to her shoulders, and then to her wings, easily visible to anyone that might look her way. Then all of a sudden she slaps a hand to her mouth, and turns around, eyes darting. A second later she's made it to a stylish looking potted plant near the entrance of the common room, where she falls to her knees to vomit into the pot.

Enjoy your new suitemate, District 9.

(b)

It's a few hours before Nill gathers up the strength to actually leave the suite - and believe me, it's entirely will power that lets her manage as much - but when she does she immediately heads for the training center. She hadn't heard as much of what the peacekeepers had told her that morning, but it's not difficult to manage. After all, it's just an elevator trip. The people running this place really, really want their tributes to have easy access to facilities like this so they can get better at killing each other apparently.

She spares the whole place a cursory glance as she steps inside, focusing more on the people than the actual weapons stations. She spends a good minute or so looking at everyone, assessing, before she quietly steps over to a station that seems to be for learning how to tie knots.

That's where Nill stays for most of the rest of the day, tying knots, and trying but failing to be subtle about looking at every single person that comes in and out of the training center. If not for how pale she still seems to be, it might look like she was trying to figure out who the strong people were, with the way her eyes linger on everyone.

((ooc; Previous cr permissions!))

Comments

(a)

[revvinguptheharley]

It's early in the morning for Harley. Normally she's an up all night sort of girl.

So it's surprising as she comes shuffling out of her room in PJs, clingy shorts and a loose T-shirt with a picture of a black cat on it.

She yawns and shuffles her way over to the kitchen area practically slumping over the kitchen island and patting the area until she finds an apple. A fresh crunch and some chewing before bleary eyes blink and notice someone throwing up in a potted plant.

"Hey kid, why are you yakking all over Charlie?"

yes, she named the plant Charlie.

[reassures]

Nill actually doesn't hear Harley come out of her room at all, but it's mostly because she's too busy puking. Which she's distantly kind of confused by, because before she woke up she hadn't eaten in awhile, and the fact that it seems like she had food is strange and concerning.

By the time Harley's gotten an apple out Nill seems to be finished upchucking, or at least there's nothing in her stomach since she appears to be suppressing a dry heave, and she has her head leaning against the pot that evidently belongs to Charlie. Except Nill doesn't quite register that the name belongs to the plant, because as soon as she hears Harley talking Nill bolts upright and scrambles back and away several feet, her wings snapping shut against her back. Her eyes settle on Harley, before darting around the room and settling on Harley again, panic written across her face.

[aboveangrybees]

The morning started early for Steve like always, a run and breakfast was already under his belt, his hair still damp from a shower and his face fresh from a shave. The day held nothing special for him personally, perhaps seeking some familiar company or some drawing, his sketchbook in hand, but any tentative plans he might have had are out the window when he sees an unfamiliar girl bolt for a planter.

His eyebrows reach for his hairline, but he's quick to make his way over to her, careful not to touch or crowd. She must be new, brand new, he doesn't want to make it worse by closing in on her, that could worsen panic.

"There you go, just let it out and try to focus on breathing, okay?" Steve crouched down, keeping a comfortable distance, his voice steady and calm. Sympathetic. "Just count as you breathe in and out."

He wishes he could tell her it's alright or you'll be okay, but he knows those are lies right now.

[reassures]

The situation is helped that when she bolted for the planter, Nill had caught something... close to human shaped out of the corner of her eye. Normally she would be more observant about something like that, but every so often instincts like that are overridden by the extreme and sudden need to empty your stomach of all potential contents. Such is Nill's case today.

And in Steve's case, making sure to keep a distance is a wise decision. Nill sees him approaching, and lifts her head to glance at him, but it's only a moment or so before another wave of nausea hits her and she needs to lean over the pot again.

Whether it's luck has yet to be seen, but Nill's stomach doesn't seem to have much more in it. After the second go she shudders, and dry heaves before resting her forehead against the rim of the planter. She tries to focus on her breathing, but it doesn't seem to accomplish much, and that actually upsets her to the point that tears gather in her eyes. But by then she's with it enough that she decides listening to the stranger's advice might be a good idea. She spares him a brief glance, as if making sure he hasn't moved, before she closes her eyes and tries to count. Deep breaths in, mostly even breaths out. It takes several minutes, but by the time she opens her eyes and looks his way again she seems to have her breathing mostly under control.

[carnagecarnival]

Throughout the time he paints, set by a small section of wall, sometimes he has to go back to the camouflage station to take ever more paint. Back and forth he goes, as he continues on in his daily graffiti. He sees everyone who comes in and he sees them when head on out. Them what linger are particularly noticeable. She doesn't slip his sights.

He can see a fear on her, visible enough with having felt fear all his life. But she ain't seem to be trembling none and she ain't got no protests. A subdued fear. A preparing one.

He's not heading over to serve her, shit ain't that dire. So long as she ain't apt to drop anything his avox conditioning will stay down and out of the way. He is not an avox anymore, he tells himself. But he can't just leave her like that without trying to say something.

And so, he approaches. A seven foot troll with waving horns and facepaint. He greets her with a nod and says, "Got gander on for some ninja up in particulars done?"

[reassures]

In all honesty, Nill had seen this person going back and forth a few times. She'd even considered trying to communicate with him once or twice, but hadn't because she recognized him, but not right. At the moment she can recognize what he is specifically; the horns are tell-tale, but she's met enough trolls (she thinks) and she can't remember enough (she thinks) to have no idea if this is one she's ever actually seen before. In the end it had seemed better not to bother him.

As he approaches her however, her eyes go a little wide. It's not inspired by fear so much as the fact that she had no way of realizing just how tall he was up until this point, but now that he's only a few feet away she realizes just how massive he is. For a moment Nill is entirely distracted from her knot tying, although she hadn't been very invested in it to begin with, and he's a giant while she'd sitting but when she climbs to her feet he still towers over her mere 5'4".

This guy has a sort of strange vibe coming off him, but it's been so long since Nill had to rely on those that she's not sure the judgment is accurate. But he had asked her a question, albeit a strange one, and once she wraps her mind around the meaning of it she peers past him. Her eyes dart around the room for a moment before her attention returns to the the troll, and Nill offers him a helpless shrug, accompanied with a slight flutter of her wings. At this point she honestly has no idea.

[carnagecarnival]

It's clear she understands him. Right off the bat he can tell she's well and worked through what he's said. But she doesn't speak. He follows along with her body language clear as any word, what with having dealt Kurloz and other avoxes, not to mention his ownself.

It doesn't shock him, but it most certainly brings him surprise. It just manages to hold him more than the flutter of wings. She's mute.

He thinks back. What all had Kurloz taught him? It was hard to forget exactly, what with the fear impounding upon it, but he had to recall the right pieces.

He takes a step back and raise his hands. He moves them in slow pattern as he calls up what he can of the miming. Can/do you follow/understand? Perhaps he's being a fool. There was no reason she should understand the strange hand motions Kurloz had.

[reassures]

It's Nill's turn to be surprised. Over time she's honestly gotten used to a lot of people just not understanding that she's mute. She'd certainly heard enough of it when she actually had telepathy - more often than not people just thought she was quiet, and at least a dozen had assumed she was just strange. But this person... not only did he immediately understand, but he seemed to actually know some sign language.

Her first instinct is to make a vague and simple gesture, to hold her palm parallel to to the ground and wave it to indicate 'a little', but after a pause she frowns slightly and thinks better of it. It takes her a few seconds to remember the proper hang gestures, because it's been a few years, but eventually she manages to sign out, Mostly, yes.

[carnagecarnival]

He can't help but anticipate a shake of the head. He well gets as to brace for it. But he follows her miming and while he thinks something got lost, the basic of it seems simple enough that he knows that true answer he gets.

He barks a laugh of surprise. Then another. Yes! Fuck yes! He'd thought the door for grasping this all might be slammed shut with Kurloz's going. He wouldn't have been surprised if it was the reason why. But even if he's gone, there's still a chance here.

"TEACH HIM," He blurts out without thinking on it. He bows his head, part in sheepsihness (look at him, barking order at a tribute. He's not an avox no more, the other part of his mind combats. But sill), part in deference. "If a sister would be to get as to motherfucking please."

[reassures]

Nill's sure she must not have understood him at all now, because suddenly he's talking about another person. While he bows his head she tries to look around as discretely as possible, in case there's someone here with him that she managed to miss, but in her cursory glance that doesn't really seem to be the case. She doesn't so much as bat an eyelash at the cursing.

It takes her a few seconds longer to form a reply this time, because she gets stuck on what the right gesture for 'him' is, how her hand should be placed. Higher up? Further down?

Eventually she signs out, Teach, but she gets stuck again, and just ends up making a gesture towards him, while tilting her head to try to make it seem as obvious as possible that it's a question. He was talking about himself, right?

[revvinguptheharley]

Already Harley's foggy, sleepy mind is putting the pieces together. Mysterious new girl who looks scared out of her mind?

Tribute!

She rubs the sleep from her eyes and snags a glass out of the cabinet filling it with water. and coming around the side of the kitchen island approaching slowly with both hands visible.

"No need to freak out kid, I'm your mentor. I'm here to help you." she cooed in her most soothing voice. As her brain kicked into gear she was examining the girl from top to bottom reading her body language as best she could.

It seemed like the message it was sending was "OHNO OHNO OHNO!"

Clearing her throat she spoke again.

"I'm Dr. Harleen Quinnzel. But you can call me Harley. What's your name?"

[reassures]

Harley is very good at reading body language. By the time she's gotten a glass of water and come closer, Nill isn't quite so on edge, doesn't seem quite so intent on being as far away as possible with 0.6 seconds to manage it. But despite that, and despite Harley's soothing tone, Nill doesn't understand what she's saying. The words make sense but the meaning of it doesn't connect at all, and Nill has no way of understanding with the limited information she's been given. At first she just looks confused and wary.

A mentor? For what? And she was mentoring Nill no less. Helping. What on earth could she be planning to help with?

Nill's almost sitting up properly when Harley says doctor, and she freezes immediately. Her eyes so a little wide, and her posture stiffens just a little, her eyes never once leaving Harley now. She barely even registers her name, because now Nill thinks she understands this. She has to kill people to survive, and they sent her to a doctor first.

For a moment Nill's hand brushes against her side, before resting flat on the ground. Anyone unfamiliar with fights might not recognize it as checking for a weapon that no longer seems to be there. A few seconds go by before Nill lifts a hand and gestures to her neck awkwardly, trying to indicate that it just doesn't work quite right.

[revvinguptheharley]

Harley is pretty familiar with that gesture as it usually is accompanied by someone shooting at her. Thankfully that's not going to happen today.

"Ah...well I'm afraid I'm not THAT kind of doctor. I'm a doctor for your brain." she tapped her own head. "A Psychiatrist you know? But more importantly I'm here to help you train for the arena and to help you with all the other little pain in the butt things that come with being a tribute."

She held out the glass of water to Nill. "You can't talk?" She addresses with all the social grace of a teenager.

[reassures]

The first descriptor isn't much better for Nill unfortunately. A doctor for her brain. She knows what a psychiatrist is, but the idea of a doctor for her brain still makes her want to crawl out of her skin. She shudders involuntarily, but hunches forward a little as she does so, hoping to pass it off as more nausea. (It's only half a lie in that regard.) But if Harley is here to help with training, then...

Well, maybe she doesn't need to worry too much for the moment. Her eyes dart from the glass to the sink and back again, and unless Harley kept around drugged water, Nill couldn't imagine she had the time to put anything in it. She takes the glass with a nod of affirmation, before using the other hand to make a scribbling sort of gesture. Pen and paper?

[celebrityskinned]

Venus doesn't tie knots out of any particular desire to learn the skill. She does it to kill time during her mandated half-hour breaks at the gym. Five hours at the gym: fifteen minutes to warm up and cool down, four forty-five minute spurts at the punching bag, on the balance beam, on the mat, through the obstacle course, and then the breaks that she'd rather not take but that she knows are necessary to keep herself from getting injured.

Discipline's a part of being an athlete, being a warrior, and she'd be remiss to cast that aside in favor of pushing herself to breaking.

She doesn't talk for a moment as she joins Nill at the station. She's breathing heavy but in 'recovery', in through her nose and out through her mouth with her back straight, and she wipes sweat away from her forehead and neck with the towel she slings around her shoulders. She looks much more at home here than Nill does, for sure.

Her face has a brand burned in that disfigures what otherwise would be quite conventionally pretty. It warps the skin over her left cheek, tugs at her mouth and nostril and lower eyelid, rakes harsh ripples up to her ear.

"Hey, you been doing this long? I haven't tried this station before."

b

[smarterthanthem]

Here's a thing, the next person to walk in the door of the training room is a young girl of eleven (almost twelve). She's wearing a battered and dirty looking baseball cap on top of pristine new Capitol made clothing and completely uncaring at how much the two things clash.

Clementine tries to come here at least twice a week. She knows she's smaller and weaker than most every other tribute, perhaps the youngest child in a game that was once filled only with child contestants. Now though those other tributes are adults, older, stronger, more dangerous so she knows it's better she work as hard as she can to improve herself and try maybe next time to actually win.

The more skills she can gain the better her chances.

That's what brings her wandering over to the knot-tying station, one she hasn't actually visited before in favour of advancing her skill in the use of a bow and other weaponry. But maybe this will help too (if she'd know how, had rope, maybe she wouldn't have died the way she had last time). Seeing it already occupied she asks first, "Hi. Is it okay if I work here too?"

[revvinguptheharley]

Harley smiled brightly as the girl accepted the water "Sure, I'll go get some, why don't you have a seat somewhere more comfortable." she gestured to the sofa before turning on her heel and sauntering off to find something to write on.

When she came back she had a tablet set up to type upon and passed it to the girl. "Here you go, touch screen!" She declared happily.

[reassures]

Nill didn't even change into something that could be considered gym clothes. It's just been that sort of day for her, and even though it's been a fair amount of time since she got her and she's doing considerably better than, say, when she woke up on a metal cot this morning, it's still been fairly trying. Typical newbie stuff when pulled into a dystopian past/future.

And even though Nill had trained a lot for nearly a year (uselessly now), even in her best condition she had never been anywhere near Venus's apparent capabilities. Nill barely even registers the scar - she's too busy looking sort of quietly impressed with Venus in general, from what she's seen of her so far today. She doesn't expect Venus to actually speak to her, and when she does Nill looks a little surprised for a moment, before looking down at the knots she'd been working on throughout the day. There were only about five different pieces of string, but she'd probably done most of the knots at least ten times by now. Unsure of how to answer nonverbally, Nill offers a very tiny smile and a shrug to accompany it, before holding a few of the knots up. Long enough, maybe.

[reassures]

Clementine actually wanders over to the knot station during one of the few times that Nill has been preoccupied with a fairly difficult knot throughout the day, and as such, Nill doesn't really notice Clementine until she's asking for permission to join her.

Nill looks up, ready to offer a very small smile and a nod of consent and she freezes when she sees Clementine, expression frozen in place.

Clementine is the youngest person that she's seen here so far. Seeing people younger wouldn't necessarily surprise Nill, and the idea of it threatens to make her sick again, but now, looking at Clementine, Nill has no idea how to react. She looks so young, and when Nill looks at her and understands just how young she is it makes her want to cry. It takes a few seconds, but once she's got it she nods, before gesturing for Clementine to take a seat wherever she likes.

Nill offers a very small, warm smile, the very best she can muster. All the while she despises this place more and more.

[reassures]

For a doctor, Harleen seems... much more energetic than Nill is used to from people that more or may not have actual careers. Even as Harley stands to wander off, Nill stays where she is for the moment. She wipes her face, takes a very tiny sip of water, and then goes to take a seat on the sofa she was gestured no no matter the instincts that might be betraying. At the moment Nill assumes she can't trust them to be entirely accurate.

The tablet is the last thing she's expecting when it's handed to her, and for a second her mouth drops open from the surprise before she types a few things and turns the tablet around for harley to see properly.

I'm sorry about Charlie.

[smarterthanthem]

"Thanks." she smiles gratefully and sits down cross-legged nearby. "I'm Clementine. I'm in D6."

If she has any feelings over the reaction the girl has she doesn't bring it up, letting her work through it on her own. It's almost like a reflex to adults and anyone older than her really amongst the tributes, only the Capitol folks don't seem to bat an eyelid. Clem's accepted it by now, that reaction lets her know it's a good person she's dealing with.

That she didn't speak in answer the first time hadn't occurred to Clementine as unusual.

[revvinguptheharley]

Harley waited in a rare example of manners till the message was finished before she read it.

"Oh don't worry about him. He's hearty! That's why I put him by the door to guard against intruders. All he really does though is greet them though." She chuckled.

Sauntering back to the kitchen she came back with a plate of muffins. "Besides you're only the second tribute to throw up this week. The first one didn't even make it to the plant he threw up on the floor." She explained.

[hit_girl_mindy]

A moment after the grand introduction of Nil to plant, Mindy walks in, curious to see why Peacekeepers would be at her suite at all. She'd been training just a little before breakfast, having a bit of a jog, as much as you can have post Eva with your every move being watched. She opened the door and found her question immediately answered.

It was a girl, new obviously, and she apparently had gotten sick all over the plant. She wrinkled her nose, shaking her head.

"Great, better get to that before it stinks up the place. Who-"

And then she noticed the wings, staring in fascination.

"Well shit, that's new to me."

[carnagecarnival]

That gets about as clear to him as he figures at it would. He gives a firm nod.

Of course, it occurs that he can't hardly make it a one sided deal now can he? Especially not with her getting her unsureness up and on like that.

"HE CAN TRAIN A SISTER," He says. "If she ain't got a know up for it all already. IT WOULD BE A LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING EXCHANGE OF ABILITIES. If so she wishes. IF SO A SISTER WOULD BE APT AS TO ACCEPT."

He really motherfucking hopes she does. If not, he'll either have to find another means or another offer. It would just have to be short of outright serving her, just in case anyone what he knew bore witness thought her using him or some other inane thing.

[reassures]

Nill takes a moment to give Clementine a once-over, and that's about all it takes to decide that she'd be unlikely to know sign language. Even Nill doesn't know it very well, and she had more than enough time to learn, she just... didn't. For a brief second her smile becomes awkward, unsure of how to communicate her intention to Clementine, before she holds up nine fingers in an attempt to indicate her district. But she tries to widen her smile just a little to seem welcoming, to make up for the lack of verbally spoken sentiment.