iselldrugstothecommunity: (Basic - Srs Face)
Howard Bassem ([personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2013-02-14 05:45 pm

Leaving No Signs of Pain, Your Wounds to Mend [Closed]

WHO | Howard and Eponine, Howard and Sigma
WHAT | Howard reunites with the allies who didn't kill him.
WHEN | Week 5
WHERE | Tribute Center
WARNINGS / NOTES | Memories of torture/death.


There's one moment between dying and dead where he doesn't want to wake up, because the pain goes away. The puncture wounds stop stabbing, his head stops throbbing, the cold ceases to bite, and he thinks for a moment that it would be okay to be like this forever. But he does wake up, with a headache and a general sense of malaise. They revived him.

He doesn't leave his room for over a day, too scared to go anywhere but under the covers of his bed. He doesn't sleep, nor does he eat, nor does he get up to use the bathroom. He stays there, mostly in the fetal position, hungry, holding it, thirsty, shaking. He knows Alpha shares a Suite with him. He doesn't know if Aunamee does.

He can't face the television screens out there. He knows his painful, ugly death at Aunamee's hands will be fine entertainment, and he doesn't want to hear himself screaming again. He can still hear it in his own head. He runs his hands over the skin stretched over his ribs, looking for injuries that were fixed before he woke up. He keeps licking the inside of his teeth to remind himself he hasn't bitten his tongue off for good, he keeps spitting into the wastebin next to the bed because his mouth tastes like blood. When an Avox comes in to try and deliver chocolates, he bursts into tears.

When he finally does gather the strength to get up, he's trembling less from fear than exhaustion, and the blood rushing to his head makes him so dizzy he needs to steady himself with the bedstand. He listens under his door, but it's the dead of night and no one else seems to be awake, so he ventures out into the living room. The idea of running into Alpha chills him. He keeps alert, moving as quietly as he can to the elevator. The television in the living room is playing out Sherlock getting sliced in half. Howard looks away.

There are two people he needs to see, at least. Sigma and Eponine. So he visits their floors, the third suite and the tenth. He doesn't know how well either will take to a light knock at their door at some ungodly hour, but he doesn't know what else to do and he's afraid to be out and about when Draco or Aunamee or Alpha might see him.

At each door, he knocks lightly three times, and waits, arms wrapped around his skinny body in the plush snakeskin-print Capitol pajamas.
makeflowersgrow: (hold me close)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-14 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Eponine answers at once. She's on a come-down, and shivering badly, even beneath three oversized jumpers. Her face is streaked with tears and her hair is a mess. It's been a traumatic day for her.

And so when she sees Howard stood there, she doesn't even think twice. She flings her arms around his neck and hugs him tight.

"Howard - I'm sorry. I thought you would win!"
makeflowersgrow: (regret)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
She hugs herself instead, staring down at the floor, suddenly shy.

"I thought, perhaps, with the extra clothes - and my shoes as weapons - and and one less mouth to feed. I thought you'd be safe."
makeflowersgrow: (regret)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
She shrugs. "Better than nothing... and I didn't need them."

Eponine smiles at the nickname - a new one. "Better than 'Pony', Howard.", before moving aside to let him in. Her room's a pig sty. Clothes are scattered everywhere, and crumbs litter the floor and the bed. Eponine's pyjama pants are on the floor, and she drags them on quickly.

"Was it quick, your death?"
makeflowersgrow: (help)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
She plops down next to him, dragging the blanket off her bed to drape round both of them, and she puts her arm around him too.

"Tortured? Like... they teased you before they killed you?"

When he mentions her own tears, Eponine hastily wipes her face.

"Something today played a trick on us. They made me think Marius was here. I tried to kiss Inspector Javert... and the man who killed me. They - he let me think he was Marius. And now I have done bad things. Javert will have me arrested for sure, Howard. I don't want to go back to prison."
makeflowersgrow: (yelling)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 11:07 am (UTC)(link)
"Who did it this time, Howard? Not the pale man - I shouted at him - YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KILLED HIM. AND YOU SAID IT WAS FOR ME! HOWARD, I DO NOT NEED YOU TO SAVE ME OR KILL PEOPLE FOR ME."

Her anger explodes as she suddenly remembers, and she scoots away from the poor lad. Her hand is, of course, snatched back.

"He was SO cross, you know? He will go after BOTH of us now. You have already signed my death warrant. Are you happy, Howard?"
futilecycle: (Default)

[personal profile] futilecycle 2013-02-15 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"One moment," the deep voice on the other side calls. A television powers off. Sigma answers the door in no better a state, a nervous twitch in his eyelid and a face creased by insomnia. Still in his daily attire, he'd chosen a plain but military-like outfit from the wardrobe they'd provided as if to make himself look dangerous. It seemed uncharacteristic of him, considering his commitment to nonviolence. And for all the Capitol products available to him, his hair is notably greasy from the time he'd spent clutching fistfuls of it.

"Howard," he says with controlled surprise. He grimaces, the boy's brutal death had been all he had seen (and intended to see) of Howard's appearance in the Arena since Sigma woke up in the Capitol. It appeared that he, too, had no shortage of allies willing to betray him. "...I did not believe you would want to see me again."
makeflowersgrow: (sad)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes, well, maybe I should play the game and slit your throat whilst I am there. It would stop you getting me into bother with that man, no?" She spits her reply back.

"I am FED UP with this place. With all these people, kill kill kill - and you - Howard, you are my only friend - and I don't understand why you go to kill him. Valeria says I am here to make up for being bad in Paris. But what about you? Or Madame Lottie? Or Inspector Javert? Howard, you should be more careful. I do not wish to see you die."
makeflowersgrow: (Default)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
She sighs and shrugs, before sitting down a few meters from him.

"I do not know. It is different, no? You were all on your own; you HAD to break into houses. Me..." She shakes her head.

"I was not joking when I said I was a bad girl. I am a horrible girl. I always have been. I wish it were not so, but..." She shrugs again.

"I do not like the idea of you killing though. Especially not that man. Because he will come after you. He is like Montparnasse that one. He holds a grudge. He's dangerous."
makeflowersgrow: (side eyeing)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Eponine just offers him a smile, and reaches for his hand.

"I will ask you only one thing then, Howard. I ask you only not to kill on my behalf, okay? Kill for yourself - but do not kill people because they killed me, okay? That is all I ask."
makeflowersgrow: (heart broken)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"I just thought it'd be easier than saying goodbye. It didn't hurt, you know? The man was nice. He did it quick for me."

She scoots closer again, so that she can hug the poor boy.

"I'm sorry, Howard."
makeflowersgrow: (Default)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"It is not bad. People keep trying to touch me now they have seen me naked, and they say things. And then those police pulled me out of the bush - and Valeria washed my hair and - and we are locked up always at night. And they called me drunk and unlady-like in their magazine, and put in a picture of me that they have made. I look like a whore."

She waves a hand, as if to make it all disappear. "It is no matter. Howard, I'm glad you're back. It's been lonely here without you."
makeflowersgrow: (Default)

[personal profile] makeflowersgrow 2013-02-15 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh-" she hides her face, suddenly remembering.
"I thought the chair was Montparnasse. I thought he was threatening to hit me unless I knelt and tasted him. And I did so in front of the Inspector. He definitely thinks I am a prostitute."

Her cheeks are pink; Eponine is embarrassed.but the squeeze to her hand is nice.

"I will always be waiting, Monsieur. I am not easy to be rid of, unless I want to die. And here, no."
futilecycle: (It went by like dusk to dawn)

[personal profile] futilecycle 2013-02-17 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
Ignorant of his appearance and mistaking Howard's comment for snark, Sigma raises an eyebrow. When it does dawn on him that Howard was merely making an observation, the Doctor ignores it, concluding that the boy is the one in greater need. He briefly wonders if it would be worth keeping an eye on him outside of the Arena as well as in. Softening, Sigma steps aside.

"...I would appreciate it if you did. Can I get anything for you?"

Page 1 of 3