thecapitol | Here's the thing...

Entry tags:

Here's the thing...

Who| Tony and anyone in the Capitol,
What| Tony is somewhat moping about his super "quick" arena death.
Where| D12, Tower Commons, The shopping district.
When| shortly after waking up from his arena death
Warnings/Notes| Talk of death?

District 12’s Floor
When Tony wakes up, he is less than impressed. Okay he really doesn’t at all expect to be able to win any of these arenas, but to not even last a whole day? That was what really stung, especially considering with what he saw of the Arena it would have been one he could have really taken charge in. Okay, so he’s not really an astronaut and the one time he was actually in space he sort of died for a moment, but at least being on a space station meant there was more than enough technology for him to have worked with. However once he was fully awake, he took his shirt off (and for the first time realising that his cuff has been removed from his wrist), and went to the mirror, his scaring was still there, he pawed at it for a moment because to his mind at least death by knife in the arena was far too close to home than he’d ever actually care to mention, reminding him too much of the shrapnel long since removed from his body.
Needless to say he took the whole next day to mope around the empty floor of District 12, and by mope he means he was rearranging his entire room then putting it all back again while trying to ignore the arena playing on the wall screens. He didn’t want to know who was dying or who was playing with tech. It made him feel both jealous and very lonely.

Tower Commons
Soon enough he was out in the common area of the tower sniffing out food that would bring him into at least some relative company, knowing that he at least wouldn’t have been the only tribute to have died in the last day or so.
He knows he shouldn’t, but he orders a non-virgin grape-tini and goes to sit at one of the couches to relax into it, glancing around he can see that the screen is at least playing arena highlights, he huffs with frustration before looking around to call out.
“Do a dead guy a favour and change the channel?”
He knows he’ll be ignored, but he can still try, right? By now he knows that his team will know that he died before lunch time, and while for the most part he knows every single one of them will be fine without him, there’s still that worry about Bruce, life and death situations aren’t at all something he’s at home with.
As for Dave? Well, he still has far too easy a time remembering the look on his face in his last few moments in the arena so it’s more reason to avoid the arena screenings right now.

Shopping District

With his cuff gone, Tony knows that he won’t have much of a problem indulging his tastes anymore. Not that he has overly extravagant tastes, but unsurprisingly the finicky ways of the Capitol had them honestly trying to avoid dealing with him due to his being somewhat of a criminal.
Walking into a diner he used to frequent before they refused to serve him and his cuff, he was greeted happily and they had no problem taking his order. Tony assumed that without the cuff they assume he’s done his penance and doesn’t have to be shunned anymore. Really, Tony wish he could be surprised by this but it all felt too familiar to home. So Tony takes a seat out in the sun with his burger and fries on the table as he watches people go by idly.

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"Housewives can be pretty scary." Sandy remarked thinking back to a few particular instances where she'd seen adopted mothers killing and maiming for their adopted child figures.

"It's better then when that french guy won. He was so good at hiding he barely appeared on the cameras for the arena and then like...BAM! Out of no where he kills this professional badass alien." That had been an impressive if unpredictable ending in Sandy's opinion, but she had also been eaten by a giant eel so that might have given her a different frame of mind.

"That's why they say "May the odds" so on and whatever. But if odds are like numbers then it still means like...the bigger, stronger or smarter people should always win doesn't it?"

"They can be, sure. I've seen some interesting movies and news stories. But Clara Murphy? Not on of those mothers." He says with a shake of his head.

"Well really he just proves my point. I mean, Steve and Thor haven't won and they're actual fighters, with. Well. Whole legends about what they've done in their lives. And me? Probably in the top 5% of intelligent people in this arena, if not 1%, after all that's technically a theme of my life. But still no arena to my name either."

He takes another long drink.

"Didn't even make it to the end of day one this time. So really all this is, is just a really weird video game where the rules keep changing. They usually get the best reviews."

"Yeah...and Steve really did make them pretty mad with that speech he gave." Sandy remembered as the explosions that had nearly claimed her life rang in her ears even though that was months ago.

"I died on day one too, and usually I make it to the last couple of weeks." She took another drink from her chocolate getting a dab of whipped cream on her nose which she hastily wiped away.

"I don't think I've ever played a game like that." she added. "I mean till now obviously."

"He didn't make them angry, he gave them the opportunity to turn everyone against him." Tony says sharply, after all, not only is Tony claiming to be dating Steve, but Steve is his friend and Tony has so few of those he's actually quite defensive of them.

"So there's no point in getting worked up about how you wake up dead after another arena." He drains his glass then stands up heading to the kitchen. "Just treat it like a game of soccer. Whole lot of running around for maybe a point." He picks up a piece of cheese and pops it in his mouth.

"Well then they have no idea who they're trying to make look bad." Sandy muttered taking another drink. Even after all that mess she would still follow someone like Captain America into a mine field. What he did may have gotten alot of people killed but it wasn't his fault. It was theirs.

Watching Tony walk away as he explained the pointlessness of her pout she nodded in agreement.

"So you're not worked up?" She had of course initially thought he might be upset, that's why she'd come to check up on him but he always sounded like he knew what he was doing.

"Of course they don't. The people from our world don't even know, a little research at all should have told them that." Tony was one of the few people in the world who knew Steve Roger's history almost backwards thanks to his dad.

He eats another piece of cheese and then shrugs.

"It's my third death here, and only the second most uncomfortable one. Add in the fact that people have been trying to kidnap or kill me for years, I guess you could say that I'm not that bothered about it."

“Wow.” There was a fresh wave of respect in Sandy’s eyes for just how cool and unbothered he seemed by the situation. Fumbling for something more intelligent to say then wow she busied herself with her hot chocolate letting the warm creamy beverage fill her mouth before she swallowed.

Stalling didn’t help much so she just groped for learning more about him. “What was it like the first time someone tried to kill or kidnap you?”   She’d heard stories of Iron Man, and there wasn’t a person in New York who passed by Stark Tower and didn’t know who had built it. But she didn’t know nearly enough about Tony Stark the man. Those stories were much less interesting then the ones about super heroes.

"Well." Tony starts, stalling himself with a drink from his mug before answering her. "Not much to tell about the kidnapping. I was five, and don't remember." It was a lie, he remembered every second of everyone of his kidnappings, doesn't mean he's about to let a little girl know about that very scary and ultimately very shitty part of his life.

"The first time someone tried to kill me was a one-night stand's boyfriend tried to hit me with his car." He pauses as he reflects on that. "Sometimes my life is too much like Passions..."

She pulled a face, yes even in the grim and dark future Sandy was from they still had the show Passions.

"Did you get him arrested for that?" She pressed imagining something that was probably much more action packed then it actually had been. "Did you fight him? Was the girl worth it?"

The last part felt like the sort of question Mindy would have asked. It worried her how much that girl had become a part of Sandy's life.

"Uh, I think so. I didn't really pay attention at the time. He only fractured my ankle so it wasn't that big deal."

At the other questions Tony just shrugs.

"I didn't even know her name, she probably told me, I didn't care. It was a party and she responded to my advances. Really I only found out she even had a boyfriend after security pulled him out of the car."

After all, Tony was rich, famous, and notorious for sleeping around when he was younger. He knew most of these girls were only with him those nights because they wanted a touch of fame or he charmed them into his bed. So he didn't really care about the finer details because he was getting what he wanted.

He must have gone through this sort of thing even more often then she thought if he could barely remember it. Slouching in her seat she couldn't help but offer him a half smile.

"It sounds really hard being you. No wonder this place barely seems to bug you."

Well he had shown annoyance but like he told her before, it didn't help anyone if he let them know how much it was really bothering him.

"So are you dating anybody now?" There were rumors of course but Sandy had figured out not to trust anything but the direct word of her fellow tributes. And even that could be highly suspect.

Tony shrugs at the offered sympathy for him clearly dismissing it out of turn.

"My life is my own fault. So really this place could do a lot worse."

When she asks him if he's dating someone fairly out of nowhere, he tilts his head at her before taking another drink from his coffee.

"Uh, maybe. Maybe I am. Why?"

"Because people talk. A lot." She cast a glance at the TV despite it not actually being on anything related to the topic. "And it sounded like a better subject then kidnapping." She was all over the place and it was starting to feel useless. She wanted to get to know him but he was decidedly different from every other adult she had interacted with up to this point.

"I mean other people have said it's dumb to get too attached to anyone around here but...seriously how can you avoid that? Most the tributes are decent. Even nice."

"That can all very much depend on who you're with there."

Is all Tony says at first, because after all there have been some long term relationships he attempted to have when he was younger that made him feel very trapped.

"And considering I'm dating someone from my world. Changes things a bit, I know he's not apart of this to use me."

That being said, even though it's a fake relationship that Steve came up with, if anything it's Tony who's using Steve as their dating is a cover for him to build computers.

Sandy grinned at the confirmation he was in fact dating someone from their world, and one of the heroes no less. It was the sort of thing that inspires teenage girls to start their own fanfiction. But Sandy was more of a painter.

"You're too smart to get used in romance." She declared as if it was just an obvious fact. "I'm glad you have someone to make you happy. It's important."

Tony snorts at her first declaration. After all romance was the kind of thing that you had to learn for yourself if you were being lied to or not. And growing up he was lied to a lot, which had lead to his very sexually frivolous life style for a good chunk of his life.

At her second statement he just raised an eyebrow at her, then gave her a smile, one of his more practiced fake ones.

"Yeah. Important. You might be onto something there."

What Steve and him had wasn't love, that was what he had with Pepper. At least he was pretty sure that Pepper was as close to love as he was ever going to get.

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And for the sake of moving on I feel like this is a good place to fade to black. Congrats on winning