thecapitol | paint-by-number morning sky [semi-open!]

Who| Signless and Tony, Signless and the D12 tributes, Signless and YOU!
What| Taking care of business, then taking care of pets.
Where| D12, then the lobby.
When| Now (after the arena, before the crowning).
Warnings/Notes| Nothing I can think of, will add if something comes up.

A. For Tony

Remembering the whirlwind of interviews and speculation and internal conflict he had to deal with after winning, the Signless has left Tony more or less alone since the end of the arena. There's only so long he can put off talking to Twelve's new victor, however, and he feels it's reasonable to want to be on the same page since they're going to be working together. It won't do their tributes any good if they're working hard but working at cross purposes.

With that in mind he stands outside of Tony's door and gives a brief, polite knock.

"Tony? I'd like to speak with you, if you don't mind."

B. For All D12 Tributes

Just as important as keeping on the same page as his co-mentor is keeping up to date with his tributes. In his opinion he'll be best-equipped to help them if he hears from them what it is that they most need. On top of that he wants to get to know all of them better. Twelve is many things and especially right now it's a mixed bag of very different people with very different skills who need very different marketing to make sure they get as much help in the arenas as it's possible for him to secure. Perhaps it's not the most efficient way of doing things but he wants to be sure everyone is being presented to sponsors in a way that they're, if not happy with, at least not vehemently opposed to.

Each of them will receive a brief, friendly note on their door asking to meet in the suite common room at an appointed time for a brief check-in. He parks himself on the couch with a notebook, a pen, and a decidedly non-alcoholic drink, and waits.

C. Open!

It hadn't been as much of a surprise as it might have been when after his crowning he was presented with the small crablike creature the Capitol had billed as a 'mutantblood lusus'. He remembers very well Maximus and his pet tiger. No, the problem with his new pet isn't so much that he hadn't been expecting it and more that it has absolutely no manners. He's discovered that with the exception of himself and Karkat it's distrustful of people at best and attempts to eat their ankles at worst. 'Worst' happens to be its default.

Naturally the solution is taking it down into the lobby of the tower (on a short leash, of course) and attempting to get it used to people. It skitters around his legs, clacking its claws and blinking its four white eyes suspiciously at anyone who gets too close. When it's not making agitated chirping sounds or screeching in alarm at a Capitolite's oh-so-scary shiny accessories it's emitting a low, constant and very uneasy hiss.

"Sorry," he says, nudging it with his foot away from the person it's most recently decided is its mortal enemy. "I'm trying to teach him to be a little more personable and it's not going well."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Would get the energy on out. TIRE THE MOTHERFUCKER. Be all breaking need for crush and curse as having done reached already."

He doesn't know that. He's heard things similar but what he knows for truth and certainty is jack and motherfucking shit.

"COURSE, COULD JUST WEAR YOU ALL OUT UP INSTEAD," He muses with a faint chuckle.

He near melts in Signless's grip. Brother is just so damn warm. He saps it all without regret.

"Are you implying I couldn't even match something that small in a fight?" he says, but there's no real offense in his tone. It's probably true, if he's honest with himself. The lusus may be tiny but its claws and beak are sharp, and it could easily use its powerful back legs to jump up and get at his face if it really wanted to do damage. Add to that its protective armor, which would take a carefully-aimed stab to get through, and it wouldn't be an easy take-down. Even though he has no qualms about killing small beasts, he'd have a hard time with this one.

The Initiate doesn't make any move to end the hug and so he doesn't seek to do so either. This is one of the places he feels safest, and he doesn't feel much like leaving it if he can help himself.

He laughs. "Brother, the fact as you think it's size what as would do you in is first motherfucking sign as you would lose," He says with smile soft. No matter how much time went on, it was always being a sort of motherfucking miracle this brother got surviving.

Walking miracle he is.

Finally he spares proper glance at the creature gone all matched to him. A motherfucking crustacean. "SEEMS FITTING THAT," He says. "Yet I ain't got slightest fathoming for the why."

"According to Karkat, his lusus looked a lot like this. If lusii tend to compliment their charges, then I'm not surprised at this one seeming well-suited to me -- even if it is Capitol-made." He looks fondly down at the tiny crab, cheek brushing Initiate's chest as he turns his head. It lets out an affectionate hiss.

"The idea of having one at all, even a fake one, is strange."

"ALWAYS WAS A BACKWARDS BROTHER, YOU. Ain't surprised you'd find strange of the norm. IT'S HOW YOU UP AND DO BY WAY AND REASON. Always got on the motherfucking contradictory," He teases light. But he's nodded along with Signless's words already, saying for how it makes sense without doing so.

"DIDN'T NEVER FEEL OF MISSING OUT NONE?" It's a question he can ask, not just for being an old friend and moirail, but for not hardly ever having anything of his own. He figures the answer will be 'no', if only because he's got that strange thing with the Dolorosa. No magical moment breaking free of the caverns, but perhaps other things.

As predicted, Signless's answer is a small shake of his head.

"Oh no. Not at all. What I had was different but that didn't make it any less good." That's an idea that's defined much of his life; his family situation is no different.

"I was always curious, though. I suppose this is just one more thing I'll be able to have here that I wouldn't have otherwise."

He opens his mouth to speak, wanting to point out how he ain't so sure this thing proper counts as a lusus. It was a little... well there was being a lot of reasons to say it wasn't, even ignoring it was a Capitol creature. But then he remembers. What would he even motherfucking know all anyway?

He's already got a crouch to him, more so when he's getting low to Kankri's height. He can rest his head between them nub horns. Hide his face, find comfort.

"Your-- Dol--" He makes a face, works up to and then says, "PORRIM. She gets her fuss on right good with the District I'm up ins. ME SOMETIMES. It's... different. SHE GET ON A TALK AT YOU ALL YET? Figured she would have." Was she anything like the Dolorosa in Signless's eyes? Was that kindness a constant? He always had a hard time seeing anything but the flash of fang.

Even the Capitol's skewed imitation of a lusus that shouldn't have existed in the first place is still, to some degree, a lusus. True, this thing is more like a glorified guard dog than a parental figure, but it's affectionate and (he likes to think) at least a little intelligent. And it likes him, which is the important part.

"She has -- we've talked, not extensively but enough. She's not the same, not really, but she has the same kindness." Turns out that yes, it is a constant, even though other things are different. She's better than the fake version of the Dolorosa he fought in the arena once, even though that Dolorosa looked far more like the one he remembered.

"She's not a replacement but I enjoy her company. I think she may be able to give me tattoo advice, which would be nice. I still haven't settled on how I want them to cover the chains."

If Signless had voiced such thought, he might have had no choice but to resign to agreement. Put all that way, he'd have found it possible to have made sense. Would make him think, for the first time, if their species could somehow carry on here, lusii made for them... but it's just as well such thought doesn't pass for it's not a thought that's possible. He was never so bothered by their species ending anyway.

"SAID YOU CAN'T NEVER REPLACE NO ONE NONE ANYWAYS," He recalls, figuring that bit unsurprising. He's not sure whether or not he takes reassurance in the differences. It makes him miss a time that never even was, but on the other hand, the differences could mean all the clarity of knowing it was never to up and motherfucking be.

Ought focus on now, he should. He pulls back just a little and reaches for Signless's arms. "Might I motherfucking behold thine appendages once more, brother best?" He inquires.

It hasn't even occurred to Signless that Panem, once it's been reclaimed for people who don't think murdering children is an appropriate way to address the concerns of its people, might be a new homeland for trollkind. This is a world that's adopted them but it's not theirs, not really, even if it's as good a home as any. He wants to give it back to the humans that deserve it, not take it over with his own kind.

"Of course you can," he says, holding his arms out obligingly. The tattoos are the same as they were at his crowning. There are forget-me-nots, madonna lilies, and honeysuckle in fine black and white lines blooming up his arms, suns and moons on the backs of his hands, and one half of a set of shackles on the inside of each wrist. They're detailed and crisp as the day they were inked into him, which isn't surprising: Capitol technology probably allows for tattoos far more intricate and vivid than anything Alternia could produce. He's also sure it will allow for easy touch-ups and alterations.

He takes Signless arms, smiling warmly, blown away again and always at how far they've come. The further they get, the easier it will be. He lifts each wrist one at a time, pressing his lips to each in the gentlest kiss. Then he grips them both and uses them to pull himself closer, laying one more kiss upon the top of his brother's head.

"Moons will turn the tide,
ILLUMINATE THE SKY,
dazzling the midnight hues,
THAT DID BELONG TO I.
At thine whims forever,
THOUGH DARK ENGULFS THE LIGHT,
Phases past and all shall rise,
MY DEAR BELOVED MINE."

He speaks the poem, soft as he's able (which isn't all much, but the attempt is there). There's something about it, a sort of lyrical quality, that suggest it was meant to be sung.

paint-by-number morning sky [semi-open!]

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