thecapitol | Here comes another ballroom story. [closed]

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Here comes another ballroom story. [closed]

Who| Jolie and Stephen, Jolie and Jack.
What| Stephen went off the rails and got propped back up again, new rules are getting weirder and team Sacrificial Lamb probably need to get together for a chat.
AND THEN Jolie has a talk with Jack about the new rules.
Where| Starting in the lobby and moving on out.
FOR JACK the Speakeasy
When| Backdated around April 10th or so.
Warnings/Notes| Talk of romance and rebellion, mostly.

Stephen:
Jolie feels for Stephen, she really does. This month has been a mess for everyone involved. She feels like a shit friend for not reaching out earlier, particularly when he made an ass of himself on TV. It's just been kind of awkward in his District, what with Bro and her having their friendly break off and the memories of that threesome ingrained somewhere in Jolie's mind. Beyond that, it pays not to look too close. When something hits the fan, it'll be better if they can salvage something rather than losing it all.

It all amounts to excuses at this rate, really. Jolie can hear that annoying pitch in her head as she goes over the reason for not approaching him sooner. It's after that post goes up that it occurs to her, and it seems interestingly timed for Stephen's slow return to the world of the sane.

It's coincidental timing when she sees him in the lobby. The first expression on her face is one of profound relief for his outfit, it soon grows into a genuine smile. "Look at you! You grew your taste buds back." She exclaims, holding her arms out for him in the hopes of wrangling a hug out of him.

Jack:
Jolie has a lot of weird feelings about Jack. Since their little moment in the kitchen things haven't been awkward, but they've been weird. She didn't not enjoy it, and obviously he enjoyed it. They've been kind of dancing around the whole thing for a while. Jolie is trying to keep a semblance of good behavior, particularly with Sam on her mind, but old habits die hard.

And then, on occasion, old habits become an illegal and fireable offense. Jolie doesn't want to lose her job, it's all she has. It's what keeps her connected to her favourite people and keeps her in the network of going ons. Not to mention the fact that things worse than firing could come her way if she doesn't cut it out, particularly with the potential threat of catty and malicious people out to fuck her over.

She should probably talk to Jack about it. Hell. She should definitely talk to him about it. Pretty much anyone else she's fucked around with checks the network and has the good sense to keep their hands out of the no-fly zone. Jack? Well. Jack is special. She's not even sure he knows how to check the network, which is why she leaves him a handwritten note in his room with a date, a time and a place on it. She needs to be careful about being caught, again, to be sure that nobody thinks this is a date.

Arriving before him in a place that isn't monitored is a great way to keep ahead of the curve there, she thinks. She is flattering her own genius as she traces shapes on the table in front of her with a bored expression, glancing up every so often.

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It's true. These past few months that he'd spent in Panem, Jack hadn't bothered to try and figure out the device that the Capitol had given him upon his arrival. It was honestly the least of his worries, in the whole grand scheme of everything.

However, that didn't mean that the network post Cyrus made hadn't stirred up a heap of rumors and gossip and a quiet bubble of outrage that had managed to reach even him -- particularly since the pirate spent an abundance of his time in the Tower bar where the free-flowing alcohol there tended to loosen tight tongues. Safe to say, it all hadn't escaped his notice.

Thus Jack should've probably anticipated the note and that Jolie would want to talk to him. He'd been relatively open in his pursuit and interest in her, despite the taboo that had already surrounded such endeavors previous to the network post.

He swaggers into the place fashionably late, eventually, outfitted in the cleaner and much more fitted clothes that her and Swann had insisted on. He drops into the seat opposite of her, making himself comfortable and flashing a casual grin at her.

"Cozy little niche of a place." He slips the tricorne from his head and places it on the table in front of him, then settles in further and looks to Jolie. "So now, what's this all about?" He's sure this isn't some sort of attempt at a date, with the word spreading around town.

It probably should have occurred to Jolie that gossip would soon follow a post like that, but she's been effectively crouching in a corner with her fingers in her ears. In times like this, her reputation truly does proceed her. It isn't really a secret that she gets around with Tributes, it's only now in the new, taboo light that it's truly become something more than vaguely questionable.

It's why she's going to such lengths to be careful about this arrangement, but it doesn't remotely surprise her when he swaggers in as casually as anything. It's comforting, in a sense, to see him so together and normal. It doesn't make it any easier, because there is a prominent sense of wanting behind her affection for his attitude, she just needs to swallow that down.

"I thought you might appreciate it." She retorts, arching a brow over at him before she searches for the words she'd been rehearsing for so long and promptly loses them. "So I'm gonna venture a guess and assume you don't know how to work your communicator? You wouldn't happen to have heard a few things about new laws, would you?"

"Haven't much tried to work it." He didn't even know the name for it, really, but could assume she meant the device from the next question. The thing usually spent most of its days lying in his Suite room, remaining largely untouched after his first day in Panem.

Her next question prompts a bit of a nod. "Aye, I have heard a few things, here and there." Once the gossip had started to spread around, Jack had eventually taken a few hours of his time to mess with it and try to see the post for himself. He hadn't participated in the conversation at all, but had read a good chunk of the post to get a feeling of what was going on.

In better context, Jolie wouldn't blame Jack for his avoidance of the network. It's either a lot of fun or a mess of drama, depending on the day. This is, of course, a big mess of drama and it's riddled with opportunities for jokes. Instead, Jolie chooses to try maintain some level of professionalism. She laces her fingers together in front of her as if it will make it easier if she can hold her own hands, drawing in a short breath.

"Then you probably know that what happened way back when, in the kitchen, issss for all intents and purposes, kind of illegal. For me. Not for you." God, that was hideously stilted and she visibly cringes for it. "So, that's a thing. A horrible thing." Stop. Kill her.

In contrast, not much really changes in Jack's expression. "I figured as much once I heard about it."

The post and it's responses had made that abundantly clear that any fraternization between certain parties was more than just heavily frowned upon now. Although, in his experience, more often than not and depending on the person, telling people to not do something tended to encourage them to do it more.

With that said, there hadn't been much more between them than a simple kiss; though not for lack of trying, initially, on Jack's part. There's a slight furrow to his brow, then. "Much as it is a shame, an' unless I'm mistaken, I'd the feeling you weren't too keen on crossing that line anyhow." Not by much, anyways, since she had technically kissed him back before pulling away.

There's something both disarming and annoying about Jack's ambivalence. Jolie didn't really expect anything more or less from him, but that doesn't mean her hackles don't raise somewhat either. She's not sure why, which is the annoying part, maybe it's just because she's coming off this with some terribly wounded pride no matter how it goes down.

"Well," She starts slowly, thinning her lips. "Before, getting in trouble was a threat. Now? It's a promise. Kind of puts a damper on it either way, not that it stops people talking. Not here, anyway." She crinkles her nose, raising a brow lazily at him before leaning just a little further in with a lowered voice. "For what it's worth, I think it really is a shame."

Aggravating as it is, that casually dismissive attitude of his came with the territory when dealing with him. Even with his more serious and intense flings, Jack tended to be flighty and fickle and hard to pin down. It came down to the need for self-preservation, to protecting himself and not allowing someone else to dig in too deep. He'd found, over the years, that if you didn't let yourself care about someone, it became much easier when the time came to inevitably lose them.

Because, to him, that was guaranteed to happen.

With the way she'd acted towards him lately, however, too, turning him down then dancing around the subject for the past few weeks, the last bit catches him a bit by surprise.

"That it does." Jack mirrors her movement to lean slightly in, listening beneath the hum and din of the restaurant. He lets his gaze meet hers, voice matching her quieter volume. "Do you. How're you wishin' to handle it, then?" The answer is pretty easy to anticipate, but there was no hurt in asking. He'd be ready to drop it and move on if need be.

It's an attitude that can only be helpful around here. Jolie used to be better at it, probably. She also used to be better at distancing herself from Tributes, but that much was simple when they were half her age and around for no more than a month or so. Now it's all about these lasting friendships and these gross feelings of affection and concern for people around her. Ugh.

She probably shouldn't have let that last part slip. It could have been a semi-simple cut and run with both of the in full understanding about what they could and couldn't do. Now she's being stupid and blurring the lines and bringing up things she could have shut up about, now he's making eye contact and she needs to struggle not to be entirely subdued by his infuriatingly gorgeous eyes.

"This is me handling." She retorts, just a little stiffly. "This is it. Boom. Done. Handled. I'm just saying, it's a shame. I'm paying your stupid ass a compliment." Defensive? No.

Yep, that's to be expected.

But the sudden vitriol from her causes Jack to lift his hands up, palms open, almost leaning back from her. The gesture is pretty clear -- he understands this means hands off, and he'll accept it without argument. It's easier, in a way, to not let it be more involved than what it'd been. Preferable to him, even.

A kiss ultimately didn't mean much.

"Aye, then. Hear you loud an' clear, luv." His hands drop back down, and Jack fixes her with a look. "Anythin' else?"

There's basically nothing about this situation that doesn't feel bad one way or the other. It's worse than any dentist appointment Jolie has had, and Jolie has had to endure many of those to have teeth like these. It isn't the painless rip of a bandaid she'd half hoped it would be, it just feels like it gets more awkward with every further foray into her elaboration.

She presses a hand to her temple and rubs, letting out an annoyed grunt that doesn't ring as ladylike in any sense of the word. "No, that's about all I had to say." She frowns at the table, then glances up at him with a reserved expression. "Is there anything else you want to talk about? We're free to talk here." Her brow raises as if to imply just how free they are now, there's a reason she took him here.

Jack would've loved to have whatever this was be a painless rip of the band-aid, too -- but he doesn't like to be cornered and confronted like this, particularly when it'd be easier, in his mind, to have just given him a simple hands off back at the Tower and then completely avoid the whole rest of the messy subject altogether. After the network post he'd expected her to write him off without so much as a glance back, giving him space to do the same.

He rubs a couple fingers over his mustache and goatee, self-consciously scratching at the scruff on his jawline until she looks back up to him. The question prompts a gentle perk of his brow in an otherwise smooth, unaffected expression. He's tempted to say 'nope I'm good' and escape this situation without any more injury to his ego, but there's also things that have been eating away at him.

"Really." His elbows are back on the table, pulling him closer into the space between them. There's a couple ticks of hesitation, because he's not entirely certain, given what he'd come to learn about the Capitol, that it's true that they're free to speak openly. But he presses on anyways. "I'd like to know, honestly, then. How much do you truly believe in -- " His hand is vaguely waving in the air, " -- this madness? The Arena, Snow. Sending us to our deaths, ad infinitum, or until the Capitol tires of it and permanently disposes of us." And then proclaiming it an honor. It'd tasted like a lie when he'd asked those months prior, but Jack wasn't entirely sure until it came from her mouth.

It's particularly hard to decide whether this was the right thing to do. It felt like the decent thing to do, at the time, but now it feels drawn out and weird and Jolie can't help but wonder what she was thinking doing this at all.

Hell. The hope for him to just go is there. They'll be working in close proximity no matter what, so even a few hours to get it together before returning to a professional life holds a certain appeal.

Yet, when he draws closer, she can't help but feel relieved. It's as if there's a small weight lifted, like she has a chance to appeal to him as a human rather than the clothes dispenser she feels like lately. She opens her mouth before she even has words and nothing comes out, so she needs to take a moment to inhale and compose herself. "I did. For a long time. But you don't do this for as long as I have without starting to see where the faults are. Then it started changing and.." It would sound ridiculous to anyone, because the system is so clearly corrupt, but Capitolites are bred into this nonsense and conditioned to accept it. "I want better for you. For all of you. I believe in people, not a system- and the people I've met so far? They're different. I feel different." A pause. "And stupid. And I'd do anything to fix that. So, no."

His mouth presses, but for Jack stays silent for a few seconds and merely studies Jolie's face. He's gotten the sense that Capitolites were raised to think of this of insanity as normal, that regularly sending a bunch of strangers to their deaths for mass entertainment was just how the world functioned for them. It was beyond absurd, but after spending so much time in the Capitol Jack could grasp why most Capitolites thought that way.

He's placated, at least a little bit, however, to know that he'd sussed Jolie out correctly.

His next words are quieter, not quite hopeful in tone. "Is there anything that could be done?" He'd love more than anything to return home, back to his world and his ship and his previous life, but that felt more and more like a pipe dream as each day passed.

Hugs aren't hard to wrangle out of Stephen. He wraps his arms around Jolie with a broad smile, holding tight enough to almost pick her up off her feet before he lets go. He claps a hand to her shoulder.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he says. "This is the most boring thing I've worn in months. Even to bed."

The outfit in question is understated, certainly, but not boring. It's a cleanly cut suit, a shimmery undershirt with a collar that has an interesting cut, and subtle makeup. It's classy. Sharp.

If Jolie were to list her favorite things about Stephen, his hugs would be high on it. She squeezes back, but it doesn't have quite the same strength to it that his do, she could stay here forever. Sometimes she forgets that her favorite thing about Stephen is that he's Stephen.

"Well I mean, it could do with a few adjustments. A glitter panel here or there." She reaches out to press her hands against the collar and his side before she pulls him away, clasping her hands together to admire it. "But it's very professional. Besides, I'd be severely disappointed if I heard anything about you was boring in bed."

Stephen raises his eyebrows, letting out a laugh and looking away in a what, me? Perish the thought kind of way.

"Girl, you know better," he says, looking back up to give a sideways grin. "You can buy every other rumor about me you hear, but I'd hate to think you would believe that one."

"Me? No! Never! Not in a million years!" She declares, throwing her hands up in the air for emphasis. "I only have good things to say about my Stephen, everyone knows that. What everyone else has to say about us is another matter entirely, though." She tightens her mouth into a mock awkward expression, coupling it with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "It's been some week, huh?"

"It has been insane," Stephen agrees. "Sounds like you had a time of it, too. Want to tell me all about it, or would you rather close the door and walk away?"

"You know me, I never miss a chance to bitch." She splays a hand on her chest dramatically, following it with an equally theatrical sigh. "But whatever, we need to catch up anyway. I don't care what we talk about as long as we talk."

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Here comes another ballroom story. [closed]

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