thecapitol | What a place I have come to [Open]

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What a place I have come to [Open]

Who | Pruna and you!
Where | District 12's area of the training centre and then outside
What | Arrival and exploring mostly
When | The day of her arrival
Warnings/notes I'll add if anything comes up.

No one had said anything to her after her test and the girl followed silently as she was taken out of the room and into a box which lurched and made her stomach go funny. She still had no idea what was going on and she was starting to get more and more irritated that no one was explaining things to her. Her guardians always briefed her before missions and the fact she had been brought here without knowing it, surrounded by strangers and things she had never seen before.

She was shown to a room, which they explained was hers, and that she could go anywhere on this floor or even out of the building, but she was to sleep here. She was also given a card and some other stupid thing that no one bothered explaining.

Once she was alone she sat on the floor and tugged off the shoes she had been told to wear, they were stupid and hurt her feet and made far too much noise. She felt exposed without a weapon but they had even taken the dagger Kant had given her. She looked around, her mouth falling open. If only her sister could see this! It was grander than even the best room in the inn, grander than most the houses she had ever snuck into as part of missions. And it was hers to stay in?

She crept over to the bed staring at it, poking it suspiciously. Then dashed round the room opening and closing every cupboard, checking for threats whilst taking a childish delight in the luxurious room.

Her room well and truly explored it was time to explore outside and she opened the door, half expecting it to be locked despite what the stupid haired people had said.

She opened doors, seeing other rooms like hers and finally came to a room with chairs and sofas. She watched from the doorway for a moment before padding in and poking the couch. Another glance round the room. She wondered about the others here, other shadow followers she guessed from what she had been told already.

She really wished that Elina had sent her sister as well, they had never been apart for more than a few hours for as long as she could remember and she missed her like someone had cut off her hand.

Spotting a window she skipped over, standing on tiptoes to look out and once again her mouth fell open. What a place this was... a far cry away from Gauig and they were so high up... higher than the roofs her and her sister would play on.

[A little later in the city] She wasn't planning to go very far, she had snuck through the entrance even though she had been told she could go out if she wanted to. Still not wearing her shoes, she kept to the sides of the streets, staying in the shadows, trying to be aware of her surroundings even as she was mesmerised by them.

It was colder here than in Gauig and she shivered as she stood as hidden as she could be, watching the people go by.

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They had told her she could come here to train whenever she wanted to and so here she was. This room was much more similar to what she was used to, even if some of the weapons she had never seen before.

On spotting the girl she crept forward to see what she was doing. She hadn't seen any other people around her age at all, though she had been quite proud that Elina believed she could fight against adults.

"I do no be thinking it should be looking like that." She spoke from the shadows, assuming the girl was talking to her even if she didn't know what Girl Scouts were.

Sandy gave a start and fumbled with her knots looking up and spotting the small figure lurking in the shadows.

"Yeah, it's not. I'm just really crappy at this." She threw the tangle to the ground in frustration.

"Yes you do be." She emerged from the shadows and bent down to pick up the snare. She didn't have any idea how to make one either but she guessed that was what this room was for, learning to do all the things you couldn't yet do.

She put the tangle of rope back on the table and studied the girl quietly.

Sandy was getting a conflicted wave of feelings, anxiety from this stranger that she usually only felt around adults. Curiosity about who she was. And a but of embarrassment at how blunt she was about it.

Scooping up the ropes she started undoing the knots. She was better at that at least taking time to study the ropes and using her small nimble fingers to loosen them.

"So far the only thing I'm good at is running. Which everyone says is a great skill but I'm not convinced."

Well running was a great skill, running and hiding where the most important skills anyone could know. Because even if you had all your weapons taken away from you if you could run and hide then you would have a better chance at survival. Pruna didn't sit down, just stood watching the knots untangling.

"Why do you be being here then?" If she could only run? They had told her she had to fight, to the death and it would be stupid to send people who weren't ready for whatever this test was.

Sandy gave her a quizzical look, "Well it's not like I have a choice in the matter. That's the deal isn't it? Sucked here from whatever life you were living, forced to fight, die. Lather rinse and repeat." And she was particularly irritated by the idea that she was utterly helpless in the matter.

Pruna shrugged, she wasn't sure what the deal was. But she wasn't really being forced to fight and de, just ordered to. There was a difference, subtle as it may be.

"I guess it do be, but I do no be knowing why they would be choosing someone who can no be doing anything but running."

Sandy shrugged her narrow shoulders and returned her attention to the pictures she'd been following working on her rope again knotting it.

"Maybe people like watching helpless people suffer. I dunno. It's some kind of entertainment thing for them. Almost nobody wants to be here but they don't care. No one cares about us." A rather depressing thing to hear from a child her age in normal circumstance. It didn't help that she finally succeeded in her knotting which apparently created a noose. She loosened the knot and changed the instructions to another type of knot.

The girl wondered if she had been brought to some town totally controlled by the shadow. She had never heard of such a place, and she was definitely keeping her mouth shut until she was sure. But what other place would be full of people wanting others to hurt each other.

"Of course they do no be caring." An even more depressing thing to hear from a child, but said in a matter of fact this is so obvious duh way. "Why would they be caring?" They didn't know them, they had brought them there to die. It would be utterly stupid to care about them. She grinned when the knot was successful.

"That do be more like it!" She glanced over the girls shoulders, reading the instructions for the next one.

The encouragement felt nice, but Sandy couldn't help but consider her words.

"I guess just...my Dad used to tell me that once, back when he was a young man before I was born the world was different. Not this world, but my world. He said people looked out for one another. That when there was evil in the world heroes would rise up to defeat it."

"But here it's even worse then it was back home. At least at home I wasn't just like...a source of entertainment for people."

The girl tilted her head, trying not to sneer. Heroes defeating evil, she didn't like those kinds of stories and she instantly didn't like the other girl.

She couldn't say anything though so she just crossed her arms. "Well it do be always better to be useful, even if it do be just as entertainment."

Sandy felt her stomach sour though she didn't notice the girls change of opinion of her. "Sure being useful is great. Rather be useful then a burden. But yanking people away from their lives and torturing and killing them for entertainment? That's seriously messed up."

This knot was less complex but Sandy continued to move slowly through the steps so she wouldn't make a mistake.

The girl didn't actually see any problem with it and was having to concentrate quite hard not to argue with her. Because she knew she had to shut up when light sided people spoke about good and evil, but it was hard because they were wrong and stupid and knew nothing. It made her want to scream.

Instead she grabbed a second knot book and some rope and began flicking through the pages until she found one that didn't look too complicated to start. "It do no be mattering, we do be here now so we should just be doing our best."

That made Sandy stop, even if this girl didn't want to argue Sandy was becoming frustrated with more then just her barely adequate knots.

"Do our best?!" She asked incredulously. "Do our BEST!?" She repeated as if she couldn't believe it. "This isn't like a math test or auditions for cheerleading or whatever! This is life and death! And you think we should just fall in line and accept whatever crappy life the adults want us to have? Getting shoved around, tortured and killed again and again? That's messed up!" She declared loud enough that some of the attendants at the other tables were looking uncomfortable.

"I mean seriously...I can't be the only kid around here who understands that..." But it was starting to look like she was. So far only other adult tributes had agreed and sympathized with her. But none of them had much in the way of a plan. They never had much more then sympathy and some suggestions about how to stay alive a little bit longer.

The girl hadn't expected to be shouted at, she almost dropped the knot she was working on at the outburst. She looked around warily at the adults in the room.

Because what the girl was saying was dangerous, and stupid. Of course they had to accept it. Pruna might not know that much about other kids, but she knew that even those that grew up in families had to listen to the adults.

"You do just be being scared." She snapped putting down the knots. "You do just be being a coward, you should be being happy that they do be thinking you can be doing this." She gestured to the adults in the room.

"They do be thinking you can be fighting them and that should be making you proud, if you were no being a stupid baby."

Edited 2013-03-17 14:44 (UTC)

It felt like a slap in the face. Sure Sandy had always known she was a coward, but it felt worse to hear someone else say it.

"They don't think I can do it though." She mumbled feeling her face burn with shame. "They brought me here to watch me die again and again."

"Well maybe cowards do be deserving to die." She snapped, gripping the table. "And that do be stupid you can only be dying once and then you do be dead."

Sandy was becoming increasingly concerned with how aggressive this girl was. Her fight or flight instinct was screaming at her to run but she knew the guards would stop her from getting hurt.

"I haven't done anything wrong. I don't deserve to die." Though part of her wondered if this was punishment for what she had left behind.

"Well I do no be seeing no reason why you do be deserving to live either." The girl was shouting now, not sure why she was so angry. She should be glad the other girl was a stupid coward, it would make killing her easier. But something about the words made her angry, it wasn't her own fear showing, not at all. The girl was just stupid and should shut up.

That finally stirred Sandy's anger as well. "Everyone deserves the right to live till they prove otherwise. I've never killed anyone...never hurt anyone. I'm just a kid, just like you! And I have as much right to live as anyone else." She couldn't even pretend to tie knots now so the ropes hung limp in her fingers.

She threw her own knot down on the table eyes blazing with anger. Finally working out why she was so angry. The girl thought that just because she was 'good' she had more right to live than anyone else. More right to live than Pruna did, and though it wasn't a new concept it was one that angered her.

"What do that be even meaning." She shouted back, "Either everyone do be having the right to live or nobody do be. You can no be saying only some people do be. That do be stupid and you do be stupid and you do no be nothing like me!"

Sandy was baffled, "Everyone deserves the right to live till they lose that right by doing bad things. Especially by taking away innocent peoples lives. That's how the world is supposed to work. You do good things, good things happen. But if you hurt people then you're giving up your right to be happy!" At least that's how her daddy always said things were supposed to be.

"How can that be wrong? I mean if you make a mistake or two that's one thing. But if you go out of your way to ruin or end peoples lives then you should be punished."

She was shaking with anger and she had to get out of here before she did something she regretted and got into trouble. It was clear that not everyone here was of the dark, once again Pruna wished she'd been briefed. That someone had told her what to expect, how to act, what kind of people she was dealing with.

She had so much she wanted to say but this room was full of people and if they were also light addled idiots they would kill her before they even got to the fighting. So she bit down hard on her tongue and stepped away from the table glaring at the girl before turning and storming off.

Knotwork was stupid anyways, and so was happiness.

Sandy starred in confusion as the girl stormed off. Why had she been so irritated? Wasn't it just common sense?

Then again Sandy would have supposed it was common sense for everyone to know you don't force people to kill each other for entertainment either.

With a sigh she flopped onto her back and ran her thumb over the rope in her fingers. She wasn't a good person. She could lie to herself all she wanted but she knew the truth.

Those kids died and it was all my fault.

Closing her eyes tight she tried to ward off the unpleasant thoughts but by her own logic she didn't deserve to live.

Whoever that angry girl was she was right. She was a coward.

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What a place I have come to [Open]

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sob I am sorry for her ;; I've loved the thread though!!

No problem, it's about time someone lit a fire under Sandy for something XD