[Open]

[freedomscall]

What| Anders trying to adjust to a new environment.
Where| Around the capitol.
When| Now?
Warnings/Notes| None at the moment


Everything was too big. He should have felt relief: this city was larger than anything he had seen before. There was so much grandeur, all glittering and beautiful and so easy to focus on. A man like him could have been swept away, swept under the rug, swept up in everything and easily forgotten. He could hide in the crowd. With so many people, no one would notice just another man.

Anders, however, felt nothing but suffocated. Every glance caused him to flinch and bury himself deeper within himself. The knot in his stomach pulled tighter, and tighter with every turn he made and every person he passed.

He had no idea how long he had been walking, or even where he was anymore. A heavy sigh escaped him as he rubbed his forehead.

"Andraste's tits...What is going on?" . For a moment he let his situation consume him, let the whole Capitol consume him.

It was the sound of footsteps coming up behind him that snapped the mage out of his stupor.

Comments

[earthborn]

"It's a coffee shop. They sell happiness," She glanced up to gauge his reaction; the man seemed to be completely at a loss. Fantastic, "They sell hot drinks, look, just drink the damn cocoa, you look like you could use a boost."

She slid in just opposite him, although opposite would have been generous given the relative daintiness of the table that stood between them and took a deep gulp of her own. For fortitude, right?

"Y'wanna start with names?"

[freedomscall]

The mage frowned at the woman, then the cup, before bringing it to his lips and taking a slow sip. The warmth and chocolate tickled his tongue, and whatever the gooey white stuff was – well it clearly was a part of heaven. In spite of himself Anders smiled at the taste of the drink.

She was right. It was like happiness.

“I'm Anders” he said after swallowing the hot chocolate.

[earthborn]

"Alright, Anders. I'm Shepard," she repeated, and gave him a minute to take it in. The Capitol was, after all, a lot to swallow under the best of circumstances, let alone all at once.

Silence, good. Chocolate, good.

"You're a Tribute too," it wasn't a question, really, but she kept her voice neutral-- he could object, if he wanted, "I'll just bet you have a few questions about that."

[freedomscall]

Anders snorted, taking another sip of the chocolate to calm his nerves. He had so many questions, none of which he could seem to make an order of. The Capitol was still a world he was trying to understand.

“Tribute? I don't understand what I'm meant to do. The killing aside I mean.” It made his skin crawl to think about.

[earthborn]

"Well, that's... kinda complicated," She paused to think about it, tipping her drink back, then sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "...And it depends on who you ask. Do you want the short version or the long one?"

[freedomscall]

Anders let out a small chuckle in spite of himself. "That's always the case. I don't think it will make much sense either way. What's the short version?"

[earthborn]

She cocks her head at that-- not what she'd expected from a guy with a ponytail and a face like a permanent warzone, but who was she to judge?

"Short version, you're here to fight in the Hunger Games, like all the other tributes. We all go in, one of us comes out alive, all the rest get to wake up in the Tribute tower for what has to be officially the weirdest afterlife I've ever heard of," She sighed and pried the lid off her coffee to check the contents; gross, all foam, "When you're in the Capitol, that would be here, your job is to look pretty and keep your head down. Other than that, have fun with it, I guess. Not the ugliest form slavery's ever taken, but..."

Shepard offered him a one-shouldered shrug. What can you do?