thecapitol | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who| Adachi and you~
What| Adachi's introduced to Panem and the Hunger Games. He is not amused.
Where| District 1 Apartment level, exploring the floor(s).
When| Day of his arrival
Warnings/Notes| N/A as of yet

You are honored to be brought to Panem to compete in the Hunger Games.

Like hell he was.

Adachi kept up the innocent act at the brief explanation as to why he was suddenly in this place. It was how he protected himself, after all; playing the role of the clown and let people just assume he was nothing special. It helped him get dismissed by those "Gamemaker" creeps rather quickly, so he could get on with figuring out how he got to this messed up world, and better yet, how to get out.

So far, though, he wasn't having any luck, not that he had much of a chance to explore yet. He was shown to his quarters -- which was really ridiculously lavish and maybe the little starry-eyed act he gave when it was revealed to him would have been genuine if he wasn't going to be shoved into some death battle. Seriously, he had never even seen this much expensive stuff in his life, not to mention be able to afford it on his salary. He flopped down on the bed as his guide explained to him his new communicator and credit card, before finally leaving. It was about damn time, because Adachi had just been waiting for the opportunity to wipe off the clown make up and glare at the door.

He fiddled with the communicator first, briefly trying to figure out if it was supposed to be some kind of new fangled cellphone thing, before giving up and shoving it into a pocket. The credit card got a particular look of distaste before he shoved it into a pocket as well; yay, he has money to spend as compensation for being sent to his death. Fabulous.

After that? He was so out of that room, and the happy-go-lucky look was painted back on his face as he headed down the hall, trying to see who else was on this floor, if anyone.

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Howard shakes his head, then stops. He turns the doorknob under his hand. "Well, it's for a given value of death, I guess. Since you get brought back."

But Howard doesn't know if that makes it easier, and that's written into the way he says those words, dull and dead as if they're coming from far away. It's written into the look in his eyes as if he's seeing something past Adachi, the way he keeps glancing around like the air itself is going to attack him if he doesn't keep an eye on it.

Man, the kid was all jitters... After a moment, he let out a sigh.

"Hunh... guess I was being obvious, hunh?" he asked, scrunching up his face. Weird, normally it's hard for people to finger him as a detective. "Hey, kid, whatever you're carrying, relax, all right? It's not like there's a department I can drag you to, or anything."

Even if there was, like hell he would rat out on a kid in a place like this. If anyone needed to be arrested, it was those Gamemakers.

"Just wanna know what this place is all about, 'ya know?" he continued, rubbing the back of his neck. "Like, what do you mean they bring you back? I mean... when you're dead, you're dead."

"You're police?" Howard hadn't put that all together, but that doesn't seem to calm him down even a little. If anything, it seems to make him even edgier. But he unzips his jacket and reveals his prize, the busted radio with smears of garbage still on it and the handful of batteries. "It's just stuff from the garbage, you can't get me in trouble for that anyway. You can't."

He places them on the carpeted floor in front of him, then stands back up.

"You don't die for good. They make you do it over and over and even when you're not even over the last time, they're getting ready to throw you back in."

Adachi glanced down at the... well, there was no nice way to say it. It was totally garbage, and he fixed the kid with an incredulous look at that. Seriously? Really? This was what he was so damn protective of? What in the hell... it wasn't even over the fact he was a detective either! Sheesh!

And what he had to say didn't set very well with his stomach either. He made a face, even more disgusted by this shitty world; time to officially take back everything bad he ever even thought about Inaba, let alone said.

"...this is crazy."

Howard keeps glancing around. He dives his hands into his pockets and twitches his head to look over his shoulder, then the other way. It's clear he doesn't feel safe even without his hoard - it's not Adachi that he fears here.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is. Look, do you mind that we not have this conversation in the hallway? I mean, you can come into my room if you want, I just..."

There's the sound of elevator dinging and he startles a bit, but there's a voice saying "wait, this is the wrong floor" and no one enters.

Adachi followed his gaze to where the elevators were, raising an eyebrow. He didn't get it yet, but... well, if there were people keeping an eye on them -- and he had no doubt that there was at least a few cameras around recording them -- then he could understand his edginess. He gave a nod, bending down to scoop up the junk for the kid.

Howard closes the door behind them and seems to relax a fraction. "Thanks, thanks. There's people I don't want to run into on this floor."

Howard's bedroom is organized chaos. He takes the radio and batteries from Adachi and sets them on a pile of similarly smelly, broken junk. He obviously has an affinity for broken things, and stacks of electronics, lightbulbs, office supplies and neatly-folded clothing make walking through the room difficult. The bed in the center of the room is made, but smells of sweat.

"I done the Arena twice, so I can, um. I can answer questions if you want. But it's all true, everything you hear, fighting to the death and coming back. It's like the gladiator games but the series keeps getting renewed with the same cast."

Edited 2013-03-16 19:04 (UTC)

Adachi fought against the urge to gag at the smell. H-holy crap, kid, invest in an air cleaner. Please.

"That's... seriously messed up."

There was no excuse for this; people didn't exist just for the entertainment of the rich and famous. Man, if any world needed to be covered in fog, just to save people from themselves...

"How often do these things happen?"

"Yeah, yeah, it is. It could be worse, I guess. At least they treat us like royalty here." Although that also puts Howard on edge. He's a twitchy kid. He sees the look of discomfort on Adachi's face and tries not to think about it. Instead he goes over to one of his stacks of stuff and straightens it. A hairdryer, boxes of dandruff treatment, some board games and a few balls of rubber bands are visible.

"Every few weeks. We're just getting geared up for the next one."

Adachi's eyes widened; few weeks?! Just starting the next one?! HE IS NOT PREPARED.

"Y-you're kidding?! I-I'm not going to be... I mean, I just got here... right?"

He might have sounded maybe a little too hopeful.

"Oh, boo fricking hoo." Howard turns and looks at Adachi with an expression only slightly less disgusted than a sneer. Slightly. "I got dumped in halfway through. At least you get a few days to process it. I got ten minutes."

He turns back to his stash of things and strokes his lower lip as he considers something, then picks up the batteries, pulls a box out from under the bed and sets them in there instead.

Adachi pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to think something beyond how insane this all was. He... just... and they... dammit! He could really use Naoto or Dojima-san here right now; they'd be able to keep a cool head, no matter how insane this all was. Er... well, maybe Naoto-kun over Dojima-san; his partner would probably be busting down doors demanding an explanation for this bullshit.

Hell, anyone from the Investigation Team, even Teddie, was preferable to being on his own in this.

"Is... well, is not killing people an option?"

"Sure, but that just means they'll kill you." Howard shrugs, but he looks a little ill. He's still not comfortable with the four kills he's racked up.

"They? The Gamemakers, or...?"

"No. Everyone else. People like me and the other people down the halls."

"B-but... but what if someone wanted to try to change things?" Adachi managed to get out. He really didn't want to kill anyone, but he wasn't exactly in the mood to find out what death felt like either.

Howard shudders a bit. "Well, you can try, and then get back to me when you get revived after some psychopath who gets off on it turns you into human bacon."

"Er... w-well, there is that..."

Yeah, he had to acknowledge that some people were beyond helping... but how many of those could there be?

"Yeah. So have fun with that." Howard leans over the desk in his room and spits into a trashcan, then goes back to straightening his loot.

"Nngh..."

Adachi paused a moment; he could tell he was being dismissed, but...

"Hey. Mind sharing your name, kid?"

"Howard." He raises an eyebrow. "And yours, Detective?"

"Adachi Tohru," he replied, bobbing his head in a cheap bow. "You know... I'll still try to find a way outta this."

"Good luck." And then, if Adachi thinks Howard's being sarcastic, he adds "I'm serious."

Adachi paused a moment, before a small smile worked its way on his face.

"...yeah, I know," he said softly, turning to leave. "See you around, Howard-kun."

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