[open] have you got colour in your cheeks?

[rediscover]

Who| Anna and anyone who comes across her!
What| The defeated princess returns to the Capitol and deals with some upsetting discoveries.
Where| D4 suites/the rooftop.
When| Mid-week, after her death in the Arena.
Warnings/Notes| So many angst.



Anna awakens in her suite in a cold sweat, the blankets tight around her, and immediately she reaches for a knife that's no longer there. Waking up in the Capitol is always disorienting, but this time is only compounded by how very not-herself she'd been when she'd died this time. She'd been affected by some extraneous force, made to feel aggressive and blinded by a rage she's never really felt before. It's unsettling, it makes her feel wrong in her skin, and maybe that's why she decides to forgo her usual self-imposed quiet day. She gets up, showers--she's already been cleaned, but gods does it feel good to stand under the hot running water and let it soothe away the memory of all those aches and pains--and dresses in one of the outfits her Stylist has left waiting for her.

It takes her a while to figure out something's gone wrong; neither Elsa nor Bro are anywhere to be found in their Districts, which already has her gut twisting. But she reminds herself that they might be out somewhere, so she shoots them both a quick message using her comm device. It's only when the device fails to find either of their numbers in its system that her blood runs cold. There's something seriously wrong here. She looks first in Elsa's room, then in Bro's. Both are cleaned out, completely empty of any belongings or decor. Like neither of them were ever here. And it all comes crashing down on Anna's shoulders as the realization sets in that they never came back from the Arena.

They're gone. And Anna is alone, save for Dave. And--oh, God, Dave doesn't know yet. She can't even deal with that information right now, because she's not okay. And she knows that she's not going to be able to hold it in for much longer, so she finds herself fleeing back to Four, blinded by tears as she takes the agonizingly long elevator ride down from Nine, brushing past bystanders with a choked sob. She can't deal with other people right now, can't handle looks of sympathy or questions. Everything hurts too much. It's one thing to take Bro away from her--just when they'd worked out their issues and found love with each other. That in itself is profoundly unjust. But to take Elsa at the same time? That feels like another knife in her gut--no. It's like taking a piece of her away. Elsa was the main reason Anna's been able to hold it together for a whole year, now. With her gone--what else is there?

She finds solace in her room, the door slammed shut, balled up in the corner, her little frame shaking with the weight of the sobs that rack her body. She's a loud crier, now; this isn't like when her parents died, when she was still safe at home, with the small comfort of Elsa on the other side of the door. Then, she'd been able to cry dignified tears, she'd been numb. This--this feels like being hit by a train, the way it encompasses her whole being.

Her door is unlocked, should anyone try to venture inside and check on her.

Eventually, she cries herself out, exhausted with emotion, and drags herself out of her room with her face pale and her eyes red. Some fresh air seems like it might help, so she bundles herself up in the thin kimono jacket she'd donned this morning and heads up to the roof. It's twilight by now, the lights of the Capitol twinkling on one by one, and it feels good to have a cool breeze in her hair. The fresh air does feel good, it cleans her head and nips at her cold nose and dry eyes and reminds her that she's alive. She gulps in the cool evening air like it's water, filling her lungs, like it'll heal her aching heart if she takes in enough of it. After awhile, she begins to wonder who else is back, whether or not Dave is still in the Arena, if any of her other friends are around. It might be comforting, to see a familiar face.

Comments

[meravas]

The grizzled and scarred mug of The Iron Bull might not be a familiar face, but it's someone. He hasn't been having much difficulty in accepting his death and losses as he's been back in the Capitol for weeks now since the arena had gone up. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't made it past the cornucopia. Suffered a ghastly and mortal blow which had led to him bleeding out at an alarming rate. He had then woken up in his suite and was stuck watching his companions rush through the various stages of the arena through the screens around the city, useless and unable to help.

Perhaps he can help here, pausing from his spot around the corner as he spies the young woman he now shares the rooftop with. Being up here, it's helped immensely. His head has cleared from his own depressing thoughts, his skin cooled by the morning air.

"It's not bad up here," Iron Bull breaks the silence, approaching quietly for someone of his height and build. Something is clearly wrong, but it's not like Bull to point out the obvious. Ever.

[rediscover]

Anna's leaning up against the railing at the edge of the roof when she hears someone approach--quietly, yes, but his words alert her without making her jump out of her skin, which she's grateful for. Her eyes are dry and red-rimmed, and her face glum, but she turns and surveys the approaching person.

Briefly, Anna's eyes widen. Woah. She's suddenly glad she never came across him in the Arena. "No," she agrees quietly, "it's not. It's a good place to sit and think, huh?"

[meravas]

The look on her face, as brief as it is, it's something that Bull's used to. He doesn't care. If he saw someone as big as him and he was as small as she was, he'd have the same look on his face, for sure. But most people are small in comparison.

"Sure is," he agrees with a nod, approaching the railing. "I can leave, if you want the place to yourself?"

[rediscover]

She leans her elbows on the railing, hands cradling her chin, and shakes her head. "No--no, that's alright. After all, it's silly for me to take up a whole rooftop to myself."

Glancing sidelong at Bull, she heaves a little sigh. "It seems like every time you come back to this place, there's some more bad news. Maybe it's just me."

[meravas]

"I meant I could go to the other side if you wanted to be alone," he corrects his earlier offer. Now that he's at the railing, he leans forward and rests his elbows against it, hands hanging over.

"It could be the same for others. There hasn't been much for me." If anything, there's been more Inquisitors showing up, more people from Thedas. That's not entirely a bad thing. "You talking about after the arenas?"

[revvinguptheharley]

Sometimes Harley wonders why anyone would come to the roof to be alone. There always seems to be people hanging about.

Then again maybe Anna isn't coming up here to be alone she muses, maybe the normally chipper red head is looking for a special someone.

Unfortunately Harley is already aware of Elsa's disappearance having been her mentor. She'd known for some time and while it still ached in her heart she had dealt with enough pain in the last few years that this wasn't Earth shattering.

Still she could only imagine how Anna was taking it.

Sliding up to the safety railing she sighs and glances out over the beautiful view.

"How ya doing kid?"

[rediscover]

Anna's shifted so that she's sitting with her back to the railing, chin tilted upward to stare at the sky. The perfect, never-changing sky. Cloudless as always. But at the sound of a voice, she tilts her head to the side, seeing a familiar face. Anna smiles, a glum little smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Hi, Harley. I'm....I'm just doing," she admits. "I'm guessing you noticed she never came back?"

[revvinguptheharley]

"Yeah." And really what more could she say about it? Still she wouldn't be Harley Quinn if she didn't try.

"She's lucky really. Back home where she doesn't have to worry about cameras in the bathrooms or people writing inappropriate fanfictions about her and a certain sideburned loser of a mentor." Harley had never quite forgiven Hans for winning the same mini-arena as she had among other things.

"How are you holding up? Had a good cry yet?"

[rediscover]

Anna gives a long, deep sigh. "I hope you're right. I hope she's happy and safe." She bites her lip. She wishes she could just make that assumption and be at peace with it, but you never knew if the Capitol had sent someone back, or just taken them away, or done something awful to them.

"Yeah, I have. A lot," she adds. "It helps, but...I just feel so wrong without her."

[quiethumerus]

He doesn't tend to make noise deliberately. It's only courtesy that has him knock as he does, even though the door's already the slimmest bit open. And even though it's a pause. He'd intended to congratulate, let her know how well she did, how she came the closest of all in their district, been the greatest chance.

He opens the door slow and careful, stepping with his heels just so, allowing his steps to be heard. He's frowning all unsure. He is unsure. He wasn't prepared to deal with anything but celebration on a near victory. He needs to assess the situation, determine if he needs new strategies. Figure out what's wrong so he can see that it doesn't interfere.

He's dressed in what was left, something comfortable after a death, like pyjamas after a rough work day. He walks on closer, head tilting to see her face. And if she doesn't look, his hand might just reach out to her shoulder.

[rediscover]

Anna can hear someone approaching, but she doesn't look up at all, not even when there's a knock on the door. Normally she'd say something like 'I'm fine,' but right now she's so very incredibly not fine that it's not even worth it to lie. So she just sobs into her knees, soaking the fabric of her nice new dress, great gasping sobs that wrack her whole body.

It's not until she feels a hand on her shoulder that she even acknowledges the presence of another person. Taking in a great, shuddering breath, Anna lifts her head, revealing a face that's runny-eyed and tear-streaked and pale. She's vaguely surprised to see her Stylist.

"K-Kurloz? I..." Another shuddering breath. "Sorry. About the dress." She motions vaguely to the tear-soaked fabric. It's the best thing she can think to say.

[quiethumerus]

She's been crying. Is still crying. His mind stutters on this fact, working faster to figure out what to do but mostly just driving him in circles. An error sign flashes overhead.

He at least manages to look sympathetic, if not sure over what. He shakes his head, holding a hand up. He's not worried about the dress. Even being who he is, clothes were made for wearing. It wasn't as though she'd torn it up on purpose. Tears wouldn't even stain.

He gestures to himself, then to the place beside her, asking if he can sit. If he's welcome to be near right now.

[rediscover]

Thickly, Anna swallows, feeling tears and hot mucus slide toward the back of her throat, highly unpleasant even at the best of times. With trembling hands, she does her best to push the tears away from her eyes, glad she isn't wearing any makeup, since it would have been long obliterated by now. She catches Kurloz's gesture, and the meaning is clear enough, so she nods, scooting over a little and wincing where the bed frame has been digging into her back unnoticed.

"They're gone," is all she can manage to say by way of explanation, before she dissolves into tears again, shoulders shaking with the effort.

[inrestlessdreams]

With Celebrus making him much more insane than he really was, James went into a sort of damage control mode. Make no mistake, the man is still delusional at times but focusing on building his image helped greatly in keeping his mind lucid and alert. No more wandering spells! At least, that was the goal, hell even marriage therapy could work! Would it work if one spouse killed the other? Not the point.

But if there was one sincere apology Sunderland wanted to make in his brief tenure at the Arena, he was sure to make it nice and as perfect as he could afford. Anna deserved to have a gift basket with a card that said sorry for the broken nose and headed to the District 4 suites.

He then hears...crying? Long dormant instincts took over James' mind, just as they did when he found Angela in that room with the knife.

"Miss Anna?" he whispered, unsure if this was the best moment.

[rediscover]

Luckily, by the time James shows up, Anna's crying has gone from hysterical to mostly moping and the occasional big, shuddery sob. So when she hears him poke his head in, she glances up toward the door, eyes red-rimmed and her cheeks dried with tears. At the sight of James, her eyes go wide, and she covers her mouth with her hand.

"Oh--no, my gosh, I, I'm so sorry." She pulls herself up with her hands on the edge of the bed. "I'm so, so sorry for what happened in the Arena!"

[inrestlessdreams]

Anna's apology was sincere enough and James shrugged, "Heh, um, it's no big deal...I'm here aren't I?" Well he was a little hurt but that was normal considering that his death was in part due to the wounds she made. He raised his gift a little, "I'm sorry I broke your nose. But you're looking good!"

Good job Sunderland.

He settles the gift but can't help but ask her, "Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?"

[rediscover]

Instinctively, Anna raises a hand to her nose, feeling at it. Truth be told, she'd forgotten all about it in lieu of more pressing matters. "It's fine," she insists. "I can't really blame you. I was acting pretty terrible."

She glances at the gift basket, feeling some color return to her face at the sight of it. "I--no, I'm fine. Just. Some people I love are gone. I just found out."

[theyoungperish]

She's not the first tribute to burst into tears, but Chuck's really not too used to handling it. He's used to Careers, and the occasional one who slips through the gaps. And that's prior to an Arena, not after, not like this. Besides that, Chuck honestly has no idea how to handle crying people. He's not the first choice, he would probably be the worst last choice, too. So a crying tribute rushing past him without care for anybody in her way would usually get little more than a glance and a headshake from Chuck. But she's one of his, so he takes a moment before trailing after Anna, Max at his heels.

The door yields easily beneath his hand, slammed but not locked, and so he opens it slow and quiet. Peeks in, brow furrowed, mouth a thin line, and spots her crying into her knees in one of the corners of her room. Hell, it's worse than he thought. So Chuck leans down, unlatching Max's leash from his collar, and nudges him into the room. Not that it takes much effort, though the dog whines at him.

"Go on, Max."

And on he goes, nails clicking against tile before Max reaches Anna. He snuffles at her feet, her skirts, whining piteously at the princess.

[rediscover]

Anna's too absorbed in her own upset to notice anything like the door opening. Her pulse is pounding in her ears, blood rushing thunderously loudly like when she used to hang upside down from the edge of her bed and then sit up too suddenly. She doesn't even hear Chuck's urging at his dog; the only thing she does notice is that suddenly there is a dog in front of her, sniffing at her shoes and whining. It's such an abrupt and unusual thing to happen that is causes her to pause in her crying, picking up her head with a soft hiccup, sniffling as she tries to puzzle out why there's a dog in her room.

"Oh, um--hi," she says uncertainly, voice scratchy. The princess holds out her hand for the dog to sniff. "Where'd you come from?"

It's nothing like her reaction would be if she weren't incredibly out of sorts, but she is somewhat distracted from her sorrow, which is a good sign.

[theyoungperish]

Chuck definitely takes note of the lack of awareness, but Anna's earned some slack from him. She did well, far better than he expected, and she's clearly an emotional wreck right now. Chuck'd honestly just turn right around and leave her to her sobs if she wasn't one of his.

Luckily, Max is a big softy where Chuck flounders with kindness.

So she holds her hand out and he snuffles at her palm, licks at her fingers with little snuffling, whining sounds. His tail is short, which mostly means his entire backside moves with the force of a wagging tail. Chuck, leaning still in the doorway, snorts very softly at the sight. His dog is such a ham, this is clearly Derek's influence.

[rediscover]

Anna doesn't think to glance around for an accompanying human, at least not for the moment. She's too absorbed in this dog, and how cute he is, and how much of a welcome distraction it is to let him lick at her fingers. With her free hand, she wipes the tears away from her eyes and cheeks, wiping her nose on the shoulder of her sweater.

The dog seems to be friendly, if the cute way he's wagging his tail is any indication, so Anna pets at his head, scritching behind his ears and the back of his neck. When she speaks again, her voice is still scratchy and quiet. "Where's your owner, little guy?"

[fintastic]

Feferi has taken some solace in the rooftop, too. It's big enough that she can find her own little corner and just sit there and stare at the sky and try not to think about anything but the sky above. She's not always successful, but it's better than the alternatives. But she can only stay out there for too long, finding that after a while, she gets impatient with the dimly-lit sky and its lack of answers.

She doesn't expect to run into Anna again, but on her way to the elevator, she spots the other girl, and stops for a moment, like she doesn't know what to do. She's so entrenched in her own thoughts that it takes a while to move her thoughts back to the concept of other people, but once she comes around, she offers up a soft smile. It's a shade of her usual cheerful optimism, but it's an attempt.

"Hey. Small rooftop, huh?" Anna looks no happier than herself, but she has no idea that it has to do with anything besides the Arena.

[rediscover]

Anna glances up, her brows drawn upward in a mixture of sorrow and worry. She's begun to ponder the implications of this, this disappearance of her loved ones. What if it's some kind of warning? Or a punishment?

The sight of Feferi has her taking a deep breath, putting those thoughts aside for a moment. "Hey. Guess so. How, uh--how are you?" Easier to focus on other people right now than her own problems, after all.

[fintastic]

It shouldn't, but the question catches Feferi off guard, so she hesitates a little in responding, before she finally shrugs. "Not so great, I guess. Kind of disappointed, but it will get better. What about you?"

Feferi's nothing if not honest, and she's not even going to try to pretend that she's feeling well. But she catches that look on Anna's face, and she has to wonder if there's something more bothering her than the normal post-Arena blues.

[rediscover]

Anna laughs, a little bitterly. "Same here. It's been...kind of terrible, actually."

She cradles her head and her hands. "My sister and Dave's brother never came back. From the Arena, I mean. And I don't--I don't really know how to deal with it right now."