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thecapitol2015-07-24 03:02 pm
vox_tacenda) wrote in thecapitol2015-07-24 03:02 pm
[to be quiet like I should]
Who | Atlas Fairweather and the Initiate; Atlas Fairweather and YOU
What | Come and socialize with your friendly neighborhood Avox wrangler!
Where | Around the Training Center; in the Avox quarters.
When | Following the changes in Tributes' finances, but flexible otherwise! Just, between Arenas. In the Capitol. Around. u know.
Warnings | There will be a lot of talk about Avoxes, and there might be mention of the conditioning process, meaning torture, brainwashing, slavery, etc. There will be no abuse of any kind in this log, but Atlas will not speak to or about them as though they're human beings. Just a heads-up, if that's something you'd prefer to avoid!
I. Ground floor common area
Atlas works in the Training Center. He's got a sparsely-furnished set of quarters not far from the Avoxes down below, even, so he can keep closer guard over his charges in case of some emergency. You'd think he'd get sick of spending time between the wall of the Tower, that he'd take his free hours in the day to walk the city, to change up the scenery - but he doesn't.
Not today, anyway. He's come up here on break, where all the walls are banks of glass and the afternoon sunlight streams in. It's nice after a morning down in the Avox quarters to remember that sun shines on the rest of the Capitol, and people go out of their way to be too loud, to draw attention to themselves. Atlas lounges on a chic green couch not far from the bar, his stiff left leg propped up on a provided footrest and a half-empty beer in one hand. He's out of uniform and everything. An Avox handler in repose.
It's a good vantage point: He can see everyone who comes in or goes out through the front doors. He's become a good observer in his years working with Avoxes. He remembers faces well; he recognizes near every Tribute who walks by, can call their District affiliation to mind just by looking.
Any Tribute who passes too close (or anyone, really, whom he's seen on a screen recently) will hear a friendly, booming "Hey!" from him, and get a wide one-armed beckoning motion if they turn to look - Here. Sit down right here. Maybe you know him by sight - have seen him in his Peacekeeper's uniform, walking the halls with an Avox or two following docilely behind him. Maybe you recognize his face, but can't place it. Maybe you have no idea who he is, beyond some Capitolite. Either way: It's clearly you he's talking to.
II. Suites - all Districts
Among the more important of Atlas' duties is making sure, in all circumstances, that Avoxes act like Avoxes. He's well known in his own employment circles for his ability to tell the moment when conditioning begins to slip. When an Avox has forgotten its place. When they are no longer afraid enough.
He's here in your District Suites to make sure their duties are all being done according to the Traning Center's standard, as laid out in the Properties Manager's Handbook he carries in tablet form in one hand. He's here to ensure that there are no marks left by shoddy cleaning, no linens left unchanged, no food left out to attract flies, no signs that any Avox has been anywhere it's forbidden to them to be. He makes a round of every suite, slowed by a desire for precision as much as by his limp, knocking politely on Tribute's doors before he leans into their rooms to make his quick inspection, marking his tablet with an air of satisfaction at the end of every round.
He approaches the Avoxes as well, while they move about the room doing their mandated tasks. He follows them closely, watching them for illicit reactions; leans down to catch their eyes and nods with approval when their glances skitter away from his face; tugs lightly at their arms to see whether they pull away (the test is passed if they don't). None of it is painful, but there's a casual indifference in his movements. Like he's running a program to check for error. Like he's giving a table a shake to make sure none of the legs wobble.
...Though if you catch him making an inspection in an unoccupied Suite, you might come in to find him standing in the middle of the room, turning in a slow circle and looking around him at the luxury laid out for the District residents. Keep silent a second, and you might even hear a low, envious whistle.
What | Come and socialize with your friendly neighborhood Avox wrangler!
Where | Around the Training Center; in the Avox quarters.
When | Following the changes in Tributes' finances, but flexible otherwise! Just, between Arenas. In the Capitol. Around. u know.
Warnings | There will be a lot of talk about Avoxes, and there might be mention of the conditioning process, meaning torture, brainwashing, slavery, etc. There will be no abuse of any kind in this log, but Atlas will not speak to or about them as though they're human beings. Just a heads-up, if that's something you'd prefer to avoid!
I. Ground floor common area
Atlas works in the Training Center. He's got a sparsely-furnished set of quarters not far from the Avoxes down below, even, so he can keep closer guard over his charges in case of some emergency. You'd think he'd get sick of spending time between the wall of the Tower, that he'd take his free hours in the day to walk the city, to change up the scenery - but he doesn't.
Not today, anyway. He's come up here on break, where all the walls are banks of glass and the afternoon sunlight streams in. It's nice after a morning down in the Avox quarters to remember that sun shines on the rest of the Capitol, and people go out of their way to be too loud, to draw attention to themselves. Atlas lounges on a chic green couch not far from the bar, his stiff left leg propped up on a provided footrest and a half-empty beer in one hand. He's out of uniform and everything. An Avox handler in repose.
It's a good vantage point: He can see everyone who comes in or goes out through the front doors. He's become a good observer in his years working with Avoxes. He remembers faces well; he recognizes near every Tribute who walks by, can call their District affiliation to mind just by looking.
Any Tribute who passes too close (or anyone, really, whom he's seen on a screen recently) will hear a friendly, booming "Hey!" from him, and get a wide one-armed beckoning motion if they turn to look - Here. Sit down right here. Maybe you know him by sight - have seen him in his Peacekeeper's uniform, walking the halls with an Avox or two following docilely behind him. Maybe you recognize his face, but can't place it. Maybe you have no idea who he is, beyond some Capitolite. Either way: It's clearly you he's talking to.
II. Suites - all Districts
Among the more important of Atlas' duties is making sure, in all circumstances, that Avoxes act like Avoxes. He's well known in his own employment circles for his ability to tell the moment when conditioning begins to slip. When an Avox has forgotten its place. When they are no longer afraid enough.
He's here in your District Suites to make sure their duties are all being done according to the Traning Center's standard, as laid out in the Properties Manager's Handbook he carries in tablet form in one hand. He's here to ensure that there are no marks left by shoddy cleaning, no linens left unchanged, no food left out to attract flies, no signs that any Avox has been anywhere it's forbidden to them to be. He makes a round of every suite, slowed by a desire for precision as much as by his limp, knocking politely on Tribute's doors before he leans into their rooms to make his quick inspection, marking his tablet with an air of satisfaction at the end of every round.
He approaches the Avoxes as well, while they move about the room doing their mandated tasks. He follows them closely, watching them for illicit reactions; leans down to catch their eyes and nods with approval when their glances skitter away from his face; tugs lightly at their arms to see whether they pull away (the test is passed if they don't). None of it is painful, but there's a casual indifference in his movements. Like he's running a program to check for error. Like he's giving a table a shake to make sure none of the legs wobble.
...Though if you catch him making an inspection in an unoccupied Suite, you might come in to find him standing in the middle of the room, turning in a slow circle and looking around him at the luxury laid out for the District residents. Keep silent a second, and you might even hear a low, envious whistle.
no subject
"It might be empty now, but someone might show up soon to fill it in - and how would it look if nobody'd cleaned it in all that time? We can't have the Avoxes being lazy in here just because it's empty."
He paused, something having caught his eye-- and crossed the room in three wide steps, to run his finger over the doorjamb leading into the bathroom. He turned back to Harley, his eyebrows up, and with a short puff blew the dust he'd collected off his finger.
"You see?" he said. "Somebody's got the idea we're not checking as well in here."
no subject
"So what...no one tells you guys when a new tribute is gonna get placed? They just throw a fishing rod out into the multiverse and reel in people and dump them here expecting perfection? Sheesh and I thought MY job was stressful."
no subject
He brushed his hand off on his leg, frowned at the mark it left on his pristine white uniform. "See," he said, "Now I'm going to have to find out who did this. How long they've left it. Might be I'll have to have everybody who cleaned up here in the past week sedated, maybe even reconditioned. Wouldn't have to happen if they'd just do their job."
Avoxes work all-day shifts; most corners cut are not cut consciously, but simply because the limits of the human body sometimes do not manage to exceed even the Avox mind's fear of leaving something undone. Atlas does not see this as an excuse.
no subject
"Speaking of, humor a gal with a doctorate she hasn't gotten to use in roughly a year or two, what sorta process do you go through with them to condition them? Is it a sort of video with subliminally posted messages? Maybe some fancy future brain tweaking? I once read a pretty great article that had success in conditioning people to give up smoking by zapping them every time they reached for a smoke. Only half of the test subjects ended up losing their fingers. One guy actually tried to smoke the thing while it was zapping him and melted his face clean off."
She probably couldn't get in trouble for asking could she? How big a secret was it really?
no subject
Atlas frowned as Harley went on, though, and it deepened the more she talked. That was a train of thought even he was discouraged from entertaining.
"I wouldn't know," he said, and the curtness of his voice was a warning. "It's not my job to condition them. Just to make sure they stay conditioned." With a tilt of his head-- "What's got you so curious?"
A real Districter would have understood his tone-- the universal inflection of the oppressed, the one that said That's a dangerous road to follow, friend, and a thought you've got no reason to have.
no subject
"Where I come from I was a professional psychologist. So anything that has to do with how the mind works fascinates me. You can't blame a girl for being curious can you?"
Yes. Yes the Capitol most assuredly could.