thecapitol | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who| Don and OPEN
What| He's back in the Capitol. Again.
Where| District 9 suite at first, then throughout the Training Center
When| Anytime after Don woke up!
Warnings/Notes| None at the moment.

It was weird to wake up alive again, feeling his arm back, and yet not feeling anything but annoyance. Especially as he had not accomplished what he had set out to do. And he had been taken out by Sigma. But Sigma also died, so it was a comfort. A small one.

Quickly he turned on the television, breathing a long sigh of relief as he saw that Lottie was alive. For now. Maybe she could find others. He could send her supplies. Somehow.

With that, he stood up and walked out of his room. Perhaps he could find Lottie's mentors, convince them to get sponsors for her. That would at least he helpful. Then, he had to figure out what else he could do. There was the girl with the long hair, that he could try and help as well...

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If there was one thing that left Alex hacked off about the whole getting 'reset' after dying in the Arenas, it was that he kept returning to all the half-healed injuries he'd first arrived with. He'd wake up and the bruises and the aches were back, and for a few seconds he'd think that he hadn't really been in this place for almost nine months. For just a second he would almost think Panem was a dream.

Alex hadn't been particularly annoyed this time when he had found himself back in the District 4 suite. He wasn't dying from an infected zombie bite anymore and he had both eyes again. It was a definite plus. Still, it meant hauling himself back down to the training level to get his body ready for the next Arena. Because as messed up as this whole situation was, Alex never simply rolled over. He might take a punch or two, but he'd quietly fight back in every way he knew how, and that meant being ready physically.

As he did a set of chin-ups, he spotted a familiar green Tribute across the way. It had been a little... odd, to see Don go at the hand of Sigma. Alex was still feeling rather guilty over Sigma's death in the previous Arena, and then him and Don had done each other in not much later. Finishing the set, he dropped to the floor and made his way over.

"Bit odd, innit? Being back so early."

Not that it chafed Alex's pride any, that he'd gotten taken out so early this Arena as compared to his previous. Didn't chafe at all.

He'd been practicing those throwing knives again. He was still not the best at it, not be any means. But he was getting better. Slowly. He was actually hitting the targets this time.

"Hmm?"

That was when he heard the voice. He turned to find--oh. That one guy he somehow kept killing in previous Arenas, but somehow didn't kill this Arena. ~~A small silver lining, really.~~ At least he wasn't coming towards Donatello with murderous intent and a javelin.

"...Oh." At this, Don shook his head. "Its...a little frustrating, I'm not gonna lie. But, I've been back here earlier. Second day, even."

It was when Don was off looking for Sponsors that Ariadne ran into him; she was on the same track for her own Tributes, hoping that she could provide some small amount of comfort to any of those still left in. Three, by her last count; that was fairly good, even with every District having something like six Tributes each.

"You're back again," she greeted mildly. She couldn't help but wonder if he was throwing it repeatedly, or if he was just so invested in saving everyone else that he didn't mind going in over and over again.

'Ran into' is almost literal, as Don wasn't looking where he was going. It was pretty obvious he was lost in thought, as he was wont to do lately. Still, when he realizes who is talking to him, he manages to smile.

"A little earlier than I'd hoped," he admitted. "Better luck and both arms next time, huh?"

~~Both options were quite close to the truth. One more than the other.~~

Her hands lifted a little when it became more obvious that he had the very real potential to just run into her; she was glad that he'd stopped when he did, though it didn't dampen the faint smile on her lips. "Maybe. You didn't do too badly. Up until the end, at least.

"How did you find that one?" She went on after a moment's pause.

"Sigma?" He sighed. "Honestly, I...I don't know what his hangup was."

At this, Don's voice lowered.

"Well, actually, he seems to just not like me. I think he's angry because I've killed people in the Arena, but..."

"I meant the Arena itself," Ariadne corrected, a small smile twitching to her mouth before she tipped her head to one side. Still, it was more interesting to hear about Don's time in the Arena, the people he met and the way they changed from setting to setting.

"Did you want to sit down somewhere? Catch up a little?" She offered, dropping her own voice after a moment, "He wasn't taking 'justice' into his own hands, was he? Everyone has to kill in the Arena."

"Oh! Right. That..." Don frowned. "I've always wanted to go to Disneyland, see the animatronics and Imagineers at work, but...I think I might delay a second visit for awhile until I'm back home. That wasn't my definition of fun at all. And...it felt like he was trying to, somehow."

At this, Don motioned to a few chairs in the hallway.

"Is this all right here?"

"Probably a good thing." She trailed along with him, nodding her agreement that the chosen spot would be just fine, and went on with a light shrug of one shoulder, "As much as having to kill people you've gotten to know is unfortunate, I don't think he's allowed to judge the rest of us on something we can't control. He's in there just the same as the rest of us."

"I know." He sat down in a chair. "But that's the thing to. He threatened me in the Training Center before the Arena even began. I don't know why he specifically targeted me first - I barely even knew who he was before."

He rubbed his head thoughtfully.

"Chances are I'm going to have to warn other Tributes to look alive if he's going to continue acting that way. Especially towards others outside of the Arenas."

"What did he say?" Ariadne asked, brow tugging into a mild frown as she sat down as well, tucking one leg up until her as she got comfortable. She worried now for her own Tributes, though she doubted they would be targeted at all. Still, it didn't bode well to have one Tribute aiming for the rest like that; it didn't sound like the same sort of 'kill to win' attitude most people had.

"He said he'd played gamed like this before. That he'd settle the score for the fact that I killed, and that I'd endangered the advantage I might have given for my allies in the Arena."

"How could you play games like this before now?" Her frown grew deeper, and she paused before tipping her head slightly. "Does he have any allies that you know of?"

"...No. I mean, I know he was with someone last Arena if memory serves," Don replied, "but...they didn't really show much of it. The networks edited Sigma out for the most part."

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Valeria was back and forth so often these days that sometimes, if there wasn't something she needed to be physically working back in her workshop or office she just went straight to the Tribute's building, where she could go through her files and sketches on her pda and sometimes, like today, swing by the bar and grab a drink or two to help her through the day.

It was as she was turning from the bar, drink in one hand and eyes firmly fixed on the screen in her other that she completely failed to spot the turtle before running right into his shell, knocking herself down and spilling her drink all down her shirt. The loss of alcohol was nearly as upsetting as her pda disappearing somewhere into the room after it'd flown out of her hands.

Don had stopped to look at a new picture hanging on the wall outside of the elevator when suddenly, he felt something run into his shell. He was totally fine - turtle shell, after all - but the sound of flying drinks and electronics caused him to turn around rather quickly.

"...Oh." A stylist. He quickly bent down to help her out. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Valeria snapped, waving him away to stand on her own. She left the broken glass on the ground for an Avox to clean up, wiping ineffectually at the stain on her clothes. "Just. Fine. My files, my work, my drink." She glanced around but the little device must have slid under some furniture or something, and she had enough backups that it wasn't worth the effort to find it.

"My drink," she repeated, snapping her fingers at an Avox to bring her something for her damp clothes. Regaining some of her usual cheerful nature, she flashed a grin at Don. "You owe me a drink."

"Well, I..."

Wait a minute. She ran into him. He was pretty obvious when it came to standing there and stuff. So how was this his fault again and why did he owe her a drink...?

"...Sure. That's fine, I guess." No point in arguing with her. He did point near a chair. "I believe something of yours went under there, if you need to get it."

Valeria blinked. "Really?" She brushed Don aside and made for the chair, groping underneath until her hand met the smooth plastic. "Yes!" She held up the pda triumphantly. "Now it's a drink of celebration! You just can't imagine all the people who would have loved to get their grubby little hands on this."

"I can only imagine. I'd be one of them, though not for the reasons others would." Don shrugged as he pressed the button on the elevator. "I like tinkering with electronics, you see."

"Oh?" said Valeria, putting on a faux-offended tone. "Not interested in stealing the secrets of my designs?" She looked at the pda curiously. "What could you do with it? I mean, no offense, but most of you people come from places that are so primitive compared to here anyway. You can understand our technology?"

"Not really. And if you saw my attempts to make clothing from scratch, you'd understand why." He smiled a little. "And yeah, I can understand it. Its similar to tech I worked with back home. You can do all sorts of things with a networking Turing equation-based device, no matter the universe."

Edited 2013-04-25 02:22 (UTC)

"Huh." Valeria blinked at him. She hadn't expected anyone of real technological ability to come out of this strange crop of tributes, although she really should have considering the variety. "That's actually pretty interesting. I do a little tinkering myself, you know, although nothing all that in-depth these days. Have you messing with a lot of tech since you came here? I can't imagine another place like the Capitol."

"A little bit, though not much." Don shrugged. "I haven't been tinkering the cameras, I know that. That would probably be a bad idea."

"Oh, I did that once," Valeria admitted. "When I was much younger, still just a kid, and I only wanted to take one apart. I mostly remember people in uniforms coming by to have a Very Serious Talk with my parents. That's one of the few times my parents ever really seemed angry with me too."