What pretty cheeks they have, what pretty frocks they have!

[didnothing]

Who| Luna and you!
What| Luna tries to adjust to Panem. It's a little much, to say the least.
Where| Around the Capitol, then various places in the Training Center
When| Today
Warnings/Notes| None currently.


The Capitol
When Luna's taken to the suites and left to ponder her future, she doesn't know what to do. Waking up from what she knew had been her death, hearing she was going to be participating in another game, being expected to kill others as part of that game...she can't go through with all that again, she just can't. It's not long before she starts to feel a need for something more open - fewer walls, more nature if she can find it. Her body feels heavy and alien too, and the thought of staying inside makes her chest hurt. Leaving the Training Center makes her anxious too, but there are no locked doors on the way out and she knows there are people outside, she'd seen them as she was being escorted by the Peacekeepers. So when she steps outside...

It's almost overwhelming. All the colors, all the noise, all the people. Luna's only seen scenes like this in old records, and experiencing it for real is astounding - and intimidating. Curiosity wins over timidness but just barely, so she wanders the streets trying to stay out of people's way (difficult, given the bustling streets) and glances at colorful displays with a mixture of admiration and hesitation. She's not yet sure she's ready to go inside anywhere; shyness has been her cover before, but now the truth of it is coming back to bite.

Training Center (gym, rooftop, District 6 suites)
Eventually Luna returns to the Training Center, because she can only stay outside for so long. She stops by the training sublevel first, quickly recognizing how out of place she is among the people gathered. The gym is for people who want to improve themselves and increase their chances at survival and victory. Survival is something that appeals to Luna, but victory...isn't. She lingers there a little longer, just to observe and maybe talk with one or two people, but it's not too long before she goes exploring further.

And while the Training Center makes her uneasy, the rooftop doesn't. Even the Capitol doesn't have a lot of nature, so when she looks around and browses the gardens something in her heart settles down a little. She spends a while sitting near the edge of the roof looking down at the city below, and thinking of happy things. The whirlwind of life in the Capitol, the freedom of leaving the facility, surviving on her own outside. The fact that she's alive at all to see this right now. Not dying alone, but getting to be with...

When Luna starts crying, she takes that as her cue to leave. As far as she knows she's alone, but she could have missed something and she doesn't want anyone to see her like this right now. She sticks around for a few moments longer to compose herself, and then starts to head back down to the District 6 suites to see who else is there. It seems that she's going to be here for a while longer, after all. She'll need to figure out what she can do in the days ahead.

Comments

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland raises his eyebrows at the congratulations, feels the corners of his lips start to rise, just a little. Odd to be congratulated for something like that, but Luna's congratulations sound very different from all those he'd gotten from fans and newsmen, back when their coupling had been new. When this new tribute says it, it feels genuine. "Thankee s- sa- s-s-sir." Roland sighs. "Cry your pardon. Miss Luna. Afraid I'm still not used to watching my speech as maybe I ought. Do you have any questions? Or would you rather only walk a while? I know this may be too much to take in all at once."

[didnothing]

"Let's just...walk." Luna feels less overloaded than she did in the streets, both because of the relative openness of the park and because there's someone with her now, but she's still not completely over the idea that they're in a real park right now. Company aside, she would be content just to explore for a while.

"It's so nice here," she muses as she examines a flower bed. "I mean, not everything. But this, right now...I can think of worse things to be doing." She's not entirely sure how to take it all - Earth, the Hunger Games, the tradition and the war and the attention. It is a lot, and the bottom line is still a lot of violence and suffering and many other things that go against what she believes. But at this exact moment she feels happy to be here, and despite everything that's happened Luna still finds value in that.

[ka_sera_sera]

"So can I," Roland says, and from anyone else in this city that might be a flirtation. Pretty young girl, new and off balance and vulnerable - his old friend Cuthbert, he thinks absently, would probably already be trying to charm her. Roland does not mean it to be charming, he just means it. It isn't the flowers he's looking at when he says it, either, it's the trees, still the canopy and the view of the sky through them that holds his eye. That sky doesn't seem so large and endless as it used to in his old life and his old world, but when he looks up at it he can still remember a little of what that life was like.

"The city's very beautiful, too, in its way," Roland says, once he pulls his mind back into the present. "Overwhelming, though, if you're not used to it. I'll stay with you a little while, so once you're done I can walk you back. Cities are bad places to get lost in, especially for someone like you."

[didnothing]

"You will?" It's a kind offer, and one Luna feels grateful for. She has enjoyed her time out in the city, in parts if not whole, but Roland's company more than anything has helped steady her nerves - not to mention the fact that she still doesn't completely know her way around the city yet. Even though she feels a little weaker for relying on him, she'll be glad to have him to help on the way back to the tower as well. "Thank you. I appreciate it. Just a little longer, okay? I promise."

Luna smiles at him to show her gratitude, and makes sure to take in the sights in the park. She doesn't want to keep Roland waiting, but sooner or later they'll be going back anyway and it's worth it to savor this while she can.