thecapitol | (no subject)

Current Music: abney park - increased chances

Entry tags:

✘ chris redfield

(no subject)

WHO | Chris [open]
WHAT | Chris is back in the capitol and grumpy about it
WHEN | Week 6 of Arena 06.
WHERE | Training center
WARNINGS / NOTES | Dude it's Chris. So who knows he's unpredictable.

He had screwed up he knew that, and outside he couldn't keep an eye on anyone and be of use. So he's hitting a poor defenseless dummy in frustration. At least it would keep him from hitting anyone who tried talking to him at the moment. The gunner didn't care if anyone watched and he knew he really didn't have to train this early for the next one, but venting like this felt better than mouthing off after a few beers at the bar.

Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks? And even though he was under thirty he still felt old. Maybe it was the constant arenas, he had only been in three, but during that time he saw more war time action than he had when he had been a pilot.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For a while, Calico watched silently from her perch on the top of a pile of mats. She carried on with her embroidery, stitching an intricate, glittering rose into a piece of velvet.

She was out of place in the gym, especially surrounded as she was by her sewing kit. Her large bag was a tumble of thread and scraps, and several pairs of scissors and a lot of pins surrounded her on the mat. Usually, Calico worked in her room. But today, she had wanted to get out, meet her Tributes as they started dying off. And Calico had a feeling at least one of them would end up in the training centre, punching out their emotions. It was a tactic she often adopted, and fully expected others to use.

"Hey!" She called out after a few minutes, when she realised that he wouldn't stop.
"Hey! Gerrover 'ere! I wanna talk to you!"

Took him a moment to realize someone was calling him. Stopping the bag he glanced over at her, his eyes showing anger a moment, before they softened, wasn't her fault after all. Grabbing the towel and water bottle from where he had dumped his gear he sighed, may as well make with the small talk.

"Yeah? Whatcha want?" His voice was still a little rough, but he was trying to calm down, at least he wasn't going to swing at anyone, though was really tempting to hit one of the peacekeepers right now.

"Well, if you're offerin', I'll take some piri-piri chicken and a glass of lemonade."

She grins, making it clear she's joking. She tucks her needle carefully into the fabric and sticks her hand out.

"Nah. Just wanted ter say hi, love. I'm your mentor. Calico. Or Cal, if you're inter nicknames."

Okay that softened him up some. "Not sure about that, though know a place that knows how to make decent cheese steak."

He shakes her hand. "Chris, though you probably already know that." He did take note of the velvet she was working on. "Mentor and one of the stylists? or that just a hobby?"

"I wish I were a stylist! Nah... I've just always liked making clothes. It beat sewing strings of beads when I were a kid anyway, and it kinda stuck..."

That smile doesn't flicker. "So when they stuff you in some hideous concoction, bring it ter me, alrigh'? They'll shout at you - an' me as well, but you'll at least be comfortable when I make it into something you like, alrigh'?"

She, for example, likes to stand out. She loves Capitol fashion, and sequins. Mix the two, and Calico looks more than a bit barmy.

"Cheese steak... well, it's a bit bland for me, love. Bu' tell yer what? We'll get all our District together one nigh', just us lot, and we'll hit the town. No stylists. No mentors. We'll stuff ourselves with cheese steaks an' go get pissed in a bar. Yeah?"

Because she, as well as her poor Tributes, need some sort of relief from the arena. And the way this one was punching the thhing, he was obviously suffering bad.

"It's a deal, I don't want to get stuck in leggings again." And he could handle getting yelled at, wouldn't be the first time and wouldn't be the last time. When it came to things that weren't life and death he just ignored it.

"What can I say I'm a simple kinda guy." He leaned with his back against the mats taking another drink of water. "I'd be careful with Lottie, have a feeling Some or I will have to carry her back if we let her drink too much." Not that he couldn't, the girl couldn't be that heavy. "And we could probably all use some more time getting to know each other outside." Yes he was totally fine with hanging out with the rest of his district some time.

"They stuffed you inter leggin's?" She rolled her eyes. "Bloody hell. Well, I'm back now. They won't be doing that no time soon, love."

She leaned back a little too, shifting herself so she was a little more comfortable.

"Simple guy, huh? Well, you look pretty strong at least. How d'you do in this last arena?"

They hadn't shown her that bit. After they'd executed Andrea, the screens had gone blank and she'd been left with her thoughts for a month or two.

"Well, I'll look after her. I ain't supposed to be drinking anyhow these days. Some the chap that looks like a Capitol job gone wrong? You know, I thought that was what had happened to him at first!"

Her temper gets too out of control when she's on the lash and she says things that land her in trouble. Officially, though, the Capitol's painted her as an addict and an alcoholic, so it's probably best she steer clear anyway. Doesn't mean she doesn't like a party though.

"So go on - tell me about you. All you 'foreign and exotic' tributes - you have such fun stories."

"Not that well. Though to be honest only kill I've had was an accident, tryin' to help the guy." He didn't like killing even if he knew that they'd be brought back out here it was against everything he was raised as.

"Yeah, haven't talked to him much, but he seems to be protective of the kid when she's not being her bubbly self." He chuckled, I thought he was one of the lab experiments from back home, before I realized he's too well put together."

Chris laughed at that. "Yeah I bet I'm foreign here, Grew up in the Midwest of the US. Other than the stint in the air force and becoming STARS there's nothing that exotic about me."

Cal laughs too. "I hear you there, love. I only killed two people when I won - one by acciden' when I knocked over a spear, would yer believe? An' the other lad - well, I... I pushed 'im over a cliff. That weren' an acciden' - but he were gonna shove me over so..." She sighs. "At least i't'ain't permanent no more."

She boggles as Chris talks. "The midwest of where? You can fly the hover crafts like the peacekeepers? That's a marketable skill, that is, if you ever fancy givin' the Games up. What's stars? I think you're undersellin' yerself there, love. You sound very exotic!"

"Doesn't make it any less barbaric."

"United States, kinda the middle of the country." Oh, now see he didn't know that the peacekeepers were the pilots of those... He stored that information away for later, if they could fly it shouldn't be that hard to figure out the controls. They may be advanced in someways, but the tech didn't seem to be that much more advanced than what he was used to... At least on the surface from what he's seen. "S.T.A.R.S. is well kind of like the Peacekeepers I guess, only more advanced training. We were sent in if the toughest in the police couldn't handle a situation." He gave a small grin. "Thought part of the whole game was to give the viewers just enough to keep them hooked? A guy can't give away all his secrets after all."

Is he judging her for her actions? That's pretty... that's pretty grim, quite frankly. She's the one that has to live with the knowledge that she murdered two kids only slightly less innocent than herself. She's the one who had to face their parents. So she doesn't answer his comment, but that careful Capitol smile with fiercely clenched teeth is back. In time, he might realise it's her defence against retorting... or else, perhaps, he'll just think she's mad.

"That's what they used to call Panem, you know? Like, centuries ago though. Maybe you really are from District 8, love."

She notes his profession, his training. Good. That should make him appeal to sponsors who usually went for the District 2 lot in support of the Peace Keepers. Didn't hurt that he was a pretty good looking chap. Good body. She looked him up and down carefully, assessing.

"Well you can tell me, silly. How else am I supposed to keep you alive? Now come on, throw me a bone, 'cos, quite frankly, I'm crap at this job. Make it easy for me and I'll make you a proper pair of pants."

He's not judging her, he's judging the Capitol, she survived. That get's her bonus points in his book, since she knows what the Arena's like and what it's like to be thrust into life or death situations.

"See, I didn't finish going through the whole history of. I kinda just did the cliffnotes. What's it like? The District that is?" He's used to the capitol sizing him up by now but doesn't make it easy for her."

"Hey if you know how to make jeans proper jeans I'll do what ever you want within reason." He chuckled. "Oh, and a football, I was talking to Peeta the other day and he had no idea what one was. Really don't you guys do team sports? Or is the arena the only thing you guys have." Because if that's the case... he's seeing if a few of the guys would want to show them what real sports are.

Edited 2013-05-03 15:50 (UTC)

"What's a football?" Calico is quite blank. Never heard of one.
"Team sports? No... no, we don't have sports. Maybe here in the Capitol. But in the Districts.. no. In my District, you aren't even allowed to visit another family without permission. EVERYTHING is monitered, what you say, what you do, who you're with. And they check, as well. You break the rules, you're flogged."

She laughs, but it's kinda hollow. "The amount of times I was hit as a kid, for chatterin' when I shoulda been sewin' or fixin' the strings. See, we make the fabrics for the Capitol and District 1 - and for the Peacekeepers. We all had to learn that design. Dead long it were. You'd get up, go to the factory, sew, go to school in the factory basement for a bit, then sew a bit more in lessons - and then come back and do your shift at work. I'd only seen grass once before I came here. I don't think my little nephew's seen it at all. You start work when you're two, helpin' out an' that."

Cal... you just made Chris face palm, and growl at the same time. "Gee, and there was a time this country was the land of the free, I don't think I even want to know what happened." He did look at her though. "Sorry you had to live like that."

Chris froze hearing that. He couldn't imagine living like that. "I grew up in the woods near Raccoon, the city I grew up in... in the summer before... Before my parents died if I wasn't playing football with buddies, I was camping. After, well... it was just me an' Claire and I didn't want her to come home to an empty house." Though that changed when she practically told him to go learn to fly or she'd run away because he had been acting like he was trapped. "Do you get to see your family now?"

"Yeah, well, there're plenty of books on that. Jus'... take what yer read with a pinch of salt, alrigh'?"

She doesn't want to talk about the history of Panem. It's another trigger for her, something that causes her to shout her mouth out.

"Hey hey - no sob stories. I loved growin' up. My family... they're a lot to me. Everythin' - we were so close. We had fun, me an' Drill."

She pauses to listen to Chris. His childhood sounds perfect - except for his parents. She leans to touch his hand or his shoulder, whichever is easier to reach.

"Oh love, I am sorry. I' must be 'orrible to go through that. I dunno what I'd do if my Mother or father... Drill... his wife - I forget her name, their kid..."

She bites her lip. She was so close to her parents, and she's seen them exactly five times in thirteen years, twice in the Capitol, and then for an hour at a time on Capitol tours to the Districts. She gets a video call each year, and can send all the mail she likes - although it's been read, of course. She takes a shaky breath in.

"They brought 'em up when I turned eighteen. And again when I were twenty-one. Not seen 'em properly since. I'd do anythin' to hug 'em again."

"Yeah, written by the people in charge who want to make themselves look good." And who Chris wants to face punch even more now.

"Drill your brother?" He still can't get used to the silly names they have, but hey, his probably sounds weird to them. He shrugged. "Happened a while ago, they got into an accident, drunk driver. Claire and I were happy to have each other."

"Tributes when they when allowed to have a request or somethin' done for others?" Because if they were, when he won, he'd see about getting her family there more often.

"Not another word on the matter, love."

Her tone is sharp; she means business. But by the slight cock of her head and the pursed lips, she tries to give the impression that she's open to questions later, in private.

"Yeah, he's my brother. I have two; Bobbin's the other. And a sister -Eyelet. She's been dead almost twenty years though." She smiles wistfully.
"It's good you had someone, love."

"Dunno about the new rules, love. Bin outta the game for quite a while now, I'm afraid. It never used to work like that. You just got enough grain to feed your district properly for the year."

He nods.

"I'm sorry to hear about your sister." He did give a small grin. "Yeah, I don't think I would have been able to handle things back home without her."

"Guess we'll just have to ask. Because would be a shame if we can't help out the people we're fighting for."

And now she's positively alarmed. She wants to give the Capitol NO reason to pay attention to her or her family.

"Well, that's all very noble, love, if you're talking about me, but if it's all the same, I'd rather you didn't bother the Capitol on my behalf. Just look after yourself, right? Cause quite frankly, you're the only one who cares about you now."

He notes how she answers and nods. "Gotcha."

And hey, hoping you're lookin' out for me. Would hate to think I really am on my own in there."

She smiles a tight, pained smile.

"Yeah... I guess we're stuck with each other now, eh? Gotta warn you though, love, I am crap at this sponsor business."

"It's cool. I'm crap at the whole arena bit. First one I lasted the longest, last one... only a week. So don't bet on me okay."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only