(no subject)

[implant]

WHO| open
WHAT| Kaidan is back from the dead (again) and a little upset about this whole thing
WHEN| p. much rn.
WHERE| Anywhere, just specify owo

Kaidan's body aches. Two rockslides the original arena, and a falling building this one. It seems that Kaidan's luck is thin when it comes to anything that could possibly ever fall on him. He's freshly awake, only by a bit, and stretching his legs. He doesn't want to stay cooped up, not when he can feel the start of a migraine pushing at his temples, not when it feels just being caged up like an animal.

Comments

[buildingreality]

Ariadne ends up running into Kaidan somewhere just outside the room where he awoke. Her own healing process had been along the same lines of his; she had only been awake for a short while before insisting that she could leave on her own.

She's ignoring the pain, slowly stretching out of injuries most people don't walk away from, stuck in her own mind for the time being as she walks down the hallway; she almost walks right by him before she catches a glimpse of the familiar man and trips a little over herself.

[implant]

Kaidan reaches out to steady Ariadne from instinct before he really realizes who it is he's catching. It takes a second, something all his training tells him he should be ashamed by-- but it's Ariadne, and it actually makes Kaidan slip into one of his subdued little smiles. It's good to see a familiar face, especially in a place like this. "Ariadne. See you didn't make it out either." And Kaidan feels guilty about it, will never stop feeling guilty. He lets go of her biceps after a second, taking a step back into a respectable distance, even if he's quickly gauging her for all of her injuries, everywhere that might be hurt.

[buildingreality]

She has a feeling that she wouldn't have actually fallen, but there's always a shakiness when she comes out of the Arena. Like she's not entirely sure what to do with herself now that she isn't fighting for her life; now that she's back in the Capitol, alive like she very much shouldn't be. Belatedly, she wonders who else was taken out by the building that took her and Kaidan out, and if the survivors would mourn them.

She inhales a bit sharply, but offers him a small smile back, self-consciously wrapping her arms around herself for protection. From what, she doesn't know. "No. Have you seen anyone else yet? Or was it just us?"

And if it was just them, is she being blamed back in the Arena for not taking Eliot's suggestion of getting out while they could?

[implant]

"Only you so far. Might see some others." Kaidan pauses there, taking in her body language and reading it well. He stops taking tally of her state and instead looks at her face, her eyes-- pallor. Many other ways to judge health than just physical wounds. "Just needed to get out and stretch." Before his headache takes him down, at least.

[buildingreality]

She'll recover soon, she knows; she did last time, she will again. Her eyes are still clear and steady as she regards Kaidan, looking him over the way he does her. "I'll have to take note. They aren't keeping us too far from each other, if I've run into you. We're a few districts apart," she replies slowly.

[implant]

"Yeah, seems that way, doesn't it?" Kaidan rubs the back of his wrist along his forehead, closing his eyes for just a second and taking a breath to focus himself. He wants to find Shepard. She's been in the Capitol a lot longer than any other tribute and she might have an idea on how to stop all this. He doesn't know yet, though, and everything is a little foggy. Instead, he just asks what's on his mind instead of beating around the bush. "Are you hurt anywhere? I know a little first aid." He knows how thorough and precise the medics here are, but they don't always mean they catch everything. Sprains that only swell when the joints and muscles are being used.

[buildingreality]

Ariadne pauses at that, looking at him with mild curiosity before testing her range of movement a little bit more than she had so far. Mostly just soreness, a headache, and a sense of dizziness she already knew would leave her soon.

She shakes her head, offering him a small smile, "No, I'm all right. How about you?" She reaches out tentatively, fingertips brushing his arm in a show of concern.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Once she's released from...whatever they called the place they brought back the dead ones in, Momoko finds that she has no desire to stay indoors. She keeps glancing up at the ceiling and seeing it collapsing, folding in on itself, feeling the floor sliding out from under her feet...

Well. Point is, she's in the mood for some fresh air, so she's going for a nice leisurely stroll through one of the Capitol parks, though she's far too focused on making plans to truly enjoy the green around her. She's not quite so focused, however, not to notice the familiar figure ahead of her. "Kaidan," she says, surprised. Not that he was out of the Arena, she'd checked to see who was left (and that Tate was still in), but because he's the first of the other Tributes she's seen since she woke up. It's a little jarring, the different situations.

[implant]

Kaidan turns when his name is called, discreetly on guard-- which drops when he sees who it is exactly. "Momoka." He would ask if she's okay, how she's doing, but that seems a little... patronizing. She'd just been killed in the arena, of course something was wrong. "Back in the Capitol, huh?"

[cowardfacinghappiness]

She tilts her head, slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Obviously, yes. And thankfully." This last is added with a barely perceptible bitterness, since she's well aware that the same people who pulled her out of the Arena are the ones who put her in in the first place. And who are, if Momoko fails to get her way, planning to shove her back in next time around. "It's a much preferable city than the last one we were in, isn't it?"

[implant]

Kaidan huffs out a bit of a laugh. "You could say that. Different kind of danger." While this city wasn't falling apart and littered with acid rain, it still wasn't a place Kaidan felt safe in at all.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"Preferable kind of danger," she says in response and means it. She'd take the machinations of the Capitol, something she can work with, over the stark eat or be eaten atmosphere of the Arena. Honestly, both places are eat or be eaten, the Capitol just puts a lot more frills on everything. Momoko is good with frills.

She smiles, a sincere if slightly sarcastic smile. "And now we're celebrities! Well, you were already, I guess, since it was your second time. But now everybody loves Momoko too!" Which hadn't helped her survive the Arena and is nothing more than an annoyance now that she's out, so she's not exactly happy about it.

[implant]

"I would rather if they didn't. We're killing out there." Kaidan doesn't judge Momoka any less for wanting to be out of there though, preferring the politics of the Capitol. Kaidan's had enough politics to last a life time, and he can do more good inside the Arena. "Being glorified for cutting someone else's throat isn't exactly how I want to be remembered."

[the_marshal]

On his way to or from the Training Center, if Kaidan were to pass through the Commons and look around, he might spot a fellow tribute.

At the bar, Wyatt sat by himself, ignoring the hub-bub around him. Above him, a screen projected the latest from inside the arena, but he was ignoring that too.

He was only there to drink. And to pretend - if he just focused real hard - that he was back at The Orient and any moment Bat would come slap on him back and try to talk him over to the keno tables.

[implant]

Kaidan is certainly not adverse to the casual drink. Hell, finding out how the whiskey here sits is fairly high up on his priority list. It's been a hell of time here, and it doesn't seem to be coming to an end any time soon.

Sitting down to the one man in the bar who looks like he doesn't belong-- a tribute, another one. Kaidan orders himself a finger of their finer whiskey's, looking up at the tv before flinching away from it. He can't stand it, the arena. He hopes he never grows used to it. Looking at the man out of the side of his eyes, Kaidan rubs a knuckle over his lips. He doesn't recognize him, so probably new-- but hell, Kaidan's been a mess, someone might have fallen through the cracks. "Kaidan Alenko." He offers after a second, dropping his Alliance Rank-- Staff Commander-- from the introduction.

[the_marshal]

Wyatt looked over, a slow movement of the eyes - he's clearly expected someone else. Fans, or the hounding "press."

But there was a surprising flash of recognition.

He knows the measure if not the man.

He's one like him. A tribute. Wyatt's seen him on the screens - however much he tried to avoid them.

With his free hand, the one not corralling a glass, he reached up and touched two fingers to the brim of his hat (his hat, not the silly nancy one his stylist tried to insist on). "Wyatt Earp."

[implant]

Kaidan nods at the introduction, turning just a bit to get a proper look at the man he's sitting beside. Not a whole lot about this place really surprises Kaidan anymore, and it doesn't surprise him to see that it's fairly certain that this man, while human, is not from Kaidan's time period. Turning back to his whiskey, Kaidan takes a drink quietly. He doesn't ask anything, not because he's disinterested, but because sometimes drinking in silence is preferable.

[the_marshal]

Some men might get skittish underneath silence like that, but not Wyatt. Even if he somehow hadn't understood the desire for it, he'd never much been one for unnecessary words.

And whatever he might have been expected to say - "sorry about your death," or "good job on not dying first" maybe - was certainly unnecessary - among other things.

Rather he just nodded back and went back to nursing his bourbon.

[implant]

"New here?" Kaidan finally asks after a second, nursing his rye so, so slowly. He enjoys it, but half of him wishes he didn't-- that it was just another thing the Capitol did poorly. He wonders if the lager here is any decent. That would be for a later outing. From the looks of it-- maybe he and Wyatt didn't have too different tastes. Always good to know.

[galaxyherder]

She's gotten more than a few blank and silent stares from the Avoxes she's passed, but she just sort of glares at them in return and dares them to do something about it.

It had been sickening to watch the building collapse and be able to do nothing but stare at the screen. To endure watching him die all over again. But the worst part, she thinks, was the waiting. Most of them come back. It's something that she's learned. But not all of them. So here she is, on a floor she's pretty sure she's not actually supposed to be on, waiting and hoping that he will eventually emerge from the door that no one will let her through.

[implant]

Luckily Shepard doesn't have to wait long. Kaidan is fed up with his room, a cell, and even if his head is throbbing and body aching and leaves shortly after waking up-- only to see that the Commander is there. It's a shock, but at the same time, Kaidan expected it. Straightening up instinctually, military form, Kaidan gives Shepard a once over before nodding. He doesn't know why she's here, but if she wants to enter his room, she's free to it. There's very little there, nothing besides his Capitol clothing and the suit of armer arrived in.

"Commander."

[galaxyherder]

"Kaidan," she nods, and can't decide if she wants to smile or cry in relief at the sight of him, but ultimately does neither. Her voice remains calm and even but there doesn't seem to be any other sounds to drown out the strange heaviness in the air. Something to delicate and fragile to be truly awkward. But it isn't a comfort either.

It's hard not to solely focus on the fact that the last time they spoke, he had died in her arms. At her own hands. And sh feels disgusted with herself that she has been able to do very little to stop if from happening again.

"It's good to see you," Shepard finally tells him. She isn't sure if she's catching him as he's leaving, or if he's inviting her inside. Isn't sure which one she would prefer, either.

[implant]

"Yeah. Same here." Kaidan wavers for a second before he steps aside, granting Shepard passage into his room if she's willing to take it. He'd rather have whatever conversation is coming next in... this semi-private environment. He knows it's bugged, but hell if he can find anything. He's picked out the obvious ones but-- well, they just came back. He keeps his lips sealed, at least, until she decides where this is going to go.

[galaxyherder]

It feels strangely inappropriate to be speaking to him dressed like this. Or maybe just.. unusual. She doesn't know. He calls her 'Commander' still, yet she's standing there in another ridiculous dress, gold and green and her hair is too red and too long and she doesn't think she likes Kaidan seeing her like this at all. Like she's just gone let the Capitol take a hold of her and dress her up like a doll; like one of their new little puppets. And maybe she hates this because that's a little bit how she feels. Like... maybe they have, just a little.

She hasn't been able to do anything, and it's killing her, and if there is one person in this godforsaken place she thinks will understand that, it's Kaidan. But, that isn't really why she's here.

She steps inside, and even though it's just the two of them, she knows they aren't alone.

"I'm... I'm sorry," she says, and it's perhaps the softest her voice has ever been around him. There's a lot of weight in those words, and she means them in almost every way imaginable.

[implant]

Kaidan takes the apology easily, nodding again and simply rubbing a knuckle against his scarred lip as he absorbs everything. He doesn't say anything about her dress, about her hair or makeup. He knows that it's the Capitol doing this and it makes him hate them even more. He wants to say she's free to anything in his closet, but everything is tailored for his body type, for his size and gender. But honestly he's not sure if Shepard would care about that at this point.

"I don't blame you. And I never will, Shepard."