thecapitol | it's never ever too late [open]

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it's never ever too late [open]

WHO| Ariadne and whomever wants to visit her
WHAT| Ariadne is musing to herself on the various occurrences of the Arenas.
WHEN| the night of the closing ceremonies.
WHERE| the training centre rooftop.
WARNINGS/NOTES| none right now.

Ariadne still wasn't entirely sure about all of this. All of this...killing, and maiming, and the fact that they were all brought back. What was she supposed to think of that? About the fact that somewhere out there in the world, someone was more than likely concerned with where she had disappeared off to; about the fact that she had curb-stomped a man to death on the opening day of the second Arena.

It was like everything that the Games were was suddenly rolling up on her, crushing her with implications and accusations that she had changed; that if she hadn't already, she would. There was a lump in her throat as she stared out at the glittering abyss that was known as the Capitol, hot tears barely pricking her eyes and refusing to fall.

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Momoko avoided the Training Center usually, even more now that she had a much more personal reason to want to avoid spending any extended time with Tate. This night, however, the building itself was welcome respite from the rest of the Capitol, who were carrying on as usual (perhaps a bit more subdued, actually, but not nearly subdued enough for Momoko). She was glad for the chance to wander aimlessly in the quiet without concern of running into some annoying, gushing Capitol citizen--and then she spotted Ariadne, for the first time since they'd both died, and found herself surprisingly happy to see her as well.

There weren't many people whose company Momoko was tempted to seek out and so she hesitated to reach out now, not sure how to do that, exactly. "Hello," she tried carefully. "Did you want to be alone?"

She had doubted from the first moment that she would be allowed much respite from people; it was pleasant that she had been left alone for as long as she had, really. When she heard Momoko's voice, familiar even for the short period of time when her voice had been stolen from her, Ariadne turned to confirm her companion.

"Um. No, it's all right," she replied softly, glancing away but briefly to dab at her eyes, dry as they were, with the edge of her sleeve. "How are you?"

"It's fine if you wanted to be alone," said Momoko, just in case Ariadne was just trying to be nice, which was apparently something people did. "I much prefer it myself." Her attempt at tact for the week complete Momoko shrugged and moved to sit near to Ariadne, crossing her ankles primly and folding her parasol to rest next to her.

"Better than this time last week," she said in response, because how else could you answer that question?

"I can't see being alone going very well right now," she explained simply, figuring that Momoko would either leave it be, or understand and then leave it be. She tucked a loose lock of hair from her face, sitting up a little bit straighter as she cast a glance around the gardens. "That makes sense. The Arenas rarely lend themselves to anyone enjoying themselves, I find."

Momoko smiled, small and wry. "There's not much chance at being truly alone, anyway," she said, Ariadne's comment going mostly over her head. "I'm pretty certain there are more cameras in this city than the Arenas combined."

She looked out over the Capitol. "And the Capitol is all about making sure we enjoy ourselves."

She didn't wholly mind the comment going over Momoko's head; it just meant she had less questions to answer. She propped her chin up in one hand, smiling a little bit sadly at the other girl. "You're probably right. I imagine we're more amusing when we're trying to live normal lives than when we're at each other's throats. Especially since we come back each time; it lends itself towards creating friendships."

Though she had to admit: any friendship forged through the Arenas would be rather screwed up.

She looked at Ariadne thoughtfully. "Are we friends then?" she asked, genuinely curious. Momoko wasn't exactly experienced with the concept, her one notable friendship coming out of somewhat...unusual circumstances.

She glanced over at the other girl, tipping her head to one side somewhat as she thought about it. It wasn't anything she analysed particularly often, but she supposed- "I think so. Unless you disagree." Really, she figured that anyone who had been through what they had together could probably consider themselves friends with some certainty.

Momoko considered the idea. The last time someone had offered a hand in friendship she had literally ran away multiple times, but in this place, friendships were advantageous if nothing else. Certainly Ariadne was a much better suited friend for Momoko than someone like Ichigo (whom Momoko dearly wished was here and yet was also thankful she wasn't. Friendship was strange).

"I don't," Momoko pronounced. "Disagree, I mean. We can be friends."

Edited 2012-08-08 16:30 (UTC)

The entire while Momoko was actually thinking about it, Ariadne found herself watching, studying the other girl for some sign of what she was thinking. And then appreciating someone else similar enough to her for being there. There were so many people Ariadne could potentially get along with, but only after a number of slow-going interactions, that she was finding Momoko's straightforward nature soothing, in a way.

"Nice to hear," she commented, cracking a small smile in response.

Momoko smiled as well. There wasn't a lot that made her happy lately, and while she wouldn't necessarily call this moment 'happy', with the constant threat of the Arena as always hanging over them, she could agree that it was...nice. "Good," she said. "That was easy. I don't know why everyone makes such a fuss about it."

"Probably because it's such an incredible necessity when you're growing up. There's so much emphasis on it that we're led to believe it's the end-all, be-all to life," Ariadne mused, before deciding that was perhaps too much of a tangent. "But you're right. That wasn't bad at all."

Momoko shrugged. "It wasn't a necessity while I was growing up and I turned out fine." Twisted, sure, but that was there from the beginning. "At least we know there's a sensible way to go about making friends, and now we don't have to worry about it." She leaned back to look at the stars. What she could see with the lights of the Capitol, even brighter than usual with the closing ceremonies excitement showing no signs of slowing down just yet. "One less thing to worry about," she murmured.

Personally, Ariadne hadn't much subscribed to the notion that one needed to have friends to excel in life either; she'd made just enough to have study groups, and beyond that, went most everything alone. But this? This was almost better. It made the Arenas bearable, made the Captiol almost worth going back to time and again.

"At least we have that going for us. One less thing is good enough for me, considering everything else." She didn't feel like she needed to expand upon that; Momoko ought to understand well enough.

Momoko definitely understood and she was all for putting off discussion of unpleasant reality. "What do we do next?" asked Momoko curiously. She wrinkled her nose in distaste as a thought hit her and added, "No parties."

"No parties," Ariadne was willing to agree, amusement curving her mouth. "I think we just continue whatever we were doing before. But with an element of unspoken trust influencing it."

"Oh," said Momoko, turning this over in her head for a moment. She wasn't sure about the trust part--she didn't remember agreeing to that--but let it go in favor of asking, "What were we doing before?" Speaking more of before the conversation about friendship started than of what they were doing in general.

Truth be told, the trust thing was just a theoretical thing that Ariadne assumed went along with it; she wasn't entirely sure about it either, frowning a little as she leaned against the railing. "I don't really know. Avoiding parties. Escorts. Mentors. Surviving somehow."

"The usual," Momoko said. "Avoiding everyone and trying not to die. Feels...stagnant," she added quietly, wondering when she'd stopped actively trying to figure out how to get home, or even get out of the Games. She'd started spending more time than anything else on the vague hope that she would win by sitting back and waiting for everybody else to die.

"You're right."

Truth be told, she was having similar thoughts: though Ariadne had never really put a major focus on getting out of there in the first place - mostly just on staying alive - she found that it was even more ignored now. Ignored in favour of staying alive in better ways. "It's not working so far, is it? We need to change it up."

"How?" asked Momoko simply, and hoped she sounded detached rather than plaintive. Her current strategy was perilously close to trapping her in an endless cycle of violent deaths and flashing cameras. She was happy to hear of any possible alternatives.

"We need to do something to make the Capitol root for us. They can't be indifferent. They need to want us there," she replied, frowning. It was easy to say, but harder to think of exactly what it would be that would make them desirable to the Capitol's whims. It wasn't like they liked the same thing for very long, either. Ariadne was a little surprised they kept the same people in the Arenas at all.

"They need to want us here," Momoko amended, thinking it over. "We need to be more interesting out of the Arena than in it." She frowned. "That might be even harder than just getting out by winning. But either way they have to like us."

"So we appeal to their baser natures. Their sympathy, their empathy. Assuming they have any," Ariadne thought aloud, tripping upon a train of thought that may yet do them some good. "If they do, then we tug their heartstrings."

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it's never ever too late [open]

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