thecapitol | 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 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."

it's never ever too late [open]

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