thecapitol | Just watching the night sky...

Entry tags:

Just watching the night sky...

Who: Eponine and OPEN
What: Eponine's pondering on a rooftop. Do come and join her.
Where: Rooftop of the training centre
When: Soon after the date auction
Warnings: Eponine - so generally quite dark thoughts... and I guess any warnings anyone else cares to bring with them.

At home, when Eponine had to think, when she had a lot on her mind, she walked. She walked and she walked sometimes, wandering the dirty streets of St. Michel until she reached the wider roads where the houses didn't bear down on her, and she could see the stars. She had a particular ditch she used to make for, a deep one, sheltered from the wind, and without too much mud in the bottom, cushioned as it was with grass. Sometimes, her nights in the ditch were the happiest she had had in a long time. She liked it at night better than the day; the streets were empty. There were no jeers or stares or catcalls, and she could talk out loud without people pointing her out as 'mad'.

She likes to walk in the Capitol too. Usually. She knows the place well by now, a year on. She knows the shortcuts and the places to avoid. But the stares - the stares she hates. She needs to walk now - there is so much on her mind after the date auction. Why she was strapped down for a start, but Howard and Marius too... and had that rock man really called her beautiful? She needs to walk... but at night, she is not allowed out of the Tribute tower - and she does not want to be shot again, so sneaking out is impossible. So she does the next best thing. She goes up to the garden on the top of the Tribute tower. Helping herself to an ever-blossoming lily, Eponine settles in the grass. Bringing the lily to her nose, she breathes deep, and just watches the stars. So beautiful... Slowly, in her croak, she begins to sing softly to herself.

"Mon ami me délaisse, Ô gai, vive la rose, Je ne sais pas pourquoi,Vive la rose et le lilas. On dit qu'elle est plus belle,Ô gai, vive la rose, Je n'en disconviens pas, Vive la rose et le lilas."

[Translates as My boyfriend dumped me, oh joy, long live the rose. I do not know why. Long live the rose and the lily. They say she is beautiful, oh joy, long live the rose. I do not disagree, long live the rose and the lily.]

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It'sa peculiar feeling, being watched. The hairs on the back of your neck sort of curl and crawl, and your flesh seems to grow cold. For Eponine, it was the same feeling that she got in the dark alleys where she knew the Patron Minette, amongst others, lurked, watching her every move.

In the damp grass, Eponine stopped singing and shifted uneasily and looked around. Was someone there with her? Was somebody syping on her? Was it a Peacekeeper? She half sat up, but froze.

"'Ponine, you are a silly girl. There is nobody there."

Even so, she eased herself out of the grass, and wandered over to the parapet, where the forcefield glistened, to look down at the buildings below.
"Mon amant me delaisse, O gue vive la rose. Je ne sais pas pourquioi. Vive la rose et le lils."

Pruna grinned and sneaked a little closer, half out of fun, to see how long she could stay hidden for and half because the song was really pretty.

She got even closer, testing to see how close she could get. She used to do this when she was really small, practice for picking pockets, practice for assassination.

She was perhaps a meter away when Eponine turned to see who was there. Not that Pruna had been noisy - no, quite the opposite. But, being used to sneaking, to pickpocketing as well, Eponine knew when there was someone behind her.

What she was shocked about was that it was a child - a little girl. Eponine had seeen her on the Arena clips, of course, but she didn't know the girl's name. Slowly, she bent down so that she was on level with the child.

"Mademoiselle, why is it you are up here? Should you not be asleep?"

She skittered back once she was caught, wishing she had a knife. She tried not to show her worry though and bared her teeth. "Do you be being from France too?" Because Mademoiselle was what Enjolras called her too.

That was about the first time anyone had ever been scared of Eponine. But she stepped back too, when Pruna bared her teeth.

"You know France, Mademoiselle? Yes, I am from there, from Paris. You know it?"

"Enjolras do be being from there." The woman didn't look like she was going to attack so Pruna relaxed a tiny bit. She was in her pale blue nightdress and her feet were bare, but she still looked half wild.

"It do no be existing in my world."

"You know Monsieur Enjolras?" Eponine eyed Pruna curiously. Even in the nightgown, she looked like one of the half-feral children that roamed the alleys of Paris. Then again - who was Eponine kidding? She might be in a silk camisole and matching pyjama pants, and her hair might have been brushed for a change - but under it all, she was still as thin as she had been in Paris, still as half starved, still had that gleam of hunger in her eye.

"Monsieur Enjolras comes from the same place as me, Mademoiselle. He is a grand man there, a student... And there is another man, Monsieur Marius. And my brother - I bet he was the same age as you - Gavroche! He was here too, but now he is gone. And I - well, I am 'Ponine, or Eponine if you like. What do you mean? There is no Paris? No France? What is your world, Mademoiselle?"

"I do be knowing Marius as well." She wrinkled her nose, she thought Marius was a coward and a bit stupid but her face lit up at the mention of Gavroche. "Gavroche did be being your brother? He did be being very cool." She used one of her Sandy learned words.

She was quickly warming to Eponine, since she couldn't see the sister of Gavroche being stupid at all.

"It do be being nice to be meeting you 'Ponine. It do be being a world with no France of course."

Eponine laughed at Pruna's expression. "You do not like Monsieur Marius, Mademoiselle?" She smiled wistfully. Marius had meant so much to her in Paris... How she wished he'd notice her. How she wished, just for once, that he would come over to her and look her in the eye whilst he talked to her. But she wasn't going to share that with Pruna, of course.

"Gavroche was probably cool a lot - he lived in an elephant in Paris - but I think he had a blanket, which is more than I a lot of the time. He was lucky, really, my brother. But France is always cold - unless it is summer and then we all fry." Not being at all well versed in slang - American slang anyway, Eponine took it for a literal meaning.

"I cannot imagine that - but then, there are so many people from so many different worlds here, I should think I was dreaming, if I did not keep dying. You do not die in dreams, you know?"

"He do be being okay, but he do be being a bit stupid." She wrinkled her nose again and then giggled when she spoke about Gavroche. Though she was very impressed, he lived inside an elephant? Was it an enchanted elephant? How did you live in an elephant anyways? She seemed unmoved by Gavroche's or Eponine's former plight, never having really lived through a winter like there would be in Paris (or in Panem for that matter).

"It do no be meaning cold it do be meaning funny and nice and a person who do no be being stupid and you do be liking to be talking to." She explained and wrinkled her nose, "It would be being the most stupid dream ever." She pointed out.

"Stupid, Mademoiselle?" Eponine leant back against the parapet of the tower, twisting the lily she still clutched in her hands. "No, he is not student - for he is a student too. He knows a lot of things - I used to hear him through the wall sometimes."

She could have gone on - but she stopped herself. Pruna didn't need to hear any of that.

She began to laugh at herself, though, as Pruna explained. "I think everyone liked to talk to my brother, Mademoiselle. You must forgive me my mistake - there are not words like that where I am from - but I am learning. Monsieur Tim taught me 'whiggerty whackerty yo!' But I do not know what it means..."

"Just because he do be knowing a lot of things do no be making him no be stupid." She told her wrinkling her nose.

She grinned at the word, "I do no be having any idea what that do be meaning. I do no be knowing what mademoiselle do be meaning either but you, Enjolras and Marius all did be calling me it."

Eponine frowned at Pruna's evaluation of Marius, but she said nothing. What was the point in arguing with a child. But, for her, Marius was not st all stupid. He couldn't be. She couldn't let herself think of him in that way - he HAD to be perfect. He had to remain the ideal so she could cling to her hopes, her dreams that one day, life would be better.

"Mademoiselle? It means 'Miss' - it is what we say to fine ladies and gentlemen in Paris. That is why Monsieur Enjolras and Monsieur Marius are always a Monsieur. Unless you are true friends, and then, even if you are supposed to say 'Monsieur' and 'Mademoiselle', they say, 'No, 'Ponine. We are friends now and so we must be called equally.' You understand?"

"Oh I do be understanding, it do be being like when I do be calling priestess Elena priestess and I do be being supposed to be calling Taiwin master Taiwin." But rarely did because she knew exactly how much cheak she could get away with.

"I do no be being a fine lady though," She wrinkled her nose, "Even if they do be dressing stupidly."

"I suppose that yes, Mademoiselle, it is the same. Are you like my brother? He hardly ever uses it - and it is okay for him not to - nobody minds. It is different, I think, if you are as old as I. Then you must say things correctly or they shout at you." Pruna had the cute factor, like Gavroche.

"You do not like such clothes? But they are beautiful. Sometimes I think that these are the best things about the Capitol, and the food, of course. But I would perhaps not call you Mademoiselle if I knew your name."

"Well nobody did be shouting at me." Not for that anyways, and it they did she would just stomp on their toes.

"They do be being pretty sometimes, I did be liking the one I did be wearing for the dancing because it did be being all twirly when I did be doing the spinning." She told her with the smile, one that brightened at the mention of food. "The food do be being amazing, have you been having ice cream? It do be being the best thing ever."

If she hadn't Pruna would have to take her to get some, not now because it was the middle of the night but later, in the day time.

"Oh I do no really be having a name, they do all be calling me Pruna so they can be finding me on their computers, but my parents did be adoptioning me and so I did no be getting a name." These were very new concepts for Pruna, the idea she had actually had parents once. And she had chosen to believe that they had just decided they didn't want her and her sister, because she was at least giving her parents benefit of the doubt that they were not so stupid to both die after making two children.

"But you can be calling me Pruna if you do be wanting to, or you can be calling me Ash, that's what Sandy do be calling me, she do be being my girlfriend. Or," She shrugged, "People do be calling me lots of different things so you can just be choosing, just do no be calling me brat." She pointed a finger at her in warning.

It was quite amazing, really, to Eponine at least, how much this child reminded her of Gavroche. Not that she knew Gavroche well - in fact, Pruna probably knew him as well as Eponine did. But the defiant personality, the confidence - that was the Gavroche Eponine recognised.

"You had a twirly dress for the dance?" Eponine smiled. "That is what I would like, Mademoiselle. Along, long dress with lots of skirts that floats out when a man turns me." What Eponine generally got were dresses that emphasised her long legs and tiny waist. Sometimes elegant... but not what Eponine thought of when she thought of a 'Lady'.

"I have had ice cream - it is my favourite! Never had I had it before here - such a thing does not exist in Paris..." Though, actually, none of this food existed in Paris, at least not for her. Ice cream made her think of Howard though, and without realising, she began to hum the song she'd been singing whilst she thought back over that horrid argument. After a couple of minutes, though, she sighed and blinked, and realising that she had been daydreaming, flashed a quick smile at Pruna before sort-of changing the topic.

"I will eat anything, truly, Mademoiselle, for always am I hungry and my stomach makes a noise at me and tells me I must eat - always. But my stylists say no - they prefer me to be skinny. I do not care. I eat anyway!" She grinned at Pruna.

"I will tell you something as well. My mama had five children - Gavroche and I, and Azelma between us. But also there were two more boys that she sold. Like you, Mademoiselle. I do not think they had names, and if they did I cannot remember, but I should think they had a better life."
What she meant, in a roundabout kinda way, is that she thought Pruna, too, might have had a better life with a new family.

"Pruna?" She chuckled. "And Ash - but such different names - but why? Tell me, which is your favourite and I shall call you that. You do not like brat?"
Eponine laughed again. "That is good that you have the courage to say that. Me, I was called brat - and then when I got bigger, different names that I did not like. But never did I say against it."

Pruna grinned, she had very much liked her dress for the dance, she grinned when he learned that Eponine had tried ice cream, that was good. It didn't exist in Gauig either and Pruna wondered that when her and Sandy escaped, both going back to Pruna's world like they had planned, if they could take ice cream with them.

"You should just be eating and ignoring them, they do be being stupid and there do no be being much food in the arena so when we do be being here we should be eating everything."

She wrinkled her nose when Eponine mentioned her brothers. Eponine might think they would have a better life but Pruna knew the stories of what happened to kids in Gauig that got sold. It was whispered in the packs of thieves that she often ran with, and everyone hid when the guards decided they needed more kids to capture and sell.

It was a dire threat and one that Taiwin used only when he was very angry with them. Her other guardians never threatened it and they were the boss of Taiwin so Pruna figured it was only him making words that didn't even mean anything.

But they always behaved when he threatened it.

"I do be liking Ash because Sandy did be giving it to me and it do be being a hero name." She said, "But Pruna do no be being bad and it do be the name people do be knowing so they can be sending me weapons in the arena." She wrinkled her nose again, "I did no never be saying so before, and Taiwin did always be calling us brat, but here I did be thinking they did be giving me a name and so they should be using it."

"This is exactly so, Mademoiselle Ash. I eat and eat whilst I am here. Always am I hungry, and I eat and eat, and sometimes I am sick, and then I eat and eat some more." The rich food didn't agree with Eponine's belly, after so many years of eating little more than air. But she didn't care. She liked the food and she was going to enjoy it.

"I think they are stupid, these sylists and these mentors. It is good to be fat, or plump at least. That means you are rich. It is a sign of the poor if you are thin like me. But they do not care what we think, so there is not much to be done, is there?"
She might hate the Capitol, but rebellious Eponine was not.

Still, it was horrid that they sent children to fight.

"You can use a weapon, Pruna?"

She was remarkably sensible for such a young girl - perhaps she had had a life like Eponine's, or Gavroche's? If she had been adopted, perhaps it was not into a family like Cosette's? It warmed Eponine to her, made her feel connected to Pruna, in the same way she recognised Howard's gluttony as a quality she possessed herself.

Pruna nodded, agreeing with that. It was the same in her world, being plump meant you were rich and had nothing to do but eat and talk and eat some more. Pruna had seen such people, usually when she was sent to assassinate them.

"Of course I can be using a weapon." She grinned. "I did be killing lots of people."

"In the arena?"

Eponine looked at Pruna in astonishment. Was she lying? How could a child kill people? And if they did kill, for it happened sometimes, they certainly didn't tend to boast calmly about it like Pruna was doing. Eponine couldn't imagine Pruna killing.

"And before." Pruna had gotten more confident since Sandy's reaction to her god and so she smiled brightly as she answered. "I do be being good at it."

Modest Pruna was not.

"You killed before the arena, Mademoiselle?"

Eponine was shocked. Not at the idea of murder, but - "But you are a child! How is it you are big enough to murder a man? Did they not struggle against you? It is not a good lie, I think."

She shrugged, "There do be being ways to be killing people before they do even be knowing you do be being there." She grinned showing the gap in her teeth.

"Being small do be helping because they do no even be noticing you." She pointed a finger at Eponine.

"I do no be being a liar!"

"But you are but a child, Mademoiselle. How is it that you can kill?"

Eponine didn't seem at all perturbed by Pruna's actions - didn't even notice. Her eyes had shifted from Pruna to fix on one of the bushes behind the girl, and she twirled the lily absently in her hand.

"You could not even reach a man's throat, Mademoiselle. How did you kill them?"

She was casual, unperturbed. Eponine didn't like murder - but she was equally desensitized to the idea of it - though admittedly, her own deaths in the arena had disturbed her - especially her last, being munched alive by R. But they weren't talking about that so Eponine remained unbothered.

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