thecapitol | (no subject)

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Who: Sandy Marko and open to all.
What: Seeking inspiration
Where: Training Center Restaurant
When: Mid day.
Warnings: Not yet?

Having come in from her morning run through the city Sandy had showered, changed clothes from workout to casual and was sitting at the restaurant with an over sized stack of red velvet pancakes with cream cheese icing and whipped cream with some kind of glittering gemlike sprinkles. A half drank glass of milk sat next to a plate of sausages, one of them with a fork sticking out of it and a bite missing.

She had taken a few bites out of it but was deeply invested in using a pencil to try and map out her next painting. On a paper in front of her was some kind of gooey dripping monster.

It had been awhile since she dreamed about the monsters that had fallen from the sky. About the last horrible thing she'd done before waking up here. Maybe someone in that church had gotten away.

But she wasn't hopeful enough to lie to herself about it.

Having had a nightmare about them (Despite Effie's special sleep tea and Pruna's anti-nightmare head poke) Sandy decided the best way to get it out of her head was to put it in paint.

And so here we found her, wasting another day when she could, should be preparing for the next arena.

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"Thanks." He sat down and busied himself with his food, and got a good look at her drawing. "That's very good," he said, once he'd had a couple of mouthfuls. "Do you draw often?"

Sandy was clearly hesitant to answer but after a moment, "Yeah...just to get ready to paint though...you know> Planning." She mumbled not used to people praising her work. Usually people were just cursing it as a stain on the side of their buildings.

"You paint too?" Ian was impressed and he sounded it too. It was partly because he couldn't draw himself. But he couldn't see what she was so hesitant about. Why wouldn't someone be happy to be praised for their drawing? "What sort of things do you paint?"

She set the pencil down "Lately, just stuff, nightmares. Things I wanna get outta my head." While she confessed these things matter of factory she took her glass of juice and drank from it to try and hide her embarrassment and the fact that she knew normal girls her age weren't so messed up they had to use art like that.

Ian could understand that. Especially in a place like this. If it didn't give her nightmares he'd be more worried. "Does it help?" he asked, and had some more of his omelette.

She looked back to the picture thoughtfully and answered carefully, "I've got a few things I do...sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. I'll try anything really. I just want a good sleep." She sighed and felt her cheeks burn at being so honest with a stranger. Then again it's not like she had that many secrets anymore the way the Capital Paparazzi worked.

He nodded. "I can't say I've found anything that works every time. Wearing yourself out during the day helps you get to sleep, but doesn't do anything for the nightmares."

"Maybe I just need more tea." Sandy sighed still watching the picture grimly. The tea made her sleep heavier yes, but she still had the nightmares. They just didn't wake her up as badly. When she did wake up her mind was in such a foggy haze she usually went back to sleep quickly.

"It's strong stuff." She added.

Ian had mostly just resigned himself to having nightmares and tried to ignore their existence during the day. He hadn't tried tea, since as far as he was concerned it was what you drank at breakfast to wake you up. "Does it work?"

Sandy gave a gentle shrug "It puts me to sleep faster and makes it harder to wake up. Sometimes I forget what happened in the nightmares before I wake up." Which was why she hadn't stopped drinking Effie's tea every night like clockwork.

"Perhaps I'll try it." It was worth a go, anyway. He dug into his omelette to finish it off before it went cold. "If it works it would be nice," he added, between bites.

"Ask your escort." She suggested, "That's who got me my tea. I don't know what it's called but...it's really strong."

She was working on her drawing again, adding an extra pair of empty white eyes.

"I'm just glad I died before they let the other monster out in the last arena." It had been...indescribable watching it on the broadcast.

He nodded. If one escort knew about the tea then they probably all did.

"I can't help thinking that dying sooner rather than later in the arena is far better. If we're going to come back here anyway what's the point of prolonging it?" It probably wasn't the best thing to say in public, but if questioned he could just say he was scared of the sort of things that happened in the arena.

"Because it's boring." Sandy explained as best she could. She had asked the same question once of another tribute and this was their theory that she had adopted.

"And if you're boring, there's no reason to keep bringing you back. Sooner or later they just...won't." And then they would finally have to answer that question of what really waited for them in death. Sandy had once hoped it would be angels...but now she was sure there were more devils that might be waiting for her.

"I suppose you're right." He sighed. "I already had a lecture about being boring last arena and how I'm not going to be getting any sponsor gifts in the next arena." He was planning on testing that, but not on saying it out loud.

That got Sandy's attention "Did you kill yourself last time?" She was already worried her performance in the last arena would have somehow made even less popular.

"No, I didn't," he said quickly. He could see the use of it, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "I just hid until my supplies ran out." And then ended up being trampled to death, but that wasn't the point. "It apparently didn't go down very well."

"Oh." Sandy answered feeling dumb at having asked the question now. "I thought about it...but now that I promised Ashley to stay with her I can't. She'd never forgive me if I took the easy way out."

The fact that she wasn't even old enough for puberty and she was considering suicide was a rather grim fact that was not lost on Sandy. Even if it was only a temporary death.

He nodded, glad to hear that, although he liked the idea of the children being killed at the start by some method that didn't cause too much pain so they wouldn't have to suffer later.

"I don't think it is an easy way out. Specially when you get back here and get complained at." He grinned, trying to lighten the mood a little.

It didn't help much. Sandy gave herself some stalling time by shoveling half a pancake into her face.

As she chewed she considered all she'd seen and done and swallowed hard.

"So do you think it's just...gotta be this way?" She asked bluntly despite knowing what this sort of talk led to. Mean looks, more threats. Probably punishment.

"No." He shook his head, then looked around, wondering how much he could get away with saying when they were being listened to.

He lowered his voice, even though it probably wouldn't make much difference. "We have to go in the arena, we can't avoid that. But it's up to us what we do while we're in there. What's the worst they can do, tell us off?"

Sandy didn't seem too convinced, "They could turn us into those guys." She jerked her thumb in the direction of a nearby Avox who was cleaning a table. Ever since she had learned what the Avox's were she had been horrified by the idea. Losing her tongue would be one thing but brain surgery? The thought alone had added a fresh new element of nightmare fuel to her drug induced sleep each night.

Ian looked over. He wanted to protest that they wouldn't dare, but perhaps they would. They could always use another clone of them to put in the arena. "I'm sure it wouldn't come to that," he said more confidently than he felt. "That would be a last resort, not a first warning." He ignored the fact that he'd had a warning already.

"You sure about that?" Sandy wasn't so sure herself and even if he was right, the cuff on her arm was proof enough she was being watched. She was a troublemaker just because she was stupid enough to speak out.

Still, this guy was supposed to be smart right? For a grown up?

Edited 2013-09-14 13:57 (UTC)

"They wouldn't go to all the effort of bringing us here just to get rid of us." He was sure about that. "I think they'd do everything they could to get us to do what they want, before resorting to turning us into Avoxes." If they were an Avox then they couldn't participate in the arena, he presumed.

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