(no subject)

[onlyimmune]

Who| Ellie and OPEN
What| Ellie gets introduced to the Capitol, and the Capitol gets introduced to Ellie
Where| District 1 Suites, and around the training center and maybe the city, feel free to hit her up wherever
When| A couple of days after the crowning
Warnings/Notes| Language. Lots of language.


"Fucking--!! Let me go! I can fucking walk by myself!"

It was this not-particularly-graceful exclamation that heralded Ellie's entrance into District One's suites, as she pulled out of the arms of her Peacekeepers and stumbled inside. "Fuck," She'd whispered again under her breath as they left. They'd explained everything to her, of course. The death matches. The Capitol.

None of it made any sense and she hadn't even tried to parse it, instead railing at them as they led her to her rooms. She didn't know where she was and she didn't want to.

She breathed hard as she fought her own anger down. There was no point railing against them after they'd already left. Though she cursed one last time under her breath before she stopped, her eyes falling on the bank of windows, on the city beyond it. She froze, and then slowly walked up to the glass, pressing her hand against it.

It was a city. A real, untouched city. This place just couldn't exist. It was pristine. None of the buildings were falling apart, there were no massive walls, no checkpoints. No infected.

How the hell had they kept this place free of infected?


[OOC: If you aren't in District One, no worries! Ellie will be exploring as far as she can, even on the first day, so feel free to throw me a prompt from anywhere. She'll probably even wander into other District's suites, let's be real.]

Comments

[shambler]

It's not totally uninfected - there's a population of one still shuffling around, safely muzzled, and bumping into more walls than usual because he's lost in thought.

R's still dazed by that Howard Bassem kiss. Sometimes he wonders if it really happened; he thinks it did, and it's one of the weirder experiences in his un-life, but at the same time he can't be entirely sure either. Faces smear into fleshy blobs if he doesn't concentrate. He can't remember what he did yesterday. Who he talked to. The pathetic thing is it's not too hard to figure out what he was probably up to. He's a corpse, there's a limited number of options. Shuffling. Shambling. Maybe starting with the left food instead of the right to spice it up. Groan. Rinse. Repeat. Feel his body decomposing cell by cell. Another day in the life of a zombie.

At this point R's not even sure what floor he's on.It isn't the first time he's gotten lost - he's a pro at it. Like years of experience we're talking about levels of pro. R finally backs away from the wall he'd been staring at, swiveling on his heel and swaying next to the potted plant that was as big as he was. There. Change of scenery. He was getting sick of that damn wall anyway.

Incidentally R's positioned himself in the perfect blind spot to lunge out at unsuspecting survivors like Ellie, all without even thinking about it. It's second nature to pick a corner and stick in it. And because R's R, he decides it's a good idea to lurch away from the wall when she rounds the corner.

[onlyimmune]

Ellie had no idea where she was. As soon it was made clear to her that she had the freedom of the building - of the city, even - she made off like a shot. She'd grabbed a small bag as well as a few choice items from the suites (a bottle of water, a few snacks, a rolling pin) and made off into the halls. The elevators she avoided - she knew what they were but she didn't trust them - so she took to the stairs instead, heading up to the next level in the building. Walking down the hall with the bag slung over her shoulder, slowly relaxing slightly as it became more and more apparent that there were no infected, and then --

"Oh shit!" She cried out as suddenly lurched out of a corner right in front of her. She staggered backward, scrambling to get her bag open and get the rolling pin out.

[shambler]

R jerked in surprise as he nearly ran into someone, the "oh shit" a panicked yelp he'd heard way more than he cared to admit. Wheeling around, his hands up because he didn't know what to do with them, he locked onto the person he almost ran down in his hurry to find a new shuffling ground. Living girl. Mousy brown hair and she...was staring at him wide-eyed, fishing around in her bag like it was the last thing she was gonna do.

If he didn't know better, he'd start thinking she was actually looking for a weapon unlike all the other people here who didn't know how dangerous even one zombie could be.

"Hggh...?" R tottered closer, his mouth dryer than normal. A few days without talking would do that to you. He swallowed, gulped for the air he didn't need, and moaned again. Did he step on her toes? He hoped he didn't, he was seriously trying to be better about that kind of thing.

[letthemburn]

As has become to be the case more often than not in the days since her arrival, Iskierka is sprawled across the most conveniently open space in the District 1 suites. By luck or by chance, this happens to be roughly in a place that it won't be difficult to spot her, once Ellie turns away from the windows. After all, even here it seems like dragons are the exception rather than the rule.

Fortunately, Iskierka has never really minded that, and for once she even manages to keep silent while the most recent arrival gets acquainted with... whatever it is has her attention. After all, it's not really like either of them are going to be going anywhere anytime soon.

[onlyimmune]

Ellie was at the window for a while. The only cities she'd ever seen were either completely evacuated, or had grown decrepit after twenty-five years of quarantine. Nothing like this. So when she turned around and caught the strange sleeping outline, she didn't even think twice about it. After all, it was probably just some strange furniture, right? Just like the rest of this crazy place.

Then it breathed.

She froze.

[letthemburn]

As it turned out, Ellie's reaction was hardly an unfamiliar one. True, most people back at home tended to be surprised by the sheer scale on which dragons of her weight class were built, but that didn't much change the fact that Ellie was hardly the first person to decide the best option was to hope that holding still would keep Iskierka's attention off of them.

Unfortunately, this was hardly the case, and Iskierka blinked slowly before actually speaking up.

"You needn't worry that I shall eat you. I shouldn't think people would taste very good."

[paidinbeer]

Orc had...in an interesting change of pace decided to go to the training area instead of the bar.

His escort almost fainted from the shock.

With his bright rainbow colored pet lamb sitting off to the side the massive stone covered teenager was looking around unsure of where to start. Maybe the weapons? Maybe some water.

He lumbered over to a station with crisp clear water laced with nutrients and for whatever reason, slices of cucumber. It wasn't beer, but it would do. He was for the time being oblivious of any other tributes in the room.

[onlyimmune]

She'd wandered down to the training centre, mostly to see if she could palm one of the knives to keep it on her. She disliked being unnarmed, but the Peace Keepers seemed to be keeping a pretty close eye on her, so for the moment she was just hanging leisurely where the weaponry was.

And then someone else walked in.

For half a minute she thought it was another Infected, and she melted into the wall as soon as she saw him, but on closer inspection... Was he... made of stone...?

"This is like something out of a fucking comic book," She muttered to herself, probably more loudly than was necessary.

[paidinbeer]

Orc stiffened hearing the voice and turned slowly, his beady eyes scanning the room for whoever had spoken till he settled his sight on her. She wasn't familiar to him, but that was nothing new. He was barely aware of the other Tributes most days.

Was she talking about the training center? The situation with The Games? What kind of comic books was she reading? Orc had never read that many comic books but weren't they mostly about superheros?

He finished his drink and carefully set it back on the table, doing his best not to break yet another drinking vessel. His thick rough fingers made that a chore most days since the Capitol just loved making delicate silly decorative drinking glasses.

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

Gussied up in finery she wants to tear off, the Disciple happens upon the young girl as she steps out into the main lobby of the training center. She's still getting used the relative freedom that this place allows her and her eyes are already trained on the other side of the room, where the outside lies. Thus distracted, she barely stops just short of runnning right over the girl.

Another little one like Pruna. She's not sure if this is a tribute or a stray human so she errs on the side of politeness.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't watching purroperly."

[onlyimmune]

Ellie cursed under her breath when she almost ran into someone. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Just because she wasn't being shot at every five seconds was not an excuse to let her guard down.

"It's fine, I should be--" And then she stopped, abruptly, blinking. The woman she ran into was... definitely not human. Where did they get all these creatures?

She took a step backwards, staring fairly obviously. "-- watching where I'm going."

[the_marshal]

Compared to the previous tributes Ellie'd encountered, the one she happened upon in the training room was downright bland. Boring, even.

Tucked into one of the training alcoves - the fire-starting station, where indeed, a small pile of flames were licking over neat pyramid of sticks, softly puffing smoke - a man was kicked back against the partition, hat tipped low and hiding most of his face. Just a mustache, coffee colored and neatly trimmed, and a long blade of sweet grass he was slowly chewing on visible from beneath the brim. His hands were folded, fingers knitted upon his flat belly, and his legs were stretched out, crossed at the ankles, boots tapping gently to an unheard beat.

If not for that small movement, and that of the grass, swishing and swaying as he chewed, he might have been sleeping.

With his eyes closed, and the fire popping quietly beside him, Wyatt could almost pretend he was outside. Nothing but sunshine and wide open space.

Distant blue horizons, as far as he could see.

[onlyimmune]

Her head hurt. Nothing in this place made sense. The tributes didn't even seem human - at least not the ones she had met so far - and she was trying desperately to wrap her head around what was happening.

She was dreaming. Probably. That was the easiest explanation.

She'd managed to slink into the shadows of the training centre. She felt safer there, a blade tucked into her palm (even if it was blunt, that didn't mean it wouldn't stab into something).

She smelled the fire before she saw it, a pang of longing stabbing through her. For the world she had left, as shitty as it was. It wasn't logical, maybe - here she could eat whatever she wanted - but, still she yearned for home. She could almost hear Joel poking at that fire.

She was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, and for one aching heartbeat - when she saw the outline of the figure sitting in front of it - the relief was so intense it was overwhelming.

And then her heart fell. No. It wasn't Joel. The man was human, though, unarmed and resting, which was better than an infected, or a dragon, or a rock creature, or a troll. The blunt blade was still in her palm when she stepped over to the fire, cautiously.

[and_my_pickaxe]

Lin was beginning to develop an unfortunate hoarding habit when it came to food. Though Tributes were catered to night and day while outside of the Arena, whenever Lin woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare of barren snowy wastelands and candy hell, the usually composed woman would panic at the slightest sensation of hunger. She had begun to keep snacks stored wherever she could grab them at a moment's notice - drawers, purses, under pillows and sheets. Tonight Lin had raided the cafeteria of its bread rolls, and was in the process of stuffing an armful in her pocket when she rounded a corner and collided with a girl only slightly smaller than her.

Lin jumped about a mile high and shoved what she could into the inside of her coat, humiliated to be caught in such a deed. One fell from her grasp and rolled towards the girl, and with a huff, Lin stomped towards it and plucked it from Ellie's feet with one carnivorous swoop.

"What?!" Lin straighted up and began to scream into the girl's face, though she had done nothing wrong. "What are you looking at?!" The hand holding the roll began to tremble anxiously.

[onlyimmune]

She was still reeling from being run into when suddenly there was screaming and bread rolls and who knew what else. Ellie made a face, pulling back away from the girl's yelling.

"You fucking ran into me!" She yelled back, perfectly happy to be confrontational. "Maybe if you stopped looting bread for thirty seconds and looked where you were going you wouldn't lose any!"

[sleeplessinalternia]

There's a short grey boy with horns sitting in the corner of the District One common room. He has a fat hardcover book balanced in his lap and is running a clawed finger under the words there. He looks up at Ellie as she entered the room.

"Welcome to psycho central, dipshit," he says by way of greeting.

[onlyimmune]

She'd explored a little bit, run into more strange people than she could count, and she was exhausted and so completely done with everything that she barely even batted an eye to the fact that the rude kid on the couch had horns and grey skin.

(That was two.)

"Yeah well, fucking hello to you too," She replied.

[leavewiththegame]

AndrAIa is on her way to the cafe, taking the long route and keeping her eye out for Punchy or anything else interesting, when she sees another girl who looks her age. Probably a new arrival, by the way the girl looks around warily. AndrAIa smiles to herself; she had not been so different, before Enzo. She would take a page out of Enzo's book, and treat this girl like he had treated her: a potential friend, and not an enemy.

Walking up to the girl, taking care to stay in her line of sight, she gives a small wave. "Hello. I am AndrAIa. You are new here?"

[onlyimmune]

"... Hi." It been a long day and Ellie has seen so many weird people, between inhuman tributes and the residents of the capitol, that while she would normally find AndrAIa's hair really strange she barely even notices it now.

She's tense and she watches the girl approach warily, but hey at least she's not starting this conversation out with a fight.

"Yeah. They brought me here today. Whoever 'they' are, anyway. I uh... I'm Ellie."

the training center

[titansnack]

Ellie isn't the only one who's thrown by how the Capitol looks. Eren has seen intact cities before, but he's never seen anything so...bizarre. Everything looks so decadent, even more so than the inner walls, and he feels terribly out of place. Between everything he just doesn't understand, Eren is desperate to find something familiar.

So he finds himself in the training center, two swords in his hands as he stalks around a dummy. Though, stalking probably isn't the right word. He's jumping and leaping, ridiculously acrobatic, but it's the closest he can get to fighting without his 3DMG. He's gotten too used to fighting around buildings and trees, but he's light on his feet and he knows what he's doing.

Not enough to keep from crashing into Ellie when he's leaping backwards, running through his training regimens. He is the epitome of grace and paying attention to his surroundings, truly.

"Fuck-!"

[onlyimmune]

"Watch it!" Ellie snaps as someone runs into her again. It's as if this entire god damn place won't watch where they are going. She hadn't been paying a lot of attention to him - she had been concentrating on memorizing the knife racks (so much choice it made her mouth water), but she'd seen him flipping around.

She stumbled back out of harm's way.

"Going to fucking break your leg at this rate."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard tends to follow new Tributes like a strange shadow, trying to figure them out from afar before engaging. That's what he does here, although he keeps a safer than healthy distance between him and Ellie until they're in a crowd. He can see anger radiating off her almost like a halo. There's tension in her jaw, there's a vigilance to her neck that gives way to wonder as she turns it each way to see the surroundings.

Howard falls into step behind her, remembering the first time he saw the Capitol, the first time in ages he saw adults again acting as if there was nothing in the world that could touch them in their safe haven, this bubble of a city. He's small enough that he can slide easily between people on the street, that he melts well into shadows. He's wearing a pair of light-prescription glasses - his stylists want to play up the 'clever' aspect, and it turns out that he can see things better this way anyway.

[onlyimmune]

Ellie had spent her entire life, and certainly the last year, learning just how to survive. She had amazing senses, and was usually extremely aware, but only to a point.

She had never, after all, been in a city with this many people. With this many normal people, acting as if nothing in the world was wrong. It was loud, it was noisy, and it was distracting - a potent mix which meant she didn't even notice the boy following her.

She came to a stop outside of a bakery - elaborate and huge, with a giant window. She'd never seen anything like it, and she pressed her hands to the glass, her stomach growling.

"Holy fuck," She whispered to herself as she watched one of the people inside roll out an entire new load of pastries. She glances around her, just once, but the crowds are still thick and she's mostly just checking to see if anyone is watching her. Maybe if she times it right she can get one of those delicious, steaming treats...

[polyturtle]

If she happened to go down into the Training Center at any time that...well, anytime, and to a certain corner, she would find another one of the stranger Tributes. A larger turtle, to be exact, fighting a dummy.

It passed the time, really. He could probably practice more with knives, or with bows and arrows. Get as good as he could with whatever he could use.

He didn't notice Ellie.

[onlyimmune]

She was doing a fairly thorough job of exploring, so eventually she found her way to the corner where Don was located. She heard him before she saw him - the sound of his battle visible before she was. So she didn't exactly make much noise as she approached, and stopped completely when she made out the shell, the green skin.

She stared for a few seconds and then abruptly turned the other way and started walking.

Turtle. Definitely a giant turtle. That could do kung fu or some shit. Awesome. Just what she needed, on top of a muzzled infected boy, multiple trolls, a dragon, and a boy made of rock. Awesome.