Digging up bones (open)

[Kingly]

[Hilent Vormund]

I've got off the peacekeepers train, still in the uniform of a peacekeeper captain. My contact says my identity is still good to get me past most security, so I should be careful not to attract attention here in the Capitol. Back in my old home.

I'm able to stroll right out of the train yards without worry, I'm just one more peacekeeper among the hundreds walking around here. All I have to do is merge with the line of keepers slowly making their way out of the train compound and into the streets.

And they haven't changed much. Still vivid in rich colours and changing tides of decoration. Massive TV screens in the streets play the on going hunger games. And when I focus on the screens, I see the reaped victims. The tributes, they're in a winter wasteland. Poor kids. Winter alone in the forest is on of the hardest seasons to survive in.
I makes me wonder what human being with any sort of morality would create those wretched... wait, I forgot. Capitol has no morals. They're just cattle and shepherds that feast on the blood of the districts, blood of their slaves.
What was I thinking in coming back here?

I wanted to go home, that's what I was thinking.

I take to the streets in a patrol-looking style of walk. I pass through crowds of these capitolites, giggling with each other, discussing everything from their current fashion to their favorite death so far in the games. It's sickening. But, I must ignore it. Just walk on and phase out their conversations.

But with each step I take around this city, with ever breath of air I inhale, my memory floods with recollections of my small youth. Not to much though, I only remember as far back as about four years old. But I come to a street corner, I remember tripping on it. Crying until my dad kissed it better. Until my mother hugged me so tightly, so lovingly. Whatever happened to those days?
I ruined them, that's what. I saw my first hunger games, and I ruined it all. It's my fault I never saw my dad again. My fault my mother hated me. My fault that everything that I suffered happened. Thinking back, I would change it all. Kept my stomach and held my tongue when I saw the games, but then again... would I?
The people I've met, things I've learned.
The lives I've changed, the lives I destroyed...

Would I have changed it? Had I the chance?

No. It turned how this way for a reason.

I turn away from this street corner and walk down the street. People see my uniform and part ways for me. It's nice to have respect, but for all the wrong reasons. But I keep walking, searching really, until I come to a single building. A single home. My home.
The lights are out and there's nothing happening inside that I can see. I climb up the door stoop and grab the door handle, turning it. I open the door and give it a push. I don't know what to expect until I see inside.
The house is empty. Abandoned. There's nothing in here. I sweep the house and nobody is here. Figures as much that my mother is gone, who would carry on in a home after losing everything?

I step out of the home and take a seat on the door step. I can't help the disappointed and sad expression on my face. I just watch the passing crowds of capitolites, too uncaring to bother with me.

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[Jack Lexington]

Overwhelmed is the only term that would describe how I feel. Absolutely overwhelmed by the wealth of the capitol, that shows on every corner, the bright, flashy fashion of the inhabitants and the technologies they put on display everywhere. From huge TV screens to advertising in flashing lights, cars that seem to drive without a sound and small gadgets the people here use to communicate and play with. For a while I just stop and stare at them.
Most of them seem somewhat bored and not really all that happy. I even seen people arguing publicly. Since it's my first time in this area I decide not to get involved even though I'm already wearing the uniform of a peace keeper in training.

Back home in district 2 I would be a big shot now but here nobody seems to care about me. On the contrary I earn one or the other indignant look.

Most people are so busy talking with others or interacting on these strange devices that I can't ask them for the way but when I pass a fence I spot another keeper sitting on some stairs so I take a deep breath and approach him.
"Excuse me, sir, could I ask you a question? I'm looking for a tailor where I can get my uniform fitted." An slightly embarrassed smile crosses my lips when I see his rank. I'm not one hundred percent sure what it is yet even though I should know.

[Kingly]

Just as I think I'm blending into this place, a girl approaches me. Not really a girl, a young woman in a peacekeepers uniform. Probably one of those people from district two by her accent. Traitors the lot of them. But this one is lost and trying to get her uniform fitted. Hopefully she'll leave afterward. I wipe the sad look off my face and bring up a stiff upper lip
"I can lead you to the tailor. I need only to remember where it is."
I get up off the stoop, dusting off my cloak. I have to think back... Tailor shop was... North I think, seven blocks. Yeah, that's it. It's coming back now. There's a book store just before it and a jewelery shop after it. 
Hmmm, maybe I could make a stop. See how much sway a peace keeper captain has in the capitol.
I walk past the recruit and toward a street corner. I turn to her, "What's your name, keeper?"

[Jack Lexington]

Thank goodness I've finally found somebody who will talk to me in this crazy place. Just when I follow him and want to tell him my name a vehicle races past us so fast I have to jump out of the in order not to get run over.
"Watch where you're going, idiot!" It bursts out of me.
Then I turn my attention back on the man in front of me. "Sorry, sir. My name is Cadet Strong...and no that's not a nick name."
Blushing a little I brush a strand of hair that has slipped out of my hairband behind my ear.
The guy can't be much older than me. How on earth did he earn stripes already.
"My apologies but I'm not familiar with the rank signs yet. Are you a captain?" Frustrated with my own stupid question I scowl and start walking down the street feeling like a stuboorn little child.

[Kingly]

When that car shot past Cadet Strong... odd name... she had exploded at the driver. Dragging a few unwanted glares from people around the street. I had played it off casual, adjusting my hood over my head and fixing my cloak. After that, the cadet recomposed herself and apologized. Then I found out her name. And it's an odd one. I try to act calm and collected, not even catching her gaze as I speak.
"If you wish to be a Keeper, you must know who you are addressing before yelling. You yell before knowing who you're yelling at, you will never become a keeper."
Sounded sage enough. Then she asks about my rank. I figured she'd have known, but she's new so I can't blame her.
Wait, can't blame her? I'm not even a damned peacekeeper! I need to get out of this city, out of this uniform. Who knows what kind of trouble I could be in if I was caught? I took a big risk in what I've done here, but I chose to take it. I got to follow through with it.
"My rank is captain. You may refer to me as Captain Matrik. Do follow close, if you don't wish to be run over."
The drivers in the capitol are just as dangerous as a peacekeeper in a bad mood. Both would kill you in a heartbeat if you got in their way.
The traffic slows a minute and I take quick pace across the street, Strong right behind me. It's curious to me why someone would want to be a keeper. The life is crap if you're not an officer and she's from a district. I should find out now that I do have the chance.
"What motivated you to become a keeper, Cadet Strong?"
I press on down the street, slowing down a bit so she can walk at my side. It's nice that people part ways for keepers.

[Jack Lexington]

Taking in his advice I stand a little straighter and the follow his fast steps across the street. All these flashy cars, signs, sound confuse me. I'm definetly not from a poor district but the splendor of the capitol is unimaginable even for the upper districts.
I've been asked the question he is asking me now so many times that my standard answer has left my lips before I think about it. "I want to serve and protect Panem and help it prosper."
Without giving those words further though I expect him to be satisfied with my answer just like everybody else here is even though it's not even half-true.
"What about you, Captain Matrik? What motivated you when you first started."

I fall into step with him and stare at a woman with blue hair, who is coming towards us. In the middle of her forehead is a horn with sparkling diamonds. She must have had that implanted unless she is some sort of cross of human and the last unicorn. The thought makes me smile and the young lady smiles back as if I was an admirer.

[Kingly]

They must really, really brain wash people in D2. The security of Panem? Help it prosper? That's sad. Someone so corrupted by the capital's lies that they eat it by the spoonfulls and serve them so blindly.

In the end it's her decision to do this. Just hers.
"A noble cause. Serving your country."
We press down the street. I can see a large glowing sign of the book store a couple blocks down, so we're somewhat close.
Strong speaks up again, wanting why I became a keeper. Because I needed a diguise to board a train? Nope, she'd kill me.
What if I played her along? Maybe try to open her eyes to the capitol's evil? Or at least make her a sympathetic keeper.
"Who says I had a choice?" I ask her flatly. I step off the sidewalk and into a small shop that vends beverages. Just to refresh a few memories. Such a wide choice of juices, milk and... Soda.
Of all the things I remember, it's soda. An lemon lime flavoured drink, so sweet. I begged for one every time I saw one, back when I was a child. It was one of the few things I missed.
I take three out of a cooling machine... Fridge, if I remember correctly. I take them to the counter and use what coins I have in my pocket to pay for them and walk back out to the sidewalk. I twist the lid off the drink, taking small sips to savour the drink.
But I'm so greedy I almost miss Strong's comment.

[Jack Lexington]

while the captain goes into a shop I wrinkle my brow wondering about his statement. How could somebody not have a choice whether he wanted to become a peace keeper? Maybe his father forced him. But why did he move up in ranks this quickly? Nobody who wasn't keen on the job would.

I'm a little thirsty when I see the sodas in his hand but before I can go into the shop and buy one myself he's drank all of his and moves on so I quickly follow.
Falling into step next to him I bush a strand of hair back.
"What would I have to do in order to become a captain at your age? 25?" I'm guessing.

For some reason this man seems much less intimidating and cold to me than all the others I've met during my training so far. Curiously I watch him out of the corner of my green eyes.

[Kingly]

OOC, he didn't drink all, only one. Sorry for confusion.

I've only just polished off my drink. So many years since I've had this sugary drink, I'm tempted to down the other two right away. But no, I'll save them for a special occasion.

"What would I have to do in order to become a captain at your age? 25?"
I turn to Strong, I take it I look much older than I really am. Even I can see that. I slip my two remaining drinks under my cloak, into my backpack before grinning slightly.
"If you want to reach my rank by my age, you'd have to taken into peacekeeper training at a very, very young age. There's a reason there's no orphanages in the Capitol."
Whether that's true or not, I don't know. If it's not true; it'd be a convincing lie, at least I think so. I start again down the street with Strong, about four more blocks until we get to the tailor. If it's still there. One thing I've noticed is a couple of things moved around. Stores that once were are no more. New businesses have popped up, new buildings replace ones that once stood.
Nothing stays the same for too long.
I wonder... can I get into a local peacekeeper computer? There's some records I'd like to dig up, if I can.

[Jack Lexington]

it sounds like this man was an orphan and that all orphans here were turned into peace keepers. How odd. The thought didn't quite compute. "I thought you had to be 16 to join the peace keepers." Wrinkling my brow I let my gaze wander over shop fronts. Every shop here is bigger and flashier than the ones in my home district. "It's so tempting to go inside and spend all my money." I smile at him because of the look on his face. "You have no idea what I mean, do you? Back home in district 2 shops aren't quite as well stocked and you have gadgets here that I don't even know what to do with."
My attention gets caught by a few animals wriggling around in a cage. They are cats, I think, but I'm not really sure since I've never seen a real cat. The sign above it say. "Better than real! "Wow." I mouth with my palms glued to the window. It's incredibly. The look so real.
"Did you ever see a real cat?"
Most of us have heard that cats and dogs spread disease and the only place you could still find those ferocious biests was in the woods. There they are intermixed with wolves, bears and even mutts.

[Kingly]

"I thought you had to be 16 to join the peace keepers." she states. Well, I've played the spec ops lie for a while now, may as well advance it.
"They have 'special' programs for the homeless children in the capitol. They sweep them up and take them to a hidden location for training. We weren't allowed into the general public until we were old enough to effectively do our duties."
Not sure if she heard me or not, she's too dazzled by the bright decorations and lights of the capitol. It seems she's completely mesmerized. She turns to me quickly, "It's so tempting to go inside and spend all my money."
I have to smile at this. She's already under a capitol thumb. I just want to whisper to her That's the whole point you gullible girl. The decorations are to make you spend money. That's what I want to say, but I don't. I let her ramble on though, so how she makes it to cats and dogs. Don't know how... wait. There's a pet shop, that's how. Can't believe she's never seen a cat, I've seen plenty in other districts. And big ones in the wild.
She has her face pressed against the glass, watching a small kitten as it purrs among others in it's litter. The sign 'better than real' is tell tale that the kittens are genetically enhance in some fashion. When I was young, I heard about a kitten that never grew up. Stayed tiny and cute for its entire life. Heard about another cat that could sing like a mockingjay. Weird, crazy, sometimes useful, creations from the capitol's labs.
"Yes, cadet. I have seen a cat before," I say annoyedly. I then realize I'm rubbing my shoulder along some ragged scars. "You may now shut your mouth before you give me a headache."
Kind of harsh, but I'm aloud 'cause I'm a captain.
"If you wish to get your uniform fitted, you will focus on you task and follow close. If you do not, I can arrange for you to spend your tour in district twelve."
I had heard that D12 is the worst to stay in because of its poverty, so it's a worthy threat. I press on toward her shop without even checking on her. If she follows, she follows. If not, one less trouble.

[Jack Lexington]

Tearing my attention away from the pets I notice how his attitude and posture has changed. I must have angered the captain somehow so instead of giving him a lip like I usually would I swallow my comment and follow him with a sour look on my face.
On top of it all he threatens me with the worst district anybody can imagine. No other district has more work for peace keepers and causalities. The keepers there have to live in poor quarters and eat district food.
Of course my personality takes over even though I try to hold my tongue but when I see the look in his eyes, that little amused selfish twinkle, my real self breaks through. "It wouldn't hurt to be a little respectful and polite, sir." The sir almost comes out like a swear word.
How can somebody be kind of nice at first and so rude from one second to the next.
My green eyes turn turquois when I'm angry probably because of the red colour of my face. I've been told I look like a snake when I'm angry.

[Kingly]

My threat of district twelve takes her down a notch, but I've struck a nerve. Her face is going red as apples and she is positively fuming. I should've seen it when she completely blew up at me. Well, not really blow up. She just expressed herself in a very rude manner.

All I really is stand with an indifferent expression on my face. Here she is, fangs out ready to go berserk and I don't even bother to even act scared.
"I'm sorry, did I offend you? Keep in mind, I reserve the right to execute anyone I wish without cause. You are lucky we are in the Capitol, and you are a simple Cadet. If you ever speak back to me again, you shall not see the days end. Other peacekeeper officers, they won't be so lenient. I've seen recruits beaten to an inch of their lives for muttering under their breath. And here I am, letting you go for directly insulting my courtesy. Mind your tongue, Cadet Strong. It just may get you beaten, flogged, or worse." I used a cold expression when I spoke. An d the way i emphasized her name showed I was not impressed with her. Really, I'm just trying to keep her from getting killed doing her job. Wait, why am I? She's going to be a peacekeeper. The very people I hate the most. If I find her in district seven, I'll probably kill her to protect my identity. Lets hope she doesn't come to district seven.
"Now mind yourself and follow me close. I am sacrificing my precious free time to assist you in your sorry dilemma that should be far beneath my notice. Feel grateful I didn't simply leave you behind and allowed you to get lost in this city." I step aside toward the tailor shop. Hopefully I rammed the point home to her.

[Jack Lexington]

His explanation of my rights or better the lack of any rights shuts me up...at least for a while. The only thing I still ask is the obvious. "Why didn't you?" My tone is soft because I'm trying not to get him more aggrovated.
Silently I follow him along the shop fronts without paying any more attention to the merchandize.
The only thing that still captures my eye are two girls who must be the same age I am. One has pale green skin, which makes her look awefully sick but the silver tattoos lining her arms and neck mean that this is a fashion statement, not a desease. The other one sports a strange hairdo. Most of her hair is shave with only two spots near her forehead pointing straight up, which makes her look like a goat in my eyes. Her lashes are long and fake, so are her lips. Silently I wonder whether the men here completely disregard me because I'm too 'natural'.
Almost bumping into the captain I notice we have reached a tailor.
"Oh, alright!" I look up at the neon sign. "Thank you very much for taking the time to show me the way...that wasn't so bad, was it?" Why on earth did I say the last words. I guess something about this man has captured my eye. He's different, which makes him very interesting and I'm not ready to completely let him go yet.
Stretching out my arm I turn my wrist up to show him my communicator. "Number 4278...if you want to get a hold of me...." With a small smile playing on my lips I add. "I'd like that...but only if you don't threaten to flog me."

[Jack Lexington]

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