etcircenses: (War)
Panem Events ([personal profile] etcircenses) wrote in [community profile] thearena2016-03-28 11:13 am

Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be

Who| All those on the breakout mission and all those being made to fight against them.
What| The liberation of District 6.
Where| District 6.
When| This week.
Warnings/Notes| War, violence, death. Please warn for more in headers.

District Six stretches out for miles, a wide expanse of red and brown dirt with only the slightest hint of mountains in the distance. The air is starchy and arid, sucking the moisture right out of the eyes and mouth. The sun pummels down. Everything about the District screams of harshness, of elements cruel in their intensity and exposure being a serious concern. Combatants are advised to hydrate and try to avoid heatstroke in the temperatures rising above a hundred and fifteen fahrenheit.

People in District Six are too poor to consider their safety, already risking it every day in their jobs at the auto manufacturer with huge under-kept machines and toxic exhaust as they build cars and hovercrafts. Though they know they’re the epicenter of another attack, they go back to their assemblylines, under the watchful and paranoid eyes of Capitolite foremen. There’s an anxious air about the place. People drop their wrenches sometimes and make their screws extra tight, as if fortifying the vehicles against the coming storm.

They’ve been told that there are Rebels attacking, and so the residents here have diligently placed landmines throughout the desert; the wind has already erased all traces of where they are. Other than that, there are machine guns at each factory, aimed towards anyone - anyone - who approaches.

Between that, and subservience, there's not much in the way of propoganda. Most of what's done are the chalk drawings of children. A watch. A coin being flipped. A very small arrow with flame.

Vultures circle high overhead.
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-04-29 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Firo’s first instinct is to push back to resist Roland's directing, because he's always been rather stubborn. The knife slips in his surprise, and he grits his teeth as he has to right it to resume cutting at the hair.

“Let go! ‘M almost done. And you're up there!"

He'd promised not to be reckless, but he hardly thinks it counts as being reckless if he's trying to block a friend from getting shot while he's trapped. Besides, just one swipe more and he'll be free!
ka_sera_sera: (old drama worried)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-04-30 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Roland grunts, not happy at all about this particular arrangement but too practical to keep resisting it. The moment Firo is done he tries to pull the boy down with him, sighing and running a hand over his jaw. Then he looks at his hand, looks at the blood on it, and sighs again.

"Panem has a word for something like this, don't they," he mutters. "A shitshow?" Those amateurs over there should be dead already. Roland has to admit now, if only to himself, that maybe he shouldn't have taken charge in the first place. Maybe he is so far gone as all that.

"If you have a different plan, I'll follow it. A little more goading and they should break cover and run at us. They're grieving. It won't take much." But it's in Firo's hands, not his. Leaving this to a boy whose first choice would have been to simply run at their enemies - but no. No point in complaining. Roland had his chance, and this is how it has to be.
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-04-30 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Finished, Firo no longer resists and is easily dragged down with Roland. He sheaths his knife as he crouches down. "Yeah, that's the word."

He's surprised at being offered the opportunity to direct, but he doesn't argue or waste time thinking about it. He shakes his head, smiling faintly. "We'll bait 'em a little more and take care of 'em when they come at us. Just like you said." No running straight at the enemy for these two. Not yet, at least.

He doesn't fancy himself as good at the manipulation game as Roland, but he's being talking trash since he could talk at all. He may not be particularly clever at it, but he knows how to goad someone. He twists back around to yell in the general direction of their opposition. "With back-up like you guys, it's easy to see why your friend died."

It gets one of them, at least, to unload the last of his ammo into their cover--bang, bang, bang, and then a series of frustrated clicks. All that's left is to confront them head on, and that's what this guy rushes out to do.
ka_sera_sera: (old action aiming)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-02 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Roland rolls out and the man is too close and moving too quickly to shoot so Roland hits him on the head with his gun, the Capitol's gun, grabs at him, and finds himself almost in danger of the very thing he just escaped. Almost, because he's being pressed against a different part of the machine now and because there's a lot less hair to be caught in the thing's workings, now. That's convenient, because he has to keep the other man's body between him and their third enemy, and this is the only position in which to do it.

"While this one's busy, Firo!" The man's snarling and yelling in Roland's face and crying but Roland pays that little attention. The enemy in front of him, the machine and its deadly workings behind, those merit some attention but they are not his highest priority just now.

"Careful!" He finds himself adding, though it's completely unnecessary - ought to be, anyway. He isn't sure that it is. Needs to make sure Firo knows. Caution is important.
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-02 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Careful the man says even as he's backed right up to one of those machines. Firo can barely believe the audacity of it. "Get away from there! What the hell're you thinkin'?!"

He wants to run over right now and pull them both away, but the other enemy is out there and poised to cause trouble. Firo sees her rising from cover as well, and he springs up from his crouched position to preempt her fire. He can't tell if his first bullet hits. But it's somewhere nonlethal if it does, because she darts to hide behind another machine closer to them.

Without taking his eyes off her general area--look he's being careful, unlike somebody--he calls back, "You got it under control?"
ka_sera_sera: (old bitchface ugh)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-05 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Drive her out!" Roland calls out over the man screaming into his face instead of answering, because there are certain things which need to be communicated here and the answer to self evident questions is not one of them. He takes one step forward, then another, trying to drive the man back toward his friend while still keeping the man's body safely in front of him. If Roland ends up getting close enough to her, she'll have to do something, at least.
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-06 02:40 pm (UTC)(link)
His heart clenches for a moment when he thinks that he'll have to kill her when she comes out. Killing doesn't sit easily on him, not like it does for most gangsters, and killing a woman is even worse. But, of course, a split second later he curses his stupidity--why the hell is that the first place his mind goes? Besides, Roland hasn't yet killed his man, so maybe there's a way they can get out of it.

Again, his instinct is to run in there, but he holds back. Instead, he advances more slowly while firing a few shots in her general area. It spooks her, as hoped, and he throws his knife at her shooting hand when she comes out. It's not weighted for throwing, of course, but he can make it work at this range--enough so that she's not going to be picking up her weapon any time soon.

He moves in to grab her--disarmed doesn't mean down--and calls out, "Now?"

Knock them unconscious and leave them here?
ka_sera_sera: (old general arms crossed headtilt)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-06 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"Now?" Slow as his mind sometimes seems, Roland has never been particularly slow on the uptake. His mind is, though, running along a very different track, and he looks around the struggling, spitting thing still ineffectually trying to kill him to give Firo a quizzical look. "Firo, you don't need my permission to kill her. Do what you will."

And while Firo does that Roland will just make a few quick moves, spinning the man around now that Roland needs a human shield no longer, and pinning him with his arms behind his back. "Make it quick, if you're doing it. No need for them to suffer more than they have already."
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-07 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
Firo blinks. His would-be captive doesn't take hearing that so well, of course, and Firo practically has to pounce to grab her. He wrestles them both back onto their knees, his arms locked around hers.

Questioning wouldn't go over well in such a situation back home, and it nearly catches in his throat. But this is life or death, even if it's the lives and deaths of their enemies.

"Are you--?" Of course he's serious. But does this mean Roland's intending to kill his guy too? "Look, Roland, can't we just knock 'em out and leave 'em here?"
ka_sera_sera: (old general profile squint)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-08 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Knock them out?" The man he's holding struggles again and Roland sighs, wrenching his arm up sharply enough to still him again. Then he frowns at Firo, looking almost puzzled. He'd really thought the boy had enough experience to know the writings of their Capitol fans are hardly reality; head wounds are a great deal trickier than those stories seem to think, and a great deal more dangerous. But now's hardly the time for a lesson, at least, not one that would take so long to explain as that.

Roland looks across the room, or tries to, but of course everything's still too loud to be sure. He might've heard something, just now. He might not have. And here they are, arguing over what to do with their captives. Roland's old teacher would either be pissing himself laughing, or he'd clout Roland over the ear so hard he'd be seeing stars.

"If you can tie these two up with their shoelaces, do it. Otherwise we'll have to kill them. Don't hit her over the head unless you're really prepared to have killed, Firo, I've no time to argue."
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-09 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
Firo's face immediately darkens. He hates being treated like a kid, and sometimes it hurts more when it comes from someone he respects. Roland may not intend it that way, but Firo reads lecturing him on one of the few things he's got at--violence--as just that. "Not like that. I know what I'm doin'."

And he does. Firo's been scrapping since he could walk, and he knows what a properly-placed, swift punch to the jaw does. He spins the lady around before he can feel bad and delivers one uppercut right on the side of her chin. Going over the back or top of the head like Roland said would just be too rough for his taste; this, apparently, is just fine. He catches her as she falls.

The longterm effects he doesn't even think of. He's done this many times, and his interaction with the opponent always ended when he left them unconscious in the street. If they later died from trauma or suffered bad effects... well, he wouldn't know. Myopic, maybe, but it's how he and his dented moral compass have survived. Besides, he's taken plenty of knocks on the head and he's fine. He's alive.

His tone is forcedly conversational as he unlaces her boots and sets to tying her hands. At times like this, this is his way of showing his irritation. "Were you really gonna kill 'em? I thought I was the bad guy and you were the good one."

As it is, he's not sure what to think about Roland's words on killing. It almost sounds as if he thinks Firo hasn't already done it. He's not sure if he's glad for that or upset with lack of experience it implies. Though he doesn't even know it, this question is his way of trying to sort that out.
ka_sera_sera: (old bitchface side eye doubt)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-11 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
it's been a while since he's seen a more effective statement, a reminder that Firo is not under his command, is neither his bondsman nor anyone who recognizes him as dinh. And should he?

No.

Roland watches Firo knock the woman unconscious, a very deliberate statement, and stills the part of him which wants to treat that statement as he would if it were a 'prentice making it. He sighs, heavily. Firo shouldn't take Roland's command, maybe, but things would come a lot easier here if he did.

"Did you?" It's all the answer Roland's moved to give and it's dry, a flat statement of his own on just how realistic it is, to see things so simple. Once Firo's done Roland takes his own enemy - who has stopped struggling and is now crying, quietly - and knocks his feet from under him, pushing him in Firo's direction. "Finish up on this one. We've work to do."

"That hallway, you said?" Roland's looking at said hallway, hardly looking concerned with Firo or what he's doing at all. "We'll go there once you're done, unless you've changed your mind." Yes, Firo, you don't want to take his orders. He has noticed. "It's as good a place to look as any other."
Edited 2016-05-11 01:55 (UTC)
foundafamily: (pic#9611934)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-12 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Lingering anger has Firo gritting his teeth. He finds himself mad at this weeping rebel too, and he's less gentle in disposing of this one. It's all done even more quickly, and he's soon ready to move on. He wipes imaginary dust off his sleeve and walks over to follow Roland nearer to the hallway.

"Why would I change my mind?" It's more rhetorical; what he truly wants to ask is why Roland's talking to him like this. If they're really going to quarrel.

Not that they're exactly quarreling. It's the lack of an outward display of anger that really unsettles him. Yaguruma would've at least thrown him on the ground for even questioning directions.
ka_sera_sera: (old bitchface headtilt faded)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-13 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
"To remind me you don't take my command," he says, just as mildly as he said the rest of it. He does not intend to let Firo squirm out of acknowledging it by letting him act as if he doesn't know exactly what he was doing. The hallway is lit, but dimly; he paces down it with measured steps, watching every direction and feeling the odd swing of his newly-cut hair against his shoulders. "Are you done with that, by the way? I'd like to make sure you're far enough away from me but if you're still set on doing the opposite of whatever I say there's really no point."
foundafamily: (pic#6109478)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-13 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
"What the hell're you--?" At least he's talking. Though Firo wasn't really prepared to hear it like this--words like he's angry but his voice like he's not. It's a weird little puzzle; why can't he just yell if he's so mad?

Firo follows behind him, shoulders squared. Perhaps he's done wrong, but he's not going to hide from it. "If I disagree with your command, I'm gonna tell you."

And why does he want him 'far enough away'? He clenches his fists. "Look, if you want me to fuck off, just say so. But I can't promise I'd listen to that either--somebody's gonna have to pull you outta the next machine you fall in."
ka_sera_sera: (old bitchface wtf)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-13 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Far enough," he says, glancing behind him at the boy, "to make sure we won't both go down in one shot. This room first, I think. Unless you'd like to punch me now, or call me incompetent again, right here out in the open."

There's a door beside him, which leads most likely to another office. He puts his hand on it, but looks to Firo with his eyebrows raised before doing anything more. It doesn't look like the boy's terribly ready to catch any enemy who might be waiting inside, and faintly, Roland wonders if that's his own mistake there, whether he's driven the boy to that state. Roland knows well the mistakes that can be made in leading men, has a nasty suspicion he might be making more than one of those mistakes here, and pushes on, anyway. Not inside the office though, yet. He tilts his head toward it, meaning his expression to ask whether Firo is ready. With the way the rest of this has gone, who knows how Firo's going to interpret it.
Edited 2016-05-13 22:25 (UTC)
foundafamily: (pic#7644682)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-14 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. Firo takes a couple steps back, almost ashamed for having jumped to that conclusion.

Incompetent? It takes him a moment to figure out where that came from. "I just meant--" That he had to watch his back. It had been an olive branch, in a way, though not a deftly offered one.

He supposes he can understand why Roland's mad, even though part of him chafes and insists that Roland isn't one of his bosses. He's a cop. And yet... Another part of him concedes that he should've listened. He sighs and points to the door. "You can punish me later if you want. We need to get this done now, so let's go."
ka_sera_sera: (old drama shock)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-15 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Punish you?" That throws Roland, visibly, and just as visibly he refocuses himself, looking back toward the door. "Aye. You're right. Bicker later, of course. Be ready."

The door opens. Not suddenly, not noisily - although, with all this talking they're doing, he supposes he may as well have shoved it open. He edges inside, looks around, and glances back at Firo, tossing his head toward the insides of the office to direct Firo in, too.

"Punish, Firo?" He mutters it, turning toward a desk and beginning a search through it. "Where in the world did that come from?"
foundafamily: (1.2)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-15 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
Finally. Firo perhaps shouldn't be feeling so impatient to get out of this tangle when it's partially his fault, but he is. He grips his knife, ready for action, and follows Roland in when all is well.

As soon as Roland speaks, Firo almost wishes there had been an enemy waiting for them. Does this really need to be picked apart? He's not even entirely sure where it came from. That's a lie; he knows where it came from--he's spoken to his bosses in similar ways before at times like these--but he's not sure why it came into this conversation.

"You're not my boss, but..." He shakes his head and busies himself rummaging through a bookshelf on the other side of the room. Don't get on that train of thought now. "I just thought it'd get us movin' on sooner. You're mad because I didn't listen to you, so..."

He shrugs. It's a trade, of sorts. Or like being extended a line of credit on his disobedience.
ka_sera_sera: (old bitchface look back talking)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-16 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"So you offered yourself to me as if I were one of your bosses, to keep me satisfied." Roland looks up from the drawer, spending a couple seconds just watching Firo because he thinks his expression will speak very well for him, here.

Then he reconsiders, shuts the first drawer and pulls out another, and flips through the papers there. His reading is, as always, slow, but it doesn't take too long to get a general idea of whatever it is he's looking at. "Suppose I should be honored by the comparison, that you'd place yourself in my hands that way."

He considers it, then nods. "I am. But Firo, you must understand, I'm no man's - if only I could use the true word for it - I'm no man's leader-caretaker, Firo. I'm done with that. It's done with me. One may have to give the other orders in a time of battle, but you're your own man. If you really feel you ought to be punished, feel free to do it for yourself."
Edited 2016-05-16 19:58 (UTC)
foundafamily: (3.2)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-17 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
Firo, on the other hand, is staring right at the ledgers in front of him, making no effort to meet Roland's eyes. He doesn't need to turn around to know that he's probably getting treated to yet another disappointed face. But what else was he supposed to do?

He relaxes when Roland finishes speaking, even laughing a little. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'll pass." He did do wrong--refusing to listen, showing mercy--but he had his reasons. Killing is wrong too, he reminds himself, even as he curses the soft thinking behind that.

He takes one of the books off the shelf and shakes it so see if anything falls out of the pages. It's stupid, but as relieved as he is that he's not in trouble, he's almost disappointed to know that Roland's lost that role--whatever he calls it. He frowns. "I bet you woulda' been good at stuff like that."
ka_sera_sera: (old general squint bright)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-18 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
That's the sort of idea which has always seemed senseless to Roland, that any man is 'good' at a thing like that. That a duty such as that can be so clearly measured. People seem to believe that it can. He's sure Firo believes it. He can not quite articulate any of this, and doesn't care to try. He only shrugs.

"This part of the room's got nothing but paper." It feels strange to say that, still. Paper, like many things, is so plentiful in this world. But none of this paper is useful, which is the point. Roland walks over, wanting to peer over Firo's shoulder. "Anything useful over here?"

He reconsiders, snorts. "Anything that strikes you so, anyway." The closest they can get when the Capitol didn't deign to tell its soldiers what they ought be looking for.
foundafamily: (pic#7645517)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-18 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Firo’s brows knit together just a bit--now he looks back at Roland. Does he not realize how important this is? Firo may not be familiar with the term he used, but he thinks he knows the basic idea--a boss. “I meant it. You can tell with people.” As soon as he’d met Don Molsa, the whole course of his life changed. He couldn’t imagine joining any other Family, if only the Martillos would have him. And when they did, it was the happiest moment of his life; one of the few happy moments up until that point. Firo'd bet money that Roland's been someone else's Don Molsa or that he will be one day.

Firo holds up the open book he's holding for Roland to see. "Nah, just books and reports. Just stuff like how much they built, how many workers can get killed before it cuts into their profits."

So the last part isn't in there, but Firo figures it probably is somewhere.
ka_sera_sera: (old general listening shadowed)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-18 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Roland grunts, not quite amused at Firo's statement, but acknowledging it. The boy may be exaggerating, but he may be right. He glances at the book when it's offered, but not for more than a couple seconds. There's no point checking over Firo's reading, as if he doesn't believe him, and Roland knows well how long it'd take for him to do it, anyway. Once that's done, he glances at Firo. That other topic, the one he'd dismissed, was it important to Firo? He'd acted like it might be. Nevermind. If there's something more he wants to say on the matter, he'll say it.

"Time for the next room, I think. We'll search the rest of this hall, then try to meet up with any others who've been searching, too. No point in going over the same places twice."
foundafamily: (pic#7645517)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-19 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
Firo may not get one hint, but he likes to think he can get two if he’s really trying. For whatever reason, he supposes Roland wants the topic of his leadership dropped, even though Firo can't fathom why. It was a compliment--one of the highest ones!

He shakes his head roughly to get his brain back on track. “Right. You don't think we coulda' missed anything in here? Secret doors or whatever?"

It's only a halfhearted suggestion, as he doesn't even really want to do too well at their job.

Yeah, I think that's good!

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