Ziva Crimson, 27, The Capitol.
"Where's Adair?" Bastion asks Ziva. They are back in the President's mansion. The sun is setting over the Capitol skies. Footage of the Games plays on the large flat screen on the center of the far wall. Right now, it shows the Tributes sleeping. It's flicking between several alliances.
"Trying not to be found," Ziva replies. Collapsing in the couch opposite Bastion. Bastion nods his head, his eyes flicking to the screen. Right now, it shows the two Careers on watch. Esme and Nate.
"I could do with some of that," he replies to her. Picking up a glass full of a rich dark liquid he takes a long gulp. The Games are stirring memories that Bastion has been trying to forget. He realizes dimly that it will be like this every year from now onward. The memories coming back. Nothing he can do to stop them.
Unless Ziva's plan works.
Two more figures appear from another room. They share soft smiles from an inside joke. The mood changes and the smiles dim as they sit on to the couches, opposite each other. Both sit close to the person next to them, requiring a connection in the dark atmosphere.
"What's been happening to the betting?" Anya asks Bastion, her voice quiet. They all know she is just trying to make conversation, but the words touch frostily to Bastions ears. He will never be able to escape the Games as long as he lives in the Capitol. The Head Gamemaker has all eyes on him.
"They are flopping all over the place. A lot are not happy at all about the two highest scoring Tributes being out of the Game for the moment," Bastion explains. He has finished the glass in front of him and itches for another. But the empty glass marks his third and a fourth will tip him into a fuzzy mind. It will be welcomed tonight, but not for this discussion.
Ziva nods her head, "what do the doctors think is wrong with the girl?' She asks. Bastion has a team of medical professionals to analyze injuries and get back to the mentors. He heard that the male mentor from Two was particularly distraught. Apparently, he and the Tribute have some history, but Bastion did not have time to dig into it.
"They think its a concussion, there does not appear to be any punctures in the skull as there is minimal blood, most likely caused by abrasions from the ground." Bastion explains. Teams of doctors have been coming to him all day, their terms have rubbed off on him. He has to clear the information before it is leaked to the mentors and then publically to the sponsors.
Ziva nods along with the rest of the group. Bastion feels Coraline press into his side further and he wraps his left arm around her timid frame. She's having almost as hard a time dealing with these Games as he is, though he does not have the guts to ask her why.
"Honestly I would be more concerned with the male from Seven or the girl from Nine, they might find infection heading their way." The Capitol doctors could not assure anything to Bastion, but the vodka was compromised with saliva when used on the boy's injury. And the forest is full of bacteria waiting to get into the girls wound.
"My money's on the pair in the caves going next," a new voice cuts in. Bastion jumps with the rough voice as Isaiah walks into the room. He pulls a staggering Adair behind him. Adair collapses onto the seat that Isaiah usually sits in. Isaiah looks annoyed for a moment before leaning against the back wall.
His eyes flicker to the television screen which shows the pair from Three huddled together in a dark passageway. "I don't even want to think about what kind of mutts you have hiding down there," Isaiah explains. Ziva shudders slightly from where she is sitting. The moment causes Anya to jump.
Bastion shifts uncomfortably in his seat, the male from Two died from mutts in his Games. That was the Tribute he had become the most attached to. Bastion can still remember as clearly as the back of his hand eating breakfast at dawnlight with the Tribute. The back of his scarred hand, not this new one polished by the Capitol.
"The Games need to slow in pace until we get our plan sorted here," Bastion explains. In truth, he is glad for this excuse, but now he balances on a thin edge. He must keep the Games interesting without as much bloodshed as the audiences are used to. His own Game was only eight days. The Capitol has become quite attached to its short attention span.
Adair slumps over, his hands covering his face. Bastion feels a pang of remorse. It was not his Tributes that killed Adair's. It may as well have been. All the others see is Careers. Despite Bastion not being a mentor, he has been hoping for the best for his Tributes.
He can't help but remember how tense he got when it was looking bad for Ace, he nearly lost it around all of the other Gamemakers. Freezing completely as they watched the bloodbath playout. His newly grown fingernails dug into the palms of his hands. He bit the end of his nails off after that. The Stylists can yell at them if they want to, but all the Capitol is remembering the fearsome Victor from District One.
A special cut of his Games played after the interviews last night, his story is fresh as ever in their minds. Bastion could not bring himself to watch it, busing himself with helping out at the Gamemaker offices and taking duties the interns really should have been doing.
"You should be happy to hear that sponsoring has already started. A parachute is being dropped tomorrow," Bastion informs Ziva. Her eyes raise, usually sponsoring is saved for later. But there is something different about these Games, something electric.
"We aren't here to talk about the Games," Adair mumbled from underneath his hands. "We are here to talk about the plan." A somber darkness quickly descends over the group, a darkness as thick as the Careers were feeling hours earlier.
Ziva looks over to Isaiah, he is the one who has been doing the grunt of the work. The attention is not on him and Anya like it is to the others. Anya shifts in her position pressed against the President. "I found something," Anya explains, she gets up slowly. Picking up a map that was curled on the coffee table in front of them.
"Well actually, Coraline came up with the idea," Anya announces. Bastion looks over to her in surprise. She smiles sheepishly at him as Bastion kisses her cheek softly. You're brilliant he mimes with his lips. She blushes.
Anya pulls out the map, it's a colored diagram showing multiple routes and a large timetable is clipped to the top of it.
"We use the trains to escape."