thearena | It’s alright, ain't no guard in my house;

Entry tags:

It’s alright, ain't no guard in my house;

Who| Kili and R; Kili and Willow;
What| Water fountains, conversations, and gems!
Where| 3rd floor; 2nd floor;
When| Week 1!
Warnings/Notes| Will update as necessary!

R: 3rd floor, gem hall; early week
Across from the cafeteria, Kili had noticed something odd. Something that called to him more than anything he had seen yet in the museum. Not the dioramas thick with weapons, not the near-forest of plant life. It was something that attracted all dwarves, even those with wanderlust that could let them live in the wilderness for years. He saw that gleam on his second quest to the cafeteria and he could hardly think of food anymore. Instead, he made a beeline for the sparkling gems, his eyes a little wide as he stepped into the mock cavern.

He could hardly believe such a thing could have been carved out and placed inside a building so small as this. His fingers trailed across rubies and sapphires, the likes of which he had never seen in person, only heard of from tales of the Mountain. It was nearly like walking into a legend itself, so marvelous and bright that he could hardly believe it to be real.

With such a distraction, he doesn't hear the elevators opening behind him nor the sound of bare feet on tile floor.

Willow: 2nd floor; late week (before Iskierka)
So far, it had been a hard week, but altogether not harrowing for Kili. He had survived every encounter with others throughout the week and everyone had so far seemed alright with simply not fighting. Either that or he'd gotten lucky, which he's not discounting at this point in time. He had still yet to see the dragon Ellie had told him about, but he's in no rush to find her. No matter the glory he might achieve if he did in fact slay the dragon. Oh what Thorin and the other dwarves would say if—

No. He didn't want them here. He shakes himself free of the thought as he sits up from his place hidden behind a stuffed wolf of some kind. After all this excitement, he needed water and R had been kind enough to show him that the little metal things with spouts produced enough water to fill his belly with for a long while and now seemed as good enough a time as any to quench his thirst.

With a careful gait, he made his way out of the dioramas and watched the elevators closely as he moved through the fake plants toward the nearest water fountain.

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R generally didn't strike out that much on his own. Not yet, anyway. He seemed to have a good thing on the taxidermy floor and he wasn't keen on visiting the levels Eponine said she'd be unless he absolutely had to. Yeah, so he was little scared of her. Who wouldn't be?

Eventually he felt the need to stretch his legs. There were only so many times he could pretend he didn't feel the taxidermy animals staring at him with their beady glass eyes. Judging away. Must be what "stir-crazy" felt like. It was...stronger than when he'd been a shuffling corpse. He didn't like it.

R risked the elevator, holding his breath as the doors opened and no one dived out determined to kill him again. So far, so good. He hit the button above his floor: he still couldn't read the numbers but it was easier to at least tell the difference between shapes and that was good enough to go on.

The next floor was dark, so far he'd had to flick on his flashlight. It bounced off cases of crystals: gems, he realized, the kind of stuff that was pretty to look at. Even a zombie could appreciate how the light reflected off the facets. People probably used to hoard this stuff before they realized valuables weren't valuable anymore. At least this stuff was more aesthetic than money.

Getting in his fill of staring, R turned. His flashlight passed over what looked a lot like a short man-shaped shadow and -

"Oh crap."

Genius points for blurting that aloud. R kept the cradle-sized chunk of pyrite between him and the shadow like a shield.

Kili's just reaching up for what looks to be a piece of gold when he's illuminated by a flash of light. He spins in an instant, dark hair flying out behind him, and balks for a moment in fear before he tries to duck down behind something, anything, but he's in the most open part of the exhibit and there's not much cover to be had.

So, he presses himself as flush against the wall as he can, fumbling for a knife he knows is tucked into a pocket at his side now that his bow is pinned between his body and the faux rock wall.

"I won't hurt you!" he calls out, hoping it'll work as well as the other times. For all the talk of death and killing, Kili had luckily not had to do any of it himself yet and he hoped it would stay that way.

R debates his chances. The voice sounds genuine enough and it'd worked okay with Hans, so...

Hopefully he doesn't get stabbed his first week in. R’s determined to keep his new heart beating.

"Promise?" R blurts, then seems to realize how stupid that sounds. Like a promise would mean anything if this guy changed his mind. R pauses, pursing his lips. "What's your name? I'm R."

There. He figures if he gets the stranger talking and on a first name basis with him, it would be harder to get any murdering done. R thinks it’s a better plan than exchanging pinky-promises, at any rate. R peeks out around the huge chunk of pyrite. The display lights seem to be working, if only sporadically, and they’ll buzz on every now and then to let him know if the man in the room has changed positions. From what he can see, it’s a guy who’s maybe his age, scruff instead of a beard, long hair. And he’s…short. Like really short. R would say that would give him an advantage, but he’s conveniently at stabbing-in-the-guts height, so…

Willow is prowling through the vents again, familiarizing herself with the area. She's going to need to know where everything is and how to get to it if she wants to survive. At least in this case her light, half-starved frame comes in handy; she hardly makes a sound as she crawls around and peeks in on what everyone else is doing.

She's a little surprised to recognize the little man from the elevator; she hasn't seen him around, and she was wondering if he'd been bumped off already. He's nice enough, so she's not in any rush to kill him. Even if he totally disregarded her advice and is like a tiny walking armory, the dumbass.

Carefully she loosens the vent cover and slips out; he's so focused on the elevators that he doesn't turn to see her behind him. She replaces it and tiptoes up, and at last, just as he's inching in the final few feet towards the water fountain, she says from right behind him, "You know those things make a huge noise when they're carrying people around, right? I don't think that's the smartest thing to be watching."

Edited 2014-01-28 07:49 (UTC)

Kili leans out just far enough from the wall to try and get a look at his would-be attacker, or not would-be attacker. Whichever, a promise seems sure enough to prevent harm and everyone he had ever met had lived up to their word; he had no reason to doubt R's promise and vice versa.

"Kili," he calls back. "I'll promise if you do."

As he speaks, he gets a better view of R, even if he's half-blind from the strange torch he seems to be carrying. Honestly, R doesn't look like much. Clearly a man, but a young one and Kili had yet to meet a young man who could hold his own in a fight against a dwarf. For what they lacked in height, they made up in strength and an inconquerable spirit.

Kili has already lowered his bow, ready to lean down to the water fountain when he hears a voice behind him. At first he doesn't register it as friendly as he jumps and tries to get away from both the water fountain and his would-be attacker so as to not be pinned down in place. At least he has training instincts to save his stupid life. As soon as he sees it's Willow standing there, though, he breathes an obvious sigh of relief.

"They do?" He replies, a little breathless for a moment or two.

After another glance back at said elevators, he looks her over. How had she gotten behind him like that? Where had she even come from?

"Were you hiding in the plants?" he asks, now extremely curious after the fear has died down.

That worked? R's surprised. He inches out further from the pyrite boulder, holding his hands up. He has the flashlight in one hand but his other one's free and he hopes that's a good sign to Kili. They can make this work.

Kili's even shorter now that he gets a better look at him. R can't ever say he's seen another man that short, but he looks full grown, scruffy, stumpy arms and legs that tell him Kili's probably a lot better in a fight than he is. "Promise. Are you camping out here? I could try to avoid this place if you are."

He looks around a little regretfully though. It's a nice place. He'd love to get a look at all the gems. If someone has to eventually get killed here, it's not a bad place to die. Beats dying in a bathroom or something.

With that, Kili steps out further from the wall, mirroring R for a long moment before lowering his hands slowly. He makes no movement toward any weapons as he does so, hoping that nothing will spark any interest in a fight.

“Just curious, really,” he explains with a smile, even if it’s edged by a transparent paranoia. “ ’s very shiny.”

It sounds horribly pathetic to his ears, and quite undwarvish if he was honest, but he’s never been worried about strangers judging him. His uncle and other important dwarves, yes, but people he had never met before not so much. R doesn’t exactly look like much of a threat as far as he can see, which only adds to the feeling that Kili doesn’t need to impress him with anything.

“Were you?” he asks after a beat, gesturing around at the gem hall. “Not a bad choice.”

He’s never been much of a tactical mind, himself, so he doesn’t really see the problem with several entrances and exits to the hall itself, just the comfort of what felt like home to him.

R fights back the urge to laugh. Suddenly he's a lot less worried because to be totally honest, he'd been thinking the same thing. It really, really is shiny in here.

"I was, uh, I was just shopping around. You can have it," he adds, hoping that will keep things friendly. "Mind if I take anything from here?"

He's aware now isn't the time or place to start collecting. Sure. He gets that. At the same time, he's never seen a room this amazing and he's not sure he will in the future. He'd like a little piece to carry around with him while he's trying not to get killed again. While he's stepping out from cover, he uses the time to establish that Kili doesn't seem to be bathed in the blood of his enemies so...that's good. That's promising.

He keeps his hands visible at all times as he comes closer, trying to think of something he could help out with. That's the thing about being a dead boy come to life again - not a lot of life skills left over. In comparison, Killi looks well-traveled, has a pretty good jaw full of stubble going on.

"No, you can take whatever you like, I've got a spot on a different floor," Kili replies with a bright smile, somehow managing not giving away said spot or which floor.

He reaches up to run his fingers over the stone, a warm comfort spreading through him at just the touch of the raw stone. Even if it were manufactured, it looked and felt real enough to him to soothe exposed nerves and calm the bright burning of fear deep in his chest. He doesn't admonish R for collecting anything, considering the small arsenal Kili was carrying on his person, both armor and weaponry.

"I could chip out a piece if you like," he offers with a wider smile. After all, he has his runestone from his mother pressed against his chest, perhaps R would like something similar. Doing some mining would do Kili good.

Someone more used to survival of the fittest would've filed that away. R just nods, buys it at face value. "Really? I'd love that!"

Feeling the adrenaline from the Cornucopia starting to fade, R walks over to a display that's lit up by a soft glow from the base. It casts light on the card he can't read. Unaware it's "Elbaite tourmaline", R taps the glass of the case. He likes the way it goes from a deep green to red. Since he doesn't know the name, he'll just file it under "it's pretty; I like it" and call it a day.

"This one?" R says, glancing up. He's feeling better the longest he realizes they're alone, that there's no feet stampeding in after them. It's almost easy to forget that they're supposed to be killing each other. He steps aside to let Kili do his thing, trying to figure out what he could do to repay him. That was the proper thing to do, he thinks. That's how it used to be done anyway, before he'd been infected.

Joining R next to the display, Kili looks around at the selection in the cases, himself. He would much rather take a hunk of whatever was holding the cases, but it's neither here nor there. It won't be difficult to break through the glass and lop some of the multi-colored rock off for R.

"Here, stand back," he says just before he's drawing a knife up out of his pocket. "Don't want to hurt you."

While he knows he's just trying to make friends, a knife is still a knife and he certainly has a handful of them on his person. He breaks through the case with one quick swing and reaches in for the elbaite. It's not going to be the smoothest cut in the world, but it's not like he has any of his smith's tools with him. Although he thinks he saw an anvil at some point during his tour of the second floor. For now, though, a rough chunk is cut out of the stone, enough to get both poles of color and the spectrum between.

With a bright smile, he holds it out for R. "Very nice choice."

R takes the chunk - it's the perfect size, small enough to fit in his palm but big enough he won't lose it easily. It's something he would've put on a prime chunk of real estate in his hoard back at the 747, away from the majority of the clutter. He cradles it to his chest for a moment, admiring how it catches the light and distributes it along the edges.

"Thanks," R decides if Kili can do him a favor by giving him the crystal, then he can do the same. "Is there anything I can do? Like to repay you."

For the rock, but also for not killing him when he was easily within stabbing range. Judging by the way he holds the knife like he's not afraid it'll cut someone, R guesses Kili knows his way around one. He's been shot and stabbed before, but that'd been when he was a zombie: now he's becoming aware of just how squishy he is, how he looks at the glint of the knife and thinks maybe he doesn't want that near him after all.

Once he's sure he won't need to cut anymore from the rock, Kili slides the knife back into his place underneath his chain shirt and smiles as he watches R examine the bit of elbaite. It's a very pretty, stone, he'll certainly give the boy that, but it's not gold or mithril. Even to a dwarf who had never particularly lusted after the hoard of Erebor, he could see its value, or lack there of, in anything other than sentimental.

For a moment, the dwarf considers the question before realizing just how thirsty he is after two days of not being able to find any water source.

"I've not been able to find any water here," he keeps his voice low, just in case. "Have you?"

Because right now an ounce of water is worth more than his weight in gold.

R has to pause and thinking about it: his old haunts as a corpse, buildings had been ruins occupied by the Dead and the few Living. You could count on rain water dripping through the roofs, collecting in puddles. The toilets, too, had water but those had a layer of scum and anyway, he hasn't seen a bathroom on his way in yet. Glancing around, his flashlight playing across more display cases and benches, his face lights up with recognition.

"Those," R says, pointing at the water fountains. There's one set at an adult's height and a kid's one which might work better for Kili. "Here, I'll show you how they work."

He walks over to stand by the adult water fountain, his hand resting on the bar. Pressing it produces a stream of water that's weak in that water fountain way. The water itself tastes a bit funny but as far as he can tell, it's...okay?

Kili's gaze follows the beam of light as R casts it about the gem hall. It falls on a strange metal things that stick out from the wall and at first the dwarf stares at them with candid skepticism. He had not paid any attention to the devices and passed by them several times now without a remark or pause. Still, the dwarf follows R over to the water fountains, watching him as he presses the bar. To his surprise, water shoots up out of the nozzle and he watches in amazement for a beat before resting his hand against the ~~kid~~ dwarf-sized fountain's bar.

Another stream bursts out of the nozzle near him and he leans down to drink from it.

He's drunk out of many creeks and this is certainly the freshest water he's ever tasted in his entire life.

"What're they called?" He asks between hurried gulps of water.

From the way Kili stares at the water fountain, you'd think he'd witnessed a miracle. R guesses maybe the fact it's working at all is probably something to write home about. Water pressure hadn't exactly been that reliable back where he came from either.

R shrugs. "A water fountain. They used to - they're probably all over the place," he adds helpfully. He can't help but watch, fascinated, as Kili gulps away like he's in the middle of a desert and this is his last chance at water.

Where's he even packing it all away?

Greedily, Kili sucks down as much water as he can stomach. He'll be grateful in a moment, just as soon as he quenches his thirst properly. It's not ale, but it will keep him alive and that's the more important part. If he had a waterskin, he'd fill that as well, just to make sure he could stay properly watered even in a hiding place.

"These?" He answers once he finally breaks away from the strange fountain. Most of the the time, the water in fountains was not suitable for any kind of drinking. If it wasn't dirty, usually the water being stagnant was reason enough to not go near it while thirsty. There was only so much temptation one could take.

"But where does the water come from? I've not seen any rivers close." Curious, he inspects the fountain, pressing the bar time and time again just to see the water shoot up from the spigot.

R pauses. "Uh, I'm actually not sure. I'm guessing they pipe it in somewhere. Or there's a water tank?"

He's the wrong ex-zombie to ask, really. Or maybe he never really knew: he just took it for granted when he was alive that where you had a water fountain, you had water plain and simple. It's more entertaining to watch Kili fooling around with the bar, checking it out, playing with it like a little kid discovering a new toy. Well, maybe not a little kid. Too much scruff. But still.

R suddenly has an idea: future planning, something he hasn't bothered with when he was a corpse. He glances at the fountain and Kili and hopes he hasn't misjudged the situation here. Kili has a friendly face he'd (like) to think he can trust.

"Would you be okay with sharing this? If I'm in the area."

A tank of water and pipes. He's not sure how such a thing could work, but he won't question it when his thirst is finally quenched by this magic water source. It puzzles and fascinates him all at the same time as he sprays a little water onto his hands to wipe them down. Oh that does feel good. Certainly, dwarves did not care for hygiene as much as other races might, but it helped to get some of the grime off if just temporarily.

"Yes." He glances up at the offer, a bright smile taking over his face. With the death that surrounded him, it was a welcome thing indeed to make a friend here. "Of course!"

R isn't sure what it is that makes him expect Kili to start whipping his head around like a dog shaking rain water off its fur. Maybe it's the hair. To be totally honest, he hasn't seen that many people with hair like that, brown and long and it's even got tangles in it for a zombie to grab into. He resists the urge to tell Kili maybe he better consider a haircut.

You never know. Maybe he's really attached to it.

"Cool!" R wonders if they're, y'know, supposed to shake on it or pinky-swear or whatever it was the Living did these days. He settles for pocketing his crystal shard and heading for the door. He pauses. "Thanks again for not murdering me."

He grins back, relief flooding into him. It's too bad more Tributes aren't like Kili. Maybe this Arena won't be too bad after all.

A dwarf's hair is certainly the pride and joy of its owner; a symbol of not only age but status as well. Most wore intricate braids of some sort or another, sometimes woven into their beards, but Kili has long been unfettered and wild. He continues to stare at the water and wash himself down in it, shaking his hands back into the fountain when he's more or less pleased at the progress.

Thanks again for not murdering me.

Kili isn't sure what it is exactly about the phrase that unsettles something in his gut. Perhaps it's the reminder that he may have to kill the friends he's made, that his next encounter may be with someone decidedly less friendly, or that R might be walking off into something that would kill him.

Swallowing, he watches as R heads off, a low fear beginning to stew deeper into him.

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It’s alright, ain't no guard in my house;

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thread wrap?

sure thing!