hadriel | [1] Video

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(To be honest, he had completely forgotten about his communication device until he saw it sitting on his bed. He forgot about all of the contacts, the people he mostly didn't know. It's not until after the buried event that he even thinks to utilize this broad form of communication. Suddenly he sees the benefit in it, the reason why people might want to use this sort of thing beyond private talking.

So Newt's set it up and a feed of him sitting on a mattress on a floor begins to flow through to the network. He's in clean clothes and looks clean enough overall but his hands are covered in tightly wrapped bandages and he looks rather tired.)

Hi, everyone.

(He doesn't seem to be awkward at all. Like someone whose had to address groups of people before. There's no hesitance, no shift or uncertain pause of what to say next. He's already thought it through.)

My name's Newt. I haven't met most of you yet but that's okay. What I'm about to say applies to everyone, regardless of whether or not we know each other.

I know that everyone sort of just went through their own personal hell. Whether you were buried alive or looking for someone you care about- it sucks, it really sucks and I hope to God that we found everyone.

(His eyes roll upwards and he actually does look serious, looks genuinely pained at the idea that maybe they didn't. That maybe, just maybe, they had somehow missed someone. He doesn't linger on it though. This video has a point. He clears his throat and looks back to the camera and offers a slight grin.)

I know that the clinic has been helping people a lot. But - well, shock is a pretty nasty thing and it's a bloody reckoning waiting to happen if you're on your own too much. And not everyone's all too great about properly taking care of themselves when they're- they're bad off. I don't know if everyone has someone here to look out for them so- I don't know. Shuck it-

(He spreads his hands open and shrugs his shoulders.)

If you need something, let me know. I've made a load of sandwiches and don't mind bringing them over. Stew too. A lot of you are probably dead tired still so that's fine. I've got tea- and apparently my tea isn't too buggin' bad at all- and if you just need company...

(He puts his arms back down, fiddling with the bandages on his hand. The smile he offers is now a bit hesitant. It's a broad statement but he means it all the same. Being shocked can really hurt a person, deeper than some can even handle. Sometimes being alone is the worst thing for them and he gets that. He really, really does.)

I can sit around with you or talk to you through here. Doesn't matter to me. So here's hoping to everyone being okay. Anyway, see you lot around.

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If you'll let me. [ she grins. ] You busy now?

That's what they're here for. (Have a grin right back.) Nope. C'mon over.

On my way.

[ seriously, she's there in less than 15 minutes. free food is serious. Cashmere knocks loudly on the front door. when he opens it he'll find a statuesque blonde who looks surprisingly well rested given the recent chaos. she's pretty, and it's easily evident that she knows how attractive she is. ]

Newt? I'm Cashmere.

(On the other side of the door, Cashmere will find Newt. A boy whose impressively tall with muscular arms. And also a boy who has barely any experience with girls whatsoever- having only ever met two in his entire life that he knows of. And girls like Cashmere? He's fairly certain girls like Cashmere don't exist in his world.

He, on the other hand, looks pretty tired but he manages a grin, though delayed it may be.)

Cashmere. Lovely to meet you.

(He simply sounds genuine. He steps aside to let her in, gesturing.)

Do you like tea?

[ he looks like he would have held his own in an arena - though you might say they're already in one. even with the presence of the gods she's still convinced there's something much larger at works.

she nods. ]

I do. [ she looks around as he lets her in. the house looks unsurprisingly like her own, the same strange alien architecture that's all over the city. ]

Can I ask you something? [ ok, so partially she came over so she could find out more about where he's from and what he might know. she doesn't want to go home but she doesn't want to be here forever. ]

(Similarly, she would have probably done well in the Scorch. They definitely aren't in the Scorch though.

He leads her to the kitchen. Already had a plate with two sandwiches settled on top of it and everything. At her question, he merely glances over at her, brow quirked. Thankfully for Cashmere, Newt was pretty open to talking about where he's from. There's very little he's hiding and most of it has to do with the limp he has stemming from his right ankle. Otherwise?

Kid's a fairly open book.)

Get comfortable and ask away. I'll pour you a cup.

Thanks.

[ she sits, starts with a bite of sandwich, and then launches into the first of her questions. some people do mind very much when she gets nosy (maybe that is more related to her occasional jag of total crazy), so she's pleased that he seems willing to play along. ]

I'm from a country called Panem. At home, they tell us that there's nothing outside of Panem anymore. It's all been destroyed. I believed it. There was no way there was anything else. And then - a year ago? I'm not sure - one moment I'm in Panem, the next I'm with strangers in a dark room. Not in Panem. Not any place any of has been before. And then a few months ago, I woke up here.

Where were you before this?

(They can totally bond over their jag of total crazy. He's technically destined to be completely batshit, so, you know. Go at it, Cashmere.

Despite getting her a cup of tea, it's evident he's listening instead of just busying himself. He soaks up every single thing anyone tells him because he does know so little about the world that even hearing about awful worlds was undoubtedly fantastic to him.

Eventually, he comes to sit down next to her at the table, setting down a cup of tea in front of her and then sets one down for himself.)

A place called the Scorch. It was a barren wasteland hot enough that you had to wrap up your whole body or get burned up just walkin' through it.

(See this is the problem he keeps running into. Things align neatly. When he arrived in Hadriel, it felt like something WICKED would pull on him.

And now, it almost sounded like this girl could be from his world. Who knows? Peter was certain everyone was mostly from different worlds but Newt remained skeptical. He's trying to be better about that.)

I've never heard of Panem before. But....The world I come from was destroyed. Barely habitable, really, and apparently there was a place safe for people. Never did see it. Don't know if it had a name either.

(He takes a small sip of his tea, looking at her thoughtfully.)

Can't say this is the first time I've woken up in a random location with strangers though. This whole place actually reminds me a bit of where I come from.

You don't want to have heard of Panem. It's - well now I wonder if there are other countries and they know what we've done to each other so they've just abandoned us. We make teenagers fight to the death. For television. I did it when I was eighteen - I volunteered. i[ t sounds crazier now, when she recounts it. she did it without hesitation at the time and honestly? she'd do it again. ]

Imagine my surprise that in other countries, in other worlds, they don't treat their children that way. They don't treat anyone that way. [ Cashmere uses her tea as a excuse to pause, to gather her thoughts a moment. ] That's why I think there is more going on here. Punishment or experiment or what I don't know. But it's not chance.

(The funny thing is, the funny thing is he's used to brutality towards children. He's gentle enough in nature to look pained at the notion of children fighting to death but there's not surprise. He expects the world to be violent with kids. He knows nothing else.

What he does show surprise at is the idea that other worlds don't do that. She was right though, wasn't she? Peter...He didn't seem like he lived in a world like that. Unless he hid it well.)

They don't?

(Newt has only been here a couple of weeks. He still knows so little. No one has really told him how other worlds function. Especially not on a moral scale.)

Feels like an experiment to me. Back where I come from, there was this organization called WICKED. They gathered a bunch of kids up, wiped our memories out completely, then threw us into a series of trials. First we had to solve a Maze- a Maze that changed every single day and was infested with monsters. Then there was the Scorch. This whole thing- this place- it feels a lot like that. I don't think it's them but I agree with you- it's not by chance. Not at all.

I don't really know how other worlds work. I just arrived- but my world wasn't that good to people, good to kids. I don't think this world really cares either.

[ oh good because this is usually the point in the conversation where people look at her like she has two heads as they come to the realization that their new friend is an actual murderer. of children! it's comforting in a strange, twisted way to find someone else who has seen all the worst the world has to offer, and then accepted that as normal.

she tries to imagine his world - the Scorch (a desert, she thinks), the maze. the maze sounds like what the Gamemakers would have done if their main goal hadn't been a body count. the more she hears the more convinced she is that there's no way that any of this is chance. ]

What kind of monsters? We call them mutts. Usually half one thing half the other - extra deadly.

[ the monsters here are pretty terrifying but she hasn't seen anything from home thus far and it's better than way. they do seem to be from other people's worlds, which makes her nervous as to what might come wandering out of the caves. ]

(Nope, you're safe from judgement here, Cashmere. Newt's gotten his fair share of odd looks whenever he's told people about his own world so he understands what that's like. And hey, it's not like he hasn't been responsible for other kids' deaths before. A bit more indirectly than Cashmere, maybe, but he'd by lying if he said he wasn't.

Ironically, he also kind of feels better talking to Cashmere about his world and about her world. Maybe it wasn't Trials that Cashmere was put through but it was a similar enough situation, wasn't it? Adults throwing kids around and making them do awful things to each other just to see what would happen.)

We had a few. Some of them had names, some didn't. The Maze had Grievers. Part machine, part animal- maybe animal? Some strange, huge hybrid of nasty things wrapped up in one- so kinda like your mutts maybe.

(The monsters here were strange. Organic monsters with no metal bits. Newt wasn't too used to being attacked by monsters that weren't man-made, honestly.)

We also have Cranks. But those aren't engineered by anyone. There's an illness in my world called the Flare and it makes people go violently insane. They turn into Cranks and they're bloody everywhere. Do you have anything like that? A virus or- something?

[ it does sound like mutts. part machine, part animal - how horrifying. the Capitol would love to get their hands on that kind of technology. maybe they already have it. how many worlds out there are there where the government does this to their people? setting them up and then tearing them apart with some sort of fucked up science experiment?

mouth full of sandwich, Cash watches him wide-eyed as he explains the Flare. Cranks - some kind of mutt... are they better off in this weird underground prison? she shakes her head. ]

Nothing like that. How horrible.

Is there a cure?

(Newt's world definitely had impressive and almost seemingly impossible technology. It's what made it so hard for him to believe that regular humans weren't behind all of Hadriel. It all felt like something WICKED could pull off.

Not wholly like a mutt but he could see why she'd draw that conclusion. Especially if she had nothing else to compare to. Other people thought of zombies which wasn't exactly right either.

Lately he's been thinking that they are better off. The danger here seems far more contained and somehow less sinister than the danger he was used to.)

They were trying to make one. Said that by the time we were done with the Trials, they'd have a cure. Who knows how much of that is the truth though.

(He really didn't have much faith. He was still infected with the Flare even right now. He didn't even know how long it'd be til he began showing symptoms. He drops his head into his hand and looks over at Cashmere, curious still.)

Why'd you volunteer for that thing you mentioned earlier? The kids fighting to the death thing?

[ that's a good question. you have to wonder why anyone would sign themselves up to kill others, knowing very well they might not make it home themselves. ]

In my district, we train for it. If you win you get a big house and all the money you'll ever need. I always knew I might go to the Games. My brother volunteered when we were seventeen. Maybe so we wouldn't both have to go. He won but when he came home he was. uh. Different. It's hard to explain. Like a stranger had come home instead.

[ they were so young then. and even watching him on TV, and seeing what winning did to him, she still didn't really understand what it would do to her. how killing someone else wasn't easy and you'd never forget it. no matter how many years you trained. ]

We'd always been close. I thought if I won that I'd understand him better. He made me promise not to do it. But I did anyway. I was right. I understand now.

("Brother". Newt automatically blinks at that and tips his head to the side. He has a very limited concept of family due to his memory swipe and it's instantly interesting to him to think of Cashmere as having a brother. Sometimes Newt thinks he had a sibling but he has no way of knowing whether or not that's true.

But then she keeps on going and Newt becomes somber, nodding slowly.)

I'd imagine that sort of thing changes you. It sounds a little bit like the Trials they would put us through except for with a different point. Adults are awfully good at stringing children about.

(Taking a life- that was something he had trouble sleeping on. Even killing a Crank was hard. Especially since they were just sick people- people who couldn't help but be that way. It felt cruel somehow.)

Do you miss him? What was he like?

(And the funny thing is, Newt's not just asking to be nice. He's honestly curious. He knows nothing about familial relationships so it's always fascinating to hear about them.)

[ she nods her agreement. the person she was before she won isn't the same person she is now. Cashmere will never understand how people in the Capitol could watch children die and support it - cheer for it, laugh it at. is it power that makes people heartless?

she brightens when Newt mentions her brother. one of her favorite topics. ]

His name's Gloss. [ was but she can't break herself from talking about him like he's still around. ] I miss him all the time. Gloss was my best friend from day one and it's weird not be with him. He's protective. Quiet until he knows he likes you and then he won't shut up. He likes to read. He's better with people than I am. Oh - and he's huge. Taller than me, looks like he can crush things. [ she laughs. ] Usually he's nicer than he looks.

[ she used to think she couldn't live without him. when Gloss died she wanted to die too. and then instead of staying dead she's been bounced from one hellhole to another. life is weird. ]

What about you? Do you have siblings?

(Maybe, probably. They've removed themselves enough to not really see the kids as human. Newt had a tattoo at the back of his neck that claimed him to be a 'Subject'. No better than a lab rat. People were just very good at objectifying each other like that. Whether it be for science or entertainment.

He smiles rather instantly when she brightens up and it kind of makes him feel good to know that this girl cared about her brother. He liked that kind of thing.

He winds up laughing a little bit, imagining a bulk of a guy who was gentle as anything and oddly enough, he feels a swell of affection. He takes to other kids his own age quickly though. It's not a surprise.)

He sounds bloody magnificent. That's fantastic you're so close with him too. I can imagine he'd be quite protective of you.

(If he had a sibling, he'd be protective of them too. Instead, he had the Gladers and they were the only family he knew.

Which gives him some pause when she asks. Newt isn't sensitive about the memory thing, not really, but since his arrival in Hadriel he's come to realize he's probably one of the only people who knows barely anything due to it. It's frustrating at times. But it's harmless now. So, Newt eventually shrugs and shakes his head.)

I uh- actually have no idea. Before they put us into the Maze, they actually wiped our memories entirely. I only know my life from when I first woke up in the Maze til now.

(He taps his finger against the side of his temple.)

No bloody clue about anything before. Don't know if I have siblings or what my family was like or where I'm from. And half the time I don't even know what the bloody hell other people are talking about. I don't even know my real name or how old I am- though I suspect I'm somewhere around seventeen or eighteen. "Newt" is just a nickname the scientists gave me. For Isaac Newton. It's a dumb joke, in my opinion.

Edited (rewooording) 2016-01-26 23:43 (UTC)

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