Sam Wilson (
sizeofyourbaggage) wrote in
thecapitol2015-01-07 03:57 pm
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tried counting sheep
Who| Sam Wilson and YOU! All of you!
What| Sleep issues and trying to settle post-arena
Where| Various spots in the Tribute Tower/over the Capitol
When| After the end of the arena and through the first week after, mostly before Panem Nightly
Warnings/Notes| Prompts for specific locations under the cut! Nightmare and PTSD-talk likely, probably mentions of violence and death
Late Nights in District 5
It’s probably not a secret that Sam hasn’t slept much since getting back from the arena, the same way that he can pick up the signs that he’s not the only one with sleeping problems in District Five. Some nights, he doesn’t even try - he either doesn’t return back to the floor at all, or when he does, he heads straight for the couch or the kitchen.
The nights he is there, he can be found in the common areas at all hours of the night, watching bad Capitol TV with the volume on low, in the kitchen making snacks, or even occasionally catching a few minutes of sleep on the couch before he jerks awake again.
In the Training Center
He’d been in the training room a lot before the arena, sure, but it’s even worse now. Whenever he has downtime that he can’t fill up by something else, Sam ends up here, going through a workout, practicing with whatever weapons are available, or just attacking the punching bags.
When he’s alone, he goes all out, sets up a playlist full of fast-paced, heavy workout songs and just loses himself in them.
When there’s other people there, though, he goes slower, reduces the pace so he can maintain a conversation, if they’re the type that will put up with him when he attempts to strike up one.
Out and About in the Capitol
Now that the curfew’s gone, most mornings he goes outside for his run. He hasn’t found a path he likes enough yet to make it a regular one, so he alternates routes through the parks and on the sidewalks.
When he’s done, sometimes he lingers in the Capitol, going shopping or just wandering around to get a better feel for the city, keeping an eye out for anyone he knows. Or anyone who looks like they might be a Tribute, instead of another… interestingly dressed Capitol citizen.
For Close CR
Some nights, he just can’t stand the thought of being alone. All right, a lot of nights, and he’s not too proud to seek out company when he needs someone else’s presence to pull him out of the thoughts that get stuck in his head.
Even if he does feel a little guilty at the late hour, but he figures they could tell him to get lost if they actually are sleeping, and don’t want to be disturbed.
So he when he can’t sleep, he makes his way to rooms that aren’t his, knocks quiet but firm on the doors of the people he considers himself lucky to call his friends.
(Starter prompts for specific threads in the comments!)
What| Sleep issues and trying to settle post-arena
Where| Various spots in the Tribute Tower/over the Capitol
When| After the end of the arena and through the first week after, mostly before Panem Nightly
Warnings/Notes| Prompts for specific locations under the cut! Nightmare and PTSD-talk likely, probably mentions of violence and death
Late Nights in District 5
It’s probably not a secret that Sam hasn’t slept much since getting back from the arena, the same way that he can pick up the signs that he’s not the only one with sleeping problems in District Five. Some nights, he doesn’t even try - he either doesn’t return back to the floor at all, or when he does, he heads straight for the couch or the kitchen.
The nights he is there, he can be found in the common areas at all hours of the night, watching bad Capitol TV with the volume on low, in the kitchen making snacks, or even occasionally catching a few minutes of sleep on the couch before he jerks awake again.
In the Training Center
He’d been in the training room a lot before the arena, sure, but it’s even worse now. Whenever he has downtime that he can’t fill up by something else, Sam ends up here, going through a workout, practicing with whatever weapons are available, or just attacking the punching bags.
When he’s alone, he goes all out, sets up a playlist full of fast-paced, heavy workout songs and just loses himself in them.
When there’s other people there, though, he goes slower, reduces the pace so he can maintain a conversation, if they’re the type that will put up with him when he attempts to strike up one.
Out and About in the Capitol
Now that the curfew’s gone, most mornings he goes outside for his run. He hasn’t found a path he likes enough yet to make it a regular one, so he alternates routes through the parks and on the sidewalks.
When he’s done, sometimes he lingers in the Capitol, going shopping or just wandering around to get a better feel for the city, keeping an eye out for anyone he knows. Or anyone who looks like they might be a Tribute, instead of another… interestingly dressed Capitol citizen.
For Close CR
Some nights, he just can’t stand the thought of being alone. All right, a lot of nights, and he’s not too proud to seek out company when he needs someone else’s presence to pull him out of the thoughts that get stuck in his head.
Even if he does feel a little guilty at the late hour, but he figures they could tell him to get lost if they actually are sleeping, and don’t want to be disturbed.
So he when he can’t sleep, he makes his way to rooms that aren’t his, knocks quiet but firm on the doors of the people he considers himself lucky to call his friends.
(Starter prompts for specific threads in the comments!)
For Jet
It's enough to make him hesitate, despite how much he'd wanted to check in with Jet and how it probably won't leave his head for awhile, unless he does. Thanks to that, it's not quite enough to make him leave, and he ends up just kind of awkwardly standing right by Jet's room, reconsidering.
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It meant the smallest noise woke him up and that, sometimes, he'd wake up for no reason and have a hard time falling back asleep for one reason or another. Usually Albert's light snoring was rhythmic enough to let his mind drift, but tonight his thoughts were too many and too loud. After half an hour he gave up, he fell asleep about as easily as he woke up, if he wasn't asleep yet then it wasn't going to happen.
Carefully, Jet untangled himself from the German curled around him and silently left the room. He definitely hadn't expected to see Sam standing only a few feet away from the door Jet was leaving. He moved closer to Sam and kept his voice low.
"Hey. What's up?" His brow creased in concern as he took a look at his friend. As far as Jet knew, Sam didn't have much of a reason to be on this floor. "You okay?"
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i'm so sorry about the late, apparently i lost the notif for this
it's okay, you've got a lot of notifs, bb <3
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For Nick
It might just be more noticeable now, now that Nick is someone he’d want to check up on, but whatever, it still concerns him a little.
Enough that he finds himself heading over to Nick’s room, rapping sharply on the door. “Nick, you in there, man? It’s Sam.”
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He doesn't know what to say to the others when he sees them, but he wasn't expecting to hear from anyone either. It's not much of a surprise that it's Sam though. After everything, Sam's a good guy in Nick's book. Better than many people he can name back home. He can't bring himself to face the world the way he is now, but something is telling him that he at least owes Sam an answer.
The door opens, and Sam is greeted by a face that shows evidence of tears having fallen; the area around his blue eyes reddened from attempts to stop it from flowing.
"Hey." He maintains a casual tone though withered is a better way to describe it. "You need somethin'?"
Not that Nick feels like he has much to offer right now.
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For Albert
Which obviously, hadn't worked out so well. He kind of feels like he's more tired than when he went to sleep, which is awesome on top of lingering nerves from the nightmare itself and shit from the arena.
It's also why he ends up outside Albert's room at way too early in the morning, knocking on his door.
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A moment's rustling and a soft 'I'll get it, go back to sleep' and then Albert appears in the doorway holding a safety razor. He's still got a bit of stubble, but it's barely visible thanks to his light complexion and even lighter hair.
"Sam," He seems surprised, but not bothered by the early morning call as he steps out of the room and shuts the door quietly behind him, taking in the bags under the younger man's eyes. "Good morning, though it looks to me as if you haven't gotten much rest. Is something the matter?"
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nsfw subject matter whoops
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wrap up?
wrapping up is good!
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For Steve and Bucky
It's not a big part of him, yeah, and it doesn't come out much, especially during the day, when he can hang around and bug Steve just as much as he'd done before the arena. But at night, well, it's a lot harder, especially on top of a resurgence of his old nightmares, some of them with fascinating new twists, thanks to the arena.
He hates feeling like he's putting a burden on any of his friends. Especially Steve, who's got so much of his own shit, and all Sam'd ever wanted to do was try to help him lessen the load a little, not add more to it. But it'd be a crappy friendship if he was willing to take all the bad without putting any of his own out there, and that's pretty much exactly what he's trying to get Steve not to do, so.
There he is late in the night, knocking on Steve's door and hoping he isn't actually disturbing Steve - and, let's be honest, probably Bucky. "Steve, man, you awake?"
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So, he's not asleep when Sam comes by late in the night, not even when Bucky came by earlier to join him. He's staving off sleep with idle conversation and art, letting Bucky do whatever he wants without concern - this pretty much had been their shared room for months, it's normal.
Setting his sketchbook aside, Steve is up and at the door, opening it for Sam and already gesturing him in. Sam is welcome here anytime, day or night.
"Can't sleep either?"
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He's been out in the open of the suite for hours and knows everyone here is either still out or long off to dreamland.
"Didn't take you long to come looking for our fresh meat."
Tony smirks before returning to his 'reading'. He knows enough about Sam to know that he isn't actually Tony when he was younger, but the fact that his floor have been until this point either male or a children, he was hardly about to let the opportunity pass.
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And, well, the way some of the tension leaves his shoulders as he heads over to perch on the arm of the couch is exactly why he'd come up here. He can relax a little more when he's not alone, when he's with a friend.
"Now why would I go looking for fresh meat when I've got someone much more interesting greeting me as soon as I step off the elevator?"
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Training Center
She notes someone different is already in the area as she arrives today and pauses, not yet speaking, at the edge of his training section to observe before her scheduled trip to the weaponry racks.
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Besides, if nothing else, he can probably get Barton to show him the bow later.
So he's working with knives today, one in each hand as he practices against the training dummies, flipping them around in his grip to get different angles. He doesn't stop immediately when he realizes he's not alone, but he does slow a bit later, pausing in his workout to turn down the music a little.
"Hey," he greets, throwing her a smile. "Sorry, was that too loud?"
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Training Center
He was wearing only his breeches, his shirt tied around his waist, right below a very large, ugly bruise that took up half his side. He was working with a spear, running it through endless, flashy rotations - almost a sort of physical meditation, perhaps, when he was so furious he very might well run a man through with it instead. He was well built but he was not made for combat - the toned muscles from spinning a staff and wielding flame than anything more direct. He had to learn fast, however.
He paused when he finally wore himself out - the fury having kept him going far longer than he might have otherwise, and it was only when he stopped to breathe and wipe his brow that he noticed he was no longer alone.
"Ah. Excuse me. If I'd realised I had company I would not have taken up half so much space," He said as he shifted over.
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And that'd soon turned to just watching him, partially curious and partially impressed, so Sam's still just standing there idling playing with the knife in his hand by the time the guy heads towards him.
"Nah, don't worry about it," he replies with an easy smile. "It's not like I can claim I wasn't enjoying the opportunity to watch." The guy was shirtless, attractive, and apparently knew what he was doing with that spear, Sam wasn't complaining. He nods to the weapon. "You're good with that."
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One more for the training room
Sweat smelled like sweat, however highly polished the floors were.
He'd been told there might not be a bow in the as of yet unseen arena, so he was making a concentrated effort to get to know some of the others. He had used swords before, and daggers, but it had never been as ready. Never as smooth.
He would spare with his fellows were they available, but as they weren't today, he waited for a break in the action and approached the stranger.
"Do you think they'd object if I cut in?" he asked, nodding his head toward the dummy the man was pummeling. "I could use an active partner, if you have a mind."
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Sam didn't stop right away when he realized he wasn't alone, pushing through to the end of his routine, but then he pauses to smile a greeting at the other guy.
And the smile grows a little at that question. "I'm sure they'd appreciate the break," he says, moving away from the dummy. "And yeah, I've definitely got a mind. I could use one, too."
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I am really terrible at action, I'm sorry XD
fff no worries, so am i XD
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In the Capitol
Everything about her screams Capitol, but she's approaching Sam like she's spotted an old friend in the crowd. She waves to get his attention, stepping up toward him with a bright smile.
"Heya." She winks one of those heavy eyelashed eyes. "Sam, isn't it? You're friends with Steve and Tony, right?" She asks, then pauses to consider how he might take that. "I'm not a crazy fan, f-y-i. I work in the tower." She jerks a thumb vaguely toward it, like he doesn't know where it is.
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So he grins back at her when she winks at him.
"I bet that's the first thing a crazy fan would say," he replies, teasing just a little. "But nah, I remember seeing you around. Jolie, yeah? You're the reason I'm always jealous of District Eight at events."
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D5
But there was one sponsor...one particularly irritatingly specific sponsor who loved to keep her late into the night blathering on with stories of his own day to day adventures. And while normally she would consider herself above such annoying people...District Five could use the help.
She was a professional after all. And at the moment she was a slightly drunk professional. Thankfully she had made it home.
Slipping into the suite around one she wanted nothing more then to take to her nice warm bed but someone else was still awake.
"Sam?" It wasn't as if she had enforced any sort of healthy sleeping schedule on her tributes but she didn't expect any of them to stay up this late.
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When he hears someone coming into the common room, though, his head turns automatically in that direction, body tensing just a little before his brain catches up to who he’s looking at. “‘Zula?” he asks, the name shortening partly due to mumbled speech, and partly just because it’s late enough that nicknames seem like a decent idea.
He clears his throat, rolling out his shoulders and looking a little more awake as he gives her a second look over. “Busy night?”
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District 5 invasion
He walks into District Five’s kitchen likes he owns the place, but who he sees already there makes him pause. It looks like the person who fed him as a cat, the person who saved him later on. For a few moments Julian just stares at Sam as he makes his snacks, trying to to be certain it’s the right person, but there really isn’t much doubt. Julian’s night vision had allowed him to get a good look at his face.
Julian makes his way closer, lifts himself up so he’s sitting on the kitchen counter, and then says, “You’re the one who saved me.”
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Sam raises an eyebrow at him when he hops up on the counter after just staring at him for a few moments, setting down his bowl of soon-to-be Chex mix. Or - the Capitol equivalent, anyway.
“Yeah, that’d be me. I never did get your name.”
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That training center is so popular ;)
He feels like he should stretch his limbs and maybe attempt to train. Perhaps also use this time to people watch and get a glimpse of other tributes. He needed to know who he was competing against, after all. New people had appeared recently, so he would make a point of keeping his eyes open for them.
Even without his powers, Loki's still fast and strong. He is running around the edge of everything - keeping his pace quick, not shy about showing some of what he has to offer, but careful not to give away too much. He stops when he sees someone going at a punching bag.
This guy is familiar, though. He goes through a mental list of tributes. Sam - he thinks. He takes a few steps towards him, and lifts his hand up in a sign of greeting. He's always cautious when approaching people.
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So when someone approaches him, he pauses to turn towards them, and smiles at the greeting.
“Hey,” he says, lifting his own hand in response. The kid looks familiar, so Sam knows he isn’t new, but he can’t place his name. “I’ve seen you around before, haven’t I? I’m Sam.”
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dat capitol tho (hope this works!) tw: chestburster ref, blood
Kenny had been right about that. He could laugh about it now.
It’s quiet here. An escape from the walls of his bedroom and the nightmarish images that flash through his mind when he’s idle, waiting for him in the darkness behind his lids. But he knows he can’t escape familiar faces and emotion-laden conversations forever. He can’t escape his well-intentioned friends telling him they’re so sorry and asking him if he’s okay and him fighting that much harder each time to convince himself that he can keep it together a little while longer.
Dawn is just breaking when he steps back out into the cold with his hands jammed deep into his jacket-pockets, and it's while he's making for the nearest café that he catches a glimpse of Sam window-shopping. He feels a dull pang in his chest, the guilt reaching his eyes. He had viewed the footage not because he had wanted to, but because he had needed to. And had been more sickened at watching himself bite into Sam’s ankle than he had felt seeing himself rip hungry mouthfuls out of the blood-slimed, writhing thing that had punched its way out of his ribcage.
He doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know where to start. It occurs to him that the man might regard him as a threat in light of what happened - so he remains cautious while approaching the café’s doors.
absolutely works!
His eyes find Luke’s, and he stares right into them for probably a little too long. Or at lot too long. Normally Sam likes to think he’s pretty good about eye contact, knows when to hold someone’s gaze and challenge them, knows when someone needs to look away, knows when he needs to look away, but all that goes out the window right about now. The last time that Sam’d seen Luke, there was nothing in his eyes, and he still remembers that empty gaze fixated on him.
He thinks it’s understandable, if he holds the gaze for an extended period of time right now, making sure that this time, there’s someone home.
But after a few moments, his shoulders relax, and he lets out a relieved exhale, moving to close the distance between them. “Hey,” he greets, voice friendly, if a little cautious. “It’s… good to see you looking better.”
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tw: gore, death
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holy shit you got dogpiled whatever THE CLOSE CR PROMPT MOTHERFUCKER
There are thoughts that creep back into her mind, unbidden. The panicked, trapped feeling of being stuck in the helicarrier with the Hulk. Being so powerless to do anything about it.
And more acutely, the idea that her entire life's work means nothing now that SHIELD is HYDRA after all. That she will never atone for any of the terrible things she'd done.
No, she isn't sleeping. And honestly, Sam's knock is almost like a gift at this moment. She opens the door for him, and for a second he might glimpse something resembling vulnerability in her. All of the makeup her stylists forcibly put on her is gone. Her hair is a messy red halo around her head. And more than anything, she looks tired.
But she flashes him an attempt at a glib smile. "Have you tried counting sheep? A warm glass of milk? I hear that helps."
ffff NAT IS ALWAYS WELCOME TO DOGPILE
“Nah,” he says, returning her smile. “I count kiwis. They cover the soft and fluffy territory, but I can keep up my bird theme.”
He’s joking, but his expression turns a little more serious, and a little softer, after that.
“I was kind of hoping you might be up for some company.”
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slides in here late as hell w/e D5
It had been an especially brutal Arena, most notably when compared to the previous one. That had been a cake walk compared to the space station. So she's especially vigilant of changes in behavior, and Sam's late-night habits don't go unnoticed.
She keeps her distance, however, beyond their usual banter, until one night when she enters the lounge and sees him watching television--a channel that's gone quiet for the night. Porrim smiles in amusement, figuring he must have nodded off, and approaches the sofa from behind, putting her head right down next to his.
"Anything good on?"
never too late <3
Still, he does tense a little when her head going down next to his pulls him back into being more awake, though her voice makes him smile a bit when he opens his eyes.
“Nothing nearly as good as who just walked into the room,” he murmurs, voice low and slightly rough from sleep.
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Training center
It's the music that draws him. It is strange music, but he knows it as music -- it could be nothing else. He steps into the Training Center in his jeans and his hoodie, and is no longer surprised when he does not see the singer. He is growing used to technology and what it can do -- but he is slightly disappointed to learn it's a recording.
"I am sorry. I did not mean to interrupt."
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Better than he’s doing at the crossbow, in any case - although his aim isn’t terrible, it’s clear he’s not familiar shooting this kind of long range weapon.
But he pauses in both when he realizes he’s not alone in the training center, and lowers the crossbow to give the guy a smile. “Nah, you weren’t interrupting much, aside from the targets laughing at me.”
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timeskip here?
timeskip works!
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and call this over?
District 5
Well, more of a midnight meal.
She shuffles into the kitchen without much acknowledgement to Sam and there's the distinct sound of the electric kettle heating up.
A few minutes later she emerges from the doorway, holding a plastic cup of instant noodles, steam seeping softly from a gap of the folded down lid.
It's now that she takes notice of Sam and the silent TV. "Do you just make up your own dialogue in your head?"
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Still, when she asks that, he can’t help but grin a little.
“Hell yeah,” he replies. “I’m pretty sure my made-up midnight plot lines make more sense than whatever’s actually going on."
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Out and About in the Capitol
After she'd gone out on her own little run around the nearest park for the past hour, Tess had found herself paused in front of a particular store. She was currently on a bit of a cool down, arms crossed over her chest as she watched the puppies roll around and play roughly together in their pen.
"If only it were that easy," she mutters and shakes her head, still watching them.
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When the woman next to him mutters something, though, he looks over. He doubts she was talking to him, but that’s not going to stop him from replying. “Wishing you were one of them right about now?” he asks, giving a little smile. “I think that’s one of those dumb job interview questions, right, if you could be any kind of animal, what would you be?”