[UNRECORDED]

[theclownprince]

By the time the end of lunch rolls around, Joker isn't wearing near as much of his greasepaint as he had been. It's smudged and smeared and a mess... and not just on the clown Victor, oh no. And neither of them have bothered to clean it off. Joker is delighted.

He spends the elevator ride down and first half of the walk clinging to Sullivan's back like an overlarge possum - which Sullivan doesn't seem to mind that much. When he finally climbs down, it's only to loop an arm around each of his new friends. Grinning sharply at every Peacekeeper they pass is a given, and they pass quite a few. It only starts to thin out the closer they get to the mentor room.

That's a mystery, there.

...Or it is, right up until Joker gets close enough to hear the shouting. That's quite a lot of shouting.

Joker disentangles himself and half-skips ahead. There's a tussle nearby and he means to see who. That's a couple voices he doesn't recognize. Peacekeepers, yes, because who even pays attention to what they sound like. Someone else with them. Someone trying to get into somewhere he apparently can't.

Someone - Joker realizes as he turns that last corner - someone who is really big.

That's a giant of a man standing in the center of a group of armored Peacekeepers, all stationed in front of a door to one of the security rooms or passages.

"There you are! Thaaaaat's the wrong door." Joker exclaims as if he knows, or had been expecting, this enormous presence. He even goes as far as to step in the cluster of Peacekeepers before pointing to the door to the actual mentor room. "You want that one."

Comments

[kenpachizaraki]

Kenpachi is having one of those days. It's been a while since they dragged him to the Capitol, and everything looks the same to him. Weird, but the same. Not that he's good at finding his way around at home either, but whatever. But he's mentoring again this year and so he's supposed to be in the mentor room. If only he could find the damn thing.

He finally gets to the right building at about lunchtime. Then he gets to wander around for a while trying to find the right damn room. Why do they even need all these rooms? Eventually though, he's pretty sure he's found it. The goddamn Peacekeepers just don't wanna let him in. He's just about ready to start knocking their heads together when somebody interrupts.

"Huh?" Kenpachi squints at the guy. He's brightly colored and covered in makeup. Whatever. "You sure?"

Now that he thinks about it, he's pretty sure that's a fellow Victor. Well, he'd know. That's also just about when he realizes there's more people in the room. He turns to look. Definitely Victors. That's Sullivan and... shit, what was her name? The new one. Yeah okay, they probably know where they're going. He turns back to the mob of Peacekeepers. "Why the hell didn't you tell me this was the wrong door?"

"We did," one of them grouses, but Kenpachi isn't listening. He's looking over these other Victors.

[illdrinktothat]

Joker's a more welcome presence than Walter would have otherwise thought, even with as much goddamn attention as the bastard needs. Joker, goddamn climbing up on Walter's back, and Walter just looping his arms under the other Victor's knees and happily going along with it.

He doesn't know the specifics of Joker - nobody does, as far as he can tell. And last time he saw him he was much tinier, much less painted, and Walter was too drunk to remember much. But he knows someone as fucked up and isolated as he is when he sees them.

The clown's antics don't end there, because why would they? Walter grumbles half-heartedly mostly on principle, but that's about it.

Until they hit all the yelling, and Joker dashes on ahead. Towards the noise. Like you do.

"Goddamnit," He sighs, mouth turning down in something of a frown. There's no use catching up to Joker; by the time Walter could, he's already gone and put himself in the center of the action along with...

That's Zaraki who's been arguing with the Peacekeepers. Kenpachi fucking Zaraki. And Joker's... Walter's not exactly sure what the hell that idiot's doing, besides maybe attempting to diffuse things. It's questionable how well that'll work. So Walter breathes in, steels himself for problems, walks right past the Peacekeepers to the two other Victors, and...

...Smacks Joker solidly on the ass.

"C'mon, jackasses," Walter drawls with more than a little slurring, "The Games aren't going to wait for us. And neither are the drinks."

[kenpachizaraki]

Well aren't these a bunch of goddamn weirdos. That's Victors for you, though. Sullivan's slapping asses and the clown is... a clown. The smallfry just looks really amused by it all. Kenpachi snorts and heads for the right door this time. "I miss anything good?" He wonders if his Tribute's bit the dust yet.

"Not really." The girl from 12 is looking him over thoughtfully, sizing him up. Good. That's good. "Unless you count some real winners making it through the bloodbath against all reason."

"Heh, maybe," he barks out, grinning down at her like a shark. "Sometimes they end up winnin'." People like... everybody in this little group. Even the clown, he thinks.

She grins right back, and Kenpachi belatedly notices she's got her scars like she should if the Capitol assholes didn't regularly clean up Victors. How about that. "Nah, not these," she says after a moment.

"That good, huh?" Now he's actually curious. Red here looks like she's got a grudge.

[theclownprince]

Joker just... stands there for a moment. Sullivan smacked his ass. Sullivan. Smacked. His ass.

He grins wide enough that his scars look like they might split open. Walter doesn't seem to notice; he just stumbles slightly blearily into the mentor room without a glance back at the others.

"That good," Joker adds as he catches up to Kerosene and Tiny, there. He looks up at the taller victor like he's quietly figuring out how to cut him down to size. "Is it cheating if we get sponsors for other people's tributes? Maybe? Possibly."

As if he cares about cheating.

[kenpachizaraki]

And now the clown's looking him over. That's just fine. Then the redhead pipes up again as they all head for the door. "I dunno, but it's probably cheating to tell other people about your tribute's weak points. Oops."

Kenpachi snorts and waits to let them both go ahead. He's gotta take a minute to look over the room. There aren't a whole lot of surprises in here that he can see, though he can't quite put names to all the faces. But then, he's been a Victor for a while. Even some of these guys start blurring together after a decade or two. Eh, whatever. He heads for the dinky little station for District 11. Which is empty. Huh. He sits in one of the chairs, neither of which are remotely the right size for him. Figures.

He's just starting to grumpily poke around at the goddamn computer when there's an ominous creaking sound. Followed swiftly by a loud crack and then... Kenpachi is sitting on the floor. Oh great. "Not this shit again," he grumbles in a long-suffering way. He broke a chair last time he mentored, but they still can't get him a decent one.

[theclownprince]

Joker affects a very scandalized expression while they head inside the mentor room, finally. "Kerosene, how could you." Then, after a moment, he drops the act and stage whispers, "What are her weak points?"

A quick glance at his district's station tells him all he needs to know. His fellow mentor's there already, which doesn't really bode well for his continuing enjoyment of the day. They have a few... fundamental disagreements. She thinks their tributes should be aiding in winning no matter. Joker, however, thinks dear Annie needs to die.

He goes over and gets his chair from his station, and just wheels across the room in it. Bye, Dry-Clean-Only, you're the absolute opposite of fun. He's most of the way to 12 when there's that sudden crack and thud from 11's station. His attention snaps straight to that.

Poor Tiny on the floor.

Joker cackles quietly and changes his wheelie-chair route at the last minute, stopping beside 11's giant victor. Joker leans half out of his chair, spinning it in a very slow circle. "Having problems?"

[kenpachizaraki]

Kenpachi's just considering staying on the damn floor when the clown wheels over to chat some more. "Eh, it ain't so bad down here," he says after a minute. "At least I don't have to look at the damn screen anymore."

He hears another chair scooting towards him. Sure enough, it's Red. She peers around the clown. "You know, I'm pretty sure both of 11's tributes are dead already."

"Really?" Kenpachi can't be that surprised, honestly. He didn't expect much out of either of them and it would explain why Seeder isn't in her chair. "Huh. That was quick." Not that quick for his district, really. And he's willing to bet that it'll be a good long while before another outlying district wins after last year's tiny redheaded surprise. That was really something.

Speaking of which... "What was your name again?" he asks, squinting up at Red. Though the clown is welcome to answer too. Kenpachi doesn't remember his name either.