Second Drink

[wastheexample]

[Haymitch has finally decided that maybe, maybe, Peeta isn't crazy and they really are living in a magical castle with people from other worlds. Maybe. Of course, that doesn't mean he's not on his guard. Even if this is what people say, it doesn't mean Snow or any of his Capitol stooges couldn't show up and ruin everything. Given what Finnick told him about the future...well. Better to be safe than sorry.

And Haymitch was prepared to keep those kids safe rather than sorry at any cost.

And so, he's sitting in the Lux, occasionally glancing at the drink of whiskey he can't have until someone hands it to him, flicking through his journal pages. Eventually, he deigns to talk]

Okay. So let's say I'm more willing to buy this magical castle idea. I want to know more about it. What makes it tick. Some of you have been here for years, apparently, you must have learned something in all that time.

I'm sitting in the Lux, if you'd like to play sharetime. We can have a drink, learn a thing or two. It'll be fun.

Comments

[linguistical]

[ He blinks, focusing a little more on the other man. ] Yeah, one can only hope. You know how people can be.

[ Stubborn, delusional, unable to accept the truth even when you're holding it in their face. ]

I'm Daniel, by the way, Daniel Jackson.

[wastheexample]

Unfortunately, I do.

Haymitch Abernathy. It's a pleasure.

[linguistical]

Haven't been here long, then? [ He's noticed the glass of whiskey, sitting there unattended. Huh. ]

[wastheexample]

Here in the bar, or here in the castle?

[linguistical]

Castle. [ OBVIOUSLY. Gosh Haymitch, keep up. ]

[wastheexample]

About a week, maybe more.

[linguistical]

Join the club. [ A short smile.

He reaches over, grabbing the glass before holding it out for Haymitch. ]

Here.

[wastheexample]

[Haymitch takes it, and down the hatch it goes]

Much appreciated. This loss thing is a pain in the ass to navigate.

[linguistical]

No problem. [ A beat. ] You were looking at it like someone had taken your puppy out the back and shot it repeatedly, seemed kinder to put you out of your misery.

[wastheexample]

[That gets something of a chuckle from him] Nice way of putting it. Apt, too.

Let's say, we all have our vices, and mine is more obvious than others.

[linguistical]

So our esteemed benefactor [ Mmm, sarcasm. ] makes it impossible for you to drink, unless someone hands it to you?

[wastheexample]

That's exactly what they've done to me. [Haymitch sighs, quite bereft] Don't know why they didn't just shoot me in the head and be done with it.

[linguistical]

Too quick. [ He almost cringes, that came out a little too quick. ] Likely defeat whatever purpose they have in bringing us here.

[wastheexample]

...Yeah. Sounds like they want to really make us suffer. [More proof this place is run by the Capitol]

[linguistical]

It's highly possible. [ The look on his face says Daniel isn't entirely convinced. ] But, it's too early to tell. This place is like a big cryptic riddle, one I haven't even begun to make a dent into.

[wastheexample]

Maybe they have maps of the surrounding area. Something written down. Anything useful.

...That's probably asking too much, but a man's got to have a little hope.

[linguistical]

Maps. [ He frowns, losing himself in his thoughts. Pulling out a notebook and flipping through the pages wildly, stopping and scanning the page, then flipping through it some more. ]

[wastheexample]

[Haymitch leans a little Daniel's way, trying to peer at that notebook]

What? Did someone actually find one?

[linguistical]

[ There is all sorts of things in there, notes, theories, crude sketches of this and that. He flips through the pages quickly, probably a bit too quickly for anyone to get a proper look. ]

I think so. Can't say for sure unless someone is willing to let me borrow their old journal. [ Flip flip flip. ] There was a incident, a few months back, journals for effectively replaced with nice, new, clean ones. The others still exist, but only people who had been here since before the wipe have them.

[ And Daniel hasn't been focusing on making friends. He got a little... engrossed in the library. ]

--Oh! [ Then he stops, suddenly, the page looks much like the others with a list of names and question marks or a couple of notes. Wedged in the middle of it is a folded up copy of a map. Of the continent.

Unfolding it, he lays it out in the space between them. Good thing it isn't HUGE. Haha. ]

I was wrong, they did. So did I. Funny the sorts of things you can find the very back of a library.

[wastheexample]

[Haymitch is studying that map instantly, making note of all the locations, of anything that can be of any use. After a short time, he taps the broken bridge in the far end of the map]

Now that looks like an exit.

[linguistical]

[ He gets a hmm as Daniel studies it also. ]

Off the continent maybe. It'd be far too easy if it got us out of this place entirely. [ Or off the world, as he means to say. ]

Might be still worth looking into. Though it'd take a week or two get there on foot, at the least.

[wastheexample]

Makes me wish the hovercraft had followed me here.

[He squints at the map] Still, with enough supplies, it'd be doable.

[linguistical]

[ Daniel just shakes his head. ] Wouldn't help if it did. See this area here? [ He traces the area with his fingers, drawing out a rather large looking donut. ] Word is technology, magic, anything remotely powered won't work. The second we passed through the inner ring your hovercraft would have come crashing to the ground.

[ He is imagining it like some sort of ship. ]

And a small enough group. Three people at the very least.

[wastheexample]

It has a section where nothing works? ...Clever.

[He nods] No more than ten, so that if we run into any trouble, we'll still have enough to go around.

[linguistical]

Very. [ Also means his zat won't work, he'll have to remember to get some sort of blade... for defensive purposes. ]

Shouldn't be hard to gather enough supplies for such a small group.