Alexander Knight

Aspen flashed Alex a smile. “Well, then it’s a good thing she has you around to help cheer her up.” It had to be true because who could look at holiday decorations and not find cheer in them? Her favorite was all the lights especially when they had a fresh dusting of snow to go with it. “I will take whatever help I can get. If that doesn’t work, I am not ashamed to bring over gingerbread cookies and beg.” She joked.

She nodded. “Please!” It sounded like a great idea, even more so if they could find a tree that was somewhere it was easily visible. “It sounds like such a lovely idea. One year my sister and I made a tree out of corn stalks and decorated it with paper ornaments.” Aspen had to laugh thinking of the memory. It had been the year before her parents had been murdered. “Let’s find a tree near the stables? This way I can see it every day when I ride and so can everyone else that goes riding.”

“It’ll be nice to have a tree since I’ve decided to celebrate the holiday this year! I have so much to be thankful for,” She told him with a nod and a smile. “See, this is why I keep you around. Such brilliant ideas.” Aspen told him as she looped her arm through his. “And we better get going before it starts snowing so hard we cannot see the trees to pick one.”

“.... Can I pretend that she said no already so I can score those gingerbread cookies? I bet those would definitely convince her to help you out, yep. Most definitely.”  Gingerbread was one of the best things about the winter holidays. For once, people stopped obsessing over chocolate cakes and cookies and made delicious treats that Alex could actually indulge in.  “If you make enough gingerbread, we can even put together a gingerbread house styled after yours, and decorate it how we envision it will look with her help as part of the bribe.”

Alex dug around in the various boxes for a moment, dumping one of them out and using the empty box to start compiling various decorations that would look nice on a tree.  “Alright, I have a lot of gold things, those will look really nice in the sun. Some gold garland, star and sun ornaments... some more smaller bows... I think we can make this work.”

“As you wish,” Aspen called up to him as she reached for the shimmering bow that laid on the ground in anticipation of the hanging. “So, you’re quite the decorating connoisseur, are you?” She asked with a laugh as she passed him the bow. “You know, I live right over there…” Aspen told him as she pointed to her house. “Feel free to decorate.”

Aspen knew she should decorate, but she really didn’t have the ambition for it. It wasn’t like there was a point. It was just her unless her sister stopped by for a visit. Not to mention, a couple days after the holidays she would be leaving to go on her Victory Tour. “Though, I admit I kind of want to decorate a tree. I’ve never decorated one.” She admitted with a sheepish grin.

Alex nearly toppled off the ladder at Aspen’s voice -- he hadn’t been expecting her to find him tangled up in various greenery and looking... well, ridiculous. Of course, when didn’t he look ridiculous? That was his entire aesthetic.  “Oh, um, hi! Thanks.”  He carefully took the large bow and fastened into the middle of the garland, tilting his head sideways as if to examine how well centered it was.

  “My mom’s the real connoisseur, but since she’s not quite up to ladder climbing yet I figured I would help out. I thought maybe if the house looked festive, it would make her happy.” He smiled down at her with a small shrug. “But I bet if I asked really nicely, she’d make a bunch of bows to hang on your windows too.” 

  Alex seemed to have disappeared after Halloween celebrations had come to an end in their little village, but he had a good reason for doing so -- his mother had finally been released from the hospital following the bombings, and he had been waiting on her hand and foot. But now she was finally able to get around some by herself, or so she insisted, and Alex had been put in charge of tracking down holiday decorations for the house.

Which is why he found himself hauling greenery and wreaths around outside of his home in an attempt to try to make the place look up to par compared to his mother’s decorative abilities.  And why he was stuck up on a ladder attempting to put garland above the windows with his hand in a splint (the cast had thankfully come off several weeks before). 

“Thanks,” she told him with a sheepish smile. “It makes me feel strong and capable.” Both things she had been working on feeling again since her time in the arena. She hadn’t felt that sure about Halloween, but Aspen was glad she had let her prep team talk her into dressing up for the holiday.

Aspen shrugged. “Okay, free candy is great, but so is sitting around a fire and just relaxing.” Which was about all they did to celebrate in District Nine. Most people couldn’t afford Candy. Sometimes there were dolls made of corn stalks for the kids, but that too wasn’t a guarantee if the harvest was particularly bad. “Come on, the fire will at least warm you up a bit.” Should she start a fire in her yard? Aspen wasn’t sure, but surely a small one wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

“I mean, I think you’re plenty strong and capable, but I guess that doesn’t mean too much coming from me.” Alex offered a shrug, which only served to make his fake coconuts clack together loudly.  It was hard to give serious compliments dressed in such a ridiculous get-up, but that was Alex for you.   

Serenity rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to beat you up Alex. It would be like beating up a puppy. But, I think I’d feel better if I know you can defend yourself if you need to. Toughen up just a little bit.” She knew that training worked for her. Focusing on herself, on something that she was solely in control of (in most cases), truly allowed her mind to relax. It was a very bad day when she didn’t want to train. 

“I’m not that brutal Alex, I won’t break your arm. But, yes we will be careful and we can go slow. Even just coming to hang out with me while I train could help.” Serenity slowly realized that she just wanted to keep the people important to her close. Two of her team had ended up in the hospital and even before that Fell was in jail and Ares was also in the hospital. Having Alex around more would be a good way to keep an eye on him. 

Casting her eyes to the ground, Serenity wasn’t sure what to say. She could be positive and optimistic, but that wasn’t really her style, even with something like this. Optimism could hurt a lot more than the truth. “These are the best doctors in Panem. If they can help her, they will. Worrying just means you have to feel bad twice.”

The doors dinged and Serenity guided Alex into the cafeteria. “Food?”

“Hey, some people like to kick puppies. I mean, clearly you’re not one of those people but.... you know.”  Toughening up wouldn’t be anything terrible, especially if people kept planting bombs and attacking people around him. Not that he wasn’t relatively strong or skilled - training at the academy has seen to that at least. But he had been slacking since becoming a Victor, so perhaps it wasn’t a terrible idea.   “Alright, you’ve convinced me. It’s been long enough and I could keep people safe better if I got back into regular training.”

What she said made a lot of sense, and although it wasn’t super cheerful or optimistic, it helped him relax slightly. After all, his mom could have died days ago, but they had managed to keep her alive.  “Yeah. She’s a fighter, that one. Clearly I didn’t inherit that from her.” 

He sighed a bit in relief as the elevator dinged, stepping out with her in the direction of the cafeteria. “Food makes everything better, right?”

Aspen had to laugh because Alex’s costume was absolutely ridiculous and really, who among them didn’t need a laugh? “Alright, well mission accomplished then. It’s very becoming.” She told him with a nod of her head. “You definitely wear it better than I ever could.”

She shook her bag a moment. “I think there might be a few in there calling your name.” Certainly there were lemon candies in there somewhere. Aspen hadn’t really wanted to go out and celebrate, but as the newest Victor, some things were required. They wanted people to think things were as should be and safe, if it was safe enough for Victors, it was safe enough for all of them. “So, in the mood for a little Halloween celebration District Nine style? I promise it’s better than this.”

“Oh come on, I bet you could rock the coconuts way better than I can. I don’t have the right bits to make them look... good.  Although I guess that’s why it’s so funny?”  Alex glanced down at his ‘top’, flicking the fabricated shells with a loud thump. Of course, if Aspen was in this get-up, she definitely wouldn’t look funny.   “But I really like your costume too. Very fierce and fitting for a Victor.”  

As she followed Alex out of his hospital room, he stopped to link arms with her. Normally, this would earn Alex something worse than a dirty look, but considering what had happened to him and the fact that she would let him get away with more than the average person, Serenity allowed Alex to keep his injured arm there.

Serenity pretended to be shocked at his tongue sticking out at her, but promptly responded with her own tongue stuck out between her lips.”Am I that obvious Alex?” she teased, pressing the button for the elevator when they walked up to it. “It helps though, I promise. You’ll be stronger and it keeps you preoccupied.” That was as close to the truth that Serenity would get. It helped her fight her nightmares and some of the anxieties that still lingered after her Arena. Now, it would probably be bogged down by this event too.

Stepping into the elevator, Serenity hit the floor for the cafeteria. “Your mom’s doing better even though she’s going in for surgery, right?” she asked, in the silence of the elevator. 

Making sure not to force too much contact onto Serenity (after all, he was wearing a cast, which limited skin contact at least), Alex allowed her to lead him away from his room and towards the promise of cafeteria food.  He had to wonder if what they served down there was better than what they brought up to the rooms -- it had to be, right?  There’s no way they would make people pay for that quality of food. 

“You are a little obvious, yeah. But it’s okay, I’d probably want to beat me up too if I were you. I know that I can be a little.. challenging.”  Part of him doubted that training would take his mind off of things; he could think of plenty of activities that wouldn’t remind him of fighting off people in the bloodbath before he’d been able to sneak away.  Even if he hadn’t killed anyone directly, he was still responsible for one of the tributes falling through the ice and drowning. But... “If it will make you feel better, we can start training once I’m out. We’ll just have to be careful not to break anything else though; I don’t want to be stuck in here again.”

Her question caused him to tense up, lips pursing slightly as he mulled over what he should say in response. He could tell her that everything would be fine, but the truth was that he honestly didn’t know.  After a few beats of silence as the elevator hummed, Alex simply shrugged. “I don’t know.  I hope she is.”

Often Serenity would sour at any kind of affection, but today made it easier to give and receive anything that came from the people she cared for. Also, Alex was one of those that could get away with it around her. He sometimes reminded her of her sister. She wrapped her arms around him, happy that nothing too bad had happened to him, even if his mother was not doing the greatest. 

She nodded, biting her lip at the thought of one of her moms going through surgery. Serenity wondered how worried he actually was. “Whatever is good for you Alex,” she replied, not really expecting to feel this overwhelming desire to just stash all the people she cared about into one room so that they couldn’t be hurt again. 

Smirking slightly, Serenity made her way to the door, holding it open for Alex. “I think that was the adrenaline talking,” she teased, moving her emotions into her belly. She could be her normal self for Alex, as long as that was what he needed. “If you want to be that strong all the time, you’ll need to workout with me more.”

Alex snorted at her as he headed through the open door, waiting for her to follow behind him so that he could link his injured arm with hers. While he had always been the kind of person who freely gave affection to everyone, being locked up in this place and worrying over his mother made him far more needy of tactile stimulation than normal, and poor Serenity was on the receiving end until she pushed him off. 

Serenity was still an emotional mess, ready to pounce on the slightest slip-up or sound. She wanted to find whoever was doing this and put an end to it. There didn’t need to be this kind of shit happening - or even the threat of it looming over her friends and family. But, the quick succession of questions and the sweet, naive nature of them momentarily shook her free of the anger. She smirked quick, her eyebrows raised. 

“Unfortunately Censa hasn’t finished baking her ‘get well soon’ treats for you. Don’t worry though, I’ll stop by tomorrow with some. But, if you want - I could sneak you out of here and we could go to a café?” Serenity knew the feeling of being trapped and would want to escape this place as soon as she could. With that in mind, Alex might appreciate it too. Not only that, maybe she could have an ear to the ground and try to get to whoever did this.

She ran through the other questions he chucked at her and tilted her head slightly. Her arms fell crossed against her chest as she leaned on the wall. “I am angrier than normal. But, that doesn’t matter. You seem to be doing okay, right?”

Alex slid from the windowsill slowly, wincing a bit as he stretched up to full height. His muscles were still a bit sore and stiff, but it was better than the alternative. At least he could still feel the pain. He quickly shuffled his way over to her, throwing his good arm around Serenity in a warm hug.

“I want to sneak out of here sooooo badly, but.... they’re supposed to do another procedure on my mom soon, so I probably shouldn’t go too far. Just in case, you know?” His brow furrowed slightly at the thought.  His mom was out of the woods, or so they said, but they were still trying to repair some of the damage now that she was more stable. “But I can escape fora trip to the cafeteria at least, and just have good treats tomorrow.”

 Alex released her with a sigh and stepped back, giving a small shrug at her question. “Yeah, I’m alright. They said my hand should be as good as new in a few weeks, right after they scolded me for making it worse by hauling rubble after I broke it.”  Another shrug.  “But hey, I guess we found out if I’m still strong enough to lug rocks, right?”

Serenity couldn’t help but agree. There was a lot of nonsense and drama with some of her fellow Victors, especially considering Ares’ family legacy and Fell’s propensity to beat important people up. That kind of stuff probably wouldn’t be aired, but there was a lot to really put into a one hour television show. “Let’s hope no one heard that incredibly awful idea, Alex,” she replied, hoping that Alex hadn’t willed this idea into existence. 

“Aurora could help to somehow. She’d at least be supporting morally for us. Maybe designing a little garden.” Serenity adored her little sister and although she wasn’t at all like her sister, she appreciated it just the same. Serenity needed the balance in her life. 

She let out a little laugh at the idea. “I think my fists might actually cry if I punched stone repeatedly. I’m practice on some tough material, but I am not that crazy. But, maybe you could build some sort of statue for us all. Who or what do you want to immortalize in stone?”

“Hopefully all of the cameras are off. I assumed they shut them down so that citizens wouldn’t keep seeing the graffiti on the houses. It might be the only bit of peace that we get for awhile. Perfect time to go streaking through the village, in fact.”  Alex grinned as he scrubbed, relaxing ever so slightly as the first letters started to vanish from the wall.  Hopefully he wasn’t going to need to repaint the entire thing after this.

“Well obviously you’d wrap them first. Maybe wear boxing gloves? Something like that. I’ve heard punching stone makes your bones stronger in the long run, but that could also just be something someone told me to try to get me to break my hands.”  He shrugged faintly, before pausing in his scrubbing to think for a moment. Who would he immortalize in stone, if given the chance?  “-- My brother. I think I’d make a statue of my brother.”

“Technically they’re fungi, but that’s not a very appealing word when you’re trying to eat something.” mused Mouse as she found another chocolate sweet and popped it into her mouth. She never minded awkward conversation, especially when the alternative was obnoxious small talk with Capitolites. She’d much rather be discussing mushrooms than her Games for the millionth time that night. Minerva blinked, slightly exaggerating shock, “I’m sorry — you’re allergic to chocolate? How does that happen? How does any merciful higher power decide to inflict that upon a person?” She shook her head at him with a smile, “Rambling’s fine. My father rambles all the time, you’d think the paintings in our house came to life with how much he talks even after I left the room.” It was an endearing trait, she thought.

“Hey, they’re fungi, I’m a fun guy, it all works out.” Yes, he definitely just made a dad joke in the middle of a fancy Capitol party.  Alex rubbed at the back of his neck with a laugh, glancing around awkwardly for a moment before simply stuffing another pastry into his mouth. That should shut him up for half a minute, at least.  

Aspen had to laugh because their little ruse had gone off relatively easily. Were all Capitol people so easy to convince? Either way, she was happy to allow Alex to escort her to somewhere quieter and with far fewer cameras. Surely it would give them a few minutes without the constant flutter of activity and questions.

“Oh, I am sure they will.” She agreed with a laugh knowing it was a certainty. “We’ve had a lot of scandals lately,” they had both been marked by whatever rebel plot that had gone down last week. “Let’s not let my dad see the pictures either.” Not that there was anything wrong with their picture, but Aspen knew how the Capitol would spin Alex helping her simply to a chair. “As for the shoes, I don’t think so. The dress is long enough.”

“How long do you think we can hide here?”

“.... I don’t have to worry about your dad coming after me with intent to kill, right? I’m kind of over that chapter in my life.”  He had a teasing smile on his face, although Alex did seemed kind of worried about angry fathers chasing him down for being nice to their daughters.  He glanced around the party just in case her father was lurking in a corner watching him. 

“As for hiding, I say we have about a ten minute window before people start getting suspicious. But I can always use my feet as an excuse.”   He grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it over towards another so that they could both sit together, before flopping down with a sigh of relief.  “At least they let me bring a cane this time.”

“With how stubborn we are, it’s a matter of who’s going to break and talk to the other first.” Honestly, either Ares or Fell always lost that contest first between the three of them. Serenity found it easier to keep herself closed off, whether it was stubbornness or anger– perhaps it was a good mix of both. “Either way, yeah, we’ll talk again.” His brow quirked and he looked at Alex with amusement in his gaze. “And here I thought I was the weirdo from Two,” he teased. “Once they get to know you better, it’ll be easier. If any of them give you a hard time, though, let me know.”

Minerva couldn’t withhold a snort upon seeing his reaction. She probably would’ve eaten something like that. Before they inherited any money, they’d often make meals of the mushrooms littered throughout the forests surrounding their home, although coating it in something sweet sounded ungodly. “It’s like they’re mocking us. Dressing up vegetables in gold and frosting is an absolute sin.” she said, matter-of-fact. 

She gladly accepted the truffle and finished it off in one bite, shaking her head as she did so. “Don’t tempt me, I love bitter things.” Her mother would gift her dark chocolate snacks every weekend and it was surprisingly one of the only things she’d retained of the woman. “If only there weren’t as many children here, then we’d be bathing in sour candy. Unfortunately they’re unable to handle the pain that comes with the package.”

“Can mushrooms even be counted as vegetables? I mean, they’re not plants, but what else would you call them food wise? Man, now I’m not going to be able to stop thinking about this.”  Alex was in his full socially awkward glory, rambling about nonsense as he shoved desserts into his mouth.  Who the hell cared if mushrooms weren’t really a plant but were categorized as a vegetable in the culinary arts? Well, other than Alex of course. But it was better than talking about anything that could get them in trouble, what with all the scrutiny he had been under due to the graffiti.