call the days

ah, and there it was – nayeli’s abject inclination towards bitterness had reared its ugly head again. vivian calmly continued her sip of coffee, made a mental note to have excalibur show her the brand he had used this time, and then placed the mug delicately at the edge of the table. she cast a motherly glare at nayeli and felt her forefinger rap-tap-tapping at the glass that coated the breakfast table. 

“and so is being ugly to your family, nayeli. i heard just the other day that it makes your teeth turn the color of the fields back home.” she spoke calmly, yet quickly, and with a hint of an edge to her voice. vivian had learned to be on edge around nayeli in recent years. it was apparent that the girl she had grown up with, the girl that she would tuck into bed late at night, the girl she would run through the fields of gold with–

well, she thought as she picked up the mug only to put it back down again as she shook her head softly to one side, that girl was gone.

“the sponsors can think what they want, and you know that to be true. you should also know that it’s much too early for any of the notable ones to be up and at it. sit down, nayeli, won’t you?” she gestured towards one of the many open seats surrounding her. her gaze met that of her pseudo daug– no, her daughter… her real daughter’s and she gave a small, hopeful smile.

nayeli should have seen vivian’s retort coming from a mile away - her mother was far from demure and did anything but sit back and take a slight to her character. but, it was early and nayeli didn’t feel particularly like dealing with the decades of a past they both carried between them each and every day. she would have preferred to drink her water in peace, grab something quick to eat, and then make her way calmly down to the atrium of the tower. 

but that was not in the cards for her this morning. “thankfully, i have all of the lovely treatments the capitol has granted me access to.” it really did wonders for her skin, she never understood why some victors turned their nose up at capitol offers of the newest creams and oils. and so she ran through her own regimented to-do list for the mornings and pointedly ignored the mention of family.

and then vivian was correct again, much to nayeli’s chagrin. it was notable early and she really wouldn’t have been preparing to leave so soon if it hadn’t have been for the fact that she hadn’t been able to fall back asleep since her nightmare had awoken her. so instead she had spent the extra time letting the cold water of the shower run over her and covering the dark circles underneath her eyes. “i’ll continue standing, thank you. is there something you’d like to talk about or do you feel like halting my morning without a reason?”

Whisper/Amber’s viewing room was more than busy. She was bringing drinks around, feilding orders left and right. Now she was walking to the kitchens to fill said orders. She walked, checking over her list of made-up writing to remind herself how many of each drink to get. It was fine. And then she saw someone in the hallway. Someone she recognized. Someone from 9. A mentor.

ASPEN’S mentor.

she must have been walking back or to a viewing room… Amber didn’t know. Amber. Because this was all Amber, right now. Impulsive, but for her sister. She wasn’t supposed to do this, she really wasn’t. She really REALLY wasn’t. But maybe she could light a fire under the mentor to help aspen. The chance enough made it worth it. Amber darted down the hallway to the mentor, tugging on her sleeve. And that… that was the extent of her plan, really. Which showed how dumb it was. If she’d been smart, she would’ve been nicer, to start a good impression. If she’d been SMARTER, she would’ve had cambric or another avox write her a note to explain who she was and could the mentor pretty please try her hardest. (She’d heard Capitol children say that- pretty please).

maybe it just went to show that when it came to aspen, amber’s logic went out the window. There was just love driving every action. So now, she stood, awkwardly, with only a face nearly identical to aspen’s by way of explanation as to why she’d just been so rude. She could be punished so severely for this… oh, how Whisper/Amber hoped this was a nice mentor. please don’t hurt me…

closed to @nayclis

nayeli left the viewing room behind her after allowing herself to get an update on couscous and aspen without sponsor attention. the private rooms also allowed for an ideal space to make sure that everything was in place and looking perfect before heading back out to the main atrium where it seemed just about everyone gathered. but, this afternoon nayeli was planning on spending a bit of time in the betting rooms - hoping to pursuade a few of the sponsors that they could have the risk and reward of a lifetime by placing even a small amount on aspen or couscous. 

however, as she was righting her dress and smoothing a wrinkle, nayeli was intercepted in the hallway by a tug on her sleeve. with a hastily placed smile, she turned around to see an avox that had just tugged on the pristine white sleeve of her dress. after checking to make sure there were no stains on the fabric, nayeli turned to the avox and spoke before thinking twice, “can i help you with something?” thankfully, no one else was in the hallway to hear the bit of bite to her words. 

“I expected so, but there’s no harm in asking, right?” Serenity moved her back away from the sponsors to keep an eye on them, moving so that she was standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Nayeli. She had no energy left to deal with them. But, she still had to keep up some appearances, if not just for Dahlia, but to keep some of the lime light away from Jackson and Haymitch. They both needed some time to figure their own stuff out. 

All of the sponsors and people that came up to her liked to call Dahlia feisty. But it was not quite the right word for her tribute. “I’d say she’s got a bit more than feistiness and spunk to her. She’s the only one that wants to survive in there. Willing to do whatever it takes. And to be honest, I admire it a lot.” 

“of course not, you never know.” if nayeli was being honest, it was a waste of her precious time and for that she couldn’t help but feel bad for serenity - though she was quite sure her feelings on the topic were of no interest to the trainer. she was content to have an open view of the room once serenity moved to the side. though having precious time taken up when she could be talking to sponsors or capitolites was never something nayeli preferred, she knew that hostility amongst the tower staples was far from ideal.

if dahlia were nayeli’s own tribute, she would not have stood for the antics that dahlia was up to from the day she got off the train in the capitol. if nayeli believed in anything, it was that you had to play the game to win. otherwise you’d be dead or, by some struck of inane luck, wind up a victor with a miserable life having to bow before the capitol or end up as dead as you would have in the arena the first time. “it is... unconventional, i’ll give her that.” after a beat of silence and another quick scan of the room, nayeli continued, “and did you all encourage her?”

“well, sponsors tend to open up their wallets more freely here,” enobaria said, a half smile on her face. “but i imagine you’d know that already.” enobaria was still wary of why, exactly, nayli was talking to her, but, well. she wasn’t going to be rude if nayli didn’t initiate.

“do you have high hopes for them?” she asked. she was trying to make polite conversation, but she bit her lip sharply as she said it. it was nine. how high did their hopes get? she only knew how to talk to other careers, and honestly, that suited her. usually.

“that they do,” nayeli said with a smile before dropping her voice to a whisper, “though i do find it more... rewarding if they are the only ones indulging themselves.” with a node to enobaria’s glass, she took a measured sip of her own. in all honesty, at the rate she was going it would take hours to finish the glass.

“You’re so sensible,” Holiday informed her. Sometimes she wished she had the ability to just rationalise. There truly was nothing left for her to do but ensure their bodies looked their best for their return home. It took someone like Nayeli telling her that, though, for her to realise it.

“This has to be the best Nine has done in years,” she continued. “You had that sweet little thing that got almost to the end a few years back, but other than that I can’t recall… well, any of your tributes.” Those poor children. Holiday hadn’t even thought to learn their names, to vaguely commit their faces to memory.

She dabbed at the corners of her eyes again. “What are their names this year? There’s an… Aspen, isn’t there? Or an Ashley? And… Cuckoo?” Honestly, names in the outer districts could be so strange.

nayeli almost scoffed at the choice of sensible - there was rarely a day in her life that she would have been referred to as sensible. but, she would take it in this moment if it meant moving on from the discomfort of tears and public displays of emotion. “don’t worry, it only comes with experience,” she continued with what she could only hope was a reassuring smile.

the victor wasn’t sure if the stylist in front of her had meant to deeply insult her skills as a mentor or was truly just speaking to the well-understand fact that not many memorable faces passed through district nine’s reaping stage. she had decided it was the first since the latter would unravel years of denial that nayeli had woven around herself. “they do have a common strategy, sometimes avoiding direct attention works best. it worked for our dear old thresh and the lovely pixel, perhaps nine will be lucky to benefit from the same.” another smile.

“aspen and couscous, they really are darling.” and, because she couldn’t help herself and was absurdly confident in her abilities to twist words into something pretty and complimentary, nayeli continued. “and remind me again of yours? i’d like to pay them the respect they deserve, of course,” nayeli smiled sadly as she rested a hand lightly atop her heart.

Cashmere gave Nayeli an easy smile. “Well, he was kind of useless.” She said with a shrug. The male tribute had been someone she had wanted to like of course, but he didn’t have the promise Ashanti had. It had made her job easier of deciding which of the tributes to focus on. Not that it mattered in a District like One. There were plenty of Victors and plenty of sponsors to go about to fund both their tributes. Unlike the outlying Districts, they could support two tributes far into the games if the need arose.

Her blue eyes fell on the man who was now watching the pair of them from across the room. “Well,” she started also dropping her voice to a whisper. “Now he’s in for double the eye candy. Let him wait.” The Games had just started and there was plenty of time for them to hit every sponsor. Besides, what was it they said about the heart wanting what it couldn’t have? He certainly wasn’t getting any of their attention for the immediate future. “He has the best view in the Capitol at the moment and that should be enough.”

She shrugged. “Some of them actually tried to learn from that girl from Four?” Cashmere vaguely recalled some of the tributes jumping in the water. Her’s hadn’t, but she had assumed they had simply learned how to swim in the Academy. There were very few skills District One kids didn’t learn in the Academy.

At the mention of the District One losing streak, Cashmere just rolled her eyes. “Well what more could they want in a Victor after the last group of us?” To be honest, she just wanted to win so people would shut up about it. “Though if I am not mistaken you’re hoping yours play spoiler to that plan?” Cashmere could only imagine what perks and lavish gifts would befall them if one of their tributes were crowned a Victor. “Let us hope for a One or Nine Victory? If only for the parties. I haven’t been to a decent one in a while.”

nayeli hadn’t grown old of the attention being a victor brought her, it was one of the reasons she returned to the capitol year after year knowing that vivian's presence could have excused her own. but, she was never one to turn down spotlights and dalliances with capitolites who paid good money for a small amount of time alone with her. “they really do take it for granted, don’t they?” of course, she did tend to spend time with the capitolites who didn’t exactly provide the most enigmatic conversation so perhaps it was nothing more than selection bias.

“ah yes, i was quite impressed that they actually went out of their way to learn.” she returned to her whispered tone, making sure quickly that there were no sponsors around to overhear, “so many just give up as soon as they arrive, it’s quite pitiful.” it was exciting to have a pair of tributes that didn’t leave all the hard work to nayeli - they had crafted an image for themselves and even knew a few, albeit surprisingly, valuable skills.

"there really is nothing more to want, i’m sure.” nayeli enjoyed cashmere’s presence, but she held a seed of jealousy that she insisted wasn’t envy - simply the acknowledgement that careers barely had to lift a pinky to be rewarded with the capitol’s praise. and though she tucked it safely away during their conversations - a feud with one of the capitol’s favorite victors would hardly end in her favor - moments like these reminded nayeli of just how deeply her envy lay.

at the mention of a good party and the lack thereof, nayeli let out a perfectly rehearsed twinkle of a laugh. “let’s.” it had been quite a while since the last capitol party that wasn’t centered around gaining sponsors and accolades for the tributes before they were launched into the arena. “though i must say a victors ball centered around the sweet girl or baked good-loving boy from nine does have a certain ring to it,” nayeli continued, widening her smile a bit.

no sooner had vivian schultz walked back into her suite than a pot of coffee began to exude its delicious aromas. she accepted it from the avox – his name was excalibur, she had learned some twenty-or-so years ago. he was a traitor from district one, and the two had become particularly close over the years – with a soft smile and allowed herself to plop down onto a seat – any seat would do, frankly – and sigh deeply.

another year, another games, another bloodbath. 

she spotted her almost immediately. whereas vivian’s golden hair had become slightly thinner, nayeli’s seemed to thicken with age. whereas the lines on vivian’s face deepened, nayeli’s were covered and properly treated with the finest capitol potions and lotions. but, most of all, what caused nayeli to stand out to vivian the most was the way she carried herself and the pointed angle at which she lifted her chin to the heavens.

“good morning, nayeli - do you want some coffee? it was just brewed. nice and fresh, i’d say.” she spoke brightly, but the latter vowels became clipped with the slurping of coffee. 

another year, another games, another reminder of nayeli.

// closed starter for @nayclis

nayeli smelled the coffee from the moment she exited her room into the open space of nine’s suite. it was quiet - a small perk of being from a district with so few victors - and that meant any and every sound carried itself throughout the entire room. and the smell of coffee meant that someone else was awake as well. and there was only one other person who would have been awake at that hour and brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

there were few parts of coming to the capitol that nayeli dreaded; being forced to be in close quarters with the woman who was her mother for so many years was one of them.

it was hard to list the things that had changed since nayeli had been a young girl, it was ever-growing and changing in a way that would leave her unrecognizable to those who knew her before. one of those things, the self-imposed distance between herself and vivian, was still jagged and sharp. it had been years, decades, but to leave behind a mother left something that didn’t quite heal right.

and nayeli had grown practiced at ignoring that. “you know that’s awful for your teeth, right?” she walked past vivian and began to pour herself a glass of water. “i’d like the sponsors to think that we are putting our best foot forward for couscous and aspen, i’m going to be heading down to the viewing area as soon as possible. you should make an appearance as well.” and then separate quickly.

“Yes, I’ve always seen that intelligence in her. Dahlia was just hiding it. Quite the strategy right?” Serenity had just answered probably the fiftieth question about if she knew that Dahlia would make it past the Bloodbath. It was quite exhausting, but it seemed that the mentors wanted her two cents to be heard too. Having Dahlia’s trainer comment on her skills would help them get sponsor money. 

“Then why did she take a swipe at Caesar?” one of the blue-haired men asked her a bit of a wicked smile on his face. There was a little semi-circle of sponsors around her, vying for a little bit of information from the enigma. “What better way to show that she wasn’t an intelligent kid than attack the most prolific man on television, besides President Snow’s addresses, of course. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Serenity backed away from the sponsors, before turning on her heel almost into another woman. She looked to the woman, recognizing her as Nayeli from District Nine. “Not the easiest place to escape from. Turn away from one person and then the next one just pops up. I don’t expect I’ll have to try and ask you for some money for Dahlia.” 

// @nayclis

it wasn’t often that nayeli had the opportunity to garner sponsors for her tributes after the bloodbath - it was quite common for district nine to be out of the running before the first night fell in the arena. but, this year was different, and she found herself equally promoting a aspen as a rare high-scoring outlier and trying to sell couscous’ sob story and passion for baking. both of which the sponsors were eating up, unsurprisingly.

there were solicitations for a bit of private time with the mentor, as there were for so many other victors, and she enjoyed turning them down with a promise of ‘maybe next week’. after all, the power gained from a temporary rejection was one of nayeli’s favorite parts of the expected relationship she had with sponsors and capitolites alike.

thankfully, she wasn’t holding anything or in the midst of a conversation when she stopped abruptly to avoid running into someone else. it took a moment for nayeli to place the woman before her - she was definitely not a mentor and didn’t have the look of a stylist about her. but as soon as she uttered dahlia’s name, nayeli registered her as the trainer from twelve. “it always is the busiest time of the games, i’m not sure you’ll get much rest in the meantime,” at least until dahlia’s time was up. “you’re more than welcome to, but i’m afraid i need to funnel everything to my own tributes.” nayeli resented the easy smile that slid across her face. “i’m sure dahlia will get plenty of attention, she’s quite the... feisty one.”

Well, the bloodbath was over, which meant a quiet night most likely. Sometimes the Career Pack used the cover of darkness to go “hunting”, but Cashmere didn’t see that happening tonight. She wasn’t even sure the Career Pack was a thing at the moment. The girl from Four seemed to be on her own, which would make her easier for Ashanti to catch up with hopefully.

It also meant it was time to charm the sponsors. Cashmere tried not to roll her eyes at the thought, but it was the truth. This called for some champagne she figured as she reached for a flute off a servers tray, a certain Victor catching her eye as she did so.

“If it isn’t District Nine’s favorite wayward Victor,” Cashmere joked as she flashed a smile at Nayeli. “Looking good as always.” Cashmere could appreciate when another Victor looked as breathtaking as she did. “That sponsor is eyeing you pretty fiercely.” She told her with a laugh knowing she probably noticed. Oh, but he could wait. Men liked waiting around for beautiful women she had found out.

“Here’s to your tributes.” She told the woman as she raised her flute slightly. “Must be nice for you to have tributes alive at this point. Though I admit I thought they were goners when they went overboard.”

@nayclis​

the bloodbath had concluded, and nayeli was surprised to see that both of her tributes had made it out this time. she had spent so little time working to garner sponsors the year before after, well, nine’s horrible showing in the bloodbath that she looked forward to getting as much money as she could from the wealthiest of the wealthy. after all, it was a skill she had worked so hard to perfect over the years.

after speaking with a particular capitolite whom she knew had a wife with a fondness for baked goods, nayeli heard a familiar voice over her shoulder. cashmere had been a welcome addition to the mentor pool when she won her games - at that point, there were few victors who took at least a small amount of joy in their new status in panem.

nayeli returned cashmere’s laugh, she was certainly not the victor that nine may have hoped for - and if she ever admitted holding jealousy it would be for the victors like cashmere. “and yourself, it seems this year’s games have been treating us both well. apart from that boy of yours, of course.” as a mentor, she had been practiced on learning at least the basics of the other tributes and that boy had an ego that put even hers to shame. nayeli leaned in to whisper into cashmere’s ear, should someone else hear. “i know, he’s been trailing me like a puppy for the past hour, its sad really.”

“and to yours,” nayeli returned with a small smile as she picked up a passing flute of champagne and raised it to meet cashmere’s. “i’m surprised they had any knowledge of how to keep themselves afloat, if we’re being honest.” after taking a sip of the bubbling drink, nayeli continued, “your girl this year seems promising. maybe a break to that streak everyone talks about?”

enobaria recognized the blonde woman as one of nine’s victors. she’d met her briefly on her own victory tour. not that she remembered much of the encounter — she’d been drugged for most of her victory tour — but she was sure all of nine hated her after what she’d done to teff, and. well. she couldn’t exactly blame them for it. she was nervous around mentors from nine and ten still — those were the districts the tributes were from who enobaria had most brutally killed. still, she swallowed her drink and said, “looks like it.” last year, if she remembered correctly, both of nine’s tributes had been bloodbath kills.

nayeli remembered enobaria’s games well, as did so many of the other victors and capitolites. it was hard to forget the viscous girl in the arena who lived up to the capitol-sharpened teeth that were as much a part of her public persona as the way she killed in the arena. despite nayeli being a mentor to the boy from nine, whose life had so violently ended, she admired his guts to go after a career girl while she slept but was far from surprised when he payed for it with his life. 

that’s how the games worked, nayeli didn’t have the time to hold a grudge - plus, if there was a new victor from nine so soon her own spotlight would have noticeably dimmed. “i see you still prefer the bar to the sponsor pool,” nayeli mused as she took a small sip of her own drink - just as watery and overly sweet as she was afraid it would be.

Holiday folded her handkerchief into a neat little square. Then unfolded it. Then folded it again more neatly. “I’ve never had to dress anyone for a funeral before. Is it hard, do you think?” She vaguely recognised Nayeli as a victor. It wasn’t as though Nine had a lot of them still living.

“I suppose at least she only drowned. They won’t have to… to sew parts back on or anything like that.” A sob rose up in her throat, and she just about managed to lift her hand to her mouth to hide it behind her handkerchief.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, blushing red. “That was unladylike of me. You must be so proud of your tributes. They’re doing very well.”

nayeli had decided many years ago that she didn’t have time nor patience to deal with tears shed over the games - it was sad, she could recognize that as a basic human emotion, she was simply stubbornly opposed to acting on behalf of said emotion. it was apparently a behavioral pattern lost on many mentors - and stylists, as she was just realizing - alike. “i’m sure they will look absolutely darling,” she responded with a sweet smile. 

as though it was a natural reflex, nayeli went to place her hand on the shoulder of the now suddenly sobbing stylist and kept her smile firmly in place. “you’ll make them look lovely as i’m sure their families would have wanted to. it is all there is left to do, after all.” the comforting had gotten old quite quickly as well, but it played out in her favor after the fact so nayeli resigned herself to playing the part in most situations.

oh, she was abundantly proud of her two tributes - although she was far from present throughout their time before the arena, it was a busy year after all. “i am very proud, they’re definitely making a name for themselves.” though she wished she would have had some time to work with aspen on how she’d present herself to the sponsors before the arena - couscous had his selling features built in given his brother the year before. but, alas, they had proved to not be the biggest lost cause thus far.

@ttwstarters

This was Holiday’s first Games as a stylist, and she hadn’t anticipated how attached she would get to Eleven’s tributes. But as first Farm then Strawberry fell to the tributes from One and Four, she felt her heart break.

“She would have made a beautiful victor,” she commented as the camera moved away from Strawberry to focus on something more immediate and interesting. Holiday reached for the handbag by her feet and took out a clean handkerchief to dab her tears away with before they could ruin her makeup. “I suppose there’s always next year?” she tried optimistically, although her smile didn’t quite feel right.

nayeli had been making her rounds, spending time near where the sponsors congregated to get an idea of how they were responding to couscous and aspen in the arena. as a mentor, she had been lacking more recently than she would have like to but there were certain chores that needed to be taken care of. as she made her way through the viewing area, nayeli was stopped when she heard someone speaking to her. whether they were or not didn’t matter, she was near and someone was talking so it must have been directed at her or about her. and at the other woman’s words, a stylist by the looks of things and what nayeli had heard about so many fresh faces in the job, it took all that she had to not roll her eyes. 

“of course, i’m sure the tributes next year will be as sweet as they always are. the bloodbath is always so hard, never proper time to grieve them,” nayeli followed her words with a smile peppered with the perfect amount of sadness to be sympathetic and cheerful hope for the next year. just as it should be.

the bloodbath had just calmed down — well, calm as the games get, anyway, and enobaria had taken a seat at the bar to relax. both of her tributes were standing this year, which was a nice change from last year when leon and nike had been beaten to district thirteen and back in the bloodbath. they’d both gotten a kill in, too. sure, ingrid’s vitals looked a little rough, but that was to be expected. just as the whiskey she’d ordered arrived, she heard someone slip into the seat next to her, and she turned to them with a smile, full teeth. 

“happy hunger games.”

// @ttwstarters

nayeli was pleasantly surprised that both of her tributes had survived the bloodbath, after last year’s showing she had little faith that nine would prove anyone wrong. but with aspen’s score and couscous’ ability to win over capitolites with his knowledge of baked goods, they may not look like complete fools. doing as much as she could to avoid nine’s suite - and vivian, if she was being honest with herself - nayeli found herself seated at a bar far enough away from potential sponsors to make her feel somewhat comfortable. tabloid shots of her drinking heavily after just the bloodbath would be challenging even for her to spin in her favor.

figuring she may as well use the time to her advantage to spend a bit more time with the other mentors meandering about, nayeli returned enobaria’s smile with a sickeningly sweet one of her own before asking the bartender to bring her a glass of white wine. exactly the boring, sugary drink to be expected. “and to you,” nayeli responded, turning to face the other mentor more directly. “we both seem to be doing better than last year, hm?”