#xylemic

𝔭.    ▐   @xylemic   ⊰    my  muse  confesses  as  they  tend  to  your  muse’s  wounds,  their  hands  gentle.      “ you  don’t  get  it,  do  you  ?       i’d  do  anything  for  you. ”

finnick's  gaze  has  been  distant  all  night.         it  tended  to  be  ,  at  these  gala's.        he's  drank  too  much  –  all  to  swallow  the  fact  that  he  has  dealt  with  too  much.         wandering  hands  &*  lewd  comments  from  even  drunker  patrons.       no  one  does  anything  to  stop  it.       he  is  government  property  –  a  thing  to  be  sold  &*  swapped  amongst  the  elite.        there  is  just  so  little  he  can  do  with  the  attention  tonight  –  tighter  lips  from  too  many  listening  ears  mean  no  real  secrets  ,  outside  of  useless  gossip.      the  most  he  can  do  is  find  new  clients.      normally  he  can  dissociate  out  of  all  of  this.       he  might  have  been  able  to  ,  had  the  last  guy  not  made  a  comment  about  johanna  instead.      reduced  her  to  wasted  opportunity  –  suggested  simply  taking  what  she  doesn't  sell.       

he  threw  a  punch.       hadn't  even  considered  the  consequences  in  the  moment.       next  then  he  knew  ,  he  was  tumbling  on  the  ground  with  the  guy  ,  shouting  &*  hitting  &*  not  caring  when  the  man's  nose  was  broken  &*  his  own  lip  was  busted.        he  hadn't  cared  until  jo  herself  pulled  him  away.      him  being  in  trouble  with  snow  was  one  thing  –  johanna  involving  herself  put  her  in  the  line  of  fire  ,  too.        he'd  been  quick  to  get  them  out  of  the  party  –  knew  the  best  place  to  hide  away.       it  wasn't  as  if  snow  couldn't  find  them  ,  but  for  just  a  moment  ,  they'd  at  least  have  a  moment  together.      

❛     the  guards  would  have  stopped  me.    ❜        from  killing  the  guy.       maybe  they'd  kill  him  in  secret  to  keep  his  mouth  shut  so  he  wasn't  trash  talking  finnick  ,  but  hiding  a  victor  killing  someone  at  a  party  was  harder  to  cover  than  a  simple  tumble.        finnick  will  be  punished  –  beaten  &*  starved  ,  then  healed  up  &*  put  back  to  work.        it's  always  the  same.       he's  always  lived  in  fear  of  the  capitol  taking  his  family  –  always  given  every  bit  of  himself  &*  stayed  in  line  to  avoid  it.       made  himself  so  indispensable  that  his  use  outweighed  his  rare  fuckup.     normally  he  would  worry  about  them  going  after  his  family  for  this  fight  ,  but  with  johanna  making  herself  a  spectacle  &*  them  knowing  his  softness  for  her    …   ?       would  jo  face  the  same  punishment  he  will    or  worse  just  to  make  his  unbearable  ?       it  makes  his  throat  tighten.        ❛    you  shouldn't  have  —    ❜

i'd  do  anything  for  you.       sad  eyes  turn  to  her  ,  emotion  finally  touching  his  swimming  gaze.       his  throat  feels  thick  ,  like  he  can't  swallow.       he  has  always  protected  what  he  loves  –  kept  it  safe  from  snow's  grasp.       she  has  lost  everything  –  refused  to  back  down.       it  was  a  dangerous  relationship.       the  only  thing  she  has  left  to  lose  is  her  life  –  &*  that  would  be  far  too  much  for  finnick  to  endure.       so  he  takes  a  shaky  breath  &*  shakes  his  head.        ❛    if  you  want  to  do  something  for  me  ,  do  not  put  yourself  in  the  line  of  fire.      i  can  take  care  of  myself.      what  i  can't  take  is  anything  happening  to  you.    ❜

⭐✨ potential dynamics meme

annie! lowkey unwell about them, tbh. i mean i'm just obsessed with victor relationships (™) in general, but in particular i like to think johanna and annie get along surprisingly well. she's one of the very-few people annie feels comfortable enough to be mean with, maybe. and jo can be whoever/however she needs to be any given day with annie and she'll just meet her where she's at. also they're intensely good at hurting each other too, but dw about that. dw about it.

boggs. thinking about how he's in charge of the team that gets her out of the capitol... how she probably would've been on his squad if she hadn't failed out of training..... just in general what a string of almost significant connections, you know....

peeta. the way they both sort of lean into and play up their very real emotions. the straight-up unlikelihood of either of them surviving tbh: but here they fuckin are. the capitol prison cell of it all. and so on

gloss. 💅 big sister trauma club lol 💅 (i mean. very different big sister trauma. but.) personally i am fascinated by the relationships between non-career/career victors! categorically a threat in the arena but in the capitol other victors are, like, the most important allies you have. how do you adjust to that, ya know! also lowkey tbh i think he's very jealous of how herself she is.

cinna— i mean, they could not be more different people lol, and i wanna see them work together! also he is Sober so smth interesting there w her morphling stuff.

Maysilee struts into the room, fashionably late as always. she hasn't particularly been present in 13 -- while she and Johanna have met plenty of times before (become friends, maybe, if she could call a living girl a friend), this place is too drab for that. and then there's the whole... Capitol situation. Maysilee Donner, town bitch and dead girl, doesn't particularly know what to say about the horrors forced upon Johanna except that she'd been there for them. there's not an empty seat at the table, so she sits on the table itself, smirking. no one here can see her except for Johanna, and she gives a little wave.

Metal cuffs dug into his wrists, tightened by their captors to make the simplest flex of his muscles, even just in reaction to their continued onslaught, painful. He couldn't even see the shine of the carbon steel anymore, not with his own blood staining them a gradient from deep crimson to black. Johanna's words hung in the air with a hint of exasperation that was so drawn out it was comical.

Peeta rolled his head back against the wall behind him, chuckling between the wince of pain. "Don't say that." Peeta offered, his voice lightly melodic, as if they were old friends having a lovely chat between the heavy pants of sharp cries of pain he couldn't completely bite back.

He cast his eyes up to their warden, the defiance in his eyes wasn't a fire like Johanna's but instead amusingly calm. "If you die right now then Snow wins, and we can't have that can we?" he rolled his head to look over at her, cracking a grin.

The cattle prod struck hard between his ribs. The jolt of electricity flowed through his body, causing his muscles to spasm so hard all breath was knocked out of him with an yelp. Each time was getting a little longer, testing the waters of his resilience, both physical and mental. The moment the current stopped though, even as his muscles twitched involuntarily, Peeta gasped for air.

"Ugh," he groaned as if he had taken a bite out of something bitter but no more annoying than that. "It's like they forget I've already been shocked to death before." he breathed, letting the point settle in momentary silence before snorting a laugh with Johanna.

❝   I   DIDN'T   KNOW   YOU   HAD   A   SISTER   .   ❞   annie   doesn't   mean   it   rudely   ,   though   plenty   of   people   underestimated   her   ability   to   be   unkind   when   she   was   trying   for   it   .   instead   ,   it's   something   genuine   .   perhaps   she   should   have   known   ,   she   was   surely   in   johanna's   final   eight   interviews   ,   right   ?   she   hadn't   been   watching   .   it   as   a   hard   year   for   her   ,   all   things   considered   .   everyone   was   quite   lucky   that   annie   had   made   it   to   the   capitol   at   all   that   season   ,   it   was   no   secret   that   she   wasn't   doing   well   .

Send the thing for a sticky note from Gale left on the fridge in the morning!

The third line. So valid.