love all. trust a few. do wrong to none.

He walked alone. But then again, he always walked alone at night, making his way through the street with his hood pulled over his head. To readily attract unwanted attention to yourself was plain stupidity. Even he was smarter than that, and he held no claims in regard to his own intelligence, because intelligent people kept their wand somewhere they had easy access to it. A sudden urge had flashed through his brain before he left his dingy flat, telling him to leave it at home, and for some subconscious reason even unknown to him, he had obliged it. Gabriel knew he was fully capable of protecting himself if the need arose       he had werewolf abilities and auror training to thank for that       but it was safer all the same to avoid making a scene. Besides, he quite enjoyed slinking around, catching glimpses of other people while they glimpsed nothing of him back in return; it was a good trade.

Todd felt the cold water hit his face and jolt him back into reality, and he sat up straight, looking around him wildly - ready for something with sharp fangs to jump out at him from out of nowhere, to sink their teeth into his neck and - no. There wasn't anyone around but the familiar face of a customer who looked perplexed, albeit slightly apathetic, to be looking over him with Todd's own wand in his hand. Breathing heavily, Todd ran a clammy hand over his face and shook his head as he tried to calm his breathing down. He could still feel what he imagined had been the cool, marble fingers of a vampire closing around his shoulder, but he must have imagined it, because there was no one around but Gabriel. Still trying to regain his normal breathing pace, and soaked in water from his head down to halfway through his shirt, it took him a minute or so of forced relaxation to utter anything out of his mouth. He wanted to feel bad, that the other person was standing over him with no idea what was going on, but he had to control his own thoughts enough to get out of his state of anxiety before he thought of anything else.

If you’re using ‘fun’ as a very loose term then sure. You really want to lift it?

Could we not just levitate it…?

We could but doesn't manual labour seem more fun?

I’m not really sure how that’ll help, but we can give it a try.

Okay, I think we might be in over our heads here. There’s no way we’re actually going to get this to work.

Yes, please, that’d be helpful.

[He fishes it out of his pocket and passes it over.] I don't know what's going on but there was money in the envelope so you don't need to pay or anything.

Wait, no, what, why? I didn’t order the pickled eel eyes?

They said their name was Adrianna and that it had to be sent on express mail. It was a letter, though - I can show you it?

I didn’t order any order?

Well, someone did for this location? Where can I put these pickled eel eyes?

…What order?

The one you ordered?

I have no idea why you’re here, but try not to get lost, hm? I can’t imagine what kind of apparation mistake you could have made to land at my doorstep.

... I'm here with your order?

the kind

It was that moment that she decided she liked Todd. They had all grown up, knowing how he won and his story but this was the first time she could see that it was genuine and not just a ploy to win. “Then I’m going to stick with calling them friends.” She said with a nod. The careers weren’t the people she wanted to be like. “It seems like I’m dehumanising them by calling them anything else. They are people with families and friends. I don’t want to see them as anything less than that.” She didn’t want to talk about winning or if she had a chance. Being from District Twelve already meant that she didn’t have a chance but she didn’t want Todd to think she was giving up so soon. She wasn’t giving up, she just wasn’t oblivious. 

He was glad Bailey understood, he thought she would. There had to be humanity in the tributes, it was that or things would turn into an all out bloodshed. That wasn't something Todd would be able to watch. "I'm glad, but remember, you can't ever forget that they're what's between you and winning. No matter how bad it sounds, you're going to be put into a position where you can either kill or be killed, and you can't hesitate in choosing to kill." Todd liked Bailey, and he wanted to see her go far. If she scored well and did a good enough job with her interview, he could get her enough sponsors to help if she needed it, and he would do all he could to make sure she had the support she needed, Bailey and Dean both.