✘ now departing..

“They throw up a big number like that, and they’ll just paint a big target on their back. Careers are protective of those high numbers.” She didn’t consider her opinion pessimistic so much as realistic. Clinical even. She reserved her anger and her passion for the punching bag. “In any case, there’s been plenty of victors who scored abysmally. I was a one for fuck’s sake.” She didn’t add that she’d purposefully bombed the event.

“i think i would’ve gotten a one, too. if, y’know, i was in the games and that..” yuri said, completely unaware that olive’s score had been intentional. sure, he could throw a punch, was skilled enough, he was a trainer, for god’s sake, he clearly knew what he was doing. yuri was, however, utterly convinced that, if he were called in for a skills presentation, he’d simply cry. and it wouldn’t be an impressive enough breakdown to score a two.

She had not been to the coffee shop yet. In fact, she had not been to one in a while now, most often than not opting for whatever was served in the lounges or on District 7′s floor when in the tower. Perhaps she had been avoiding them subconsciously since Addy could no longer run them. Or perhaps she was reading too much into it. “Sure, if they have food as well,” Ash said, starting towards the elevator. “So, trainer of the year, how have you been? The tributes treating you well?”

“surely they’ll do food !! maybe, if it’s not full-on meals, they’ll at least have cakes and cookies,” yuri said, some of the enthusiasm in his voice needing less effort put into it at his own mention of cakes. he could’ve almost heard his mom’s voice in his mind then, something about coffee shops probably being the worst place for him to be, caffeine and sugar wasn’t a combination that had ever done him any good. still, if he was an adult now with a proper job, a job that took up a lot of his energy, anyway, he was damn well allowed an extra shot of espresso. “they’re not too bad this time round !!” yuri said, mostly in comparison to last games, because compared to that, almost any games had to be a positive. and he had to cling to those, the positives. “don’t think i’ve taught one of your tributes anything yet, though.”

“You’re practically trainer of the year,” Ash replied in a serious tone, though amusement tugged at the corners of her lips. It was good to see Yuri truly fresh and wide-eyed. As entertaining as the kid was drunk, she worried about what he got up to at times, especially considering his propensity for aerial performance. “I could eat,” she then said with a shrug. It seemed as good enough a time as any to get lunch. She was not particularly hungry, but she hardly ever was when the Games were happening anyway, and it might be a good idea to try to find out where to get food outside of District 7′s floor in the new tower. “Any idea where we should do that? I haven’t really figured out this place yet, it’s so different from before.”

“maybe i am trainer of the year. i don’t think we hand out awards for it or anything, so we can always pretend it’s me !!” his enthusiasm didn’t come to him as naturally nowadays, it felt feigned and left a bitter taste in his mouth, but it didn’t sound all that different from usual. no, even his smile seemed rather on brand, the way it grew when ash agreed to lunch. he nodded, momentarily lost himself in thought as he tried to mindmap the new tower and came up empty. he’d never been any good at finding his way around these places, at least that was an evident flaw. “um, i think there’s.. the coffee shop ?? like, all the way downstairs and everything, but -- but i’ve heard it’s good !!” had only heard, because yuri huxley shouldn’t be anywhere near caffeine.

“From the careers? Sure.” She grunted as she dead lifted one of the weights back into place. While she preferred the center in the morning time when the equipment was still fresh and the tower quiet, she didn’t hate it right then. With the tributes, capitol citizens, and gamemakers gone the space breathed more. “I’m not holding out for any outliers though.”

he wanted to hold out for outliers, he’d always done. now, he found himself siding with olive far too easily. for a moment, yuri wondered if that was just experience taking ahold of him, that everyone involved with the games felt like this eventually. that seemed, ironically enough, a little too pessimistic for him. he quirked a brow at the realisation, pulled another knife from a target, then threw it into a different one, uselessly hitting bullseye. at least he’d gotten better at this, at least he was improving at something. “i mean, i don’t know. maybe there’s a tribute from the outer districts who’s really good at something, and we just haven’t found them yet. or they haven’t found the thing they’re good at,” he reluctantly insisted.

She picked up the weapon labeled “morningstar” off of the table labeled “maces.” She couldn’t believe there was a whole fucking table of these things. It was heavier than she expected and she found herself pulled along by the weight of it, twirling around and almost fucking hitting someone with it.

“Shit, sorry,” she said, on instinct. But it was their fault, really, for coming up behind her. Still, the coddamn manners. “Didn’t see you.”

“hey, you might want to be careful with --” he’d basically sealed his own fate, hadn’t he ?? hadn’t spoken loud enough as he approached from behind, sole intent to warn the girl, and nearly ended up getting his in the face with a mace. he ducked right on time, could hear the air swishing right next to him for one dreadful moment. as he straightened his back again, he sucked in a sharp breath, because he’d forgotten to breathe for just a moment. “that,” yuri finally finished his sentence. he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, tried to recover from another near-death experience, but found there was still an awkward breath stuck in his throat that left his voice a bit squeaky. “we’re not killing anyone yet, okay ??” he chuckled.

For some reason, Amalthea couldn’t think of a single thing that could go wrong. Instead, she lit up as she was handed a handful of confidence, picking up her bow and trailing her fingers across a couple of arrow points until she selected the one she felt most positive about. “I will not shoot you. I have a good aim.” It was true that her aim was entirely self-taught, and that it was likely no one believed it as much as existed – but she knew it, and she knew it by heart. “You should place an apple over your head.” That was the custom, wasn’t it? She never tried it, let alone on another person, but how hard could it be.

he clapped his hands together, a response to the excitement that ran up his spine then, left his limbs all jittery as he spun around, immediately in search of said apple. see, this girl knew what he was on about, she knew what she was doing, she said she did, and she even knew they needed an apple for the aesthetic value of it. maybe they were lucky, or horribly unlucky depending on perspective, that there was a table with healthy snacks pushed to the side of one training centre wall, and yuri was indeed capable of finding an apple on there. “let’s go !!” he said, juggled the apple between his hands triumphantly. “oh, what’s your name, by the way ?? i’m not sure if i caught it, sorry !!”

@aehtlama​

@ashchane​

@olive-blackwell​

“I didn’t know that arena chef was a job that was up for grabs,” Holland said, amused. “I think I’d rather learn whatever you’re best at, rather than what you’re worst at. Blending into the background, that’s what I’m good at, too. See, we already have something in common.”

“who knows, maybe the arena this year will just be a very big kitchen,” he mused, a brow quirked at the thought that hey, that wasn’t a horrible guess, and maybe he should put money on it. “y’know, cause there’d be.. knives.. and stuff.. already --” oh, right, now he’d really brought things down to a more dangerous reality, impending death. it wasn’t half as fun as hypothetical food poisoning, and even that wasn’t very jolly. “i normally teach hand to hand and self defense. it’s not exactly blending into the background by any means, but it’s.. useful. it’s fun, too !! if it’s not, y’know, in the games, it’s pretty fun.”

To fully verbalize distaste was riskier than she would’ve cared to admit, so instead, she ignored the gut instinct telling her to keep her mouth shut, to ignore the primal urge to keep herself as safe as possible. If Yuri was whispering the seeds of dissent, it likely meant that he was like her, something of a rebel, and at bare minimum someone who didn’t enjoy the Hunger Games. “I don’t,’ She spoke softly, sitting up a little straighter. Moxie continued, “Just kid of hard to get away with that with my line of work.”

he hummed against his glass as he pressed it to his lips, as though it could somehow stop words that would spill regardless. the curse of having had a few drinks, along with never shutting up anyway meant that yuri probably was one of the worst people to muse on his dislike of the games right then, right there. still, he leaned in a little, at least aware of the subject matter enough to keep his voice down, but never quiet. as he moved his glass to speak again, he raised it slightly in what was almost a toast. “yeah, i mean.. i’m a trainer, i just.. show up when the damage is already done and try to teach tributes how to fight. but you’re an escort, aren’t you ?? you have to.. pick their names and everything. that’s a lot harder.”

Abel snorted out a laugh, shaking his head. “I thought I was bad, Yuri, shots, at this hour?” he smirked. He’d be all for it if Emme was back with Rhi. “Yeah, well me too, in the Captiol, just not the tower, I think being here at the tower makes it all a little more real, unfortunately”

“well, i mean, is there ever a bad hour for shots ??” there probably was. there most definitely was. but yuri plastered a smile on his face and rather hoped abel wouldn’t point it out, because this had become awfully awkward all of a sudden. he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “i kind of miss district four, i think. it was a change of pace, at least, with the.. sea and everything. there’s a really big pool down here in the training centre too now, but it’s not really the same, is it ??”

“I figured as much,” she said, “unless random people teach tributes stuff as well these days. My name’s Holland. District Six. I don’t know who you are, though, except that you’re not on my team. Or are you, and you’re just really good at blending into the background?”

“i mean, i’m sure there’s things around here other people can teach you anyway. random people. i don’t know how to cook, you’d have to find someone else if you want to learn how to cook, for example. unless you want to give everyone in the arena food poisoning. in which case, i guess i’m your guy,” he said, managed something that almost resembled a genuine smile then. it felt a pretense of sorts, though, like he was smiling at the absurdity of circumstance rather than her introduction. he nodded, bit down on his lip. “i am really good at blending into the background. i’m yuri, district three.”

Moxie was surprised at the bluntness coming off of the man. She faltered, unsure of how to handle the whole confrontation, her meticulously put together persona crumbling slightly as she fumbled for a response. Maybe it was the fact she was two and a half drinks in that gave her away but she didn’t want to fully give up; the words ‘Rebel’ and ‘Traitor’ flying around in her brain reminding her that she couldn’t appear that way to strangers. She had to keep pretending she was the perfect little escort. “I – what else would I be saying,” Moxie asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

“i.. i don’t know,” he admitted, eyed her with some confusion then, as though she’d somehow caused the turn in this conversation, not him. yuri hummed, held his glass to his lips, wanted to fill the air with something that wasn’t awkward tension. loaded silence, a rebellion not that far behind them yet. “you don’t have to.. like it, though, you know ?? not always. it’s really hard to be involved in the games, it’s not always happy..” he wondered if that was why they were both drinking. he reckoned it might’ve been.

“Ready for another round?” Abel asked as he slid up beside Yuri. Emme was napping, thankfully, because he was about ready to collapse with how tired he was, the break was very welcomed. “Bit crazy that it’s come around again already, isn’t it?”

@yurihuxley​

“yeah !! are we doing shots or are we --” oh wait. abel meant the games. another round of the games. did yuri have a drinking problem ?? he swallowed down his smile, and it, weirdly enough, came to him more naturally than mustering up a fake grin had ever done. “um, i don’t know.. it’s a lot, isn’t it ?? i’m here in between games too, sometimes it just feels neverending.”

Holland was making bold moves today. She’d started off the day driving in her pickup down to the city for the Reaping, which had resulted in her name getting called, which had resulted in her getting on a train, blah blah blah, and here she was – it was too late to censor herself, to do what she was supposed to do. She was too damn tired.

So she took a seat across from a man who was sitting at a table in the lobby. She had no idea who she was, but engaging another person rather than just sitting with her thoughts seemed good. “So, what’s the deal? What should I know?”

@yurihuxley​

“well, i’ll be teaching you in a couple days, so..” he simply responded, managed a shrug that was jittery with the tension of his shoulders. the hunger games had never sat well with him, and it was a feeling that only weighed him down more and more at the start of each cycle. this time, he’d watched the reapings to vaguely recognise faces. not to try and know them, like he’d at least done a couple times before. his ignorance had polished itself into good intent, into a never-fading smile, and then it had broken. yuri huxley didn’t really smile all that much anymore. “i’m a trainer here, that’s -- um -- that’s what i mean. you’re gonna have to remind me of your name, though,” he said, rubbed an awkward hand over the back of his neck.

The first night in the Tower was always the hardest and Moxie had excused herself down to the bar, trying to stomach the events of the past 48 hours. She was exhausted and felt like she had been worn down to her core;  it was fine though. She could handle it, this was year four, and she had known people who had been reaped before and, maybe, honey would win. Moxie walked into the bar, body aching with need for a drink to just cut down the physical distress waning on her psyche; she ordered a G&T and began to drink. A figure out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she chirped, her habitual Capitolite persona taking over, as she raised her glass in greeting, “Happy Hunger Games!”

he’d been in the bar, because of course he had been. maybe this should’ve been more of an issue by now, but there were always these arbitrary limits set that would mean yuri found no cause for alarm. he’d walk off a cliff claiming it was fine, but the tinge of ignorance in his throat had never been that new. it was just that it was accompanied by a few glasses of rum and coke now, and some new-found cynicism to boot. “don’t say that,” he said, brow quirked as he glanced at the escort, already couldn’t remember if he’d looked at her first or if she’d looked at him. it hadn’t stricken him as much as her attitude had done, the way she pulled herself into a different person then, someone who could chirp and raise a glass. he saw himself, though perhaps a less tipsy version of himself. maybe he shouldn’t have been staring in the first place.. “you don’t believe it, so.. so don’t say it, you know ??”