a moment of your time [andal/abha]

[kap]

abha khan

Andal Searley. That was a name for Abha to remember. He was the one that came home instead of her sister, Anika. Although, could she truly be mad at him for it? He and Anika never even encountered each other in the arena, and he prevented the victor from being Izzy— Anika's killer.

Still, she didn't want to act like he was some sort of savior or champion, either. She wanted to treat him like a normal person. He deserved good things, after all he'd been through, rather than the backlash she was sure many family members of fallen tributes from these most recent Game would be giving him. She wanted to be the odd one out, treating him decently.

The only thing she had to ask him was if he had Anika's token: a diamond necklace she'd been wearing in the arena. The Khan family hadn't gotten her body back yet, so they didn't know if the necklace would be along with it. So, she figured she could ask Andal if he somehow had ended up with it. She knew it was a longshot, and highly doubted he had it, but it couldn't hurt to ask, right?

Regardless of whether or not he had it, though, she had something she wanted to give him, so when she saw him on the Victory Tour, finally alone for a moment, she decided to approach him. Hopefully he wouldn't mind her disrupting the small moment he had to himself.

"Victor Searley? I'm uh— Anika's sister. My name's Abha." she said as she approached. She'd wished she'd brought her camera with her to snap some pictures before she'd gone up to him. Victor pictures sold pretty well.

"I have a question for you," she began. "If you don't mind, that is."

She stood there, a box containing a gift for him tucked underneath her arm as she tried to initiate conversation.

[gunner, d9 ₊⊹ 👹 ɢʀɪғғɪɴ.]

District Twelve is like a frontier city but much worse: it's a darn ghost town where even the ghosts are not interested in haunting you.

Looking at its grey sky from a window, he absently wonders if it’s full of clouds or ash, or perhaps both. Everything here looks as if it’s smothered in ash and soot. If Mama was here, she’d try and dust the whole district clean, and for once in his life, he doesn’t have faith on whether or not she could. What he is certain of though, is that his room back home will be spotless and glittering when he returns, perfumed like sandalwood. The thought of it makes him ache. Makes him want to drop time like a thread and watch it unspool quick.

He hadn’t known both of the Twelve tributes. One died early, the other in his absence, so being here makes him feel as if he’s intruding. For all he knew, they’d rather Finnigan or  Anika to be present than him, a wolven boy from Ten. Doesn’t make it less real, though. After all he had went through, maybe, just maybe, Andal is weary of apologizing for choosing his own self over a cold, bottomless grave.

We all made our choices.

Footsteps steal his interest from the window, pulling enamel blue eyes back into the chamber he’s in before they find purchase in a new face he hasn’t seen before. Nonetheless, the polite smile is quick over his lips, followed by the gradual shifting of his focus towards the girl’s words.

“I’m uh—Anika’s sister.” His shoulders tense. “My name’s Abha.” Hello, Abha. Had she come to splash a drink in his face? It happened once, back in District Two. The Bellisario’s were wildly popular.

But instead Abha takes a step forward, asking gingerly: “I have a question for you. If you don’t mind, that is.”

He nods. Then, “Andal,” his hand outstretching for a shake. Victor Searley did sound nice, but he’d rather get carved a new face than let go of his homegrown modesty. It’s the most redeemable feature left in him, really. “Any questions you have, Ms. Abha, I’d be more than happy to answer. Would you like some tea? Coffee? We also have, uh,” he tilts to look at the spread behind him, “District Twelve delicacies. I heard the rock cakes are lovely.”

-  A   N   D   A   L  -

table by: zoe

[kap]

abha khan

Shifting the gift she carried from being under one arm to being under the other, Victor Searley— or Andal as he said he preferred to be called— seemed to be taking surprisingly kindly to Abha's presence.

At first, Abha had feared that he wouldn't want to talk to her. It was quite likely he'd had bad experiences with other tributes' family members, if he'd met them yet, which wouldn't have surprised her. So, why would that make him want to talk to her? Perhaps it was the kind demeanor she displayed when she spoke to him, or perhaps he had spotted the box containing the gift for him that she was carrying beneath her arm. Although, she supposed he really had no way of knowing it was for him for sure. One could only assume. All she'd really done was introduce herself and prompt him to see if she could ask him a question, after all. There was not a single mention or acknowledgement of the gift box in those words.

"Thank you, uhm, Andal," she said to him. It felt strange to call him by his first name: unprofessional, even. It was what he had requested, though, and she would respect his wishes.

Andal had offered her coffee or tea, or some rock candy, the last of which brought a slight snicker from Abha. It was something she actually hadn't had since she was a kid, but deemed it best to keep it that way. While it was delicious, she always went a bit overboard with it when she used to eat it all those years ago, upsetting her stomach, and she didn't know how she'd react to it now.

"I would love some tea, if you don't mind," Abha voiced nervously. "The rock candy is quite good," she laughed, "but I'll have to pass on it this time. Not the best on my stomach from what I can remember from the last time I had some. It's got quite a lot of sugar. Or I suppose... is it all sugar?" She laughed at herself a bit. "Anyway... The question I have for you."

She paused a moment before speaking again, trying to determine the best way to word the question without it seeming strange or out of line.

"So, I know you didn't meet Anika in the arena, but I wasn't sure what the Capitol folks do with tributes' tokens after... you know. So I was wondering if there's any chance you ended up with Anika's token that she took into the arena with her, or if you know what happened to it. It was a diamond necklace: a family heirloom," Abha explained. "I wanted to hold onto it in her memory, and maybe pass it down eventually, you know?"

She was very clearly nervous when she spoke. Her voice shook a bit at the end of what she said, and she was fidgeting with her hands. Was she going to offend Andal by asking if he was keeping a precious Khan family heirloom from she and her family without telling any of them? She supposed it was possible. She just hoped that that wasn't the case.

Abha just wanted the necklace back, and to stay on good terms with Panem's newest victor.