What a shame she's fucked in the head //Thomas&Xaa day 2

[Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie]

I sat on a stone at the edge of the water, my feet hanging in hoping it will help cool me off. Blood ran down my left arm from where the snake took a nasty bite from. Maybe it was not the smartest Idea to put my feet into water I could not need see clearly through. My dress still somehow seemed to be intact with only a few blood stains soaking into the green color.

"Hey Tommy, darling!" I called over for my ally "Ya think this nasty bleeder warrants your attention? Or am I just being a drama queen again?" I wanted the boy from twelve on my side because he knew his way around a needle and thread but so far he has not been all that much of a use to me. He rolls his eyes at me, complains about me and Will, and was a little terrified of snakes. Actually, Tommy reminded me of my cousin, Yannis. He was always complaining about something I was doing instead of doing his actual job of standing security for me.

Tommy and Yannis would have had a lot to talk about. What a shame they will never meet, at least not in this life.

I smiled as Tommy mad his way over me, he looked so miserable. I guess the morning dose of adrenaline was not as good for him as it was for me. I enjoyed my breakfast of the stress hormones running rampant through my body and brain. It seemed to work even better than coffee! It also helped ignore the pungent smell that was slowly creeping its way up my nostrils. Absolutely disgusting! I tilted my head as Tommy got closer, poor boy seemed to have been beaten up a bit worse than the rest of us. Even I knew when I was not the most important patient, if he does not help his self-first than how is he supposed to help anyone else?

In the end it was still in my best interest to keep him alive for as long as I could.

Out of the three of my allies, Tommy was the most reserved towards me. Luna never seemed to be fazed by anything I did, and Will adored me even if she would not admit it. Tommy kept his distance. "C’mon Tommy, love! Smile a bit more, stop acting like my cousin Yannis." I nudged him gently with my bleeding right shoulder. "You got much family back home?" I questioned him, some people thrived off of threats and others needed to be able to relate to someone. I had a feeling Tommy was going to be the latter.

[actions to come in maint!]
Table by Dars

[pup]

The antivenom hidden among the decaying branches wasn't an easy find. We aren't supposed to die boring deaths by poison, so it wasn't difficult to figure out that there must be something to help us out. The pain subsided almost immediately, and the discoloration in my veins began to dissipate. The clothes given to me are ragged and torn to shreds because of the snakes.

The bodies lay still on the ground, and they no longer form a writhing mass. They have cuts through them, stomp marks where my shoes connected, and some- well, I can't really say exactly what Luna did to them. I knew I didn't want to cross her, but the holes riddling the serpents cemented that.

Luna is dangerous. I can only hope someone else kills her before I need to fight her. Or, at least, before she has the opportunity to execute me. Maybe I should have just left her in the bloodbath with her broken leg and let Elise deal with her.

The snakes will only be the start of Luna's blood-soaked story.

"Hey Tommy, darling!"

Speak of the snakes.

Her feet dangle in the murky water, sending mud swirling away from her. She must think the world is hers to rule, there are no creatures hidden in the depths of the lake that can hurt her, and there are no pathogens lurking in the dirt that can harm her. Even when the mutts were attacking, she thought she could spend her time admiring them rather than fighting them. The rock is her throne, and she summons me, her subject, to her court. Xaa Mahdavi is the queen of the serpents.

"Get your feet out of the water before another snake bites off your feet," I grumble to her as I loyally make my way to her. She's kept me alive this long. Despite how I'd prefer to leave and make my way to the end without her, I know she and Luna will be the deciding factors when we eventually run into other tributes.

Besides, Will seems convinced Xaa is safe enough to cuddle with.

She smiles at me, and I eye her warily. At least she doesn't show her tongue. I know it's meant to be off-putting, but if I have to see it again, I might dive head first in the water just to get away.

The wounds from her slithery compatriots haven't stopped bleeding. The venom from whichever snake bit her probably is inhibiting her platelet production, but the antivenom will kick in soon enough.

I kneel next to her, inspecting the wound. It definitely needs help closing before her body will heal. Pulling the needle and thread from my bag, "You know this is going to hurt, so just make sure to stay still."

Just as the needle nears her skin, she nudges me, and I have to pull it back quickly to avoid stabbing her in the wrong place. I pause for a moment, the needle near her skin. Xaa and I haven't talked much about home before. Honestly, I haven't talked too much about it since I got out here. Will probably knows at least a bit about my family, and everyone else probably can't relate.

"Stay still," I say, resuming my work and starting to thread the needle through her skin. And then, to keep her still, I continue. "My older sister works in the mines, and my younger brother works with me and my parents. We're kind of sanctioned unsanctioned medics."

Talking about home with Xaa is definitely weird. But calling me like her cousin Yannis is definitely new. Xaa doesn't seem like the type of person who'd say you're like her family if she's going to stab you in the back the second you aren't useful. At least, not if they don't hate their cousin.

I thread another loop into her.

"What about your family and Yannis? Do all Mahdavis split their tongue in two?"

[picks up antidote, uses it, more actions to come in maint]

[Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie]

The needle pierces my skin and pulls it together with the thread. It was an odd and painful sensation that I was not exactly opposed to. I thought it would have been a lot worse, but it almost reminded me of getting a tattoo. I enjoyed the pain of ink being injected into my skin, like with most addictive personalities, I always craved another one. They get more intricate, in more risky spaces, placements where the pain would be at a personal record breaking high. The pain of the needle was the only type of pain I was accustomed to .

Tommy’s hands work quick and precise, anyone with less experience would have never been able to work so precisely with my movements and pondering. I was surprised when he actually talked about his family. A middle child. That made sense. Reserved, did not try, and make everything about him like eldest children do, I am very much guilty as charged in that area. He also did not expect to be babied and coddled like most of the youngest children in families. He just kind of existed.

I appreciated that about him. It meant that he would not cross any boundaries. I couldn’t have that in my kingdom, now could I?

Tommy instructed me to take my feet out of the water, he was scared. Obviously one round of the capitol’s mutts was enough for him. I almost wanted the snakes to find me again, I wanted to keep one. When this was all over, I was going to open a snake sanctuary. The capitol had no right to deprive these gorgeous creatures of anything. They were starved and forced into slave labor, then killed in the process. They did absolutely nothing to have deserved this outcome, us humans on the other hand, if my family has taught me anything it is that there is no such thing as a good person.

Speaking of family, I laughed at the idea of anyone else having a forked tongue. I laughed at the fact that my mother is watching and rolling her eyes at my newest cosmetic alteration. She already was not amused when I came home with gold and diamonds in my teeth. She said I was getting too cocky, too comfortable with our wealth; we could not just go showing off everything because it sends the wrong kind of signals. Our trade was an unspoken secret in one, everyone knew what happened behind closed doors, but no one ever dared speak of it.

"Oh darling, most of my family is far to poised for a split tongue. We do run a children’s toy shop after all! Just think of the kids, they would be petrified." I smirk. We both know that was just the surface of the truth, Tommy might not know exactly what the family business is, but I am assuming he can guess that a toy store is not the main source of income. "I live with my mom, dad and three younger siblings. Cousins, aunts, and uncles come and go as they please in the family manor. I know I always give them a hard time and all, but family is everything to me and I do miss their tradition loving, everything for the greater good ass’s. You miss yours?" for the first time, I was sincere, even if the answer was as rehearsed as they come. I let my walls down just a little bit to prove that I was more than I let on. I was capable of human emotion, I just did not like to show it.



                                               Table by Dars

[pup]

If anyone told me that Xaa Mahdavi comes from a toy shop, I'd tell them it makes a cruel kind of sense. We're all toys in her eyes; we're just pieces on a chess board where she makes the rules. She twists her words and her actions until we all fall in line. It worked with Will and Luna. Now, she's clearly gunning for my begrudging loyalty out of necessity to become more willing.

Besides, a toy shop doesn't sound like it's the truth. It seems like some unassuming backstory to something much greater. I don't know what district one high life is like, but darling rolling off her tongue in the way that it does doesn't seem like it's coming from someone with small-business money. I don't normally treat wealthy patrons back in twelve, but there's a clear difference in how they talk and how the rest of district twelve talks.

Then she opens up. For once it's hard to tell if it's calculated or if the venom got into her brain.

I don't want to respond to her question on live tv. I'd prefer not to have my parents here that, honestly, I don't miss them. Yes, I miss my life and don't want to be dragged from it. However, my parents were never the loving sort. It got passed down to me too, I guess. If I lied and said that I miss them for the sake of the sponsors, Xaa would probably know also, and I don't want to be called out for lying about it either.

Instead of answering her, I evade. Taking a moment, threading the final loop in through her skin and pulling it tight, I detach the needle and try to wipe it clean. Nothing here is really clean, though. It all has an irremovable layer of grime in the humidity.

"The greater good thing is the same in my family," I put the needle back into my bag and look out over the disgusting water. "My parents are good people. All they want to do is help people who can't find help anywhere else." It's an interesting phrase to use, though. A toy store doesn't sound like it's a part of some higher calling.

"What does the greater good look like in your family?" Maybe he answer will help me dig past the layers of mystery around her socialite accent.

[Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie]

If actions speak louder than words, silence will mean someone was screaming at the top of their lungs. The only reason someone stays silent is if they are hiding something. There had to be something Tommy did not want either me or the entirety of Panem knowing. Hell, if I did not miss my family, I would have said that I did anyway or at least twist the truth to make it seem like I did. Poor boy did not realize that by saying nothing, he just admitted the very thing he did not want anyone knowing. He should have lied through his teeth, at least that is what I would have done.

I raise my eyebrows and cock my head ever so slightly to the side to let him know that there was no hiding anything from me. An important part of my job was observing people and calling their bluffs and flaws then using it against them. In the shop I saw everything, I made sure no sticky fingers escaped through the cracks and in the clubs I fueled people’s addiction with their vices. I was all knowing and all powerful. Unless you asked my mother, then I was just arrogant.

Tommy seemed to be growing some arrogance of his own. Asking questions when he was not giving any answers in return. This was not an ask me anything session, it was give and receive. A handshake where both parties agreed to display some, not all, of their cards. If he was not going to comply with the terms and conditions of the game for the greater good of the alliance, then I would only give him a conclusion that anyone with a hunger games history book could draw.

Thus far I had somehow managed to avoid talking about my family’s past with the games. No one had outright asked me anything about it and any questions in that direction were made with caution and I could avoid them. The family dogma however heavily lied within the roots of the trauma that came with the 8th hunger games. In middle school when we were taught about specific landmark events of the games, the first twins that turned on each other were not going to go missing from the curriculum. I remember how every single head turned to Raffy and I when the name Mahdavi fell as if one of us was going to stab the others eye out right there and then. I loved attention but in that moment I just wanted to hide.

I pulled the dead snake Will had presented me with after the fight onto my lap. Poor little pretty thing, turned on by its creator, the one that was supposed to protect them. In way it was almost too fitting. It was dead now though, there was no use in just leaving them there when we could use its skin for some alternate clothing if not anything else. Carefully with my finger knives I started to separate the scaly leather from the deceased as I finally started to answer Tommy’s question.

"Have you heard of communism, my dear?" I ask without looking up from my task at hand. I myself read about the ideology in some old book my mom had that she probably was not supposed to own. She had a thing for books that would’ve been banned and destroyed. "My family almost functions under those ideals, everyone in the family that pulls their weight has access to everything the family owns. We are a unit, there are no favorites, and no one is worth more than anyone else. Every decision is made by asking what would be best for the family as a whole. That way we avoid and ignore the deep-rooted bad blood that led to the events of the 8th games." damnit, I sounded just like my mother as I recited the very thing she told me every time I went and fucked up.

"These principles do not usually extend to outsiders. I guess you lot are like my family in here, make of that what you will. " for the first time I looked up to him and shrugged. Pat of me trying to convince him I was not going to harm him just yet and another part of me well aware the world was watching and tried to tug at the heart strings of the sponsors.

I fall silent for a moment.

"Did your parents not extend their kindness for the general populations towards you and your siblings?" I pressed him for answers, there was no way I was letting him off easy. How ironic it would be if our families operated under exact opposite ideals.




                                               Table by Dars