Little Lights [olete / magi day 2]

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a g i

Oh and do your mem'ries ever take you back
Into another place in time
And do you ever miss the feelings and the love

Night had fallen across the canopy forest, and Magi couldn’t bring himself to sleep.

He kept replaying the sight of Lara almost losing her eye to the deer earlier.

When they’d been in the training center, Magi had done his best to learn the things that would keep him alive. He’d studied up on first aid and all the plants that might have been poisonous. He learned about different mutts and their calls. He’d sparred with trainers using different types of blades, and while not mastering a single one, could at least say he’d become proficient in holding one.

Yet standing along the edges of trees he’d never seen a day in his life – not that he had seen many trees at all – Magi realized it was something else entirely once the games had started. There weren’t really rules to combat here, and about the only thing that kept him grounded was that he didn’t want to have to chase after anyone to kill them. He’d rather the gamemakers throw them into fights so he wasn’t forced to choose.

At least with Lara he didn’t feel as though she’d become bloodthirsty. He’d watched enough of the games to see the sort of person that relished in dwindling the numbers.

As he tried to see he stars through the tree limbs above, he heard a twig snap in the distance. Knife at his side, Magi cleared his throat.

“Um, please don’t make me have to use this,” He called out to the shadows. He sighed. “I just want to get some sleep tonight, OK?”

ELEGANT

[ines izar d11a 🖤 cait]

Olete gathers bundles of herbal plants into her hands, hoping the starchiness of the leaves will restore some strength back into Krueger’s failing body. He had barely stirred in the past two hours, and even though she had done her best to clean and stitch up his wounds, she couldn’t help feeling like she had to do more. That’s the thing about being a martyr, trying to save the world and everyone in it – nothing ever feels like enough.

So why, then, does she not feel compelled to help the intruder that has stumbled into her section of the forest?

She hasn’t seen him in the Arena at all, but she knows who he is, because of course she does. She hadn’t spent her time in the Capitol sitting alone in her room studying the rest of the tributes for nothing.

Though in hindsight, her time may have been better spent learning how to use a damn sword. She rolls her eyes at the memory of her incompetence from earlier – shudders at how fucked up Krueger had gotten, and how she was the one to blame.

Could a District Three nobody like him be of any help to her? Olete surveys him further, taking in his small bag, his limited supplies and the single knife strapped to his belt.

“Um, please don’t make me have to use this.”

Hmm. Probably not.

And then: could a District Nine pretender like her find a way to make up for her shortfalls thus far? She’d left her weapons with Krueger but the sharp daggers of her fingernails would serve her well, she was sure.

She emerges from the shadows, a dark cloud on a path of self-destruction, heading for impact. She is a moth drawn to the light, curious hearted; she can’t fight the pull for human interaction, even in here.

“If I leave you alone, what do I get out of it?”

Isn’t that what she’s always been told? Everything has a price.

GRIFFIN

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a g i

Oh and do your mem'ries ever take you back
Into another place in time
And do you ever miss the feelings and the love

Magi swallowed.

He doesn’t recognize Olete from a lineup, but then, he hadn’t been good with names or faces. His two weeks had been focused on himself, and the limited interaction he’d ever had with other tributes was akin to standing behind them in line in the mess hall.

Staring at the young woman as she emerged from the shadows was akin to the slow rumble of thunder presaging a storm. Her words the first drops of rain before another crack of lightning and the outpouring of hail.

What would she get for peace?

Lara was far enough in the wood that his yells might wake her. He’d done his best to bandage her eye but she’d lost a lot of blood. She’d come running and then – well, this girl couldn’t be alone, could she? He wanted to see sunrise like he wanted to go home; he’d give up something to her if her promise was true.

“I – I don’t have much,” Magi admitted. They’d fled the bloodbath before anything had started. “I’ve got a net if you want it. And some… plants, too, I found.”

Was that enough for a life? For safety?

It felt cheap, bartering with the few things he carried.

ELEGANT

[ines izar d11a 🖤 cait]

It’s pitiful to watch. As sad as stealing candy from a baby. Magi offers his supplies up so easily that she thinks it must be a trap. But she knows desperation well – sees it in his face and knows it is not a trick of the light.

She’s not weak – has never been soft-hearted – but she does feel sympathy slide into her veins at his words, the defeated tone in his voice. She shakes her head at him, at the ground, signalling her dissent.

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

She’s never been a material girl. For her sixteenth birthday party her mum had insisted she wear a lilac ballgown embroidered with lace and encrusted with diamonds. Olete had taken one look at the dress hanging in her wardrobe and immediately thrown the biggest, brattiest fit of her life, refusing to be seen in something that cost more than the yearly wage of half of District Nine’s workers.

She has nothing to gain from raiding Magi’s meagre supplies. No. She prefers something much more valuable to her.

Her eyes light up as a plan forms.

“Tell me a secret.”

She sees the confusion flash across his face and feels her smile press into her dimples in response.

“Humour me.” She shrugs her shoulders effortlessly, like the weight of the world and Krueger’s life isn’t resting solely on them.

GRIFFIN

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a g i

Oh and do your mem'ries ever take you back
Into another place in time
And do you ever miss the feelings and the love

When Olete shook her head, Magi stiffened his shoulders and he tried to think of what else she could want. His dagger? His whole knapsack?

Tell me a secret.

He shivered.

The words undressed Magi.

“A secret.” He repeated her, mind searching for something interesting. Something that would satisfy the gleam in the young woman’s eye.

Truth had always been a strength of Magi’s. A bit of armor in defense against a world that preyed upon those who built themselves up with lies. He had no use for what wasn’t true, not when he’d been stronger confronting what was real.

“I…” He closed his eyes and pictured his bedroom back in three. He scrunched his brow and could hear he faintness of the radio. He could smell his mother cooking siomay in the kitchen. He wanted to stay there for a while.

“I’ve always loved dancing more than anything in the world.” Magi opened his eyes with a smile. It wasn’t earth shattering, or embarrassing. It didn’t reveal any secrets of the universe, or a crime. But he had neither of those at his discretion. “It’s one of the few things I think I’m good at, to be honest.”

He gave a shrug.

“Was that the kind of secret you were hoping for?”

ELEGANT