maybe you'll save me // jack x arcadia

[Cait]

arcadia lumiere-fray

One thing I’ve kept at arms’ length since arriving in the Capitol was romance. Maybe it feels like it’s hitting too close to home to run around flirting with the other teens. Maybe I’m just sooo committed to the major task at hand of survival that I simply can’t waste any time on stupid crushes. Or maybe there was something more complex behind my abstinence – like there was a subconscious part of myself trying to keep the Before Volunteering and After Volunteering parts of my life on two separate timelines.

Honestly, it’s probably just got to do with me and my stupid teenage dream of finding real, true love. And seriously – like that’s ever going to happen here, of all places. No point in opening up that can of worms.

Call me old-fashioned, but I really don’t care that much for one-night stands. I’ve always fantasised about finding a partner and falling in love and spending the rest of my life happily raising a family with them. The Panem Dream, if you will. And while a kiss here or there is pretty fun and harmless, anything past that feels... insincere. There’s never enough time back home to develop anything meaningful, and a world built on shallow connections just feels like a waste of time to me.

It’s why I truly despise Flynn Garner and Andal Searley right about now.

The star-crossed lovers are all anyyyyyyyybody has been able to talk about this morning – and, of course, accompanying that chestnut of a tale is the tragic addition of the famed last names of both their Districts’ tributes. I can practically see the Sponsors falling over each other to fork out money for them.

It makes me mad, because it’s SO obvious what’s going on. And if by some sad twist of fate their romance is real, then they must be bigger idiots than I thought to go announcing that to the world. That type of news is only going to end in disaster. I thought Victors were supposed to be smart!

Not to mention, this development takes attention away from me, and that’s no fun at all!!

It’s time to set a new plan in motion. One that involves my favourite, flirty version of Arcadia.

There’s a boy I haven’t had a chance to talk to yet milling around the combat stations, eying off a particularly dangerous looking mace I would struggle to hold on my own. He looks lost in his own head, so I make sure to take loud and purposeful steps as I approach so I don’t startle him too suddenly out of his trance.

“Can you believe the news about Flynn and Andal? It seems awfully convenient to me. It’s too bad they eat that shit up in the Capitol.”

Boy, don’t I know it.

“It’s Jack, right? Ugh, I wish I was strong like you – I could never lift a weapon that heavy. I usually get stuck with the throwing knives.” My voice teeters on the edge of whiny and seductive – a particularly impressive combination to master, if you ask me.

He turns around to look at me, and I step a little closer, the scent of my shampoo sitting on the air between us.

“You know, we could start up a little fake romance of our own. Get you a few extra Sponsors and take the spotlight off the Garners a bit.” I pause, dangling the offer in front of him like bait being held in front of a ravenous lion.

[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

In a world where he got to choose, Jack would've wanted more grace for himself. He was not without poise and refinement- he had learned much in his years with Cirque D'Ètoiles, perhaps most notably, stage presence. But Jack's was a ferocious nature which struggled to glide him to places it could charge him to instead. The crack of the whip and the thunder of his voice which rivaled the roaring lions and out-volumed the applauding crowd. There was grace there, indeed, but not in a way that was perceivable as such. Out-matched by his own power.

After finishing his workout, Jack found himself standing in the weapons section of the training center. He stared down at the thin blade before him. Sleek and shiny, shorter than his hand, light enough to be hidden anywhere on his person if he needed it. But, as the trainers in the Capitol pointed out, he had more strength than speed and if he wanted to survive he needed to play to his strengths. He sat the blade down and moved his eyes over to a menacing weapon with a spiked metal ball connected to a sturdy two-handed hilt by a thin chain. Brutality. Too deliberate to be anything else. That's what was chosen for him instead in this world, where it wasn't ever up to him.

Speaking of deliberate.

He heard her before he saw her, marching up to him with purpose. He could've sworn time slowed for a second as he took her in, his eyes gradually climbing their way from her legs up to her eyes, perhaps stopping off on a few fieldtrips along the way. Jack had absolutely no idea what someone like Arcadia Lumiere-Fray would want with him. Maybe she'd decided he would be her first target and thought it'd be a fun little game to tell him ahead of time. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility- careers could be raised up separate from the souls they were born with. Seemed to Jack like some of them only ever got that part of themselves back once they aged out of the reaping. But then again, Arcadia must've been palatable enough to appeal to a wide audience. He hadn't watched it, but Jack heard that she was on that Capitol dating show a couple years back.

He guessed if she was here now, that either meant she'd done a really good job, or a really bad one.

Her blonde hair was tucked neatly behind her ears while she casually started a conversation with him, blue eyes unafraid of locking onto his own. "Can you believe the news about Flynn and Andal? It seems awfully convenient to me. It’s too bad they eat that shit up in the Capitol." He used the time she spent speaking to quickly wipe the sweat from his face with a towel, and put a shirt on.

He hadn't thought about Flynn and Andal much, beyond remembering that Andal was one of Emerson's mentors this Games. To be honest, he wasn't really interested in thinking about them too much in the moment, either. "As long as they don't mess around while Andal is wolfed out, I don't care." he joked. Arcadia did have a point about it potentially granting their tributes some favor with the Capitolites, though. Thirty seconds of being around someone familiar with real show business, and Jack was already realizing how much there was to learn about it. He wasn't sure why Arcadia was choosing him to impart with her wisdom, or if she was even aware that's what she was doing, but Jack wasn't missing it regardless. He wanted to be a star, and she knew how to make that happen.

"It’s Jack, right? Ugh, I wish I was strong like you – I could never lift a weapon that heavy. I usually get stuck with the throwing knives."

He raised an eyebrow. He couldn't recall which Games it was exactly- one from the late 70's or early 80's, where a fourteen year old girl had sliced the head clean off an eighteen year old like it was held together by duct tape. She'd been four or five inches shorter than Arcadia, and from one of the lower districts, and the weapon she used was bigger than the one Jack was looking at. Arcadia had not one but two highly respected last names, and too much experience to call herself weak to a competitor for no reason. So, was she lying so he wouldn't see her as a threat, or because she wanted to save his ego? For her, or for him?

When he didn't immediately answer, she was content to continue: "You know, we could start up a little fake romance of our own. Get you a few extra Sponsors and take the spotlight off the Garners a bit."

Subtle as a gun, this one. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her proposition. The forwardness enough made him glad his cheeks were already flushed from the workout- he would've been blushing by now. Maybe they were more alike than he'd realized: ferocious things trying to seem gentle. He considered the offer and what it might mean. There was a chance that them coupling up could make them targets for the others. But for tributes like them, flying under the radar wasn't exactly an option, anyway. And she was a career, and she clearly knew more about the behind-the-scenes than he did. But before he could accept, there was one alarming detail he needed to find out: why him?

"Really? What did you have in mind?" He leaned forward toward her, taking a small step in her direction so they could speak more quietly without others hearing.

[Cait]

arcadia lumiere-fray

I won’t lie: I’m a sucker for attention. And whilst there’s no shortage of it here, where everyone knows my name for one of many different reasons, I preen a little when Jack looks at me, leaning in closely, conspiratorially. I’m only human after all.

He takes a long time mulling over my proposal, no doubt coming up with a list of pros and cons for hearing me out. I don’t blame him – it’s been happening since I stepped off the train. The scepticism of the other tributes any time I’ve approached them has been a bit rude, if I’m being honest. Why does everyone seem to think I have some ulterior motive here? Is it so strange to simply want to talk to someone? Ugh, last names are such a burden.

“Really? What did you have in mind?”

I smile. Now for the fun part!

“You were in the Cirque D'Ètoiles, right? So you know what people like. You know how to work a crowd. You know how to be the centre of attention. We have that in common, clearly.” Hair toss, shoulder shrug, we’re awesome. “And it’s easier to build on a solid foundation instead of trying to start from scratch.” I drop the tone of my voice slightly and continue speaking. “Like, I love Wolf – she’s a sweetheart, honestly! – but she just doesn’t… like people, if you know what I mean? I can’t work with that.”

Sure, your sales pitch sounds great, but what is the plan here, girl? Get to the point!

I smile wider.

“We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. We just need to do something that will get the Capitol talking about us. And the more that we do, the more memorable we’ll be to them. That’s all the Games are about, right?”

Not true, of course. Being skilled in combat tends to go pretty far, last I checked.

“Obviously I don’t have any limits on how I’d go to make it out of here alive.” See: YLIP. I kissed way too many people on that show to feel embarrassment anymore. “But we can start small. Talking about each other in the interviews, gushing about how beautiful the other is – at least I won’t have to lie about that.” If he blushes at my words, I pretend not to notice. Like he doesn’t know he’s gorgeous?! I roll my eyes, so typical.

“Holding hands, helping each other train – again, not that you probably need much advice on how to use that thing.” I nod at the spiked club from earlier, and it is honestly amazing how more tributes don’t manage to maim themselves before the Games start when these things are just laying around everywhere, seriously!

I realise how close we’re standing as I finish talking, and take a small step backwards to give him some room to breathe. The last thing I want to do is make him feel suffocated – this is supposed to be fun! “Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Notes of praise about how clever I am?“ I’m overcompensating with confidence to make up for my uncertainty, I know. Genuinely, I have no clue what he’s thinking or what he’s going to say. And I’m fixating on this plan wayyy more than is healthy, but I can’t let him know that.

I shrug non-commitedly, trying – and probably failing – to come across as nonchalant, unbothered, cool: all of the above. “No hard feelings if you think it’s a bad idea. We can pretend this conversation never even happened! I’m sure I can find someone else to come along for the ride.” I pause, bringing a hand to my chin in a contemplative gesture. “What’s Bentley like?”