don't look down {Hal/Xov}

[knuckles]

Time is of the essence. While the first few days were spent walking around, Hal needs to learn how to defend himself and how to hold on to what little he has. It is difficult, almost impossible to move, yet his eyes move from one place to another. One thing he loves doing is climbing trees as high as he can, which isn't too high now that he's older. But as a kid, he enjoyed climbing as high into the trees as possible without a care in the world, but it was all taken away from him the moment his siblings were born.

Now that he's away, he doesn't need to worry about making sure they toe the line, and the freedom is something he's yearned for.

A smile spreads across his face as he starts climbing higher and higher, and he realizes just how much has changed. This isn't a tree, and one wrong motion could send him crumbling to the ground, and maybe even to his death. But what's the purpose? The reason? Why keep going? The smile grows even larger as he starts moving across some monkey bars. Having upper body strength is important, and maybe that's why he's wanting to continue to prove to himself that he's capable of doing something, but soon he quickly realizes that this was a mistake.

Someone is coming from the opposite end, and Hal stops in the middle knowing he's not going to turn back, but he can't keep going forward.

"Excuse me, I was trying to cross these." A heavy sigh leaves his chest, "But I see you are too, and I'm too far to turn around."

He tries making eye contact, but it isn't a skill he's good at.

"Would you turn around?"

Maybe it's rude. It doesn't matter.

Nothing matters here.

Credit to Pogue <3

[xov thao 12b [Bella]]

X O V

Under different circumstances, Xov might have thought the training center was a playground. A room full of toys and games to try new things and build your skills. Was this what people with free time did? There was another luxury besides the soft beds, decadent food, expensive clothes, programmable showers: Leisure. That difference in how to spend one’s time was what set the careers apart from people like her ally Marcellus, someone who was naturally strong but could have a greater edge if he had been born in One, Two, or Four.

Really, she had been doing too much thinking since arriving in the Capitol. More thinking than she had ever done. Back home, their lifestyle ran like slow clockwork, without much need for analysis. But these kinds of things made her wonder—why did they deserve more free time than her? Were people in Twelve supposed to just work all their lives, then die? No free time to build muscle, build knowledge, or just rest?

In that way, maybe having fun, even here, was an act of resistance. It felt philosophical, but really she just felt like climbing. She never had been able to follow a thought too far down. Maybe it was her fear of depth, like falling into the river all those years ago.

On the monkey bars, she felt like a little kid again. She loved heights almost as much as she hated depths, and for once this week the feeling of adrenaline was a good one. Slender arms swinging and grabbing the bars in rhythm, she felt in her element.

About halfway down, though, she came face-to-face with someone else. The boy from Seven was climbing—big surprise. He didn’t seem happy to have run into her. ”Excuse me, I was trying to cross these. But I see you are too, and I'm too far to turn around.”

Xov was feeling playful, channeling the monkey that gave the bars their name. She cocked her head to the side and grinned as he continued speaking. “Would you turn around?” he asked, seeming annoyed.

”I challenge you,” she said in a serious tone, attempting to lock eyes with him. ”Let’s see who falls first.” She was grinning from ear to ear. ”Don’t worry, there’s a huge pit of foam blocks under us, you’ll be fine. What do you say?” And before he could answer, she reached out with her left food and jabbed him in the hip, unable to contain her laughter.