friends` with {{enemies}} | (Mace/Kay)

[dars]

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It was late. Probably too late, honestly. All of my allies had gone to bed, as had the rest of the tributes, but I had asked the peacekeepers that escorted me if I could grab a snack before heading up to the third floor, and they had allowed me to, as long as I stayed in the dining hall until I was ready to go. Honestly, I didn't know if I ever would be. Something about sleeping there made it feel real. It was like I lived there, for now at least, and I wasn't going to leave until it was time for my death. No, I would be just fine staying down here for a little longer.

Other than myself, only a few people remained here, and none of them were bodies I remembered seeing wield a sword or tie a knot the last few days. The majority of them were old and modified by the capitol. I walked over to the same bowl I must have been to a thousand times already and dug my hand into it, producing a perfectly round piece of fruit with a thick, orange outer casing. I kept my eyes trained on it as I walked aimlessly around the tables that lined the huge room. Suddenly, I was in a shadow, one that moved.

I looked up to find a familiar face standing directly in front of me talking to the woman I had seen ushering ten's tributes around the building. Their escort. One of them smelled precariously like ginger, and I assumed it was the girl, who's rusty brown hair fell in perfect, swirling spirals down her back. The familiar face, however, did not belong to her. It belonged to Mace Emberstatt, Victor of the 59th Hunger Games, mentor to the District Ten tributes. I smile, unsure how to react, and shove a piece of orange out into the space that separated us. "Would you like some?"

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
enough to make my systems blow
welcome to the new age, to the new age
welcome to the new age, to the new age
whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive

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ooc: props to zoe for the table!<3

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

for what it's worth, I have a slow disease that sucked me dry... I always aim to please
but I nearly died

The real problem with the training center was the food. Not the fact that it was a slaughterhouse, with its cloying charade. Soft beds, avoxes to make your life blissfully comfortable, lights and music that changed to your cues. But really the best offering, the most dangerous, could be found in the dining hall. No matter how much work he did the rest of the year, no matter how many circuits at the gym Julian put him through, he invariably added back on the weight in the scant month they spent in the Capitol. How could he resist? Hearty pancakes with blueberry cream for breakfast, roast beef and pickled lettuce for lunch, bacon wrapped chicken for dinner. Dessert stretched on and on, and none of this even remotely accounted for all of the snacks littered around the training center, although the best ones - the hot ones - stayed in the dining hall.

He hadn't meant to end up within a fifty yard radius of Olive. But there was a certain decorum that was to be maintained in the Capitol. He couldn't lock her in their compartment all the time. Or at least, so he had been told by one of the Peacekeepers. Stupid rules for a stupid city. She at least had the good sense to keep her trap shut as he loaded a plate up with macaroons and jelly candies. She popped a hard candy into her mouth, and Mace prayed that it was poisonous.

"Better be careful. That'll go straight to your hips," Mace muttered, recycling one of the critiques he'd heard over the years. Why everyone was so obsessed with his physique baffled him. If he was alone and sometimes he wondered if it would be easier for Julian if Mace had the balls to just end things, he would have told them all exactly where they could shove it. But for hi, for Julian, Mace made the effort. Most of the year.

The slice of orange was a bright distraction from Olive's offended gasp. Mace followed the length of the boy's arm, until their gazes met. He recognized him as a tribute from the reaping videos, but hadn't yet studied them enough to be able to place either his district or his name. Frustrating. And what sort of game was this? Mace pulled his own plate closer to his chest. "All the food in Panem and you pick out an orange? Might as well go for the good stuff," while you can.

banner credit: jurate
lyrics:placebo for what it's worth

[dars]

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I couldn't stop the smile that formed across my lips as he insulted the girl. Anyone with a brain could tell she was one of those typical Capitol residents that was far too obsessed with her appearance. guessed she was in her early forties, possibly a little older, but with all of the work she'd had done, there was no telling. She scoffed, and proceeded to roll her eyes when she noticed me standing there. I decided I didn't like her. My own escort, Sparky, was tolerable, but only just. The way he buzzed around like he was on a caffeine high all the time became over whelming and annoying. I guessed this girl was one that acted better than everyone.

I didn't like that.

Klaus was okay with giving advice, but I always felt like he was being too nice, as if he knew as much as I did that I was going to die. Maybe it was just his way of coping, who knew? However, with Mace standing in front of me, I wondered if he would tell me the truth. If he would tell me what I really needed to do. Why would he, though? He had his own tributes to take care of. Why in the hell would he give someone else's advice on how to beat his own? I took a deep breath and smiled. "Guess I haven't really thought about it like that." I glanced over at the woman who now glared at me as if I was a roach. I nodded. "If you think maybe you could leave us? I'd like to keep my dinner down for the remainder of the conversation." The look of bewilderment bled across her face, and she darted her eyes to Mace, expecting him to defend her. When he didn't, she stomped away, muttering quiet curses to herself.

I looked back at Mace. He was tall, even taller than me. His eyes were the ones that made girls swoon. And boys, too, apparently. I couldn't help wondering if the marriage between Mace and Julian was for publicity. I had always heard things like that happening simply for a popularity boost. Mace didn't seem like the type, but I was a complete stranger to him. I knew only that he had won his games, and he knew that I was going to die in mine soon. Other than that? Nothing.

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
enough to make my systems blow
welcome to the new age, to the new age
welcome to the new age, to the new age
whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive

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