No show (Marree, open)

[Jack Lexington]

"48 hours." I'm watching the hands of the clock move round and round in circles. If there's no other delay I can go home in less than an hour. So far I haven't even gotten out of bed because of all those injuries and the nurse demanding that I stay put as long as I'm under supervision for the concussion.

Two hours later the medical staff finally makes it to my luxury room.
"Sorry we had an emergency."
By now I've of course tested whether I can walk by myself and almost landed on the floor because my vision black out. I did however hobble to the door and back.
"I'm out of here." I tell the staff matter of factly not caring about my stats.
"You're good to go." They tell me and offer me some crutches, which I'm not so sure how to use with two damaged arms.
I end up leaving with just one on the left side where Gala has successfully removed the cast. Of course the staff was complaining about our own measures but didn't force me back into one. Now my reattached fingers are only bandaged leaving the rest of that scarred up arm to my use.
'Battle wounds and scars are something to be proud off' My father has told me when I was younger, he even repeated it yesterday when he saw what crappy mood I was in. I can't really see it that way. Not while they're keeping me from everything I love: Training, fighting, my friends Kyanite.

I lean heavily on the crutch while I'm waiting for my father to come and pick me up. The wind is biting cold into my now almost hairless skull and blows right through the grey jacket that's hanging loosely around my shoulders.
I'm not sure how much longer I can stand here. My thoughts wander back to Kyanite. Why didn't she come back yesterday or today? Is it because I told her to leave? Is she upset with me? Can't she understand how I feel? Maybe I shouldn't care so much about her. Maybe it's better if she doesn't come back. I'd only disapoint her expectations in me anyway. She needs a winner as her boyfriend.

I grimace at the thought and look down the road one more time but there's no sign of my father.
"Really?" Is he just going to let me stand here? Maybe he got the time wrong or was held up at work. I can't possibly walk all the way home like this. Even taking the bus would be a stretch.

But what choice do I have. My lips are already turning blue and the cold wind is giving me goose bumps so I start hobbling down the sidewalk. Not even 20 steps away the jacket slips from my shoulders and lands on the frozen ground.
"Shit." I try to fish for it with my right hand but can't reach it and bending that cut up leg is out of the question.
"Damnit." I curse loudly. I hate being this handicapped.
Only three days ago her father asked me about volunteering for the games and now look at me. Pathetic.

[Anatra]

---

No Show

Life goes on, no matter how hard you try to wish it would just sit still in one moment. I sit at the dinner table knowing that we're two men down. Falling like flies. Nothing tastes as well as it used to, not when all you can imagine is the blood and the pain. Constant repetition of the same words - the same nightmare over and over again. I blink hard and try to hold it back, just trying to get through the meal without others seeing me at my weakest. Mum and dad sit at each head of the table, I on the side near mum and Alex next to me. It was always like this today, every week, family meal at our cousin's house. The problem is, Joe isn't here. Joe is my cousin too, as is Alex and his brother Tyren. I see... Seen them as family. Joe went missing last month, not a word from anybody - and we kept it that way because we feared the worst and didn't want the peacekeepers snooping around. It is difficult seeing your family drop down from the game. I feel vulnerable on the streets now, yet they were the places I liked walking. Wrapping up warm and forgetting everything - just walking around and fitting in with the cold.

I draw out my chair and take my finished meal bowl to the kitchen opposite and leave it in the sink. There was a mutual silence at the table because we all knew that nobody needed to explain themselves, we were all coping the same way. Tyren was upstairs, so it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I knock on his door once and he knocks on his wall. I open the door with a reminded smile of how our little way of knowing each other was unique. "How're you?" I say. "Good, yeah." He sits on his bed with a book in his hand. "What's that?" I ask. Conversation was small but it kept us sane. He enunciates; "To Kill a Mockingjay." I huff playfully at him, "That still? Finished that last year." He smiles after looking at me, then he delves back into his book it seems. "Long book."

That cheered me up. I go into the bathroom and make sure everything is in check before I go for my walk. It is. My makeup is probably a little rushed but it's not something I care about. I walk down the stairs and take the coat off of the banister and lose myself inside it's warmth before I leave the house. I actually do have something I should be getting on with. Tyren needs something from the hospital, some kind of prescription, so I remind myself mentally before walking like a wanderer through the cold and subtle snow.

Taking myself for this walk helps me let loose and leave the career behind some more. I get to the hospital and go straight to the chemist section of the main desk and the man behind the counter does the transaction and checks the papers and I'm on my way. I look around, taking in the cold again after the rushing industrial heating sends heat all down my face on my way out. I find myself walking behind somebody, clearly not as suited for the cold as me. He drops something. I look to the left at the other side of the pavement to check if others are around, as helping somebody is unfortunately the last thing on my mind.

[Jack Lexington]

Shivers are running down my spine when the cold wind picks up. The sun doesn't do much to warm me up.
I wish I had a scarf and some gloves. Well, even my jacket, that's now on the ground would be nice.
I bend down but my fingers only grace its fabric that's surrounded by soft white snow, that has fallen over night. I can't possibly get down further without hurting my busted leg.
Yet I try and groan when I notice the young woman walking past me from the hospital entrance towards the inner part of our small town.
I'm not one to usually ask for help but today I'll make an exception.
"Hey!" I try to get her attention.
This takes some getting over myself. "Could you give me a hand and pick up my jacket?"
I ask her as polite as I manage considering how disgruntled I am with my situation.
Because this is truly embarassing I try to quantify: "I usually wouldn't ask but I can't..." My voice trails off.
What have I come to when I can't pick up a freaking jacket that's right at my feet?
I look down at my sneakers that are hardly appropriate for the snow, then over at her. She does look a little familiar but I'm not sure from where. The career program? School?

[Anatra]

---

No Show

"Hey!" The cold wisps from all around, nipping at whatever it can. I turn and look at him. He looks just like... The face, body - "Could you give me a hand and pick up my jacket?" The voice. I look like I may recognize him. Quickly though, I snap back from my thoughts - "Sure, yeah." I smile at him dutifully, reaching down and grasping the snowy dotted jacket. I give it a slight shake, because he may not be able to, and I hold it within his reach. I wonder if he wants me to put it on him... My thoughts mutter. I know I don't recognize him from school, he looks a little older. Maybe it's the bruises, though. Now that I think of that, my mind skips into the reality - this is the one that put Tyren in hospital. This is Matthew.

I curl my lip as I begin to speak now. "So, got a taste of your own medicine?" I utter at him. I roll my eyes privately at the fact I said it, however. I regret it instantly and I can feel it becoming apparent on my face. "Sorry." I admit to him. "I... didn't mean that."

I look at him, knowing that I did mean it, I just didn't want to hit a dog whilst it was down.

[Jack Lexington]

The young woman with the dark brown hair is kind enough to pick up my jacket and shake the snow off it. She hands it to me but when I try to grab it with my left hand I notice how little I'm used to using my thumb and ring finger to hold it rather than the index and middle finger, that Tyren cut off. Sure they are attached but not functional. I grimace at the though but somehow manage to sling it over my shoulders again.
"Thank you."
When I look up I see her take a good look at me. Probably because I look so beaten up and sure enough she gives me a nasty comment.
"So, got a taste of your own medicine?" I hear her say, which takes me by surprise. Did she see the fight?
"Excuse me?" I knit my brow in confusion.
But why 'my own medicine'? Then everything clicks into place. Tyren got a taste of this...maybe she's a friend of Tyren. Maybe I saw her in the hallway when he was in the hospital.
She instantly apologizes but I nod at her. I have no right to be angry at her. I've been way too hard to Tyren and he is a good guy.
"You know Tyren?" I wonder in a low voice but can't really look her in the eye.
"I did get a taste of it." Grim;ly I look up in her dark eyes and add. "It doesn't taste good at all." Especially to be defeated. I hope that will suffice as an apology so i draw the jacket closer around my shoulders to fend off the cold because I'm starting to shiver.

[Anatra]

---

No Show

"You know Tyren?"

"He's my cousin. Like a brother to me." I can feel the anger in my words and I wish I wasn't showing it. He doesn't need this any more than Tyren does - even he spoke well of Matthew. "I did get a taste of it." I nod at him, taking that as an apology even though one wasn't needed, for me anyway. "It doesn't taste good at all." I know that, I had to care for Tyren when he came home early from the hospital just to see the last fight. "He was at your fight." I look at him, though I can tell the anger in my words has faded completely, I must have got it all out of my system. "He didn't want to talk the whole time after until the next morning." I keep reverting back to Tyren, when I haven't even asked how Matthew is feeling. I am so defensive, it makes my blood boil. "He was talking to me about how he wants to teach me the bow." It has been difficult having Tyren up and away in his bedroom all day and night, barely going anywhere, collecting dust. It is a shame to see it, I pity what he has become, though I know he doesn't want it at all either. Seeing him sit there with the book earlier today made that all clear; 'That still?' I asked him, because he hasn't picked up a book in a long time. I change the course of the conversation, purposefully heading away from the onslaught that I could set upon Matthew about how he hurt Tyren. "I think he is scared I will get chosen for the Games this year. Or that I'll have some crazy idea of volunteering."

It is colder than I expected, and this jacket isn't going to keep me warm forever. "Do you need help getting home?" I say it kindly. I don't know why, but the situation has me switching my aggression on and off continuously. It must run in the blood.

[Jack Lexington]

"He's my cousin. Like a brother to me." She explains making me understand why she's enjoying to see me hurt. I can't blame her. I'd do the same.
"Crap." I can only hope that she knows me and Tyren are on good terms. Instead of bothering I decide to keep going my way when she states what I already know.
"He was at your fight." The next part is new to me though. "He didn't want to talk the whole time after until the next morning." "I must have disappointed him a lot." I state in a low tone because I know for a fact that he wanted me to beat Mark.
"He was talking to me about how he wants to teach me the bow." The last thing on my mind is teaching or learning anything about fighting. I don't know why Tyren would do that. "Your cousins's very good with the bow." I comment to let her know that I don't want to downgrade him. I respect the guy.

"I think he is scared I will get chosen for the Games this year. Or that I'll have some crazy idea of volunteering." I'm not sure why I'm listening while we start walking away from the hospital because I'm really not in the mood. Yet I understand where he's coming from. For the first time it crosses my mind that Ky might get reaped or volunteer. For the first time in my life I have the feeling that this might not be a good idea.
"Do you have that idea?"
The wind is blowing small snowflakes all around us making the walk very uncomfortable. There aren't many sounds to be heard. It's strangely quiet out today.
The snow and ice on the ground makes the walk incredibly difficult for me because I have to balance on one good leg and one half decent arm that's holding the crutch.
"Do you need help getting home?" She asks and instantly I decline because my pride prevents me from accepting any more help.
"Do I look like I need help?" I shake my head at her. "No. my father will come and pick me up any minute now."
We walk a few more steps when I start wondering whether my dad might have forgotten me all together.
"What are you doing here any way, cousin of Tyren." I mock because I don't know her name.
"I'm Matt." My eyes are fixed on the white ground in front of me while I carefully hobble along.
"How is he? Tyren? Is he going back to the training center?" I remember him saying he might quit to which I objected loudly, back then.

[Anatra]

---

No Show

"Do you have that idea?" I nod. "It is possible. I have to do all I can." As we start walking I hear the crunch of the snow beneath my feet. Being next to Matt makes me feel young. He is taller by a bit, broader and clearly more experience at combat. I train, just not to the extent that him, Tyren and Alex do. "Do I look like I need help?" Yes, actually, you do. I mutter in my mind. "No. my father will come and pick me up any minute now." His mentioning of his father makes me envy him. His father sounds like he cares. Mine just wants me gone I feel. Train for the Games or get yourself in that Academy. The peacekeeping academy, that is. "What are you doing here any way, cousin of Tyren." I let out a laugh at his question, not to mock him but to break some ice. "Ty needed painkillers." I put emphasis on my words. "My name's Alba." I reluctantly inform him. "I'm Matt."

"How is he? Tyren? Is he going back to the training center?"

"Very good, actually." I say such with a lower tone. Saying that makes me feel a little guilty for being harsh on Matt earlier. "He's walking, talking and laughing. It's been hard." I pause. "We went training yesterday. The whole room turned silent when we walked in. Eyes just glared at us, people just stared. Suddenly though, one kid just... walked up to Ty and shook his hand." I take a deep breath and suck up my stupid hatred for Matt. "Loss doesn't make you a loser."