a tether to a normal life [lancelot/cameron]

[lance]

Hey Heather,


Want to meet me up on the roof at midnight? I hear the stars are quite a wonder to look at around here. Somehow the city lights don't destroy it. I think it has something to do with the mountain setting and lack of pollution at this height.


Anyway, enough of scientific rambles. A little evening chat would be great with only a few days left till the Games. Besides, now that we're officially allies, a little bonding couldn't hurt, right? 


If you so choose, save the date and meet me up at the northern edge. It'll be fun, you know. Watching stars and city lights and chilling. 


~Ty


His hands trembling from anticipation, Tyler folded up the letter for the last time. 

Now, it was time to tempt fate.

The blond boy wasn't really sure why he had decided to do this. It was a rather out of the blue idea, one that could potentially fail several times over. 

Like say, what if he got caught on his way back down to his room? What if Heather's mentor or district partner found it instead of her? What if he got stood up?

Pushing the pessimistic thoughts back down to the depths of his subconscious, Tyler plastered a lopsided grin on his face.

So what if he got caught. What's life without a little risk?

Dropping down into a squatting position, he discreetly slipped the note under the door to the District Seven suite. Then, returning to his full height, the boy silently dashed down the hallway to the waiting elevator. 

All he could do now was wait and see what would happen. 

[cameron]

H E A T H E R
E
N
L
E
Y

o o o

Ten days left.

Heather laid in bed, eyes trained on the ceiling. It had been ten whole days since she was Reaped, called up in front of the entire Seventh District to go out and bring honor back home. Ha. As if that was ever a possibility for a dainty wallflower from her upbringing. She had about as much a chance of winning as an Avox had of speaking. Unless scientists came up with some way for tongues to regenerate, she was stuck here awaiting inevitable death.

Having an alliance did help her odds, though. But from the way it looked, every Tribute was paired off, splintered into foursomes eating meals and eyeing competition together. She was no different. After their malfunction junction meeting in the elevator, the group had been magnetized. One of those "tragedy brings people together" situations, where alone they all stood very little chance against the likes of Career packs or bulky boys from Eleven. But together? Together was a wholly different story. Together the pen of this novel had a chance to be gripped in their own nervous hands, if only for an instant. They could not be counted out yet.

Daria, with her eyes like the ocean and her quaking curiosity. Rodrick, the pretty boy, his bountiful optimism. And Tyler.

Despite how inspiring Daria and Rodrick were, despite how much they cheered her up and made her hopeful for a possible future, despite being the very essence of hope itself, Heather couldn't help but focus on Tyler.

It had been a while, a long while, since Heather had allowed herself - or been allowed, for that matter - to get close to people her age. Her mother was constantly introducing her to older, more established individuals. For years she had been homeschooled in order to fully be the ultimate lady that Charlotte Tenley desired so much. Coming into this Training Center was like opening up the doors of an entirely new world for Heather. She was allowed freedom, she was allowed her own choices, and she was allowed chocolate. Charlotte had prohibited chocolate consumption for years, but here she wasn't under constraints. And chocolate was Heather's 5th True Love in Life.

But what she was most thankful for with her newly discovered freedom was the ability to have crushes that she could actually act on.

Before it had been restricted to men on magazine covers, faces she passed in the market. Nothing concrete. No one she could ever pursue. In the Capitol, if she saw a boy she liked, she had full reign to pounce like a starving lioness.

Yet she had not acted upon anything. Since that first sight of Tyler wrapped in his wires and donning his shiny pants, Heather had seen a flicker in his eye that quickened her heartbeat. It had been an instantaneous crush, and she had control over how it played out. But she had been too scared to say anything. Rejection days before one's birthday would be awfully upsetting, not to mention rejection when you may never get a chance for anything like this again was downright depressing.

Luckily for her, she didn't have to make the first move.

After an hour of ceiling staring and birthday contemplation, she stood up from her bed and went to make the walk to Tyler's floor, where she would build up the courage to knock on his door only to chicken out and run all the way back to her floor. This would be the third time that exact scenario played out. But this time, she hadn't made it to the hall when she spotted a letter being pushed through the door.

When she picked it up, her face lit up instantly. Smile spreading ear to ear, warmth spreading through her cheeks, Heather was over the moon.

Until she read the last word. Chilling. Were they going to watch the stars and talk about comic books? She shook her head, trying to disregard "chilling," and focus on "date." Sure, it was never explicitly stated as a date, but the word was used and that was enough for her. Heather skipped to the bathroom, grabbed a tube of lip gloss Narvila had left behind, and lathered it on. Maybe a bit excessive, but the picture would be crystal clear.

Up the elevator she went, and then up the stairs to the roof. As soon as she exited out into the night air, the stars overtook her. Something about the ongoing nightlife surrounding them made the stars even that much more impressive, and her grin never vanished as she headed to the northern edge.

o o o

ooc: sorry i got lazy with the color gradient lmao

[lance]

In retrospect, using the word "chilling" probably hadn't been the most wise word choice.



After all, what kind of girl wants to go and "chill" with someone in this day and age. "Chill" was a word used by the fuckboys back home, a word that was exchanged between friends in a purely platonic sense or between couples that wanted nothing more than to just go home and fuck.



And quite frankly, Tyler wasn't really interested in doing either.



Granted, the girl from Seven was attractive, moreso than the blonde's romantic interests back home. And they had seemed to connect in some way, closer than he had with the quiet girl from Four or the guy from Ten who so happened to be a twin himself. Sure, the four of them had connected rather well for their strange mishmosh of districts, but there was definitely something special about this girl.



Something special that he would likely not experience.



It's a good thing that Avery's gay, or else I probably wouldn't have any experience in romance whatsoever, Tyler thought with a lopsided smirk. Indeed, the majority of girls had initially flocked over his twin due to his calmer, arguably more mature demeanor, only to be let down due to his sexual preferences. 

Still, you did a good job of fucking this up, Ty. 

The elevator sailed to a smooth stop, and the doors opened with a pleasant ding. A lukewarm breeze buffeted the teen in the face, a stark contrast to the warmth of inside. 

Oh, fuck it. I might as well wait a bit, he thought, stepping out seconds before the doors closed behind him. Still chastising himself for his tactlessness, the teen made his way to the northern wall, taking a seat at the very edge.

The bright lights of the countless buildings in the Capitol was a stark contrast to the mostly suburban setting of back home. Here, it was like the city never even stopped when the sun went down, instead carrying on with its usual tirelessness. The urban setting might have been appealing to some, yet even after several days living in the luxury of the Capitol, the blonde boy had yet to find what was so appealing.

Well, maybe his tactlessness had a silver lining in it, after all.