we're all ( animals ) out in the dark // lorenzo/fallon

[Stare]

we're all animals out in the dark
got a feeling that we're all believing in
not waiting for daylight to start
we're over the moon, over the midnight moon

The snow had all melted by the time they'd led Fallon to the Justice Building. She supposed the building must be very water proof, for she had no doubt that much snow would cover all of District Five in a shallow sea. With her hands folded neatly in her lap, sitting up tall and proud just like she'd been taught, Fallon waited for Mama and her brothers and sisters to come and say their farewells.

Seconds ticked into minutes ticked into "time to go, Ms. Payne", and no one came to see her.

She'd been right about the ocean, though. The water came all the way up to her knees so that she had to lift her skirts slightly and slosh through the water as little orange fish swarmed about her bare calves. The Peacekeeper leading her seemed confused at her slowness, but then again he was much bigger than she was. He didn't seem to have any problems moving through the water. She felt bad about dripping water onto the nice train when she stepped onto it, but when she tried to apologize he interrupted her and waved her forward.

The door whooshed closed behind her - she must have been the last one to board - and then she was gone, like a shooting star.

- - -

Fallon decided very shortly after arriving in the Capitol that she loved the city but hated the Training Center.

The city was full of spectacular colors and costumes and people, and the oddness of it all made her feel strangely understood. She loved the food (they didn't restrict her sweets like Mama did) and had spent an hour after getting off the train simply staring out her window while nibbling on cookies.

The Training Center was a completely different story. It was so crowded she could barely breathe. The tributes themselves were ordinary enough, but they all had such big names that their presence ballooned outward around them, so that there was barely any room for her. The statue-ghosts that everyone kept hitting scared her more than anything else. How was it that no one else saw them snarl? After the first day she was happy to escape back to her own floor, though as she stepped off the elevator she came almost immediately face to face with another name everyone knew. Her life was getting very cramped indeed.

(They all have big names, important families. In comparison to them, I'm small. Unimportant. Forgettable.)

(Good. The real life monsters will eat them first.)

Fallon shifted uncertainly in front of her district partner, trying to ignore the lingering bees in her ears from training.

"Lorenzo Ruined," she said, mimicking the grave tones of all the announcers she saw on the televisions. "Are you ruined for good, or is it just temporary?"

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

LORENZO RUINED

Lethe Turner and Patricia Valfierno. He was to be mentored by the two women who had delivered him the dead body of his sister. He could almost give Patricia a pass; it had been her first year mentoring. Except. Except after all these years, he still wasn't sure she'd ever cared about anyone other than herself. It was a feeling he knew well, but that didn't make it okay for her to be that way when she was supposed to take care of her tributes. He wanted to smack her upside the head, demand that she give a shit, but he had a sinking feeling Patricia Valfierno would beat his ass ten shades of blue. He liked her a little, just for that.

If he felt a little conflicted about Patricia, his feelings about Lethe were crystal clear. She'd mentored Patricia to victory during the Sixty-Eighth and then... what? Taken a vacation? Fuck that. They'd take his shiv at the Justice Building and he'd been fleeced after their first meal in the Training Center. He still had his lighter, his cigarettes, and his fists, but he was no longer feeling quite so confident that he could take either Victor, not in a place that had a million eyes.

He flipped off the camera in the District Five apartment just as Fallon called him to attention.

"Lorenzo Ruined. Are you ruined for good, or is it just temporary?"

He lifted a cropped, dark eyebrow. "How the fuck should I know? Also they give you extra sponsorship to talk that fancy or it just come natural?" He dug out his cigarettes, flipped the lid and tilted it to her, buying him a moment. She was Fallon - "Don't think I'm slow just cuz the way I talk. I know you're just trying to be a Payne in my ass."

He smirked and then held the box a little higher, eager to light up his own.

[Stare]

take me on an adventure
let it be a golden one
i don't know much about the weather
so meet me in the morning sun

Fallon tentatively took one of the cigarettes offered to her, twirling it between her fingertips with uncertainty. She briefly considered telling him she didn't smoke, then changed her mind and tucked the cigarette in her pocket, hoping he would think she was saving it for later.

(Mama says smoking would hurt me on the inside. She says it would set my lungs on fire, that I would choke on the sparks.)

Tilting forward onto her toes, she inspected his face thoughtfully. He certainly didn't look ruined, but then again neither did she. She was, though, wasn't she? No one would admit it, but everyone always looked at her as if she was something broken that couldn't be fixed. Except the people here. Maybe they weren't so good at identifying ruined people.

"I don't think you're slow," she said softly. Slow. Sometimes people used that word when they spoke about her, but she wasn't. She was just different. "Mama says it's important to speak so people can understand you. I'm not sure she's right, though, because I can understand you just fine and I don't think you're stupid." She paused, squinting slightly. "You do seem kind of angry all the time, though. Is that on purpose?"

Mama also said all the fancy words in the world didn't matter if you only ever said something stupid. That was a lesson Fallon was still learning.

moments will come but not in patterns
oh i've written it all down and not looked once
close your eyes and it might not happen
oh the mountains will be standing when we're done