let me down easy | {slade/peggy} blitz

[dars]

S L A D E

we are broken by others
but we mend ourselves
we take comfort in strangers
but I don't think it helps

Warmth and retribution were two things Slade admittedly searched for. Autumn had already began as a cruel reminder that no one person, family, or idea would remain in power forever.

"They're are drying up too quickly," his father groaned, pruning a vine and tossing it on top of an alarmingly over-sized pile. "We'll be lucky if they make it another month."

Perhaps greed was the truest god of the Kinsey house. After all, they certainly would have been fine to go a winter without money, and the vines weren't all dead yet. But profit planted its roots in the heart of a man who remembered what it was like to go without, and Slade's father had vowed to never go hungry again.

He had slipped away after pruning, scents of grape being replaced with the damp warmth only autumn could bring. Colors of the fall were such a pretty mask for something as sinister as temporary genocide on nature, Slade noticed.

He sat down at a wrought iron table, in front of a coffee shop. Stray leaves blew against the wind, rolling beneath his open petticoat in little tufts as the winter to soon come. He nodded at the girl across from him, so full of the very life everything else seemed deficient on. "Hello, Miss Fray," he remarked, waving over a server, A mousy looking girl with red hair bumbled over, and Slade smiled up at her. "Cocoa, please."

She scribbled his order down and turned on her heels. "My apologies for being late," he continued, rubbing his hands together. "Dad is having a fit about the life cycles of grape vines."

[D6f Carmen Cantelou [aza]]

It is cold, but it is the kind of cold that I like. When the clouds above are a dusty grey and when it feels like the skies are on the brink of letting go of a few early snowflakes to welcome in Autumn. Brown leaves litter the gutters, a few of them catch my toe as I walk through the street. Kicked off into the breeze, hands in my pockets, I smile.

Warmth comes in the form of the scent of tea and coffee, ground beans slipping through the door of the shop. It's inviting, a welcome change from the smell of sweat that engulfs that training centre which has become my second home. The taste on my tongue, I take a seat and treat myself.

The classic hot chocolate all the extra toppings. It costs a fortune but it is one of the first signs that the seasons are changing, and there is nothing quite like the feeling of hot cocoa blooming in your insides like some sort of fireball flower. I take a sip; sweet and simple, perfect.

"Hello, Miss Fray," the familiar voice fractures the lax atmosphere. Slade arrives finally, taking a seat opposite. "Cocoa, please," he says to the server. We have the same taste.

"My apologies for being late, Dad is having a fit about the life cycles of grape vines." I smirk, shaking my head slowly. Eyes meet with his and I can't help but give a toothy smile.

"You know, I heard through the grape vine that your Dad is dumb." A light joke, I tail it with a chuckle. "Anyway, how have you been? It feels like... forever since I last saw you."

"I've missed you."

---

{ table: dars }

EITHER YOU HEAD OR YOUR HEART; YOU SET THE OTHER ON FIRE

[dars]

S L A D E

we are broken by others
but we mend ourselves
we take comfort in strangers
but I don't think it helps

"You know, I heard through the grape vine that your dad is dumb." He narrowed his eyes at her. Oh, the joys of cheesy humor. Peggy was lucky she was pretty, and that Slade had taken such an interest in her.

"Anyway, how have you been? It feels like... forever since I last saw you."

He repressed the urge to smile, biting his bottom lip as his mother's sermons about being a gentleman surged through him. Autumn colors suited her, didn't they? He loosened his scarf from around his neck.

"I've missed you."

Idle hands longed for something to grab so that the temptation of her own wouldn't be as strong. He pulled his fingers into his palm, clenching two fists and smiling— "I've missed you, too."

He waited a moment, his eyes on hers, biting his bottom lip, and then he spoke. "I've been around. Busy, you know. Gotta earn my keep." Honestly, he had been doing nothing at all. School, training, chores. So often, people assumed he already had plans and didn't bother inviting him to their own. He spent most days doing nothing, but his mother loved her plastic masks and false appearances, so as long as people thought Slade had a life, he was content to agree.

"What about you? Anything new on the Fray-time special?"

[D6f Carmen Cantelou [aza]]

"I've missed you, too." His words are worth the world and more. Our eyes are locked, his lip is bitten and it feels like this is one of those moments you read about in stories; where everything just clicks and two hearts begin to beat as one.

Then, he speaks again. 

"I've been around. Busy, you know. Gotta earn my keep." I feel that. "What about you? Anything new on the Fray-time special?"

"Not really." I say, scrunching my mouth to the side. "I've been training, really. A couple of days ago, the place was full of twelve-year-olds. Fucked me right off." I tell him; I am so tired of them. They waltz in as if they own the place and everyone in it. The spotlight is on them, but for all the wrong reasons---they can barely lift an axe let alone swing it with precision.

It happens every year, I shouldn't be surprised or annoyed but still, I am. It's just another signal that the Games are coming up soon. I take a sip of the hot cocoa. I guess it isn't so bad, it is better that they are prepared when the worst tries to take them.

"Sorry. It grinds my gears. Days like this just let me let go, you know? I don't have to care about anything."

---

{ table: dars }

EITHER YOU HEAD OR YOUR HEART; YOU SET THE OTHER ON FIRE