sister silver // silk & sampson

[Deleted]

s a m p s o n

---

Sampson took the closest thing to a break year as they could muster, spending every aching second drinking deep purple wine and basking in sunlight. Just as their mother instructed. You see, family is so important because they are the closest thing to your shared reality, and Sampson has always trusted their mother's word above most else. Business boomed their first year, Sampson took helm and profited every second of Jade's momentum, decadent expose day after day. 

"I just don't know what went wrong, girl," they'd say on the phone, Sailor on the other end pretending to understand their pain. 

When your cathedral burns down, it's hard to build god again out of the remains. Sampson tried to build that Val girl up to what she could have been, but they realized how difficult it was to work with dead weight. She resigned the second she walked onto that stage, given her life to her district partner and that's what Sampson loved, that's what lit the fire under their steps. 

Not their friendship, but Jade's willingness to live. That fight, that dynamic, family didn't make Val, family killed the bitch. Jade had determination and grit, she had what it took and made Sampson so proud -- that's what they fucking needed. 

And luckily, that's exactly what they got. 

Sampson could hardly believe it, wore nothing but black the entire day waiting to see her in person: Silk goddamn Le Roux. They didn't want to jinx a thing, not a single hair on her single head; they remembered working with Ridley the first month they took over the stylist position, and even in the background Silk was radiant. Crown goddamn Heir of the Le Rouxes, stunning in monarch and quartz and decadence and just "oh my god, I am so excited to meet you. Finally!" 

They couldn't blink. 

Unlike last year, Sampson waited until she had made it into the training center. No distractions, no male to get in the way, Silk was escorted into the hotel floor and allowed to get comfortable. She eats and showers, and Sampson's sipping their wine until they're finally able to meet her back on floor 0, shining as she does back in the lobby, "I'm Sampson Crowe, stylist to Katelyn, Nico and your Ridley," they say, digging into their bag for the entry gift. 

Sampson's always preferred the hands on approach, treating their tributes like family. Kinda skipped the middle step this year with Le Roux, they already know everything they need to. "And now I'm all your's, a complete pleasure," there's pride in the way they talk, pulling a deep red velvet ring box out of their bag and into Silk's hand. 

"I'm surprised Ky isn't alongside you! I figured it'd be a family reunion this year."

[esther kim d3 {lance}]

You're no stranger to rapid transitions, going from sweating like a pig in your personal training gear to greeting dignitaries from other houses at formal galas in fancy dresswear in the span of a couple of hours. And that's perhaps the only reason you haven't gotten whiplash from the day's events - hell, just this morning you were dressing up in your Reaping best with your siblings in tow - and now?

Well, you've just gotten off a train ride to the Capitol, the third such member of your family to complete the trip in the last five years, showered in a shower that made your own back home look like a faucet in comparison, eaten food that'd likewise made the fancy treats at the galas taste like ash, and then found yourself on the bottom floor of the training center, meeting a striking, flamboyant individual that logic easily was able to deduce as your stylist.

"Oh my god, I am so excited to meet you. Finally!"

Even their energy is distinctly Capitol in nature - though, compared to some of the other Capitolites you've met in your brief venture, their energy is toned down, more manageable, not quite as overwhelming. There's genuine in their tone, not just pure, rabid excitement.

"I'm Sampson Crowe," they introduce themselves as, and the surname registers deep within your memories - hadn't you heard of some famous Capitolite lady who also had the surname Crowe? - before your attention is drawn elsewhere as they continue. "Stylist to Katelyn, Nico and your Ridley-"

And that catches your interest even more. No, not the accentuation of the word your when it came to relating to your cousin, but the names that preceded it. "Katelyn, Nico, and Ridley?" you respond, genuinely curious. "I thought most stylists were limited to the victors of a single district."

The more you know.

"I'm surprised Ky isn't alongside you!" Sampson continues, and were you a lesser woman, it would have been nigh impossible to prevent the polite, intrigued expression on your face from shattering into a thousand pieces. (As it were, it was damn near hard enough even with your particular talents). "I figured it'd be a family reunion this year."

You chuckle in response, hoping that the expression doesn't sound too terribly forced. "No, Ky's been taking on the role of a hermit this year, apparently," you respond lightly, as if this was just another classmate instead of Opal Earnest's only son. "I actually haven't seen him myself, yet." A shrug, then you continue. "Hell if I know why."

Another lie - any random old Joe who had paid half attention to the tabloids two years prior would have a good idea why. And you weren't just any random old person - you were, after all, the elder sister to one of the parties involved.