All In A Days Work | PaytonxKiah

[d4 Panda Scope [Gayton]]

Bubby Caro

---

My, my love had been frozen
Deep blue, but you painted me golden

---

The sword was much heavier than I expected, clattering down to the ground and pulling me with it as soon as I lifted it from the racking. I could’ve sworn I’d seen tributes swinging these around one handed before, but even if I were stronger I’d still need two hands for balance.

My eyes darted around anxiously, expecting to find the others pointing and laughing at me. Luckily, I didn’t think anyone noticed. At least, no one was paying me any mind. I squatted down and grasped the handle with both hands and lifted with my knees. Once I had it in the air, I gave it a couple of twirls in my palms, just to get the feel of it.

I turned to face a dummy, now that I’m armed. Now what? How was I supposed to learn how to use this on my own? How was I supposed to make everyone think I already knew what to do with it?

I stood there, awkwardly. I was waiting, I guess, for a prince to come and save the day.

You said there was nothing in the world that could stop it
I had a bad feeling

[k!ah]

District four was supposed to be filled with trained killer.

Well... Thats what Mauve had thought.

But when she saw the boy from wrestling with a sword the same way a puppy might wrestle with a chew toy she became somewhat doubtful of their reputation. He looked like she might just need to flick him for him to kneel over and simply just die at her feet. Somehow the thought disappointed her, it kind of bummed her out thinking that his death might have no suffering. It was always quite dull when tributes died suddenly. Mauve yearned to hear her victims cry, to hear them beg her to end it, to stop it all. The rush of power that consumed her was addicting, and Mauve Morganstern was a helpless addict.

Mauve prowls over to the boy, slinging an arm across the dummies shoulders. "Staring at it won't make it scream," her voice lacks emotion, her head tilted to the side thoughtfully as she studied the boy before her the same way a lion might study its prey. "Try swinging the sword," she pauses, "if you can."

[d4 Panda Scope [Gayton]]

Bubby Caro

---

My, my love had been frozen
Deep blue, but you painted me golden

---

I generally considered everyone I met in life to be more powerful than me. It’s safer to assume that rather than be blinded by a power complex. There wasn’t any time for pretending to be better than others, especially without any evidence to support a claim.

The problem, though, is that people make me nervous. Powerful people terrify me. So when everyone you meet has power over you, it’s impossible to not be on your guard all of the time. Granted, not everyone was as powerful as I painted them.

But then there are women like Mauve from Three. She was powerful, undeniably to everyone in the room. So when she seemingly materialized next to the dummy, casually wrapping her arm around it, I was freaked. A shiver ran down my spine and with a loud gasp I dropped the sword. I was like Sisyphus, scrambling to bring the sword back into my grasp knowing it was fated to clang to the ground once again.

“Try swinging the sword, if you can.”

I smiled, awkwardly. I had been so focused on avoiding gazes that I forgot to look right in front of me for a peer to approach.

“Oh, uh-Jeez. I didn’t see you there.”

A small pause interrupted me as I grasped for something to say to her. She was making fun of me. I’d experienced it enough times to recognize. But who could blame her? I was a bright red bullseye painted larger than the target. And I never moved. 

“Yeah, I just have never held one before,” I admitted foolishly, “Well I mean, I have actually. I think. Well, no, not think. I have. In the training, uh, rooms in Four. I just, uh.. yeah I don’t want to show off? You get it, you get it.”

This is why I hated talking. I never knew how to stop.

You said there was nothing in the world that could stop it
I had a bad feeling

[k!ah]

Mauve's eyebrows raise slightly as he stumbles over his words. About halfway through she was bored, slipping off the dummy she approaches him, walking around him slowly as he finally decided that yes, he had indeed held a sword before. He was flustered and she was flattered, his discomfort like lovers words whispered in her ear.

Smiling she comes to a stop behind him, her hands lightly on his shoulders, her lips a breath away from his ear. "You seem flustered," her voice is a purr, her hands running over his shoulders as she comes to stand in front of him, pulling the sword from between fingers that seemed to yield it to her gratefully. He had said that he simply did not wish to show off skills that they both knew he didn't have. "I thought district four was supposed to be trained how to survive the games," she gives him a slow look, from head to toe and back again. He lacked muscle, his eyes barely able to hold her gaze for more than half a heart beat.

Six had reminded her of a mouse, skittish, small and unthreatening. This boy was much the same, and she knew that it would not take much to break him. And break him she would, in a way that would be so exhilarating that she would overdose on endorphins, riding a high that would have her dizzy and weak at the knees. Goosebumps raise the hairs on her arms, her teeth snagging her lower lip. For a moment she forgot he was there, his sword in her hands, as she became lost in the anticipation of the games.

Shaking herself she suddenly advances on the dummy, sword held easily in one had as she struck at its neck. Once. Twice. Three times, before it is ripped from its shoulders, hitting the ground with a thud.