brutal out here [love x ariel]

[pogue]

C   A   L   L   U   M

L   O   V  E

Love Bellisario’s form is sprawled out on the ground, back pressed against the synthetic bark of the trees in the far corner of the Training Center. He’d had little interest in coming over here at first, figuring no reason to learn to climb again as if it hadn’t been taught to him as a child at the Academy summer camps back in Two.

But hell, a guy like him can’t help but be drawn like a moth to light of the shade the trees provide. There’s still sweat dripping from his forehead, the leftover remnants of sliced through dummies and marked targets and plastered smiles and innocent demeanor, and as he closes his eyes his fingertips wrap gently around the faded red headphones plugged into the vintage cassette player strewn across his chest.

Thanks, Ma. He thinks to himself, pulling the headphones into his ears before his thumb pressed down onto the closest button of the cassette. He hears only his heartbeat at first, clawing and digging at the innards of his chest in the span of time it takes for the music to flow from the device into his ears.

A smile cracks across his face when the song finally starts, familiar words echoing and bouncing in his ears as he leans back and stares up at the mask of foliage above.

Lips move and dance with the beat, mouthing the lyrics to a song that far precedes him. And hands curl around drumsticks made of nothing from air, rising and falling in time with the pounding of the drum in his ear.

Thanks, Ma. He says it again to himself, feeling the memories echo and bounce in the back of his mind as he continues a one man performance.

[Python]

a r i e l .

The trees reminded her of home. They were synthetic and out of place, the leaves more polished than they should be, but it was a semblance of familiarity. When she wanted to disappear, she fled to this corner of the training center and climbed to the highest branches. It was second nature to her. There were no heights that frightened her, and maybe that was dangerous - then again, everything she was about to experience was danger. A little fearlessness could carry her a long way.

She did not expect someone to visit her little corner. As she hung upside down from one of the branches, she spotted him on the ground below. She wasn't good with names, never would be, but everyone made it a point to show her the careers. What was this dangerous killer doing by the trees?

There were wires in his ear, connected to one of those musical cassette tapes that she couldn't afford. Her friends would let her borrow one every now and then, and she wasn't picky about the songs. He seemed to be having a grand old time, a one-man show. Would it be rude to interrupt?

It was an opportunity to talk to another tribute. Her trainers had warned her that socializing was important.

She whistled from her perch, hoping he would hear her through the tunes. "Hey you! What song are you listening to?"

elegant

[pogue]

C   A   L   L   U   M

L   O   V  E

He’s used to lone-wolfing it through the training center.

It wasn’t that he didn’t approach others when he wanted to, all plastered smile and kindness seeping through bared fangs. But when he’s not taking the first step he can see other’s taking their first steps away from him. Careers are branded as deadly and that wasn’t without good reason, but it would be impossible to not notice the shift in tide wherever he’d stepped foot. 

So, when a form shifts into his view above him, gracefully hanging upside down from the synthetic branches, he tilts his head and narrows his eyes. She moves with precision, legs wrapped around the branches and eyes curious instead of wary, brave in naivety instead of steeped in fear.

He smiles, authentically for once.

“Truth be told, I don’t really know.” It’s the truth that slips from his lips, still so foreign as it claws through the facade he holds up. The cassette his Ma had placed into his hands so many years ago didn’t come with titles, and the fry of time had distorted some of the lyrics to the point that they were unrecognizable. It didn’t matter to him, though, clasping drumsticks made of air and fingertips strumming guitar strings that only existed in his imagination.

Still though, it made narrowing down what titles and choices were his favorite much more difficult, not that he wasn’t down for a challenge. “Maybe you can help? Take a listen and maybe you can help me decide on a title for this one.” 

His fingertips wrap gently around the headphones that he’d pulled from his ears, yanking it free from the audio jack on the top of the device. The speaker sizzles for a moment, crackling with anticipation before the audio gradually begins to spill out and into the air. It’s banging drums and heavy guitar, muffled voice speaking of heroes and being there for those who you love. It’d be strangely poetic if he felt that way about anyone else here.

“Any thoughts?” He says, smiling up at the girl above and pulling his body from a lounging state into sitting up.