thecapitol | New kind of victory.

One of his tributes is nearby, extracting himself from his dance partner as the song ends. Trying not to insult people but also trying his best not to be dragged back onto into the crowd. There are a lot of people and he is not the greatest dancer.

He stands near Finnick and gives him a nervous smile, he hasn't spoken to his new mentor yet. He seemed nice, though Shion thought he probably wouldn't be so nice once he realised just how bad at the arena Shion was.

Not every tribute who goes into the arena comes out a winner, it's just something of a relief to have them come back at all. He felt worse sending tributes in he didn't think had a chance.

"Enjoying the party? You've gotten a few dances in, I see."

Finnick was gentler with his tributes now than he would be in training. There's really no need to motivate them now.

"Yeah..." He shrugged, "I couldn't get away." He sounded half terrified at the idea, and he was. Dancing was new for him, and he had never liked attention. As hard as it was to avoid it with the rediculous hair his stylists imposed on him.

"I'm sure I could hide you away if you wanted. People here are used to their tributes being happily in the limelight, but if you're having trouble with it I'm sure we can find someone who will like it more."

He was entirely sincere about it, he didn't want his tributes to feel worse than they had to at a time like this.

Shion blinked at him, he would very much to hide, though he wasn't sure there was anyone who would actually like so much attention. "Um..." He blinked at him, "I don't want to be any trouble."

He was blushing again, his face bright red, so much that you could barely see the mark on his cheek. He looked at Finnick, glad that he had offered to help, it made him a lot less terrifying than the other mentors he had met.

"You're not any trouble. You're tributes here, now. People should be bending over backward to be nice to you. And if that means going without a dance, they'll live."

He was used to dealing with frightened kids, for better or worse, and he was getting pretty good at it. He offered Shion his hand.

"Come on, we'll find a nice, quiet spot to sit. Okay?"

Shion blinked at him and took his hand nodding slowly. "Okay." He didn't actually think people should be going out of their way to be nice, he remembered what the strange anonymous person on the network had said, that there was still a lot of anger and they shouldn't expect people to be happy about their presence here.

"I'm Shion... I guess you already know that." Since he was a mentor, and it was his job to know such things.

"And I'm Finnick, but I guess you know that already, too."

He took Shion out to the dock where it was actually peaceful. He liked it out here, it was easier to forget things he wanted to forget when he was by the ocean.

"How's this? A lot quieter, huh?"

Shion followed him and smiled as he looked out at the ocean. "It is... thank you." He closed his eyes for a moment, reminding himself they were out of the arena, no one was going to sneak up and kill him for taking a moment to actually look at the surroundings around him.

"It's beautiful... and so big..."

"Bigger than you can imagine." He looked over at Shion, who he didn't know nearly enough about. "Or maybe you can."

Finnick slipped his shoes off and dipped a foot into the water. It was an escape for him as well.

"Tell me about where you came from. It will help to know what you're fighting for."

Shion copied him, taking off his shoes and dipping his feet in the water. It was cold, but sort of nice. He looked over at the man and then out at the ocean. "Most of my world was wasteland, there was a lot of war and disease... There are only six inhabitable cities and I come from one of them. It's nowhere near an ocean so until last arena I had never seen so much water..."

He shrugged, "My city wasn't really like the Capitol, but it has a lot of similarities, science is very important and how well you will do in life is determined when you are a small child. There was a lot of cruelty there... but it was hidden. It's different now, something happened..." It was a long story and Shion is never sure how to even start explaining Elyrius.

"We were working on rebuilding the city, making it a kinder place."

Edited 2014-02-05 10:52 (UTC)

Finnick felt a stab of hurt thinking that Shion's world was actually in worse shape than his own. And that even though he was going through one of the most brutal forms of torture the Capitol ever put on television he might still be better of here.

"Sounds like this isn't a step up for you. I hope you can get back and keep working to make things better. And if you can't, I hope you can help us make this place better. I'm sure you can tell how much we need it."

"I hope so." He looked around, fear flickering in his eyes. He didn't know Finnick at all, and though to him it would seem like a mentor, someone from this world who had been thrown into the games, would dislike it all as much as he did.

But there was always a risk, back in No. 6 there had been spies who had been older women and men, sat on benches, coaxing anyone who looked anything less than content to grumble about their problems, offering a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen to. That those who spilled their problems to them disappeared shortly after, stricken from the records, was mostly unknown. Shion only knew because his mum had almost fallen into that trap.

"More kindness anywhere can never go amiss."

Finnick smiled over at Shion.

"Don't lose that feeling, of wanting to share kindness. They're going to want to tear it away from you, but if you can hang on to it, it will serve you well."

Normally Finnick would be trying to scare or beat these instincts out of his tributes, it wouldn't serve them in the arena. But for the first time he doesn't have to worry about it. Shion will come back regardless of how well he does. Finnick doesn't have to play bad cop anymore.

Shion smiled softly, "I won't... or at least I'll try." Because Finnick was right, this place was the kind of place to try and tear kindness away from them. But keeping it, being able to help other people despite everything, that would be a victory in itself.

"If there's anything I can help you with, I'll do what I can. Which isn't saying a whole lot, I'm not that much freer than you are."

Finnick stared down into the water. He wondered if Shion knew how to swim, since this was his first time seeing the ocean.

That thought made Shion even sadder and his eyes flickered over at Finnick for a moment, "Thank you... I think it means more... that you want to try anyways."

He moved his foot in the water, watching the ripples.

Finnick was fidgeting his hands against the dock. Too many things were floating through his head and he just wanted to escape.

"Do you know how to swim, Shion?"

Shion shook his head. "No... I can't swim." Which had always made the fact he was part of this district seem silly to him. Another way he would disappoint people.

That seemed typical to Finnick at this point. But then, they couldn't be a whole district of stereotypes.

"Would you like to learn? I'm sure I could give lessons. It could come in really handy."

"You would teach me?" Shion blinked at him, smiling, "I would love to learn to swim!" It would be useful, it could save his life, and it was something he'd always wondered about, what it would be like.

"I'll see what I can do when we get back to the Capitol. I would be an embarrassment of a mentor for this district if one of my tributes drowned."

He was keeping an eye on Shion in case he fell in, not that he was expecting it. But someone who had been living by the ocean as long as he had, as well as someone who has lived through as many arenas as he had could never be too careful.

"It would be quite embarrassing." Shion agreed. "I don't think R can swim either." Though he wasn't sure if the zombie could learn. He could probably try, even if his coordination wasn't great.

But as it stood Shion was pretty sure that in the case of a arena where water featured heavily, most of district four would drown quickly.

Finnick would never get over an embarrassment like that.

"I don't think I would ever be able to live it down. I'll make a note to take time at the training center when I can. But this next arena is set to start soon. Let's hope it's a high and dry one."

He patted Shion on the shoulder.

Shion smiled, "Let's hope so." Though his smile was a bit strained. The next arena was soon, and Rat was here and he had to deal with that reality. That he would be in the arena with Rat and there would be no way to protect him, because he could barely protect himself.

"Thank you for showing me the ocean." He said softly watching the ripples on the water.

New kind of victory.

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good end?

yes, this is a good end spot