[open]

[69problems]

Who| Signless and YOU, with a special prompt for the Psiioniic
What| Some last-minute indulgence before the mini arena.
Where| Various places out and about in the Capitol.
When| A few days after the crowning, before the special event arena.
Warnings/Notes| None I can think of.

[Prompts are in headers in the comments! Pick one that takes your fancy.]

Comments

[69problems]

He's by no means one of the more popular tributes, but the Signless's particular style of dress has sort of half-kickstarted a leggings trend. That coupled with the recent superhero theme in the wake of Mindy's victory and crowning means that they're very easy to find in just about any pattern one could want. He doesn't go clothes shopping often, but part of being a Good Tribute is being visible, and especially with the extra arena coming up he wants to leave a good impression before he goes in.

Right now he's contemplating a rack of leggings in various bright colors and debating whether red sequins are Too Much. They probably are. He will probably buy them anyway.

[69problems]

A very long time ago when the Capitol interviewed him (and then twisted his words to make it sound as though he ate humans, but, details), he told them his favorite thing about Panem was the food. That's still true, especially in the case of everything the Capitol has to offer in terms of sweets. He never got to eat sweets on Alternia unless it was for a very special occasion.

Every time he visits the candy shop he buys something different: Capitol extravagance means he still hasn't got through everything they have to offer. The novelty of being able to go into a store that sells nothing but sweet things and just buy however much he wants has still not worn off. The downside to this is that sometimes he buys too much. He sits on a bench outside the store, poking through the brightly-colored bags, and when someone sits next to him it's only natural that he offer them something.

"Would you like some licorice?"

[closed to the psiioniic]

[69problems]

It's just on the right side of no longer freezing for ice cream to be a viable option again. If this arena is his last -- and every arena might be his last, even the tiny ones -- then he's going to damn well eat ice cream before he goes in. It's a much better way to psych himself up than brooding over what fresh hell the arena might contain.

Speaking of fresh hell, he spots a familiar pair of double horns and is instantly much less thrilled about his 'eat ice-cream, don't fall into a pre-arena depression' plan. Just because they were able to have what might be termed a civil conversation once recently doesn't mean this will go similarly well. But, well... there's nowhere else to sit except at the counter. He leaves a chair separating them as a sort of buffer, but that's about all he can do.

[metalicarus]

He hadn't really noticed who else had been sitting on the bench when he decided to take a moment to rest; he'd been walking all around the city for the last several hours and he was starting to wear out.

The question about licorice startles him a little and he looks over to the other person, his brain pauses a moment. It just seemed like the strangest question to him.

"Um...no thanks, I've never been a big fan of it myself." But then something else occurred to him as his eyes trailed over the other bags. "Wait, where did you get that stuff?"

[69problems]

"One of the shops; there's quite a few that sell things like this. You're welcome to look through it for something you do like, there's no way I can get through all of it before the special arena." A shadow passes momentarily over his face and then disappears.

[deafscythe]

Maybe next time the Signless will look over and see who it is before offering food. But Justin isn't the sort of person to turn down free candy, so when a piece is presented in his direction, he takes it.

"Ah, thank you."

[69problems]

There's a moment where Signless's heart thumps uncomfortably high in his throat and he has to remind himself they're not in the arena and he doesn't have to worry about being beheaded again. Not right now, anyway. He asked Justin to find him after the arena, he can't fault him for doing so, even if it caught him by surprise.

"You're welcome. I can't eat all this on my own." He pauses for an awkward moment. "So, ah. How have you been."

[deafscythe]

"Ah, I am doing well." Better than in the arena, but it's not as if he could get much worse. While Signless might be uncomfortable, Justin looks completely calm as he chews on the licorice.

"How have you been?"

[69problems]

"Fine, more or less. The special arena was a surprise. I honestly didn't think I was that popular in Twelve."

Pruna? Now Pruna made sense when she got picked. She's a cute little girl and a walking death machine, she's got it all.

[deafscythe]

Justin considers the troll for a moment. A long moment.

"That does seem odd. You appear to have the characteristics necessary to become popular with the sponsors."

[69problems]

Signless laughs.

"Oh, I'm not very popular with them either, really. I don't kill enough and my deaths aren't usually that exciting. Now that trolls aren't in style I really have very little going for me."

[deafscythe]

"You are weak and excessively compassionate." Not an insult, just a statement of fact. "Those are traits that should bring at least some attention."

[69problems]

"Oh, they did, until I made the mistake of killing someone for compassionate reasons and ruined the entire pacifist image. Effie -- my escort -- was furious. Now they can't market me as a harmless weakling with good intentions, but it's also abundantly clear that there won't be any repeat violent performances, and so I've lost both markets."

It's strange, to be able to sit here and so calmly analyze something that sent him in a spiral of self-hate and depression, but that's how people in Panem talk about these things in regards to tributes. If he's going to be a good tribute he's going to need to learn to speak in their language, on their terms, and think like they do.

[deafscythe]

Justin chews on the bit of liquorice, looking contemplative for a moment.

"According to Johanna, I have no sponsors either." Not that he cares much, but that's probably why he wasn't chosen for this mini-Arena. "I doubt it truly matters much."

[69problems]

"It depends on how good you are at independent survival. That's one of my few strengths, so being generally not very popular hasn't been much of a hindrance. I'm used to starving and getting little sleep and being paranoid about being found.

"I can't imagine why you wouldn't have support, though. Your performance in the museum was..."

He doesn't want to say 'great' because, well, so he takes a bite of his own piece of licorice while he thinks.

"Memorable."

[deafscythe]

"You can thank the Initiate for that." Justin hadn't been planning on being quite so memorable, but he'd lost control.

[69problems]

"So maybe the general consensus is that you wouldn't have been nearly so interesting without his interference," he mused. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Voodoo is not a pleasant thing to experience, from everything I've heard."

[deafscythe]

"The general consensus is that I should not have announced that I have no intention to win, but I believe there is some concern about my ability to be interesting without his interference."