Thicker Than Blood Start

[gamemakers]

For Tributes with keen eyes, they'll notice that Peacekeeper presence seems increased and yet infinitely more ineffective in the last few weeks. Peacekeepers seem harried, as do the Stylists, and most of the Escorts titter and plot without alerting the Tributes as to what, exactly, is so exciting. They simply say that this weekend they'll know.

And so it happens that on the weekend in question, the Tributes are woken by their Escorts early and brought to a restaurant for a hearty breakfast. The restaurant is nothing spectacular, although they seem to be trying to make an impression on the television cameras that float around. The sleepy, cranky meal goes by and then the Tributes are led back to their Suites for a mandatory meeting.

Sitting on couches and the floor, in chairs and on windowsills, standing off to the side - people from the Tributes' homes are waiting to greet them in each District Suite. Some are confused, some accepting, some frightened and some elated to see their beloved. Either way, it should be an eventful reunion.

Comments

[gruesome]

Some was irate coming back from the enforced breakfast. Eating, meals, food, all were sensitive subjects, and to have to eat the bland paste the Capitol gave him on camera left him tetchy.

All of that melted away the instant he saw her. He stopped, blocking the doorway from the corridor, back snapping straight, and stared, all eight eyes open wide and focused, under the plain white wide-brimmed hat he wore today. He took a halting step forward, unsure, speechless.

[storiesinstone]

In that moment, time stopped. She saw him, wide-eyed, standing there in the doorway and looking at her, right at her -

It was true.

In a blink and the soft click-click of feet scuttling across the floor, she closed the distance between them, stopping just short of an embrace to verify what she was seeing.

"Some," she nearly whispered, her own eyes narrowing behind her veil in scrutiny. For the moment, the place was forgotten, all that mattered was her son. "You...it's really you...?"

[gruesome]

Hand shaking, he tipped back his hat so she could get a clear view of his face. A little older and much thinner than it had been when he'd last been home. "Mother... Mother!"

He had to touch her, reaching out to brush his fingers against her shoulders, her arms.

[storiesinstone]

The very instant she was certain, the second she knew that this was no trick, she was embracing him, long limbs wound around his in an impossibly complicated hug. Her neck craned downward to bury her face against his neck, glad to hold him.

"You've...grown. You're older...I don't know how this is possible, but it is so good to see you again."

He's thin. That worried her, but she was a little preoccupied for the moment.

[gruesome]

His arms were tight around her in the same instant, and he clung, hands gripping the shaggy fur on her sides. He was struggling to find any words at all, overwhelmed.

"I'm- oh, Mother, it has been so long..." His hat dislodged and fell off, and he didn't care.

[storiesinstone]

It felt nice to be this close to her son again...a chance that she never thought she would have again. Reaching up, she tugged her hat down and adjusted the veil to cover Some's head too, instinctively protecting him from the light.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again, my son...after what happened, I had to make my peace as best I could with that fact. I told myself that there was so much left unsaid, but...."

She was speechless as well, though she did not want to admit it. Not right now. She wasn't the focus here...the important thing was Some.

[gruesome]

He rested his head against hers, happy to share shade with her. "I'm so sorry I left. I- I still don't know why I did... I never knew I wouldn't ever be able to come back."

[storiesinstone]

For a long moment, she said nothing to this - holding him in silence, shutting her eyes and resting her cheek against the top of his head. She didn't want to think of it, not now...but it wasn't going to go away if she pretended it didn't happen, either.

"...You couldn't have known what was going to happen, Some. You were never so foolish as to readily walk towards your-"

She stopped short, needled by the memory.

[gruesome]

He was shivering with emotion, swallowing. "I was- I didn't know where I was going. I just... walked away. I would have come back, I know I would have, only the city took me away, and I still don't even begin to know how to find a way back..."

[storiesinstone]

Her arms wrapped tighter around him - some part of her trying to protect him in her memory. Listening to him speak...she realized fully what she already knew.

He had no idea.

"...Some." She kept saying his name. She missed saying his name so, she couldn't help it. It had been so hard to say back home.

"Some, I dearly wish you could return...but I don't...believe that is possible."

[gruesome]

"No, I know, I-" He trailed off, looking into her face. "You know?"