[ OPEN ] everything i need to know i learned from sam seaborn.

[quiteliterally]

WHO| Chris Traeger & YOU!
WHAT| That ball of sunshine you all know and love sinking into a pit of despair.
WHEN| The week of the visitors, and after.
WHERE| All over the city.
WARNINGS| Chris being an uncharacteristic sad sac.


Chris hasn't had any visitors, not that he'd been expecting any of course. He was from Panem but despite that fact he didn't see his family very often at all. They didn't even speak much. As much as it warmed the cockles of his heart, it was also devastating to watch all of the reunions rage on around him. It made it hard for him to get a grip - to keep moving like a shark so he didn't have to slow down or worse: stop. Stopping meant certain death, Chris only knew how to keep swimming.

He takes Champion to the aquarium, the park, the museum, the zoo... Out to lunch and around town. Nothing helps - it all just leaves him feeling empty. He hasn't been running in two whole days and he's pretty sure people die from that. Or maybe that really is just sharks. Between the natural history museum and the aquarium he knows more about their physiology than he can remember about his own. He feels hazy, off his game. He knows he's making mistakes at work.

And it's because he's alone. Well and truly without a companion in the world. There had been Victory, but that was one passing night, and the tributes he spoke to hated him, or used his clout in the Capitol to try to get themselves ejected from the games. He had been played, and used, and he's sick and tired of being sick and lonely (and tired).

Sitting on a park bench, or at the edge of a booth, or standing by the wildcat exhibit - none of it matters. Not when his own life means so little. Not when he can't even muster up a smile for a pudgy kid with a balloon. Champion sets his chin on Chris' knee and looks up at him like Stop being pathetic, Dad and for the first time in too long he's letting out a dry little chuckle as he strokes the dog's nose.

"You're right, boy. It's time for pre-natal yoga. Those classes aren't just for women, you know." Though maybe they were only for pregnant people. But it still makes Chris get up.

Feel free to run into him anywhere in the city, and wherever he goes Champion probably isn't far behind, even for a three-legged guy he's used to keeping up with a guy who could pump rocketfuel through his heart.

Comments

[confidentially]

Jessica was using every excuse in the book to avoid spending time with her sister. It wasn't that she hated Elizabeth (hate was such a strong word!) so much as her desire to protect her sister that kept her away. She'd led a shady existence in the Capitol, done things she wasn't proud of, and she didn't want Liz involved in that in any way. If she could just go back to District Three, everything would be fine again.

She'd made some sort of half-assed excuse to leave Elizabeth alone in the D3 suites for some alone time and ventured out into the park. That's where she spotted Chris and Champion. Okay, that's where she spotted Champion, then noticed Chris a few seconds later.

Smiling slyly, she sidled up to the dog. "Hey there, handsome! Did you miss me?"

[quiteliterally]

He opened his mouth to answer her, but again he'd been passed over for the dog. Champion pushed his face toward her hand in a suggestive manner while Chris wrapped an arm around the back of the bench to look up at Jessica as she approached. "I think that's a yes."

[confidentially]

"Oh, look at you. You're such a sweetheart." She knelt down to fawn over Champion, ruffling his ears while looking up at Chris with wide eyes. "What about you, Mister Traeger? Did you miss me too?"

[quiteliterally]

"Maybe I did," he replied, a little slyly, crossing one leg over the other as he continued to watch her and the dog. "Or maybe I'm just always this cheerful." See, even he was capable of poking fun at himself - when he was miserable anyway.

[confidentially]

She stood slowly, hand dangling over Champion's ears. "No one's really that cheerful. It's not humanly possible. At least not here." She tilted her head, watching him. "I haven't seen you around in awhile, you know."

[quiteliterally]

"You know me, always moving." It was an attempt at justification, but he knew it fell short. And the smile that followed was even lamer. "If I don't I'll die."

Except instead of sounding joke-y, it sounded suicide-y. Whoops.

[confidentially]

"So basically what you're saying is, is you're a shark." She cracked a small smile, hands on her hips.

[designatedfreak]

Max is running. There's nowhere to run to and there's nothing to run from, but she was running through the Capitol and away from those who had arrived for the others. Today she didn't feel lonely. As lonely. Today she didn't feel as lonely as she had in the days prior. Tributes were absorbed in reuniting with friends and family, even Courfeyrac had his real sisters now. Max spent the extra hours training now that she didn't have anyone to talk to, and today she wanted to run in the sunshine.

It was a good run until she saw the dog, or rather, they spied each other at the same time. She picked up speed and tried to ignore the thing; dogs and cats where not a good combination when said dog was possibly excited thanks to the exercise it was getting.

[quiteliterally]

Chris slowed when he saw Champion look over at her, frowning slightly - which really didn't become him at all. He forced a bright smile and waved at Max rather than trying to read his dog's mind. "Hello there! Isn't today the most beautiful day you've ever seen?"

[designatedfreak]

"No." Max wasn't rude about denying the beauty of the day, but completely factual. She had seen a better day once and was sure there would be better days ahead.

Keeping an eye on the dog, she paced herself to match the stranger. She missed running with her unit and most here just didn't have the same endurance she had. Truthfully, she found most of the Citizens rather lazy and with the arrival of friends and relatives she doubted any of the Tributes who might have gone the distance would take time away to train. "Why are you running, you're not a Tribute."

[quiteliterally]

Keeping a stride that was slow for him, but fast enough to be quicker than jogging, he wrinkled his nose up before facing forward again. "Because I have to." Chris realized that could be misconstrued a second later and shook his head. "The scientists who studied me said I could pump rocketfuel through my heart to one of the moons." Which really didn't explain anything, but it seemed relevant anyway.

"I run ten miles a day, to stay healthy and keep living. I will, one day, be the oldest living Panemite. I can't die if I don't stop."

[designatedfreak]

She stared at him for a moment. "It is impossible for a normal human body to filter the toxins in rocket fuel." Literal. Everything is literal with Max.

"You could die any number of ways apart from aging." Come back down to reality, Chris.

[quiteliterally]

"Perhaps scientifically accurate, but in theory it could be done." Oh, he liked this one, she was bright. He slowed to a walk, but he wasn't sweating or breathing heavy like he should have been. "But death... isn't worth thinking about. It's better to just keep moving, don't you agree?"

[pepsi_cola]

"Chris!"

She flops down onto a park bench beside him as if it's some sort of fainting couch. She wipes her hand over her forehead and then throws her arms around his shoulders. There are flowers from the park here in her hair, which seems to be pinned back with the thanks of her electronic cigarette.

"You never called me back! I figure I must have just been such a dunce that I forgot to return your call, but then..." She pouts. Given her lip injections, it's almost comical. "I thought maybe it was because you didn't love me. You said I literally gave you the best night of your life."

At least Chris is great at pillowtalk.

[quiteliterally]

"Victory!" he cheerfully returns, though it's almost uncomfortable when she hugs him. He had thought this was clear - a simple exchange between two needy people. He wasn't ready for any sort of relationship again, and if he were he's certain he'd choose someone slightly less insane. Champion comes to put his head on her knee, wagging his tail. And Chris supposed if his dog liked Victory then he should at least give her a chance.

Even if she didn't participate in Fair Trade.

"Oh, I'm... sorry. That you expected me to call." Wow, that sounded douchey, but he's not going to apologize for something he hadn't intended to do in the first place. "In my defense, I didn't know you wanted me to."

He also doesn't think she'd like to hear that every night is literally the best night of his life.

[pepsi_cola]

"Wha- why? Why wouldn't I want you to call?" Her lower lip quivers and her eyelashes bat (and surely a little bit of glitter flits away from them, because girl never knew a makeup look that was 'natural' or 'nude').

"I thought we had a great time. You said we had a great time." She looks like a little girl whose daddy has told her he can't afford to get her a pony.

[quiteliterally]

"We did have a great time." He blinked, rubbing some glitter off his face as it flecked from her makeup onto his cheek. "Didn't we?"

Then there was sighing, and a slight headshake. "Not to mention, I never got your number." There, saved it? Maybe.

[pepsi_cola]

She brings out the big dogs, err, the puppy eyes.

"That's not true! I gave you my number and suggested you tattoo it on yourself along with that hickie, and you said that that was literally the best idea you'd ever heard!"

[quiteliterally]

"I have no recollection of any of these events." Is she joking? His expression suggests he thinks so.

[asmilinggod]

Sitting on a park bench not so very far away was another perpetually sunny face with some clouds overcast. Kevin was reeling, and he needed to be alone for a little while...just to process it. He both relished the hum of the chip in the back of his neck and the knowledge that these thoughts were the reason it was humming.

His Mother. He had seen his Mother. He barely remembered her, but he remembered her. It was confusing. So was the look she had given him.

A mouse ran across his hands, over and over, squeaking frantically as it tried to get away from him. His hands were, for once, dry. He wasn't hungry right now.

Turning his eyes upward, he stared into the sun, focused, looking for answers as his lips moved in silent prayer.

[quiteliterally]

Chris narrowed his eyes, trying to identify the face from far away. Though his eyesight was literally better than perfect, he got up to make sure it was really Kevin sitting adjacent from him and his thoughts, clearly having some of his own.

As they approached, Champion's tail started wagging in a crazed sort of way, ready to either become best friends with, or consume the rodent whole. But he waited for Chris' say-so either way, letting out an excited-yet-frustrated little bark.

"Kevin," he said, with perhaps 70% of his usual enthusiam, though he at least managed to point. "...I didn't interupt a zen moment, did I?"

[asmilinggod]

When he was addressed, the grinning man looked down obediently - and was pleased to see a friend approaching. His own smile wasn't at 100% either...or, rather, his smile was, but it didn't hit his eyes like it should.

"Oh, hi, Mister Traegar." The mouse in his hands sees the dog, and isn't sure if it's better or worse than Kevin. It scurries noncommittally, desperate to get away from both. It doesn't get far.

"No, not really. I was praying, actually." The buzz at the back of his neck keeps getting more insistent, the more he dwells, so he actively tries not to dwell. It's difficult. His mother keeps drifting into his mind. "Trying to find some answers. I haven't gotten to pray a whole lot since I've gotten here, not properly."

He turns his eyes back up towards the sun, staring into it. Most people would find that painful. Kevin doesn't feel it anymore.

[quiteliterally]

Praying. That was interesting, though not exactly unique. "With a mouse," Chris supplied helpfully, frowning in an obviously pensive way. "Perhaps we can pray together, then. Though I'll admit, I'm more of a daily affirmer than a prayer. But I'm a quick study." He tilted his head and forced a small smile as he awaited Kevin's answer.

[asmilinggod]

"Oh, no, that's not part of the prayer. I'm just not hungry. Want it?" The mouse was also supplied helpfully, squeaking desperately as he held it out by the tail.

He glances down from the sun again to look at Chris - customs here just got stranger every day. No prayers? But daily affirmations were important, too, so he figured that was okay.

"Praying is really easy. The Smiling God will listen, even if we're far away from Desert Bluffs...maybe he'll have some advice about what's going on. If you pray really hard, and you look into the light...sometimes, you can hear his beautiful, rumbling, archaic voice."

[quiteliterally]

"What?" he actually asks, cupping his hands to catch the mouse before it can come to any harm. "You were going to eat him?"

Sorry Kev that kind of trumped your weird desert god speech.