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Who| ALL Y'ALL it's a ho down
What| A catch-all reaction log for the plot developments. Saves you from making 5 logs each tbh.
Where| All around the place
When| During and post lock down, 3am~ sunday onward
WARNINGS| Panicking, talk of murder and violence. Singing the songs of panem.

When things like THIS and THIS are going down it's probably a good time to touch base with one another. Face caressing, crying and meaningful stares abound as the Tributes and Staff drag their knuckles hopelessly in an effort to figure out what the fresh hell is going on.

Make your own prompts, feel free to make them closed to specific people.

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The way the peacekeepers had busted in and taken people had unnerved him and set him on edge. He wanted to fight back, to punch them in the face for even acting like that, but they hadn't gone for Felicity so that had kept him from doing anything more than digging his nails into his palms and pacing like a caged dog.

He was still pacing in the middle of the commons by the time Albert stepped off the elevator looking like shit. Jet was instantly in panic mode for the seconds it took him to cross to his fiance. The moment his hands were on the other man, he felt a little less panicky and a lot more mad. They hadn't tried to take Albert, but if they had...

"What the hell happened to you?"

Jet instantly moved to pull his partner's head to his chest as his arms encasing Albert protectively.

He's too angry to be pulled in for long and after a moment he ducks his head away, though he still stays in Jet's embrace. "Peacekeepers. They took Terezi and I tried to get in their way. Is Felicity alright?"

God he hopes she's alright. He's not sure why it didn't even enter his mind that Jet could have been taken too, but it hadn't. Suddenly overwhelmed with guilt and worry he grasps Jet's forearms and looks him in the eye. "Are you alright?"

That doesn't surprise him and it pisses him off that they took her, but his reaction is to grab Albert's arms back. His anger and fear of potentially losing his fiance there in his eyes.

"She's fine and so am I." There were red marks where his nails had nearly broken skin, but he couldn't even think about it right now.

"You idiot...those jackasses might've taken you just for getting in the damn way." He couldn't blame Albert, didn't blame him, Jet would have done the same had they even made a move to take Felicity, but that didn't stop his worry.

He looked around as though half expecting peacekeepers to come out of the woodwork and rectify their previous mistake. He tugged on the other man's arms to pull him into the kitchen. "Come here, I need to fix you up."

"I couldn't just let them take her." An explanation, not an excuse, but he lets himself be lead to the kitchen. He still tastes blood from his lip and nose and his eye throbs with a painful rhythm that he finally lets himself feel now that he's safely in Jet's hands.

He sits on a stool obediently and waits quietly while Jet collects what he needs to treat the minor injuries, but his mind is far away. At length, Albert speaks. "I was too young to remember, but they took my grandfather and his brother like that. Gestapo, in the middle of the night. No one was there to stand up to them. They made hats."

He clenches his hands into fists, silent again but knuckles white.

Jet set the stuff down on the counter and moved to stand in front of Albert. Long fingers worked to pry the German's hands apart and filled them with his own.

"Don't...you'll hurt yourself like that."

He pulled one of his hands away to grab the bundle of towel and ice he'd made to press it over Albert's eye. As soon as he had it pressed firmly, he grabbed the other towel and wiped at his nose and lip.

"You want me to set your nose or just wait for the next arena?" His tone was dry but the question was honest. One good thing about dying and coming back was that things like broken noses weren't a big deal.

He wanted to say something, to tell the older man it would be okay, that they'd get Terezi back, help her somehow. That everything would be all right. But the fact was nothing was alright right now and while Jet could muster as much hope as he needed, it was hard to support it with anything. The best he could do was be there.

"Is it broken?" He flinches as the ice touches his eye and the bridge of his nose, answering his own question with the pain that shoots through the bridge of his nose. "Nevermind. Set it, we don't know when the next arena is."

He sets his mouth in a thin line, preparing for Jet to lay his hands on and slip his septum back into place. It's not the first time his partner's set his broken bones and he guesses it won't be the last.

Jet's mouth twisted but he nodded. It would hurt, but it would probably feel better once it was back in place. He finished wiping the blood up and held the towel to the German's lip to staunch the flow of blood before setting it and the ice down.

"Hold on."

He left the room to grab some tissues from the bathroom and offered them to Albert. "Blow your nose to get the blood out of it, then I'll set it." He started to walk back into the kitchen to get some water then paused. "And move to the couch while you're at it. The last guy I helped got dizzy and passed out."

He follows directions obediently, though he looks a little cross about it as he tosses the bloody tissue in the trash. "I'm not going to pass out. I've had worse than a broken nose."

He settles against the back of the couch, waiting for Jet to just get on with it, as if he doesn't have time to deal with trifles like broken noses. He keeps oscillating between infuriated and anxious, but the anger is a little easier right now.

Jet ignored his mood and kept about doing what he was doing. He knew what Albert was mad about, it wasn't Jet and it wasn't something Jet could fix right now, what Jet could fix right now was his partner's nose so he'd focus on that.

The blond brought the water, a wad of tissue and another towel over to the couch after taking a second to wash his hands. He knelt in front of the older man and reached up to Albert's face. It only took about a minute--and involved a very uncomfortable but necessary moment of sticking his pinkies up his partner's nose to set the bit inside--but then it was over with and hopefully it would feel better now.

He cleaned his hands with the towel and tore up some of the tissue to plug up and help hold the shape of Albert's nose. "You're lucky I know what your nose is supposed to look like, the last guy didn't have that working for him. How do you feel?"

Despite what Albert had said, Jet settled beside his partner in case the older man needed to lean on him or the American needed to catch the stubborn fool in the event he passed out.

The sensation of Jet's fingers up his nose is the single most odd thing he's had to deal with in this history of their relationship, but it's over soon and with a small pop as his nose regains its original shape.

Jet was right, it does make him somewhat light headed and had he been standing up he probably wouldn't have stayed that way. He tries not to slur too much when he responds to Jet, though it's difficult with the tissues clogging his sinuses to sound even the slightest bit normal. "It feels better."

A beat.

"Thank you."

A wry smile touches Jet's lips and he slips his arm around Albert's shoulders. "No problem. Just stay sitting for a while, okay? Rest; I know it's hard for you, but try."

Jet pecked him on the cheek and stood to gather the water and ice pack before returning to his place at Albert's side. Without invitation, he pressed the pack against his fiance's eye again and set the water on the coffee table. "The water's for you after you're not dizzy anymore."

The slightly commanding tone that had slipped into his face and voice died down after his final 'order' and turned a little more tender, a little more worried. The hand not holding the ice pack found one of Albert's and twined their fingers together.

He inhales sharply as Jet replaces the ice on his eye, simultaneously irritated by and grateful for the mothering. He could easily do it himself, but there's some sort of guilty pleasure in his partner caring for him like this.

"I want to do something, but I don't know what we can do. After I fought the peacekeepers and yelled at the liaison, they'll be keeping an eye on my activity, and since we're public about our engagement I'm certain they'll be watching you as well..." He trails off with a frustrated sigh and takes the ice pack, keeping it against his eye as he tightens his fingers in Jet's grasp.

Jet returned to having his arm around his fiance while his other hand stayed in Alberts. The German was right, there really wasn't anything they could do to help right now, especially since they'd gone public and thrown a little light on themselves. Their hands were tied and he knew it was going to drive them both crazy.

"I don't think they'll kill any of them, we'll help them as soon as we're able. Just promise you won't do anything that could get you in trouble...at least not without me there too."

What if they'd arrested him? What if they'd tortured him and thrown the pieces back at Jet's feet to kill himself over as he desperately tried to put them back together? It honestly scared him and he hated it.

"We won't be powerless forever." They couldn't be, otherwise they'd both lose it eventually, so maybe if he said it enough times, it would come true sooner.

"I won't. I can't." Jennifer's file, labeled neatly with 'Wakefield' on the cover, burns too brightly in his memory.

"It's not just us as stake, there are people here we care about now," he sighs heavily, as if lamenting the mistake they'd made in growing close to other tributes or mentors. It would be easier if they hadn't, though ask him directly and he would tell you he'd do that part the same regardless.

He doesn't say it as it would sound disgustingly like whining, but he's so very tired of being powerless now and would very much like to know when it will end or what they can do to end it.

Though something does occur.

"We should spend more time at the speakeasy."

Honestly, Jet was thankful Albert didn't ask him when or how they'd be able to do anything, he didn't know and couldn't even come up with a suitably uplifting and plausible answer either; all they could do was hope it was doable and soon.

The mention of the 'speakeasy' piqued his interest, though. He knew what those were in his own country's history, maybe it was something similar, except instead of the illegal alcohol, it was the illegal something else.

"What's that? I don't think I've heard of it."

"Tribute bar. The drinks are good, and it's a good atmosphere in which to blow off steam." He can't say outright that it's the hotbed of the rebellion, not here where they're probably being spied on, but the look he gives Jet is more than enough to convey his meaning. Even without the brainwave connecting them, he and Jet still have a nonverbal vocabulary they can fall back on and so long as Jet takes his meaning, Albert can take comfort in it.

"I could use a drink, after this." Moodily, he adjusts the ice on his face, watching Jet for understanding.

He nodded, comprehension there on his face.

"Sounds like a good place. Once the swelling goes down a bit more, we'll get you cleaned up and get out of here for a while."

It would be a good distraction from the stuff they couldn't help and would offer them a chance to maybe be useful in another way, or at least get a little more information. If there was one thing you could count on in a bar, it was loose tongues.

It's Albert's turn to nod, assenting to Jet's plan, and finally slumps a little. It's not relaxing, per se, but it is a sign of Albert letting things go at least a little and moving forward. Or at least allowing himself to be taken care of.

After a short while, he removes the ice from his face. "'s numb." is the only explanation he gives.

Jet nods and cards his fingers through Albert's hair once before getting up to get rid of the ice pack.

"Alright then, let's go. We'll get more when we come back.

He nods again, looking a little sulky as he stands, staying at Jet's side as they head for the door. He's glad, at least, that even when he makes potentially stupid life choices, Jet is still here to set him right.

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