Rick shifted his weight back to his other hip, the corner of his mouth tugging into a faint, humourless smile.
His experience with native Capitolites was limited at best, yet Jason's attitude was unsurprising. Not only did it match up with what he'd gleaned from Beth, it also seemed congruent with what he'd come to expect from Panem. Perhaps he was allowing his view to be tainted by his own prejudice, but between the arenas, the avoxes... That misguided sense of superiority fit right in.
There was a beat as he reined his temper back in, forcibly swallowing the acerbic response of 'are we interrupting something?' in favour of something slightly more diplomatic; while he wasn't holding out much hope for a reasonable conversation, as that would imply some sort of mutual respect, there was no point in getting their backs up before they'd even started. He and Daryl lacked any real leverage, which unfortunately left Jason holding most of the cards.
"My name is Rick Grimes." He nodded in his partner's direction. "That's Daryl. I was hopin' we could talk to you about Beth."
And this was about Beth. Regardless of his personal feelings on the matter, regardless of what he thought of the Capitol, of Jason himself, that was the part he needed to remember. One wrong move here, and she was the one who was going to suffer for it.
He wasn't buying the rumours. Beth was a bright girl and Rick had seen the other rubbish they'd been publishing; if the papers were to be trusted, she'd not only hooked up with Jason, but him and Daryl too. It was ridiculous, but - as much as he hated to say it - there was at least some basis in their cases. It was a gross misrepresentation of their relationship, the very implication making his blood boil... But if he set those feelings aside, they were visibly close. They hadn't pulled something from nothing, which left him to wonder just where their other theories had come from. After all, Jason's district had more than one tribute, yet the others didn't seem to be gearing up for Capitol marriages.
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His experience with native Capitolites was limited at best, yet Jason's attitude was unsurprising. Not only did it match up with what he'd gleaned from Beth, it also seemed congruent with what he'd come to expect from Panem. Perhaps he was allowing his view to be tainted by his own prejudice, but between the arenas, the avoxes... That misguided sense of superiority fit right in.
There was a beat as he reined his temper back in, forcibly swallowing the acerbic response of 'are we interrupting something?' in favour of something slightly more diplomatic; while he wasn't holding out much hope for a reasonable conversation, as that would imply some sort of mutual respect, there was no point in getting their backs up before they'd even started. He and Daryl lacked any real leverage, which unfortunately left Jason holding most of the cards.
"My name is Rick Grimes." He nodded in his partner's direction. "That's Daryl. I was hopin' we could talk to you about Beth."
And this was about Beth. Regardless of his personal feelings on the matter, regardless of what he thought of the Capitol, of Jason himself, that was the part he needed to remember. One wrong move here, and she was the one who was going to suffer for it.
He wasn't buying the rumours. Beth was a bright girl and Rick had seen the other rubbish they'd been publishing; if the papers were to be trusted, she'd not only hooked up with Jason, but him and Daryl too. It was ridiculous, but - as much as he hated to say it - there was at least some basis in their cases. It was a gross misrepresentation of their relationship, the very implication making his blood boil... But if he set those feelings aside, they were visibly close. They hadn't pulled something from nothing, which left him to wonder just where their other theories had come from. After all, Jason's district had more than one tribute, yet the others didn't seem to be gearing up for Capitol marriages.