whatisay: (Basic - Glasses)
Jason Compson IV ([personal profile] whatisay) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2015-03-10 09:48 pm

Flecks of the Heavens' Spat Out Spit [OPEN]

WHO| Jason Compson and Open; Jason and Swann; Jason, Rick and Daryl
WHAT| Jason gets a migraine and is helpless; Jason beats an Avox; Jason gives Swann a gift; Rick and Daryl get the shotguns.
WHEN| Week 6
WHERE| D7 Suites; Swann's place
WARNINGS/NOTES| Avox abuse, migraines, general Jason awfulness. If you're going to tag the second prompt, please PP or PM me first so we can figure out where it's going and how far to take it, because Jason won't hesitate to put someone in jail.


I. Open

He knew he was going to have one of his headaches from the beginning of the morning, when every light seemed to have a ring radiating off of it and everything seemed to smell like rainwater. The one upside to the curse of these migraines is that he usually gets a few hours head start on them, with the feeling of deadly premonition, and so he spends most of the day trying to finish up everything as quickly as he can and clock out early. The calls to Sponsors and thank you cards to donors becomes a race against time, one which he sees himself losing too late to actually prevent disaster.

First he can't see, and then he can't move. Even breathing seems to put too much strain on him, and the throbbing, tightening hammering in his head gets worse with every exhale. The inside of his body feels like a live wire, sparking away inside his skull at camera-shutter speed. Nausea roils inside his throat and stomach, furling and unfurling like the tide.

When he opens his eyes the light is too bright, speckled with floating spots and halos, and he feels like the universe itself is trying to cram itself through his eyesockets and that his bones have made the opening too small to fit. So he keeps them shut and rolls over on the District Seven couch until he's facedown in a pillow, sweating slightly, trying not to whimper.

He has no hope of driving himself home, and even the idea of getting up seems a cruel joke. He tries twice, and both times a surge of nausea and a thunderclap of pain force him back down. So he lies there, hoping to whatever powers that be that his Tributes stick to their schedules and don't come bother him.



II. Open (please read note)

What started off as a strong Arena quickly loses those good odds as the District Seven Tributes die in the field and the District Suite gets repopulated. The worse it looks, the worse Jason's temper gets, until he's liable to throw something at the slightest provocation, which the Games video updates seem eager to supply him with. At least twice this week he's broken a glass, and yesterday smacked a table so hard that he has a ring of bruising around his finger like a wedding band.

With only Nick left in the Arena, Jason and Emily's chances are getting desperate, and the worst blow comes to Jason's ego when he realizes that no amount of fawning and flattery and networking seems to be enough to get Nick more supplies in the Arena. It stings to feel powerlessness, and to make it worse the only person willing to spot Nick a fire-starting kit's funds will only do it on condition that Jason go drinking with him - no sobriety allowed. Jason turns it down, but doesn't leave with his head held high so much as rankled and humiliated, and every ungrateful glance from his Tributes reminds him of how his family used to practically own this damn country and yet here he is, exposing his belly to anyone with money, helpless and inept and so, so frustrated with his life. Dressed in a suit he got from someone else's charity and supporting a home full of ingrates and lonely and with a fury as endless as the sky.

Whatever it is that set Jason off this time, it isn't sated just by smashing a piece of kitchenware. This time he backhands the Avox who rushes in to try and clean up the coffee mug he throws against the floor, sending them into the couch.



III. Swann

For someone who usually agonizes over every half-assi that goes to a necessary cause, Jason doesn't seem to mind spending money on Swann. He complains about it, at times, but it's more to go through the motions of complaining than because it actually bothers him. He buys her coffee when he can and tells her to save her money when they get lunch, getting sulky and defensive when she insists on splitting the tab. Sometimes he buys her a pastry on his way to pick her up for carpooling, although he doesn't let her eat it in the vehicle, and he has yet to ask her to help pay for fuel.

Today he shows up at her place with a large carrier in the back of his car, covered by a blanket, with a towel underneath it to protect the seats. Something inside is making scratching sounds. Jason looks a little frazzled, and shows up a few minutes late from a different route than he usually takes. He presses a button inside the car and the door opens for Swann.

"You coming, Honeymead?"



IV. Daryl and Rick

The rumors spread quickly after the Crowning, and all of them rub Jason the wrong way. A few photographs of him and Beth at the Crowning, him whispering into her ear, have made the rounds on tabloids, some of them even frontpage for the publications hungry enough to fabricate a scandal for readership. Jason's certain that he wouldn't ever touch a Tribute like that, but the fact that people are so eager to believe it of him leaves his pride feeling excoriated.

For his part, Jason doesn't treat Beth any differently, except for being a bit more stiff and cranky with her than he might have been before. But whispers swarm around them like a plague of mosquitoes, making a to-do out of something as simple as him Escorting her to a photoshoot with horses (A PONY FOR A PRICE?, a headline questions; another goes even more outrageous and wonders if Beth will say 'neigh' to marriage). He can only imagine the explanations she's making to the passel of Southerners who seem so eager to protect her.

Right now he's in the District Seven kitchen, glasses parked precariously on the tip of his nose as he writes by hand some math for the District budget. He's taken to putting most of his notes on his phone lately; he used to be able to leave writing around, but that was when most Tributes were entirely illiterate. His suit jacket hangs over the back of a chair and his shirt sleeves are pushed up to his elbows. A cup of coffee, long-cooled, sits beside him, and he occasionally asks his phone to answer some percentages questions for him.
cigne: (Default)

[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-19 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay," she says, and looks out the window, letting her hand fall on the center console instead of his arm. He still seems upset and she doesn't know how to fix that, feels responsible even when she only wanted to help with something she saw as a very basic problem -- need clothes, get clothes. He did so much for her, and even her littlest efforts were met with resistance, as if accepting any of her help (love) was admitting a weakness.
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-20 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
She squeezes his hand, glances back at him and smiles a little. Jason is hard to understand, a mystery at the best of times, but she feels like he's slowly becoming easier for her, the more they stay together, the closer they get. She strokes his hand with her thumb, rests her head back on the seat.

"Thank you."
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-20 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that war isn't over yet, don't get too comfy, Jason.

"For... you know."

She turns pink, can't bring herself to say it, quickly looks away and out the window. It's embarrassing, in some part of her mind, part that isn't connected to the side that let him go down on her in the back seat of a car.

"And for staying with me last night. And tonight."
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-20 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
She doesn't remember. Everything between vomiting and waking up at two in the afternoon is a haze, only clear enough for Swann to remember that she existed at all.

"Well, you didn't have to." She shrugs, more embarrassed now. "It's been a while since it was that bad."
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-20 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
She laughs a little, holding his hand more tightly than he's holding hers, and shakes her head. "I think I'll be okay," she says, then lets go of him so she can unbuckle herself and get out of the car. She grabs at his hand again as soon as she can, so they can go upstairs together.

She lets him unlock the door.
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-20 06:24 am (UTC)(link)
She's sitting lotus-style on the bed when he comes out, talking on the phone.

"Anthony, please. I think you can do it after everything I did for you. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Are you just sending an Avox? Yeah, all of it. Okay. Okay, thanks. Bye."

She hangs up and smiles at Jason, scoots forward on the bed to hold out her arms for him. "You look tired," she tells him quietly. A rack of clothing is coming, sent by a personal stylist who owes Swann the world for kick-starting his career and connecting him with A-level celebrities. She expects everything to be complete like always, every outfit perfect from the underwear to the belt to the shoes, and she figures he'll send enough to get Jason through a few more days.

"You wanna lie down?"
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-20 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
She's still fully dressed, waiting for the clothes she know should be arriving within the hour. But her dress is comfortable, and she's already kicked her shoes off, so she lies down with him, arms wound around his neck, their breathing almost perfectly in sync. Her bare toes run along his shin gently as she watches his face.
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[personal profile] cigne 2015-03-21 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Good night, Jason."

She means to stay awake, wait it out until he sleeps and she can go double-check the clothing delivery. But with him wrapped around her, holding her so tightly that he's the only thing she can process, she falls asleep, sleeps in her dress and without showering. He's warm and smells clean and she's snoring before she knows what happened.