Some, some, some I, some I murder. [open]

[streetsmarts]

Who| Nick and oooopen
What| When you try your best but you don't succeed.
Where| D7, lobby bar.
When| Post-Arena, pre-Crowning
Warnings/Notes| Nick being a douche. Nbd.

Hell hath no fury like Nick when he wakes up in the Training Room. To get that close and lose by inches, inches of knife in you, it's soul crushing. The frustration takes some working through, but his methods have never let him down. Booze. Sex. More booze. Denial. If there's one thing he's willing to do, it's to absorb absolutely all of the luxury of the Capitol while he can. He thinks he deserves that much, but he's also pretty sure other people have different ideas.

He's a frequent at the Lobby Bar lately. He's perpetually rolling in, ordering rounds and glowering at the replays when he can. He can at least boast quite the featured face in the highlight reel, but it's a pretty miserable runner-up prize in his opinion. He can be found ranting at the bartender and denizens of the bar as well as trying to make bets with them long into the night.

Sometime in the night, he drags his sorry ass up to the District 7 suites. He can't rightly remember which bedroom is his, and he's not willing to chance it. He finds himself on the same couch he'd planted on when he'd first arrived here, and it's good enough for him. He sleeps the whole night there, half-heartedly smothering his face with a pillow as he snores into the morning. If nobody wakes him up, he'll wake himself up with a snort of disdain at the sun and a clumsy stalk into the kitchen to make coffee.

He'll stand there, looking incredibly disheveled, with a hand on the counter and a cup of coffee in his hand like he's an efficiently early riser and not red in the eye and dead in the soul. "Morning sunshine." He'll croak at anyone who happens by him, still just drunk enough to think his cover is foolproof.

Comments

[cigne]

Swann is always timid when she enters other District Suites, feels as if she doesn't belong there, like she should only ever be on the eighth floor. When she comes looking for Jason, her heels click on the floor gently as she peers around the corner, walking hesitantly into the kitchen.

She's obviously a little startled to see anyone, particularly a Tribute -- they're all usually still asleep at this hour. She wouldn't be here herself if she weren't already shaken, if she didn't need reassurance from Jason over the loss of one of her own.

"O-oh," she says, taking a step backward and blinking when she's greeted so freshly. "Good morning. I'm... I'm Swann, from upstairs, I'm the Escort for Eight. Do you know where Jason is?"

[streetsmarts]

This early in the morning, Nick has already met with Jason. He's still a little damp from it, too, but not in any enjoyable way. Even if he's not sure many things are enjoyable with Jason, because he's not really privy with anything about the guy beyond what he says directly to him. As such, Swann is a perfect stranger.

Very perfect. Nice.

"Pleasure." He says in response to her introduction, a sly smile pulling at his lips. "Jase? Uhh.. He wandered off a while ago, something about. Something." He shrugs his shoulders. "He'll probably be back soon, get out while you still can."

[cigne]

She doesn't seem particularly surprised that Nick is a little on the wet side, as she sort of expects anything from Tributes nowadays. Her own are fairly tame, Jack's massive drinking problem aside, but nothing is very surprising from the rest of them. She halfway assumes that Nice just stumbled into a fountain somewhere and never changed clothes.

"Oh, well, um, if he'll be back soon, then I'll just wait, if you don't mind" She folds in her hands in front of her skirt (which, being black with pink florals, might be her way of mourning her fallen Tributes), and looks around anxiously before taking a few steps to the table and taking a seat. All of that platinum hair is swept up into a wispy beehive, but there are strands falling down where they shouldn't be, as if she were too distracted to really pay attention to herself in the mirror.

The silence is awkward for a moment, which makes Swann even more twitchy, and so she looks over at Nick. "You did very well in the Arena, by the way. Congratulations."

[streetsmarts]

As it is, Nick's primary interest is Porrim, but he's starting to notice that Capitol girls aren't so bad to look at. He's almost disappointed he wound up with Jason, because he has absolutely no desire to ogle him. Luckily, he's incredibly helpful at things like doing his job, so Nick can't complain too much. He raises his coffee to take a long sip, letting his eyes rake over her in a way that isn't particularly subtle. When he lowers the coffee, he's still smiling his smug smile.

"Well, I'd say it's a free country, but.." He pulls a face, hunching his shoulders together before finally shrugging. "I don't own the place, you can wait wherever you like, dollface." And the fact that she thinks he has the right to say any different is curious to him, but he files that fact away for later. Right now his ego is being flattered, so his smirk only grows.

"You think so? Aw shucks, I'm flattered." He winks a quick wink, moving to lean casually on the counter. "Almost makes losing worth it."

[cigne]

"Well, there can only be one winner," she says diplomatically, but her hands are wringing in her lap. He's so smarmy and yet she can't say anything because, well, she's the visitor to this Suite, and that means she needs to be polite.

Surely Jason will be back soon.

"Nobody wins their first Arena anyway. It's never happened, not since the first Arena of the Never-ending Quell, and that was only because everyone was a first time Tribute in that one."

[streetsmarts]

"Well that's brand new information." Initially it's sarcasm, but there's sincere surprise in his expression when she actually does drop a truth bomb on him.

"Yeah? Well I'm glad I didn't waste my time trying." He scoffs, he's visibly annoyed and all he can do is draw another long sip out of his coffee. "So tell me, does everyone know that little fun-fact or do they drop it on you after you've embarrassed yourself?" He probably doesn't mean to be so rude, probably, but he's an asshole. "I'm gonna blame Jason." He says finally, darkly and mostly into his cup.

[cigne]

"No," she frowns. "It's not really a fact, more like a statistic. There's no rule about it that I've ever heard, but a new Tribute will always be up against dozens who've been through the Arena before. There's nothing to blame Jason for. You still made it farther than nearly everyone else in the Arena."

She glances around, spots one of Seven's Avoxes and requests a cup of tea.

"And with Tony out of the Arena, the tabloids can finally stop gossiping about the Gamemakers having a prejudice."

[streetsmarts]

Nick's temper eases some when Swann lays it out for him, he isn't particularly impressed but he can't really deny the validity of what she's saying. "Doesn't mean he isn't going to hear about it." He says finally, with a shrug. "He loves to tell me how I fucked up, might as well give him something to think about." He taps the side of his head with an air of renewed nonchalance, raising a brow when she continues.

"A prejudice against what? Who? Weak little guys who get lucky?"

[cigne]

"Just let him get it out, none of it's personal. You'll only make it worse if you try to turn it around on him." It's the best advice that Swann can offer in regards to Jason. Her face even brightens a little. "He really likes you a lot more than he likes the other Tributes, you know. I think he's proud of you, in his own way."

The way that involves berating and sarcasm, but is still Jason's all the same.

She snorts and accepts the tea from the Avox, taking a sip before shaking her head. "No, it's just kind of a running joke. Tony's been around a pretty long time, and he's made it to the top so many times only to get taken out. Someone started a rumor that the Gamemakers were actively working against him, and it's been around ever since."

[streetsmarts]

Nick opens his mouth briefly, about to question the logic behind that sort of approach, but it dies before he can verbalise it. Instead, he lets out a disgruntled huff and moves easily onto the praise. "Makes it pretty easy when the other Tributes are crap." He says that with an air that sounds so smug despite the fact that he seems to be brushing off the compliment. He's not sure he likes how that makes him feel. Like a paid goon or something similarly beneath him, but it's something slightly better than being human garbage.

"Or, maybe. Just maybe. He was around a really long time because he's crap." He shrugs. "If it was a spin in his direction, they're going to regret it. The guy is about as compelling as a sack of shit, he's going to be a godawful Victor." I would have been better, is the general message here.

[cigne]

Swann can't fully suppress the little smile that crops up on her face, to hear Nick talk that way and with that inflection. "Or maybe he likes you because you're a bit like him," she suggests casually, taking another drink from her teacup. Their tones, the way they talk about people, the directness and efficiency. A certain air of "me-and-mine" attitude radiating off of them.

Of course, Nick doesn't have Jason's breeding and upbringing, important things in Capitolite eyes, and Jason will never lack for a certain aura of restrained fury. But it doesn't take away from the similarities.

"Well, like I said, it was a joke. The Gamemakers don't rig the Games." They absolutely do, and while it's never been a certainty among the public, they're not always the most discreet about it. "Besides, all the better to have him out of the running. He's part of that group that always protects each other."

[streetsmarts]

The smile is immediately confusing to Nick, but he brushes it off in favor of sipping his coffee. The observation, however, nearly has him choking on it. He's not sure whether to laugh or be disgusted, but he opts to be as casual as possible. He smirks back, just barely rolling his eyes. "Don't let him hear you say that, eh?" Haha, it's funny because Tributes are sub-human.

"I like to think there's a sliver of truth in every joke, you know? They have to come from somewhere." He's taking on a less defensive tone, increasingly aware of the fact that Swann doesn't entirely piss him off and it isn't just because she's pretty fine. "Oh, gross. I swear, it's like people have no idea why we're here and expect us all to adhere to their bullshit morals. Like, excuse me? Some of us don't want to be losers. Christ."

[cigne]

"He'd get over it." She's still smiling that little bit as she takes another sip of tea, and it's true. Jason gets angry at her, but he doesn't stay angry, and that's the important part. "Besides, if he's going to get compared to one of you..." She waves her hand vaguely, leaving the better you than someone else left unsaid.

One of the Avoxes swings by to refill her teacup, and Swann is vaguely disappointed that they only have sugar cubes here, not the rosettes she's had put in District 8's kitchen. She drops three into the tea and stirs it daintily.

"It's all well and good to have alliances at the beginning -- it's practically expected between Districtmates, and it can sometimes be a good idea to ally up with other Tributes. But the point is to build your alliances so that your group can whittle the number down before you all break apart and go at each other. Before the Never-Ending Quell, at the 74th Games, I remember how clever everyone thought Peeta Mellark was for allying with the Careers before turning on them to help Katniss kill them. Oh, that's... Peeta and Katniss are from 12, they won jointly? But with you off-worlders, it's gotten insane. Two Arenas ago, the mall theme, the second place finisher sacrificed himself for the Victor. That's absurd, completely defeats the purpose of the Games. But they were from the same District, so."

She shrugs. It's clear that she finds the act crazy, but in the end, it doesn't make much difference.

[streetsmarts]

The way Nick shrugs in response is almost agreeable. Like he can't really argue what she's saying so he'll roll with it. She's probably right, but that doesn't really bode well for him because he's well aware that he's an awful person.

"Most of them don't really seem like they have the end game in mind. It's like they just expect to buddy up and exist forever without anything happening." He sidles a little closer, pleased both in that she seems to approve of his bitching and that she's offering him information he probably wouldn't have thought to seek out. "You know, an interesting play would be to pretend you had some magical, lasting friendship and take it that far and then kill the other guy." He mimes firing a bullet with his fingers, then his shoulders slump. "It's probably been done, though."

[cigne]

"Oh sure, lots of times. Before you all got here, that was always the plan: stick with your Districtmate as long as possible, then kill them when it's time. But that doesn't mean people get tired of seeing it, or that it hasn't been a bit different every time. Sometimes it's a love angle, sometimes brother and sister, sometimes friends who've known each other their whole lives. There's always a way to make it new and exciting. Haven't you ever heard that there are only seven stories in the world?"

Swann takes another sip of tea, slow and almost calculated, and lets her foot bob a little under the table.

"I used to have a television show. In ten seasons, the only theme I ever directly repeated was Districter makeovers, we did them once a season. But a rags to riches story? I can tell it a thousand different ways."