'Cause we all wanna party when the funeral ends and we all get together when we bury our friends

[etcircenses]

Who| TYP Children and You?
What| TYP Children have the opportunity to look around.
Where| The Tribute Tower main floor.
When| Now through the week leading up to the arena.
Warnings/Notes| TYP children showing up early is not mandatory. This is merely an avenue for those NPC players who were interested.

In part with the President’s wishes, the District children are not training or living in the same building, but rather, a refurbished old Tribute tower as was used in the days before Tributes were offworlders of vast number. Mentors, Escorts, and Stylists alike will need to travel to the new building to work with them, then travel back to see to their offworld Tributes. Public appearances are minimal so long as the Tribute is kept busy with training and private interviews. There is, however, a brief chance to meet a few of them before the arena, should you catch them on a visit to the offworlder’s tower, restricted to the main floor. Through this, the lucky few District children able to show are allowed fleeting glimpses in person of those they will be competing with and possibly even a chance to talk to them in person.

Comments

[rotor]

Rotor looks confused, but nods, accepting usage of the word as it's straightforward enough and definitely seems to apply in the given context.

That doesn't last long though. He blinks rapidly, trying to figure out if he's being asked the questions or just told about them. He sits down, trying to follow what's being said.

"I'll, I'll be honest, and uh..." he frowns anxiously. "And welcome, and uh... ask for aid. You're... really an Offworlder, huh?"

Like, to more of an extent than the other Offworlders Rotor's met.

[atouchofka]

Alain smiles, sitting down next to him, but there's a deep kind of sadness in his eyes. "I really am," he agrees, running a hand back through his hair. "A fish out of water, in such a land as this. But you can trust me to do right by you, offworlder or no." He frowns a little, then reaches over to put his arm around Rotor, mindful of how much the boy seemed to crave contact before.

"Look for me in the Arena," he says, after a moment. "And stick by me, if you can. I'll see what can be done about keeping you alive." You, and the rest of these poor children. Farson himself was never this cruel.

[rotor]

Rotor looks slightly apprehensive about someone so confusing joining him, going so far as to take a seat as if planning to linger for a significant amount of time.

"We're all fish out of water. Maybe not so much as people from District 4..." he swallows, and then stiffens and jumps slightly as Alain puts an arm around him. He's fourteen, and doesn't feel like he has the agency to tell someone older than he is no, but he still wasn't expecting the contact or the affection.

"But... if you keep me alive, doesn't that mean you're decreasing your chances of winning?"

[atouchofka]

Alain sees that flinch, and withdraws his arm immediately. The last thing he wants is for his well-meaning comfort to have the opposite effect. Instead, he frowns and drapes his hands over his knees, looking down at the floor.

"I don't much care if I win or lose," he says at last, looking sidelong up at Rotor. "To say true, I don't want to win, for to win would mean I'd failed those I want to protect. Not only you, but Roland too, and my District, and others. That's what I fight for, not for myself. It always has been."

[rotor]

Rotor visibly relaxes when Alain withdraws his arm, clearly more comfortable. He figures that wherever Alain is from, there are different rules and connotations, and he appreciates the man's sensitivity to what he's OK with.

"Is it because you know that you'll come back if you die?" Rotor asks softly. "The stakes aren't as high for you Offworlders. If I die..." he swallows. "I'm not coming back. And even with protection, I scored low. I don't have many skills. I probably will die."

[atouchofka]

Alain half-smiles, although there's no humour in it. "I guess you really didn't see what they showed about me. I'm already dead. It hardly matters if I come back, or if I don't. My brains were blasted out over the dust below Jericho Hill. Everything since then is time I never ought to have had, by rights." He shrugs, looking rather distant. "Figure I might as well spend it doing something worthwhile. Figure if I do end up going out, I'd rather it be in a better way than that. Whether they bring me back or not."

[rotor]

Rotor swallows and looks a touch green at the graphic descriptions, but he manages to hold onto what might still remain in his soured stomach.

"Y-yeah, I guess if it's like that, you have nothing to think of going back to..." he murmurs, sounding both comprehending and sympathetic toward Alain's plight. "I'll... I'll try to help you feel like you did something you wanted to, that you think is worthwhile."

[atouchofka]

"Best way to do that is to let me help you," Alain points out, pulling himself back into the moment and away from the memory of a shell splaying the flesh under his hairline, and giving Rotor a little smile. "Look to Roland, as well. I'll speak with him, tell him what we've discussed. He's in District Four, the tall man with the sharp blue eyes."

And I hope to hell I've judged him right, with all the distance now between us.

[rotor]

"Roland?" he asks, latching onto the name. He's never been bad with remembering names, exactly, but this current desperate situation has admittedly ramped up the necessity of keeping the important ones straight. He wants a chance, after all, even if it's a slim one. And considering it's him? It would be nothing but a slim chance if he was lucky enough to get one at all.

"Is he an offworlder, like you? Or someone from Panem?"

[atouchofka]

"An offworlder. We grew up together, he and I, though you'd not know it to see him now, for his road here's been longer and harder than mine. But if there's even an atom left in him of the man I know, he'll help you." That's their duty as gunslingers, he figures, if anything is. Although hard-learned lessons remind him that it isn't always possible to save those who most need saving. It's their duty to try, nonetheless. Roland will surely see that.

[rotor]

Rotor seems discouraged at that; he wants the reassurance of a familiar face, one that he grew up. But he's starting to warm up to Alain and trust his word to at least a survivalist's extent, and he nods to show that he understands the merit in what he's advising.

"OK, uh, got it. I'll try to find him."

[atouchofka]

Alain nods. "Good lad. And keep fighting. People will try to tell you there's no sense in it, that it would take a miracle for you to win, and could be that's true. But I've seen miracles before." He half-smiles, a little wistfully. "Three boys against an army, that took a miracle, but we stood tall at the end of it."

[rotor]

"I'm... I'm not a fighter. But I'll try."

I'll try, I'll try. It's a hopeless little refrain on endless loop. Rotor's getting weary of repeating it, because his ability to make it sound real is flagging more and more with each time it has to pass his lips.

"That's great for you, uh, but... I think I want to have some time alone with my thoughts before I look for Roland."

[atouchofka]

"Aye. Of course." Alain gets to his feet, taking a deep breath. "And if you need to puke again, try to get some more food down you first. You're too skinny as it is."

Which is his way of trying to lighten the mood a little, before he turns to go.