Boys, say you got a girl? Yes, true you got a man

[occasio]

WHO| Phi and D4 Party House, feat. Sigma Klim!
WHAT| Most of Phi's District staff live off-location, so Phi goes to do some networking. Things get a little out of hand when Phi decides it would be a fun idea to text Sigma about all the fun (read: booze) she's having. No one likes the party police.
WHEN| During the last week of the arena. [Backdated]
WHERE| D4 house in the Capitol.
WARNINGS| Underage drinking, minor drug use, etc.


Death by vicious animal is not Phi's preferred way to die, but it's better than some of the others she's experienced in the past. It doesn't even faze her when she wakes up in the Capitol again like nothing happened, not a single mark on her body. The only weird part is that everyone else remembers it as well. And they don't seem keen on letting her forget.

When the Tower feels too stifling, Phi finds herself heading for the store. She grabs a couple bags of chips, but only after an argument with the clerk over whether or not she should be allowed to buy a case of beer. You can die for the Capitol, but you can't buy a 12-pack. Sounds fair.

She ends up at a house out in one of the residential parts of the Capitol, an address that she'd been given but had never taken the time to visit. When you only have a week to train like your life actually does depend on it, there's not a whole lot of time to waste. Now she has all the time in the world, as far as she can tell, and she needs to be away from the cameras and the crowds. This is the only place she can think of.

"Here," she says as soon as the door opens, thrusting the three bags of chips at whoever opens the door and hoping they take pity on her. "Can I crash here for a while?"

Comments

[occasio]

Initially, Phi doesn't pay the door much mind. It's not her house, and she's not expecting that their having company will affect her. These people seem reasonable. She had done some research, and if there was drama to be had, it would have shown up in the tabloids by now. If anything, that much held true with her own world. The worst you could expect of someone was probably already yesterday's news.

So when she hears Sigma's voice at the door, there's more than a little surprise in her expression. She stands up from the couch where she had been reclining, resting a hand on arm just to make sure she doesn't lose her balance. She's not that drunk, she thinks, but she doesn't want to give anyone the impression that she is.

Her first question is 'What are you doing here?', but Sigma seems to have already answered that. He's escorting her back to the Tower. There's a flush of indignation to her cheeks. She's twenty years old, and she doesn't need an escort. She also doesn't need to be picked up, or any other manor of supervision that he apparently thinks she needs. It nicks a sore spot that she's still carrying over the 'father-daughter' rumors, and Sigma isn't helping himself by showing up like a parental party crasher.

"I didn't ask you to come here. I'll go back to my quarters when I'm ready."

[sociopathicwolf]

His hackles are up even more when the guy tries to enter their home before he's invited. It's not as though Derek doesn't know that anything that belongs to him really belongs to the Capitol, but that doesn't make him any less pissed off when someone uninvited tries to waltz into the place they carved out for themselves as though they owned it. Especially when it puts the Gamemaker even more into his personal space.

There's a hand waving in his face, and it's only because it's a Gamemaker that Derek doesn't react as though it's an immediate threat. He feels it, body tense and adrenaline pumping as his hand on the door clenches even harder, but he doesn't move. Despite the Capitol's image of him, he does have more than enough control over himself not to attack a Capitolite even when he's feeling threatened. ...it also helps a little that Kurloz is leaning on him, because to do anything he'd have to push Kurloz aside and he's far from angry enough to risk hurting Kurloz.

Instead he growls quietly, tempted to shove him out and slam the door in his face, but he'll wait and see what Phi says. Derek knows damn well this guy isn't her escort, that there is no Tribute curfew at the moment and there's no meetings or interviews or other obligations on Phi's schedule tonight, but Phi could have arranged something without telling them.

She clearly wasn't planning on going anywhere with him, though, so he shifts a little to settle himself more firmly between this guy and his Tribute, giving a clearer growl.

[quiethumerus]

One could say Kurloz was lucky. He had a gift, a miracle ability of sorts. That gift was the chance to see the side of people most didn't; the side of barely restrained fury and disgust, usually directed at him. Thus, Sigma's ire does not come as a surprise. Even if they'd managed something near personable in the past, he is not particularly shattered to see it lost now. The question, really, is why.

Still leaning upon Derek, he doesn't answer with a growl, but he matches it with a quick glance up and down, brows raised at this intruder. He's the calm to Derek's anger and he feels the tension form, giving a quick pat on the shoulder, something Sigma won't notice but Derek will feel and maybe take note of for easing.

An escort. How sweet. Only it would appear not to be so, as Phi stands up and gives protest. She wobbles, but is steady enough he makes no attempt to move and help. The tiny girl is fierce in refusal. He shifts a long with Derek, lingering, smiling.

Well, well, he thinks, turning back to Sigma. He takes a drag from his blunt, holds it, and then lets the smoke spill out into the space between he and the Gamemaker. Looks like we'll not be needing your assistance today, sir.

[futilecycle]

Until the man reveals his character Sigma’s opinion of Kurloz stood in limbo, and the smoke blown in his face sends the needle spinning again. The Gamemaker exhales slowly through his nose in protest and must close his eye to stop from going off. Was he doing something wrong, here? He and Phi were supposed to look out for each other. And Phi was supposed to be the clever one - did she not realize she was a minor in a room of drunken adults she had only just met? Keeping a Tribute safe should be the least of a Gamemaker’s concern, but if anything happened to her, he would be unable to forgive himself and his game would be over too soon.

Clearing his throat to cough the crap from his lungs, he opens his eye and continues with his usual tack. “I can wait, Phi.” He smiles gently: truly, this was all just a misunderstanding, gentlemen. We're all friends, here! “You must know I am a very patient man.” A mask has settled over his face, stretched a little too lightly around the mouth. “It isn’t safe for a person to travel inebriated, and I doubt any of your friends are sober enough to be reliable.”

He turns back to the man blocking his way. Behind glass, the aperture of his cybernetic narrows into a fine point, fixed on Derek’s face, unwavering and still. “I’d like to come in for awhile. If you would please.” It isn’t a question.

[occasio]

To Sigma's credit, he manages to seem almost pleasant in the face of the barrier that Derek and Kurloz are making. Phi hadn't really expected them to come to her defense like this, even if it's relatively pointless against Sigma. He wasn't the sort to manhandle her. If she didn't want to leave, she doubted that he was going to force her. On the other hand, she's not so sure if his patience could hold out. The others may or may not notice it, but Phi is aware of the mask that Sigma puts on. It's not the genuine good nature that she's used to, and even that much is enough for her to know how much they're getting to him.

At this rate, things are going to end up in a confrontation that she's not prepared to mediate. She exhales a sigh, wary but conceding. "Just let him in. It's fine." So long as he doesn't cause a fuss, anyway. He can wait around if he wants, she has no problem with that. Maybe he'll lighten up a bit. These people weren't as bad as he seemed to think.

[sociopathicwolf]

Kurloz's touch on his shoulder calms him, a little, enough that he's able to just stand where he is in this holding pattern, instead of making a move to get rid of the threat. Which is a good thing, at the moment, because Derek knows very well that if it looked like he was getting ready to lose control, Chuck would be right over.

"Don't drink."

Which isn't true. Derek's had a few drinks tonight, but not nearly enough to impeded his sobriety, and the important part is letting the gamemaker know that his excuse isn't good enough for Derek to let him at his Tribute.

Especially not when he starts demanding to come inside. Derek's lip curls up in a snarl and he stays right where he is, clearly not planning on moving an inch to let the man into his home. Until Phi exhales and speaks up. Derek's eyes narrow as his head tilts, like a dog hearing a semi-familiar voice that it isn't sure it wants to listen to or not. It's for show, mostly, to keep up appearances as the dumb animal the Capitol sees him as and to make it clear that if Derek does let this guy in, it won't be because he demanded it. It'll be because of Phi.

Then he steps back, moving more into Kurloz's personal space to allow the gamemaker a path in - even if it's accompanied by a warning growl.

[furgood]

Meulin watches this confrontation from the couch, biding her time until things seem to swivel one way or the other. With all their backs to her, she can only really see Sigma and his strained attempts at civility. Stealthily, she moves from a position best described as half on the floor up to perch on the back of the couch. Just when she thinks Derek might actually snap at the gamemaker, everything relaxes. Well, for a certain definition of 'relax' for Derek. She doubts he'll relax until Sigma is out of their sight.

She slides right off the couch, catching herself with only a tiny stumble and pats Derek's arm and gives his arm the barest nudge.

"Come on, sit down." She says, more to the two boys than Sigma. Her eyes flit up to the man in the doorway and she smiles.

"I hope you've not come to take Phi away from us. We were having fun! It'd be pawful to cut it short."

[quiethumerus]

He watches, amused, as Sigma tries to change his tune, starts meaning to act all relaxed like instead of as though he's really got any business proper to be making demands. Gamemaker or not, though, he's still half of the mind to shut the door on Sigma with barely an apology. If Phi was worried, she could stay with them.

But Phi seems to think differently. He looks upon her, brows raised to make proper sure she agrees, and not just out of force. Truth is, he's not sure if the gamemaker wouldn't take things out on her. But then, he might know just the right people to deal with that.

He decides to concede for now. Another firm touch to Derek's shoulder, to keep hims steady and here, and Kurloz throws on a mask of his own. He side steps out, arms spreading wide in warm Capitol welcome, hands twirling as he bows. Friend of Phi's is a friend of ours. He gestures in once he's risen up, then shifts back to being Derek's arm ornament, watching from their side.

Meulin passes by to pat Derek's arm and he chases her briefly with a kiss, never able to let himself miss a chance. Warm and kindly Meulin would see well to all this. Anna too if she was around.

[futilecycle]

Even the too-trusting Sigma Klim will not rest his best friend's fate in the hands of a stranger. His temper frays over what he assumes is a lie and he takes a breath to call him out- for people killed their friends with less irresponsible claims- before Phi steps in. The tension that had gripped Sigma's upper body relaxes almost instantly. Now less of a wall than a human being, Sigma nods graciously. "Thank you. I knew you would understand."

He hovers past the threesome as though they aren't there, ignoring their feigned courtesy, how out of place he was. Sigma fills the space on the couch where Phi had been stretching her legs and appraises her level of sobriety. For what must be the first time, he cannot muster up the will to share a cat pun with Meulin. "Certainly not. I, of all people, understand the benefit of bonding with one's staff - I was fortunate enough to have a mentor at home, as a Tribute, and now as a Gamemaker." His words betray his feelings - there was something about District 4's solidarity that unsettled him. Not to say it upset him that Phi had someone to look out for her while his back was turned, but he wonders where such support was hiding when he was a Tribute, alone at the edge of his tolerance. The fact was that he has never been welcome, not even in his own kingdom.

"I'm just a friend here to ensure that things do not get..." -his eye flicks to the nearest bottle and back to his friend- "...carried away before the end. Right, Phi?" A jealous green eye narrows accusingly and his manufactured cheer is gone. Sigma Klim was not amused.

[occasio]

Phi is sorely tempted to call Sigma out on his bullshit. She had hoped with her gesture of good faith that the others would stand down, and they had. Even Derek, who she was almost certain would be the first one to start throwing blows. It earns him a point in his favor as far as Phi's concerned. He would have been well within his rights to ignore her. It is his home, after all.

But Sigma... Phi watches with mild annoyance as Sigma seems to brush off her new friends as they try to follow her gracious lead. He seats himself right next to her, and normally she wouldn't care. But even that irritates her, when following on the heels of everything else.

Fortunately for him, making a scene is the last thing that she wants. She still has a rapport with these people that she wants to keep up. But that doesn't mean that she intends for Sigma to stifle her, either. She notices the way his eyes flick to the bottle, and if she had the intention of not finishing her drink, it vanishes immediately. She picks up the bottle.

"You're a friend who invited himself in," she points out, taking a swig from her drink and resuming her seat on the couch again. "I vouched for you, so if you're going to insist on staying here, then the least you can do is chill." And, more pointedly, not embarrass her.

[sociopathicwolf]

It's a good thing that Kurloz remains by his side, that Meulin gives his arm a pat as she moves by, because he needs that right now. If anything, he's even more tense now that the gamemaker is inside and the door's shut behind him, now that he's making himself at home on the couch as though he belongs there.

This man wasn't a Gamemaker in Derek's own arena, didn't have a hand in designing the mutts or the chemical laboratory that Derek had to fight his way through, but he was one during the arena that the classic victors had been thrown into. Derek can't help but wonder how much he was involved in it, if he had a hand in creating the things that nearly took Chuck from him.

Derek's hands are curled into fists as he forces himself not to stalk across the living room and plant himself firmly between the gamemaker on their couch and Chuck - but he can't keep from eyeing the gamemaker warily.

He's calling himself Phi's friend, and Phi seems more exasperated by him than anything else, but that doesn't mean there isn't any coercion going on.

"Gamemakers don't usually involve themselves in Tribute lives. Outside of the arena."

[furgood]

Meulin watches it all with a keen gaze, eyes flicking from person to person in an attempt to keep up with the talk. It's impossible, with them all spread about, but can managed to keep an eye on Phi and Sigma, sitting so close. She takes a seat near them and a little pout of disappointment appears at the lack of a returning pun.

"If you don't want to go back to the tower and all those people, I can sleep with Kurloz tonight, let you use my bedroom. Wouldn't even have to sleep on a couch," says Meulin, not even turning to ask permission for any of that. She's positive they'd all be fine with it. They liked Phi.

"We'd take care of her! And I think she earned some downtime and fun after the arena, don't you think? It was a pawful time in there and she did so well." That question is clearly directed toward Sigma, her warm green eyes meeting his. Her smile seems just as warm as she tries to get him to see things a little more openly.

[quiethumerus]

Despite changing his own tune to befit a friend, Sigma fails to do the same, remaining cool and distant even to Meulin. Whilst Sigma's back is turned, a flash of something ever colder dances across his face. There were a lot of people who thought themselves better than him. The fact was, most of them were, but the lack of respect to his friends touches a nerve.

Quick enough though, he's smiling again. He does the ever so rare thing of fishing a paper and pen (of which there is plenty in this house, thankfully, when it is made up of two mutes and deaf person). He writes as Phi, Meulin, and Derek entertain Sigma's poor attitude. He then proceeds to present the paper, held up like a sign, pinched between two fingers.

IN THINE RECOLLECTION, PHI, I BELIEVE YOU HAD STATED A WISH TO STAY HERE. NEVER WAS THERE ANY PARTICULAR PLAN TO LEAVE AND WITH NO MANNER HASTE. YOU SEE, SIR SIGMA, OUR HOMIE KILLA HAS SOUGHT A REPREIVE AND WE, AS HER MOST HUMBLE SUPPORT TEAM, SAW IT HER RIGHT TO DRINK IN SAFETY AS SHE HAS BEEN DEEMED RIGHT EVEN TO DIE BY OUR GLORIOUS CAPITOL. WE GIVE PRAISE AND GRATITUDE TO HER SACRIFICE FOR THE SAKE OF OUR PEACE. WE ARE ALL OF FULLY DEVELOPED AGE. IT IS WITH UTMOST RESPECT THAT WE SEEK TO EXPRESS THIS TO YOU, SIR.

When sufficient time has been given to read, he pops the message with a tug on both sides, then promptly tucks it away. He folds with grace onto the floor. Sigma is met with an expectant look.

Your move, Klim.

[futilecycle]

"Phi-" Sigma hisses the instant she disobeys him, prepared to stop the bottle in its next ascent - but hesitating as he reaches, for he knows the moment he does, these people will eat him alive. The Gamemaker can sense her reckless stubbornness and his entire expression is alight with rage. What was she doing, putting herself in danger just to piss him off? Had the photograph been sent to vex him from the start? Had all of this been her revenge for a rumour he had been unable to disprove?

...His eyes sting as he finds himself frustrated nearly to tears.

Meulin's courtesy barely coaxes him from a tantrum. The fact was that he couldn't bring himself to not care about Phi. He couldn't bring himself to not worry sick about her, and only Meulin seemed to understand this. He's midway through working out a compromise, considering Meulin's gesture thoughtfully, when Kurloz holds up his presumptuous letter.

Any middle ground they might have won evaporates over the heat of his misdirected anger. It is the rather reasonable straw that breaks the camel's back. "All of you? How strange. I quite clearly recall the Phi I knew was a minor." They could all act like they were the best of friends with Phi but the fact was that they did not love her the way he did, else they would not endanger her so. He turns now to Derek, whose accusation has been stewing beneath Sigma's skin, has been eating him alive since before it was said. "Curious how quick you are to judge! Does a mentor's district not benefit from the victory of their Tribute? Does a stylist not rely on the cooperation of a model to embody their talent? Is it not the job of a columnist-" As grateful as he is to Meulin, he is not above reminding Phi where the source of their grief originated, "-To make a grand story of celebrity lives? But somehow I am in the wrong for assuming I might spend some time with my best friend? That is what strikes you as odd?" He stares Derek down, challenging him to disagree. "I am extremely proud of her! I am thrilled you all gather to celebrate her accomplishments! But if there is someone who has no business spending time with her, I assure you, it is not me."

Sigma had not awoken that morning intending to burn his bridges, but one hardly ever does.

[occasio]

Phi is exceedingly grateful to Meulin for the effort that she puts in to placating Sigma. It hadn't even occurred to her that she could spend the night here, and Phi is appreciative of the offer. On the other hand, Derek's retort isn't nearly as helpful, but it's not outright inflammatory. It's merely the truth. She was a Tribute. He was a Gamemaker. To these people, it's probably bizarre that she even wants him around at all, and for good reason.

Finally, when Kurloz voices his wordless opinion, Phi has to wonder if the man is psychic. It's nearly the same thing that Phi herself would have said in his place. She earned this. Not willingly, but it was earned nonetheless. If the Capitol saw it fit to send her off to die in televised battles, then the least they could do was pass her a drink when she came back.

But apparently that isn't good enough for Sigma Klim's moral high ground.

If the jab at her age wasn't enough, Sigma compounds his sins by flinging accusations at every other person in the room for the role that they play in the Hunger Games. The saying People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones comes to mind, and in her rising ire that threatens to boil over, Phi only has eyes for the crystalline mansion that Sigma has made his bed in.

"Goddammit, Sigma. I am twenty fucking years old!" She is pretty sure that she told him this before. He should be well aware of her age. But the fact that he still insists on calling her a minor and treating her like a kid that needs to be protected has her hackles raised just about as high as they can go. The bottle in her hand is slammed down onto the side table next to the couch, and some part of Phi hopes that she didn't just break anything. The rest of her doesn't care. She's on her feet again, claiming the high ground in order to glare daggers down on her would-be best friend.

"Who the hell do you think you are that you can walk in here and pass judgment like a fucking god among men? Every single person in this room has done more for me since I came to this goddamn city than you have! Derek and Chuck trained me when I arrived, just a week before the Games. They told me what to expect in there. Kurloz gave me clothes and tips on how to fit in. He made those people--" She flings her hand out towards the city outside, "--like me. And Meulin is a fucking saint for trying to mitigate your bullshit this entire time, even while you pitch her under the bus!" And out of all the insulting things that Sigma has said so far tonight, that one pisses her off the most. Meulin is an innocent party in all of this. She doesn't deserve to be treated like that.

"So let's talk about you, Sigma." Despite being just as angry, Phi's tone takes a turn from heated to icy cold. "Were you there when that thing came after me in the Arena? Did you send it yourself, or did you sit by while one of your coworkers ordered it up? Were you listening for the moment when I stopped screaming? Did you give the order to fire a canon once I was dead? At least these guys are in the business of keeping me alive. You can't even say that much, but you sure as hell don't mind walking in here and proclaiming yourself to be my best friend!"

[sociopathicwolf]

Derek tilts his head a little at the cold, dark expression on Kurloz's face - but he can't help but agree. The Gamemaker didn't have much welcome to begin with, but he's already quickly wearing it out. Still, he gives a grunt of agreement at Muelin's words, unconcerned that she didn't turn to ask for permission. He'd been the one to invite Phi in in the first place, he's fine with her staying as long as she pleases.

But apparently, none of that is enough for the Gamemaker. His eyebrows shoot up at the idea of Phi being a minor. As far as he knows, she's roughly the same age as Derek is, and the Capitol sure as hell hasn't considered him too young for anything in a really long time. But he doesn't care about calling the Gamemaker on that, not when the guy turns on him and stares him down.

For a moment, fear flickers in Derek's eyes, at having a Gamemaker focusing on him like that - this man might not directly have the power to make Derek's life hell, but he could try, and he could take it out on Derek's Tributes in the arena. But it turns quickly to anger when the man fucking challenges him. Showed up at his house and shoved his way in, filled with snide implications that he's better than them. Many people are better than Derek, but a Gamemaker will never be one of them, and he sure as hell isn't better than Chuck or Kurloz or Meulin.

It's the insults to his pack that make Derek snarl, slightly too sharp canines bared, and he tenses almost like he's thinking about saying fuck it and charging at the Gamemaker. But there's still that undercurrent of fear, and despite the Capitol's impression of him, Derek has more than enough self control to keep himself from attacking a Gamemaker. Even if the bottle in his hand cracks at the way he clenches his fists, holding himself back.

At least physically. "We all benefit from her staying alive. Still want her alive. Gamemakers-"

But he cuts off as he realizes that Phi'd started talking the same time that he did, only much more impassioned. His eyes widen a little as he shuts up, watching her shout almost exactly what Derek himself had been thinking. Watches her curse at a Gamemaker, and there's a part of Derek that can't help but respect her for doing what he's wished he could do for a long time.

There's a bigger part that's still angry and afraid, and now it's centered right on her. She's just made herself an even bigger target, and Derek doesn't have any kind of faith in the man who claims he's Phi's best friend as he designs things to kill her not to believe that he won't get back at her in the next arena.

Still. She's said everything Derek wanted to, and he gives a soft growl of agreement. "What she said. It's better."

[furgood]

At first, Sigma's blowup is strange--she can't see what caused it and casting her eyes about the room doesn't particularly help with the letter tucked away and Derek looking the same as ever. So Meulin is forced to watch the Gamemaker as he gets startlingly personal. Words fly at everyone, even herself, and the welcoming smile turns down a little at the edges. He doesn't insult them exactly so much as imply they do this only for their own desires. As if all of them are using Phi. As she turns it over, it gets even stranger. She missed the context of his outburst, but it's odd how he turns from claiming they're all using Phi to saying he deserves her company more. As if a Gamemaker doesn't use the tributes to paint stories. Gamemakers aren't support staff but the rumors she's heard might paint a clearer picture of this.

There's no time to reply or cool tempers, because it's Phi's turn to yell. They're both hard to follow but what she catches makes her glow with pride as much as she worries. Phi stands up for them all and condemns Sigma practically within the same breath. Meulin's not sure he deserves all of that, as caught on the wrong side of friendships as she's been before, but it's nice to see. Phi doesn't let Sigma walk all over her and she surely doesn't let him say awful things about her new friends.

There isn't much else to say--and certainly not much to follow Phi with. The coldness in her last statements don't lend to mitigation. Instead, Meulin frowns and watches their Gamemaker. She doesn't envy his position.

[quiethumerus]

At first there's a look of shock in Kurloz's face, paralysing fear that has nothing to do with Sigma himself and everything to do with having pissed off a figure of power in his attempt to appease and fix a situation. When he rises, he very near takes a step back.

But then what he does instead is perhaps worse. He stands firm where he is. The only thing keeping his lips from pulling back are the threads that keep them together, that keep him quiet, lest he say something damning or stupid or actually important in some way what shouldn't up and be known never.

He doesn't care of being accused of using. Anyone could say such about him. But this slander of his friends in his own motherfucking home, this insistence this Tribute should be in any way under his control up out of arenas, friend or not. The greatest offence is the way his mis-step has put everyone else under fire, has put Derek under a stare of challenge. His eyes follow to Derek who is tensed and braced and for a sharp moment he has vision of the fight and he's tensing too.

But it's phi who stands, fight who shouts and fights back, and phi who proceeds to stun him for that. He freezes where he is and as Phi vents all ire, he feels some of his own drain enough to put some fear back in. She's fucked. She's a target now. She--

The silence falls and in it, Derek says that. It starts with a horrible choked noise what has him slapping his hands over his mouth. Makara, don't do it. His shoulders shake and more faint choked noise comes from him. Fuck. Quickly, he turns on his heels and walks to the other side of the room facing away. Damn you, Derek, he thinks.

[futilecycle]

He's already rolling his eyes when she argues, prepared to snort and bicker the way they always have, a petty fight with no blood drawn. But by her third sentence Phi has draw blood and Sigma's eyes snap to hers at once. His expression warps from disbelief into horror, and utterly crumbles, if only for an instant in time, when she is done. He has no words to answer her with. In fact, he has no voice - his astonished what? has escaped his lips as air.

And she is not wrong; this was the ending he had chosen for himself and he'd known from the start he must live with that decision. But Phi had not made him a deal the way the Initiate had. He could not defend himself with the relentless grief he had endured. He could not argue that he had wished with all his might that he could undo his entire Panemian life, cut his decision to fight from the root, unfurl all of his precious memories- done nothing, been nothing- to prevent her from screaming like that. He could not confess to have been drowning in a room of cheering men. Instead he shakes his head, aghast. No, in his attempt to do something right, the choice had been made for him long before.

"...You are right. I cannot tell."

Unable to endure her another second, he stares into the table like it has an answer for him. He withers there on the couch, neck bent over his lap, humiliated. He had never called Phi his friend in her presence because he hadn't thought it necessary - not in the face of their mutual understanding, after all they had survived. Now he wonders if he, too quick to trust and to bleed, had fooled himself. "I see that I... have misunderstood something." It is a quiet revelation. The entire night has been a series of misconstructions but this one has broken his heart. Regardless of what she had said, he wasn't there for her the way he would had been, once. Fifty years of an identity he had tried not to lose threatens to slip quietly into the smoke.

He hesitates before lifting off of the couch, though he does not seem to know where to go from there. Awkwardly, he shuffles over to Meulin. His mouth opens and closes until he smiles joylessly. "...I came to ensure she was safe. I suppose I can leave that to you?" He tries to persuade himself that she would take good care of Phi. He flutters there, unprepared to leave but not willful enough to stay. There's still something puzzling him and he can not bring himself to go until it is dealt with. He rounds again on Phi, perplexed, lost. Floundering for driftwood and looking like a fool.

"Ah... One last thing. Why did you send me that photograph?"

It would have been better for all of them if she had simply kept him in ignorance, and yet she did not, knowing how it would incite him. He had thought it a joke in poor taste, a sign that she'd had enough. Now he would know if she'd meant it as a message.

[occasio]

If it weren't for Sigma, Phi would be feeling pretty damn good right now. The stunned silence feels powerful. For once, there's a bit of control that has landed in her hands, and she feasts like a starved woman who was just handed bread. Derek's agreement only adds to that, and Kurloz's choked and distorted laughter on top of that. She is the authority in this conversation. She has the high ground, and she has made it a platform on which to free all the wrongs that she's been harboring in her chest.

Sigma's expression splashes acid all over her feast, poisoning whatever satisfaction she managed to find.

He's hurt. That much is clear enough. All the bluster and self-importance that he had entered the room with is gone--evaporated like water in the face of her heated rebuke. For a moment, she's reminded so strongly of the Sigma that she remembers from Rhizome 9, and not the Dr. Klim or Zero Sr. that has been the facade of the majority of their interactions in the Capitol. She's reminded of the dumb, trusting Sigma that had picked 'Ally' on more occasions than she cared to count simply because he inexplicably believed the best in others.

She feels guilty, and she hates him all over for it. It hadn't been her intention to wound him, only to deflate his ego--but she hadn't simply deflated it. She had crushed it. She had done the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to the front of a car. Sure, the exterior seemed solid, but once that gave way, there was nothing left to protect the delicate bits inside. Miserable and still angry--but for a completely different reason now, Phi groans and rubs her face with one hand when he poses that question to her.

"I don't know, okay?" It seemed like a good idea at the time, before she knew that he would march over here and attempt to stick every single foot in the room in his mouth. A little bit of playful revenge for the grief he'd given her in the past. A little bit of spite for the tension between them now. It wasn't supposed to lead to all of this.

Why weren't things ever simple where Sigma was concerned?

She'd watched him as he shuffled over to Meulin, passing his torch of protection off to her, despite being unnecessary. His movements seem shaken and lost, like he's not entirely sure where he is or what to do. Clearly he means to leave, but at what cost?

Elapsum semel non ipse possit Iuppiter reprehendere.

Those words drift through her thoughts, as they have at every junction of her life, and she knows there's no choice to be made here. She can't let Sigma leave on his own like this, not with the state he's in. She turns to Derek, considering Meulin's deafness and Kurloz's incapacitated state.

"Thanks for everything tonight, but I'm going to walk him home. We can do this again some other time, when things have calmed down." If they aren't too mad at her for ditching them in the first place. If the offer is still open by then.

[sociopathicwolf]

Derek turns towards Kurloz at that choked off noise, and there's a surprised, pleased light in his eyes. He hasn't made someone besides Chuck laugh since... well, probably since they were back in District Four, with Chuck's dad. But then Kurloz turns and walks away, and Derek realizes that he'd just helped make Kurloz a target. Without thinking about it, he turns back, planting himself between the Gamemaker and Kurloz - as though the Gamemaker would strike now, as though he wouldn't wait until he had the upper hand.

When the Gamemaker withers, Derek is more than surprised. He'd expected more shouting, maybe retreating into cold superiority and veiled threats, and he doesn't know what to do with the fact that the Gamemaker is seemingly surrendering. Derek doesn't buy the act - he can't, twenty-one years and he's never seen anything to hint that Gamemakers have feelings to be hurt, that the opinions of a Tribute mean anything to them.

But there is no threat to react to here, so he says nothing, just watches the Gamemaker prepare to leave.

Derek's eyes narrow speculatively at Phi when she turns to him, taking in her body language to try to determine if there's anything about her that says she's going with him unwillingly. There's obvious reluctance and uncertainty - but not the kind he's looking for. She clearly believes the Gamemaker is genuinely hurt.

He doesn't like it. Everything he knows says the Gamemaker is playing her, but maybe she's safer if she goes along with it.

So he tilts his head a little in acknowledgment, responding to both that and partially to the Gamemaker's request of Meulin, even though his words are directed to Phi. "You can protect yourself. We'll still be here to help when you need it."

[furgood]

What a strange turn of events. Strange before that Phi has no qualm yelling at the Gamemaker and stranger still that Sigma takes it all, wilts under her harsh words. Eyes too used to seeing connections between people, relationships, still find this hard to categorize. Her head tilts in curiousity but she doesn't ask. Observing and keeping her eyes open for new leads always worked better than outright questioning.

So she merely smiles at Sigma when he asks her to take care of Phi, like she's so much older than Phi, like Phi can't take care of herself. Still, she understands overprotective friends and how much easier it is to nod along rather than fight them about it.

"Of course..." But she trails off as Phi speaks to Derek, with a resigned sort of tilt to her head, words unseen. Maybe leaving, maybe not. Hard to tell at this point. She errs on the side of caution.

"Trust me, we'll make sure she's taken care of no matter the circumstance. Especially here."

[quiethumerus]

He's not exactly looking to see the results of his laughing in the face of an annihilated Gamemaker but he assumes the result to be eventual vengeance at best. And yet he can't stop. Derek looking all goddamn pleased with himself didn't help matters, not up at all.

It hurts to laugh aloud like this and every now and then he coughs for it. At least he'll die smiling, he supposes.

He's only barely paying attention to what's going on behind him, not enough to know the details of what's happening. He does gather at least that the situation is... possibly diffusing in its way. And Phi is leaving. That gets him to move.

He picks himself up, face screwed up as happens after a fair coughing fit. He holds his hand up to say wait. Then reaches for a paper and pen. He writes down the numbers to the house and to he and Meulin's phones to text. He hold's it out to give to Phi. Just in case. Damn him if she walks out of here and winds up dead in an alley. She could call for Peacekeepers but... well, she was a Tribute and he was a Gamemaker. Best to call them.

With that done he turns a sort of weak pout onto Derek.

[futilecycle]

All told, Sigma is too wounded to have noticed any laughter at his expense - perhaps upon reflection he will be ashamed, but for now Phi's words are still ringing in his ears. Maybe he would come to realize how he has disgraced himself, but as far as he was concerned now, it was all in the name of Phi's safety...

Her guilt is easily interpreted as the awkwardness before a severing and his eyes sting - he wants to melt into the streets outside right then, return to a manufactured world of schemes were he only had to play his part and feel nothing. How could you not know? But when she promises to walk him home, his face brightens with the hope of a sick animal let in from the cold and he stares at her, pupil wet and bright. Here he had a second chance, a sign that his life hadn't unfolded in the kiln of his mistakes. Sigma knows, as her friend, she deserved to stay and have fun with the people who (he knew now) had helped her when he wasn't there, but he selfishly keeps this thought cloistered. He needs to be promised that one less thing in the universe is broken else he break, himself.

He tries to bring himself to smile at Meulin's assurance, but cannot summon the energy. Instead he nods sagely, dumbly. It means more to him than Derek's claim that Phi can handle herself - after having saved her from a rock to the head, from a breathtaking poison, from a bomb set to blow in her face, he'd prefer that they all learn to accept help when they could take it. For not in one of his millions of lives has he ever not needed Phi.

It hasn't registered that Kurloz had given Phi their number to protect her from him, and the Gamemaker waves the group off awkwardly as if to thank them for it, still too stunned to behave with coherence. He waits anxiously by the door for fear that Phi would take things back on a whim. "Well... I suppose that will be all, then... Please excuse us. Good night." And, as a confused and unnecessary afterthought, "Happy Hunger Games." Dry and passionless, the most pathetic of endorsements.

[sociopathicwolf]

Derek's still making sure to keep himself between the Gamemaker and Kurloz, just in case, but he edges closer to Kurloz with a frown when he notices him writing something down again. He settles when he realizes he's writing down their numbers, and Derek reaches out to snatch the paper from Kurloz's fingers once he holds it out.

He pulls out his own pen - it's become habit carrying a pen around in the house, with him and Meulin and Kurloz all there - and scrawls his number next to theirs. Well, there's a possibility it might be Chuck's number, but pretty much the same thing. Then he hands it over to Phi.

After that, he sticks close to Kurloz, refusing to look at the Gamemaker more than just keeping an awareness on him out of the corner of his eye, just in case. Which is a good thing, because he tenses a little when the Gamemaker tells them happy Hunger Games, teeth clenched and fists curled, and he focuses on the pout that Kurloz shoots at him instead.

Part of him wants to apologize, and part of him wants to make another smart ass comment, but he doesn't want to do anything until the Gamemaker's actually gone, so he just waits.