(no subject)

[littlebylittle]

Who: Yukiya and OPEN
Where: Tribute Tower
When: During the first week of the new Arenas.
What: Yukiya arrives as a new mentor after the Arena has started. He gets accustomed to being back in Tribute Tower and tries to get a hand on how things run now.
Warnings: None yet


The District Suite was painfully silent when Yukiya brought in his things. He took over a room for a mentor and unpacked right away. He had only brought one suitcase up with him, only of the things from District 7. His new clothes were due to arrive later that day.

After everything was settled in, he moved down to the main common areas. Some of the mentors were away, doing work on behalf of their Tributes in the two Arenas, though there were still some here too. There was a group with Stylists and other staff too, all watching the Games as they took a break or ate or did something else to waste time before their next meeting. Yukiya wasn't sure if he was allowed to join them or not. He was a mentor now, but he thought that maybe they wouldn't welcome him within their ranks.

Instead, he sort of stood off to the side nervously and watched the images on the televisions. The desert one was difficult for him to watch, so when it came onto the screen he would look away. It was too much like the Arena he had been in and the memory of it made him feel a little sick.

Comments

[gentlemanvictor]

Hello, Yukiya. Have a jolly voice in your ear and a large hand clasping your shoulder. "Glorious, isn't it?"

[littlebylittle]

Yukiya tenses at being touched so strongly. When he sees that it's his old mentor though he offers a small, nervous smile. "I'm sorry? What is?"

[gentlemanvictor]

"The Games, of course," Othar answers jovially. "They bring glory to Panem and the Districts. Like you and I did when we played." Though personally, Othar felt he had perhaps brought more glory than Yukiya had, given that his death count was much, much higher. Hiding and relying on sponsor gifts was not his way of Victory.

[littlebylittle]

"Oh!" Yukiya says and then nods, quickly trying to recover from his stunned moment. "Yes. The candy one is really creative too."

[gentlemanvictor]

"Amazing," Othar agrees. "Simply amazing. Reminds me a little of the one they had for the last Quell! That was before your time, of course." He leans back against the wall. "You know, the first Quell was my first Game. First one I remember, at any rate."

[littlebylittle]

"Really? What did you thin of it?" Ayase asks, politely curious and trying to keep up the conversation even though the Arenas are hard to talk about.

[gentlemanvictor]

"It was exciting," Othar says, gazing off into the distance, the television ignored. "I knew then that was what I wanted to do with my life. To strive and die and bring glory to my district."

After a moment he shakes his head. "And then I lived anyway. I'd gotten good at it somehow."

[littlebylittle]

"Being good at living isn't bad," Yukiya points out. "And by living you brought them food and a little more money."

[gentlemanvictor]

Yukiya would think that. Othar sighs and rubs his brow. "I did, didn't I?"

[fire_punk]

There's another young mentor studiously trying to avoid watching the Games. He paces nervously, glancing around him every now and then before staring back at the floor.

[littlebylittle]

Yukiya watches him for a while before working up the nerve to speak to him. "Um, are you okay?"

[fire_punk]

The kid nods. "Yeah. I just... This mentor thing isn't as easy as they make it sound."

[littlebylittle]

"Oh... It isn't? I mean, it's just my first day..."

[fire_punk]

"It's all about these people!" the boy sputters, finally standing still. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say to them!"

[littlebylittle]

"You mean... the Tributes?"

[fire_punk]

"No. Everyone else."

[littlebylittle]

"So then.... the sponsors?"

[akingalways]

"...You?"

Oh, dear. Jack had returned from his own District, though for reasons he wasn't going to get into, he was in a rather sullen mood after the fact. Seeing this kid only made the sullenness deepen.

Among so many other reasons he disliked Yukiya's general presence - the things it reminded him of, the things he paralleled with Jack on, the fact this kid had gotten it easy in general in comparison to...well, everyone - he was also a wimp. And of course he had to be standing near where Jack was sitting.

"How are they so desperate?" Jack grumbled as he started to stand. "Calling you back here. Did Johanna ask for a woman's touch in her suite all of a sudden?"

[littlebylittle]

Yukiya turned towards the sound of Jack's voice and then was quiet for a moment as the insult landed. He wasn't really sure how he was supposed to respond to it.

"I'm... I'm not a woman," he eventually said, though he knew that the comeback wasn't the most effective.

[akingalways]

"...You could have fooled me!" Jack crossed his arms. "Pathetic. How could you even call yourself a Victor, simpering like a baby in the corner!"

A pause.

"WHY am I even talking to you!?" It was a good question in his mind. "Frankly, I would rather have someone strap me to a bed of tracker jacker stinger-tipped nails, with Bickle forcing me to drink a bottle of battery acid out of the carcass of his dead squirrels, while that insane woman Salazar tried sawing off my testicles with a butter knife, on live TV, than to waste anymore breath on you, because it would be a better management of my time!!"

[littlebylittle]

Yukiya let him finish his little rant and blinked a bit in stunned surprise.

"Oh, okay," he answered after a moment. "Good bye then." He assumed, of course, that Jack would leave him alone at that.

[akingalways]

Well, Jack was going to leave, until that.

"For the--DO YOU HAVE ANY BACKBONE!?"

[littlebylittle]

As Jack's voice got louder, Yukiya's eyes grew wide. He took a step back, shrinking in a bit.

"I..." he started, but he wasn't sure what he could say that would stop Jack from yelling at him. "I do!" he added after that moment of hesitation, though he wasn't entirely sure that was completely truthful.

[akingalways]

"...NO YOU DON'T!" Wait, didn't he say he'd rather do something el- "YOU'RE SIMPERING AWAY FROM ME!!"

[littlebylittle]

"You're yelling at me," Yukiya responds. "I didn't do anything. Please stop. It can't be good for your health."