missing link of this illusion // [Mace/Krueger 94th]

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d10f ekta ram // [earthling]
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Pronouns: She/Her
last seen May 3, 2024 11:27:50 GMT -5

cameron stood in line for an hour for a stupid ride for me <3 best <3

missing link of this illusion // [Mace/Krueger 94th] Jun 13, 2023 13:07:37 GMT -5

Post by d10f ekta ram // [earthling] on Jun 13, 2023 13:07:37 GMT -5

It doesn't hurt me.
Do you want to feel how it feels?
Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me?
Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making?
You, it's you and me.

Mace stood at the newly washed window in the District Ten apartment watching the last vestiges of sunset dip over the faraway mountains. Before Andal had won he'd nearly forgotten how beautiful the Capitol could be. So many things about the accommodations for Ten had languished in the many years between Victors. Not that Mace had noticed the slow creep. But since Andal came back the Capitol had redoubled their efforts. He no longer had to jigger the toilet flush, didn't have to call down to inquire about dinner leftovers.

He spun the spoon around the bowl of stew, scraping off the last of the sauce. It was his third? fourth? serving of the evening and he was very full and tempting his acid reflux something fierce. Probably he should sleep on the couch.

He turned to inspect the cushions, to see if they had also been made anew, to discover that he wasn't alone. He jumped, just a little, and color crept into his cheeks. "Gambles," he muttered. "No need to creep around here, jus' ask for what you want. You hungry?"

Mace studied the boy's face in the fading orange light. "Or didja need to talk?"

And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh

running up that hill
-placebo-
[dars]

title lyrics from "Jericho" by Iniko

Last Edit: Jun 13, 2023 15:03:32 GMT -5 by d10f ekta ram // [earthling]

credit hesper hart 🐺 d9f

credit [ retro gm ] angel lí ✨

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pogue
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1,811 POSTS

Pronouns: He/Him
last seen Apr 16, 2024 18:41:45 GMT -5

Is she trying to interrupt our henna session?

missing link of this illusion // [Mace/Krueger 94th] Jun 16, 2023 14:30:18 GMT -5

Post by pogue on Jun 16, 2023 14:30:18 GMT -5

He'd stopped silencing his own footsteps by the third night, pressing past the only creaking floorboard that remained in Ten's quarters with the gracefulness of a ghost long since dead. It's odd how quick a routine forms, roots itself deep in his bones and pulls him forwards. He's making his way towards another cup of room temperature coffee when he steps into the kitchen and locks eyes with Mace, freezes in his own shadow and feels ice and fire creep in.

"Gambles," Mace speaks like he's already trying to forget him, and Krueger walks towards the counter like he's claiming territory, like he'll actually come back from the arena to prove it. "No need to creep around here, jus' ask for what ya want. You hungry?" It's cruel, the way his stomach goes to respond first. He's been starving himself since he arrived here, intense anxiety disguised as preparation for the arena.

"Or didja need to talk?"

Krueger scoffs, instinctual, his gaze measuring how much stew was left in the tupperware container. It'd been half full the night prior, but now he could see specs of the bottom of the container creeping through the leftover meal. Mace knew how to put down the food but didn't know how to put down the spoon. "What, you gonna help or something?" There's a bitterness that creeps into his tone, scattered in the dead air of Ten's quarts and pinpointed directly at one of the few who'd managed to come back alive.

He can't help it. It's just like he can't help what he knows is going to happen in that arena, what is going to happen to him. If living made someone guilty then the world had too many people to lock up.

An apology in the form of a sigh slips from his lips, white flag waving as he grabs a bowl from the cupboard and a spoon for himself.

There's a long pause as he considers his own words, a showman used to rehearsed lines, never genuine. But there's a gnawing feeling that has been clawing at his heartstrings since he'd gotten here, sitting in the shadow and wondering if what he was doing was right, as if he could change any of it now. "Bowie-" He starts, and it feels like acid bites back at his tongue.

"I don't even know if you remember him-." He doesn't think he could blame him if he didn't. After all, he's just one of the many ghosts Mace Emberstatt has had to feel in these quarter's.

"What... was he like before the Games?"

d10f ekta ram // [earthling]
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9,457 POSTS
Pronouns: She/Her
last seen May 3, 2024 11:27:50 GMT -5

cameron stood in line for an hour for a stupid ride for me <3 best <3

missing link of this illusion // [Mace/Krueger 94th] Jun 16, 2023 16:52:23 GMT -5

Post by d10f ekta ram // [earthling] on Jun 16, 2023 16:52:23 GMT -5

It doesn't hurt me.
Do you want to feel how it feels?
Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me?
Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making?
You, it's you and me.

"What, you gonna help or something?"

Mace's eyes, which had gone a bit liquid with exhaustion, hardered to grey ice. "Might do somethin' like that," he returned slowly. And far be it from him to trample another's thought process.

"What... was he like before the Games?"

He bristled at the implication that his memory was failing. How old did Krueger think he was? Not that the boy would know, necessarily. The press had long ago stopped tracking Mace's age, though they still made sure to note Saffron's in every damned article. "He was a hot head. Needed a hand stronger than mine to make him come to heel. Think that's why it took so long for the arena to break him."

The words stirred something in Mace's gut that felt akin to betrayal. He did his best not to speak ill of the dead -- excepting that one crazy motherfucker -- and so he tried again. "'Course it was a Quell. He gave 'em quite a performance all the way to the end with those axes."

Here, he paused. You could do a lot worse, was on the tip of his tongue. But he didn't feel like finding out if Krueger had the same temper as Bowie. So instead he choked out, "you could do a lot better."

And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh

running up that hill
-placebo-
[dars]