Flynn's Challenge (Open to Flynn's Gang)

No? No...? Rose toyed with the word in her head a few times, trying to comprehend what Ryan was saying it in reference to. No what?  She stared at Ryan stupidly, and released Alyx's hand after giving it a somewhat overly intense squeeze to show him it was settled. 

She figured that Ryan must be jealous and angry that if he was lucky enough to be reaped he would not get to be in the Games as Alyx would 'kill steal' - the term she used for when she did all the hard work in a fight and someone else finished off the target with an easy final blow and then claimed victory for the whole fight as their own.  She felt this was maybe a bit like that in a way.  

But everything she knew about Ryan was that he hated to fight.  In face he had just been talking minutes before about how boys shouldn't hit girls! How would he cope in the Games, with half the competition fitting that category? He needed someone to volunteer in his place if he was going to be precious about that, for some unknown reason.

"You reckon you're ready for the Games? How are you gonna win it being such a huge weakling that won't even hit girls?" She snorted, "You're lucky that Flynn is looking out for you.  Poor Alyx here is gonna be hated by the other boys if he gets to go in now and they have to wait like the rest of us until we're 18 before we volunteer." She turned to Alyx, "He say why he picked you? Pretty big honour.  You should be proud he picked you from all the boys.  Wish I was a bloody boy, or he so would have picked me over you."

(ooc: word count 307)

With both Rose and Alyx sneering at him, appearing more on Ryan felt his cheeks redden.

"You reckon you're ready for the Games? How are you gonna win it being such a huge weakling that won't even hit girls?"
Ryan didn't have any illusion of being ready for the games. He wasn't violent, and if the last few weeks was anything to go by, apparently he wasn't very good at being hit either. Rose obviously thought he was weak and stupid. He didn't agree, but more and more he was wondering if she knew something he didn't. Clearly she knew more about fighting.

Alyx was speaking to Rose now, the two of them apparently discounting his refusal as irrelevant.
"Well, I'd much rather die in the Games than go through what he said. I don't really have much of a choice. Either die a quick, painless death, or a slow, painful death."
Alyx fixed his gaze on Ryan, and Ryan found himself staring back, not knowing what else to do. "Look, I don't want to volunteer for you any more than you want me to volunteer, but- I have no choice."

Ryan found that after just a few weeks living with Flynn, he was well able to imagine the kind of threats Flynn might make, to convince you to do something you didn't want to do. He felt ill.
"You can't...I can't just let you die in my place. I know I ain't ready for the games, but...just seems wrong. I could talk to Flynn? It don't seem right for him to trade your life for mine like that."
Talking to Flynn and trying to get him to change his mind about things seemed to have as much effect as banging your head against a wall, but it was better than nothing, surely.  "He can't just FORCE you to volunteer, right? Ain't really volunteerin' if you're forced."

Ryan tried to take a step back, the look on Alyx's face scaring him. The ropes Rose had tied on his ankles almost made him fall and he wobbled and almost fell, but caught himself.

"You - you don't u-understand...I-if I don't volunteer, h-he said he would h-hunt me down, and- I- I c-can't say..."B-but t-trust me, y-you don't w-want to find out..."
Alyx's words confirmed what Ryan had already suspected. Flynn was threatening Alyx if he didn't volunteer if Ryan was reaped. And whatever he had said, it was enough to scare this tough kid enough that even remembering it was too much.

Sinking his teeth into his lip hard enough to draw blood, Ryan held Alyx's gaze. "I'm so sorry. I...if I can't talk to Flynn...I dunno what I can do. Hope someone else volunteers if I get picked, maybe? Before you can. I don't want him to hurt you. I don't want him to hurt anyone.

Alyx's gaze was still locked on Ryan, his eyes wild and frightened, "P-please, I d-don't want the s-same thing happening t-to you."

The words made Ryan's blood run cold, as though it had turned to ice. He'd barely been with Flynn a month and the thought of being punished by him was utterly, debilitatingly, terrifying. He couldn't even imagine being raised like this for years and years. No wonder these kids were all so strange and violent.

"Alright," he promised, "I won't talk to Flynn. An' maybe we could work out a way to change his mind without havin' to ask him about it? Maybe if he was real happy with you, or...if you were...doin' somethin' else that made him lots of money an' he'd lose that if you died in the games?" He tried to think like Flynn might, but it made his head hurt. He smiled at Alyx and on impulse, reached for him. Moving slowly so he wouldn't appear threatening he tried to wrap his arms around the other boy and hug him briefly.

Alyx pushed him away and Ryan dropped his arms awkwardly. Clearly Alyx didn't want a hug. It made sense. Flynn didn't seem like the kind to hug, and these kids were tough. He rubbed his arms with his hands. Ryan knew most boys their age didn't huge, but he was too used to his little sisters. They'd loved hugs. It hurt to remember them. He missed them so much. Even more than he missed his mother, perhaps, because he knew that they were alive and close by, but out of reach. He'd been the one to take care of them most of the time. Their mother had been so busy working, that a lot of the chores had fallen to Ryan, and then his oldest sister Molly as well, when she got a little older. He was pleased to think that at least the girls were together. Molly was clever, and she would be doing a good job looking after the little ones while he wasn't there.

"I didn't mean for you to disobey." It was true. Ryan was still aching all over from the punishment Flynn had given him for answering back to him. The punishment for outright disobedience was likely to be even worse. "Maybe just...wait to see. If anyone else volunteers first, you know? Like just be a little slow to put your hand up. He won't punish you for THAT, right? An' in the meantime...try to see if he'll change the order. He might, right?" He looked to Rose as well. "You know him better'n I do. S'there any way he might change his mind on his own? Without us havin' to ask him?"

Alyx Johnson

"I didn't mean for you to disobey. Maybe just...wait to see. If anyone else volunteers first, you know? Like just be a little slow to put your hand up. He won't punish you for THAT, right? An' in the meantime...try to see if he'll change the order. He might, right? You know him better'n I do. S'there any way he might change his mind on his own? Without us havin' to ask him?"

Rose then spoke up, finally. "Why would Flynn change his mind? He makes decisions based on what he wants, an outcome. And apparently he don't want you in the Games. Sucks to be you, kid. But let's face it, you wouldn't last five seconds in the arena, so maybe it's a good thing Flynn knows how weak and useless you are, and is taking steps to keep you safe. He's sending Alyx in your place because he like, I dunno, cares about you, or something, right?" She glanced at Alyx, which he inferred to be a look of confusion, as if asking why anyone would care for someone. Alyx was wondering that to, actually. Why would Flynn care for Ryan? It still made no sense to him... "So I guess the best way to get him to change his mind, and rescind the order is to make him not care about you."

It might sound harsh, but it was true. The only way to change Flynn's mind was to make him not care for Ryan, make him feel the same way as he does with the other boys.

"I- I suppose your right. There is a chance he won't punish me if someone else volunteers, but-" He glanced at Rose, then back at Ryan. "But I don't want to risk it. The only way around it is to make Flynn not care for you, or to toughen you up, so he won't worry about you fighting." He looked directly at Rose. "Right?"

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