the bear and the bat {tom/rook}

Born from the same flesh is what he told Lux Pelotte before his hands were soaked in her blood. Victim was just another word for victor since they carry it all with them. Every gut wrenching moment that they felt during the arena lays upon their skin like the scars that were visible to the eye. A pain that surges through his missing calf is sharp as it doesn't ease him at all after the event of a speech given to District Five. A job well done is what Star had told him, but he didn't feel good. He never felt good giving the speeches to a place where all that was left were graves to be dug, bodies left to rot, and memories to be lost. The struggle of living with the deeds that were done live in his skin like a coat that he can never take off.

Niho gives him a few minutes to rest after standing for awhile. Coming out of the arena, Teddy Ursa felt like he had aged beyond his years. Emotional pain and physical pain that he has never felt before the games. Memories were fading back into reality of the times before the arena, but he didn't focus on them as others needed him more. Teddy needed them too. They were the only people to give him closure in the end. Restless eyes and a broken heart, the man gets up and moves towards the Victor Village.

District Five is exactly like what Cam had told him it would be. Clouded skies with people who look as tired as him. They don't get luxuries like him, but he watches them. A little girl who runs past them with peacekeepers watching her closely like she may be a weapon. A mother shouting to her son to not touch something. Everything seemed normal, except for people who watched him like he was a monster. Some of them were right. He had been a monster. Telling Cameron that he wouldn't miss her in the end. All of it had been a lie. A string of emotions that battled with his insides cutting it open until he broke everywhere. Cameron Dialate didn't deserve to die, but there he was. Alive and standing in her district with peacekeepers and other people who watched him on his journey. Nasty looks and some of praise shatter his skin.

Green eyes looking down towards the ground as he follows Star to where District Five's victors resided in. The clouded air above gives the village a gloom that sends a chill down his spine. District Five was both gorgeous and not gorgeous. Hands shaking for a second as he takes in the area. Body holding in a breath as he moves forward to a place that he does not know. There's a second where he can feel Chester's body on his skin as he remembers the chilly, but warm nights in the arena. The angelic look upon Chester's sleeping face as he contemplated leaving him in the middle of the night in order to let him survive. How wrong he had been. How wrong it was to let Chester die once they had split. Teddy couldn't forgive himself for not getting Chester out. He was a man who deserved to be in his shoes, but wasn't.

Titus had taken that away from him.

His words come out of his throat as Star and others were talking about who should get Patricia. No one wanted to go. No one seemed to care too much, but all he could do was roll his eyes at his escort's rudeness. The peacekeepers would have asked for her, but they all disappeared once they were in the Victor Village. There's not a moment of hesitation as he approaches Patricia's home.

"I'll go get her."

Star just smiles with relief that she does not have to go see the victor. No reason upon her lips, but he could care less. He's seen things. The people know who Patricia was behind cameras and footage, but he had a feeling she was different. A victor who was portrayed a certain way, but for all he knew, he was wrong. He knew little to nothing about Patricia, except that she had been a mentor for Cam and Jacob. The house was just like he had seen in his own district, except theirs is empty, or was empty. Hand knocks on the door for a second as he thinks to open the door. Ma would have told him it's rude, but he's followed politeness as long as it could get him. All of it thrown away with the blood on his hands. A druggie, a veterinarian, and a career's bloods soaked his hands.

He speaks instead of going inside.

"Errr, Patricia? We're here, or well, I mean I am here."

A moment of silence before he thinks about all of District Five. All of the time that he's spent there with nothing more than his worries and sorrows scarring his skin. All of the safe routes that he had taken as a nurse without looking for the risky option. A sigh leaves his throat as his Ma would kill him for what he did next. Hand gently twisting the knob as he hopes the door opens. Polite words upon his tongue as his shakiness is coming again.

"I hope it's okay if I come in. I-I need a break from them.

Star, the peacekeepers, and everyone else that had been keeping an eye on him from afar. He needed to escape for a moment, even if it was in a stranger known as Patricia's home. Silence upon his tongue as he comes inside with a stop as his heart begins to beat from his chest. Chester's eyes filling his mind as he can see Titus breaking his bones. He wasn't enough. He wasn't enough to save him from death. Teddy killed Ree when Chester needed him most. Death claims his hands as bringers of death. Hands shaking as he looks around for a moment. Silence. Peace. Quiet. Patricia. Teddy.

A man who didn't deserve to lose everything and still make it out alive.

And here he was, hands shaking, remembering things that he didn't want to, and in a stranger's home.

Things couldn't get any worse.

Right?