wings wouldn't help you | {hayden/tobias}

up with your turret
aren't we just terrified?
shale, screen your worry
from what you won't ever find

He still clutched the rose from the train, peach colored and tucked into his clenched fists like his life depended on it— like his life depended on anything in his possession. Taking chances and winning favor, he reminded himself, this is just a popularity contest that kills.

He tucked the rose into the lapel of his jacket, nodded to Jacinta before breaking apart from her and Jacquelyn, who had already instructed them to go test the waters.

He felt foreign here, and he'd thought it would go away after a while, but there was a heaviness in his chest that he couldn't explain. He felt the need to keep his chin up at all times, his shoulders squared and his breathing even. He almost felt like a deer sizing up its wolfish competition. There was a tall, lanky boy with a 2 emblazoned on his shirt, tossing spears into targets like he was made for it, a blonde girl with a 1 sparking flint over a tar-soaked sword, a girl with a 4 tossing a net over an entire group of plastic dummies. Tobias's hands felt heavy.

At least he could chop wood, right?

Eyes followed him, waiting to see what he could do— daring him to try. When he stopped at the plants station and pulled out the journal Jacquelyn had gotten him, he could practically feel the words Easy Target being tattooed across his forehead, but he ignored the thought, pushed it to the back of his mind. He didn't have time to worry about dying. Not when he still had time to learn how to live.

He gripped the pencil in his hand a bit tighter as he began sketching the plants in front of him, labeling them so he could study them before bed. This was something he already knew how to do, but just being from a nature-based District was not enough to guarantee absolute knowledge of what was in the arena. Already, he had noticed two or three types of ivy he hadn't ever seen before, as well as a light pink mushroom that had a sign in front of it reading "No touching without gloves!"

He licked his lips at that, adding it to the catalog of things to remember in his head. Lenox smelled like citrus. Farley would remember him. Pink mushrooms can't be touched.

He looked over at the girl closest to him, catching her attention and saying, "Any idea what this is? Or is it something new?"

don't let it fool you
don't let it pull you down
down fills the ground
gravity is proud