A strong bench [Kap]

Jamie! The boy scolded himself harshly in his head. Why are you so fucking useless? Zagreus... C'rizz... They're both dead! Zagreus is dead because you didn't take his place and C'rizz is dead because you didn't stop him from volunteering! Now Stitch might join them, and it's all your fault! He wasn't going to let up, no matter how much time passed, as he always felt that it was his fault. He'd turned nineteen years old a few days after the reaping, so yes, it meant that he no longer could volunteer in anyone's place to save them, but he'd given up so many chances to save others that that fact didn't even matter anymore.

The boy had failed at saving his best friend, Zagreus Moon, and that was something that he couldn't change. He'd also failed at preventing Zagreus's cousin, C'rizz, from practically sacrificing himself. Now, he hadn't taken Stitch's place, either, and that meant that he might be losing another friend. That, or his friend would come back to him as a killer. Of course, Jamie would never judge Stitch for doing what he had to in order to survive, but he also knew that it would likely be a terribly difficult thing for Stitch to live with, should he come home alive.

Today was just another day to some people. As for Jamie, it was another day that his friend, Stitch, was fighting in the Games, and there was nothing that he could do about it. He just had to hope that the boy was strong enough to survive. Then again, if Stitch was strong enough, shouldn't Zagreus have been strong enough, too? Zagreus was the strongest person Jamie had ever known, yet he didn't make it out alive. Instead, the Capitol's mutt creation, with the help of a few other tributes, killed him.

Jamie, you just have to trust that Stitch can make it out of there alive. Calm down. Now, instead of scolding himself, his mind had jumped to trying to console himself. It was unusual to some people how quickly Jamie went from one mood to another, but it was just how he was. He'd always been like that, and it was unlikely that anything would be changing it anytime soon.

As Jamie tried to calm himself down that morning, he wandered about the District that he called home, hoping that perhaps he'd be able to find some sort of distraction. It surprisingly didn't take long for this to happen, either, as while he was walking, he saw a rather pretty young girl sitting on a bench, tears rolling down her soft cheeks. Due to Jamie's kind heart, he couldn't just keep walking. It wasn't just a distraction for himself anymore. No. Now, it was a person that he needed to help. This girl may have been a stranger, but he felt a need to console her.

Approaching the bench that the girl was sitting on, Jamie took a seat beside her and spoke kindly, hoping that he wouldn't end up startling her. He wasn't going to speak with the usual 'are you okay' that many people would ask of him if he were upset in public. No, when someone was crying, most of the time, they weren't okay. Jamie knew that. He'd experienced tears streaming down his face all too many times, after all.

"I'm sorry you're upset," he said to her softly. "Is there anything I can help you with? You can talk to me about it, if you'd like."

As Jamie's words reached the girl before him, she didn't seem to have any desire in receiving assistance from him. Perhaps she was off-put by him, he guessed. He often felt that people didn't like him, as he'd come on a bit too strongly. This time, however, he could've sworn that he didn't say anything that could be seen as too much, and his actions were very gentle, too. All he'd done was sit next to her, so what could he have possibly done to make her not want his help?

Maybe she thinks I'm weird for coming up to her... he wondered to himself.

The girl went to stand up and walk away, but didn't quite manage to do so successfully. Instead of cleanly departing, when she rose from her spot, her foot hooked Jamie's leg and she crashed to the ground, profanity emerging from her mouth in response to what had just happened. The girl stayed on the ground when she fell, sobbing. Often, if something like this were to happen, Jamie would call for help. This time, however, he was tired of making other people help. He wanted to help someone himself for once.

He hadn't helped Zagreus, C'rizz or Stitch, but maybe he could help this girl instead. She wasn't in danger of death like those who'd gone into the Hunger Games, but she was still hurt, and he wanted to be of assistance, even if he wasn't usually the best at helping people, no matter how much he wanted to. Immediately, the boy stood up from his spot on the bench and rushed to where the girl was on the ground. Trying his best to help her up, he put her arm over his shoulders and started to life her up back onto her feet.

"Are you hurt?" he asked her. Jamie wouldn't ask if she was alright. That was a question he generally tried not to ask when the obvious answer was no, and seeing as the girl was in tears, she obviously wasn't alright. At least, not completely.

Then again, Jamie was never completely alright himself, and people couldn't always tell.