a trick of the light | Kass National HG Museum
Jan 3, 2020 0:14:15 GMT -5
Post by sbeeg on Jan 3, 2020 0:14:15 GMT -5
She goes late at night when the square isn't full of eyes watching her march up the steps to make herself miserable. There's a few people closing up shops and Peacekeepers eyeing the impending curfew, but their eyes don't linger on her long. She slips through the door and enters the empty museum. The room is dark but the display is overly bright. She presses a metal finger to the screen before grumbling and switching to her left hand where it could read the heat of her skin. She flips through the catalog picking through the selections and suddenly the room is full of light.
The simple dark room morphs around her, the darkness melting into smooth chrome walls. It doesn't feel completely right. The light flickers, and the gravity is still heavy on her shoulders. It looks like a picture. She taps the display swishing through the plants, then bridge, and then stopped on the upside down apartments. It's a random unit with clothes spilling from drawers, and open cabinets with the doors hanging off their hinges.
She sucks at her teeth before tapping the screen. For a brief moment Ike pops up, Emily hovering over his shoulders. Kass looks away, clicking the display again.
Nell is staring at her. The light shuts off.
She closes her eyes. She shouldn't have come. She's sure the rest of the victors aren't torturing themselves late at night like this.
Kass takes a slow breath, letting her lungs stretch to a point of pain before letting it out and taping the name under "D2M."
Dio flickers to life, wrapped in his arena fabric. She just watches him for a moment. She's never interacted with a hologram before but the advertisement said they would respond to conversation like a person.
"Hi," Kass croaks out. She expects a canned reply but instead his eyes focus on her face and a smile crosses his lips, slow and entirely too real.
"Hey priestess."
Kass can't stop the gasp that leaves her lips. She presses her fingers to her lips, just watching him in front of her. He smiles a her sweetly and it's like the canned air is in her lungs again. The mutt bite aches in her arm that no longer hangs at her side. She wants to reach out and touch him but she's afraid he might actually be flesh and blood. His expression changes, a knowing look.
"...you need me to fix our warpaint?" he asks. Kass feels the tingle at her eyes as tears begin to well up. She doesn't want to speak, her voice will crack. They kneel on the floor and he presses the pen against her eyelid. She doesn't feel the pressure but she sits patiently as he works.
"I miss you," she says quietly.
"I'm... right here. Rude." Kass gives a weak smile. He doesn't know. Dio pauses before continuing.
"...I'm sorry I... left."
She opens her eyes and watches him.
"I mean, it was going to happen eventually... I never thought I'd... I'm just sorry I left you." His dark eyes glimmer with tears and Kass can't hold back her own. She slumps forward letting the tears flow freely down her cheeks.
"I'm happy it wasn't you." She looks up sniffling.
"...right?" he says, his head tilting to the side. She squints, trying to see his expression through her tears. The lights flicker, her hologram paint vanishing from her face. Dio's face is streaked with blood, his head cracked open. His mouth hangs open as he gasps for air.
"Dio!" she's shouting for him, reaching out as he stumbles backwards. His eyes, which were focused and real, are glazed over and see nothing. Kass lurches forward reaching for him but her hands cut through the light of his torso. His hologram wavers, blood raining down his face, before shutting off completely.
Snot runs down her face but she doesn't wipe it off. She can only stare at the spot where he had been. The arena wavers and then vanishes around her, the harsh lighting of the room coming on and washing everything in clinical white.
"Thank you for coming to the National Hunger Games Museum!" a cheerful voice says.
Kass sniffles, rubbing her palm against her eyes. She was looking for ghosts and she would find little closure here.
Still, the slow sweet smile he'd given her was enough to hold onto. At least she got to see him and it felt real for a single moment.
table by griffin
thank you to windy for writing Dio dialogue
thank you to windy for writing Dio dialogue
