the devil's in the fine print // avriel & archie

The train ticket showed up on the front porch a week ago in an envelope stapled to the front of an information packet reading URGENT in angry red letters.

Avriel had used it as a coaster for three days before finally opening it. He figured if he ignored it long enough, the urgency would slip away. Then the phone call from Gloria had come, with it the command to go to the Capitol out of games week and mentor on some game show.

"No thank-you," he'd said politely and hung up.

The peacekeeper escort at four this morning had been overkill in Avriel's opinion but he's no expert. He left Scout still asleep on his windowsill and went along quietly. The train was quiet without his usual escort and that was almost nice for a moment. The sun rose as he travelled, lighting up endless planes of sparkling, untouched snow. They flew through the districts without stopping and Avriel watched blurry faces stare at them as they went by.

And forgot for a moment where he was going.

The gates to the capitol opened as the train pulled near and that familiar feeling of dread settled like a cat on his chest. No matter the fact that it's been a year and a half since he came here, expecting to die, he still feels it.

The peacekeepers escort him all the way to where Gloria waits for him at Saturn City before they finally leave him be. Avriel gives Gloria a little wave as they walk up, "Hey," he says.

"You're late," she says.

"Yeah, I didn't want to come," he says.

She considers this for a moment and then shrugs. Avriel follows her inside and up a flight of stairs, then down a hall. "In there," she says to him, "That's where your contestant is waiting."

As she walks away, Avriel realizes that it would have been good to read the information packet they'd sent him on the train ride in. Now he's face to face with this strange man and he doesn't actually know why.

"Hello. Can you slap me," he says.

Avriel does him one better and punches him in the jaw.

The connection echoes up to his elbow, then his shoulder and Avriel grimaces slightly as he wrings his fist out beside him. For a moment, the room is silent, shocked still, everyone holding a collective breath.

"Fuck."

A person in a headset frantically slides in between Avriel and Archie as if they're throwing themselves in front of a bullet. The camera person looks busy behind the camera, glancing away when Avriel's blank stare falls on them. A kid with a tray of drinks is slowly but surely pouring a coffee onto the floor while he gapes and absolutely everybody is looking at him.

Avriel looks away, back at the guy who asked him to hit him. His skin, mottled red from Avriel's fist is already starting to puff up. People are now shoving ice packs into his arms and holding them against his cheek for him. One little punch and it's like Avriel tried to murder him or something. Well he shouldn't have asked to get hit if he couldn't take a goddamn punch so Avriel chalks it up to not his fault.

Kind of wild to watch the room flutter over something he's done. For months now he's just resigned himself to his fate and played the good little victor as best he can. Nothing good's come of it, just opportunities like this one. Maybe they all forgot that there's a reason he made it out of that arena alive, his bite's far more brutal than his bark will ever be.

As the people in the room fret over the other guy, some kid holds an ice pack out to Avriel, arms shaking, timid. For a moment he forgot what it was like to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, trodding through a field of rabbits and for just a second, Avriel's ashamed for causing a scene. He takes the ice pack and presses it against sore knuckles. "Thanks," he says with a little nod.

"And Avriel has to come with."

He looks up to see slap happy staring at him along with everyone else in the room. Somewhere in all of that, the guy lost his mic to the floor and that one kid with the floor latte has now got a mop and bucket instead.

"I don't have to pee," Avriel says, "Besides, I think you can probably handle it alone, it was just one little punch."

Then it dawns on him. This stranger is trying to rescue him from this stupid little moment. Seems odd, especially after Avriel just decked him, but if all this is an elaborate trap, it's pretty fucking dumb. Avriel has no reason not to trust him and an out's an out.

"I mean, I need to pee, so bad" he says and turns to the kid who handed him the ice pack. "Bathroom?" he asks.

The kid points at a set of double doors across the room. Avriel hands the ice pack back to them and then starts walking across the floor.

"C'mon, Slappy," he says, hooking a finger over his shoulder at him.