jesse brightwater || district four || fin

lance
Librarian

3,638 POSTS

Pronouns: He/Him/His
last seen Apr 28, 2024 2:41:30 GMT -5

gay and chaotic? call it gayos

jesse brightwater || district four || fin May 11, 2022 22:41:45 GMT -5

Quote

Post by lance on May 11, 2022 22:41:45 GMT -5

jesse brightwater
sixteen years old
cis male
district four
sam harwood
slightly haunted, slightly traumatized, perpetually tired, yet somehow still an optimist
life is a perpetual battle - but at least he has his lifeline

credit to darsypoo uwu

credit to fireflyz!

credit to stare!

lance
Librarian

3,638 POSTS

Pronouns: He/Him/His
last seen Apr 28, 2024 2:41:30 GMT -5

gay and chaotic? call it gayos

jesse brightwater || district four || fin May 11, 2022 22:41:54 GMT -5

Quote

Post by lance on May 11, 2022 22:41:54 GMT -5

J E S S E

The one thing that Jesse Brightwater has always been good at is keeping a promise.

That's where the story all began, actually - with a promise. See, before their lives got flipped upside down and twisted inside out, before the allure of the ocean grew toxic in its sweetness, before they were reduced to mere shells of the individuals they had used to be, Talon and Jesse were, quite frankly, two ordinary kids living in District Four. Happy and carefree from a life that passed as halfway decent (a tall order to find in this particular dystopia), tanned and athletic from day after week after month after year spent navigating the rhythmic pounding of the ocean on nothing more than a surfboard, and most importantly, whole and unscarred by the trials and tribulations that they'd be forced to undertake. That's all they were. Two ordinary kids, perhaps stuck a little too far in the shadows of others (For Talon, their golden boy of a brother, Turner. For Jesse, his perfectionist workaholic of a mother), perhaps a little too sheltered from just what kind of world that they lived in, but it didn't matter.

The one constant in Jesse's life, besides his mother always prioritizing advancing her own career over Jesse himself, was that Talon would always be by his side.

That was their promise. Sure, there were other such vows, those that came before and those that had yet to come, but there was only one Promise, with a capital P. A pact forged under a starlit sky, uttered aloud with only each other and the roar of the ocean itself to pay witness, a rare genuine moment found amongst awkward tween years where neither Jesse nor Talon quite felt right.

Never mind that insecurities were a rite of passage leading into adulthood. Never mind that at this point in time, it was a far cry from the hell that would come, yet the prelude to apocalypse hung heavy over their heads regardless.

Perhaps, then, they already knew. Not the specifics, no - it was the spring before Turner would get reaped and lose his life in the Hunger Games, the spring before Jesse's mother found herself with a mouthful of poisoned tea, courtesy of a particularly vindictive drug lord she'd crossed - but the general unease? The looming dread? That was enough.

It was that promise, that vow, that declaration to the world and to one, that Jesse would hold onto day after week after month after year.

No matter what happens, I've got you. Even when Talon had come sobbing into Jesse's arms mere moments after Turner had died because the sheer toxicity of their family was too much to bear in such a raw, vulnerable moment.

No matter what happens, I've got you. Even when Talon returned the favor for him a few months later when Jesse was rendered an orphan at thirteen, equally devastated by the loss of a mother he never really got and fearful that the loyalty of the family staff wouldn't extend to his own well being.

(It did, but they still never really got him. Not like Talon did).

No matter what happens, I've got you. Even when the sea stopped holding the same appeal, when life itself faded from vibrant color into muted greyscale, even when (especially when) the reasons to avoid making bad decisions melted away by the day.

No matter what happens, I've got you. Even in the throes of addiction, two of the youngest druggies known to Four, former it kids who'd thrown away their shots at success, at fortune, at life, all for a chance at another hit.

No matter what happens, I've got you.

Even during rare days, sometimes weeks, of torturous one-sided lucidity, where one tried to better themselves in spite of (or maybe because of) the other.

Even when Talon woke up, naked and hungover, in his hammock after one of the worse days.

Even when that fucker Barebone consigned Talon to the same fate as their brother (and yes, even when Jesse held himself back from turning his nose into a bloody pancake of snot and bone).

(He wouldn't have even if he wanted to, anyway. Withdrawal was still rendering atrophied muscles painfully inept of anything other than the most basic of functions.)

(But it was the thought that counted.)

It was tempting (so, so tempting) to let himself fall apart when Talon was taken away, one more victim of an arrogant Capitol's penance over the districts. But, he'd made a promise, hadn't he? If Talon, odds be damned, made it out of the arena, then they'd be a mess - and not in the same way that the two of them had been for the last on-again, off-again three years. They'd need someone to take care of them. They'd need someone to help them get back on their feet as the weight of child murder and emaciation and forced withdrawal hit them all at once.

And Jesse couldn't do that with a concoction of pills coursing through his veins.

And see, as tempting as it might be to take the easy road, he'd made a promise.

And across sixteen years of life, that had remained the one thing he'd always been good at. Keeping a promise.

So as Talon was paraded through the Capitol, forced through trial after trial, made profound connections and raw, real confessions - Jesse made a silent vow.

For Talon, yes, but also for himself. No matter the temptation, no matter the urge he had to numb himself up in the face of unimaginable pain, no matter how slim the odds again them looked - as long as Talon still drew breath, he would not take another hit.

When - no, if - Talon Grey's luck ran out, then, and only then, would Jesse Brightwater allow himself to drown.

But not before.

elegant

credit to darsypoo uwu

credit to fireflyz!

credit to stare!

lance Librarian 3,638 POSTS Pronouns: He/Him/His last seen Apr 28, 2024 2:41:30 GMT -5 gay and chaotic? call it gayos	jesse brightwater \|\| district four \|\| fin May 11, 2022 22:42:20 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by lance on May 11, 2022 22:42:20 GMT -5 hi Arrows bb have a present uwu
	credit to darsypoo uwu credit to fireflyz! credit to stare!

Arrows Retired Staff 3,236 POSTS Pronouns: He/Him last seen May 23, 2023 16:50:31 GMT -5 your resident blonde bisexual boy	jesse brightwater \|\| district four \|\| fin May 11, 2022 23:20:55 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Arrows on May 11, 2022 23:20:55 GMT -5 congratulations you broke me, now write with me
	Graphic by the Breathtakingly Talented Stare