im mortal | mackenzie | Hunger Games: The RPG

im mortal | mackenzie Nov 14, 2022 15:12:15 GMT -5

Post by umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars] on Nov 14, 2022 15:12:15 GMT -5

^{YOUR DREAMS ARE INCREDIBLY LOUD TONIGHT
YOU'RE CREATING FOREST FIRES}

"Fenrir was—"

Honestly, a bit of a dick. A Forrester as well, so likely little to none of it was actually his fault, but still. If Mackenzie had learned anything via the long line of misfortunate Forresters taken by the Games, it was that children are a product of their parents' fuckups and any god worth worshipping asks far too much in payment for whatever peace of mind they're offering.

"—an unprecedented calm under pressure, with a level of execution that far exceeded... eh, expectations, and... um-" He clicked off the recorder and tossed it onto the desk in front of him. He felt like a horrible person. He'd been at this all morning and was no closer now to finishing his statement for the press release of Fenrir's death than he was when he started. Like it was necessary. Everyone had already seen it when it happened: The Bellisario girl jumped the gun, the people they decided to jump nearly killed the boy from Eight first, and then it was lights out for Fenrir. Over before it started. Quick, but undeniable. This part was a formality, an unwanted ego stroking for a family already convinced of their unyielding curse. Not to mention, there were two sponsorship meetings for Mereddyd setup before dinner at 5, a banquet Romily would insist he dress up for, and none of that was even at the forefront of his mind. Because-

"Moose," he called, signaling his new seelie from where it floated near the window. The mossy-green outer layer glowed radioactive from within as the pet yawned to attention and hovered its way over to him. He patted its head and it cooed in reply. "Let's call Violet."

He would only be away for another week or so at most, he hoped, but with everything going on with the plague, he was less and less sure by the hour. Especially after yesterday's news. He didn't think he could recall many memories of her, but hearing of Patricia's passing still felt like some sort of slight against victor-kind. She was the first modern example that, actually, victors were not so invincible after all. Like any of them needed reminding of it- like Nico didn't remember the feeling of losing half his limbs after a matter of minutes in the arena, and as if Beck didn't remember how afraid he was of what he'd be returning to even if he did manage to survive to the end, and as if Mackenzie didn't hate the pain of Wynter's message on his palm and the feeling of air on his fingertips when he missed Faline's grasp so much that he wanted to choke himself to death as punishment. As if Stella ever danced the same after she won, as if Teddy hadn't kept a distance from everyone to protect his heart. As if any of them ever thought they were invincible.

And yet.

There was a pause before Judith the sitter popped into view with Violet sitting in her lap.

"Daddy!"

Even seeing her was a relief he didn't know he needed.

"Hello Violet! How is my favorite little girl in the whole wide world?"

She held up her stuffed rabbit in response, "Good. Look at Bunny, Daddy. She has new pants!"

"She does? She does! How did that happen?"

Judith spoke up now, "We made him a new pair this morning, huh?"

His daughter nodded yes.

"Is that Moose?"

"It is! Do you wanna say hi?"

She did, and the seelie blipped cheerfully a moment later at her, swirled around in the air.

"He and I are both very excited to see you!"

He exhaled. Everything was still okay.

"Have they said yet if they're gonna let everyone come back right away?" Judith asked.

"No, not yet, but they said people with dependents would be priority, so hopefully it'll be soon."

"Okay. And it's no problem if you have to stay a few days over. Violet and I are having a blast anyway, aren't we?" Violet jumped with glee, her dark curls bouncing into her face as she raised her hands into the air.

"And I'm on break from school until the 15th anyway."

"I'll be there as quickly as I can. Thank you again, truly such a life saver."

She nodded with a pleased smile.

"Okay, well I'll call again before bedtime. Have fun, sweetheart, and make sure you listen to Ms. Judith, okay?"

Violet blew a kiss to the camera. Mackenzie did the same.

The screen blacked out, and he felt tears welling up in his eyes. It was true that he hadn't ever considered himself invincible, but he had been foolish. He'd placed his sense of invincibility into the tiny body of his own daughter, and now his continued existence was dependent entirely on hers. No one was safe, and though she was for now-

She was not invincible. There was so much he wanted to protect her from, too much.

He blinked the tears away and pressed record again.

"Fenrir Forrester died during a confrontation with several other tributes late yesterday. He will join a number of family members who have recently been lost to the Hunger Games, and will be remembered equally as fondly by all remaining friends and family who knew and loved him. As a mentor, I was honored to have worked closely with him in attempts to help him return home, and am deeply heartbroken that he will not be doing so. My thoughts are with his family during this time."

The recorder clicked off with a sense of finality, and he groaned to a standing position and walked out of the room. Moose the seelie purposefully bonked itself into the wall to shut off the light, and then it hastily slipped through the closing door to chase after its owner, and caught up just as he made it to the elevator.

"Moose?" Mackenzie asked. It bleated with curiosity.

"Do I have anymore, um, 'happy sticks'?" He watched the floating creature's form twist and contort a bit, flipping itself over to reveal a small zipped fanny pack fastened around it. Security never checked the amorphous blobs at the gate, it turned out.

"Nice. Rooftop first then," he said, pressing the appropriately-labeled elevator button.