the lovers and other major arcana ; maryn & flandal {95th}

It has not taken long for it all to pile on the District Six team. It shouldn’t be amusing to Flynn, watching them all collapse under the requests of appointments, mutters of sponsorship and more parties that are becoming so repetitively insufferable. There shouldn’t be time for amusement, not while two of his family’s lives are on the line. Dropping a firecracker in the already chaotic mess may well help clear it up or cause more permanent damage that his own life is sinking into. His whole body is submerged into it now, just his head peeking over the surface and the last conversation with his dad before he left Six confirms that. It is all on him. It is only Flynn Garner to blame for all of this.

Follow their rules, play their games like the winner he is then everything will be okay.

It sounds so simple but seems to be the impossible and now all the consequences are hitting him at once.

Flynn has not seen Andal since the train station but there is already an engagement on the cards for the pair of them. ”Are we to be dressed in matching outfits? Or at least something that compliments each other?” His questions trigger a clear unease in the stylist that powders his cheeks. All he has heard since he revealed himself and Andal to the world is fanatic gushing from so many Capitolites. Meanwhile the views from the District Six entourage are mixed. There is a complete lack of desire of working with another District, when it is only actually Flynn, Teddy, Nessa and Jimmy who are from Six, the rest are Capitol citizens hit with the misfortune of being assigned the bad luck District.

Flynn is faced with a plain black suit, bedazzled at the hems with silver sequins. He has seen better, and worse.

His first engagement with Andal is at the residence of one of the gamemakers that oversaw Talon’s games. It is the one engagement that seemed to knock out others on the list, the team scrambled to re-arrange so many and cancel the unfortunate ones so that it could go to the top of the list. He leaves the training of Nessa and Jimmy in the capable hands of Teddy Ursa and follows a handful of the entourage that help transport him across the city to Maryn Hale’s residence.

Last night he should’ve been kept awake, tossing and turning about the fate of his sister. Her face did hit heavy thoughts on him, but it was Andal’s that was the centre of most scenes. That ever so familiar taste of regret. The sudden choices he makes without deep thoughts. Using someone else for his own benefit, the last person in the world that he wants to hurt. But it all seems to be going well, for now. He wonders if the District Ten camp is so hung up as his own.

The District Ten camp is the first at the gates of Maryn Hale’s residence and Flynn’s chest jumps when he sees Andal amongst them. He is out of the car and quick to take his place besides him. At least he doesn’t need to hold back from the physical touch in public anymore. Those gloved hands that are perfectly moulded to his, he takes a hold of one.

For a split second, the pair of them are a far distance away from the group that they follow up to the door of the gamemaker’s house. ”We still need to find a time, just you and I.” Flynn drops into Andal’s ear, the desperate little devil he is. But will they ever let them be alone together again? That is why the promise was made.

It is just as grand as what he thought it would be, the dining room of a gamemaker’s house. So much food laid out on the table and there is only the three of them. He wonders why someone with no involvement in either of their games is so interested in the pair, he has not heard a peek from Astrid Zane yet. That poor woman with another young lower middle district victor on her plate.

"So consider my surprise to see you of all people electing to choose further suffering."

Flynn looks at Andal as they take their seats at the table while Maryn welcomes them. ”I don’t consider myself suffering when I am with Andal.” Has he just spilled too much? It is the truth though, a whole year of secrecy that makes his skin tingle and his cheeks turn a shade of red. But now he has let it slip into the world. He is not even sure of the gamemaker’s intentions, the reason why the pair of them were summoned here.

Then it all turns a little dramatic, and all he can think about is his promise to his dad. To play their games. To follow their rules. He has done the oddest things for them before, roleplayed as a nurse for an old man Capitolite that wanted a back rub. The thought of that afternoon still makes him shudder and he is sure he has seen his name on the list of engagements again. The projection of Andal and Flynn behind Maryn only makes him think of one thing-

”Is this some kind of fetish?” He asks Maryn, holding back from picking at the food on the table in front of him. ”Answer for our crimes? Are you wanting us to perform or-.” He cuts himself off before they have his tongue like the avoxes that line the room. Flynn looks to Andal, seeking out someone with more sense than him to speak next. But holding that tongue of his is a rough game to play. ”Why have you summoned us, what exactly is it that you want from us?”