the order of things (umber)

Umber missed his guitar. Really, he missed music entirely. The Capitol was so full of sounds- a chorus of overlapping voices accompanied by an orchestra of slamming car doors and honking horns and shrill alarms and distant sirens. The world had a way of making its own music; it just wasn't always the kind he wanted to hear.

He silently tapped his fingers against his thigh to the beat of a song playing in his head, somehow practicing without playing, and pictured his siblings gathered around the dining table listening while they waited for their mother to finish dinner. He'd always acted so annoyed when they asked him to play, even though he loved doing it. He should've made that more clear before he left; now he might not ever get the chance.

"Hey, kid," a voice called, too nearby to be directed at anyone else. Umber's spine went rigid and he hesitated before he acknowledged the source of the voice in any way. The corners of his vision confirmed that the person summoning him was one of the career girls, AKA one of the primary sources of Umber's concern over the last few days. Just yesterday he'd dimwittedly pissed off her friend from One, and now here she was calling him over. Finally, he glanced in her direction.

"Want to play?" She held a deck of ordinary playing cards in her hands. Umber knew nothing good would come of it, but he also knew he had to play along or the punishment for acknowledging the reality between them would somehow be worse. He felt as if somehow, a lion had sneaked right up behind him and mistaken him for a fellow predator, despite the gazelle heartbeat coursing through him. Any sudden movements would just alert her to the differences between them, so now his goal was keeping it hidden for as long as possible.

"Sure," he said, taking a seat. The girl had white-blonde hair and one of the most intense stares he'd ever seen, but he tried his best to meet it whenever he could.

"Saw you flipped off the camera at the reaping, by the way. That was cool." Umber tried to hide the confusion in his face. Cool? Now he was really suspicious. Why the hell would a career think anything he did was cool? Especially the reaping incident? Against his will, he could feel blood rising to the surface of his cheeks in a blush.

"Really?" he asked, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. He suddenly became very interested in the cards before him. Until now, he hadn't even considered watching the other reapings, which was just further proof of the difference between himself and the girl before him. Who did he have to talk to for that sort of thing, Nico and Marik? And what would he see when he watched this girl's reaping? Would he see her flip off any cameras? That'd only been the start of Umber's freakout on stage, though he was unaware in that moment how much had actually been shown.

"Well, I'm glad it impressed you at least. All it got me was a tranquilizer dart in the butt-cheek. Still got the bruise and everything!"