Before A Fall [Kneedles]

“Found him, didn’t I?” said Tallow quickly as she stepped inside of the house, keen to distance herself from the Malloc kid- no she did not make a habit of consorting with dirty tramps despite the rumours and she wasn’t of the habit of bringing them to wealthy friend’s (okay so Elias was the only wealthy person she knew- the only wealthy person most people knew) doorsteps. Taking a few brief moments to let her eyes flicker over the surroundings, Tallow realised that she hadn’t been there since that first drunken night, which was still a little cloudy in her memory though the sitting room; warm and comfortable matched her dim recollections and it was hard not to feel a cloud of jealousy washing over her. Tallow could see herself in a place like this easily, could see herself in better too- some Capitol apartment with cool white marble walls, sleek lines and very little in the way of…chintz; Elias’ home still carried the lingering traces of the parent’s he’d so callously kicked to the kerb. If she hadn’t already picked Scutcher, resigned herself to living in the Tansy shack for the rest of her days- Tallow might have considered finding a way to slot herself neatly into this house, a foot in the door, a finger resting lightly on Elias Poers’ wallet but it wasn’t to be and instead she was leaving this little scrap from district six.

“He was sleepin in the pig huts…me and Scutcher found him,” she took hold of Elias’ arm and pulled him to the side a little, out of earshot. “Says he’s from six ,you know. Travelled all this way to sleep in our fuckin’ pig sheds! Livin the dream,” her nose wrinkled as she tossed a glance back at him.

Standing awkwardly in the door while the ‘grownups were talking’ Scutcher cast about the house solemnly, his mouth falling open a little as it was wont to do, breathing slightly heavily through it. He caught Naif’s eye and nodded a little bit. “Elias’ got a nice house,” he said awkwardly as a statement of fact to the boy before chewing on his lip and looking down to stare at the toe of his boot. Tallow’s brother was not really renowned for his sparkling wit and conversational charm.

“Recognise him though…dontcha?” she whispered, playing her ace. The riots had pretty much shown Tallow how Elias felt about the games, about those victims left behind. He knew as well as she did that the dead were dead and didn’t have to worry about nothing no more, while it was the living what carried on suffering. Like Scutcher going off into some dim corner of his mind when Tallow just knew something had made him remember that fucking Noreen Lexington. She wasn’t bothered by that- she was dead- and honestly, she probably hadnt cared all that much when she was still alive, but Tallow was the one left picking up the pieces. The dead had it easy, only had to take one look at Naif to see that it was the living that needed help. “I didn’t see it rightly before but he’s the spittin image. Cyrus Malloc, remember? That tribute from six what got chewed up by the Kraken like a cut of beef. That was his brother, you only have to look to see that. ” In the light of the house, far removed from the stuffy darkness of the pig huts the resemblance was more obvious and though the light also revealed their differences, squint and Tallow might have been right in her earlier assessment. He really was a ghost or a poltergeist.

“I feel bad for the kid I guess,” complete bullshit of course; Tallow maybe felt a little bad- he was so pathetic and limp like an old dirty dish cloth that it was sort of hard not to, but not enough to put her out of her way, not enough not to throw him to the wolves, let him starve on the street if he didn’t hold information about Tallow that she was more than a little keen to keep hushed up. Elias might get that, might wonder about her real motives, but he might not care much either. “His parents offed themselves you know,” she mimed a noose around her neck, rolling eyes and lolling tongue. “He’s desperate and without a home and…” she grinned then, “I figured he’d work for next to nothin’ so I brought him to ya. I mean I trust him ‘bout as far as a pig could spit- you know what people get like when they get desperate- but he seems mostly harmless. Might run off with sommat if you don’t watch him close, but he won’t cut you up in yer sleep or nothing. Figured you could handle that and find a use for him or somethin’? Sides,”

Tallow slid her hand up Elias’ arm, squeezing at his bicep a little, leaning over so that he’d be able to feel her breathe on his cheek when she spoke, “You do owe me.” Tallow Tansy always collected on her debts- lucky for Elias this was a small one