//Selfish// [Kay]

sbeeg
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//Selfish// [Kay] Jun 3, 2016 11:13:51 GMT -5

Post by sbeeg on Jun 3, 2016 11:13:51 GMT -5

Althea Perch

It was odd to see the ocean so calm now. The water rippling slowly like it had when she was a child and still unaware of its great power. After night after night of rain and waves, leaving the wreckage dripping with salt water it was so strange to see the culprit floating by. It was like watching tributes murder on television and then kiss your cheek when they come to visit. Althea always thought dangerous things were always perceived as deadly. She had seen the ocean as life, as something beautiful and powerful but never fatal. Yet the reports were coming in every day, more and more dead or injured.

She had walked down from home to the strip of beach behind it. Driftwood and various bits of District four had washed up on the sand. Their own home had not been spared from nature's wrath. The roof had been peeled back in places, the shingles littering the street and sand. Althea stood barefoot in the debris covered sand, wrapping one of Fabian's button up shirts around her body. She had spent the majority of the day before down at the waterfront helping hand out rations and water. She was supposed to be down there today but the destruction and the poverty... it was just too much. Old women with no teeth sobbing over their shanties being blown away, naked children crying for their dead parents- it was a world she didn't belong to and never wanted to understand. She wasn't strong like Fabian. The woman had always thought she was stronger than him: faster, better with a weapon, overall stronger. But when it came to matters like this she was nothing but a child. The same way she could hardly deal with her own children. She was raised to be a victor not a mother, not a caregiver, not even a friend. She had outgrown her purpose and now was a stunted adult.

It was only a matter of time before some assistant found her here and sent her off to hold screaming orphans and offer comfort to devastated strangers. She wouldn't cry- she couldn't. The woman had to smile, listen to horror stories, croon to children and whatever else it was the perfect woman did.

Blue eyes stared out to the sea, watching the tiny waves crash into one another. She wished this had never happened, but for selfish reasons. She didn't wish that the death and damage hadn't happened, she just wished she didn't have to deal with it.

Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]
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cameron stood in line for an hour for a stupid ride for me <3 best <3

//Selfish// [Kay] Jun 9, 2016 23:32:14 GMT -5

Post by Baby Wessex d9b [earthling] on Jun 9, 2016 23:32:14 GMT -5

She spoke with a voice that disrupted the sky
She said walk on over here to the bitter shade
I will wrap you in my arms and you'll know that you're saved

“Mayor Perch?”

Fabian sighed and set down the quill. He’d been writing another formal letter to President Snow, requesting more aid. Despite all the help they’d been given, it still wasn’t enough. They were desperately short of water – of all things. They needed truck loads of it, not just bottles. He figured a hand written letter might convey his plea a little more personally than something typed. Then again, he wasn’t at all sure President Snow appreciated personal appeals.

“What is it, Arezoo?”

“Sir, it’s only – Mrs. Perch’s assistant can’t find her.”

“Suppose I can finish this later. Go ahead home for the evening. I’ll manage the rest.”

She looked at him so skeptically, he wondered for a moment who was employing whom. After she left, Fabian tucked the quill, ink and letter into the pocket of his winter coat and slipped it over his shoulders. A terrible wind had been whipping across the district in the wake of the tsunami. It felt to him that the entire world had been given over to chaos. At least he still had the sea, his truest mistress. For a night, he had thought even she had betrayed him, but the morning after the tsunami, the geologists had pinpointed the cause: an earthquake in the middle of the ocean.

So it was, after all, the earth that had betrayed them, and used the sea as its mallet. He swam again these day, through murky water. And he knew now that’s where he’d find her. Fabian approached his wife slowly, with all the respect someone might show a sleeping predator. He folded his arms across his chest as he stood at her side and marveled at the sea. “Tell me what I can do to help, Althea.”

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sbeeg
Retired Staff

3,503 POSTS
Pronouns: she/they
last seen Nov 1, 2023 5:54:37 GMT -5

//Selfish// [Kay] Jun 10, 2016 14:20:10 GMT -5

Post by sbeeg on Jun 10, 2016 14:20:10 GMT -5

Althea Perch

She heard his footsteps in the sand coming closer but she didn't turn to greet him. Her eyes were focused on the waves and she struggled to move her mind from her heavy thoughts to discussion. He stood beside her, a towering example of the perfect government official. A man who performed well in a suit in front of victors and in coveralls rebuilding docks. What Fabian Perch lacked in Career skills, he made up for with heart and dedication. Althea had nothing else inside of her besides hate and Rolodex of ways to murder a child with a tree branch. She was meant to tear things down not build them up, not like Fabian.

“Tell me what I can do to help, Althea.” Even now the man was trying to soothe her violent nature and help her. Helpful, that's a trait she hadn't come to appreciate until now. When they were young she always thought it was a weakness to consider the needs of others before your own. She was coming to terms that the world was not the Games. Life outside of the arena and training center was wildly different than what Althea was trained to be.

"Don't make me go out there again," she said curtly, her gaze still out to the sea. "When we were teenagers I promised I wouldn't leave you here alone. I gave up my dream to be with you but Fabian, I can't do this."

Finally, she turned to look at her husband. Bundled up in his thick coat, Althea finally noticed the chill that had set into her skin. His chin was scruffy and he looked tired. The woman looked as pitiful as she felt, and wondered if he would appeal to her pathetic looking face.

"I don't help people, Fabian. I can't handle crying- I can't mourn for these lost souls," she said, biting back tears that only want to fall now that she was alone with Fabian. She couldn't find her tears when an old man was sobbing on her shoulder, but now alone and wallowing in her own shortcomings she felt like bawling. "I only make things worse."

How did a cold monster like her ever end up with a warm man as her husband?

Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]
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cameron stood in line for an hour for a stupid ride for me <3 best <3

//Selfish// [Kay] Jun 23, 2016 20:18:18 GMT -5

Post by Baby Wessex d9b [earthling] on Jun 23, 2016 20:18:18 GMT -5

She spoke with a voice that disrupted the sky
She said walk on over here to the bitter shade
I will wrap you in my arms and you'll know that you're saved

One of the things he loves most about Althea is her ability to cut through the bullshit. He didn't fully appreciate that when they were first courting, before he forayed into politics. But the last ten years or so, he's found it one of her best characteristics. Even if his fellow politicians were able to sort through the lies and deceit, he didn't think any of them would ever want to. So, when he's not sure what to do, he asks Althea. And when she speaks, he listens.

He's listening now, to her exhaustion, her depression, her resolve.

"You've never made anything worse," he says, just below the rumble of the crashing sea. He reaches for her, fingers hooking around her elbow. He tugs but he doesn't pull. He couldn't force her even if he wanted to - all these years and she's still stronger and a better brawler than he'll ever be. He wasn't born a fighter; he was born with eyes to match the stormy sea. He searched her face, stepping into her, rather than bringing her to him.

"I won't ask you to do anything else. There's plenty of hands to help. But tell me: do you regret it? Do you regret everything you've had to give up for me?"

When Fabian Perch finds his strength, it's not in his muscles, but in a wave of willpower that forces the words out and keeps him from breaking over them.

banner credit: this girl right hurr
lyrics: robert pattinson let me sign

credit umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]

credit ✨ zozo.

- chars -

sbeeg
Retired Staff

3,503 POSTS
Pronouns: she/they
last seen Nov 1, 2023 5:54:37 GMT -5

//Selfish// [Kay] Jun 23, 2016 20:46:42 GMT -5

Post by sbeeg on Jun 23, 2016 20:46:42 GMT -5

Althea Perch

His deep voice is soothing and says the words she would expect. While they are unsurprising they still relax her. Fabian's hand slowly caresses her arm, stepping closer. Althea leans into his presence. More than anything she wanted to fling herself into his arms and have him carry her back into the house. She was too strong to truly do anything like that. Althea Perch will show weakness but not here, not out in the open and not now. While inside she felt she was shattering, outside she was still stone.

"Do you regret it?" his words were soft, as if focusing carefully on his tone. Her eyes lifted to his face to see the how tense his throat was and how stiff his jaw.

Did she regret it?

She had spent all those years training. Althea did and still believes she was meant to be in the Games. Win or die, she was meant to be a tribute. Did she blame Fabian for her failure to be reaped? She would have loved the glory. The fawning and worship. She would have showed the entirety of Panem what District Four had to offer, and the power she personally had.

Her eyes found Fabian's and suddenly her heart skipped a beat. It still did. Even after all these years, after so many nights sleeping together, and rushed mornings. After watching the lines in his face grow deeper and hear his jokes grow worse.

"Oh Fabian," her lips quivered with the words. Her hands slipped out to rest on her husband's cheeks holding his face in place for her to examine. "I could never regret my time with you."

Althea knew she was distant and cold, but Fabian melted the ice her heart had been enclosed in for so long. When he was near she could laugh and felt more relaxed. Fabian kept her human, he kept her warm at night, he kept her sane.

"I chose you, Fabian," she said, her throat with tears she refused to shed. Blinking away the pests, Althea let her hands drop to her husband's chest, her eyes resting on the buttons of his shirt.

"I choose you everyday."