stronger {Faux/Nico VT}

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knuckles
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4,866 POSTS
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last seen Apr 15, 2024 16:10:40 GMT -5

probably flailing over something

stronger {Faux/Nico VT} May 25, 2019 17:48:48 GMT -5

Post by knuckles on May 25, 2019 17:48:48 GMT -5

The sun rests high in the sky, and occasionally he hears the flapping of a birds wing as a breeze floats by. Every hair catches the beads of sweat rolling from his brow.

A year has gone by since he returned home, and Faux isn't sure where life is going. Death called for him, and she nearly stole him from the planet. It's amazing what the surgeons in the Capitol can do, yet they couldn't fix the struggles. Speaking, writing, reading, everything he once enjoyed is hard, and many people turn away in the blink of an eye. Maybe today is different.

A heavy sigh leaves his chest.

Nothing is different.

It's just another day trapped within the walls of a world he nearly escaped, but now he has a goofy grin plastered against his face. Life is so precious, and never again will Faux take anything for granted.

District twelve brought home another victor, and he's yearning to meet him. To talk to him. To see how life is going for him since walking out of the arena alive. Many aren't given a second chance, but maybe Nico can take a letter to Carter. Maybe they can talk. Maybe Faux can offer him a sense of hope in a such a dark place.

He can't relate at all because his hands are clean. Not once did he take the life of another innocent being, yet the thoughts were there because he wanted to come home without a care in the world.

Yet he's here standing in the midst of the district square eyes locked on the stage. His homecoming wasn't one filled with joyous praise because a crown never set up his head, but this one is different. Nico won the games. He's here as memories pour from Faux's own eyes.

A letter rests in the palm of his hands as his weight shifts from one foot to the other. It's his hope that Nico will take the letter to Carter. To give him a chance at realizing he thinks about him from time to time when his memory allows him.

Rex and Arianna both fought so well despite the odds being placed against them, and they're both resting beyond the stars with the others that have gone on before them. Yet Faux doesn't hear another word until it's done, and instead of leaving, he slowly waddles towards the stage hoping to catch Nico before he leaves for whatever follows the victory tour.

Dinners?

He pauses trying to form the words together. A year has been a long time for practicing, and right now it doesn't seem worth it.

"Can I h...h...have word?"

His gaze drops towards the ground wondering if they even reached the ears of the victor standing on the stage. Life is hard, but it is worth living even through the hard moments.

What doesn't kill him will make him stronger as long as Faux has patience.

table by tom <3

lest we forget [the characters]

credit to Zoe

🌱 kaitlin.
Graphics

2,683 POSTS

Pronouns: she/her
last seen Apr 22, 2024 21:38:47 GMT -5

aspiring beam of light

stronger {Faux/Nico VT} Jun 6, 2019 13:19:08 GMT -5

Post by 🌱 kaitlin. on Jun 6, 2019 13:19:08 GMT -5

Nico doesn't remember Rex or Arianna.

He wishes he felt more shame, wishes that he could bring himself to truly feel their deaths, but he just can't. He stares out over the crowd of people in the square from his perch on the stage, and he wants nothing more than to run in the other direction. What is he supposed to say to these people? The ones who had loved the children who had been nothing more than strangers to Nico? He can vaguely remember the shape of the blonde's smile, all golden warmth even in what had to have been her darkest hours. He'd seen it across the room of the Training Center, but he had turned away quickly, a flash of unwarranted anger having sprung through his chest.

She was the kind of innocent that Nico had never been, at least as far as Nico knew at that point, and he had disliked her for it almost immediately. She was from a lower district just like Nico had been, but she had still been soft enough to not let being reaped completely ruin her kindness.

Nico had abandoned his so long ago at that point that he couldn't even remember when the last time he had done anything truly kind for someone else. It had probably been something for Reggie, or perhaps Taylor, given them a loaf of bread or half the meat from a squirrel he had managed to trap. But he can't remember it, so does it really count? He thinks, with almost absolute certainty, that the answer is no.

So what possible right does he have to stand on this stage? To preach about honorable death and loving a city a million miles away? Just began he had a crown of barbed wire that wrung around his skull, he deserved to tell these people how to live their life?

"Panem forever", he says to the crowd, and feels his stomach roll.

He can't be here, wants to run, wants to hide, wants to be anyone other than who he is. He doesn't deserve this title, this crown. He had fought so hard for it, had fought to live, fought to the death too many times. He had fought for love though, had fought because he made a promise; he had sworn that he would fight, that he would win, that he would make it to the end with his life so clutched between his fingers, but he hadn't ever thought about the after. He hadn't thought about the fact that he would have to live without Francis, that he would have to go home to Twelve, that he would have to teach himself once again how to live with the knowledge that the man who killed his father was out there living his life. He hadn't thought about the fact that he had ruined everything with his best friend, crossed a line and then stepped back over it. He hadn't thought about how much he had to learn to live with his mother, despite the terrible dreams, the ones where she ripped out his heart and left it out to rot in the sun.

He had fought to win, not to live, and living makes him want to die.

He's trying to run when the other boy approaches him, walks right up to the stage and doesn't say anything for a moment. If he had been anyone else, Nico isn't sure he would have recognized him, but the 80th tributes were hard to miss—dead souls walking, and Faux is no exception to the infamy.

"Can I h...h...have word?" he stutters out, and all the hard and cruel instincts in Nico's body come out full force. I don't know, can you? he nearly snaps, can feel the words right there on the tip of his tongue. They're unkind, but they'd be effective, they'd save him, crack down on the other boy like a whip and maybe, just maybe, make him run away and leave Nico to his grief.

But then Faux's eyes drop, and already he looks pained, looks afraid, and Nico can see Katelyn a few meters away, waiting.

He bites his cruelty best he can.

"Sure, Faux," he says, biting the inside of his cheek. Anger and grief and confusion and pain flutter all over Nico, up and down his spine like electric currents, but he's determined to hold them all back. "You can have as many as you want."

756.

Last Edit: Jun 6, 2019 13:22:25 GMT -5 by 🌱 kaitlin.

what are men to rocks and mountains?

a haunted house.

knuckles
Librarian

4,866 POSTS
Pronouns: he/him
last seen Apr 15, 2024 16:10:40 GMT -5

probably flailing over something

stronger {Faux/Nico VT} Jul 24, 2019 14:07:09 GMT -5

Post by knuckles on Jul 24, 2019 14:07:09 GMT -5

Wandering eyes lock on the sky before turning to face everyone else gathered around. Sometimes life is difficult, and even standing in this moment without a care in the world is making things tough. The letter feels so heavy, and he wants nothing more than to give it away. To throw the burden to another person, but how? Nico is from twelve, and this is the only chance Faux has.

A moment feels like eternity as he waits wondering what Nico will say. All he has in mind is giving him a chance, and seeing if he'll deliver something to district twelve. A friend resides there, and Faux needs to know that he's okay. He needs to know that Carter is doing well. It's been so long, and not knowing is breaking him on the inside, so when Nico says he has a moment, Faux breathes a sigh of relief.

At the same time each breath continues catching in the back of his throat as he looks around at all the peacekeepers. Part of him is afraid to even make eye contact because life hasn't been the same since returning. Nobody cares, and many think he's just a lucky guy.

What they don't understand is, he sometimes wishes he was dead too.

"Th...thank you." A soft grin spreads from ear to ear, yet butterflies dance around inside his stomach twisting them into knots over and over. His eyes turn down to the letter in the palm of his hands before looking back at Nico. "I w...want t..to send th..th..this to C...C...Carter." He holds the letter up in the air hoping that Nico will take it. Hoping that Carter will receive it. "H..he is a f..f..friend and I w..w..want to kn..kn..know he is okay."

His voice trails off as his eyes lower to the ground. Staring is rude, and maybe having some kindness is a way to make sure things go according to plan.

table by tom <3

lest we forget [the characters]

credit to Zoe