thank the moon | vanburen {open}

wanted character: prince van buren
character expansion:

i. the kid who likes it when all eyes are on him. he doesn't really know how to explain it, but there's something... thrilling about knowing that he's putting on a show. he likes it when people love him.

ii. sitting on top of a house on its way towards being built, drinking beers with your best friends. local peacekeeper comes running after you and you intentionally slow down just to taunt him. "jerry is that you?" prince shouts at him, scrambling through the house. "you know it's me you little shit!" and laughing and laughing and laughing and "jerry!!!! good to see ya my guy!!!" and running and running and running and riding away on your bike while jerry runs after the lot of you. "c'mon jerry, you're so close!" shouted over his shoulder as he rides away. "they don't pay you enough for this dude." and they're all gone, riding their bikes into the sun.

iii. daddy complex? you bet!

iv. maybe like just you know... a mild kleptomanic. no need to be, but uh. he can't help it sometimes.

v. sleeps on his friends couches. a lot. again, no need to. he's got his own room and a fat bed to sleep in with more than comfortable bed sheets but—he likes to be around his people, you know? he'll sprawl out on their couches, shirt off and cap still on, no blanket. he's a human space heater anyway so who needs em? 

vi. worries! about! everyone! knows everything and everyone's business! not the Smartest™ brain in the room but somehow he fits in everything about everyone in that brain of his. "sure hope the storm didn't wreck the lines on garth's house," he'd say as he and his friends ride their bikes past the old man's home. "took him years to get the money to get em installed." silence from his friends, unsurprised prince remembered. "hi miss caroline! you guys doin' okay?" "made it through" she'd shout after and when they're a hundred meters away "dude did you see her lookin' at me—"

vii. spends too much time with kids that his dad would rather he... didn't. kids without any money. the kids who's parents do all the work for the people in one. doesn't know what it is about em, he blends in just fine with the rich ones, but. but something.

viii. don't want to include any big headcanons about their parents without talking to pierce's writer, but no matter what i imagine priest is Really Hard on prince for not really any particular reason but that he can be. always believes the worst of his kid and that's why he's spent his entire life tryin to make everyone else think that best of him

ix. a drama king, honestly. he's the kid that finds a sword in his basement or something and swings it around like it's a toy and then pokes and prods at his friend like "take my picture take my picture" and thrusts his polaroid at them.

x. he likes being dared to do things. "dare me," he'll say, eyes bright after coming up with his own bad idea, as if he doesn't quite want to share in the glory of doing the wrong thing. one time, he had the bright idea to steal a gun from the peacekeeper's office on the edge of town, the one where the guard was almost always half asleep and someone could sneak up under the fence and in through a window to snatch one. it had been his idea, but he'd playfully shoved at his friends shoulder until finally, under the cover of trees, he relented and said those three little words he loves so much. "i dare you."

xi. has something of a complex regarding pierce. a sad story really, two boys who think that the other thinks he deserves the whole fucking world. two boys, both somehow thinking both the absolute best and worst of each other. the other is perfect, has everything come easy, would see the world at its knees before him and still not feel like it was enough. prince's elder brother is everything that he is not: careful, curated, responsible for everything that's been given to him. prince isn't exactly the opposite, but he's... something else. it's not that he doesn't work for his reputation, because he does—he slaves day in and day out to make people like him, to make people pay attention to him to trust him to confide in him to—well, everything. he likes being everything to people. but he's not smart like pierce is, and his dad likes to put that against the pair of them. pierce will never shine the same, and prince will never measure up. he'll never be king. 

probably a wip i'll be back

possible fc: i got an idea but. dont wanna share hehe
anything else: mayhaps i shall make a pinterest hmmm hm

wanted character: Prince.
character expansion: This tryhard little brother energy, I am so here for it.

He keeps himself pretty. More importantly, he keeps himself moving - he keeps the attention on him, however he can, however he has to. It's not sustainable - even he knows that - he's probably going to burn out before he's eighteen, if he keeps going at this point, but wouldn't even that be spectacular in its own way? Couldn't that be beautiful? It's inevitable, that much is certain, because he's definitely not going to stop. This boy is an Icarus who flies closer to the sun every day, and he knows damn well, but he's going to keep doing it. The alternative is worse. No one looking at him - no one knowing him - is worse. Better death than anonymity. Better infamy than obscurity.
So he throws the best parties, and he does the stupidest things (I'm not saying John Mulaney's drinking perfume story, but that's what I'm saying), and if someone doesn't like him, he will dig his heels in and keep pushing until they do. Whatever it takes. However much more he has to give.

He laughs a lot. It's rare to see him without some kind of smile on his face. Some wider than others - some a little too wide, a little uncanny - but smiles, all the same. He's playing the part. He's going to play it damn well.

He wanted what Pierce had, so he took it. And he's not letting go anytime soon. They haven't been friends since they were in single digits. They're not exactly enemies now, they're polite, but - well, Pierce is smart enough to know when he's been replaced.
It sounds especially brutal like that, doesn't it? Prince didn't intend brutal, exactly, but here he is now all the same, and he can't deny it's apt. He wanted. He took. He didn't think about what it would do to his brother because it didn't matter to him. Does he wonder sometimes? What it'd be like if he'd worked with him instead of against him? Of course. But regrets aren't something he has time for dwelling on.

Prince makes a habit of not being alone. He probably shouldn't - he's not quite as extroverted as he wants to be, and being the center of Panem does get tiring - but he does, mostly because he's not quite sure who he is when he is. He spends so much time on cultivating an image that sometimes it feels like he's hollow, like if he's not in front of an audience he's not a person at all. This is okay. He's okay with this. He's made his peace.

He admires Parker as much as he envies him, and both run deep and dark. It looks like it comes so easily to him, like the things Prince has devoted his life to pursuing come as naturally as breathing. How much of this is true doesn't matter. It's what Prince understands. And his narrow views might not be entirely accurate, but that's never stopped him before, has it? So he goes back and forth. He'll glue himself to Parker's side and then not speak to him for a week. Rational? No. No part of him is. Rationality Pierce can keep.

And it's not to say he uses people, but he uses people. Who doesn't, really? He wants to make them happy, he really does. It just happens to be more because it makes him feel needed than because he wants them to be happy. He doesn't not. Isn't that close enough?

(I also like the idea of him taking one of the younger cousins under his wing, perhaps. Maybe at first he thinks it's kind of funny how naive they are, and then they take to things a little too well and he starts getting a little unhappy about it. This is his thing, he stole it fair and square, damn it.)
(And meddling. Oh, man, meddling. Something isn't his business? That's fine. He'll make it his business. Attention paid to other people is attention that could be his, after all - so he's constantly inserting himself where he isn't needed ((or wanted)). It's fine. Nobody stays mad at him for long. And if they do, it doesn't matter - he wants attention, after all. Positive is a plus, but negative is okay, too. He can work with negative. It's being ignored that really does him in. He's a Tinkerbell. He needs applause, or he's going to die.)
(Also lots of ill-advised very public Dramatic Love Affairs. How genuine are the feelings? Eh. How genuine are any of his feelings?)

possible fc: wip!
anything else: This will probably be edited, I'll be honest, but here's most of it.