w.w.k.d? {fridae/sin}

He liked to cup the coins in his hands and slide them back and forth, he enjoyed the sound of the jingling metal.

Sin had held money before, don't think otherwise.

District Twelve, though poor, still had money. When Eirlys would send Sin on errands, she'd give him the exact amount that he needed to exchange for whatever it was he was picking it up. The money was fine, the little coins never having meant much to Sin. He knew that each coin could be exchanged for different amounts of things but it wasn't something he'd thought about before. His sisters kept him fed and when his clothing became too poor, he'd trade one of his trinkets to a vendor for a new shirt.

Nico had told Sin to hold his hand out earlier in the week. So he'd held them both out, palms down, hands curled into fists so that it'd hurt less when punishment came. While he didn't know what he'd done to deserve a lashing, Sin had never been one to complain.

But Nico had only gently taken one hand, turned it over and pressed coins into his palm. "To get a snack," he'd said. Vending machines were placed throughout the Training Centre.

No one had ever given Sin money with the intention of him spending it on himself before. Come to think of it, no one had given him anything before without some form of payment. Not even the token that he wore around his neck had been a gift, he'd taken it.

So he decided to keep the little bit of change for forever.

Two days later, he recognized that it would be useless in the arena. There'd be no vending machines there. Chances of survival seemed slim, in the end, Sin was smaller than most of the other tributes reaped. He was younger too, roughly. It was hard to say. He'd started paying notice to his age at new years. He didn't know when his birthday was or what year he'd been born.

None of it had ever really mattered until here, where everyone was measuring themselves against each other.

Sin was still awake when the forest that had been on loop on his bedroom wall turned off from inactivity at two in the morning. He rolled out slowly from beneath the bed from to click the buttons that Nico had shown him to get it back. The coins hit each other and then slipped out of his pocket onto the carpet.

Five minutes later he was padding down the hallway, barefoot and cupping the coins in his hands. He'd seen a snack machine two floors down. The stairway was quiet, his footsteps echoed and he forgot how much he loved to be alive in the night when everyone else was dead asleep.

It was late enough that he wasn't expecting to run into anyone else but when he exited the elevator and turned the corner, there was a girl stood in front of the glow of the machine.

He hair touched the small of her back and Sin closed his hand over the coins, their merry jingle silenced. He stopped beside her, eyes on the various treats within. Sin didn't recognize any of them. He didn't know how many he could afford, or how to even obtain them. There was no one to trade the coin with, just a little slot above a keypad.

He opened his palm flat, and held it up in front of the machine, waiting for something to happen.