hey, dark eyes {cass/arx}
Jun 5, 2016 8:51:55 GMT -5
Post by Onyx on Jun 5, 2016 8:51:55 GMT -5
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I regard Justice Fray the way I'm sure he regards the weak and unfortunate. From the first moment he steps through the carriage doorway and fixes Opal - not me - with a leer I know all too well (those men who come to my 'office' thinking they can impress me with their 'sexual prowess' are usually the ones who cry the most when they finally understand my power) I find myself totally and utterly repulsed by him. Here is a boy who, back in the District, I would probably already have tied up and beaten bloody, listening as his cries turn into sighs of pleasure and waiting for that inevitable moment where he tells me he loves me. They always do. However, standing here as he lounges in a chair, legs opened disgustingly in an invitation, I want nothing more than to spit in his face and tell him to respect the woman who's here by choice, to help us save ourselves. It's amazing how quickly my fear has dissipated now that I'm faced with another tribute. Acknowledging that, I hope it carries through to my time in the Capitol, and beyond.
In my haste to see her as a saviour and a guide, I managed to forget the fact that Opal is, ultimately, a killer. She came from a Career family - the notorious Shores no less, famous for being on the whole utterly relentless. Watching the family interview once Opal outlived sixteen of the tributes, I couldn't help but notice they were surprised she had made it so far. "She was always a little different," one of the other teenagers mused to Caesar - but now that she's come out alive, with blood on her hands where they said soil and flower seeds once were, how different can she be? She moves around the table towards Justice with fluid subtlety I admire and recognise. My customers find that kind of hip-swaying self-assuredness sexier than anything. The way she handled the knife made it impossible to doubt that she had used it before (I think of watching the light go out behind the eyes of Yaa Valarro, leaving Opal alone, and alive, and victorious at the end) and I suddenly find myself embarrassed that I had initially acted so weakly in front of her. She must think me a fool. She holds her own with Justice admirably, threatening his "manhood" in a way that makes my eyebrows shoot up my head. I smirk in Justice's direction and let him take the lashing.
Finally, Opal turns her attention back to me, ignoring Justice the same way I am now trying to. Watching her stand up for herself has stirred my natural confidence awake again from where it was cowering in my gut, and so this time I meet her gaze dry-eyed and level-headed. "What do you want to know?" It's a good question. Is there anything I want to know that could possibly save me? My logical mind says no, of course not, words never did anything for anyone. I would have become an actor if I thought words would get me as far in this world as sex has. I smile, slowly, like my mother taught me - "A three-second smile, darling, that's the key to success - just long enough to be intriguing without looking like a complete imbecile." - and shake my head. "Can you show me I haven't just made the biggest mistake of my life?" Now, I think of Opal's child, and what sort of mother she must be. My own mother taught me how to be a proper lady - but really that's all she was: a teacher, not a mother. I worshipped her as an idol, just like everyone else did, and never felt like I was anything special just for being her daughter. I continue to stare at Opal with earnest eyes. Perhaps she can make me special, instead.
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