I do what I want

[madannie]

She hated these things, the balls. They made her uncomfortable, and even with most of the other people around her being victors, she still didn't feel at ease. She stuck to the corners of the room, to the shadows, and tried to avoid everyone -- but Plutarch Heavensbee seemed intent on hounding her. He'd aggressively cornered her and she'd been nothing but shocked at what he'd discussed with her through their small dance, whispered in her ear as he spun her around the floor. From the way her cheeks were flushed, people probably thought he'd been flirting with her inappropriately, but the reason she was sweating was her sudden set of nerves.

She wanted to help, of course -- what else did she have to live for any more, really? She knew Mags was getting old, and it was hard for her to relate to anyone other than the other victors any more. She toyed with the golden flame bracelet that Plutarch had slipped on her wrist during one of their particularly close dips, and looked for someone else with a similar pretty bangle.

The man her eyes settled on made her bristle internally. She knew it wasn't his fault that Finnick had fallen, he hadn't even been the one to slay him, but ... still, he'd been there and he'd been the one to survive. She'd always made a point of being only distantly polite to him, but that was apparently going to change. She cleared her throat and tapped his shoulder with one hand, lightly.

"Come on, let's get some punch."

Comments

[deadandred]

"Why?" He knew the reasoning, of course, but they were in public. It may as well help to put on an act. Even so, he couldn't help but shoot Annie a faintly teasing grin.

"I knew I'd get your interest some day, Cresta."

[madannie]

"I would've approached you sooner, but I was never fond of a man who'd sink rather than swim." Yes, that's a pointed jab at his arm and a subtle reference to Finnick that she'll probably regret later, when she finds out he's actually a sweet man.

Until then, though -- she glances over her shoulder and half-smiles, picking up a glass of punch and offering it out to him with a raised eyebrow.

[deadandred]

"Don't blame me, we don't have any water in 8." He gives her a cheeky shrug, though, and takes the offered punch. He doesn't sip it quite yet, preferring to return to somewhere with a wall at his back. "So, you wanna talk? Let's talk."

[madannie]

"Right, except to drink." She sighs, though, and nods -- she takes her own punch into one hand and sips it slowly, swirling the drink while she stands nearer to Bucky. She would've preferred the wall too.

"It's been suggested to me that you and I team up." She pauses. "By my mentor." That's a complete lie, of course, but Heavensbee had suggested she try to speak to someone from 8. Bucky's the only one he could've meant.

[deadandred]

She's welcome to share it with him, he's not nearly big enough to take up an entire wall, after all. Her comment gets a slight lift of his eyebrows, and he nods back towards his earlier hiding place.

"Has it? Maybe we should discuss it somewhere a little quieter."