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31_days2013-08-15 08:34 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2013-08-15 08:34 pm
[Aug. 15] [THG] At the Edge of the Ocean, a Kingdom of Sand
Title: At the Edge of the Ocean, a Kingdom of Sand
Day/Theme: Aug. 15, 2013 "Even if I win, I lose."
Series: Hunger Games series
Character/Pairing: Mags, D4 victor OCs ensemble (post 37th Games)
Rating: PG
When Jules Surfjan came home, they (his family, his friends, his fellow victors) thought he was all right. Not the same, of course, all of these people were in a position, from their recent experience with Odysseus, if nothing else, to know that no one who returned came back the same, but right.
It wasn't as if some the victors didn't come back in entirely reasonable states of mind. There had been no special problems surrounding the rehabilitation of Mags and Tyde into District 4 society. Shad's issues had been apparent from the moment of his reaping and his mentor had wasted no time in thinking of how to handle them when he left the arena (Tyde had had such faith in Shad, right from the beginning of things, that Mags had feared his heart would break in the face of the inevitable, but such a tragedy had not come to pass). Odysseus, after his record-long stint in the arena, for all that he looked normal on the outside, had been able to tell her: "Ms. Mags, I'm not right anymore," and even though they weren't simple problems and they weren't completely solved, there was something they were aware of to be worked on.
Jules was home from the Games for two months before they received their first glimpses of what was wrong with him inside.
In the night, he would awaken screaming. He would take a blanket and climb down the steps to lie on the beach. His mother or father would sit with him. Whatever lay at the root of this problem, Jules was unable to articulate it.
Mags watched as he was regained little of the weight he had lost in the Games and little of the color the arena's ever-gray skies had drained from him. She watched with nearly as much concern as his mother, her friend, faded along with him. She took her turn sitting on the beach blankets.
"Tell me a story, Auntie," Jules requested, lying on his stomach with her head on his arms, "Any kind of story."
She wracked her brain for a delicate one. No one wanted to hurt Jules any more.
"Hey!" Tyde interrupted, coming down Victors' Beach with a basket in his hands, "How about we make a day of it? How about a picnic? Let's all have a fun victors' day together!"
Odysseus was on his heels with a bucket and shovel and Shad trailed along behind them pressing his fingers into the plastic of a blowup beach ball.
"How does that sound, Jules?" Mags asked.
"Fine," Jules allowed, smiling wistfully, though he didn't rise from his place on the blanket.
He was quiet through the morning at the other chatted and waded in the water and played balls in various groups, never leaving their youngest comrade entirely alone. He only nibbled at the portion of the lunch that Tyde had made for him, but he did say it was good without being asked.
Eventually he rose from the blanket and walked a small distance on the sand. He sat down and dribbled a tiny castle together by dripping wet sand through his fingers. Odysseus went to work with the shovel he had brought and built up a chest high monument of a sand castle around Jules and the minuscule building of his own. "I'm safe in here," Jules said, "Thank you, O."
He stayed in Odysseus' castle into the evening, when the tide came in and took half the walls down.
Day/Theme: Aug. 15, 2013 "Even if I win, I lose."
Series: Hunger Games series
Character/Pairing: Mags, D4 victor OCs ensemble (post 37th Games)
Rating: PG
When Jules Surfjan came home, they (his family, his friends, his fellow victors) thought he was all right. Not the same, of course, all of these people were in a position, from their recent experience with Odysseus, if nothing else, to know that no one who returned came back the same, but right.
It wasn't as if some the victors didn't come back in entirely reasonable states of mind. There had been no special problems surrounding the rehabilitation of Mags and Tyde into District 4 society. Shad's issues had been apparent from the moment of his reaping and his mentor had wasted no time in thinking of how to handle them when he left the arena (Tyde had had such faith in Shad, right from the beginning of things, that Mags had feared his heart would break in the face of the inevitable, but such a tragedy had not come to pass). Odysseus, after his record-long stint in the arena, for all that he looked normal on the outside, had been able to tell her: "Ms. Mags, I'm not right anymore," and even though they weren't simple problems and they weren't completely solved, there was something they were aware of to be worked on.
Jules was home from the Games for two months before they received their first glimpses of what was wrong with him inside.
In the night, he would awaken screaming. He would take a blanket and climb down the steps to lie on the beach. His mother or father would sit with him. Whatever lay at the root of this problem, Jules was unable to articulate it.
Mags watched as he was regained little of the weight he had lost in the Games and little of the color the arena's ever-gray skies had drained from him. She watched with nearly as much concern as his mother, her friend, faded along with him. She took her turn sitting on the beach blankets.
"Tell me a story, Auntie," Jules requested, lying on his stomach with her head on his arms, "Any kind of story."
She wracked her brain for a delicate one. No one wanted to hurt Jules any more.
"Hey!" Tyde interrupted, coming down Victors' Beach with a basket in his hands, "How about we make a day of it? How about a picnic? Let's all have a fun victors' day together!"
Odysseus was on his heels with a bucket and shovel and Shad trailed along behind them pressing his fingers into the plastic of a blowup beach ball.
"How does that sound, Jules?" Mags asked.
"Fine," Jules allowed, smiling wistfully, though he didn't rise from his place on the blanket.
He was quiet through the morning at the other chatted and waded in the water and played balls in various groups, never leaving their youngest comrade entirely alone. He only nibbled at the portion of the lunch that Tyde had made for him, but he did say it was good without being asked.
Eventually he rose from the blanket and walked a small distance on the sand. He sat down and dribbled a tiny castle together by dripping wet sand through his fingers. Odysseus went to work with the shovel he had brought and built up a chest high monument of a sand castle around Jules and the minuscule building of his own. "I'm safe in here," Jules said, "Thank you, O."
He stayed in Odysseus' castle into the evening, when the tide came in and took half the walls down.