Frozen to the Bone (open)

[night]

Harley never went home before his parents fell asleep. His sister, he could stand. But his parents still had those sad, hollow eyes. Harley's brother's death hadn't been his fault, but there was an odd guilt nagging at him whenever he saw his parents. And he hated that. Solution? Avoid the parents at all costs. It was pretty easy, what with work, school, and friends. But today, Harley was exhausted. Fatigue weighed down all of his muscles, forced him to take this seat in the alley between the bakery and the butcher's shop. Between worrying over the reaping, maintaining friendships with almost everyone, backbreaking labor and school, Harley had found little to no time for sleep.

Because of his exhaustion, Harley had been falling asleep all day. His boss had sent him home in order to prevent any stupid mistake Harley might possibly make. God knew that District 12 could go without another accidental explosion and unneeded deaths in the mines. This was unplanned. Harley had nowhere to go. He couldn't seem to find anymore he wanted. He could use an invitation inside, he thought as he shivered, then exhaled a large breath of air, a cloud of smoke. Funny. He knew the entire district, and was friends with more than half of them, but when he needed it, it seemed that he couldn't find a place to go. "Anyone there?" He called, as more of a cynical joke to himself than an actual invitation to conversation. He'd be frozen before it was time to go home.

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[red]

Calvin was practically bristling with shock and apprehension as he strode his way towards the Seam. He was sure...no, he was positive that he had been spotted by a Peacekeeper whilst wriggling back under the not-really-electric fence that day. He was sure of it. Or was he? Had he been spotted, surely they would have chased him, punished him...reprimanded him, at the very least.

Perhaps he was simply becoming paranoid. Perhaps it was lack of sleep. Perhaps it was that his thoughts were now constantly preoccupied with thoughts of Allison and her talk of revolution. They stopped him sleeping; he could think of nothing else, dream of nothing else. Yes, he was becoming obsessed. He would be unsurprised if he discovered that he had in fact been spotted, as all he spent his time doing these days was slipping out into the wilderness, hoping for a glimpse of her. It was bad for him, he knew. Every day, she didn't come back, and his hopelessness grew. He wasn't going to see her again. His contact with District 13 was gone; he would simply have to sit like a good boy and wait for the revolution.

He couldn't do that. He knew he couldn't. Yes, the hope on which to cling had been very welcome, but now the sense of being unfulfilled, of dissatisfaction and of guilt, swelled greater within him as he realised every thing that he was not doing to overthrow the Capitol.

"Anyone there?"

The voice jerked him quite violently out of his thoughts. He had not not noticed that he had reached the town square, or that there were other beings near him.

He shrugged. A conversation would distract him. He recognised the older boy as someone he worked with; Harley. He seemed to be lingering; Calvin approached him.

"You okay?"

Words//299
OOC Comments//Hi :3

[night]

Harley jumped when someone answered his not-meant-to-be-answered call, hitting the back of his head on the stone wall behind him. As Harley reached up to gently brush his fingers across the rising bump, he leaned forward to see who had asked if he was okay. "Hey, Calvin," Harley greeted the kid with a wide, friendly grin. His mother had always told him to greet everyone like he'd been anticipating the moment he'd see them for weeks. It could be a reason why he was so well-liked -- he walked into a room with a smile and a, there you are! for everyone. "Yeah, of course," He answered the question smoothly, not skipping a beat when the picture of his perfect family -- minus his brother -- popped up in his head.

"I just locked myself out of the house. It's freezing." He continued, he himself even surprised at how normal and energized he sounded despite the heaviness in his long limbs and dark, puffy circles underneath his eyes. "How are you?"

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[red]

"Hey, Calvin," Harley greeted him, his tone friendly and expression inviting, followed by "Yeah, of course," in answer to his question.

Harley seemed genuinely pleased to him, Calvin noted. He didn't know the older boy very well, but was aware that he was as well-liked as Calvin, likely more so, and he could also see precisely why. He was glad that this was the person he had ended up in conversation with; for he doubtlessly needed some kind of a conversation, given that he had been practically living the life of a hermit these past few days. A hermit who liked to risk everything to sneak out of the District and wait for someone who was most definitely not coming back.

"I just locked myself out of the house. It's freezing."

Calvin nodded. "Yeah, it is." He paused. "Are you waiting for someone to get home and let you in? How long will they be?" He felt guilty for leaving his co-worker out in the cold, and had a mind to ask him back to his house, or his aunt and uncle's, should his mother prove to be too sickly.

"How are you?"

He paused, knowing that honesty was not the best policy here, and then realised that he should have answered immediately in order to sway any suspicions. Having realised this, he tried to answer smoothly, but wasn't entirely sure that this was possible after having left such a long gap between questions and answer.

"I'm alright, thank you. Tired, as usual."

Silently, he cursed Allison. This was entirely her fault, of course. She had ruined everything.

Words//262
OOC Comments//blablabla

[night]

Harley shrugged, and then leaned forward and pulled his feet under him, standing up to his full height of six foot three and eyeing the foggy cloud his breath made as he did, swaying only slightly from tiredness. "Uh," He said dumbly, looking upward as if the answer to Calvin's question would be written in the air, "My dad is probably still in the mines, so he'll be awhile." Harley's mother didn't work and his sister was far too young to, but he chose not to share that with Calvin. Anything to avoid going home. "Speaking of work, are you off early, too?" He asked, tilting his head only slightly to one sight.

Harley grinned, let out a laugh that wasn't genuine but didn't even sound sort of forced -- thank God for lots of practice at faking. Everyone was always tired, it seemed, in District 12. He supposed he shouldn't have felt so sorry for himself all morning. "Yeah, I know what you mean. The mines will do that to you, huh?" The mines were tough, but the lack of food and the constant state of starving definitely didn't help. In Harley's case, it was all that plus constantly trying his hardest to avoid his parents and sister but most of all, his brother's untimely death.

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[red]

"My dad is probably still in the mines, so he'll be awhile."

Calvin nodded. "If you don't want to stay out in the cold, you're welcome to nip back to mine for a while. It's just me and my mum, and she won't mind." Well, she wouldn't mind if they didn't disturb her, anyway.

"Speaking of work, are you off early, too?"

Calvin paused. Yes, he was, but had actually taken the time off of his own accord, very surreptitiously, so that he could make time to go out and wait for Allison. This had been a dangerous manoeuvre- work was imperative within the Districts; to leave early was, of course, breaking a rule, and breaking rules was unwise.

"Yeah, early." He nodded, but chose not to elaborate further, and cast his eyes somewhere that was far away from Harley's face, for fear that he would detect deceit in his gaze.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. The mines will do that to you, huh?"

Calvin nodded. "Yeah, I guess they will." He did not make mention of the fact that the reason he was so tired was that, for the first time in his life, he had not been sleeping. Worry never made him lose sleep; in fact, he always felt he slept better during times of crisis, as though the act of going to sleep was a temporary escape from 'the real world'. But this was not worry that he felt now. It was simply an abundance of emotions and thoughts which he could not get out of his head in time for him to fall into a slumber. It was beginning to become a problem.

[night]

Harley tilted his head to one side, contemplating Calvin's offer. He had three choices: go home and suffer through it, stay outside in the freezing cold, or just spend an hour or two with a bit of a stranger. He shrugged, "Sure, man, thanks. Only if you're sure, though." Harley had never been intimidated by meeting new people. He could hold up a conversation; small-talk was his thing. "I wouldn't want to, uh, intrude."


"Yeah," Harley said, "Boss sent me home early, too. I was falling asleep at, ah, whatever I was doing." He shook his head as if to punctuate his sentence. "Well, the reaping is coming up soon," He added dryly, frowning at the thought of the Games, "That means a day off for most of us."

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[red]

"Sure, man, thanks. Only if you're sure, though."Calvin nodded. "Yeah, it's no problem. You'll freeze out here." It was true; although there was less snow than there had been when he had seen Allison, the air was still nippily cold. The 16-year-old knew that exposure was a cruel fiend, and often under-estimated.

"I wouldn't want to, uh, intrude."

"Don't worry about it; I'm inviting you. It's just me and mum anyway."

He turned, tilting his head at Harley as a sort of beckoning gesture, inviting him to follow.

"Boss sent me home early, too. I was falling asleep at, ah, whatever I was doing."

Calvin smiled, amused. Harley was easy to be with; he made light of conversation, but was not pressing his company on Calvin. He preferred the company of those a little older than him anyway; those who were younger or around his age always seemed a little too eager to impress or to win his friendship, which, given that he was by nature quite a recluse, made life difficult.

"Well, the reaping is coming up soon. That means a day off for most of us."

Calvin gave a light sigh, a frown of worry creasing his eyebrows. "Yeah. There's better ways I'd like to spend my time off, though."

Words//208
OOC Comments//ugh. My muse is like BLEH today.

[night]

Harley nodded. It was exceptionally cold; he was impressed that his hands hadn't gone numb yet, though his feet, through their thin cotton boots, had begun to. He walked to Calvin's side and followed him slowly; his legs were so tired they felt like they had been chopped off and replaced with heavy cement blocks. "Is it too much farther...farther from here?" Harley asked; when he spoke it sounded like it was a friendly inquiry, although in truth he was almost sure that if if it was more than a mile or so he would fall over and go to sleep right where he was. Even now, his thoughts were so blurry.

"There are better things to celebrate, too. We just don't have them, huh?" Harley said, yawning. He was only like this, all dry and cynical, when he was tired. It was like how some people got surprisingly angry when they weren't fed on time. "It's my last year. I'm in there at least....well, a lot." He said. If he weren't so tired, he would avoid this topic of conversation. It's far too heavy, not good for small-talk or distant friendships.

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[red]

"Is it too much farther...farther from here?"

Calvin shook his head, before making a sharp turn and entering the Seam. "No, it's just here." He neared his home, and pushed open the door. It was unlocked, which meant his mother must have decided to brave the day at some point. However, when he entered there was no sign of her, so he assumed she had found it not particularly to her liking and gone back to bed. He suppressed a sigh. He loved his mother, but on occaision he felt a little exasperated at her. That was cruel, he knew. It wasn't her fault that she was always ill.

He beckoned to Harley, stepping inside. The house was small, but essentially very neat and tidy. This was not due to any particularly house-proud resident; it merely derived from the fact that his mother never left her room and Calvin was rarely home.

"There are better things to celebrate, too. We just don't have them, huh?"

Calvin nodded in mute agreement, registering the uncharacteristic sourness in Harley's voice. The Reaping brought out the worst in everybody, he supposed.

"It's my last year. I'm in there at least....well, a lot."

Calvin glanced up, before sighing. "So am I. Mum doesn't work, and I take some tesserae for other relatives as well." He paused. "It's a bit...nerve-wracking, isn't it?"

Words//221
OOC Comments//na