expensive mistakes .

district nine . 21 . 

[ashcormack]

taiwalker‌:

Tai blocked his way, his large frame taking up most of the hallway. “Ah, Ash Cormack, so you ‘are’ a total prick. I’d heard rumours but it’s always nice to be able to judge for yourself. Don’t you think?” He looked down to the boy in front of him. 

"Oh, reputation precedes me?"  Ash laughed, his arms crossing in front of his chest. This guy was clearly looking for a fight, standing all high and mighty like a peacock in the middle of the hallway. Pretty funny. "Good to know I'm already famous. Sorry, can't say the same to you-- what's your name again? Always nice meeting a fan." 

[ashcormack]

valkyriemaddox‌:

V’s eyebrows raised. It took all her strength to tamp down the very strong innate reaction she had. He was relaxed, but she could tell the physically imposing stance he had wasn’t by chance. Still, she had decided to use her time on the train to find out about all of her competitors, even the ones like him. Besides, if he was going to be a threat, there was no question that she wanted to know everything she could.

She stepped to the side and waved him ahead of her, “Well if that’s where you think best, who am I to disagree? At this point I’ve seen most of the train anyways. Though if we are going to your room, it feels appropriate that I at least know your name first?”

Ash expected the line to work, but that didn't mean he was feeling any less smug about it when the other tribute accepted the invitation. "Right answer," he hummed, passing her by to lead them to his room, trusting she'd follow. "Classy, I appreciate that."

"Ash Cormack," he introduced himself, looking over his shoulder as he spoke. "District nine. And you are?"

[ashcormack]

aphroditecirrelo‌:

“Oh, shit!” Her head bounced off the tributes outstretched arm, threatening to throw her off balance before she managed to steady herself. “Sorry, man, you came out of nowhere.”

She looked up at the tribute, expecting to see a familiar face but instead looking up to see the District Nine boy looking down at her. His face was one she recognised almost immediately from the Reaping. He was hot. Annoyingly so.

“Yeah,” she ducked under his arm and made her way into the bar, passing the Avox that manned it to pour her own drink. “I heard the entire train is shut, actually. Only room open is mine.”

Well, he didn't expect to actually be bumped into. Ash snickered at that, watching the girl bounce back and recollect herself. He recognized her, in some distant way, but it was hard to put a name to the face -- or the district. She must be one of the tributes from four or five, he thought.

"Well, if you say so, there's no other way to end the evening," he followed after her, returning to the bar. He had plans to go to his room and call it a night, sure, but this was clearly more interesting. "You, me, your room. Sounds like a good plan."

[ashcormack]

calixcreed‌:

Calix hadn’t done much wandering since setting foot on the train. For the most part, he sat in public areas and waited for people to approach him. It was all he could do to make connections before the cameras were present. If he went out of his way to greet people, he might risk another panic attack. So he’d simply been sitting and waiting, talking to people to the best of his ability - which, clearly, wasn’t a strong suit of his. At least he’d tried. Now he could call it a night.

He kept his head down as he headed for his sleeping quarters, holding onto hope that no one would stop him as he passed through the bar. But, of course, he couldn’t have his way. It seemed the universe couldn’t plan anything in his favor anymore. “I was actually-” Calix lost his words, distracted by how annoyingly attractive the stranger was. How inconvenient. “I was headed for…my room.”

The other tribute stammered and choked on his words and Ash rose his eyebrows, waiting patiently. He'd been holed up in his room for a while now, he thought he would be the odd one out while everyone else had the social skills. Apparently, maybe socializing wasn't everyone's forte.

"Mkay," he hummed, leaning off the wall to let the other continue on his way. Ash was happily buzzed, he was bored, maybe seeing someone else's room would, at least, be a little more entertaining than his own set of four boring walls. "Lead the way, let's go, then."

[ashcormack]

taiwalker‌:

 Tai looked at the tribute before him, sizing him up. “You didn’t drink all of the whisky did you? Would be a shame to make an enemy so early.” he said with a wry smile.

Ash chuckled at that, a smug roll to his eyes. "You call that watered down shit whiskey? Maybe we'd never be friends anyway," he pushed off the wall. "I'm starting to think I won't fit in well at the Capitol if all of their alcohol is what they got in this bar."

[ashcormack]

valkyriemaddox‌:

Valkyrie raised her eyebrow at the tribute standing in front of her, “It’s a good thing I’m not looking for booze then, isn’t it?” she tilted her head back to watch him, “But if you have a better suggestion, I’m sure I can get water anywhere. After all, isn’t this the time to be getting to know our fellow tributes?”

She stepped back and waved a hand, “By all means, lead the way.”

Ash almost wanted to scoff -- fellow tributes. He always hated that word, even before he was one. Made them sound like some sort of happy, grateful group of friends meeting up.

But he grinned, instead, a lazy shrug on his shoulders. "Anywhere, you say?" He started walking back to his room, as he had been previously, and hoped the line would work. At least maybe he'd be entertained for the night. The boredom was staring to drive him up the walls. "My room has a perfectly good tap, I'll gracefully serve you a glass."

[ashcormack]

Ash was still adapting, clearly. His instinct was to spend the entire train ride locked up in his room, simply in a poor attempt to deal with all the misplaced anger he felt, but at last, he decided to visit the bar. If this was the last bit of peace they'd have before cameras were everywhere, then maybe mingling wasn't so bad.

"Nope, booze is done, I drank all of it," he said as he left the bar, meeting someone on the hallway who was just trying to enter the place. It wasn't true that the bar was closed, of course, he just wanted to antagonize someone. Get shit going. Have some fun. "We better go somewhere else."