A forbidden bond: part 1 (life before)

The final night: Sejanus & Festus

after classes ended sejanus went home he couldn't stand being there not with the interviews coming up and the fact that the interviews were going to be held in the academy's viewing room didn't help much in convincing him to stay, he thought back to marcus and while it hurt that marcus had left him to die he was still glad that he hadn't been found he had a better chance of living than he did in the arena and speaking of the arena he had gotten better at using his prosthetic leg although he had to limp every time he walked 

and of course as is customary people laughed and made fun of him, things will never change here sejanus had already accepted that and that just made him feel numb he's tried for years but it was for nothing.

he thought back to last night when arachne asked to stay at his home for a few days and had hugged him and even cried when sejanus said yes as if it was a shock to her and when they got to his house and they had walked through the door arachne had been nervous the whole time but had been hiding it so when his Ma came to greet them and they both received a hug  and he saw arachne trying to hide the shock on her face and he also saw her tense up at the contact it was subtle but it was something he noticed and kept a mental note of.

dinner was already ready by the time he and arachne arrived so they didn't have to wait around and arachne was surprised to learn that Ma made their food and not avox's, the meal was a traditional district two meal and to sejanus's surprise and delight she liked the meal and was hesitent but asked for more which made Ma happy and she so made more.

after dinner after sejanus explained that his friend wanted to stay over for a few days she accepted and said that she would convince strabo and that arachne was welcome to stay whenever she liked and it looked like she was holding back tears at being welcomed so openly but thanked her politely and so sejanus showed her the guest room and she looked at him with a grateful look 

" thank you sejanus truly you're actually doing me a real favor i'll tell you after the games are over"

sejanus didn't know what that meant but he'll wait for his friend to tell him, it was the first time since he was in the capitol that he had someone over at his house and it was nice and he was happy.

now though he wasn't happy he was feeling the same feeling he felt every year a feeling of numbness and sorrow as he watched the interviews on TV and he watched the really short interviews of the district 3 pair circ and teslee and they barley spoke so they didn't get much sponsors 

the fact that the capitol was now forcing these poor kids after taking them forcibly from their homes, putting them in a zoo, dehumanizing them, starving them and now they expected the tributes to preform like dogs

the tributes from 4 went next coral and mizzen, sejanus really did not like festus at all and he heard the way he talked about coral as if she was a marketing item instead of a person and he made he perform with a mop stick as a trident and that got coral 813 sponsors, festus creed was not a good person

next was persephone "persie" price and mizzen and they took the center and she looked like she was dressed like a model and he remembered that she had told him in a conversation that her parents were strict when it came to appearances and he frowned realizing that her parents made her dress like that, she started by introducing mizzen and telling the crowd how skilled he was with a net and even let mizzen throw a net on her.

when he first met persie she was the only one who was nice to him and wanted to be his friend even though she was bullied and insulted for being with him she never stopped being his friend and then the next person to become his friend was vipsania it happened after persie got sick for 2 months and he had no one to talk to and then he was paired up with vipsania for an assignment and then after the project was done she continued talking to them