It's a Balancing Act ~ Open

beat viciously down on Kaelen’s back, enticing beads of sweat to drop from his face and trace patterns down his back. While he was definitely no stranger to a hard day’s work and sweat, his current situation felt more as if he were a slab of bacon laying on a pan to fry. With no trees nearby to shade him, Kaelen was definitely getting the full blast of late afternoon heat. Unfortunately, he had a job to complete before the day’s end, so hiding from the sun wasn’t an option.

Kaelen ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to get the sweaty strands off his face, then swung the hammer and drilled a nail farther into the wooden beam. Patching holes on the roof of his family’s house wasn’t exactly his favorite pastime, but with his father’s leg injury few a few years ago, Kaelen was next in line for the job. He couldn’t help but to laugh at the irony of their situation. Here his family was, working in the district known for forestry, and yet they couldn’t get wood decent enough to hold up for longer than a few months. No, the good wood was sent to the Capitol and higher districts, while his family and many others got stuck with the scraps of wood not worthy of the Capitol. And as a result, Kaelen was stuck repairing their roof yet again.

While slowly moving to another portion on the roof in need of repair, Kaelen accidentally lost his footing on the sloped surface for a second. He regained his balance quickly, but not before cutting his leg on a large splinter sticking up from one of the planks. Kaelen muttered a curse beneath his breath and gently rolled into a seated position to assess the damage. Yup, there were definitely a few, small pieces of wood that decided to leave the roof and make a home in his leg. He carefully slid to the side of the roof where he’d balanced a cup of water and slowly began flushing out the wound.

The splinters weren’t lodged too deep, but they were still deep enough to result in some bleeding. Kaelen quickly began pulling out the tiny splinters, grunting with annoyance and wishing he had smaller fingers to make the process go a little more efficiently. Once all of the large splinters were out, along with most of the tiny ones, Kaelen ripped off one of the sleeves of his T-shirt and tied it around his leg to protect the open wound. Then, because he couldn’t stand working with an unbalanced shirt, he ripped off the other sleeve in frustration and threw it over the edge of the roof. He’d pick it up later.

Chugging what was left of his water, Kaelen spared a quick glance before tossing the cup over the edge of the roof as well. Sometimes his mother or sister would see the empty cup and take it as a sign that he needed a refill. With a sigh, Kaelen’s eyes took note of the three sections of the roof that still needed mending. It was going to be a long day.

((Hope you don't mind Roman's randomness. xD))

Yet again Shard had taken the majority of Romans Mum and Dad’s attention. Much to this discontent of Roman. He had gotten vaguely used to the fact that he got the most attention, but it still managed to hurt his emotions, and generally anger the fifteen year old to levels that he did not like to show. Today was different though, he would take the calm approach to this. He simple got up from the central room and left the house. He wasn’t going for a long time, but for now Roman needed some space. He wasn’t going to go to the woods today, he wasn’t going to work, but he was going to rest. He wasn’t really all that bothered about sitting on the ground near the houses. He grumbled, mostly words that gave off nothing to show his hatred for Shard, even though that was his intention. Roman placed his head in his hands, though he didn’t cry. He was simply tired of life, not that he wanted to die.

It confused Roman more than anything to see a boy working on the roof. It wasn’t something he was used to seeing anyway. Roman didn’t take much of it in. He was too busy sat down to bother with anything else. Roman took this time to think. Which wasn’t exactly the brightest thing for him to do; it provided him with time to think about the Games...Roman almost froze as his mind went to that subject. Giving a deep breath before attempting to move onto another subject but he didn’t manage it. If he was reaped, would that gain him the attention of his mother and father? His name was in quite a bit this year, Roman didn’t bother to memorise how many, but he did want to know. Roman wanted someone from District Seven to win this year; it would break the Career’s streak of winning, which would certainly provide District Seven with quite a bit of pride. People from District seven tended to be strong bodied as they worked cutting down trees. It wasn’t exactly Roman’s favourite thing to do, but he did it.

He winced as the guy on the roof slipped, but he did not approach. He simply looked down at the floor in the hope that the boy was okay. He was certainly not going to help any time soon. He then saw the blood. Roman, being colourblind had assumed it was blood, as the browny red liquid that he couldn’t quite distinguish was flowing from the boy’s hand. He didn’t like seeing the boy’s frustration though. He knew perfectly well why he needed to fix the roof; he had received the wood that wasn’t fit for the Capitol. It was a shame really. Considering Roman and his family had managed to get a relatively nice house. Even if it was small and they all had to fit in there. The wood was stable and good. Roman was now intently watching this boy fix the roof. He couldn’t see everything of course, but what he did see intrigued him.

Roman rubbed his arms gently as he watched the boy work, well the work had now become fixing his wound but that wasn’t of much importance. He questioned what this boy was doing. Placing water on a bleeding wound wasn’t exactly the best thing to do—Then he boy drank some of the water. Was he trying to get an illness or something? Seeing as he was the only member of the family that was working on the roof, Roman doubted it. District Seven, as far as Roman new, was one of the largest Districts of Panem, which was why it amazed him that few people managed to receive good wood, it just wasn’t right. Having said that, he was in no position to voice that opinion he wasn’t ready to fall to the hands of the Peacekeepers. In an act of boredom Roman decided to approach. From a closer view, Roman realised the boy was older, and taller than Roman was. Roman guessed that the boy was in the year above him and he gave a small glance at what he was working on, it didn’t look easy.

“Did you, just drink that water? Sorry, just nosy me I suppose.” It wasn’t the best intro line, and Roman was pretty worried in case the boy got ticked off with Roman for stopping his work. Though Roman didn’t know this person so he was quite impressed that he had managed to pluck up the courage to speak and he had a small smile on his face. “Are you okay by the way? I’ve got some...better wood down at my house, if you—you know, want some.” Roamn shuffled his feet inwards slightly before blinking at the ground. He was ready for the reply, and he wouldn't be surpised if it was a confused one.