Suited with a jacket she found in the closets of her room, Elowen slips out shortly after dinner. Everyone else had turned in for the evening, so she had found the perfect opportunity to sneak away without it being known she was out.

Not exactly like she wasn't supposed to or anything— Nemorio hadn't mentioned a curfew— but it was nice to be free to roam the hallways of the Tribute Center without some escort or Peacekeeper hovering over her shoulder. The solitary stroll is exactly what she needed after hours of unfamiliar faces and crowds of Capitolites gawking at her; she relished in the silence only broken by her light footfalls on the polished floors, without anyone telling her what to do or where to go.

Elowen climbs into the elevator and presses R for rooftop, and the doors roll shut. A few seconds pass before it rises, then another few before it releases her out in the open. She stops in her tracks.

With no walls or windows to block the outside world, sounds of it all come drifting up and around. Beyond the harsh howling wind (which was not a bother), the ambiance of daily life is immersing, from cars honking to the ever present chatter of people. Elowen shivers into her jacket, but stumbles towards the railings and peeks over anyways. From under her and beyond the electric safety net, the parade street sits vacant, lonely without the hundreds clambering around it. She pulls away and hovers by the perimeter of the roof, slowly making her way around until she's standing by the same view she saw outside her window. Here is where the source of the noise is; here is where the Capitolites live and spend their days. She faintly wonders, does Carmain live around here, or does Mellonia? Is life here as soft as the rumors say? It's an interesting thought, considering none of them have probably thought twice about life in Seven themselves. But that was a generalization and it didn't seem fair to think, so she cuts it off in its path and continues moving.

Further beyond the immediate structures, billboards advertising products flash between pictures: one elegant perfume ad changes to an "extravagant couple getaway" by the unoccupied coasts of District Four, then it cycles around, much to her amazement. It felt like there was more out there than her simple mind could process, not used to a view any more expansive than the tops of trees. She was omniscient from here; ants of humans scuttling around balconies and as silhouettes in windows, she saw them all and their glimpses into life. This wasn't something she could get out of Seven— she knew everyone in their village already, there weren't a lot of them in one area.

Elowen thinks about her sister, and how she would love this view under different circumstances. They had always shared a curiosity about the rest of life in Panem, about what life could be in the farms of Ten or surrounded by the culture of the Career districts. She wishes she could fish out their old camera (which hadn't had film for a while) and take a snapshot of this to keep it frozen in time, but she had neither the instrument nor the means of returning the picture to Monroe, so it remained an itch in her fingers she could only wish to expel.

How was their father doing? Elowen had gotten her last words in to Bryony and Monroe, and she felt they were going to be alright in her absence, but she never had that last opportunity to check in with Clem. She wishes she had spoken up sooner, or been a little more aware of what was happening, because maybe now she would understand her current situation a little better. There wasn't anybody left within reach to get those answers from anymore. Would it be left unexplained for the rest of her life? Would she even have the chance to see them again—?

"Oh!" Someone pipes up, "I didn't realize anyone else was up here."

Elowen looks around in the gloom of the rooftop, and sees a shape moving in the moonlight towards her. She can't quite pinpoint if she recognizes the figure yet, not until they move closer to her and smile at her with a wide grin. The girl standing in front of her is shorter than Elowen is, but only by half a head, and puts her skinny arms on her hips and looks at her sideways, as if inspecting her. She's a fellow tribute, Elowen knows— no Capitolite would look as malnutritioned.

"Whatcha doing?" The tribute asks, hovering somewhere between genuine curiosity and skepticism. As friendly as she seems at first glance, Elowen can tell she still has her guard up, as if ready to swing should she be prompted to. "You're not planning on jumping, are you?"

Elowen looks back over the edge, suddenly conscious of how far up she was. Heights don't bother her, she was used to being in high places while scaling trees, but she hadn't considered the idea of leaping to her death. That thought process troubled her. "Oh, no no no." She waves her hands in front of her and shakes her head profusely. "I just wanted to see the view from up here, that's all."

"Ohh I see." the other girl nods. "I get that. You're from what… Seven, was it? Not many skyscrapers there, huh?" She seems to be about Elowen's age, yet the pure confidence rolling off her every word is noticeable. She holds herself with dignity, head raised high, rather than the bowed stance Elowen frequently occupies. Her black hair is braided into two and she has straight bangs that falls nearly over her eyes— as if noticing herself, she blows them out of her face. "This must all be so new to you."

Elowen stumbles over her words for a moment. "Yeah, I haven't seen anything like this in person before… It's a lot" she extends her right arm. "Um… I'm Elowen." she politely smiles.

The other eagerly takes Elowen's hand in both of hers and gives it several hardy shakes. "I know. I'm Felicity," she introduces. "I'm from Nine myself, so I haven't seen anything quite like this either. I'm used to the wheat fields… Why is everything so close together? None of this makes sense." She must realize she was still clasping Elowen's hand, because she drops it. It seemed Felicity cleared Elowen as a threat, as her shoulders have since relaxed.

"Oh hold on, I remember you from the reaping." Elowen says without thinking, then bites her tongue. "Sorry. I don't know if you want to talk about it."

Felicity waves it off. "Nah, it's cool. At least we're not that guy from Five, Jackdaw." She shakes her head. "Media's calling him a troublemaker for his stunt against that Peacekeeper at the Reaping, they're thinking he's gonna be…" she whistles and points her thumb behind her— he's going to be disposed of quickly. "But they love me! They're calling me lovergirl! 'Cause I blew a kiss at that Reaping, but between you and me…" she gestures for Elowen to lean in close, "that was my best friend." She pulls back and laughs, then shrugs.

Elowen smiles at their secret. It seemed Felicity had it all worked out. The Seventy-Fourth Games proved well that the press loved romance, even if it was only one of them present in the arena themselves or it was all a big lie. "What are they saying about me?" Elowen dares to ask. She hadn't so much as glanced at the direction of a television since the parade.

"Hmm…" Felicity thinks about that for a second, rubbing at her chin with her forefinger and thumb. "Not much. They think your parade outfit was beautifully unique, though. They're calling you—" she starts to snicker, "—calling you Elkwen."

"As an insult?"

"No!" Felicity frowns at her lack of understanding. "As an endearing nickname."

Elowen tilts her head. "Do we all have nicknames?"

"Only some of us, if we have a reason to have one. We made a specific impression, but the One boy— he's just a pack of muscles, no personality, so he doesn't get a nickname. But he's still a favorite, since Careers usually are. Which, on that thought, the poor pair from Four are getting berated for not being volunteers, so no one really likes them."

Elowen finds this fascinating. They've been here for under a day, and yet Felicity has already picked up on so many things. Where was she getting this information from? Was her mentor or Capitol team telling her this, or did she gauge this all from the television broadcasts? Either way, Elowen takes in all this information as Felicity goes on and on about one thing or another, about who to avoid and her thoughts about the other tributes. They had just met mere minutes ago, and yet she's already talking off her ear like old friends; apparently, the unsuspecting Eights both had an intensive criminal record dug up about them.

Eventually, Felicity shuts up. "You must be tired of hearing me talk." (She wasn't) "So, tell me about yourself, Elkwen."

They sit leaning their arms on the railings with their legs dangling off the side of the rooftop. They weren't afraid of slipping; the electric net sparks right beneath their feet, ready to catch them. Elowen chuckles at the nickname. "You sound like my mentor. What do you want to know specifically?"

"Hmm…" Felicity thinks. "Any siblings?"

"Yeah! I've got an older sister, two years older. She's nice. What about you?" Elowen drums her hands against the steel railings.

"Ohh you're so lucky! I've got uh," Felicity counts on her fingers. "Eleven siblings. Three actual siblings, five step-siblings, and three half-siblings. I'm like… the dead middle child of all of them, I can never keep any of them straight. And doooon't get me started on cousins, that's an entirely different story. We have to make up at least 10% of Nine's population, I'm thinking." She blows her bangs away from her eyes again.

Elowen hides her laugh behind her hand. "Wow that's… a lot. I don't know my grandparents, and my Dad's an only child, so no aunts or uncles or cousins. It's just the three of us."

"No mom?" Felicity asks

Elowen pauses. "Yeah, no mom."

They don't say anything for a while, but there's not exactly a silence that falls— it's far too noisy out here to let that happen. After trying to weigh the direction the conversation was falling, Elowen decides it's on her, so she pipes up, "You should tell me about that friend of yours."

"Ah yes. My ol' fishing buddy, Jonah." Felicity replies, flourishing her hands. "We'd sneak away from our responsibilities and workplace and just hang out by our old cabin we found abandoned and fish at the lake for a while. We've been doing it for years. He means a great deal to me…"

"I'm sure," Elowen tips her head. "I never really had friends growing up. My sister was enough for me, plus I always had better things to focus on."

"I could be your first."

"What?"

"Your first friend." Felicity says.

Elowen stares for a moment. Was that how friendships worked? You just asked and it happened? She trusted this girl already, but why shouldn't she? Felicity already spilt so much valuable information about their competition, and there really was no reason for that. Unlike Linden, there weren't any secrets kept, or any mystery or confusion, just straight-forward chat among two people caught in the same situation. Elowen thinks Felicity is too open to keep secrets. She was smiling despite being prepped for slaughter.

Elowen smiles herself. "That sounds lovely."