#thread: shay & monroe.

[brutcllysoft]

A brief panic strikes her with Monroe's words. "Just a little bit. I don't want to me showing a lot of skin." She doesn't know why — she just hates the idea of being on display for the Capitol. Hates that she has to let them see her at all, but she wants to keep as much of herself concealed as possible. She rubs the swatch between her thumb and pointer finger, recognizing it now that Monroe has told her what it is. Blacksmith aprons. It reminds her of home — it reminds her of Ezra. Reminds her of the forge that they had worked in, of the quiet and peaceful life he had helped their makeshift family carve into existence. Her chest burns with an ache so deep she's afraid it might swallow her and she thinks again about how unfair all of this has been. "You should add some shimmer," she chokes out and then clears her throat because it's embarrassing. "The sparks in the forge... They reminded me of glitter when I was little. I thought it was pretty."

It was embarrassing, quite frankly, how relieved Monroe was that Shay wasn’t icing her out. She knew that there was no chance they’d end up being friends after all this. But everyone in these apartments was about to spend a lot of time together watching something very unpleasant. Their interactions with each other should at least be pleasant to compensate, right? Once she got the sketchbook back in her hands, she started making notes. “Free hands, got it. I’ll raise the sleeves a little bit for you, gives you free movement. Laughing a little bit, Monroe shook her head. “Absolutely not. Though I can’t say that that idea wasn’t thrown around.” Some of these parade outfits were so surface level, it was shocking. Flipping back to one of her old sketches she passed it back over to Shay. “I went back to the whole Masonry aspect of the district. Material is pulled from blacksmith aprons and the color scheme is inspired by the forges.” 

[rogaire-a]

Wishlist:

Here’s a (at the moment) small list of wanted plots for Shay ! If you’re up for either of these feel free to message me so we can plot something out!

- More assassin Shay threads because I love my chaos child so much.

- Assassin! Shay meeting the new Grandmaster of the Templar Order. ( 👀 )

- Thread where Shay hunts your muse’s ass

- Thread where your muse hunts Shay’s ass ( looking at Connor and Arno muses especially—)

- Shay convinces ( or corrupts 😏 💅 #JustTemplarsThings ) your muse to join the Templar Order.

- More fight threads. Throw hands with Shay.

- Naval fight threads. Throw hands with Shay at sea.

- Shay is rescued by your muse after he defects the Assassins ( Looking at the @Monros as well!! )

- Thread where Shay rescues Haytham after his fight with Connor. ( I cry every time don't look at me )

- Shay meeting a god/goddess ( aka Isu in Assassin’s creed universe) bc that's how things work in the ass creed franchise.

- Shay and your muse are after the same precursors artifact.

- Dad! Shay threads so he can finally release all of his dad puns.

[lily-of-the-eyrie]

🎓🔍 Scene Commentary: Colonel Edition ②

Here comes part 2 out of 7 of the Scene Commentary thread, covering Shay’s adventures at Fort Arsenal in  [SQ3-2] A Long Walk and A Short Drop [vid over here]. 

This time we’re gonna talk about the next step in the Colonel’s process of getting to know Shay/winning him over, and also extensively pick apart the hidden plan of how he directs Shay into serving the Templars’ interests. 

This round’s highlights: 　❗️Gist’s Hanging: A Staged Interaction? 　💭 A Staged Interaction: Tinfoil Edition

🌟 Thanks again to the-colonel-who-cares for beta reading help!

Okay, let’s get going with the show:

[SQ3-2] A Long Walk and A Short Drop Shay returns to the Finnegans' residence and hears about a friend of the Colonel's getting into trouble.

　After renovating the church, Shay decides to go back to update Barry and Cassidy about his gang-busting activities, but found upon his arrival that the Colonel had beaten him to it. It's like he knows Shay's gonna come back home right away... Hm.

　By this time, we see that Shay and the Colonel are on friendly terms―Shay shows no particular sign of tension throughout their conversation here. In fact, when the Colonel quickly asked him to help out a friend of his, he readily accepts.

　The Colonel mentions that said friend, Gist, had run into trouble investigating "a nest of criminals". Said criminals are likely about to execute him for snooping around their base if someone doesn't go there and save him, which honestly sounds like quite a bomb to drop on a guy you literally just met earlier that day. 

　Still, despite how unbelievable this might sound, the Colonel wasn't randomly throwing requests at Shay to see what sticks―he likely knows that Shay is more than capable of rescuing Gist on his own, and, more importantly, he sounds like someone who would want to. After all, he did just see Shay take down a whole gang hideout by himself, and the ex-Assassin's recent actions show that he's the kind of guy who has a strong desire to protect the people victimized by the gangs (ie.-the Finnegans). Shay then proves this hypothesis correct when he declares that he won't let the outlaws have another victim.

　As for why he doesn't go there and save Gist himself, the Colonel mentions that he has "urgent business in Albany". This isn't explained in any of the subsequent scenes, so we never really know what this "urgent business" is actually supposed to be. It could be anything from military duties to a Templar meeting...or, if you want to go full-on conspiracy theory mode, it might even just be an excuse to sit this round out to see how Shay would go about saving Gist.

❗️Gist’s Hanging: A Staged Interaction?

　This scene plays out naturally enough as a something to move the plot along, with the Colonel pointing us towards the next story mission, but I've got the strong suspicion that the whole "saving Gist" incident was staged.

　The setup of the situation is particularly fishy: given that Gist's day job as a surveyor/merchant/landlord doesn't exactly entail sneaking into gang hideouts, it's likely that he's there specifically on Templar business. As a fellow Templar active in New York, the Colonel must've known about Gist's current task at Fort Arsenal, so no surprises there... But how, in a time before instant messaging, did the timing work out so well that Gist literally just got caught as Shay and Monro are having that conversation at the Finnegans', cutting it so close that the poor man was literally in the process of getting hung as Shay arrived at the scaffolds? And the weirdest part is that the Colonel seemed to know that that was exactly what was going to happen.

　On one hand, it could all be coincidence. The Colonel might just have told Shay to go check up on Gist because he's worried about the worst case scenario in his Fort Arsenal operation, and wanted Shay to help out in case Gist ran into trouble; if no trouble occured, well, that's great, but you know, just in case.

💭 A Staged Interaction: Tinfoil Edition

　On the other hand: what if the episode was staged? Considering what we know from when the Colonel confessed the truth after Fort William Henry―that he'd known all along that Shay was an Assassin―it's reasonable to assume that everything before Fort William Henry is likely a false reality of sorts, created and maintained to keep nudging Shay into "demonstrating his loyalty and resourcefulness to the Templar cause" (albeit without his knowledge)...which pretty much means it plays like a microcosm of the grand New World Order that the Templars were trying to create. 

　In this light, though, how can we frame the events of this episode? One take I can think of is that the Colonel, who had grown an interest in Shay's personality during their meeting at the Greenwich gang HQ, may have told Gist to go Fort Arsenal and deliberately get caught, creating a situation where he can (1) test the goodness of Shay's character and the extent of his skills, and (2) use Shay’s inclination towards kicking criminal ass to take out the Assassin-affiliated gang members roosting at Fort Arsenal.

　Let's go back a little further up the timeline, to when the Colonel first found Shay. From his perspective, there are only two things about the man that are certain:

1) He's an Assassin, because he has a hidden blade; 2) He has the manuscript with him

　Notice that this includes nothing about what Shay is like as a person, given that he's completely out of order until earlier that morning.

　Now (1) is pretty straightforward, but (2) is where interpretations can get fuzzy. After all, the Templars have no clue what went down at the Homestead―all they know is that this guy has a very important manuscript stolen from Wardrop, one of theirs who got assassinated the previous year, and for some reason he wound up half-drowned on New York's shores with a bullet in his back. Was he an Assassin courier caught in a fight with enemy soldiers? Was he attacked by bandits? Maybe one of the Templar affiliates chased him down and took the shot? All in all, the situation's unusual, and would’ve raised a lot of questions for the Templars who found him. If they managed to ascertain that it wasn’t one of theirs who did this, this may be the point at which the Colonel might've gotten the hunch that Shay turned his back on his former Brotherhood.

　Assuming that he had turned traitor to the Assassins though, the logical route for the Colonel at this point would be to somehow direct Shay into working against the Assassins, preferably in ways that benefit the Templars―as someone who was once an Assassin, there would be a great many things Shay presumably knows that would give him an edge as an Assassin hunter over a regular Templar (eg.-Assassin skills, details of Assassin operations, where the Brotherhood's hideouts are located, etc.), making him a very valuable asset. However, there's a clear hitch―even if it's true that Shay did betray the local Brotherhood and is now hostile to them (seeing him hack the Assassin flag off the Greenwich gang HQ's flagpole should make this extremely obvious), there's no guarantee that this means he's not equally hostile to the Templars, who were indeed his old enemies...and might still be. So clearly, the Colonel couldn't just walk up to Shay and ask him to blow up Assassin bases for the Order, and given that he might still kill Templars on sight, this makes the mere act of keeping him alive a risky venture. Given that the continued presence of an Assassin is literally an issue of life and death for the Templars, it's not surprising if the Colonel's plan of sparing Shay to see what he can do with him is met with resistance from a chunk of the Order, notably from William Johnson. Still, he managed to get that plan going, but evidently steering the potentially hostile Shay into serving the Order's goals is going to take some creativity―and a good helping of scrubbing any hint of Templar affiliation off of the Templars dealing with him.

　All this discussion of what to do with Shay presumably got wrapped up before the man even woke up, given he was bedridden for a couple of months, so naturally, the discussion revolved around how to put him to use as an "ex-Assassin pawn" and took none of his personality traits or motivations into account. Due to the events at the Greenwich HQ incident, though, the Colonel learned a few definitive things about Shay—chiefly of the "he's a lot like Finnegan Jr." strain. Considering how important Finn Jr. is played up to be for the Colonel in terms of their shared goals (Doing Good By The People™ and all that jazz), I think it's more likely than not that this encounter affected how he viewed Shay, and by extension his strategy of how to treat the ex-Assassin afterwards.

[Speaking of Finnegan Jr., I wonder how he figures into all this. It’s highly likely that the boy's death happened by Assassin hands because this is Assassin’s Creed™ and not Random 18th Century Colonial Sim™, so I'm not sure the Colonel's feelings are exactly neutral when it comes to his hooded nemeses (even if he's less explosive about the A-word than Johnson was). Whatever was in his head when he first fished Shay out of the waters and saw the hidden blade strapped onto his arm, it probably wasn’t pretty 😂 Still, if the Colonel did indeed have an axe to grind with the Brotherhood and still managed to behave so calmly around Shay, that’s some top grade emotional regulation skills.]

　So, going back to Gist―by setting him up as the victim to be "rescued" by Shay, who had to effectively take out the gang members in Fort Arsenal and therefore dislodge the Assassins from that location in order to save him, the Colonel had essentially pulled a brilliant strategic move to remove the Assassin presence in the area under the guise of protecting an "innocent civilian", all without lifting a finger himself. But Gist probably wasn't a passive actor in this scenario―if this scene really was set up as a Templar plot, then he'd have worked together with the Colonel on the script. Given that he's good enough at acting that he could even teach Jack Weeks how to "mimic people of various social status and origins", and that he was the one Templar who had to stick right beside Shay for a whole year without blowing his cover, pretending to be a civilian in distress is going to barely be a challenge for him.

　Of course, given that Gist was really hanging by a rope when Shay arrived at the scene, it's a rather risky plan; if Shay didn't manage to save him in time, there's a very real risk that Gist might wind up really choking to death on the scaffolds... Unless the Colonel accounted for that too, and had posted, say, Weeks nearby as backup, because even if we assume that Gist and the Colonel worked so well together that Gist would consent to risking his neck like that upon request, leaving your subordinate to probably die like that is just irresponsible leadership, which, knowing the Colonel’s dynamics with people working for him, just sounds unlikely.

　Whatever the truth of the event though, if the Colonel's aim was to prove that Shay is worth keeping alive to the rest of the Colonial Rite, his success at taking Fort Arsenal should be a pretty good piece of evidence in his favour.

[westportroleplay]

10:22PM, SATURDAY, APRIL 14TH…

Hey guys! No awkward attempt at a descriptive scene this time around because there’s simply too much information we need to unload before letting you guys run wild with the final plot drop of the night! 

After the Moretti sisters were arrested in the middle of the party for tampering with evidence (information that's still not widely known to guests). Mayor Park decided to take control of the situation by distracting everyone with the announcement of crowning prom king and queen  It took about fifteen minutes total to round up all the members of prom court ( those remaining anyway ) and bring them all on to the stage. In that time A FIRE WAS SET and at the time of this plot drop IT’S GROWING WILDLY OUT OF CONTROL and spreading through the botanical gardens. 

Characters will be separated between three locations during this whole ordeal, just to add some organization to the chaos that’s ensuing in-game. Under the read more you’ll find where your character is below and just how bad things are at their location! Please keep in mind emergency professionals are fleeing to the scene and members are more than allowed to use them in their threads! If anyone’s uncomfortable with your character being involved in such an emergency situation please don’t hesitate to say your character(s) left before the fire broke out. If that’s the case we’ll happily remove those muses from the lists below just let us know! 

Last but not least run any major injuries and plots by the admin team before threading them out on the dash. We’ll most likely approve but we just want to make sure were aware of everything going on ( and that there aren’t too many repeating plots ). If there are any questions or concerns we’ll be happy to address them all if you come talk to us, that’s all. Have fun guys!

PARKING LOT…

This is the smallest group by far made up of people who were ushered out through an unblocked back exit by Spencer Park before flames grew too dangerously high. Guests in this location are surrounded by emergency officials: firefighters, paramedics, officers who weren’t in attendance of the gala, etc.  

Alexander Williams

Aubree Gonzalez 

Cecilia Carlise 

Danneel Pryce

Kaiden Hawthorne

Lance Sutherland

Maia Prescott

Milo Callam

Raleigh Monroe

River Cahill

Spencer Park

Abel Locke

EVENT HALL…

The largest group of individuals by far were gathered in the event hall to watch Westport’s Prom King and Queen be announced. Unlike those still roaming around the gardens they were completely unaware of the fire until it was already upon them. Trapping them inside the building in fear of the blazing flames outside. 

Sloane Nilsson

Calvin Rogers

Riley Henderson

Jemima Majidi

Viola Madison

Shay Campbell

Stella Moretti

Dylan Sutton

Maverick Callahan

Olivia Locke

Rose Cahill

Finn Prescott

Henry Richards

Ryker Dawson

Spencer Park

McKenna Torres

Celeste McCoy

Jordan Abernathy

Beau Hawthorne

Sullivan Abernathy

Greyson Locke

Harlow De’Martel

Mason King

Nova Abernathy

NORTH SIDE…

Dancing to Eye of the Tiger one moment and being surrounded by a ring of fire the next. They were this close to freedom, the safe haven on the parking lot only meters away when trees began to fall, blocking their only way out. 

Hugh Lowell Malloy

Delilah Callahan

Libby Hawthorne

Noah Pryce

River Cahill

Katherine Roscoe

Liam Locke

Kyle Henderson

Danae Abernathy

Matthew Bryne

Leon Davenport

Parker Vos

Agnes Callahan

Axel Bergen

Corey Ellis

Addison Yates

Heath Aldoretti

Vincent Balasko 

Kieran Hale

Danika Maharaj

Cassidy Flynn

SOUTH SIDE…

A related subplot!

Aurora Callahan

Asher Prescott

Lennox Abernathy

Sherie Park

[gayhardmens82]

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[the-book-queen]

Hide your wallets, it’s that time again! #TBQsBookDeals Your Friday thread of #romancedeals is ready, FREE to $1.49. Happy shopping! 📚❤

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~ She's an anonymous gossip columnist writing tales about him

~ She asks the Earl to teach her how to fight

~ She gets stranded at a doctor's country estate

KU Title

#HistoricalRomance (MF) | https://amzn.to/2QhW2nT 

FREE ✦ High Stakes by Kathryn Shay

She's a news anchor, he writes for a local magazine. They clash and their bosses want them to resolve their differences ASAP.

#ContemporaryRomance (MF) | https://amzn.to/2QDFANH 

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[hollywoodfamerp]

Under the cut you’ll find your partner for HFRP SYNC! Please remember the following:

If you are on hiatus, you were not included in the first SYNC. (Semi hiatus WAS included).

You have 2 weeks (until July 1st midnight EST) to complete your thread with your partner

Please tag the main in your chatzy, para, gif chat or f2f when you reach 8 notes. We will be keeping a list! We don’t want to give out strikes.

Texts also count! Please send your text thread to the main via IM once you reach 12 notes since those don’t require as much.

No matter what type of thread you and your partner choose, please make sure it has substantial replies (on both ends) and not just a three word reply - the point is to build new connections!

New members coming into the group once this list is posted will not be added into the list since it wouldn’t be fair to hold them to the same requirements with less time. They will be included in the next SYNC pair up.

If your partner goes inactive or decides to leave the rp - we will message you and you can decide if you’d like a new partner or you can just be removed from the current list.

If you got paired with another FC that you play, please send us a message and we’ll fix that for you right away!

If you cannot find your FC in the list, please let us know as well so we can fix that as well!

All pairs were made with a generator!

If you’re reading this list, go ahead and reach out to your partner! Please do not wait to for them to reach out to you.

Please like this notice to keep track of the list! :)

Perrie Edwards and Nick Jonas

Madelaine Petsch and Matt Bomer

Kate Middleton and Jake Gyllenhaal

Richard Madden and Nathan Sharp

Aubrey Plaza and Kim Seokjin

Taika Waititi and Hunter Hayes

Beth Behrs and Max Thieriot

Priyanka Chopra and Minatozaki Sana

Jung Hoseok and Ashley Benson

Mae Whitman and Suzy Berhow

Emilia Clarke and Zendaya Coleman 

Lee Chaerin (CL) and Maisie Williams

Chris Hemsworth and Anthony Mackie

Fergal Devitt and Ansel Elgort

Becky Lynch and Donald Glover

Ben Barnes and Meryl Streep

Zac Efron and Sarah Drew

Pedro Pascal and Normani Kordei

Jensen Ackles and Nina Dobrev

Adria Arjona and Park Chaeyoung (Rose)

Selena Gomez and Mena Massoud

Zoey Deutch and Dianna Agron

Tessa Thompson and Leighton Meester

Jennie Kim and Robbie Amell

Lucas Wong and Maryse Mizanin

Kit Harington and Michael B. Jordan

Kehlani Parrish and Park JungSoo (Leeteuk)

Candice Swanepoel and Melissa Benoist

Bella Hadid and Tom Holland

Paul Wesley and Chris Evans

Kristine Froseth and Shawn Mendes

Jon Hamm and Aaron Tveit

Miley Cyrus and Dylan O'Brien

Min Yoongi and Takumi Kizuckson

Sam Claflin and Niall Horan

Phoebe Tonkin and Pierce Brosnan

Jeremy Jordan and Hailey Baldwin

Zayn Malik and Miles Heizer

Jade Thirlwall and Blake Lively

Natalia Dyer and Adelaide Kane

Emma Watson and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Keith Duffy and Jeon Jeongguk

Shay Mitchell and Vanessa Hudgens

Demi Lovato and Kim Hyuna

Dacre Montgomery and Winston Duke

Zoë Kravitz and Sebastian Stan

Rihanna and Emma Stone

Joe Keery and Nikki Bella

Tyler Posey and Maika Monroe

Brandon Flynn and Scarlett Johansson

[brutcllysoft]

Shay thought she had been prepared for just how triggering all of this was going to be. She'd been seeing a doctor ever since her games the year before, dissecting her nightmares and trying different medications. She had warned her that going back to the Capitol and the training centre would probably put her anxiety at an all time high. They had made a plan for it. But from the moment the reaping began, Shay has felt like she's one step away from spiralling completely out of control. She'd thrown herself into things the moment they got here, taking their female tribute down to the training floor and asking her to show her what she could do. She'd retired to her room to wait for dinner to be ready, counting the tiles of the ceiling to try and stop her racing heart when someone knocked, startling her.

"Monroe, hi." Shay still isn't entirely sure how to feel about the other woman. She'd been kind to her during the games and all things considered, she has no reason to dislike her — but she has a hard time viewing them as a team. They're supposed to be this time of year. But Shay still feels the wedge between them, Capitol vs District. She forces a smile and her heart to stop racing, shifting to let the brunette sit. "Me? Oh... I'm not really good at that part of this. Capitol fashion... Kind of goes over my head."

— who: @brutcllysoft / monroe & shay — where: shay's room / the training center apartments — when: after the first training session

This was Monroe's least favorite part of the whole thing. Standing in the doorway of a victor's room in their training apartment, clutching the falling apart sketchbook in her hands felt wrong with everything else happening around them. Shay had just been training with weapons that would keep her alive, and Monroe wanted to talk about playing dress up. She almost turned around, went back to the other side of the apartment where her room was and try again tomorrow. But she was already here, and giving Shay a soft smile as she fully crossed the threshold. "Hey," Monroe pushed some hair behind her ear, knocking the pencil resting there that she forgot about onto the floor. Crouching down to pick it up, she laughed quietly. "How'd it go today?" She asked casually. As if she didn't just ask how training to kill others went for this girl who was only a few years older than her. "I heard you and Nico strategizing the other night... seems like you guys are making a solid plan." She couldn't really explain the need to fill the silences like this, but deep down Monroe knew that it was probably because she knew that if things went differently for her she might've been in Shay's shoes at some point. "So, speaking of plans..." Holding her sketchbook up a little bit she sat on the bed next to Shay. "I figured now is probably good to start thinking about the outfit for the interview? You have any suggestions?"

[brutcllysoft]

Great, Monroe has that kicked puppy look that has Shay feeling guilty despite the voice in her head reminding her that she has nothing to feel guilty about. She doesn't owe anything to anyone from the Capitol, least of all the people who had dressed her up and sent her off to be slaughtered. It's a strange back and forth feeling, one that Shay isn't sure she's ever going to learn how to navigate. One minute, she'll hate her entire prep team — Monroe, Birdie and everyone else — and the next she'll share a moment with them and think maybe they're not all bad. But those moments feel like the worst kind of betrayal to Ezra because she needs to put his death on someone else sometimes, can't shoulder it all alone because she knows it will crush her. Isn't she doing him a disservice if she's playing nice with the people who cheered on his death? It makes her feel sick to think about how it would make him feel. But then there's Monroe — all doe eyes and olive branches and Shay doesn't have it in her to fight anymore tonight. "Nothing around my neck." She sighs, begrudgingly agreeing with the stylist. "And I want my hands free." Her fingers skate across the fabric swatch, pleased with it. It's a little rich for her, but isn't everything here? "What are you putting the tributes in for the parade? Don't say gladiator costumes. It's been done hundreds of times." Almost every games, really. It's like District Seven are usually trees and Twelve miners. It's insulting when the stylists can't even attempt something original when it could make the difference between life saving sponsors taking note of them or not.

A long time ago, Monroe learned to compartmentalize. The Games were polarizing emotionally and half the time people were terrified in the lead up. Terror made people lash out. She’s been in verbal scuffles with multiple tributes and one even stabbed her with a pair of her own shears in an attempt to escape — and her mother had been very upset that she didn’t want to get the scar surgically removed — and she’s learned not to take anything personally that was said in these apartments. But sometimes it took a little bit more time to bounce back. And she felt shitty about it. For all intents and purposes, she was the enemy. From the Capitol. Someone not to be trusted, and why should she expect anyone to be cool about her being there. She counted to ten in her head and put a soft smile on her face as she passed the sketchbook over. “Right. Well. There are designs for your tribute in there for the interview — you know her better than I do so if there are any suggestions…There’s a design in there for you too. For…when you have to talk to sponsors.” She didn’t say watch the games. The entire point of this was to not think about that part. "Fabric swatch in there too. It's breathable, loose and everything's off the neck." Exhaling a little bit she shrugs. "...figured it might help if your clothes didn't feel like they were choking you." Her voice trailed off. God she felt so stupid. This olive branch was going to bite her in the ass.

[brutcllysoft]

Shay doesn't want to be here, but it had been made abundantly clear early on that she had no choice. Maybe down the road she'll be able to step back from mentoring, but for now... she's still fresh blood. The Capitol wants to see her and she has a job to do, even if she feels like she's putting more effort into not tearing her own hair out or having a panic attack than training anyone. She'd been painting on a smile for the last few days, playing the role that had been assigned to her but by now her nerves are shot and it's clear to everyone in the District Two apartments that she has no interest in keeping up the charade behind closed doors. A twinge of defensiveness sparks on her at Monroe's words. She knows that other woman means well — or does she? A newfound paranoia has made a home in her ever since her games and while Monroe doesn't strike her as the rat type, she supposes she can't ever be sure. For all she knows the brunette turns around and runs back to the President with updates on what they're all doing in what little privacy they have here. "I don't want to talk about it." She restrains herself from snapping, but there is a sharpness in her tone. Shay barely wants to talk about the games with people who do get it, let alone someone like Monroe. "I just want to forget that it happened, but I can't because I'm here and that's bad enough. So why don't you show me your sketches instead."

It wasn’t a top priority to style the prep team. That was something that the stylists she worked with told Monroe regularly, but Monroe had started her career to ease anxieties going into the games. And walking into the District 2 apartments this year, there was a lot of anxieties. Shay was her last stop this year, and Monroe was hoping to calm some of the victor’s nerves. But she was just a designer. What could she do? It’s how she felt about the rebellion as well. Like she was a too small cog in a much larger machine, but for now, she had a talent and she’d try to use it to her advantage. 

“I…yeah,” She admitted quietly, mostly because Capitol fashion was hard even for her to keep track of. “But it’s mindless? And I figured with everything going on, and the tributes at their health inspection it might be nice just to do something mindless?” She offered quietly. “Also like…look I can’t. I can’t really empathize with what you went through last year, but I’ve been told I’m a good listener if there’s anything you want to talk about.”