Heeey guys~!

… I meant to post this on Thursday *shame*... I'll go grow mushrooms in the closet now. Not my own closet though. (Ouran reference!)

Sooo this chapter is by me~ I hope you all enjoy this!

JAKE IF YOU READ THIS LET ME LOVE YOU YOU ARE THE SWEETEST GUY EVER!

Tavros shivered where he stood. Sure, it was day two of training, so he did know a bit about the other tributes, and he could handle a sword but everyone else looked like they could kill with their eyes closed.
Jade, in fact, could kill with her eyes closed. She had blindfolded herself and picked up a dart gun, thinking that if anyone came at her in the night or without her glasses she had better know how to defend herself. She raises her lips and blew, hitting all three targets directly in the middle.
"Hey, how the fuck do you-"
Startled, Jade whipped around and nearly hit her district partner with a blow dart. It got lodged into the wall inches away from Gamzee.
Jade tore of her blindfold and hurriedly apologized. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"
Gamzee gave her a lazy smile. "Don't worry about it bro," he said, resuming juggling the pins he had picked up.

Jade turned sheepishly to Karkat and flashed him an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"The fuck?! Are you trying to kill me already?!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Oh yeah, because apologizing is definitely going to make me forgive you for trying to fucking kill me with a blow dart to the jugular," he grumbled, rolling his eyes impatiently. "Now help me start this fucking fire already."

Jade bent down and eyed the fire, ignoring Karkat when he threw his hands up in frustration as Tavros started his fire with ease. She giggled, "You just give up too easily and get angry."

Terezi, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. She and the district two tribute, Vriska, had raced over to the sword station and had begun to spar with each other the second they were let loose. The trainers would have stopped them, but they were all in awe of how good they both were. And they looked like they were having so much fun. Terezi didn't know about Vriska, but she certainly was having fun. She was grinning like a maniac and laughing her head off. Vriska pushed her down and their swords clashed together, Terezi trying to shove her off and Vriska trying to pin her. "What's your name?" Vriska asked, pushing down harder.

Terezi grinned like mad. "Terezi Pyrope, District One."

"Vriska Serket, District Two."

Rose was over by the plant test, hitting the matching panels like a pro.

Kanaya just watched from afar for a little while but eventually she went over to her and let her green eyes rove over the screen. "I'm astounded someone from District Eight would be knowledgeable about the indigenous wildlife."

"I am as equally astonished that someone from District Seven would be knowledgeable about anything other than the native trees."

Kanaya smiled lightly. "Touché."

"Rose Lalonde."

"Kanaya Maryam."

John was struggling with making the fire as much as Karkat was. For some reason he always kept blowing it out. "Hey um…" he struggled, trying to remember her name. "Jade! Hey Jade, do you think you could show me how to do this?"

"Sure!" Jade said, leaving Karkat to tame the fire on his own and ignoring his protests about 'helping the enemy'. She knelt over by John, smiled, and had his fire going in a matter of minutes.

"How did you do that?" John said incredulously. "Are you some kind of witch or something?"

Jade laughed and gave him a teasing smile. "Maybe…" she said mysteriously.

Equius pulled back the bow and loaded another arrow, trying his best not to break this one. He was just about to release the arrow when a grinning juggalo slid underneath his legs, grabbed it from him, and turned it around so it was facing Equius. He laughed and made a move like he was going to let go. "Pew!" he said, laughing even harder at his own comedy.

Meanwhile, Equius's district partner, Nepeta, was throwing knives around like nobody's business. She hit every target dead center with almost cat-like agility.

Dave Strider picked up a sword and caught Tavros's eye. Or, at least, Tavros thought he was looking his way. It was hard to tell from his shades. Who wears sunglasses indoors? Tavros thought to himself. "I um... You better, uh, be ready for me," he said to Dave, more as an attempt to boost his own confidence then lower his partner's.

"Dude what? No. Don't even try to insult me in an ironic way."

Tavros took a step back and bummed into a very tall boy. "Calm down, leave the motherfucker alone bro."

Dave just raised an eyebrow at Gamzee. "Are you stoned?"

"If I was, why would you motherfucking ask me? I'm not gonna motherfucking tell you." He grinned and turned his attention back to Tavros. "What's your name bro?" he asked, ruffling Tavros's mohawk absentmindedly.

"Uh... T-Tavros," he stuttered, voice barely above a whisper.

"Tavbro!"

"Um, n-no, Tavros," he said a little louder.

"Nooope, it's Tavbro now motherfucker. I like you. You and me are gonna be motherfucking friends all right?"

Friends? When they were going to be sent into an arena to kill each other?! No, maybe allies, but he didn't know about friends. Still, he answered with an uneasy, "Sure, I-I guess..."

"Sweet! Motherfucking miracles Tavbro! I'll motherfucking let you get back to whatever you were motherfucking doing," he said, gesturing vaguely to Dave. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Karkat. "Sup motherfucking best friend?"

"Oh god, get the fuck away from me you crazy clown!"

Gamzee just laughed.

"Soooooooo I was thinking you, me, John, and your district partner could all be in an alliance together," Vriska said, stashing the swords away.

"Er, yeah," Terezi replied, thinking she would be fine with everyone in that alliance except for Gamzee. She didn't like him much. In fact she thought he could get to be a bit scary. That and the fact that she had never once seen him sober made him eerie enough. She didn't even want to KNOW about the clown makeup he always wore.

"Oh Joooooooohn!" Vriska called, summoning the boy away from his fire and over to them.

Gamzee walked right past Terezi, laughing at Karkat's insults like they were the funniest thing he'd ever heard and continued to juggle the pins. "Oh no you don't," Terezi muttered under her breath. She grabbed Gamzee by the arm and yanked him over to the other two members in their group. "We're in an alliance with them now," she said, trying to say as little as possible to him.

Tavros stepped over to their little group, shaking like he had when they had first called his name at the reaping. Wow Vriska was pretty. If he could only work up the nerve to ask her if he could join their alliance. Gamzee was there too, he seemed like a decent guy. And the other two were smiling, so they couldn't be that bad... Right?

"Hey, uh, Vriska, d-do you think I c-could join your alliance maybe?"

Vriska turned around and gave him a smile like poisoned honey. "Oh, I'm really sorry, but this alliance is for true competitors only. So, bye now-"

"Hey."

Vriska turned her attention back to Gamzee, slightly confused as to why he looked so angry.

"Leave him the motherfuck alone." He pushed right past her and grabbed Tavros's arm, smile returning slowly. "Come on Tavbro, I'll be in a motherfucking alliance with you."

"Um... OK."

Sollux pressed the two wires together and counted off in his head. Ten seconds. Now as long as nothing went wrong-

Goddammit.

"Watch out!" he yelped, reaching out to grab Feferi and pull her into his chest before the explosion went off. It wasn't huge, nothing that could destroy the building or anything, but it was still large enough to cause every head in the room to snap around.

Eridan shielded himself and once it had died down he ran over to the two of them. "Fef, are yo-"

"Are you all right?"

Feferi pulled away from Sollux and looked down to make sure she was unharmed. "Yeah, I think so. Are you OK?"

Sollux blinked, polychromatic eyes roving over the girl he had just protected. She certainly was pretty. "I'm fine-" he tried to say before his shoulder was hit by Eridan's hands and he was pushed to the ground.

"Wwhat the fuck?! Are you tryin to kill us all before this thing evven starts?!"

"It wath an acthident, dumbasth!"

"Oh sure, 'cause I definitely believve that-"

"Calm down Eridan it was my fault!" Feferi said, helping Sollux to his feet. "I tripped one of the wires and it caused the explosion, right?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"See?" she said, giving Eridan a look.

He looked from her, to Sollux, then back to her. He glared at Sollux and put an arm around Feferi's shoulder, steering her away. "Fine," he muttered under his breath.

Karkat came up behind Sollux's shoulder. "Smooth, fuckass."

"Thut up, KK," he snapped.

"Who are you calling KK?!"

"Sollux, what happened?" asked Aradia, ignoring Karkat's ongoing protests.

"Nothing, ith no big deal."

"All tributes please go back to your assigned floors, thank you," crackled the speakers.

Eridan shot Sollux one last scheming smile. "May the odds be evver in your favvor."