A/N: Warning long chapter ahead. If you're going to read the whole thing all at once, make sure you've got nothing better to do for a while.
Capitol Streets
Walking down the streets of the Capitol, nearly all the tributes was commenting on how shiny it looked. From the pristine architecture to the way the city lit up with fancy neon lights and eye catching advertisements. Everything looked so beautiful to everyone.
They were bathing in the sights and muttering in awe. And Radiance couldn't blame them as it was a different sight than than ones that were stuck in the districts. Even in District One, the district of luxury, not many things looked at golden as the ones in the Capitol. The only exceptions was the victor village and the justice center. But even then, the Capitol was vibrant with colour and excitement, making the victor village and the justice center pale in comparison.
However, Radiance couldn't have cared less as she walked past the buildings and the exotic looking citizens.
One of the reasons was because of her major depression that she couldn't enjoy the sights like the rest of the tributes were. And if that wasn't all, the voices and the sights of her tormentors continued to harass her every step of the way thanks to her psychosis. Because of those things, everything to Radiance seemed draby and pedestrian. Something to look at, but nothing special.
In a way, the royal environment of the Capitol streets seemed to mock her. Like it was saying that everything was all fine and dandy when it really wasn't. Because those lazy asses deserve all this royalness through our suffering. She thought as she looked at the crowd of Capitol people they were passing. One woman caught her attention in particular because of all the jewels she was wearing.
With rings on nearly all her fingers and luxury necklaces with large gems dangling on them, Radiance wondered if they were one of the gems that Loyal might have cut and buffed up to perfection. A task that, in her opinion, took nearly as much skill and patience to accomplish as it did to perfect a training technique at the academy.
She had tried to help Loyal a couple of times with making gems like that, only to cut it wrong or buff it not enough, too much, or not correctly, resulting in her best friend having to do it all over again. She even remembered one time where she accidentally made a small ruby crack down the center because she had cut it wrong. How I cried that day. Radiance thought as she yelled to herself and cried for being such an idiot. Lucky for her, Loyal didn't seem that mad at her.
He didn't really mean those words. The man said with her face mere inches from her's. He was pissed and just didn't want to hurt your fragile feelings. He's too soft on you.
Radiance did her best to filter out the hurtful words that the man and woman that nobody else could see as the sixteen other tributes looked for a suitable bar or nightclub to enter.
As they passed more aviators, Radiance felt even more irritated with their talk and actions. Especially when it came to the kids running around with their toy swords and shields. How they were pretending to be tributes in the arena, like it was all fun and games. Radiance wanted nothing more than to beat them with their fake weapons. Those kids were acting like it was all all for fun and games. But then again, Radiance thought. For them, it is fun for them to watch us get slaughtered. And to them, it is just a game.
She then heard Splendor let out another laugh.
"It's not funny!" Stream shouted again, clearly irritated at Splendor, who had tired and failed to stop laughing for the entire duration of being outside the tribute tower.
"Yeah, give it a rest already." Thor told him, also getting irritated at Splendor. "It was funny before, and it still is in a way,"
"Hey!" Stream interrupted curtly.
"But it's not that funny anymore." Thor continued like Stream hadn't said anything.
How Splendor could still be in such a good mood after all this time and during the circumstances they were facing, Radiance did not know. But she hated it. The man and woman said that he was sucking the joy out of her, and she was beginning to think that they were right. While she barely had any energy and joy, Splendor seemed to be overloaded on it.
She looked at the other tributes, and saw that while they weren't as happy as her district partner, they weren't down in the dumps either. Why can't I be happy? Radiance wondered intensely.
Because you don't deserve to be happy.
Joy. She thought sarcastically. She just hoped that they'd just pick a stupid bar already so that she could start drinking. It didn't make her feel much better, but it numbed her and it made the shadowy man and woman quieter.
"How about that one?" Anna suggested, pointing to one building that was serving alcohol.
"Too calm." Thor replied.
"How about that one?" Trail asked, pointing to another.
"Too much light." Thor replied.
"How about that one?" Anna asked again.
"Women's only." Thor growled. "It says on the sign right there."
"God, why so picky?" Mink asked critically. "It doesn't have to be perfect, let's just go some place where we can get drunk." A chorus of agreements came after her statement, to which Radiance became a part of.
"You idiots," Thor retorted. "I want to get wrecked just as much as you do, but we don't want to get caught and sent back to the tribute tower too early. Plus, I want to get out of this stupid suit and not be recognized. So we need a place that's crowded, a little wild, and something with low lights and hopefully loud music. If the Aviators inside are drunk or drugged up, so much the better."
"Well we could just beat anyone that threatens to call the peacekeepers on us." Zora suggested readily.
"Say that after fifty aviators recognize us and call for an army of peacekeepers all at the same time." Thor countered.
"Why should we even bother?" Radiance asked. "Our escorts will eventually find out we're missing and send peacekeepers to look for us anyway."
"But they won't know where we are." Thor told her. "And the Capitol is huge, they won't even know where to start. And even if they knew which place we're in, we can just easily blend into the crowd and escape."
"Yeah, because when we take off these aviator clothes we'll be sooo unrecognizable." Mink said with heavy sarcasm.
"Well if you want to keep it on be my guest." Thor growled. "But I can't be the only one to want to wear my own clothes." A chorus of agreements came from the other tributes. "So all of you, shut up and look for something that meets the requirements."
"How about that one?" Anna asked, pointing to another place.
"Anna, I swear to God, if it's another," Thor looked to where Anna was pointing to before pausing. "That'll work." He said with some genuine pleasantness.
Radiance looked to where the building was, and saw that it was a smooth, fancy building that was surrounded by bright neon lights advertising it's name: The Sinning Temptation. And underneath that sigh, it also advertised in smaller, but no less brighter text: Where all temptations are meet.
Cute. Radiance thought with sarcasm.
"And look! Look!" Anna squealed in delight. "It serves ice tea! We have to go!" It was then that Radiance saw all the stick tributes start to agree profusely.
"Forget that!" Splendor shouted over all of them. "It serves energy bombs! We definitely have to go!" Radiance then heard her fellow careers start to agree as a look of confusion came over the sticks faces.
"What are energy bombs?" Anna asked with curiosity.
"A drink that gives you energy." Splendor explained. "They give it to us at the academy if they thought we were slacking or looked tired or needed an energy boast."
"Or amphetamines." Thor jumped in. To which then everyone except Terra looked at him with even more confusion. A moment of silence occurred before Thor spoke again. "What?" He asked with genuine confusion. "They never gave you speed when you were attending the academy?" He looked to Splendor, Radiance, then Marsha. All of them sported a look that asked if he was crazy. Radiance herself felt that he was crazy. Why would the academy give the people they were training amphetamines? "Crazy." Thor simply stated.
"Is that why District Two seems to send in crazy and violent tributes?" Paige asked.
"Partly." Thor answered. "But enough about that, we need to find a way to get in. And for that, we need a distraction. Now, who's the most intimidating looking tribute among us?"
Radiance looked around, as did everyone else. But Radiance felt that the answer was obvious. And apparently, nearly everyone else did as well, as all eyes looked towards one figure who was holding a newspaper in one hand and a lighter in the other.
Just when the flame was mere inches away from the newspaper, Nick finally noticed that everyone was staring at him in near understanding silence.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Nick asked with concern.
"Perfect, you're chosen." Thor told him.
"For what?" Nick asked, the flame from his lighter still not getting any closer to the newspaper.
"Shut the fuck up and I'll tell you. Now everyone that's eighteen will stay out here, while the rest of you will-"
"I think only four of you should stay out here." Dayta chimed in, causing Thor to look at her.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because we could all divide into groups of four. A group of four stay out here, then the rest of the groups sneak in the way you want them to."
"There's a problem with that though." Splendor said quickly. He didn't give time for Dayta to ask what the problem was before he answered. "There's seventeen of us and four groups of four equal sixteen."
A sudden pause came within the group. Radiance felt that while it was significant for them, nobody else around them cared as the Capitol city was busy with the sounds of music and people.
"Someone has to stay behind." Dayta finally concluded after some thinking.
"Okay," Thor said without the slightest hesitation. "Princess Outgo will stay outside."
"Hey, why?" Stream asked in a whiny kind of tone.
"Because you're the youngest." Splendor quickly jumped in.
"Yeah, what he said." Thor said without even seeming to think.
"That's not fair."
"The world ain't fair." Zora swiftly told him without even looking at him. "Now tell us you're plan, Thor."
"Well, I've devised a plan that'll allow some of you to hopefully sneak past the guards and into the club. Now, who's eighteen and wants to help me with the distraction? I'll need at least one other male with me."
"Ohh ohh oohh! Pick me! Pick me!" Splendor said like an over eager child as he waved his right hand frantically.
"Fine." Thor said. "Anyone else?"
Radiance noticed that Marsha, Zora, and Anna were volunteering as well. Thor choose Zora and Anna. "So Splendor, Nick, Anna, and I will be part of the distraction group. The rest of you, except Stream, will then sneak past the guards when they're distracted enough. Now, this might work if nobody blades each other. Except for us, the distraction group. Blade yourselves and the rest of this groups as much as possible."
"Thy flud fe wfhant to glade thach othar?" Marsha asked with that broken speech of her's. Radiance found that while she could understand Marsha, it still made it hard for her to understand in a way.
"Not literally," Thor explained with some harshness behind his voice. "Just don't draw any unwanted attention to each other unless you're part of the distraction group."
"Ohh." Marsha and everyone else, minus Terra, said in understanding. Radiance briefly wondered if all District Two slang was a violent and crude as that. But then again, it is District Two.
"So how are we supposed to distract the door guards?" Anna asked, to which Thor smiled widely.
"Trust me everyone, sex sells, because if somehow, the mocking jays and the duelbeaks got together and started arguing about their games and their m-jay plans, and two elephants started fucking each other in front of them, even they would stop and stare."
Radiance just stared at Thor like he was crazy. The rest of the tributes looked at him the same way, but mixed with confusion. A pause came from everyone.
"Wfhere are fe goning fo find thew elephants?" Marsha asked with extreme confusion.
"Some aviator's got to have a couple of them?" Anna said, just as bewildered.
"The better question is, how are we going to get them here and start fucking each other." Falco told them. This is the stupidest plan I've ever heard. Radiance said to herself as she sighed internally and externally.
"Not literally!" Thor shouted with annoyance. "Ugh. Never mind. Infiltration group, go over there and get ready," Thor said, pointing to a part of the building close to the entrance, but out of the way of the line of aviators waiting to get into the booming nightclub. "Distraction group, get over here and let me explain what we're going to do."
Ugh, of course, everyone gets distracted by sex. Radiance thought with annoyance as she, Terra, Marsha, and the rest of the sticks watched Splendor and Thor at work in the middle of the street near the entrance of the nightclub they were going to infiltrate.
"Yeah! Yeah! Who's your daddy!" Thor cried out in glee as aviators, both standing and passing by, looked at Splendor in his compromising position. With his face in front of Thor's groin, it was hard not to see what was happening. And the fact that Splendor sounded like he was half chocking and half sucking on something made it even worse.
Thor held the back of Splendor's head as he pulled and pushed him in perfectly timed intervals. "Yeah! Suck it! Suck it dry, bitch!" Thor continued to yell.
Radiance could see the reactions of the aviators. It clearly reflected the tributes she was with. Some looked with horror, some were laughing, some were just weirded out. But all anyone could do was stare at the two teenagers out in the street doing their shameless act. Radiance herself found it strange, but nothing to be too interested in. After all, she didn't really care.
Radiance looked away from the silly act and looked at the door guards in red, who were shouting at Splendor and Thor to stop their antics with no success. Finally, one of them lifted up their hand and seemed to speak into his watch.
"Security. We've got a problem at the front entrance." He said just as Thor made another sexual comment.
"Deep throat it you slut! Deep throat!" At that same moment, Splendor seemed to gag on what he was sucking.
Moments later, two large aviators came out of the club, wearing the same red suits and ties as the front entrance guards, and walked towards Thor and Splendor with a slight swagger in their step. And while they weren't big by career standards, they were certainly more muscular than a lot of Capitol figures that Radiance had seen.
They walked past the line of people waiting to get inside the club and got right beside the two teenagers, who seemed to not even notice them.
"All right you two," one of them said sternly. "That's enough out of you." One then grabbed Splendor, while the other grabbed Thor. They both then pulled them away from each other, and it was revealed to everyone that Splendor was actually sucking a popsicle that was strategically placed at Thor's crouch area. "You're making the customers feel-"
"Hey!" A new voice came out. It was harsh, it was rough, and it was accompanied by someone that looked equally as rough as his voice. "That's my whore and his customer you're messing with!" Nick, even with his hood covering his face, the shadows that were cast on his face and the facial burns made him look like a violent thug. That, and he looked to have the muscles to back it up. The security guards were undoubtedly, surprised and scared by his appearance. "He's a paying customer!" Nick shouted to the guards as he pointed towards Thor. "And if he's not satisfied, I won't get paid!"
"Sir," one of the guards said, doing his best to retain his bravado. "You can't prostitute on this property."
"Moving in on my turf, huh?" Nick snarled at them. "I'll show you what happens to people that move in on my turf. Enforcers!"
Then from the surrounding crowd, Zora and Stream jumped out and punched the two unprepared guards before they started to beat them up. Those two aviators never stood a chance. Radiance thought with little sympathy.
Radiance then looked at the front entrance, and saw even more red suited guards run out as the single guard at the front entrance was panicking. He wasn't watching the door as much as he was now watching Splendor, Thor, Nick, Zora, and Stream fighting the red suited aviators.
"Now's our chance." Radiance heard Anna say before all of them ran into the now bronzley guarded club. The common Capitol citizens distracted by the fake gay sex and the fighting, while the club guards were too distracted trying to get order back in front of their property, to stop the group of teenagers from going into the building.
As they snuck past the doors, Radiance noticed the lack of security within the building. She guessed that they relied more on the front entrance guards, maybe thinking that nobody would even try to sneak past them. Pitiful, arrogant, aviators.
The Sinning Temptation Men's Bathroom
Someone was puking their guts out in the bathroom stall.
It was loud, and it seemed to never end. And as the wet, chunky vomit meet the toilet water, Spark only had one, dark thought running through his mind. Weakness. And it wasn't because of all the alcohol that person had consumed, it was because Spark was thinking about himself and his condition. And the Capitol in general.
As he waited for the distraction team to come his way, he thought of how the Capitol liked to take the easy way out. His escort, Aelia, and probably the rest of the aviators, liked to stay thin. And in order to do that, did they try to diet or exercise? No. They did drugs that kept them up all night, got surgery, and puked their food out.
Spark still remembered the moment on the first training day when he heard Aelia vomiting in the bathroom. He had thought that she had drank too much alcohol or was just sick. He then found out that she hadn't drank any alcohol, nor had she gotten sick on the food like Anna did during the train ride to the Capitol. No. Aelia puked her guts out because the avoxes had served her favorite food that day and wanted to taste it as much as possible. Not only that, but she said she had to keep up her slim figure and didn't want to go for surgery again so soon after her previous one.
Spark had felt sick because of that. He had to work hard to get where he had been, and even then he wasn't happy.
He still remembered that fat boy that couldn't make friends with anyone at school, or most of the district in general, because he was a neon and his body showed it. So he starved himself, devoiding himself of food and only drinking as much liquids as deemed necessary. He'd jog or run for miles at a time to shed those undesired pounds. Always telling himself to run just another fifty feet to rid himself of those few extra calories. Spark would also do numerous push ups and sit ups, because while his legs were tired, his arms and stomach weren't. He stopped doing push ups when his arms became too weak to even do ten.
He had worked for months, years, to gain a body that wouldn't be ridiculed, facing the consequences. Facing pain and suffering both mentally and physically. It gave him anorexia, and depression. But the aviators only needed to puke their guts out because of some kind of drink they'd take. They could eat as much food as they wanted. And if they got too thin or too fat or some other kind of imperfection, they'd have reduction or corrections surgery to correct themselves, learning nothing.
Feeling his rotten teeth and gums from malnutrition and his vomiting phase, and feeling the wig of medium length brown hair that he stole from his escort, Spark thought of his dry, thinning hair that was falling out at a rapid rate.
And because he had washed the make-up off his face, he could see his shallow cheeks and sunken eyes.
And then there was the rest of his body... Dear God, the rest of his body...
"We're here!" Spark heard Splendor say in a sing song tone.
"At last." Spark said. "I thought I was going to have to live in this bathroom for the rest of my life."
Then one by one, Splendor, Thor, Nick, Stream, and Zora, climbed into the club bathroom by crawling through the window.
"Did everyone make it?" Nick asked as he ripped off the Capitol clothes and showed off his trashy district ones. The same ones that he was reaped in. A hooded grey jacket and Black cargo pants.
"Everyone made it," Spark answered as he helped Stream to the floor. "I must admit, it went a lot smoother than I imagined it would." Spark then noticed that Splendor's clothes looked like they had had paint thrown haphazardly on them. He didn't even know what colour they were originally supposed to be, but he guessed that the shirt was supposed to be white while the pants were supposed to be of light blue denim.
"It's because the aviators are stupid and arrogant." Thor told him, taking his Capitol clothes off to reveal a black hooded sweatshirt and dark blue denim pants.
"Much like you District Two bronholes?" Zora asked with a crooked grin as she shook her arms in her dark denim jacket and light red shirt, coupled with a pair of denim pants.
"We aren't all stupid." Thor told her. "And at least we have to arrogance to back it up."
"So what's this guy's deal?" Steam asked as he threw the dress and wig onto the floor, revealing his bright orange t-shirt and light denim pants. It seemed that everyone in the bathroom but him and Thor had clothes that were messy and in semi-poor condition. But Spark rationalized that it was because they had to worry about more than just their clothes. Splendor on the other hand was from District One, and he just seemed to brutalize those clothes with paint. "He's been barfing since we've got here."
"Who cares?" Zora asked coldly. "It's not our problem."
"Right," Thor agreed. "Let's get out there and meet the others."
"The others found a table, I'll take you to them." Spark told them, thinking of how they were waiting for them to arrive.
The six of them then headed for the bathroom exit, passing the avox guy that was silently standing by the sinks with a variety of items that included hand soaps, hand towels, a jar of white pills, and condoms. He looked at them as they passed, and the six of them did as well. But Spark didn't think that he was going to be a threat, he didn't seem to care when Spark came in, nor did he do anything when the five others came in through the window. Spark nodded to him, and the avox did the same.
Spark then opened the door to the actual club, and the loud, blaring, intense music that shook your bones became even more quacking and loud. The six of them exited, but were stopped by an aviator male that was looking at the six of them with a surprised gaze.
The six teenagers looked at him, and he looked back. Spark rationalized that he was probably surprised to see five males come out of the bathroom at the same time with a single female. Spark couldn't help but think about what was going through that man's mind and internally laughed.
"What are you looking at, faggot!" Thor shouted angrily at him. His voice partly drowned out by the music. "You want us to have a gay orgy with you?" Thor then stepped past Spark and got right in the man's face. "Beat it! Woof!" He said with a low and intense tone as his face shot towards the man's, causing the aviator to jump back, startled, before he walked away. "Let's get to the others."
"What's taking them?" Anna impatiently asked. Her slightly worn out red and black flannel shirt and denim pants currently making her look like someone working out in the fields. Mink on the other hand, was wearing a dark purple shirt and cargo pants, her best clothes, something that her family made her wear because it was reaping day. "We've been waiting for them for forever!"
"Well they do have to lose those aviator guards and find an opening in the building." Falco rationalized. Her wore a simple white shirt and black pants. Mink guessed that his family made him wear his best clothes as well, since she could see that his white shirt was near immaculate.
"Yeah, but, how long does it take for that to happen?" Anna asked as she drummed her fingers on the glass table. To Mink, it looked like crystal. It seemed to be perfectly clean with not a scratch or chip to it's name. She wondered how the aviators could keep it in such mint condition. But she then rationalized that they probably got a whole new one when it got chipped or something. After all, how much meat did our escort, Luciana, throw away when she had enough? I'd like to think that the left overs go to the avoxes, but somehow, I don't think she'd be that kind.
Mink looked at the the partying aviators, all drinking and eating and taking drugs. All of them celebrating the day before the games started. All of them rotting for their deaths in a bloody fashion.
She had heard some of the conversations that they had said, and they were disappointed with them. When the quarter quell was announced, they thought they were going to get mentally unstable tributes. Ones that were violent and would offer a good show. She heard some of them talking about her and her diagnoses and how they thought that she was going to be something else. Mink couldn't help but snort at that. They don't know a damn thing.
Sure she wasn't living her own life, but if they thought that her having dissociative identity disorder would automatically make her an unstable psychopath, they had another thing coming. She wasn't anything like that. Sure she wasn't afraid to fight, nor was she afraid to argue with people, but that didn't make her someone that would want to chop people up and lick the blood off her butcher knife.
So they waited for the other Mink Prather. The one that they thought was going to be a remorseless killer. Oh how wrong they'll be. Mink thought as, from what she had gathered, the other Mink was a nicer, calmer person than she was. But what if there's a third or fourth Mink Prather? Mink wondered. As far as she knew, there was her, the fake Mink, and then there was the Mink that everyone knew and loved. But what if there was a Mink nobody told her about? A Mink that the aviators wanted?
Mink shook her head, thinking about how it wasn't her problem. It wasn't her life.
"Have the drink been ordered yet?" The voice of Thor asked over the booming music.
Mink looked up from her thoughts and saw the five tributes that had been the distraction team now at the table. The five of them, plus Spark, then flopped onto the semi-circler couch. Mink had to admit, it had a good view of the club. From where they were, they could see the dance floor with it's flashing lights, something that Marsha, Trail, and occasionally, Anna, would get entranced by. Which is why the three of them wore shaded glasses and ear plugs. Mink still remembered Anna and Marsha freaking out during the chariot rides, and she wondered what that was about.
They could also see some of the areas where there were strippers pole dancing, and an overall good view of the place.
The building was packed though, and Mink couldn't believe how many people there were. There seemed to be a thousand people inside the building. And the things that Thor wanted, the place was black but see able. There were also quick flashes of colour that made it seem like that dancers were moving weirdly, like someone couldn't decide which colour they wanted to flash, so they just flashed them all rapidly and randomly. And the place was huge. She had to admit, it was fitting their requirements so that they could blend in plain sight, even with their district clothes, but it was still exotic and seemingly fun. Nox and the others would love this.
"Not yet." Anna told them before she turned and started to look around for a server. When she spotted one, she not so subtly started calling her over. "Oy! Hey you! Server girl! Hey! Hey! Hey!" Anna then started to wave her arms above her head. "Hey! Hey! Hey server girl! Pay attention!"
Mink saw who she was trying to flag, and she didn't seem to be in any hurry coming towards their table, taking orders from other aviators as she passed them. "Get your generator breasts and your fat ass and generator tan over here you whore!" Mink then saw the aviator server girl snap her head towards Anna like she suddenly got super hearing and glared. "Yeah you! Over here ya bimbo with daddy issues!"
The aviator girl then came over to them with an irritated look on her face as she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms towards them.
"What did you say about me?" She demanded. Up close, Mink was surprised. The girl looked like she was in her early twenties and looked perfectly natural. With a slim body, silky black hair, and milky white skin, Mink would say that she looked like she could belong in District One if she had a little more muscle and had blonde hair. This is... Weird. Mink thought as she stared at the woman. She looks less like an aviator and more like someone outside of the Capitol.
"Well now that I have your attention," Anna said with a grin. "One large pitcher of ice tea."
"And some cans of energy bombs!" Splendor added.
"Ugh..." The server groaned with annoyance. "A pitcher of long island and fun bombs." She said as she write it down on her notepad. "Anything else I can get you all?" She asked eyeing everyone.
"What district are you from?" Anna asked.
"I portray District Two," she answered impatiently. "Why? See something you like?"
"I see things that are wrong," Thor chimed in. "In order to look more like them you have to be stronger."
"And tanner." Terra added with her flat voice.
"And more of a bitch." Mink and the rest of the non-bronholes answered simultaneously.
"It's your first time here isn't it." The server stated with a sigh.
"What gave us away?" Ryan asked with sarcasm. "The way you've never seen us before?" He, Ashton, and some of the others gave out suppressed laughs that almost sounded like some kind of weird snoring sound as the server girl took out a pamphlet and tossed it to Ryan. The leather bound pamphlet landed on Ryan's head before he glared at the server. "What the hell?" He asked.
"Read it," the girl growled. "You might learn something." She then left with a huff.
"Wow, what a grouch." Anna said before she was even out of ear shot.
"I heard that!"
"Forget that," Thor said. "Find out why she's trying to portray my district."
"All right all right." Ryan grumbled as he opened up the pamphlet.
"Hey, I want to read it too." Splendor called out. "Place it on the table!" A chorus of agreements followed before Mink saw Ryan sigh loudly as she slapped the pamphlet onto the table.
"There, I placed it on the table, now all of you can read it! Happy?" He asked with irritation.
"Tis upshide thown." Marsha stated.
"Just shut up and read!" Ryan roughly demanded.
Lighting up a cigarette with Radiance, Thor, Marsha, Anna, Zora, and Ryan, Nick thought about what the pamphlet he had just read said.
That aviator men and women that worked in this club would try to look like someone from a Panem district. From there, they would serve as a fetish for the aviators that had sexual feelings towards certain tributes that resided in certain districts. But they would only change their looks, and from the evidence he had seen, they might not be switching, as that woman had been nice to the other people that she had been serving before Anna had started annoying her.
Fuck. Nick thought as he inhaled toxic fumes. Not only are they making it seem as if we're their servants or something, but they're also offering additional services if you're willing to pay the extra coin. Such services included private dances and sex. Yeah, because someone from the Capitol would never had a legitimate chance of having sex with a bronhole. All they'd get for their efforts is a black eye, at the minimum.
And if there was one thing on that menu that Nick had found disturbing, it was that there were specials. And apparently, some of the specials that were on it were girls that looked like Radiance, Marsha, and Ashton. While there were boys that looked like Splendor, Carver, and Falco. Nick had no doubt in his mind that there were others that looked like the rest of them. Or at least, tried to look like them due to the pictures of the wannabe tributes looked like more attractive versions of themselves.
Everyone found it sick, and more than a little weird. It even made more than a few of the tributes angry, and for that, Nick couldn't blame them.
"Sick fucks." Ryan said as he pushed the information pamphlet away from him and wrapped an arm around Ashton, who had moved closer to Ryan upon discovering that she was one of the more popular choices.
"You said it." Anna agreed. "I just wish I could burn that out of my mind."
Burn. That word made Nick think about why he was picked for the quarter quell. Pyromania. A desire to burn and having a feeling of arousal that came with it. But that wasn't the only thing that Nick discovered. It brought him relief when he was feeling stressed or anxious. It also didn't help that he was fascinated with the dancing of the flames.
"I can maybe help with that." Nick offered, just wanting to help more than wanting to burn something. Although that itself was a welcoming bonus since he wasn't feeling the need to burn something. Nick then picked up the pamphlet, grabbed his homemade lighter, and rolled the wheel, producing a small flaming tower when the sound of hard plastic crashing and the clinking of glasses occurred in front of them. Everyone looked towards the sound, and saw that the server girl had came back with their two pitchers of desired drinks and seventeen glasses.
"What are you doing you stupid asshole!" She screamed.
"You're improving." Terra said boredly.
"Shut up!" The server snapped at her before she snatched the pamphlet from Nick's hands. "Why would you do that? You know what, never mind, here's your drinks. Now, how are you going to pay?"
"Well I've got this card." Thor told her as he pulled out a thin, rectangular card made out of plastic.
"Place it on the pad." The server explained as she pulled out a device that looked like a blocky calculator. Nick had seen them being made, but he himself never worked on them, and he often did wonder what they were for and how they worked.
Nick decided to look around the club some more to see if he could spot any other kinds of interesting pieces of tech. He spotted a machine that spat out holograms, he saw a place where two people were wearing pure black goggles and wore gloves of the same colour with rubber swords. All three of those things were connected to a machine by thick black cables. It looked like they were playing pretend. And though Nick couldn't see what they were doing, there was only one thought on his mind. Pixel would love to learn how to make those things tick.
Nick then heard a glass sliding towards him. He looked at it and saw the ice tea that him and the non-bronholes had ordered. He then looked at what the bronholes had ordered, something called energy bombs or something, and saw that their glasses were filled with a light golden liquid that contained bubbles. To Nick, it looked like bubbly ginger tea that he had seen the mayor drink once. The mayor, for some reason, had even allowed him to smell it when he had been recovering from the inferno he had accidentally created. Nick had hated that smell.
"First round's on me my fellow tributes." Thor said to them. "We drink to... I don't know. We busted out of the tribute tower... So..."
"Cheers to saying fuck you to the Capitol in our own way for this quarter quell." Anna interrupted. "We might not go down in infamy like the mockingjays, the snipe, the owl, the duelbeaks, or everyone from the fourth quarter quell, but in our own way, this is our way of being M-jays." Anna then looked at the bronholes. "No offense to you guys."
"None taken." They all said in various tones while Marsha said it in her own way.
"Yeah," Ryan said happily. "To saying fuck you to the Capitol."
"Fuck you Capitol." All the teenagers cried out, not seeming to care who heard them, before Nick let the ice tea hit his mouth. Only to recoil in shock before spitting it out. Nick noticed that the rest of the tributes were spitting out drinks as well, causing the table to become flooded.
"This isn't ice tea!" All the non-bronholes shouted. Nick could taste the alcohol in the drink. And though it tasted like ice tea, everyone had agreed that for their first drink, they wanted something that was luxary in their district. Or at least, something luxurious in the non-bronhole district. And the alcohol was ruining it!
"This isn't an energy bomb!" The bronholes shouted.
"Server girl!" They all shouted.
He continued to spit the foul taste of out his mouth.
Stream hated the taste of alcohol, and from he could gather, Marsha, Dayta, Paige, Trail, and Ashton also hated it as well as they continued to spit with him.
But it wasn't just the taste that Stream hated, it was the effects that came with it. He had heard that it was supposed to make someone numb and turn bad feelings into good feelings. How it was supposed to calm them down like some sort of sedation drug. How much they had lied as he had seen angry drunk people, and when he had gotten drunk once with Stitch, it made him angry as well.
He had thought that being drunk would help him with his intermittent explosive disorder, even if just temporarily so that he wouldn't be pissed off all the time. He was wrong, and he knew that alcohol would never agree with him.
Rubbing his hands, he could still feeling the ongoing joint pain that came with punching people and objects. Especially when it came to punching walls and the such.
Damn it! All I wanted was some ice tea! Instead, it tastes like someone put rust removal in it!
Stream felt his heart and mind start to race and felt his chest getting heavier as he breathed in and out faster. He could feel himself getting angry, and it was something that he was afraid of. He knew that he couldn't stop a total outburst when it wanted to come, but he could still kind of control himself in the very minor stages. Stream repeatedly hit the couch with his fists and hoped that nobody else would notice. Not! Now!
The server girl had came back, and when she asked what the problem was and they all explained it to her, she looked at them like they were stupid. Like they didn't know what they were doing and that they didn't belong in the building. And for the most part, Stream knew that most of them didn't belong in a drinking establishment since they were all under nineteen, the legal drinking age in District Eight. In a much bigger picture, he knew that none of them belong in the building because they weren't Capitol.
Still, he wanted some regular ice tea and he was going to get it.
The server then left with an order of regular ice tea, energy bombs, cigarettes for the smokers, and beers and spirits for the drinkers.
"I don't think she likes us." Anna said.
"What gave that away?" Ryan asked. "The fact that she was pissed when she first laid eyes on us and is getting more and more pissed off whenever she comes here?"
"I think she's just trying to get into character." Mink said. "She's becoming more and more like a bronhole." To which, Stream and the rest of the non-bronholes muttered in agreement.
"Though I'fe fin wounder thing for a thile," Marsha spoke up. "Fly thar you thalling thus that?"
"Bronholes?" Anna asked. "Well, I'm guessing it's the same with all the non-career districts, but we started calling you careers that because you are usually brutish, monstrous, assholes."
"The bron part comes from the words brawn, brutes, and monstrous." Dayta explained. "While the hole part comes from the asshole part. Speaking of which, I've seen in previous games that you bronholes, uh, careers, call us sticks. Why? Why? Why? Why?" Stream found it weird the way that Dayta talked at times, but he was also curious to why they were called sticks.
Some of his siblings thought it was because of the way they looked so thin compared to the bronholes. The rest of his siblings, including himself, thought that it originated from a game where a bronhole picked up a tribute and broke his back after declaring that he'd break him like a stick.
"It's because of the way you die." Splendor answered. "The way your body falls and the way it becomes stiff. It's like a stick."
"Fascinating." Zora told him. "Now, I think everyone wants to know another thing. Like what blade means to you, Thor. Terra seemed to understand it, so it must be a District Two thing, as Splendor got mad at you for it during the interviews."
"Ah, yes." Thor said as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. Stream waved his hand around in annoyance, making the smoke cloud disperse away from his face. He hated that smell and it agitated his throat "Blade. It can mean one of two things. One is where you're a rat and tell on someone. But the more universal part of it in District Two is where you draw unwanted attention to yourself, or more commonly, someone else. Especially if it harms them in some way, like reputation, or they don't want get in trouble for it or something among those lines."
"Ohhh." Everyone but Terra and Thor said in understanding.
"Hey, we've got something like that." Spark told them. "It's called being a lightning rod, and being a zap chain."
"Being a lighting rod means that you attract trouble." Anna explained the instant Spark took a pause. "Being a zap chain means you trouble people."
"Speaking of which," Ashton jumped in. "Anna. Spark. During Spark's interviews, you said you were a neon. What's that mean?"
"As you can see around us, neon lights are bright. It's meant to represent our future in the bleak area of District Five because we're rich."
"Wait," Steam jumped in as he slammed his palms onto the wet table. "Damn it." Stream grumbled before he wiped his wet hands on his pants. "Anyway, you're rich? But... You're eyes sockets and stuff. You look like Ryan, but with muscles." Stream was confused. How could someone that was rich look like that? Shouldn't he look healthy at least? Sure he might not be fat, but Stream expected someone rich to look more like Paige than anything else. Healthy and well fed.
Along with better clothes, as Paige was wearing a bright yellow shirt and grey denim pants while Spark wore a dull jacket over a grey shirt and black pants.
"Like I said during the interviews," Spark said sorrowfully. "I wanted to make friends. And I would get bullied and made fun of by the majority of the district. Dims as they're called, because of how dim their future is in District Five. Anna's a dim because she isn't rich. And, well... Because of that bullying, I wanted to lose weight to fit in."
"I know what that's like," Paige told him in a sympathetic tone. "People look at you differently because you have money and don't need to struggle like they do."
"Yeah." Spark agreed. "Dims... People that are poorer than you think that you look down on them. I didn't. I was fat and wanted to fit in." Spark then paused. Sighed heavily, and reached for his jacket sleeve.
"You sure you want to do it, Spark?" Anna asked with genuine concern.
"Yeah." Spark sighed uneasily. "After all, you people are probably going to be some of the only people to hopefully understand." Spark then pulled his jacket sleeve up, and there were several gasps. Stream himself was one of them.
Spark's light brown hooded field jacket looked baggy on him to begin with. But when he revealed his arm, it looked even bigger on him. Spark's arm from his bicep down looked like it had been stripped of muscle. It was bone thin. Spark then moved his hands to his shirt bottom and pulled it up. It received even more gaps, to which, Stream was once again one of them. Spark's stomach looked like it had been slightly sucked in and Stream could see his ribs. "It's not as bad as it used to be." Spark said, which didn't make Stream feel any better.
Those oversized clothes. Stream thought with horror. They were to cloth over that.
"Folly tuck!" Marsha shouted. "Theat thom thing!"
"I have anorexia you jerk," Spark told her with hostility in both his tone and his eyes. "I don't like eating! And when I do I burn it off by running for miles or doing an excessive number of jumping jacks or something!"
"So that's why you can keep up with me." Anna said with realization.
"Yeah..." Spark said with tears starting to come out of his eyes. Anna placed a hand of comfort on Spark's shoulders, but Spark didn't even seem to notice.
Stream didn't know what to say. Someone that starved themselves to near death, and wouldn't stop? They'd burn up those precious resources that you'd need to survive. Spark had the wealth that most people in his district would kill for, but he hated it. Because it made him an outsider.
Stream curled his fingers in and out of fists, feeling the years of built up frustration in his joints, feeling for Spark. He was an outsider as well. And so was Paige. Because of things that they couldn't do anything about.
"Ryan." Stream heard Ashton say. Stream turned to the District Twelve pair and saw Ashton nudging Ryan gently in the ribs, motioning signals to him. Ryan couldn't seem to get the hint.
"Lift your shirt up, Ryan!" Stream cried out towards Ryan, unable to stand his ignorance.
Ryan rolled his eyes before he lifted the front of his grey, coal dusted, shirt up to reveal his underfed stomach and exposing rib cage. Both of which were accommodated by scars and burns. Stream wondered if things were so bad in District Twelve that something like that was the norm in District Twelve.
"Wow." Stream muttered.
"Christ." Splendor said with mild horror. "Is that for everyone in Twelve?"
"The line is greatly divided between the dime shines and the lamp stamps," Ryan answered.
"Dime shines, also known as the merchant area where I'm from. The rich area." Ashton clarified. "And the lamp stamps, where Ryan's from. The poor area, or The Seam. You can..." Ashton let out a yawn before she continued. "Tell because of our skin and hair colour."
Not only that. Stream thought as he saw the difference of attire they were wearing. Ryan wore a dirty grey shirt streaked with faded coal dust, brown work pants that looked like it could never get probably cleaned, and a tattered brown wax cotton jacket that looked used, abused, and unskillfully stitched and repaired. Ashton on the other hand wore a knee length, off white sleeved dress that was neither tight nor roomy.
"Yeah," Ryan confirmed. "In The Seam, you're basically surviving a few days at a time. Some are surviving day by day." Ryan then pulled his shirt back down. "Long hours of work and malnutrition are common. The expected lifespan in that area is around forty, though many die before that. The merchant area is better off. They still work hard, but they don't have it as rough."
"But she still doesn't look like Paige." Stream interrupted, thinking about how he thought that more rich people would look either like Paige, a bronhole, or somewhat fat. Instead, Ashton looked healthy enough, but she was scrawny and had unfocused eyes and dark bags under her eyes.
"Oh trust me," Ashton said with a wave of her hand. "My friend, Fay, fits the dime shine type better than I do. She's... Um... What's the word?" Ashton said as she searched her mind for the word. "Umm... Fleshy?"
"Fleshy?" Dayta asked with a tone that wondered if she was actually serious.
"First time I've ever heard someone being described as fleshy." Nick said, and all Stream could do was agree.
"What are you oilier streakers? Cannibals?" Terra asked in a monotone voice.
"What? No!" Ashton and Ryan both shouted defensively at the same time.
"Wait... Actually," Ryan said as if he just remembered something. "Back when my mom was a child she heard of a story where her grandfather had to choose which grandchild to kill in order to feed the other grand children."
Stream looked at Ryan in pure bewilderment. Not because of the cannibal part. Well, only partly not. But because of how casually he told it. Stream swore the world came to a halt for a split second before Ryan spoke again. "Relax, there were, was, like two other grand kids or something." That's not the point... Stream thought, trying to imagine the sick act of killing one of your family members to feed the others.
Hey, what are we eating tonight? Your brother. Stream then wondered where that thought came from before he shook his head.
"What's an oilier streaker?" Trail asked. What the... You get told a story of a family of cannibals and all you got out of that was a question about what Terra called someone from District Twelve?
"It's used to describe someone from either District Five, or District Twelve, because of how poor and dirty they are with their work."
"What?" Anna screamed out. "I don't get dirty when I work!"
"Neither do I!" Spark chimed in.
"District Five has an oil refinery doesn't it?" Terra asked in a bored tone.
"Yeah but-" Anna began.
"It's dirty work." Terra told her.
Stream was about to say how District Six was the transportation district and how machines were dirty work when he noticed a shadow looming over them. Stream looked up and saw the serving girl looking at them with a strange look. Out of the corners of their eyes, everyone began to notice that the serving girl was back with their orders. And even worse, she was staring at them.
"What?" Splendor, Radiance, Thor, Anna, Zora, and Ryan, asked at the same time.
"All of you look familiar..." The woman said to them. "And I swear, I've heard some of the things you just said somewhere, but I can't figure it out."
"Why is she calm all of a sudden?" Stream heard Trail ask right before Stream saw one of the many TV behind the girl showing, yet another, thing about the upcoming Hunger Games. Of course she's seen and heard of the words we speak of! Stream screamed inside his own head. We've only been the talk of the Capitol for days! With our faces on TV since the reapings!
Stream began to panic, wondering what to do if she recognized them. But for now, he needed to stay calm, and he did his best to do so. He knew the others were trying to be calm, so he just needed to follow their lead.
"No!" All of them shouted at the same time. Balls!
"We just look familiar because we're dressing and looking like our favorite tributes," Splendor said to her without missing a beat. "And we're just acting like them, you know, to see who might win during the games. You start to think like them, you start to get a feeling of who will survive. You know? I mean if I act like Splendor and do things that he might do, I might start to think of how he might act in the arena, and that'll make me think whether to bet lots of money on him or just a little bit. You know, I might start to change my mind and think that Thor might win because of arguments my friend makes here. And then there's Nick and Carver and-"
"Okay, I get it." The service girl cried out, even though Splendor continued to ramble on regardless. Stream was never so glad to have someone that liked to hear the sound of his own voice. "Great costumes. Now here's your drinks. Beers and spirits for the normal people, and ice tea and energy bombs for the kids. Shut up!" She said before groaning and walking away from Splendor's constant talk.
"Wait! Come back!" Splendor called out. "There's still so much to discuss!" Stream would never know how Splendor managed to make up a lie that long with that much detail in that short amount of time that actually made sense, but he was glad.
"Go away!" The server girl shouted back.
"Man," Splendor laughed. "Did you see the look on her face?"
Sipping and savoring the sweet flavor of the ice tea, the one without alcohol, Trail watched the intense fight going on between the two slightly drunk tributes. There was constant trash talking, groans, shouts, and between the two titans that were with them, they were making the table shake as their faces were turning red from the massive amount of effort they were putting in to force their opponent to lose.
"I'm going to beat your ass, Blackwell!"
"I'm not gay, so go suck someone else's ass, Houghton!"
"I'll have you sucking my ass when we're done here, Blackwell!"
"I think you're a little too obsessed with ass sucking. It's probably where you get all that shit coming out of your mouth, Houghton!"
"Well at least I'm not the one that's going to get the closed casket at the ugly funeral, Blackwell!"
"Oh yeah! Well that burn you feel in your face, your arms, and through your entire body? That's shame, Houghton!"
"You need to shut up and work harder, Blackwell!"
"You need to shut up and die, Houghton!"
"Pebble!"
"Drab!"
"Clay!"
"Rust!"
"Glass circle!"
"Bronze!"
"Your mother!"
"Your father!"
Trail knew that the bronholes were competitive with each other during The Hunger Games, but he didn't think that a simple arm wrestle would get them so flared up. Honestly, part of the reason he, and the others, found it so funny, was how serious Thor and Splendor were taking their match against each other.
"What did they say to each other?" Trail heard someone ask Radiance and Terra.
"Pebble means insignificant." Terra explained. "Clay means you're weak. Glass circle means your good looking but weak, usually we use that for District One tributes."
"And Drab means ugly." Radiance also explained. "Rust means you're an academy drop out. And bronze means bad."
"Does District Two have an insult for every district?" Falco asked.
"Yeah." Terra told him. "Glass circle for One, tech apes for Three and Six, sea stain for Four, oilier streak for Five and Twelve, Greenback for Seven, Nine, Ten, and Eleven, Clothier for Eight."
"What about your own district?" Anna asked. "Don't you have insults for your own district?"
"Course." Terra answered. "We've got blade, pebble, clay, and jack rabbit."
"Jack rabbit?" Trail asked as he continued to watch the match. "Why is jack rabbit an insult? And do they even have rabbits in District Two?"
"There's no rabbits in Two." Terra answered.
"Forget that," Anna interjected. "Thor calls me a jack rabbit. What does it mean?"
"Its a great insult within the District Two academy." Terra explained. "It means that when they give you something, it has to opposite of the desired effect."
"What?" Anna asked, confused. "That doesn't tell me anything."
"If he wants to tell you, then you'll find out. Thor's the person that should tell you rather than me."
"Why?" Anna asked. Terra didn't say anything and just sipped her beer. "Hey!" Anna shouted. "Answer me!"
"No." Terra said casually and flatly. Anna gave out a growl of frustration before she backed off and a sound of flesh and bone hitting glass occurred. It sent shock waves through the table, rocking cups and bottles about before they steadied themselves.
"Yeah!" Thor screamed out in triumph as he raised his hands up high. "Alpha male! Alpha male!"
"Yeah yeah," Splendor said with defeat, but kindness as well, like he had been defeated by a worthy rival. He also had a smile on his face. "Live it up."
"All right." Thor said in a cocky, but fun way. "Alpha male! Alpha male!"
Trail looked around, and noticed that aviators were looking in their direction, but only to see who was making all the noise before going about their own business again. Trail wondered if this sort of thing was something regular among the club.
Trail thought of how normally he wouldn't be able to be in a place like this. Flashing lights, loud noises, and distractions everywhere. Sensory overload. He managed to survive a meltdown during the chariot parade, something that Anna and Marsha couldn't avoid. He was happy that he didn't have one, but felt sorry for the two girls. Not only that, but they had the same equipment as him. Sunglasses and ear plugs. It stopped him from getting hit by all the lights, all the noise, and helped him not be as distracted. It didn't help him with his thoughts though. But he had been prepared. He had tons of coffee before he left the tribute tower, and that helped his inattentive ADHD somewhat.
He still got distracted and he still spaced out, but not as much as he would have if he hadn't had that huge dose of caffeine. It didn't help his depression though. And though he didn't have regular depression, nor major depression, he had mild depression. It made him feel sour towards himself, but he was never one to completely lose hope.
All that slang that Thor and Terra had remembered, along with the things they learned at the academy, Trail wondered how they could remember it all. Because even with his medication, he still had a tough time retaining everything.
Bronholes really are amazing. Trail thought as Thor dramatically thumped his chest and screamed with victory.
"All right all right you lightning rod," Anna said to Thor with a smirk. "You might be the alpha male, but are you the ruler of us all?" Anna then nodded her head towards Marsha, who had recently won against Zora.
"Trust me," Thor said to Anna with pure confidence. "I've got this. With Blackwell defeated, nothing can stand in my way."
"Don't sneeze." Splendor advised. To which Trail wondered why he even said that.
"Why did you... Never mind. Let's go Marsha, ready to go down?"
"I pherfer fo sit, thanks." Marsha told him.
"Not literally." Thor responded with a roll of his eyes before the two of them grabbed each others hands and set their elbows on the semi-wet table.
"Ready." Spark said. "Set. Arm wrestle." Trail then watched Thor and Marsha try to slam the other's hand onto the table with all their might. And to his surprise, Marsha was rapidly winning. And before he knew it, Thor's hand was being pressed onto the table.
"Gah!" Marsha cried out in triumph and raised her hands into the air. "Gah!"
"Way to lose, alpha male." Anna said playfully with a smirk.
"Whatever," Thor said with a smile of his own, letting Marsha have her victory. "I'm still the alpha of males."
"Why are you acting like this?" Anna asked suddenly.
"Acting like what?" Thor asked suspiciously.
"You're acting, nice. I mean, through the whole entire time we were at the tribute tower, you were more of a jerk than anything else."
"Yeah, now that you say that." Trail said, remembering his chat with Thor when Thor tried to get him into an alliance with him. That is, until Carver intervened. "You have been suspiciously calmer. It's like you've, changed."
"Wait!" Mink cried out. "Is your disorder dissociative identity disorder as well?"
"As well?" Trail asked. "You mean that's what you have Mink?"
"Yeah. Thor is acting like someone else, that's got to be his disorder." Mink rationalized.
"I don't have D.I.D," Thor told them. "And is it so hard for me to be nice the night before our deaths?"
"For you, yes." Anna replied. "After everything you've done, this is suspicious. You don't seem to be pissed off all the time."
"Nobody can be pissed off all the time." Thor countered.
"I have intermittent explosive disorder," Stream countered. "And while I'm not mad all the time, I am about eighty percent of the time. So while I'm not pissed all of the time, I'm pretty damn close. And I don't think you have what I have."
"Damn it, Thor!" Anna shouted. "What do you have?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Thor snarled at Anna.
Trail was beginning to see things become a cloud burst. He just wanted things to go back to the way they were. He was sorry that he ever had any curiosity about why Thor was acting strange. Trail was trying to think of a way to make the cloud burst go away when Zora spoke up.
"It's because he doesn't have a disorder."
Trail turned towards Zora, and he could feel the rest of the tributes turning towards her. Then at the exact same time, nearly every teenager at their table gave out a collective.
"What?"
An argument broke out between nearly every single tribute at that table as they tried to comprehend what Zora had just mentioned. They were probing Thor for answers, and Thor was refusing to answer them.
"Is it so bad that I don't want to ruin what little happiness we have left?" Thor asked in a growlish tone. And though he was facing Anna, he seemed to be speaking to everyone. "We're all going into the arena tomorrow, and from there, it's a big possibility that all of us will be dead. If you want me to continue to be an asshole, so be it, wait until tomorrow and the Thor you all remember will be back."
"Well I'm more confused about Zora saying that you don't have a disorder." Anna told him.
"What makes you think that I don't?" Thor asked, facing towards Zora.
"I've read the signs," Zora answered. She hadn't noticed at first, thinking that he was a little like her, but then she started to realize that he wasn't. And he didn't seem to be like the rest of them in a way. He was just, different from everyone else. "And I had a feeling, and I didn't know what it was until just recently."
"Well he got reaped, just like the rest of us," Ryan spoke up. "Why would someone that doesn't have a disorder get reaped?"
"I don't know," Zora answered. "Maybe he out grew his disorder?"
"Does it really fucking matter now?" Thor hostilely asked.
"Yes it does." Anna declared. "Do you or do you not have a disorder? Is Zora shitting us or not?"
"Well since you all aren't going to shut up about it," Thor growled. "I don't have a disorder." That was when the group went silent. Zora let out a little smile, thinking of how she had been right. "Not anymore anyway."
Everyone was silent for what seemed to be the longest time. The only things that were making sounds at the table, besides the obvious music and partying going on in the background, was Anna's fingers rapidly tapping the table and Splendor's feet hitting the floor just as quickly.
"You shouldn't be here." Ryan finally said, breaking the silence. "You should have never have gotten reaped."
"Well I'm here now, and there's no turning back." Thor countered.
"You could have backed out of this," Anna said in disbelief. "And yet, why are you here? And you better not fucking say you got reaped."
"I've got business to take care of," Thor explained. "And it's better if none of you know. Now let's just drop this entire damn thing about me not being like the rest of you anymore."
"But this entire time you've just been acting?" Mink asked.
"Not entirely." Thor answered.
"How so?" Anna asked.
"We could ask you the same question," Zora said, thinking about how Anna wasn't as active as usual. "You're awfully calm, not jumping everywhere all the time like Splendor is. I'd say that you're on drugs, but I can see that you aren't."
"Yeah," Spark said with realization. "You've been rather tame, Anna. What's up with that?"
"The jack rabbit's probably like me in more ways than one," Thor offered up an explanation. "You cover up what you really are and just continue to act the way that everyone expects you to act, the way that you think you should act, because that's the only way you know how to act. Otherwise it just feels... Wrong."
"What the..." Anna said with surprise. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"You really want to know?" Thor asked with a wicked grin. One that Zora could see was of someone making a devious plan.
"Yeah," Anna declared readily. "And I also want to know what jack rabbit means."
"Fine," Thor said. "On two conditions. One, everyone here has to enjoy the rest of the night. And second. You have to beat me at drinking, shot for shot."
"You're on!" Anna declared boldly. "Challenge accepted."
"I'm in as well." Splendor announced just as boldly.
"Well you're both going down!" Thor confidently declared.
Sinning Temptation Men's Bathroom
Zora watched as Splendor, Thor, and Anna, puked their guts out into the sinks as she watched them in mild fascination.
They wanted to start the competition as soon as possible, so instead of waiting for the serving girl to come back, they instead stole a bottle of vodka from another table. The three of them then hit the bottle hard before they eventually realized that their bodies had had more than they could handle and they had to retreat to the bathroom in an attempt to rid themselves of alcohol.
All the while, all of them were shit talking each other as they drank. But now, there was nothing but the sound of vomiting.
They looked like they were having fun. They looked happy as they tried to prove their dominance towards each other. In the end, it ended in a three way tie.
"So, what does jack rabbit mean?" Anna weakly asked before another stream of vomit exploded out of her mouth.
"It means that you don't react to amphetamines the way the academy wants you to." Thor explained as he held his head over the sink. "Basically, it's what they call those with ADHD since amphetamines have the opposite effects of-" Thor then spilled out another torrent of vomit into the sink.
"Why does the academy give out amphetamines though?" Splendor asked. "It wasn't something our academy did." Zora was curious as well, that's why she came with them to the bathroom.
"They give it to trouble makers and those that they see great potential in." Thor explained. "Amphetamines make them less fearful and more aggressive. And if used right, they can disrupt your moral compass as well."
"Wait..." Anna said with realization. "So you're saying that you used to have ADH- Blahhh!"
"Sure di- Raahhhach."
"So they wanted to make kids be more like me and Thor then." Zora said, thinking of how it was an effective way to make killer kids by stripping them of compassion, something that Zora had a hard time of comprehending for her entire life.
"More like you?" Splendor asked. "What do you have then?"
"Anti-social personality disorder." Zora answered.
"Really?" All three of them shouted at once before they all vomited at the same time.
"But you don't seem like you have it." Anna told her when she recovered.
"What? Like a unstable murdering psychopath?" Zora asked with some irritation. "Believe it or not, but just because I have that disorder doesn't mean that I actively want to kill people."
But that also didn't mean that she wouldn't want to not murder them all. Zora didn't care about any of them, and she couldn't form meaningful connections with anyone. To her, everyone was already dead, and even if they weren't she couldn't care less. They meant nothing to her.
When she got into the arena, she wouldn't hesitate to kill them, and she wouldn't be swallowed in remorse because of it. It was something that she needed to do, so she'd do it.
That was one of the main things that separated her from her sister. Rowan could form meaningful connections with people, while Zora saw them as things that could walk and talk and do things. Rowan had morals, while Zora had none. There was nothing that Zora wouldn't do.
"So what, are you going to be a Capitol favorite when you're in the arena?" Anna asked. "And we mean nothing to you?"
"I guess." Zora bluntly told her. "I mean, the aviators wanted tributes like me, but instead they got all of you. And while you and Thor are making bonds over being a couple of jack rabbits, I don't make bonds with people."
"That sounds horrible." Anna told her. "How do you live with yourself?" Zora shrugged before she answered again.
"I keep on breathing." Though for how long I don't know. She thought as she also started to think of what the medics had told her before. That she had respiratory problems and heart complications because of her drug, alcohol, and tobacco usage. And just like all the other tributes, she had removed the make up that the aviators forced her to wear, along with the make up she normally wore around District Nine. Without that make-up, she looked less feminine, her lips now looked like they were barely there, and the facial scars she had received throughout the years were showing.
"Here's something that I wanted to know," Splendor spoke up. "Do people like you even have feelings?"
Zora felt her teeth being pressed together before she slammed her fist onto the counter, causing the single avox in the bathroom to became startled while his condiments rocked slightly.
"Of course I've got feelings you fucking retard! You hear this? This is anger!" Zora then calmed down a little. "But really," she said with a more sorrowful tone. "I do have other feelings as well." But in a much toned down sort of way. She thought, remembering several times when she asked Rowan what she was possibly feeling. Zora couldn't understand what she was feeling unless it was anger, and when she described her feelings to her sister, the only way she could explain them were through different shades of anger. Slightly less anger, a bad kind of anger, a throat catching anger, anger that's barely there, a dispersing anger that's not really anger.
Those things confused her.
"I understand." Thor told her sympathetically. "Not entirely, but I can understand."
"Didn't ask for your sympathy." Zora told him.
"Wait..." Anna said with realization. "Are you saying that you were kind of like Zora?"
"Yeah." Thor sighed. "No remorse for people or your actions with a disregard for the rights and wrong of society and others? Yeah, I was kind of like Zora."
"And what you said earlier about acting?" Anna asked.
"Because it's the only way I know how to act. Acting, like this, the way I am right now, it's refreshing, but strange. It kind of feels like I'm not really me."
"Which is why I act more hyperactive than I really am." Anna concluded. "And why you act like a dick."
"Precisely." Thor finished.
"Well, I noticed that you three are finished vomiting," Zora said. "Are you all good now?"
"Yeah." The three of them answered.
"By the way, Zora," Anna said as the three of them pushed themselves away from the sink. "You were drinking with us about part way through. Why are you acting perfectly fine?"
"I'm still high on crystal meth." Zora answered readily. "Plus, there's these pills that are offered that apparently dissolve the alcohol within your body."
"Is that even safe?" Anna asked.
"I don't know," Zora bluntly told her. "But the aviators seem to be eating it like candy."
"Huh... Paper money..." Splendor said with fascination.
Sinning Temptation Lounge
There was chanting among them.
Shouts of encouragement by his peers, both drunk and not, but the one that kept him going was the cheering of his best friend, Valor.
Aim a little higher. Loyal advised him as Splendor loaded up another coin between his thumb and index finger before taking aim at his target. Splendor then tossed the coin, and it missed the valleys of the stripper girl's breasts. In fact, the coin missed her breasts entirely. The coin hit her collar bone before it bounced off of her and fell onto the lit up catwalk.
"What the fuck is wrong with you people!" The girl shouted in pure irritation mixed in with some confusion as she continued to be pelted with coins.
"A lot!" Anna replied before she threw another coin at the stripper. It zipped by her, just brushing her scarlet red hair before landing behind her.
Some of the group wanted to go see the strippers walking down the catwalk. Some for the chance to see a naked woman, some just for the hell of it. Splendor for one was one of those people. And unlike the aviators that were watching the show, most of the tributes weren't pervs. And while Splendor guessed that some of the tributes were getting aroused by the girls, they weren't yelling out overly sexual comments. It still didn't stop some of them from calling out comments to some of the girls, calling them hot and the like, but nothing major.
But then again, there were some that were more than just drab. They grotesque. Sure they were thin and maybe curvy, but with what they did to their bodies... Some of the strippers made the tributes turn away with disgust.
Eventually, they they noticed that some aviators would toss the strippers paper money and maybe even slip a piece of paper into their bra, panty, or stockings. That what when someone, Splendor couldn't remember who, got the cleaver idea of tossing coins at the strippers just to see what their reactions would be. Eventually, it turned into a game to see if they could get said coins between their boobs. And while the aviators were shocked and maybe even horrified, the teenagers couldn't care less.
"No shit," the girl, apparently named Flicka, stated in a salty voice. "It's like you people have never been to a place like this before!"
"Weeeellllll..." The teenagers drawled, the coin tossing game halting.
"I knew it!" Flicka announced. "Look," she said as she pointed towards a group of aviators near the catwalk. "You see them? They're throwing us paper money. Paper. Who gave you the brilliant idea of giving us coi-" She suddenly came to a stop when a coin found it's way into her mouth.
"SCORE!" Stream yelled in triumph. It caused the tributes to start congratulating him through their laughs. Splendor swore he saw fireworks appear around the stripper as confetti flew out of her mouth.
Now THAT, is awesome! Valor shouted as he pointed towards the falling paper. Splendor couldn't help but give a hearty laugh.
Unlike him, Valor hadn't aged a day since he had died. He looked like Splendor remembered him, only without the broken open head. Valor still looked fourteen. But then again, ghosts don't age.
Splendor missed him dearly, wished that he could have been there for him when he really needed his help. But Valor was with him all the time, and he had all the proof he needed.
But unfortunately, Valor was not able to interact with him all the time. Splendor had found that out when he learned he had bipolar type one with psychotic features. The medics had put him on medication, taking away his ability to be with his best friend. They put him on medication to make him not feel euphoric. And when he was euphoric, he felt smarter, like he was able to accomplish great things that people thought were impossible. He was full of energy and extremely optimistic, like he could do anything.
Mania they called it.
And when he wasn't experiencing mania he was either experiencing the opposite of mania. Depression. Splendor hated when he was depressed.
And when he wasn't either of those things, he'd be suffering from combined ADHD and social anxiety disorder. And while they had given him medications to combat them, he wanted to be manic. His family and the medics said that he shouldn't, because not only would it irritate his high blood pressure, but he was at a high risk of doing something stupid and neglect his obligations. And if gone on long enough, he'd slip into psychosis. They had explained to him that if he went manic, it would be like being on a continuous LSD trip with the stimulating effects of cocaine.
Splendor thought that they were stupid and didn't know what they were talking.
The teenager shook his head, trying to rid himself of that thought. One of the ten or twenty that were going through his head before he looked at Flicka berating them for their disrespect. Splendor ignored her as he looked past her and looked at the lights flashing before him.
They were vibrant, they were majestic, and they seemed to have a life of their own. It was beautiful. They were dazzling, like they were putting on a show just for him. The people that were dancing with the lights, Splendor wondered if they could really appreciate what he saw.
Splendor then felt something hit the top of his head, ripping his mind away from the flashing lights.
"And you!" Flicka yelled at him. He swore that he didn't just hear, he felt the annoyance and parent like lecturing in her voice, even though she looked to be around his age. "What do you have to say for yourself."
Splendor didn't know what she was talking about as he hadn't been paying attention, but with a hundred thoughts and through the encouragement of Valor, Splendor did what he thought was right. He pulled out a piece of paper money that he, Thor, Anna, and Zora had taken from the avox in exchange for coins, and slowly, dramatically, with one finger, pushed it into her slightly agape mouth.
"Happy now?" Splendor asked, thinking of how she had wanted paper money given to her.
That was when Splendor heard the voices of his fellow tributes, and his best friend, completely lose it. They started to howl with laughter, and Splendor swore he heard some chairs fall over. He couldn't help but let the intense feeling of laughter overtake him as well.
They were being ridiculed, criticized, and being told that they were acting immature. The serving girl, who seemed to be the unlucky person that continued to be continuously serving them drinks and the likes, was telling them that not only did they look like children, they were acting like ones as well.
It was something that Nick found increasingly ironic, as the people that she was berating were all younger than nineteen years of age. They were children.
"I swear," she told them in a tone that leaked of disappointment and irritation. "All of you have got to learn to grow up and be mature." I find that heavily harsh. Nick thought, as none of them might not be alive for much longer because of people like her wanting them to fight to the death in the arena. Because they had no choice but to be humanoid programs towards the Capitol.
"Oh, you want us to act like adults, huh?" Stream said with malice and something else that Nick couldn't pick up. "Fine." Nick then expected the worst. "Damn damn, double damn. Fuck this fuck that, why are you being such a bitch. I'm so horny that I could just fuck every girl I see." Stream said it with equal amounts of sarcasm and mocking that it didn't even seem like he was actually angry. It surprised Nick, and it seemed to surprise everyone else as well.
Stream then grabbed a cigarette and lit the end of it before he inhaled it's harsh chemicals.
As he blew out the smoke, he began to cough harshly as he continued to speak. "L- Oo- K- Ah- Ah- At- M- Me. I- Hham an ah- Dult." He then continued to cough as he beat his chest with his fist.
"Pussy." Thor laughed jokingly.
All the server girl did was shake her head in dismay.
"So immature." She muttered as she turned and walked away.
"Wow," Mink said as she held up a glass partly filled with a drink Zora had introduced as bourbon whiskey, a commonly made drink in District Nine. "What a bitch."
"I know, right?" Anna agreed. "Telling us we're acting like kids and that we should grow up and mature, like she's got any right."
Looking at his companions, Nick thought of how everyone of them had some physical adult features on them, even those that were fifteen and younger. For example, Dayta looked somewhat like a tired mom in a way, while Spark looked kind of like a worn down dad. Stream had angular facial features, while Falco had some minor pre-mature wrinkles around his eyes and face. Nick guessed that like Mink, Zora, and Marsha, it was because of all the sun exposure he got. And then there was Ashton, who looked worn out as well.
All the tributes this year, except for Stream and Mink, looked to be at least slightly older than they really were.
"Yeah man," Falco pitched in. "I mean, we are kids. We shouldn't have to be worrying about life and death on a daily basis. We shouldn't be ponies to those that ride us. I mean seriously, Splendor, Radiance, Thor, Terra, Marsha, you're all in the maggot farm being raised to kill people. In my mind, that isn't something that kids should be subjected to."
"We shouldn't be ponies?" Splendor asked.
"To those that ride us?" Radiance also asked.
"Thagit flarm?" Marsha also added.
"Oh, right, slang." Falco said in understanding. "Pony means your like a slave or something. Ride means that you're dominated by them, like they're using you or something. And maggot farm means that you're from a bronhole district."
"Why are we called maggot farms though?" Thor asked in confusion. "I mean, the rest of those slangs make sense, but that last one, not really."
"Maggots live off the dead," Falco explained. "And I guess, well, you bronholes live off the dead because you kill those that aren't bronholes."
"Okay, makes sense now."
"And even without the Capitol breathing down our necks and making us their ponies so that they can reap the resources of our district through our hard work and having to worry about whether or not we'll make enough money to survive another week, there's another thing we have to worry about."
"The reapings." Anna answered readily.
"Exactly. We also have to worry about that. I mean, forget about our segregation because of our mental illness and the way people look at us, there's a whole lot of things that these aviators don't understand about our lives." The tributes started to mutter agreements, and Nick himself could see that every word that Falco spoke was true. "I mean, there's a saying that I heard aviators say before. I think it was called a sweet sixteen birthday. And because of this reaping, Stream, Dayta, Harvey, Spark, Ashton, or I, along with numerous other tributes before and after us, won't even experience that."
"Meanwhile, the aviators thrive on our suffering." Thor added. "They celebrate our deaths like it's some kind of honor to die for their beloved game."
"I find that very ironic coming from you." Ryan announced. "You being a bronhole and all. Especially one from District Two."
"Believe it or not, I have no love for the Capitol." Thor replied.
"Is it because of your disorder?" Anna asked.
"I've always had a hatred for authority," Thor answered. "But my hate for the Capitol really began after it disappeared."
"Interesting," Anna said with curiosity. "What happened?"
"It's not something that I'm going to share with you." Thor replied before he took a sip of bourbon.
"Well I'll say one thing for sure," Stream said with a slightly raspy voice, hitting his chest a couple more times. "I'm surprised that any of you lived to be the so called sweet sixteen while inhaling these things." Stream then turned around in his seat and threw it into a neighboring table's pitcher of beer. Nick was surprised that none of the aviators noticed. "Tastes just as horrible as it smells and it's making my head spin." Stream then began to chug his ice tea, Nick guessed it was in attempt to rid the taste of smoke and relieve the dry throat he was probably feeling.
"Oh my God!" Ashton cried out before Nick heard palms slapping the table, causing the items on the table to rattle a little.
"What? What?" Ryan asked with worry.
"I just remembered," Ashton replied as all eyes turned towards her. "I don't need to worry about not being that sweet sixteen."
"Why?" Trail drawled as Ryan looked worried.
"It's my birthday today!" Ashton cried out. "I'm sixteen."
"Well that makes your relationship with Ryan a little less creepy." Terra said in her signature monotone voice before Nick even had a thought of process to the news.
"Well that was a moment ruiner." Radiance dryly stated.
Nick wasn't sure how to react. First, Falco was talking about how he and some of the others weren't going to make it that far in their life, setting up a feeling of melancholy. But then Ashton announced that she had indeed reached that age in which some weren't going to. And then there were the words that Terra and Radiance had spoken with such a tone. Nick wasn't sure what to do.
"Oh my God!" Ryan cried out in a joyful voice. "This calls for tarts! No. Oranges! No, wait. Orange tarts!"
Nick guessed it set the tone right, because he then started to feel like talking again.
"Tarts? Oranges? Really?" Nick asked, thinking of why someone would want to give those types of things to the birthday girl.
"Oh, that sounds lovely!" Ashton squealed. Guess things you give for a party various between districts. Nick thought.
"Server girl!" Splendor and Anna yelled out simultaneously.
"I have a name you know!"
As her fellow tributes were singing to Ashton in various tones and states of drunkenness, Radiance wondered why in the hell they were celebrating anything. Sure it's her birthday, but it won't matter tomorrow. We'll all be in the arena. And her being sixteen isn't going to change a damn thing. They shouldn't be happy.
After they ordered the single fruit tart and over a dozen oranges, one for each of them on Ryan and Ashton's behalf, the server girl, once again, looked at them like they were crazy. She walked away in bewilderment before returning, and was equally as shocked when Ryan, Ashton, Anna, Spark, Nick, Dayta, Paige, and Stream cried out in joy and wonder before commenting on the oranges and examining them.
The server girl told them that from the way they were acting, it was like they had never seen an orange before. And Radiance guessed that a place as industrial as those district, probably didn't see oranges very often.
And then there was Trail and Zora, who seemed to be experts in the fruit subject as they inspected it and commented them with a purpose. Radiance didn't feel like eating, so she left her orange untouched, much to the dismay of Splendor. He was persistent in that she enjoy the night and the food, but Radiance didn't find anything worth celebrating for.
When the serving girl left them, they started to sing. They sang like they weren't going to be facing their deaths the next morning, and that they were going to have other birthdays to look forward to. Radiance didn't participate in the singing. But when the singing stopped, Radiance, thanks to the pestering of Splendor, raised her glass of brandy and muttered out;
"Yeah. Happy birthday." Before she and everyone else swallowed their drink of choice and slammed their glasses onto the table before they gave out a cheer. Ryan then gave Ashton an affectionate, and somewhat drawn out, kiss on the cheek before Ashton gave out a goofy grin and her face near instantaneously turned red. She obviously liked it, and it promoted some more cheering from the group.
They shouldn't be getting together. Radiance thought as she watched the two tributes. One of them, but more likely both of them, will die. And where will that romance be after? And if things get really bronze, they'll sacrifice each other in order to live. And even if they don't, the gamemaker won't allow them to leave the arena together. It didn't work for the mockingjays during the third quarter quell, and it didn't work for the duelbeaks during the seventh quarter quell, and it won't work for them. They should just face reality and accept that it won't last. I mean, romance in the arena? How stupid can you get?
You're just jealous that no one could ever love you like that. The shadowy woman harshly told her.
"Shut up you." Radiance muttered before she emptied a bottle of bourbon into her glass and forced it down her throat.
She then noticed that there was no more alcohol left, and the rest of the tributes were bullshiting with each other, so Radiance tried to slide past Splendor and go to where the first line of alcohol was served.
"Where are you going?" Splendor asked curiously.
"To get more alcohol." Radiance answered, just wanting him to move out of the way.
"We'll call back the girl." Splendor told her.
"No." Radiance told him harshly. "I just want to get out for a little bit."
"I'll come with you." Splendor told her.
"No." Radiance, once again, told him, getting annoyed with him. "I want to be by myself for a little bit."
"Why?" Splendor asked.
He's stalling. The shadowy man told her.
He wants to steal more of your joy. The shadow woman explained.
"It doesn't fucking matter why!" Radiance snapped at him. "Just let me pass you fucking asshole!"
"Look," Splendor said with conviction, his eyes blinking more rapidly than normal with his voice a bit more angry than usual. "I just don't want anything to happen to you. I mean, you've seen some of the shit they're offering here. And you saw that pamphlet and-"
"I can take care of myself." Radiance countered harshly.
"Against all these aviators!" Splendor asked.
Radiance heard the shadowy man and woman's voices become more intense as she became more and more irritated towards Splendor. Just who the fuck does he think he is? Radiance thought through the forming haze in her mind. Does he think that we'll become romantic partners? Like the doomed Ashton and Ryan? Fuck that! FUCK! THAT!
Radiance heard her and Splendor saying things to each other, but she couldn't understand them for some reason. She saw their mouths moving, but gibberish seemed to spill from both their mouths. Meanwhile, the shadowy man and woman's voices were fighting for dominance, in her mind and against her and Splendor. They told her to get away from him, and Radiance wanted nothing more than just that.
"-Fine." Splendor finally said to her before he moved out of her way. "Go."
"Gladly." Radiance told him before she unnecessarily shoved her way past him.
Fucking Splendor.
Fucking Radiance.
Splendor thought as he flopped back down onto the couch and banged his head on the glass table, shaking everything that was on it. It got the other tributes to look at him.
"That was a pretty heated debate you two had there," he heard Anna say through the, what felt like, thousands of thoughts and rapidly changing emotions he was feeling. "A perfect conductor for a lighting rod and a zap chain if you ask me."
"Well no one asked you." Splendor snapped at her as he raised his head and stared at her. "And what the fuck does conductor mean?"
"It means starting point," Anna explained. "And what was that about? All she wanted to do was get past you."
"I just don't want anything to happen to her while we're here." Splendor explained.
"Yeah. We heard." Nick said.
"And I just want her to enjoy herself," Splendor continued, like Nick hadn't spoken at all. "I just want her to be happy, but I can't even do that." Splendor then slammed his fists onto the table, tipping over empty alcohol bottles and a pitcher that would have contained ice tea if it weren't already empty. "Fuck! I'm the reincarnation of a divine being! And yet, I can't even make Radiance happy!"
"Now that's just crazy talk," Spark told him, much to the agreement of the other tributes and to the annoyance of Splendor. "You aren't God."
"I never said I was God!" Splendor screamed at him. "I'm a stellar being that's been transitioned into a human body! God is of a higher existence than me!"
"So there is a God." Terra said with a tone that might have been interest if it weren't so flat.
"Yes." Splendor confirmed. "And other beings that are beyond mortal comprehension."
"And you're one of them?" Anna asked with extreme skepticism, something that bothered him to no end, but at the same time, he understood her doubt.
"Yes." Splendor answered. "But thanks to this mortal coil that I share with this human piece of flesh and bone, I can't use my powers. I KNOW that I can travel through dimensions. I KNOW that I can fly. I know that I can do a lot of things, but this human body and mind can not accomplish what I should be able to do."
A deafening pause seemed to come over the group before they spoke again.
"And they said that I was delusional." Falco stated.
"I'm not delusional!" Splendor swiftly retaliated.
"What drugs did you take when-" Trail began, but didn't finish as Splendor forcefully interjected.
"I'm not on drugs! I'm not on anything! I'm not delusional! Why don't you believe me! I can do all those things!" Splendor then climbed onto the table, knocking over bottles, cups, and pitches that just happened to be in his path. "Watch this mere mortals!" He declared before, with no hesitation, he jumped off the table. But unlike normal people, he looked like he was trying to glide through the air like a bird. He ended up landing on his chest and stomach, and felt pain radiate through his body. "Damn you humanity!" Splendor angrily cursed before he got up and climbed onto the table again. "FLY!" He demanded before he jumped off the table again, narrowly missing the serving girl, but once again, landing chest first onto the floor. "Fuck!"
"Will you stop that!" She demanded. "You're scaring the other patrons!" Splendor got up and was about to get back onto the table when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. "Stop acting retarded and take these you drunk ass." She briefly showed Splendor a hand full of pills before he swatted them away, causing them to fly through the air.
"I'm not drunk!" He declared. The serving girl groaned loudly.
"Well handle your shit you drugged up bastard."
"I'm not on drugs!"
"Whatever." She said before she started to step around him, only for Splendor to grab her entire tray of beer and spirits and place it on the tribute table. "Hey y-"
"Put it on our bill." Splendor told her before he readily grabbed a bottle alongside Thor, Anna, and Zora.
"Why do I keep on running into you people." She groaned before she walked off, muttering under her breath. Splendor tried not to pay attention to her and his failures as he drank the beer.
"For a second there," Anna said. "I thought you were Thor."
"I'm just beyond frustrated is all." Splendor told her, having emotions bouncing bad and forth and intertwining with each other at a rapid rate. "I know that I can do all the things that I'm supposed to be able to do, but I just... Can't. I mean, if I could make a functioning portal, I could jump through it and be back in District One with my family-"
"I thought you were a skyward being." Terra interrupted.
"I may be a being of higher existence," Splendor explained to her. "But I'm a reincarnation. The humans that gave birth to this body are my parents. At least, they are within the law of this realm. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, if I could make a functioning portal, I'd go see my family, be together with Rarity, and be out of The Hunger Games."
"I heard you mention her name during your reaping and interviews." Ashton said.
"Yeah. She's my girlfriend. Though when I get out of the arena, I want to marry her."
"If you get out." Zora casually commented.
"WHEN, I get out." Splendor countered near instantaneously with anger. But just as swiftly, his features softened. "But that means that the rest of you... I don't need to finish."
"Yeah." They all sighed in sorrow.
It was then that the longest silence of the night between the group occurred.
"We're all just K.F.A.P." Splendor said without thinking.
"We're what?" Mink asked.
"K.F.A.P." Splendor answered. "You know. The letter K, followed by an F, then an A, then a P."
"And what the hell's that supposed to stand for?" Thor asked. "Are you implying that we're all like Ryan and we're all part of the kiddy fuckers anonymous program?"
"What?" Ryan asked with incoming rage.
"What?" Thor asked, facing Ryan. "That's what he's implying."
"It stands for kids facing adult problems." Splendor corrected.
"Well that makes a lot more sense." Thor told him.
"Of course it does," Anna said. "Most people don't understand what we go through. And with the problems we face back in the district, and what we're going to have to face in the arena, I say we're so totally K.F.A.P."
"Who knew that something so perverted would define our situation so well." Nick said with a light laugh.
"You know what?" Thor said as he raised his beer bottle. "I'll drink and toast to that, because after tonight, we'll be facing even more problems. And trust me, in the arena, you'll get the old Thor back."
"Glad to hear," Anna said with a chuckle. "This generator Thor is weird."
"I'm assuming generator means fake, right?" Thor asked.
"Correct you are." Anna answered.
"Yeah," Zora chimed in as she raised her bottle. "Prepare to face the razor grain nature of someone with anti-social personality disorder tomorrow. Razor grain means violent." She quickly added.
"I don't think anyone's going to go easy on anyone." Dayta said as she raised a glass of ice tea. "Because we all want to win win win win."
"Yeah!" Everyone yelled at once.
"So who wants to make a speech we can toast to?" Ashton asked.
"Well I think we should give it to the person that came up with the idea to sneak out of the tribute tower in the first place." Anna told them, before they all looked at Splendor, who just looked at all of them.
Their talking about you, my friend. Valor told him, to which Splendor then remembered that it was indeed his idea.
"I don't know." Splendor started before he raised his bottle again. "To us! And those before us! Damn few! And most of them are going to die a pre-mature death."
"I think it doesn't need that last part." Ashton advised.
"Too late now!" Splendor laughed. "To K.F.A.P!"
"To K.F.A.P!" The tributes shouted before they all downed a mighty gulp of their chosen drink. When that was said and done, they all gave out an exhale of satisfaction. But ahead of him, Splendor noticed that there were several aviators were looking at them with looks of confusion with a dash of horror.
Why are they looking at us like that? Valor asked. Splendor didn't know, but he was going to find out.
"What?" All the tributes at the table asked at the same time.
They are so stupid.
That's what Radiance was thinking as she watched her fellow tributes at the table. They were acting like it wasn't going to be the end of their lives, and it was clear that Splendor had major problems when he jumped off the table twice in a row. Radiance wondered if he'd have done that a second time if he had broke his nose the first time.
Radiance sighed as she continued to sip on the alcohol that was being served to her by the bar keep. The drink that she was trying out, a bubblegum pink drink that a lot of the aviator woman apparently couldn't get enough of, tasted less like bubblegum and more like some other kind of candy than anything else. It made it easy to drink, and that made it very appetizing to Radiance as she sucked it down.
And if there was one thing that kept on annoying her, it was the aviators themselves. They were talking about the games and how great of a disappointment she and the other tributes were because they weren't what they thought they were going to be. Well what did they expect from me? Radiance wondered. Did they really expect someone with major depression to be some sort of shiny killer?
Devoid of make-up, it brought out her true features. With her tired looking eyes with dark bags around them, a face with a mixture of anger and sadness, and clothes that looked like they had been slept in for days, she looked nothing like a typical District One female tribute should look like.
Radiance slammed down the empty glass and demanded another drink. Something that was stronger and less of a bitch drink, but something that was easy on the throat. The bar keep gladly obliged and gave her a vibrant green drink that seemed to sparkle.
The teenage girl shoved her free hand into her pockets to pay for the drink when someone spoke out.
"It's on me."
"I don't need your charity." Radiance told him as she pulled out a random amount of coins and put them on the counter.
"Well then, the next one can be on me." He said.
Radiance turned towards the voice, and saw that it was an aviator that appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, but she guessed that he was probably older than that. With light purple skin that greatly complimented his light green tattoos, he also sported a bright mane of blonde with false orange eyes. "I say that that drink suits you. A lovely drink for a lovely girl, and the colour looks almost like your eyes." Radiance didn't know if that sort of crap worked on other girls, but it just annoyed her. She just wanted to drink in relative peace.
"What do you want?" She asked bluntly as she gulped at her drink in a very unladylike fashion.
"I just want to be in your company," he answered with a voice that might have been charming if she were interested. "You see, I've been having trouble with some urges of mine." Radiance knew exactly what he meant, remembering the pamphlet from earlier..
"Fuck off." She told him, just wanting him to leave.
"Playing hard eh," he said with a smile. "You're certainly playing your role well. But what else would I expect from someone playing as a career."
"I'm not one of those establishment sluts." Radiance snapped at him.
"Course not," he said, still looking at her and still smiling. "You probably want to class yourself as something higher. Unlike those other workers that pretend to be from District Twelve or Eleven. But let's cut to the chase, what's your rate for ten minutes?"
"As I already told you," Radiance growled, getting increasingly agitated by the man. "I'm not one of these workers. Second of all, I'm not dressed like a tribute to role play so that I can satisfy your sick fantasies. And third," Radiance then lit a cigarette up. "You're only paying for sex because you know that you wouldn't last even thirty seconds with a real girl."
It seemed to strike a nerve in the guy, and Radiance hoped that it was enough for him to leave.
"Okay," the man said with an edge in his voice. "Just cut the act already. I'm a paying customer, so why don't we get a back room, we fuck each other, and you get paid for pretending to be a sexy Radiance Dricer."
Radiance then got right in his face and growled.
"Go. Away. Last. Warning."
The man then seemed to reach his limit, and Radiance knew that she was reaching her's.
"I told you to cut the act." He demanded, to which Radiance then flicked the barely smoked cigarette into his mouth. The man screamed before he clawed at his mouth and spat.
"And I told you to fucking leave you fucking dumb ass!"
"You fucking bitch!" He shouted before grabbed Radiance's blue shirt and pulled her towards him. "You want to play that role like that so bad we can!"
"Get your fucking hands off me!" Radiance demanded before she striked him in both his kidney and his liver, causing him to release her due to the sudden pain he felt, before Radiance kicked him right in the chest, causing him to back away, nearly falling on his butt as he shakily recovered. "And stay away if you know what's good for you!"
Radiance could see that she had spectators, but she also noticed that they didn't care or probably thought that it was some kind of role play. Either way, she was kind of glad that nobody was going to try and break them up. If that guy continued to pursue her, he'd be very sorry.
"All right." The man said with a cruel laugh and smile as he straightened himself up. "We can play it like that. First I'll dominate a wannabe career in a fight, then I'll dominate her in a private back room."
Radiance had enough on that guy. She was pissed off and wanted nothing more to do with him. She knew what she had to do, and the shadow couple didn't need to encourage her.
"Try." She challenged.
"I'll do more than-"
"SOLAR CRASH!" A very familiar, irritating voice cried out an instant before a set of feet smashed into the man's side, causing him to yell before he, literally, went flying a few feet before crashing and tumbling through a crowd of aviators and finally, onto the floor. The attacker landed on his side as well, but got back to his feet with lighting speed and seemingly practiced ease. "Don't you ever fucking even think of touching her ever again you contemptible bastard!"
"I didn't need your help, Splendor!" Radiance yelled, but he didn't appear to be listening.
"Hey you little shit!" A voice not too far away screamed out. "You think you can just do that to our friend and get away with it?"
"Do you let attempted rapes pass?" Splendor screamed back.
"It's not rape you stupid idiot!"
"It sure as hell didn't seem consented!"
"What the fuck do you know? Never mind! You won't get away with attacking our friend!"
Radiance noticed that there were a group of nearly ten other aviators, and they were closing the distance between her and Splendor. Radiance didn't think that the aviators were good at fighting, but she knew that they could easily just swarm them and beat them down with sheer numbers. She didn't like those odds.
"Splendor, you idiot." Radiance muttered.
"Stay back Radiance," Splendor told her with way too much confidence. "I've got this."
When he saw the group of men approaching Radiance and Splendor, he and some of the others were ready for action. But when Thor told all of them to stay back, Nick couldn't help but think that he was insane. There were ten grown men, and even though they were aviators, there was only going to be three of them fighting them.
With a smile and a sinister look in his eyes, Thor cracked his knuckles and said to the tributes.
"We'll show these dumb ass aviators what it means to mess with bronholes." Nick couldn't help but notice that he told Marsha to stay behind. It made sense in a way, because even though she won against him in the arm wrestle, he had seen Marsha freak out because she had been simply touched. He guessed that while Marsha was physically strong, she wasn't tough.
"You think they'll be okay?" Dayta asked. "I mean, they might be tough, but do you think Thor's being a little arrogant?"
"Beats me." Nick replied as he watched Thor, unflinchingly walk up to the group of hostile aviators, and without any words or warning, he punched on of them right in the mouth. The aviator's attention was divided between the District One tributes, and Thor.
And with their guard down, Thor managed to get in several more hits before they mentally recovered from Thor's intervention. And while the aviators were cocky at first, they eventually let fear rise within them, because they could have all piled on the tributes and utterly squash them under their combined body weight, but they instead hesitated, afraid of getting hit.
And another thing that Nick found as he watched, was that Thor and Splendor were better fighters than they appeared to be. During training, they didn't seem to be doing that well. During the interviews, when they fought each other, it appeared to be a silly fight. Their training score was, at their peak, a five.
And they appeared to be smarter than Nick would have though. The two of them tried to separate the group from each other. For example, Splendor ran around seemingly oblivious aviators on the dance floor, making them lose each other and separate from one another, and took them out one at a time, while Thor liked to separate them by either knocking some down, tripping them, or making them second guess their actions.
Nick also noticed that while Splendor liked to fight using moves that were somewhat maverick, theatrical, and looked like it belonged in some sort of show the aviators would love. Thor on the other hand fought with simple, brutal moves that required much less technique than Splendor's moves. That, and Thor wasn't yelling out his moves as he made them, but Splendor seemed to be confusing them as he seemed to be calling out the names randomly, even using the same names for different attacks.
At one point during the fight, one of them got the smart idea of trying to get Radiance. It turned out Radiance was now slough in fighting either, as she seemed to use the man's movement and weight against him. The aviator had tried to punch her, instead, Radiance dodged and ducked under his swing, seemed to simultaneously grab his chest and groin, and somehow sent him flying over the bar counter and made him smash into the liquor display. And while Radiance had wobble about a little during her attack, she did way more damage to the aviator than to herself.
They had been trained to fight. Nick thought with a mixture of fear and awe. They had been made for situations like this. Why we ever thought they weren't a big threat to us because of what we had seen...
Seeing Splendor, Radiance, and Thor taking their fighting seriously, Nick wondered what Terra, Marsha, and Blue were capable of.
"You... You're all not workers here are you." The man who had attempted to take Radiance said with fear clearly plastered on his face and dripped from his mouth said. "You're the actual tributes."
"Took you long enough." Thor said with a wicked smile on his face.
"Tributes of the two hundredth annual Hunger Games!" A clearly amplified voice cried out. Nick and the others looked towards the source of the voice, and saw a security guard in red holding up a megaphone to his mouth. A device that Nick guessed that they had to use in order to get the attention of someone inside the establishment due to the music and noise. "The peacekeepers are en-route and we have every possible escape route surrounded! Surrender now and the consequences will not be as severe! This is your only warning!"
The peacekeepers! Fuck! Nick thought, thinking of what it would happen if they got caught by them. The scars on Nick's back tingled harshly.
"What do we do?" Dayta asked in a panic.
"We have to sneak out of course!" Mink told them.
"They said they have all the exits blocked," Falco reminded her. "So I don't think we'll have enough time find another exit besides the obvious ones. The bathrooms aren't an option and the front and back are out of the question."
"Well then we fight our way out!" Zora suggested. "They can't stop all of us! And with all these spirit bottles we can whip up some quick firebombs."
"We are not doing that!" Falco screamed out in horror, and Nick couldn't help but shutter as well. If this place caught on fire... Nick knew what would, and could happen. He had experienced it once before, and didn't want anymore blood on his hands. Even if they were aviators, and he hated what the Capitol was doing to them all, surly they didn't all deserve to to burn.
"Why not?" Zora asked. "They're aviators. What? You telling me you're getting sympathetic towards them? Have you looked around recently? They care nothing for us."
"I'm not going to be the monster you are," Falco replied with conviction. "And I won't be the monster they want me to be. Sure I might kill people in the arena, but I won't unnecessarily murder people."
"The aviator's don't share that sense of morality." Zora told him harshly as she shoved a ripped off piece of table cloth into a bottle of quarter finished bourbon. Zora then used her lighter to lit the piece of table cloth, and Nick, out of sick curiosity, wondered what the resulting flames would provide. He became entranced by the flames.
Zora was about to throw it when Marsha grabbed her wrist with one hand and tore the table cloth out of the bottle with the other.
"Yah nefther fink, though you?" She asked. Marsha then waved the flaming table cloth about until it was out. Nick felt a sense of disappointment, but was glad as well. Damn those flames. Nick thought.
"Well what else can we do?" Ryan asked. "Because I for one do not want to get whipped."
"Maybe we should just surrender?" Spark asked.
"Fuck that." Ryan replied. "We surrender, the peacekeepers will whip us anyway."
"We don't know that." Spark countered.
"We so do!" Ryan rounded.
"Everyone!" Thor's voice shouted before he slammed his palms onto the table, startling everyone. "Splendor and I have been talking, and we've got a plan."
It was a stupid plan. But it was the best one they had.
It was simple, so not a lot of things could go wrong. But then again, if things didn't go their way, they could end up in a world of shit. Whatever. Mink thought. That's for the future.
"You all ready?" Thor asked.
"Let's just get this over with before we regret this." Mink told him.
"Fine." Thor sighed before he put on his war face before all of them marched towards the front entrance where all the red security guards were waiting like a small army of M-jays. Mink guessed that there were over three dozen of them. All of them armed with tasers and batons. Mink briefly wondered how many guards this place needed, but then remembered all the drugs and alcohol flowing through the place, along with how many people there were inside. And some of them are still totally oblivious to what was happening around them. "To the Panem thugs living in luxury because of our suffering!" Thor shouted. "EAT LEAD AND SHRAPNEL!"
That was their cue. Mink then threw everything that she had been carrying. Glasses, silverware, and bottles. Mink swore that some of her fellow tributes were throwing ice and coins and the such before all seventeen of them gave out war cries and utterly charged at the guards in red suits as they made the sounds of explosions and gunfire while they simply pointed their fingers in every direction.
For whatever reason, the guards didn't do anything, they just stared at them in bewilderment as more and more items were being thrown, sound effects were being made, and they all ran past the guards and peeled off. It was so stupid, so ridiculous, that it made the guards question the mental state of the already mentally ill tributes.
When the tributes made it past the final line of Panem goons, she heard Splendor scream out.
"They've all escaped! Run! Run for your lives!" Followed by the mock screaming of fear from the other tributes.
Mink dared to look back, and saw that even when they were more than sixty feet away from the night club, the guards didn't pursue them. Even with them shoving other aviators out of their way and openly escaping, not one of them tried to stop them. They were still trying to process what had just happened.
It wasn't until she was a little over one hundred feet away that she heard one of the guards shout out.
"What are you waiting for? After them!"
She couldn't help but laugh. I bet future Mink won't ever experience something like this. Mink thought, because even if she wrote a note for future Mink, explaining what had just happened, she didn't think she'd believe it.
A/N: I've been wanting to do this chapter for a long while now, and it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. Whatever, hope it's still okay.
One of these things is based on one of my real life experiences while on training. Try to guess which one it is.
Also, when we get to the chapter before the arena, or after the first chapter in the arena, I'll go on a hiatus and read some fanfics in another fandom I'm in due to a classic era coming to a close soon. Fanfics of sheer epicness in which one of them is currently over half a million words long while another is over two million words long.
