The Sixth Night
-Diesel, Co-Head Gamemaker-
Santana's got a mug of black coffee in her hands at 11:30 at night.
"You've been watching all day," I say, leaning back in my chair.
"I know. I'll take the night shift if you want."
"You haven't slept in at least a day."
"I did too. I got an hour or two of rest."
I raise an eyebrow at her. "What, you don't trust me to upkeep things?" The question begins as a joke, but the look on her face tells me she's serious. "…Wait. You really don't!? What the fuck!?" I'm a genius, I dunno what she's thinking.
"It's not like that," the Prude says, taking a sip of coffee. "It's not that I don't trust you to hold everything up… It's just…" she takes a deep breath. "It's just hard to trust my fate away so easily."
"Fate? What the fuck does fate have to do with anything?"
"You know that what happens in that Arena determines your fate, don't you? You don't have control over your destiny."
"What?! Of course I have control! That's why we're kind of on the other side of the force field here."
She shakes her head at me, looking solemn. "You know, deep down somewhere you know that isn't true."
"I have control," I inform her. "I have control over all aspects of my life."
She snorts, and I scowl at her.
"I'm going to stay up," she says. "You can go get sleep if you want."
"I am going to get some rest," I say. "I'm going to go check on my friend Viridian."
"You can't just leave."
"It's relevant, though. I have a question to ask him. It's relevant to the Games."
"If you say," she says. "Make sure your excuse is damn good." Her eyes, naturally brown after having taken her contacts out for the night, search me carefully.
"It is." I give her a nod. "Night. I'll be back before you know I'm gone."
"Sure."
I turn and leave, walking straight to Viridian's apartment.
It's not all too far from the Complex, and I arrive quickly and enter. I go up to the third floor where I know his room is. I've only been in his apartment once before, he just recently moved out of his house and here. I knock on the door, and he opens it uncharacteristically quickly.
"Hi Diesel," he says. He has a bottle of liquor in his hands, and another empty one is sitting on the table. That explains why he's so uncharacteristically flighty.
"Hey," I say, "I have a question for you. It's Top Secret Gamemaking business, though. Can you let me in?" I know that even drunk, Viridian is more musical than anyone else I know. He lets me in, and I take a seat, flipping a small device around in my hands.
"So, what's this question?" he asks, sitting across from me at the table and looking at me intensely. I look up and meet his eyes, naturally a shade of brownish green, and feel my pulse quicken. I clear my throat, telling my predatory urges to keep it down for a second here.
"You have perfect pitch, don't you?" I ask him.
"Hm… Yeah, I think so."
"Think you could help me decode a melody?"
"Anything for you," he says, looking at me intently. "My best friend."
I clear my throat and get to work. I'm about to pull the files I need up on my portable hologram system when a fluffy white cat comes and sits on top of it, preventing me from being able to pull the hologram up.
"Cadenza's glad to see you," Viridian says. I have no idea why cats like me so much. Every time I go to see Vienna her cat always sits on my lap. Cadenza hates people, never liked Vienna, even, and yet she seems to tolerate me. The white cat's gray eyes gaze at me, and I just smile a little bit and give her a stroke across the back. It doesn't take long for her to leave and sit in Viridian's lap, though.
"Want some liquor?" he asks me.
"Oh, I shouldn't. I have to get back to the Complex."
"Oh, right." He takes a swig.
"Maybe you shouldn't be drinking."
"I'll be alright," he says, "Anyways, this melody you wanted me to listen to?"
"Yeah. Well, basically the tributes are reeling over quicker now, and our team is making files for each of the tributes that are left so that if they die unexpectedly, there's no delay in footage we can use for the other tributes." I pass the folders for Maggie and Cory among the others, clicking on the one for Raoul. "What I need from you is an ear to write down what he's singing in this clip. Could you do that?"
He hiccups. "Probably," he says, reaching for a pencil and missing. I go to get him a pencil and find some staff paper. "Alright, ready?"
"Mhm."
I play the sound clip, and Viridian immediately gets to work, scribbling down notes. I have no idea what he's doing, but he finishes and it looks half-decent for him being tipsy when doing it.
"I'm positive that's right," he says. "Are you just going to replay this when Raoul dies?"
"I had another idea. You can make things into minor keys, can't you?"
"Duh. I have a degree in this stuff."
"Cool. Could you do that?"
"Duh. It's really as easy as changing the key signatures." He changes something on the paper and says, "Harmonic minor or natural?"
"Er… Whatever you think." Truth is I have no idea the difference between the two. He scratches in a couple more markings. "Harmonic is more common. It's because of the leading tone."
"Mhm." I'll take his word from it. He hands me the paper, Cadenza's head popping out on the table as her owner shifts.
"There you go." He drinks some more liquor.
"You're not going to go out, right?" I ask him, hesitating as I fold the paper and put it in the pocket of my jacket.
"I don't think so," he says.
Cadenza jumps up on the table and Viridian stands up. "So, you just came to get that melody from me?"
"I came to check up on you. Vienna's very busy playing midwife right now, and Katie's got a lot on her plate as well. How are the girls?"
"Good. They said they were going to bed but I think they're still up talking about the Games and watching." He drinks some more, finishing the second bottle. I'm about to say something but stop myself in favor of a more relevant question.
"Their favorites are still alive, aren't they?"
"I haven't stopped hearing about them." He opens his third bottle and takes a long swig.
I give a small smile. "Yeah. I'm sure you haven't."
We stay in silence for a second, and I can feel his eyes trained on me as he takes another swig.
It's just then that I think to check the time. "Oh, I should be going probably…"
"Right. It was nice of you to stop by," he says, but something about his expression makes me think maybe there's something else on his mind.
"You're going to be alright?" I ask. Not that I really care. I mean, he's my friend, I guess. But still. He's silent, stepping closer to me: closer than he would sober. Before I know what's happening, he's kissing me. His kisses are sloppy and he tastes like the liquor he's been drinking. I kiss him back, though, almost immediately. He kisses down my jaw to my neck, wet kisses with an open mouth.
"Viridian-"
He speaks between neck kisses. "I'd be even better if you stayed."
A hiss escapes my lips. After all, this is what I've wanted forever. I've always wanted to fuck Viridian Turner absolutely senseless, give him scars and make him bleed just like I did to old Dennis back in District 12. I started calling him Tweety Bird, because like the bird on the old cartoons, he's always managed to escape my advances. I've been trying for ages to get him mindlessly drunk, or drug him so that I could have my way with him, no safe words, and now it was happening.
He stumbles a bit on the way to the bedroom, and I string an arm around the waist to hold him up. He sits on the bed and looks up at me.
"I decided to drink because Mary Catherine won't give me a second glance," he says, swinging his legs off the side of the bed.
I freeze. He gazes at me expectantly, with the innocence of a little child. He looks so pretty sitting like that. I take a step closer, and stop completely.
"Diesel?"
I realize that I can't use him like this. The thought is hard to process, but I can't flee any longer from it.
"Am I not good enough?" he asks, gazing up at me.
"No… You're… You're too good."
"What?"
I swallow hard. "This is pointless, Viridian. I…" my voice starts to quiver. "You love Katie. Katie loves Vienna. Vienna loves me. And I…" I choke out the words. "I love you."
I've never been this humiliated before in my life.
"Diesel?"
"I can't do this. I think you need to get some rest. In bed now, come on." I take his hands and take him to the other end of the bed, helping him take his glasses off and climb into bed. I pull the covers up around him and feel tears pushing into the corners of my eyes. I don't know what is happening, but I can't make it stop now.
"Night Diesel."
"Sleep tight." I hate how my voice quivers and shakes. I leave quickly, shutting off the lights and making sure the door is locked on the way.
I walk back to the complex quickly, trying to swallow down the tears. This is impossible! I protected my heart so well! This isn't fair! I should've just bound him, gagged him, and fucked him! What's happening to me!?
I'm the one in control, I'm the one that decides what I feel and how I feel it, I don't want to be in love with Viridian, I can't be, I can't possibly be, but I know that I'm lying to myself, I'm a damn liar. An actual sob escapes my lips, causing me to grit my teeth, angry at myself.
How the hell did I let this happen!? I was supposed to be happy, I was supposed to be in control, and I always get my way. How the hell did this autistic piano player make me feel like this?!
The more important question: Why the hell did I let him?
I tear into the Complex, going into the men's room and splashing water on my face. Snap the fuck out of this, I scold myself. Get control. I hiccup, the tears threatening to burst, and splash more water on my face. I look fucking pathetic in the mirror, face twisting in anger as more tears threaten to come out.
Get with it, you fucking moron! I think. I hate myself for being like this. I hate who I'm being. I look around the bathroom, deflating at the lack of sharp objects. Instead, I use my fingernails, they have the same effect with less blood and less scars. Snap out of it. Snap out of it. Snap out of it. You fucking incompetent piece of shit, snap out of it! I drag my nails down my arm and squeeze my eyes tightly closed. My contacts are killing me, and I feel myself losing it.
Get with it. Snap out of it. Damn you.
I manage to conquer the tears, swallowing them down as I splash my face again with a stream of cold water. After that, I use my shirt to dry my face and make sure my black hair is at least presentable again.
I stare at my reflection for a while.
I'm going to show them. I'm going to show them all. I'm going to have order. I'm going to take control.
I'm going to show those miserable, good-for-nothing snots from the Districts that it's me that controls their fates, not the other way around.
I burst into the Main Complex, and everyone looks at me strangely.
"I want you all to listen to me very closely," I say quietly. "I want them all dead. Every last one of them. I want bloodshed. I want to show our tributes that they are ultimately powerless. They are nothing." The others exchange looks with each other. "We have control," I say, raising the volume of my voice. "I HAVE CONTROL!"
I immediately go to my station, pull up the masterlist of every mutt, disaster, and gimmick we'd even started to create.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Santana shrieks at me, storming over.
"I SAID I WILL HAVE CONTROL!" I scream at the top of my lungs, turning around and punching her straight in the face, sending her sprawling to the ground. The room is dead-silent as I select every single fathomable disaster we have.
I have control again, as it should be. I can decide everything for myself again, as it should be.
"Get ready you little bastards," I say under my breath, a smile tugging my lip upwards as I confirm my selections.
"It's judgement day."
~.~.
A/N: I'VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR THIS. I have a feeling that this plotline is either going to be a hit with my readers or you're going to hate it. But I've had this thought up ever since I was still receiving tributes. Hope you don't mind the Gamemaker interlude, but just know that things aren't going to be the same after this.
Let me know what you think though! Honesty is always appreciated in reviews. It's okay if you forgot who Diesel was or something. I get that.
Anyways, optimism! Right! So now our Capitol plotline is fully submerged in the story plotline. As for who dies next, well, you'll have to wait to find out. I hope you're as excited for this as I am! Hopefully I'll be able to write more soon!
Also, thank you all for the CQs! They were lovely! I'll use them starting next chapter, but for this chapter I actually have one I made up so we'll roll with it.
Chapter Question: How'd you like the Gamemaker interlude? What do you think is in store for the tributes?
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