Valerie Cartwright (18) D2F

"Okay. Obviously, this has put a damper on our plans. We can't tell who Hunters are right away," Jack began, saying entirely reasonable things. I didn't know why he was the head of the Career Pack. I didn't mind it at all, but he didn't seem like a leader to me. None of us really did this year, though Tourmaline probably made the most sense. All of us were avoiding it this year, because being the leader generally ended badly.

I only cared who the leader was because I was curious of a pecking order, not because it really seemed to matter. From what I could tell, Halona was on the outs, Wolf was the leader, and everyone else was just in between. Halona was only on the outs because she didn't bother breaking in more; it didn't seem to me that any of us minded her presence. I figured that Tourmaline could end up leaving us, just because she knew more about the Capitol than we did. I didn't really care about the other to girls, though. The most important thing in this alliance was the men: Wolf, Jack, and Mahi.

Even a Career that was in the Pack needed allies. The Pack would fall apart sometime, and it was vital to know who you would still have on your side when that happened. Halona and Tourmaline were fine people, but I knew a bit about men. They were easily manipulated by anything with boobs or a butt, both of which I had. That meant I could spend time pouring attention into one fine Career, and hopefully have him entirely wrapped around my finger. I couldn't expect too much, but I had to try a little bit.

"You know, Icy probably wouldn't mind if we went to her place. As long as we're polite, she seems pretty nice," Mahi said, snapping me out of my thoughts. His statement made me realize that he was definitely off the table. Mahi was a taken man, and he seemed far too nice to cheat on Icy. I wouldn't want to try that, anyways. It would bring my popularity down way too far.

"That sounds great, actually!" Wolf said, smiling. "Do any of the rest of you mind?"

None of us objected to staying at Icy's place, and it was settled. If Icy was cool with it, we would stay there. Our main issue switched from not having a place to go to not knowing where that place was. We all turned to Mahi, hoping he would have an idea of where his girlfriend lived.

"It never really came up. She knew a good restaurant in the Games Building, though, so maybe she lived there." That was all Mahi was able to come up with when we asked him where Icy lived. It wasn't very useful, but it did provide some ideas.

"In hindsight, why don't we just stay in the Games Building? It has weapons, and it probably has food," Halona said quietly. I could tell from the way she held herself that she thought she was walking on thin ice, and Wolf seemed to be able to tell, too.

"That is a great idea! The main problem with it is that we don't know exactly where it is, which we're about to solve, but also that Hunters would probably expect us to go there. We can't risk being in the most predictable place!" Wolf said, smiling sincerely at Halona the entire time. That made me realize why he was the leader. He seemed to be the only one that could handle it.

Zeke Danbury (15) D12M

"I killed someone." I wasn't proud of that fact. I did it out of pure necessity. I knew it wasn't necessary in the moment, but in the grand scheme of things, Scorpia had to die if I was going to live. It stank, but it was fact. I told Rodney about it because I figured he deserved to know that I killed someone, and because I thought it would make us both trust each other a bit more.

"I suppose I should say that's okay, but it's only kind of okay. It is as okay as it ever will be, I guess. I don't trust you any less or anything, but let's try not to kill more than necessary, okay?" Rodney replied. He sure said "okay" a lot, but I didn't mind.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's great. I don't want to kill everyone, or anything. I just thought you should know." Somehow, I felt really immature saying that, which didn't make much sense. There was nothing childish about not wanting to kill more people than necessary.

"Well, thanks for telling me. I'm glad we agree on not wanting to kill everyone. Let's focus on a place to stay now, all right?" Rodney asked me. I nodded. Somehow, I didn't want to talk any more. It was a surprisingly pleasant exchange for how dark the topic was, but I still didn't feel like carrying on any more than I had to.

Rodney didn't have any idea where he was going. Neither did I. Neither of us knew anything about the Capitol other than the Games Building itself, and that could have been anywhere. We were just aimlessly wandering, trying to find somewhere reasonably suitable for two hideaways. We couldn't go far downhill, but we had to go uphill. We would die if we didn't.

"We need a rally point," Rodney said, out of the blue.

"What's that?"

"If we get separated, we both head there. It's to make sure we don't lose each other for good."

"Oh. That sounds good. What's a good rally point?"

"We need to always be able to see it," Rodney said, clearly thinking intently about this. "How about that skyscraper? The tallest one in the skyline?"

"I'll do you one better! How about we live there for the Games?"

"That's actually a good idea," Rodney said, smiling. "Why didn't I think of that?"

We sprinted for a while to get to the tall building, then walked when we were too tired to sprint. As we got nearer to the building, I slowly began to recognize the build of it, and I recognized the outside from the one time I had been in the Capitol.

"Who knew that the Games Building is the tallest building in the Capitol?

Sparrow McKrail (16) D7M

"Do you think we need to worry about food?" I asked Lumen as we wandered the streets of the Capitol. The same question could be asked about water, but both questions would be answered when Lumen answered. I thought we didn't have to worry, but I didn't want to press my opinion. Lumen was so slow to ally with me that I thought he might leave me if I ticked him off.

"I think we're all right for now. There's water everywhere, especially in that one huge fountain. And it seems that Capitolites are allowed to get involved, and most Capitolites probably won't want to watch a kid starve when they're right there. It's a lot different from watching it on a screen," Lumen said. I nodded. That entire statement seemed completely reasonable. I knew that being in the Games was different from watching them first-hand.

"Okay. Where do you think we should head for shelter?"

"Do you really care?" Lumen asked me. That was what I was afraid of. If I said the wrong thing, I could upset him. I knew I would have to live if he decided I was a bad ally, and it would be for the best if he left me if I made him mad, but I still didn't want to upset anyone. I had to think about my answer for a while before I spoke.

"I think we'll be fine if we don't get anything yet. The Gamemakers won't want to make the Capitol dangerous to live in, because the Capitolites would get upset," I finally settled on saying, watching Lumen's facial expression while I spoke.

"That's what I thought, too. Then I guess we should just wander for a while. Should we talk to some Capitolites?"

"Probably. We don't need food yet, but it couldn't hurt if one of them offered to help us," I said.

"That's what figured! Who seems like a good candidate?" I immediately found myself looking for women who looked like Savannah, but I found my vision drawn to one Capitolite who managed to stick out from the rest. A bit of it came from his rainbow skin, but most of it was because he was pointing a gun directly at Lumen.

"Look out!" I yelled, tackling Lumen to the ground. I felt something dig into my skin while I did that, but I didn't mind. I was too busy checking to make sure that I hadn't hurt Lumen.

"What was-" Lumen's words were quickly cut off when he noticed my state. I noticed that something warm was on my back, and I realized a second later that it was blood. I sat myself between Lumen and the mystery attacker and reached for my back. I cut my finger on the thing I was grabbing, but I was too curious to mind.

"It that... confetti?" I asked, staring at whatever it was that was in me. It didn't really matter. I felt some more things dig into my back, and I saw Lumen gasp. Then I felt more blood dripping down my back, but that sensation quickly started to fade. "Just run, okay? You need to run now."

Surprise! I'm not dead. I just really couldn't get a feel for this lately.

18th (?) Place: Sparrow McKrail - Razor Confetti'ed by Vibrant

I would like to point out that I intend to have some tribute-on-tribute violence, but I want to get some Hunter establishment. So here we have our second Hunter kill! I killed Sparrow here because it seemed fitting. I didn't think he was going to win, and he definitely seemed like her would be willing to die for an ally (his form constantly mentioned clinginess, which I selectively read as loyalty). Sparrow was a super cool dude, but he liked allies so much that I didn't think he could go on without one. Thank you to 66samvr for Sparrow, who was a great tribute. I just think his time has come.

NOTE: You know how I like to do shout-outs? I'm running out of SYOTs! If any of YOU know good SYOTs that I haven't submitted like eight characters to yet, y'all should tell me. I have a couple of characters that I really want to submit.

Another note: I normally don't keep track of these things, but:

-Icy is wandering semi-near the Games Building (my main landmark)

-Vibrant is pretty near it (Sparrow happened to go the same way as Rodney)

-Clariselle is off elsewhere (we aren't sure yet)

-Faye is wandering near Ginger's house (the place where Capitolites can turn in tributes for rewards)