Ardley Barnett, 18.
District 10 Male.
Ardley rolled over in bed, groaning. His head hurt like a bitch, Arvid was right he did regret drinking as much as he had. A knock rang out at the door.
"Who is it?" Ardley called, his voice hoarse, probably due to the fact his throat felt like a desert.
"It's me. You're currently wasting our free day away, so I figured I'd come and get you." Arvid's voice replied from the other side of the door.
"Oh fuck off. I'll be out in a minute." Ardley responded, dragging himself out of bed. He flung the door of his closet open, grabbing the first decent outfit he could see, pulling it on haphazardly, quickly brushing his teeth and returning to the door, pulling it open, revealing Arvid, leaning against the wall next to the door, hair pulled back from his face. He was dressed sensibly for a day out, which made sense to Ardley because Arvid was a sensible person.
"Took you long enough. You ready to go?"
"Go where?" Ardley asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Dude, didn't I tell you about my list?" Arvid replied, looking slightly confused.
"What list?" Ardley said, exasperatedly
"My tourist list!" Arvid said excitedly, pulling out a notebook from who knows where. He flipped it open to a page that was bookmarked using a picture of him and his friend, the same one he'd shown off at his interview last night.
"I've been meaning to ask you, who's that?" Ardley said, poking at the picture.
"My friend, Qarza, he painted my notebook. And our cat." Arvid replied with a smile, sticking his thumb in the notebook so he didn't lose his page, and flipping it closed so Ardley could see the cover, which had very realistic looking trees and flowers painted on it.
"Do you guys share a cat?" Ardley said, furrowing his brow. He didn't exactly understand how two people could share a cat, and there was no way in his mind that he could rationalize it.
"Yeah. We share custody of him." Arvid said with a shrug.
"Alright then. So where are we going?" Ardley said, choosing to ignore the fact that his ally shared custody of a cat, he, in all honesty, had no clue how that worked and he didn't really want to know either.
"Oh, yeah. It's basically just a bunch of historical sights and parks, and a cool library I heard about." Arvid said matter of factly, passing him the list. Ardley scanned over it, confirming it was indeed, a bunch of historical sights, parks, and a library.
"Yeah, sounds good," Ardley said, handing the list back to Arvid. Ardley certainly didn't mind getting dragged to all these nerdy places since he was a giant nerd himself, it sort of balanced out.
"Okay cool, c'mon let's go," Arvid said excitedly, making his way towards the elevator, pushing the button with his thumb. They stood for a few moments, the elevator soon arriving, the doors gliding open. The two stepped on, the elevator doors gliding closed behind them and Arvid hit the ground floor button, the elevator taking off moments later. The pair stood in silence, save for the tapping of Arvid's foot against the floor. The elevator slowed to a stop, the doors opening and Ardley quickly realized that they were not on the ground floor, they had instead stopped on the 3rd floor, which housed the District 2 kids. One of said District 2 kids, Ozzie, alongside the boy from 4 stepped onto the elevator.
"Oh look, Pedro. Outer Districts in our elevator." Ozzie said, raising an eyebrow at the two. Ardley didn't like the kid, they'd rubbed him the wrong way just based off what he'd seen at training and their interview.
"Just get on the elevator Ozzie, we have places to be," Pedro replied, yawning and pushing Ozzie onto the elevator. Ardley looked over at Arvid, who seemed unbothered by the whole situation, moving from where he was standing on the opposite side of the elevator, to stand next to Ardley.
"Huh, neither of you look like much, I wonder how you managed to score so high," Ozzie said, gesturing specifically to Arvid.
"Dunno. Trade secrets I guess." Arvid replied cooly, with a shrug.
"I see. Well, you better watch you back in the Arena then. Let's hope those trade secrets payoff." Ozzie said as the elevator came to a stop, the doors sliding open and the two Careers stepping off. As soon as Ardley was sure they were gone, he stepped off as well, turning to Arvid.
"What the hell just happened?" Ardley asked the entire interaction unnerved him, in all honesty.
"I have absolutely no fucking clue. Guess I've got a target on my back, eh?" Arvid replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, no freaking duh," Ardley said, furrowing his brow.
"Well, it's not exactly something to worry about right now. Let's go enjoy our day, and worry about that tonight." Arvid said, setting off for the door. Ardley followed, his goal for the day to enjoy himself, just like Arvid said.
Cerdiwen Cadwallder, 17.
District 8 Female.
Cerdiwen gripped Amara's hand, looking around the street.
"So where are we going now?" Amara said, looking around. They'd already gone for breakfast at a little restaurant that Jillar had recommended to her. It was still early in the day, and they'd already gone to the one place that had been recommended to her, and the Capitol was a big place.
"Let's just walk, and see where we end up, how's that sound?" Amara said.
"Yeah that sounds good, which way are we going?"
"How 'bout this way?" Amara replied, tugging on her hand to follow her down the street. Cerdiwen nodded, following Amara down the sidewalk. The Capitol was a very strange place, the streets wide and clean, cars gliding down the street. There was nobody walking, not like at home. Cerdiwen figured that it was a good thing she was from 8 since if she lived here she would never sell any papers.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Amara asked as they meandered.
"Nothing much. Just that I could never sell any papers here, there's no foot traffic." Cerdiwen said, gesturing at the practically empty street around them.
"You'd be out of a job if you lived here. Then again, I doubt you'd need to work that kind of job here." Amara said, smiling.
"I'm picturing it now, me and you, a little apartment. A dog or three." Cerdiwen said, waving her unoccupied hand as she talked.
"That sounds lovely," Amara replied, beaming at her. Cerdiwen could feel her heart flutter, just seeing Amara smile made her feel better about their whole situation and the fact that she was the reason Amara was smiling made her even happier.
"Wait, what's that?" Amara asked, pointing at a nearby shop, it appeared to be a theatre prop shop of some sort, with costumes and props. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before since they didn't have the luxury of having things like that back home.
"Dunno, it looks like a fun shop though," Cerdiwen said, shrugging.
"Can we go in?" Amara said excitedly, grinning up at Cerdiwen.
"Why the hell not. C'mon!" Cerdiwen said, gripping Amara's hand and beelining for the door. She pulled it open with her free hand, a bell chiming as the pair stepped into the small shop. It smelled like some sort of spice, and there were candles lit and scattered around in her sight. A person popped up from behind the counter in front of them, waving enthusiastically.
"Hi! Welcome! Are you here for anything in particular or?" The woman said excitedly, smiling widely.
"Oh, no. We're just here to look around." Cerdiwen replied, smiling politely.
"I see, yes, feel free to do that. Oh, you two are two of the tributes eh?"
"Yeah, we are," Amara said, nodding.
"Well, that's just dandy! Feel free to look around and take anything you'd like since the Capitol covers all that nonsense." The woman said, smiling even wider somehow, her purple-dyed skin pulling tight over her face. The Capitolites tended to look very unnatural, or completely normal with no in-between range, and this woman was no exception to that, her skin a light lavender, her eyes a bright shade of yellow and her hair cut short, and coloured a deep navy blue.
"C'mon, let's look around," Cerdiwen said, tugging on Amara's hand again. Amara nodded her agreement, and the two trekked deeper into the small shop, looking around as they walked. There were racks upon racks of clothing scattered around, occasionally interrupted with walls of shelves, cluttered with all manners of objects, everything from prop weapons, to old books.
"Isn't this beautiful?" Amara said, holding up a green and blue sundress, it looked like what she saw when she looked into the reflection of the lake back at home, muted and ever-shifting blue and green.
"Go try it on then. I bet it would look positively beautiful on you." Cerdiwen said, smiling.
"You sure? It seems so, expensive." Amara giggled.
"Well, you can get anything you want. Remember, we aren't payin' for it." Cerdiwen said. Amara sighed and walked off with the dress towards the changing room marked nearby. Cerdiwen turned to a nearby set of shelves, which was lined with all sorts of various kinds of jewelry. She picked up a thin, silver chained necklace with a small turquoise pendant attached. It matched the dress that Amara had picked up, as well as her eyes, so she figured why not give it to her.
"Whaddya think?" Amara called from behind her, Cerdiwen turned to see her now clad in the dress she'd been holding just a few minutes before.
"You look wonderful!" Cerdiwen said with a grin, Amara returning the gesture.
"Do you think I should get it?" Amara said, spinning around for her to see.
"Well, why not! Besides that, I picked something out for you." Cerdiwen replied.
"What, a giant fake sword?" Amara said, grinning and rolling her eyes.
"Nah, that's for our second date. What do you think of this?" Cerdiwen said, opening her hand to reveal the necklace. Amara took it, squinting at it slightly before nodding her approval.
"It's gorgeous!" Amara replied enthusiastically, hugging her. Indeed, this was only their first date, and it may be their last, but Cerdiwen didn't mind. At least she got to be happy before her possible death the next day. Either or both could be dead by that point tomorrow, but Cerdiwen would make sure that Amara wasn't. She wouldn't die, not on Cerdiwen's watch.
Revan Allerix, 14.
District 5 Male.
Revan tossed another piece of bread at the goose before him, the goose didn't seem too pleased about this however, it hissed at Revan, and Revan quickly backed away.
"Revan, what the hell are you doing?" Dustin called from nearby.
"Trying to feed this stupid bird." Revan shot back, holding up the handful of bread that was currently half turning to mush in his sweaty hand.
"It doesn't want to be fed, you idiot," Dustin replied, squinting at him, an annoyed expression crossing his face.
"Well, why not?" Revan said, straightening up.
"I don't know, but if you get bit it's your own fault," Dustin replied. Revan sighed, backing away slowly from the goose as it continued honking at him, eventually forgetting about him and returning to its flock, waddling off to terrorize one of its friends.
"Dude, they're kinda freaky," Revan said as he approached Dustin, who was currently sprawled out across a bench, using his arm folded behind his head.
"Yeah, that's why I told you to stop fucking with 'em," Dustin said, rolling his eyes in Revan's general direction.
"Yeah, and I stopped fucking with them. Are you happy?" Revan said, chucking the bag of bread he'd been attempting to feed the birds with at Dustin. Dustin smacked it out of the air before it could hit him, it hit the ground next to Dustin.
"Yes, I am. Glad you're actually listening to me especially after last night." Dustin replied, grinning. Revan groaned inwardly, remembering how he'd snuck some alcohol at the afterparty the night before, and how Dustin had ended up carrying him home after he'd had a little too much. Dustin had warned him against it, but he'd done it anyway. He knew Dustin was right, but he would never admit it to him.
"Yeah yeah. What do you wanna do now?" Revan said, kicking a rock on the ground, sending it skittering. It was around the middle of the day, Revan estimated, and they'd already wandered around the Capitol a decent amount, eventually ending up at this park. They'd encountered a few of their fellow tributes, mainly the boys from 7 and 10, as well as a few of the others that Revan couldn't remember off the top of his head.
"Dunno man, I'm kinda hungry. Do you think it's late enough for lunch?" Dustin grumbled, pulling himself to his feet.
"Yeah, I think so. I think it's around 12 or so." Revan replied, picking up the bag of bread from the ground, and turning to Dustin, playfully smacking the significantly taller boy with it.
"Yeah yeah, c'mon let's get going then," Dustin said exasperatedly. The pair turned down the path, walking back towards the way they came.
"What do you want for lunch dude?" Revan asked as they walked between the exotic trees of the Capitol, they were nothing like he'd ever seen before since District 5 was on the lacking side on the nature front, as well as the fact that any trees they did have were scraggly and half dead.
"Dunno, anything works I guess. I don't exactly care." Dustin replied with a shrug. Over the course of the past few days, Revan had picked up on Dustin's uncaring nature. It wasn't that he didn't care about people, per see, he acted as an older brother to Revan in ways he couldn't even comprehend, due to the fact that his actual older brother, Caller, wasn't much of a brother in the traditional sense. It was as if Dustin just didn't care about what was going on around him, as long as he wasn't in imminent danger.
"Figured you say that. Wanna go to one of those food truck things we saw earlier?" Revan suggested, as earlier they'd passed a bunch of them clustered near the entrance of the park.
"Yeah, whatever sounds good to me," Dustin said with an air of indifference. Revan sighed, residing himself to the fact that most of the decisions were up to him at this point. He didn't mind, but it could prove to be annoying down the line. However, Revan wasn't worrying about down the line right then and there, he was worried about getting himself some lunch.
Selene Taevas, 18.
District 3 Female.
Selene leaned back in her chair, looking out over the city before her. She, Lynus and Impala had gone out for the first half of the day, exploring the Capitol, but since Lynus was easily overwhelmed by large amounts of people, they'd returned to the training center a little earlier than expected. She certainly didn't mind it, but she'd have liked to explore a bit more. She figured she could just go on her own, but wheres the fun in being alone, seeing all the wonders the Capitol had to offer. She sighed, pulling herself to her feet and walking to the railing nearby, leaning on it comfortably.
Selene heard the door open and subsequently swing closed behind her, she glanced over her shoulder spotting the mentor from 10, Danzig. He wasn't bothering her, so she turned back to her thoughts, and the view of the city.
"Uh, don't you think you're a little close to the edge?" A voice, she assumed it to be Danzig said. She turned to face him, leaning her lower back against the railing and crossing her arms in front of her.
"What? There's a railing though. Besides that, I ain't afraid of any heights." Selene said, raising an eyebrow.
"W-well yeah, but it's still high up. How could you not be afraid of heights?" Danzig said, his voice shaking slightly.
"Yeah, I guess. If you're so freaked out why are you up here?" Selene said, watching as Danzig fiddled with his hands.
"I'm not afraid of the middle of the balcony, I'm afraid of the edges," Danzig replied, gesturing around to the edges of the balcony.
"What's the difference? There's sure not much of a difference to me." Selene said, shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"Well, I- I dunno. It's just freakier over there than it is over here." Danzig said, casting his eyes towards the floor.
"C'mere, stand over here with me. I'll teach you a few tricks I've picked up from the circus." Selene said, grinning at Danzig as she gestured to the open space next to her.
"What? Circus?" Danzig said, as he slowly plodded over to where she was standing. Apparently, they didn't have circuses in every District, mostly just the Capitol. It was a bit strange, the thought that not everybody had the thing she grew up loving, but she figured it was just a chance for her to talk more about it, and there was nothing she loved more than sharing her experiences.
"Yeah, my pops runs it. Adopted me when I was younger and brought me in." Selene said as she turned back to face the city, Danzig taking his place next to her, still keeping his distance from the railing, but closer than he was.
"Damn, all my dad did was farm. Dunno 'bout my mom though, she left when I was real little." Danzig said, kicking his feet nervously nearby.
"Your dad sounds like an honest dude. And come right up here, right to the railing." Selene said, waving Danzig forward. He begrudgingly stepped up to the railing, placing a hand on it shakily.
"Okay, so what do I do now?" Danzig said as his knuckles turned a particularly paper-like shade of white on the railing.
"Look down," Selene said.
"Huh?" Danzig replied, his brow creasing in confusion.
"Look down. I'll hold the back of your shirt if that'll make you feel any safer." Selene repeated, rolling her eyes dramatically.
"Why the fuck would I look down?" Danzig yelped, looking to her with a panicked look on in his eyes. Selene couldn't believe this kid, younger than she was, and scared of his own shadow essentially had managed to win the Hunger Games. She didn't exactly watch them religiously as the Capitol insisted, so she didn't exactly remember how Danzig had managed to win, despite the fact his Games were the year prior.
"To get used to it. You won't get over any fears without normalizing it in your noggin' first." Selene said, reaching out a hand and gently tapping a finger on his head.
"Fine, fine yeah. Keep a hold on me though, I don't wanna fall." Danzig grumbled, looking annoyed. Selene nodded, placing a hand on his back, as he slowly turned his gaze downwards to the ground.
"See! It's not so bad is it?" Selene said, gently patting Danzig on the back.
"No, I guess it isn't. It's actually a nice view." Danzig chuckled, turning to look back at her. The pair stayed there for a while longer, talking about nothing and everything at once, as the sun slowly set over the shining city before them.
Charlotte Babbin, 16.
District 4 Female.
Charlotte gazed down the table the Career were seated around. They were in their second, or maybe the third club of the night, at Osiris' "request" however she knew it was more than just a request, more a command. Everything that came out of their mouth was a thinly veiled command, dressed up as a simple request. A wolf in sheep's clothing and Charlotte saw right through the veneer. She looked to Echo, who was currently seated across the table from her, stuffing his face with some sort of appetizer.
"Echo! C'mon, let's go dance!" Charlotte called across the table, her voice nearing a yell to be heard over the ear-splitting music. Echo looked up, a confused look on his face before it registered what she'd said to him. He nodded, and stood, pushing his chair back, it scraped uncomfortably against the floor.
"Now, where do you two think you're going?" Ozzie inquired from the head of the table, over Pedro who was currently seated in their lap, their face leaning lazily against their hand which was propped against the armrest of their chair. They reminded her of a panther, the sort of creature to lurk and wait for the right moment to strike from the shadows, efficient and ruthless, but seemingly harmless at the same time.
"Off to have a bit of fun, Osiris," Charlotte said with a sly grin in Ozzie's direction. She knew they hated it when they were called by their full name, Osiris, but it was one of the little ways Charlotte could get back at them.
"Yeah, sure. You go have your fun." Ozzie growled, turning their attention back to Pedro soon thereafter. Charlotte wasn't exactly sure what her District partner's motive was, or why he was doing what he was, but she figured he was playing his game, and she was playing hers. The best would come out on top, and Charlotte knew that District 4 stood a good chance this year. The pair walked away from the table that the Careers had claimed, towards the nearby dance floor. She grabbed Echo by the hand, dragging him into the middle of the crowd of people, making sure to keep him close.
"So what the hell are we doing here?" Echo said, the crush of people surrounding them causing them to move along to the ever drumming beat of the music. It was nearly suffocating the number of people pressed around them, but Charlotte didn't mind it so much, since it was really their only chance to talk without risk of it getting back to Ozzie.
"I wanted to talk, without Osiris lurking over our shoulder," Charlotte replied, pressing her lips closer to his ear.
"Oh, that makes sense. Dunno why I didn't think of that sooner. So what do you wanna talk about?" Echo said, tipping his face towards hers, she wasn't sure if it was so that he could hear her better, or so she could hear him better, or if it was simply just something he was doing subconsciously.
"Yeah, good job dingus. I just wanted to run the plan by you one more time." Charlotte replied, chuckling to herself since nobody else could hear her. She, Terce and Echo had put together a plan over the last few days, for when the Career pack inevitably began to crumble. They'd take Ozzie out at the first signs of trouble, try and take over and bring whoever was left to their side. With Ozzie out of their way, Pedro wouldn't be a threat without Ozzie backing him. The only other concern was Creed, she was seemingly a bit of a wild card, however, she didn't seem loyal to Ozzie, so Charlotte figured she wouldn't be a problem either.
"Yeah, everything's good. Terce knows whats going on, and so do the both of us." Echo replied with a smile.
"Are you sure Terce is up for it? I know you trust him and all, but are you absolutely sure about him and all?" Charlotte said, quirking an eyebrow. She wanted to like Terce, but she couldn't fully trust him, especially since the Career pack was completely out of his element due to the fact he was from 12. All the others had been raised to understand the environment, but, he was not. It made him seem weak, despite his obviously strong physical abilities.
"Yeah, I am. Take my word for him, okay? If he fucks up, you can hold me responsible." Echo replied.
"Okay, but if he fucks up, I get to kill you," Charlotte said, her tone serious. She was willing to kill Echo if it came to it. She'd prepared herself for the reality that she may have to do some horrible things to get home, but, it would all be worth it in the end. The ends in her opinion justified the means, and she wasn't bothered if she had to get her hands dirty.
"I can't tell if you're joking or not." Echo said, a perplexed look crossing his face briefly.
"I'm not," Charlotte replied curtly.
"Cool! Let's go have some actual fun now. How 'bout some actual drinks?" Echo said, taking her hands in his.
"That sounds mighty fine Echo," Charlotte replied with a grin, letting Echo drag her from the dance floor towards the bar.
Arugula "Aru" Camworth, 13.
District 11 Female.
Arugula watched as Farro jumped into the pool with a large splash, displacing water into the air, and sending a wave over her. Her head went under, and she quickly propelled herself up to the surface, taking a deep gulp of air.
"What the hell Farro! Gimme a little warning why don't cha!" Aru called to a shit-eating grin wearing Farro, who's head popped out of the water just a few feet away from her moments earlier.
"I don't gotta give you any warning if I don't want to. Shoulda learned to swim earlier." Farro replied, leaning back to float nonchalantly on the water. She seemed to be a natural at all things water-related, but it made sense since Farro had mentioned that her dad had taught her and all her siblings how to swim when they were young. Arugula never got that luxury, since she was pretty sure any lakes in District 11 were used for watering crops and whatnot. She'd spent the majority of the evening after dinner in the pool with Farro, being taught how to swim, and she'd gotten it down pretty decently. Eden had spent the entire time at the poolside on a lounge chair, reading a book, and occasionally calling out an encouraging word to her.
"Fine then, be that way!" Aru said, turning away from Farro and crossing her arms in front of her huffily. She could hear Farro sloshing around in the water before she felt the other girl tackle her from behind, sending her flying into the water. They both popped up out of the water, giggling.
"You two be nice to each other, I'm willing to come in there and break up any fights," Eden called from the deck nearby, peeking over the top of their book at the pair.
"We ain't being mean to each other Eden, we're just foolin' around!" Farro replied loudly, looking very pleased as she wrung her long hair out.
"Why don't you come in and join us, huh?" Aru chimed in. Eden rolled their eyes, placing a bookmark in their book and setting it down on a nearby table. They stood, and took a running leap into the deep end of the pool, sending more water flying. They resurfaced, pushing their now limp and wet hair out of their face.
"Try that out for size, why don't ya!" Eden said, grinning widely as they placed their hands on their hips defiantly. Farro and Aru made eye contact, the same thought crossing both their minds before they both rushed at Eden, jumping on them and pushing them into the water. The trio continued their little pool party, as the sunset over the city before them, the pool was situated on a wide-open balcony overlooking the city. As the brilliantly coloured sky turned from bright hues to a muted navy blue, eventually fading to black, with sparkling stars dotting the sky. The three pulled themselves out of the water, lying on the deck on their back, feet dangling in the water.
"So, we might be dying tomorrow, how are we feeling about that?" Eden asked, folding their arms behind their head as they looked up at the sky.
"Yeah, but that's okay. It happens eventually I suppose. Besides that, that means I get to see my pops again." Farro said, folding her hands on her stomach as if she was preparing herself for her funeral early.
"Well, whatever happens, we have each other, right!" Farro chipped in, the others nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, we're in it together," Eden replied, smiling as they took Aru's hand. Aru extended her opposite hand to Farro, and the three continued laying there, gazing up at the stars, Aru eventually drifting off beneath a blanket of diamonds.
So uh hello! This is the second last chapter before the bloodbath, which is very lit. I'm setting a tentative release date for it, of either Monday or Tuesday the 7th or 8th of September. I'll probably have an actual concrete time and date for it at that point. Anyways, just to reiterate, here's all of the alliances and shit:
The Alliances:
The Careers: Echo, Amber, Ozzie, Creed, Pedro, Charlotte, Terce.
Iconic Duo: Creed, Dyan.
Two Bros Chillin: Dustin, Revan.
Three lesbians walk into a bar: Amara, Cerdiwen, Breccan.
The A-Team: Arvid, Ardley.
Big Hero 6, on a little more crack: Selene, Lynus, Impala.
The Babies: Zen, Amethyst.
The Three Muskateers: Aru, Eden, Farro.
Loner: Cassian.
And with that, I bid you farewell! I'll see y'all with the next chapter soon! Signing off, Times.