Disclaimer: I do not own the original concept of the Hunger Games. However, I have built my own flair on top of the concept.
Credits go to CreativeFanatic for our lovely protagonist, Team Shadow for beta editing and trading references with, and Nautics for beta editing and throwing a few side character names.
If you decide to check out this story and were wondering: What happened to Playing with Capitalism or TARP3? The answer is that they are still part of my plans. It has been an exhausting year so far, but I am so excited to get to them when I grasp enough mental energy to write either.
Now, onto this story. Enjoy! :)
Rayon Skinner couldn't be happier that she was allowed to wear her gothic makeup to the Hunger Games.
She doesn't express this emotion, in typical Rayon fashion.
Already in her black uniform with white stripes on the sides, Rayon is led into a water bed. The lab assistant attaches nodes to her body, and when everything is ready, he gives Rayon a thumbs up and wishes her, "Good luck."
Rayon can feel the drowsiness, enough to send her into a dream.
Fourteen-year-old Rayon wakes up in a virtual reality.
Am I blind?
"Tributes, welcome to the 20th Annual Hunger Games!" says the voice of an announcer. "As you may realize, you are unable to see anything."
She can feel the cool air in her surroundings, but it's pitch black.
"Fear not, as the blindness is only temporary. Once you find your way in the dark, you will visually witness the world you are in."
Rayon can feel herself floating midair, like there's no ground and she can't stand.
A voice announces '90' and begins to countdown from there.
Rayon has no idea where to go, but she knows that she should find her way out.
Ugh, it's easy to get lost in such a big dark world.
She didn't really want to be here. She and her friends were completely shocked when her name was called to participate in the 20th annual Hunger Games. She walked to the stage completely standing out. She was not exactly afraid of dying in a virtual world, but she doesn't think any of this makes sense. The people of Panem only have these Games as a tradition to unite the districts and the Capitol after a civil war. Children ages twelve to eighteen are randomly chosen to play the Hunger Games in virtual reality to celebrate the unity of Panem.
But Rayon… Rayon doesn't believe in tradition all the time.
What even is the point of all this?
Also, why does every district have to send in one boy and one girl? What if there's a non-binary teenager? The thought upsets her a bit.
When the countdown reaches zero, she flails her hands and tries to grab onto anything she can hold onto.
It turns out that she's now crawling on the floor, and she didn't feel the cold hard ground before the countdown ended.
Rayon's head isn't in the game, but she's gonna crawl her way out of this place anyway.
It takes her a long enough time before she finally gets a hold of a door handle, and when she pushes it, all she sees is more darkness.
It's not exactly pitch black, but it's not a dark environment being illuminated by indirect light either.
She puts her hands in front of her, and all she sees is an outline of chalk. Everything is black, but unsmooth outlines of different pastel colors give her an idea that she is in a chalk world.
They don't call this the Hunger Games for nothing. While she won't die in the real world, she can still be eliminated if she gets too hungry, and Rayon has no food with her right now.
She sighs quietly in frustration that she did not even find some at the cornucopia.
The sound of two cannons signals the end of the bloodbath.
Interesting…
That is too few to even consider it a bloodbath.
Now I have to hold myself for as long as I can.
Rayon doesn't really have the spirit to play. It's outside her comfort zone, but she was randomly chosen. What is she gonna do? She's gonna try to survive anyway. It's not her hundred percent by any means, but if she wins, she gets to bring home enough money, and then she would share it with her mom to help pay some bills.
Rayon snaps out of her thoughts from the sound of crows getting louder. She runs straight ahead as she realizes she's being chased.
She's able to outrun them eventually, but now she is out of breath. She is relieved not to hear anymore crows nearby, but she does her the fanfare of deaths in the next few hours. Four of them to be exact.
With six eliminated so far, that leaves twenty-four of them, since there's two representatives per district, including Districts Zero and Thirteen, plus the Capitol.
After napping on the cold hard ground for who knows how long, Rayon is still hungry.
She continues to walk straight in one direction in hopes of finding food. She sees urban-esque formation in the distance. Perhaps food is available.
When she arrives, she finds herself in the ruins.
It must've been the remains of an old town.
Rayon finds a cathedral though.
Maybe the gamemakers have food hidden inside.
The door makes an echoing creaking sound as she opens it. She looks around to find herself in a dark blue abandoned cathedral made of chalk outlines.
Had this been a party, Rayon might be feeling giddy inside. The ambience gives off a dark aura, just like her. It gives her a sense of comfort. The only thing that's missing is food.
With enough exploring, she finds a few flans inside the refrigerator. Rayon doesn't hesitate to devour them. She hasn't eaten in a day after all.
When she's done, she continues to explore. Just as she turns at the corner, she literally bumps into another tribute.
"Ow," they both say monotonously. Rayon squints upon impact, while the other tribute rubs her nose.
When Rayon gets a better look, it feels like she's looking at herself, but the facial features are slightly different, and this girl has longer hair than Rayon has.
Rayon remembers having longer hair, but she doesn't like it anymore… or has she even liked it in the first place? It makes her look too girly sometimes, and it felt… off, in a way she couldn't describe it before.
The other tribute stares for a moment too, until she says, "What are you looking at!?"
Rayon can hardly put a finger to it, but she knows this tribute from training. "You're… you're the girl from Seven…"
"You're… Eight…" An awkward silence is produced, so she continues, "Gracidea." She lets out a hand.
Slowly, Rayon lets out hers too for a shake. "Rayon."
Rayon and her fifteen-year-old newfound ally don't talk much for the next couple of hours. They felt comfort in being together on their own, roaming around the labyrinthine cathedral until they find a lady behind a glass.
The lady gives them an option to play. If they win, they get food for reward, along with a weapon if it hasn't been won by another tribute. If they lose, they still get food as a consolation prize, albeit less.
The trial is a memory game in which they have to put the mosaic pieces in a certain order. They fail the first time, but they're allowed to try again.
It takes them both eight tries together, after Gracidea suggests to split which pieces to memorize, for them to win.
They received a javelin spear to share, along with two boxes of canelé.
Later that day, an anthem plays to show the face of an eliminated tribute. This is when they both realized that days here only last for twelve hours, in addition to the eternally dark chalkboard-esque sky.
Rayon is not one to initiate conversations, unless it's to people she is comfortable with.
After at least twenty-four hours, she finds comfort in Gracidea.
"Do you have a nickname?" Rayon asks in a low voice.
Gracidea looks at Rayon for a few seconds, thinks whether or not to answer that question, then looks back at the colorful chalk-outlined mosaic she was looking at.
Rayon doesn't mind being ignored. In fact, she felt like she related to Gracidea in that way.
Fifteen minutes later, Gracidea says, "I had a friend call me Gracie."
This response takes Rayon by surprise, so she looks at Gracidea, then returns to the cool blue chalk-outlined tiles she's been staring at, like the demeanor she's been holding up.
She's cold on the surface, and she likes it that way.
Gracidea looks away from the colorful mosaic and stands up. "We can't stay here until the end."
Rayon realizes this and follows Gracidea up. It takes them a while to find a cellar.
The door may be locked, but both of them decided to break the door, as it has the feel of wood even though it is outlined in chalk. When they break it, they miss the sound of a cannon, since breaking the door was loud enough, but they find a portal.
Rayon feels unsure about this. What if it eats her up?
Gracidea, on the other hand, feels apathetic. She enters the portal, and Rayon watches anxiously.
Why am I anxious for Gracidea? It's like she cared for her, but not in a romantic way. She's one of those she connected to, and somehow she doesn't want Gracidea to die. However, she doesn't feel confident in stopping Gracidea, through words, or even at least just holding her elbow back, which is within reach. At the same time, she felt anxious that Gracidea would leave her alone, eliminated for being possibly dead. None of these internal feelings translates to Rayon's neutral expression.
It takes a minute before Gracidea reappears on Rayon's side of the portal. Gracidea gestures for Rayon to follow, and so she does, with the anxiety washed away this time.
It's been at least a day (twelve hours in this virtual world) since they've been exploring the palace. Four more tributes were eliminated since then, which makes them both curious. What makes them more curious though is that the sky is white all day, like the world they're currently in is always daytime, whereas the world they came from is always nighttime. The outline of the world seems to be made of chalk too, but not exactly. Back in the darker world, the outlines were mostly pastel, and the same isn't consistent here. When they look at each other, not only are they outlined, but they are also colored with the same material.
After much searching, they finally find the trial of the palace. The duchess tasks them to stack a champagne tower for food and a weapon.
They're a bit surprised to find a pair of tributes, for the first time since… since… well, they didn't really see tributes during the bloodbath. They haven't really seen a lot of tributes since the beginning.
The other pair is already halfway through their tower as Rayon and Gracidea are starting. Rayon can't seem to tell their gender immediately, and somehow, she connects to them in that way.
A few years ago, Rayon realized that she doesn't feel completely female. Something felt off in the way that she didn't really like having long hair. She had an argument with her mom about this, but the deed has been done, and Rayon continues to cut her hair short. It isn't the only thing that made her mom irk, but it's one of them. Rayon's relationship with her mom hasn't been frictionless after all.
It took a while before Tullie reintroduced themself as a third gender, who then started to use they-them for pronouns. Rayon was able to relate to Tullie for her to figure out that she falls under the non-binary umbrella, even though she still uses the pronouns she has been born and raised with. When it comes to pronouns, Rayon just added they-them over her already existing she-her.
As Gracidea and Rayon have been building their champagne tower, Rayon can't help but notice the pair, mainly for their ambiguous genders, but also because they have been communicating pretty well, with the shoulder-length-haired one giving orders when needed, and the buzzcut-haired one following said orders.
"I need you to hold three of them and give them to me one at a time." Rayon can hear their voice cracking. They're also the taller of the pair, which is why they are on the ladder, while the shorter one silently passes the champagne glasses.
Rayon and Gracidea aren't communicating at all. They are stacking their glasses where it needs to be stacked. They don't have to speak with each other after all, at least not yet.
Gracidea looks to their direction and sees that the taller one is pouring champagne from the topmost glass.
Rayon is also distracted, taking this time to notice that both their uniforms have the same number 4 on them, which implies that they are district partners.
"Check!"
A closer look makes Rayon notice that they look alike, like they're related. Both of them have brown skin too, like they have Pacific Island heritage.
Gracidea sighs aloud in defeat, before hearing the duchess congratulate the other pair, giving them boxes of macarons but also a glass kunai. Gracidea has thought of grabbing her javelin and attacking them, but that doesn't feel smart right now. Instead…
Rayon looks at their champagne tower crumble as Gracidea lashes out in defeat.
"Let's go Zozo." The taller of the pair opens the door for their twin. They then twirl to get a look of the other pair who lost that trial.
At least they get a few macarons for quitting.
The last thing Rayon gets is their dark brown eyes making contact with her own dark brown eyes, followed with a wink.
It's day seven, but it only really feels like three days or so. It's still bright outside, but both of them have been so tired that they passed out in one of the rooms with a bed that they found, after quitting yesterday's champagne tower trial.
Rayon wakes up to the sound of a cannon. She's been so tired. She doesn't really want to be here. It's outside of her comfort zone. She appeared so pale during the reapings, with her makeup full of powder to go along with the white dress her mom forced her to wear. When she was chosen, she became even paler than she already was. She was scared of the unknown that the Games would bring, and the possibility of having to fight others. She realizes that she doesn't have to fight others, but then she'd lose, and that would be embarrassing. She knew very little of the Hunger Games, as she wasn't paying attention every year that they have it. This year, she's been picked, and she isn't ready for all the hunger she's experiencing. They call it the Hunger Games after all. She can feel her perfect little bubble popping.
She's also scared to be alone in the arena - no friends, no mom, no grandpa; just her. Luckily, she's lying beside-
"AHHHHH!" Gracidea screams in frustration. "I can't believe it!"
Rayon is taken aback at the wake-up scream. It's the loudest she has heard of her ally.
Gracidea gets up and says, "Don't go anywhere," before storming off the room.
Welp, now Rayon is left on her own. She likes being alone, but sometimes, it feels wrong to be alone, especially in the Hunger Games when anyone can ambush her.
She remembers the time she asked her mother why she didn't have a father. It stings to not have a father, and she has been lied to before her mother told her at the age of seven that her father abandoned them, that he left for another family and was only cheating on his wife with Rayon's mom.
Her outlook on the world has been different since then, but it wasn't until her tween years that she decided to have a makeover of her overall appearance. Everything she did made her clash with her mom, but deep inside, they still love each other. Rayon started working at the age of ten to look for extra income, to help her mother. Her mother is also protective of her. It's just that they don't agree on certain things, particularly with Rayon's self-expression. This includes cutting her hair short, wearing gothic makeup, dying all but one of her clothes black. The one dress she did not dye black was the white dress she wears at every reaping, something she and her mom compromised on.
All this pent up bitterness - from not having a dad to be there for her while growing up, to her mother not really approving of her expressing herself, or even her friends for their gothic influence - makes her obscure all these feelings with her dark façade.
Thinking about her friends and their gothic influence makes Rayon miss them. She doesn't show it, but she feels it. Chenille gave Rayon the goth makeup for the latter's twelfth birthday. That's when she started getting disapproving words from her mother, but does she even give a fuck? Chenille is Rayon's closest friend in their group of four. Tullie is Rayon's gender buddy. They have socially transitioned to drop their binary pronouns, and it's also whom Rayon learned from that she doesn't feel completely like a girl, nor that she has to. Then there's Poplynn. She's what everybody agrees to be the word of reason in the group. She's the sane one. She's the one stopping Chenille from committing arson, or the one telling Rayon that chewing gum will not block the pathway to her lungs.
Her mom may not like it, but Rayon identified with them. She felt freer expressing herself with her friends, than with her mom who thought she only did it with her friends' influence. When in fact, it was within her all this time, with her rugged upbringing.
Gracidea isn't like her friends, even though she has that gothic flair to her too. She threw a tantrum and just left Rayon in the room on her own. Rayon doesn't feel like Gracidea deserves to know the real her just yet. Overall, Rayon is outside of her comfort zone, and she feels unprepared in a big world like this.
Late into the next day, Gracidea and Rayon explore the forest. It's in pastel colors, for something that's on the brighter side. The glimmering trees are pink, blue, and purple, like a fairy rained its tears all over the forest.
The pair hears rustling sounds, so they follow it for as quietly as they can, until they hear a scream.
"Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"
Rayon pushes away the tree branches blocking her vision, to see a boy who just tripped putting his hands up in panic.
"I have nothing! I'm just looking for food. I don't wanna end up like Kyler."
"Kyler?" Rayon repeats softly.
It turns out that Rayon's district partner, Kyler Moquetton, was killed by the boy from Thirteen. This dude ran away from them before finding a portal and ending up in this pastel forest. He introduces himself as Oliver Custard, the sixteen-year-old boy from Nine. He has no weapons, no food, and he tried to eat the icing on the trees, but an unpleasant taste stained his tongue.
As Oliver kept talking, the anthem plays and shows that nobody was eliminated today.
Rayon convinced Gracidea to keep Oliver around, because of his ties with her district partner Kyler.
After a while, they kept walking in search of food. Oliver can't keep his mouth shut, but Rayon and Gracidea seem to tolerate this.
"Did you know that Flash is so cool!? He showed me a clip of him swinging up into a sky island in his arena last year!"
…
"My parents sell custards and pastries, and I love eating them when I visit! This forest doesn't taste anything like that, but man! I had this colorful pastel drink during training. It was made of custard and cream mixed into a latte, and I want my parents to replicate it so we can sell it but I can also taste it every day and…"
…
"This one time, my friends were thinking about flying to the sun at night when it's not hot, and I was like: Dude, the sun is hot even when it's nighttime, but homie wouldn't listen so he's building his makeshift spacecraft and I told him: Dude, that won't fl-"
Gracidea puts a hand over Oliver's mouth and instantly regrets it. She wipes his saliva on his shirt.
"Whoa!" Oliver expresses.
The three of them find themselves in front of a white dome. Upon entering it, they realize that the dome is void of… anything but whiteness. There is nothing there but reflective white walls. They scatter and look around for food, but Rayon…
Something clicks on Rayon's head. This dome structure… This is like the counterpart of where they all began the Hunger Games. On the other side, it is so dark that nothing is visible until they go outside to see the dome, and even that is hard to see. This one here? Rayon sees everything, and yet she doesn't. She looks down on the floor to see an image of her gothic self reflected. There's a contrast when she can see herself everywhere here, compared to being blind on the other side.
She sees something weird between two tiles. She approaches it to find a black crayon. She looks around before vandalizing the nearby tile with it, and weirdly enough, the crayon draws out multiple colors.
"Rayon!" Oliver calls.
Rayon hides the odd crayon in a pocket of her arena uniform. She will think of what to do with this later, or what to use it for, but for something so weird, there has to be some significance to it.
"Rayon, let's go!"
Rayon turns around to see Oliver and Gracidea.
"There you are!"
Day eleven, and it hasn't really been a week in the outside world, but it already feels like a month in this world.
Yesterday, the trio found the trial of the pastel forest, hosted by a pastel unicorn. Their task was to collect ten different species of butterflies in exchange for food and a weapon.
They each struggled to reach ten, but when combined, they had exactly ten. They received a net as well as fondant cake, which made them realize that the whole pastel coating of the forest is fondant icing itself, just not the edible kind apparently.
They gave the colorful net for Oliver to hold, since the two goths didn't feel like using something that colorful themselves.
The other realization Rayon had, which she shared to her allies, was that this side of the world isn't very chalk-like at all. In fact, she hypothesized this to be more crayon-like. Oliver and Gracidea are easily convinced, with them citing other examples of waxy textures around here.
Today, they decide to continue exploring the big pastel forest – which they learned from the unicorn – is known as the Fondant Fairytale.
It doesn't take long for them to find another tribute. This tribute has straight blonde hair, wears eyeglasses over her blue eyes, and carries a big bag.
Although the idea of the Hunger Games is to kill others in this virtual world to come out victorious, the three of them didn't feel comfortable doing so. Oliver, however, forces himself and runs to the girl with the net on his hand.
The girl dodges the attack and yells, "I have food! There's no need for violence."
"Food!?" Oliver's eyes light up.
The anthem plays and no one is eliminated yet again. Seventeen-year-old Elswynne Ting sits down with them and talks about her life, how she had an internship in a hotel in District Four, before going back to District Zero to pursue medicine.
Elswynne keeps talking about herself, and every once in a while Oliver would say something, but he'd get interrupted with Elswynne's relatable story. The two of them have been carrying the conversation. Eventually, Rayon and Gracidea make an understanding eye contact.
"We'd like to excuse ourselves a bit. Y'know, walk around and stretch…" Gracidea says.
"And touch some grass too…" Rayon adds awkwardly.
Elswynne looks at the grass she's already touching. "Um, why don't you leave your bags here?"
Although reluctant, both of them did so. They've trusted Oliver enough to watch over their stuff, but both of them share a bad feeling about this.
Behind a few trees…
"Is it just me?" Gracidea whispers.
"Something's off with her," responds Rayon quietly.
"Yeah yeah!"
"I don't mean to be rude, but all she does is talk about herse-"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH"
Their eyes widen.
That's Oliver's voice!
They run back to find Elswynne retracting her harpoon gun from Oliver's neck. Elswynne sees them and smiles menacingly.
Oliver clutches his neck as his cannon fires: BOOM!
Rayon and Gracidea are frozen in place, and then they see Elswynne scoop up their bags.
"Hey hey!" Gracidea yells in panic.
Rayon runs after Gracidea to get their bags from the traitor.
Rayon is a faster runner, surprisingly, and Elswynne trips on one of the trees' roots.
Rayon has her hand on their bags.
But Elswynne punches her square in the face.
This knocks Rayon out cold.
And Elswynne runs off with their food and supplies.
"Rayon! Rayon!" calls Gracidea as Rayon blacks out.
It's day fourteen. Rayon opens her eyes and wonders, What happened?
Rayon looks at herself. She's covered in pastel, and she stinks. She hasn't taken a shower in a week, real-world time.
Gracidea is nowhere to be found.
Oh no… Gracidea left her too. Now she's all alone.
She wants to get up, and just in time, Gracidea returns from a solo expedition.
"You're awake!" Gracidea greets. "How long have you been…"
Rayon replies, "Just now."
"Good. I was so scared you'd be anxious of me leaving you without a word."
Oh.
"I went to get food for us because I need it, and I know you'd need it too."
Thank you… THANK YOU! Her mind is telling her to express appreciation, but she is speechless. Gracidea gives her a confused look of uncertainty, like she knows Rayon is about to say something, but-
"Thank you…" Rayon finally says.
"Don't worry about it. Just drink up, eat up."
Gracidea talks about how she found a portal to the Aurora Alps, wherein the trial was to surf to the sky. It was impossible! But she got food for both of them.
Three cannons fire as they talk shit about Elswynne from the other day, and after some counting, Gracidea tells Rayon that more than half of the total thirty tributes have been eliminated. They're not sure how many are left, but Gracidea's guess is thirteen.
"Lucky number thirteen!" Gracidea says with a toast with Rayon, both drinking juice.
After the meal, Gracidea offers to lead the way to the portal she found back to the chalk world. On the way there, it isn't as silent as it used to be.
"I don't know how to ask you this," starts off Gracidea. "But what are your pronouns? You give off… an aura… that is unlike mine." Gracidea twirls her locks in nervousness.
"Um… she/they…" stammers Rayon. There's some good feeling to Gracidea saying that she has an aura. Does it mean she's passing as not wholly female? It could be… "Thanks for asking, by the way."
"No no, thank YOU." Gracidea thinks of whether to share a bit of her story or not… hmmm… "You remind me of someone…"
Rayon pauses on her tracks. She knows there's something deeper beneath the surface, but she won't probe on it now. She doesn't want to make her ally feel uncomfortable… that's outside her comfort zone too…
Rayon continues walking, a few meters behind Gracidea. Rayon thought she should've done something that day… that day when Elswynne betrayed them alongside killing Oliver. She should've punched her. She should've ran her over. She should've taken the bags more forcefully. She doesn't know how she'd live like this. It may have been outside her comfort zone, but look what that got her to.
Regret. She should just stop with the should've could've would've. She did not want to hurt people, but these games are brutal, especially for someone who didn't choose to be here.
A tear rolls down her face. She felt it. She's ashamed of it. She's supposed to put up a different type of gloomy, not this. This is not the real Rayon, or so she gaslights herself.
She feels ashamed that she wasn't able to do more because it was outside her comfort zone, and she is more afraid…
To admit it…
They did not feel the transition to the next day, since they went from crayon side to chalk side, like day to night.
Rayon learns that the flipside of the Fondant Fairytale is a disgusting swamp.
"Welcome to the Muddy Mauve!" Gracidea reads a sign. "Beware of Mauvlins."
They enter the dark forest, and there's this icky feeling Rayon gets from inside. She just came from a colorful forest to a dark and swampy one.
It feels like a symbolism, but she doesn't want to think of that now.
Rayon wants to find a trial and get her and Gracidea some food.
And if not, then another tribute may do too, except… she isn't ready to fight yet.
"Watch out!" Gracidea yells.
Rayon ducks but can feel something latching onto her.
In panic, Rayon bonks the mauvlin a tree branch her hand just picked up on.
Rayon makes a run for it with Gracidea, but all they have is…
Nothing.
They had no weapons, and no food left either.
They just have to run around in circles until they lose the energy to do so.
Between tired pants, they know they have to keep going, and when they push themselves past their limit…
Gracidea falls, unable to continue running.
Rayon helps Gracidea up, refusing to leave her behind.
"Go! Just go!" Gracidea insists.
"I'm not leaving you here!" Rayon responds aggressively.
Rayon tries to drag Gracidea, but it's not very effective.
Rayon then tries to put Gracidea on her back, but she can't lift Gracidea up.
"RRHRHRHHHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRROULHHLHHLH!"
Gracidea her eyes, and so does Rayon out of desperation, but neither of them were bitten. Instead, they hear…
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" along with some sloshing sounds.
They open their eyes to see the pair from Four using their glass kunai and their spinning pitchfork to slaughter the mauvlin.
There were a few other mauvlins that came, and Rayon and Gracidea just watched the twins kill the mutts left and right.
At the end of it all, the taller twin throws a pouch of food to them.
"Don't stay here too long." They clear their throat upon hearing the embarrassing voice crack.
With that, the twins left the pair of goths to their defenses.
"Th-thanks…" Gracidea mutters.
Rayon doesn't know what they could've done differently then!
It's like there was no way out if they were both on their own. They were lucky to have been saved by the Fours, but what could this mean?
Rayon felt stronger and braver after trying to help Gracidea, even though it was no use.
She didn't feel comfortable not looking after herself.
She didn't feel comfortable that she was setting herself up for bait as well.
Most of all, she didn't feel comfortable showing a selfless piece of herself, when she's supposed to hold a façade of just being selfish… to people she just met… but was it the right thing to do at least?
She is afraid to die, but she put herself at risk?
She can't stop thinking about everything, but at least it's all over.
And by over, they finally find themselves at the end of the forest.
"No one has come to us before, so if you win this trial, you're getting a bazooka." The anthropomorphic squid-kid hybrid tells them.
"Let's do it!" Gracidea says enthusiastically.
The trial is a team versus team game. In Techno Turf, the team that covers the most ground with their team's color using the provided paint wins the trial. Since Gracidea and Rayon are the only tributes there, they get two squid kids as backup. The color assigned to them is apple green, while the opposing team's color is magenta.
3
2
1
The whistle is blown, and everybody is scrambling to cover as much ground as they can.
Rayon has a giant paint roller she's been using to paint the ground while running.
At the halfway mark, Rayon bumps into an opposing squid kid, who is holding a paintball gun.
The squid kid shoots her, and she stands there… What the heck am I doing?
Rayon feels bad hurting others, but it's a game she has to win.
She uses her roller paint to flatten the squid kid, then she uses it to paint over the magenta territory created by the opposing team.
She comes across another squid kid from the opposing team, and this time, it's no holds barred!
She paints them over and paints over the color they've already done.
Moments later, the whistle blows to signify the end of the turf war.
Upon evaluating the results, the magenta team scored 48.90% while the green team scored 51.10%.
"We won!" celebrates Rayon. She and Gracidea do a high five.
The trial captain congratulates them for their victory, providing them fish fillet with a sauce of their choice. In addition, they have won the paint bazooka, which they tried firing onto a wall on the turf.
BWICK!
"Oh that's pretty strong!" Rayon remarks.
It takes several minutes - by the time Rayon and Gracidea are eating fish - that Rayon realizes that she celebrated and expressed herself out loud, which is unusual for her reticent self to do so.
She then feels a metaphorical twisting of her stomach. She unintentionally showed more of herself to the viewing public, to the whole nation of Panem.
It was not supposed to happen. She puts up all that dark makeup to cover up all her emotions. What would people say when they see the goth uncharacteristically happy?
On top of that, she felt bad hurting the people - or well, half people - but they understand that it's a game and hold no hard feelings for getting trampled over.
Yet… Rayon is the one feeling bad.
Is this what she needs to learn about herself and the world?
Day seventeen, and the pair find themselves sitting on the sand at Barley Beach, the chalk version of it. In fact, the sand feels like chalk powder.
"Oh my god…" Gracidea says, lying down on the beach sand.
"What is it?" Rayon asks.
"I just remembered the day we were attacked by the mauvlins."
Rayon doesn't know what to say.
Gracidea continues after a pause, "And I wanna say thank you for not leaving me behind…"
Rayon still doesn't know what to say.
"Why am I like this…?" Gracidea puts her hands behind her head. "Why am I the one always leaving people behind?"
Rayon feels this as familiar. Gracidea has left her before, although not for malevolent reasons.
"I wanna say sorry… for leaving you in the forest… and… and…" Gracidea closes her eyes.
Rayon relaxes and lies down on the beach too.
Gracidea lets out a sigh between tears. "My ex-girlfriend…"
Rayon feels a pang of grief. No, she didn't relate to it, but she feels bad hearing that.
"She was just like you… even down to the short hair…" Gracidea continues to tell the story, "She had a dark demeanor. She is quiet. She isn't very expressive. She's… she's just the way she is, and I love her for it." Gracidea lets her tears fall to the sides of her face. "One day, she fell ill… I felt scared for her. There was no cure for her disease. I was… I was… I was afraid… afraid that I'd be losing her one day when her disease consumes her. I felt selfish. I felt spiteful. I felt the fear of not wanting her to leave me behind when she passes away…"
Rayon feels a sting in her nose.
"And so… I broke up with her…" Gracidea sobs. "I'm so sorry Viv… I was afraid of being the one left behind, that I left you instead, and you didn't deserve it… even on your deathbed. I was so afraid that you would get mad at me, for hurting you… that I didn't come to say goodbye… until your funeral…"
Rayon doesn't hold back a façade or anything. She just lets those tears fl- no she doesn't. She wipes them off quickly, realizing where it's going.
"Since then… I turned my rainbow to black. All the tie-dyes I had… all the color in my life… I just… couldn't see it the same way anymore… since then, I followed her footsteps, dressing in black, wearing dark makeup, emitting this gloomy vibe."
Rayon didn't realize until this point that this is how Gracidea came to be.
"My father tried to help me get it through, but I closed my doors. I chose the dark side…" Gracidea refuses to elaborate on suicidal thoughts (and also because the author doesn't want the readers to stomach this in detail). "So there is no going back… I am here now, and my look every day reminds me of Viv, my one and only… and whom I still love… even until death… do us part…"
They lie down there for a bit longer.
"I'm sorry for your loss…" Rayon now can't help but think how Gracidea also puts a façade like she does. It's an odd coincidence, but maybe it isn't.
Rayon now thinks about how she'd feel if the person she loved is someone she was so afraid would leave her… that she left them instead…
Yolanda…
Her dark brown skin… her dark brown eyes… her jet black hair, which she keeps in a traditional African-style braid…
Rayon can't imagine her on her deathbed this quickly… no… she shouldn't even be thinking of this…
Yolanda is the person that made her question her sexuality. That panic she felt when she found Yolanda attractive, and how she has been questioning since then.
But homosexual or not, the feeling of having to confess her love to someone…
It's outside my comfort zone…
And yet, she would be afraid to see Yolanda pass away without her getting this off her chest. It's hard like that. When does she compromise her comfort zone for something she feels passionate about?
She knows she's bi, but she also thinks she's ace. She's not comfortable being naked in front of anyone, not even Yolanda. Would being too intimate with Yolanda bring her comfort? She isn't sure either. It's a whole lot of questioning that this world is more than just… living a dreary life. Sure, she lives inside her bubble, and her bubble may be strong enough sometimes, but it can break through, leaving her exposed and uncomfortable and in fear…
It's tough to stay just… Rayon, or at least the façade that she puts up.
She can feel other things that… she'd rather hide, because she's scared… but what if she lets all those feelings out and not regret hiding inside that bubble?
Deep inside… she's sad… she's scared… but what if…
She breaks free?
The next day, Gracidea and Rayon visit Cyan City. It gives off a futuristic and cyberpunk vibe, with its tall buildings, mostly cyan neon lights, and constantly flying aircrafts.
In the middle of exploring the city, they hear gunshots.
The simulated citizens scatter themselves to hide.
Gracidea and Rayon make a run for it too.
They've been turning corner after corner after corner, until they unexpectedly find…
"Is that a portal?" Gracidea asks.
"Let's go!" Rayon reminisces of the time she was scared to go inside one, which to be fair… she didn't know what it would lead her to. Now she sees the color of the other side.
The gunshots get louder, and the hovercraft with big gun barrels appears right above the portal.
Gracidea and Rayon both make a sprint for it. Neither of them are very fast runners, but Rayon is faster, fast enough to land in the crayon world's pillar ruins.
Gracidea follows into the portal shortly after, making a leap as she enters it.
But she doesn't get up.
"We made it!" Rayon says.
Gracidea is lying down face first on the stony ground.
"Gracidea?"
Rayon approaches Gracidea's limp body to see so many bullet holes through her uniform… and body.
"GRACIE!"
Rayon flips over Gracidea's body. She can still feel her breathing, but…
"I-I'm sorry…" Gracidea mutters. "I'm… so… sorry… I… have… to… leave… you… be…hind…"
"GRACIE NO!"
BOOM!
"NO! NO NO NO NO NO! WAKE UP GRACIE! IT'S NOT OVER YET!"
It was, in fact, over for Gracie. Her face was already in the white crayon-side sky, and Rayon is still coping with the loss of her ally.
It's different when a father figure is not around for all her life, when compared to someone being there for her suddenly… gone…
Well, she's still alive out there. She was just eliminated and Rayon hopes they can communicate long distance when this is over, but one of her fears has become a reality sinking in.
I am completely alone in the arena.
A few hours later, when she's ready, she gets up to explore the ruins. She finds an uncanny structure of a temple. It may be crayon-textured, but it is sandy in color in contrast to the greens and grays of the rest of the ruins in her surroundings. The temple looks like a couple of cuboids of different volumes (but with almost the same height) stacked into a pyramid. It also looks like it belongs in a desert, like it would have booby traps to protect a jewel hidden inside.
Anyway, it looks important but the entrance is blocked.
She walks further to find three pillars that look even more important than the temple, because the runes of the pillars are glowing in yellow, magenta, and azure. There is a lake at the center with a giant rock in the middle of it.
"Welcome to the trial of the pillar," the hooded spirit in azure greets.
"In order to pass our trial," the hooded spirit in yellow continues.
"You need to pass three mini-trials," the hooded spirit in magenta completes.
"The trail of knowledge," the yellow one starts.
"The trial of emotion," the magenta one succeeds.
"And the trial of willpower," the azure one concludes.
That is a lot of trials, and Rayon wonders how she can complete them all.
Rayon can't believe she completed all three mini-trials.
"For your reward, you get to choose one dish, any dish, perhaps your favorite dish," the azure one says.
Cookies, thinks Rayon. "Cookies!"
With that, Rayon receives a box of cookies from the three spirits. She also expects a weapon, but…
"We're sorry. The red chain has already been claimed," according to the yellow one.
Well, that's a bummer.
"Maybe we can entertain you with something else…" offers the magenta one.
Rayon remembers this weird crayon she picked up from the white dome. She takes it out and asks, "What do you know about this?"
The three of them inspect the coloring tool together.
"This looks like a potential for power," the azure one hypothesizes.
"If you know where to go," suggests the yellow one, "you can unleash its full potential."
The magenta one says, "When you connect your heart and soul with this, you may be…"
"Almost unstoppable!" finishes the azure one.
The yellow one adds, "Seek for a mysterious ancient relic…"
"And that power is all yours…" The azure one returns the crayon to Rayon.
"Thank you," Rayon says.
"Always do your best!" says the azure one.
"May wisdom guide you!" says the yellow one.
The magenta one waves until the last moment. "Don't forget to have fun!"
Later that day, Rayon has Nuca Quola, the boy from Thirteen, cornered. He was the one who killed Kyler, her district partner, and this is Rayon's chance to avenge him.
"Listen… you don't have to do this." Nuca cowers in fear. "I have a child."
Rayon holds her demeanor still, but inside, she's shocked. Is this guy serious?
"I have two childs… I have two childs I forgot about… please…" Nuca is doing his best to get out of a situation. Running would not help him because Rayon's bazooka is aimed at him.
Rayon changes her expression into something uplifting.
"It's two children, not childs." Rayon fires the bazooka.
BOOM!
The next day, Rayon still feels bad having to kill someone, but it was necessary, both for the game and for avenging her district partner. She still felt guilty, and it may have been outside her comfort zone, but she still has a chance to win, and she has to do it for Gracidea, for Kyler, and even for Oliver!
Heading west, Rayon finds a river trial. Answering the riddles correctly will grant her access to a portal, along with food. It takes her a whole day to figure out the solutions to the three riddles she's been given, but what matters is getting them done, giving her access to Realm Resort on the chalk side the day after.
BOOM!
Rayon hasn't been keeping count how many are left, but she bumps into quite a pleasant surprise.
"Well well well, have I been waiting for you, and your friend, but sorry about her. I saw her face in the sky a while back." The taller one finger-combs his shoulder-length hair back. "I realized I never introduced myself. My name is Zosimus Aotearoa, fourteen, he-they. This is my sister slash sibling slash twin, Zostera, she-they. We both go by Zossie, but I also go by Zoss or Sim, and my sis can go by Zozo or Ter." He lets out a hand.
Zostera waves to Rayon expressionlessly.
Rayon shakes both their hands. "Rayon Skinner, fourteen, she-they."
"Ah, a fellow they. I knew I could count on you." Zosimus grins. "Now let's get down to business. Have you heard of the pyramids of the arena?"
"No…?" Rayon is unsure. In a world like this, anything is possible.
"Ah, well, I've heard the locals talk about a mysterious pyramid on the crayon side of Realm Resort. I was wondering if you have any idea, but that doesn't seem like the case." Zosimus clears his throat. "Shall we go and inspect it?"
Rayon shrugs. "Why not?"
Unlike the chalk side of Realm Resort where there's a whole civilization of witches, the crayon side is just a cloud world. They're walking on clouds and they can see a white pyramid in the distance. When they reach it…
"It's locked," Zostera says in a low voice.
"Hmmm…" Zosimus thinks. "This is too simple of a keyhole." Zosimus points to a circular hole. It is indeed too simple of a keyhole.
Rayon puts a finger around the hole. There's a powdery feel to it. She doesn't know how to work this out, but then she gets an idea.
Rayon takes out the mysterious crayon from her pocket. She pushes it in the keyhole, and this has both Aotearoa twins' eyes wide.
Rayon tries to push the crayon over, and over, and over. It's at this point that she realizes, "Maybe this is not the key…"
"Where did you get that?" Zosimus asks.
Rayon realizes that nobody knew about this, not even Gracidea. "I… I found it in the white dome."
"Oh?" Zosimus gets the black crayon and scratches a bit of it on the pyramid wall, showing off its iridescent color. "This is one odd crayon." Zosimus returns it Rayon. "I guess we have no way in then." Zosimus touches the keyhole and feels something powdery around it.
"What is our next step?" Zostera asks.
"Hmmm…" Zosimus isn't sure what to do either, but he's used to being in the position of a leader. "Maybe we can find answers in the white dome. It's a shot in the dark, but I think it's worth a shot."
"Mm." Rayon nods once.
On day twenty-one, Rayon bumps into the twins at Realm Resort.
On day twenty-two, Rayon and the twins wander across an ancient pyramid.
On day twenty-three, they go to the Blank Blanche to seek answers on how to unlock the pyramid.
Two cannons fired on their way here. Rayon is lucky that the twins have so much food to share with her. She wonders where and how they got so many.
"Nothing…" laments Zosimus in disappointment.
Rayon hasn't given up searching, but there doesn't seem to be any other clue. She returns to the tiles where she found the crayon. Still nothing but that weird crack. She tries to take off the tiles.
CLANG!
Zostera and Zosimus follow the sound to see Rayon finding a triangle etched behind where the tile used to be. They approach Rayon to get a closer look.
"Interesting…" Zosimus muses. He still hasn't connected all the dots, but he has a theory. "How about…"
Rayon and Zostera turn to him.
"How about we split up and find this pyramid? I don't think there's just one of them."
Rayon isn't comfortable with the idea that she has to be on her own again, but this isn't her first rodeo. She's been alone before, and it wasn't as bad as she thought.
"That's not a bad idea…" Rayon somewhat agrees. If she finds this pyramid, she would have the key to it, and the twins wouldn't. It's not really her loss, she thinks.
"Great! Hope this isn't the end for us." Zosimus offers his hand.
Rayon shakes theirs goodbye.
After playing a game of croquet, Rayon wins food from the trial. The mallet has already been claimed, according to the valley troll, but that mallet isn't really hard to find.
At the crater lake, Castella Silverguild, the sixteen-year-old girl from Two, attacks Rayon with the mallet.
Rayon is able to block the attack with her bazooka.
Castella then tries to smash Rayon's bazooka, before Rayon pulls away, prompting Castella to miss that last swing.
Rayon runs away because she doesn't have a plan, but Castella is hot on her heels.
Rayon prepares her bazooka and aims it as Castella.
But Rayon misses and Castella jumps into the air in hopes of landing her mallet on Rayon's head.
Rayon tries to run, but then she trips, causing Castella to miss.
Castella rolls forward, mallet still in hand.
Rayon takes this opportunity to aim her bazooka at Castella once again.
BOOM!
Rayon relaxes and sighs in relief after making sure she eliminates Castella. She takes the mallet and remaining food supply with her. She then looks around to see a portal. She isn't really expecting one to be here, but something tells her to enter it.
It's already day twenty-five when she finds the chalk world's crater, empty of water, an interesting contrast to the crayon side's abundant lake, but that wasn't the most intriguing part of all this.
Rayon sets her sights on a black pyramid barely visible at the far end of the barren crater.
When she gets there, she puts her finger around the keyhole and can feel a waxy texture around it. Rayon is feeling confident that this keyhole right here is for the mysterious crayon she found several days ago. She inserts it, and the pyramid's door opens.
Upon entering, she is surprised to see the reflective white walls like that of the dome. At the end of the room is a white deity, sitting on its throne.
It adjusts its crown of colorful crayons before getting up to greet Rayon.
"Welcome to the bright enclave of a dark world. My name is Shiroblanco, and I want to thank you for breaking my curse."
Curse?
"As a token of appreciation, there is no trial. I am honored to bless you with my powers." Shiroblanco raises his arms, and every color imaginable whirls around him. He passes this whirling colors to Rayon, until it wraps her enough to-
BLING!
Rayon opens her eyes to see a colored pyramid from the once-white walls, with no deity in sight, nor sound, nor smell.
What blessing did she receive? She doesn't really know. What can all of this mean? All of a sudden, her Hunger Games journey is presented through her in mural art.
She sees everything, and yet…
Have I really seen everything?
The next day, Rayon wakes up on the throne. She idles for a good thirty minutes, before hearing a cannon, followed by an announcement.
"Attention tributes! In five minutes, you will be warped into the Dawn-Dusk Dojo. Please prepare for the final fight. It is time to crown a victor."
Rayon finds herself in a dark fortress-like dungeon. There are multiple rooms in this labyrinthine building, and although she doesn't really want to fight, she has to go around and look for her first opponent.
She has to win, for her family… for her friends… for her district… for Gracidea…
BOOM!
It takes her a while to find someone, but when she does, she finds none other than the girl from District Zero.
"Elswynne!"
Elswynne is blind in one eye, blood trickling over her dead eye.
"I didn't think I'd see you again." Elswynne smiles menacingly as she whips out her red chain.
So that's where it went!
Elswynne uses the chain to whip Rayon.
But she misses, as Rayon rolls away.
"Argh!"
Rayon takes out her mallet.
But Elswynne wraps her chain around it.
"Don't! …even think about it."
Rayon grits her teeth in annoyance.
Rayon tries to hold on, but Elswynne pulls the mallet.
"It's mine now!" Elswynne claims.
Quickly, Rayon tries to prepare her bazooka.
Then Elswynne uses her red chain to latch onto it too.
"It's over! Give up already!"
But R refuses to give up. She still has a grip of her bazooka.
With enough strength and determination, R launches explosive paint and aims it straight into Elswynne's face.
BOOM!
"AAAAAGH!"
Elswynne isn't dead yet, but her red chain isn't grappling the mallet or the bazooka anymore.
Rayon launches another shot with the bazooka.
"AAAAAGH!"
Rayon is not giving up, but maybe a different method would work instead.
"You can't kill me! The red chain holds my life together."
Maybe that's it then.
Rayon pulls the red chain from Elswynne's grip. That's when she realizes that the weapon is wrapped around her muscles.
Rayon pulls harder anyway. She doesn't give up and uses up whatever strength in her body to win, and avenge Oliver too.
Rayon can feel it moving. The red chain isn't strong enough to stay on El's body. She makes one last tug, and-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Elswynne is still alive, and so Rayon picks up the mallet with the chain, and uses it to smash Elswynne's head.
BOOM!
Elswynne's head is sent flying away from her body. Thankfully, she isn't really dead, but this is one gory sight to see.
She goes around the dojo to find someone else. At one point, the gravity shifts, and the chalk-side darkness transforms into a crayon-side brightness.
In a hallway, Rayon finds Zostera lying down lifelessly.
Damn…
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH"
Rayon knows she's gonna find whoever wins that fight. All she hopes is that she's not outnumbered.
She flies past a few more corners, near where the physics shift. Then she sees it.
BOOM!
The head of the boy from Twelve flies to hers. She rubs her own head before dropping the boy's freakishly.
"Well well well… I can only hope for a worthy opponent."
Rayon recognizes that voice, down to the cracks.
Zosimus cackles. "I knew you had potential, but oh dear… do I regret saving you in the swamp?" He playfully kicks the Twelve boy's head. "You see, he took my sister's life, and it was only right for me to avenge her." Zosimus kicks his head further before cackling once again.
"Well…"
Rayon readies herself.
"It's about time." Zosimus snaps his fingers and pastel colors wrap around him.
Rayon's jaw's agape. He's transforming!
Zosimus is now in the shade of a chalkboard, holding multiple pastel crayons on his hands.
"Can't you do the same too?"
Rayon looks at her hands, and she can see it sparkling. She claps aloud once, and colors surround her too.
Somehow, she feels like she's no longer the girl she used to be - putting up a dreary façade to hide that sad and scared kid inside a perfect little bubble. She's no longer afraid of being alone, nor is she afraid to fight for her life.
This Rayon is more than just the Rayon she used to be - black and white.
This Rayon has added color to her life, and now, she can see better through the allegory of a mystical crayon, dark on the outside, but colorful deep within.
She is the crayon.
It's been an hour since they have both been firing chalk and crayon bullets at each other, flipping between dimensions when they cross it.
They're both worn out, but neither are giving up.
Rayon can see the cracks in Zosimus's chalk-like form.
Zosimus can see the dents in Rayon's crayon-like form.
Zosimus raises both hands to fire multiple bullets at the same time.
Rayon dodges it by hiding behind a wall.
Suddenly beside her, she sees the bazooka she dropped before heading into this battle.
It's still usable.
Zosimus looks sideways to see the flamethrower the boy from Twelve dropped. His face forms a smug smile, as he picks up the flamethrower. "Perfect," he whispers to himself.
Zosimus approaches the wall where Rayon is hiding. "You've put up a fight like no other, but unfortunately for you, it is over."
Before Zosimus can open fire, Rayon splats an explosive paintball onto Zosimus's face, catching him off guard.
He wipes away the paint to see better.
But Rayon picks up the mallet on the other wall adjacent to the room's entryway.
Rayon would have asked Zosimus for any last words…
But this swing…
It's like Rayon is smashing her own façade…
It's like Rayon is breaking her shell…
It's like Rayon is facing her fears…
It's like Rayon is changing for the better…
It's like Rayon is finally overcoming her old self to show the world what the true Rayon is really like…
Just as Zosimus wipes off the paint from his face, Rayon's mallet makes an impact on Zosimus's head, detaching itself from his neck, and landing on the ground, crumbling into dozens of pieces.
BOOM!
"Please welcome our victor for the 20th Hunger Games, Rayon Skinner!"
It's the winter holidays, roughly a month and a half since the Games ended.
Rayon and Yolanda are chatting outside their porch.
All they want to do is protect her, and hold her hand, and share hugs with her.
"Yolanda, I want to say something..."
Yolanda turns to Rayon. "Go on."
"I never thought I'd meet anyone as cute as you, Yolanda. You are the crayons in my crayon box, and I don't think I can imagine living a world without you."
They can see the sparkle in her eyes, but she must continue.
Rayon bends on one knee, goes to her pocket, and takes out a box.
Yolanda is covering her mouth in shock.
Rayon opens the box and asks, "Will you marry me?"
"What the fuck!" Yolanda exclaims in shock.
"GAH!" Rayon sits up in shock.
That must have been the weirdest dream they have ever gotten ever since confessing to Yolanda.
Life has been better though. They thought confessing to Yolanda would mess up their relationship. It turns out, Yolanda likes them too.
As if things could not get any better, Yolanda opens up questioning her sexuality too, how she never wanted to get too intimate with anybody too, but she likes people regardless of their gender.
Their family is proud of her. Grandpa and Mom did not expect they would come out victorious, and grow from the little child they were. On the topic of gender and sexuality, Rayon's mom is still learning and adjusting to Rayon being themself, but at least she's improving ever since their victory. She has become less controlling of Rayon after Rayon mentioned in passing that they don't really like getting too intimate with anybody. It was their mother's utmost concern all her life, having made the mistake of getting pregnant at a young age and birthing Rayon when she was just sixteen. She felt more relaxed knowing Rayon is unlikely to follow her regretful footsteps.
Rayon's friends have been more expressive to one another ever since they saw Rayon open up on national TV. Rayon still feels embarrassed thinking about it, but now they have become a role model to young people who relate to them, and that's something nobody can take away from them.
They have been in communication with Gracidea. The two of them aren't very different from each other, as they learned when they first met. Gracidea has been going back to her rainbows and tie-dyes, even opening an online store to honor Viv and spread awareness of her disease.
Rayon has also been on speaking terms with the Zossies. Zosimus holds no ill-will to Rayon's victory despite a bitter second-place finish. In fact, Zosimus was very proud of how Rayon won the Games. It was not what he expected. Rayon will be meeting the twins in a week. District Four is a hotspot for tourism after all.
Elswynne has apologized for her actions and congratulated Rayon for her win too.
Oliver has been sharing memes in the group chat non-stop. He created it in the first place, so he's friends with everyone, sorta.
If you ask Rayon months ago how she sees herself, they'd give a nonchalant shrug knowing deep down that they're lost in a big world.
If you ask Rayon now how she sees herself, she'd say, "It's easy to get lost in a big world, but we learn along the way because there's always room for growth. No matter the bend and break, I'll always be Rayon, and I'm unapologetically myself."