Kadon Jermaine
Tech Team, Department 1 (Arena)
Age 25
Four weeks before the reaping
"Department 1, can you take anything seriously?" Vasilius playfully asks from across the ivory table, lines racing around the edges in a fashion of detailed golden embroiderment. His voice light, thin and utterly airy, falling gracefully from his lips. Kadon turns to look at his counterparts, Maddox and Cerion, but they just laugh his remark away. Equal grins and spirited laughter play at the pair's features, tugging at the shadows hidden in the bags under their eyes.
Kadon just bows his head, submissively nodding to Vasilius even though he knows there was nothing he'd done wrong. He'd never been one to do much wrong, always his friends dragging him into chaos and trouble. He is always the one to either get them out, or wait for it to be all over and he could go back up to his room. The midnight black room, lined almost too carefully with the demons alluring from the depths of his bitter past.
A past he rarely even had the guts to talk about, fearing others would see him as weak. And most did, deprived him of a social life until he became a quiet shell of himself. However, that seemingly was before his striving and achieving nature landed him a firm spot on the Capital's very own Tech Team-
"Excuse you." Maddox chirps, lightly interrupting Kadon's racing thoughts. Raask lightly punches Cerion on the shoulder, rolling his eyes at the giggling pair.
"Excuse me?" Vasilius asks, letting out a small wispy sigh.
"Yes, you." Cerion chimes.
"Why him?" Raask asks, a small laugh tugging at the corners of his pale pink lips.
"Because." Maddox smiles.
"Whatever," Leo says in her commanding voice. Even as the youngest of the group, Leo had quite the stubborn and powerful voice. Kadon doesn't mind Leo, he actually likes that she's quite the wildcard, enjoying the scenes that unfolded before him. All involving the young girl.
"What she said." Acne pipes up for the first time since the meeting had started. Kadon knows Acne is a bit more introverted than some of their colleagues, causing the two to feel a sense of closeness when around each other. It's not like either hated people, it's just that neither could go on and on like Maddox or Cerion or Leo.
Words are always hard for Kadon to muster so he just nods, smiling gently at Vasilius.
"Thank you Leo but don't forget your place in this meeting."
"I know." Leo sighs, tilting her head in Kadon's direction.
"Do you though?" Raask asks, sarcasm dripping from his tan features.
"I do, thank you very much," Leo says as she crosses her arms. Her dark eyes staring Raask down but the man doesn't back down from her glare. Acre looks at Kadon and giggles for a second before nodding in the pair's direction.
"I don't wanna argue with you." Raask laughs playfully, raising his eyebrows to the ceiling.
"I know." Leo sighs, sitting back in her pale blue office chair.
"Alright, now please, let's focus." Vasilius says, "Thea's given us a general idea for the arena, it's our job to make it pop to life."
"Isn't that Thea's job?"
"No, no it's not."
"She's head gamemaker, right?" Diletha asks.
"Yes but no, it's complicated..." Vasilius says but Kadon doesn't hear his next few words as a pain sputters from his stomach. He reels back from the table, trying to hold in the bile that threatens to make its way out onto the marbled floor. Kadon's insides churn and he can feel the color graining rapidly from his face.
"Kadon?" Acre asks, concern labeling his expression. Kadon doesn't answer, instead, he rolls from his chair onto the ground in a very ungraceful fashion. Vile-smelling vomit escapes his mouth as the sudden dizziness holds tight to his mind. Other Tech Team members start to crowd around Kadon, features laced with confusion, worry and concern.
"What is going on Kadon? Are you feeling alright?"
"No." Kadon admits, his stomach twisting and lurching about. "I feel terrible."
"You look terrible." Leo says, but stops with the sarcasm when Cerion shoots her a fierce glare. Kadon's sudden sickness riddles his insides, twisting and turning as he moans in shattering pain. He'd always had a great immune system, the sudden wave of vomit and dizziness unbelievable and highly concerning.
"Let's get you cleaned up." Raask offers, holding out his hand. At first, Kadon shrugs it away, whispering about how he'll be fine, before he caves and grips the man's arm. Raask pulls Kadon to his feet, staying strong when a wave of dizziness racks Kadon's head and he collides with Raask's side.
"You gonna take him to the bathroom?" Leo asks.
"Yeah." Raask nods," anyone have an idea why he suddenly looks and feels terrible?"
"None of us are good with medicine," Cerion admits.
"You're not wrong, Kadon's the medic here but until he feels better, we gotta take care of him. I'll just get him some water, he'll be fine." Raask says as Kadon subsides and gets lost in the daydream of the spinning world around him.
Thea Daxton
Head Gamemaker
Age 27
Four weeks before the Reaping
Thea sits peacefully on the icy riverbank, twirling a curl of her midnight dark hair between the soft tips of her index finger and thumb. She stares blankly out at the dark blue stream, listening to the delicate and hushed whisper usher itself from the water's deep depths. An utter echo, song-like thing pertaining in line to the cloudy sky above her.
A draft of bitter wind ruffles through her body, sending a shiver up her spine. Sending a breeze that tugs on her hair, swirling it in the wind as she slowly closes her eyes. Tilting her head up towards the sky, Thea accepts the comforting blanket of snowflakes pattering on her rosy cheeks and collect on her dark eyelashes. For a moment the woman feels free, an utter peace filling her soul as a smile creeps onto her tan features. Smiles are delicate things and rarely does Thea see one steal at the corners of her dry lips.
Not since she let her best friend, partner, vanish into thin air. Ash was her everything and for her just to disappear, shattered Thea's already broken reality. All she had left was a simple note, a broken heart and a tattoo that never wanted to disappear with time. Time. It had been almost four years since Ash slipped into the night, running away with the soft musical beat of Thea's heart.
How much Thea's inside's twisted at the thought of her almost-lover. The pair had been young, their emotions a tattered mess. But Ash Dutchmann was the best thing that has happened to Thea, her liveliness bringing out the best in the utterly lost shell of a girl. The one who thought she only could rely on herself, the guarded one who never let anyone in. Ash seemingly changed all that.
It started out as best friends, spending every waking moment attached at the hip. It was always Ash and Thea, Thea and Ash. They made a harmony of personas, blending and balancing the other one out.
Slowly their relationship grew, blossoming like the lilacs and roses that enchanted Thea's garden every springtime. Slowly, Thea let Ash in past her cement walls, the ones she built to protect her heart after the death of her father. When others are around her, they tend to get hurt and she didn't want to play with Ash's feelings. For a while Thea didn't show any compassion to the girl, leaving their relationship feeling utterly one-sided.
But after a while, the girls grew close. Too close.
Thea knows time heals everything but it hasn't seemed to make Ash's memory any fainter. Her voice echoing through Thea's thoughts. The light patter of a laugh Ash hid under her soft features, rolling from her tongue in a soft melody of piano notes intertwining with each other. Ash could never stand silence, her words piercing through the bleak, dim darkness like an arrow into the rippled bark of a pine tree. Every time she opened her mouth, something beautiful uttered its way from her pink lips.
She could paint portraits of masterpieces with her gleaming eyes, tell complete stories with her body language. Her dreams alluring nightmares in utter disguise. Ash had been such a big part of Thea's life, her everything. They were partners-
That's when the idea riddled her thoughts. The word partners milling itself on her tongue, chasing away any distractions around her. Two lives pulled together by a stronger force than death or life itself. Sparks flew around her and the pieces started to fall into place for this year's games. Thea knows she has to light these Hunger Games up, for it's the first year District Fourteen is required to offer in two teenagers to fight alongside the eleven other districts in the games of a lifetime.
"Thea?" a young voice asks and Thea can't help but jump. She didn't expect anyone to come out into the icy snow, much less try to talk to her.
"Yes?" Thea asks, uncurling her fingers from a fist she didn't know she'd formed.
"You're going to catch a cold, com'on." Asli, Thea's assistant, replies offering her hand to Thea.
"Whatever." Thea sighs, taking the girl's steady grip. A grip that seemingly had at one point fallen, posing the idea of loss in Asli's past.
"Delta is waiting for you inside."
"My office? Shit, we gotta go." Thea says jumping to her feet, letting the much younger assistant take a running lead.
Foster Grant
Intern #16
Age 16
4 weeks until the reaping
Foster shoots a glance at Avi for a split second, her features radiating the beams of dim light casting down upon the pair as they make their way through the apartment hallway. Her smile shines bright, casting its own beaming glow his way. Avi turns away from Foster and races down the hall to Dahlia's room. She lets out an excited giggle as her footsteps pound towards the door at the end of the hallway.
Avi and Dehila had always been much more energetic and lively than Foster himself. Both rarely able to keep in a still position for very long. But, he enjoys listening to them bounce back and forth off each other's thoughts, words dripping so carelessly from their lips. He thoroughly enjoys just listening to them go on and on for hours, radiating each other's smiles.
Smiles. Foster loves when his friends smile but it often gets the trio into trouble. Not necessarily smiles themselves, just the devilish smirk that often partakes Dahlia and Avi's features at the newest prank idea. Foster lets his best friends drag him into their schemes, who else would get them out when the plan inevitably failed, if he didn't? No one, that's who and without him, both Avi and Dahlia would probably end up in serious trouble.
Avi knocks three times, a simple code they'd come up with for when needing each other, on Dahila's door. She shoots Foster a small grin and lets out another small giggle. Foster can't help but smile as Avi rushes towards him, grabbing his wrist. She pulls him forward, causing him to pick up his pace. Foster lets out a small sigh as he lets his friend pull him quickly onto the doormat. The pair waiting casually for their friend to open the oak paneling of a door.
"Dahlia, come on, I know you're in there," Avi calls, still holding onto Foster's wrist. "You said you had lots of emails to sort through before this afternoon so Foster and I came to cheer you up because well, why not?" Avi bounces lightly on the balls of her feet, terribly eager. Something about today had made Avi all jittery and Foster's almost certain it had to do with their first shift at camp this evening.
The pair wait for a second before Avi turns to Foster. He's about to suggest that they leave her be before Avi adjusts her ponytail, gritting her teeth as she turns to the door handle. Foster finds himself holding his bitter breath, his heart pounding wildly in his chest for little reason. Avi slowly turns the unlocked- which is weird in itself as Dahlia likes keeping her doors locked- handle. The door creaks open, stabbing at the room's silent demeanor.
Foster hears a high-pitched scream and sees a flash of dark purple clothing. The bathroom door slams suddenly shut, closing its walls on the pair. Avi looks up at Foster and slowly nods, her midnight hair swishing back and forth. Both Foster and Avi make their way to the bathroom door on the other end of the room from the door, their footsteps quiet but quick.
"Dahlia?" Avi asks as Foster leans his forearm against the bathroom door. His breath comes in shallow wheezes, mind racing a thousand thoughts a second.
"You alright?" Foster finishes his friend's sentence. Dahlia turns on the faucet, the rushing water praying at her for an answer to Foster's question. She lets out a small whimper as the frenetic sound of harsh scrubbing evades Foster's ears.
"Go away," Dahlia says, her words stinging at Foster's hard exterior. He cares about Dahlia, it's not like he's going to leave her to fall to whatever wolves lay below her.
"Why?" Foster asks, and from inside the bathroom, Dahlia lets out a small wispy sigh.
"Now, please." Dahlia replies, her voice monotone and emotionless.
"Come on, just open the door. Why are you hiding from us?" Foster croaks, confused as to why his friend wouldn't open the door.
"I'm only going to tell you once- go away," Dahlia says, the sudden change from the lively, friendly girl he'd talked to this morning, confusing Foster. All he wants to do is make her feel better, absolutely hating seeing others in pain. And Dahlia knows this, so why wouldn't she let him in?
"Fine. I'll give you space, come on Avi." Foster says, yet not taking his eyes away from the bathroom door.
"Foster…" Avi starts, mouth hanging wide as Foster forces himself to tear his dark eyes away from the dark stained oak door. One not unlike the front door outside of her room.
He lets out a dazed croak as Avi holds up a long curved blade. One with a dripping, goopy scarlett settling the cold metal. Detailed layers of Damascus steel crumple over the knife's shiny outer surface, creating a dazzling pattern now hidden by crimson, presumably blood. Why did Dahlia have a bloody knife sitting on her nightstand? Is that why she wouldn't open the door?
"What the hell is going on Dahlia?" Avi asks.
"Go, please, you shouldn't be here." Dahlia sobs over the rushing water, the emotionless tone vanishing into deep sadness that laced her stinging words.
"BODY! BODY IN THE BATHROOM!" Foster hears someone shout and instinctively his hand flies to cover his mouth.
"Dahlia, what's going on? Don't lie." Avi asks, setting down the blade lightly. She continues staring at it, shimmering eyes burning holes in the bayonet.
"You need to go, please, if they find me, they'll find you," Dahlia screams, shutting the water off.
Suddenly all the pieces click into place, no wonder Dahlia would never talk about her past in Fourteen. She didn't want anything like this to come up, but against her wishes it has. But that's not what he can focus on now, Foster's stuck with his best friends and they're going to fix whatever Dahlia has gotten herself into.
"No, if you go down, I am too," Foster says, biting his lip. A sharp pang and the taste of iron drips onto his tongue but he takes no notice.
"I want you to go, the Tech Team will be here soon."
"Dahlia, we're sticking with you, whatever this is," Avi says calmly.
"No, I can't, won't drag you down with me."
"Too bad, we're not leaving." Avi chimes, moving to stand beside Foster. Her dark eyes shine as bright as glowing dark orbs, burning with fiery passion and set determination.
"I need you to," Dahlia says, swallowing forcefully, trying to keep away the burning tears.
"No," Foster says stubbornly and Avi nods, they are in this together.
"Fine, only because I have to move now or else I'm dead." Dahlia caves under the pressure of time, she busts open the door, moving at a brisk jog. She throws on a sweatshirt over her dark purple T-shirt, moving at an absurd speed.
She'd obviously done this before.
Killed? How had Foster never realized?
"Avi, what do you know about Raask Elio and Kadon Jermaine?" Dahlia says, quickly turning Foster and Avi who stand, utterly stunned and speechless.
"They're Tech Team members, why?" Avi asks, her voice slow as Dahlia whips around the room, hands flying over blue-print-looking papers. She shoves them a drawer, grabbing the handle of the blade Avi had found.
"Ugh, I really liked him so I was emotional and sloppy. I hate being an assassin sometimes, but then you guys ugh, came at the exact wrong time." Dahlia starts, grabbing a wipe from a package in her closet.
"Who did you kill?" Foster asks, "and what can we go to help?"
"It is not important who's dead, it's important to clear the evidence."
"Did you leave anything in the bathroom that could point to you?" Avi asks, sliding into Dahila's office chair. She enters the passcode and searches up Raask's bio on the Tech Team's website. Of course, both Avi and Foster knew her computer passcode but not this...?
"Of course not, I'm not a newbie you idiot," Dahlia says, cleaning off the blade with the brass-colored wipe in her hand.
"You're-e not?" Foster asks, still stunned Dahlia had hidden this from the pair of them.
"Raask Elio- age 26, male, born in the Capital. His parents were rebels who died when he was ten-years-old. This caused him a lot of trauma and he ended up in the foster system. Ran away from home multiple times before gaining himself a job as an intern to Delta Moonshade, Head of Arena Protection. From there, his work ethic eventually mirrored itself to Mae Chan, Head of Tech Team before Vasilius Montgomery. She saw his effort and recruited him to the Tech Team. He was mentored by Maddox Amari before settling in."
"Wow, you found all of that?" Foster asks as Dahlia flies around the room.
"God I knew it, amazing job Avi, now Kadon?" she asks, opening a secured locked box beneath her Capital Seal Poster. Reaching into the dark hole behind the poster, Dahlia pulls out another knife. This one smaller but still the same bright metallic sheen as the one she held in her left hand. The weapon danced on her palm before finding its place in the safe-looking type box. Dahlia lays both of the blades in the silver box before shoving it inside the dark, willowing hole. The hole can't be more than two arms length apart but it is long enough to fit her whole arm, up to her armpit, inside. She moves around the box for a second before quickly pulling her hand out of the hole and moving the poster frame back to its position.
"Kadon Jermaine- age 25, male, born in District Four. Past unknown but came to the Capital when he was 20, securing a spot on the Tech Team only a year after Raask. He was mentored by Diletha Rath and wow, his form is almost all blank."
"Well shit."
"Why is that bad?" Foster asks, the idea of one of his best friends as a murder still not settled against his tan skin.
"Becau-"
The harsh beep of an intercom interrupts Dahila's explanation. The noise followed by a deep voice that starts to boom over the loudspeaker. "Can I have the interns, Avi Celt, Casper Emri, Adele Mahana, Faye Wells, Ida Thalitu and Rita Scular, please report to station Three for testing."
"Testing?" Avi asks, slowly getting to her feet.
"Avi you gotta go, it will be fine. I got tested yesterday." Foster says and Dahlia nods as another beep commences, signaling the end of the announcement.
"See you guys later," Avi says, shooting Foster and Dahila a small, energetic smile.
"What can I do to help?" Foster asks as Dahlia watches Avi leave, shutting the door firmly behind her.
A/N: Annnnd we're back with another chapter! STABOOM.
I'm sorry about how late this prologue was, I've had a lot on my plate recently but I swear I didn't forget about y'all. I wanted to post a few days ago but some things came up and I was unable to. However, there are only 12 more days to get your subs in! I still have quite a few open spots so I'd love it if you spread the word out to anyone who might be looking for an open SYOT but if not that's cool as well. I love all of the subs I've gotten so far and just want to thank everyone who's subbed/planned to sub/reviewed or even just taken a little bit of time to read a prologue or two. Y'all are awesome staboom.
This is the only time you will see me not make PoVs the same wc. I realized there was a lot more story in Foster's PoV so I'm sorry about that, I hope it wasn't too jarring to read. Also yes, I know how similar Foster and Kadon are and those PoVs weren't meant to fall together in the same, but they did so oops. I'll avoid that when it comes to intros, trying to separate out the different subs and things.
So yeah, I think that's all I got- as always have a good day/night/afternoon.
Bye for now,
Marie
(Also get your subs in on time or I will stab you, that is a threat)