Intros, Pt. 2:


It wasn't too warm outside. But there wasn't a cloud for miles and a small breeze was sweeping through, as evidenced by the gentle swaying of the weeds. Maybe she should've been enjoying the pleasant weather too. Kids were playing, teens were sitting under trees and chatting, adults went for walks together.

But…there was something about being inside that she appreciated more.

Skylar Rapaport turned her attention back to the blank sheet in front of her, and frowned. How many hours had gone by? Four? Five? Plenty of time to crank at least a short story out. And what did she have to show for it?

Ab-so-lute-ly nothing.

Skylar contemplated crumpling up the paper out of pure frustration. No, she shouldn't. Would be a waste. Not exactly the paper's fault she was having a major dry spell when it came to writing.

There was a knock at the door. She only had enough time to register it before the door was flung open and her mom came barging in. "What are you doing sitting in here on such a nice day? Everyone else is outside! Your brother even went down to the pond."

"You're not outside," Skylar replied lamely. Dumb excuse, but whatever. Clearly her brain wasn't firing at full capacity so maybe her lack of wit could be excused just this once.

Her mother wasn't having it either. Normally, if Skylar was a bit snappier, her mother would call it even and give up. "Skylar Tanya Rapaport. Go out and don't come back until dinner. There's so much to do and see and you're here wasting the day inside!"

Skylar slipped a notebook under her arm, some pencils in her pocket, and left. After a few minutes of wandering around, she sat down under a tree and opened up the notebook. Flipping through the pages, she found where she had last left off writing this story. Right before a big action scene. Past Skylar must've also been feeling lazy.

She started writing. Erasing. Editing. That sentence was stupid, get rid of it. Was she repeating the same few words over and over? Too many commas? Nobody liked a run on sentence, but hey, anything could be turned into a run on sentence if you rambled long enough.

But as it turned out, being outside was lifting her mood a little. She hadn't realized how stuffy her room was until now. Plus, having all this open space meant that there was nobody to bother her.

Time passed before she even realized it and dinner was going to be ready soon. She needed to head back home. Skylar tucked her supplies back under her arms and made the trek to the Rapaport household. She slipped in through the backdoor, carefully making sure she didn't disturb her parents as they cooked in the kitchen.

Then she headed to her room and put her precious notebook back where it belonged: buried unassumingly under a bunch of other crap. Its stories and contents inside were for her eyes only.


The loud whistle trilled through the factory, signaling the end of another work day. Normally, Cady Lordelia would stay an extra couple of hours to make the overtime pay, but she had special plans tonight. She definitely didn't want to be late for those.

She shrugged on her jacket and grabbed her bag, slipping effortlessly into the crowd of exiting factory workers. Once out on the streets, Cady made a beeline for a hidden, if somewhat shady looking, building on the edge of the street. She took the back entrance and headed down the flights of stairs into the basement.

Waiting at the bottom, Damask gave her a high five. "Cady! We've been waiting all day for you."
"You don't have to," Cady insisted, still feeling a bit touched regardless. Now, wasn't that nice. "Is everything set up?"
"Yup, got the targets out and filled the quivers. Wanna give it a shot?"

Cady looked a little nervous. "Not first, though. I think I'll watch for a little bit."

A couple of other people were down there too. Cady recognized a few of them. Well, at least the faces looked familiar, but the names were only barely on the tip of her tongue. She worked with a couple of them, but it wasn't like they socialized on breaks or anything.

Either way, the event for tonight was beyond simple: shoot and arrow at a target. As expected, most arrows skidded across the ground to a pitiful stop. If they did hit the target, they clung onto the edges. One girl actually managed to hit one of the coloured rings that made up the target's middle; granted it was a blue ring on the outskirts, but that was closer than anybody else had gotten. They all clapped for her.

"Thanks!" she laughed. "I'm not a Career, but I try my best!"

Damask fist bumped her, then picked up the bow to give to Cady. "Your turn! Feel ready now?"
"Hey, why not?" Watching had given Cady a bit of a confidence boost. Worst case, another arrow that needed to get picked up off the ground. Best case, she hit a bullseye!

"That's the spirit!" Damask grinned. "Trust me, with muscles like yours, you'd splinter that target in half. So go easy on it."
"Mmmmm, I don't know about that. But I promise to be careful." Cady rubbed the back of her neck. Hey, considering some of the crap she had to haul around the factory all day, she better have some damn muscle to her.

She joined two other archers in front of the targets and nocked an arrow back into the bow. Her feet spread apart, something she had heard of doing to give her better balance in archery. She raised the bow and pulled the string back, focused on the target directly in front of her. She closed one eye, steadied herself, found the perfect position, and…

The arrow practically fell from the bow and landed on the ground with almost no clatter. It rolled to a stop next to her foot. Behind her, she thought she heard a snicker. Cady went a beet red as she picked up the arrow and fixed it back into position.

"Whoops."


"Knight! We're seeing you at Calico's party tonight, right?"
"Was that Knight? Hey, Knight! Wait up, man!"
"Guys, it's Knight! Hey, we were thinking of carpooling together to the party. Wanna join us?"
"You have to be there, Knight!"

"Of course I'll be there," Knight laughed, feeling a little awkward and suddenly being surrounded by so many of his classmates. The attention was overwhelming, even if they all had good intentions. "I just have to stop at home first."

Exiting school with a bunch of people following him was a little tricky, but Knight managed to escape the crowd and waved everyone goodbye. It was only a short walk home, where he dropped off his bag. He'd have plenty of time to do his homework on the weekend.

Instead, he headed to the neighbouring house and knocked on the door. The woman who opened it smiled at him. "Knight. Lovely to see you, dear."
"Likewise, Mrs. Chapman. Is Jack home?"

Mrs. Chapman nodded and let Knight in. He took a seat in the living room. After a few minutes, there was the familiar sound of someone hobbling down the stairs. Jack shifted his canes so he could sit down next to Knight. "Hey. Didn't expect you to be over. What's up?"

"I wanted to see if you were coming to Calico's party tonight."
"Aw geez, I have no idea." Jack sighed. "I don't think I should."
"Why's that?"

Jack gestured vaguely. "Look at me. I have a missing leg and maybe twenty years of my life left if I'm lucky. I'm just gonna bring the mood down. Nobody's gonna want me there anyway."
"I want you there," Knight insisted. "You're my friend!"

"Yeah, but…what's everyone gonna think of me?"
"Well, I think you're really cool! Plus, I want to see you happy and not feel like you're being left out of things."
"You're the only person who thinks I'm cool, Knight."

"Bullshit!" Knight said quickly, causing Jack to jump a little. Knight Weave never swore unless the situation called for it. "Tons of people at the party are excited to meet you! Anybody gives you a hard problem, and you let me know. Trust me, I'll make sure that they won't do it again."

A small smile played onto Jack's face. "Alright. I'll go. If Mom's cool with it."
"It's fine by me," Mrs. Chapman piped up. "Just make sure to remember your medicine, okay?"
"I know, Mom."
"It's nice of Knight to help, but you have to be responsible for your health as well."
"I know, Mom. I'm getting ready."

Jack headed back upstairs. Mrs. Chapman turned to Knight. "I'm glad he has you. It's been so hard convincing Jack to get out there and socialize with other people his age. He's very lucky to have a friend who will give him that push in the right direction."

Knight blushed furiously. Getting praised for just the bare minimum was always kinda weird and he didn't know if he'd ever get used to it. "Just being there for him, ma'am."


Next round of intros! Skylar's mine, but thanks to LCS for Cady and Silver for Knight.

We're looking at about two more intro chapters coming up before we start getting into the pre-Games stuff BTW. Participation rules still apply. What do you think of our cast so far?

See you all next chapter,

-Vr