"Let's go, dudes!" Stellan Jansing shouted into the bunker. "We're leaving in five!"
Six voices clamored over each other as each of the surviving tributes finished preparing for their next high-profile Capitol appearance. The first to come out was both the only one to have given herself enough time to fully prepare with time to spare.
Montessori Stallard was the District Three female in the 126th Games. Now, though, she was better known as Hosanna Siwa, the excited young keyboardist for Capitolite band Out of Spite.
"I would help put the coffee into travel mugs, but I don't make it like Trap does," she said, smiling and giving Stellan, AKA Wolf, an obedient salute.
"Are the others even close to being ready?" he asked.
"Um…" she didn't know how to answer that without disappointing him.
"God." He shook his head and rubbed his temples. "Kat was going to meet us there, but I'm sure she'll love to come down and make them all move their asses."
Stellan's girlfriend had a talent for intimidating the survivors and threatening them with their least favorite exercise.
"That'll scare them," said Montessori, sipping her own coffee and waiting for the others to come out.
The next one out to the kitchen was the youngest of the group. Coda Fukai was the District Eight male in last year's Games, where he placed third after losing his ally. He used the alias of DJ Icaria, Out of Spite's new drummer that beat cancer as an excuse to hide his prosthetic leg. It was a little surprising to see him out there second considering that he was a hot mess.
"Good morning," Stellan told him. "How'd it go?" he looked at the tall, fiery mohawk on his head.
"Alright," Coda answered, grabbing an apple from the fridge and munching on it. "Where's everyone else?"
"Where do you think?" asked Montessori, lounging back on her chair.
Coda let out a small sigh as one of the fellow survivors from his Games came out to the kitchen. Camellia Gallen was the District Seven female in last year's Games with Coda. Her District partner was the Victor, and didn't know her in her new identity as Rose Westmore, opera singer-turned rocker that also played guitar for the group.
"Sorry, it took me an extra few minutes to get Malloy out of bed."
"You just got him out of bed?!" Stellan asked, shaking his head. "Aye caramba."
"Trap was too busy doting on Jace to think that maybe waking up his roommate would be a good idea considering we are leaving in ten." She sighed a little bit, but Tessa was grinning as she handed the older girl her coffee.
And yet, despite having just awakened, Todd Malloy was the next person to come out. He was only wearing one sock and hopping a little to put on the other as he came hurrying out as Camellia watched, amused at the antics of her boyfriend.
"Slept through your alarm?" Wolf asked him, trying not to smile in his disappointment as he shook his head.
"Yeah, I dunno what happened," he said, yawning and quickly going to make his coffee, trying to prepare to fit into the role of Oliver Bromley, the theatrical yet eccentric guitarist for the band.
He was the District Seven male in the 126th Games, where he placed second, leaving his girlfriend Camellia behind. Now, though, she was with him, after volunteering to save her girlfriend Joelle. Now, though, after a wild sweepstakes and a busy day together, Jo was let in on the secret that there were saved tributes, and was happily dating both Malloy and Camellia.
As of late, though, she was living in the Capitol with her fake girlfriend Maggie, and would be there with her for the band's performance at the Capitol's pride festival. It caused quite a stir when the two went public with their fake relationship, as Maggie had been engaged to a man of high status for political marriage.
"Trap! Jace! Let's go!" Wolf called again, going to check on the two remaining survivors as Numitor slipped passed him.
His status was unusual, as the Victor of the 126th Games. Now, though, he was wanted for treason. "Stop killing innocent children! Stop this treachery! It's gone on for too long!" Those were the words he said in front of the whole nation that got Wolf's best friend killed and destroyed the band that Wolf had been a drummer for. Upward Voyager would live on through Out of Spite, but it wasn't the same. Numitor, unlike the others, wasn't allowed to leave. It was simply too risky after what he did, and all eyes were looking for him.
Nonetheless, he was trying to support the survivors in what they were doing. They were the only people he had now, being hidden from his friends and family. He took his coffee black and watched silently as the group in the kitchen made bets about how long it would take Wolf to say "aye caramba" again.
"What are you two doing in there?" Wolf asked as he pushed open the door to the older boys' room.
"Bold of you to barge in like that," Trap Principato commented, grinning over at Wolf. "Maybe we were going at it."
"I'm ace," Jace said, rolling his milky eyes. "A-And we aren't actually dating!"
"Touche, Chief, Touche." Trap finished pulling the comb through the waterfalls of white hair extensions that Jace was wearing to play his part as Pierre Rosseau, the fashionista bass player for the band.
"Don't forget these," Trap said, putting the star sunglasses on his face to hide the scars and milky color of his eyes from an attack that blinded him back in District Three. Jace Galillei was Camellia's ally from District Three in last year's Games, and therefore they were very protective of each other.
Jace pulled the glasses onto his face and nodded finally. "Alright, let's get going."
"Of course, Sweetpea," Trap said teasingly, in the voice of his alter-ego Theodore Sedwick, a drummer, piano player, and singer for Out of Spite. "We mustn't keep them waiting." Theodore and Pierre were dating: a very elaborate cover for a secret touch language created by Trap and Jace to hide the fact that the latter was blind. Nobody imagined that the Career with sharpened teeth from District One from Malloy and Montessori's Games would want to step into that role, but Trap was different. Very different. Like, one of a kind different.
"Look who finally decided to show up," Camellia commented teasingly, sipping her coffee.
"If you had as much hair as I did, you'd be late too," Jace said indignantly, staying glued to Trap's side.
"You weren't there to fix my coffee for me this morning! What gives?!" Malloy asked, shaking his head at Trap, who grinned and shrugged.
"Sorry Ace," Trap said sheepishly. "I got distracted helping Chief get ready for the big performance."
"The big performance that we're going to be late for sound check for if we don't leave pronto!" said Stellan. "Everyone take your coffee to go, we don't have a single second to spare."
"Good luck guys," said Numitor. "You'll be looking for my siblings, right?"
"Of course we will," Malloy said softly.
"We promise!" said Tessa, tapping her head where she had the descriptions Numitor had given her the night before.
"What were their names again?" asked Coda, completely seriously as he'd forgotten.
"Aristotle and Trixie, and their friends all have magic names so if you find one then you'll probably find the rest."
Wolf smiled a little bit. Numitor had barely talked at all over the summer, so it was reassuring to see him interacting with the group. But also, if they were late, Kat was going to destroy all of them.
"Out the door now, let's go my dudes!"
The group clamored and complained as they got their coffee together and Stellan ushered them all out the door.
~.~.
They knew that there was another band performing at the festival, but they didn't get to see much of them until sound checks were over and the band and crew were delivered lunch. The courtyard was empty, save for paparazzi that were trying to catch a shot of the groups, and fenced off so that the two groups could spend some time outside in the fresh air and the warm summer sun.
Out of Spite pulled two picnic tables together so they could all sit together when the two idiots came running towards them.
"Out of Spite!" called the boy, waving his hand at them and barely slowing to a stop before he ran over DJ, who practically jumped out of the way.
The group of six exchanged a wary look: Stellan had warned them not to buddy up too closely with this group, as he'd received intel that they were created by Junius himself. However, at the excitement on his face, they didn't want to be rude to the other group. Besides, that would reflect poorly on them.
"Well, hello there lovelies," Theodore greeted them as the girl caught up to him, taking a moment to double over herself and pant, joining her friend who was doing the same.
"Um, can we help you?" DJ asked them, trying to sound warm like Wolf had practiced with him. It always helped him to tap into Henley for that.
"You're Out of Spite," the girl said, pointing her finger at them and still out of breath.
"Yeah, and the sky is blue, and glue is sticky, what's your point?" asked Rose, raising an eyebrow.
"No need to work yourself over little ol' us, Honey," Pierre tacked on.
"You're… You're Out of Spite!" the boy exclaimed, before looking over at his friend with wide eyes. "That's Out of Spite!"
"Very nice to meet you both," said Oliver, always the level and inviting one of the group as he went over to the two of them, holding out a hand for the boy to shake, which he did with much fervor before moving to the girl.
"What are your names?" Hosanna asked them.
"Oh! Our names! Well, um, I'm Freddy, and this is my buddy Lizzie!"
"That's me!" Lizzie clarified, as if there was another person that he might have been referring to.
"Nice to meet you Freddy and Lizzie," Theodore said. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Did you hear that?!" Freddy asked, now hanging onto Lizzie's arm as he grinned stupidly. "Acquaintances!"
"You are part of a band yourself, aren't you?" asked Oliver, trying to make them feel more comfortable.
"Yes! One Man Circus," Freddy said, beaming proudly. "And we are so excited to be opening for you guys. Don't worry, we would never steal your thunder, we're here to back you up."
"You couldn't steal it even if you wanted to, Honey," said Pierre.
"Be nice, Darling," Theodore said, putting his arm around Pierre and pulling him closer, getting a faceful of hair in the process.
"Oh my God. Please sign my CD!" Lizzie said, producing it and a marker for them to pass around.
"I thought you said that wasn't cool!" pouted Freddy. "I would have brought mine too if that was the case!"
"Sorry, I had to," Lizzie said, and each of them autographed the disc and handed it back to her, as she squealed with excitement and hugged the case to her chest.
"How far's the penthouse from here?!" Freddy cried. "I need to get mine!"
"Don't leave me alone here! If I faint from excitement, nobody will be here to catch me!"
"Only if you promise never to go full lesbian," said Freddy.
"Deal!" The red circles on her cheeks were pushed out by an ear-to-ear grin as the other band watched them in shock, unsure how to deal with these two.
"We're glad that you like our music," Oliver tried to start a normal conversation.
"It inspired me so much!" Lizzie said, clapping her hands. "I play keyboard along with your songs sometimes. I work performing at a bar, you see… But it's groups like you that are always putting new music into the world that give life so much color!"
"I'm your biggest fan, not her!" proclaimed Freddy. "I have been playing guitar forever and it's my dream come true to be taken out of a District and perform for the Capitol, just like Upward Voyager!"
"No, I'm your biggest fan! See, I'm taller!"
"Nuh uh!" he got up on his tip-toes, but it was fruitless as her high pigtails provided extra height.
"Well, we're so happy that we were able to inspire you like that," Hosanna said, smiling at them.
"We're absolutely tickled pink," said Rose, and the nitwits stared at her for a moment before they both started to cackle with laughter at her joke. She blinked over at Oliver, who was chuckling to himself.
Their other bandmates approached just then, walking calmly as opposed to the other two who were running as the Avoxes delivered Out of Spite's food.
"Afternoon," said the tall boy. "I truly hope these two nitwits haven't caused you any trouble."
The sound of his voice caused Theodore to immediately lean forward suspiciously away from Pierre, but the others didn't seem to mind as they all laughed and shook their heads.
"We were behaving," Freddy pouted, crossing his arms and looking up at his bandmate.
"Bonnie they signed my CD!" said Lizzie happily, showing him the case.
"Bonnie Bunsen," the drummer introduced himself. "And that's Mariana Bellevue, our bassist."
The small girl, barely taller than DJ despite being two years older than him, looked like she was going to talk, but since Bonnie introduced her, she sank back down with nothing to say.
"Bass, huh? Lovely choice, Honey," said Pierre. He needed to hear the sound of her voice so that he could recognize her if she was to talk to him later.
"Oh, Mari's the best bass player, even though she just started learning it," said Freddy.
"Yeah, it comes from being an amazing violinist!" added Lizzie excitedly, bouncing on her feet.
"How long have you been playing the violin?" Theodore jumped in, on the same wavelength as Pierre in trying to get her to speak.
"Oh Mari's been playing for-"
"From Mari, please," Rose said, narrowing her eyes at them.
"Since I was two," the girl finally answered, giving Rose a grateful smile.
Jace needed to hear more of her to be able to place a voice with a person, so Pierre pushed on. "And how old are you now?"
"Oh, I'm seventeen," she said. "So that would be fifteen years of playing."
"That's as long as DJ has been alive!" Hosanna commented. "Wow!"
"Yeah, Mari started on a tiny baby violin! Did you know they made those?" Lizzie asked, her eyes wide. "They're so damn small!"
"What did we agree about cussing in the public eye?" asked Bonnie with a sigh as he shook his head. "We are still trying to get used to being famous."
"Oh yeah we are!" said Lizzie. "We're practicing maintaining our privacy for the big time."
"You'll never win!" Freddy proclaimed, pointing his finger at her.
"Oh yes I will!" she said, and the two of them started to bicker over each other.
"I'm sorry for those nitwits," said Bonnie. "Mari and I are not like them. There is some normalcy in the world."
"We all have our weird quirks!" Hosanna said, obviously captivated by the drummer with a lovesick smile on her face.
"I think they're fun," Theodore said defensively, and Pierre looked over at him at the slight edge in his voice.
"They're… Something," Oliver said, laughing a little bit and trying to smooth over the situation as Freddy and Lizzie's bickering dissolved into laughter.
"No apologies necessary! Actually, I'm glad they came over so that we could meet you guys, I was really digging your set: it was all so upbeat and fun and I know the crowd is going to love it!" Everyone looked over to Hosanna. They knew she was chatty, but she was not usually this chatty, especially not with strangers.
Bonnie met her eyes for a second and a smile pushed across his usually serious face. "Thanks. In that case, I suppose their reckless idiocy is advantageous."
Hosanna giggled, obviously hanging onto the way he put his sentences together so intelligently. "I would definitely say that!" she said.
"Come on, let's not keep Out of Spite from their lunch any longer," Mari spoke up. She could see her bandmates getting clingy and knew that the group must be hungry. "Have a good meal and we'll see you backstage," she said, tugging on Bonnie's shirt to get him to move away from them as Freddy and Lizzie waved and then obediently raced off to their lunch table.
"Well, that was sure something," commented Rose after they'd left.
"Sure was," said Theodore, his mouth full of delicious food that the others soon didn't hesitate to partake in.
As they ate together, the group chattered about inconsequential things such as rehearsal and good places to shop on Main Street. But they were all thinking the same thing.
When Stellan said this group was trouble, that was certainly not what they thought he meant.
~.~.
The two groups clamored over each other trying to get ready back stage. Kat finally got to rip them a new one for being late while she went to collect a pile of pride flags for the group to wear as they were performing and set them on a table.
"Stay still dammit!" Bonnie said, as Lizzie bobbed her head excitedly when he was trying to put the pride flags on her face.
"Mari, you're perfect. Never change," Freddy said as he crudely painted under her eyes.
"What the hell is that? Those lines aren't straight at all," Bonnie told him, rolling his eyes.
"Neither am I," shrugged Freddy.
"Mari, I'll fix what he messed up," Bonnie said as he was finishing Lizzie's.
Oliver couldn't help but smile at Rose as he gently dragged the brush across her cheeks. They couldn't flaunt their poly pride, but at least her pan flag could fly: on her cheeks where it was painted, around her shoulders, and through her make-up, which were appropriately colored to match. "There you are, darling," he said gently.
"Thank you Dear," she said, and they both smiled at each other for a moment. This would be the first public performance Jo would attend, and after everything she'd done for them, they were ready to make her proud. "Let's trade."
He smiled at her as she gently traced the brush on his cheek, causing his bi flags to come out a little bit wonky. "You're just as bad as Theodore with that," she scolded him.
"So sorry Love, when your beautiful face is so close to mine, I can't help it."
She kissed his cheek, up below his eye, leaving a dark pink kiss mark as she went to make sure that her other boys were doing alright.
"It looks great on you," Hosanna said, carefully finishing a very precise ace flag on his left cheek, contrasting with the bi flag on his right. "Don't you dare smudge it."
"I would never," DJ said innocently. "I didn't smudge my nails that one time. I don't think."
He totally did smudge them, but she didn't say anything. She just put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's gonna be great."
"Here, I'll do yours now. They won't be super pristine like you did on me, though."
"I'm fully willing to resign myself to not straight jokes all night," she promised him as he took the small palette of paints and got to work painting the flags on her cheeks.
"How are you guys feeling?" the familiar voice made them both look up and smile at the familiar face that was approaching them.
"Hey Anakyn," greeted Hosanna with a grin. "Here to make sure we're not going to embarrass ourselves with our outfit choice?" He was the resident stylist for the group: knowing a lot about fashion and current trends from his job as a model in the Capitol. He also served as an escort for Montessori, Jace, and Numitor, which made him particularly close to those three.
"Just have to make sure you guys look your best so you can play your best," he said, adjusting the necklace Hosanna was wearing so that the clasp was in the back. "You're gonna rock it."
"Thanks Ani," Hosanna said, before pointing up at the newly painted cheeks bi flags on her cheeks. "Look, we match!"
"We do! Have you gotten your big flag yet?"
"I will as soon as the paint dries."
"Sounds good. Best of luck, you two!"
"Thanks!" they both chirped, waving to him as he went to check up on Oliver, who looked nervous.
Theodore beamed at the flags he had carefully painted onto Pierre's cheeks: ace on the right and pan on the left. Meanwhile, Rose painted the flags on Theodore's cheeks gently, while he smiled at her.
"There you are, Champ," she said when she was satisfied with her work.
"Thanks Sis." He put up his hand to bump pinkies with her when she put the brush down. It's going to be okay. Pinky promise.
She gave a nod and then went to find Oliver so they could collect their flags together.
Freddy was running around with his bi flag flying behind him. Lizzie was wearing a flag that was half and half pan and half demiromantic. Mari had her flag, half gray ace and half bi, tied around her neck and wrapped around herself.
Hosanna sorted out the flags for each of her friends, passing them down the line so that each one had their appropriate flag, until she saw another hand reaching for the last bi flag in the pile.
"Oh!" she said, looking up at Bonnie in surprise.
"Sorry," Bonnie said, taking his hand off of the flag as he pushed up his glasses to better reveal the paint on his cheeks that matched Hosanna's.
"Go ahead!" she said, handing him the flag. "I can go seek out another."
"Oh no, you'd get suffocated in that crowd," said Bonnie, before he smiled down at her. "How about we share?"
Hosanna could feel her face heating up as she broke into a grin. "Yes! That sounds great!"
"Come meet me after our set and I'll pass it on," he told her. "And then maybe afterwards we can share a little more closely."
Hosanna squeaked at that, her smile getting even bigger if possible. "Okay!" she said, handing him the flag and giggling as she went to find her bandmates.
"C'mon Hosanna, we have to go so we can be situated into our spot to watch before it gets too crowded," Rose said, noticing her lack of a flag. "Do you need something?"
Hosanna grinned. "Nope! Now, let's go. I won't face Kat's wrath a second time."
Out of Spite watched their opener from the balcony of a local restaurant which was emptied for the event. It was the best place for them to not be flanked by fans while still enjoying the performance. The group was actually good: it was amazing how different it was when they had all significant musical experience and talent, unlike the ragtag group of rescued tributes. They had the crowd going from start to end with a perfectly-chosen playlist and all of the possible orchestration they needed to perform any song they wanted.
Halfway through, they featured Mari on violin for The Devil Went Down to Georgia: Freddy's District Ten charm coming out to the max as he narrated the story, even replacing the name "Johnny" in the song with Bonnie, which caused the crowd to cheer. Obviously, they knew the band better than Out of Spite did as they'd gone viral.
Even so, all eyes were on Mari as she was completely in her element on the violin and the crowd was eating it up straight from her fingers.
"Everyone, please give it up for the perfect, the beautiful, the talented, Maaaaaaaaaaari Bellevue!" Freddy cried out halfway through the last instrumental break, and the crowd: including Out of Spite on the balcony: was screaming and applauding for her before the song even ended. She looked out at them all, a rare smile across her face as she held up her black electric violin and bowed. Freddy talked to them while she took a sip of water and switched back to bass before they launched into their next song.
"They are good," whispered Oliver, which made the girls next to him nervous about following their footsteps with so little musical experience.
One Man Circus received a huge round of applause at the end of their set, and the bands met backstage briefly before they switched places: though One Man Circus ended up in the crowd as they weren't being bombarded as much as the other band would have been in the crowd.
When the band came out, Freddy was whacked in the face by a sign for Oliver held by a girl with huge pink hair, much to his annoyance as the rest of his band members laughed when they came out on the stage.
"Gooooooooood evening Capitol!" called Hosanna, shrouded in the flag that still smelled like Bonnie's cologne, and the crowd continued to scream and cheer.
"Are all you honeys ready to go wild?!" asked Pierre, and the crowd screamed in response, including DJ and Rose in the background as Oliver struck a chord on his guitar and the crowd started to continue to scream and wave their hands.
The nerves were secretly flying around the group as hours and hours of preparation through band camp and rehearsal were about to come to a head.
The crowd was screaming and yelling their names, holding up signs, waving their flags. It was completely overwhelming to the group.
"Ready?" asked Theodore away from the microphone, and everyone looked over at his calm face, his relaxed posture, the easy smile he wore, and the group relaxed as DJ brought them in by beating his drumsticks.
"One! Two! Three! Four!"
The band launched forward into their set, hoping that this would just be at least good enough.
~.~.
A/N: Second prologue for you! These are the main characters that will be involved outside the tributes, save for Victors and mentors who we will meet next weekend when the list goes up. And, of course, escorts, which I could still use some more of! Deadline for that is Friday.
Looking forward to everyone's tribute subs, deadline for those is a week from Friday on August 14th. Please consider subbing from my needs list and/or to spots that have zero subs. That will make you far more likely to get in at this point.
Just some FAQs: you can sub as many tributes as you want but no more than 2 will get in so specify which is priority. For info on Victors and my verse check my profile, other stories, blogs, or just PM me. You can sub a tribute and an escort both.
CQ: Which of these celebrities would you likely have a celebrity crush on if they exist in the real world?
Thanks everyone for your continued support! Keep those subs a comin!
