Forum Thread

"I think so." Bella says softly, clearly a bit nervous.

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"You got a pretty low score." Cesar comments. "You also seem pretty thin and small. Aren't you worried about beaten to a pulp?" His words were harsh, but, like how he was with Coraline. He looked genuinely concerned.
...
Katana winces at Cesar's choice of words. Her own wound seems to suddenly start burning as she is reminded of her own fight with Bella. Her face suddenly pales. She wants to look away, but can't.
...
Charlie also winces, remembering the attack. But she looks pleased to see Cesar get attacked. She to the end of the backstage to get a closer look. She was eager to watch Bella fight a member of the Capitol. She silently cheers Bella on.

Chelsea smiled when he handed her the band, then ran her fingers through her hair and shook out any of the remaining braids. Turning to look at Akiro when he started speaking, Chelsea giggled. "I know what you mean." Slowly, she reached out and placed her finger under his chin, lifting his gaze. "There's no need to be nervous, you know." Her smile was still friendly and inviting, and her eyes were still curious about Akiro. However, at that moment, she realized what she was doing. She froze, her face remaining happy. However, her finger was still resting under Akiro's chin. She didn't know what to do in this situation.

"I. . .I. . .I'll figure something out." Bella gets out as she feels that darker percense start to take hold. Despite her best efforts to fight it back, she isn't able to and her eyes close for a moment as if having a headache, but then they snap back open. Bella stared up at Ceasar, but her eyes were much different now, bright aqua green rings floating in a sea of black. The mouth opens a bit as if amused.

(Whoop there it is.)

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Akiro froze when she lifted his chin up, more startled than embarrassed this time. "I'm just...I get nervous when I don't know what to say or I say something dumb. And talking to people isn't that easy for me, I guess." He wasn't sure why she had left her fingers under his chin, and it certainly wasn't helping his nerves, a pretty girl being so close to him. Why was she so curious? He wasn't the only one who had scored highly if that was it. There wasn't anything particularly special about him, but then again, he was curious about her, and why she hadn't just run off after bumping into him.

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Cesar raises an eyebrow. He gives her a confused look. "Are you okay-?" He asks, but then shakes his head and holds up a hand. "Don't worry about answering that. That was awfully rude of me. Final question Bella. What do you expect to happen in the arena?"

Chelsea chuckled a little, then let her fingers slip away from Akiro's chin. Her eyes stayed locked onto his, but she, too, seemed to be at a shortage of words. "I understand that. It takes a lot to get over something like that. I had to go through that too, when I was little." She shook her head, glancing at the ground. "Ah, it's a boring story." Absentmindedly, she started playing with a lock of her hair that never made it over her shoulder.

"Bella" doesn't answer his question, rather smiled a bit wider and asked her own question instead. "Tell me, Ceasar, do you know about Sanitized Inklings/Octolings? How we came to be? Where we even come from?" her voice was slightly disoriented and it was pretty clear she was not okay, or at least not herself.

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Cesar was tempted to ignore the question. But something told him to play along. It almost felt like his life depended on it. "Um, no?" He questions. Turning his head slightly, like a confused puppy would. "Are you okay dear?" He asks again.

Akiro shrugged, also not breaking eye contact. "Stories are never boring if the right person tells them. But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. He watched her play with her hair. It seemed like a nervous habit, but what reason would she have to be nervous? Akiro didn't want to assume that she was or wasn't feeling something, it was like when his mother assumed he was lying about coming home beaten and brusied. He stayed silent, still watching her quietly.

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Chelsea blushed a little, glancing down again. "I'm a terrible story teller, I'll be brutally honest." Looking back up to Akiro, she smiled. "I'd tell you if I could, but I'd trip over my tongue. I don't do well with stories." She kept playing with her hair, until she realized she was doing it. For a moment, she simply held her hand there. Then, she sighed. After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "Have you found anything interesting in this place?" She giggled a little. "I've really only found one thing."

Akiro smiled a little himself. "Chelsea, I'm sure you'd be fine. I myself trip over my tongue in just about everything I say. As you could probably tell, I'm not good with words." It took him a minute to process what she had said, and he found himself hoping that he was the something (or someone) that she had found interesting. "I mean, you're pretty interesting. What is it that you found interesting?"

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"Bella" again ignores him, "I wouldn't expect you too. So let me tell you how. . ." She says this with a purr that almost seems to pity him. She slowly rises up with grace then suddenly rushes behind him and clamps her hands over his eyes, rendering him to total darkness. She could attack him and he wouldn't see it coming.

But she doesn't, she does something much worse.

"Imagine. You wake up on a convert belt. Hands tied. Confused. Scared. But you're not alone. Your fellow brethren are in the same state as you. Slowly inching towards a machine with sprinklers that shower you in a liquid that erases everything you are. Your memories. Your freedom. Your color. Your personality. Your very soul. All that's left is a soul-less husk of your former self, a blank slate for the higher-ups to etch into you as they see fit. Make you into a killer, a monster they bid us to be. You watch as it happens over and over, their screams for help and mercy replaced with pain, then anger and hatred directed at you. Just as you slide under the machine and bid yourself farewell, then the machine suddenly shuts off and you're free. You manage to escape somehow, but the others don't. But you still have a cost fo your survival. . ."

After a few moments to let this sink in and returns to her seat as if nothing had happened. Ceasar blinks for few moments as the lights of the stage bring him back to the present. With sudden anger, she jerks the glove covering her disclosed arm. Pale turning a sickly green shade. She allows Ceasar to look at it freely. "This. This is what your oh so lovely President Snow does to us. He strips us of our lives and turns us into his playthings!" The aqua rings almost seem to vibrate in her eyes, "Bella" is practically seething in rage but has made no open move to attack despite having every opportunity. Perhaps she just wanted him to listen, to know that Snow wasn't what everyone thought him to be. "We are not his toys."

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Chelsea once again giggled. She'd never giggled this much in her life. "You practically predicted the words I was going to say." After a moment, Akiro's words sank in. She looked up with a bit of shock, as if she only now realized that he might feel the same. She stood there, a shimmer of hope in her eyes, looking at Akiro as if something were happening deep within him. After a moment, she looked down and drew a portion of her hair over her shoulder, pressing the long locks to her cheeck.

Cesar looks physically disturbed by her words. As he listens to her, he becomes paler and paler. As he processes her final words, the buzzer goes off. Making him jump in surprise. But he doesn't do anything. The audience themselves, don't say anything. After what seems to be forever, Ceasar breaks the silence. "Thank you for sharing, and I'm sorry Bella." Cesar tells her weakly. He clears his throat and puts on a fake smile. "That's all we have time for. Let's give a round of applause for Bella!" He attempts to shout enthusiastically, but it comes out weak. At least the crowd applauds her off.
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Charlie, gives Bella a pitied look, but doesn't seem too surprised by this grand reveal. Katana on the other hand is surprised. She looks visibly sick, slowly she connects two and two together. She gulps, then looks down at her feet in shame.

Suvansh....shuddered at what Bella just said. It just, creeped him out in a way. He supposed, better leave before the octoling explodes or something. She seemed like she could totally do so- anyways she was about to come through the same corridor, and Suvansh had no intention of interacting with her in her rage. He started walking towards the training grounds. He was trying, but never once did he summon a hurricane to himself. Today was only the second time he did so, and again in rage only. Despite that, he was getting better at air blows, and kind of even using the air to have a soft landing if he were to fall from a distance (reducing fall damage, come on I thought this was a Minecraft RP xD).
Whilst in the room, he released Flare. He decided, he would practice to fly on his back today. He used to do it a lot, but hadn't tried it in about 2 years. He gently kept a hand at his back, a leg at his wings, and nudged himself above, as he practiced. He gave him a signal to take off. Flare, without a beat, took off flying with his wings. Suvansh held on tight, until he was cruising. He wanted to try out some combos now, he had to do something other than the mere flamethrower Flare knew. An idea stroke his mind. Flare would do his flamethrower, but Suvansh would cut it off, and concentrate it, like fire grenades, before letting it go. He imagined it perfectly, and in practice it should work, but Suvansh's body was tired. Flying after so long, was taking every muscle of his body not to fall off Flare. He couldn't concentrate the winds such. He decides to get down and take some rest. He sipped some glucose and fed Flare a bit too.

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On her way to find Mare, she bumped into Flare and Suvansh. She stopped and stared at them, tilting her head and smiling rather sinisterly, though that was one of her normal smiles. Her eyes carried a hint of psychopathy, and she had two sharp teeth. Glucose? She thought to herself, as she twirled the assortment of nuts she had gotten for Mare in her hand.

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Suvansh looks up at Echo, who had a sinister glance, and a mental smile. "Hai! Do you need something from me?" He asks, when he noticed her staring at him.

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“glucose?” She asked, as she unwrapped a packet of razor blades, and put one of them thoughtfully into her mouth. “Penny for you thoughts?” She asked, again, as she slid the knife back into her hair, into a elegant bun.

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Suvansh offers her some of his drink, and says, "Its the best for instant energy. Glucose is kinda the most basic form the food compounds need to take after digestion to be converted to energy, so directly intaking glucose after excercise or so makes it quicker to pass through without having to digest much." He explains, as he learnt in science class. He didn't care if she think he was nerdy or if she didn't even listen half the stuff he said, but he just said what were facts.

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