Forum Thread

Lauriam didn't know what to do, uneasy at the prospect of being paraded around like a slab of meat. Each rattle and bump of the carriage agitated his already tender feet and he hid a grimace under a shaky smile, keeping his eyes mostly forward. He had pressed himself into the side of the carriage, unwilling to stand too close to the girl in revealing clothes. or at least thats what he hoped it looked like. In all honesty, he was just using the side to help prop himself up, legs way too tired to even consider balancing on the death traps strapped to his feet. How do normal girls even do this? By the time the carriage stopped before Snow, Lauriam was already seething with rage and was close to just getting off the damn thing and strangling for giving the order to put him in the atrocious outfit. Gritting his teeth, Lauriam bore through the extremely boring speech all while cursing the president out in his head.

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Suvansh only got as much time to take in all the conversations going around him before he was ushered onto a chariot. He didn't pay a bit attention to the chariot, or the girl who was in it with him, or the crowd. He just looked away, at the sky, trying to keep his gaze away from the Capitol scum. He, despised these people. Though it wasn't really something they started themselves, and that its just that the habits have been passed on from generation to generation, he couldn't do anything but loathe them for their attitude and hunger for bloody entertainment. He knew, if he looked at them, he wouldn't be able to stop his powers from acting up. So he just steered clear. Anyways, no one would be paying much attention to him anyways, that he would need to wave back. There were way more attractive tributes around him. The girl in his chariot could've seeked attention, but he didn't care. He didn't once look at her, or try to talk to her.

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Much like the other tributes, an icy mask is slipped onto Maci's face as the chariot lurches forward. She doesn't bother looking at the citizens. Doesn't bother smiling at them. She doesn't give them her attention. "You give us hope Maci" her stylist's words reappear in her mind. Her bitterness returns. Why was it always up to someone else to take action? Why should she be the one to risk everything? Her thoughts were illogical. She knew why they wanted her to take action. They thought of her as someone who was strong. Thought of her as someone who was enraged with the Capitol, and would jump at the opportunity to burn it to the ground. But she wasn't strong. Sure, she had a strong ability, but that didn't make her invincible. Yes, she was mad, but not mad enough to fight the Capitol alone. She was smart enough to know how that would go down. She also had to remind herself of everything she had to lose. This alone was enough to tame the fire in her heart.

As much as she wants to fight it, she can't help but glare at Snow when they pass by. Did he know her? Did he know Asher? Was he behind everything? Or was she beneath him? Was it possible that her story was nothing more than a conspiracy to him? That someone completely different was the one who did.. well, everything? As their chariot moves closer his gaze, if only for a moment, falls on her. His eyes seemed to change, it suddenly turns curious. But it disappears faster than it appeared, and Maci is left to wonder whenever or not she imagined it. After that, he is looking over at a new tribute. Of course he is curious of you, you are technically a past victor Maci reminds herself in an attempt to drive away her paranoid thoughts. Don't jump to any conclusions here.

As the chariots finally made their way back the tributes were ushered up to their combined rooms for where they'd be staying up into the arena. Charlie and Blossom found themselves roomed up with Maci. Charlie almost right away ran towards her bed and jumped on to it, almost sinking into the pillows and comforter upon impact.

(have fun guys! Everyone room with another person, either NPC or not!)

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Angie had stood on her toes and held on to the top of the chariot, peeking out at the crowds before resting her ankles. When they arrived before the mansion, she seemed more curious than enraged or frightened. This man standing before her talking was odd. She wanted to meet him, maybe ask him why his hair was so white, or why he seemed to uptight and tense despite the lack of danger. But she could feel Lukian writhing in agitation and wrath, his invisible body swelling and filling with fire. Luke clearly hated the man, though there was no evident why.

~~~

Angie had been paired with two Tributes she didn't know, though they seemed nice enough. The first thing she did once they weren't looking was poke her head into the wardrobe, a sharp tool coming out of her clothing and fitting into her palm, the edge carving a symbol into the wood. A pentagram, which seemed to delight Luke. For a moment, his eyes glowed with delight as he took residence in the room. Angie had been carrying a smaller symbol, carved into a small disc of wood, but it limited Lukian. It was only for travel.


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Cherry and Terra had straightened their backs as the carriages started moving, their hands simultaneously gripping the edge of their chariot to keep balance. When they peered upon Snow, they noticed he frowned a bit. He also did his best to avoid eye contact. Terra couldn't help but wonder if their father had pulled something on the president... Cherry, however, just viewed the old man as a rude and rather stuck-up prick. Not daring to make eye contact while he spoke, how unprofessional.

~~~

The Osiris's had been paired together, thankfully. The third person in their room seemed extremely uncomfortable in his outfit, leaving Cherry and Terra to sit on a single bed, facing away from him so that he could change and get more comfortable. They shared a few small whispers, wondering about the insanity of the Capitol citizens and perhaps Snow. After all... Who dyed their skin pink and put a blue gem in their forehead? It was an ugly mix of colors.

The moment he was allowed to, Lauriam harshly yanked his boots off tugging his garters along with them. He was the first to arrive in his room so who he was sharing it with he didn't know and didn't care. With a flick of his wrist the lilies nestled in his hair tumbled out and Lauiram scooped them up. They were beautiful, much more than what he could ever grow back home. The meanings of them though, they made bile rise in his throat and Lauriam had to push it down as to not hurl a second time that day. Purity, Joy, Life, Celebration, the white Casablanca's and Madonna's mocked him with their cheery meanings of things that would never apply to Lauriam. While he was temped to crush the cruel white petals in his hands, he instead dumped them on the bedside table. Fine. If the capital wanted to make light of his impeding doom, then he'd give them what they wanted. A lily per day, pinned over his heart until the white petals were dyed red. Stripping out of the atrocious costume, Lauriam didn't bother with any bed time routine and went straight to bed wearing only his underwear. Closing his eyes, he pretended to be asleep all while keeping an ear out for his roommates. He'd only drift off when he confirmed who it was he'd be rooming with and if they were a threat or not.

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Much to Harmony's dismay, she wasn't roomed with Robin and Gabriella, she was instead in a room with Lauriam and another male NPC tribute. Very hesitantly she knocked on the door in case anyone was inside. When no one answered, she tentatively opened the door and passed Lauriram's room, and went straight to her own. She was still getting used to seeing things being born blind all of her life that she ended up bumping into Lauriram's doorframe while gawking at a fancy painting that held no meaning to her.

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Confusion crosses over Maci's face when she gets word of the fact that she'll be sharing a room with two other tributes during these Games. She had attempted to ask why, but her questions were waved away.

She felt oddly exposed in her room. Would she have no place to hide away her worries in private? Her roommates, or more, one of her roommates were questionable. While she trusted Charlie she had no idea what to make of Blossom. Could she trust Blossom? Only time would tell.

One thing was certain. She could rest easy now that she could an eye on one of the many people she wished to protect. But what about the other three, would they be alright? She turns her head towards the door, feeling tempted to track the three down. But she decides against it. She had no idea which room they were in and she didn't want anyone to potentially target them by her knocking on everyone's door and drawing attention to them. Relax Maci tells herself over and over.

She excuses herself and steps into the bathroom to change out of her outfit and to take off the make-up. While she's in there, she takes a second to look at her face. She looked pale, and felt warm. On top of that, she was clearly showing signs of being stressed out. Relax she continues to remind herself.

Soon enough, Cherry and Terra finished with their quiet observations of the Capitol and trapped themselves in with the silence of their sub-room. Terra changed quickly out of the formal suit to a tight T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He wondered if the shirt had been measured, or if it was just an average size. Nonetheless, his mind was turned to a new factor about the Capitol...


Cherry sighed, changing out of her dress and into a rather comfortable set of sweat pants and a nice shirt. Laying down, she stretched and yawned, exhausted after the few tiring events of the day. She only sat up when she heard the heavy footfalls of her brother shoot by, clearly in a sprint. Sitting up, she poked her head out. The doorway to their three rooms was wide open. Grimacing, she slowly started towards her bed again. He had found something in the Void, most likely.

~~~

It took but a short minute or so before Terra arrived at a door. His sudden and energetic sprint had been sparked by a stream in the Void being broken. He set a hand on the door, pressing against it for a moment before knocking rapidly and urgently. After a long ten seconds, he took a step back, getting ready to kick the door open if he could.


...

Maci had been resting in her bed. By accident, she had nearly fallen asleep. The furious knocking on the door quickly alerts her. Maci is the first one to reach the door. She opens it up to see Terra about to charge into the room. "Easy now" she says in amusement. "No need to break down the door-" her amusement disappears when she notices the panicked look on his face. "What's wrong?" She asks.

Terra reached out his hand, jerking back as if it had been shot or thrown backwards. Slowly, from the point of air he'd touched to about halfway through the room, black veins of something started to spread. "Don't look at it too long." The black veins connected to one another at a certain point, where Terra ran to after rudely brushing past Maci. As he stepped into the area, several changes shot through his body. He was still close enough to Cherry for the added bonus in manipulating the unholy place that was now visible, and the was the first noticeable thing; His palms split, revealing an eye in each one with red irises. Their pupils looked like x's, a simple cross in the center of them. Next, the center of his shirt started to writhe. After a few tense moments, the shirt tore away, revealing one enormous eye that ran from the bottom of his neck to the top of his newly-found pants. This one had a yellow-orange iris, though the pupil was different. It was like a cat's, though it was sideways.. As sideways as it could see when there were eyelids were to the left and right. The center eye glanced back and forth, then focused on the point before it. Slowly, it started to pull the veins into the point, drawing the hypothetical liquid into the center. The two eyes on his palms glanced around wildly, examining the veins and seemingly drawing them in a bit faster. For a tense few moments, the veins didn't end. Ten seconds passed, and their ends came into view, sprouting from the point that Terra had tapped. They writhed like worms, crawling towards the point as the large eye drew them closer. As they closed the distance, Terra started to pant, as if in exhaustion. When the veins did finally make it to the end, a sort of haze vanished from the room, and all three of the extra eyes closed at once, leaving Terra to fall onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath. His seemed satisfied with the result, though.

Lifei was roomed with Scarlett, which she didn’t mind, not at all. It reminded her of the days the pair of them used to hide in the storeroom and do their own random stuff together, and always ending up burning something. The two chatted for a while, before Scarlett sensed a sort of demon altar, or something of that sort. She flew to check it out, and landed near Angie’s room.


Lifei meanwhile, went to find Blossom and Charlie. She walked around, attracted by the noise Terra was making. “Charlie? Blossom? Are you guys in there?”

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Maci's eyes were drawn to the dark veins that were forming in the room. Even with Terra's warning, she found she couldn't look away. Her brain fought to comprehend what was going on. Finally, her survival instincts kick in. She glances away from the veins and focuses on Terra. If things weren't already confusing enough, they had only now just gotten worse, because now eyes were starting to appear on Terra's body.

Maci doesn't have time to understand what she had just witnessed. Because soon enough, the void is fixed and Terra has suddenly collapsed onto the ground. "Terra!?" Maci shouts. She races forward and kneels in front of him. She quickly looks him over, trying to see whenever or not he was hurt. He seems fine, just exhausted she notes. "Let's get you back to your room, you need to rest" she tells him calmly. She gently helps him up onto his feet, moving slowly just in case he had gotten injured. For his sake, Maci ignores her urge to question what had just happened.

Hearing Lifei, Blossom got up and opened the door at looked up at her, because Blossom hadn't changed her clothes from the parade, her Kimono was all wrinkled again.

---

Someone hit the door frame and Lauriam rolled over with a grumble. In doing so, he had a line of sight to whoever it was. Cracking an eye open, he could only make out a black haired girl. Ah, she was the one that he shared a chariot with wasn't it. Well it wouldn't hurt to try and use her, would it. She didn't seem like much of a threat so he slowly sat up as if just waking up from sleep. "Wha-" he muttered, faking bleariness. Blinking a few times, he allowed his eyes to adjust as he faintly thanked his past self for remembering to put on a tank top, covering up what he didn't want others to see. "Need any help?" he asked, getting out of bed. Ugh, the mattress was way too soft so even if he wanted to he couldn't get used to the extravagant shows of luxury thrown his way. He hoped that his half-asleep act could at least get whoever this girl was to open up to him a bit more. It had worked with Strelizia so it was worth a shot.

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Harmony rubbed her head where the wooden door frame had ran into her face, Lauriam's voice made its way to her ears and she jumped in shock. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you, I didn't know you were sleeping! I knocked but no one answered so I figured I was alone. . ." She fumbled over her words in embarrassment. Her eyes flicked to the side then back to him. "I'm Harmony. You're Lauriam right? One of my roommates for now?"

---

Zoe had been paired with a girl who seemed quiet. She noted that she closely resembled the loose description of Shiloh's husband that she had given once. A sister, she thought. Zoe hadn't thought about the prospect of a roommate. That wouldn't be fun. Especially with her reputation. The girl sat on her bed, and Zoe sat on hers. They stared across the room at each other. "So.." the girl said. "So..." Zoe said. "Aunt Shiloh told me about you. From her visits to the prison." "Yeah, I know your aunt." "She said that you're not as bad as you seem." Zoe was silent for a minute, before saying, "Yeah, well, that's where she was wrong." As she lay back on the bed, the girl said softly, "My name's Morgan, y'know." "I don't care."

Eric moved into his room, removing the jacket of his suit and tossing it onto his bed. The other tribute hadn't arrived yet or was hesitant to show themselves. No matter. Eric could get along fine with just about anyone, though he was ever so thankful that he hadn't been given his sister as a roommate. Perhaps that was intentional, to mess with his nerves, or maybe it was a coincidence. Either way, it was certainly a good thing. He leaned over the side of the bed, staring at the floor quietly.

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Terra allowed Maci to support him back, all traces of the Void gone with the eyes; not even the faint line of a scar on his palms or chest. Soon, Cherry came trotting up and helped, seemingly having realized the break in the Void and coming to assist. Evidently, this had been more draining on Terra than usual.


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As Eric collapsed on a bed, a small head poked up from behind another. Angie, who had been rolling on the floor, had heard him and decided to take a look. "Hello," was all she said.

“Hello Blossom. How’d you already crinkle your kimono?” Lifei asked. “Are you alright? I heard noises. Where’s Charlie?” She asked, gently, as she smoothened out Blossom’s kimono, and retied the bow. She gently changed the bow, tying it a different way. “You know, if you aren’t comfortable with this, you should change to something more informal, but still fit for combat. If you don’t have any I can lend you some. I’m pretty sure I have some that would fit you...and Charlie if she’d like”

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Charlie came sidling up next to Blossom hearing Lifei's voice, almost right away she wrapped her arms around Lifei's waist with a huge grin on her face.

(and now I realize that Lifei and Maic are both going to be competing in taking care of these two-)

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