Two's 67th Hunger Games [Victor: Adria!]

[+30mg]

theo's empty thought is then interrupted by the familiar presence he had found comfort in. it wasn't too alarming, but it turned to a new unexpected event as he felt a shiver soaking him with ice-cold temperature as his eyes gazed upon the bloody rapier that seemed to flash a red glow as it met the ray of lights. clair then decided to hurl her weapon into a pool and then sat down next to the introverted boy. the latter was about to greet her in the most polite way possible, but it seemed to be interrupted once more by clair.
and although theodore was generally tolerable for people who'd like to intervene.
but the words that came out of clair's mouth, was devastating.
"I saw what you did in the bloodbath, when that girl asked you to kill her? I was watching, you know. What you did, it was beautiful."
theo almost sent his mouth agape, but managed to keep in his screaming soul to layer it out with a smile that was still saturated with the significant horror he was feeling in the pit of his psyche. he didn't say a word, however. there was a silent pause, and theo was relieved that clair didn't deepen on other things in her mind that is sure to make the former hide in fear.
however...
"Y'know, I do realize I said 'when I die' instead of 'if I die' when I was talking earlier. But I did that on purpose. I've done a lot of things, but I've never died before, and I'm really curious to find out what it's like."

theo's fear-thrilled soul soon expressed its very condition, the boy widened his crystal eyes, his hand tightening on the last thing it touched, a knife. but oh theo knew that the girl wasn't done talking, he somehow knew that the worst is soon to come.
"I know exactly how I want it to happen, too."
he felt as if he was about to faint out of pure shock, but he managed to keep down his swirling fright with a small gasp that was hardly recognizable, but he was sure that that clair heard it. theo felt the shiver coldly raking his skin in the most horrific manner, but his blue eyes are still fixated upon clair. was she doing this on purpose? theo knew that she would know of his cowardliness, right? all questions and inquiries flooded her mind, but none managed to be indicated with the boy's voice.
"th-that... um. never m-mind... sorry."

[SunnyJustice]

[Might not be online until later tomorrow, sorry for the short posts I'll likely make tonight.]

Clair tilted her head slightly, smiling at Theodore in her curious fashion. She wasn't sure why he seemed so stricken; had she said anything wrong? She sincerely didn't think so. Or at least, she hoped she hadn't. "I want you to give me a hug. You're good at that. And then I want you to slit my-"
Across camp, Maple was extremely disappointed with Clair's disturbing behavior. If she wanted to make the District Two agreement, she could at least take that twisted grin off her face, and use mature words that did not sound overly happy. This was not a cheerful subject, yet Clair's smile was wider than a greatsword blade. Maple was relieved when Naomi returned.
"You may," the Career responded dutifully, holding her spear as Naomi closed her eyes. Maple had stayed up all night the first night, but slept the second as the other girls had a 'slumber party' while keeping watch. Maple would pull another all-nighter if her allies were tired.
"Clair." Maple's voice was unhappy as she turned to her ally, interrupting her before she could finish her horrifying sentence. "Sleep."
"I'm not tired," sang Clair. "And I'm in the middle of a conversation."
"You are tired."
"Am not! Sorry Maple, I'm being rude. But please, I'm really not tired."
"Sleep. Now."
Clair sighed. "Sorry Theodore," she murmured before giving him a quick hug goodnight, and skipping off to her tent. Maple watched her carefully, then walked up to Theodore.
"She's very tired," Maple attempted to explain. Either that, or Clair was off the deep end. Maple had to give her, a Grant, the benefit of the doubt. There was a long pause as Maple silently waited for Theodore to decide; either keep watch with her or go to sleep himself.
Four cannons had fired this evening. If Theodore decided to join Maple on the night watch, it would make her allies feel safer. Hopefully Clair would act like a sane woman in the morning.

"Oh, don't offer. I was gonna steal it all anyway," cackled Apricot, already taking a handful. "I love you so much right now. Too bad for you I'm taken. Jealous? Nah, I'm just kidding. You're not my type. But you are my friendship type. You stink, ya know. That means 'you rock' in District Twoanese."
She was wolfing down a chocolate bar, and talking rudely with her mouth full. Acacia, Willow, and practically every Adamson woman from before was expressing their rage at her lack of manners through the mental bond, and Apricot just ignored them. "I'm having a hell of a good time? Get it? Hell? Because I'm from hell. Ahaha, I am so clever, aren't I, sis?"
This was great. Now Apricot had three sisters; Acacia, Leala, and Aster. And she loved them all. One day they would have a Bloodbath Sisterhood day, a girls' night out in which they went on a disgrace-torturing spree. Acacia called the disgraces 'Anarchists'. Apricot assumed it had something to do with her creepy future-sight thing, which seemed to torture Acacia a great deal, but Apricot really didn't care. What was so bad about having a superpower, especially in the afterlife?
Oh, Apricot would kill to be able to do cool stuff like that.
Actually, she would kill for no reason. She missed actually killing. At least her last murder was also her favorite, and she was no longer plagued by a rabid thirst of blood; it had already been quenched. Now she just casually assaulted disgraces, not because she needed to, but because she wanted to.

Ed wasn't sure how he felt at the moment, wandering through the forest outside Lecture Hall. His sister was being absolutely terrifying, to the point where even Ed was scared of her, and she was his little sibling for crying out loud. Actually, in District Four, both Ed and Adam had been pretty intimidated by Clair. They used to have a pet canary, but Clair, quote unquote, 'took it apart to see how it worked'.
Ed and Adam shared a room. The brothers would literally take shifts watching for Clair every night. They didn't want to wake up one morning and find -- well -- they didn't actually wake up, and would no longer be capable of doing so. The worst thing was that Clair didn't understand the difference between right and wrong. She was just curious and wanted to know everything.
Ed felt so bad for Theodore, who Clair seemed to have thoroughly scared straight. Clair didn't even understand the sheer horror her words could bring. Especially with that innocent smile.
He was lost in thought again, and when he ran into someone, he assumed it was Cole. "I'm scared, Cole. Give me a hug," he said honestly before throwing his arms around the figure.
He looked up and was about to explain himself, but then he realized it was Naomi. "Oh dear," he said awkwardly, but he didn't feel like pulling away from the hug so he just didn't. "Um, hi," he chuckled. "It's really nice to see you again. I missed you. I'm just a little, er, creeped out. Can you apologize to Theodore about my sister, on my behalf? Clair's got a few screws loose, but she doesn't mean any harm." He was beginning to ramble, but the next thing he blurted out was even more random and embarrassing.
"You know, you don't just look beautiful, you are beautiful. Today was so spectacular, I didn't even have a good enough pickup line for it."
His eyes went wide. He had literally said all that. Out loud.
"Um, speaking of bad pickup lines, I think I need to get a world record award for that now," he said quietly, sounding more like a mouse than a man.

[+30mg]

for once, maple's solid-metal voice soothed theo as she interrupted clair's horrifying words. the superiority that maple exuded managed to force clair to retreat into her tent. but before she entered the prism-like structure, clair embraced theo in a hug. but all the boy could feel was his solace and comfort he used to perceive get stripped away from all the colours. he could only feel the grey coldness as clair hugged him, and his expression managed not to hide his true feelings as his blue orbs stayed wide out of shock.
"She's very tired,"
theo turned his head towards maple in an alarming fashion after clair entered her tent, his face as pale as that fake moonlight. theodore stayed silent, only nodding in submission of the adamson's authoritativeness. he then bit his lower lip, feeling all the vibrant colours he felt for clair torn apart by the seams, ripped and bitten by the darkness of the girl's shadow.
he cannot sleep.
he just can't.
"i-i'll keep a lookout. i-i-i just n-need to... p-please, m-maple."

all of this reminded theodore of the genesis incident.

...

"sammy.... cay....! ready or not...."

that savage smile, those crazed grey eyes.

oh genesis...

"here i come!"

...

[SunnyJustice]

Rowan was, once again, alone in his study hall. The apology with Diana had gone well, far beyond his wildest imaginings. However, there was an issue he needed to address, and it involved a certain girl from District Four. For six years in a row, no District Four girl had been completely sane.
Rowan was probably the worst person in this situation to deal with Clair, especially because of his 'style' in the Games. However, Apricot was not available, and Elm had just signed off on an excursion to watch over the Games. Rowan chuckled, thinking of his aunt Elm, probably gazing so longingly at Adria Caraway again. Sometimes Rowan wondered why, and sometimes he theorized...
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Clair finally arrived.
"Oh, hi Rowan," said the girl, completely casual as she picked up the nearest book. "I'm dreaming, that's obvious... ooh, you have a book about killing methods. Do you think I can take this back into the real world and show it to Theodore? Or I can memorize the whole thing and tell it to him!"
She flipped open the book. Rowan quickly took it away, closed it, and hid it under a pile of documents. "I do apologize for my rudeness," he said gently, "but that would not be beneficial."
"Why?" pouted Clair.
"I'm very sorry, Clair, but your behavior is disturbing many members of your alliance -- living and dead. How do you think Theodore feels after your conversation with him?"
"I think he's confused," said Clair honestly, blurting out everything. "Maybe he's just deciding how he's going to do it. I don't mind how, as long as it's him. Just being around him always makes me feel so warm. His eyes are very nice, too, I want to stare into them as I-"
"Clair, please..."
Clair didn't listen. "You're dead, right? What was it like? You seemed to be happy when Lily sn-"
"This is a dream, Clair," said Rowan. He came up with the most realistic-sounding thing that would make Clair stop this. "I'm not real. Yes, I am dead, but I can't tell you what it was like because I'm a figment of your own imagination -- and you don't know."
"Can I imagine my brother over here?" said Clair, seeming to focus hard.
"I don't believe so," Rowan said frantically. He was not helping, he was just digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole. "It doesn't work that way. Anyway, Clair, Ed told me about the canary incident."
"Hey," said Clair with a huff. "I got in big trouble for that. But I was just really curious -- I wanted to know. My parents said it was evil, but..." She trailed off then.
"We all have a little evil in us," Rowan whispered, putting his hand over his heart. "I just want you to accept that you do, too. It's okay to have some bad in you -- as long as you have good in there, too. And as long as you recognize what is right and what is wrong, and truly try to do the right thing. Clair, you have to look at the shadow you cast, before you know where the light is coming from."
"I don't know," said Clair. "All this stuff about being good and bad, it confuses me. I never really thought about it, honestly, Rowan."
"I think you should," Rowan responded. "It would be for the best."
"Okay!" Clair said cheerfully. "I'll try! So... what about Theo?"
"He is very upset. I'm sorry to say, Clair, you have disturbed him deeply," said Rowan apologetically.
"Why?" whispered Clair, trembling a little. Her perpetual smile fell from her face, for once, and Rowan prayed she wouldn't cry. "Did I do something bad?"
"I don't think you understood," Rowan replied, "but when you talk about your own death so happily, it scares people. Please try to reflect upon this."
"Okay," Clair said tentatively. "If I hurt Theo's feelings by being evil, do you think I can make him like me again? 'Cause I really like him, and I don't want him to be upset."
"I think if you put in your best effort to understand," Rowan responded, "he will be understanding too."
"I will. Thanks, Rowan, or figment-of-my-imagination-whatever!" said Clair, smiling again.
Rowan mentally breathed a sigh of relief. It was a start.
"Thank you, Clair."
He let the dream fade and allowed Clair to return to an undisturbed slumber. Oh, now he was going to be in deep disgrace for this -- when Clair died, she was going to find that he was, in fact, real. Someone, be it Clair or a fellow Adamson, would definitely beat Rowan with a frying pan.
Oh well -- it was better than allowing Clair's reign of terror to continue. Maybe things would change now. Rowan hoped so... but he didn't really believe it.
And that worried him deeply.

"Yes," responded Maple simply. She could tell Theodore was thoroughly disturbed after Clair's conversation, and Maple set a hand on her ally's shoulder reassuringly. She sincerely hoped Clair's insane speech was a passing phase of her fatigue. Either way, she would demand an apology from the girl to Theodore. Scaring him in such a way was unacceptable.
"Want to talk?"

[+30mg]

theo gulped, his blue eyes still stuck upon the rough texture of the landscape. he dared not to look at maple's eyes, but her natural aura of authoritativeness seemed to weaken as she asked theo if he possessed the will to talk to the adamson. in fact he did and he silently nodded in agreement.
"... y-yes, please... b-b-but i hope you don't m-mind." the boy said, still acknowledging that he wasn't all too comfortable to keep maple awake even though she really needed a rest. "i-i-i promise it'll be q-quick... really..." not wanting to waste any grain of time whatsoever with silence, theo then decided to open his usually closed-mouth.
"... even th-though i was really scared... i d-didn't know what t-to say or do... i really wanted her to st-stop. but, i don't want to h-hurt her f-feelings... but..." theo halted his fingers, which were carving on the ground out of anxiety. he then hugged his knees, pressing his legs upon his torso.
"agh, i'm so pathetic."

[SunnyJustice]

Maple nodded carefully -- of course she didn't mind. If she had any objections, she would simply have left without a word, but Maple, unlike her sister, was an accepting person. That conversation seemed traumatic for Theodore. It was definitely a good sign that he was at least expressing his emotions. Maple tried to be a counselor as much as Rowan and Olive did, but she preferred listening over talking.
When he was finished, Maple shook her head slowly, showing her disagreement to the last sentence. She did not consider her ally pathetic. What defined pathetic -- or rather, who defined pathetic -- was a cowardly, disgraceful little traitor like Richie Banks. Theodore was not a cowardly, disgraceful little traitor. Though he was timid, it was just who he was. Maple didn't judge him for it.
"She will stop," she said definitely. Clair needed to learn to behave appropriately, and she was not doing so as of now. Not many things could bother Maple, except harm coming to her alliance, and Clair seemed to have mentally scarred her poor friend. Maple couldn't let it continue -- for the sake of both tributes' sanity. She was not going to have a repeat of Genesis Cry.
The almost-betrayal. That had been too close -- only Acacia had averted a nasty outcome by saving her friend's life during the blizzard. If not for the raging snowstorm, all four Careers could have perished.
And though Maple wasn't a heartless dictator, she was not lenient enough to allow the same mistake to happen twice. District Four girls had a five-year streak of insanity.
If Clair was the sixth, Maple would deal with her accordingly.
And it was as clear as day what that meant.
"I'll make her."

[Skype is next to die. Leo is on patrol duty so perhaps he can kill her.]

[anathema]

xxx...No, Adria...
xxxShe knew that she was dreaming the moment that the chilling voice had echoed through her mind. She couldn't see now, but soon, the dreamscape lightened into a sun-lit forest. It was all incredibly surreal, yet there was a certain aspect to it that made her feel conscious. Where was she? This wasn't District Seven. Adria knew every tree in her homeland, and this grove of deciduous oaks was exempt from that collection.
xxx...I'm going to get you home.
xxxThe voice wasn't as cold anymore; rather comforting, now. Adria longed to reply, but couldn't. Where are you? She wanted to call to the owner of these words. Who was it? She swore she knew, but...
xxxI don't care if I die...
xxxAnd you have! Adria's mind instantly shot back. It was as if her words were a reflex of their own, involuntarily relaying her speech before she could even comprehend them.
xxxAnd now, she knew who it was.
xxx...Just make sure that Jillian is taken care of, okay?
xxx"I will do... everything in my power... to make sure that Jillian is taken care of."
xxxThe once-beautiful woodland had morphed into a dark forest. The foliage was opaque, blocking out any imposing sunlight. Blood began to trickle down the trunks and branches of the trees, and an ominous voice, repeating an incoherent phrase, overpowered Jack's pleads.
xxxJust as Adria began to wake up, she could understand what the voice was saying. It was so strange and creepy, and Adria wasn't sure why these words, of all words, were being spoken. There was no pause between each sentence, and they began to overlap each other before fading completely.
xxxHome...
xxxHome...
xxxH...
xxxWhen Adria woke, it was so incredibly hot that she was barely able to move. She slowly gathered her strength to grasp her canteen, finishing off the rest of the water inside. She stood up, emerging from the shelter of the thick green plants that had concealed her throughout her slumber.
xxxIt was time.
xxxShe had to finish these games.

xxxAster stared at Apricot with slight bewilderment as she rambled on—she went from being her friend, to a... potential lover? to her sister. She slowly and thoughtfully nodded, still trying to catch up with the girl's words.
xxx"Yeah, sis," she replied with a laugh, deciding to try out the new title for herself. "So. Do you wanna wreak some more havoc around the school. Break into some dorms and set off fireworks or confetti? Just about everybody's sleeping, and it takes a while for me to fall asleep, so I'm jealous of them and want to get them back. Revenge is my favorite thing, you know."
xxxThe first person that came to her mind was Adonis—even though he was dead, the boy was always trying to catch up on sleep. He got a good fourteen hours every night—going to bed right after dinner and waking up early.
xxx"Or... Hmm. Maybe we could go torture someone; bring 'em up from down below, give them a five second head-start, and chase them around the school. This chocolate's going to give me a huge burst of energy, whatchamacallit, a sugar high? And I wanna run it off," Aster added with a jittery grin.

[SunnyJustice]

Apricot was having fun just thinking about it. "Instead of setting off fireworks, we could set legit fires and burn down the boys' dorm," she suggested murderously. Actually, who was she kidding? She was always murderous. "And ew, sleep is for the weak. In District Two, we hate the weak -- but we absolutely love revenge. It's one of the major parts of popular culture," she explained.
Apricot really didn't sleep, though Rowan and Willow did it regularly. She couldn't really blame them. During the Games, both had been awake for over thirty-six hours before finally getting some rest. Apricot had taken a nap before her final day alive, so, literallly speaking, she had 'only' stayed up for eighteen hours. Technically, though, the wound that caused her death took twenty-seven hours to kill her. It was kind of like a competition to Apricot; which Adamson had the worst death?
She was pretty sure she held the trophy.
Apricot laughed just thinking about it. Hey, maybe she would have died faster if she had stayed up, but where would be the fun in that? She loved to brag about her horrible demise.
You weren't mauled by mutts for hours, Willow countered.
Daughter of a pillbug. Mutts, butts, Apricot retorted. I was tortured by my worst enemy, you were tortured by instinct-following animals. As Rowan would say-
Don't you "it's not personal" me!
Ha ha, sucker. Beat that. Now get out of my head, freak.
Apricot forcibly shut Willow out, wondering why she hadn't done so before.
She had been sitting on the ground to eat, but she jumped to her feet when Aster suggested torturing some disgrace. "Yeah, awesome!" she whooped. "Who do you wanna beat up? Oh, I wanna stick a pencil through that Marie Lorech and sharpen it using her ribcage."

[anathema]

xxxAt Apricot's mentioning of literally burning down the boys' dorm, a matchbox and matches materialized in Aster's hands. She struck the matchbox, hurling the matchstick down the hall. She watched it sail through the air before landing on the ground before turning her attention away from the gradually-enlarging flame.
xxx"Well, that'll take care of that plan," Aster simply stated, disregarding the fact that the school was now potentially going to be set on fire. Man, would that be fun—having everyone evacuate outside, and then maybe pranking all the tributes as they walked outside! They could mount a bucket full of ice-cold water atop the threshold of each door, and have it triggered when someone stepped in a certain area. Or, they could lock all the doors on the outside with chains to prevent everyone to leave. Although Aster didn't dislike the average students at the school, there was something very exciting about watching them burn from the outside.
xxx"I don't sleep much, but I do on occasion. Would that make me only half-weak?" Aster asked, snickering faintly. It was true; she'd probably only gotten two hours of sleep altogether since she'd died, and that was two years ago. Aster spent most of her time in Lecture Hall performing her janitorial duties. Luckily, she only had two years remaining because of the arrow she'd shot into that son-of-a-papermaker Richie Banks's abdomen.
xxx"Marie Lorech? I wish I'd killed her more violently. That little—narrow-minded—agh! I can't even find the right words to describe her, that's how enraged I am. I wish I had myself a really wicked-looking sword right now, because I'd hunt her down and chase her to the ends of the school with it. And when I'd finally catch her, I'd make her look unrecognizable." A sinister glare reflected from her emotionless ice blue eyes. "But since I don't have a sword, I might as well just use my bare hands, right?" Aster cracked her knuckles and gritted her teeth.

[SunnyJustice]

Apricot smiled casually at the fire that was beginning to consume part of the hallway. As the Vice Principal of Detention, Apricot was completely comfortable standing in the middle of a raging inferno. In fact, she enjoyed nothing more than to take a swim in fire and brimstone, dragging a few enemies into the 'sauna' alongside her. Those people, needless to say, did not find it as pleasant.
The dormitories were not attached to the school, but it would be even funnier. Classes would be interrupted as kids watched their rooms burn. There were many separate dorms, and this one was specifically for non-Careers, making it more hilarious. Especially since some Idiot Alliance members lived on this floor. Elm Adamson was the only Career here, but it was because she was the supervisor of the building. Still, Elm irritated Apricot at times. Sucks to be them.
"Nah, I heard you really don't sleep much, so I guess it doesn't count as being weak," said Apricot. "Besides, there are a lot of real weaklings I wanna rip apart. Ugh, I heard about Marie and her disgusting attitude towards you and Acacia. That's two of my sisters. Totally uncool!"
She grinned as Aster began brainstorming ways to 'deal with' that daughter of a pillbug. "Oh yeah, I use my bare hands half the time. Rowan gets very upset when he sees the stuff I do. He's criticized me on 'defacing his style' if you know what I mean, but this just makes me do it more. Sometimes I use my pitchfork to torture the creeps, but that's getting boring. And making my cousin all whiny is an added bonus!"
She also cracked her knuckles, copying Aster. She then whipped out her pager and called Marie. "Hey, ya sexist little weakling. We're coming to make your night hell. Get it -- hell? Since you're in hell! Haha, I'm so clever. We'll be there in five minutes... so let's play some hide-and-seek! We're it!"
She hung up and grinned.
"Let's find a window to jump out of. Stairs are for babies."