125thhungergames

[125thhungergames]

careers group chat

winter: hey guys! how’s everyone?

robert: as good as can be expected

blondie: fuckiiiin great, wasn’t blocked yesterday so that has to count for something lmao

winter: ikr i was honestly so shocked that valeri got blocked, the rest of us gotta stick together

winter: i was thinking of expanding our alliance

winter: maybe invite lavender? unofficially ofc

robert: strategically we should expand

caden: rose and celeste would be on board, i think

blondie: so no trouble in paradise after the game lol?

caden: idk, so far none so fingers crossed

blondie: i could get jerome and aleyska on board

robert: good. we need to make sure we’ll be in the top.

blondie: we should agree to put one of us as our first so that we’d have the influencer spot covered as well

winter: i’ll talk to royal, after half of her allies got blocked i think she’ll welcome the offer

robert: do that

caden: okay guys, i gotta make sure i’m still in rose’s good graces lol, see you

blondie: see ya, i gotta take a shower bye

winter: bye guys

-------- chat ended

sam invited blake, doutzen, wallace, gil, naveen, alyeska

sam: hey guys! what do you think about the game so far?

doutzen: seems far-fetched to me tbh

gil: i kinda wish my life wasn’t in the hands of people who will probably eliminate me the next round lol

alyeska: no one’s going to eliminate you

naveen: i feel like i might be going home soon

sam: this is actually why i brought you here

sam: what if we make a bigger alliance to sort of eliminate the others?

alyeska: i’m not sure i like how this sounds

doutzen: i do, continue

naveen: i like the sound of this too

wallace: me three

sam: it’s simple, we’ll vote for each other until there’s just us in the game

gil: and then?

sam: we’ll cross that bridge when we get there

[125thhungergames]

never have i ever eaten a food that fell on the floor

i have: sam, jerome, blondie, caden, rose, blake, doutzen, wallace, gil, celestiana

i have never: leth, winter, royal, robert, alyeska, lavender, naveen

never have i ever experimented with my sexual orientation

i have: sam, blondie, winter, rose, blake, doutzen, wallace, gil, alyeska, lavender

i have never: leth, jerome, royal, robert, caden, naveen, celestiana

never have i ever been kicked out of a bar

i have: sam, jerome, blondie, caden, blake, doutzen, alyeska, lavender, celestiana

i have never: leth, winter, royal, robert, rose, wallace, gil, naveen

never have i ever said ‘i love you’ just to get laid

i have: blondie, robert, caden, blake, doutzen, alyeska, lavender i have never: sam, leth, jerome, winter, royal, rose, wallace, gil, naveen, celestiana

never have i ever stole something with higher value than 10 dollars

i have: jerome, blondie, caden, doutzen, lavender, celestiana

i have never: sam, leth, winter, royal, robert, rose, blake, wallace, gil, alyeska, naveen

never have i ever swam naked in a pool

i have: sam, jerome, blondie, winter, caden, rose, blake, doutzen, alyeska, lavender

i have never: leth, royal, robert, wallace, gil, naveen, celestiana

never have i ever lied to my parents about where i’m going

i have: sam, leth, jerome, blondie, robert, caden, rose, blake, gil, alyeska, lavender, celestiana

i have never: winter, royal, doutzen, wallace, naveen

never have i ever fought in the streets

i have: jerome, blondie, robert, caden, doutzen, lavender, celestiana

i have never: sam, leth, winter, royal, rose, blake, wallace, gil, alyeska, naveen

never have i ever been unfaithful

i have: blondie, robert, caden, doutzen, alyeska, lavender

i have never: sam, leth, jerome, winter, royal, rose, blake, wallace, gil, naveen, celestiana

never have i ever cheated on a test

i have: sam, leth, jerome, blondie, caden, blake, doutzen, gil, alyeska, lavender, celestiana

i have never: winter, royal, robert, rose, wallace, naveen

[125thhungergames]

royal shifted her weight from one foot to another as she observed rosella who appeared to be in a similar contemplative loop. each of them named tributes they wanted to protect, some of their suggestions overlapped, others differed and now they were left with six remaining tributes whose fate had yet to be decided. strangers, practically considering there was very few they had known besides their names and districts.

“naveen looks like a sweetheart and he’s only fourteen. i don’t think he should get the boot.” royal broke the silence, gaze flickering towards her companion. barely five seconds passed when the other brunette gave her the affirmative nod.

“that being said i think we should also give the green light to gil. i’ve talked with him only once and he has been nothing but polite.” rosella chipped in, pursing her lips as her eyes got lost in the thought. “there’s just something positive radiating from him, i don’t know.”

“sure, sure. i also feel like if we were to shun alyeska we would be going against the whole don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“i don’t want alyeska to leave just yet, because i feel like she could have some useful information about the capitol.” rosella agreed, green-lighting alyeska’s name. “also since jerome is her ally i feel like if we spare him she might feel more inclined to trust us and maybe even tell us more things? i know i’m being terribly strategical about it, but i’m clutching at straws here.”

“no, no, you totally have a point there. let’s save both of them, it can pay off later.”

“who’s left?” rosella questioned as her eyes searched through the names of tributes, each highlighted in green colour but two.

“wallace and asher...” royal replied in the same moment as rosella read the two lingering names. “i have no idea about these guys, i’ve never even interracted with them.”

“me neither. i guess we’ll have to judge a book by the cover after all.”

“for me wallace is more likeable. there’s just something calming about him that makes you want to be in his presence.”

“i agree. also asher seemed really violent the other day.”

“it’s settled then.”

[125thhungergames]

they were all called upon by capitol.

rosella was sitting on the sofa, her legs thrown over caden’s thighs. celestiana was sitting next to them, eating a late lunch as they waited. 

“good evening dear tributes! congratulations for making it so far. upon the last events we’ve decided to alter the rules a bit. there can be only one victor. as soon as you enter the designated arena tomorrow you will be against each other. there will be two teams. those who hide and those who seek. seekers if you do not find the hidden tributes and kill them in 24 hours the microchip we’ve entered in your neck will explode, killing you. it’s you vs them. hiding tributes have 100 second head start to find a hiding place. good luck. the seekers are: robert yaxley. caden rosier. zachary otel. marcus donnerstag. celestiana destefano. valeriya volta. the rest of you hide.”

[125thhungergames]

the rules were simple. make it out of the ten rooms alive. each room had a time limit three minutes. between the rooms were “resting zones” where they were allowed to stay for ten minutes, except for the resting zone between room 5 and room 6 where the time allowed to spend was two hours.

it should have been simple.

zachary’s back was pressed against the cold uncomfortable surface of the stone wall, thousand yard stare shielding his train of thoughts. four days ago he would have said that there is a hope for them. there’s a chance they truly do make it out alive, if not all then at least the majority of them. now he wasn’t sure if by the end of al this there would even be a winner after all. maybe all of them will fall dead like apples from the trees.

-------------------------------------------------

three & half hours ago

the first room looked peaceful, tranquil. reminded of a meadow lighted by the spring sun beams. brids chipped in the distance and light breeze tickled the otherwise unmovable scenery. 

it only took few initial steps for the real show to begin. suddenly sharp objects began flying from the sky, turning the dreamland into a horror. first ones to recuperate were the careers who began to run as fast as their legs could carry them with robert in the lead who only when he was directly in front of the door realized that his allies weren’t following him. 

he looked back, hand on the door handle to look at the mess that was behind him. caden was with rosella and her ally celestiana whose leg was impaled by a metal stick. winter was battling his way through the sharp object while holding lavender to his body. navenia was trying to carry injured jerome along with alyeska.

robert cursed underneath his breath before opening the door and marking himself as the first tribute to survive the room.

he waited for less than a minute, before caden along with rosella and celestiana made their way through. as they opened the door a wave of screams ran through. it was impossible to decipher whose voice it was.

“is everyone alive so far ?” robert inquired out of natural curiosity that constantly plagued his mind.

“so far.” caden replied with a curt nod. “plenty are injured, though.”

as soon as he said that the door flew open, revealing marcus donnerstag. his clothes were dirty, probably an aftermath of previous falling but otherwise uninjured.

soon naveen entered, followed by winter and lavender. then doutzen with samantha. then valeriya. riley. zachary. royal. arista. finally navenia and alyeska caring injured jerome. 

all of them made it out. it was almost a wonder. the digital clock above them started counting down from ten minutes as soon as the last person entered.

the next room was equally lethal.

fire.

this time everyone made it out under two minutes.

the third room was a problem, though.

opposite of its precedent, water was even more lethal, considering most of the tributes didn’t know how to swim. 

valeriya rolled her eyes at the panicking tributes and grabbed arista by the waist, swimming with her towards the door. caden did the same with rosella and celestiana. robert decided to chip in as well and helped samantha and doutzen. marcus was a lousy swimmer and made a fool of himself while trying to get to the otherside, but eventually he did. turns out that alyeska is a good swimmer, even better than navenia and together along with jerome they made it through. then winter with lavender. then naveen. the only ones left were royal zachary and riley. the girl from one was trying to support both of her friends, but her strength was giving up and they weren’t even in the half. she needed to make a choice. zachary was the heavier one. it should have been him. except it wasn’t.

fourth room.

it looked almost as peaceful as the first one, similar meadow decorated the room. the only difference were the added hives in the corners. it didn’t take long for the bees to attack. the fastest ones were once again the careers. robert, caden, navenia. then doutzen. rosella. celestiana. marcus. winter. lavender. valeriya. zachary. alyeska. jerome. 

they held the door open as long as they could. arista fell down, already a feast for the bees. royal walked to the nearest hive, spreading her arms out in an invitation, waiting for the insect to claim her.

zachary screamed at her, fits of shouts, spit flying out of his mouth. why wouldn’t she go to them? why?

fifth room.

the easiest one, though equally terrifying. everyone was paralized from waist down and as such had to rely on the strength of their upper body only. everyone made it out.

break.

“why ?” zachary asked. alyeska was sitting down next to him, trying to soothe him. “why would she do that, why would she kill herself?”

sixth room.

the fog was strong, blinding them all. what was worse was it’s acidic trait that caused blisters and open wounds to many tributes. everyone but naveen made it out.

seventh room. 

freezer. everyone made it out.

eighth room.

moving walls. once again the fastest tributes were at advantage. everyone made it out.

ninth room.

barbed wire. lavender got herself entangled in the wire, the wire cutting the flesh on her wrists and her neck. winter tried to get her out, but it was too late. the door closed and both of them were left for dead.

tenth room.

no oxygen. 

[125thhungergames]

the aftermath.

zachary, riley, royal

the villa’s couch felt cozy enough with its overly colourful pillows occupying most of it’s sitting space and blankets thrown over in a lazy-yet-fashionable kind of way. not that any of it mattered to the petite brunette, hugging her knees, face hidden from the rest of the world. zachary had his hand wrapped around her, drawing small circles on her back in a soothing manner. he was fighting the urge to cry his heart out at the loss of their ally, but her wanted to appear strong in front of his female friends and thus fought back the tears that were threatening to spill out. riley sat on the opposite side, chin supported by her clasped hands, the look of despair drawn on her face.

valeriya, arista

rosella, celestiana, caden

navenia, jerome

doutzen, samantha

winter, lavender

[125thhungergames]

the waiting room was a mess.

valeriya and arista stood tall, condescending look disrupting their otherwise beautiful features. lavender was sitting on the ground, limbs arranged in a way that made her look like a human ball. tears did not spill out of her eyes but the look of despair & shock expressed just as much. navenia was standing with robert and caden, the three of them suffering no casualties of their own. jerome appeared to be talking to alyeska who was still unable to believe that her district partner was gone. zachary and riley were holding royal who now turned into a fit of sobs and cries. rosella expressed her mourning quieter but she too was shaken by the death of the innocent boy. it was all made worse by the fact that she knew caden had something to do with his death, which was the reason why she was currently unable to look at him. naveen at least had the nerve to look away from her, unlike marcus who had his usual twisted grin and caden whose eyes constantly searched hers. celestiana stood beside her, offering her silent support. 

[125thhungergames]

24. blake montress

23. letholdus aner

22. wallace roma

21. delancey thrys-routher

20. asher tronnen

19. gil dresden

18. riley sota

17. arista lowe

16. royal avanturine

15. naveen krest

14. lavender sol

13. winter engelhorn

[125thhungergames]

the neck tie trap

the four of them were up first. their names announced in the room where all 24 tributes stood, waiting for their sentence. 

all of them could survive.

those words resonated in each and every one of them, a flicker of hope that they could all make it. 

valeriya and arista stauntered arm in arm, confidence oozing out of them. lavender sent a timid wave towards delancey before joining the duo. last one was blake who had to tear himself away from samantha who had him in a vice grip hug.

the rest of the tributes waited, but only for a short time. no gongs, no news, nothing that would give them any kind of information about the four.

the electric bathtub

navenia nodded curtly towards her two allies and exited towards the room with jerome and alyeska behind her. zachary hugged his three allies and joined navenia and the rest.

[125thhungergames]

125th AU

saw - 24

4. Shotgun Carousel: 1+6 n

Winter + Robert, Wallace, Celestiana, Delancey, Asher, Gil

2. Electric Bathtub: 4 y

Navenia, Alyeska, Jerome, Zachary

5. The Ceiling Jars: 5 y

Riley, Rosella, Samantha, Royal, Doutzen

1. The Neck Tie Trap: 4 n

Valeriya, Arista, Blake, Lavender

3. Ten Pints of Sacrifice: 4 n

Caden, Marcus, Naveen, Leth

cube - 18

- flying knives

- fire

- water

- poisonous bees

- paralyzing 

- acid fog

- freezer

- moving walls

- barbed wire

- no oxygen

hide and seek - 12

6- seeks: caden, marcus, valeriya, celestiana, robert, zachary

6- hides: rosella, alyeska, jerome, doutzen, navenia, samantha

would you rather - 6

[125thhungergames]

Peaceful. 

Unordinary word to describe a hunger games arena, but there was no other word for it. Calming bells in the background jingled as the light breeze swirlled the orange leaves around them. The grass was unnaturally green, almost as if it was painted and not real. The scenery felt like it had been stolen from a fairytale.

As the tributes started to look around the place, they started to notice several strange things. For one, the ground they stood on was floating above a river. The only way to leave the micro island was to jump on the nearest surface which were the giant domino pieces, also floating in the air.

“This is messed up.” Blondie commented as she stood on the edge of the floating island, leaning over to inspect how high they were. 

“Maybe this is it.” Zachary shruged as he stepped beside her, none the happier about the situation. “Psychological game. Put 24 kids in a floating isolated island and see which one breaks first.”

“Bullshit.” A voice from behind them suddenly spoke up. With arms crossed against his chest a lips pursed in a thin line Caden’s disapproval was evident. “We’re supposed to be cooperating. Besides, trapping tributes on an island where they can barely fit? Not exactly the Capitol’s style.”

“Right, because helping each other out instead of murdering one another is totally the Capitol’s style.” Navenia rolled her eyes, stepping away from the edge and took few long strides towards a wooden label pinned in the ground.

Vale of Tears it said. She squatted down to see if there were any clues or instructions pinned to the label but after few seconds she stood up empty-handed. Other tributes were looking around the pace as well, hoping to find something, anything. No one had any luck, though.

“There’s only one thing left to do.” Robert who has been silent for the entire time spoke up, bringing everyone’s attention to himself. “We jump on the domino pieces.”

“Are you mad? Do you see how far away it is?” Valeriya exclaimed, voicing everyone’s worries.

“We’ll help each other out. Stronger ones go first so they can catch anyone who doesn’t land properly. It’s our only way out, people.” Robert was now standing on the edge of the island, his back facing the domino pieces. Rest of the tributes were looking at him, conflicted. None of them wanted to risk jumping, but they all knew that staying here meant death sentence.

Slowly people started moving towards the edge, preparing themselves for the jump.

“Here I thought you were the fierce, dauntless career.” Caden whispered as he walked past Valeriya, bumping her shoulder. He had to fight the urge to smirk when he heard her stagger at the impact. 

The first one to go was the career pack, followed by Marcus, Celestiana and Rosella. Next ones were the pair from seven. Then the pair from eight. Then Lavender, Jerome, Alyeska, Riley, Zachary. More than half of the tributes were on the domino pieces and they realized they didn’t have any more room to move.

“We need to keep jumping.” Blondie whispered to Robert who seemed to be thinking the same way as her. Her district partner gave a curt nod in her direction and shot a hand up in the air, waving it backwards.

“Keep moving, I’ll catch up with you.” Blondie looked displeased at that, but moved anyways along with rest of the tributes.

Robert who was still standing on the first domino piece looked at the remaining tributes, waving at them to jump.

Naveen looked anxiously between the tributes who were standing on the island next to him and then leaped forward, barely landing on the domino piece.

He was followed by Gil and then Asher. 

The only ones still wavering were Royal, Leth, Arista and Delancey.

“Guys come on, you gotta make the jump.” Robert urged them, leaning forward with his arm stretched out in their direction.

Finally Delancey made the jump, grabbing Robert’s arm for support. She muttered a quiet thanks in his direction before following rest of the tributes.

“We really need to get moving.” He tried to urge them, making Royal and Leth jump simultaneously while holding hands. Arista, not wanting to be the left out one, plucked up courage and made the jump too.

Soon all of them were on the other side and on a stable ground which didn’t seem to be floating. The scenery wasn’t so peaceful anymore though. Blood on the ground, corpses rotting around, metal instruments tossed in the mess.

“This is getting creepy.” Arista commented, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell.

The change of scenery meant that their route wouldn’t be as easy as they hoped. Few tributes, especially careers, picked up the metal pieces that could be used as weapons and kept walking, trying to avoid the corpses and the blood.

[125thhungergames]

“So what, you guys are dating now?” Celestiana was poking her menthol ice cream with a silver spoon as if she was looking for something in the green dessert.

“Urgh, I have no idea.” Rosella exclaimed in frustration, placing her already empty ice cream bowl on the mahagony table. “It’s the Hunger Games, he’s a career and I’m just another girl from an outer district. There isn’t a single reason why it could work out.”

“Do you like him?” Celestiana raised her eyebrow at her friend. She wasn’t exactly on board with . . . whatever it was between Rose and Caden, but it was clear that the two cared about each other.

Ever since she could remember Celestiana had trouble trusting people . . . or dealing with people in general. So when she found a friend in the district 5 female, she felt a weird sense of connection which made her protective of the brunette. 

“I don’t know. I mean yes, I do. It’s just complicated and it’s not like we can just strut into the training room holding hands.”

“You could play the star-crossed lovers card. Those are usually popular.” It was a half-joke. Truth was that while on one hand the Capitol loved romance between the tributes, the rest of the tributes did not and the last thing Celestiana wanted was for her friend to become a target.

“Do you think you can trust him?” Celestiana asked, looking at her ally.

“Yes.” The brunette replied without missing a beat.

[125thhungergames]

Lavender knew what she was doing. She may not be the prettiest woman in the game, but she knew where her assets were and it just to happened that she chose the dress that would amplify it. Arista’s plan may be flawed, but it was currently their only chance, so Lavender decided to go with it. 

It was yet another dance party organized by the Capitol who wanted to see them one last time before they fully dive into the training and then disappear off to the games. It also gave tributes the last chance to mingle and find allies if they hadn’t found one already. The party was in a full move when Lavender walked in, dressed in a short skirt with flowered pattern and crop top with a V cleavage, showing off exactly what she wanted to.

She searched the room with her eyes for her target. The room was crowded, but the tributes stood out between the sea of extravagant Capitolans quite easily. She ordered two glasses of fine scotch and set out to find the district one male. And just as if the universe was attempting to help her she noticed her prey standing all alone. What a sad image. She would be cruel to leave him like that, all alone.

Lavender smirked to herself and strutted towards him.

“Why so alone?” She started the conversation once she approached him and handed him the scotch. She noticed during the party before that that seemed to be his drink of choice. 

He thanked her for the drink and rewarded her with a reserved smile that clearly showed that he wouldn’t fall for her tricks that easily. Not that is made any difference, Lavender enjoyed a good challenge.

“I’m surrounded by people entire day. Sometimes it feels good to be just by yourself.” Strange. He always gave off the impression that he would be unable to stay alone even if it was for just a minute. 

“I get that. I’m sorry for bothering you.” Fake apology smile graced her features. “It’s just that... I mean, nevermind.” She turned around to leave, pretending to be embarassed.

“What, what is it?” 

“It’s just that I’m always seeing you in the training room, sword fighting and all. I admire you, Winter Engelhorn.”

“You admire me?” His eyebrow twitched unbelievingly.

“Yes, I do!” She exclaimed, sounding almost hurt that he would question her. “I just figured this could be an opportunity to finally talk to you. I mean you move like a God in that training centre.”

Compliments. Always a way to one’s heart and although Winter wasn’t an idiot, she could see that he was affected by her. The way she swayed her hips lightly, the way she smiled and looked at him like he was the Sun. The way her cleavage moved dangerously down to expose more of her flesh.

“I’m supposed to believe that there is no hidden agenda behind your sudden interest?” He swinged the scotch bottom’s up and looked at her accusingly.

“I just told you that I’ve been admiring for afar for a long time. You know what, I’m sorry, this was obviously a mistake. I should have known that someone like you would never want to have anything to do with someone like me.”

This time she did leave, praying in her mind that he would stop her.

“Wait.” Yes! “I’m sorry, I was a jerk. The games have me on the edge. Care to dance with me?” 

Oh boy, he was in.

“I would love that.”

[125thhungergames]

“We need to think of a strategy. Delancey, do you have pen and paper ready?” The blonde ponytail swinged from side to side as Arista paced around the room anxiously with on hand on her hip in a dircetive manner. 

“Ye-” Delancey didn’t even get to finish before being interrupted by Arista.

“Good, we’ll do this one by one as the disctricts go. Three categories: losers, people we should be concerned about and threats. We’ll divide all of the tributes and then we’ll make sure to eliminate all the threats one by one. We have a week to do this.”

“How’d you expect to pull this off?” Lavender was leaning against the armrest, watching her two allies. Though she was the strongest of the trio, she was also concerned about her chances in the games.

“We’re hot. That covers the male threats and as for the females, we’ll have to be a bit more creative, but we’ll manage. We have a week to do so.” Arista spoke in a way that was more like barking than talking and usually Lavender despised that kind of people, but there was something about the blonde that convinced her to ally with her. She was vain, narcissistic and arrogant but also manipulative and with no moral code whatsoever. Things like that can be useful in the arena.

“Right. Let’s start then.” Lavender took a swing of the wine that Arista’s avoxes prepared them.

“District One. Royal, uh excuse me, that is a lame name if I ever heard one. Obviously a loser. Winter. Hmm, he’s an eye candy. Put him underneath a threat, but he’ll be easy to persuade.”

The evening continued like this and eventually after an hour the three girls had their list finally complete.

“We only have two girls on the threats list, that’s not so bad.” Lavender spoke up as she read through the final list. 

“I can take both from the four. I’ll seduce the big guy and pretend to be friends with the girl. Shouldn’t be so hard, they both look like they’re missing some brain connections.” Arista proclaimed, her typical ‘i’m better than you’ stance reflecting in her words.

“Isn’t he into that girl from five?” Lavender asked as a concerned line formed on her forehead. “Doubt you’ll have much luck there.”

“Please. A line is not a wall. Even if he has something with her it doesn’t mean he won’t go for me. It’s like comparing a coal to a diamond.”

“Aren’t diamonds made out of coals?”

“Just shut up, Delancey. You’ll take Marcus and Robert. Lavender, you’re left off with Winter and Navenia, got it?”

Both of the girls nodded their heads in an agreement, after all no one in their right mind would dare to disagree with the blonde dictator.

[125thhungergames]

Arista’s List

Threats

Winter

Robert

Navenia

Valeriya

Caden

Marcus

Watch out for them

Rosella

Jerome

Blake

Celestiana

Alyeska

Losers

Royal

Riley

Zachary

Letholdus

Samantha

Doutzen

Wallace

Naveen

Asher

Gil

[125thhungergames]

It was barely an evening, but the training room already closed for the day, leaving the rest of the night free for the tributes. Which is why Rosella found herself in District 9′s headquarters, limbs stretched out lazily on the bed and eyes closed as if saying ‘ yeah we made it through another day. ’ Next to her laid the room’s owner, Celestiana who seemed to be just as exhausted as her.

Rosella opened her eyes and let out a soft sigh from her parted lips in a worried manner. She did that a lot these past days --- worry. This anecdote for a reality show that were the Hunger Games was supposed to mean a straight road towards death for her. Instead she found things that she had missed her whole life when living in her sister’s shadow. 

None of this was fair. She leveled with the fact that she was going to die when her name resounded through the entire District 5′s reapings. Heck, her life wasn’t even worth fighting for when she thought about it. A joke. That’s what it all was. Now that she had reasons to live for she had to enter a competition where she’d have to murder those reasons in order to survive. If there was anyone up there watching her, he sure as hell must be having a good laugh.

“You’re thinking too loudly.” Celestiana’s words were barely above whisper, but still resonated in the quiet room as if she was speaking out loud.

“Can’t help it.” She knew she should be enjoying these few days while they lasted, but everytime she looked at Celestiana or Caden or even her district partner Leth, she pictured having to kill them in the arena. Granted, she would never be capable of even harming any of those three, the thought remained. They’d need to be dead if she were to survive. 

“Then we need something to loosen you up a bit.” In a second, Celestiana jumped out of bed, sent a wink towards the brunette and rushed out of the room. Rosella chuckled lightly at the other’s chipperness, especially since Celestiana was almost the definition of a rational, logic-driven person who’d hide their emotions no matter what. However, the redhead had her walls down around Rosella which meant she got to see a whole other side to her than she showed the world.

In less than five minutes Celestiana was back with an opened bottle of champagne in her hand and two glasses in another. “Found this in the kitchen.”

After the third glass, the champagne was starting to do its tricks and even made Rosella’s forget about the irony that her life turned out to be. For a moment the girls were just that, girls. Two friends, sneaking in a bottle of alcohol and laughing carelessly. 

[125thhungergames]

Rosella’s hands were intertwined behind her back, leaning against the wall and letting the cold air tickle the skin on her face. Her mouth was twitched in a playful smile as she watched Caden bending his head down to light a cigarette. 

She couldn’t help it but she enjoyed these little rituals they had together like eating breakfast together, accompanying him outside when he needed a cigarette, him laying beside her side and waiting for her to fall asleep each night so that she could have a peaceful sleep.

Other tributes noticed this strange little fellowship but Caden struck way too much fear for them to say anything. Nevertheless she could hear the whispers whenever they entered the room together.

Not that she minded, but she wasn’t too keen on being a target for the other career tributes. Especially Valeriya developed a habit of giving her the eye whenever Rose was in the room.

“Tomorrow are the Gamemakers’ sessions.” She broke the silence. Usually she avoided the Hunger Games talk, but the pressure was getting more intense each day and she had no one to talk to about it.

“I’ve watched you in the trainings, you’ll do good.” He reassured her.

“You watched me, huh?” She inquired with a smile that could almost be seen as flirtatious. 

“I always do.” He smirks in her direction and steps closer to her. His face reflects the obvious desire he has for her, but there is something more. Almost like an adoration. “You fascinate me.”

He’s now standing close --- too close. If anyone were to see them, they would definitely get the wrong idea. Or was it even a wrong one? Rosella could only guess the nature of their relationship. Friendship feels like too shallow of a word to describe the sparks between them.

“Caden.” She whispers his name like it’s a prayer, intoxicated by the closeness of his body. She knew he was dangerous, knew that she should be scared and stay as far away from him as possible. So why was it so hard to do that?

Slowly he lowered his head down to her level, bringing his lips to hers gently. The kiss was soft and light, yet it flooded her entire body with a heat. She didn’t expect for a man of Caden’s stature to be capable of such gentleness, but he always seemed to be careful with her.

Only now she didn’t want him to be careful.

Before he could part from her she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, keeping him in the place. His eyes were dark with desire, but she could see that he was holding back.

“I’m not made of glass.” Her eyes were inviting, letting him know that she trusts him completely. Come to think of it, she has never trusted anyone as much as she trusts Caden. 

In what seemed like a second Caden wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her firmly against his chest. She could feel the muscles beneath his shirt as hard as rock, realizing the strength that he presented. Her tongue glazes lightly over her upper lip and that was al the invitation he needed to press his lips against her in a bruising kiss. She moaned into the kiss and he used the opportunity to insert tongue in her mouth. Everything in her brain screamed at her for letting her guards down like this, especially in front of one of the most dangerous tributes, but she couldn’t help it. His presence was like a drug to her. He smelled of leather and nicotine and Rosella found that smell strangely arousing. Her hand gripped the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer. 

The sound of door snapping open jolts them back to reality and they quickly jumped away from each other as the district 8 female stepped outside. She gave them a side glance and passed them without a word. Whether she suspected anything was a mystery, the woman was unreadable.

Rosella blushed from almost getting caught and before she could think about it left back inside, her heart pounding aggressively. How could she let herself be so careless? She can’t get involved with another tribute, especially not a career.

Whatever this was, Rosella was sure that it could never happen again.