#ruleandtask

[dolly-nova]

Dolly was so stunned and so impressed that she was practically shaking. Having had little to drink, she was up, awake, and clear-minded as the arena shifted. She was not at a loss for words, but rather couldn’t quite choose the right one to describe her excitement. “It’s... there’s... more!”

[laradanbur]

Lara could hear the crickets for the short time that cut the image of the explosion, up until the Hunger Games commentators picked it up, speculating on the Games for the spare few minutes until the official launch. The destruction had been beautiful, even if chaotic and wrecking. She couldn’t pinpoint her own feelings on it. Her nails were clenched on her presidential work phone, waiting for the first instructions, but her eyes couldn’t leave the screen. Speaking to someone nearby, she gasped as the first of her words formed on her lips. “Imagine if the President...” came a muffled sigh of pure concern. “I can’t even say it.”

[ariadneah]

Beneath the shield of her arms, crossed at her chest, Ariadne was trembling from anxiety. The first mentoring year, after so much of a hiatus and for the wrong district, injected a sort of anxiety she hated, hated, hated. When the two tributes she was guiding turned against each other full-force, she pursed her lips together, but didn't panic too much.

If one was out, it wasn't ideal, but she could have put all her energy (limited, anyway) and the cash tossed at One on a sole tribute. It wasn't the end of the world. She got it; she had killed her tribute partner too. She'd foolishly lost two fingers in the bloodbath, so injuring yourself heavily from early on wasn't a stranger either. Retrospectively, she'd done all the stupid things she was now seeing on-screen.

Looking at Cress and her cattish nonchalance, her impartial elegance, her detachment from it all, she could feel the sting of envy again. The sting of admiration, too, which was a feeling that only angered her more. Suddenly, Ariadne wanted her to talk, to show her cards, so she provoked, in a huff.

"I hope they fucking kill each other."

@trainer-cress

[moxiepitlocks]

The launch always made Moxie sick to her stomach; the guilt she felt in nearly condoning the murder of people so young, people who didn’t have the opportunity to truly live their lives yet. Cut short, the string severed in the Bloodbath for some, and for one lucky soul – if Moxie could even call it lucky – they’d win. The concept of being a victor shook her to her core and she couldn’t even begin to reconcile with wanting one person to win more over another �� would it be Honey? Could she deal with losing Honey if she didn’t win? What about Kit? Could she let him die just because he wasn’t almost family to her? No. No Moxie had made a promise to Slate that she’d do everything within her power to keep him alive. He was her tribute. 

Walking into the club, she attempted to shake off the invasive thoughts as she sat herself down at the bar. Moxie flagged down a bartender, her voice softly requesting for her drink to be a double. She needed something stronger if she was going to make it through the day. Her head fell into her hand as she leant against the bar, absentmindedly circling the rim of her glass with her free fingers.

@leanderwinter​

[leanderwinter]

“How long will this go on for?” Leander worriedly asked, as he watched the gravity levels in the Arena go haywire. Tributes were being flung in all directions, at some moments flying while at other points they were smacked back down to the ground as though something had held them up and decided to drop them again. Pepper and Hazel were still doing well enough, but no one could ever be sure when the Gamemaker influence was so dangerous. “Has anyone-” He looked down at his tablet, his tributes’ vitals brightly displayed on the screen. He’d began to speak, and promptly, the vitals for the girl from District One ceased showing any sign of life. “Oh. That’s- Well, that’s unfortunate.”

[liliana-cannon]

“I’ve been craving these since my Games,” Juniper said, a metal bowl from the edible plants station tucked unabashedly between her forearm and ribs. Her fingers were stained with the juice from the purple berries inside, something she hadn’t quite been able to find a match for after the jungle of the 126th Games. “Want one?”

[cadebentley-archived]

“Oh, good, you’re here. Try this on for a second?” Cade shoved a pile of fabric into Everett’s arms as soon as he entered his stylist office-- probably here for something completely different, but he was on a deadline and this tribute was about his size. He started grabbing some pins, measuring tape, and scissors, then cast a glance back over his shoulder. “What are you waiting for? It’s not like I haven’t seen you take your clothes off before.” @everettlance​

[thevultur]

He was back into his official title, back to the position that had been taken away from him only in name after the Quell. Things were finally moving ahead, with the trial concluded, and his life as sterile and empty as it’s always been. Lysander tactfully ate his yogurt, the only breakfast he could stomach those days. As another person approached, he moved slightly to make room at the table, unnecessary claiming of personal space just a little more away from them. 

He did not have to talk, but he did, anyway. His words felt artificial like his arenas. Still, he had no virtually no one to tell this to. It could have been sad, if he let it, but it wasn’t sad. It was nothing if not a promising future. “I’ve actually been promoted.”

[caroleyre]

He paused the Games nonchalantly at the point where Otto was being brutally strangled by his platform, the one that spelled out Jvpiter, carved in stone. “See, this is what I feel like is rude. This should have said Carol. It’s me who won the Games, not Jupiter. It’s fucking intentional and rude,” he used the remote control to point to the screen, not quite meaning all of it. 

It wasn’t an arena he understood completely yet, but he’s never watched them from this angle -- it had always been Rio’s screens from back home, not quite as big as these, or the small television in the Academy kitchen. Relief filled him at the realization that he never had to do anything like what was in there again. That, and a lonely feeling.

[everettlance]

“There’s a lot of wine in this Arena,” Everett commented from his seat in the viewing room. Both of his tributes had managed to make it through the Bloodbath and the commentators were taking a slight lull in the action to familiarize the viewers with Ancient Roman culture, architecture, whatever. He wasn’t really interested in the history lesson, but was glad that things had calmed after the Bloodbath.

[slateskylar]

Slate had stared, dumbfounded, at the screen throughout the launch and the bloodbath. The commentators were talking about historic this was, what a huge ‘breakthrough’ — but all he could feel was a sickly nausea.

He had known his whole life that the government was fucking the Districts, over and over again, and that there were more resources just for the Capitol than were needed. But to see it all on this scale was sickening. He had no idea how much a fucking space launch would cost, but some quick mental math led him to the conclusion that, calculating in the test launches, the trip to the space station, and the space station itself, it was a metric fuck ton of money. It was spending on a scale that hadn’t been seen since before the Dark Days, surely.

"Well fuck all of that,” he said, his voice heated as he walked up to the screen and found the power button, turning it off.

[huntedhunter]

“I know you’re probably very tired of this shit by now, but it wouldn’t be me if I did not ask.” Frankly, Hunter didn’t even care to know. It was mainly to make conversation and greet an old friend. “Any leaks on the arena? Even a blueprint, a key word, anything? I don’t buy it that the big boss is so secretive in his own house.”

@treelish​

[dolly-nova]

Dolly was grinning to herself as she clacked away on her laptop, putting the finishing touches on an all-socials post hyping up Harrow (with a tasteful note about how tragic Rosemary’s early death was). She thought 24 hours from launch was the perfect time to call on her followers to call on their wealthier parents to support the boy. But no sooner had she hit post, than her attention was caught by the sound of falling stones as the arena rumbled. “Absolutely never fails,” she said with a shake of her head. No one cared about anyone’s social media posts when the arena was in the middle of an earthquake.

[callistomeadowforge]

@summer-hazer​

It was muscle memory from his military training. It was self defence. He did not mean to. The other tribute had come at him. It was instinctual. There were a few excuses that Konner could try to provide for this situation. He did not even have to lie, for the most part. None of them, however, would change the fact that he had hurt someone very badly.

The metal tray he had hit Shiloh on the head with was still there on the counter, dented in a rather telling shape. His own blood was still trickling down his nose--had Shiloh broken it?--and onto the otherwise spotless floor. The strangulation marks on Shiloh’s neck perfectly matched his fingers. Was the District 9 tribute dead or merely passed out? Oh god oh god. What had he done? Had someone seen him? Had someone seen Shiloh? Oh god. He did not want the others to think of him as a killer. Why? Because that was not who he was! Plain and simple. Konner located the door to the freezer and, thinking on his feet, began dragging Shiloh by the wrists.

It felt like the temperature inside the freezer was dropping lower every minute. That could not be true, though, right? No matter, he was not going to stay long. He just needed to get Shiloh out of sight. But the adrenaline had left him now, leaving only fear and desperation, and try as he might, he was not strong enough to shove Shiloh into the corner rack.

At some point, the blood from his nose had frozen over. His teeth were chattering and the air grated at his pharynx. Fuck, it was cold. Maybe if he just sat down and thought for a little bit, took a short break, he could figure this out. But then the door opened again behind him, and Konner was forced to fight the weakness in his limbs and the drowsiness clouding his mind to turn around.

[surya-mirga]

Surya was carefully moving around the string of her teabag as she waited for it to steep when she heard something loud on a television nearby. She paused, remaining entirely still as she watched the ground begin to rumble. “It’s always fun when the Gamemakers take shaking things up so literally.”

[maverickmontana]

TASK 012 // SUPPORT PLANS

Maverick will support the tributes from Seven, as always, but he may also find himself tempted to throw some support towards Vix. Her story has touched him and he feels some connection to her for whatever reason.