Forum Thread

SIGN UPS ARE HERE!

A long time ago, things were good. Peace and harmony ruled and people could go about their business but then came the war that nearly wiped out humanity. In order to maintain the hard-earned peace, 12 boys and 12 girls, called Tributes, are put in an outdoor arena where they remain to compete in a nationally televised event called the Hunger Games. The rules are simple: Keep the audience entertained and stay alive by any means necessary. Every citizen must watch as the youths fight for survival against death until only one remains or a full year has passed.

It is now the year 30XX. Your job is to survive the Games for as long as you can in hopes of escape. But even if you do, can you survive the Horrors within the Capital?


Faith was resting in bed, slightly curled up on her left side around her inflated stomach. Meanwhile, Salvadore himself was just coming home from another job, there was a slight scar on his left cheek that was covered in a bandage. When he opened the door, the oldest, seven-year-old Hope, came running towards him and jumped on his leg. "Dad!" Salvadore smiled a ruffled her hair.

---

Phenix awoke to the first light, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes. His head felt heavy, as did the rest of his body. Sighing, the boy stood and pulled on a shirt, as he had slept in his pants for an unknown reason. Well, unknown up to a point. Right, his relationship status. From one to none, in all of two minutes. "Maybe I'll be able to make up an excuse to get in," he muttered, thinking of the Reaping. There was some kind of change that year, something about relationships. You had to be in a relationship to enter the games? What an idiotic rule. A voice whispered in the back of his head, and he was nodding in agreement for a moment before fetching breakfast for himself. The Reaping was soon, and he intended to be there. 'I'm going to volunteer for the Hunger Games.' 'Fine. But you won't see me again.'


-=-


T'val awoke with a groan, rolling out of her warm, comfortable bed to greet, the cold, rock-hard world. Several of her did, actually. When her feet touched the ground, several copies did the same. As she stood and changed out of her comfortable sleeping clothes into clothes more suitable to go to the Reaping, several versions of her did. As she strode down to breakfast, several copies did the exact same. An afterimage, trailing long behind her. It was a good thing, sometimes. It gave her space when she needed it. However, it was bad other times. Like when playing hide and seek, or when trying to hug somebody you loved. She couldn't help but think of Jamie, her partner. Well, maybe. T'val had two parts, each one thinking it might have been love, but was probably just youth.

The room was dark, and cold, and damp. Sweat seemed to constantly hang thick in the air. It would make Zahara gag if she wasn't use to it. Living here was like living in a dungeon. The walls were made out of thick concrete, which was layered with a soft, pillowed wall. The windows were raised up high, too high for Zahara to reach, even if she somehow managed to remove the bolts that grounded her bed to the floor and push it to the window. The steel bars on the window were thick and pressed close together, it would be difficult for Zahara to manage an arm through the bars. Then there was Zahara herself, who was constantly forced to wear a straight jacket.

Even with all these safeguards, Zahara was still dangerous. Her cold and emotionless eyes fall onto the door, she knows someone is approaching, she can sense their fear. She slowly smiles and licks her dry lips. Oh how easy it would be to rid that fear and to replace it with something totally different. A positive emotion... Perhaps, she could make this person feel generous.... Generous enough to free her. A nurse opens the door, her eyes somehow growing wider when they fall on Zahara. "G...g...good news." She sputters out. "Today is the Reaping!" She explains quickly, her confidence quickly growing when Zahara rids her of the burden of being afraid. Zahara fixes the nurse with an impatient glare.
"So!?" She snaps. "How is that any use to me?"
"You are required to be there." The nurse steps into the room and carefully removes the straight jacket from Zahara. "You'll also be momentarily free- be warned, Peacemakers will be keeping an eye on you." Free the word rings through Zahara's head, she doesn't even hear the last part. It distracts her long enough to lose her hold on the nurse, who gasps and rushes out of the room with newfound terror.
"Very well." Zahara mutters, picking up the outfit that the nurse has left behind. "I could use some fresh air."

---

As dawn's light slowly trickled in, Ariel was up, and so were the triplets. Now older, they were crawling all over Sorrento and Julian, both were still sleeping. Pearl, a near-spitting image of her mother, was giggling as she snuggled up to Sorrento while the twin boys, Sebastion and Poisdon were causing "chaos" and jumping at the foot of the bed. Pearl whined and threw a bolt of water at them and missed, hitting the closed closet door instead. "Stop it, our dads are sleeping."

---

In a desperate attempt to make Zahara blend in, the nurse had given Zahara a uniform from a high-end college. They had washed her hair and put in pretty bows. Finally, they put shades on her face to hide the crazed look in her eyes. Now she looked normal, or as normal as someone like her could be.
She had been silent the whole time. Instead she glances at the window, watching as light slowly filled the walls, showing that dawn had finally approached.
"This is dumb, they are only allowing couples into the arena." A nurse mutters, far too loudly, almost as if he thought that Zahara was too dumb to understand.
"We'll find her someone." Another voice assures, there was a flicker of desperation in her voice.
"Why are you getting rid of me so quickly?" Zahara asks with a pout. She laughs at their shocked expressions and stands up. She skips to the exit, warmth moving through her when nobody stops her. She would be free! Only for today, but as least she would be free. Her day was quickly ruined when she senses the dread that fills the air- from the couples who may be chosen and anger, from the Peacekeepers tasked to watch her. She sighs, her breath moving stray hairs out of her face. She would have to be happy with this little taste of freedom, regardless of what this freedom meant.

---

Faith was finally up and Salvadore helped her dress in a simple maternity dress and a pair of slip on flats. Slowly, they both made their way out, passing Zahara as they make their way to the city square.

Lucky and Goldie also make their way to the square, Lucky had a protective arm around Goldie to prevent the later from getting lost.

---

To anyone outside looking in, they looked chaotic. A pile of gangly limbs that they had all barely grown into, loud voices and constant bickering. But Arashi wouldn't have it any other way and their constant arguments and raised voices were common place enough that if someone wasn't yelling at another for one thing or another, ether Izumi was out of the house or someone was sad and that meant a five hour cuddle session. The five of them were young anyways. If anyone asked, they would all deny dating. After all, who would want to date Leo with all his weird eccentrics and his habit of not cleaning up after himself and ignoring the chores roster in favor of doing which ever chores he wanted and not what was assigned to him? Or Izumi, with their overbearing attitude who found it suitable to chew their little group out for every little thing like a nagging mother? Truthfully, Narukami wouldn't want to date anyone in their group from the only rational person (Suo who bless his soul still stuck around even after the Chess incident [we don't talk about the chess incident]) to the person who caused the least amount of trouble (Ritsu really needed to stop sleeping everywhere, carrying him around was starting to get really tiring after a while). So no. None of them were dating each other. None of them would date anyone probably. That was just they way they were. A group of friends who would live together, plan out their lives together, and probably even grow old and die together. That in itself was enough for Narukami. She didn't need anything more.

The day of the reaping started like any other day. Waking up with Leo's hair in her mouth and the boy's body contorted so that he was trapping everyone in the bed with his unruly limbs. It was honestly an art form in of itself. It took half an hour of wrangling and wriggling for Narukami to slip out of Leo's octopus hold without waking anyone else, a feat in of itself given that the other two occupants of the bed were extremely light sleepers. The aromatic smell of breakfast being made signaled the location of the final occupant of the house and Narukami blearily made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. Sure enough, standing in front of the stove, ladling pancake batter into a piping hot skillet, was the final occupant and Narukami stumbled over to smush her face into his shoulder, arms winding around the other's waist. "'morning" she mumbled, the warm sun naturally filtering through the kitchen window.
"Get off me, I'll burn the pancakes." Came the deadpan reply, and Narukami snorted. As grump as ever in the mornings, huh. Hugging him tighter just to annoy Ritsu a little bit more, Narukami broke away and took a seat on their kitchen island, legs swinging and back basking in the sunlight as her shadow helped shield Ritsu from the sun. There the two spent the morning, lightly chatting among themselves as one by one, the other members of the house stumbled down to join them for a warm breakfast. It was domestic and nice, Narukami supposed, nibbling on a pancake. It was a shame that her manager had put her on a diet so she couldn't eat too much, Ritsu's cooking was always delicious despite its dubious appearance. After the meal, it would be Leo's turn to do the dishes but of course the little gremlin didn't want to so it fell onto Narukami to do them instead. Annoying but what else did she expect?
"Remember that today is the reaping." Sena barked as the household got ready for the day, always a chaotic sight to behold. A chorus of "Yes mom" was echoed around the house to Sena's chagrin but still the group took their words to heart, picking out their own clothes for the day, each of them filing out of their shared house and into the street bickering as they always do.

---

Ever the light sleeper, Julian sat up and caught Poseidon in his hands, hugging his son close even as he squealed and wriggled around, squinting through the thin veil of sleep that still clung on. "And what are you rascals doing up so early?" He laughed, voice still hoarse from sleep. On the other hand, Sorrento welcomed the new presences, one hand coming to wrap around Pearl. One eye cracked open and he yawned, sinking back into the warm comfort of the bed.
"If our boys want us up so badly, it would be rude to keep them waiting wouldn't it?" He mumbled, doing exactly the opposite of that as he drifted in and out of sleep.

---

Pearl scrunched up her nose. "Daddy your breath stinks. Go brush."

Ariel smiled a bit as she entered the room, she teasingly put a hand to her hip as if angered even though she wasn't. "Now kids, what have I told you about bothering your dads when they're sleeping?" The boys each gave a squeak and darted out of the room. Ariel chuckled as she helped the trapped Pearl from Sorrento's clutches before kissing them both on the cheek. "As much as I hate to wake you, you know what today is right?"

---

Breakfast was just a quick fried egg and toast, the meal of a king. Had he finished the egg any later, he would have been walking down the street with the morsel in hand. His mind was whirring steadily, calculating precisely what he might do. There wasn't a lot of thought into it, other than saying, 'I volunteer as Tribute.' Still, it was nerve-racking. Everything was finally set into a nice order, and the stage of the Reaping quickly filled his vision.


-=-


Perhaps it was the odd sight of T'val herself, or perhaps it was the several copies trailing after her, fading after a few seconds of standing in a walking pose, but there was a surprising amount of eyes on the girl. It was unnerving enough to be volunteering for the Games. She didn't need thousands of questions that she couldn't answer. As she approached the Reaping, chills ran down her spine. Entering the area, she heard whispers and felt eyes, all focused slightly on her. They remembered what had happened, they knew what she could do, even if it was on accident. T'val made her way to the front of the crowd, then stood stock-still with her arms crossed. Nobody moved near her, nor did they wish to do so. A simple bump might kill them, after all. Sighing, T'val waited for the Reaping to begin.

Betrayed! By his own daughter! Oh the horror! Not... that Sorrento could do anything about it as he rolled over to bury his face into Julian's stomach instead, seeking warmth even when half conscious. Seeing as his husband wouldn't answer, Julian decided to do it instead, returning Ariel's kiss. "Of course. How could we forget?" He sighed, pushing back the covers and got out out of bed with his husband still clinging on like an overgrown koala. A common occurrence that would only stop when Sorrento got his cup of coffee. As usual, Julian hefted his sleepy spouse onto his back and gave Ariel another kiss, lingering for a moment before drawing back. "So, breakfast?" He suggested.

---

Ariel smiled. "Nearly done. I made Eggs, toast, bacon, a bit of fish, and coffee." There was a distinct call from Pearl finding that lured all three parents out.

Pearl was already at her spot trying to cut up her eggs while the boys were again causing a bit of trouble. Sebastion was flicking bits of egg in his sister's hair, but most worryingly though was Poseidon trying to eat his fish without any utensils.

"Poseidon, please, you're going to choke if you keep doing that." Ariel had to gently pry the fish from his hands as she slipped him a fork. "And Sebastion please stop flinging egg in your sister's hair." She fixed a mug of coffee for both Julian and Sorrento the way both of them liked it and passed the mugs to her spouses before going over and gently removing the egg from Pearl's hair.

---

Echo woke up, turning to see the cold, empty bedsheets beside her. “Lifei?” She called, wondering where she had gone. The girl in question, Lifei, stuck her head out from the kitchen, holding a glowing, floating orb in one hand, and a bowl of oats in the other. “Yes? I woke up earlier to prepare breakfast, yours is on the table. I know you can’t cook” the last sentence added on playfully. Echo groaned, before throwing a pillow at Lifei. “Bastard.....” Echo mumbled, as Lifei turned to leave. “Hey! I heard that! That’s not nice, I made you breakfast!” Lifei yelled, as Echo rolled her eyes, getting out of bed, and preparing for the selection or whatever it was called. “You ready?” asked Echo, as she packed her stuff, and Lifei’s into separate bags, as Lifei went looking for her missing sock. “Ready as I’ll ever be” Lifei replied shortly, as the two set out, seeing this...girl in a high end college uniform? Looking extremely out of place, with a few wary people watching? over her.

---

With a please murmur, Sorrento downed the cup in one go, shaking his head and blinking into awareness. "Morning." He finally chirped, taking a seat and helping Poseidon by cutting his fish into manageable chunks so that the young boy could still eat it without utensils if he wanted. Sue him for liking to spoil his kids but he was weak to their whims. Julian on the other hand sat beside Sebastion, striking up small conversation with his son to keep him occupied and otherwise unwilling to fling more breakfast at his siblings.

---

Arriving at the arena, the group of five stuck together as they wandered through the sea of people. As always, they were loud with quibbles filling their conversation and occasional light punches being thrown for good measure. The group took a secluded corner at Narukami's suggestion as to not disturb the rest of the people here

---

While Zahara was well aware of the Peacekeepers keeping a close eye on her, she was unaware of the rest. Her head felt cloudy, her thoughts were constantly interrupted by the hundreds of emotions swarming around her. Find someone alone she repeats over and over again.
She quickly discovers that an alone soul would find her instead of the other way around. She quite literally bumps into someone. A boy, about two years older than her. He was just standing in one place with a distraught look. His eyes widen to see her sitting on the ground. He quickly puts two and two together.
"Oh jeez, I'm sorry I didn't notice you- I-" his eyes suddenly are filled with stary look. To him, the world had slowed down, this was love at first sight. It takes everything Zahara has not to roll her eyes. She grabs his outstretched hand and allows him to help her onto her feet.
"Why thank you" she says as sincerely as possible. She does her best to mimic his adoring gaze.
"Allow me to walk you to the Reaping" the boy begs. She simply gives a curt nod, not trusting herself to speak for fear she would say something sarcastic. He leads her away, never letting go of her hand. "How come I never have seen you around before?" He asks, raising his voice so that she can hear him over the murmurs of other couples.
"Um..." She panics. "Different classes I guess?" She asks. She chuckles at this and he laughs with her even though she never made a joke. Oh brother... she thinks to herself. This is going to be a long Reaping

---

Echo and Lifei followed Zahara from a distance. Well....mainly Lifei, as she had certain....questions about Zahara. Echo was reluctantly tagging along, carrying both their bags as she looked on in exasperation. Lifei had observed many, many things, and one to which was that some people in the crowd had special powers. Some form of manipulation, may it be weather, emotions, mind or such. Sending Echo behind her, she grabbed her hand and pulled her to walk faster, as Echo shot a playful glare at her

---

In the cloud of emotions around her, one thing was starting to stand out amongst the rest. Suspicion. Zahara holds onto that emotion. Levitates towards it. She doesn't manipulate it, rather focuses specifically on that emotion. This causes the cloud around her to disappear and Zahara can finally breath a bit easier. She glances around, trying to find the person.

"Are you alright?" The boy whispers. When Zahara turns to face him, she notices that their heads were far too close together. The boy must realize this too, because a blush has appeared on his face. Nope. Zahara moves her hand out of his and crosses her arms together. She internally curses to herself for needing him. She'd rather do this alone.

"Just fine, just nervous about being picked" she lies. She glances around, her eyes falling on Lifei. Oh! She thinks to herself, realization hitting her. Lifei was looking at her. Was she suspicious of her? She grabs the boy's hand and roughly drags him into the crowd. What was she suspicious of? Zahara couldn't really guess. But she knew one thing, because of her past, she would have to stay away from them. She couldn't risk scaring off this boy. He was her one chance at being chosen.

---

Lifei watched, as Zahara dragged the poor boy into the crowd. “This isn’t true love” Echo mumbled, walking up to Lifei. “I know.....it’s suspicious...oh her powers definitely have something to do with emotions. The way she turned and fled, the minutes he noticed me staring. And how she tensed up, the minute I started staring, and my emotions started spiking negatively. Just look at the way she moved, her shoulders rigid, turning stiff, and her face change ever so slightly. Her posture betrays her.” Lifei whispered to Echo, as the two followed, this time just with their eyes, Echo could teleport them nearer once the need arose.

---

As the breakfast finished, Ariel ushered the kids to their room to help them get dressed leaving Sorrento and Julian to finish their breakfast. Once the kids were dressed, Ariel came back in and quickly got dressed and came out wearing an ocean-themed dress. She twirled a bit for them to see. "This isn't too revealing is it?"

--

Faith and Salvadore patiently stood in line. "Sal, you think the kids will be okay?" Faith asked gently.

Salvadore nodded. "Noel is watching them, she's a second mom to them after all."

---

It was...The Reaping. The day that Shiloh had dreaded. She was going to have to hold her breath, wait in fear, as some high power people decided her fate. The fear had already started coursing through her from the minute that Shiloh had woken up. Her uncle was in the next room, as well as Ian. Ian, her best friend ever since she was little. He was the only one who stuck by her after the accident. Ian...As Shiloh moved around the room, getting ready for one of the most terrifying (but not the most) moments of her life, her thoughts were racing wildly. What would she do if she was picked? She couldn't fight someone, and would never kill anyone. It was most likely that if she was picked, then she would die. That was..imminent. But the thought of being apart from Ian nearly killed her. They were more than just friends, Shiloh realized, staring into the mirror on the wall, slightly dirty and cracked. Shiloh loved Ian and had for years. She just hadn't really come to terms with it until that day. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open that separated the tiny apartment. Her uncle was standing in the kitchen, and Ian was sitting at the table. Shiloh rapped her knuckles slightly against the doorframe to get their attention. Ian and her uncle both looked up, to see her in an emerald dress, with her hair pinned messily on her head. She spread her arms out as if to say, "What do you think?" With a huge grin on his face, Ian stood up from the table, speaking first. "Shiloh, you," he stepped forward. "You look great!" She signed mischievously, with the tilt of an eyebrow, "You don't look so bad yourself." Ian shook his head, still smiling, and pulled her into a hug. After a minute, there was the sound of a throat being cleared, and both teens looked up to see Shiloh's uncle, arms crossed but smiling, his thick bushy salt and pepper beard framing his wide smile. "Your parents would be honored to see you today," he said softly. Ian and her uncle fell into Shiloh's silence as they paused, the painful memories threatening to surface. Then, Ian spoke. "It's almost time, we should eat and then get going." They all sat down, Shiloh's uncle moving the food to the table. Ian and Uncle Davis made light conversation, occasionally pausing when Shiloh tapped her fork against her plate and signed out her opinion. There wasn't much to talk about and the food was finished quickly. Before they knew it, they were already out the door. With Uncle Davis taking the lead slightly, Ian and Shiloh's hands met, their fingers slowly locking together as they kept walking towards the site of the Reaping. Ian met Shiloh's eyes and said quietly, "Whatever happens, I'm here for you, okay?" If she could've, Shiloh would've smiled. Instead, she gave Ian's hand a gentle squeeze, a silent assurance that they would both be fine, though it was mostly for Ian. They didn't let go of each other as they made their way in. Shiloh cringed slightly, seeing the sideways glances and whispers that people thought they were masking. She was aware that all they saw was the bandages, maybe they even had heard of the accident. Ian gave her hand a squeeze, bringing her closer to him and shooting dirty looks at the nearest gawkers. Shiloh loved him for that. No matter what, she had Ian...right?

---

Sorrento, who was washing the dishes while Julian went to go and change, flicking water off his hands before kissing Ariel on the cheek. "You look absolutely gorgeous." He assured, wrapping his arms around her waist and letting out an appreciative hum. "Julian, come and tell me that I have the prettiest wife." He called, mischievous grin on full display.

"She's our wife, of course she's the prettiest." Came the reply as Julian came out in the middle of buttoning up his dark blue vest, thrown over a white dress shirt and immaculate slacks. It was immediately dropped though when he saw Ariel, a few blinks passing before Julian finally picked his jaw up from the floor and joined them. "You're perfect."

---

As they usually did while they were bored, the group began to gossip, using the others around them for reference. Sena of course was the most scathing of them all, their fashion conscious mind picking out the ugly or unflattering threads. Inevitably, Narukami's own clothing got dunked as well, the homey outfit picked apart as being way too baggy for her form, covering up her flattering points and she should flaunt them instead. Sena got a hit on the head for that one along with an embarrassed blush as Narukami quickly pulled the conversation away from her and instead spotted a girl in a gorgeous emerald dress. "That girl over there? In the green dress and bandages? Soo~o pretty, oh my gosh. Wish I could pull off a dress like that" She quickly murmured and her partners once again lost themselves in a heated discussion over whether or not green was a good color to wear with pale skin or not.

---