Forum Thread

Faith and Salvadore were at the edible plants station, where Salvadore was able to pass without much effort. Lucky went over to practice with some non-splat weapons while Sorrento and Ariel quietly discussed what they could do.

Alana mostly looked around like a lost puppy trying to figure out what she should do, she finally decided on the fire-starting station next to Zahara's.

---

Spotting Alana on the corner of her eye, she grins at the girl and says "watch this." Zahara scrapes some stones together. After a few minutes, the sparks fly onto the brush that is sitting in the middle of her log cabin styled ccampfire. She takes a step back as the fire slowly lights. The fire quickly becomes hotter and taller. The wood was stacked about three feet high, which was impressive enough on it's own, it should've tipped over. Tongues of fire nearly as tall as Zahara shoot upwards. It lights the brush around her station that she 'accidentally' forgot to move. The other stations would've caught on fire if it wasn't for a panicked Peacekeeper, who quickly grabs a fire extinguisher and fires it at her station. Zahara was laughing so hard that she was on the ground and clutching her stomach. Tears were falling down her face and she was pointing at the Peacekeeper with a free hand. "Did you see her face!?" She cackles.

Alana watched with wide eyes in shock as Zahara laid dying from laughter on the ground from her stunt. Alana just carefully followed the instructions that the instructor was giving her, only to find that it wasn't working. She instead ignored him and found that she could easily enough get a fire started up, but when she went to start it a small ember jumped from her palm and onto the kindling, igniting it.

Alana started, took a step back as she watched the flames quickly consume the kindling and start a fire. At this, she beamed.

(I changed my mind, she's going to be an Eevee human girl. I doubt she'll evolve though, but enjoy her developing powers from Eeveelotions)

---

Shiloh immieadiently chose edible plants as the first station to work with. Growing up in a resteraunt, she knew that would be her best strength. Especially if she was going to help Maci. The thought that she might have to eat in front of another person was rather distressing, but what choice did she have? Starve? Not if she was going to get back to Ian. She noticed that there was a couple there. They seemed to have no difficulty with it, and she was intrigued. Most of the plants she recgonized, but some were harder to spot.

---

T'val stood still for a moment, examining the stations around her. For a few minutes, she argued silently between an obstacle course and what appeared to be gymnastic bars. Settling on the gymnastic bars, T'val silently thanked herself for doing gymnastics when she was young. Jumping up and grabbing a bar, she started to swing back and forth, eventually doing several tricks and releasing the bars, catching new ones after a flip or a twist.


-=-


Phenix sighed, glancing around the area. After watching Maci spar with a trainer, he beckoned an assistant over to spar with him. The assistant was a rather stocky boy, well muscled and surprisingly quick. Phenix quickly linked his hands behind his back, spreading his feet a little. "Ready when you are." The boy stepped forwards, jabbing at Phenix's stomach and readying to try and sweep his legs out from under him. Phenix stepped back from the jab, then hopped over the leg, his hands never coming away from each other.

Glancing around, Narukami was slightly at a loss as to where she should start. She knew that she had physical strength, a mean enough punch that kept bullies far far away from her mates, but other than that she was lost. Well, the trainer did say that natural causes would be how she was most likely going to die, so she made her way over to the camouflage station. Art wasn't really her strength but years of applying her own makeup for photo shoots gave her at least the basic knowledge if how to paint, blend, and adjust the colors to flatter her complextion. Sitting down at the station, she got to work, lathering her right arm in paint as she worked. It wasn't as hard as she initially thought actually producing a decent job after a few moments. As she glanced up from her work, she could see other tributes hard at work as well. Some of them were handing the trainers asses to them while others diligently worked away at survival areas. On the bars, Narukami could see T'val swinging around, flexible body bending to allow for wild tricks and maneuvers. She whistled in appreciation, eyes focusing on the elegant strength that it took to do such acrobatics.

---

Sorrento knew his strengths. He wasn't a fighter, not in the least. He had strength from his career as a fisherman, yes, but he wasn't a fighter. That was more Ariel's expertise. Instead he knew how to survive. What to do when stranded in open waters, how to use the available resources to improve survivability, what sea creatures could kill you or save you. Those were his strengths and Sorrento was confident enough in them that he had another plan hatching. If he could somehow convince the other tributes to not bother him and Ariel, it would not only be an advantage, he could possibly twist some of the players into being his own pawns. It wasn't a skill that he enjoyed putting to use, but Sorrento had a way with words sometimes, and if it meant giving the pair a higher rate of survival, then so be it.

---

Ariel knew Sorrento wasn't a fighter, so as she scanned the stations she looked over at the shelter building. "How about building a shelter?"

Faith and Salvadore were already there, both struggling a bit to build a house as the guide was showing them.

Lucky had moved over to the dye station and found that all the times she participated in Splatfest/turn wars actually helped.

---

T'val lost herself in the fluid movements, the slight bending of the bars, the thrill of flying through the air. It all lined up perfectly, and she understood why she had loved gymnastics so much. Swinging off of a low bar, she landed on her feet and bowed, simply out of habit. Straightening back up, she tugged on the bottom of her tank top, wishing once again that it might fall down over her belly. Organizing a few strands of hair, she wiped a bead of sweat away from her eye.


-=-



Phenix simply stepped back and back again, turning slightly as the suddenly aggressive opponent threw attack after attack at him. Phenix was exercising, despite the lack of physical motion. In his mind, he was reading every muscular twitch, every slight movement of the eyes, and spotting how and where the boy would attack next. An opponent's mind was a great thing to be inside of, especially when they know nothing of it. Every time a mental signal was sent, Phenix was aware of it. He'd made the eye contact need to establish a better link, so that they wouldn't need to keep their eyes locked. As they made their way around the sparring circle, Phenix began to strike back. When his opponent lunged, he stepped back, then tapped him on the head with a shoe. When he threw a fist, Phenix stepped sideways and brought a knee into his stomach. Phenix was completely untouched, even after five minutes of tireless back-and-forth. His opponent, however, was much worse for wear. He had a line of blood dripping from his nose, the beginnings of a black eye, and clearly plenty of pain in his body; each movement was forced and hesitant. Eventually, Phenix cut the neural link and stepped over another attempted sweep, quickly throwing the boy down as he tried to recover. Setting a foot on his chest, Phenix sighed. "I win."

A shelter, huh. That would be helpful certainly. Nodding along, Sorrento followed Ariel towards the training area, waving a hello to the other two tributes who were present. The two couples had a tentative alliance so he didn't feel the need to twist them around his finger, content with leaving them alone for the time being. The instructions did seem a bit complicated but he could at least recognize the knots that the building called for.

---

As T'val bowed with a flourish, Narukami clapped with a smile, getting up to walk over to her friend. "You have a gymnastics background?" She guessed, taking one look at how uncomfortable T'val was in her shirt. At least she wasn't the only one suffering for how awkward the shirts were. "If your shirt's bothering you, wanna switch? I'm taller so maybe that will help with the whole riding up problem." She suggested, not minding the tighter clothing. She had worn worse before.

---

T'val smiled. "Yeah, not sure why I quit." After listening to Naru's second set of words, she hesitated, glancing around. "That would be nice, but it's a bit crowded to be switching shirts, don't you think?" The idea of taking off any article of clothing in public, even for a moment, was somewhat terrifying. Naru had experience with modeling, but T'val didn't. Naru didn't lose her cool in front of so many eyes. T'val did.

Faith and Salvadore waved in greeting to Sorrento and Ariel as they passed by, about five minutes passed when Faith suddenly doubled over, clutching her stomach. A few Peacekeepers on standby suddenly rushed over to Faith and she was quickly taken away on a stretcher, they had to restrain a very distressed Slavadore until Faith had been whisked out of the room. Once she was out The Peacekeepers released Salvadore and given orders to continue training, they would get him when it was time.

Needless to say, the commotion didn't go unnoticed.

---

"Oh dear, no no I didn't mean to change right here." Naru elaborated quickly, eyes glancing over at the commotion with Faith for a brief moment. "Even I get uncomfortable with so many eyes on me like that." Like everyone, there were certain aspects of herself she preferred to be hidden under layers of cloth, away from prying eyes. Even as a model, she tried to keep those parts away from the camera. "Just a quick trip to the bathroom away from everyone else will suffice. I doubt that anyone would be watching there."

---

Stiffening, Sorrento instinctively put a hand before Ariel as the Peacekeepers barrelled in, exchanging glances with her. After the commotion had died down, he tentatively sat down beside him. "Hey, you doing okay?" He asked, a bit awkwardly

---

T'val let out a breath, nodding with a small laugh. "Alright, phew.." After a moment, she nodded. "I'd be willing to ditch this little crop-top for something else. Not exactly.. Comfortable." She hesitated for a moment, waiting for Naru to lead the way as she gazed silently at the commotion across the room.

(Ack, short-)

Salvadore just looked at Sorrento with a pained expression. "I'll be better when I know Faith and our kid are okay."

Ariel had tensed when Faith had gone into labor before suddenly getting whisked away. At Salvadore's response, Ariel's face softened as she put a hand on his shoulder. "From what little your wife and I spoke, she sounds like a strong woman, your child is bound to be like her." Salvadore just nodded and ran a hand through his hair.

The capital's mute slave/servents, Avoxes (traitors to the capital), started setting up a large lunch buffet in the middle of the floor. Once it had been finished the capital woman called the tributes over to eat, and there was anything to everything that one could dream of to eat. Soups, salads, desserts, and even things that couldn't be named.

Some tributes lunched together often being a bit rowdy around a table as if proving they're unafraid of each other and the other tributes were beneath notice and nonthreatening. The others either sat alone or in small groups with people they considered friends or allies.

(lunch time for the tributes~)

---

Shiloh had spent awhile with edible plants. That wasn't exactly a popular station, so for the most part, she was alone. That was good. Shiloh hated conversation, or that akward sequence of events that resembled conversation. Eventually, she had moved on to practicing with her illusions. There wasn't really a specific spot for that, so, she had found an unusued corner. Her ability was rusty. It was bad enough that she was mute, she didn't want more attention on her. So there was a lot to practice. The illusions flickered like bad holograms. Shiloh was startled by the call for lunch. Great. She'd been dreading this. With her stoumach dropping a little, she moved to collect food, finding a table by herself. She had no idea where Maci was, but after staring at the plate infront of her for a moment, she bent over the plate, ducking her head and removing the bandages. Hiding her face, tears gathering in her eyes, she started to eat. Awful. The food was fine, as far as she could tell, but that invisble auidience was staring at her again.

---

Echo and Lifei had separated themselves, Echo standing behind Phenix and Maci, Lifei amongst Zahara and Alana. The two managed to quickly and efficiently complete their tasks, and headed off to lunch. Lifei slipped a lollipop into Zahara’s pocket, before the two went to grab some food. The two acted stoic and cold, walking with a graceful, stiff demeanour. It was all an act, for the stupid audience and peacekeepers. Their personality matches Madame B now.



“Soldat, ready to comply?”

---

"Aaaaand that's our cue. Grab something to eat if you need." Narukami sang as the buffet was laid out, filled with foods that made her stomach roll slightly. Ignoring the more conventional foods, she simply grabbed an apple as she walked out of the training room and towards the bathrooms. Old habits were hard to break and Narukami's mind was certainly still stuck on that weigh-in in a few days time that she had to make. While she was already within the perimeters to comfortably there was still the nagging itch to constantly preform within the expected guidelines.

---

Awkwardly shrugging, Sorrento glanced over at the food. "I'll just go get us something to eat." He muttered, exacting himself from the conversation. He was great at manipulating people, yes, but that didn't mean that he wasn't awkward when it came to more personal topics.

---

T'val followed suit, grabbing an orange but not peeling it. Midway down the hallway, she stuttered to a stop, staring at the orange. She wasn't going to eat it, she knew that much. So why had she grabbed it? Frowning, she dropped it in a waste bin as she walked by, unsure of what had driven her to grab it.

Grabbing a bite, she made a face at the fresh and crisp taste, used to more starchy apples. Out of the corner of her eye she saw T'val throw something away in the compost and sighed, pushing open the door to the bathroom. "Don't think I didn't see that." She pointed out to T'val, a frown on her face. "We're going to need all the energy we need, especially since we're training. Having a properly taken care of body is just as important as any weapon."

---

"W-well, I just don't really like oranges," T'val stammered out. "I'm honestly not sure why I grabbed it in the first place." Stepping into the restroom after Narukami, she sighed. "I guess this whole Capitol thing is having more of an effect on me than I thought." She couldn't help but think of Jamie, who had likely started eating everything they could find in their stress. Their metabolism was shocking, allowing them to eat for days on end without gaining much weight.