Forum Thread

Zahara grins at the lollipop, immediately recognizing who it's from. She skips over to Echo and Lifei. She jabs Echo with the wrapped lollipop. "Is this your way of summoning me?" She asks curiously as she unwraps it and pops it into her mouth. "You two missed it! I nearly burned down the training room! Ah, the look on that Peacemakers face was amazing!" She begins giggling at the memory.
....
Maci rolls her eyes as she passes Zahara. She does a great job at hiding it, because Zahara doesn't catch it. Noticing Shiloh, she sits down next to her. "Hi" she greets before quietly digging into her food. She had noticed the missing bandages on Shiloh's face, but was too hungry to really take notice and consider commenting on it. Not that she would anyway, if Shiloh wanted to tell her about it, she would. Maci knew not to press. Who knew that working out could make someone develop an appetite? Maci thinks to herself light heatedly.

Shiloh nearly, and then did, choke on her food, realizing that someone was sitting down with her. She reached for a glass of water, for a split second exposed the scarred, lipless mouth that she normally hid with bandages. Once she had dislodged the food, she continued her half-eating, avoiding making eye contact with Maci. This was the worst part. Not being able to respond.

---

"just oranges? Or citrus in general?" she wondered out loud, a not unkind smile on her face. "Anyways, it doesn't really matter. Just make sure to eat properly, yeah?" Her voice was a bit muffled as she tugged her shirt off, back turned to T'val to give both of them a small sense of privacy. Considering how her body was the biggest marker of her oddity, it was a favour to them both. She didn't have a complex about it, per say, she just knew that not everyone was as comfortable about it as she was. The shirt she received in turn did ride up, showing off her toned stomach, but it was almost like wearing a longer and tighter crop top.

---

Maci had been shocked by Shiloh's scars. But to her credit, she doesn't react. It wasn't like this was her first time seeing scars like these. She had seen worse at the hospital. Still, it was heartbreaking to see that someone that she began to consider seeing as a friend, had suffered this much. She isn't sure what to do to lighten the situation. She simply continues eating and hopes that Shiloh doesn't find the silence to be as awkward as she does.

After Shiloh finished the meager meal on her plate, she quickly wrapped the bandages back up. She sunk in her chair, and eventually, she looked up at Maci. There was an Avox nearby. Thank goodness. She signed out, "Is there a chance I can get something as small as a pen?" The Avox was hesitanet, then walked over, sliding one out of her pocket and placing it on the table discreetly. Shiloh picked it up, scribbling on her palm, "This is just about as akward for me as it is for you, no doubt. Sorry I can't communicate better."

---

The tributes trained for three more days, on the final day just after they finished lunch, a female voice over an intercom told them that she would call them one by one to show the game makers what they were capable of within fifteen minutes. Once a tribute had finished another would be called in.

What had been most concerning to everyone was that after Faith's "disappearance" she hadn't shown up again, but if there was anything consoling is that no one had replaced her either. But finally, just after the intercom's announcement Faith came in looking very tired but happy. In her arms was a swaddled bundle in a pink blanket. Salvadore, who had been forced to participate despite fighting tooth and nail to be at Faith's side immediately pulled her in carefully for a hug and showered her in kisses, causing her to smile a bit more.

There was a few moments of silence before the voice spoke again. "Lucky."

The Green Octoling walked through a double set of doors and walked in, she looked up at the game makers and they looked down at her. "Whenever you're ready."

Lucky walked over to a simulator and set it up, the game makers watched in amusement. Taking her weapon of choice she started and finished with just literally moments to spare. When she finished she walked out after being dismissed. The voice from the intercome spoke again.

---

Maci smiles. "I'm sorry, I'm also am not making the situation any better. I understand that it may not be-" she hesitates, "possible." She sighs. "You don't need to hide your scars. They are nothing to be ashamed of. All they are is proof that you survived through Hell, wear them proudly."
.....
"Zahara Payne" a friendly voice calls on the intercom. Zahara stands up, giggling to herself as she skips into the room.

"Start whenever you a ready" the Gamemakers calls as they watch her enter the room. Zahara goes silent. She glances at all the trainers, deciding which one she wants to fight.

"I want to fight you!" She shouts, pointing her lollipop at the largest and most muscular one. They all exchange glances, he shrugs and walks onto the mat. Zahara takes a few seconds to stretch and to throw her lollipop to the side. She hopes up and down excitedly. "I'm ready! I won't hurt you too badly! I pinky promise!" A bell rings and the two start fighting. Zahara manages to dodge a few of his punches, but then he lands a solid one at her nose. She backs up, holding her nose and gasping in mock surprise. The Trainer jumps towards her; she doesn't even try to defend herself, she allows him to beat her up. The Gamemakers look at one another with a confused look. Was this all Zahara had? Why she was allowing herself to lose this badly?

"That's enough!" One shouts. All eyes land on Zahara, who starts giggling like a madwoman. The trainer steps forward and extends a hand to Zahara, who was crouched down and covering her bloodied face. Blood pools between her fingers and drips onto the mat. She hides her eyes under one hand, and with her other hand, she dips a finger in her own pool of blood and draws a smiley face on the trainer's face. Drawing a bloody line over each eye and a smile on his chin. He backs away in disgust, wiping his arm over his face in an attempt to clean it; all it does is smear the blood all over his face. When he drops his arm he is suddenly smiling. Zahara drops her hand, exposing her eyes, which are now a solid black. Her power has been activated.

"Now, you're mine!" Zahara hisses. She stands up and stares at him with an intense gaze. She forces him to start laughing, he laughs so hard that he falls on the ground and can't get up. She skips over to the weapons stand and analyzes each weapon carefully. She grabs a sledgehammer and returns to him.

"Stop!" A Peacemaker commands. Zahara raises the sledgehammer into the air and brings it back down. The Peacemakers, Gamemakers, and trainers all shut their eyes, not wanting to witness the bloody sight. There is a sudden crack followed by a scream. The trainer gasps in horror, momentarily escaping her grip. When everyone opens their eyes, they see that the sledgehammer has just barley missed his head by a few inches. The floor is slightly damaged in the spot she dropped it. "Oopsie daisy." She says with a insane fit of laughter. "I missed!" She says with a pout. She glares at him, which causes him to start laughing again.

Suddenly, she pounces on him and starts punching him. He is laughing the whole time, his face slowly becoming unrecognizable with every hit. Peacekeepers try to drag her off of him, but she bites at their arms and jumps back on the trainer, continuing to punch him. It takes three Peacemakers to hold her down and an additional one to shoot her with a few tranquilizers to finally get her to stop attacking him. They drag her out of the room. The further away Zahara gets, the more the trainer's laughter starts to turn into choked sobs.
.....
"Maci Lam." Taking a deep breath, Maci stands up and strolls into the room. Her training had gone well. She was starting to feel normal again. Lighter on her feet, stronger. Her mind felt sharper too. She had been meditating every night in the hopes of finding her powers.
She never did, but somehow, it made her feel calmer, warmer. It filled the emptiness in her heart. She was quickly discovering that she didn't really need her medicine anymore.
She fixes the Gamemakers with a hardened look, then turns to the instructors, who were still shocked by the last showing. Even for Zahara, her showing was still crazy.
-A bit too crazy, even for her.
Maci and the tall instructor have a rematch. This time, Maci manages to do much more damage. She had grown use to his fighting style, she was almost bored with it. She could anticipate each move and act against it. Still, even with her strong game of mental chess, she was still physically weak. Her punches, while they sounded painful, only stung for a bit. Still, her strength was clear. Her reflexes have gotten faster and she was better at anticipating moves. This alone, made her dangerous.
"Thank you, you can go now" a Gamemaker tells Maci. She nods and leaves the room happily. She was confident that she made a great impression.
The Gamemakers score her performance, then they call the next one up.

“You may begin when you wish, Ms Echo” Echo stood there, blinking, doing absolutely nothing at all. Several trainers ran at her, punching her, kicking her (or at least trying to) but she simply blinked and dodged it, her facial features unchanging, a blank and empty stare. “Ms Echo? You should be showcasing your talent.” A blast was shot at her, and once more, she simply dodges. She is excused, and turns to leave the room, exactly like Shuri did (point her finger) with a now playful grin.


“Lifei” the voice calls. Lifei steps up, and a trainer knowing of the pair’s relationship immediately steps up to attack Lifei, trying to get a response of why Echo didn’t fight. Lifei gets pissed, and her outfit and hair changes, as well as her personality. She becomes almost insane and chaotically evil. Her now blond hair flies behind her, her glowing yellowish white tattered dress flying about. Slowly, the Peacekeepers watch in horror as a non solid hand reaches into his chest, pulling out a round glowing orb, his soul. He screams out it agony, and they rush to stop her. However, all are flung back against the wall, and Lifei growls. Echo bursts in and envelops her into a hug, which calms Lifei down. The two then leave together, LIfei returning his soul rather grumpily, as echo chides her.

---

"Narukami Arashi"

She let out a sigh, standing up and looking towards T'val for a shaky smile. She could do this. Stepping into the testing area, she bowed to the game makers. Throughout her days here, she had slowly but surely gotten more and more on edge, covered up with tediously blended makeup and cheerful smiles, but she was at her wits end. She hated falling asleep and waking alone, she missed home. Keeping up appearances as a helpless maiden wasn't easy, it meant pushing away her strengths to work on survival rather than straight up whaling on someone with her fists. And now, she was given the chance to do that away from prying eyes. "Someone fight me. Multiple people would be preferable, but as long as I punch someone, that's fine." She announced, raking her eyes across the trainers. Some of them flinched, expecting her to be something like the other girls, unhinged and feral. To an extent she was but she knew how to be a lady too. Letting the instructors talk among themselves, two stepped forward, and Narukami nodded, bowing in respect to them.

It wasn't hard to get into the mindset of her past self, full of anger and rage, taking them out on people who had hurt those who she treasured. The hate had never really left her, it had stayed shimmering under her skin for so long that it had become a second shell, another layer to Narukami Arashi. A layer that she loathed for others to see. But for now, that unsavory side of herself could come out and play. The instructors weren't even ready when Narukami struck, knee driving into the soft stomach of one opponent, hands threaded into the coarse hair to bring a delicate nose smashing into her thigh. Jerking to the left, Narukami tumbled gracefully, bringing her opponent crashing down as she wrapped her legs around his neck, one fist lightly tapping against his chest, where his heart was. That was one down. And the second on- Stars exploded across her vision as her head snapped to the side, a rough cough resounding as blood splattered over the mat. "Thats more like it." She spat with a feral grin, blood pumping and adrenaline rushing. Oh what a nostalgic feeling it was, trading blows as she snarled and fought like a rabid dog. Rolling over to crash into the trainers legs, Narukami brought them down and quickly straddled his chest loosening up her neck. "I'm really sorry dearie, but I have to let off some steam." She apologized, face holding genuine sorrow though underneath it glimmered something a bit more wild.

In the end, it hadn't been that hard. Dusting her hands off, she walked out with a satisfied smile and pieced back the fragments of her current self. It would do no good to show the world that ugly part of herself. Her lip still stung but it was a familiar kind of pain that she welcomed, along with the faint ache in her neck. It had been a long time since she had knocked someone around like that. As she took her seat, cheek smarting and head a bit woozy from the high she was slowly coming down from, the speaker announced the next name.

---

"Ariel"

Ariel parted from Sorrento's side after giving him a kiss on the cheek. Afterward, she walked through double doors and grabbed a decent-sized staff, and beckoned several trainers to fight her. Sure she was pregnant, but she could handle this. At first, no one wanted to attack but then they came at her from all sides. Using the staff and her water abilities, she was able to take them out swiftly. When she was done she gave the game makers a glare and threw the spear with such force that it embedded itself within the wall next to their little forcefield and left without being dismissed.

"Salvadore"

Salvadore looked a bit upset at having to leave Faith behind but she smiled and pecked his cheek. He went in and zapped several dummies and the lights with electricity until he was dismissed.

Then teh next person was called.

---

Mare waited her turn quietly. She glances over at Yurei, who has her eyes on the ground and is shaking. Mare flinches as she recalls what happened a couple nights ago. Yurei had stormed into her room in the middle of the night, had driven an avox insane and had proceeded to ALSO drive a peacekeeper insane.

"Mare Et Tenebris"

Mare takes a deep breath and stands up. "Good luck." Yurei whispers, clenching Mare's hand for a brief second before letting go. Mare walks into the room and winces as the door shuts behind her. Her eyes scan the room for a second, and she spots the hand to hand combat station. Mare and said training partner take positions on a mat. She clenches her fist for a moment before nodding to her opponent. The trainer struck first, sending a fast blow towards Mare's head. Mare sidestepped effortlessly, landing a swift blow and jumping back. Mare closed her eyes for a second, steeling her nerves. Her skin becomes even more pale then it was before almost transparent. She launces herself at the trainer with supernatural speed. Every blow that Mare doesn't dodge simply goes straight through her. But every time Mare launches an attack, her hands and feet solidify, allowing her to land hard blows and not taking severe damage. After a fast two minutes, Mare has the trainer on the floor, she has immobilized him. She turns back to the gamemakers, narrowing her eyes. A few of the gamemakers look pale. A few even look frightened. Thirty seconds go by. "Impressive. You may leave now." Mare bows slightly and leaves the room. She pauses. "Yurei..." she breathes. Impulsively, she goes whole Specter. She slips back into the training room and waits in a spot she won't be seen, crossing her fingers that Yurei will be next.

---

Yurei watched Mare enter the training room. She takes several deep breaths. Ten minutes go by. She feels her skin begin to crawl. "What could be taking so long?" she wonders, knowing that Mare had planned something quick. She plays through her options in her head again. She really didn't know what to do. Unlike Mare she wasn't a martial arts master. She really had no talents except her sanity drain. "Wait." she mutters aloud. "Sanity drain." she pauses, a plan forming in her head.
"Yurei Sanitatis"
Yurei practically runs into the training room. The first thing she notices is the temperature. She frowns at the gamemakers, who don't seem to notice anything. "The barrier." she realizes, squinting until she sees the faint ripple of the barrier in front of the gamemakers. "It must block the freezing temp-" she stops. "Oh no." she looks around until she sees a faint outline of a figure in the shadows. She groans quietly. Then the lights start flickering. Yurei grits her teeth, grabs a couple of knives and starts the simulation. She does surprisingly well at the start, but its obvious this isn't the main... event. Suddenly a couple lights go out completely. Then the screaming starts. "Turns out barriers don't block insanity." Mare's voice says from behind her. The girls bump fists and Yurei feels Mare's presence leave. The temperature goes back to normal and the lights stop flickering. The screaming doesn't stop though. Yurei can feel the average sanity of the gamemakers lowering. A few peacekeepers advance on her, but she gives them nasty looks and they drop to the ground. "You- you may go!" one man says, wheezing. She dips her head. She closes her eyes and everyone effected by her sanity drain stopped screaming. But they all looked at her in fear as she left the room. "Normally, I wouldn't be up for doing that. But that was epic." Mare says, leaning against the wall outside the training room. The girls bump fists again. "Well, you know what they say. 'Too much sanity may be madness!" Yurei responds with a laugh.

Sorrento's name was called soon enough, and he sighed giving Ariel a reassuring smile. Walking into the room, he surveyed what he could do. Walking over to the ropes, he tied them deftly, hands working quickly to loop the rope around once, twice, thrice before pulling it taunt. Throwing the noose over his head and around his neck, Sorrento stared at the game makers with a blank look. He slowly clapped for himself, letting the vibrations reverberate and shake the tables and chairs, freaking out some of the personnel within the enclosed room. Cutlery and plates shattered onto the ground with each thundering vibration that passed through the room, shaking it to its very foundations before Sorrento got bored of the terror in the game makers eyes. It simply wasn't fun anymore, being a little gremlin (Julian's words, not his) and terrorizing others for fun. He let the vibrations go on for a little while longer before throwing off the loose noose and walking back out, the echoes of sound dying down as he left.

---

T'val had shrugged, gratefully accepting the change in shirts after turning away. "I just find oranges odd. The flavor is something strange to me."

...

T'val had offered a smile to Naru when she had been called up, frowning when the other Tribute came back. Reaching out, she tenderly brushed the other's cheek, doing her best to keep the dangerous afterimages as far away as possible. Giving Narukami a sideways look after tugging her hand away, T'val silently waited for her name to be called.


-=-



"Phenix Osiris."


Phenix stood quickly, his strides long and meaningful. When he stepped inside, he was disappointed to find that only a few Trainers were left untouched. Tsking, he pointed to three of them, two with his right pointer and pinky, one with his left pointer. "You three." They stepped forward, seemingly the least bruised of the lot. One by one, Phenix made eye contact with them and established the link, then linked his hands behind his back and nodded. "Ready when you are." The three of them moved as one, each complementing the other's strategies and tactics, adding to the danger of each other. Inside of Phenix's mind, it was a chaotic sort of harmony, with one strike after the other carefully planned. Each Trainer had a separate specialty, making the triple threat ever more threatening. The group leapt in and out, forward and back, surrounding Phenix then attempting to separate his head from his feet. Slowly, though, the attacks started to become sluggish. Hopping over yet another attack and ducking a high leg, Phenix began to strike back, his hand firmly locked together behind him. A duck, then a jab with his left knee, followed by a tumble to avoid a leg. One down, holding his throat and gasping for air. A fist, flying towards his chest, dodged only barely and countered with a spin and a kick, sending the Trainer stumbling. The third sent a mix of kicks and punches, waiting for their fellow Trainer to recover from the kick and join back in. Narrow dodges to them all, without any counter. As the second Trainer returned, he dispatched the third quickly, striking their legs and tapping their head with his foot. The last Trainer, a tall and well muscled man, began to alternate between attempting to dive into Phenix and attempting to knock him down. Each tumble was sidestepped, each sweep hopped over. After ten seconds of the tiresome alternation, Phenix stepped forwards quickly, his knees meeting a rising head after a dive. The impact between his left knee and the back of the man's head was audible, a stunning thk that filled the air for a few moments. The final Trainer had been dispatched. Unclasping his hands, Phenix nodded to the Gamemakers, stepping out as he was excused.

"Faith"

Faith walked in after passing her baby to Salvadore. They didn't seem to care all that much. Faith dug deep and summoned a tsunami to cause absolute chaos within the room, after about five minutes she stopped and walked out after being dismissed.

---

"Shiloh Farley."

The sound of her name didn't send as much of a jolt through her as it had before. But it was still the same feeling, like being woken up from a dream. But wether it was supposed to be a good or bad dream, she didn't know. With the feeling of being watched at the Peackeepers stepped aside to make room for her, Shiloh stopped in front of the doors. After a second of being completley still, she pushed open the doors without a word. Seeing her, the trainers visibly tensed. They had been beaten up, had their souls removed, and much worse by these trainers. What would this one do? Though Shiloh couldn't read their minds, she figured that they were most likely regretting taking this job at this point. While they expected another beating from this tribute, that was not what she was giving them. What she was going to give them, she didn't know quite yet, however. Shiloh walked to the center of the room, and turned to face the judges. They waited after a minute, and suddenly, a judge blurted out, "Well? Mrs. Farley? Are you going to-" The room burst into flames. Or rather, it seemed to. Shiloh didn't move as the flames apeared to grow higher, and things stepped out of the flickering, unreal fire. Dark shadows that advanced to the judges, passing through like ghosts. The entire time, Shiloh remained frozen. The lights flickered a few times, the shadows kept coming, kept passing through, until a judge shouted, "ENOUGH!" It all winked out, until all that was left was the terrified trainers, the judges half out of their seats, and Shiloh. The judge who had shouted stared at Shiloh. "You may go," he said quietly, "We've seen enough." Shiloh left the room, found a corner, and collasped from exhaustion. All of that, she had done completley without thought.

---

Flinching from the contact for a moment, Narukami relaxed and let out a little chuckle. "It's not that bad, dearie." She assured, though the touch did sting slightly. She's had much worse before but it was the first time in a long while since anyone had punched her like that so the pain was new and refreshing to an extent. "Focus on yourself though. How are you feeling? Well prepared for the evaluation I hope."

---

"Err.. I think so? I'm a bit nervous, truth be told, but-"

"T'val Shen.

T'val swallowed, then stood and briskly walked into the double doors, her nerves starting to get the better of her. Glancing around, she stepped towards a fighting simulation, configuring it to the settings she wanted before glancing at the Gamemakers and turning it on. It fizzed into existence, stood for a second, then lunged at T'val. She took a leap back, allowing the thing to stumble into the afterimages. Almost instantly, the simulation vanished, a small notification proclaiming that she had successfully killed her opponent. Her time was displayed as well. From the first move the simulation had made to the end, it was under half of a second. A single afterimage stood stock-still on a position of leaping backwards. "Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost." Quickly, T'val bowed to the Gamemakers and stepped out, their eyes somewhat round in surprise as they excused her. Sitting back down next to Narukami, she let out a breath. "No, I wasn't ready for that."

"Alana"

Alana slowly sulked in and started making a campfire, much to her surprise, she found that like last time a small fireball ignited the kindling. But this time she was able to control the fire and carefully manipulated it around the room. She was eventually dismissed.

When Sorrento returned to his room, he found Ariel looking at her locket. On one side was a family portrait of her, her two husbands Julain and Sorrento, and the triplets. On the other was Ariel's best friend, Star, with her dark coily black hair free-flowing, golden eyes looking up at the camera, one of the corners of her mouth twitched up in a half-smirk. Ariel smiled a bit as she stroked the side of the locket.

(Imma dropping a huge foreshadow)

---

In the space between one thought and the next, T'val had gotten up and sat back down, her evaluation over in a flash. "Wow, that was over quite fast. I'm sure you did great though." Narukami laughed, flashing her a thumbs up and grin. There was still an unsatisfied buzz lingering under her skin but ultimately she was a lot calmer than the past few days.

---

"Ariel?" He called out, keeping his distance out of respect for her privacy. He had seen that locket before but what it contained was a mystery to him. He knew that each of them had their own secrets and knowledge they kept close to their chest and he could respect that.

---

Ariel jerked her head up at Sorrento and smiled a bit. "I'm in here," she called out. When he stood in the doorway she patted the empty space next to her, inviting him to sit.

Salvadore and Faith were all curled up with baby Ali in the crib not far from them. "She's beautiful, just like you." Salvadore cooed at Faith. Faith looked up at him and smiled.

---