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A firm shake of the head was all that Akane received as Ibaraki slipped under the towel, tugging the fabric up to rest against a button nose. "No thank you, ma'am. Good night ma'am." Came the reply though there didn't seem to be any signs of the child actually going to bed. The most that happened was Ibaraki shifting so that the walls were bracketing the child's form. Golden eyes were still staring up at Akane, observing and unblinking in it's vigilance. It was almost a bit creepy having such an intent stare fixed on someone.

---

Akane after a few moments nodded in understanding. "Well, alright, if you're sure. We'll leave it open for you just in case." Jeremy had slipped into the bathroom to clean his teeth as Akane finally snuggled down under the covers. When Jeremy came out he gave the child a polite nod before crawling into the same bed as Akane and holding her close, his frame guarding hers against the night it seemed.

*Time skip to morning.*

Akane was still sleeping, but Jeremy was already up, him being an early riser compared to Akane. Giving the sleeping female a peck on her cheek before heading downstairs to get something to eat. Much to his surprise, Charlie and Moona were already down there as well, both children eating oatmeal and swinging their legs under the table as they did so.

---

Natalia woke up with a yawn. Somehow, she was back in her comfy bed, in the room she and Faith were assigned to. She woke Faith up, and persuaded her to get breakfast for her. Then, she sat in a corner to do her meditation, creating a dome of energy over herself so no one could interrupt. Faith grumbled in her half awake state, and threw her soft toy at the dome, which immediately rebounded like a impending meteor and smashed a teddy-bear sized hole right through the wall. Faith waved abashedly, before taking out her wand. “Reparo” The pieces immediately flew back together and mended themselves.

Faith walked off to breakfast, still yawning. She waved her wand, and light blue streak zapped out of it, promptly setting a corner of the table on fire. She then used a summoning charm, to get eggs, butter and milk, as well as a few other ingredients, and began making an omelette.

---

Jeremy jumped back in surprise when Faith suddenly started the corner of the table on fire. Moona just stared at it before using some of her own magic to keep the fire in one place in case Faith decided to use the fire for her omelet in the making.

---

Faith laughed a little, before openly pouring a bottle of water over the flames. Moona and Jeremy looked a little affected, so she picked the fire up, and moved it to the kitchen counter, and promptly began cooking. When it was done, she brought the pan over. “Omelette, anyone?” In a casual voice, as if she didn’t do anything odd at all

---

Charlie's hand shot up in the air as she bounced in her seat, eggs were hard to come by for her. Jeremy and Moona looked at each other for a moment but both nodded, it smelled wonderful.

---

The night had went by somewhat smoothly. Instead of returning to her room, Tayla continued to roam around the hallways. She discreetly tried to glance at the cameras to memorize their location. She would need to figure out where the blindspots were. She would also need to memorize every hallway and where it lead. Like it or not, she had a job to do. As much as she wanted to protect Charlie and Ibaraki, she also needed to save Ashley.

-Charlie. The name echos around in her mind. Tayla tries to ignore it, but it felt impossible to do it. She would be fine. If, by some miracle, big emphasis on the 'if'; Tayla found a way to escape with Ashley, then she would have to leave her alliance behind. This was clear to her now. But she would be okay, Cree would protect her.. right?

Tayla pauses by the door of their shared room. But she doesn't enter, not quite yet. Because finally, Tayla was coming up with a formidable plan. She would have to deceive her alliance, trick them into trusting eachother, that way, if Tayla left, they would still be close. Maybe they would bond even more over their hatred for her leaving them behind. On top of that, she would also need to continue planning an escape for Ashley. Easy, right? With a small shake of the head, Tayla quietly opens the door and crawls into bed, all without disturbing her other two roommates.
...
Maybe it was the stress Tayla was placing on herself, or maybe it was the fact that Tayla had dealt with lots of sleepless nights researching the Games. Either way, Tayla had slept in late. Or at least, that's what she thought.

After changing into the Capitol provided tank top and sweatpants, Tayla makes her way down to the cafeteria to find that there weren't a lot of people awake. Oddly enough, there seemed to be some sort of commotion. Tayla is unable to hide her amused smile when she rounds the corner only to find that a table was partly on fire. Nothing better than a bit of early morning chaos Tayla thinks to herself as she moves past the others to examine all the available breakfast options.

Faith smiles warmly and immediately hands out the plates, all with a fresh, warm omelette sitting on top. She gives one to Charlie, one to Moona, and the last to Jeremy. She begins making more, for her and Natalia. She looks around for a jar, then scoops the fire up and places it back into a jar.


“Are you feeling all right, m’dear?” She asks Tayla quietly, still cooking the omelette.

---

Aside from the omelet Faith had made, the options were practically endless. Pancakes, cereal, Orange juice, and other things that Tayla recognized and some she didn't.

Not always a morning person, Jeremy fixed himself a cup of straight black coffee as he cut the breakfast egg in half, some for him and the other half for Akane when she woke up. Charlie bounced in her seat and dug into her omelet, the fluffy egg bursting into lots of flavor on the mute child's tongue. She appeared to love it.

---

"Oh I'm just fine" Tayla responds. She glances up for only a moment to respond before dropping her head down again to continue examining all the options. "I'm really enjoying this vacation the Capitol has so graciously given us" she adds sarcastically. This time, she doesn't bother raising her head up to look at Faith. "It's nice to see someone attempting to brighten everyone's day, regardless of our situation" she adds while picking up a bagel. "I take it you like cooking?" She asks.

Cree and Ace had both stayed up through the night, neither of them needed or having the courtesy of comfort in sleep. For Ace, it was the same empty void, but without any Great One to speak with. For Cree, it was always nightmares, so many that instead of sleeping, he'd become both nocturnal and diurnal, not needing to rest for vast periods of time. Neither of the two were anywhere to be seen, though.

---

A loud shout and the crash of something heavy smashing into something breakable soon started to ring through the hallways, a second voice calling out, begging the previous voice to believe it was just a joke. However, the first voice seemed to be taking none of it, another bellow filling the air and another enraged crash as what seemed to be a wall was nearly annihilated. The crash of something being thrown rang outside the doors to the cafeteria, the doors soon being thrown open and a frightened Tribute tripping his way in, falling before the feet of the nearest person he saw and begging them to "protect him from it." The front of his shirt was ripped apart, as was one leg of his pants.

“I don’t necessarily like it. I just don’t really trust the ready made food they have. Grandpa Mad-Eye would go mad if he knew I willingly ate something made by a known enemy.” She says fondly, recalling her mother’s late mentor. She smiles again, and looks directly at Tayla. “Something’s…not quite right. I can sense…a lie.” She mumbles, tilting her head curiously at Tayla, not pressing the matter, but not letting it drop either

---

"That's fair" Tayla responds while biting into her bagel. "Still, food is food." She adds. "A lie?" Tayla asks. She shakes her head and says "maybe you are picking up on my sarcasm from earlier?" Even with her playing it off, Tayla still couldn't help but feel a shiver move down her spine. First her stylist, and now this? At least none of them confronted her any further.

Her attention is stolen away from Faith when she hears what sounds like a fight coming down the hallway ahead. Tayla jumps in surprised when a panicked tribute enters the cafeteria, screaming and begging for help. She takes a step forward, expecting the trouble to be a Peacemaker. I'm getting real tired of these d*mn Peacekeepers... Tayla thinks to herself bitterly.

Roused by the smell of the omelet, Akane finally stumbled down the stairs half awake. She hadn't made much effort to fix her appearance. She was wearing a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. "Morning. . ." Akane yawned.

Jeremy smiled slightly as Akane sat down in a chair, he pushed the other half of the omelet in front of the female. "You look like you were wrestling a bear in your sleep."

Akane just smiled a little and mumbled a tired "thank you" to the maker of the omelet. and something along the lines of "the cake's a lie too" toward's Tayla's direction.

Jeremy looked in the direction of the crash and the panicked tribute. Very slowly he set his mug of coffee down. "Protect who from what?"

---

The doors nearly flew off of their hinges, a single powerful kick having thrown them to the sides, putting cracks in the walls. Broken pieces of the walls in the hallways could be seen behind a figure clad in only shorts, his rather muscular build pulsing with every enraged breath. He footsteps were heavy and wrathful, every part of his body tensed in violent anger, the discolored flesh on a third of his body seemingly vandalized in some way. As the Tribute stalked forward, it became clear: somebody had applied a hot piece of material to the purple forearm, leaving a blackened mark that seemed to be wriggling with activity. The clawed hand was flexed, ready to tear open the chest of the offender. The other Tribute quickly hid behind a table, Tyler growling in rage once more, another bellow filling the air. His voice seemed altered, as if there was a second or third copy of him shouting the same thing: "I TOLD YOU NOT TO BOTHER ME!!"

After taking one look at the enraged Tribute and what he managed to do to the poor door, Tayla quickly regrets stepping forward to help the poor tribute. At this point, she would happily take a Peacekeeper instead of this guy. Did the tribute even deserve her help?

"Let's not lose our heads" the words spill out without thought. Without realizing it, Tayla had taken another few steps forward, closer to the enraged tribute. "You'll have plenty of time to seek revenge in the arena if that's what you wish to do. But unfortunately, you won't be able to get your revenge now, unless you fancy an ambush from some Peacekeepers?" Tayla glances towards the door and adds "I'd estimate that you only have about a minute before a few enter this cafeteria. Or do you plan on killing this tribute and then preparing for a counter attack in that short amount of time?"

Tyler's altered gaze settled on Tayla with a fierce dismissal, only quickly analyzing the other before the odd voice spoke again. "I only want him to feel what I felt..." Turning his head back to the cowering boy, he spoke loud and clear. "I wonder... Is that right eye of your real? Can you feel it? Can I touch it to see?" The clawed hand flexed again, Tyler stepping around Tayla and continuing towards the cowering man.

Charlie's eyes widened in shock, she quickly dropped out of her seat and scrambled to her feet. Bolting behind the counter the trembling child peeked out with wide eyes.

Jeremy slowly put an arm in front of him, a large green transparent shield appeared in front of him, the other arm was raised trying to calm the angry tribute down from his spot. "Let's just try to calm down and talk this out," Jermey placed himself between the tributes. "What happened?"

"I think we're past talking at this point." Akane mused now fully awake with the sudden commotion in front of her.

---

Tyler stopped, viewing the shield with interest. "You act like that's going to stop me." Tyler briskly lunged forwards, tossing the table aside with relative ease. The Tribute behind it simply covered his head, whimpering pitifully as Tyler approached, growing ever closer. "Look at me when I speak to you." It was directed to the cowering Tribute, the burn mark on Tyler's arm slowly vanishing. Slowly, but surely. "Look at me, I said." The Tribute slowly looked up, shaking slightly. Tyler pointed to the burn on his colored flesh, tapping it in annoyance. "This. You did this. Now I do the same to you."

"He hurt you huh?" Tayla asks quietly. "I can understand wanting revenge. I'm the last person who should be able to judge others for revenge. Still, consider the practicality of getting revenge now." Tayla continues, no longer caring whenever or not he is listening to her. "If you want revenge that much, then fine. I'll help you get it back later" she lies "but I can't allow you to hurt that tribute when there are young eyes around." Sucking in a nervous breath, Tayla reaches for Tyler's non-corrupted arm. She knew that this was dangerous, possibly a fatal error, but she had to do something.