Harvest Night /Ratmas Day One

[✌ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

k y .

He stands at the edge of the Earnest Training Centre's lawn, watching the scene before him come to life. The sun sets behind him, casting him in a golden glow. It's only four in the afternoon but the top of the sun is disappearing behind the foothills. It is Harvest Night, the darkest night that always comes after the reaping, halfway through the year.

District One has been celebrating it for a long time, someone had held one at a training centre in the '20s and ever since then, One's centres had taken turns hosting the event. This year, it's their turn.

There's a hint of pride in his smile as he watches friends and strangers play carnival games at the various booths set up. A merry-go-round sings a gentle tune as it spins and across the lawn, bouncy castles and blow up obstacle courses jostle up and down as One's youth abuse them.

Ky moves through the crowd slowly, a sweet nostalgia running through him. He went to his first Harvest Night with his aunt Nightshade when he was four or five. Though disillusioned now as a young adult, he still remembers the stupid shit he'd get up to at these things when he was a teen. There's a reason that he locked all the offices this year.

It doesn't matter much, One's careers have always turned Harvest Night into the biggest party of the year and the adults have always pretended not to notice. Even as the memories of years past play through his head, a kid who can't be older than seventeen ducks out of the beer tent, a cup in both hands.

Fireworks wait fifty metres away, to be set off when the moon hits its highest point in the sky. Then everyone will huddle around the fire pits placed behind the training centre.

"Mom?" Ky says and leans against the frame of the organizer's tent, "Everything's all done, 'm going to go find Asher."

Hello, it's a silly lil' parking lot carnival! Here's some more info ooc -

• Think of a lil' parking lot carnival/country fair you went to as a kid, or even just a little evening event thrown in your school parking lot, this is the vibe of that.
• In case my hinting wasn't heavy enough or you just didn't read (fair) teens are expected to go wild at this event so please party to your heart's content!! make mistakes!! have regrets your characters will never ever in a million years forget!! Woo!
• Areas of RP are the carnival grounds, parts of the training centre you probably shouldn't be in and then around various fire pits scattered a little ways away from the carnival.

Prizes -

• No event to be seen here! Just pure party goer fun. 
• You can collect a point per post you make in these events, with a current point cap of 15pts overall.

[bailee]

Last year Harvest Night brought some of the largest crowds the District had ever seen, and even better the business of so many teenagers who were so desperate to have a good time that they had no issues digging into mommy's money for overpriced street drugs. And better yet, the Peacekeepers had their hands full enough with the likes of drunk and rowdy teenagers to even notice that the I, the eldest Kandrona boy, was the one carrying the supply at the bottom of my backpack in between the flask and crushed beer cans.

The Harvest Night was also a great night for people watching. Over the past few years I had noticed it was breeding grounds for rich and spoiled careers to finally experience their first chance at freedom, without doting parents keeping a watchful eye over their every move. Case and point, Annaliese Belrose, I thought briefly, before banishing any thought of my former fling from my mind. Not tonight, Taxxon.

I had business to do, and as my eye caught the likes of the eye of the recent gossip mill, it looked like I had found my first subject. Piper Moreau was everything I aspired not to be - the remnants of a crumbled legacy, a figment of potential that was now crumbled into the ghosts of what her name used to carry.

But I didn't judge. Has-beens were usually my most loyal returning customers. 

I approached her nonchalantly, avoiding eye contact with her as I casually leaned up against the wall next to her. We had not spoken before - but she was beautiful, and had I not been on a mission and not out to become the boy who went for the girl who was rumoured to spend time in the Decention Centre - I would've almost made an attempt to chat her up.

But instead I turned my head slightly towards her, nodding my head in acknowledgment. "Piper, right?" I asked, although rhetoric lined my voice. Of course I knew who she was. I reached into my hoodie pocket and gently flashed her a small baggy - the snow white powder reflecting the sun above, just subtle enough for her to catch a glimpse of it. "You looking to have some fun?"

taxxon kandrona

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

c u r l y

*

Unlike much of district one, Curly didn’t have his pockets stuffed with fat stacks of cash. A self-proclaimed ‘lost boy’, he’d shacked up with Peter and all the rest and could barely rub two pennies together – which is perhaps why he was so excited by the holiday season. Not because it meant he’d be getting any real gifts from any of them. More that he appreciated all the warm lights and music, the way people on the street seemed just a little nicer to one another despite everything they’d been taught in their youth.

And to top it off, they were throwing another carnival this year where he could likely scrounge for some tickets to ride the rides or get a candied apple. He loved to listen to the sounds of the rickety old machines hum, and the way the crowd would wax and wane the closer it got to midnight. Here he could disappear into the crowd just as easily as he could stand out. But he favored to blend, and push himself back against the other teenagers partaking in the solstice cheer.

He put down a few coins and got his candied apple and found a picnic table for people watching. As he nibbled on his prize, he stared out again at the lights, and watched the folks walking up along the street. Even as cold as it was, he didn’t mind staying out just another hour or two. Cold didn’t bother him so much as boredom, so tonight he’d make that trade.

elegant

[celestials]

etta fray.

The thing with the solstice and Ratmas parties is that all the big families - the Le Roux's, the Vanburen's, and the Fray's - were all expected to attend. They were, after all, the figureheads of One. We've gone every year since I could walk, I always trailed behind Dad with an eagerness in my steps, sat in on clandestine conversations they thought I was too young to retain, but I was always listening and learning. Always. And then there was Lollie, always trailing behind me with a wicked smile before she climbed on top of a table or jumped into the curtains, anything to get the eyes on her. It was all routine at this point.

But this was not the routine.

Charlie damn Sauveterre's arm is locked with mine and a part of me wants to know what I did to Ripred to deserve this. He just showed up at my front door wearing his stupid face and said that it was his Mom's idea.

I understand keeping powerful families like the Sauveterre's close, but why did it have to be? There's no logic behind it. Lollie's the same age as him and equally as annoying, it's a match made in heaven.

And now I'm here in hell with the devil on my arm.

"Let's get this straight," I snap, "I will be going over there, far away from you, and you can do anything you want as long as it's nowhere near me."

"Got it?"

[Deleted]

"Oh I just can't wait to be king!"

I was super excited getting ready for the Ratmas party this year. Maybe there would be some cute girls there. But then my mom just had to ruin it for me. It wasn't enough I nearly froze half to death trying to give Etta a stupid scarf, now I had to play baby sitter with her at a party. Make sure Etta gets home alright, make sure Etta stays safe, make sure this, make sure that, blah blah blah. If my parents wanted to force me to be friends with a girl, could they at least pick a cute one?

She instantly started going off and I only half-listened, rolling my eyes. Geez does she ever shut up? I can't wait to be a Victor, I won't have to deal with her anymore. I won't have to listen to my parents anymore either. I'll be more important than any of them. The Le Roux's, the Frays, all of them. After all, I'll be the best damn Victor this district - no - this country has ever seen!

And I wasn't going to get in trouble because of some annoying girl before then.

"Look, I don't like this anymore than you do, Fray. But if you trip and get hurt or do something stupid, I get in trouble for it. And honestly, you aren't worth the trouble. So you're going to behave and I'm going to keep my eye on you. As much as I'd like to look at literally anyone else. Now I'm going to mingle, but don't get too far. Got it?"

Maybe that was a bit rude, but Fray wasn't exactly the epitome of kindness and charm.

[Deleted]

After the year I had I was pleased when my mother agreed to let my come. I told her to think about the influential families that would be there: Le Roux's, Frays, Bridgertons... I didn't think about Taxxon Kandrona - the last person in the world I wanted to see being there. I saw him approach a girl and for a second I almost cared, then I saw the little baggy and suddenly I remembered what he was. He was nothing but a stupid drug dealer, he'd probably be found dead in a gutter some day.

I didn't even bother looking at him after that. I didn't see Hamilton around, which was good. I hadn't really seen him since the scare Taxxon and I had. I hadn't seen Taxxon since then either. Part of me hoped I never saw him again. The rest of me remembered he didn't matter enough for me to care, he wasn't important enough. So I grabbed a cup and I looked around the room in every direction but his.

So far things seemed pretty tame. There was a guy watching people from a picnic table while eating a snack. Two younger teens seemed to be having a lovers spat - one of them was a Fray if I'm not mistaken. I decided to approach the guy with the apple, "See anything interesting tonight?"

annaliese belrose

[ table by bailee ]

[celestials]

piper moreau.

A part of you tries to forget about the past Harvest Nights, the one when Warren Kane won you a giant Diamondfowl plushie at the ring toss. You still have it in your room even now. All of it reminds you of before — the dainty tune of the merry-go-round and the brightly colored red-and-white striped tents set up around the training center and the sounds of laughter coming from the crowd after a kid wipes out on one of the obstacle courses. It comes down in waves, crashing over you and creating another fissure in your mosaicked heart.

You aren't even quite sure why you came. Still clinging onto what once was, it seems. You steer clear of the stalls and the harsh gazes, keeping your head down low because it's best not to draw attention to yourself - that much you know, It's been a few months since you got released from the Detention Center and you still haven't gotten used to the side-eyed stares. Dante made you feel normal, but even she's not here now. How much longer until you've become old news and everyone forgets about what happened? You pray for that day to come.

The wall you lean against is away from the crowds, it's quiet but you could still see everything going on. It makes your heart ache a bit. A boy approaches with his hands stuffed into his pockets, he leans on the wall next to you and for a second the air between you is still.

"Piper, right?"

His words cut through the silence. Of course, he knows. He turns slightly toward you, fishing something out of his pocket. He quickly flashes you a bag with ivory powder settled into the bottom. You know what it is at first glance. You've been to the parties before, the ones where everyone is higher than a fucking kite and the colors dancing on the walls blended into each other and it felt like the world was spinning around you. It's not a party unless you're snorting something off some random kid's coffee table.

"You looking to have some fun?"

You eye him carefully. You were cautious about everything now, about everyone. It's only natural. You look towards the Harvest, at those people doing all the things you used to do, living the life you still wish you had. And it's a split-second decision-

"How much? I'm a little bit stretched for cash this moment, for things you're obviously aware of."

You don't have that much to lose anyways.

[celestials]

etta fray.

There's a tone in his voice that I don't like.

Scratch that - I think it's just him. His face, his voice, and that goddamn cologne he's wearing. There's something about him that makes me want to scream. I thought I was a rational person, quietly brilliant as father always said, but I can't wrap my mind around this kid.

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do, Fray. But if you trip and get hurt or do something stupid, I get in trouble for it. And honestly, you aren't worth the trouble."

Maybe I should punch him, I don't think father would care as long as I had good form.

"What, am I going to lose a tooth biting into a candy apple? Am I going to break a bone in a bouncy castle?"

Charlie is ridiculous. This is why I surround myself with intellectuals, so I don't have to deal with people like him. My poor brain would fester and rot having to hear him talk all day. Father taught me better than that.

"So you're going to behave and I'm going to keep my eye on you. As much as I'd like to look at literally anyone else. Now I'm going to mingle, but don't get too far. Got it?"

Finally. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get rid of him, he always reminded me of a pest.

"Aye aye, Captain. I'll be over there by the bouncy castle, trying not to break my leg on air," I force a smile before turning away. I didn't understand the Sauveterre's throwing Charlie at me, they weren't getting Fray-tuplets. Especially not from that demon spawn.

Now that he's gone, there's my duty of being a Fray. Keeping up appearances has always been important. I knew how to do just that, like my father did.

[Deleted]

"Oh I just can't wait to be king!"

Etta walked one way and I went the other. Suddenly I could relax. She always put me on edge, I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the pressure put on me by my parents to be friends with her. I can't help but wonder. If we weren't forced to be friends, would we actually get along? Enjoy each other's presence? Sometimes I wonder. But it doesn't matter. There's no changing the past.

Not that I want to be her friend. She's so arrogant. She thinks she's so smart. So perfect. All the Frays are the same in that way. They think they're perfect. Panem thinks they're perfect. Until they get a Bastian to remind the world just how human they are. I wondered if she'd ever volunteer or end up in the Hunger Games. It didn't matter, because even if she was a Victor one day I'd be one too.

I kept an eye on her like I told my mother I would, but now that my annoyance with her subsided I could actually lay on the Charlemagne charm, the "Charmlemagne" if you will. As much as she annoyed me, I did have fun talking to her sometimes. She just had to get over that Fray ego to be tolerable. And at an event like this, that wouldn't happen.

I got some sparkling cider and looked for someone to talk to who wasn't her.

[garnet beauford d8 [earthling]]

[LOVED]

She was almost certainly the wrong age to be attending the Harvest Festival. Too old to find it charming and too young to find it diverting, [Loved] existed in the liminal space between gangly teen and confident young adult. She'd finished up her schooling a year early. The graduation ceremony had been perfect, every spoon in the exact right place, every gift a small treasure. With that behind her, she found her days a little boring. Routine. Easy.

So when one of her family's servants had mentioned the Harvest Festival, [Loved] had at first waved them off. What was she going to do, toss some balloons and win a tattered stuffed animal? But then she thought about her day sitting in the office next to her parents', waiting for inspiration to strike.

She bundled up head to toe. She was always cold, even in the heat of summer. The scarf allows her to bury half her face, to maintain some anonymity. She doesn't want to run into anyone she knew from school; they have nothing to offer her now.

As [Loved] weaves through the crowd, she recognizes a young man doing the same. Her smile for Ky Earnest is buried beneath cashmere. Slowly but inexorably she finds herself at the game tents, a water balloon just out of reach. "How much?" She murmurs, and then catches the gaze of the person beside her. "Shall we have a go?"

pogue

[pogue]

M I C A    D E    S O L

His final year at the training academy on the outskirts of town has been one of forlorn anticipation, the inevitable creeping up on him in plain sight and waiting to pull him into the shadows. His stomach churns at the thought of what does, or rather, what doesn't come next, an entire life riding on the slim possibility of being reaped and the even slimmer chance he might win.

He sighs as he immerses himself into the lights of the carnival, watching them bounce and clash against the purple hues of the midnight sky. Events like this are a dime a dozen in One, but actually being able to participate at all is what drew him to the damn thing in the first place. Free to attend, you just pay for your enjoyment. Always how One works.

His eyes are focused absently on the tent in front of him when he hears a voice, soft in the night, address him. "Shall we have a go?"

Hands in his jacket pockets, Mica's gaze shifts from the tub of water balloons at the stand to the girl in front of him, toothpick laced between his teeth shifting to the side of his mouth so he can speak. "You buying? He chuckles, grabbing the inside of his pockets and pulling them out to reveal only lint and dust. "It's the time of giving, y'know?"

The attendant at the tent sighs, too underpaid to deal with the wise words of so many self-proclaimed careers yet too little motivation to do anything about it. Mica gets the hint, moving up next to the girl before narrowing his gaze. Familiarity was something he'd grown to cherish in a place like One, relying on connections and networking to get where he'd wanted instead of being born into wealth and riches. "You got a name?" He asks, head tilted and gaze narrowed. "Or am I just gonna double your score without even knowing who you are?" He chuckles, grabbing a blue water balloon from the bin before motioning her forwards.

"Ladies first."

[fox]

d a n t e

Ratmas spirit? Ugh, barf.

Last Harvest Night, I spent the evening in my room, hanging upside down on my bed in the hopes that the blood rushing to my head would be enough to knock me out into the new year. My ears popped like firecrackers, the ghost of a celebration sparkling on the wall before mom barged into my room and told me to get dressed, we had dinner to go to.

And now I'm here, standing by the ferris wheel, walking in circles waiting for Tatton to show up. She's always late – except make it fashionable, I guess.

I hate that bitch. She's like my best friend.

I watch the people pass by, playing with the hem of my scarf, picking out classmates like from one of those I Spy books for kids. This semester's been rough without the back of Bastian's head to stare at in the halls. What else am I supposed to do in school? Learn? Lmao

Then – I see her. Piper's leaning against a wall, tangled in conversation with someone else. I catch glimpses through the crowds, thinning and thickening with every pulse. I see her eyes, her hair, separate parts that wake a memory. My face feels hot.

I wonder if she still remembers the way we almost kissed.

And the way I barfed on her instead.

Fuck this. I'll find Tat later. Your girl's gotta simply survive social embarrassment right now. I spin around and walk the opposite way, trying to keep my head down, trying to avoid any god forsaken eye contact. But three steps into my escape, my shoulder collides into something fucking rock solid. A drink spills onto my coat, the smell of apples and alcohol seeping into the fabric.

I stumble, catch myself, glance up to see a boy who looks like he was cut from marble.

I forget to be mad for a second.

My mouth catches up before I do –

"Um? Watch where you’re fucking going?"

{ lord knows you're t r y i n g }

[pogue]

J   U   P   I   T   E   R

"Middle one."

There's a man with a smirk carved on his face stood behind the three cups, fingernails painted red and curling over the cup in the middle. "This one?" He questions, tapping once twice on top of the plastic  before his gaze travels back up. Jupiter hesitates for a heartbeat and a half, his eyes going from the carny, down to the cup, and back up again as if to try and see through the facade. After a moment, he nods. "Yeah, yeah that one." He's sure of it, he has to be.

The man confirms his answer before smirking, lifting up the cup in a dramatic reveal and letting a mocking gasp slip through his lips. Empty, empty, Jupiter's gaze narrows as his choice implodes in on itself and the man's hand motions for him to cough up the money again, for the third fucking time.

Fully trained Career and he can't even find a ball under a cup.

"Bullshit!" Jupiter speaks before he thinks simply because it's what he's always done, slamming a fist down onto the table and hearing it shake and rattle. "You're running a fuckin' scam here-" He challenges, rage bubbling up as the man does nothing but sigh, a lifetime of hearing things like this at his little circus table. "-nah, I'm fuckin' sure of it. I watched that shit, I'm sure of it." Jupiter assures no one but himself, voice raising and fury laced in between the words. "Sir, this is your third try. If you're not going to play again, please exit the stand." A million words run through his mind as he stares daggers into the man in front of him, calm gaze meeting his rage before a man in white steps forward from the side of the tent, Peacekeeper helmet reflecting his own failures and challenging him to end up with the butt of a gun to his skull.

He fumes, fiery breaths breathed once and twice before he finally pushes away from the table and flips the man something sinister with his finger. "Fuck this." He mutters, pulling his wallet out from his pocket as he slips away from the line.

He's walking with his head down, counting what's left of his coins when the icing on the cake spreads itself thin, a shoulder slamming into his form and sending him stumbling backwards a step. The wallet slips from his fingers and hits the ground with a thud, clatter of what's left of his coins flying out and rolling away from his path, metallic surfaces reflecting the ocean of carnival lights. His rage bends and snaps at the girl's words as he bends down to pick up dust dirt and cash from the ground.

"Um? Watch where the fuck you're going?"

"Why don't you watch where the fuck you're going?"

He snaps back with malice and a crashing wave of excessive fury, rising to his feet and staring down the girl as he points a finger at his eyes. 

"What, are you fucking blind? Or just stupid?"

[bailee]

He frowned at her sentiment - it typically wasn't good when the customer admitted to being strapped for cash right off the bat. Rumours were rumours - but regardless of what she did, spending a year in the detention centre constituted some pretty heavy shit. Taxxon had the feeling this was not a girl he wanted to get on the bad side of, so he quickly framed his disappointment into a smirk as he looked down at Piper.

"I've heard," he told her. Out of his peripheral view, he could see the familiar blonde stride of his ex-fling. Damnit, of course she'd be here. Taxxon had spent his days avoiding her. Every text and call until eventually they disappeared altogether, and Taxxon and Annaliese's days were nothing short of a stupid, young fling. Nothing but his past thrill.

And his next one stood right in front of him.

And really, he desired the thrill more than the money.

So maybe he could throw her a bone. He was an empathetic person sometimes, he really was.

"I'll tell you what, Piper," he said, as he broke his gaze from Annaliese and looked at the girl again. He pointed towards a carnival game - the one where you squeezed water at the target on the clown until your car raced its way across the track. "Beat me at that game and I may be able to throw you a little discount."

taxxon kandrona

[fox]

d a n t e

The words come out from me like lava.

I didn't think this through –

Coins scatter on the ground; there's silver rolling away like nocturnal beings caught in the light. He bends down, scraping up the money with a palm, and I almost feel bad but instead I feel what had been the drink in my hands now settling into my coat.

There's eyes catching on us as people pass and god, this is the opposite of not drawing attention to myself. I inhale, exhale, trying to catch a zen vibe, and I guess the collateral of a screaming match would only turn Piper's head. It's like the way disasters pull people in, voyeuristic curiosity, why I always find myself circling around another goddamn catastrophe like a moon.

When he levels, that stupid face burning, he says "What, are you fucking blind? Or just stupid?"

"Excuse me?"

That's fucking it.

Clementine would always read my fortunes from the Capitol magazines stocked on bookshelves every month, soothsaying and psychoanalyzing from the way the stars aligned at my birth. That's what this was, as she would say – my bad temper was divine fury. The heavenly bodies and Seventeen said it was so.

I look into the plastic cup in my hands, still steaming and half-full of apple alcohol that survived the crash.

And I throw it at his eyes.

And I would do it again.

"Who's blind now? Or are you just stupid?"

{ lord knows you're t r y i n g }