we should totally just stab caesar // plastics. day 1

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

Blood.

There was so much of it.

The ground had turned into a river of red. The dark color clothes they had dressed me in were painted crimson and I could feel it dripping down the side of my face. Mine, or someone else’s, there is no way to tell. But the smell…

It is invigorating.

The stench of iron causes my nostrils to flare and my mouth to water just the slightest. I quickly shake my head, expelling the thoughts. That can’t be normal, right? It must be due to the blood I lost; my body is simply trying to replenish itself.

My newfound allies are nowhere to be found. Kiko was gone, the other two still battling for what were probably useless items. So I stumbled blindly behind the Cornucopia, searching, searching, until finally I see her. She wasn’t too far off and she was looking just as beat up as I was. Startling her may leave an axe in my face, so I call out gently.

”Kiko?” I muster the biggest smile I can even though every muscle in my body is screaming for me to stop. ”Mereddyd,” I gently reach my hand out to shake hers. ”I don’t think we’ve met officially. Well, at least not when people are trying to take off our heads,” A laugh escapes my lips, even though this is no laughing matter.

My head scans the area, searching for both enemies and friends. ”I wonder where the oth… Two figures begin approaching, and I can tell immediately that they are the two girls we have been waiting on.

”Well, took you two long enough,” Chichi was furious, it was written all across her face. I smile anyway, hiding my fear, showing her I was not some toy she could toss around. ”You have both looked better, that’s for sure. My eyes flash to Elvena and the gashes that covered her body. ”I can fix those, ya know,” I grab the needle and thread I had found at the Chapel and hold out my hand, waiting for the Career to give me her arm.

I smile at them both.

Even though secretly I want to fall apart.



( meredydd does things in maint!! )

[✨ zozo.]

I count two bodies - well, three if you count that boy from Three. 

I gotta wonder what the hell he did to end up strung up like that before the games had even started. I know I should be grossed out, and maybe even scared: it's a threat, I'm not stupid. A warning. But I'm just sort of... fascinated by him. 

He's like a gargoyle strung up there against the castle, sullen and head lolling - or maybe an angel with the way his arms are spread out at his sides. I can't see any immediate wounds but he's dead, surely. He ain't breathing. Nobody could hold their breath that long.

(I stare at him without blinking for far too long: nope, not breathing. Sure of it.)

And then I blink, consciously - realising I've been standing out here in the open for a stupid amount of time. Three cannons fire and all I can do is stare at that boy like he's an enigma, wondering wondering wondering. Someone once told me I had a wild imagination and I follow its current, letting it sweep me through endless possibilities as to how Erwin Morgenstern met his fate.

Blink, again. I had to think about that. 
Huh.

Strange.

(Good lord I'm thirsty.)

"Kiko?" and my head snaps up, axe at the ready - though who am I kidding? I can barely hold myself up, let alone a weapon. Let me die here then, one smiling girl to another - I wonder where Chichi went. Wonder if I left her or if she left me or if we'd both abandoned ship. Was there a ship to begin with? Am I delirious?

No. I'm just  thirsty. 
(Why?)

"Mereddyd," I repeat, slowly - unsure, but from the looks of things she doesn't want to kill me just yet. And I could use a free hand to bandage the wound on my neck that stings like murder. 

Plus she's smiling. A little too forcefully. I find comfort in that, familiarity - like looking in a mirror. So I meet the reflection that is Mereddyd Fawkes and take her hand in mine. A good handshake - firm. Strong. I like that in a woman.

Mere takes no time biting back and then offering up forgiveness in the form of first aid. I run my tongue over the backs of my teeth, gums aching - huh. Must have been clenching my jaw whilst trying not to die. 

"What do you think he did to end up there?" I ask the group, leering my head toward Erwin and ignoring how pissed Chichi looks right now. I've come to the conclusion that Chichi is one of those girls that is forever unsatisfied. I could have stayed by her side the entire time, died an untimely, useless death, and she'd still find something wrong with me.

Well, get in line Miss Chichi. I don't particularly like me either.

ty pogue for the table! <3

actions in maint.

[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

chiara de soto

I'M THE GIRL YOU'D DIE FOR

"-solutely ridiculous! They literally just fucking turned and left right after we teamed up, Elvena, like who does that? Who fucking promi-"

I don't think I've stopped talking long enough to even breathe since leaving the bloodbath. Lucky for me, Elvena is either unbothered by my ranting, or uninterested by it. Either way, it's at least allowed me to vent my feelings for long enough that by the time I catch sight of Mer and Kiko, I'm at least able to refrain from literally slapping them in their faces. But whatever, I'm still not happy with either of them, and now I'm going to do my very best to make it abundantly clear. Call me petty. I don't care. You know why? Because the reason plans work, the reason systems function is because every little piece does its part as instructed. Looking at Mer, looking at Kiko, neither of them seem any worse off than me. Elvena ended up suffering from their temporary lapses in sanity the most, but even she doesn't seem so broken that she wouldn't have been able to keep pushing.

"Well, took you two long enough," Mer smarts. My mouth is open and speaking before I even know to reply.

"Fuck you," and then I look at Kiko as well, "And fuck you too. You're both on my list for the time being."

We're all standing within the mouth of the cathedral, haunted and silent and eerie. There's a fountain, large and ornate, spouting a viscus, deep red liquid. When I first finally notice it, I feel myself slipping into a sort of trance. My mouth begins watering again, I can feel my pulse quickening. What little light has made its way through the stained glass windows hurts my eyes. They definitely drugged me with something, and while part of me is absolutely disgusted by the fact that I just got an appetite from looking at a god damn blood fountain, there is a growing part of me which knows the only way to stop the feelings would be to... you know...

I can't even bring myself to say it.

I'm so distracted by the gentle crimson spray, pouring over the edges and into a small stream headed out the door that I almost don't recognize the dead human body on display. It's a tribute- the boy from 3 who wore those tacky goggles in the parade. He's dead.

"What do you think he did to end up there?" Kiko asks.

I clear my throat.

"I dunno Kiko, maybe the rest of his alliance flaked on him and he got jumped."

I hold on to the anger I'm feeling for my allies because it's strong enough to distract me from what I might have done had I spent another moment reveling in the fact that, standing this close to the boy, I can feel his body heat and it makes me feel hungry.

"We stay together from now on. This only works if all four of us are fucking in it. Understand?"

When no one immediately speaks, I clap my hands together, motioning for the girls to circle around Erwin's body. I don't know why I'm doing this, and I realize too late that the voice I'm listening to in my head is the same one telling me that this dead boy's blood is probably still sweet from all the Capitol food he's eaten. Oh well. I pull out one of my cross bolts and prick my finger with it. A pearl of red beads up to the surface.

"Now all of you," I say, handing off the bolt to Elvena.

"We are taking a vow of sisterhood- stat. My friends and I used to do it all the time."

We, of course, were twelve and pricking ourselves with sewing needles in the back yard in my friend Jenna's treehouse, and it was to squash some boy-crush drama that's too irrelevant to matter now. But still. It's a lot harder to betray someone when you know, somewhere inside you, a piece of them is always there, forevermore a piece of you instead. Or at least it should be harder. Blood sisters: a forever kind of deal, incidentally, and maybe that's why I feel such a rush about it. Everything for the past few weeks has felt so impermanent, having something so final makes things feel... I don't know, hopeful again or something. Plus, there's cameras around so I decide to make it a full performance.

"Trust, honor, respect, solidarity-" my eyes cut meanly to Mer and Kiko- "and secrecy. These be the tenants of our sisterhood."

I take the hands of those closest to me so that we form a circle around the dead body.

"Okay, repeat after me: We offer this flesh in exchange for the ties that bind. Forever more, I am yours... You are mine. Sisters until the end of time."

maint tings

[eulalie blake 1a 🍒 tris]

<sup>/ i'm only cryptic and machiavellian 'cause i care /

❇</sup>  elvena fray   _❇
tribute d1b

She stares long and impassively at Chichi, wounds overflowing like a flash flood all across her body. Shades of crimson bloom through the fabric of her shirt; stains that she won't even bother to bleach, to burn, to hide. Her eyelids are always heavy, as dreamy as she is feral, so she makes holding her ground look like the easiest thing in the world. The dark knight of a forsaken court, ever vigilant and stoic.

Someone with a healthy relationship with themselves would be traumatized by the same crimes Elvena has just committed. But she only keeps staring ahead, keeps listening indifferently but nodding in quiet agreement. "Well, when we track them down, should I pin them to the ground so you can process your feelings on them?" Her eyes drift to the crossbow at Chichi's hip, then to the same model still clutched in her swollen, bruised hand. "Or should I handle it for you?"

Speak of the devils, their two impromptu companions-turned-traitors reveal themselves before an order can be given. Elvena glances one more time at Chichi, almost hopefully, only to roll her eyes when the other girl shakes her head and mouths the word, "no." In her head, Elvena fills in the, 'not yet,' finally connecting her weapon to a loop in her belt and backing off. "Well, took you two long enough."

Before she can think to spit out something venomous at them, Chichi takes control of the situation with grace. "Fuck you. And fuck you, too." Simple, honest, correct. Elvena nods again, standing at the ready behind the tiny, atomic bomb of a girl. The cathedral unfolds around them like a bird cage, pretty iron bars just begging them to try and slip through. If this is to be the place Elvena finally earns her crown, she wants to know every inch of it, all too eager to explore despite her injuries.

She's admiring the stained glass window with a blank expression when Kiko draws attention the dead body, sprawled atop the fountain gushing with a thick, red current. "What do you think he did to end up there?" Chichi offers her thoughts, but Elvena just scoffs. "Does it matter? If some unknown force is slaughtering tributes, we should count ourselves lucky. But I get it, Kiko, it's always difficult to see a wasted kill." Mer falls into stride by her side as they approach the centerpiece, gaze fixed on the blonde girl's wounds.

"I can fix those, ya know?"

"What? Don't you find scars hot?"

They're standing around the fountain in a circle, a coven, when Chichi suggests a vow of sisterhood. Somewhere, Syrena Fray is rolling her eyes, stifling a laugh. But the girl from Eleven pricks her fingertip casually, handing the crossbow bolt to Elvena like she's offering a gift. "Trust, honor, respect, solidarity, and secrecy." Rage, bloodlust, cruelty, selfishness. "These be the tenants of our sisterhood."

Elvena presses the sharp edge into her skin, draws it down longer than she needs to, watches the trickle of blood spill over her fingers. And just watches, just breathes, passing the bloody arrow to the next girl in the line. Then they take hands, scars connecting, and Chichi asks them to repeat after her. When they speak, they do so with one voice, one goal, one shared death wish.

"We offer this flesh in exchange for the ties that bind. Forever more, I am yours. You are mine. Sisters until the end of time."