Are You, Are You Coming? [Open]

[signaltonoise]

Creed Blacklore stood in front of the school building in silence. She gazed out over the children who watched the television screens of the bloodbath. It was gruesome- hard to watch. She stuck her fingers in her ears as their female tribute yelled in pain. Knee break. Never good.

School had not yet begun. It was.... Quiet. Too quiet to even be school. "Games Solemn Hope in silence light tunnel win district six glory honor power respect not just smart voices." Creed rambled in her head as images of last years fight ran through her head. The twelfth district had won three times in the past four Games. "Change time ready"

She pulled back her red hair and continued to walk, towering above boys and girls alike. "Never games me scary kill blood reward death play evil reward what is against the law not fair not killed for killing not hurt for hurting innocent children dying no reason good no justification just not fair"

She grabbed her bag out of her locker and grinned. "Note flutter fly bird white love maybe no no love scary touch love trust tell talk worry cheat death hurt ache"

Images flashed through her brain- a boy kissing his girlfriend... Same kissing his other girl friend... First in tears... Second in tears... Hatred... Mistrust... Love was associated with all those things to her. But the greatest thing it was associated with was death. Death that friendly shadow who watches from afar until your life is at it's best. It was that way for her mother. It will be that way for those children in the Hunger Games.

Creed was reminded of that old song: the Hanging Tree. Death opened his arms to the lovers and they came to him as their only resource. He understood. Maybe he didn't even want to have to claim those lives. Maybe it wasn't claiming at all. Maybe it was a comfort. Not a curse.

She smiled and tucked back her hair and went to unfold the crinkled note. But the bell rang, so she grabbed up her bag and made a mad dash for her class, not wanting to be late.

The note drifted to the ground to rest in front of her locker, to be found by her when she got back or somebody else. But Creed didn't need to read the note to know what it said. She walked into class with her long red hair drifting lazily behind her, humming in a voice like leaves rustling in a storm's wind and as quietly as death's final calls,

"Are you, are you coming to the hanging tree?"


OCC- This is for the District Six students and kids who need to visit school. I know it's July... But would they seriously stop work just for summer? These are the Capitol. Let me know what you thought of my writing too. I would LOVE critiques or feedback for improvement. ~SignaltoNoise

[signaltonoise]

Creed lay her head down on the lunch table and tried to drown out the talk. Alikia was dead. Four in total, if not more. Some were even being attacked by mutts already. She sighed. Long day. Too long.

It was hard and especially boring to be Creed Blacklore at this point in time. No friends- which was okay. No imaginary world- which was unfortunate. And no good books- which needed to be attended to as soon as possible. She mostly read the textbooks, though. Sure, Capitol stuff was okay. But Creed had read some a forbidden book when she was much younger and she miss those old stories. Her father had given her a lecture and taken her down to see the head peacekeeper to have the poor, ancient little book burned. So she was handed a match and a firepit and forced to burn the book. She could still hear the little thing screaming as its life was burned away into ashes.

She drummed her fingers on the table. Bored. Boring. Not hungry.

She began to hum again in her sweet voice, "Here it's safe. Here it's warm."

But here in Panem: it was neither safe nor warm and cozy. As shown by Alikia's death. As shown by the Hunger Games.

[/color]

[Sam]

I'll join this! And by the way, I think you're writing is REALLY good, better than most RPers.

Ria Watson stood next to her best friend Jace Monroe and she turned her head and spit on the ground. Her spit sat there on the ground, looking all wet and lazy and dismal. Exactly how she felt. The spit was a blinding white just like the rest of her. She was an albino and EVERYTHING about her- except her eyes that is- was white. She disliked school greatly. She liked to be creative and fun! Not boring and text-booky. She stared at the boring brick wall of the school and sighed. She turned to Jace and asked, "Why were we given this eternal punishment of school?" She picked up a gray rock and put it in her pocket.

Jace replied, "Actually, it's not really eternal. Eternal means, "Without beginning or ending." School ends." He got a more dismal look on his face and mumbled, "At some point anyway."

Ria averted her gaze from the most interesting brick wall to the crowds of students watching the games on the televisions. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at them. She couldn't see how something that gruesome could actually ENTERTAIN people. Anyone who could even think about enjoying watching the games were beasts in her opinion.

She saw Keenan walk by and growled slightly. She and Keenan had been worst enemies since they were eight. Keenan was one of the most handsome boys in school but he was also one of the most arrogant, self-absorbed, happy-go-lucky, rude people she'd ever known. She glared at him and he smirked at her. She spun on her heel and started to walk into school. Jace instantly understood and followed happily. He didn't really have a real reason to hate Keenan but since Ria didn't like him, he didn't either.

When Ria got inside she and Jace departed as their lockers were rather far away from each other. Ria went to her locker and fumbled with the lock, cursing under her breath. Not ONCE had she been able to open one of her locker locks without causing a scene. She rattled it and turned the knob to the right numbers but nothing was working. She noticed a girl with pretty long red hair and smiled at her but the girl must not have seen Ria because she didn't reply. Or maybe she was just deep in thought. Whatever. Not being able to take anymore, she grabbed the lock, twisted the knob to the numbers quickly and yanked, and yanked, and YANKED.

"Click!" The lock FINALLY opened. She sighed in relief and grabbed her books and pencil and her one journal. This lock incident was going to make her late for her first class. She groaned. Her first class. She was NOT looking forward to this. Her first class was always the worst. In the hall she ran into Jace. Sadly however, he didn't have first class with her. She sighed but said good-bye and wished second class would come. Jace was in her same second class.

She got to the class room and sat down on an old desk. She got out a book as the teacher instructed and she glanced around the room. No red haired girl, but there was Keenan, as distracting and annoying as usual. He flashed her a smile and she glared at him and turned her attention to the teacher.

* * *

Ria sat down at the lunch table later that day feeling depressed. She had had an awful day so far. She had already gotten in trouble twice and Keenan was being an absolute idiot. Plus her districts female tribute had died. And that REALLY sucked. She doubted that district 6 would even come close to winning. She sighed. At least Jace would be able to cheer up. She saw Jace and waved. She gestured for him to sit next to her. Jace smiled and came to her table, seating himself next to her.

"Hi Jace." Ria smiled.

"Hi Ria." Jace replied.

"How's your day so far? Horrendous? Mine is."

Jace nodded. "The same."

Ria once again caught sight of that red haired girl. Something about her intrigued Ria. Perhaps it was the way she always seemed to be so deep in thought. Plus, Ria really did love her red hair. She turned to Jace and gestured to the girl. "What do you think of her?" She asked.

Jace shrugged and studied her face. "She seems like a smart girl. And she does seem like she's usually thinking about something. Also I've never really seen her with friends...Maybe we should try to befriend her."

Ria nodded. "Perhaps."

At that moment Ria caught sight of some jock type boys cheering at a tribute being hurt. Ria just couldn't take it. The brutes. The fiends! Cheering at pain and misery. They were beasts. Absolute beasts. A thought zoomed through her head. She knew she would get in trouble but she couldn't control herself. She took her gray rock out of her pocket and threw it at the TV screen. It shattered loudly and Ria smiled in satisfaction.

Jace stared at Ria, mouth gaping. The brutish boys were as well. In fact, it seemed like everyone was staring. She looked around as if nothing had happened and kept eating. People were still staring.

"Are you INSANE?" Jace whispered. "You'll be in HUGE trouble!"

Ria smiled. "I don't care. It was worth it. I couldn't take those idiot boys cheering and pain and misery and everything else the arena is. Now let me eat my lunch."

Jace smiled. "I love the way you do what you need to do and your so outright about it. You rock for that." He said as he took a bite of his lunch.

Ria smiled and fake bowed. "Why thank you." She said in an english accent and went back to grinning and eating lunch.

[signaltonoise]

[OCC- Thanks! I <3 ur characters ]

Creed cocked her head like that dog her father used to own. That girl. Girl broke television games rude boys staring jeering death hunger games. Destruction. She turned her face to gaze like a Spector at the girl. She was paler than Creed herself with white everything- even her eyes. They seemed to be beacons of emotion; or maybe Creed was just making things up.

She was prone to make things up. Not to lie or hide anything, but to entertain herself. She loved to play the Think Game her father had invented. You just begin to ask what it's and if they are interesting, you delve further.

What if girl was lab experiment? Maybe was. Probably not albino most likely. Must be harder than being tall. Does she wish people away and take no notice of certain ones? How does she think? Is she different? Different me yes strange out of the ordinary no notice finally seeing people. Willow has friends Lark. Lark Bold pride crush...love. She shivered at the thought of someone loving her in the way her mother loved her father. It was exhilarating, dreaming about who it might end up being or not being. But in the end, Creed had to wake up and face her own made reality. Love means death. Death means love. Death is the Hunger Games. Love is the Hunger Games. Stop.

Creed shook the betraying thoughts out of her head. It did not do well to think just then. It did not do well to think at all, but thinking was Creed's bread and feeling was her water. It was natural. It was rebellious- which made it all the more exhilarating. Rebel me Creed rebel think not feel not be thought for be felt for simpletons do not think at all.

She looked back over to the girl. Was she still looking? Was she in trouble?

"I'm in the business of misery,
Let's take it from the top."

---

Kinetis Greely smiled at the albino girl. He had seen her once or twice. Maybe. The Creed girl? Hundreds. Thousands. He just kept returning to her for no apparent reason. She was different, certainly And often relapsed into incoherent thought. She didn't know she mumbled what she thought. He should know. He always sits to her right. Sometimes, he would just tune out the teacher and the world to try and figure out her strings of words. He could tell they were connected in some way- but the connection was based on life experience he never had. Life experience that shaped her mind.

He gazed at her scars. They covered her legs and he could tell from the raised areas of her creamy satin shirt that she had more on her back too. Was it an accident? More importantly: was it on purpose?

Back to this girl. She seemed nearly as intricate and complex as Creed was. But it was a more open complexity. To him, while Creed was a mystery, this girl seemed to be open and yet still complex, like having a map for a maze and yet still being confounded as to which way to turn. She would be more likely to talk to him than Creed would be. Maybe someday he would talk to Creed. But not now. No. Not now. Now was when he was going to meet the girl. The albino girl who apparently keeps stones in her pockets. The girl who did not enjoy the pain of others. The girl who was, well, different and unique in a way that pulled him to her. She was fascinating. She was like a crisp, fresh breath of air in an alpine wood after the first snow. Clean, white. New, fresh. Her entire aura was invigorating.

And it was right then that Kinetis Greely decided that he would make a real friend. Not on looks and not because of his looks. Not on money or his lack thereof. He wanted a friend who would love him for him. He wanted a friend he could love for who they were. So he held out his hand for her and said in a calm and confident way, "I'm Kinetis Greely. I haven't seen you around before, so what's your name?"

"Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
'Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means."

[/color]

(Songs in order of appearance: "Business of Misery", Paramore & "What Love Really Means", by JJ Heller)

[Sam]

(Sorry it took me so long to reply. I had everything typed up and I went to exit a tab and it exited out of the whole page.)

Ria Watson was the type of person who liked to know things. Even boring things. So when Jace told her he had met up with Keenan in the hall and gotten in a fist fight with him she immediately wanted to know why. However, much to her despair, Jace wouldn't tell her. She would NOT take no for an answer though. So she resorted to threatening.

"Jace Monroe, you better tell me what that fight was about! I know where you're ticklish and I am NOT afraid to use that knowledge!" She yelled. After she yelled this, she looked back and saw a boy. She thought she should probably be embarrassed but she wasn't one to get embarrassed easily. She liked what she did and did what she liked.

The boy started to introduce himself. His name was Kinetis Greely. That's an interesting name. She thought. Kinetis... It had a certain appealing ring to it. He seemed a bit official but he also seemed interesting, trustworthy, and kind. She turned to Jace and raised her eyebrows questioningly. He smiled and nodded. Jace had just given her his opinion. He thought she should befriend him.

So when he asked her what her name was she decided she would tell him. She smiled happily and sprang up in a standing position. She held out her hand to him, intending for him to shake it, and said, "My name's Henrietta Watson. But, if you like, you can just call me Ria." She nodded towards Jace. "This is my friend Jace." Jace smiled warmly and said, "Nice to meet you."

******

Jace Monroe was a calm person. He liked peace but did not like noisy protests. And he did not like fighting. So when he accidentally slipped and told Ria that he got in a fist fight with Keenan, he knew she would instantly question him. She questioned, but he refused to tell. He didn't want to tell her because it was kind of embarrassing. Keenan, the idiot, accused him of loving her. And then Jace punched him in the nose.

Ria was threatening to tickle him, a very frightful notion, when a boy walked up behind her. Jace instantly started blushing, as she had sort of yelled the tickling threat when the boy walked up behind her. But Ria didn't seem embarrassed at all. She just turned to him and listened to him start to introduce himself.

He told them his name was Kinetis Greely. Jace thought he might have seen him somewhere before but he couldn't be sure. Partway through his introducing himself, Ria turned to Jace and raised her eyebrows. He knew what she was asking. Jace had a talent to tell if someone was a genuinely ok person and Ria knew this so she was obviously asking if he thought Kinetis would be a good friend.

Jace looked at the boy. He could tell the boy wanted a friend very much and he wanted a genuine friend, not someone who would keep their opinions concealed and hide things from him. Or someone who would just use him. No, this boy wanted a real friend. And Ria was the perfect match. So Jace nodded.

Ria instantly stood up and offered her hand to him. Ria was always outgoing and energetic whereas Jace was calm and still creative but not as much as Ria was. Ria was so creative that she invented devices that could brush your teeth for you in the morning. Although they had a few...ok, more than a few malfunctions, they were very impressive. Ria was a mess of intricate and creative thoughts that were often very confusing to others but somehow made perfect sense to her. Jace was thinking when he heard Ria say his name. She must have just introduced him. He looked up from his thoughts and smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you." He said.

Jace's eyes wandered to the red headed girl. Now, here was a intricate person. She seemed even as intricate as Ria, but this girl seemed harder to figure out. Ria shared her thoughts openly, although sometimes, to other people, they made absolutely no sense. But this girl seemed more private and exclusive with her thoughts. He instantly made it his goal to try and figure her out. Because, well, that was what Jace did. Jace specialized in taking apart things and trying to understand them. And even though he was still working on Ria and after 7 years still hadn't completely finished, this girl would be his new project. This will be interesting. He thought. Who knew, maybe he would make a new friend along the way.

[signaltonoise]

Creed drummed her fingers on the table, waiting for that friendly enigma: the bell. It seemed to beckon her from her own mind. If she wasn't careful, she sometimes felt like she would lose herself in her thought world and never come back out. It was a strange place- even to herself. She was the renter of a huge mansion and had not yet explored every nook and cranny in her short fifteen years. It was a rather new place and every time she discovered something new, she would wind her way back to her main place of thought and put it in a place of reverence and honor.

The world was a beautiful place. Fact. The key element being "was". The world continues to be a beautiful place. Theory. Unproved and certainly disprovable. Love twisted to be lust that perverts every aspect of being. Hatred twisted to an evil and spiteful malice that killed everything and fueled the rise of criminals. The Hunger Games- a "necessary" cruelty. But in a beautiful world, no cruelty is necessary or encouraged by the upper class.

Creed smiled to herself and then her gaze drifted over a young man who gently gazed at her. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks. Those eyes. Beautiful. That face. Open. Friendly. He was incredible on first glance. Fact. Creed was infatuated. Theory. Unacceptable under the current political correctness established by the Republic of Creed. Friend? Yes. Lover? No.

She punished the thought for its presense and massacred the lot of rebellious followers. Must keep the thoughts in line, you know. For the time being, the state of peace returned and she lost herself in a thick fog of emotion and "beautiful" thought that most pleased the barbarians who ran the thought's lives. She smiled as she looked on, searching for the next round of thoughts to use.

She didn't mean for her mind to be like this, but after being influenced by her Capitol Daddy all these years, it had altered her thought process. As had those chemicals. Fishes and birdies were not meant to be mixed. It scrambled the thought world. Made it hard to decode and complicated to traverse. Sometimes, she felt like she would be able to fly and she tries to flap her wings, but then they are gone when she looks back. They evaded her, just drifting out of reach. She smiled a bit at the thought of white feathers drifting in the air. Feathers. New thought. Feathers are beautiful. Fact. They prevent the world from being ugly. Supposed theory. There must be something to keep the world from being ugly. Love.

The thought slipped out and shocked her to the core. The theory of Hate is Love is accepted. It must be true. No. Not love. True love. True love may cause death- Stop. She killed the thought without a second glance. It was stupid. It was rebellious. It needed the reformation that only death could bring. It learned silence the hard way. Just like she had.

*****



Kinetis grinned. She spoke to him! An actual sentence. Not ramblings of insanity in thought language. An actual intelligible sentence.

"It's nice to meet yah, Ria. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I'm 16. It's a pretty good age... But it's not as good as seventeen. I always hear that the next year is always better than the current one." He rambled.

Did I say something wrong? His pupils contracted as he backtracked. He silently prayed to God that he hadn't messed up. He was still okay... Right? He studied her face, but couldn't make anything out. He must be bad with girls. He was mentally kicking himself as he waited for her reply. This was the worst feeling ever was decided immediately.

"Sorry for rambling..." he trailed off, trying to fix his errors. Maybe he shouldn't have apologized. Gah! What was wrong with him! Couldn't he make a single friend?

[/color]

[Sam]

Ria was still standing, grinning at the boy happily. She liked this boy. He seemed funny and a lot like Jace. Right then Jace was actually watching the red headed girl. He seemed interested in her. Jace was like that. Whenever she made a new invention he seemed to envy it, not her talent to invent, but the invention itself. He always asked her tons of questions about it. How she made it, how she thought of it, and lots of other boring things. Boring to her anyway. Jace seemed to like figuring things out. Solving puzzles. And that girl was a puzzle.

The boy seemed very happy. He asked her how old she was and then said something very intelligent. "I always hear that the next year is always better than the current one." Ria's eyes lit up as the words entered her ears. Her brain started to dissect the words. But this boy was trying to talk to her so she moved it to the side and listened keenly.

He apologized for rambling and she grinned happily. "Don't be sorry! I love rambling! And ramblers. Rambling can bring out the most intricate thoughts that you would never normally say. Thoughts that are worth being pondered and that can be overlooked easily when talking planned thoughts. And I think ramblers are very smart people. They can talk without any real meaning and put thoughts they thought they didn't have into the universe. So don't be sorry." She kept grinning.

She was a bit of a rambler herself. She'd ramble to anyone who would listen but if no one would then she'd just ramble in her head. That was usually why she got such poor grades. Talking in class was not encouraged. So she'd ramble in her mind, letting her thoughts cloud out the teachers talking and then on the next test she'd have no idea what it was about and ponder whether she had just gotten distracted in class or the teacher was giving them unfair work. And the unfair work thought led her to how unfair the Capitol was. And from then on she was just lost in her head and at the end of class not one word was written on the test.

She had been staring into space, her eyebrows crinkled up as they were when she always thought. And then a thought entered her head. And her eyes sparkled and shot back up to the boy. "Did you know that some of the most intelligent people get very poor grades? Then again, some of the are just numb." She laughed slightly and smiled at the boy. "Sorry about me drifting off just then. I do it often." She grinned.

***********

Jace had been watching the red haired girl with great curiosity until Ria and Kinetis caught his attention again. He turned back to then just as Ria started her speech about rambling. He sighed slightly. Ria really was a complex girl. And then she started to drift off into her brain. Oh no... He thought. There was a reason Ria didn't have many friends and it was just what was happening right then. Had a habit of drifting off into her own mind.

This habit was rather odd and it drove lots of potential frinds away as it was one; odd and two; a bit annoying at times. She could get like that for up to five minutes or more if you didn't snap her out of it or if a thought worth saying out loud came into her head. Jace hoped this boy was patient. He and Ria really would be perfect friends if he could just get past this odd quirk of Ria's. He stayed sitting and smiled apologetically at Kinetis over Ria's shoulder.

Luckily, Ria woke up after about 40 seconds. She told Kinetis something about how kids with bad grades were sometimes the most intelligent and giggled a little. He liked Ria's little giggle after she finished saying something she thought was both interesting and intelligent but didn't want to seem like a know it all. It showed that she was outgoing, energetic, and bashful at the same time. Plus, he had to admit, it was kinda cute.

He caught sight of Keenan. The idiot raised his eyebrow and smirked at Jace. Jace growled and clenched his fists slightly. He blushed deeply. Ria must have noticed because she turned away from the boy and grabbed Jace's arm gently. "Relax." She said. "He's an idiot. Whatever he's doing that's making you mad isn't worth getting in trouble over." Jace relaxed and smiled at Ria thankfully. Ria smiled back. And then the bell rang. Jace sighed. He had wanted to ask the red headed girl some questions. Oh well. He'd try again later.

**********

Ria had just finished calming Jace down when the bell rang for the next class. She jumped slightly and laughed. She turned from Jace to Kinetis and said, "It's been nice meeting you. You seem like a nice person. I'll see you later. Maybe after school. Or maybe sooner. Who knows?" Unexpectedly she wrapped her arms around him in a hug and then released him. She smiled and started to walk away when she remembered something. She turned and yelled back at him, "By the way, I'm 14. See ya later!"

She smiled and turned to walk away when she found a teacher blocked her path. "Oh...um...hello." She said, managing a nervous smile. She tried not to glance at the broken TV. The teacher glared at her and said, "You have a month of after school detention in which you'll be cleaning the school from top to bottom with all the other rule breakers." She grinned evilly. "I hope that teaches you a lesson."

Ria flashed her fake smile and stuck her nose in the air. She said in a loud voice, "If you'll excuse me, I have classes to get to." She walked away and the teacher looked furious. Ria knew this and she smiled in delight. If there was one thing she loved it was driving unfair teachers crazy. She headed off to her class.

********

Jace watched this all and chuckled slightly. Ria sure did know how to push teacher's buttons. He turned to Kinetis and said, "Well it was nice meeting you. Um, see you later." He smiled warmly and walked off towards his first class, thinking about Ria and how fantastically free she was. Free. He thought. That was the perfect word to describe her. Ria was free.

[signaltonoise]

Creed sprinted for her next class as she tried to run away from the thoughts. True love. True love is it not just love which is lust which is hatred which is poison which is the Hunger Games. True love is not what kills. Time. The ugliness of the world. She stopped dead in her tracks. The ugliness of the world is what kills people. Time is the enemy. Time and ugliness together kill. That is what took her mother from her and her father. She never got to meet her mother- but she wished she could have. Apparently, she was nearly an exact copy- red hair, height, slenderness, paleness & her face. Not her eyes though. Her eyes were her fathers.

She picked up the new, proven fact she had made- time and ugliness kill, not love- and set it in the place love is hate was in. She chucked the old theory against the wall and the new regime was begun. A new epoch in her "republic". More like a despotistic society. She grinned to herself and slowly walked with the rest of the crowd. She now understood. The thought felt right. It looked right. She knew with all of her being that it was right. It was.

New thought! She pulled a new thought from it's paper wrappings and held it up to the light. She mumbled to herself, "Time marches ever onward, carrying everything closer and closer to it's death." Fact. Time leads to death. Death leads to the Hungers Games. Hunger games are lo- Stop. Still thinking in that way was not acceptable. Creed had moved on. Not acceptable my thoughts new ways new deals it's hard it's complicated. Ugh... Ahead hurts. She clutched her head as the pains racked through the front, then moved to just behind the temples and continued to go back until it had traveled every single part of her mind leaving her aching.

Pain medicine. Pain medicine? Where? Nurse. Nurse. She blazed off to the nurse's office, but before she could get there- she ran into somebody.

"She's got a body like and hourglass that's ticking like a clock,
It's just a matter of time before we all run out."

---

Kinetis' heart rose with joy as she said she liked rambling. He hadn't in fact said the wrong thing. He was correct in saying what he had. Then she spaced out and he smiled to himself. She had alot in common with Creed. Maybe they would be friends... Possibly. He mentally shrugged, then continued to listen to Ria speak.

Jace seemed preoccupied with something or someone, so Kinetis just stole a brief glance at him. He was... Interesting. Kinetis thought that maybe he could be his friend too. Just maybe.

The bell rang.

Kinetis groaned as the two moved away and Ria was almost instantly given detention. "Wait! She didn't do that. It was me. My fault. Don't blame her. Blame me. She didn't do anything." The teacher swiveled around from watching Ria.

"Oh! Really? One mustn't tell lies, Mr. Greeley. You have detention with Miss Watson for the next two weeks. Good day, Mr. Greeley." Then she walked away.

He had tried to take her blame and he had just met her. What was wrong with him? According to his psychology teacher, it was a sign of something more than friendship but less than love: respect maybe. He had forgotten. But whatever. It wasn't a necessary detail to understand. Just some stupid random fact.

"Yo! Lover boy! I hope you and your new girlfriend have to clean up the lunch room. I've made the perfect mess for you, you scum." Some snotty freshman said.

"You listen to me, freshmeat. I just met her. She's barely an aquaintance. So you shut your fat trap or I will shut it for you and give you a black eye to boot. You hear me?"

The kid nodded then went back to his lunch, flicking off the threat.

"I'm 14." Ria said to him. He smiled. Fourteen. A freshman. She seemed nice for a freshman. Not cocky or rude or snotty or anything else. Those snotty freshmen should show more respect to juniors, he thought.

[Sam]

Jace was walking away when he heard Kinetis try to take the blame for Ria. He stopped dead in his tracks. No one EVER took the blame Ria. Not EVER. Some people might try but Ria always put a stop to it. This boy was...different. If he planned on taking the blame for everything Ria did...well, he might go insane trying to keep up with all the different punishments. Jace laughed to himself.

And then Keenan spoke. Jace was almost out of the room when Keenan yelled to Kinetis, "Yo! Lover boy! I hope you and your new girlfriend have to clean up the lunch room. I've made the perfect mess for you, you scum." Keenan really didn't know what was good for him. Jace wasn't going to get in another fist fight with him so he just took a deep breath and let the anger flow out of him. He smiled mischievously. He would tell Ria. And Ria would be sure to have a chat with Keenan.

Jace smiled and kept walking towards his class. He heard Kinetis shout something back to the Keenan A.K.A. The Idiot and he smiled. Keenan was almost never stood up to. But he was know. The Idiot deserves much more than being stood up to though. Jace growled in his head as he walked.

*********

Ria was walking to her class, thinking some not-so-nice words about the teachers and wondering what it might be like to live in the Capitol when she accidentally ran into a girl. It was the red headed girl. Ria looked at her from head to toe.

The girl was very tall, and had really beautiful red hair. She had small lips and high cheek bones. She was very skinny and looked rather weak weak and fragile. But her eyes were the most striking of all. Tartar green and flecks of brown and blue, they stared at Ria with such concentration that Ria became completely absorbed in her. What was this girl's name? What was she like? How did she think?

Ria woke from her thoughts and looked at the girl curiously, her big, red eyes gazing at the girl. "My name's Ria. Will you give me your name?" To Ria, giving out your name was a sacred type thing. If someone knew your name they could use it however they wished. In taunting, in honoring, or in befriending. they could spread lies with your name and tell thruths with your name. That is why Ria thought carefully before giving away her name

This girl deserved to know Ria's name though. This girl was different. But Ria would't let that stop her from being friends with the girl. This girl was used to people avioding her, people not understanding. But Ria would understand. Ria understoud a lot already. And she was determined to get to know this girl and possibly even befriend her.

[signaltonoise]

"Creed," she choked out, "My- my name is Creed Blacklore."

It was the scariest thing she had ever done in her life. Spoken to a stranger. An unrelated stranger. A person her father didn't know. It felt good. Rebellious even. Nothing was better than the adrenaline from a rebellious act coursing through one's body. Rebel me speak name name Ria. she is Ria. Ria. Ria.

She pounded the name into her memory- trying to keep it inside her. She normally forgot names, but this time she would make an effort to remember her name. It was a pretty name- Ria. Sounds like river... Rivers current flow against the flow Ria.

Creed grinned and then continued to walk down the hall before she disappeared into a classroom and started to run, no longer okay. The Hunger Games bawled and wailed on a television screen in the hallway as blood was spilled and watered the grounds. The children screamed, shouted, cried, tried to survive. Died. She covered her ears as she ran and jumped up a tree, disappearing from sight and leaving the world behind. There was no way she was coming down anytime soon.

[Creed has disappeared from the School Grounds]

*****



Kinetis jogged down the hall, boiling from that freshman. He saw a flash of red hair and heard the doors open wide before he registered Creed had run from the school- again. He turned his head and gazed at Ria. Her big red eyes were beautiful and glinted purple and green in the bright florescent lights. He reached out to touch her shoulder and asked, "What's up with Creed?"

The television blared with the Hunger Games for a second lover before Kinetis turned it off. The world was already an ugly enough place, what with those gangs of murderers and alcoholics. It was disgusting, reading about the deaths, watching the deaths, living the deaths.

He ran his fingers through his hair and readjusted his black leather vest that was covered in cuts and scrapes. His black cargo pants drifted about his ankles as he waited for Ria's answer. Maybe she wouldn't answer him. Maybe she would realize he was a weirdo bad boy. Maybe she would just ignore him. Was his hair right? Did he look good? Did he have anything in his teeth? He gazed at her intently and smiled a bit. Was she... No. He erased the thought from his mind quickly. It was way too soon. He didn't even know her favorite color.

[/color]

[Sam]

"My- my name is Creed Blacklore." Ria heard the girl choke out. And the girl ran. She ran through the halls and out of school. Ria watched and sighed. She had hoped to talk to this girl a little. Oh well. She could talk to her later.

A few seconds later Kinetis walked up to her. "What's up with Creed?" He asked.

"I think she might be overwhelmed or something. I don't really know. But I don't really NEED to know." It was true. She didn't need to know. Creed was in her own world and would come out when she wanted to. Perhaps she was autistic. Ria like autistic people. They usually thought very intricate thoughts, just didn't usually express them.

She turned her attention from Creed to Kinetis. Kinetis. He was a nice person. He was nice, kind, funny, and a bit cute to be honest. She just thought of the as friends, but potentially, there could be something more to their relationship. She liked him and..well...ok, she was attracted to him. Not CRAZY attracted to him, but she did want to kiss him right then. And not just because of how he looked either. He was sensible, and caring, and someone she would enjoy kissing for more than just the hot-factor.

She shook her head quickly, clearing the thoughts out of her head. No way was he attracted to her. She was just her. She was skinny and short and...well she was albino for heaven's sake! She looked like a freak with her red eyes and white hair...But it didn't matter anyway. They were just friends. Sure it would be nice if they were something more but they were just friends and that wouldn't change until something happened. She wasn't sure what it would be, but it would be something.

She decided to give that something a jump start. She smiled and started. She moved behind him and removed the rough-and-tough looking leather jacket and put it on a bench behind him. Taking of the jacket revealed a black shirt underneath. Tt looked nice. She smiled and moved to the hair. She ruffled it and giggled a little as she saw what it looked like. It looked like a bad hair day. She giggled a little more. She took her black belt out from her pants and tossed it to him. The belt didn't really do anything for her. It was just to look good.

A lot of people were watching them but of course Ria didn't care. She smiled and said, "Sorry if I embarrassed you just now. I just wanted to see what you'd look like without all that tough stuff. I think you look good, but...well, I thought you looked good before to. I guess I'm just more used to this look." She shrugged and said, "Sorry again if I embarrassed you. I was just curious." She ignored the watching people and watched Kinetis to see what he would do. She hoped he wasn't going to get mad.

*********

Keenan was walking to his class when he saw Ria and Kinetis. Ria was giving Kinetis a make over or something. He smirked at the boy slightly and turned his attention to Ria. He sighed. She was so beautiful. Her eyes were the colors of cherries and her skin as pale as a ghost. She was skinny and small and happy.

That might be the thing he liked most about Ria. She was happy. And so caring and kind. He was more bashful when he was around her and he seemed like a better person. But he would be HUMILIATED if anyone found out he loved her. He was a bad boy. He had earned that reputation by breaking rules, getting in fights, and stealing whatever he could grab. And Ria was just the opposite of all that. Ria was amazing.

Keenan had loved Ria since third grade when he threw an egg at her. His friends had persuaded him to do it. Ria was an odd kid even then and his friends thought she was a class A weirdo. So they told him to throw an egg at her and stupidly he did it, making her hate him.

He loved her and now this damn bastard was swooping her up and taking her away. He growled angrily sighed. He kept watching Ria, loving every minute of it. Loving HER. And then Kinetis saw him. Kinetis saw Keenan staring at Ria, lost in her beauty. Keenan eyes widened. Kinetis had to know now that Keenan loved Ria. Keenan had stupidly been staring at Ria, lost in her, and Kinetis looked at him. And now he had to know! Unless he was incredibly stupid.

Keenan growled in anger and jumped up. He bolted away, hoping above all hopes this boy didn't want to get back at him for something bad Keenan did to him. Because the fact that Keenan loved Ria could be powerful information. At least it wasn't Jace though. Jace would gladly leak the information. Keenan sighed and kept running until he fell down a short flight of stairs and landed face first. He groaned and stood up slowly as he tried to block out laughing of people. His nose was bleeding. And Ria was WATCHING and laughing. Keenan groaned. This day could not get any worse.

[signaltonoise]

Kinetis stared at Ria- confused and utterly turned on. 'What the heck is she doing?" He helped her and shouldered off his jacket to reveal the plain black shirt underneath. Still confused, he grabbed her belt and permitted her to ruffle his hair. She proceeded in giggling.

"Sorry if I embarrassed you just now. I just wanted to see what you'd look like without all that tough stuff. I think you look good, but...well, I thought you looked good before to. I guess I'm just more used to this look." She shrugged, then added, "Sorry again if I embarrassed you. I was just curious."

Kinetis shrugged, understanding what she was meaning to do. "Nah, its cool. But I do keep my hair the way I do for a reason- I have bed head if I don't do it-" he stopped short and laughed out loud, "I sounded so gay right there! But, seriously I do put my hair a certain way...."

He straightened his hair and ran his fingers through the roots. It swept across his forehead and, if he didn't say so himself, made him look pretty epic. He smiled at her and tugged at her hair.

"Maybe I should return the favor of a makeover..." He felt the prickle of eyes on him. People were staring, but when he turned around that same infuriating and insulting kid stood staring at Ria with longing and... love.

Kinetis felt jealousy flare inside him and he stood in front of Ria protectively, his hands in his pockets and his legs apart. He narrowed his eyes at the boy and watched him flee the scene. Ria laughed at their tough dude acts, then he turned around. Ria was his girl. Maybe it wasn't official or anything, but Kinetis wanted this girl for his own. She was his. Not that freshmeat dweeb's. His. Kinetis'. The kid tripped down the stairs and when he got up again, his nose gushed fresh, red blood. Kinetis made no effort to help him. He didn't need it.

He made a mental note to corner the kid next chance he got and to stop referring to himself in third person before he spoke again, "Man, that kid was just STARING at you." Just thinking about the hungry look in his eyes made his skin prickle with anger and possessiveness.

******


Creed pulled herself back into school. That breakdown wasn't as bad as the previous ones. Only about ten minutes.

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and grabbed her books that were scattered all over the floor before she saw that boy she had seen in the cafeteria with that girl..... what did he want?

She stared at him and stood in the hallway. They had forever left. Would he speak first? Would she have to? The thought of initiating conversation made her stiffen in fear as she began to lose her grip on reality.

Ready? Set..... Don't go! But it was too late, her mouth had betrayed her, "You. You were staring at me in the cafeteria. Why?" She narrowed her eyes at him and assessed his stance, boy language and... she got nothing. Gosh she was so oblivious!

[Sam]

Jace was in the hall when he saw that same red headed girl. He grinned and fumbled in his books. Eventually he pulled out a notebook and pencil excitedly. This was what he like doing. Figuring things out. He walked up to her slowly, like approaching a wild animal. He didn't know this girl and had no idea how she thought. Therefore, she was a danger. To him anyway. He was a bit scared of things he didn't understand.

He observed that she was trying to act boyish, maybe a little tough. He jotted that down in his notebook. She also seemed suspicious and when he saw her first she was wiping her eyes so he assumed she had been crying. He wrote those things down and listened to her say, "You. You were staring at me in the cafeteria. Why?" She had spoken first. That was unexpected. He had thought that perhaps she would run away from him or make him speak first. She didn't seem to like to talk much. He wrote down the fact that she had spoken first and replied.

"Oh! Hi. I didn't recognize you at first." He lied. He was trying to be friendly to see how she would respond. " My name's Jace. About lunch, sorry if I freaked you out. I was just thinking that..." He decided he would just say everything bluntly and to the point but still being friendly. He thought the girl would respond positively to that. "I was thinking that you seemed a little distant and odd. I was wondering if I could get to know you better." He smiled warmly.

Jace did not think of this girl as just some lab experiment or project. He thought of her as some of those, sure. But she was still a human. And she seemed nice and intricate, exactly as he liked his friends. So this girl was both an experiment AND a possible friend. He would treat her with respect...but also with nosyness, as he really wanted to find out about her. He waited for her to reply, all the while smiling warmly.

**********

Kinetis was saying something about giving her a makeover and she was giggling when suddenly she noticed he was looking at something. And all of a sudden he steeped in front of her, seemingly protectively, And she saw he was glaring at Keenan who was running away. Why was Jace standing in front of her like that? He probably didn't even mean to. Just an accident. But why was Keenan running...She shrugged. It didn't matter.

And then Keenan fell. He tripped over the stairs fell straight on his face. People started laughing and Ria just watched. Keenan stood up and was grasping his nose with his hand as blood seeped through his fingers. He glared at Kinetis for some reason. Kinetis turned to Ria and said, "Man, that kid was just STARING at you." Ria's eyes widened in surprise. "He WAS?" She said. This cannot be good... She thought. The last time Keenan had stared at her one day later she was the victim of a malicious prank. She shuddered.

***********

Keenan was grasping his nose as he turned from the glaring boy standing over the girl he loved and and he walked away. Keenan was more dangerous than he looked. He wasn't all that buff or tall or strong. But he could think of the most insidious plots on the spur of the moment. He was sarcastic, fast, and an incredibly quick thinker.

He loved Ria. And Ria would be his. He swore this to himself as he walked down the hall. And that boy would be destroyed by the time he was done by him. Not by punches or fights. By evil plots that he would execute with ease. He grinned evilly and that grin instantly vanished. That boy was strong...and tall...and Keenan feared he was going to get much more than an evil prank.

He gulped and thought, Shut up brain. He's all talk. No way will he beat me up. He put on his game face and turned back to Ria and Kinetis. He smirked at Kinetis, letting blood fall from his nose, and flipped him the finger. And then he walked to his locker out of the site of everyone. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and started to get his books and such. It was pretty deserted by his locker but it almost always was. People were intimidated by him. The geeks who owned the locker neighboring his liked to stay out of Keenan's way. Keenan sighed and got lost in his thoughts of Ria.

********

Ria watched Keenan give Kinetis the finger and glared after him. "I have to go to the bathroom Kinetis. See you later." She smiled at Kinetis, lingering on his hair. She thought it was cute how he liked it that certain way and no other way. She giggled out loud and repeated, "See you later." She smiled and walked out of Kinetis's view to the girl bathrooms.

[signaltonoise]

Kinetis smiled as Ria walked away, then he was all business. That Keenan kid was dead. He was beyond dead. He was so dead that Kinetis would haul his body out of the ground, bring him back to life just so that he could kill him again. First mistake- he thinks he can just take Ria. Second Mistake- he disrespects me. Third mistake- he flips me the bird. That kid is so dead.

He narrowed his eyes and followed the path left by his dripping blood. This would not be good. Not be good at all. Straight out knock out... work him up to it... trickery... He shrugged, then he saw the guy. He wouldn't be dead... maimed... but not dead.

He loomed over the kid as he bent into his locker and he picked him up and shoved him up against the wall, holding him there.

"That's twice today you've dissed me. Now its time for retribution."

[Fight Moved To The Battlefield]

*****



Creed's jaw locked in anger. He was talking to her and taking notes on her like her father did with his test subjects. Was she just some stupid experiment? What was wrong with him?

"Oh, I didn't recognize you at first," Creed snorted. That was BS. How could someone not recognize her with her bright red hair and towering frame?

"No, Jace. I was not, in fact, freaked out. Just on edge. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." She was in no mood to be observed or for anybody to 'get to know' her. She snorted as she picked up her last book and walked away. More like.... study. Freak me study write notebook experiment uncool bad Jace leave me alone

She walked into the girl's bathroom so that he wouldn't be able to follow her and sat down by the wall. Lunch break, still. The white haired girl- no, Ria. Ria stood at the bathroom sink just looking at herself.

"You are really beautiful. You know that, right? Me? I'm six foot three with violent red hair. Flame head I was called. Its the only thing I have of my-"

[/i] She stopped and burst into tears. Great. Look weak in front of her.

Creed was beginning to think more like a normal person. People shaped people. She was on her way to recovery- from scrambled thoughts with a side of hash to smooth, buttered toast thoughts.
[/color]

(OCC: Okay, so for the fight, they each have 15 HP. Unarmed fight. First one to reach 15 damage loses. This happened so fast! Kinetis was like, "Can I kill him NOW?" lol. *crosses fingers* no deaths no deaths no deaths) [/center]

[Sam]

"Wait!" Jace called out. "I'm sorry! I just..." He sighed as she kept running away. "I just wanted to ask you some questions. Everyone was so sensitive these days. He thought this girl was COOL. That's why he wanted to know about her. And he was curious. But he just wanted to ask her a few questions and then maybe make a new friend. He sighed. Whatever. He would try again later.

**********

Ria was in the bathroom feeling on top of the world when Creed walked in. She told her she was beautiful and then...And then she bursted into tears. Ria gasped and ran to her. "What's wrong?" She asked and then she thought for a second and said. "You're much more beautiful than me, Creed. I have silver-white hair and beautiful red eyes and a boy who I think might love me. But Creed...Oh Creed, I can't believe you don't see how beautiful you are. You have an incredibly complex and yet still wonderful way of thinking, you are kind and brave, you are sensitive and still strong, and you incredible, wonderful unpredictability. Not to mention that I ENVY that red hair of yours." Ria grinned and said, "Creed, you are, possibly, the most beautiful person I have ever known."