-It's just some paint-(open)

[Mylies43]

PAM

It was just the right shade of pink.....

Pam was walking along the street onto her way to the art store. She had made some nice money from my lastest painting. The art store also had a sale so I hoped to get some new pencils with extra money.

She made it to the district square and turned to look at one of the screens inside one of the richer peoples house, only to see the hunger games on.Nice. She quickly looked away before speeding up toward the art shop. She entered the store and the manager similed at her. He knew her and had acutally bought some of Pam's pieces.

"What will it be today?"She asked Pam. JUst the usual, pencils and somecolors if I can." Pam replied."I wanted to tell you, we got some new paint if you want, it's also on sale."She told her. But Pam was already there, admiring the beatiful paints and colors. When she found the most wonderful color every.

It was hot pink, but too much for her. She wanted it so badly though, what should she do?She dug her hands into her deep pockets, her pockets. Mabye she could steal it? No, she couldn't, but the offer was so tempting, while thinking over this she reached her hand out to grab it and put it in her pocket without thinking.

Oh well, since it's in there anyways. She then went to the pencil suplise and grabbed some colors and a normal pencils. She bought them and left, with the stolen paint. She walked out of the district sqaure and noticed a peacekeeper following her. 'Oh no........Thats not good.' She broke into a slow jog, with the peacekeeper behind her still. She then ran into a fully out sprint.

Luickily she knew the district well enough to out manveour the peacekeeper, whiched look like he was imported from somewhere else. But soon Pam became lost. No.....she had to find her way back soon or her brother would get worried.She walked into a field with a tree here and there,they were all tyall and all had a great view of the district, but she couldn't climb up them. They're weren't any branches fro the first ten feet or so.

At last Pam spotted one with a small wooden ladder, with a platform at the top. The platform had wooden rails about two feet high on the perimiter. The platfor it self was at then top of the tree. Soon Pam was climbing the ladder up to the tree house, hoping no one was there.

[Sam]

The definition of Ria was a bright girl, relatively smart, very creative, and extremely curious. She got into trouble often without meaning to and liked to spy on all different kinds of people. Interested in all assortments of things, she was sometimes seen as rather childish as she would do anything to find out about the things she liked. But in truth, Ria could think very complex and deep thoughts and was very socially bright. She was kind, happy, caring, understanding to a certain degree anyway. Ria sometime had trouble figuring out how the hell other people ticked.

Surprisingly, Ria did not have any friends. Even though she was nice person and wanted friends, she did not have a strong desire for them. She wouldn't just randomly pick a person to befriend. She liked to know if they were interesting and not dull or boring. She also liked to know to a small degree that they were a decent person. No one was perfect, but she obviously didn't want to befriend a murderer or something.

Another fact was that Ria was perfectly content by herself. She didn't feel she needed to strive for a friend, or any relationship at all in fact. She could curl up on a couch and read a book peacefully. Or she could take out her journal and start a new novel. (Ria was a big writer.) But she didn't find it necessary to go out and search desperately for a friend like some of the girls she saw around the district. Pathetic. She would think. Those kinds of girls NEEDED attachments or they would be miserable. Ria was NOT that kind of girl.

The sun that morning was bright and shining, however dark clouds blotted the sky, a sign that it was sure to rain later sometime. Ria knew this even before she opened her eyes that morning because she felt the sun warming her face to an uncomfortable temperature and then slight relief as the clouds passed over the sun, blocking it's rays from coming through her window and onto her face.

Ria got up and not bothering to change from pajamas to regular clothes, started downstairs from her 2nd floor room. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Then she carefully started to brush her hair. Her hair was a BRIGHT white, that reflected the sun from her head and back into the sky. Her dark red eyes seemed to pierce the mirrors glass.

Ria was albino. Just another reason lots of people didn't like her. They were scared of her or thought she was weird. Many people also thought she had an odd attitude on account of her being so curious and creative. It frustrating having people constantly not understanding her.

She went to the kitchen and got out a bagel. Her parents, the local bakers, were out of the house once again, leaving Ria free to illegally snack on the delicious pastries, bagels, and bread that they expertly made. Her parents were ALWAYS out partying. Ria almost never saw them and right then she had no idea where they were. Probably sleeping off a hangover on a park bench like homeless people, embarrassing Ria once again. But Ria didn't care about her parents. She managed constantly without them.

Ria suddenly decided she was going to go for a walk. Just to clear her head. She was almost out the door, still dressed in her pajama pants and loose t-shirt, when she saw a stack on money on the counter next to the sink. It was only a little money, but it was enough to buy some new pencils, another sketchbook, and colored pencils with only the basic colors. It was her mothers but what did she care? She grabbed it with a mischievous grin and ran out the door into the fresh air, slamming it behind her.

********

Everything about art interested Ria. There were so many different colors, so many different ideas, she just loved them all. She wasn't a big painter, her style was more colored pencils or pastels. She LOVED drawing and was fairly good at it. She especially love drawing faces. So many different features to draw. It was more fun than drawing nature or something.

While she was there, looking over the different kind of drawing pads, she noticed a girl. She recognized her faintly. She sold her paintings to the general public. Ria had seen some of her paintings. They were good. She had seen the girl, Pam, around the District.

She shuddered remembering the day she saw her. She was distracted by putting Pam's face into memory when two boys and two girls came over and beat her up. She got a black eye from that, bruises all over, a broken nose, and a twisted ankle. Pam must have not seen her which she thought odd as Pam was near her when it happened, or just not wanted to partake in the fight, which was understandable to a certain degree.

Ria was thinking when she saw something. Pam grabbed a can of hot pink paint and put it in her pocket. Ria saw her buy some colors and pencils. She paid for the colors and pencils but left with the paint still in her pocket. Without paying.

Ria decided that this was interesting and that she would follow the girl. She threw her stuff on the counter and paid quickly. She then moved her stuff to the side of the counter to get them later and ran out the door.

She stayed pressed against a building and saw Pam. Ria quickly and completely quietly ran after her. A Peacekeeper was following her. Not good. So when Pam rounded a corner she stuck her foot out from the shadows of a building and the Peacekeeper fell on his face hard. He looked up and saw her, growling angrily. Ria observed that his nose was broken. Oh no. He had seen her. She was in trouble.

He grabbed her ankle and she reflexively kicked him on the nose. He screamed and she bolted after Pam. This was bad. Why had she done that for Pam? She was in huge trouble now. She still needed to get her art things from the store and she was sure she was going to get a beating from the Peacekeepers with everyone in the market part of the District watched, just what she needed for kids to think she was even more weird.

Pam stopped by a tree in a field. Ria knew this tree. Her tree house was in it with all her prized possessions. She had to get up there before the girl did to confront her about the paint. Plus, she didn't want the girl poking around in her stuff. Or, more interesting...

She could wait until just after the girl got up there and then go in and confront her about the paint and entering HER tree house. Fun. It would be interesting. A good way to really meet the girl for the first time. She was peeking when the girl turned her heaad and looked at her. Ria quickly snaped her head back out of Pam's view. She hoped she didn't see her. Then the joke would be on her instead of Pam.

(OOC: I kind of want Ria to make a new friend and to become a little more social with people. I also want her to learn a little humility because she thinks she's amazing at everything. Embarrassments, being slightly shamed, stuff like that. Also hoping she can learn some better social skills. xD)

[Mylies43]

PAM

I looked around the area to make sure a peacekeeper wasn't following me, but instead found someone spying on me. Huh. 'Well, I bet she'll follow me up the tree house and I can confront her there.' SO I climbed up the tree.

The view from the top of the tree in the tree house was amazing, but that was balcaned out by the fact that the tree swayed, with the tree house, but that some of the boards looked wobbly. But the veiw was amazing, she could see from miles it seemed like, she could see her house, mabye half a mile off in the distance. The people in the town square looked like ants from the height and distance.

The tree house was packed full of things, not a group of stuff, like pencils, or trophy, and what not, but everything you could imagine, from eggs, to dead birds. As I looked around the tree house I remembered that someone was following me, but who was it? I couldn't quite tell when I first saw her she was wearing pj's, but one other thing reminded me of her she was albino.

Ria. I had seen her once while selling my art, it was a rainy morning, and I was selling a picture of a bird in it''s nest, when I saw her getting beat up by two older kids, they kept taunting her and what not. She seemed a little,....odd....... At least thats what alot people thought. She had no friends and her parents where almost never home. Unlike my mom.Who is always home and just sits on the couch 24/7.

I lean against a thick branch and wait for her to come up. BUt time drags out, and soon, I start drawing the scene with the sun peaking through one of the clouds on a other wise bleak, bleak day. When I feel the floorboard move under me I say,"You know. It's not very nice to stalk people, also, nice pj's."

[Sam]

Ria watched the girl from behind the tree as she entered her tree house. She waited for awhile, she was a good waiter, and then she bolted from the tree and started up the ladder. The ladder was creaky and if Ria had ever hoped for a sneaky entry, well, climbing this ladder was not the way to get it. Oh well. She thought. It doesn't really matter. She was up almost all the way when she heard Pam's voice.

"You know. It's not very nice to stalk people, also, nice pj's."

As Ria's head popped up into the opening, she said, "It's not very nice to sneak into other people's tree houses either." Ria did not like getting her tree house invaded but she was a nice person and she liked peace. Also, this girl didn't really know it was her's. So she smiled a friendly smile, which she wasn't used to doing because usually there was no one to smile to, and said, "But I guess you didn't know it was mine." She climbed the rest of the way into the tree house. The tree house sat on a number of thick branches so Ria sat on her tree house floor and leaned back against one that slanted upright slightly.

"My dad built it. " She said with sadness in her eyes. That is, he built it prior to this time where all he does is go out, party, and get drunk, leaving his daughter alone to get beaten up all the time, and to be a friendless outcast. She thought. Then she repeated the phrase in her mind that she thought really often. Life is a bitch. She sighed, sad and angry at her damn parents.

Nothing in her life was as she wanted it.

[Mylies43]

PAM

I continue painting as Ria says," "It's not very nice to sneak into other people's tree houses either.". She has me there. But there was mothing telling me to keep out,It's silent before she says something else.That in that silence she speaks,Ria didn't really like people being here, it ws her own private place and I understood.I had my own place, in a branch high in a tree, beside the mockingjay nest.

BUt soon Ria talks again,"But I guess you didn't know it was mine." She said. I just finshed my drawing. Once I got home I would color it or put it on bigger paper to sell. I never quite knew. I turned around to face Ria as she climbed out all the way. She leaned on one of the thick braches of the tree that held the tree in place.,"My dad built it", she said, but there was saddness in her eyes.

I've seen her parents once, they were drunk and walking home from a party. If they were anything like Pam's they probaly ignored her all together,like my mother. Only my mother uses me as a moving target for her bottles, and is rarely sober. Ria sighed, probaly thinking of her parents, with a mixture of saddness and anger.

I looked around the tree house whih held a lot of stuff."So you a big colector?"I asked her. I wasn't, not enough room for it in my house. I guess thats why I don't spend any time there, at least not alot. My life is terrible, but at least I make money by doing something I love to do, it could be worse. I could have to work in one of those factories in three, or the coal miines in 12. I shurdder at the thought.

But without doubt the worse would be in the mine in 13 when they got bombed. It would be a terrible place to die.The place I want to die in is a field of flowers, sweet smelling flowers, not flowers that the capitol makes during the games, posinious ones. Those are terrible.But someties, life is terrible.

[Sam]

Hey, sorry but my computer's keyboard is messed up and I won't be able to type a response for awhile. Again, really sorry.

[Sam]

Ria had her eyes closed when the girl said, "So, you a big collector?" Ria replied slowly, trying to make a map of her response before she blurted out words. "Well..." She started. "I guess you could say that. Collecting keeps my mind of things. It's sort of like...like a task that's easy enough to perform but still keeps your mind off things you don't want to think about." Pam was eyeing a dead bird in the corner of Ria's tree house. The bird was a mockingjay, but wasn't nomrally colored. This Mockingjay had a red body and orange wings. It's beak was small and black and the bird was very small for a mockingjay, only the size of a chickadee.

Ria saw Pam looking at the bird. She was obviously wondering why in the world Ria would have a dead bird. So Ria decided she's answer. Ria walked up to the bird and held it gently in one hand. It fit perfectly in her palm. "This is Maragold. She fell off a tree branch above us and...and she died." Ria felt oen tear slip down her cheek and she dropped Maragold, Mara for short and turned on her heel, her back facing Pam. Ria quickly blinked back teh rest of her tears, forbidding them to fall, and she wiped the fallen tear of her face. Ria had long since decided she would keep tears from falling, especially in front of other people. But this time Ria couldn't help herself.

Mara had been one of Ria's best friends. She had fallen once before and Ria had caught her, but Mara's wing was already damaged. Ria fixed it and she grew close to Mara. Mara was so different from her kind, just like Ria. She was constantly being ignored by other mockingjays. She had no parents that Ria could see. And more importantly, Maragold liked Ria. And Ria, because of this and the fact that she had no friends, became extremely close with Mara. When Mara's wing was fixed, Ria placed her on a branch and Mara tried to fly. But Ria did something wrong, as always, and maragold fell.

This time, Ria was too late to catch her.

Maragold was Ria's only friend, excepting a small squirrel named Mala. Mala was a very intuitive animal and she must have felt Ria thinking about her because she suddenly appeared and scampered over to Ria. She climbed up her and perched on her shoulder. She nuzzled her nose against Ria's face. Ria's eyes were closed, trying to hold her tears back when she felt Mala's nose. She opened her eyes and lifted a shaky hand, petting Mala. She took a deep breath and turned back to Pam.

"Maragold was my only friend, not counting this little cutey, Mala." She gestured to her squirrel. " I kept her because I don't want to let her go. I don't Mala to leave me, Mara to be dead, and me to be a friendless reck." Ria braced herself for a punch or a cruel laugh. No one liked Ria so she expected Pam to be the same. To make fun of Maragold and Ria keeping her. She couldn't believe she had shared so much to this stranger. Now Pam had more to torture her with. [You're so stupid! Ria yelled at herself inside her head.

All I want is to talk to someone who will talk back and won't hit me or ridicule me or hurt me! Is that to much to ask?! The otehr part of Ria screamed back.