[Smile>and<Wave] ((Bri and Ray))

[Marky]

Speaking
Main
Outsiders

"THUNK THUNK!" The loud sounds on the door jolted me awake. Being in such a big, fluffy bed wasn't something I was used to. My bed at home wasn't nearly as soft, but already I missed it. I walked to the door still wearing my silk pajamas and slung the door open. On the other side of it was Plato, wearing his big, fake smile. I had to fight the urge to slam the door in his face, to be honest. It was him who had pulled my name out of that bowl. Still, he hadn't actually done anything to directly insult me, so I was tolerating him...for now. He didn't even say anything, instead, he walked in uninvited and threw some clothes on my bed. He stepped to the side and waited for me to get dressed. I knew this because he crossed his arms, cocked his hip, and looked at me impatiently.

I rolled my eyes at him."Perhaps a little privacy would suit me better!" I gushed in my Capitol accent. He returned my eye roll and walked out, still, without saying a word. I stomped over to the clothes that he'd laid out for me and through them on the floor. There wasn't really anything wrong with them other than the fact that he was the one that chose them, but that was just the thing, he chose them, so I wouldn't let myself like them. I grabbed some more clothes, and slid them on instead. When I walked into the commons room, I realized that if I would have put on the same clothes as Plato would've liked, Fledger and I would've been matching. I flashed him an evil glare, and he returned it with a fake comment."You two better get down there!" He said, still eying me.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Fledger and I were off in separate directions. I wasn't entirely sure where to go, but I do know that I ran into a girl, and I accidentally sent her flying to the ground. I covered my mouth to prevent my self from laughing, and then stuck my hand out to help her. Her red hair was almost enough to blind me, and her petite size made me think of her as vulnerable, still she was one of my competitors, that I was sure of."Sorry!" I said sympathetically. I looked into her eyes and the whole "vulnerable" thing I had felt for her increased. They were so deep, and fragile. They looked like they belonged to a preschooler! I just smiled and continued."I really need to watch where I'm going a little more often." I said as I went into "Plato Stance" minus the face. Mine wasn't rude and fake, literally, like his was.

[SNOWFLAKES [Brik]]

"As soon as the blood appears our world stops for the moment."

[/color][/center]

She forced herself against the door, trying to keep it closed from the woman who threatened to invade. “Tanisha! I’m in my bra and panties. I’m coming soon! No need to heart attack over it.” She felt a slight retraction of force against the door as Tanisha briefly thought of it. With slow words, she spoke like a child who had to fess up an item she had stolen. “I forgot to give you the training boots.” Lightning slightly walked away from the door her back had been pressing against, put her hands on her hips, and looked up to the ceiling. “You honestly mean to tell me you tried to barge in on me while I was naked, just because of shoes?!” Lightning picked up the sound of her shoes being put by the door, but she guessed that she dropped them for fear that Lightning would come out and slap her or something. Damn straight.

She knew that Tanisha was a slight idiot with no common sense, but to think that she wouldn’t even knock when she knew she was changing was enough to get a snicker out of her. She’s really that big of an idiot? Holy shit, Kent will enjoy this story, I know he will. Rolling her eyes, she looked at the clothes that sat on her bed. If it was up to her, she would have totally gone to the training station naked just to piss of Tanisha, but for the sake of self-respect and dignity, she decided to actually get dressed in the faded jeans and plain black shirt that lay on her soft, plush black bed. Well, I would totally go down to the training station naked. You only live once, gotta make the best of it…

Like a cat in heat, stuck in a moving car
A scary conversation, shut my eyes, can't find the brake
What if they say that you're a cloner
Naturally, I'm worried if I do it alone

As soon as she left the doorway of her room, Tanisha sprung up out of nowhere. “Holy shit, woman! Do you want to give your tributes a heart attack before they even go into the Games? That wouldn’t look too good on a track record.” Tanisha did a sort of pig snort and a smile crossed her face as she commented how funny Lightning is. Yeah, and you’ll see how funny I really am after you blush a pretty pink when I kick your ass. The thought alone brought a smile on her face, but she didn’t say anything out loud. She sat there silently, thinking about how sweet it would to actually beat Tanisha up. That woman annoys the living shit out of me…

Walking with the annoying woman down to the training center, she hardly noticed that the elevator on her left opened up. As she walked past, she collided with a girl and was sent sprawling to the floor. Looking back up at the girl who ran her over, she snarled, not realizing who it was. Wait… didn’t I see her before? She’s a tribute from District… 3? No… District… 6? As soon as her eyes met with hers, her bared teeth were again covered by lip. She knew it was a tribute. Snarling at a tribute wasn’t a good thing to do. Especially if you don’t want them to hold a grudge against you, and then spreading the word around that I’m an evil bitch that needs to be eliminated. Stuff like that is deadly in the arena.

Placing a slightly plastic smile upon her pale face, she took the hand that the girl had held out, hoisting herself up. With exaggerated movements, she nodded and did a slightly sarcastic bow, while in the process turning around and smacking into yet another girl, sending Lightning to the floor again. Okay, it’s someone else’s turn to fall, and I’m not doing it anymore. Laughing, embarrassment spread across her cheeks, she brought a hand up that supported her from her back touching the floor to her neck and rubbed it. “Sorry guys! How embarrassing…”

[Ray]

Schizophrenia.

Olive said Liliana had been acting strangely ever since she got to the Capitol. Olive may have been incredibly irritating, but she was also perceptive, especially about things that may potentially embarrass her. Olive was already stuck with district ten, so she wanted to make sure none of her tributes would do anything crazy. She had forced Liliana to go see a doctor. Everyone was so concerned. Really, Liliana hadn’t been worried. She wasn’t afraid of whether she was sick or not. She was mostly just mortified.. She had spent the past several years trying desperately to appear normal, to convince people that there wasn’t anything wrong with her, only to prove once and for all that she really was messed up. It was incredible how quickly one night could screw everything up.

She had gone to the doctors just like Olive asked. There had been a lot of tests, and a mostly just a lot of talk about things that she didn’t understand. Not that she was trying to understand. She just wanted to get it over with, so she mostly ignored everything that was happening, except when the doctors told her to do something. Yes, she was blissfully ignorant about what was going on; Then came the diagnosis

Schizophrenia. That’s what they had said. Liliana didn’t really understand what that meant for her. She only fully grasped one thing: she was crazy. Damaged. She almost wanted to laugh at herself. All this time she thought it was just a vivid imagination, only to find out that there was something wrong with her.

Every man has a place,
In his heart there's a space,
And the world can't erase his fantasies.

The doctors here definitely knew more than the ones in Ten, though. They had tried to put her on medication. She remembered being terrified of it at first, scared of what it might do to her. She didn’t want to see everything that she believed be smashed to pieces. She didn’t want to find out that the world she knew only existed in her head. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” the doctors had assured her. “From what you’ve told us, it won’t change much. The only difference will be that now you’ll know that everything you see is real.”

They were right. Really, not much had changed. Nothing strange happened, and she didn’t have to constantly worry about whether everyone else could see what she could. She was relatively normal now. So why didn’t she want to take the meds? She was terrified of them. Of course. Only she wouldn’t be scared of the schizophrenia, but the medication that was supposed to help her. It didn’t matter whether it was logical or not. She didn’t understand these Capitol drugs, she didn’t know what they would do to her. She didn’t trust them. So every morning when Olive brought her the little white pills, Liliana spit them out when she wasn’t looking. It’s not like she needed them anyway. She had lived seventeen years without them, she could go a little while longer.

Every thought is a dream,
Rushing by in a stream,
Bringing life to the kingdom of doing.

Liliana was startled out of her thoughts by a loud bang on the door. “Wake up, Lili! Time for training!” Olive’s voice called out. Liliana groaned and rolled over in bed, hoping that if she ignored Olive, she would go away. Olive knocked loudly several more times. Liliana sighed and sat up in bed. She knew she would have to go to training eventually, but she had thought with the diagnosis, she could get at least one day off. Just suck it up. Hiding out in your room won’t make things any better. Besides, no one even knows besides you and Olive. Her little pep talk didn’t really make things any easier, but she saw the sense in it. She couldn’t just stay in her room forever. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and the first shirt she pulled out of the drawer, ran a hand through her hair, and stepped out into the hallway. It appeared that Olive had abandoned her for breakfast when she heard Liliana getting up. Liliana didn’t think she could stand an awkward breakfast with her mentor and district partner. She would bypass breakfast. She may not be able to avoid training, but this was one thing she could avoid.

She wandered the halls for a little while, stalling as long as she could. How long could she get away with this? She really didn’t want to see other people, but it seemed there would be no choice. Liliana made her way back in the direction of the elevators, but when she got there, she saw two other girls already there. One bumped into the other, and the redhead toppled to the floor. Liliana moved behind them, trying to get into an elevator without being seen, when the fallen girl stood and smacked right into Liliana, falling to the floor yet again. Liliana took several shaky steps backwards before placing a hand against the wall to catch her balance. “Sorry guys! How embarrassing…”

Liliana felt heat rise in her cheeks, and was sure that she was turning an unsightly shade of bright pink. “Sorry,” she mumbled, ducking her head and hoping they would just let her be. With her luck, they probably wouldn’t.

Come to see victory,
In a land called fantasy.

[Marky]

Speaking
Main
Outsiders

I couldn't help but laugh now. Only mere seconds had passed since I had bumped into the girl, and now already, she was flat on her backside again, her fiery mane in a frenzy. Accompanying the humor that I found with her clumsiness was a sorrow. I felt sorry for the red head. She obviously couldn't stay on her feet long enough to have a conversation. Odds were, she wasn't going to make it very far in the arena. This was almost enough to make the smile hat was still plastered across my face as she stood go away. Almost. Not quite enough though. As I studied her, I found the perfect nickname for her. It was one that both suited her hair color, and the color of her blushing cheeks. Until I learned her real name, I was going to call her "Red".

I turned to the girl Red had just ran into in hopes of getting my attention off of her. This girl was incredibly beautiful, with a golden sea of waves on top of her head. She looked closer to my age than Red did, but not quite as capable. Red had that little something extra. The thing that is commonly referred to as the "wow" factor, or the "x" factor, or at least she did, until she decided to become best friends with the ground. Still, this other girl looked pretty capable herself. Her eyes were enough to convince me she wasn't going to take any of mine, or anyone else"s crap. When she spoke, she had a specific twang to it. An accent that, though not like the Capitol's, didn't match mine very well, either. It was one I didn't think I'd ever heard, but I liked it. It made her different, unique. It made her stand out, and that was great, for her. It just made it that much harder on me.

By the looks of things, it was my turn to speak, because everybody else was just standing around making things awkward. That's not something I like, awkwardness. I tend to avoid anyone, or thing that makes something awkward, usually, but here I didn't really have a choice. I guess everybody feels a bit out of place in the Capitol. Some more than others, but still, the feeling was mutual. I turned back to Red with my head cocked in a way that made me seem somewhat concerned."You alright?" I asked her with the strain that was keeping me from laughing in my voice.

So my glimpse at Accent (My name for the other girl,) wasn't enough to get my mind off of her after all. Shit. I shook my head quickly in the hope of rattling the memory out of my head. That didn't work either. I was on the verge of letting my laugh out, so I began to think of the reason I was here. It wasn't by choice at all. I was forced to come here, just like each and every one of these other people. All the teenagers spread before my eyesight were all here for the same reason I was, to kill one another against our will just so we could go home and be with our families. The realization that only one of us was going to come out of this thing hit me right then and there, and my verge to laugh turned to one that made me want to cry. These were the Hunger Games, and there wasn't a damn thing I, or anybody, could do about what was going to happen next.