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[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

petalite shore
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ALL I EVER WANTED WAS THE WORLD
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Of all the things she hated, nature was among those at the top of the list for the career. She stood among a large group of her peers, all from different centers, most of whom she had encountered at least once in her lifetime. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she chewed on her cheek as the instructors- namely, her father and a few of his friends, discussed the plans for the rest of the day. She honestly thought it was ridiculous that they had gotten the bright idea to work with other centers in order to "broaden their horizons." She hardly saw how working with a bunch of air headed meat bags was going to help her improve in the least, but she decided she didn't want to waste her breath arguing with her father.

"Alright, so first group to cross the finish line gets the rest of the week off." No way in hell was she looking forward to trekking up a mountain for the rest of the day, but the prize was tempting. However, when she remembered that she was going to have to scale walls, run up hill for hours, and crawl through enough briers to scar her for the rest of her life if she wasn't careful, it didn't sound quite as appetizing. She only paid enough attention to them as they named off groups to catch her own name. "Petal and Leo," The burly voice announced, and she tried her hardest not to scoff.

Speaking of meat bags.

With a quiet nod to the large boy, she walked over to him. He was cute, sure, but in no way was she as crazy about him as some of the girls in their grade. She could see why they were; He was strong, and from what she heard, pretty damn smart, but none of it pardoned his arrogance. It wasn't rare for her to see him with one girl one day, and another the next. And never the same girl twice. She hated boys like him. The ones that thought girls were toys to be played with, like that boy Kellan Fray, the one Pyrite was so interested in, and the one who's body would never be found if he told her about Petal's moment of weakness that ended with her waking up on the roof of his damn training center without any clothes on. That was her point, though. She woke up alone.

"Hey, Rex." She said, fending off a look of disgust. Then she turned back to the instructors as they finished up the instructions. "Remember, you may not leave your partner behind, and the two of you will need to work as a team if you are going to win." One of them stated and with that, the girl's father was there, demanding they line up along the narrow road, which was a task in itself, considering there were about sixteen of them. She crouched down next to Leonidas. "You ready?" She whispered.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Everyone burst forward like a gust of wind pulled them along the mountain's path, Petal included. It was difficult to find her footing with so many people in such a small space, so she saw only one way to keep herself from going off on one of these pathetic fools. Push her way to the front, and refuse to let anyone pass her. Playing dirty was her game. She was the queen of manipulation and lies. Her strategy was one of deceit, and it rarely ever failed her. She saw Rex only a few people in front of her in the large pack of careers, and she hoped he got the idea as she ducked her shoulder and slammed into one, two, three, four people, slowly climbing her way to the head of the pack until, finally, she was free from it. She looked back over her shoulder to see what he was doing, if he was as smart as everyone said, shouldn't he have caught on to something as simple as this?

Yet she still didn't see him running next to her.

CREDIT TO LEI FOR THE TABLE

[Lulu]

[patrick ran the race
yeah he ran until the time ran out
oh no, i'm in some trouble now]

[/i]
Very often, the Rex household was nothing short of a zoo. District One was famous for its big families, because parents liked to churn out children at least once a year to be sure to maximize their chances of having one Reaped for the Hunger Games. With so many children constantly chucking weapons and insults every which way, disorder was an integral part of everyday life. This was why Leonidas, the second oldest Rex, often took a moment or two to pat himself on the back for maintaing his undivided focus at all times, whether on training, on his studies, or on planning for his future. He refused to allow the constant cacophony produced by his various angry siblings to distract him from his purpose, his goals. Leo was the pinnacle of concentration and poise at every second of the day, and in his opinion, that was a pretty damn fantastic feat.

Even so, it was nice to get out of the house once in a while. That particular morning found the older teenager at the mountainous outskirts of the district, with a group of other Careers his age. Training in the mountains was a vital part of any Career's regimen; climbing taught strength and endurance the likes of which nothing else could, and you never knew what type of terrain the arena would throw at you. If you weren't prepared for anything, you didn't belong in that spotlight. You didn't deserve the glory of fighting your way to fame and victory. In the Hunger Games, there was no such thing as luck—at least, that was what Leo had always been taught.

They would be ascending the mountain in pairs, and the first team to make it to the finish line at the rocky summit would be deemed winners. "Remember, you may not leave your partner behind, and the two of you will need to work as a team if you are going to win." Leonidas groaned inwardly. This exercise was pointless; in the arena, teamwork got you a knife in your back. He hated the thought of relying on anyone else, being slowed down by anyone else, possibly forfeiting victory because of the mistakes of someone else. There was only one name on his list of trusted people, and that was his own—not even a one of his siblings made the cut. Not Tigerius, and certainly not any of the younger ones.

Apparently, though, this list was going to have to expand to include Petalite Shore, at least for the time being. He knew her well enough, and she wasn't too incompetent, for a girl; most of the chicks in their training class had fallen victim to his suave charm at least once, but never Petal. It was to her credit; the other floozies needed to stop getting distracted the minute he gave them a wink, because that just showed they didn't have the focus necessary for a successful Career. Petal Shore would do, he supposed, for a simple trek up the mountain—but if she fell even a step behind, he was going to drag her up the slope himself.

"Born ready," Leo grunted in response to her inquiry, rolling his eyes. "Now you better be; I won't have you slowing us down because you broke one of your pretty little nails or got a leaf in your hair or some shit like that." The Career boy shot her a challenging gaze as he positioned himself to take off running. "Can't let daddy dearest down, now, can you?" He gestured mockingly towards the training instructor he knew to be Petal's father. Hopefully this beauty queen had inherited his physical prowess. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The whistle blew. They were off.

[tried to kick it over
i tried until the juice ran out
oh no, we want more trouble now]

[/i]
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[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

petalite shore
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ALL I EVER WANTED WAS THE WORLD
-------------------------------

She rolled her eyes at the boy, who hunched over next to her. People tended to underestimate Petalite, and that was fine, seeing the looks on their faces when she proved them wrong was always glorious. As they shot forward, running as quickly as they could, she felt a competitive grin stretch itself across her face. The sounds of her peers running all around her, breathing as calmly as possible, and the unheard sound of determination that she was still completely aware of pushed her forward, begged her to be the one that emerged victorious.

Oh, right. This was a "team" effort. She had absolutely no idea what challenges awaited them, or why they would require help from someone else, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to having to giving Leonidas Rex her trust. She looked over at him, his face stoic and almost bored as he easily met pace. The groups had started to stretch apart, and the two of them were toward the front of the long line of teenage killing machines. Constantly climbing a pathway that wrapped itself around a very tall, very steep mountain began to take it's toll on the girl. Her thighs began to burn, her breaths became hard and fast but she didn't dare slow down.

Finally, the ground evened out and her eyes widened at what she saw. Instantly her eyes saw several lengths of rope, and a single bridge that swayed with the wind over a crevice about ten feet deep. Several large instruments were lined up on either side of the huge hole, with thick prongs sticking out on the sides that faced the edge. The last thing she noticed was the instructor, barking out instructions. "One of you has to tie the rope off on both sides, and the other has to climb your way to the other side of it." She snapped her head around to Leonidas.

"I'll tie it off," She offered, figuring he would whine about his arms being stronger if she suggested doing the other, and frankly, she didn't want to climb over a hole with her only saving grace being a rope that he tied. She nodded to him once before they both ran toward the nearest available station.

This had to be a joke. Her fingers expertly worked with the rope, sliding it through the piece of metal that stuck out in an ugly, twisted prong she guessed was designed for cliff hangers. As soon as she had the knot properly fastened, she ran full speed for the bridge. She kept the rope clenched as tightly as possible in her hands, terrified that if she loosened her grip she would drop it and it would fall over the edge. She could always go back and get it, but that was too much time to waste. She fell to her knees just as she got to the other side, tying the knot off as quickly as possible. She turned and found Leonidas. "It's ready! Go!"

CREDIT TO LEI FOR THE TABLE