temple of reflection | { lance / dars } blitz

[umber vivuus 12a 🥀 [dars]]

[atrb=cellSpacing,5,true][atrb=cellPadding,5,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(https://i.imgur.com/7sHyA00.png); border: 050403 solid 0px; width: 266px; padding: 5 5 5 5px; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,5,true][atrb=cellPadding,5,true][atrb=style, background-color: ffffff; border: 050403 solid 0px; width: 330px; padding: 5 5 5 5px; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;] m y r c e l l a h u d s o n . She felt like such a strange thing: a beating heart somewhere lonesome, a burning fire somewhere cold. The eyes that hung on her as she passed by were never ones she recognized. It was always avoxes who probably resented her, trainers who probably envied her, and tributes who probably wanted to kill her. Living her life in the shadows for so long, it seemed, had made Myrcella terrified of the things people would see when they looked at her in the light. But nevermind the war within her, nerve-endings and veins raging against one another, she would never break her charismatic facade. Terrified or not, she was still Myrcella Hudson. She had been born with something to prove, and doubting herself out loud wouldn't help. Even doubting herself internally was beginning to be bothersome. Chin held high, she kept her composure, leaning against the wall just within the Training Room, waiting for a particular person to come walking through. When the person finally did, she leaned in close to the other girl's ear as she passed, whispering a quick, "Let's be honest," to catch her attention. Jessica was a career in all the ways Myrcella was not: hardened, intense, arrogant. Myrcella had always been told there were two types of careers in the world: showmen and naturals. Myrcella's abilities were hard fought for and could be easily taken from her, so she had to make up for it with a pretty face and a charming wit. In the case of Jessica, Myrcella wouldn't have been surprised if the girl wasn't born singing a battle cry. "We're the strongest ones here," she said, stepping in front of the girl, "It'd be a pity if we weren't the last two. That would be a show."

[lance]

[atrb=cellSpacing,5,true][atrb=cellPadding,5,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(https://i.imgur.com/Pbnz9ap.png); border: 050403 solid 0px; width: 266px; padding: 5 5 5 5px; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,5,true][atrb=cellPadding,5,true][atrb=style, background-color: ffffff; border: 050403 solid 0px; width: 330px; padding: 5 5 5 5px; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;] j e s s i c a b r a u n . Life in the Capitol awed her as much as it unnerved her. Two may have fallen on hard times in recent years, a generation of no victory bonus hitting those that had grown up accustomed to wealth and ease harder than most, and yet even in its golden ages she had no doubt that her home paled in comparison to a tenth of the splendor that a lucky portion of Panem's population got to experience year in and year out, such ideas like want and desire barely skimming the surface of pampered minds. She'd heard rumors, of course, but few in Two had traveled to experience this wonder for themselves and lived to tell the tale. But it wasn't all just shock and awe, and what made it worse for her is that she could see the levels of opulence, the casual way that each and everything tempted one with their decadence. She'd grown up thinking Cricket Antoinette a fool for abandoning her home and becoming an architect in the very game that had nearly destroyed her on the whims of the Capitol itself. She still didn't like it, but the blissfulness of ignorance had been wiped clean from her eyes, replaced with a reluctant but undeniable understanding. At least the training centers had been good. Even there, she'd enacted her strategy - when she threw weapons at training dummies or sparred with trainers, she'd always had been careful not to use every trick in her arsenal, showcase everything she could do - for around her were twenty three sets of eyes looking, observing, taking in her every move and doing what they could to counter. Sure, Two's record may have slumped in the last two decades, but reputation remained intact nevertheless. And because of that fact alone, she had to remain ever vigilant. So when she passed by her on her way out from a sparring session, a whisper on her lips speaking sweet nothings, there was no surprise that crossed her face, simply a pause in her footsteps and a raise of one eyebrow. "We're the strongest ones here," said Myrcella Hudson, her counterpart from One. "It'd be a pity if we weren't the last two. That would be a show." The other girl was everything that she was not - blonde, pretty, almost dainty in a sense, a picturesque representation of everything she had ever heard about One and its inhabitants. This was not someone who had known hunger and suffering, at least not in the way she had, but there was no denying that out of her five fellow Careers, this one would be the one to watch out for. Of course, that wasn't saying much, given the fact that Myrcella's district partner was a dumb brute, Four's boy was athletic but lacked a threatening air, and their girl was, to be quite honest, forgettable. Hisidro had intrigued her back on the train, however, and now this girl intrigued her in much of the same way. She wasn't stupid; she knew what the girl's purpose in stopping her was. But she wasn't that trusting, even if she was quite possibly her biggest rival within the building at the moment. "Perhaps," she responded lightly. "But it isn't the show I care about so much as the ability to get there." She paused, dark eyes locking with the other's lighter brown. "I know girls like you - always thinking three steps ahead, always possessing a plan." Arms crossed, half a smirk crossed her face, "So what's yours, Myrcella Hudson?" What's your grand scheme in this game of blood and bones?

[umber vivuus 12a 🥀 [dars]]

[atrb=cellSpacing,5,true][atrb=cellPadding,5,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(https://i.imgur.com/7sHyA00.png); border: 050403 solid 0px; width: 266px; padding: 5 5 5 5px; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,5,true][atrb=cellPadding,5,true][atrb=style, background-color: ffffff; border: 050403 solid 0px; width: 330px; padding: 5 5 5 5px; border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;] m y r c e l l a h u d s o n . She smiled like it was summer. Like she was still in One. Like she'd just listened to Uly talk about how he scammed some repugnant middle-aged man out of his watch. Like all this was easy; Jessica seemed to think Myrcella wasn't afraid and that was precisely what she wanted. "I know girls like you - always thinking three steps ahead, always possessing a plan." She was smart, Jessica Braun. Smarter than Myrcella had given her credit for. The world was a blueprint; each step was a battle plan that'd been forged in the war-zone of her head. But the girl from Two had been wrong about one thing, and if Myrcella had been tactless, she would've commented on it: You don't know anyone like me, baby. "So what's yours, Myrcella Hudson?" How honest could she be? Her first instinct was to cop out, to say something vague and ambiguous along the lines of survive, but Jessica's wit was a bit too sharp and her stomach a bit too hungry to accept something like that. "Step one," Myrcella said, taking a step in the direction Jessica had been walking in, nodding so that the other girl would follow, "was to get you to ally with me." She cleared the mouth of the hallway, opening up into the cavernous Training Center. If there weren't so many worker bees running around in the hive, Myrcella could've clapped her hands and waited for the sound to echo back to her. She noticed to boy with flowers rooted in his heart and didn't smile when she saw how much better his aim already was, even though she wanted to. "Step two is to find some naive lower district tributes to absorb the damage." Satisfied? her eyes seemed to ask, landing on what would be her greatest strength and biggest weakness in the days to come. If friends were meant to be held close, Uly and Mal were tattooed onto her heart; if enemies were meant to be closer, well- She smiled again at Jessica and took a seat. "Thoughts?"