Pixel Delaroux Has Done Nothing Wrong

Halloween was a holiday Vista rather enjoyed. What better reason for playing tricks and getting away with it? It was expected and everyone knew the Delroux house was the best place to be for Halloween. Technology made it easy to set up all kinds of scares and screams for both expected and unexpected visitors.

“You know, we probably could charge people to get into our haunted walk.” Vista pointed out as she pulled out her tablet and checked the code one last time. Anyone that wanted candy from her, in her archer costume, would have to walk through their seemingly inconspicuous walkway. A broken leg would keep her from her own candy stash, but Vista wasn’t worried.

“Ghosts, goblins, and crawly things coming up… Any preferences Pixel?”

@del-pixel​​

Pixel’s costume was... ridiculous. But her choices always were. This time she decided to go literal and stuff herself into a block of a costume entirely covered in rectangles, supposed to look like some kind of pixellated shrub.

Pixel was a bunch of pixels. Got it? 

The headpiece was hot, though, so she’d taken it off fairly early as soon as she and Vista began working on their yearly Halloween shenanigans. Considering this was Pixel’s favorite time of year (was there ever a better time to mess with someone than in the middle of a scary movie or halfway through a haunted house?), she had to put her all into it this year. 

“Depends on how scary we want to go,” she answered. “Are we letting the little Pembrooke kids in or do we wanna restrict ourselves to terrorizing only teenagers and adults?”

special deliver for @del-pixel​

Aurora wasn’t aware if Ares was home yet or not.  For a moment Aurora was worried that Serenity would lose the man she cared so very much for. Dare Aurora say or think the thought that Serenity loved him. Aurora was worried out of her mind and she had been nothing but horrible to him. The events this past few days were enough for her to promise any who would listen she’d never call him big bear again if he pulled through. Hell, Aurora was already half-way through knitting him a blanket in no less than his favorite color as a get well / apology gift.  Wandering still - she found a familiar face and her own heart fluttered and panicked. Pixel. The girl might be fully unaware of the crush this one harbored for her but no matter Aurora was human first worried about her well-being and that of her sister. “Pixel - Pixel is everything alright?”

Pixel drew a deep breath in through her nose. Vista was supposed to be able to leave the hospital today, and they weren’t letting her into her sister’s room to walk her out. She hadn’t seen Rhys since yesterday, but Valor’s constant presence by his side made one-on-one chatting kind of difficult, and Pixel was too careful with who she related with that she couldn’t quite let Valor in yet. 

She was pacing through the hospital lobby, anxiously tapping the fingers on her right hand against the side of her leg when Pixel heard her name. Tipping her head up, she couldn’t help but smile when she saw Aurora- from the other day- standing there, looking almost as stressed as she was. 

“I’m fine,” she answered, letting out the breath she was holding. “Just... waiting for them to let me see my sister.”

Vista couldn’t help but chuckle at her sister’s statement. “If you got caught by hospital security, I would lose all faith in humanity.” She joked, but there was some truth by it. What was it they said? It was often you got caught when you shouldn’t? It didn’t matter, Vista knew Pixel was far better than to get caught by some minimally paid Capitol employee that was probably more concerned with their cellphone than what some teenager was smuggling into a hospital.

“Is all of the above a valid answer?” She asked as she reached for all of the aforementioned items. “Like seriously, they want you to feel better and they give you this garbage to eat.” Vista wrinkled her nose. She was sure the Victors were getting better, but she didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. 

Now that their parents weren’t around, however… “Have they mentioned what actually happened?”

“Please, these people tried to kill me and failed,” Pixel chuckled a little. “There’s no way they’d be able to apprehend me for some apple slices.”

She was happy she’d eaten already by the look of how hungry her sister seemed to be. Or perhaps she was just desperate for decent food. Either way, Pixel wasn’t about to risk losing a finger by sticking her hand anywhere near the pile of snacks surrounding her sister. 

“People are kind of skirting around what actually happened,” Pixel told her in a hushed tone. “I know there was some kind of attack, but, like... I’m not entirely sure. I saw Indie Hollis and Sierra Fletcher with broken bones and a whole bunch of people with burns, but the media is kind of acting like things are all good. Like usual, you know?”

Despite having just woken up, Rhys still felt exhausted. His whole body was sore, even with the gradual dose of morphling streaming through the IV. His bed was in a reclined position, keeping him sitting up while he spoke with Pixel. The last few days were very stressful for him, mostly emotional stress. Even though he had seen Valor just recently, there was still a nagging worry for his kids at the back of his mind. He hoped to get to see them soon. 

At the news about Vista, Rhys frowned. He was familiar with the Delaroux family and while he wasn’t as close with her siblings as he was with Pixel, Rhys still felt bad for what happened to Pixel’s sister. “I don’t blame you,” he replied, “I’m sorry she was caught up in that, too.” Her injuries could have been far worse, he agreed, but he kept that to himself. He was just glad she was okay; Pixel had been through enough losing one sibling. 

He let out a soft chuckle, “I wasn’t expecting any. Just seeing you’re okay is enough. Sitting in here three days straight with no news about anybody else did a number on my nerves.” But a lot of people had it worse. There were a lot of people that lost their lives, or lost someone in the explosions. “Everyone else in the family okay?”

Pixel combed her hair back with her fingers, then pressed her hands against the back of her neck, smooshing her hair down around her head. She let out a long breath, then released her hands and set them down in her lap, anxiously beginning to pop the joints in her fingers. 

“I’m sorry, too,” she muttered. “But Vista’s a fighter. She’s softer than me, but she’s pretty hardy. I’m not worried about her. At least not right now.”

“Yeah, everyone else is fine,” she finally sat all the way back in her chair, trying to stop herself from fidgeting any more. Rhys caught onto her ticks too easily, and he might see just how guilty Pixel felt. That was the last thing she wanted him to think that she thought. He wouldn’t allow her to feel that way. “How about you? Valor and Hudson and Rosie? Do you need me to watch Rosie at all, while things are still crazy?”

Pixel had stayed in the doorway, as if afraid to take a step in the room. Rhys noticed the expression on her face, the fact that she wasn’t looking at him. The explosion had to have affected everyone differently in some way. Rhys knew he wasn’t the only victim in the situation. They had been through a lot the past few weeks, this was just one more thing to add to the list.

“A little,” he replied, looking down at the sling his left arm rested in. Physically, he looked in rough shape. Mentally and emotionally, he was exhausted. The visit with Valor had been a roller coaster for him, trying to stay strong for Valor but failing miserably. The explosion had dug up a particularly traumatic memory from his Games and it shook him to his core. He never really had time to cope with it since the nurses just dosed him with morphling just to calm him down and force him to sleep.

“Nothing I can’t get past,” he lied, lifting his head to look at her again. “What about you? Everything okay?”

Everything was certainly not okay, but the last thing Pixel wanted to do was distress Rhys more than he already was. He’d shouldered a lot of her troubles over the last four years; right now, she could shove some of those to the back burner for his sake. 

“Vista got hit, but she’s fine,” she looked up at him, entering the room for the first time. “Broken leg, but there are definitely a few others who got it worse. I’m... trying not to freak out for her sake, though. Protective older sister, I guess.”

Pixel walked over and took a seat in the plushy hospital chair. It was more comfortable than the one in Vista’s room; she supposed actual victors were being held in higher esteem in every way compared to other members of the Districts.

“Didn’t bring you any gifts this time, sorry,” she laughed softly. “Didn’t feel right to steal things from people in a hospital.”

“I don’t know if I am hoping more that you brought me my tablet or decent food, but both would make you my favorite sister,” Vista told her sister knowing it was Pixel just from the sound of her footsteps. She wanted to keep the mood light or as light as she could with the dark cloud hanging over them.

Vista knew her appearance didn’t inspire confidence, but this was the Capitol, and they had fantastic medicine. Here, she would be good as new before long. If they had been back in District Three, surely it would be a different story. The burns and bruises would heal quickly and already were, with the magical serum they had been using.

“A broken leg never killed anyone,” she joked and in the Capitol, you didn’t die from a couple broken bones. A few screws, pins, and a plate and you were good as new. “I mean isn’t this a good excuse to try out our new system for, you know.” She asked knowing she couldn’t very well publicize they’d been working on a way to hack into phones so they could hear conversations they shouldn’t. Someone had quite obviously tried to blow her up, Vista wanted to know who was responsible.

@del-pixel​

Pixel finally had managed to get the guts to enter her sister’s room. It had been incredibly hard for her, in a weird turn of events, to go and see her sister in the state she was in. Mostly because Pixel felt like this whole situation was her fault. But she couldn’t allow anyone to see that thought process in her mind. Perhaps she could discuss it with Vista later. But not now. Not while she had to heal. 

“You know I got you,” she smirked, pulling the backpack off of her shoulders and unzipping it. “They even checked my bag for outside food, as if I’m some kind of amateur.”

Pixel pulled out the tablet that she and her sister had jailbroken years ago. It was the same kind that they’d worked on together back in the factories in Three, and nobody knew the intricacies of the software better than the two of them. She tossed the tablet onto the bed, and then reached back into the backpack, pulling open a hidden zipper. 

“You feeling junk food, or something healthy?” she asked as she unloaded bags of cheesy tortilla chips, apple slices, candy, and their mom’s homemade chicken salad. 

Valor had not been doing well during this party. He had been lost in his own head, barely saying much to Rhys at all. And Rhys didn’t want to be overbearing, though he did check on his husband to make sure he was doing all right. They would only need to be at the party for as long as they had to be. Then they could go home.

Rhys had been making his way back toward the ballroom to check up on Hudson– it was where he had last spotted him– when he nearly ran into Pixel. “Whoa–” he stopped short of mowing Pixel down, about to offer a smile and a smart remark. But the look on her face immediately had him concerned.

“Hey,” he started in a gentle tone. Brow knit, Rhys glanced back toward the way Pixel had come, gently placing a hand on her shoulder to guide her away from the doorway so no one would interrupt them. Or notice Pixel in her current state. Something had her frazzled– Pixel didn’t usually get frazzled.

Rhys waited until they were somewhere a little more quiet before he talked to Pixel, “You okay?” he asked first, more questions popping up in his head.

Pixel took a deep breath, stiff as a board as soon as Rhys stopped her from moving. She looked up, thankful that it was him and not anybody else. He was as much of a father figure to her as her own (very much alive and present) father, and perhaps even moreso because he knew exactly what kind of things she had been through here in the Capitol. He was one of the most comforting presences here for her.

“Um,” she took another deep breath, trying to figure out if she was panicking now because of the people around her slowly closing in, suffocating and choking her through her entirely still present claustrophobia, or if it was simply still anxiety from the very idea of rebellion. “I got asked... about the rebels. Um. Like they acted like they were a rebel, but...”

Pixel swallowed, as if she could digest the anxiety welling up in her throat. It helped enough to let her speak clearly now. “You know, Rhys. I know what they’ll do to my family, and I’m not risking another one of my siblings. I don’t care if they were a rebel or not.”

Vista reached for one of the pies, allowing her fingers to push it around a moment while she gathered her thoughts. It was her sister’s, Pixel, voice that brought her back to reality. Did she just really suggest what she thought she did?

“His hair?” She had to ask with a chuckle. Only her sister would think of stealing someone’s hair. What was crazier, or not, was that Pixel could actually do it. Vista was willing to bet she already had a plan formulating in that head of hers.

Still, she nodded at the question. “Yes, he was over there.” She tilted her head in the direction of the door. “Still harassing the newer Victors, who are nicer than you.” She teased gently. “And how do you think you are going to pull that off with all these people and cameras around?”

Pixel smiled a little. “Eh, I’ll leave him alone for the moment. Let the new victors go through a little bit of hazing. I had to suck it up and be nice to him, so do Aspen and Alex now. Maybe I’ll get into Aspen’s head a little bit later. Get her to do the stealing. Make her my protege, you know?”

Aspen Fields wasn’t the first youth in the Capitol that Pixel had set her sights on in terms of (what she might call) corrupting the minds of innocent kids. Hey, all she wanted to do was teach them how to get back at people who did them wrong without actually facing any backlash. Pixel knew firsthand how satisfying it was to steal a sponsor’s wallet only minutes after he scoffed at her attempts to advocate for her tributes. 

“I’ll pull it off... literally, if necessary,” Pixel answered with a laugh. “Get him a couple more glasses of champagne and it’ll be easy. Like... do you remember him at my own Victory Ball? I could’ve taken the shirt off his back and he wouldn’t have noticed, he’d had so much to drink.”

Vista, her closest sibling, stood beside her, and the two were snacking on some mini pies that an Avox had brought around and offered them. Pixel hated using Avoxes for anything- it was absolutely disgusting- but they were handing out pies whether people took them or not. Might as well help herself to a mini lemon meringue, right?

“Have you seen Caesar?” Pixel turned to her younger sister, only eleven months younger than she was, but much more genuinely nice to people than Pixel, who had a talent for putting on a polite face in front of a resentful attitude. “I made a bet with someone that his hair is a toupee at this juncture, and I wanna steal it to prove my point.”

@vistadelaroux

Aurora’s dress was bound to be ruined eventually and the glass of whatever she had been drinking at the time spilled down  the entire front of her dress dying the fabric a slight pink. Luckily for her however parts of her dress were the same color of pink - this swatch of fabric only look a little wet now. With a small gasp, Aurora was only instantly apologizing herself. “No.. no I’m so sorry I’m terribly awkward in a crowd this size and trying to drink and walk is not one of my talents clearly and I should’ve been–” the girl said rather frantically trying to dry off part of her dress before looking up to see who she’d been bumped into by.

Aurora blushed softly, looking Pixel over finding herself a little flustered and at a loss for words. Her mothers had never really discussed things like that with her and really it had never mattered. The two would’ve accepted her regardless and Serenity too would’ve been supportive no matter what. Just when Aurora saw this woman - though there hadn’t been actual conversations had beyond a passing hello… The youngest Garcia girl thought her entirely ravishingly beautiful. She was younger then Aurora herself but that didn’t maker her less attractive. Her face suddenly felt very heated as she brushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. “Well hello there Pixel - you look really pretty tonight. Are you okay? I didn’t get any of my drink on you did I?”

“Oh jeez,” Pixel sighed as she realized she’d spilled the other girl’s drink all over her dress. She was still fairly skittish, turning her head back to see if the person who had approached her was following or watching her. To be fair, spilled drinks kind of wasn’t the most pressing issue at the moment. She’d lost one sister already due to pulling a whole bunch of rebellious shit during her Games. There was no way she could put any more members of her family on the line. 

But, then again. There was the matter of the girl in front of her with the drink all over her dress. Pixel recognized her- kind of? She was a family member of another victor. Probably hadn’t grown up in the Capitol, since Serenity was a pretty recent winner, so that already gave her a leg up in Pixel’s book. And her dress was nice. It looked good on her. 

“No, it’s my fault,” she shook her head, combing her hair back away from her face. “And, um... thank you. I don’t think there’s any drink on me, but it’s not like it even matters, does it? These things are only ever worn once out here.”

“No, of course not,” she said curtly to the Capitolite. “Please... please don’t mention that again.”

She turned and walked away. Sure, he could have been a rebel simply scouting for the cause. But it was more likely that he worked for the Capitol. For the President and the Gamemakers. If she said one affirming word, let one idea out there that she might be rebelling in any serious way...

Pixel had eight siblings left to worry about, after all.

Her mind was frazzled as she nearly ran into another figure standing nearby. It took her by surprise; Pixel very rarely actually ran into somebody on accident, since she’d never been particularly clumsy. 

“Um, sorry,” she said softly, trying to hide the nerves that had risen up in the back of her throat. “I’m just...” // @uvstarters

Ollie shrugged and took one of the caramel chocolates and popped it into his mouth. The more hyped up on sugar he was, the better he was going to be able to entertain his sisters when he got home, because no doubt his parents wanted nothing to do with that after this party was over. At least they were older Victors that most people in this place didn’t care about as much. 

“That’s good to hear,” Ollie said. “I’ve been trying to make useless conversation with them to the point where I just find a phrase to say and keep saying it until they figure out what I’m doing and walk away. It’s only worked once so far, but I’ve only spoken to a couple people, so… it’ll be a good distraction if you want to pick pocket them.”

Pixel tried not to roll her eyes. She knew that would probably just be rude- he wasn’t being mean or anything, and she supposed he hadn’t actually done anything to get on her bad side- but it was hard to move past the knowledge that he wasn’t really in the victors’ camp. The minute he was in line to actually go into the arena she might have gotten a little more respect for him. For all the kids of victors, she supposed. 

“Thanks for the offer,” she said politely. “I’ll let you know if I ever need help, but... I’m good on my own. Kind of comes with the territory of what I do.”

Besides, she didn’t need some guy teaching her how to do what she did best. Did that sound bitter? Maybe she needed a drink.

“Is there a bar?” she asked. “Or do mom and dad not let you drink yet?”

Now that she’d officially secured her position as Eleven’s new escort, Junius had decided she should look around her new work-space. Although she wouldn’t need to be in the Tower for several months, he insisted that an escort should know the building like the back of their hand.

So far, she was doing a terrible job.

After accidentally walking into the kitchens, which were apparently ‘restricted’, and being berated by several moody adults, she was trying to be a bit more careful about which doors she opened- or at least a bit more sneaky.

She’d thought she was being quiet as she opened another door and tiptoed inside what looked like a viewing room, but a voice clearly indicated otherwise.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I was just looking around. Is this room off-limits, too?”

Pixel sighed a little bit out of her nose and lifted her head to see the girl in the doorway. She didn’t look familiar, but she also didn’t seem like a Capitolite, either. There was a distinct lack of that awful jilted accent. 

“Only if you’re planning on redistributing this bag of chips,” she answered, taking a deep breath. “You new here? A family member?”

That’s what Pixel had to assume, at least. Whenever someone who seemed to be a non-Capitolite, who was also not a victor, showed up, they had to be related to a victor in some capacity. Otherwise they were avoxes. And clearly this girl had just spoken, which crossed that off the list. 

“Are you Aspen’s sister or something?” Pixel asked. She didn’t remember seeing a sister in all of the coverage of their newest victor, but there wasn’t really anything else she could think of. “You don’t sound like a Capitolite. Your accent isn’t stupid enough.”

Ollie grimaced at Pixel’s reaction. He hadn’t meant to, but his over-excitement usually made him not pay attention to his surroundings. It was a common occurrence in his house considering his mother was below chest level along with his sisters. Pixel wasn’t very tall either so that made it harder, not that he knew Pixel much outside of the normal acquaintance meet and greets. She was only a year older than him but she was more skittish than an abandoned chihuahua.

He nodded at her as she sheepishly made a comment toward him and he looked from her to his chocolate and then back at her. He offered her the plate. 

“Want one?” he asked. “I think the two on the right has caramel in it.” 

It was his way of smoothing things over, but he also admired Pixel from afar and how she was able to get away with so much. He glanced over his shoulder and then back at the girl. 

“Knicked anything good yet?” he questioned with a small grin.

Pixel sucked on her teeth for a second, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to spend her precious time chatting with some kid who probably hadn’t even been to the Districts his parents had represented (how did that even work, anyway? She probably should have paid attention during her own victory tour and shit, she realized...). But then again, the Capitol was forcing her to waste her precious time at a stupid party for people she didn’t know to mingle with each other. Might as well. 

“I’m fine,” she answered. “Can barely breathe in this dress. One piece of candy and I’ll bust right out.”

Then again, that would make the party more interesting. District Three Victor Busts Open Dress, Puts On A Show For The Capitol. 

But, oh the comments that would invite. Pixel truly detested that she had finally reached the age of eighteen. 

“Not much,” she answered. It wasn’t really a secret among victors and their families that Pixel had sticky fingers- word got around pretty quickly after she stole some District Seven victor’s wallet and keys. “Usually there are some interesting things but just change and a few hotel keycards. Probably ruined a couple of creeps’ nights, at least.”

Nice, Pixel. Nice. She had to remind herself. It was often hard to summon back the same kind of cheer and charisma her little fourteen-year-old self had managed during her own Games. But while she wasn’t fighting for her own life anymore, there were the lives of all those kids back in Three that were in line to be Reaped. Beetee and Wiress were old, Rhys not elderly, per se, but Pixel was quickly having to become the de facto Sponsor liaison for her District. To her great chagrin. She did still have five Games-eligible siblings, after all.

“Only four years!” she smiled. “Hard to say my style has matured when I hardly have. Still a kid!”

Pixel liked to remind the Capitol of that every chance she got. She may have turned eighteen last June, but she still felt like she’d never really shed that pesky tween she’d been for so long. And it helped to divert any attention from the fact that she was (cringe) “legal” now. 

“For my tributes, I just tell them to avoid everything I did,” she grinned, thinking back to when she’d had to sit alone in that concrete room with the Gamemaker. It was after her brief escape from the Tower, after her last ever glimpse of freedom. The man had suggested never breaking the rules again, then calmly and cheerfully threatened her family. “I don’t think the Gamemakers appreciated what a little rascal I was! Be polite and nice and follow the rules!”

After all, they were still watching, of course.