🤠🌟 yeehaw

at the girl’s words, ember wanted to drop the sword and give up the fight. in any other circumstance, he would, but this was the bloodbath, this was the hunger games, and he needed to be more aggressive than he normally was.

maybe asking politely if he could have the weapon wasn’t the right move to accomplish that goal.

he tugged a bit on the sword, making it clear that he was not planning on letting go. “i’d really like this sword, and i don’t want to hurt you, but if i have to in order to walk away with this sword i will.” he looked at his feet, barely able to meet the girl’s glance while he spoke. 

what made him think he could do this?

the boy was sweet, and for a moment she felt a bit bad about the whole situation. ingrid wished all tributes were volunteers, it’d make the guilt forming in her stomach go away.

“i’d really like a warm bath, but we can’t have anything we want to, can we?” he didn’t want to hurt her! comedic gold! “well, you can try i guess,” she said, tugging the sword towards herself. ingrid was in a good mood though, and she was more than happy with one bloodbath kill. she wasn’t greedy.

“you know, if you leave now i won’t even run after you. i’m nice like that.”

ember felt like he was going to throw up. the feeling of the ground beneath him rocking instantly made him dizzy, made his legs shake, made him feel his breakfast moving around in his stomach. 

he looked around him, trying to distract himself from that awful feeling. he saw royce, demelza, finley, the people he had interacted with in the tribute tower now supposed to be his foes instead of his friends. he didn’t like that, he didn’t want to hurt someone he liked.

when the countdown stopped, he ran for something that happened to be right in front of him. it was a small sword, sort of like the one that cashmere had shown him how to use in training, not as small as a dagger but not big enough for him to feel uncomfortable. it was perfect, but there was someone else’s hands on it too.

“excuse me,” he asked, yelling over the sound of fighting. “could i have this, please?” // starter for @swntiwnt

it was finally here. her time to shine. it’d be a lie to say ingrid wasn’t nervous, but she was also beyond excited. her family, her friends, the entire country really was watching her every move. it was now or never.

the moment she reached closer to the better weapons ( she didn’t want a bag, who was she? please ), there was already blood on her hands – some kid, she barely recognized his face, had gotten in her away, running wildly from side to side, so really she had done him a favor. her heart was still pounding though. it was her first death, a career’s landmark.

but while wiping the kid’s blood from her fist, ingrid noticed the cutlass, and she smiled. it was just what she needed to feel at home. ignoring the rumble around her, she ran towards the sword, cursing the amount of fabric around her legs. she bent down to reach for it, but when she raised her head she saw a boy on the other end of the sword. this one she recognized at least.

at ember’s words, ingrid just had to laugh. did he really say ‘excuse me’ and ‘please’? during the bloodbath? “no, but if you run fast enough i won’t stab you.”

@jxsiahx @swntiwnt

Managing to round both of his tributes up at the same time felt like a damn miracle. 

As he pulled them over to the combat mats, he sized them both up. He had already spoken briefly to Ingrid before the chariots, so she seemed far more invested in her victory than Josiah did. Then again, he didn’t really know him too well to make that ultimate judgement call. However, given that he hadn’t been around him too much in training didn’t give Ares a lot of confidence in the boy. 

“Your private scores are coming up,” Ares started, looking between both of them. “I’d like to think both of you had at least half a mind to start working on your own and brushing up your skills beforehand.” 

He looked down to tighten up the bandage on his left hand to make sure that it didn’t slip off like it did before. His hand didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it had in the last couple of days, which made it easier for him to spar. He looked back up at the two of them.

“So,” he began, letting his arms hang at his sides. “what’s your plans? And neither of you are getting out of this training room without sparring me at least once so I know you’re ready and capable. The others can fine tune your attitudes in prep for the interviews.”

when ares called her and josiah over to the matts, ingrid let out a little huff of air. sparring with a victor was a lot more nerve-racking than doing the same with the trainers back home, or even the ones in this same training center. it made it even worse that this was their mentor, and ingrid felt the need to impress him. it was all very stressful really.

she nodded at his comment about private scores, but their skills should be top notch by now. “i’m sure our skills are on point. we’re amazing careers after all,” she said with a smile. it wasn’t meant to be cocky really, it was just a fact.

“for private training or for the arena?” she was now realizing both of them were very much up in the air. it wasn’t very comforting. looking over at josiah, ingrid raised her eyebrows. “i thought that was the trainers job, but i’m not really complaining either.”

@jxsiahx​

the careers had spoken as a group, and when they’d decided they were pretty much done with the station, Misty hadn’t known where to go next. so she’d just let ingrid lead. that was what she was used to, letting others make decisions. so she’d kind of trailed a few steps behind her.

“i guess… I mean, I don’t want to be rude… but they teach that when you’re like nine in four.” it seemed so alien to not know how to do that. like swimming, or tying a shoe. everyone could do it. “where do you want to go next?”

at first, it was a bit strange that misty was following her, but in a sense, she acted a bit like the younger kids in the academy and ingrid always loved them. the teacher role made her feel special.

“you’re not being rude, it’s a fact. bless their hearts.” weighing the spear in her hand, letting it hit her palm a few times, ingrid said, “we could try out the spears for a little bit, i haven’t used one in so long. i’m sure they have tridents somewhere for your district four needs.”

Joule was sure by now the Careers all knew about how she’d blown up at Lincoln and Nolie. They were all close, right? They always traveled in packs, trained together, hung out together. Their mentors dated each other, clung to each other. That was what Joule saw, at least. 

So why exactly she was approaching the girl from Two from behind was beyond her. Joule had no particular hope that she would live through this whole Games ordeal. She wasn’t naive. So, she figured, she had nothing to lose. 

“I only kind of do,” she answered softly. She’d finished up her training with Serenity, learning basic hand-to-hand maneuvers, but Joule was still a fifteen-year-old from Five. All she knew how to do by now was punch without breaking a finger.

looking over at the girl from five, she gave a small nod. joule was quite young and ingrid she wished tributes could all be eighteen, it’d make the whole thing a lot less ... awkward, but every time she asked her parents why kids as young as twelve could be reaped, she got told off for questioning the ways of the capitol. so she kept that little wish to herself.

“kind of?” as in it was kind of sad that half of them looked startled at the sight of a butter knife? maybe it could be sadder, but she wasn’t sure how. “i think it’s just sad sad. have you ever punched someone, is that it?” who knew, you could never trust first impressions.

“it really is sad, isn’t it? i thought at least everyone knew how to throw a punch,” she said softly, hearing the someone approaching behind her. 

@ttwstarters

josiah scoffed at ingrid’s proposal that royce was his type, “please.”. as much as he had tried to will it otherwise for his own sake, josiah hadn’t found much very interested over the past year - let alone an outlier tribute who had just stumbled out of an elevator in a too-big tank top. though he could admire the dedication when it came to the metal lining his ears. and then royce defended himself as though he was the one being insulted. “you’d be so lucky. but,” josiah pointed the top end of his bottle at the other tribute, “you’re very much not my type.”

and then josiah realized the alcohol had kicked in - not enough to leave him visibly drunk but he felt a hell of a lot more relaxed. though his definition of relaxed definitely presented differently thank most peoples’.

at the sight of royce spitting out the alcohol, josiah couldn’t help but laugh. despite the other boy’s initial distaste at the bottle he had been given, he did continue to drink. and as he also continued to stand their, josiah’s hope that he would walk away after getting what he had come for withered. and then ingrid spoke again, garnering another half-hearted glare from josiah. “remind me to show you how to have fun while we’re here.” god, he was glad that he hadn’t let the academy training get to him that much. she was fun and all, but the rule setting and following wasn’t exactly in josiah’s wheelhouse.

at royce’s next words, josiah cocked a brow and gripped the empty bottle in his hand tighter, wishing there was something left. because there were very few ways that royce could actually know about josiah, by name or look. “and how is that?” 

it was funny how both of them refused each other so quickly. in ingrid experience – not like she had much of it – that was how a lot of short lived flings started. “he is a really aggressive soul, you make a good point. but it’s one of his best qualities!” josiah was aggressive in the way district two boys with anger issues were, which was to say, he’d often lash out for no apparent reason.

when royce spit out the vodka, ingrid brought a hand to her chest. they gifted him their bottle in an act of kindness and he turns around and spits it out! she was getting ready to say something but then he drank again, and the moment was lost.

“please, i know how to have fun. i just also know how to control myself.” she knew what he got up to back home and she wasn’t interested in that kind of fun. at least not until she had the sweet victor’s crown.

boy germs were most definitely a thing, because boys grasped the concept of hygiene way too late in life. “oh that’s fair, but i’m still not sharing my bottle.”

leaning back against the ledge, ingrid took a sip of her drink. by royce’s words, and by josiah’s reaction, it was easy to tell that something was about to go down. she thought about it for a moment and decided that if josiah started to beat royce to death, then she’d stop him – this wasn’t the time or place, but for now she was curious to hear what royce had to say.

josiah really must attract people who take pleasure in calling him out on his bullshit - apparently that was a role ingrid was far too keen to take on. honestly, if anyone else had told him to stop or, god forbid, actually hit him chest he would have lashed out. but, apparently he had missed that dynamic more than he liked to admit - and then decided to chalk it up to not wanting to ruin whatever semblance of fun he was hoping to have tonight. 

“if anyone says the word neat one more time, i might actually lose my damn mind.” and then the roller-skate boy proceeded to do just that. draining what was left of the bottle that had sadly already been mostly empty when he picked it up, josiah had to truly hold himself back from smashing it against the concrete wall and using it as a makeshift weapon. after a rattle deep breath, josiah continued. “you’re right, they really don’t get a chance to breathe, huh?”

josiah truly and honestly couldn’t believe the boy in front of him - he’d spent plenty of time with people who dealt with their problems using drugs and alcohol (he had been heading down that path himself in the past year) but he really didn’t expect to see it in the capitol. “well, royce carter the whatever, i sure don’t have a problem with you getting back to whatever vice it is that has you so completely fucked up. but, she might,” josiah waved the empty bottle in ingrid’s direction, the two of them standing quite close on the rooftop since she decided to hit him in the chest.

@swntiwnt

noticing royce’s scar, ingrid had to make a snap decision – should she bring it up or completely ignore it. quickly, the girl decided to not comment, the backstory could be too sad and feeling bad for other tributes wasn’t in anyone’s best interest. instead, she focused on the hops going up the boy’s ears. the fact that outlying districts had the technology for piercings came as a shock, or maybe they all just sat around in dirty kitchens and pierced each other with sewing needles. gross.

“oh he deserves our attention after all!” the hunger games really was a gays only event this year, and that couldn’t make her happier. “josiah he has so many ear piercings, he’s exactly your type,” she added, with a smile. the boy was clearly getting riled up, and although she knew better than to annoy him even further, the opportunity was just too good.

he wanted to wear that? maybe royce was worse than she thought, because that was true crackhead behavior. “it was ... different. people will remember it, i guess.” and her father always said that was of the upmost importance. “anyway, i’m ingrid,” she placed her hand on her chest, “and this is josiah. district two.” the boy shouldn’t drink their alcohol without knowing their names, at least.

“nah, i really don’t mind.” picking up their third bottle ( again, hygiene ), considering josiah’s was clearly empty, ingrid held it in front of herself for royce to grab. “here, just keep the disrespect behind close doors, don’t let them catch you.” the careers were held at a different kind of standards, and should behaved accordingly, but it wasn’t far-fetched that an outlier would want to mask their fear with alcohol and drugs. it still felt like a slight attack at the games and what they stood for, but as long as no one called him out on it. “you boys can share that bottle, keep your boy germs to yourselves.”

josiah lifted a brow in response to the other tribute’s attempt to explain whatever strange entrance it was that he had just put on. whoever this boy was, he really did know how to make an entrance - and apparently took no care in regards to how it looked. 

“well, let me know when you figure out what you meant. and i’d think carefully about it before saying anything else about it.” there hadn’t been too many who took vocal issue with sexuality back in two - at least none that josiah gave the time of day - but his first instinct when insulted or viewed as anything less was to hit first and ask questions later.

at his request, josiah took another sip from the bottle and leaned back against the concrete half-wall - the only thing standing between the three tributes and the all too promising drop to the street below. with capitol music barely audible and bright lights helping to illuminate the rooftop, josiah truly contemplated what the fuck he did to get himself here. and upon realizing each step was marked with a choice he made, he moved to answer the other tribute’s question.

“it was hard enough getting this,” he held the bottle out in front of him, “take a few swigs and sleep it off, man.” josiah was pretty sure the tribute standing in front of him was past sleeping it off, but he really didn’t have the energy to care. and then he realized who was standing in front of him. “hold up - are you the one who wore the damn roller skates during the parade?”

@swntiwnt

ingrid wasn’t sure if she was seeing things or if the boy really was going through the most at the moment. looking over at josiah, she still had a bit of laughter in her voice. “relax, he thinks we’re neat!”

sexuality wasn’t something the girl got a lot of backlash for, if any. in her family, as long as you did your duty and followed the rules, it didn’t really matter who you wanted or didn’t want to sleep with. it was plain and simple, and she liked it that way. “don’t worry about my district partner here, he gets a bit sensitive when he doesn’t have enough alcohol in him.” and with that, she took another very ladylike sip of her drink.

the poor boy didn’t look like he should be touching any kind of mind-altering substances but then again, he was going to die, so it didn’t matter much anymore. for as many career stereotypes as people liked to throw around, ingrid wasn’t particularly ruthless. if people wanted to be numb to meet their end, then so be it.

“he is,” she said, both excited and disgusted, her hand coming up to hit josiah in the chest. “sorry you had to wear that, pal. outliers always get the short end of the stick, even fashion wise, don’t you think?”

josiah was prepared to respond to ingrid, to fervently agree that training was overrated. and the hilarity that ensued when he watched outliers trying to make up for years of missed training in a matter of days. he had a stream of consciousness sprinkled with expletives prepared - and all of that quickly flew from his mind when a stranger walked out of the elevator and pointed at both him and ingrid. and said - gay?

josiah let the moment sit for a bit, let it stew in all of the confusion and disbelief. whoever had just joined the district partners on the roof was really going through it. and then, he let out a loud laugh and simply responded with, “and?” and proceeded to take another swig from the bottle.

@swntiwnt

the metallic sound of the elevator coming to a stop took them both away from their calm conversation and ingrid found herself getting in fight mode for a moment. that was, before she saw the state of the kid that had just ambled into the roof. she remembered him from the parade, mostly because of the peculiar outfit choice. yes, peculiar was a nice way to put it.

when the single word left the boy’s mouth, she had to laugh though. it wasn’t really clear what was so gay about this situation, or maybe he was just announcing that he was gay, in which case she felt like it wasn’t really their business. but good to know? holding the bottle in front of her chest, she looked over at josiah before giving her attention back to the new kid. “what about it?”

closed for @swntiwnt [ingrid] and @vxctxrx [royce]

the second day of training lacked the luster of the first - apparently the capitol really did expect them all to just play along and train their hearts out. as if twenty-three of them weren’t going to die within the next week. and, frankly, josiah was completely over it. he had been surrounded by authority figures at the academy his entire life and the fact that he still needed to pretend to give them the time of day in what could be his final days was infuriating.

so, he threatened convinced an avox to point him in the direction of where the liquor was kept in district two’s suite and him and ingrid made their way up to the rooftop. josiah was sure at least one of the mentors from two would take issue with their tributes drinking in the middle of training, so they decided it best to do so away from the suite.

“fuck,” josiah muttered as he pulled the bottle of alcohol away from his mouth after they had been sitting on the roof for a bit. “everyone here really wants to leech the fun out of fucking around until we die, huh?” josiah spat, turning to face ingrid. even the alcohol wasn’t as strong as the shit some of his friends got their hands on in two - the second and third bottle would definitely be necessary.

so far, ingrid was a bit disappointed with her capitol experience. the careers had been training their entire lives, it was a bit sad to see outliers even put in the effort. the girl wanted to enjoy her time, not just repeat what she already did back home – impressing sponsors had to be more important now, why wasn’t she out in the streets, looking cute? her potential was being tragically wasted.

when josiah mentioned finding the liquor, ingrid promised herself she wouldn’t drink too much (no one could see her hangover, please), but there was nothing ultimately wrong about some district partner bonding. and josiah needed a bottle to do pretty much everything.

“speak for yourself.” ingrid grabbed one of the other bottles they had brought up to the roof – she wasn’t about to drink from the same bottle as josiah, who knew where his mouth had been – and took a sip. “but i was expecting for something a bit more exciting than just ... more training.”

It was his tribute. Which Ares wasn’t entirely thrilled about. Mentoring wasn’t his expertise. Training was. He was the Blood Prince, after all, and the Capitol preferred to see him with a sword in hand or knocking people on their asses. He didn’t do the pre-training work. That was all Enobaria, Fell, and Nolie who had the more ginger way of handling things. 

“This is the part where you just be prepared to look pretty and woo your stylists and make sure they don’t dress you into something ridiculous,” Ares said. “As far as I know, that’s all I had to do. I can’t vouch for anybody else.”

He glanced down at her. Ares wasn’t sure if he should be asking Ingrid how she felt, because it was hard to tell sometimes. Some of the volunteers were gun-ho, others were’t. He was one of the former. Fell and Enobaria had one hell of a time with him, no doubt. 

well, ares didn’t seem very happy to see her and ingrid couldn’t say that didn’t disappoint her a little. during the years she dreamed of coming to the capitol as a tribute ( before her cousin took the spotlight, of course ), she had imagined a beautiful relationship with her mentors. maybe ares was on an off day.

“please, i look pretty in anything. but some of the parade looks these past few years leave a lot to be desired. i’ll make sure our stylist does her job.” ingrid felt like a soldier, and she’d eat up every piece of advice her mentors had to give. 

“training starts tomorrow, right? i’ll be expecting some pointers, if you don’t mind.”

“oh, i’ve looked absolutely fantastic for eighteen years,” josiah said in agreement with ingrid. he was truly glad that him and his district partner agreed upon their status as incredibly good looking individuals - and that it would take a whole lot of effort for someone to make them look anything short of jaw-dropping. 

and then ariadne continued to talk and josiah got even more bored. he thought capitolites were supposed to be easy-going, not a care in the world. fun. but this woman was taking her job way too seriously and josiah was fifty shades of over it. “so, what’s the plan then? if you say you’re going to make us look even better than we already do.”

@swntiwnt​

“see?” she added after josiah’s statement. it was easy to imagine other districts requiring a lot of help – with the dirt and grime and all – but district two was nothing if not crowded with beautiful and fashionable individuals. it wasn’t quite the show as capitolites delivered, but it was as close as one could get.

ingrid doubted the capitol would rig the games in such a way, but she had heard of tributes getting punished for wrongdoings in training so, in that way, their stylist had a point. tightening the silk robe around her body, she gripped josiah’s shoulder to get him to sit with her. “i’m just saying we might be two loose canons, you never know. so we’re expecting perfection.” ( @ariadnebordeaux​ )

“What in the world is this?” Couscous asked, eyeing the sandwich he’d been handed sceptically. “This passes for bread here? I thought the Capitol was supposed to be a paradise!”

He handed the sandwich back to the avox waiter. “Give this to someone else, and please bring me a Danish pastry in trade. You do do Danishes, right?” The avox nodded. “Good. Okay.”

Couscous’ turned his head to offer the person watching their exchange a warm smile. “Make that two Danishes. My new friend and I can critique them together.” 

As the avox left to fulfil his request, Couscous approached the other person. “You can take the boy out of the bakery, but I guess you can’t take the bakery out of the boy.”

@ttwstarters

apparently, outliers have standards too, was the first thing ingrid thought of when she saw a boy go off about the state of the bread. she wasn’t sure why the situation was so funny, but she couldn’t help laughing.

“i’m sure the victor gets the better bread,” she commented in between laughs. ingrid wasn’t really sure what a danish was, and she surely wasn’t qualified to critique them, but she could go for something sweet so she let it slide, watching the avox stagger away.

“their lives must really suck, don’t you think?” she asked the boy, thinking about the avox. oh so he baked, that explained the outburst. “that makes a lot of sense, i thought you were just really passionate about bread.”