#diamonxds

CLOSED STARTER BASED ON THIS. Sophia could see it in the way Ryan stared at him. She knew. The five-year-old was absolutely transfixed. Blue eyes ---same color as her own but shaped like his--- were unblinking and narrowed inquisitively, tracing every single feature on Henry Redford’s face. Ryan’s tiny fingers clenched around the fabric of Sophia’s shirt, pulling her collar down far enough to expose her collar bone. She was chewing the inside of her cheek ---something she only did when she was thinking very hard on something. 

“Are you my dad?”

When the words finally came out of her mouth, they still shocked Sophia to silence. She could feel all the air rush out of her body, as if someone had socked her right in the belly. She found it hard to look at either of them. The silence was almost deafening, truth laid right out at Henry’s feet for him to either accept or scoff at. Sophia hadn’t a clue what he would do, but she felt the heat of his eyes shift from her to Ryan, still clinging to Sophia’s side, arms wrapped around her neck. There was no way he could deny her. Most strangers claimed that Ryan favored her young mother, but those that knew Henry knew that she was the spitting image of him. Adelaide, Amelia, even Henry’s own sister. Though Cleo hadn’t said anything, the look in her eyes as they stared into Sophia’s own had told her as much.

          Though she could successfully duck out on a lot of group hangouts without repercussion, Saturdays had always been a tradition set in stone. For as long as they’d been in high school, the weekend always meant one thing, and one thing only: Emerson, lipstick smudged all over her face from downing beers, hanging onto the arm of Mackenzie Steele or Robbie Reyes as they led out to her Uber at 2am. At first Skye had been with her, but as of the beginning of her relationship, a new addition to Em’s trek home now involved a whole lot of waiting for the girl to come strolling, always late, out of Hollis’ front door. That was, of course, discounting the few weekends she’d gotten to spend with Jonah. But suspecting he wouldn’t be the most understanding person should he find out the kind of deplorable shit she did in her spare time, unless he brought it up she wouldn’t even dream of suggesting the pair do something. Which meant that most weeks, activities went as normal; recent events, and the unbearably bitter taste the whole night now put in her mouth, be damned. Which was precisely why, tonight, she was taking a stand.

YAASS… join me on the dark side muahaha

          “Ohmygod!” The click of a pair of kitten heels pacing down the corridor towards the bathroom, Marina’s fear acted way before any logic could in its place. Shoving the other - already wide-eyed from her squealing - straight into the nearest stall, the brunette threw herself in behind them, moving twice as fast as she ever had in Gym and almost knocking them straight into the toilet in the process.

          Half way through an analogy that likely sounded a lot less funny out loud than in her head, before she was interrupted Marina had actually been enjoying the reality of skipping class. A little too much for comfort, some might say. Though the bathrooms were gross - tiny, cramped and she suspected deeply unsanitary - they didn’t put her off; instead, joined by another lost soul and sporting the widest smile she had this week, they may as well as have been standing outside the front gates of Disneyland. Mentally storing all the details of her adventure to unload onto Ryan after school, for a girl who in all her years on Earth had never even been tardy once, it was safe to assume that the thrill had her on a high. 

          And on equally high alert, so it seemed. A long, tense silence later as the pair watched Ms. Greenfield’s shadow pass under their stall door, Marina dared not even breathe too loudly until she heard those footsteps sound half way back down the hall. Rose-tinted lips, slightly chapped and crying out for another coat of the gloss she’d forgotten to reapply at lunch, slowly parted, for once the motor-mouthed young girl quite lost for words. “Um -- that was a close one,” she finally breathed, an apology for near-on assaulting them an, albeit quick, afterthought. “Are you okay?” 

          Nico’s post-graduate reality hadn’t amounted even partway to being as good as any of his plans. He didn’t know if he’d dreamt too big or not tried hard enough, but coasting through exams with what he honestly thought would be decent grades, it sure was a shock to his system when he instead came out failing the majority - and even more so, when he was subsequently rejected from college.

          Sticking around his small hometown for another year, scrambling to try boost his grades at night classes he had to work his ass off to pay for, was ironically the only outcome he hadn’t given a single thought to. But keen to make the best of a shitty situation, Nico had taken to adopting his mom’s ‘get up and go’ attitude as best he could, agreeing to pretty much everything thrown his way. Well, so far everything but one: a job helping his uncle Henry that, as Amelia briefly mentioned at the dinner table one night, though not knowing what it entailed he didn’t doubt must’ve been at least a little illegal.

          Odd jobs for family friends and neighbours, however, lacked enough risk to be doable. And, though no one liked working on a Saturday, the family he was working for today at least left him to his own devices while they were off running errands; instead of watching him, like he was used to. Whether it was coincidence, or they were actively avoiding him in relation to one of the many of his mom’s secrets that she always kept hush hush, given he never wanted to ask he’d probably never know. Nonetheless, final piece of garden equipment packed back into the garage, under the pretence of not making it seem like he’d pulled a fast one and left the job half done, Nico lied to himself that it wasn’t curiosity that led him up the stairs and into place at one of the bedroom doorways, rather than straight out the front gate.

          He recognised her, easier than he thought he would. A year or two below him, so he recalled - but hammered into his head through senior year by his friends that it wasn’t cool to check out the younger girls, Nico hadn’t paid too much attention back when he’d seen her every day. There was a moment, before she noticed him standing there, when he considered just quickly stepping back out again. That wasn’t easy to comprehend, given he was usually the complete opposite of a nervous guy; a complete open book, most would say. But whatever hit him, it didn’t have much time to influence his decision, because no sooner had he taken a half-step back did she glance up and lock eyes with him. “Uh,” clearing his throat, Nico blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes with the ball of his hand in the next moment - somewhat unsuccessfully attempting to brush off his staring as having something in his eye. “Thought I’d let you know we’re all finished up out there. Already been paid, so just, y’know - pass on the message, and if you guys need anything else done, just let my dad know. He’ll, y’know. Get me on it.” Fully intending to stop there, he was about to push off from the door again and take his leave, when his mouth instead had the bright idea to keep talking.

          Tomorrow was the day. Launch of the 73rd annual Hunger Games fast approaching, there had been an excited buzz around the Capitol all afternoon. Excited whispers, Caeser Flickerman’s all-too-jolly smiling face and the bowling ball-sized pit growing deeper and deeper in his stomach, it was a day that, if he somehow managed to live through all this, he would never forget - and definitely not, in a good way. In fact, the only reason he wasn’t passed out in a pool of his own vomit right now was the female he’d taken it upon himself to visit that night. A last call before he was inevitably led to his death, he had no initial intent to try and convince her of anything. But of course plans could change, and upon seeing her looking easily as distressed about the whole thing as he was, Thomas couldn’t help but let the quiet words slip. “There’s gotta be some way, right?” 

          “There’s gotta be some way to stop this happening - t-to get us outta here,” To get him out of here. Thomas wasn’t a selfish person, or at least, he hadn’t been up until his life was placed on the line. But just as much as he wasn’t selfish, he wasn’t strong. Thomas knew from the second his name was picked that he was a dead man. So much so that he’d spent hardly any of his time since then actually training; instead sucking up to mentors, to gamemakers, and to the whole of the Capitol through a persona he’d somehow managed to completely fabricate, there was only so long he could pretend he wasn’t being ripped apart by it all. Standing there almost in tears, lanky and worn down and not half as much of a man as he’d looked just a few short hours ago on TV, the fact his time was quickly running out appeared to be finally catching up to him. And rather unfortunately, leaving her directly in the crossfire of his frenzied escape plans. “The - the guards, guiding the door,” Thomas began, his voice close to breaking. “I could, or you could, pretend to be choking? Or badly hurt. Sprained ankle, broken foot, arm,” he gulped. “A-and then, when they come in, the other one-” A swift motion downward with his fist, Thomas mimed a hard whack to the unsuspecting guard’s head. “Y’know, just - bam. I bet the two of us could even take two,” It wasn’t something he was convinced of, but he was still hoping that somehow, she’d manage to cover for his lack of physical capability should the situation arise.

          “It’s a story, you asshole.” Body twisting to face him quickly, almost sending the male crashing into her, Lux placed her hand on his chest at the last second to keep him from doing so. Releasing it once both he and she were steady, Lux’s index finger then gave a harsh few prods to his abs. “Of course I’m not scared. I’m not a baby.” Come on. Lux was the most mature of the whole group - she smoked, for god’s sake. She wore Chanel No. 5. She was held back a year. In her mind, she couldn’t get more ‘grown up’ if she tried. “I’m not scared of a campfire fuckin’ ghost story.” She repeated, the words losing their effect to some degree each time they rolled off her tongue. Try as she might, however, it was difficult for Lux to deny that she was a little spooked; mainly at the fact she had him following close behind her in the first place, practically flanking her as she trekked up from the lakeside to the house.

CLOSED STARTER ~ The blue lands weren’t bordered by the sea like House Xavier or House Black, but they were a land full of many rivers. They snaked through the country, cutting through towns and forests, crisscrossing and diverging but all leading to the same place — Lake Tintenfisch. A great body of water located a a few miles outside of the palace walls. In a month or two, its shores would be packed with commoners and nobles alike, looking for a reprieve from the oppressive summer heat. This close to winter though, it was all but deserted.

Naked as the day he was born, Lukas dove headfirst into the frigid waters of Titenfisch. Thickly Muscled arms cut cut across the placid surface, propelling his body from the shore, to the middle of the lake, and then back again.

He noticed her standing there on his second pass, flanked by a guard on either side of her. He continued his leisurely swim, one more round and then another, before making his way towards shallower end closest to where she stood waiting. The closer he walked, the more her guards retreated until there were a few yards between them. Lukas’ own guards were further down the beach, close enough to come to their king’s aide should he need it, while still allowing him some semblance of privacy.