#f2f 01

[It was the most disastrous weekend in history, and Eliza had been sorely tempted to just burrow under the covers this morning and hide from reality. By now, her coworkers had all surely seen the video of her puking into a very flimsy barf bag on YouTube, and she was so not in the mood to see the looks on their faces when she walked by them and headed towards her cubicle. She'd used up almost all of her sick days, though, and with a heavy sigh she dragged herself up and prepared for her day.

As she entered the office, though, she realized there was one person who might not know what had happened to her yet... One no-life, clueless nerd who probably thought YouTube was a waste of brainpower, or whose head had been in a dictionary all weekend or something instead. And that one person probably knew exactly how to get people to take her seriously again. With her head held high, she marched straight past everyone else in the office and barged into Henry Hao's office, not even bothering to knock on her way in.] "I need you to help me fix my image. Like, immediately."

[Laurel was sick of hearing people tell her she couldn’t do it. She wasn’t good enough. She didn’t belong. The words had rung in her ears so often that she’d been rash, and she’d suited up to go out on her own. She didn’t care that Oliver was back and the team was ‘together’ again. What good was the team being together if none of them considered her a part of it?

All Laurel wanted was to help people, yet the people who were supposed to care most didn’t trust her to do it. She would show them, though. Her father’s police radio sprang to life, and with it, so did Laurel, getting onto her bike, her wig whipping in the wind as she got to the sight of the mugging before the sirens did. Laurel didn’t think, she just reacted, using her training from Ted to guide her as she raced towards the assailant, pulling out her baton and crouching to knock him in the shins. 

She expected him to fall down, to give her a better angle. Instead, though, a hard kick to Laurel’s stomach had her toppling backwards, rolling to her feet and wishing for a second that she’d thought to bring backup... especially when another shadowed figure appeared. Laurel didn’t have time to evaluate if they were friend or foe, though, as she raised her hand to block a punch, not caring if her technique was sloppy as long as it got the job done.]

[Noah sat at the center table in Beauxbatons’s dining hall, Juliette next to him. She’d been very gracious about helping him settle in and learn his way around the castle, and tonight, he was hoping her presence could bring him the good luck that he needed to become the champion he so desperately wanted to be -- both to prove himself to his family, and to get the money he needed to go off on his own after he’d done so. All night, Noah kept shuffling food from one side of his plate to the other, periodically glancing at the glowing cup in front of the room. Finally, when the Beauxbatons Headmistress rose from her seat, Noah stood up straight, elbowing Juliette gently to make sure she’d seen, too.] “I guess it’s finally time.”

[Octavia didn’t know where Bellamy had gone off to, but he’d given her very clear instructions to stay put and not get herself into any trouble. But they were off on an adventure, finally out of Mahogany Town for the first time in her life, and Octavia scooped a few things into her backpack, deciding that following half of his instructions would have to do. There was a whole wide world out there for her to see, but so far all she’d gotten was New Bark Town, possibly the only place in Johto even worse than her hometown.

Octavia made sure her Pokeball with her Magikarp was attached to her built just in case, and took off towards the tall grass outside of town at a brisk pace, hoping that she’d be out of sight before Bellamy returned from his mystery errand. The sun was bright in the sky, and everywhere she looked was green grass, rustling leaves...excitement. At least, it was all very exciting until the moment that something lunged at her, and Octavia didn’t even waste time trying to make out the form of the Pokemon before she’d tossed her Magikarp into battle.

It wasn’t much good on land, but she’d always had Bellamy to back her up. Now, though, thanks to curiosity and impulsiveness, Octavia was all alone, facing off against an angry looking bird Pokemon, and shouting out ‘Splash!’ wouldn’t do her any good on dry land like this. Instead, she called out ‘Tackle!’, but her fish seemed to just flop uselessly in front of her, and the bird didn’t seem to be letting that stop him from charging...]

[Teddy brushed a drop of sweat off the his brow as he lifted another box and carried it into their new headquarters. It seemed like graduation was just yesterday, and now he was already moving in and becoming a part of a superhero team. Heaving the box onto a counter to be unpacked later, he was about to head down to get the next load of things when a loud noise started blaring, and he turned to Rowan, looking bewildered.] “Um, what’s that?”

[James was one of the last people on the train that morning; it had been crazy, trying to get all of the Wotter clan to King’s Cross on time, but he was here now, chugging a bottle of apple juice and feeling his pocket to make sure that his wand was tucked inside and not in his trunk. If he was going to be stuck spending all day in the Prefect’s compartment with her, he was going to need it as backup, in case she pulled something like that damned kissing stunt again. 

And sure enough, there she was, standing in the compartment already looking smug about the Head Girl badge jutting off of her chest. James’s was in his pocket waiting for when he put his robes on, but now he was wishing he’d come as prepared as her, just to show her up. In a curt tone, he greeted the girl who was sure to be the bane of his existence all year.] “Rosier.”

[Scavenging the woods just didn’t feel the same without Katniss there as his partner. Nothing felt the same, since she’d been Reaped, but Gale went through the motions of his day to day life, taking care of his family, and more importantly hers, the way that he always had. Today, he’d even managed to find rare strawberries out in the woods, and the first buyer he’d thought of had been the Mayor. At least a trip to the mayor’s house was sure to take his mind off of the impending start of the games -- which he knew he’d never be able to tear his eyes away from, if Katniss was in danger. Pushing her frm his mind the best he could, Gale made sure the berries were tucked safely into his bag, and then he knocked on the back door of the mayor’s house, waiting for someone to answer.]

[Melanie juggled the bags in her arms as she reached the landing outside of Henry and Ryder’s apartment, muttering ‘Alohamora’ to open the door rather than fishing out her set of keys. Her brother had made her promise not to abuse her key privileges when he’d handed her the extra set, but feeding Henry was just as important as their original purpose of being able to walk Growlie sometimes, right? Melanie pushed the door open with her toe, not sure where in the apartment Henry actually was and loudly calling to him as she set things down on the counter and started making herself at home.] “Oi! You never got back to me with what you like in your salad, so I kind of got like... a little bit of everything this time.” [Her cheeks flushed slightly at the words, wondering if that made her seem like the same desperate girl with a crush on him she’d been years ago, but it wasn’t like that anymore. Now she was just Melanie, fellow Hogwarts graduate, sister of his roommate -- she wasn’t a little girl with a dumb infatuation, she was his equal.]