SET YOURSELF ON FIRE ⋆ D1 TRIBS SUITE

SET YOURSELF ON FIRE ⋆ D1 TRIBS SUITE Oct 21, 2023 8:08:27 GMT -5

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Post by ines izar d11a 🖤 cait on Oct 21, 2023 8:08:27 GMT -5

⋆ arcadia lumiere-fray ⋆

I’m woken from the strangest sleep of my life by a robotic voice that reverberates around the room, creeping into every crevice and bringing a cold breeze with it. I stare at the roof, unblinking, as the steady voice drones on, numb and drunk on sparkling grape juice from hours earlier.

Which reminds me...

I look down at the bedsheets I’m swathed in. Burgundy and indigo. Colours of home.

My groggy head tells me that isn’t right.

Wasn’t I in Vin’s bedroom last night? Hadn’t I fallen asleep listening to the sounds of the forest watching emerald dance behind my eyelids?

How did I get back into my own bed?

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

The television turns on.

I scream then, definitely waking up anyone sleeping within a ten-yard radius of me who hadn’t already been roused by the robotic voice. Sacrifice stirs in the bed next to me; I don’t know how long she’s been awake. All I’m aware of is the rapid beating of my heart and the shortness of my breath as it comes in tiny sporadic bursts. A blood rush to the head, vision white, I might have passed out if I wasn’t already lying down.

“–the 95th Hunger Games will begin... now.”

“Come again?”

Silence returns, but the television screen remains on, casting a white glow around the room. My eyes adjust, too slow. I will them to work faster, and by the time I realise I could have just stood up and walked over to the light switch and flicked it on, there’s enough rhodopsin generated to let me see further than a metre in front of me.

Maybe it’s just a bad dream.

Sure. Let’s go with that.

“Uhh… I’m going back to sleep. Wake me if you need anything?” I call out to Sacrifice, pulling the sheets all the way over my head.

I’ve barely slipped under the blanket of sleep when the room fills with crackling static, signalling the PA system coming to life once more.

I groan. Not a dream.

I sit up in bed. Sacrifice is awake. I wonder if she’s moved at all since the first announcement was made.

“Hey besties! Head down to the Training Room, we're going to play some fun games for fabulous prizes!”

I stare at Sacrifice.

Sacrifice stares at me.

Neither of us move. This doesn’t feel real.

“That wasn't a request.”

A laser beam, a cannon. I scream again.

“What the fuck?!” I jump out of bed, still half-dazed, and make a beeline straight for Sacrifice’s bed. “C’mon, get up, we have to go!” I practically drag her along with me, yanking on her arm frantically, determined not to leave her behind. Not yet.

Even with the echoes of the countdown telling me time is running out for playing friends.

SET YOURSELF ON FIRE ⋆ D1 TRIBS SUITE Oct 21, 2023 11:25:31 GMT -5

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Post by Kasia Karataeva D3F [Jorg] on Oct 21, 2023 11:25:31 GMT -5

Sacrifice decided to go to bed a little earlier than others tonight. Sacrifice thought they had a few more days before the Games started, and she could finish her networking tomorrow. One of the last things she can remember is that Arcadia would spend the night with Vin, which was good for her. Vin wasn't the type Sacrifice thought Arcadia would go for, but that may be the point. To do something out of the ordinary these last few days. Usually, these last few days were for tying up any alliances, mastering your skills, and coming to terms with what's to come. This may be Arcadia's way of doing that. Sacrifice only judges sometimes.

She's always been a heavy sleeper, but for some reason, this sleep felt like she was waking up from the dead; only Arcadia's bloodcurdling scream is what jolts her awake.

"What the hell?!" Sacrifice screams, getting her bearings. She's still in her room, but Arcadia is here, wrapped up in her burgundy and indigo sheets. Sacrifice's burgundy and grey are now strewn at the end of her bed.

"Arcadia? What are you doing here? Did-" Sacrifice thinks to herself before she notices the TV is on.

"The 95th Hunger Games will begin... Now."

"Come again?" Arcadia retorts, but the TV screen is still on, casting a white glow around the room; we both are still trying to process what we heard and let our eyes adjust to the room's lighting before Arcadia speaks again.

"Uhh... I'm going back to sleep. Wake me if you need anything?" She cautiously calls out; the clear yet friendly warning not to wake her is present. I try my best to make a bed from the sitting position I haven't left, not wanting to stand up if this is a twisted joke. Mother would kill her if she saw Sacrifice doing this, using the blasted name she no longer claimed as her own. She's barely gotten the sheets in her hand, and Arcadia barely gets her blankets over her head when the PA system crackles to life. The voice of Decadence way too cheerfully falling down to them.

"Hey, besties! Head down to the Training Room; we're going to some fun games for fabulous prizes!"

Sacrifice turns and stares at Arcadia, and while both are clearly disdained at being woken up in such a fashion, neither move. Sacrifice's face is one of confused anger, not believing anything that was said, yet if this is what the Games are, what is the twist? Was the twist not about the tributes but what the Gamemakers would do with them? Another voice comes through the intercom, this time the curmudgeon Geiger.

"That wasn't a request."

A laser beam shoots randomly into the room alongside a canon firing, jolting Sacrifice out of bed as Arcadia screams again.

"What the fuck?!" Arcadia screams as she runs straight at her, grasping her arm and pulling Sacrifice out of the room.

"C mon, get up, we have to go!" she yells at Sacrifice as we leave the room.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" she yells back, still trying to process what is happening.

"This is fucking sick and twisted; they're starting the Games before we make it to the Arena? How fucking small is it this year that they can't fit all of us in there?!" Sacrifice calls out as they run down the few flights of stairs toward the training center. They want to avoid being in the elevators when the canon goes off again.

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