Where Holly and Camila Save a Dog [HOLLY QUINTANILLA/GOAT]

Skylar
Merchant

140 POSTS
last seen Mar 17, 2023 19:56:29 GMT -5

Where Holly and Camila Save a Dog [HOLLY QUINTANILLA/GOAT] Jun 7, 2019 18:15:36 GMT -5

Post by Skylar on Jun 7, 2019 18:15:36 GMT -5

♈︎

CAMILA GILBROOK

The night had just begun its shift. The stars twinkled overhead, the waning crescent moon hung high in the sky. Camila Gilbrook and Holly Quintanilla were out in the streets of District 3. Camila was an Aries after all, and her fiery existence led to fiery experience, and she had convinced the quieter girl of District 3 to come along with her in some of her nighttime shenanigans. Mr. Craghart was long asleep by now, and he was aware that Camila had become a bit of a District 3 undesirable since moving in below his basement.

She was looking for some copper. This was normally something that District 3 had a short supply of. Copper was an excellent conductor and was a vital element in District 3's technology, and more importantly, in Camila's electrocution club. She'd gotten a steel pipe and capped it off with a rubber end... something she fashioned from the bottom of a shoe. Its intention was to beat people's ass while shocking and stunning them the whole time. This wasn't something she could necessarily practice or else she ran the risk of fires... or melting her dummy she'd acquired, but she hadn't even reached that point because she didn't have the materials to send the conduction through the metal piping yet. It required copper wiring to wrap around the length of the weapon, and at the current moment, she had 0.

"Come," Camila said, pulling Holly's hand through the dark. Camila's thoughts drifted briefly to Holly, where she thought that this must have been a bit tougher for her to come to terms with. Camila had a sense of admiration. She finally felt like she had a friend that was interested in being a friend. There was a difference between slight acquaintances - peers that she'd met through the Clock Shoppe, but Holly had been someone she'd met on her own accord.

The attempt to gain her business permit had failed but Camila knew that wouldn't stop her. Eventually, she'd have a stock of underground District 3 weaponry that people would pay lots of money for.

They traveled on through the many alleys of District 3. At this point of the night, there were still several people out. It was a Saturday night after all, and as bleak as the District was at the time, having sent off two of their own to slaughter, they still looked to escape from their realities. This particular alleyway was full of drunken men, moving in and catcalling the two ladies as they moved their way through the alley. They moved quickly and paid no mind.

"The black market's just around the corner. We'll have to be a little sneaky because of the Whites," she said, referring to the Peacekeepers of the District. It was right on the outside of the city's boundaries. Right near the stretch of forgotten lands where no one seemed to mention. They'd just about made it, the coolness of the night inviting them in. Camila had gotten used to the journey, but she could sense Holly's trepidation. And then, right in the corner of Camila's thoughts, she heard it. A dog's squeal, high pitched and yearning for help. Camila was an Aries but she was not heartless, and sometimes there were more important things than making weapons. The goal-reacher herself had suddenly abandoned her duty... she had something else to attend to. Something alive and breathing and something that was calling out for her. She turned on her heel and searched for Holly's face in the dark night. This part of the District was not nearly as well lit, and was right in the middle of the employment sector. "Did you hear that?" Camila asked, her voice thick with worry.

☽LIA☾

goat
Retired Staff

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kindness, kindness prevails.

Where Holly and Camila Save a Dog [HOLLY QUINTANILLA/GOAT] Jun 11, 2019 0:13:49 GMT -5

Post by goat on Jun 11, 2019 0:13:49 GMT -5

holly quintanilla

Holly figured that she liked getting into trouble. Her and Camila weren’t in trouble, not technically, but running around the district at night sure felt like it. She wasn’t used to doing things like this. She was used to being her normal quiet self, awkward and over-apologetic. She thought this new version of herself was fun. She wondered if she’d stick with it, or give up, stick it on a shelf with all her other past selves and call it a day. Only time would tell, she supposed.

Camila grabbed her hand and pulled her along through the night. It felt like she knew all the secret spots in the district, all the twists and turns, every backside of every building and every narrow passageway in-between. She wondered how long it took her to memorize all of them. She wondered when, if they did this enough, she’d have them all memorized too. She liked the idea of being part of some secret culture, the type of people who knew something that everyone else didn’t. She liked the idea of being part of something in general. It was strange, and it was new, and she wanted to love every moment of it.

“The black market's just around the corner. We'll have to be a little sneaky because of the Whites,” Camila said to her, as they weaved around drunken men in yet another alley. It made Holly want to laugh, the way she called them Whites instead of Peacekeepers. Maybe she’d start doing that too, make her mother ask her when she became such a radical. In her head, she would think, maybe if you were around more, you would know, but then she would think, my mother works really hard for me, and I shouldn’t criticize her for that. So she’d say something like, “I don’t know”, and maybe they’d both laugh. Maybe.

There was a noise then, high-pitched and afraid. Holly was ready to ignore it and keep moving, but Camila stopped and turned to face her. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

Holly nodded, before realized it was probably hard to see her face in the low light, so she said “Yes” quickly after. “I don’t think we should follow it. It’s probably just a raccoon in a gutter. Happens more often that you’d think.”

Last Edit: Jun 11, 2019 0:15:10 GMT -5 by goat

turn soft and lovely any time you have a chance.

Skylar
Merchant

140 POSTS
last seen Mar 17, 2023 19:56:29 GMT -5

Where Holly and Camila Save a Dog [HOLLY QUINTANILLA/GOAT] Jun 13, 2019 11:58:08 GMT -5

Post by Skylar on Jun 13, 2019 11:58:08 GMT -5

♈︎

CAMILA GILBROOK

The thrill of the night’s festivities thudded in her chest. Camila’s heart rate had risen to a consistent thud, thud, thud that she could even hear in her ears. A few blocks away, the faint ruckus of the partygoers of the District still rang loud. It was only a matter of time before the Whites would show up to break up the night’s fun. The Peacekeepers were lenient up until the midnight curfew, and judging by the moon at this time of night, it was just around the turn from one day into another. Summer’s humidity stuck to Camila’s skin under the moonlight, worry rising in her heart.

“Yes, I don’t think we should follow it. It’s probably just a raccoon in a gutter. Happens more often than you’d think.” And it was true… District 3 had plenty of scraps for animals to get into. Rodents were rampant in these alley ways… but still Camila’s instinct was that Holly was wrong. And at that point, in the depths of District 3’s employment sector, smokestacks rising high into the night sky, she made a choice that she was going to check it out even if Holly didn’t want to.

But then again… this was the first time in a long time that Camila felt that she’d actually made a friend. Was it worth it? What if Holly refused? Was she scared of dogs? Surely that wouldn’t be as scary as facing the more undesirable, rough-around-the-edges type of District 3. They were the ones that would smuggle product from factories that people used for, just like Camila, their own findings and discoveries. Tinkering was in District 3’s blood, quite innate. Project people.

And then again it happened, but this time much more prominent - the whine and squeal of a dog. This couldn’t wait. The thought of a helpless creature sent Camila into a panic. In fact, most creatures in Panem needed help, that much was understood, but at least the people of Panem had a voice and thoughts and actions that they could use to help themselves… but in Camila’s time growing up, there was never a dog that didn’t have unconditional love for its owner, and maybe it needed one. It clearly lacked the proper tools to get out of this situation; it was calling out to them with pain its voice. It was close by, maybe just over in the next alley. She stood in place, mulling over the internal struggle of Holly brushing it off and, then another whine, “Holly, it needs our help.”

Camila quickly started off in the direction that they’d just came. Just before turning the corner to search the neighboring alleyway, she looked behind her, seeing the faint outline of Holly in the night. “Are you coming? It’s near midnight, there’s no one else that’s here to help it. What if it’s gotten trapped somewhere?”

The likely thought, and what Camila feared, was that someone was hurting it. Judging by the sounds of the dog, it was yelping in pain, and with each whine of misery that escaped it, Camila’s heart hurt just a little harder. “Now or never, Holly. I’m going.” Camila defiantly turned the corner, hoping that Holly would catch up to her. As lionhearted as the Aries girl was, she couldn't help but to be a little nervous, and Holly's company was comforting.

☽LIA☾

goat
Retired Staff

977 POSTS
Pronouns: they/them
last seen Jan 8, 2023 15:16:05 GMT -5

kindness, kindness prevails.

Where Holly and Camila Save a Dog [HOLLY QUINTANILLA/GOAT] Jun 21, 2019 21:41:38 GMT -5

Post by goat on Jun 21, 2019 21:41:38 GMT -5

holly quintanilla

The noise sounded again, a high-pitched whine. Camila stood where she was, unmoving, and Holly watched, not knowing what the girl’s internal debate was about. She wasn’t sure she cared much anyway, which was rude, but she wanted to get back to the whole running around the streets at night thing.

Another whine, and then Camila said, “Holly, it needs our help.”

Holly thought that was a funny statement. Whatever that noise was, it didn’t need the help of Holly and Camila specifically. It just needed help. She wondered when it became somebody’s responsibility to help, and when somebody could be held accountable for not helping. It was all a cloudy grey area.

Camila set off, so fast that Holly didn’t have time to react. She stood in the dark and listened to her footsteps. Well, she supposed, there goes my night. She figured she would just head home, somehow finding her way back through all these back roads, maybe make herself a mug of tea when she got back. Camila would go and find whatever that noise was, feel satisfied with herself for helping out. Isn’t that the only reason anyone ever helps out with things they have no reason to? To feel satisfied? To feel like they’ve done their one good deed for the year?

“Are you coming? It’s near midnight, there’s no one else that’s here to help it. What if it’s gotten trapped somewhere?” Camila’s voice sounded through the alley, echoing off the walls. The noise continued. “Now or never, Holly. I’m going.”

“Fine,” Holly said. She was glad it was dark, so Camila didn’t see her rolling her eyes. She didn’t usually roll her eyes at people, not ever, but this was Holly 2.0, new and improved, and sometimes she was rude, and she liked it like that. She started off after Camila, following the sounds of her shoes on the pavement. “If it’s a raccoon, you owe me.”

turn soft and lovely any time you have a chance.