Roleplay Central~ discussion

District 10;

Ashton walked around the fence. He was always tempted to slip into the woods on the other side. He'd done it a couple of times too. But not today. Not today. The big day was comming up. Where they spirited you away to land you in some random place where you could be killed while everyone watched. It wasn't much different from those public executions really. He sighed and closed his eyes, wishing the time would just stop.

Desiree blinked slowly as she sat on a fallen log near the outskirts of ten. She sighed, letting her ringlets of brown fall in her face, and kicked idly at a piece of grass with boredom. That days coming, she thought, letting a flicker of worry come into her face.

Ashton walked towards the bend, and saw a girl, Desiree, sitting on a log looking worried. Because he had nothing better to do, he walked to wards her and sat down besides her. "Hey." He said "Why so gloomy? Found a rat in your socks drawer or something?" He teased her. He thought he knew why she was worried. Why they all were worried.

She let a smile rise to her face. "I think it'd be dead before it got near my sock draw" she replied. Her blue eyes were ringed with shadows and she was skinnier than everyone else. She was giving all the food to her family in case she got chosen. Then all that food would've been wasted.

He snorted and replied "true enough." He could see the dark rings under her eyes. She seemed to have lost some weight too. His heart went out to her. He wanted to pat her head and tell her it would be all right. He understood. But he had his tough boy image to keep. No would have to know. She'd understand. He relented and put an arm around her. "I wish it'd be all over soon" He murmured.

"Yeah" she said quietly, leaning against him. She let a sigh escape her. Why couldn't her family be like him? It wasn't fair sometimes. She poked a boot at the dirt idly.

"It's not fair is it? I mean those Capitol people get everything while we starve and fight each other to death for their entertainment!" The disgust he held for them was clear in his voice. He leaned his cheek on her head.

"Everything's a struggle for us, for them a luxury. It's not fair, but somehow I think we have more satisfying lives. We may not have food most of the time, or good clothes, or whiskers on our faces," with this she wrinkled her nose, "but we are the genuine people. We have more to our lives than they do"

He pulled back to look at her. He was surprised. He'd never thought of it that way. "Yeah, I guess you are right." He said slowly. He smiled at her whiskers idea. "But the truth remains, two of the kids from here are probably going to die." A soft sigh escaped him.

"They've got no hope" Desiree said shortly. This was something her family had drilled into her. Whoever the Tributes were, they would never survive, so there was no reason to feel sorry for them. The one time she had argued against her parents they had tied her to the front porch in the rain and kicked her every time she had spoken, pleaded for them to stop, to let her go...She shook her head violenty, trying to get rid of the awful memory.

"Hey, you can't really say that!" He said appalled. He felt her shake her head, as if trying to get rid for her thoughts. He sensed that things went deep here. "Maybe that's why they don't win, cuz they don't think they can" He said softly. Her took her chin and tilted her head up. "talking about it helps you know." He said.

She went still when he touched her. "I can say that.And talking gets you killed" she said, looking straight into his eyes.

"It does?" He asked raising one of his eyesbrows. He let her go, sensing maybe she wasn't ready yet. "Well, in that case, I'll be here whenever you want." He got up and stretched then grinned at her.

"If you say so. Happy Hunger Games. See you tomorrow, and may the odds be ever in your favour" she said, her joking mood back as she bowed to him before walking off to her home.

"Same to you, Des, Same to you!" He called after her, before walking home himself. He was felling a little anxious and a little unsettled about tomorrow.

Instead of going home. Desiree turned the corner and ducked out an alleyway, squeezing through a pipe and rolling out into the green hills. She let a few tears drip down her face as she sat there, by herself. She wasn't going home tonight.

((Um...what next?))

(off to the picking ceremony!)

((Yay!! right here?))

Ashton woke up to golden light shining into his room. He was feeling quite good before he realized today was the big day. His mood immediately turned sour. Even the sunlight seemed mocking. He got up and ran a shower and got dressed, not bothering to with anything special. His dad was already out, as he knew he would be. He too stomped out of the house towards the square.

(Yup!)

Desiree slunk inside the house, moving across to the wardrobe to pull out something she had been warned never to touch, let alone wear. It fit her perfectly and she pulled on her boots and a long jacket that covered it before walking to the square, biting her lip.

Ashton reached the square. People had already filed in. The huge screens were all lit up. The camera men were setting up their equipment. He looked around, trying to find something that didn't scream 'Hunger Games'.

Desiree slid in with the other people her age nervously. She stared around, then took a deep breath as the woman pulled out a slip of paper...

"Desiree Dayton!Come up, dearie!" she called. Desiree froze.

Ashton had been lost in dream land and hadn't noticed the cameras rolling and the usual speech about the capitol and and drama. He hadn't even noticed when the time for pulling up the names had come. But his head snapped up when he heard Des's name. His mouth silently formed her name. He cursed.

Desiree took another breath as people grabbed her elbows and pulled her up to the stage. She didn't pull back. She...had to die? She had no hope? She looked desperately at her parents in the crowd. They looked at her emotionlessly, not even caring. That made her snap back into the world, anger filling her as she dropped the coat,

revealing a black skin-tight minidress with shimmering blue feathers adorning her long tanned legs. She pulled the finger at her parents triumphantly. This kind of dress was practically illegal in D10. Her legs showing, the colour, the sparkles... She ignored the gasps from the crowd and let a grin come to her face. "Are you going to draw the second name already?" she asked the stunned woman.

Ashton couldn't stop staring at Desiree. He was pretty sure his mouth was hanging open. This was definitely not the Desiree he had talked to yesterday. IT wasn't that she didn't look good. She looked amazing, but it just felt so weird to see this way. Maybe that's why he missed the host moving to the second bowl and pull up the slip of paper. There was utter silence. People were staring at him. It was only then he realized his name had been pulled. No. No, this couldn't be happening. Hiss feet carried him of their own accord to the stage. His little sister was already bawling her eyes out. He was too stunned to feel anything yet.

Desiree stood proudly, basking in her parent's horrified expressions.She waved happily at the people she had hung out with-she didn't think of them as friends, not really- and took a careless step back, not even listening as she bumped into someone. She turned, opening her mouth-and stopped. She stared up at Ashton, horrified.

She blinked and the world seemed like it had stopped. She was on slow-motion. Her brain wouldn't even comprehend. She kept staring, even as her parents and other people started to leave now the drawing was over.

Ashton met Des's horrified gaze uncomprehendingly. How could this have happened. The hostess came to them all fake smiled.
"Hello my dearies! Isn't it soo exciting?! I know you can't wait for it to start! Come on now! You have one hour to say your good byes!"
Ashton stuttered. His brain seemed like it was filled with fluffy cotton candy. "I don't want to see them!" He blurted out. Because he knew it would tear his heart in two to see his mother and little sister crying. He would rather no see them. He looked away, letting his hair fall into his face.
The hostess was unperturbed, she turned to Desiree. "and you?"

"I don't have anything to say to them" she said tonelessly, averting her eyes from him and turning to the hostess. She looked expressionless now, not even caring as her parents turned and walked away, not even seeming bothered. Desiree shook her head and picked up her coat, sliding it on and sitting down abruptly.

The hostess smiled without conviction and left them to bustle off somewhere. Ashton tentatively glanced at Desiree. "Um..." He couldn't say anything more so he took her hand, letting the gesture convey everything his voice couldn't. That he was sorry. For her, for himself. He wished this didn't have to happen. He would stay with her, till the end.
His emotions were a jumble and he had trouble forming coherent thoughts. Everything was going wrong.

Desiree let out a small sniffle and held onto his hand as she watched the crowds drain away. She finally looked at him. "Here we go, I guess. Let's go out with a bang" she said quietly, no energy left in her voice. She looked smaller, thinner, somehow. She ignored the hostess as she moved around them, talking about clothes, and attitude, and how she should change this and that. "And you are FAR too skinny, my dear-" the hostess broke off as Desiree whipped around and slapped her, stalking into the train carriage they were going into.

Ashton shrugged to the dumbstruck hostess and followed her into the the train. He look around, seeing the plush decor. It made him angry for some reason. He would fight. If that was what it took, he would fight. His hands were curled into fists and tears pricked his eyes.

Desiree turned and sat on a couch, glaring off into space with wide blue eyes. She tapped a fingernail on her knee but otherwise didn't react to anything, not even when the hostess started to yell at her. Defeated, the hostess sulked away, leaving Desiree still glaring.