Mason ran through the streets of the seam, jumping over pot holes and people trying to escape some hungry looking thugs. "why did i have to get into a fight this early" he muttered to himself. he was a 16 year old merc on a mission for some peacekeepers to exterminate some vermin, not knowing the vermin was three hungry thugs who hurt people every day trying to ring his neck. he noticed a alley not far from position was coming up, he ran into the alley tripping over a beer bottle and crashing into a puddle, he tried to get up but a the biggest of the thugs kicks him back down " where do you think your going worm " the thug said pulling a knife from his belt, the other two held mason downas the other came closer with the knife. this might be his last job and his so called nine lives.

((I think I'll join in, since this is district 12!))

Annette adjusted her bag as she walked toward an alley way to get to the hob. Her bag loaded with her older brothers game from the morning. She hummed a small tune her mother used to sing and kicked a rock down the way.
"I wanna swim away but don't know how.." she started singing softly and pulled her hood up over her blue dyed hair.
She closed her eyes and put her sleeves over her hands. When she heard a big thud up ahead, she opened her eyes quickly. She watched a boy fall over, being caught by a larger man with a knife. Her eyes widened and she thought about turning around.
Shaking her head, she started running towards them
"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to hide the fear in her tone.

the thug looked up still holding the knife " What do you want little dolly, want to play" the stench of alcohol came from his mouth as he spoke. mason grasped onto the main thug and pulled him closer to his face " ill play" mason said as he grabed the knife and lodged it into his neck. the other thugs tried to hit mason but failed doing so. he pulled out his fathers sword and slash at the next thug as their boss struggled to grab the knife from his throat, his sword struck the other thugs chest, blood now covered the ground as the last thug pulls out an gun and aims right toward Annette, mason knew he had a split second before the thug pulled the trigger. mason moved in front of Annette protecting her from any harm, the gun fired and mason felt a sharp pain in his arm, he collapsed on the ground bleeding.

Annette watched horrifically as Mason fought and looked around cautiously. Mason jumped in front of her which startled her and watched as his fell to the ground from his wound. Her eyes glared and shot up at the stranger.
"I'm no doll," her screamed through hot tears. She let her bag slump down her shoulder to the ground and let go of it. Taking a running start, she ran at the man and jumped high, aiming her foot at his face.
Annette landed back on her feet and pulled up her sleeves. Flipping het hair out of her way, she watched as the man touched his face. He quickly held up the gun again. Screeching, she leaned down and took Mason's knife and held it up.
"Scat, before your head is rolling on the ground." she growled. The man spit on the ground and stalked off.
Letting out a sigh of relief, she crouched down beside Mason and took out her scarf, dabbing at his wound carefully.
"I think I've seen you around school." she laughed breathlessly.

mason squinted as she touched his wound " what have i gotten myself into" he sighed. he heard her question " yeah, i used to before my parents died" he sat up and looked into Annette's eyes " so why do you have a bag of meat?" he asked. mason saw movement behind Annette, the thug who ran off held his gun and pointed toward mason. mason grabbed his sword and pressed a button revealing a secret crossbow and silently shot the thug between the eyes, the thug collapsed on the ground with his buddies who didn't move a muscle. mason sighed in relief " well now ill get paid" he groaned as he got up and took out a little camera and took pictures of the scene.

Annette gaped at the figures and sat fully on the ground. "Well, maybe we should leave before we both die. I'll answer your questions later if you answer mine," she sighed and leaned back. "Brother's in the coal mines, so I've got time. I need to hear exactly what's going on. If the capital finds out you and I were here and you committed murder, it's off with your head as well."
She stood up and picked up her bag, slinging it around her shoulder and standing beside him. She stuck out her hand to him and grinned.
"Annette Regulus, at your service."

mason stopped taking pictures at the word murder, he turns to annette " its not murder when their wanted murderers, the peace keepers hired me to get these guys dead or alive, never failed a job in my life" mason sees annette extend her hand to shake " nice to meet you, Mason Wolf's my name, how about we have a deal, ill split the money with you 50-50, deal?"
he released her hand as he picked up his sword and sheaths the blade and the weapon it conceals " so how much for a bit of meat?"

She stepped back, pulling her hand back. "Am I going to get in trouble for this? If the peace-keeps find out we hunt, I'm dead. Hear me? Dead," she growled. "I don't want some little spy of theirs turning me in."
She pushed her blue hair to the side, and glared at him. Her gray eyes were large and angry. "I don't know about you, but I need money to survive. You must be living in luxury with all the 'man handling' you do, but I'm pretty broke as it is," she shook her head. "I suspect that you're what, my age? Serial killer? Something?"

Mason looked at her " don't worry i wont tell, and I'm not rich i barely have a home, the money goes toward food and supplies." mason said with a grin, he turns around to see a man in his late 20's who looked like a older duplicate of mason walk into the alley, mason gritted his teeth " you again! i saw you die in that fight with the peace keepers." the man chuckled as he drew a similar sword to masons " lets see how well my team trained you." mason drew his sword knowing it was a challenge of skill. the man charged and swung his sword clashing with mason's as he blocked it " you don't deserve to be me if you cant fight" the man said with hatred, mason pushed him away and hits him across the chest ripping his jacket revealing bullet proof Armour. the man swung his sword with incredible speed it once again was blocked by mason but both there swords flew out of their hands. the man chuckled and picked up his blade and sheaths it " they taught you well, and young lady your secret is safe with me" the man said before leaving. mason collapsed onto his knees his eyes filled with horror as if he saw a ghost of himself " who is he, he fought like me and even looks like me"

Annette walked over to Mason and helped him up. "Are you alright?" she asked. Looking back to where the man left, she wondered what she meant. "Come on, I'll give you shelter for a night if you give me some answers." she sighed and looked up. "It's getting dark, so we have to hurry. I'm due in the meadow in an hour and I'm not going to be late."

mason nod his head in agreement " ill tell you everything i know" he looked back to the bodies of the thugs and walked up to them closing their eyes with his hand " may the lord forgive your sins." mason said as he moved toward Annette " lets start moving, lead the way" he followed her, he didn't know where she was taking him but he had to repay her for letting him stay at her house. he became bored from all the walking and his childish nature started acting up " are we there yet"

She laughed a bit and stopped at a trash can. "Well, just wait a sec." She grabbed his hand and jumped onto it, lifting herself onto the roof. Waiting till he got up, she smiled. "We go down here. Keep walking on the roof and we will slip in the window of one of the buildings. That's usually how I get home, hopefully you don't mind that." she took his hand again and started running.

mason followed her up to the roof where she grabbed his hand and started running along the roof next to Annette, he followed her through the window to her house " nice place, anyone else live here that i should me aware of." he said with a laugh knowing how fun it was to run on roofs over the people of district 12 he sat on the ground waiting for Annette to ask her questions, he unties the sheath from his belt and puts it in front of himself and unsheathes the blade to look for damage from the man, a whole section of the blade was chipped off. he reaches into his pack and grabs a wet stone and starts sharpening it with great strokes.

"No, my brother lives next door. Separate apartments, y'know?" She slipped her jacket off and let her bag drop to the ground. She sat on the counter casually and looking at him. "So, what exactly do you do? I've seen you at school then suddenly you disappeared. Now where do you go exactly?" she asked with a slight laugh

mason looked up from his blade " ill start at the school question, when i was 10 my parents died in a cave in in the mines. like always i made dinner so when they get home we could eat, i heard a knock on the door that evening. it was a peacekeeper he told me my parents died that day. i sold my home taking all of my valuables and lived on the street. i started with small jobs to help feed myself like delivering mail and lifting packages, then i started doing more dangerous jobs like working for the peacekeepers." mason looked down to his sword, a pair of dog-tags hung from the sheath with the name Mason engraved into the hard metal " any other questions to feed your hunger for knowledge."