The Hunger Games RPG The 15th Hunger Games have just ended leaving Faeryn Nacht of District One as the Victor. The citizens of Panem are trying to survive another year of uncertainty and fear, but what will the next reaping bring? |
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| Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James | |
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April Adams Moderator District 1
Posts : 498 Join date : 2011-06-19 Age : 27
| Subject: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Mon Dec 26, 2011 10:22 am | |
| Christmas in the Adams family was not very different from any other day. If anything, the time off from school was used to put in extra hours of Games training. Still, the family did find a time between April’s and Drew’s hectic training schedules with their father and their mother’s many different social gatherings to exchange gifts and spend some quality time together. It was only on the day after Christmas that April finally had some down time to test out her gifts. The blonde used that time to head cheerfully into town dressed in the fabulous outfit she’d received from her mom. Her blond hair was done to perfection, and she looked just like any other fashion-obsessed fourteen and a half year old from District 1. With one tiny exception: around her wrist was a sheath of throwing knives. Also a Christmas gift, but this one was from her dad. April was actually pleasantly surprised by how well the two gifts went together, at least in her opinion. Seeing as it was only mid-morning, April figured she had a couple of hours to herself before she would be expected at the “gym” (which was actually a training center for Careers, but it was better not to call it that). The blonde was torn between doing some shopping and testing out her knives, but since she’d just received lots of cute new clothes and hadn’t had time to check the newest edition of her favorite fashion magazine yet, April decided on using her knives. Upon reaching the small patch of trees she planned to use as targets, April stood a good several feet away from a particularly large tree and drew her first knife from its sheath. The blonde tested the weight of the blade in her hand for a few moment, admiring its good quality, then took aim and hurled it toward the tree with as much force as she could muster. Throwing knives was an activity that April had just begun learning, so it wasn’t too surprising that the blade she’d just thrown flew right past the tree she’d been aiming for and lodged itself into the trunk of one several yards behind it. Trying her best to ignore the bruise to her confidence, April left the first knife and pulled a second out of its sheath. This time she aimed a little more to the left of the tree, only to find that it flew past the trunk again, only in the other direction. The blonde frowned, not quite ready to admit defeat. She still had one knife left, and the third time was the charm, right? April carefully removed her final blade from the sheath and took careful aim at the tree trunk. She was not going to miss again. The fourteen year old took a deep breath and prepared to release the blade when she heard a loud noise and instead dropped it onto the ground, narrowly missing her foot. The blonde cursed to herself then turned to see what had caused the noise. Whatever it was was about to regret it. | |
| | | James Jackson Member District 1
Posts : 13 Join date : 2011-12-22
| Subject: Re: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Wed Jan 04, 2012 2:55 pm | |
| For James, Christmas wasn’t that big of a deal like it was to some of the families in the district. Sure, they exchanged a few gifts, they sure didn’t have piles and piles of presents under their tree, nor were they traversing across the districts singing carols at the top of their lungs. The only thing that had really marked the fact that the Jackson family had celebrated the holiday yesterday was the tree still in their house and the new outfits on each of their backs. Aiden had given him a pair of gym shorts and a jersey, which James was proudly sporting right now.
As he began to walk home from the gym, he mulled silently in his thoughts, Hm, I really do look so freaking amazing in these clothes. Maybe I should pass by a girl’s house just to see her jaw drop as I pass. Maybe Riley or Diana’s. I certainly have been over there a before. He chuckled to himself at that thought, probably causing those passing him to think of him of crazy. It didn’t bug him if they did, though. He didn’t admit it to himself because even to his ears, it sounded a bit strange, but he considered those who hated him just jealous of his awesomeness.
His thoughts of himself were interrupted as he spotted the strangest sight out of the corner of his eye. A girl, who looked fourteen at the most, was throwing a knife at a tree. The girl looked so determined as she threw that knife, so James couldn’t help but laugh as it flew past the tree. He could hit the tree, and he had never trained a day in this life. His thoughts turned a bit darker as the notion of training made him realize that this girl was probably a Career. What normal girl would throw knives at a tree in the middle of the day for no apparent reason?
He muttered something about that would’ve made his mother wash his mouth out with soap had she had heard him. Even though James had never met the girl, he was beginning to hate her. Careers and all they stood for was just despicable. They actually wanted to go into the Hunger Games just for the miniscule chance of winning riches. James took a step closer as the girl missed the tree again. Perhaps this girl was just a wannabe Career, he mulled, since she couldn’t seem to hit the tree even once. All the Careers he had seen practicing were efficient at every single thing they did, it seemed. This gave him the confidence he needed to mess with the girl a bit, just as a joke of course.
Just as the girl pulled out another knife, James threw his shoe into the side of a nearby trashcan, knocking down a whole row of them at the same time. A huge BANG! went through the air, and he let out a boisterous laugh as the girl dropped the knife as she had heard the sound. He mulled over the possibility that this girl might actually be annoyed with him for messing up her throw, but he decided that what was done was done. If this girl freaked out and attacked him, he was sure he could handle her She looked fourteen at the most, a baby to his sixteen years.
No kid was ever gonna hurt him. James was probably a sight to see right now. One of his feet was bare, since he had tossed it at the trashcan. It was cold out, but it didn’t bug James too much; he had been through much worse. His grin stretched from ear to ear, and he commented, “You throw better than most of the girls I’ve met.” A smirk turned up the edge of his grin; the girl had just missed every toss, so she wasn’t actually the best thrower. James didn’t linger on the fact that his “friendly” comment might actually be insulting.
((First post with this charrie, so sorry if this is a bit rough.)) | |
| | | April Adams Moderator District 1
Posts : 498 Join date : 2011-06-19 Age : 27
| Subject: Re: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:43 am | |
| Before April could even consider that the sound could have been made by an animal, her initial suspicion that a person had caused it was confirmed when she heard laughter. Laughter! Someone was actually laughing at her? Her eyes narrowed, April swept her gaze across the patch of trees until it landed on the source of the noise, a pile of trashcans that had been knocked over. And just a short distance from the trashcans was the perpetrator, his bare foot confirming that he had, in fact, created the distraction. The glare had only been on April’s face for a moment when it faltered upon her recognition of the boy who was laughing at her. The fourteen year old didn’t know the older boy’s name, but she certainly recognized him from school. He was the incredibly hot older boy who played a ton of sports and was extremely popular. For an instant, April couldn’t believe her luck at being in the same place at the same time as the boy. If she could befriend him, April could have an “in” with some of the most popular kids in school. Of course, she was already considered popular among her own grade, but a friendship with older students would be even more beneficial to her in the long run.
Unfortunately, before April could be carried away by this train of though any further, the boy spoke. And (fortunately for April) it didn’t take a genius to realize that his comment had been intended as an insult. As it turned out, the fourteen year old was actually quite unlucky to have run it to the older boy, because he had clearly just watched her fail twice in a row (the third time didn’t count; if he hadn’t distracted her, April obviously would have made her shot), and now he was laughing. At her.
The first thing to register in April's mind was a sense of shock. The blonde did not get laughed at. Ever. She was the one who was supposed to laugh at other people, not the other way around, and she'd spent the last fourteen years training and keeping up with the latest fashions to make sure of that. The next thing that April felt was a sense of mortification. It had been bad enough for the blonde to fail so miserably without an audience, so the last thing she needed was for an incredibly attractive and popular older boy to witness her failure as well. Now this boy probably thought she was the worst career ever-if he even thought she was a career.
For April, this was quite possibly the worst thing anyone could think of her – that she was not a career. April Adams was not one of those stupid people who didn’t train for the Games, instead hoping that sheer luck could save her from otherwise certain death in the Games. Not to mention that those people were also so easily forfeiting a chance for power and glory. The way she saw it, whether April trained for and entered the Games or not, 23 kids were still going to die. So she might as well benefit from it. Since embarrassment was not a feeling April wanted to experience, she forced herself to bury those feelings and instead replaced them with one of anger. Who was this boy to make fun of her? “I probably do throw better than most of the people you know. I’ll have you know this is only my first time throwing knives, and after a few more practice throws I will be much better.” April wasn’t exactly the best at coming up with witty comebacks, so that was all the blonde could come up with to defend her bruised ego. In the hopes of further reinforcing the fact that she was, in fact, awesome, April stuck a foot under the knife she had dropped on the ground and kicked it up in the air, catching it easily in her right hand. She looked back at the boy with a smug smirk on her face and added, “You should also keep in mind that there are plenty of things I can do with a knife besides throwing it, and maybe you should be more careful when you insult someone who’s armed.” Ha. Take that. April may not be the best at thinking up comebacks, but threats were practically second nature.
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| | | James Jackson Member District 1
Posts : 13 Join date : 2011-12-22
| Subject: Re: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:47 pm | |
| What a glare, James thought to himself. As this girl looked at him with such fury in her eyes, he couldn’t help but look down, even if it meant looking inferior. He dealt with many things well, but anger towards him was not one of them. Everyone liked him, or at least he presumed so. After all, he wasn’t one of those stuck-up rich Careers who acted like the world was their playground, and everyone else was simply their subjects. He might be “a bit” cocky, but there was nothing he did that was intentionally cruel.
When James dared to glance up again, he noticed with surprise that that the glare was gone; a nearly silent sigh of relief exited his pursed lips. The reason for this sudden change was not apparent as he sized up the situation. For all he knew, this girl was bipolar. There were some strange people in this district; there had been several occasions when he had spotted people dancing in the streets, running like spazzes in the cold, and even jumping from roof to roof. This girl could just be one among many who weren’t exactly sane in this district. James couldn’t say that he didn’t like the oddities of District 1. What would be the point in living in a boring district?
The lack of a glare was what inspired James to speak up and regain his cocky attitude. No one, not even a girl in possession of very sharp knives and a glare that could kill, could take that from him. The girl’s comment rather surprised him. He had expected her to be tougher and maybe a little bit mean, but instead, she was making excuses for her mishaps. As if this was really her first time. Those who just weren’t naturally talented felt that weird need to explain themselves, even though nothing really needed to be explained. They just weren’t good at it- simple as that. A smirk spread across his face as he listened to her speak.
“Bleh, bleh, excuses, excuses,” he commented. “You should know that the good never have to say why they suck, ‘cause they don’t suck in the first place.” There, that ought to put a little bit of a dent in the girl’s confident and maybe cocky aura. From what he could tell, this girl, whatever her name was, seemed sure of herself, even though she couldn’t throw a knife into a tree only a few feet away. Even his younger brother could do that, despite how sick he could get at times. Aiden was not athletic at all, yet he could probably throw better than this girl.
James’s eyes drifted towards the girl’s feet as she performed what she probably thought was an elaborate way of kicking a knife into the air. It was a neat party trick perhaps, but anyone could learn that after five minutes of practice. He faked a huge yawn that stretched across his face and went on for several dramatic seconds. After the yawn built up what he hoped was dramatics, he told her, “I bet I could do that with my eyes closed and my leg broken.” His brown eyes met hers, and his eyes spoke a silent challenge: “Beat that.”
Somewhere in the back of James’s head, he knew that he was being annoying to this stranger, but it was stemming from who he was. He didn’t want to be the “nice, quiet boy.” No, someone else could have that role. The “jock” was a much better title for him. It actually held meaning, like he was someone. Quiet people were the ones stamped on by the louder ones. It was hard to admit, but James wanted to be one of the loud ones. It was the only way to make his mark on the world. He wanted people to remember his name and think well of it. To be forgotten seemed like one of the worst things he could imagine.
James admitted it to himself, this girl was seeming more intimidating by the second. The threat she made to him actually sounded…genuine, like she would actually stab in his sleep or something like that. Still, he couldn’t let the girl know this- his reputation would be ruined forever. He was afraid to speak, not wanting his voice to accidently shake, but to not speak would be to ruin everything right there. “Next you’ll be telling me that you can also spear me while riding a unicorn.” James was proud of himself when he finished speaking, since he had kept his voice steady. The only different thing about it was that it had a more joking tone instead of the usual confident one. Since he had somehow dulled down his cockiness, James decided that now would be a good time to introduce himself. He was tired of thinking of the person in front of him as “the girl.” Simply knowing her name would be enough to make things easier on James. He boldly announced, “I’m James. James Jackson. But you can call me James.” | |
| | | April Adams Moderator District 1
Posts : 498 Join date : 2011-06-19 Age : 27
| Subject: Re: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:23 pm | |
| The glare that had left April’s face after her recognition of the boy in front of her returned in full force at his comment. Excuses? April was not making excuses. She was just telling the boy the fact that she had not practiced with these knives before. And throwing knives was a very precise art, thank you very much. For goodness sakes, she’d only thrown the knives two times. Two! “Well you should know that….that….I don’t suck, and I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Another brilliant reply from the outstanding mind of April Adams. Hmmph. This boy would see soon enough just how good April was, when she was winning the games.
And now he had the nerve to actually yawn at her. April was beginning to wonder why this boy was so popular. He certainly wasn’t making a good impression on her. Who was he to come and scare her then make fun of her when she had simply been minding her own business? And maybe her knife kick was a party trick, but it was a party trick that could save her life if she ever needed to get ahold of a knife on the ground. So there. April highly doubted the boy could do it as easily as he said he could. “Oh yeah?” The fourteen year old cocked an eyebrow. “I can arrange that, if you want to prove it.” Yep, she was back to threatening him. It occurred to April that, when she was fighting or threatening people, she never seemed to have trouble coming up with the right thing to say; it was the only time when her mind was clear, and she could formulate her thoughts quickly and easily. And that, she realized, was one of the reasons she was so eager to prove herself in the Hunger Games. But she could save all that self-contemplation stuff for later, because right now April had more pressing matters, like making sure this boy didn’t think she was just some stupid wannabe career he could mess with. That would do absolutely nothing for her reputation, not to mention her ego simply would not allow it. April was pleased to see that the boy’s earlier cockiness seemed to have been taken down a notch by her threat. Ha. Take that. An all too pleased smirk on her face, and now that the boy had switched from directly attacking April to making a joke, she found herself suddenly inclined to do the same. There was no sense in continuing to provoke this boy if he was done mocking her. It wasn’t like she wanted to make an enemy out of him, after all. It wasn’t in her nature to go around threatening people except when they started making fun of her. Maybe it wasn’t too late for her to turn this encounter into a more positive experience? It was worth a shot at least; but if the boy tried making fun of April again, she wouldn’t hesitate to start throwing around threats again. April allowed a small sideways grin to cross her face as she replied, “Bring me a unicorn and we can find out.” Oh? What was this? Now the boy was introducing himself? April’s eyebrows rose slightly at his introduction. Surely it was a good sign, that he had introduced himself first, right? If she had run into the boy James in any other situation, she would have been going out of her way to make herself known to him, yet here he was introducing himself to her. Huh. It was kind of nice, being on this side of things. Of course, there were plenty of people that wanted to be friends with April, but they were usually younger than her, or much less popular and attractive. So for this particular older boy to be introducing himself made April feel almost superior-like she had won some sort of personal contest.
"I'm April. April Adams." After a brief hesitation, the fourteen year old held out her free hand to the older boy and gave him a small grin. "Nice to meet you, James Jackson." Just because he’d said April could call him James didn’t mean she was going to. She couldn’t go all soft on the boy now, could she? No, what happened next was completely up to him.
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| | | James Jackson Member District 1
Posts : 13 Join date : 2011-12-22
| Subject: Re: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:18 pm | |
| In James’s mind, the idea of judging books by their covers was one of his strongest beliefs. Usually, in his eyes, people matched what they looked like. Strange-looking people tended to be odd, good-looking people tended to be popular, and young cute blonde teenagers were usually nice. This girl was shredding those beliefs, more and more with every insult and dirty look sent his way. The only thing that comforted him slightly that first sight might’ve been right was when the girl had a rather weak response to his comment about the good not needing to make excuses. That restored his cockiness enough to further incite the girl. It wasn’t that he liked being such a, well, jerk, but the girl was a Career. Those people definitely deserved it, if they were such mindless jocks. The girl in front of him seemed different though- she didn’t quite look the type.
The next threat passed by without him putting too stress on it. Instead, he breezily answered with a smirk, “It sounds so, so tempting, but I’m just going to have to decline that very kind offer to break my bones. Thanks, though.” Ah, sarcasm, one of the best things ever invented, if it had been invented in the first place. How would humankind operate without that weapon of the mouth? James used it almost daily; some would call it a crutch to how he spoke, using it when he had no other ideas for remarks. Still, it wasn’t like he would ever actually stop with the sarcasm. The sixteen-year-old leaned back slightly on the heels of his feet to relax his posture a bit. Standing up straight for minutes on end got tiring after a while.
It was a risk making a joke after all the insults and threats, but it paid off just a moment after the words left his mouth. Most of the tension in the air began to fade away as the girl responded with a joke in response to his. Feelings of relief shot through his body as no more insults or threats came. He, contrary to popular belief, didn’t really like getting into fights with people. The occasional spat was okay, but to exchange insults, threats, and petty remarks just wasn’t his thing. Sarcasm and jokes were more to his liking. This in mind, James withheld from thoughts of snide remarks and returned the grin across the girl’s face. There, problem solved- no more of this power of words battle, even though James hated being the one to give up first.
April, eh? To be honest, he would’ve pegged the girl as something more macho like Xena or Casey. April was more of a sweet, loving girl, not a Career with a mouthful of insults and threats. Well, names didn’t usually match people’s personalities in any case, considering that names were given at birth and not after personalities developed. In his case, though, James was a pretty accurate name. It was a normal name, and he was a normal guy(in most ways). After the hand-shaking, James commented, deciding to match her with the last name, “Pleasure to meet you too, April Adams.” To add emphasis, he pretended to tip an invisible hat, like people used to do in the old days.
Since this encounter was putting a spark in his otherwise boring day, James decided to continue the conversation by saying, “So, I take it you’re a Career, if you don’t mind me saying that taboo word aloud? The throwing knives kind of gave it away, if it was any type of secret.” There was a chance, however small, that April was not a Career, so he was just confirming it. There were people out there that weren’t Careers but liked to “play” with weapons, people who just liked the feel of a knife in their hand or felt a rush when they swung a sword. James’s eyes drifted to the right for a moment as he spotted a Peacekeeper pass. For the better or the worse, it was not Blake, his brother who had taken to that horrible job for unknown reasons seven years ago. As he had expected, the Peacekeeper passed right on to another street, not paying mind to the kids near the tree. | |
| | | April Adams Moderator District 1
Posts : 498 Join date : 2011-06-19 Age : 27
| Subject: Re: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah ~ James Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:03 pm | |
| The truth was, if James had met April under any different circumstances he would have gotten exactly what he expected from her; when she was not trying to threaten people or attack things, April was very much a perky, bubbly girl. She was extremely friendly, and while she was not exactly a “nice” person, she always did her best to appear that way. It was good for appearances. But once April got a weapon in her hands, or started thinking about the Hunger Games, the bubbly girl left and was replaced by a tough, determined warrior. And unfortunately for James, by putting her on the defensive, he’d gotten to meet April the Career before he met her on normal terms.
But Career or not, April could appreciate a good bit of sarcasm. “Good” meaning April actually caught that it was, in fact, sarcasm. And that wasn’t too hard to do in this case considering she was like 99% sure James didn’t actually want her to break his bones. That would just be ridiculous. April pouted and replied, “Well that’s too bad. Just let me know if you ever change your mind, I’ll be here.” An all too innocent smile spread across her face as she spoke.
It seemed April had made a good choice in going along with James’ joke, because the atmosphere immediately lightened up, which was perfectly fine with her. As much as April loved threatening people, that was something she usually reserved for her fellow careers, because she knew they could take it and, well, they just understood each other. They could threaten to break each others’ bones (and mean it!) one minute, and then go shopping together the very next day. But in the presence of this older, popular boy, April much preferred to keep the conversation pleasant and civil as long as he was done attacking her pride. It was only when she saw James relax his posture that April realized she was still standing in a defensive position, ready to attack. She immediately relaxed herself, leaning slightly against a nearby tree.
She grinned at his introduction, answering his invisible hat tip by curtsying with an imaginary skirt. It was true that April had a very ordinary name compared to many of the people in her district. It was something she’d asker her parents about, and her mom had said it was to help her gain the trust of the rest of the Districts when she was in the Games. Apparently people in other Districts didn’t exactly favor the glamorous names so often found in the upper districts, so April had been given a more relatable name. It didn’t hurt that she’d been scheduled to be born in April as well (though she had ironically ended up being born at the end of March instead). Furthermore, April liked her name; it suited her, she thought, since she was really a generally perky, sociable girl when she wasn’t trying to kill things.
April was a bit surprised to see that James didn’t immediately leave after their introductions and instead continued their conversation, but she immediately disregarded the thought; of course he wanted to keep talking with her! She was super interesting, yeah? And he had an…interesting question, it seemed. April’s eyebrows flew up at his question. Of course it was obvious she was a Career, but my, that had been straightforward, hadn’t it? April hesitated. She was about to tell him the usual joke that, no, of course she wasn’t a career, that was illegal! – but then she reminded herself that this boy wasn’t one of her career friends, so he may not appreciate the humor.
Instead, April gave him a calculating look and nodded. “Yeah, I’m a career…the knives were a Christmas present, actually.” She glanced at the sheath on her wrist and grinned, then followed James’s gaze to a peacekeeper. April wasn’t concerned about being seen throwing weapons around; training for the Games was hardly a big secret. And really, Peacekeepers were nothing to be feared in District 1 unless you ran around screaming about how you hated the Capitol, but April couldn’t imagine why anyone would ever do a thing like that.
“So.” April looked back at James, the Peacekeeper gone from her mind. “You’re obviously not a Career.” This wasn’t an insult, but rather a statement of fact; April would have known if he was, and even if she hadn’t, when he asked her if she was James gave himself away. Careers knew each other; they had too, because they were each others’ best friends and, possibly, worst enemies. But that wasn’t the point right now. A playful grin on her face, April continued, “I hope you’re not gonna run away from me now?”
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