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Post by Lite on Nov 25, 2012 16:55:18 GMT -5
The water discourages Felix a little more, but he pulls himself together. With a small grunt, he looks up and imagines the droplets to be like a light shower. Something he can shrug off. Of course, it’s difficult to climb even in the lightest of showers. He can feel everything become more slippery, and that the hold he has on the rocks have become ever looser. But he kicks off and keeps on trying. “Don’t give up.” He mutters to himself after River gives him the advice. He finds himself respecting the woman even more with every climb. Felix Grayling rolled 5 dice to "Strength + Athletics + Climbing Specialty -2" 4,10,10,5,4,1,7(2 successes)
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CuteLikeMurder
Staff Member
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As if killing the bard impresses us.
Posts: 2,268
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Post by CuteLikeMurder on Nov 25, 2012 18:40:57 GMT -5
Ember Clay: District Twelve Female Tribute, “The Girl Who Loved to Play with Fire”
“More comfortable than dying.” Ember chuckled... “True that.”
Amethyst had a sense of humor. Good for her. At least someone around here knew what a sarcasm was. Ember was glad. Maybe these capitol puppets were just like them.
Only difference is where they were born, Ember supposed.
She committed what was being told to her to memory. Stealth would keep her hidden. To the untrained eye she'd be able to rain down death. To the trained eye, Ember would buy herself precious time for a decisive attack.
“What if I went to ground... I mean dug a hole, or built some shelter for myself?” she asked, adding, “I got caught in a blizzard once with my sister... we dug ourselves makeshift hut out of snow... tried to keep ourselves hidden, because of the wolves.”
She thought about her trainer's question or where to go next. “I'd like to hide in a winter environment with little cover first.”
If they had time she'd work on how to camouflage her layers in the dead of winter.
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QuinnTalon
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For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.
Posts: 1,351
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Post by QuinnTalon on Nov 25, 2012 18:59:17 GMT -5
Jan Colton[/u] He'd been staring at that tree for twenty minutes, his fingers curled around the hilt of the machete. Jace's coffin had been delivered yesterday. Chopped into firewood by this afternoon. After, of course, there had been a viewing in the house for anyone who wanted to say goodbye, and then his father had taken him into the barley field and buried him.
They hadn't seen him. He'd stayed out there for much longer than it took to fill in that hole in the ground. Ma had said he was 'taking his time'. Jan...Jan hadn't been able to go.
It just would have been too much, to watch the dirt pile on his brother's body. Just...too much.
But he'd come out here with a machete, and was staring at that tree. No one knew where he was. Max would cover for him. More than one person would cover for him right now. He'd gone off by himself, and for all they knew he just wanted to be alone.
It was the truth. Just not in the way they thought.
The blade was sharp. It had to be, to cut through those stalks, and Jan stared at that tree for a full twenty minutes, trying to picture something other than barley. Picture something other than a tree...
....Tried to picture a person. Someone real. Like that girl Elena who Jace had killed the other night. Sliced her throat, and then Linwood.
What had it been like? He wanted to know. He needed to know.
His hand tightened around the machete.
Closed his eyes. Opened them.
In front of him stood that boy. Linwood. Coming at him with a sword, and Jan gritted his teeth and lunged.
Struck.
He closed his eyes. Opened them again.
There was a slash in the tree. Where that boy's stomach would have been. At least, so far as Jan could tell.
Strange.... ...It felt right.
He felt determination bleed into every piece of himself. Next year.
Next year, they'd see something he was sure they'd never seen before. A year later, and Jan caught himself imagining that boy again. Linwood, coming at him. Linwood, ducking and weaving, and Jan gritted his teeth, feet moving to get a few good hits in. One to the thigh. A better, fantastic hit to the side. Another to his upper right arm, making him stagger and then nearly fall. Jan knew it was a dummy. A mechanical thing made to move away and try and discern his movements, but in his head it was Linwood. The boy who'd died next to Jace. The one who'd come after him with a sword. The one the Capitol had forced to become a monster. 2012-11-26 00:24:01 Jan Colton rolled 7 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Knife Specialty -1" 9,1,6,2,3,9,3 (2 successes) 2012-11-26 00:25:14 Jan Colton rolled 8 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Knife Specialty (Spetnaz)" 3,2,4,10,7,6,8,10,8,2 (4 successes) 2012-11-26 00:26:18 Jan Colton rolled 7 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Knife Specialty -1" 10,8,1,2,2,4,8,3 (3 successes) Jan gritted his teeth, pacing a few times. Dancing a bit on his feet and aiming for a soft, easy spot to make the killing blow. Not nearly as good as the blow he'd made out on the floor, but here he wasn't trying to impress. Here, he had privacy. Just like at his poor abused tree in District 9, and he felt the laughing, clowning boy bleed away, and that Absolute Zero Terror that he'd become replace him. Dead inside, and with one purpose. To break hearts. To rip them to shreds. To let them feel just an ounce of the pain he'd felt the day his father had buried his brother in the barley field. And he'd kill a hundred 'Linwoods' to make that happen. But right now? It was time to tear apart a few of these dummies. 2012-11-26 00:29:21 Jan Colton rolled 9 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Knife Specialty + 2 (2 Rounds of Prep)" 6,2,1,10,9,1,5,5,3,10,1 (3 successes)
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Post by Seryna on Nov 26, 2012 0:35:57 GMT -5
Endurance Station: Felix [and Roger] Felix pushes past the uncertainty of the new element and manages to overcome the slick rock face. He pulls himself past the crack in the wall that the water spills out of. The front of his shirt becomes water logged, but he realizes that there is a rock shelf atop of the crack. Pulling himself onto the shelf, he finds enough room to stand on while hanging onto a ledge for support. Looking upwards, he realizes that the 'top' is a series of uneven boulders. "Nicely done." River praises as she eases up beside him, hanging onto the wall. "The top is to simulate an uneven surface. Pull yourself up and over the wall, first. Make sure you keep moving forward to get to the other side - the rocks span six feet wide with a twelve foot drop on either side. You can get away from the ledge. You'll be faced with twelve feet of uneven boulders, sand and loose gravel. This is to learn how to find secure foot falls in uneven areas. There might be a savanna, a dessert or a rock mountain in this arena. I'll see you at the top." River moves upwards and demonstrates how to climb up a section of the wall with a smaller boulder. She tested the boulder with her hand by swinging up and griping the side. Not finding one she liked, she eased back down on her toe holds and reached for another boulder. This one had a jagged edge- more dangerous for ones' fingers, but a stronger hold. River pushed forward and pulled herself up and over the top ledge, vanishing from sight. After some maneuvering, Felix pulled himself up onto the ledge after her. Felix immediately faced a series of large boulders, smaller rocks and sandy areas. He landed on a sandy rock - free area and surveyed the twelve feet ahead of him. He could see some patches of the rock and sand were dark with water. Seven feet up ahead, a male trainer was walking Roger through a waterlogged area. Roger was skinny and somewhat out of shape. He kept sinking down into the sand. Felix could see that he could hop across the rocks - some that were spherical and looked hard to stand on, some were flat and looked like a solid place to stand. The sand looked inviting, save for some valleys where he could see jagged rocks poking out from underneath. He had to choose - hop on the rocks, or walk on the sand? River stood behind him, perched on a rock the size of Felix's head. She was quiet, letting him think. [Rock hopping - Wits + Athletics OR Sand crossing Stamina + Athletics]
Camoflague station Ember "Theres a possibility." Amethyst replied. "You can work on your shelter to blend into the environment. Using these tools you'd have a good chance of making it blend in. Using the snow is a good way to help the eye move over the shelter. Unless one has sunglasses or goggles, the glare from the snow makes it difficult to see. Its easier to pick out contrast." After Ember made her decision, Amethyst led Ember into the 'arena' set up. Amethyst walked Ember to three different shelters that were difficult to detect. One was constructed out of tree limbs, dead leaves and layers of snow. It was only two feet off of the ground and was a tight fit; but ones' eye slid over it.
The second was constructed from a tarp that was tied to a tree and set at a steep angle. It was a 'lean to' with only enough room for one person to crawl in underneath. The tarp was open on three sides and Amethyst pointed out that wind, rain and snow could easily drift in. The tarp - originally blue - had been rolled in mud that had dried. Tree branches, leaves and reeds had been cleverly placed on the edges. Someone had piled snow along the edges to make it look like a snow bank.
The third was a mere hole that Ember nearly passed. Amethyst crouched beside it and pointed out that it was a rudimentary sow cave, perhaps similiar to what Ember had made. It was small, simple - and offered little protection from the elements.
Amethyst led Ember to a plain, easily seen wooden shelter; similiar to the one Isolde had been seen creating at the shelter area.
"Go ahead and begin concealing it." Amethyst encouraged.
[Intelligence + Crafts to try to alter found branches, leaves, reeds and snow or Intelligence + Stealth to use found materials in the best way possible]
Sword training Station Jan [and Victoria; elsewhere] "Good form on your attacks..." Marlin stated slowly. "You had a lot of passion on your killing blow. Yet you have had more force on some of your attacks. Remember to use your momentum to fuel your forward motion. Let your body do most of the work." Marlin, sword in hand, demonstrated a forceful blow to the neck on the dummy that Jan had 'killed'. Marlin demonstrated the move more slowly, pausing mid - motion. The trainer then gestured for Jan to make another killing blow attempt. Marlin motioned to the areas of motion that Jan used - a lunge with his legs, a downward thrust with his arms. After a few more slow motion manuevers, Marlin had described several ways to make the motion faster and with more force; while putting less stress on Jan's joints.
"I think you've learned all you can." Marlin stated. "You are free to stay and practice with the dummies."
Despite her best efforts, Lily just couldn't get the hang of manipulating the blocks sufficiently underwater as well as hold her breath. After the third time returning to the surface, she conceeded her obvious failure. "I'm not getting this done anytime soon." she informed the instructor. "Don't despair." The instructor advised. He reached into a floating box and drew out six floating cubes. "Lets take out the time factor for right now. There are three patterns on these blocks." He flipped the blocks over to show Lily the images - two of an arrow, two of a sword and two of a fish. The trainer flipped the blocks over to thier blank sides. "Match the pairs." Though she struggled again at first, this time Lily was fortunate enough to find success. Yes, a valuable skill for the arena... she could match three similar pairs of objects. She was so glad nobody else was at this station besides her right now, because she'd have never lived this down...
The trainer brought out nine more blocks and showed them to Lily. These were all similiar to the blocks already out, but different in color. He helped Lily learn short term memory techniques - the first was counting the blocks to where the one she knew was. Word assocition came next; followed by mnumerics. It took time and several minutes of practice, but when Lily matched five pairs the trainer nodded approvingly.
The trainer now brought Lily out of the water and led her to a quick dryer that dried her clothing quickly; a luxury of the Capitol. Lily was led to a computer screen with several darkened boxes. The trainer pushed one and an image of a cat appeared. He pushed another to reveal a bird. "Its similar to the blocks, but this is designed to evolve with you. With each success that you have; more shapes will be added. The challenge will help stimulate you. Don't be distracted by missing the shapes. Focus on memorizing where the ones you know are and building from there.'
[Wits + Larceny]
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Post by Lite on Nov 26, 2012 15:09:46 GMT -5
As Felix realises that the front of his shirt has been soaked by water, he groans a little. He pulls himself up onto the rock shelf and moves his shoulders around to get the shirt unstuck from his torso before he looks up at the top of the obstacle. He’s surprised to see what’s above him, and becomes excited once again at the prospect of reaching a new challenge. As River praises him and then goes on to explain what he should expect at the top, Felix nods. “Right. Ok.” He nods, and follows her as she ascends up to the top. He shimmies along the wall before he reaches the top, and he pulls himself up onto the ledge beside River. He steps forward, taking in what has been presented before him. With a look to the rock jumping section, Felix evaluates it. While it could be a challenge, Felix is more tempted by the sandy area. He wanted to really challenge himself, and Roger looked as though he was having a hard time pushing through the area. After about a minute, Felix turns to River. “I’ll go with the sand.” He says to her, and once again he quickly moves on and into the sandy area. Felix Grayling rolled 5 dice to "Stanima + Athletics" 4,3,8,4,3(1successes
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Post by Seryna on Nov 26, 2012 19:48:12 GMT -5
Felix manages to pick his way across the sand. The dry sand had to be scrutinized for sharp, jagged rocks lurking just beneath the blonde - white surface. The wet sand sucked at his boots, making him sink down and battle for momentum. He watched as Roger wrenched himself out up ahead and trudged up to dry rocky land. Wet sand coated Roger's boots.
Looking down at his own feet, Felix wrenched his foot loose and found a rock. Pushing off of the solid surface, he trudged forward. It was a work out to move through the sand that pulled him down. It seemed to take ages to reach the hard, rocky ground on the other side.
"Nice work." River praised, leading him to the edge of the wall. "Have you ever rappelled?"
The rope harness was added to, giving Felix some rope to let out as he descended. River descended first, talking him through the harrowing necessity of lowering himself off of the edge. Descending quickly, Felix's feet hit the ground of the training floor. It had been hard work, but through the weariness, he felt better for it.
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Post by Aeon The Phoenix on Nov 26, 2012 19:58:24 GMT -5
Lily Zelle rolled 6 dice to "Wits/Larceny" 2,5,2,9,7,5 (1 success) While the screen interface was certainly easy to get the hang of using, as the number of blocks on the screen increased Lily started to see where the real task lay. Everytime she got a pair wrong, they went blank again leaving her to relocate the correct pairs. To her credit however, within a short while there were at least twice as many pairs on screen as when she started. Having a chance to use her brain like this was surprisingly fun...
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CuteLikeMurder
Staff Member
Gamemaker (HG Mod)
As if killing the bard impresses us.
Posts: 2,268
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Post by CuteLikeMurder on Nov 26, 2012 20:39:23 GMT -5
Ember Clay: District Twelve Female Tribute, “The Girl Who Loved to Play with Fire” “I can’t do it!”
Her face always got so red when she was angry, her little hands clenched into little fists. She kicked at the dirt. She had been working on the snares for hours with no luck. She just couldn’t get the knot to stick.
Cinder took one look at her and chuckled. That just made Ember angrier which in turn made her older sister laugh harder.
“You’re always so willing to give up, little sister.” Cinder’s voice was soothing and sweet.
Ember frowned. “I’m stupid. I might as well not even try.”
“Now that’s stupid,” Cinder said. “If you’re afraid of failure you’ll quit. And if you quit, you’ll never have any hope of getting better.”
Cinder inspected the snare again. “Your knots aren’t tight enough. Here, this knot is better… you see why?... It took someone else showing me it first.”
Ember looked surprised, Cinder was her personal hero. The fact that she had to practice at something in order to get better, changed her perspective. Though the perspectives of 5 year olds were often very changeable. “Who taught you?”
“Mom did… a long time ago... when we were happy…” After about 20 minutes Ember was certain she had done it wrong. Was it concealed… Yes, but to her it just looked like a hut that she decorated. She decided to move outside her comfort zone because the only way she was going to learn this stuff was by failing horribly, first. Ember tried to mimic the second display because she alliance mates to think about. “Alright, Teach… I’m sure I did this wrong…” Ember confessed. HG 26 - Ember Clay rolled 4 dice to "Int+Stealth" 1,1,4,6 (0 successes )[/spolier]
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Post by Lite on Nov 27, 2012 11:52:35 GMT -5
Felix is proud of himself and his efforts. When he pushes through the sandy area, he feels himself putting in a lot more strength than he had before. Continuing to move on through becomes progressively harder the deeper into the sand he gets. But by the time he reaches the end, he actually starts to enjoy the challenge. He smiles at River as she explains how to get back down the rock face.
At the bottom of the station, Felix is positively glowing. He steps out of his belt and turns to River. “River, thank you.” He says sincerely, holding his hand out to shake the instructors. Whether she shakes it or not doesn’t worry him, he wants to show his gratitude. “I would recommend your station to anyone.” He grins, before turning around and walking towards at Axe station with a newfound strength that he had never experienced before.
“Finally.” Felix’s eyes gleam as they drift over the axes, “I’m good. I want to be better.” He looks at the instructor with another gleam in his eyes, though this is not in awe. This gleam holds the hidden glee of being able to touch an axe again. Felix steps forward and takes a hold of an axe. The room falls silent, to him anyway, and he sighs at the devastatingly familiar weight in his hands. His eyes open again, and he grips the axe tightly.
“Really challenge me.”
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QuinnTalon
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For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.
Posts: 1,351
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Post by QuinnTalon on Nov 27, 2012 12:36:19 GMT -5
"This will be useful. Thanks." He's breathing heavily, still flipping the knife in his hand and looking down at his handiwork. He'd be killing people with this. Real people. People who were working in this room. Jace would think like that. Jan, on the other hand, had long ago accepted that if he wanted to get his 'work' done, he'd need to kill people. A lot of them. He'd have to become a murderer. He'd have to become everything Jace wasn't. And that was just fine with him. A few more run-throughs, and then he handed the knife back to the instructor before heading out. Wandering a bit to see if he wanted to learn something else. They had 'survival' covered, and if things went smooth, they might not have to worry too much anyway. But there was somewhere Jan knew he lacked, and he stopped to watch little Lily on the memory game. He wasn't all that quick on the uptake. His brother was better. In just about every way. Jace had been better. "Hey." He stepped up next to the girl. She his youngest brother's age, and it made him sick that Sam could one day be standing here, if things went bad and he got Reaped. Or The One forbid, he followed in Jan's footsteps. The One forbid he Volunteer. Like Jan had the feeling Max would. Eventually. "Mind if I play too?" He wanted to be better, and he would be. Something needed to give, and he needed to be faster on the uptake and on his feet. This would be a useful skill to have. "Tell me how to start, and I'll see if I can figure it out." He knew he was a little sweaty and exhausted looking from physical exertion, and he had the feeling that after this, he'd be mentally exhausted to. But if you weren't tired at the end of the day, you didn't work hard enough. Or so Pa always said. 2012-11-27 18:31:48 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 5,4,6,1 (0 successes) 2012-11-27 18:32:15 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 2,3,9,10,9 (3 successes) 2012-11-27 18:33:01 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 7,10,9,4,1 (2 successes) 2012-11-27 18:33:32 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 6,10,7,7,9 (2 successes)
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Post by Seryna on Nov 27, 2012 12:48:45 GMT -5
Wits Station
Lily & Jan Lily works at the memorization station for nearly thirty minutes. The time seems to fly by as her concentration is taxed. Soon, a hand of the trainer gently touches her shoulder.
"You've made much improvement, Lily." The trainer assures her. "You're memory has improved. You may stay and practice or you can attend another station."
The trainer nods to Jan and gestures to the seat besides Lily. "Its ideally a simple matching game controlled by touch. It adapts to your successes for a challenge."
Jan began to work beside Lily and found the initial attempt difficult. Yet as he adapted to the game, he realized that all he needed to win was right in front of him. After a rough start, his work space slowly expanded to thirty six moving and evolving memory squares. He had to sharpen his wits to keep up with the fast paced game.
Ember Clay Camoflague Station
"Its not an easy skill." Amethyst assures, kneeling beside Ember's 'shelter'. "One thinks that its instinctive, but you've never been allowed to slumber outside of your home. Here-" Her eyes caught on something. "- this gap in the branches is a good place to place moss and leaves." Amethyst crawled around to the front of the shelter.
"Concealing the opening with natural elements is good. Carrying smaller rocks to break up the dark profile, placing the opening in front of a tree, placing small branches in front of it."
For several minutes, Amethyst placed different elements on the shelter, showing Ember the differnet effects of using different materials. Ember had another chance of choosing what to place for several minutes. Amethyst offered advice until she felt satisfied that Ember could conceal a shelter.
"You know how to conceal a shelter." Amethyst assured Ember. "Would you like to continue to practice concealing yourself? Or do you have something else in mind?"
Felix Axe station
"This isn't your first time with an axe." The trainer noted. "But I hope its your first time learning to kill someone. A tree doesn't protest its harvest. Your first lesson will be to learn to adapt to someone's movements."
Felix was walked to a moving dummy with his axe and told to attack its chest area for three good, solid hits. [3 rolls of Weaponry + Strength]
The trainer surveyed Felix's efforts and stepped up beside him, offering advice.
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Post by Lite on Nov 27, 2012 13:06:57 GMT -5
Felix nods at the instructor. “Fair point.” He says, spinning the axe around once before stepping forward to the moving dummy. Felix watched for an opening. Felix Grayling rolled 7 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Axe Speciality" 7,7,7,9,4,3,9 (2 successes) Felix grins, shoving the axe in the dummy’s side. He imagines it to be a tree. A moving tree. Felix Grayling rolled 7 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Axe Speciality" 9,3,7,10,3,3,5,9 (3 successes) The second blow goes to an arm. Felix Grayling rolled 7 dice to "Weaponry + Strength + Axe Speciality" 3,2,4,4,9,3,1 (1 successes) The third slashes the dummy’s torso. He looks at the instructor, running his hand down the sharp edge of the axe. “Very nice axe...”
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QuinnTalon
Staff Member
Gamemaker (HG MOD)
For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.
Posts: 1,351
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Post by QuinnTalon on Nov 27, 2012 13:13:43 GMT -5
Jan Colton[/u] It wasn't easy. And he was concentrating. Hard. Jan had the feeling that when this was over he'd have a heck of a headache. He was making matches, not as fast as he wanted to, but at the same time he was concentrating enough adn getting faster as the exercises went on. More and more and more. The more he succeeded, the harder it got, and this was arguably harder than the sword-station. He was concentrating hard. Hard enough that he could feel sweat between his shoulderblades and running down the sides of his head. This...this was difficult. But he had to get better. If nothing else, the Sponsors would see more than just a 'pretty face' when they saw Jan Colton. They'd see utter and complete determination. I will winFrom his thoughts, to The One's ears. That was just the way it was going to be. 2012-11-27 19:12:01 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 3,8,4,7 (1 successes) 2012-11-27 19:12:26 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 4,8,4,9 (2 successes) 2012-11-27 19:12:52 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 1,5,3,10,10,9 (3 successes) 2012-11-27 19:13:18 Jan Colton rolled 4 dice to "Wits + Resolve" 2,5,3,2 (0 successes)
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Post by Aeon The Phoenix on Nov 27, 2012 14:27:49 GMT -5
With her work at the memorization station over (and thankfully the whole session was not a total display of failure...) Lily excused herself politely and headed over to the balance beams.
"I'd like to try this station." she informed the instructor there, casting a worried glance at the clock that was rapidly counting away the last precious minutes of training they had left.
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CuteLikeMurder
Staff Member
Gamemaker (HG Mod)
As if killing the bard impresses us.
Posts: 2,268
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Post by CuteLikeMurder on Nov 27, 2012 15:57:40 GMT -5
Ember Clay: District Twelve Female Tribute, “The Girl Who Loved to Play with Fire”
“Practice makes perfect,” Ember said, flatly. But they both knew she didn't have time for that. She wanted to go elsewhere. Maybe it was time for her to show off too.
“But I gotta go... Thanks for your time. And the tips... Oh, before I motor, keep that sense o' humor of yours.”
Ember rushed over to the Swimming Station. There was a lake not far from outside of district 12. But she hardly spent anytime there after Cinder had died. That was their place and it always seemed like she was tresspassing without her sister there.
“So... swimming... I'd like to learn some of that... I guess...” Ember told the swimming instructor as she approached.
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