Passion Rules the Arrow that Flies [Tag; WT]

[galexkatniss]

"A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes..."


~Zuleika~



"I live in another world where life and death are memorized..."

It had been such a long day. One of those days that seemed to drag on and on, and no matter what she couldn't focus. Her sister had known something was wrong, but knew even better not to push Zee. She was the kind of girl who would rather keep things to herself, unlike other girls she knew that would rant for hours to other people. I can't imagine feeling comfortable enough with someone you just met to spill your guts to them. Her hands carefully removed the chalk coated wraps from her wrists and ankles. She'd been teaching gymnastics today, and felt bad that her mind had been somewhere else the whole time. And that somewhere is what scared Zee the most. Somewhere, anywhere but here, her mind didn't belong. It was a dangerous place she sometimes went to. And Dangerous places weren't worth the risk, or maybe they were? Sometimes she wondered, why the hell she thought of all these things. Surely this isn't the mindset of most twenty years old, boy, or girls. Even Sadie didn't always understand why she worried so much, over so many things that she had no control over.

"Whom nature’s beast fears as they come and all I see are dark eyes."

Putting her wraps into the small cubby that had her name written on in. still in crayon from all those years ago, she smiled. Growing up like this had been a good thing, the Capitol falling had been a good thing. There had been a lot of good things in her life. Zee grew up supporting the rebels that took down Capitol, and stopped the Hunger Games. She was terrified though, that the games were back. Not the same as before, but still there. Her fear for Sadie far outweighed her fear for herself. She would always be for the side that overthrew the Capitol those years ago. Even as shy as she was, Zee sometimes thought of helping get rid of what was left of the Capitol, the ones that were stealing children for the bloody games they loved so much. The very thought of it made Zee's chest feel tight, and burning. Losing Sadie made her blood run cold. There was to much at stake for her to just sit back and let these capitol creeps keep robbing the children of Panem.

"They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I’m sure it is."

Zee tried to shake her head clean of the dark thoughts that were brewing. Changing from her gym close into a more more outfit, and slipping shoes on, she left the gym and locked it up. People sometimes watch her when she walked down the street, and god did it make her uncomfortable. She was pretty, and renown for her Gymnastic Career. But all the attention made her want to crawl out of sight and be forgotten. Like Sadie have the spotlight all to herself. Sadie who took everything in stride, and was calm and confident in front of other. Unlike Zee who froze, in front of crowds, before slipping a way like a frightened puppy with its tail between its legs. Maybe someday she'd meet someone she could talk to her. Her father constantly bugged her about the fact that her sister was her only friend. And that she was twenty years old and never been in a relationship. Zee always tried to let it roll right off, but sometimes it made her think. Was there something wrong with her? No, nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with me, except everything. She walked quickly and quietly towards her home near the edge of District One.

((ooc- Haha like my fail-tastic thread starting skills? XD ))

[Thundy]

OOC: Mind if I join in? I can't reply until sometime after the 25th, however, but I'd really like to RP if you don't mind waiting for my reply.

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[galexkatniss]

((ooc- Sure Thundy! You're welcome to join in and reply whenever you get a chance. ))

[Wolf Tears]

((OOC- Of course, Thundy! =D And gxk, if that was fail than this must be uber-fail. =P Don't worry, thread-starting is hard.))

"I still don't understand how you stand dresses like that." Lawynamere gestured at her own clothing, a vivid splash of orange and yellow. The ensemble went well with today's orangish contacts, but Kaphaylia still winced when she looked at it; her sister had absolutely no understanding of the fact that there was a limit to how much you could use bright colors, even in summer and especially in a pants/shirt combo. Silly girl.

Anyway, the dress. She twirled, and the skirt flared out, spinning with her and showing off her legs. "That's why! It's trendy and it's cute and it looks good on me."

"I don't get it, though. Why does it need a side split when it's not even knee-length."

"It's fashion, Lawynamere." Kaphalia rolled her eyes, but secretly she was pleased. It had been hell trying to convince her younger sister that they really did need to go into town to get some supplies, and it was really, really nice to be talking about things like clothes instead of murmuring a constant stream of reassurances that they weren't about to die. Phayl had no idea why her little sister had randomly calmed down halfway through the day (and she wasn't about to ask, either- no doubt it had something to do with faerie worms or something equally confusing and ridiculous), but she appreciated it immensly.

She had also, though she wasn't aware of this yet, just jinxed it.

"But why does-"

Lawynamere ran smack into a stranger, and Kaphaylia realized in an instant that she had spoken (well, thought) way too soon.

She wasn't even conscious of grabbing her little sister; it was an automatic reaction to the younger woman's piercing shriek, a behaviour she'd learned after several years of traveling with a paranoid companion. It was a good thing she did; snagging the darker girl around the waist meant that the punch she swung at the unlucky stranger's head hit only air. She had seen her frail little sister knock out people for brushing against her, and they didn't need that kind of drama on a simple trip to the shops. "Calmare, Wyn," she said in as soothing a voice as she could manage. Calm. "She's not the one who killed Ded and Mamma and Papà. She's not a threat."

"She's a huntress, she's gonna kill me and then you! Phayl, we have to get away-"

"No, she's not." Kaphaylia's interruption held no apology whatsoever; her voice was harsh and insistent, which was pretty much the only way to get through to Wyn when she got like this. "Look at me, W- look at me!" Lawynamere had started struggling again; Kaphaylia shook her a little bit less than gently, forcing her head to snap back and face the older sister. "Trust me. Da? I'm your sister. I know these things. Calm down, Wyn."

Wyn's panicked eyes flared a little wider, then quieted. She nodded, a tiny motion that turned into something a little stronger. "Certo," she murmured. Of course. Phayl sighed a tiny bit in relief and pulled her sister into a firm hug. The younger girl buried her face in the older one’s shoulder and clung tightly. “Y-you’re sure?”

“Yomayo,” Phayl muttered as she leaned her head back and heaved a second, much larger sigh. “Wynunya, you are unbelievable. Sì, I’m positive she’s not going to kill either of us.” She put her head back in its usual position and offered a half-apologetic, half-exasperated smile to the girl whose misfortune it had been to run into Lawynamere. “Sorry,” she mouthed. The woman had to be confused beyond belief; based on previous reactions of other people to similar events, Phayl would bet even money that the only reason she was still around was that the whole ordeal had only lasted a few seconds and she hadn’t had time to run. A shame, really- keeping Wyn calm would be a lot easier if the other woman had just poofed instantly. Not to mention that even though it had been an accident, the incident hadn’t exactly endeared the stranger to her- there were much, much better ways to get on Kaphaylia Rossini's good side than freaking out her sister, no matter how easily-spooked Lawynamere was.

[galexkatniss]

~Zee~


She was almost home, just a little farther to go. Sadie wouldn't be home from the gym for another hour or so before returning home. Zee figured she'd start dinner and get things ready for her little sister's return home. Yes, she admitted that she babied Sadie who was eighteen. But the girl was so small and friendly, Zee had nightmares of someone hurting her, or stealing her away. And that would send her over the edge. Her little adopted sister was everything to her, unfortunately for her father, Zee cared far more for Sadie them him. She didn't mean for it to be that way, it's just came to be. When they compete against each other in gymnastics the first time, Zee hadn't want to let Sadie win. But the littler girl was too smart for that and made her promise to do her very best. Which of course resulted in Zuleika winning and Sadie coming in second. Their father was so proud. Some asked Zee if she didn't like having to share her dad with Sadie. And of course she didn't mind at all so she told them that. But what she didn't tell them was she actually had a harder time sharing Sadie with her father. She would protect that girl from anything, not that she'd even need to defend her from her father, but she would if she ever had to.


That's when it happened. Someone walked into poor unsuspecting Zee. Her years of balance beam allowed her to gracefully right herself. But then the girl who had run into her starting talking about her being a killer? That she was going to kill the two sisters in front of her just like she killed there parents. It made no sense to Zee, she'd never seen these two before in her life. Finally with help from what Zee had decided must be her sister calmed down a bit. When one mouthed 'sorry' she just nodded as not to upset the other one further. Carefully she took one small step back and then plastered one of her fake smiles on. When you were a performer, you knew had to smile anytime, at anyone. "I'm sorry if I hurt you... I just didn't see you an-..." Her voice cut off. Curse her shyness, she could barely speak a paragraph to strangers without making herself sound like a fool when in reality she was very smart. She timidly bent down and began picking up the few things she'd dropped. Just a loaf of bread and a wrapped fished she was bring home for to nights dinner. Now that Panem was so much more open, she loved to buy fresh fish from District Four once a weak for Sadie who loved it so much. She looked over at the girl how had done the comforting and struggling to form words, she finally managed, "Sorry if I scared her or you. I'm Zee." Yes, introducing yourself as Zee wasn't something most people did. But number one, with a name like Zuleika, you needed something easier, and two, her real name was what was used during her gymnastic career, which drew attention to her. And she hated attention. She seemed to have a weird sense in her mind that the attention should always be on her little sister, never her. Don't waste your time on her, Sadie is the shining girl who is everything you could want in a person. Not like Zee who always seemed to be ending up like a deer in headlights. A beautiful deer, but a deer non the less.


The poor girl almost passed out at the thought of having to hold a conversation with strangers, but she didn't want to be seen as rude either. No, no, no, her parents had taught her better than that. Well... Mainly her dad, since her mom had died. But the point was she knew it would be rude to bolt away right know and just leave the two thinking they'd scared her off or something, even if she did really just want to head the other direction at the moment. Why did life always seem to put Zee in a place where she need her words? Talking to people was always so hard for her. And then she stumbled over words and oh, it was painful to watch sometimes. To see the beautiful young woman choke up in front of a crowd of people, then seem to vanish. She was a master of avoiding confrontation most of the time, but today was not her day. It hadn't been from the beginning when a report at the gym asked her how she felt about Sadie passing her medal count. Of course Zee didn't care, she was proud! But there was a small part of her that said if she ever went back from teaching to competing she would be able to make it back to the top. But the other half of her said Sadie was better, and wanted it more, therefore it was her right. Yes she often fought her self back and forth on many issues, that was Zee. She shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the other looking at the girls, hoping they won't put her in a position where she has to talk much.

[Thundy]

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

"P-lease J-Jared. I c-can't t-take this any l-longer."

Zinnia could feel her pulse drumming a million times a second through every single vein in her body. Her mind was focused on every single breath that she took; her lungs felt like they were on fire as she took what would certainly be her last breaths, in and out, in and out. Her entire body felt weak, and even if she wanted to try and stand up for just one more attack, just one more chance at life.. she could not. The blood was dripping from the large gash on her forehead more quickly then before, still intermingling with her tears as they both rushed down her agonized face. Too weak to stand up for herself, too weak to live another day. It was the end of her, but just as her attacker walked up to her and set his dagger against her already blood-soaked neck, Zinnia Yaren's energized green eyes opened and her limbs raged with such ferocity that she rolled over twice and found herself slamming her already bruised head into the grimy wall next to her as she woke up from her nightmare.

"Crap, crap, crap.." She exclaimed louder then was probably necessary, holding the right side of her head as if that would keep it from throbbing painfully. Both of her hands flew to her face to hold it, and it was while she was sitting in that awkward position, crumpled up on the floor, that she realized what had really just happened. That dream. But no, it was no dream. Dreams were wonderful, happy things. They were the only thing that made life a bit bearable for her. When she went to sleep she always looked forward to her dreams in hope of peace and maybe even happiness, but that was no dream. Zinnia no longer dreamed at night when she closed her eyes to sleep. The previous was just another nightmare, though it was the first to ever affect her as much. Or at least, she had never once injured herself just from a silly nightmare.

Even so, her nightmare had been anything but silly. It was the most peculiar thing; it didn't even seem like the person was herself. The person in her dream had dark black hair, not brown. The change was slight, though that wasn't what bothered her most. She had lived through an entire Games experience in her mind, only to die. But it wasn't her! It couldn't possibly be. The person in her dream didn't have an abusive father. That father was dead, murdered as the girl in her nightmare watched with both anger and tears. That black-haired girl was not herself; Zinnia Yaren was no murderer. She would not kill such an innocent person at the Bloodbath, and she would sure as hell never manipulate and murder an alliance member of hers. Or would she? The thought frightened her immensely. She struggled to keep herself sane at times- and of course she was never one to play nicely- though murder was something she would never gain on her long list of wrongs.

(Maybe)

Standing up from the awkward position that she was currently in, Zinnia removed one of her hands from her throbbing head and struggled to listen for any sign of noise. She hoped to all goodness that she hadn't awoken her father; he would surely be hungry and she would have nothing to show for it. Her soft-green eyes scanned the darkness for a moment and she fumbled to find the spot where the window would be. She pulled up the curtains and instantly a rush of light beamed into the room. Squinting at the sudden brightness, her heartbeat quickened slightly out of fear. It was late afternoon, and her nap had taken too much time. Her father would be awake soon, as well, from where he had passed out on the ratty couch in the other room. He would not be happy. And he would be hungry.

With that thought in mind, Zinnia scrambled out of her room as quickly as possible, unaware of what she was actually wearing until she was in the full light of the day and breathing the (somewhat) fresh air. As she looked down at herself, she only felt a small amount of shame as she realized that she was wearing the same outfit she was yesterday- a ragged, dirty tee-shirt and jeans that were no better off. She hadn't even remembered to bring shoes with her, though she didn't mind that fact as much. It wasn't as if there was snow on the ground- it was warm out. Nice even. In fact, the shoes that she did own were no better off then her clothing- they didn't actually fit her correctly and they both had worn holes in their soles. Her hair was a mess as well, the entire mass of it was tangled and unclean. She didn't have to look at her face to know that it was bruised up and dirty from sleeping on the cold, filthy floor of the small house that she lived in. She wanted nothing else other then to hide among the few people who were walking along the sidewalks, though hiding among others wasn't an option. She was the only person who looked like a bum.

Shrugging the thought away, she peered around with her sad eyes and pondered how to scavenge for food for that day. Afternoons were always the most difficult, because all of the garbage possible food wasn't put out yet and she had to search for other ways to find it. Most often times this resulted in theft from neighborhood restaurants or from any innocent bystander who happened to be carrying groceries. Today, however, she chose the second option. Scanning the busy street, she eyed a group of girls who had just had somewhat of an accident. One girl collided with the others as they were walking, causing her to drop what she was holding. Zinnia cared little about who the girls were or what was going on, but rather her attention was then focused upon the items that one of the girls had dropped.

Food.

Without even taking another thought, Zinnia proceeded forward as silently as possible, hoping to retrieve the items before the girl picked them up again. As she got closer she identified them as a loaf of bread and some fish. It was almost instantaneously that her mouth began to water- she rarely got food as it is, let alone anything as delicious as fresh bread or fish. She was just about to swoop in and quietly take the items when the girl picked them up once again and it was a bit too late to be secretive about it.

Bread, fish.. The thought was too tempting to pass up. The few meals that she did have were from the dumpster and at least a day old at best, and anything fresh never reached her stomach once she offered it up to her father. He ate most of the food as it is and deprived her of it; there was no way on earth that he would ever willingly share with her any fresh food. She could always steal it and never tell him about it, but then she would have to find something else to give him. It wasn't an easy task, and it was her job. It was her life, or else it had been ever since her mother died. Worrying about feeding him, avoiding getting into trouble with him. It all revolved around him, and he scared the living daylights out of her. It was because of this that Zinnia didn't mind what she was about to do. She would rather face any consequences of theft instead of facing her father. Sighing, she circled the group for a moment and then made her move, lunging in for the bread and fish and hoping with a hungry, reckless feeling that she would be successful.

If that mockingbird won't sing,
Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

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[Wolf Tears]

((OOC- Oh, Lawynamere. <3 Not my best, I'm afraid, but I'm definitely remembering why I enjoy RPing her so much.))

Kaphaylia was staring down the stranger- Zee- like a hawk. Even scared half-witless, Lawynamere managed to take note of that and decide that it was most definitely a bad thing. Hawks were very nice and all- the girls' parents had owned hunting birds when they were young and she had gotten along very well with them- but when humans started to look like them it usually meant something bad for the person (or object) who was being looked at. Especially when it was Phayl giving the hawk-look; Wyn loved her sister dearly, but even she was more than a little terrified of the elder Rossini's wrath. It was lucky for her- and unlucky for everyone else- that her sister was on her side.

That was probably why Phayl had her angry face on, and why her eyes narrowed as she opened her mouth in the way they always did before she laid into someone. Protective older sisters were only lovely people to be close to if they were your protective older sisters. This was not going to be pleasant for the poor Zee girl, not if Kaphaylia had anything to say about it. Or- maybe Lawynamere could stop it! She could say something, yes, and that would cut her sister off. But- could she? She blinked nervously, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"I-"

Yep, that was Phayl's "you just messed with my sister and in about forty-five seconds you're going to wish you'd never met either of us" voice. Lawynamere's mouth opened of it's own accord, and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Potato cakes! Teakettles are friendly!"

Kaphaylia turned to look at her, a mildly hilarious expression on her face. Lawynamere blinked a couple times, then realized she should probably say something that made sense, and she should probably say it to the Zee person.

"H-hi," she managed, then squeaked and ducked behind Kaphaylia. She had talked. She had talked to a stranger. Was the stranger going to kill them now? She peered over her sister's shoulder and decided that no, they were probably safe. If Zee hadn't killed them yet, she probably wouldn't. "I- I- I'm- Il mio nome è Lawynamere. I-I mean, my name- mynameisLawynamere. And it's ok-kay, I'm s-skittish." She gulped, not quite audibly but definitely noticeably, and shrunk down a little further behind Phayl, so that only her eyes and the top of her head were over the older girl's shoulder. She wasn't exactly well-hidden (her big sister wasn't really that much bigger than her anymore), but it was still kind of comforting. This business of talking to people was hard.

Fortunately, she was quickly saved from having to say any more. Unfortunately, the thing that saved her was the appearance of another person, one who quickly morphed into a small cat and leaped, fangs bared, for something that Zee was holding. She shrieked and leaped backwards, almost tripping over her own feet. "It's a demon!" she yelped, her words obscured by tremors of terror but still mostly understandable. "Everyone run away, we're all gonna die, scrappa, run aw-"

A hand slapped across her mouth, and an arm wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides. She stiffened in panic, then relaxed almost instantaneously when she realized that Kaphaylia had grabbed her. Her sister's voice rang out, sharper and much more clear than Wyn's own mangled exclamations from a moment ago, as she scolded the demon- who, apparently, had shifted back into the form of a scruffy young girl. "What do you think you're doing?"

[galexkatniss]

~Zee~

She didn't really no what to say. The one girl wasn't making much sense at all. The only thing she'd managed to gather from her speech as her name was Lawynamere. Pretty name. Zee thought , perhaps even stranger than her own name. It was times like this when her voice failed her. She would open her mouth to speak and nothing would come out. It was like she was living in a dream world where everyone but her had a voice. When actually she could talk just fine but you wouldn't know it at first. People had sometimes asked her father if she was mute. And he'd just laugh and say that she was just shy. Yes painfully, awkwardly so.


That was when another girl had showed up. She looked desperately hungry. That's when she remembered she was bringing home the fish and bread to have a dinner with her little sister today. The sympathetic side of Zee wanted to just give the poor girl the food, but that would leave her going home empty handed to her little sis, and that didn't seem like a good thing either. Zee was broke from her thoughts when the girl had lunged at her in an attempt to get something to eat. She carefully sidestepped away from the girl, stilling clutching her groceries. "Umm can I help you?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. She didn't want to see this hungry girl leave with nothing, maybe just give her half the bread? Oh she was such a softy. She hated seeing other people suffer. Especially girls like this one. Because it was how Sadie had lived with her biological mother until she was four years old. That was when she was given up for adoption and had become Zuleika's little sister. To think with all the improvements in Panem that there would always be some people that had to live like that made her feel guilty that she lived in her own little apartment near by to her family and always had three meals a day.


The poor girl looked like she was in rough shape. And to add to the stress going in See's mind, one of the other girls was freaking out that this homeless girl was a demon? What a strange person. At least her sister seemed to have enough sanity for the both of them. And she questioned the new comer on what exactly they thought they were doing. Stealing was of course still a crime, even in desperate situations like the one of this stranger. Losing her mother had been hard on Zee and sometimes she'd thought about giving but but she'd always had the support of Sadie and her dad. This girl could have no one, or maybe she had someone else she was trying to feed as well? There were a million possible answers for what had caused this to happen to the girl, none of which Zee couldn't think of were favorable. There was defiantly nothing good about starving on the streets. Sadie was one of the luck ones, who got a new home with a loving family. But seeing this had made her realize that there were even more kids like her sister that weren't getting help. That were left to fend for themselves and sometimes others too. Trying to word words that could possibly help in this situation. But speaking had never been her strong point in general, never mind in awkward moments like these. She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, nothing came out. Then she forced out, "I'm sorry..." If they could even hear it she didn't know. Or what exactly she even meant. She was sorry the girl had to live like this and there was nothing she could really go to help except her her a little food.

((ooc- Ack, kinda short, sorry guys. XD ))