Thicker Than Blood Start

[gamemakers]

For Tributes with keen eyes, they'll notice that Peacekeeper presence seems increased and yet infinitely more ineffective in the last few weeks. Peacekeepers seem harried, as do the Stylists, and most of the Escorts titter and plot without alerting the Tributes as to what, exactly, is so exciting. They simply say that this weekend they'll know.

And so it happens that on the weekend in question, the Tributes are woken by their Escorts early and brought to a restaurant for a hearty breakfast. The restaurant is nothing spectacular, although they seem to be trying to make an impression on the television cameras that float around. The sleepy, cranky meal goes by and then the Tributes are led back to their Suites for a mandatory meeting.

Sitting on couches and the floor, in chairs and on windowsills, standing off to the side - people from the Tributes' homes are waiting to greet them in each District Suite. Some are confused, some accepting, some frightened and some elated to see their beloved. Either way, it should be an eventful reunion.

Comments

[beautedudiable]

Apolline hardly even paid attention to the short lecture directed at her. Petty squabbles or not, their brother was here... He was right in front of them and hugging them back and nothing could mess this up. Apolline pointedly ignored Elodie's comment and instead focused on everything positive that she could.

"The only thing difficult about this will be if we must leave you," she assured him quietly, her trembling lips pressed firmly together to fight off any threatening tears. "Are you doing well here, Dominique?"

[thatonesister]

"Leave?" Jean-Marie's eyes widened considerably at Apolline. She wanted then to inch closer towards Dominique and cling to his arm, but her other sisters were in the way, so she settled instead with wringing her hands. "Why must we leave then, if it is not a dream? I do like it here."

And was it not what everyone else wanted? To be together again, just like before? "Perhaps this is a miracle!"

[tributevisitors]

"Hush, let him explain." Elodie reaches over and rubs Jean-Marie's shoulder, comforting her in the way their own mother used to do in the years when the poor woman was still alive. She backs away so that the others may get in all the physical contact that their mourning has sewn into them.

"I'm afraid I don't understand any of this place. I'm sure your other sisters are no better off, Dominique. Are we to believe this is Heaven?"

[lasoeur]

She leaned against their brother, as her sisters spoke, letting the feeling of his form supporting hers settle tangibly. The more she could remember of this feeling, even if it turned out to be a dream, the better, to Etiennette's mind. "Yes, explain it to us, Dominique. And tell us how you came to be here. We were told that you--"

She couldn't help it. At the attempted recount, her voice hitched in her throat, choked by a small burst of pathos in the form of a sob. Lifting her head from his shoulder, she returned to combing through his hair. It was a something she had done when he was a child, but now it was far more for her benefit than for his. "You know what we were told, of course."

[libertin]

He could imagine what they'd been told and it made him feel sick. His decisions had been a lot easier to live with when he didn't have his sisters on his mind, and now that he had them before him he was overcome with a strange feeling akin to regret. It wasn't entirely authentic, however. He still believed in the cause he'd died for, he'd still lay his life down again when the time came, but seeing his sisters crying... it made him feel like a monster.

"Etiennette, please," he said quietly, feeling like a little boy again, feeling useless and weak in the presence of his sobbing sister. "Please do not cry. You are breaking my heart, all of you. I won't say a word until you have stopped." It was unfair of him, perhaps, to think of his own feelings, but he simply couldn't stand to let the Capitol take control of the situation and win at this game of emotional blackmail.

"This place is not Heaven. Do not be fooled by the beauty or the well-mannered people. This place is more akin to Hell, and you've all been brought here to torment me." It wasn't really Hell, but it was closer than anything else he'd experienced in the afterlife. He looked to Bernadette, knowing full well what must be going through her mind. "This is a world without God. Praying will not spare my soul, Bernadette. Praying will not spare anyone here."

Immediately, he regretted the chilling warning, though he couldn't quite muster the will to be his cheerful self just then. Instead, he reached for Apolline and Jean-Marie, wishing for nothing more than to hold them close to him as he muttered under his breath, "God, why couldn't they just leave you alone?"

[gotochurch]

Bernadette's face fell. Some of the happy flush left her cheeks. "Have we," she began, and could not quite finish. Her hands twisted in the fabric of her skirt, the strange smooth material they'd put her in. "Dominique-- My dear, there is no place where God is not present. You know that." Chiding, like he'd spoken too loud in church; but with a fearful edge to it. She could not stop herself inching closer, with a glance over her shoulder at the bright array around them. "Even here. Even in Hell."