Ruin | Nick & Annie
”No, no. It’s fine, really. This happens quite a lot, and if I lie down it just gets worse.”
Annie was quite good at reading people. She had to be because of her being so closed off to those around her, all to keep herself sane. Sometimes, she would pretend to have conversations with them in her mind, pretending like she was back to her normal, bubbly, and happy self. It helped her somehow, but she would never, ever, voice these words out loud. All she would ever receive if she did that would be weird looks, raised eyebrows, and surely comments that doubted her sanity. She was used to them, but she never did anything that would make people really wonder whether or not she was insane. “I’ll get you that sandwich,” she smiled, slowly getting back up to her feet, walking into her room.
She didn’t know what to do with Nick, what she could do to help him. He seemed so lost, not just from the look in his eyes. Maybe he was a little lost, just like she was, fighting her own thoughts every single day. Maybe they had more in common than she would ever know, maybe they were alike, yet completely the same. Annie didn’t know what she could do to help her find out if they were the same, but she would help him the best that she could. Walking back out, she sat down next to him once more, holding out the sandwich for him. “Here you go, Nick. Get some of your strength back,” she said, offering him a warm smile.
“Mentoring is going really well. My tributes are… lovely. I’m a little envious of the other kids in the arena for getting to kill them. I would really love to do that myself, but alas…”
His words took her off guard, scared her a little even, and without meaning to she slid away from him a little, creating more distance between them. Nick wanted to kill his tributes? Now that was not something a mentor should say, least of all think. Those young kids needed their guidance, their help, so that they might be able to get out of that Arena alive. They already knew that they would most likely be killed inside the Arena, and the least they needed to worry about was their mentors wanting them dead as well. “That’s a horrible thing to say, Nickolas,” she whispered, lowering her eyes a little. He had seemed nice enough, but now… He was scaring her with his words. “The tributes need your help, not your hatred,” she whispered, her jaw clenched as she looked back at him, her eyes showing that she was, indeed, frightened of him. She had hoped they would have been friends, but his attitude towards his tributes was putting her off entirely. Annie slowly got up to her feet, taking a step back from him. “Enjoy your sandwich, I really… I really should be getting back to bed,” she said, smiling nervously at him.
“That’s a horrible thing to say, Nickolas,”
Nick took a bite of the sandwich as he contemplated her words. He knew he was a terrible mentor, but he also knew that he had the worst tributes in the history of the Hunger Games. Nobody else’s tributes were this terrible. Wex seemed to be making it his job to ruin Nick’s life and Ophelia was just ridiculous. If he could kill them both and get away with it, he would. But there was no way in hell he was going to spend the rest of his life in some filthy Capitol cell because of Wex stupid-face Milliner.
“The tributes need your help, not your hatred,”
“But your tributes aren’t evil,” Nick retorted. He was really starting to get annoyed with everybody judging him. So the tributes needed his help; they could easily get it if they actually bothered to do anything. And Wex didn’t want his help, and Nick was not prepared to give it to him so that was a dead end. Nick wondered why he was even still here, as he had pretty much given up on both of his tributes, and everybody hated him anyway. He took another bite from the sandwich, which he now realised was delicious like everything else in the Capitol, except for the people. Oh, how he hated the people of the Capitol. Actually, he hated most people in general. Life would be so much better if it was just him, alone. “Thank you for the sandwich,” he mumbled as he realised that this woman was nice, and he didn’t hate her at all.
“Enjoy your sandwich, I really… I really should be getting back to bed,”
“Oh… yes of course,” he smiled. Then the smile faltered: “I’m sorry for saying that. It’s just hard… being here… nevermind, thank you again,” he said with a smile, waving off what he would have said had he not realised that this woman, Annie, was terrified of him. There was really no reason for her to be, he was completely harmless. He was just a moody drunk, but for some reason everybody saw something different.
ms-anniecresta replied to your post
Are you feeling better, Jordy? :)
Yes, thank you! :D I’ve been fine for a few days I just had so much work to do eugh ;__; I MISSED YOU GUYS HJXFJKAHKJHK
Fact 01 - Wex lost his virginity to Nick’s mother.
Colours of the Wind || Nick & Wex
“I always thought she had a thing for the ladies.”
Wex rolled his eyes. At least that means you won’t be able to fuck her as well. Nickolas’ pathetic attempts to annoy him were getting irritating. Wex had hoped that in forgiving him Nick would stop being such a little prick, but unsurprisingly he had been wrong. How Nick had not been murdered or at least maimed by someone yet was shocking. “Really? Great.” He replied, his voice monotone. The sooner this elevator ride could be over the better. Wex forgot that he had Valeria as a mentor as well. Beautiful, kind, not homicidal Valeria. Why the fuck was he spending time with this dick again?
Wex sighed as Nickolas’ speech began. It was a joke, could he not understand that. Was he seriously that stupid that he thought Wex was going to kill his District partner? Imagine the welcome home. He was sure Mrs Moon would be waving a flag with Wex’s face on it with glee. He sighed forcing himself to remain awake as Nickolas rattled on. He coughed loudly somewhere in the middle, hoping that Nick would realise that not even Ophelia cared about what he was saying. Once he had finally finished Wex rubbed his temples with his fingers, in an attempt to keep himself awake. There was short silence after the tirade was finished, most likely Nickolas waiting for Wex to bow on bended knee for the amazing mentoring advice. But that wasn’t going to happen. “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you talking? I stopped caring,” This may have been a little harsh but Wex was sure Nickolas wouldn’t stab him again; at least he thought he wouldn’t. Besides the best friendships were built on honesty.
“So I saw you hanging around with that Cyrus guy… want to elaborate on that relationship?”
Wex swallowed. He shuffled awkwardly in his clothes, avoiding Nick’s eye contact. It was in this elevator after all that they first kissed. Nick knew, he must know that it was Cyrus who killed his brother and Wex had fucked him: fucked his brother’s murderer. Holy Shit. The reality of the situation hit him like bullet in the chest. He had had sex with the shit that murdered his brother; worse than that he had feelings for the guy that shot his brother in cold blood. And Nickolas Beal, his mentor, the man from District 8 who knew his parents knew about it. At least Wex thought he did. He clenched his fists; anger was building inside of him. How could he be such a twisted little shit? He couldn’t think about it anymore. He turned to Nickolas, suddenly infuriated that the man had even asked him about this. He launched forwards slamming Nickolas into the wall of the elevator. “That’s none of your fucking business!” He shouted. It was easier to direct his anger onto Nickolas, rather than letting it crush him inside.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you talking? I stopped caring.”
Nick turned his head to look Wex right in the eye. If looks could kill. Nick’s finger itched to just whip out the blade and cut the boy’s throat, but he had to control himself. Although, he didn’t really care if he died, so what would it matter? In fact, Nick couldn’t imagine a better way of dying: watching Wex Milliner bleed to death in front of him, helplessly drowning in his own blood. How delicious. But Wex would die a much more gruesome death in the arena, and Nick would be safe as well. Instead of killing his tribute, Nick just grumbled and stared at the door, and then asked about Cyrus. Wex’s response was completely unexpected.
Nick just had time to tense his body before the boy was on him, pushing him hard against the wall. Fuck. Everything was spinning, and his head throbbed in pain but Nick couldn’t feel it. He was overcome with horrible, cruel feelings. He didn’t want to cut Wex’s throat anymore, he wanted to rip it out. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Nick almost yelled at the boy, pushing him off, bunching his shirt in his fist and throwing him across the small space into the opposite wall. Was this because Cyrus killed his brother? Nick had researched the peacekeeper the first time he had seen him and Wex talking, and the discover that Cyrus shot Wex’s little brother was shocking. Nick had laughed at the time, though. He didn’t regret it. Wex was barely human anyway, he couldn’t possibly have any emotions other than desires to sleep and eat.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Nick repeated, louder this time. He could feel the rage seeping into his bloodstream, his face flush with heat. His fists were clenched so hard that he could feel his own fingernails piercing the soft flesh.
An unprovoked attack. How convenient… Nick didn’t have much time to decide what to do. He weighed up his options: one, he could stab Wex quickly before the elevator opened; two, he could beat the kid until the doors opened; three, he could break the control pad again and stop the elevator, and have as much fun as he wanted; four, he could just find out what was going on with Wex and Cyrus.
Nick stepped closer to the boy, looming over him with his fists clenched and every muscle tensed. That old arena mentality was kicking in now; it never really left a person, as he closed in on his prey. Nick’s knee connected with the boy’s crotch, and he smirked as he crumpled over. He gripped the back of the boy’s neck and brought his knee into contact with his face; that stupid face that people swooned over. Nick had never understood what was so attractive about him. He looked like a mutt gone wrong. With his hand still gripping the skin of Wex’s neck, he dragged the boy’s head up and threw him across the room, landing a heavy punch in his stomach, his ribs, his face.
Devil’s Spoke | Nick, April & Emilia
April looked at him and continued to scream, digging her nails into him arm as deep as she could. If she drew blood she didn’t notice, and she whined ever so softly. She didn’t want him around, she did’t want him that close. Why wasn’t he listening to her? Why did’t ANYONE listen to her anymore? She knew what she wanted, and currently, that was to sleep.
“Stop being sorry and just go.”she said, pushing against his face now weakly, tiredly. She was being whiny and annoying. Looking at him and whining again.
Emilia had promised herself that she would visit Timber today, seeing as the last time she had seen the blonde it hadn’t been that great of an experience. She had somehow managed to pull herself together and look presentable, which was an amazing feat considering how terrible she’d been feeling the past couple of days. She didn’t want Timber to worry, which was also why she was waiting until her shift was over instead of going earlier to help. She didn’t want to draw attention to how sick she felt, though for now she felt decent enough.
She was halfway to the elevator when she heard a scream echo through the corridors of the 11th floor. It was obviously not Toby or Lysander so Emilia broke out in a sprint to April’s door. Whatever reason the girl was screaming for it definitively sounded like a good one. She may not like April all that much, but the girl was her ticket home, and even if she would pick Toby over her any day of the week, it was her job to still make sure she was ok.
The door to her tribute’s room was partially open and she almost screamed herself at the scene she had walked in on. She was too damn tired of dealing with this and swore to herself she would beat the shit out of Lysander for never being the one to deal with April and her crap. Even though immense pride swelled up in her chest at her tribute for trying to get away from this. She leaned against the door frame and pointed down the hallway, sternly she said to Nickolas, “Out. Now. Or I swear I will castrate you.”
Nick wanted to cut somebody when he saw the psycho-bitch in the doorway. Couldn’t one thing just go right in his life for once? Would it really be so difficult for the universe to be nice to him for a change? He thought about killing Emilia and April and maybe just throwing himself out of a window or something, but there were forcefields so that wouldn’t work. “Lighten up, sweetheart,” he said softly, shooting a dark look at Emilia and injecting as much venom into his voice as he possibly could. He truly hated everybody, and April was the cause of all of his problems. If she had just got lost in a cornfield when she was a kid he wouldn’t be dealing with her shit right now, and he wouldn’t have stabbed Wex, and he might have actually had the option of leaving the Capitol alive. April was a manipulative, cruel, selfish, heartless bitch. Why did he even like her?
“I’m going,” Nick said as he stood up. “Stop screaming, April. People are trying to sleep.” It was more of a hiss than a string of words. He didn’t look at her as he left the room; he couldn’t possibly. He would be far too tempted to wrap his hands around her neck and watch the life drain from her stupid eyes. He was incredibly tempted to kill Emilia as well, but that would be foolish, of course. He wasn’t in the arena anymore.
“See you guys later,” Nick called over his shoulder as he walked down the corridor.
blood and fire > Nickolas Beal
a.k.a. ThePedophile- District 8
Devil’s Spoke | Nick and April
April stared at him and glared a bit, putting more space between them and fixing her pajamas and her blanket. “What does it matter to you if I’m fine? Wouldn’t it be better if I was,”she paused to yawn. That was pretty much the only thing that had stopped her from seeming angry. If Emilia heard them, well, this would be all Nick’s fault. “Just leave me alone, Nick. Keep yourself and your stupid little tribute away from me. I’ve been doing my part to keep that up. Do the same for yourself.”
She rolled off the bed at the headboard, and pulled on her pajamas, adjusting them. She was going to put up defenses because she was trying to be a better tribute. “Also, everything’s fine.” She did melt a little there, but she didn’t close the space between them and the only sign that she did was her tone changed a bit. Shaking her head, she started towards the bathroom. “You have until I get out of the bathroom, if not, I will get you out myself, by any means possible.” Going into the bathroom, she then returned, seeing Nick still there.
Instantly, she screamed. She let out a nasty, shrill, horrified scream, hoping to get the attention of someone, anyone else. She pressed herself against the door and let herself slump, forcing tears as she let out another scream.
Nick didn’t know what he had expected when he crept into her room in the middle of the night, but this definitely wasn’t it. He thought maybe she would at least appreciate him being nice for a change, but apparently it was a wasted effort. Her words hurt, but he had barriers for things like that, so they meant nothing. She was dropping her bombs on an empty field.
“Stop screaming,” he said, completely devoid of emotion. Once again she had made him feel things that he never thought he would again, and then she just tore it all away. Who the hell did this bitch think she was? But the screaming continued, and the girl collapsed to the floor and then Nick knew something was wrong. It was probably because of him; it was always because of him.
Swiftly, he moved across the room to her whimpering, screaming, crying body and sat beside her, back against the door, placing a strong arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said as she calmed down. “I shouldn’t have come here.” Her warmth made him want to scream, because the world was always so cold.
Forgive Me My Sins || Nick & Valeria
Valeria paused for a moment trying to take all this in. Minor conflict? Valeria didn’t think that word was even in Nick’s vocabulary. What ever Nick did, he did it to best of his ability. But she was grateful that Nick choose her out of everyone to confide his secret. She took a deep breathe before resting both arms on the table.
“Why were you two fighting?” She asked, struggling to not sound too nosey. “Is that why he… Uh, never mind”.
The mentioning of April Green made Valeria’s ears prick. She heard about a savage attack that had happened to April… But Emelia? Her own mentor? Valeria would do nothing of the sort to her own Tributes… Even though she did feel like hitting something when Ophelia got a 1 as a training score.
”Emelia? I know I’ve only seen her a few times around the Justice building but I never pegged her for a potential murderer”.
Valeria ran her hand awkwardly through her hair before flicking he eyes to the other side of the room. How am I? Less comfortable than I was 5 minutes ago…
“Great. I’ve got nothing to complain about” She replied. Truth was, Valeria had seen better days. Her tribute got a shit score, which was giving the citizens of panem a bad impression on her training. But on the bright side.. Wex’s score, now that was something to cheer about. She’d also had a few problems over the past few weeks with her sister (Hence the reason she was so late coming here to the Capitol).
”Emelia? I know I’ve only seen her a few times around the Justice building but I never pegged her for a potential murderer.”
The first time Nick had seen Emilia he though she seemed nice, and a lot more sane than the rest of the mentors. But apparently she was just the same: completely off the rails. Although, he couldn’t exactly criticise the behaviour of other mentors. He was probably the worst mentor in the entire country, but he didn’t really care. Wex meant nothing to him and Ophelia was just an idiot. Ophelia. “By the way, Ophelia’s score…” Nick had to pause for a second because he wanted so desperately to pick up a chair and throw it at the window. Hopefully it would land on Ophelia and he could just forget about the bitch. But of course, that wasn’t possible.
“Her training score could actually be a good thing. I was thinking, nobody’s going to see her as a threat. I mean, she scored a one. Why waste any time or weaponry on killing her? They would leave her until the end.” He had thought this through quite thoroughly, and he was actually quite proud of himself for realising this. “I think we should make her look weak in front of the other tributes, just to reinforce the idea that she’s weak, and then we could train her at night, or when nobody else is there. I’m not sure about that part, but we could turn her into a killer in secret. They would never expect it in the Arena, as long as she gets out of the bloodbath alive.” Nick waited for Valeria’s reaction. If she told him it was stupid he might end up throwing her out of the window.
Ruin | Nick & Annie
As Annie watches Nick, she could see all sorts of emotions running over his face, as if she could see his thoughts. They were bad, all of them, but she couldn’t tell what it was he was struggling with. Feeling helpless as she watched him, she felt her heart sank in her chest. This man had probably been through a lot of bad things in his life, and because of the alcohol he was reliving it all now. It was a horrible feeling, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help him in any way, all she could do was try to help him feel a little better, if that would be for her to simply sit by his side and keep him company until the worst was over.
“Sorry about that. Sorry for all of this.”
Annie shook her head quickly and helped him back up in a seated position, curling her legs up underneath her. “It’s fine. I’d rather you found me than anyone else,” she said softly, shuddering at the thought. Had it been anyone else who found him, who knew what would have happened to him. They might have just left him on the floor, leaving him in his own drunkenness and stupidity. He might have also been found by someone who wanted to cause him harm. And for those reasons, Annie was glad she had been the one to find him. “Don’t be sorry. Really, you should lie down,” she whispered, tilting her head to get a proper look at him. “Do you want me to help you back to your room? Or, you could sleep on my couch? I really think you should lie down,” she said, offering him a warm smile. There was no way she would be leaving him now, not until she knew he was feeling better.
“So how’s mentoring going for you?”
Nick’s question took her by surprise, and she laughed aloud, shaking her head a little. “Nickolas, you should lie down,” she said, her voice clearly bemused by his attempt to change the subject. Slowly, she got up to her feet and extended a hand for him to take. “Should I bring you back to your room?” she asked with a kind smile, looking at him with big eyes. “And mentoring is going well, thank you for asking. How about you?” she smiled.
“Don’t be sorry. Really, you should lie down. Do you want me to help you back to your room? Or, you could sleep on my couch? I really think you should lie down.”
Nick agreed; he agreed a lot, but he knew that if he rested now he would probably not get up again for a long time. No sleep for three days and a lot of alcohol weren’t exactly good combinations, and now all he could think about were his tributes. Those poor, neglected tributes. Because of him they would be walking to their deaths unprepared, pathetic. Well, he didn’t really give a damn what happened to Wex, but he didn’t want the boy to die immediately. He’d rather Wex’s suffering be dragged out for weeks. Maybe he could send him poisoned food. That would be interesting. But Valeria would stop him, unless he poisoned her too… maybe he should just poison everybody. But not Annie; Annie was nice.
“No, no. It’s fine, really. This happens quite a lot, and if I lie down it just gets worse,” he said waving her off with a smile. He wasn’t even that drunk anymore, there was just a light throbbing in his head - the effects of alcohol tended to slip away quite quickly when he grasped control of them, usually when there were people around. Nickolas was a good actor; it would have been fun to do stage performances in Eight or something like that, but like most things the Capitol stole that possibility from him.
“And mentoring is going well, thank you for asking. How about you?
Mentoring was definitely not going well. So far he screamed at one tribute and stabbed the other, so he had shifted the main responsibilities to Valeria. Although, he couldn’t imagine she was doing much better. She was far too flimsy and stupid and annoyingly moral. But there was some strength in her that she kept hidden from him, or at least she thought she did. He could read her like an open book, but he would never let her know that. He liked having power over his little apprentice.
“Mentoring is going really well,” he said, almost seething because now Wex was in his thoughts and that just made him want to drink more. “My tributes are… lovely. I’m a little envious of the other kids in the arena for getting to kill them. I would really love to dot hat myself, but alas…” he trailed off, realising what he was saying. That was not the sort of thing a mentor was supposed to say; it wasn’t the sort of thing anybody was supposed to say. But people didn’t understand how annoying Wex and Ophelia were. Nick looked at Annie’s face, searching for ‘get away from me you freak’ look.
Devil’s Spoke | Nick and April
April had been training and turning her life around. She was hoping to make it up, although she was sure she wasn’t. She was a good kid at heart, but she had just gotten…lost. Marcus, Nick, Wex. Sleeping, she rolled over. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had heard the door open, and she shifted a bit. In her mind, that was all that mattered, it was just a dream.
Then she felt something in bed next to her. And the light from the door after it had opened. “Mmm?” Opening her eyes a bit, she blinked and stared at the person sitting next to her. “Huh? What?”she asked sleepily, sitting up. Finally she made out the figure as Nick, and her eyes widened, especially at the smell of alcohol. “What are you doing here?”she huffed, still sleepily and pushed him away, putting space between them.
“What are you doing here?”
It had been such a long time, and all she could do was huff like a spoiled little brat. Nick remembered now why he hated her so much, but still, the love was stronger. If you could call it love… whatever it was, it was strong, and it made him blind to her faults. “I just came to see how you were,” he said softly, now wondering why he had even come. He didn’t even like her. He shouldn’t like her. What the hell even was this? “You know, because if you’re broken from training then maybe one of my tributes would win.” He said this in his normal voice, not caring about her sleepy state, although now it was just weird how he had crept into her room like this. It was probably for reasons such as this that people gave him disapproving looks as they crossed him in the corridors, but whatever, he was here now. He could always blame the alcohol, anyway, even though he was completely sober.
Nick moved away from her bed a little, still crouching down at her eye level. He asked, “is everything okay?” Every attempt to make it sound uncaring went into the words, but when he spoke them he head none of it. He just heard a desperate, confused man.
Tributes:
Wex Milliner (fugly slut)
Ophelia Moon
