#uvstarter

[dahlia-holmes]

@delsin-rhodes​

It was coming down to the wire now. A little under four weeks away until Reid’s due date. She was feeling more and more miserable every day the longer he stayed inside of her, and she was suddenly more hoping for Marina’s warning than ever. If he could make his grand entrance anytime, she’d be eternally grateful. However, there were more things she needed to be grateful for, to which that was the only thing keeping her spirits up at the moment.

Delsin made it through the first horrid week of his withdrawal. Now well into the second week, she could see him getting better and having far more energy. She was hoping that this was a perfect turning point for him, as she wanted what was best for him. While he had hurt many people in his time as an addict, she was hoping that he could see what better his life could be if he didn’t have that needle in his arm. With Dahlia hurting a lot more and getting more and more emotional and tired, she was desperately needing to see a silver lining from somewhere. Delsin had to be it. 

She had taken a nap with him after lunch in his bedroom, finding that his bed had become hers over the last two weeks. She didn’t quite miss her own bed, as it simply reminded her of the uncomfortable nights. She slept better with him there, having that brace there to quell the discomfort. However, when she came awake about two hours later, she suddenly grew a little startled for how long she slept, but it was another thing that broke her out of her sleep. The sound of shifting and things being moved.

And Del wasn’t in bed with her.

Dahlia grew a little panicked as she managed to sit up, grimacing as she braced her belly and slid her swollen legs off of the bed and to the floor, hobbling around the bed until she was waddling unceremoniously toward the sounds. When she got into the hallway, she took notice that it was coming from the room across the hall from her own bedroom -- the room she was planning on making Reid’s nursery. All of the boxes of the stuff she needed to get built had been there for a while, having been too prideful to ask for help to build them. Her brow creased as she made her way to the door, finding it cracked only slightly as she pushed it open to find Del inside.

“Del?” she asked, tucking her hair behind her ear. “What are you doing?”

[docordelia]

@uvstarters​

“I’m sorry, can we do it again?” Cordelia asked to the cameraman as the stylist came into sight to fix the long strands of hair that acted as the frame of an uneasy face. The cloudy horizon was a warning: she needed to get it once before the rain made them lose the chance of getting a perfect shot. Considering the level of technology the Capitol owned, it was able to change the weather out of boredom or need. One day it could be raining, other snowing…the brightest sun could be up decorating the blue background or the biggest moon could be shining through the darkness. It was almost like another arena. It only took her a second to let her eyes rest on the houses inhabited by survivors of the worst artificial weather conditions to reproach herself for such thoughtless idea. Who was a doctor who had been brought up in a crystal castle to even consider having the right to speak about how the games were? 

As far as Cordelia was concerned, President Snow had offered no official message. However, that hadn’t stopped him from making sure his granddaughter received a script he wanted her to learn and deliver. He needed footage, a plan B under his sleeve. Standing in front of the Victor’s Village gate, the blonde tried to memorize the lines of the cheat sheet she held between her fingers. Only when she tucked it into the pocket of her red coat again did she noticed the faces of disapproval of a few passerbys. But she knew why she was putting up with this show. She could bring herself to do this because refusing to meant defying her grandfather’s orders and putting everyone in that gated community. If anything, she had been secretly putting up with disapproval for as long as she could remember. Perhaps her unbleached blonde hair and the rather simple attires were proof of her way of swimming against the tide — of course those were the only visible traits she allowed to make her stand out. It was only a matter of time before anyone there found out that she had also been mastering ways to follow the superficial and dumb generic speech of the capitol with the goal of concealing her doubts about the unquestionable normative set by her grandfather. But wasn’t this about something more than just defying the expected behaviour? 

“Never have we been more unified because now more than ever we must stand together. For there was no consideration when our peace was threatened at our local market, causing important civilian casualties. We condemn measures which encourage this course of action.The Capitol and the districts bound together in solidarity together as one forging a stronger future is our only hope. Ours is an elegant system, conceived to nourish and protect. It’s thanks to this protection that our beloved victors, whose integrity was violated that day, are returning home just in time to celebrate Halloween. And we’re devoted to guarantee them the best of recoveries. Fake blood is the only one we’ll tolerate no matter which ghosts from the past try to crawl back from the grave.”

Did that sound convincing enough? It didn’t matter. The blinding light of the camera was now off and the next thing she made sure to get rid of was the white rose attached to the lapel of her coat. They had been everywhere when she was growing up and even though she didn’t find their scent nauseating, their symbolic value was almost as unbearable to her as to everyone who had been mistreated by her grandfather. “When a flower doesn’t bloom...” She mumbled, letting the rose fall on the sidewalk as the crew finished gathering their equipment. That was the last place they wanted to be when the storm arrived. “You fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” But she wasn’t returning to the President’s Mansion with them. She was meant to be returning to one of those mansions behind her in hopes of being reminded why she still put up with being a puppet, too. Before she could head back there, she noticed presence of someone who wasn’t one of the peacekeepers her grandfather had assigned her to scort her almost everywhere. And for a moment she felt like ripping apart her skin in shame at the possibility of this person having witnessed the situation. “Save your applause, please. I'm doing us a favour.” She said, clearing her throat. “We can discuss this over candy, though. They came bearing enough sweets on behalf of the president to keep our mouths busy and our systems high on sugar.” A good distraction, indeed. Letting them waste their time indulging in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns.

[ares-carnahan]

@uvstarters​

His face hurt.

Ares was refusing medication to try and fight through the pain, thinking that it was partly responsible for why he was having so many gaps in his memory. As soon as he had gotten back to his quiet mansion from the Capitol Hospital, he immediately fell into his own bed to try and sleep it off. He kept his painkiller at bay, hoping that he could make it as long as he could until the pain naturally went away on its own. 

Except it didn’t, and he was miserable, even after days of being released from the hospital. 

So, he decided to try and occupy his time as much as possible, but up until he managed to change his lighter bandages on his own and actually saw how bad the wound was did he really understand that perhaps it wasn’t the medicine that was making him have memory gaps. He didn’t remember Serenity being in the bed with him, he only remembered that Fell had been there at all when he brought it up to him again, and he misplaced the memory of a panic attack when Seph was standing there in comfort. 

The fear of his lost memories and the pain he was feeling made him have panic attacks alone in his mansion. It was hard to deal with but he managed to self-soothe and go to sleep soon after. The minute he remembered how bad his face looked, the angrier he became at whoever had blown up the market and the angrier he got at himself for letting him get hurt at all. He couldn’t imagine Serenity even stomaching to look at him with how bad he was messed up. 

One morning, when he realized the day was beautiful and the air was at a nice temperature, he decided to open the front door and let the air in as well as one of the back windows to let the cross breeze come in. Eventually, he had to change his bandages again and after a mishap in the bathroom caused pain, he was immediately sent into a foul mood but managed to get them changed. Now his head was pounding and his left eye was aching, and instead of going straight for his medicine, he went to the cabinet in the kitchen where he had one bottle of whiskey left, poured himself a shot and took it without a care in the world.

If anyone caught him, he wasn’t sure if he cared. At least it took the edge off.

Except he wished he hadn’t when he heard a knock on the door and his name echoing into the main room. He quickly put the bottle away and put the glass in the sink, grimacing as his head throbbed again.

“Who is it?” he called out.

[valor-rosierarcher]

@uvstarters​

Valor had spent the better part of a week taking care of his husband in and out of the hospital. He hadn't been able to sleep in his own bed in half a week (not that he could sleep anyway) and seeing how relieved his children were to have their Pop home was endearing, but also made Valor feel insignificant to their family.

He managed to get everything he needed to do done, so Valor informed Rhys he would be spending an hour or two to get some air. He could tell Rhys was getting concerned, but Valor was attempting his best to pretend everything is okay. Even though he brought his journal and a pen with him on his small walk.

His therapist had told him that most things would get fixed within 90 days of them happening. Stress and the worse times don't last longer than that, but it was coming up on that 90 day mark and Valor felt more and more hopeless as time went on. The reminder to take his medication was there, but at this point, he didn't have the energy to do that. He was too busy doing everything else to remember to take care of himself first. 

So Valor went on his walk on a crisp, chilly afternoon with a clear sky and changing leaves and went to the small community garden in the Village. He sat down at a picnic table with a sigh, his body hurting from lack of sleep and constantly running around the house. It took him a second to find the willpower to start on his project, but he did. He opened up the journal and stared at the next blank page. He didn't feel anything when he did it, which was the scariest part.

He spent only twenty minutes slowly trying to think of what to write in his journal, the brain fog becoming worse and worse as he did so. It was as if his thoughts were dying as he thought them. Sighing in frustration, he slapped the pen down and rubbed a hand across his face, exhaustion peaking in every line in his skin.

Then, a voice broke the concentration and panic overwhelmed him and he slapped his journal closed and looked up to the person standing above him.

"You scared the hell out of me," Valor said drowsily.

[dahlia-holmes]

@crownedvermilion​

Dahlia had no idea what she was doing. Honestly, the scariest part of what she was doing now was wondering if it was right. She had spent the better part of two years doing exactly this with Delsin and now it was coming down to the wire. If he couldn’t cut it after this, Dahlia would have to cut ties and she was scared of that. She hated how her heart was and how her son began to dictate a lot of her decisions, but she was hoping that it sank in for the other man now that this was his last chance. That’s all she could ask now.

As Dahlia got him to take a nap in one of the spare rooms and the Avox showed up with all of the food he wanted to stock her cabinets with, she needed to talk to Lucus. Mouse was great help in comfort, but Lucus was someone she respected despite his rough around the edges demeanor. She was the rationale that she needed. So she got her communicator and sent her mentor a message, the nervous crawling underneath her skin.

I need you. Meet me outside my porch, please?

She put her phone down on the table and moved outside of her house to the front porch where she took a deep breath of crisp air and wrapped her flannel around her a little tighter, even though it didn’t reach all of the way across anymore with the bump. She redid her hair over and over again out of nerves until she saw her tall, lanky mentor start walking down the street. Dahlia sighed and eased herself down the steps and met Lucus halfway before putting her arms around his neck and squeezing him in a hug. 

“I need your help,” she muttered.

[valor-rosierarcher]

@rhys-rosierarcher​

Valor didn’t rest as much as he wanted to even when Rhys came home. Rose had immediately calmed down and allowed people to start interacting with her again. That didn’t mean that Valor was ready to go back to normal with his daughter after she had treated him and Hudson poorly. Things weren’t normal yet. Not by a long shot.

Rhys was sore and still having a rough go with some pain, and in order to give him as much room to spread out and be comfortable, Valor let him have the entire bed to himself. At least that was his rationale for it over the last several days. The truth was that Valor still felt distant toward his family. He felt more and more useless as the days went on. Valor tried to make up for it and do everything in the house to keep his family afloat.

The worst of it, however, was that he still wasn’t sleeping. He hadn’t taken his medication in nearly a week and he was tired of pretending. Except he still did, because if he did, he knew Rhys would catch on and he would have to talk about what was bothering him. The fact that Rhys was looked to by the children so much more did bother Valor and made him question his place in the family. So he stayed distant, but pretended he wasn’t.

But God, he was exhausted.

The dawn of the third day broke after he had brought his husband back from the hospital. He slept for two hours, his body beginning to feel the pain of the lack of sleep. Still, he made coffee, went to pick up another bottle of his antidepressants and quietly stored it with his half used bottle before continuing on with breakfast. He had just finished preparing biscuits when he heard his husband behind him. Valor turned to meet his gaze and he forced himself to smile.

“Good morning,” he said. “Did you sleep better last night?”

[dahlia-holmes]

@uvstarters​

The aftermath of the bombing was over, but that didn’t settle Dahlia’s mind. She was thankful that no one from District Seven had been caught in the crossfire and she was beginning to see people come home from the hospital at that point. with her being nearly eight months pregnant, she couldn’t go anywhere. The thought haunted her that she could have accidentally been up there for some reason, whether it be for an appointment or to get out of the house. To think of what would have happened to her unborn son if she had gotten involved in that was horrifying. 

Because of that, and Reid’s insistent kicking into her kidney, left her with minimal sleep. 

So one morning, she decided to go outside, waddling to get to her favorite chair on her porch. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and one of her red flannels and a pair of leggings. Her feet were too swollen to wear shoes so she went outside with socks on. Dahlia eased herself into the chair with a heavy breath, her hair pulled back into a messy bun to keep out of her face as she rubbed her stomach. Reid was flipping and excited all morning and it was starting to wear on her. 

Still, she leaned back in the chair and watched the nearly empty streets. Her eyes traveled down to different houses, looking to see if she could spot anybody familiar. She couldn’t help but lean forward to check further down toward Delsin’s house, unsure if he was out and about. She didn’t see any activity, so she frowned and leaned back again. After a moment, her exhaustion got the best of her and she rubbed her face with her hands, trying to press her palms into her eyes. Once she did, she heard her name and she looked over.

“Yeah?” she asked, blinking the sleep from her eyes to see who it was. 

[valor-rosierarcher]

@rhys-rosierarcher

Valor hadn’t slept since the morning before the bombing. So to say the least, his body was tired but his mind was running wild with surges of negativity and fear. Rose had refused to be comforted by him when she was sobbing, only to seek him once she calmed down and wanted anybody to hold onto her. Valor did what he could for her, but he knew his children needed Rhys. That became horrifyingly apparent. At that point, with all of that mixed with his fear of what might have happened to the love of his life -- he was feeling worse and worse the longer it went on.

Except on the morning of the third day, the lock down was lifted and he forced Hudson to keep an eye out for Rose while he went to the Capitol to check on their father. He knew he would hate it, but if he was worse for wear, Valor couldn’t let them see him right away lest it traumatized them. Del had gone with him, wanting to check on her brother as well. She told him that she’d wait for him out of the room until he had a chance to spend time with him. Valor appreciated it, but his whole body felt like it could collapse under its own weight. 

“Valor, as soon as you get back, I can take the kids to see him but you need to sleep,” Del had told him.

Valor didn’t answer her on that particular statement. It didn’t matter. He was so keyed up he could barely think straight. Sleep didn’t come for him for the last two days. It wouldn’t do it now. He had been up for nearly fifty-some-odd hours straight, only getting an hour or two in the middle of those things when he would doze off, only to be awoken by the sound of Rose’s cries or a nightmare. 

Eventually, they arrived at the bustling hospital where he could see floods of Capitol families in the waiting rooms. It felt suffocating to be there, but as soon as he made his way into the hospital with Del, they were taken to one of the private suites where they kept the more valuable people -- which meant the Victors and their families. No need for them to get swarmed. So Valor followed them and once they got to the room that his husband was in, Valor’s heart was pounding so hard he was feeling dizzy. Del had to rest her hand on his arm to make sure he was okay.

“I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack,” Valor told her under his breath before swallowing and pushing himself and going into Rhys’s room to find his husband awake and looking not as bad as his mind told him he’d probably be.

“Oh God, Rhys,” Valor breathed as tears welled up in his eyes, his voice breaking as he began to cry as he went to his husband’s bedside. Thankfully, the side closest to the door was his right, so Valor immediately went to him and leaned over him to plant his face against his neck and cup the side of his head in somewhat of a faux hug. “Thank God.”