Tranquility in Song Form -- OPEN

[Amber Craze James]

Amber was having one of those days where she hated everything. She needed to be alone, she needed to let everything else go. The best stress reliever there was -- for her, anyway -- was singing. She just sang out in a song that described her emotions; hence where she was heading. The Ampitheater. No one would be there this time of day, so she could go there to be alone. Maybe it was corny and strange, but Amber always, always, always found that singing help. It helps everything.

She walked slowly, taking in the crisp, fresh camp air. It was beautiful, camp was. Amber had never really noticed until now. The trees lining the one side, a long U shape in the cabins and a perfect ring of could lumbering around the sides like... well, coulds that couldn't get into a camp because that camp has magic barriers. What? It's a logical explanation!

She finally got to the Ampitheater, checking to see if anyone was there. Nope. Not a soul. Satisfied, Amber clumsily clambered up on to the stage, taking her place in front of rows and rows of empty chairs. She checked a few more times to make sure there was no one there, flipped her hand behind her shoulder, closed her eyes, and began to sing.

''Just close your eyes,
the sun is going down.
. You'll be alright,
no one can hurt you now.''

Amber was always fond of Taylor Swift. Her voice was beautiful -- one of which matched Amber's, except Taylor had a more mature voice. Of course. But Amb' thought her voice matched it quite well. Her voice was just that kind of semi-light for a girl, dominating tone. It, truthfully, was gorgeous.

''Come morning light,
you and I'll be safe and sound.''

Her voice rang out, the Ampitheater had beautiful echo that made her voice sound simply mealodeous. She wasn't trying to sing loudly, or sing quitely. She just sang comfterbly. It was as easy as 1, 2, 3 with her, singing, I mean. She just did it. Easy-peasy. She sang the rest, talking about the Hunger Games (it was on the soundtrack, right?) and just letting her shoulder's ease falling into a ideal emotion: tranquility.

After she was done, Amber slumped down to her knees against the wood stage. Just taking a load off, hoping no one heard her and was coming. She took deep breaths, trying to do what she came here to do. She was doing a pretty good job of relaxing for several minutes, just breathing. Not thinking; only breathing.

But of course, that peace ended quickily.

[Skye Jade Remmington]

Skye crumpled up yet another piece of paper from her sketchbook and tossed it into the wastebasket across the room. Why was it so hard for her to draw the stupid tree outside her room window? She could find about a million things wrong with her latest attempt. Some lines were heavy and obvious. Half-erased epic fails covered the page, and she couldn't seem to make the pine needles seem slightly feathery and perky. It looked more like a cactus on steroids than a pine tree.

It was totally time to take a break, she resolved as the crumpled-up bit of paper hit the edge of the wastebasket and bounced onto the floor about two feet away from her target. All right, she'd proved it to herself; she couldn't draw a simple conifer to save her life. And it was true; sketching was not Skye's thing. She could draw Japanese-style manga like a boss, but when it came to realism in sketching, she blew.

Slipping on her maroon Toms, she decided to go for a walk. Clear her brain. Refresh. It couldn't hurt, could it? She meandered out of the Big House and decided to just go wherever she wanted. No plans. Just wherever.

The wind whistled and it was mostly silent...until Skye heard a voice. One she didn't recognize, since she had never heard her best friend sing before.

''Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now.'' The singer continued, and Skye felt herself following the voice, humming along. The final words then ceased, and it was silent. By this time, Skye had reached the amphitheater.

A familiar sweeping of blond hair. Tanned, perfect arms. Skye was staring at Amber James's back. "Amber?" she said tentatively, her French-twisted hair bouncing as she made her way over to Amber. "That was amazing! Where'd you learn to do that?" Of course, part of it must have been genetics...Apollo...but just...wow.

[James Darkwood]

Jamie scrunched up his nose and squinted, looking at his brother's clean, neat bed. I don't know how he does it, Jamie thought, glancing at his own bed. It was messy and gross and, well, smelled like teenage boy - which I can assure you does not smell appealing. It was so strange that he was messy, because he was always losing things. He had lost at least seven of his shirts - which he doesn't really care about because he's rather fond of his abs. And, for a boy, that's more than half of his shirts, because boys don't give a crap about fashion or anything. Okay, so he only had two shirts left. And how he stood shirtless in front of his own bed, the one under his brother's. He just did not want to clean it. He decided to head over to the beach, maybe unwind a bit.

Throwing on a black leather jacket and rolling up the sleeves, he headed out, not even caring that his super abs were showing and that he wasn't wearing any shoes, guitar slung over his shoulder.

That's when a soft voice caught his ear. It was quiet, but it traveled on the thin air. He identified the song immediately. Taylor Swift's Safe and Sound. It's not as if he listened to Taylor, but he liked girls, and girls talked about her non-stop. And he had to admit that she might be a little hot.

He followed the trail of music, which stopped when he was at the entrance to the amphitheater, and found Skye Remmington - the Oracle - and Amber James. Jamie figured that Amber had been the one singing because she was a child of Apollo and the voice had sounded a bit too airy and soft to be Skye's, even though the girls probably had the same voice.

"Hello, ladies," he said, doing a slight skip-walk-sashay into the amphitheater. Whatever he did, it looked snazzy and superior. Black guitar strap slung over his shoulder, leather jacket, jeans and all, he strutted over to them, and ruffled Amber's light blonde hair. "How're the little ones these days?" he asked them, a smirk atop his very arrogant face.

[Amber Craze James]

''Amber?''

A familiar voice called out to her. Amber's head snapped up to see Skye, one of her best friends. Unlike Pandora, Skye and Amber didn't fight all the time. Pandora was always laughing at the Apollo kids' attempt to matchmake, and Amber thought she did well, so an argument broke out, usually. Skye, however, was supportive and seemed to admire Amber. Not that there was anything to admire, of course.

''Hey, Skye.'' She said casually, as if they where supposed to have met there. She was a queen of random thoughts, ranting, rambling, causuality, un-embaressed-ness, failure matchmaking, good intentions, and... well, everything. It was crazy. I guess the only point of saying that is to say that Amber knew how to seem casual in the toughest of times.

"That was amazing! Where'd you learn to do that?"

''Learn what?'' Amber asked stupidly. Her brain clicked together -- you could almost see a lightbulb above her head. ''Oh, singing. I dunno... I've always been able to.'' She shrugged. Truthfully, she had never even had a lesson. She was just naturally able to sing. She, herself, think it wasn't all that good, but she just lacks self-esteem.

She never had any self-esteem lately. It was ''do I look fat? Am I unattractive? Is there something wrong with me?'' it was just her teen years, she guessed. No one ever seemed satisfied with themselves by their teen years. Except maybe Cinder Lynn... hmm....

''Hello, ladies, how'er the little ones these days?''

Jamie strolled in, looking like he has as much swagger as ever. Amber was never really fond of him, but she loved his voice and guitar skills. He was great at that. But she was annoyed by his attempts to get Jason and her together. Gods, Amber thought, am I like that?

''Wow! I never noticed how great abs you have!'' Amber said without thinking. She then looked like someone had slapped her -- not pained, rather shocked. ''Just... ignore that last comment.'' She said. Indeed, he had great abs peaking out from beneath a leather jacket.

''So.. how are you guys?'' Amber asked awkwardly. Personally, she thought that if James and here did a duet, they would dominate. The problem was Josh. Her overprotective brother would kick his butt for doing anything with Amber, as James' heart-breaker reputation.

[Skye Jade Remmington]

I once had a science teacher that had us eat bacon-flavored crickets during out invertebrate unit. I just forgot how to spell invertebrate. And this isn't connected to my post at all, I just needed a completely irrelevant fact to start my post because my muse is dead and it really isn't helping.

''Hey, Skye.'' Skye smiled at her friend. She and Amber had been...well, made for each other. She couldn't imagine what life at camp would be like if Amber wasn't there to paint nails and play Truth or Dare with her all the time...although, come to think of it (she hadn't "come to think" of anything, but screw it), she had seemed a little down lately. But now, she seemed pretty happy, so Skye decided not to bring it up.

''Learn what? Oh, singing. I dunno... I've always been able to.''

"Lucky," Skye said. She'd love to have a natural talent as strong, prominent, and useful as Amber's was — since she was the only mortal in camp, it went without saying that she didn't have godly powers. Since she was the Oracle, her only power was...well, occasionally being possessed by a creepy psychic. Which just drove people away if they didn't ask annoying questions about who they would marry, like Skye knew absolutely everything about everyone. The only natural talent Skye had was that she was double-jointed and had always been, well, not mediocre at sports like ballet or gymnastics. Obviously, she didn't take ballet anymore, and she had quit gymnastics when she was around eight years old. "I mean, I was in choir when I lived in Cali, but I —" Before she could finish her trip down memory lane like an old person, a boy sauntered into the vicinity. Skye could see practically his whole bare chest. Presumably, that was the point. That sounded really nerdy.

The boy was Jamie Darkwood. He had a black guitar strapped to his back, and was wearing a leather jacket and jeans. As usual, he was shirtless. If you asked Skye, she would have said she thought he was stupid to do that. She was one of those girls who usually saw guys from the inside out. That's ironic, because Bailey is neither nice nor cute or hot and sh!t.

''Hello, ladies, how'er the little ones these days?''

"The little ones are doing nice," Skye replied politely, smiling at him because she wasn't quite sure what else to do. Before she could say anything else, Annasophia Amber interrupted her again.

''Wow! I never noticed how great abs you have!" She turned red. "Just...ignore that last comment.'' She quickly tried to cover. ''So.. how are you guys?''

I'm sensing a lot of teenage hormones here. "I already said, I'm good," Skye laughed, tossing her glossy blond hair over her shoulder. "What've you two been up to?" She surveyed Jamie skeptically. "Is there a reason you're lugging around a guitar?"

((Damn, this failed XD))