And Your Gracious Hosts

"Oh my god."

Leonie ran over to the beds in their luxury quarters. She fell face first into the white cotton blankets, before sliding her body like a snake over to her satin pillows.

"Oh, I am so glad they managed to get these. Do you know how hard it is to keep hair like mine in order?"

"I've done my best to avoid it." Kalea sighed.

Leonie sat up, looking at her short, dehydrated excuse for hair, and at her normal cotton pillows. That story unfortunately checked out.

"Okay, not exactly in need of a stylist, whatever. But look!"

She held up her blanket with a giant smile on her face, pointing at the lace pattern on the side of the blanket. "Are you seeing this?"

"I am." Kalea gave a single nod and went over to the drinks machine. "You want anything?"

"They got Birdhouse Soul?"

"Seems they do." Kalea replied, putting a few numbers into the machine. "Eh, screw it. Haven't had one in a while."

She came back with two glasses of the leaf green liquid in a tall glass, taking a sip. She just remembered why she didn't drink this stuff.

"You really don't seem to be into this." Leonie said flatly.

"I mean, we're monitoring the slaughter of children."

"I mean, yeah." Leonie started, taking a sip of her drink. "But have you SEEN the lineup this year?"

"I have the list." Kalea sighed, putting her free hand over her forehead.

"So why aren't you excited about this!?" Leonie asked, shaking her by her shoulders.

"I don't know? I went through this before, Leonie. I'm not exactly excited to watch another."

"So, why did you sign up?"

"Do you not remember the agreement we made?" Kalea spread her hands, accidentally knocking over her drink. "We'd host the killing game first chance we get, and then we'd be fair! We wouldn't pull any last-minute twists, no mental torture, and we'd make sure as many people live as possible!"

Leonie's head tilted in confusion for a second, before snapping back into place in a swift motion. "Oh, right. I do remember that. But come on, are we still sticking with that? With these contestants?"

"These contestants? They're still children, what makes them any different?"

"An alien, Ms. Brightside, the leader of both the Rosethorns and the Ishtarites, and three top actors! Come on, Kalea, this isn't exactly the time for being uptight!"

"Are you…what even happened to you since the game?"

"Let's see…Got a job, got fired because the manager was a bitch, a couple other things happened, and now we're here!"

"I see. And what about the other three?"

"Oh, those guys? I know Simone kept grabbing women, then cops found his body in a cement mixer. Then Clint killed himself, and I have no idea what happened to Starr."

Kalea looked at her staring into the ceiling, nonchalantly explaining the fates of people they knew. She sighed slightly and began taking her shirt off.

"Woah now, what are we doing here?" Kalea turned around, and Leonie was staring at her back.

"I'm going to bed, Leonie."

"Oh, right."

"You're okay with me keeping the lamp on, right?" Kalea asked.

"Babe, I get it. I came prepared. Have that light on as bright as you need."

She calmly took a purple eye mask out of the cabinet next to her and began taking off her dress. She turned off the lightswitch when she got out of it, which only left the room dimly lit by a lamp next to Kalea. Kalea turned, facing the wall. She shut her eyes, and Leonie's bizarre singing was eventually drowned out by her own thoughts.