Btw I fixed the Bloodbath. Thanks to everyone who yelled at me or I would have been pretty confused when nobody commented on it XD
Rialta Vernell (18) D4F
Tori beat me around the house. When I saw her, she was searching for something, running up and down the front yard. I looked with her, wondering what it was I was looking for. "What do we need?"
"There's a door, but it's locked. We have to find it before the Careers get in the house," she replied immediately. I joined her in the search, wondering where someone would bother to hide a key. I didn't think the Capitolites would hide it somewhere dumb, like under a rock. Then we wouldn't really have to search, so there would be less tension.
"Hey! What's this?" I said, looking at a glint on the ground. There was a piece of wood, and I examined it. Looking more closely, it was a small birdhouse. Around it there was a wire with a key tied to it. I grabbed the key quickly, making sure to duck under the huge window the house had looking out toward us. I carried the whole birdhouse, not bothering to untie the key, and looked through the window on the back door. I couldn't see anyone, which meant none of the Careers could probably see us.
"Walk totally silently. We are not getting caught," I whispered to Tori, slowly unlocking the door. We walked in together in near silence, though it didn't end up mattering. The Careers were gathered a room over, making a huge ruckus. We couldn't see them, but we could hear them with ease. They were doing inventory, planning, and doing a little celebrating. I wasn't worried about that.
Beside us, there was a staircase. "Tori, stay here and watch. If a Career comes, just scream and run," I said, walking down the staircase. I wasn't the biggest, strongest, most strategic Career, but I wasn't about to go into a place where there could very well be no exits without some sort of lookout.
I reached the bottom of the staircase and noticed a light I didn't dare turn on. I found out that I was in a basement. It was gross and cold, and there were spiderwebs everywhere. There was a random hole in the ground, but there were three rooms. I walked into the back room and found a hole in the wall. I crawled in a little ways, trying to see how far it went, when I realized that it went in more than three people deep. I could fit in pretty far, far enough that no one would ever look for us.
Climbing back up the staircase, I grabbed Tori, leading her to the hole. I had a bag of raisins I had grabbed from the Cornucopia, and that was just about all of our supplies. Things didn't look good, except I knew how Careers worked. There would be a time we could grab something from the Cornucopia. They couldn't possibly guard everything. Until then, we were hiding right under their noses.
Swift Counter (18) D4M
I liked Polaris. He got things done, and he was a respectable opponent. Those were two of the best qualities somebody could have. However, he was lacking another quality that I appreciated in people: Fun. He was being extremely serious while we counted our supplies, taking an inventory of every little thing. I could handle taking inventory. I could handle being asked to watch the door and begin to plan who would be going on the first hunt. I could handle most things. But I couldn't handle being asked to sit and stare at the door, saying nothing so that he could concentrate.
"This is so cool! Of all the Arenas to get, we get a house! Yes!" I said, pumping my fist in the air. Polaris glared at me. I wanted to address the problem, but it was pretty early for the Pack to split up, so I considered every word carefully. "Hey, Polaris. What if we talk a little bit? I think you'd still be able to concentrate," I said, hoping he wouldn't think any less of me. Fun was important, but so was the leader's respect.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? We could miss an ambush if we're making noise," Polaris said calmly. I didn't really want to engage, but I was bored out of my mind. I considered again, then continued.
"What if we play a game or something, to celebrate such a successful Bloodbath, and then we take inventory? Like, we do a couple rounds of Would you Rather, and then we go back to inventory? I think that'd be fun," I said again, feigning total confidence. I felt like he might yell at me, but I also felt like I would break if I had to sit and stare at a wall any longer.
Polaris considered for many long, hard seconds. I could see Althea hoping we would play a game, while Bridgette seemed disinterested. Havanna was off searching the house to see what was worth note, checking on the second floor, so she didn't get a say. Omri seemed indifferent, and Edric was staying stone still, not making a scene. Finally, Polaris spoke up. "I think we could do that. But only for a little bit."
We were interrupted by a piercing screech. Havanna ran out of the bathroom, yelling profanities. "Hey bird, you wanna get loud? I can get loud, too!" she yelled, apparently at a bird. All of us ran to where she was to see a big yellow bird in a cage. He seemed harmless, all caged up, but he wouldn't stop screaming. We started yelling at it, not sure what else to do. None of us had ever had a bird. This is a pretty weird first battle.
Robin "Mute" Ceviros (18) D11M
Caddis died. Caddis died. I saw it happen. I wanted to throw myself in front of him and save his poor soul, but I didn't have the time. Before I could reach him there was a knife through him, and before Polaris could reach me I was gone. I wasn't headed anywhere in particular; I was just headed away. Past Caddis' corpse, straight through the Bloodbath, picking up anything I could reach without having to engage with anyone. I didn't want to be near anyone, much less touch them. I had to mourn.
Before I could mourn, I found myself a home. It was a big, round building, way taller than I was. There was a pool ladder reaching partway up to it, and I had to climb up a bit higher by wedging my foot between two boards and hoisting myself up. I figured the Careers would never think to look there, and even if they did, I would be able to see them from far, far away. I was up pretty high. Even better, I could get inside. The platform I was on led to inside the building, and I went in.
The building was small, but nice enough for me. I didn't need much. There was a couch, a cushion, and some tables, as well as a footstool with very wilted flowers on top. I noticed the black-and-white checkered floor, with a small section out of place. I didn't examine it far, simply moving the couch over it and sitting down, plopping my stuff onto the couch and lying down on the cushy, soft cushion. I didn't take inventory of my things. I was trying to learn how to process an entirely new feeling.
Sadness was new to me. I didn't really feel it when I was on the streets; I was too busy living to worry about anything else. I didn't feel it when Paul grabbed me. I was too busy trying to stay alive. For so long, I had felt little but fear. I forced some happiness into my life, but sadness wasn't necessary. Now, when I was sitting down, able to be hunted down at any time, I let myself feel it. I was finally beginning to mourn, and I didn't know what to do with myself. I had spent so long surviving that I hardly knew what living was.
I settled on rolling onto my stomach and crying, then closing my eyes, putting a pillow to my mouth, and screaming. There were a lot of feelings flowing through me. I felt the sadness of losing Caddis, a friend, but Caddis was so much more than that. Caddis treated me like a human. Caddis cared about me. Caddis tried to teach me how to read. R-O-B-I-N. I remembered that. I also remembered C-A-D-D-I-S. Then I remembered something else.
Now that Caddis was dead, I was all alone in the Arena.
No deaths today! Just Robin flipping out.
What can I say? This family owns a pet bird. His name is Bruno, and he screams whenever he feels like it. Which is more often than not. SKREEEEEEEEEE