It's the first full day of the Games! A lot of sponsors have come in over the Bloodbath and now we get to see the tributes in action!
Void Zachariah, 25
District 1 Male
The Career pack retreated into the nearest trailer in order to strategize and let the Gamemakers clear the bodies away. Void would not miss them. He hoped everyone saw what he did, and what he was capable of. Leroy wanted him to prove his worth? Void would exactly do that.
Aurora wore a vest containing holdsters for all her throwing stars, a dagger dangling in her hand as she surveyed the trailer, bored as hell. Ember carried two cleaned swords and a small backpack. He was whispering to Rosy, who had brought an entire set of throwing knives with her. Amperia had been armed with just a spear. She could've taken more gear with her; it wasn't like the Careers were going to micromanage her every move.
She seemed scared.
Void didn't blame her. She was obviously at the bottom of the Career totem pole, the first to be picked off when they inevitably turned on each other. He hoped secretly that Rosy and Ember would be next, having marked themselves as a pair and obviously, Void couldn't trust them. Maybe he could trust Aurora? But then again, she was very guarded. No, it was better to take Aurora out first, then leave Rosy and Ember behind as his dogs, dangling one in front of the other to keep them in line. Especially Ember.
Rosy wiped Aldair's dried blood off her face with a towel. "Can we go back now?"
Void nodded. "Yeah, They should've cleared all the bodies. And we need to go hunting."
Ember shook his head. "We can go hunting tomorrow. I think we should spend the day figuring out a plan. You know, to make the most of our daylight hours."
Aurora and Rosy both seemed to agree, but Void just scoffed. "Um, no. No we don't."
"Hold on-"
"I'm the leader, and what I say goes."
"What!?" Ember exploded. "That's not how this works! And what gives you the right!? The fact that you're an old man who kills kids and hangs out with a bunch of teens and girls!?"
"Well, when you put it that way, you make me look like the bad guy here."
"You son of a-"
Ember started to argue again, but was cut off by a loud beeping. Two silver parachutes both floated down beside the entrance to the trailer. They were both labeled with Void's name on it. He happily scooped them up while Rosy just put an arm on Ember's shoulder, gently pulling him back. "Em, drop it."
"I'd listen to her if I were you."
"Shut up, Void!"
"Can we go back to the Cornucopia?" Amperia asked meekly. "You know...to arrange supplies and all?"
Void gave it some thought. "Well, fine. But quickly! I want to get hunting."
Ember quietly cursed under his breath. Rosy shushed him.
The bodies were long gone by now, leaving behind faint red bloodstains where they once lay. The circus music was still joyfully playing, despite the carnage that had taken place only a few moments earlier. Void retreated into the very back on the Cornucopia to open his gifts. Inside was a bunch of metal, wires, and material. The kind he could use to build a taser similar to the one he made in training. Or maybe a bomb.
Void,
Here's your stupid stuff. You better put this to good use. So don't fuck this up.
-Leroy.
Void smirked, wrapping up the supplies in the parachutes, carefully tucking them behind some crates. Oh yes, this would certainly come in handy later. If the Career pack ever turned on him, he was going out with a bang, and he was taking them all down too.
The supplies were a little more cleaned up now, and organized to some level. It was pretty clear that no effort had been put into it at all, probably just to spite him. Ember was still pretty upset, quietly shoving things into crates with Rosy. Aurora casually strolled around, swinging her arms, only Amperia could even be bothered to make things look nice.
"Well, looks better than it did before. At least we have room now. Let's go hunting!"
This was his chance to prove that he deserved whatever reputation he had already earned himself.
Void discarded his old knives for some clean new ones that didn't have any dried blood already staining them. The other Careers kept their weapons. "Where should we look first?"
"I think we should start with the tents," Rosy suggested. "If anyone was in a trailer, they would've heard us."
"Well, there's a lot of trailers. But if you insist..."
Void led the charge toward the tents, keeping as low and quiet as he could in a dramatic and suspenseful fashion. Ember rolled his eyes, picked up his speed, and marched right past him. He threw open the flap to the first tent. Inside, there was a scream.
Ezra tried to push past them, but he had nowhere to run. Besides, he was dead in seconds as Ember's sword was shoved into his chest. The weapon was yanked out and he crumpled to the ground, blood gushing from his lips. The cannon boomed.
And just like that, another tribute was gone.
Rosy picked through the tent. "He's got nothing. Just a teddy bear. Should we take it?"
Void just laughed. "Look, if you want it, I can't stop you." Rosy just shrugged and stuffed the bear into her backpack.
"So...where next? Do you think there are any other tributes around here?"
Aurora shook her head. "If they're smart, no."
Even so, Void thought, the outliers were making this way too easy for him.
Hera Myrana, 24
District 3 Female
Hera carefully peeked her head out of the trailers. The voices she heard slowly faded away. The Careers were gone. Oh thank Panem; they were so close to finding her. She didn't get her hands bloody in the Cornucopia just to be their first victim.
She had an axe, sure, but against 5 other people, Hera was pretty much doomed. Did they know what she had done to their ally? Were they mad? Hera had been beyond pissed that teeny little Julius of all people could such a dirty move like that. He had paid the price for it now.
She was going to miss Grey. That chick was wicked, heated, and they really saw eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Hera could always appreciate someone as angry as her. They planned to pull the strings form the curtains and dominate together. Of course, they'd turn on each other eventually, but that would wait until much later. Then that stupid little kid threw a wrench into their plans.
Truth be told, right now, Hera didn't regret anything she had already done. Tributes killed each other all the time. Right, she was completely over it now. She'd gladly fucking do it again if it meant getting out of this creepy circus sooner.
Ugh, her arm hurt so bad.
Hera slid down the wall of the trailer until she was finally sitting down, legs sprawled out. Fuck. What was she supposed to do now!? She had nothing! Hera had never used axes before; the bloody thing was almost useless to her. Granted, it was a weapon...
"Think, think, think," she chanted to herself. "Stop fucking around and thinking like a fucking psycho. Okay, what would Freya do..."
Freya! Oh crap, she must've been worried sick!
Hera began to pace back and forth to calm herself down. She couldn't think straight when riled up like this. And impulsive behaviour was only gonna get her killed. Right. Stay calm. Be careful. And think! What did Byte tell her to do? What strategy was she supposed to follow?
A faint beeping noise caught her attention. Outside the trailer, a small parachute sat, carrying a canteen of water with it. Water. Hera eagerly scooped it up. It felt nice and cool in her hands. She first read the note hanging off the canteen.
From one badass lesbian to another. You go girl!
-A Capitol fangirl
Hera chuckled to herself. As much as she couldn't care less about what the Capitol thought of her, it was nice to have some support. Hey, that meant more money going towards her!
And sooner or later, she was going to need water.
Too bad she didn't have anything to carry it in. Luckily, the canteen came with a strap Hera could fit her wrist through, the canteen hanging like a clunky bracelet. She still had her hands free for her trusty axe, despite the way the canteen swung around and knocked into her hip. She wiped her sweaty palms on her ugly yellow jacket, then stepped outside.
She saw nobody.
A cannon fired overhead. The Careers must've claimed another unlucky victim. Hera wasn't really sure who it was. Oh well, sucked for them. That was one less tribute standing between her and victory. Anything to bring up her odds.
She glanced around. Left. Right. Then left again. Then right. Left, just to be really sure this time. Yep, she was alone. For now.
Hera quickly hurried from trailer to trailer, ducking into them at any little noise. She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing, but as long as the Careers were further away, it worked for her. She wasn't even paying attention to what direction she was traveling in either. Until she ran out of trailers and found a beaten dirt path instead. The scenery was empty. She could no longer hear that sickening psycho circus music playing in the background.
Where was she?
"What the fuck!?" Hera said to nobody in particular. "What is this!?"
She could hear a very faint humming noise. Past Games had taught her that the forcefield trapping them all in the arena wasn't far away, but running into it probably wasn't the best idea. Maybe she should follow the path instead; at the very least, nobody was likely to follow her.
So Hera continued, axe and canteen swinging lazily in her hands. Her arm still ached.
"Alright, Mr. Head Gamemaker," she muttered through clenched teeth, too low for anyone to really pick up her words. Especially not Apollo Karaigme. "I see what's going on. So I'll follow your little path, because I got nothing better to do. Let's see where it leads me now, huh?"
Then she walked off.
Arwan Falconer, 24
District 7 Male
He was alive.
Somehow, he managed to escape. Sure, he was covered in his own blood and bruised to the core, but he was alive. That was all that mattered. Poor Maeve; he must've given her such a fright. Well, as long as he didn't scare her into early labour.
Now came the next of Arwan's problems: he had nothing. Damn. He could've gotten some good loot too, had Void not ruined anything. Food. Water. Weapons. Also, a first aid kit would be really nice. He stomach hurt so bad; Arwan wasn't sure if it was from hunger, injuries, or maybe something else.
That giant circus tent was not that far away and hopefully, the Careers would not be able to spot him, at least for a little while.
His feet stung, but Arwan didn't really want to crawl. Instead, all he could do was limp. The tent was probably not the best choice for a hideout; he was willing to bet that there was already somebody in there. And there was a high chance that somebody was not looking for a roommate.
Luckily, there were a few smaller tents he could hang out in for the time being. Arwan made his way into the nearest one, then finally dropped down, lying across the dirty ground. Pain shot through his chest, sending him straight up, seething quietly to himself.
Beep.
The noise briefly drowned out the circus music and Arwan perked up. He heard another beep, then he saw two silvery wisps floating in the sky. They landed just outside the tent. The wisps had turned out to be parachutes, each carrying a parcel with them. One parcel came with a rolled-up sheet of paper, the other with a tag.
There was no mistaking it. They had to be for him.
Sure enough, the tag had a 7 on it. Arwan tore open the packages to reveal a loaf of bread, and a first aid kit. He eagerly opened the first aid kit and rummaged around in it. Two rolls of a bandages, a safety pin, some iodine drops, a roll of tape, and gauze. It wasn't a lot, but at the very least, it would stop his bleeding.
Arwan's nails dug into his arm, trying to peel as much dried blood off his clothes. He then dug it out from under his nails, before wrapping about half a roll of bandages around his stomach and pinning it together. Too bad he couldn't do anything about the bruises but let them heal on their own. And he guessed he didn't have any cracked bones. Again, nothing he'd be able to do about those.
Bread. As simple as it was, it suddenly sounded so mouth-watering and delicious. But Arwan decided to force himself to wait. He was fine, he wasn't that hungry after all. He decided to read the note that came with the bread; maybe something good would come out of it.
Don't give up!
-Birch
Arwan frowned. He flipped the note around; was there some sort of hidden code? That was it? Just four words? Okay, fine. He'd give Birch the benefit of the doubt since she was pretty kooky at times and he supposed this was her way of trying to help. But what was the point of bothering to go through the trouble of sending him a note if she was just going to write a simple sentence, then sign her name?
Arwan just stuck the paper in his pocket, then closed up the first aid kit. He supposed he could stay here for now. Maybe there would be more sponsor gifts soon; who knew? Plus, he really needed a chance to recover, so it didn't hurt his feet as much to walk. He absentmindedly pressed at a small bruise above his knee, then instinctively drew his hand back when it hurt.
"Hey Maeve," Arwan whispered, too exhausted to talk any louder. "I hope you're doing well and you're being looked after. I miss you. I'm sorry about what happened this morning. But I'm alright. I'll live. I can get through this."
He wanted to ask her about sending some sponsor money, but decided against it. She didn't need the extra stress or an empty wallet. Neither did his family. At the very least, he knew he had some support in the Capitol and people there who were willing to cash out on him. He just had to keep appealing to them.
That meant he had to take out some of the competition.
Arwan knew this wasn't going to be an easy task, despite all the mental preparations he had made in the Capitol. It was even harder without a weapon. Plus, he did have a bit of a soft spot for kids; he wasn't really sure he could bring himself to hurt one. Maybe the adults instead. He recalled past Games, and the way spilled blood turned some Victors from nervous teens into absolute monsters.
But not Arwan Falconer. He'd never let himself become one.
Besides, good people, the ones who never killed, never were corrupted...they died. Slaughtered by the villains. Well, it wasn't like Arwan was going to go out of his way to hunt for tributes to kill. He knew Maeve would never want that of him. But if an opportunity presented himself, he had no plans to let it slip on by.
The ones who killed did not die. The ones who killed survived.
He just wanted to survive.
16th place: Ezra Kiskov, District 6. Stabbed in the chest by Ember.
Ezra was fun, because I loved to write his dynamic with Aldair. They both shared a lot of similar interests, but Ezra was still a little bit of a kid. He was very passionate and talkative about his hobbies and work, which I liked. I knew his ally's death was going to have a huge emotional toll on him, paired with his lack of supplies, and unfortunately, his journey ends here. Thanks for him, notthebrave!
Current Alliances:
Careers: Void, Ember, Aurora, Rosy, Amperia
D10 Plus Synth and Alec: Alec, Ace, Merona, Synth
Tied For Largest Alliance: Palatino, DJ, Rachel, Jonathan
Angery Lonely Lesbian: Hera
Tis But a Flesh Wound: Arwan
Kills:
Void: 2 (Elana, Jenny)
Ember: 2 (Ezra, Powder)
Julius: 1 (Grey)
Aurora: 2 (Deloris, Autumn)
Hera: 1 (Julius)
Rosy: 1 (Aldair)
Sponsor gifts are pouring in and the first post-Bloodbath kill has been made. Also, the arena is starting to be explored by the tributes.
Not much to say here, but see you all next chapter!
-Vr
