.oOo.
Perhaps a smaller stage will prove to be all the more entertaining.
.oOo.
Electra Mancuso, 16
District Three Female
0 Kills
"Well… I guess they won't find us here," she manages to whisper to Antimony as the mist continues to move throughout the forest. No one will be able to properly move throughout the arena if it lasts all day - perhaps it's the game maker's solution for the arena being on the small side. She hasn't seen much of it yet, but the mountain close the forest looks more like a hill than anything - except for the tall cliff, the clouds hang low over the forest, and the river seems to be closer than she thinks. It can't be more than a mile across the arena - no, unless there's something beyond that mountain, it will be a smaller arena.
Perhaps a smaller stage will prove to be all the more entertaining.
Antimony groans, shifting in place to get more comfortable in the bushes. Electra doesn't like sitting in the bushes much, either: they're scratchy and don't give them enough room to properly sit up. But they're an extra barrier between themselves and the other ten tributes in here, and she's grateful for that. Even with the mist, she'd feel naked in this arena without something like the bushes to surround her.
After all, they'll hear someone if they try to come in through the bushes.
"When do you think the mist will clear?" Antimony mutters after a few moments, his eyes firmly closed. Perhaps he's trying to nap. "I guess we just have to hunker down and wait it down, ugh."
"They'll have to lift it eventually. Maybe they'll lift it after a day and this is to let everyone spread out so the Games last longer?" Electra ponders the question for a moment, trying to think of what the game makers might do. She wishes she paid more attention to the Games - if she was a Capitolite, she might have been intrigued by the planning that went into them, the calculations needed to make a stellar arena and something that fit all of the tributes entering it, and she would have become a gamemaker in her own time.
But she doesn't think about it for long - after all, she's not a Capitolite, she's Electra. She's from nice, quiet District Three, and she likes it that way.
"I suppose they needed something to let everyone scatter before the careers go hunting." Antimony shrugs and sits back up, opening his eyes. "We'll get it easy for now - unless the mist lifts and the careers go hunting. When it does, we need to find a better place to hide or we'll be found."
Electra nods, shuddering at the thought of being found by the careers. "When do you think they'll start looking for us? How many would there be left, even?"
"There should be all five of them left, but there's that alliance, and..." Antimony seems to calculate the odds in his head, giving a little nod of satisfaction when he's happy with his answer. "I'll say a tentative four. Maybe more, maybe less. Do we have any water, by the way?"
"Hmm, we have some in the packs, in the packs, I think," is Electra's reply, and they sit together in awkward silence before Antimony reaches over to take some of the water. He must be getting annoyed with her - Electra knows that Antimony enjoys discussing things with others, like Hex, but she just can't think of anything to say to pass the time. There's nothing to say when they're trying to pass an afternoon in suffocating mist, the chilly air tugging at their grey shirts and pants while they lie in these bushes.
For now, she'd just like to be quiet.
.oOo.
She's still not quite used to being the one in charge.
But she'll learn.
.oOo.
Tourmaline de Metz, 18
District One Female
2 Kills
"Well..." Aeson seems to be flummoxed by the mist covering the arena, hiding everything - the grass, the tributes, whatever mutts could be out there - from their view. "Hunting's not going to be easy, is it?"
Duchess gives a grunt as he pulls the last body - the girl from Twelve - onto their pile for the gamemakers to collect, looking up to see the mist as well. "Might as well relax if we're going to get this chance, right? We should explore this place - maybe there's a shower! A bath, even!" Tourmaline stifles a laugh as Duchess nearly salivates at the thought, and shakes her head.
It's only been an hour or so since they've been dropped into the arena. They barely have any need for a shower, except for the blood that stains their clothes. She focuses on wrapping the wounds that she's received in the bloodbath - a scratch here, a cut over her forehead there - with clean, fluffy bandages that she's coated in antiseptic and other creams to help them heal. She won't let them get infected here, not when she has every opportunity to take care of them. It would be a waste to ignore them all. She'll use all of the medical supplies at her disposal - even if most of them are hidden behind bags of salt. Salt!
When they've finished stacking the bodies and cleaning most of their wounds, Tourmaline speaks up to get the boys' attention. "We should find a place to clean ourselves up, then head into the arena. If we can." Tourmaline hopes her voice seems authoritative enough to make the others listen: thankfully, they nod and follow her to the door. She's still not quite used to being the one in charge.
But she'll learn.
"It's a pity that Enyo and Fraser died like that - we go from being nearly half of the tributes to only a third of them. I guess that when we go hunting, it'll always be one of us Ones and then Aeson so he doesn't get scared of us banding together and killing him?" Duchess laughs at the thought, and Aeson pales slightly. Tourmaline merely shrugs: the guys might bicker, but for now they know that it's best to stick together. They'll take out the other nine tributes before turning on each other.
"Hey, I'm fine with you two going out together!" Aeson huffs. He bumps into a portrait as they walk through the narrow hallway, reaching to steady the fierce glare of what resembles President Ember before hurrying to catch up with Tourmaline and Duchess. "I don't think you'll betray me just yet."
"That'll be your mistake," Duchess murmurs. It's too low for Aeson to hear, yet the boy looks suspiciously over at his ally before shrugging his shoulders.
They round the corner of the narrow hallway and into a larger room, something that's obviously made out to be some sort of living room. There's a large couch, tall curtains to hide the floor-to-ceiling windows, and a bowl of confectionary that the boys promptly take handfuls of. Tourmaline takes the rest, being sensible enough to take the bowl for herself - she'll never know when it may come in handy.
And she gets the rest to herself, after all.
"Hey, there's bedrooms over here!" calls Aeson as he hurries through a few doors. His muffled voice catches the attention of both Tourmaline and Duchess, who pass the starch-white doors to enter a cream-coloured bedroom. It's a soothing colour that lends itself to quite a calming bedroom, with light grey sheets and fluffy, warm pillows on top of the bed in the centre of the room. If Tourmaline didn't know better, she'd believe that this was one of the Capitol's own bedrooms.
It's nothing at all like home.
"Ooh, a bathroom! I gotta go, just wait a few minutes," Aeson rushes, hurrying into the bathroom and locking the door behind him. While he's gone, Duchess and Tourmaline explore the rest of the bedrooms - four in total, each with its own colourful array of luxury items and goods. Duchess pockets whatever sharp edges he comes across, telling Tourmaline that he's doing so to make sure that no one gets close to stealing what could be used against them, but Tourmaline doesn't pay much attention to him.
It's beautiful in here - she just wishes that this is where they could spend their time in the arena.
She's not ready to leave yet.
.oOo.
He still doesn't know what to think about that.
.oOo.
Callous Lecket, 17
District Ten Female
0 Kills
He's still surprised that they've gotten away.
They're huddled in a small group near what must be the creek that they heard while running through the arena, under what would be the shade of a large oak tree that stands at the edge of the meadow. It was useful to keep the sun from blinding them in the arena and exhausting them with its heat - well, if it wasn't for the mist.
"Do you think it'll go away, or will it be like this for the rest of the Games?" Aloie asks as she rummages through the bags that Callous had taken from the cornucopia. He's proud of the fact that he had gotten all of those for the alliance - it had taken a while, but eventually the careers had drifted far away enough from the cornucopia for him to pop up from under a tablecloth and into the cornucopia. He hadn't been picky - five bags and off he went to the rest of the alliance. "I hope it isn't, honestly. I'm not ready to not see the sun for a week."
"At least it helps hide us from the careers," Emma points out, and they all fall into silence. Callous hadn't thought about it, but it's true - the mist shrouds them in their own little space, hidden from the other tributes, and it must dampen whatever sounds they make. It's helpful for the outliers - and not for the careers. For now, they're safe. "I like having this as a safety cushion - we can't be more than a few hundred metres from the mansion. They'd find us easily if it wasn't for the mist."
"Do you think anyone tried to climb the mountain?" Jackson muses, stretching against the trunk of the tree. He looks tired, but he has the right to be - after all, he's one of the two who killed to save what remains of the alliance in the bloodbath.
Him, and Emma - who killed Tim, putting him down like Callous' dad forced him to do to one of the sickly lambs last year in the spring. He still doesn't know what to think about that. He's not sure how he'll react.
At least it isn't him she's doing it to, right?
"Probably," Aloie replies absently. "I've sorted everything! We have our medical supplies, in my bag, food in another, miscellaneous objects in this one, and weapons in here. The sword can't fit, but the others can!" She gestures to the array of bags at her feet, ranging from light blue to dark red. "I sprinkled some bandages and knives in some bags where they shouldn't be so that if anyone get separated, they'll have more than one thing to help them out. Sounds good?"
"Alright, so we'll stay here until night falls or we need to look for a place to hide when the mist clears," Jackson says loudly. He catches the attention of all three, who turn around to look at him. "Now, when -"
Then they all pause, because they've just heard a sound that should not be there.
Somewhere behind them, someone - something? - is splashing through the water.
.oOo.
She doesn't want to think about what could happen because of that.
.oOo.
Aloie Church, 12
District Eleven Female
0 Kills
Emma is the first to react, grabbing a knife and pointing in the direction of the creek. "We'll split up - Jackson with Aloie, Callous with me. We'll search for whoever it is and make sure that they're not a threat. If it's a career, we run."
Aloie nods, too nervous to say otherwise. She takes two of the packs and the others split them amongst themselves, each taking a knife. Jackson takes his sword and they split up, walking towards where the creek should be. Oh, if only the mist could lift!
It's tricky to walk through the mist - Aloie nearly trips over a stump that appears out of thin air, and Jackson curses when he falls over a rock. But he gets back up, and they continue until Jackson puts up a warning hand. "There's a drop here."
Aloie walks to catch up with him and sucks in her breath when she sees the drop - the creek seems to be carved into the earth, blocks of stone lining the sides of the creek as the water rushes along. The drop's only a few feet down, but it wouldn't be a pleasant one - if one of them hit their head in the creek, they could get swept away by the current and…
She doesn't want to think about what could happen because of that.
Jackson hops down and stretches his arms out to Aloie, sword on the top of the bank. "You need any help?"
"Yeah, thanks." Aloie jumps down with the help of Jackson's hand, splashing in the shallows of the creek. It's not deep, but she can feel the incline leaning in towards the centre - it could be up to her waist there.
She doesn't care to find out. Not when she's fully clothed, at least.
They walk through the shallows, keeping their hands on the stones that line the bank to make sure that they don't go too deep into the creek. Jackson's body tenses when he hears splashing in front of them, and he raises a finger to warn Aloie to be silent.
She will.
They don't move - they wait as the water sloshes past their ankles and towards whoever is walking towards them. A moment passes, then another, and then a figure emerges from the mist and stumbles in their direction.
It's the girl from Eight, Aloie realizes with a shudder.
Jackson raises his sword as a warning, but Aloie grabs his arm. "No, wait. We don't know - I think she's good, Jackson."
He looks back at her, raising an eyebrow, but does as she asks. The girl from Eight gives a sob of relief and takes another step forward. Now that she's closer, Aloie can see the tears that stain her pale cheeks - she's a mess. "Thank you - oh, thank you. My allies died in the bloodbath and I just ran here, but I got lost and then the mist came and then… I was all alone. Can I join you?" she asks in a rush of words, her face hopeful even when covered with tears. "I can help you - I can run fast. I'll try. Please."
"Jackson! Aloie!" Emma and Callous splash towards them, waving their knives in the air. "You found the girl?" Emma asks, still holding her knife tightly. The girl from Eight shudders, and Aloie frowns at Emma until the two put their knives back in their packs. It won't do to scare the girl any more than she already is.
"Please - I won't hurt you. May I join you?" the girl asks, desperate now. Aloie looks up at Jackson, silently pleading for him to let her in. She wouldn't mind another tribute in the alliance, and she doesn't like the thought of letting this girl stay all alone - it's not humane. "P-please." She chokes on a small sob, falling silent.
"I..." Jackson sighs, mopping his brow with the long sleeve of his grey shirt. "You know what? Why not."
The girl from Eight is elated to hear it, and hugs Jackson - but Aloie sees the small frown on Emma's face as they turn to head back to the tree.
Maybe it's best to ignore it for now. One more person wouldn't be that bad, right?
Right.
.oOo.
But Aeson would much rather keep it to himself.
.oOo.
Aeson Humpford, 18
District Two Male
3 Kills
He walks out of the bathroom, happy that the dull ache is gone once more. It'll return eventually, he knows that, but he just needs to make sure to relieve himself whenever he can.
As long as he can keep taking his medication, he'll be fine.
He pockets the small bottle of brightly coloured pills - after pleading and begging and bribing the token committee to let him bring it into the arena, he had been given it on the morning of the Games and told to keep it hidden whenever he could. If he was asked about it by Duchess and Tourmaline, he'd simply tell them that it was a sponsor gift - it wouldn't be too much of a stretch. He just doesn't trust them right now - they outnumber him two-to-one, after all, and share the same home district. He wouldn't put it past them to exploit him if his secret ever slipped.
Yes, Aeson would much rather keep it to himself.
He finds the two other careers back at the cornucopia, yawning as they wait for him to join them. "Took you long enough!" calls Duchess with a wicked grin, and Aeson shrugs. For all they know, he just had to go - after all, that'll be the excuse he'll use throughout his time here.
He'll have to be sure to drink a lot of water in front of them. Maybe that'll help convince them.
"Now, we have to plan for when the mist rises, because I'm sure it will eventually," Tourmaline tells the two when Aeson sits down on a crate of food. "When it does, I say we don't even bother guarding the cornucopia - when we get the chance, we seize it. We can't let the other tributes get away from us, especially if we have to wait it out. I don't want to be part of the career pack who couldn't find anyone, you know?"
Aeson nods. "If we hide the essential stuff somewhere else in the mansion, I'm sure it'd be alright to let any person who stumbles back into the mansion take what they can find - or we could destroy it," he says, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "After all, we wouldn't want them to get an edge on us, would we now? And we can use all of that salt in the cornucopia for something, I'm sure - trails? Route markers?"
Duchess laughs, flicking an empty wrapper at Aeson. "We can burn it or break it - it doesn't matter. What does is that there's nothing left for them to find. Now, where should we start searching? There's that pesky large alliance, the girl from Eight, the girl from Five, the girl from Seven, and I saw the two from Three running across the lawn - I killed their friend, but wasn't fast enough for them." Duchess frowns, upset that he wasn't able to get rid of them as well, then shrugs it off.
"So we'll wait it out for now?" Tourmaline nods slowly, feeling for a spear to hold in her palms. "Sounds good."
"Alright, we have a plan!" Duchess grins at them both, standing up to stretch. "Now, you two wait here. I have to relieve myself."
The two patiently wait as Duchess vanishes into the corridor, quietly chatting about the other tributes. After a few minutes, they determine that it's the girl from Nine they have to keep an eye out for - she's the one who killed Enyo, after all. It's a pity that they don't know who killed Fraser, Aeson laments, but it's not that big of a deal. They'll find them eventually.
"Dinner is served, ladies!" Duchess walks back with a platter of food, grinning as he lowers the array of steaming meat and concoctions that the Capitol has dreamt up. "Smells heavenly, doesn't it?"
"How'd you get that?" Tourmaline asks between bites of a large roll, looking curiously over at her ally. "Find anyone?"
"No, I just gave the Capitol what they want to see," Duchess replies with a saccharine smile. Aeson mulls it over, but shrugs and goes back to eating. He doesn't carewhat Duchess did, just that he got this.
That's good enough for him right now.
.oOo.
Maybe, just maybe, she can fight her way back home.
.oOo.
Magnolia Rosa-Tran, 18
District Seven Female
0 Kills
She's still alive.
Still alive! What a lovely thought, Lee thinks as she presses her aching back into the cool face of the cliff above her. She's glad that she's still here, still able to fight, still able to prove that she can get back home with her baby.
Twelve cannons had gone off sometime earlier today, but she's found it hard to keep track of the time after the mist came. Lee had planned to climb the mountain - slowly, due to her aching back and the precious load of her pack and unborn baby - but the mist forced her to reconsider, making it too difficult to properly see where she's going. She can barely see ten feet in front of her in this mist - it would be a miracle if she could find her way up the cliff with these conditions.
She's not going to hope for a miracle. She'd rather stay rooted to the ground.
That's where she's safe.
Splaying her legs out in front of her, Lee opens the pack and looks inside. It's a valuable load - a bottle of water which appears to be half-full when she shakes it experimentally, a few packets of dried food that will get her through the next couple of days, a box of matches, a rope, and an axe-head to match the one that she holds in her right hand. She'll fare well with the contents of the pack - it's more than enough to keep her happy and comfortable for up to a week if she plays her cards right.
Maybe, just maybe, she can fight her way back home.
But now's not the time to dwell on that. She'll have to find a place to shelter for the night, she realizes as the mist continues to float around her, and stands up while keeping a steady hand on the cliff. She'll try to feel her way around the mountain until she finds something, anything, to use as shelter - she won't be picky. She can't afford to be, not here.
She might be hearing things. But if someone asked her, Lee'd say that she's heard whispers out in this mist - something darker than what the arena should be, something larger. She's staying close to the cliff.
Her hair begins to fall in her eyes as she walks, a result of keeping her face pointed towards the ground to look for any unwelcome rocks or roots that could trip her. She stops for a moment, pausing to tie the long, dark mess into a tidy bun. A few knots later, and it's finished - she uses a bit of the rope to tie it together. Lee's happy to see that some of the rope is in smaller, useable sections - it's nice to have something to keep her hair out of her face. It's so much tidier.
She walks for a long while, - or a few minutes, she can't tell - looking for a place where she can sit down and rest. When her hand slips from the cliff and into a crevice, she pauses - it might just be what she's looking for. Looking inside, she discovers a narrow cranny that she can squeeze herself into and have room to sit - the perfect hiding spot in this mist.
It's not so bad to be here, she thinks as she stretches in the larger part of this little nook. Sure, she'll have to fight for her life, but she knows how to use an axe - unless it's a career in her way, she could very well stand her ground.
She could make it through this.
She could save her baby.
She could go home.
If you want to know who's where/with who, leave a review/pm me asking for a rundown on the arena and I shall gladly give it to you all. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Read, review, have a great day. I'll see you soon with another chapter, which will bring us back to some people we haven't heard from yet... I'm excited! Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ