If she wins, she might have that chance.
.oOo.
Magnolia Rosa-Tran, 18
District Seven Female
0 Kills
She's tired of waiting for someone to come kill her.
Someone died yesterday, she knows that. She saw the face of the boy from Ten in the sky last night - someone killed him, yet they couldn't get to the rest of his allies - how many of them are there left now? Four? - and now there are only ten other tributes in this arena with her. There are only ten people left between herself and her baby and winning the Hunger Games.
What would happen if she wins? Lee hasn't thought much about that as she's slept throughout the past few days, but she hopes she can do something - it would be lovely if she could convince someone to not let pregnant women be reaped for the Hunger Games. She had privately protested the choice whenever she had the chance - to her mentors, the escort, the gamemakers during her private session - but no one felt secure enough to publicly protest along with her.
If she wins, she might have that chance.
"And what shall we do today?" she murmurs to her unborn child, fingering her canary-yellow pack of goods. "Should we move, or remain in this little nook? I don't know what we do want to do - I suppose we'll wait it out, but perhaps it's best if we find a new place to sit. Perhaps the careers will start hunting, even though the mist is back - but no one knows for sure, do they?"
She hasn't decided what she truly wants to do yet - she'd rather just sit here and wait the day out, making a proper choice of what to do when the food runs out - which will be in the next day, considering that there's only a few packs left. She doesn't want to harm her baby or find another tribute - not yet, when she still has all of the others running around. This isn't the biggest of arenas - she's not going to get a chance to find a hiding spot as convenient as this one is for quite some time. And if she moves when the careers are hunting, even if she walks in the mist…
No, she doesn't want to risk that yet.
Not when she has so much to lose.
She'll have to start practicing again with her axe soon. She knows how to use it, but back at home she practiced using it every day - starting as a simple party trick, it evolved into a bit of a hobby for Lee. When she had found out that she was pregnant, the plan to keep learning how to throw axes to impress others at small parties that she and her friends held whenever they could had been thrown out of the window. Now, though, she needs the skill more than ever. She knows that she's still rusty, and being comfortable with the axe here will help her in so many ways.
She can feel confident when she finally sees someone else here, for one thing.
Lee yawns, leaning her back into the rock. Her body heat's warmed up the dry face of the cliff enough for it to feel comfortable to the touch - she's lucky that it hasn't rained. If she was soaked here, she'd be more than ready to move - but as it is, she's alright here.
She can be content where she is. For now.
But tomorrow? She'll move.
.oOo.
There's nothing like this feeling.
.oOo.
Aloie Church, 12
District Eleven Female
0 Kills
She's tired of the alliance waiting for someone to come chase them.
Her fourth day in here, and she feels like they're almost doing too well. Is something supposed to happen soon? Is she supposed to wait until gamemakers send mutts after them, or burn the forest down, or push them out of the trees that they've been hiding in for the past day? She expects something to happen soon, but she isn't sure - what entertained the Capitol enough to let them have this downtime? Why are they allowed to get away with it?
Oh well, at least she gets to relax for a little bit longer for now. It's nice to know that she's safe, even if it's just for a few moments.
It's nice to have time to breathe.
"Hey, Aloie," Emma mutters up to her from her position on a lower branch that hangs over the boys below, "Do you want to trade positions? I think it'd be good to get a bit of time to stretch."
"Sure!" she replies cheerily, chirping in excitement like a bird that's just found a worm. She scrambles down the trunk - even if she hasn't worked in the orchards, she still knows how to climb a tree - and perches herself on the thick branch that Emma's been sitting on. "Alright, do what you want up there - watch out for the little branch that pokes out, if you're not careful it'll tear your shirt."
"Thanks for the tip," Emma drawls. Aloie giggles, then grins. She looks up at Emma, winks, then lets go of the branch. "Wait - Aloie? Aloie!"
Falling through the air is far more relaxing than she thought it would be, Aloie muses as she hurtles towards the ground. It's only for a second, but it feels like a thousand years - she's never found a feeling like falling headfirst. There's nothing like this feeling.
Her heart races when she grabs the branch below her, digging her palms into the thick bark and swinging around with the force of grabbing the branch. She yelps when the bark cuts through the soft skin on her hands, wincing at the thought that she'll have to bandage it up for the next few days, but then she's finished swinging around the branch and is merely hanging from it.
She's made it.
Lifting a leg - muttering under her breath about the fact that her arms are barely strong enough to do that as she does so - she hooks a knee around the branch and hauls herself up. "Did you see?" she giggles when she gets back onto the branch, her heart trying to worm its way out of her chest as she looks back up at Emma. "Didn't think I'd make it, did you?"
She doesn't mention the fact that she's only tried that once before - and failed, for that matter.
"Oh - my - never do that again," gasps Emma. When Aloie looks more closely at the older girl, she can see that her face is as pale as a ghost. Or the bark of an birch tree, smudges of grey and dirt adding hints of colour to her otherwise white complexion.
"I won't," Aloie calls back up. Below her, Mona and Jackson are looking up in surprise - they didn't expect her to do that, either. "Trust me, my hands are messed up enough as they can get already."
Emma sighs, looking wistfully at the tree's trunk. "I always wanted to be a gymnast, you know - I could have been one. I practiced somersaults, cartwheels, splits, everything you could think of behind my home. But my mom caught me trying to walk along the roof of the house and put an end to that - no, she and my dad would have rather made me sit still and look pretty."
"Oh." She's not sure why, but something about that makes Aloie look away with a somber face.
It's hard to know that no one can get what they wanted at first. She'd rather not know the messy bits of other's lives. She'd rather have the parts that she can patch up.
Those are the easy parts.
.oOo.
She wants to be a bit more honourable.
.oOo.
Tourmaline de Metz, 18
District One Female
2 Kills
It's good that they got that kill yesterday - otherwise, she'd be worried that the sponsors would start to lose interest.
She hadn't really enjoyed it, sure, but it was good to kill the boy from Ten. Duchess had done the brunt of the gory things - if she didn't know how well he played for the cameras, she'd think that he enjoyed that. No, it wasn't something to relish in - it was like flaying a dying horse, or picking off the legs of some poor insect. There's nothing pretty about torturing someone.
But the cake that they were gifted afterwards almost made up for it - Tourmaline's glad that she thought to at least pretend to smile as she did it. She's not going to let the Capitolites think that she's not invested in this. She's not going to let anyone kill her off because they think that her heart isn't in the game.
She's going to play, and she's going to win. She wants a kill that's more impressive than drawn-out, that's all.
She wants to be a bit more honourable.
She looks over at Duchess, who is fiddling with his fingers on the other side of the room as he rests in an overstuffed easy chair. Her position on the large, comfy bed is just as soft - the pillows help quite a lot. "You doing okay?"
"I don't know… kind of getting bored in here. I'd like to find someone else soon - we can't coast off of the bloodbath forever, you know?" Duchess yawns, covering his mouth with his now-manicured nails. "But that's enough from me. I see that it's Aeson's turn to sleep at the cornucopia?"
"Yep, he gets guard duty tonight." Tourmaline grimaces at the thought - after worrying throughout the first few nights, they had come to an agreement that one would sleep at the cornucopia while the others were able to rest in the rooms of the mansion. It's her turn tomorrow, and she's not looking forward to staying up through the night.
At least no one's bothered to try to get back into the mansion yet. They're too afraid of the careers to try otherwise.
Her fingers dig into the pillow, and she flashes a saccharine smile to Duchess. "Sleep well. I suppose tomorrow we'll try the mountain, right?"
"Of course. Sleep well - don't get too worried, alright? I'm sure you'll be fine if we find someone else - if." With that parting shot, Duchess leaves the room. He knows just how to shake her, doesn't he?
But he'd be a fool to think that it'll scare her for long. She's worked too hard to think that an outlier can take her just like that - no one outlier will get Tourmaline. She'll stay strong. She won't let Duchess try to shake her confidence.
After all, she always has Aeson to side with.
She wouldn't let Duchess know it, but sometimes she wonders what it would have been like if he had died in the bloodbath and it was just herself and Aeson. Would it have been easier? Would it have been more comfortable?
One thing's for certain, she thinks as she pulls the covers of the bed over her body - oh, they're so soft! - and closes her eyes, without Duchess she'd feel a bit safer in this mansion.
Just a bit.
.oOo.
But he's not going to be the first to die. He won't let them.
.oOo.
Aeson Humpford, 18
District Two Male
3 Kills
He's getting tired.
Glancing around the mansion, it's obvious that no tributes have decided to pay a visit today. None of them will - no, not until they're hungry and desperate enough to try and do something here. They'll simply sit around and wait until the careers come to find them - not the other way around.
He's honestly surprised that there hasn't been an arena event yet - he thought that the Capitol would be getting bored by now. Maybe there's something else that's catching their eye, something keeping them entertained.
Hopefully, the careers are able to take that attention back before it all goes south for the alliance.
He yawns, smacking his lips as he eases himself down onto a crate. It's started to feel pointless for him to be here - there's too few of the careers to properly do anything, and he barely trusts Duchess enough as it is. He thought he was frightened by Duchess in the Capitol, with that glance that told the world that Duchess knew all that he wanted to know, but in the arena…
There's no career other than Duchess who would play the Games like he is this year.
And it's not just Duchess - Enyo was more ferocious than him, Tourmaline smarter, and she's still here for that matter. It's like he's the weakest link, the dumb muscle for them to push around. He knows how the Games work. He's supposed to die off when they've killed a few more outliers and figure that they can deal with the others easily, letting the Ones properly fight each other.
But he's not going to be the first to die. He won't let them.
Biting his lip, he looks at the rest of the supplies that he's supposed to guard. There's the half-empty bag of salt that they lug around in the morning when they go hunting, just in case they get caught outside in the mist, the piles of food, the weapons that they aren't using and haven't found a use for…
The food's what's useful to him.
He opens a bag of fluffy buns, taking out the small sponsor gift that he had received earlier in the day. He had been by himself when he had received it, and it was obviously meant to be for him alone - the bed, obviously a gesture to the fact that it's fill with sleeping medicine, painted on the side of the bottle couldn't make it any more obvious. Now, he just needs to taint a small bag of food, feed it to the others when he's ready, and let his gift do the rest.
He takes a syringe, fills it with the sleeping potion, and readies several buns. He fills them all without a second thought, shaking his head all the while. This is inherently wrong, he understands that, but he's too deep in now to give up right now. He'd rather drug them off, giving him time to overwhelm them and slowly become the dominant one in the alliance, than have to fight them when it's too late. He'd rather get rid of them this way.
He won't have to kill them all themselves. It's… it's…
It's easier this way for him, he thinks.
Aeson hurls the bottle out of a side window, listening for the clink of the glass bottle when it hits the ground far away from the mansion. It's safely away from the others - the mist has paid off more than he thought it might. They won't find it.
Now all he has to do is stash his dirty little secret away in the food, seal it up, and wait until the moment's right. When they realize what he's done, it'll be too late. They won't be able to stop him.
He's not going to let the others stop him from winning. They aren't Twos, after all - they wouldn't understand.
He's not sure if he quite understands what he's done himself, but he's not dwelling on it. Aeson's going to win these Games.
He's not getting outclassed by One this year.
.oOo.
After all, no one's found them in this forest yet, right?
.oOo.
Electra Mancuso, 16
District Three Female
0 Kills
"Do we have any more water?" Antimony asks again, sighing as he does so. Electra shakes her head, miserably staring at their two empty water bottles - they both know the answer, but can't help but ask the same question once more. It's been too long without water. She's starting to get a bad headache, one that clings to both sides of her brain and digs in with long, sharp thorns or claws or whatever weapons the world gives headaches. Her tongue is dry, so dry, and the only thing that's kept them even a bit comfortable is the mist in the air. They suck all of the moisture off of the leaves, whenever they get the chance.
All of the leaves are dry right now.
Antimony starts to moan again, muttering about how they're going to waste away here without hunting, but Electra ignores him. The stars are out tonight - they're quite pretty, shimmering in place up in the sky above their heads.
She doesn't see the stars often in Three. She's glad that she gets to here.
"Imagine if we had a fire or something - no, we're stuck because we don't want to wander through the mist and kill ourselves or something," Antimony hisses after a few more moments of furious silence. "What's to be afraid of, even? I don't know why we started here - we should have gone to the lake. I bet it would have been safer, easier, something. It's not like anyone's died other than the boy from Ten, right? It's safe out here. It's easy. We should do something."
Electra yawns, shrugging. "I don't - you decide. Doesn't matter." She curls back up in place, closing her eyes and drifting into a dreamless sleep. She's sure that Antimony is angry at her for not moving, but right now she wants to conserve energy. It's nice to sit here. It's nice to feel safe.
After all, no one's found them in this forest yet, right?
A harsh beeping wakes her up, rather like a fire alarm as the noise drifts closer and closer. Yawning widely, Electra doesn't realize what it means until it bumps into her face.
It's a sponsor gift.
Gasping, she opens it quickly with a few quick twists of her wrist. Inside is the most beautiful thing that she's ever seen - a small, metal-grey canister of water, the contents sloshing inside as she shakes it. "Oh, my -"
"What? What is i- a sponsor gift?" Antimony's excited as well, pushing through the bushes so he can get a good glimpse of it as well. "Water! Can I have some? I need some, Electra. Please, me first. I need it."
Electra shoves him away, greedily lapping it up. He just doesn't get it - she got it first, she'll drink first. It's not like he has to worry. It's not like she's going to drink it all, right? "Wait!"
Antimony shoves her back, dark circles around his eyes from lack of sleep darkening even more. "Give - it!" he grunts, trying to wrench it out of her grip. "Please, now!"
"No!" She kicks at him to get her ally off of her sponsor gift, sending him scrambling back into the bushes. But then he returns, and she gasps when she sees a wicked glint of silver clenched in his right palm. "Wait!"
"I'm done waiting," Antimony mutters, then pounces.
.oOo.
Oh, he'll make her pay.
.oOo.
Antimony Sinebad, 15
District Three Male
0 Kills
He's never hated anyone more than he does Electra in the moment that she kicks him away, sending a burning pain up his right thigh as he scrambles back into the bushes. Who does she think she is, trying to keep him from getting to drink water? Oh, she thinks that she's so smart, his mind grumbles. Well, she better wait -
He can be smart as well. And he knows how to be smarter - he knows how to put the odds in his favour.
He just needs one thing.
He rummages through the pack, cursing to himself until he finds the knife, then rushes back to Electra in a rush of anger. "I'm done waiting!" he shouts, thrusting his knife in her direction in a wild attempt to scare her. He doesn't mean to cut her, but the knife slips out of his control and lodges itself in her right arm.
Electra screams, a flock of birds that must be nesting in the upper reaches of the pine trees scream back, and she and Antimony grab the knife at the same time.
"I - I'm sorry -" he tries to say when he grabs the hilt of the knife, but Electra butts him away with her head. Antimony's knocked back, and he feels his head lash backwards and hit a rock. The impact seems to spark dozens of fireworks throughout his head, climaxing in a large, throbbing sense of pain.
Oh, he'll make her pay.
His hands close on a fistful of dirt and he throws it in Electra's face, jumping back up as he does so. The girl chokes on the dust, and he makes a grab for the bottle of the water - so close, so close, so close!
But then she slices through his right bicep with the knife, screaming at him to get away, and he forgets about the water.
"Stop it! Stop!" he screams at her, shoving the older girl away. "Leave me alone! Leave me alone, Electra!"
Electra doesn't listen, ripping the knife out his body so that she can try to strike again. Antimony doesn't let her - he tackles her to the ground, pulling her hair and screaming back at her. She must have hit her head as well, because in her shock she lets go of the knife just long enough for Antimony to snatch it up and make one wild, instinctive rush to protect himself forevermore from this waste of an ally.
The boom of a cannon stops him from stabbing her through the neck a third time, and he looks up. Who died? What happened? Wha-
Oh.
"I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" he yells at her, still trying to stop himself from stabbing again. He throws away the knife, sending it flying through the bushes and into the wild of the forest, and begins to shake her body. "Wake up! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to, Electra! I'm sorry!"
When she doesn't move, he collapses in a wet, filthy, shuddering heap. Without looking, he knows that the water's gone - in their struggle, one of them knocked it onto the ground to let the rest of the water seep into the ground. It was pointless, all of it. All of it. He shouldn't have killed her. He shouldn't have let his thirst overwhelm him. He should have kept control.
Now he's all alone.
Another day, another chapter!
11th: Electra Mancuso, District Three Female; Killed by Antimony Sinebad. Created by Sparky She-Demon.
Electra was a dear - I enjoyed her in the alliance that she formed, her quirks, and even if her backstory was a tad cliche I still liked having it for what it was worth - the reason cliches are so prominent, after all, is because they're solid, well-formed foundations that can be remade over and over again. It doesn't make it any less tiresome for some, but I really did enjoy writing her and getting to show a few of the things that made her more herself. She was initially a bloodbath pick, but I vetoed that sometime while writing the Capitol - I wasn't prepared to let her go. But in this alliance, things were brewing up for quite some time and this battle was when they finally snapped. Thank you, Sparky She-Demon, for a girl who tried her best even if she couldn't always express that she was.
And we're into the top ten! We've got seven more chapters in the arena from here on out - I'm excited to share them all with you, and you'll hopefully get a new one every day or two - depending on my writing speed (I have two more arena chapters to write and five have been finished, so let's hope!). I'll see you soon with another chapter!
Enjoy. Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ