Day 1:

Zilla Odbody, 16
District 6 Female

Never in her life had she been consumed by so many irrational thoughts.

Scream at the top of your lungs! Cry like a baby! Throw yourself over the ledge! Stab yourself with your spear! Beat your head in with your brass knuckles! Grab Corbyn's body and mourn him! Let the others go ahead and kill you! Don't you want to cry, don't you want to? Do something!

Zilla just kept walking. Over the small slab of stone, across the rickety bridge, far far away from everything else. She was not going to stop until she had a safe distance nobody could be bother to try and cover in the short time it took her to rest.

The arena, if Zilla's estimates were correct, was not very big. However, with all the stone islands spread out and attached via wooden bridges, it just covered a lot of open ground.

She had heard the nine cannons fire out as she ran. Twenty-four minus nine, that meant there were fifteen tributes still left.

She was one of them.

The odds weren't looking that great. Zilla felt way too exhausted to calculate them as she sank to her knees, catching her breath. When was the last time she felt so fearful, so scared, so...so...alive?

She felt...alive.

Damn it.

It took the freaking Hunger Games to accomplish that.

How could one feel that way after all that had happened in the span of hours? She lost her ally, she watched several people die, and she had to face the grim possibility that she could easily be next. No, that didn't scare her, at all? She had the daring to feel euphoric and energetic, but not terrified for her life?

Zilla finally caught her breath, then hurried down the next bridge. The wind rushed past her and sent her hair flying out behind her, relieving her of the sweat on her forehead. This was nothing new, but for some reason she liked it. It felt good.

In a way, all she had left to do was survive. Corbyn was dead, and Zilla knew from personal experience no amount of mourning, grieving, or sobbing would ever reverse that. He was not coming back. She had weapons, she had food, she had water. That was important. So if sponsors didn't come right away, she could hang on for a little bit.

Sniff.

What was that.

Zilla heaved the spear she had nabbed from the Cornucopia. There was an orange blur approaching her; it had to be another tribute, no doubt. Orange...that had to be District 10, if they still had a tribute left alive. She braced the spear for impact.

Killing was barbaric. Inhumane. Horrible. But a necessary evil. If she just get past the moral high ground and force herself to do it...

"Don't hurt me!"
Zilla lowered the spear, but still kept it pointed at Red. "Why?"
"I...please, just don't!"

"I have absolutely no reason to keep you alive. It doesn't benefit me in the slightest."

"I messed up," Red wheezed. "I lost my ally and I got no supplies. I've got nothing. So please. Don't hurt me."
"Again, not relevant to me."
"Then let me go! I promise, I won't do anything to you! You can trust me!"

That promise meant nothing from someone completely defenceless. Yeah, Zilla ought to just kill him right here and get it over with.

"Girl, I swear. Look, you wanna go this way. I wanna go that way. Let's just swap places."
"That is a reasonable offer."
"And...?"

Go on. Kill him. You'll have blood on your hands by the time this is over regardless. Don't you want to win? You might as well be the machine everyone says you are anyways. Machines don't feel a thing when they kill people.

"No." Zilla threw her spear to the ground.
"Um..."
"I have enough supplies that can divided between the two of us for a few days."

What the hell was she doing? A new alliance? Why didn't she just kill him? This was such a stupid move that provided absolutely no benefits and only served to drain her supplies faster. Yet here she was, offering herself and her precious food, water, and weapons to a total stranger.

"What is your name again? Zoey?"
"Zilla."
"Nice to meet you, Zilla. I'm Red."

She knew that; she knew the name of every tribute, just in case it ended up being important. They shook hands and it felt extremely gross to her; Red's hands was all dirty and sweaty with bits of rock and gravel clinging to his moist skin. Zilla kept those feelings to herself, however.

Because now she was more or less responsible for keeping two people alive. She wasn't even confident in her abilities to keep herself alive.

Toren Kollath, 17
District 2 Male

"Nine, eh? Not too shabby." Elise watched as the hovercraft finally left, leaving the three of them alone in the Cornucopia. "I'm kind of surprised. But in a morbid sense, that's a lot less people for us to worry about."

"It would've been a bit higher if you helped us out," Toren told her nonchalantly, or as nonchalantly as possible when it came to discussing Elise's participation in a mass slaughter of a bunch of teenagers. Granted, his body count wasn't looking too stellar either. neither was Bellona's. That wasn't the point.

"I'm sorry about that. I'll make it up...wait." Elise blushed and gave Toren an embarrassed smile as Bellona burst out laughing behind them. "Oh, you get what I mean."
"Yeah we do. But come on. He got away! We were all chasing him and he still got away!"

"It's not a big arena, Toren. In terms of land at least." Elise pointed into the clouds, where Toren could see more floating islands and bridges, but that was it. If there were any nearby tributes, he couldn't spot them. "We'll run into him again. I'm sure of it."
"How could you possibly know that?"

"It's a circle," Elise said in a plain tone.

Bellona quickly spoke up. "She's right. It looks like all major bridges lead back to here."
"You haven't even been all over the arena," Toren scoffed. "For all we know, it could be connected on the outside as well. Like a web."

Toren wouldn't put it past the Gamemakers to create such a design. There was only one way to find out.

"So...should we go find out, then?"
Bellona shrugged. "Eh. Maybe we should clean up the Cornucopia. There's a lot of stuff that's all over the place."

Elsie raised her hand. "I second that. It is only the first day after all."

Fair enough. The supplies in the Cornucopia were a bit of a mess. Maybe it was best to move them inside the horn and make it a bit harder for someone to steal.

There was plenty of stuff left, and Toren was happy for two pairs of extra arms to help him carry everything inside. Elise even found some tarps and suggested they attach them all together to make a big covering for the opening to the Cornucopia, just on the off-chance it rained or something.

While the girls worked together to create the giant tarp, Toren fetched them all packs of beef jerky for lunch. Suddenly, Elise stood up, her face turning a bit red as she folded her hands in front of her gut. "Um...guys? How...err...how does the bathroom situation work...on here?"

Toren laughed. "Use a cup."
"That's...that's not gonna work!"
"Squat over the edge then. We'll cover for you."

Bellona burst into laughter, nearly joking on her half-eaten beef jerky. Even Elise gave a small smile. Toren couldn't resist the urge to shoot her an evil grin either.
"Oh, alright." Elise playfully hung her head. "I know when I've been beat. But no peeking!"

"What I wouldn't give to see Stravos come along for a nice yellow rain shower to land on his head," Bellona cackled, scrunching up her jerky wrapper and then sticking it inside the thermos next to her. Toren did the same with his as Bellona continued. "Serves him right."

"Oh man, and on the first day too? That would suck so bad."
"I can hear you two from here!" Elise yelled back. "And I hate the guy too, but come on, that's just gross!"

They all burst into a fit of laughter once again.

"Man, I can't believe he got two kills," Toren groaned. "And we're the trained ones!"
Bellona punched him in the shoulder. "Man, speak for yourself. I got the first kill of the Games. Get on my fucking level, Kollath."
"Thanks for the comfort, Pierce."

Elise was finally back. "Oh my goodness, you two. But don't feel bad. I didn't get a single kill anyways. We still have time after all."
"That's true. Want something to drink?"

Elise made a face as Bellona stood up; it was her turn to use the impromptu bathroom. That led to a couple more vulgar jokes being thrown around, which surprised Toren because he usually was above this kind of humour, and the girls didn't seem like the type to make such jokes either. They were like a group of crude preteen boys all of a sudden. But it felt so amazing.

It was as if they were camping or something. Toren had never been camping before. But what had just happened did not feel real. It was just so easy and so quick to kill somebody else and it shocked him? How was that even possible? What was the point of all his training anyways?

Damn. If his family was alive to see him, what would they have to say?

Stravos Brodie, 16
District 1 Male

Three hours gone by, two kills, two new sponsor gifts, three ex-allies given a metaphorical middle finger.

Man, this was the fucking life!

Stravos was quite the believer in lucky breaks, but that had been no lucky break. He worked his ass off to get those kills, get those supplies, and get the hell out. He wanted to laugh at how pathetic it was that in a three against one fight, he had given them all the slip.

Someone clearly appreciated he had just gotten a box of matches and a jar of ointment that smelled really, really awful. Foxy had told him that it was good for cuts and scrapes, so Stravos would save it for later. If anything, it would make him slippery and harder to catch.

The matches, though. Why matches? If this arena was made of wood, Stravos had no problem burning it all down to kill everyone, bu he'd probably wind up dead as well. And there was literally nothing but stone. The only things made out of wood were the bridges.

Hmmmm...

Maybe that's what the matches were for. To remind him of the bridges he burned with Elise and her cronies. If someone was trying to guilt trip him, it was not working. He didn't ask to be kicked from their stupid alliance, remember? He'd gladly set them all ablaze when presented with the opportunity.

Too bad Elise had the Cornucopia and all the goodies left behind in it, while Stravos's supplies probably weren't gonna last him any longer than a few days. That was not fair. But hey, more sponsor money to him, right? He wanted to hijack the sponsor shit for himself and if Elise didn't need any of it, then technically he succeeded.

Foxy probably knew that too, although his district partner probably didn't realize. At this rate, the only sponsor gift Elise would receive was something specifically addressed to her, and that would only be if someone decided to fuck with Stravos. But come on, what a dirty move! He had a decent amount of food and water, but he wouldn't say no to more. Or maybe like, a really big and sharp sword.

"Hey, yo! Fox man! Elise doesn't need shit, right? Look, you might as well sped all the sponsor money on me because I'd be wayyyy more appreciative about it than her. Trust me, I need...stuff. More food would be nice. Wouldn't say no to more weapons too. How about a sleeping bag or a pillow?"

No response.

"O-kay then. You know what, it's good. Yeah, it's fine. Probably spent all that money getting me a stupid box of matches, eh? Yeah, yeah, no. I get it. Gotta wait a bit longer for the funds to pull in or something. Let this be a message for the sponsors out there. I'm a gamble that's worth it! Look at all the fucking kills I made!"

Okay, fine. He made like, two kills. That wasn't too impressive. Yet.

"Foxy, if you get me a sword, I'll cut everyone's heads off."

He really hoped he wasn't shooting himself in the foot right now, or else he'd look really stupid. But against tributes that had spears, axes, bows, or sometimes had no problem using their hands, what good was a teeny weeny little knife? It was like a toddler's weapon! Hell, that one guy from Seven slammed a kid into the ground or something. Stravos shuddered to imagine how much that had to hurt.

He didn't like this arena. It had nothing on it. No way for Stravos to find new stuff, unless he had a really long fishing pole he could hang over the edge or something. Yessh, just leaning too far over and losing his balance would kill him. Out of all the arenas he could've ended up in, did it have to be so high off the ground?

No, Stravos Brodie was not afraid of heights.

But this wasn't quite the lucky break he was looking for. Although, the odds had been pretty okay to him. Good start to the Games in an overall shitty arena. He just had to keep it up long enough to outlast everyone else, and victory would be his before he even knew it.

What would he do with the money? Well, Stravos was gonna build himself a big old casino and he was gonna run it like a fucking king. He could gamble all he wanted and dealt all the cards he felt like, because he'd never go broke. It would be so awesome, to waltz in dressed in velvet robes, with some fox decorating his arm, a stack of cash in one hands and a nice alcoholic drink in the other.

Ah, what a life that would be! So thrilling! So extravagant! So...so...so dirty!

But there was still dirty work to do first before he could get his way. Good thing District 1 had a tribute unafraid to roll up his sleeves and let the blood flow. Killing was just...God, it was so simple! He didn't even have to think, he just killed! What the hell were all those tributes thinking about? This ain't no rocket science, just a matter of life and death!

If it scared Stravos a little just how casual he felt about what he had just done, he wouldn't let it show. He still had a couple of cards up his sleeve, and he just had to time things right. All he needed was one right play to have a truly cutthroat game.

Current Alliances:

Why Kill When You Can Make Piss Jokes? Elise, Toren, Bellona

I guess they're the Career foil or something: Charles, Darra, Weller

Team District 8: Twill, Claodis

Are We Friends Now? Zilla, Red

Do you feel better about what you've done: Amelia

Don't Need Weapons, I Have Hands: Veles

Acacia And No Daredevil Duo: Acacia

The Joker, The Smoker, The Midnight Toker: Stravos

Hi They Exist Lmao: Clair

Kills:

Stravos: 2 (Haruhi, Lily)

Toren: 1 (Argen)

Bellona: 1 (Corbyn)

Amelia: 1 (Stryker)

Veles: 1 (Cleveland)

Darra: 1 (Gear)

Weller: 1 (Adella)

Stryker: 1 (Astrid)

No deaths! Yet! It's still very soon after the Bloodbath, after all.

Sponsoring is still open! Remember, you're allowed to send two gifts per chapter, with some exceptions for bigger, subplotty, or more unusual gifts, of course! Ask me via PM or DM on Discord if you have any questions!

See you all next chapter!

-Vr