thearena | 001 not seeing the forest because TREES

Entry tags:

001 not seeing the forest because TREES

Who| Nux, his angst, and you!
What| What a lovely...arrival.
Where| The Village
When| Mid Week 2
Warnings/Notes| Updated if needed.

The Forest

"Trees!" See! He knows what they are now. Those. Those are trees. A lot of them.

Yeah. That's a lot of trees. Not that he's afraid of trees, or anything. It's just, you know, way more trees than people around here, and he's not used to that. He's used to odds that include, like...zero trees.

And a lot more people. "Where is everybody? Anybody?" Seriously, he can't be alone out here. He'll circle the edges of the forest, but unless he hears something in there that sounds like a person, yeah, he's not going in there!

Castle

It wasn't the Citadel but he kind of got the feeling Immortan Joe would approve of the place. It had that kind of homey vibe for the War Boy--stone and dark and not exactly, you know, cheerful. The only spooky part was the emptiness--he'd never been alone, like...really alone before and it was starting to get to him, gnawing on the back of his brain.

Nux will wander the castle's various rooms, until he finds the dungeon. Because right now all he's got as a weapon is some rope and a...he thinks it's a pot? Yeah. He's got to do better than that.

But knocking over that pile of metal? Probably not a great start.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Firo's kept to the castle since making his way there this week. A city boy through and through, he's not entirely comfortable with the more open expanses of the area.

He's cautiously feeling his way through the lower halls of the castle, knife in hand, when he hears the rattling. Against any better judgement he has, he steps deeper into the dungeon until he finds another Tribute.

He has his hands up and open, the knife in clear view but not as a threat. It's a gesture that he's had ample opportunities to practice in his line of work and it should be plain enough that he means it as a sort of peace offering--I won't come at you if you won't come at me.

"You're what they're talkin' about when they tell stories about 'things that go bump in the night,' eh?"

Nux is fine with open expanses, just, you know, with other people. And fewer tree things.

He's not quite subtle enough to pick up on cues like that, but he's still jumpy enough from the, uh, still clattering pile of metal behind him.

"Is this yours? Because I can fix it, I swear."

Firo would have expected a battle yell and an attack before an attempt at placating him. He blinks, then pauses to think a moment. "Nah, it's okay, you can pay me back later."

Maybe he's a jerk for leading the guy on, but, hey, he could use any favors or goodwill he can get.

"What's your name, huh? You hidin' out here?"

"Sure. I mean, I'll make it right." Somehow.

Yeah, he probably should have attacked, but it was, in his defense, a lot of noise.

"Hiding out? No! I'm just, you know, looking around. For stuff." And knocking it over, apparently. He needs to work on step two, okay?

He smiles, partly out of gratitude and partly to hide the fact that he's flabbergasted that that worked. "Thanks."

He tilts his head. "What kinda stuff? I didn't hear about any buried treasure here."

He's sure any treasure would come with a trap, though, so he wasn't exactly keeping his ears open.

"You know. Weapons." Because thus far he's got a ladel and a pot and damn but he has no idea how to weaponize kitchen equipment. "Or tools. They took my tools." His hand slaps vaguely at his trousers, with their empty, sagging pockets. He feels...kinda naked without his tools.

"Treasure? You mean like...water? Mother's Milk?"

"Tools? I dunno if there's anything like that here." And he doesn't know why they would be needed, though he guesses clubbing someone with a wrench is a good idea.

He wrinkles his nose. "Uh, hang on, 'mother's milk'?" This guy doesn't mean human mothers, does he? Because that's just weird. "You can just call it normal milk, pal."

"Why not? I mean things need to be fixed." Don't they? Clubbing someone with a wrench is actually a really good idea. But mostly, he misses the weight of them.

O-of course he means human mothers. What else gives milk? "Yeah, of course. Normal milk. That's what I said." Kind of. "But if it's normal, is it valuable enough to be a treasure?" DEEP THOUGHTS.

"Believe me, the things that need to be fixed around here would need a lotta tools." Because it's the society that's broken, big time.

Wow, that is deep. Or, at least, Firo assumes so, because it just kind of confuses him. "Uh... Well, we don't actually know if milk is the treasure. Or even if there is one. But I guess normal stuff can be valuable, don't you think? A friend's still valuable if you see 'em every day."

He nods as he says it, not even realizing that that sounds cheesy as hell.

"Well then, we should get to work!" Because someone is a concrete thinker on this end of the conversation. But first, he'd need tools. A socket wrench would be dandy.

It's confusing Nux, too, so hey look at this, they're bonding. "Well, of course it is. At least, it is where I'm from. What else is treasure, then?" Water? Milk? What else is there?!?!

"Hmm. I don't think it's a treasure unless someone wants to kill you to take it from you." Hey, he knows this!

"I don't think the people in charge'll like that." He doesn't want this guy to say some "treasonous" things and get in trouble.

He has to laugh at that treasure comment, though, eventually nodding his head. "Can't argue with you there. If that's the case, I guess everything here's treasure, since everybody wants to kill you."

It almost reminds him of home.

"Why wouldn't they? What kind of leader wants to lead a broken mess?" Seriously. It was a point of pride to have as many engines running as possible in the Citadel.

"Some of this stuff doesn't look very valuable." As for his life, well, that's not worth much anyway. "But wait. You don't want to kill me, do you?" Because you seem so nice!

Firo shrugs helplessly. "Don't ask me, pal. I'd wonder the same thing."

He blinks and just barely holds back from shaking his head immediately. "Do you wanna kill me? 'Cause I've got no beef with you and I wanna keep it that way."

He risks a small smile as he says it.

"Who can I ask?" Because he will so totally do it. Just point Nux in the right direction and he will GOOOOOOOOOO.

"No. I mean. You don't kill people unless they're trying to kill you." War Boys. They do have RULES you know.

"No one's tried to kill me yet at all. Does that mean I'm doing something wrong?" Because it feels weird.

"Thing is, they don't really like anyone talkin' about it." On pain of brainwashing or torture or other fun things the Capitol cooked up.

Firo smiles, glad to meet someone who sounds sane. There were a lot if people at home and otherwise who didn't get that little rule. "Then, nah, we're good."

"It's not on you, pal. For whatever reason, a lotta the people we're in here with ain't too eager to take someone down. It's kinda nice, really."

"No? Oh, yeah, I get it. Secrets that you gotta earn rank to know." He's so clever. But he's confident. He's worked his way up to driver--he can get in good with anyone.

Like, you know, case in point, here. "I can see why. This place is kind of creepy. With the trees and the...trees." Yeah, trees, man. Not a fan.

"...Um, sorta, yeah. And because they're secret, don't talk about 'em too much, okay?" He'd feel awful if this guy got Avoxed because Firo blabbed too much.

"Right?" Firo doesn't think all trees are creepy, but being in a place with so many is just weird to him; he's a city kid through and through. He feels somewhat vindicated that someone else brings it up. "This whole place is freakin' weird. I'm sure as hell stayin' outta that forest. Nothin' good can happen there."

If Nux gets Avoxed, it'd be because he totally earned it. No guilt on your part, mate.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course." Because now it's a conspiracy. Awesome! He's part of a conspiracy!

"I was walking around that, uh, forest thingie." Okay lean in close because Nux is going to share a secret. "GIRLS LIVE THERE." Apparently. Forests are full of girls.

The acceptance comforts Firo somewhat and he nods.

Firo finds himself leaning in without thinking. He pauses, then raises an eyebrow when he hears this important secret. "...Yeah?" He's taken aback by that being an important detail. Ordinarily he'd be worried that his new buddy was some sort of creep, but the guy's really not coming off that way.

"There's, uh, a lotta girls here. Look, don't give 'em any trouble, okay? It's hard enough."

Well, Nux isn't sure it's a secret, but it sure is some interesting information, isn't it? He didn't know girls lived in trees. Like their natural habitat or something!

"Are there? I've only seen the two. In the trees." But trouble? HIM? "I don't want to kill girls!"

"Okay. That's good. Just gotta make sure, you know?"

...Or maybe he doesn't. This kid somehow seems even more new to girls than Firo.

"There's about as many girls as there are guys in this thing, I think. Not all in the woods, probably, they're spread out like everyone else. Did you not see many where you're from?"

"I...," Shhhh it's secret time again. "I actually haven't managed to kill anyone here yet." So, he's kind of a failure.

But he's not gonna start by killing GIRLS!

"See them? I've seen five! Talked to them, even." Boast!

He totally did talk to them though. Kind of. As they threw him out of the truck. "Six, I guess, if you count Imperator Furiosa." Which, she's...technically a girl but he'd expect a backhand if he said that to her face.

Firo tries to smile, but he keeps his voice very low when he answers. Can't be heard flouting the rules too proudly. "...That's good. Means you're still a good person."

Admittedly, that kind of is an impressive record, comparatively! Not that Firo'd admit it. "That's her name? It's pretty damn impressive."

Nux is going to look a little confused for a moment. He's a good driver, yeah, and he thinks--or thought, at least, that he was a pretty good War Boy. But good 'person'? War Boys aren't people. Are they? "Well, I'm a pretty good mechanic?"

Close enough?

"The Imperator? She is! She's an ace driver, and she can fight--she almost took out my bloodbag!" With one arm! He might still get a little glowy eyed just thinking about it.

If Firo knew the cause of that confusion, he'd take a moment to passionately argue. As it is, he's just a bit confused about why being a mechanic is relevant, but figures it's important. He just nods hesitantly. "Uh. Okay, that too."

"She fought a bag a' blood..?"

Lady sounds interesting, that's for sure.

Castle

Castle

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