thearena | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Sandy and anyone interested in her.
What: Spying on others, trying to stay out of trouble and hopefully finding Pruna.
Where: Starting at The Platform Station
when: week two
Warnings/notes: Since Sandy will be using the TVs in the Platform Station, feel free to pop in with a little bit about what she might see you doing wherever you are on the island.

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As far as partners go, Sandy was pretty sure she must be the worst one to have.

As soon as the game had begun she was off like a shot, gathering up supplies and trying to vanish into the forest. Her size was her advantage as once she dove for cover under some bushes more then a few larger tributes had trampled past her not noticing her as she heaved to catch her breath and protect her goodies.

Once things had calmed down, Sandy lay still in her bush for what felt like hours. She wanted to be absolutely sure that everyone was gone. This was rewarded when she heard a few stragglers come back to pick over the area for anything left behind.

Finally, when she was sure the area was clear she rose up out of the leaves and vines, and went over what she had managed to grab in her frantic flight from the starting position. An impressive haul to say the least. Much better then last time.

Slinking along the edge of the clearing she was alert, listening for any signs of trouble. It was in this slow and methodical fashion she traveled until she found the door.

It was on the south side of the platform where the Cornucopia had been. A rusted door that looked like it had been forgotten in the madness that accompanied every arena opening.

Scurrying through the grass Sandy's glances darted all around for other tributes, as well as frequently to the grass to make sure she wasn't about to step into a trap. Just the thought was enough to make Sandy's leg throb with memories of her mangling from the last arena.

It took some effort, alot of effort actually but the pain in her fingers and shoulders from wrestling with the door would be forgotten as she slipped inside and discovered what secrets this station held.

Televisions! So many and they were functional! She could see all around the arena with these things. Nothing behind the scenes but one by one she picked out faces she knew before the screens could flick to another view.

Was this supposed to be here? Had she stumbled across some forgotten gamemaker station on accident?

No...she couldn't possibly be so lucky.

Still she was alone and with all these screens she was likely to see attackers coming before they found her. Time to crack open a can of tuna and see what was on TV.
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That was a full week ago. Her food supplies dwindling Sandy knows she can't stay here forever. She needs to use the bow and arrows that she won in the cornucopia and try to hunt down some more food.

...or other tributes.

Guilt gnawed at her guts as she scanned the TVs again. Pruna had been hurt...badly. And she hadn't been able to leave to go after her because...much to Sandy's conflicted feelings, the door appeared to lock tight every so often. By the time it was open again Sandy had lost sight of Pruna on the cameras.

And so here she sat, desperate for a plan that didn't involve losing her very easy to defend hiding place but also allowed for her to get food, water, and Pruna. There was no doubt about it. She was going to have to leave soon.

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Sandy didn't look convinced. Actually she looked somewhat nostalgic.

"Maybe. There are some people who are rebelling against the capitol...but the last one who was really effective was tortured and then had her brains blown out on TV." She explained.

As for the teaching, she felt like she was learning a little more from every person she met these days.

"The fuck?!" Mindy was definitely awake now. Of all the things heard, this was, by and large, the last thing she wanted to hear. After all, her father had been made an example of on television, hadn't he? They hadn't seen him die, but they had seen him on fire.

She could still smell the smoke, still see how proud he was, in his eyes, even as strength was leaving him...

Mindy wiped her eyes, angry she had shown that. "What was her name?"

"Ariadne." She answered cold and instantly. That name would be burned into her head forever despite having never met the woman before that day.

"She tried to kill the guy who runs everything. She had a bomb, but before she could do what she planned to do one of the mentors sold her out. Said the Games were necessary to keep the world from falling apart."

There was a pause as Sandy tried to sort through the memories of that night. There was dancing, there was crying...

"Eva. Yeah. That was her name." She concluded. "So they brought Ariadne on TV, injected with something that looked...just awful. And then..." She brought her hand up to mime a gun and flicked her thumb closed as children do when pretending to shoot.

Mindy listened quietly, taking it in. She was sure not to let any expression show on her face: they were watching, she knew that for sure, and anyone doing that would edit this out and make them pay. What she needed to do, what she knew would make sense, was to at least react according. What she WANTED to do, more than that, was to get more information.

"The world," she repeated. "I know a little something about keeping a world from falling apart. So this Ariadne, I'm guessing they didn't bother bringing her ass back to life."

Sandy shook her head glumly.

"Rumors seem to be that if you die outside of the Arena? There's no coming back." She scratched at her chest scar again "I came pretty close once. But I don't plan on finding out for sure."

Dieing in the arena was horrible enough.

Mindy scratched her chin. Bad luck all around then. You had to mind yourself and be nice and docile when it came to the games, and then unleash your inner survivor.

She could adjust to that. Yeah, it was going to take way more information, and she was going to have to play the game, but she could manage that much, even she knew that.

"What do you mean, you came close?"

Sandy shuddered a little, but she knew she couldn't run from these sorts of things.

"There was an outbreak...or something. A bunch of monsters the Capitol created that they couldn't control. Big black things, like armor, acid drool. They sent us tributes in to try and clean em out. I got a little too close to one of their eggs and a thing jumped on my face."

"I remember screaming, it was dark. Someone got it off me...and then pain in my chest. They told me later when I woke up in the med bay that it put a monster in my belly and it burst out my chest."

"Sounds like something out of a bad sci-fi," Mindy said, quelling her panic. She just wound up in a place that had no problem pitting kids against adults and ninja turtles (apparently), but this? That sounded insane, dangerous. Death looked like it was all around them, just BECAUSE. It made no sense. None of this made any sense. Why was she even here? How did it happen?

"How did they, you know, get it out and kill it, or whatever? Actually, fuck that, better question. Whose supposed to be your mentor?"

"Fire and bullets I think." Sandy shrugged. "I was out for most of it."

Ah, now that was a question she had an answer to. "Peeta and Katniss. They're a special case because they were the last mentors to win before they started pulling in people from other worlds. They won the games together which is normally against the rules. But they loved each other so much the gamemakers let it slide." She pulled a face to show just how much she believed in the power of love.

"Lucky you." Mindy was starting to see that none of this was falling into any real sense, and while rationalizing it was really the only thing she could manage, she was seriously starting to wonder how anyone ever got their shit together when they were brought here.

Mindy snorted. "Bullshit. I bet anything it looks good to the audience so they let it go. What's the point of seeing this shit live with death and blood if you can't throw n a little sex appeal, right? Oh, I'm sorry, 'romance.'"

It was in that observation that Sandy finally decided that Mindy was alright. For now at least. People could change.

"More or less. I tried doing the same thing by getting my best friend here to be my girlfriend...it's sort of working I guess. People still send me supplies." She reasoned.

Ignoring her age and if it was acceptable for her to have a girlfriend. Blame it on the culture.

Mindy closed her eyes. The idea of a girl with another girl was no big deal, but using that as leverage?

Well, that was smart, when you thought about it. Nothing people liked better than tragic yet budding romance.

"Be careful. Having a romantic entanglement is nice, but that makes you and your girlfriend a target. Anyone can use that."

Sandy's face fell and suddenly she looked very guilty.

"I never thought of that. She's stronger and braver then I am so...I just figured she'd always be safe."

"No one is safe," Mindy said. "But think about it. Even if she's all those things, she's gonna worry about you, right? And if SHE had enemies, they're gonna be yours whether you want them to or not. Just be careful, is all I'm saying."

She paused. "Who is it anyway? Maybe I've met her."

Well that relaxed her a little. Pruna had enemies sure, what assassin in service of a dark chaos god didn't? But Pruna knew tricks so she wouldn't worry about Sandy or anything else. It still made Sandy squirm to think about performing the tricks herself.

"Pruna." It also felt weird using her "real" name. "She's about my age. Kind of midevil but really badass."

Mindy raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, we've met. Pretty violent. Actually tried to help her out earlier, some guy was angling to get some shit. I figured that was messed up, intervened. I think she took a hit though."

"You did?" Sandy was surprised, and a little worried. She'd seen Pruna with bandages on her face but she didn't know what had caused it. That must be what Mindy was talking about.

"Where did this happen? How long ago?"

"Yeah," she said. "Now that I think about it, I even met that girl Katniss. I guess I was just into my thoughts at the time. But she seems capable enough."

She thought a moment. "Cornucopia run."

Sandy frowned at that "A while ago." She acknowledged "well, if I get lucky she''ll swing back this way. I know she's looking for me." Pruna was loyal like that. Said what she meant and meant what she said.

"Most people around here are just like us. But there are some jerks who love this game. And sometimes they'll trick the normal people into fighting. This one guy? They drugged him and he got crazy aggressive."

Mindy nodded. "Girlfriend. Man, and you're pretty young, in a game where you have to kill each other. How does that even happen?"

She shrugged. "That's bound to happen. You live in normal society, its expected not to murder and maim, because that's against the law. You get punished. But you put them here and tell 'em that you can do it with no punishment? Watch people turn into exactly what they are: animals. Actually, not even animals. Animals don't kill for the fun of it. Humans are the fucked up ones that fetishize people's suffering and pain. They get off on it. Then for some people, like me, I like making those kind of people suffer, because in the end its one less shithead making life miserable for someone else."

Sandy starred at that explanation mouth agape.

"How old are you?" She questioned, feeling a wave of comfort to have found another girl who looked as young as she did but was smart enough to make observations like that.

Back home she'd been the only one.

Mindy shrugged. "Does it matter? Old enough. Twelve, if you really wanna get technical. But like you, I weigh age on experience. Might as well be a fucking teenager now."

Minus all those annoying hormones.

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't like...100 years old and trapped in a little body." She joked dryly.

"I'm not used to people my age being this...aware. I mean god I lived in a messed up world back home but none of the kids my age really looked at it. They just kept living in their own little bubble." She rolled her eyes.

"Figures I'd be the one dragged here."

"I'm kind of ahead of the curve there," Mindy said, knowing full well that she was behind it on some other ways, but n typical preteen fashion, chose to ignore that. "There are plenty of kids in my world who live in their bubble and are still cruel little shits. Hell, I am too, I just decide to showcase that elsewhere."

By being a hero and punishing criminals with no mercy. Like that.

"But not all of us are here because we're suited for it."

"Understatement of the century." Sandy groaned and let her head roll back with frustration.

"So now that you're up to speed...more or less, what are you gonna do?" Sandy wondered. She was sure Mindy would have more questions, and it wasn't like they were gonna fight. Sandy wasn't entirely sure she trusted the girl as an ally yet but there was potential to be sure.