Survival

[formersurgeon]

Who| Sherlock, the Watsons, and OTA
What| Like it says on the tin
Where| The jungle
When| End of week 1, early week 2
Warnings/Notes| Sherlock, John and Joan are all available here to thread with, one of them, two of them, or all three. Just specify who in the subject line!


Surviving in the jungle hadn't been easy on the three of them. Among them, only John had any real outdoor survival experience prior to the Arenas, and that had been for deserts, mostly. Sherlock had plenty of theoretical knowledge on the subject, but not much practical experience beyond the previous Arenas. And as far as survival techniques went, Joan was the most useless of the three.

Regardless, they were making it work. They had picked a decent spot to set up camp, managed to keep their supplies passably dry, and took turns scouting or keeping watch while at least one of them stayed at the camp. That one was frequently John, since he had to stay off his injured leg as much as possible. Joan checked his stitches every day, and so far there hadn't been any major problems.

It was a relatively comfortable setup, but Joan knew it couldn't last. They were already running low on food, and eventually they would have to worry about the wrong type of person finding them. The kind of person who wanted to win. If they could only hold out a couple more days, until John's wound is sufficiently healed...

Comments

[drpsychosomatic]

John stayed very still, very steady- breathing in and out in a slow, measured rhythm. Howard's flash of panic was all too obvious to someone used to them, but the last thing he was going to do was point it out to anyone else- or, indeed, make things worse by forcing Howard to focus on his fear.

"You mean the fences," he said, carefully. "Right? I don't think they could clear those, but I wouldn't want to bet on it."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I haven't seen none jump." Howard shakes his head, but he doesn't want to give the illusion of safety. He may not give a shit about Joan and may actively hate Sherlock, but he cares about John - and possibly more importantly, John's forgiven him for the disaster last Arena. "But I read a book when I was a kid that said scientists think they could do six feet vertical."

He stands up, brushing imaginary dirt off his pants. He gives a little mock salute to John, then a nod at Joan. "Good seeing you, Dr. John." That he doesn't name Joan or Sherlock, especially Sherlock, speaks as loudly as words would have.

[alldeduction]

"Fences are more likely to electrocute them than a tree," Sherlock pointed out. It was a long shot, but it was still a shot. He was about to say something more when Howard abruptly stood up and made to dismiss himself.

He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything: he was more than used to being hated, after all. He was more annoyed that Howard was being rude to Joan, but all the better - maybe if John saw how annoying he was the man would be less inclined to be fond of him.

So he said nothing, and pointedly pretended to be much more interested in the treeline.

[formersurgeon]

Joan blinked, more taken aback at that moment than offended. If Howard knew anything about John, he must have also known that the chances John would ultimately side with anyone but Sherlock were extremely low. Joan could possibly see John chiding Sherlock for being rude...it's what Joan would do, after all. But Sherlock wasn't being particularly rude. So Howard came off to her as not only rude himself, but also incredibly short-sighted when it came to his relationship with John.

She didn't say anything, since she wasn't addressed, and answered his nod with a tilt of her head and a narrowing of her eyes that translated to a really?

[drpsychosomatic]

"Thanks for the tip, Howard," John offered, a little awkwardly. Maneuvering around the egos of both Sherlock and Howard was a delicate task, and not one he felt he was getting much better at. He glanced at Sherlock, at Joan, sighed and turned a smile in Howard's direction. His choice of words was, at first, very deliberate.
"We appreciate it. Don't-- Look, come find me if you need me, alright?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

His eyes meet Joan's, equally unyielding. Yes, really. Then he looks back at John.

"Yeah. I will. And I ain't setting up traps like last time. Nothing that can kill." He grabs his pack again and scales up a tree before disappearing into the jungle.

[alldeduction]

"You really shouldn't encourage him, John," Sherlock said, a little bitterly and with a tight sniff once he was absolutely sure that Howard was out of ear shot.

"He's insufferable enough as it is, without thinking he has any sort of chance with a man over twice his age."

[formersurgeon]

"He's had a hard life," Joan said, crossing her arms and looking after him. "But that's no excuse to be a jerk. He doesn't actually think you'd side with him over Sherlock, does he?"

[drpsychosomatic]

"No, he doesn't, and that's why he left," John said wearily, rubbing at his temples. "There's no need to be cruel, Sherlock, and he's just-- he knows I understand, that's all, and he's trying to help. There's nothing else going on. You don't need to mark your bloody territory, alright?"

[alldeduction]

"I'm not being cruel, I am informing you, since you're obviously being willfully blind about the subject," Sherlock sniffed. Marking his territory indeed.

"I was under the impression that you would want to know if you were unwittingly encouraging romantic attachment in a fifteen year old, but if you would prefer my silence, so be it."

Yeah, because Sherlock was ever, ever going to shut up.

[formersurgeon]

"Hey!" she said firmly. She was clearly the least emotionally involved in this situation. She could walk away, leave the two of them to it, or she could try to mediate here. And she wasn't going to walk away.

"I don't know if there's any more happening there than hero worship," she said to Sherlock first, "but even if there is, you're still being too hard on John. It's not his fault, he's trying to help a kid in trouble, and that sort of crush is pretty common when someone is kind when you're not used to it."

And then she turned to John.

"You get his concern, though, right? I think everyone would benefit from some boundaries. Including Howard. If he does have a crush on you, he needs to know it's not going anywhere. If he doesn't, he needs to know it's inappropriate for him to be rude to your friends. This doesn't have to be a situation where anyone has to pick sides."

[drpsychosomatic]

John took a long moment to level a steady, extremely displeased stare first at Joan, and then back to Sherlock. He folded his arms, clearly furious.

"You don't get to ruin someone just because they're rude to you, Sherlock," he said tightly. "What you just did was not okay. Several levels of not okay. You don't get to broadcast your opinions on someone else's sexuality on live television, and you don't get to frame it as concern for me."

[alldeduction]

Sherlock frowned, his lips parting as if he was going to reply, but instead he closed them, thinning, and frowned deeper.

He had thought it incredibly obvious, and of little consequence, and he would have said so - but he knew that look that John was giving him, and for a moment it actually caused him to shut up.

Well.

For a second, anyway.

"It isn't my opinion," he said instead, a low complaint like a child might make when they felt they were being punished unfairly. But he didn't make a point beyond that.

[formersurgeon]

"How is Sherlock ruining him?" Joan asked, flummoxed. "Unless people are way more homophobic around here, which I highly doubt."

After all, there was great popular interest in relationships like Maximus and Wyatt. And Sherlock and John, for god's sake.

"Regardless, yes, Sherlock could stand to be more kind once in a while. That doesn't mean he's necessarily wrong."

[drpsychosomatic]

"I can't believe I have to explain to either of you why it's not okay to tell the world that someone who hasn't chosen to say so themselves is gay," he bit out. "It's got nothing to do with how right or wrong your opinion is, Sherlock, and the fact that neither of you get that..."

He cut himself off, irritable and flushed with anger. He didn't want to keep talking to either of them- particularly as most of the things he wanted to say could potentially harm opinions of them, himself and Howard in the Capitol.

"Drop it. If you really want to be concerned, you can do it once we're all dead and every single thing we say isn't broadcast to the entire nation for them to pick apart and gossip about. Alright? Enough. Let's focus on the bloody dinosaurs."

[alldeduction]

"Fine." He was quite done with the conversation anyway and he stood up sharply and grabbed one of the spears.

"I will go and focus on the bloody dinosaurs," He snapped before turning and immediately stomping off into the woods. He didn't look back.

[formersurgeon]

She watched Sherlock stalk off. Then she looked back at John, and took a step toward him.

"Clearly this is personal for you," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "I understand you wanting to protect Howard. If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that I didn't say Howard was one way or the other. But either way, think about this. Think about what is best for Howard and yourself. If not now, then when things are more calm."

She turned away and walked off, into the woods, in the opposite direction from Sherlock.