welcome to the Jungle, we've got fun and games [closed to Joan]

[acroodawakening]

Who| Guy and Joan and then eventually Guy's killer
What| Teaming up and friendinating more while probably having sad feelings about humanity being all cruel to itself and junk
Where| In the jungle
When| Arena Week 6
Warnings/Notes| Probably gonna get Guy all dead up in here so murder time murder time blood blood blood

It was strange how much a few weeks could change a man. When Guy had been shoved into the arena, he'd been a panicked mess, but a well-fed, well-rested, able-bodied panicked mess with a good idea on how to survive. Now he'd gone far too long without food. He was feeling weak and losing muscle mass; it wasn't like he had much fat to burn. The poisoning and injuries certainly hadn't helped. A strange sort of apathy had settled over him. It wasn't the worst thing, because it meant he wasn't terrified absolutely all the time, but it was probably more lethargy from the hunger rather than any sort of zen calm.

Okay, maybe it was a little bit of zen calm. When you lived a life knowing every day might be your last and that every one you weren't dead was a blessing, death was still something to be afraid of, to be avoided, but its inevitability was something that could be accepted.

So inside, he really wasn't as much of a mess as he was on the outside.

Considering what a mess he was on the outside, though, that still wasn't saying much.

When Joan and him wandered into the same clearing, the sight that would greet her would be wildly different than the first time she'd met Guy. His skin was paler like he was - or had been - ill, and filthier because he'd often used mud to cool off and as camouflage. His hair was matted and even more unkempt. His nose and neck were bruised with nasty purpling bruises in various states of healing, and his body now sported countless small injuries. Cuts and scrapes, a nasty looking sore on his shoulder that wasn't quite infected but wasn't quite healing either...

One injury wasn't so small - the long gash up the right side of his face had left it a mess, covered in smeared, dried blood, and scabbed over. It had only narrowly missed his eye. Even his eyelid was cut slightly.

The moment he saw Joan's movement and heard the sound of the brush, he held his spear at the ready, a situation which begged an important question...

With the state he was in and the time that had passed, was he still the same, still as gentle, as when they'd met the first time? Or had he been pushed enough that pointless violence seemed a better way to respond to things in the arena?

"Joan," he said shakily.

He didn't lower the spear.

Maybe he had concerns about how desperate she'd gotten since he last saw her, too.

Comments

[formersurgeon]

Yet was the operative word. It definitely needed tending.

"It's too late for stitches. You have to do that within six hours of the injury. But I can clean and bandage it. Would you like me to?"

[acroodawakening]

"Are you a doctor?" he asked, curious now. "I've met a few of those. Healers. One of them saved my life when I got poisoned."

He added, "If you are, it makes sense. You're very kind and you seem to value life the way...people should. If they can manage it."

He valued his own life just a little too much to be as pacifistic as Joan but he respected it even if he din't entirely agree with it. He agreed in principle with the preservation of human life, if not always in practice.

"I just learned about doctors here. In this place. It seems to me the kind of thing that attracts gentle people to it."

Even Hawkeye was gentle in his way. Brusque and sarcastic, but gentle. In fact, he'd seemed like a gentle man confronted with that fact that he didn't live in a gentle universe and was properly angry at that fact.

[formersurgeon]

"I was," she said, reaching for the medical kit. Most of the antiseptic had been used on John's wound, as well as most of the bandages. She swallowed looking at it, remembering how John had died. In the end it didn't really matter, did it? They'd all die. If they were brought back by the Capitol, it would be without their physical wounds or scars. If they weren't brought back...well. Then it still didn't matter, did it?

"I guess I still am, here. But I wouldn't call myself gentle, necessarily. Not all the time, at least. If Sherlock was here, he'd tell you."

She could be harsh and confrontational when she needed to be.

She took a gauze pad, put some antiseptic on it and started dabbing it on the wound.

"This will sting..."

[acroodawakening]

It mattered more than she knew. Guy would have told her that had she voiced those thoughts aloud. The fact that some tried to mend things, even futilely, in the face of destruction gave him tremendous hope. It helped him feel human. Since death was inevitable, how people were forced to live before it mattered more than ever.

Even as the antiseptic stung his face, the fact she and others still cared enough to try helped make the sting of this place go away just slightly.

"Oooow ow ow," he said quietly, but he only flinched slightly, trying to hold still as best as he could. "What happened to His Giantness, anyway? Is he back at your camp?"

[formersurgeon]

At the mention of Sherlock, Joan's hands paused for a moment. Then she pulled them back and poured some more antiseptic on the gauze. She shouldn't have mentioned Sherlock, of course. Of course Guy would ask. Maybe she just didn't expect it to hurt so much. Thinking of Sherlock, thinking of John.

"Just me now," she said quietly before going back to cleaning out the gash.

[acroodawakening]

Guy's hand stopped hers, just to hold it for a second. His expression made a very quick transformation to one of sympathy, making it clear that it was a state of being that was very easy for him to put himself in.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I hope he comes back."

Then he let her hand go.

"Do you need someone to watch your back? I've got extra water. I owe you for cleaning this up, anyway."

No one should have to be alone. This was something that Guy believed from the top of his heart (not even the bottom) down to his tippy toes.

[formersurgeon]

She blinked as he took her hand, her eyes meeting his.

"Thank you," she said softly.

When he released her hand, she put them in her lap.

"I think that would work. We can watch each others' backs."

[acroodawakening]

Guy nodded.

"And not for nothing, where I'm staying right now has a pretty nice view," he said, as if he had a de-luxe apartment in the sky.

[formersurgeon]

She tilted her head at that, looking puzzled.

"This island doesn't really have much high ground. From what I've seen, it doesn't even have a beach anymore. How does your place have a view?"

[acroodawakening]

He gestured for her to follow and picked up his spear.

"Very important question: Can you climb?"

[formersurgeon]

"Ah," she said with a smile as he followed him. "I see. Yes, I can. How do you keep from falling out?"

[acroodawakening]

"You'll see, but let's stop by the seep first."

He directed her through the brush to a place that seemed like any other part of the jungle, covered with leaves.

But then he lifted a part of the forest floor away - he'd fastened some leaves and sticks together into a sort of camouflage cover, and underneath was a little pit, lined with stones. Clear water filled the little pool.

"Next best thing to rainwater. I don't know what about it makes it do that - although I have some theories now after people have told me about germs - but the soil is a little sandy here and when it's sandy, it makes it so the water doesn't make you sick like if you try to drink it out of a lake or even a stream. I've been drinking from it from the last few days and it's been fine."

He stooped down to fill up his bottle.

"Just be careful to not disturb the stones. They help keep the silt at the bottom."

[formersurgeon]

"Oh my god."

She crouched, took a close look at the setup. It was so simple and so brilliant at the same time.

"This is amazing." She dug an empty bottle out of her bundle and held it up. "May I?"

[acroodawakening]

"Go for it. It won't run out anytime soon. All the rain means you just have to dig a little bit down and there it is."

He reached down and took a few handfuls of water so that he didn't empty his bottle again.

"I've been fine on water. It's warm where I'm from, mostly forests like this, but a lot of desert, too, so there are some places where water's hard to come by. I know lots of little tricks."

He shrugged. "It's the food part I've had the most trouble with. Nothing in this place is edible. Nothing. I really have no idea what's so entertaining about watching people starve to death."

[formersurgeon]

"Sherlock noticed that right from the beginning," she said as she filled her bottle. "The fewer resources there are, the hungrier people are, the more likely they'll fight and kill to survive."

She takes a long drink of water. It was so good. She had been rationing for so long that drinking her fill felt like a miracle.

She finally lowered the bottle, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I have some food. It's not much. We'll want to ration carefully. But it's better than nothing."

[acroodawakening]

Guy nodded appreciatively at the offer of food.

"This way," he said, leading her along. "I've got a hammock up a tree that I made out of vines. It'll be a little cramped with the two of us, but it should hold and there should be enough room for us to sleep comfortably."

He peered over his shoulder at her. "It's why I made it. I figured a night or two of actually decent sleep wouldn't hurt."

[formersurgeon]

A hammock. That was an incredible idea. A great way to be tucked away safely, able to actually sleep without keeping an eye half-open for people or dinosaurs.

"I haven't had decent sleep since this thing started."

[acroodawakening]

"I don't think we can get more than another night or two out of it before it's not sturdy enough to support our weight - everything rots quickly in this place. But a night's a night."

He stopped in front of a large tree and pointed up.

Nothing was visible up there. The foliage hid it from view and so did the additional camouflage he'd made, just in case.

"Let me go up first and get my spear and knife tucked away. If I were to fall and nick you or if you fell on me..."

The knife was in a sheathe he'd carved out of wood but the spear went into a holster of sorts that he'd made at his back and he didn't have any cover for the point. He was right that it could be disastrous if he or she fell, because even if they survived the drop, that was an accident waiting to happen.

It was a difficult climb, too. Guy had picked a good tree to mount a defense from, that was clear, but with him so exhausted and hungry, it wasn't the easiest of climbs. Fortunately, he was more adapted to climbing than some. There were a few places that Joan would see him just dig his fingers into the bark and hoist himself up rather than using a branch. Under more ideal circumstances, she might have been able to see him climbing up the thing in just a matter of a minute or two but this time, he had to take care because of his exhaustion and it slowed him down.

[formersurgeon]

She watched him climbing, frowning. It looked really hard. She was athletic than most people, but she was also hungry and sleep deprived and generally worn down. She had no specific experience with climbing, and although she had been able to climb a couple trees in this arena, she was concerned this would be outside of her abilities.

And hauling the canned food up there was probably impossible. She started looking around for somewhere to stash the bag.

[acroodawakening]

"Don't do that, someone might get it," he called down from above, looking down at what she was doing and figuring out what she was thinking.

He tucked his spear in a safe steady place in the branches and unloaded his own vine back and hung that from a branch as well so he no longer had to carry it on his back.

"Leave it for a second. I'll come down and help you up, then hoist it up."

He cut a vine and pulled it free from the trees, tying one end to a branche, then started to climb back down, carrying the other end with him. When he was not far above her head, he dropped it down to her.

"Tie it to your bag, make sure it's tight. Then leave it and start climbing. I'll help you past any parts you have trouble with, then I'll hoist it up with us from the other end."

[formersurgeon]

She took the vine and started tying it to the bag. Sherlock...her Sherlock...had taught her some strong knots, and she had taught herself some others. She used two on the vine, tugged on it to make sure it was secure. Then she stood, wiped her hands on her shorts, and went up to the tree. She sighed, shifted from foot to foot, assessing the climb. Then she went up the tree, pulling herself up carefully, branch by branch. She reached for one of those spots in the bark, tried digging her fingers in.

Her hand slipped.

[acroodawakening]

Guy caught her hand.

"I've got you," he said gently. How he was managing to not only climb but help her climb when he'd hardly eaten at all these past few weeks was a mystery even to him. But muscles and sheer force of will went a long way and he had more of each than some.

He wrapped his legs around the branch he was perched on for leverage, wrapped his other arm around her body and hoisted her up, so that she could reach another nearby branch. Once she was past this part, she'd find things a little easier. The branches were grouped together more closely here. He climbed on the branches around her, making sure he was always within arm's reach in case she slipped.

"It'll be easier to climb down from in the morning. I can just lower you down on a vine. After that, I doubt we'll have the energy to do this anymore but a good night's sleep is worth it at least once."

Climbing wasn't the best for their bodies right now but their brains needed a break.

[formersurgeon]

She was small and light, but still, she was impressed at his strength. Once he had lifted her near the next branch she grabbed onto it and pulled herself up, making her way upwards.

"God, definitely worth it."

He was right. This was probably the last time either of them would have enough energy.

[acroodawakening]

They finally reached a space near the top of the tree, and sure enough there was a hammock up there, in a spot where the tree branched out into several smaller trunks. He'd tied together the boughs of some of the branches below to help hide it a little better and tied the boughs above in a way that was meant help deflect the ever-present off-and-on rain some. It was a good spot to have a little hideaway since it meant they were cradled by the splitting of the tree trunk below, as if it was a little cage. If the hammock happened to break, or the game-makers decided to try to knock them out of the tree somehow, they'd at least have a chance of just hitting the branches a foot or two below and grabbing on.

The hammock creaked a little when they both climbed onto it but it held. It'd helped that he'd braided the vines together to give them a little extra strength.

Guy flopped gracelessly on one side of the it, taking a moment to catch his breath and try to get some energy back into his limp limbs before he pulled Joan's pack up.

"Took me a whole day," he breathed out heavily. "The climbing was the hard part though. I've been making these since I was little. Your hands just get used to doing it fast after a while."

He wiggled his fingers at her.

"And that's the view I was talking about," he said, pointing to one side where the leaves opened up just a bit. There was a natural dip in the forest below so that the tops of the other trees were visible, now shrouded in mist. As the sun set, the stars were peeking out in the gaps between the clouds, sharp and bright.

"Do you think they're real?" Guy asked, dragging himself up to go over and pull up her pack before anything happened to it. "The stars, I mean. I can't tell with this place, what's real."

[formersurgeon]

She climbed on carefully and sat cross-legged, looking out at the view. "It is beautiful," she said softly. "Almost hard to believe it's all deadly."

She laid back, one arm up and under her head, the other over her stomach, as she looked up at the stars.

"I don't think any of this is real. Still. Beautiful."