OTA: No rhyme but by the Mother, he wants a reason.

[gruesome]

Who| Some and you!
What| Trying to help or hide, and winding up in a mask.
Where| Various, mostly the second floor.
When| Through Week 2
Warnings/Notes| Probable mentions of maneating, violence.


Some's primary advantage, to his knowledge, is his ability to climb. The second floor has a high, shadowy ceiling, and despite the crowded, uneasy feeling of all of those models of men and creatures, he feels his best chances are there. The life-size model of the sea monster labelled "Blue Whale" provides him with a stable platform, high and suspended on wires. He's made himself a shelter there, half dug into the material of the model, half-reinforced by trays scavenged from the cafeteria, all bound together by his sponsor-given wire. If he'd known they were bright orange, he might not have used them, but up in the high shadows, they still make him feel safe.


Well, safer.


But he can't just hide. He won't be the winner, he knows he won't. He doesn't want to, he still tells himself. So he can either die now, go back to the Capitol, and watch it all go on and on, or he can leave this shelter, find someone in need of help, and help them. He's strong and stable, not hungry. And that's good. It means he has more time than usual.


When he thinks of leaving the dim second floor, he realizes that for once, he can be better prepared for the light. There was a display he noted earlier - a little glass case with a carved wooden mask, its eyes deeply shadowed by a fringe of stitched-in grass. It's the work of a moment to pry open the case with his knife, and he ties the mask around his neck on another length of wire.

[[Some's dead-set on being useful. So anyone who seems to need help; food, rescue, first aid, he'll try to render whatever he can. He's also a big dark many-toothed mantis creature slinking about, so feel free to be spooked and attack! I'm open to absolutely anything.]]

Comments

[not_cocked]

She wants a place to hide. A place that isn't obvious as hell.

So of course the giant blue whale seemed a great choice. It's so obvious, no one would even notice it. Now to figure out how to get her short ass up there. walking around it, she tried to figure out how she could get up there. If she could get up there.

Finally she decided, if there was any chance, it was going to take some work. Climbing up on the stuffed remains of a narwhale, she inched out as far as she could, using the horn to balance herself. Taking a breath, she lept, grabbing on to the whale's tail.

The drop seat of her pajama's sagged, making the blue whale not the only whale tail hanging out. She wiggled, trying to crawl up on the thing with a grunt.

[gruesome]

Big as it was, the whole whale swayed a little on its wires with her efforts. In his den, Some stiffened, listening, sure that someone had spotted his lurk and come to deal with him.

Finding his knife and clutching it close, he crept out from under the barricade of trays, slinking silently, delicately, far enough to peer out over the curve of the whale's back.

[not_cocked]

If she wasn't trying to scale a stuffed whale, she might have noticed the monster creeping up on her. Even scaling a whale, she should be a little more on top of it.

But she was trying to get on top of other things right now.

Gripping tightly, she kicked her legs, finally giving her self enough push to get up on the whale all the way.

And that was when she saw the monster.

"Son of a bitch!"

[gruesome]

Just one of her. Not a hunting pack, not, he thought, a threat. Especially not off-balance on the precarious whale tail. He leaned forward, gripping two guy-wires with his feet as he reached out two hands for hers, to steady her.

[not_cocked]

As she sees two of it's many arms reaching for her, she goes into fight or flight mode. And since from the top of this whale, flight would require legitimate flying ability, she crouches down, grabbing for the broken off table leg she had busted off for a weapon and swinging the wood out towards the freaky beast in front of her.

"If only one of us if getting off this whale alive, buddy, I'm not going down without a spite." She growled, not even sure the thing could understand her. But aggressively threatening things made her feel better.

[grandmas_gurl]

Ruby's wise to the masks, at this point. Nothing like being confronted with an Archangel to teach you a thing or three. Hers has been tied to her belt, with a couple leather straps salvaged from the displays. The knots are a little loose for easy removal, so she checks it often.

When she sees Some, she reaches for the mask but doesn't pull it out just yet. If he's not wearing it, than she won't make the first move.

"...Hi." Ruby has seen him around, but they've never exchanged words so far as she can remember.

[gruesome]

He's not worn his yet. The lights are still dim. He stands quite still at being seen, a head taller than the display of Russian instrument-makers beside him.

"... Hi," he answers back, offering a tentative smile, holding up two empty hands. "Not here to fight. I am just looking around."

[grandmas_gurl]

...Most people would be freaked out by this. Ruby was one of them. Her eyes widened, her heart hammered, and her fingers moved to the mask... but she still didn't draw it out. Maybe it's because Ruby was a "monster" herself, but she was going to try and trust the giant spider thing.

"Anything in particular?"

[gruesome]

"Yes." But he didn't plan to explain, not to a stranger. Instead, he changed the subject.

"Have you seen Donatello? The turtle?"

[grandmas_gurl]

Her floor mate. "Not yet." That was honest. She didn't think she'd tell him either way, though. Donatello might not be a friend, but he was a floormate.

[isthistheregion]

The Creature had, at first, expected to die. He had expected to die for a long time now, somewhere in the frozen waste, pursued by his master. This, when all was said and done, was merely a change of location.

That was before he had discovered that death in the Arena was impermanent. From the moment they had been released into the Arena, his goal had been survival. He'd held back from the Cornucopia, observed the ways in which the others fought -- or didn't -- and how they chose to survive. From there, he had made his way to the roof...

But he can't have stayed there forever. He's crept downward in search of food (and found some by virtue of a packet left, specifically for him, in one of the elevators). In addition to the small knife that's been gifted to him, he's procured a weapon: a short, jagged spear of bone torn from one of the skeletons on one of the upper floors.

He creeps along the second floor now. He didn't get a very clear look at the entirety of the space earlier. It would be good to get his bearings.

He walks close to the wall, with his weapon at the ready. Survival is his watch-word now. And survival sometimes means killing. There are plenty of Tributes here who would kill him.

And something in this room is moving.

[gruesome]

Creeping like him in near-silence, Some's goal is the stairs. But he freezes, hearing... something. Ducking low so his height won't betray him above the dioramas, he angles towards it, creeping on six limbs. Seeing, not attacking, is his goal, but his knife stays in his hand anyway.

[isthistheregion]

The light is dim in here -- when he first passes one of the dioramas showing humans, it startles him enough to step back and stare for a moment. The frozen people... there's something unnerving about them. Unnatural.

He's well aware of the irony. He is not immune to the impulse.

A moment passes, and he remembers the potential danger. Steps away from the display and continues onward. A ways away, he spies an alcove with a sign over it: GIFT SHOP. Perhaps there's something useful in there.

[gruesome]

There wasn't to Some, when he made a circuit of the place. But it was a small space; no way to follow the other in there and not be seen.

The other was a stranger to him, he knew. That scent pinged nothing. It was human, and that wasn't entirely certain. There was nothing else there to be gleaned, and it bothered him. So he halted at the entrance to the alcove, staying outside where he could easily flee, still silent and watching.

[isthistheregion]

The room hadn't been quite as ransacked as other parts of the museum. Most of the items in here were... odd. Useless. But the Creature did find one useful thing: a small canvas sack, printed with LA MUSÉE ARENA. He knelt on the floor to deposit his packet of food and water into it, tightened the closure so he could put an arm through the rope-like straps. His improvised weapon was on the floor next to him, but he never put his back to the entrance. Not completely.

And so he eventually noticed the odd shape there, in his peripheral vision. He stood at once and took up his weapon again in one quick, smooth motion. What was that?

[emptytrousers]

It's not the first time Kili has ventured out from the dioramas, tracking out across the lobby with an arrow nocked and aimed at the elevators as he treads past. However, it's certainly the first time he sees a strange non-humanoid figure in the darkness and part of him wonders if it's the heavy tension of the arena getting to him after his attempts to keep it at bay. He swallows as he lowers his bow to get a better look at the creature, noticing the mask it seems to be interested in. The dwarf had no desire for such things himself, considering.

In fact, he's not sure he's ever seen a creature like Some; he's seen gray-faced things, orcs, goblins, stone giants, but not something quite like Some.

So he'll stand and stare over at the newly-masked figure with a confused frown, his bow lowering further.

"Hello?" He calls out to him, not planning to do so until the sound escapes his mouth.

[gruesome]

At the greeting, Some spun to face him, tipping the mask up. It had given his face an illusion of humanity; the mask had two eyes and one mouth, the face beneath it had eight of the first and two of the second, teeth bared in alarm when he saw that the speaker was armed.

"Don't strike!" he said, holding up three hands, dropping the mask. "I'm no threat!"

[emptytrousers]

Kili lowers his bow before he asks, "Do I have your word?"

The fact that he nearly removes his own ability to defend himself before inquiring about said threat isn't exactly his best idea, but he has a history of poor ones, so it's not saying much. He'd rather not get into any fights if he could avoid them.

[gruesome]

"Yes, yes, of course." Some's gaze stayed stuck on the bow. He'd seen them in use before, in here. Had no desire to experience an arrow first-hand. "I am only- I am not trying to win."

[friendlyfires]

Willow scoots out of the second-floor vent closest to the plant diorama. She's intent on getting things like twigs and leaves and grass for making some basic, rudimentary items; hopefully she can even get a little food there. The longer she can stretch out her supplies, the better. And it seems like not a lot of people have her tolerance for staying up most of the night working on things, so at this hour there hopefully won't be any competition.

She doesn't like using the flashlight - she'd much rather have a torch or, better yet, her lighter, not that she's had any indication of ever getting that back - but with the fire alarms (god she hates the fire alarms) she has to use it to more closely examine the plants so she knows what to take. Careful to point it at the floor so the beam doesn't show up ranging far and wide, she turns it on.

It's then that she hears a noise behind her. She whirls, shining the beam directly into Some's face.

She doesn't scream, or drop her flashlight; over her time in Maxwell's world her fear response has been conditioned to be a bit more productive. Instead she grabs her knife immediately, backing away from the...the creature. She'd thought she left the nightmares behind, but of course not. She can already feeling her self-control slipping away in the face of this thing.

[gruesome]

Some had been trying to get by her without being seen, creeping along the wall behind the plants, because of the flashlight. Having it shine straight into his face, into his sensitive eyes was exactly why. He shouted, both mouths making a harmony of strange pitches, and flung three arms up, stumbling backwards in alarm and scrambling behind a tall fern.

[iphigeneia]

Having found a weapon and a small supply of food, what Felicity needed now was a place to hide and try to sleep. She'd made her way out of the wax displays of land mammals and into what appeared to be an exhibit on the oceans. She had no idea what the creatures on display even were, and they startled her a little, but she was willing to risk that others might have been frightened off by the monstrous animals.

Instead of heading toward the massive blue whale, however, she made for the display with the walrus. It had fur and tusks, and she was fairly certain that in addition to the hide, she could somehow fashion those giant teeth into weapons. She pet the taxidermied beast in a nearly affectionate manner and prepared to dig in.

[gruesome]

"There's no meat," came a quiet voice from high above. "If that is what you're looking for." He'd already seen a few of the other displays skinned by food-seeking tributes.

[iphigeneia]

She couldn't help but be startled by the voice from above, calling out sharply as she literally jumped a foot into the air.

"Who said that?" Felicity looked around, but saw no one. The only face she saw was that of the well stuffed walrus staring back at her.

[gruesome]

"Up here." Some had a firm grip on one of the cables supporting the whale, leaning far out over its curve. He wasn't very visible up there, black against the dark ceiling, but he waved a hand. "They're just dolls, all of them."