thearena | If you're gonna build a time machine into a car..

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If you're gonna build a time machine into a car..

Who| Dave and Elsa
What| Dave finds Elsa chilling after he has a little run around.
Where| Wherever there may be trashed up cars.
When| Early on, after the cornucopia rush.
Warnings/Notes| Scared blondies.

Dave's arena is off to a great start so far. He'd avoided the Cornucopia and missed any chance of grabbing supplies, even if he'd been happy to miss the bloodbath he can't help wondering if it would bite him on the ass. Considering his avoidance of it lead him smack bang into the ass of a bigger and yet, somehow faster version of Gamzee. Maybe it was his fault for not watching where he was going and maybe he shouldn't have been a smart ass, but that's all in the past now. He needs to be more careful about the moves he makes from now on. A fuck up like that could get him killed, which is almost as bad as being abso-fucking-lutely lost and alone with no idea where anyone is.

His lungs are aching and his chest is burning from the sudden sprinting, endurance, cross-country funfest he's just wormed his way out of, it's making him realise how out of shape he's gotten lately. Probably should have done a bit more jogging in the training center. Probably should have made a few more solid plans to find people rather than assuming going it alone would be the best course of action. Fuck, he's stupid. The least he can do now is lay low and try to figure something out, maybe find a weapon from the legitimate scrappy looking heap he's happened upon.

Of all things, he's surprised to see a car. He shouldn't be, but he is. It's been a while since he's seen one, it brings back fond memories of watching Back to the Future alone at home while other kids were probably out playing in actual dumps like the savages they were. If only it were an actual delorean, maybe his time shenanigans could get him out of here. He feels an odd desire to get in the thing, it might make for good shelter, but mostly he wants to sit in the driver's seat and loot it if there's anything lootable in it. Only problem? The door he's picked is jammed. Just his fucking luck, right? Frustrated with the situation, he's going to jiggle and jerk at it aggressively while cursing under his breath.

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Elsa's arena is off to a pretty terrible start so far. She hadn't managed to get any sort of supplies- the mini arena had turned her off of trying, after Susannah had stabbed her hand. She'd made a break for it, not stopping for anything or anyone. She'd rand so fast her lungs felt like they would burst out of her chest, faster even than when she had ran away at her coronation party.

Just her luck, she'd managed to run headfirst into a car with all the fog surrounding her. She'd stubbed her shin real good, probably bruised it significantly. But then she'd realized it was a blessing in disguise- as broken down as it was, she could fit inside of it. It would make a wonderful hiding place. So she'd crawled into it, shut the door and fiddled with it until she'd managed to lock it. It wasn't automatic, like so much of the Capitol stuff. In fact, it seemed so much older than a lot of the Capitol things.

That was irrelevant, though. It was a good hiding place- with the fog surrounding the area, clinging to the window, you have to get close and rub the window to see inside of it. She feels safe in it, curled up under the dashboard under the steering wheel. How long she's been in there, she isn't certain. What she does know is she wants to make sure the cornucopia bloodbath is well and good behind her before she leaves.

So when she hears someone at the door of the car, she's prepared to run instantly, fight or flight kicking in hard. Elsa can't tell who it is, and she doesn't need to. All she knows is that whoever it is must be an enemy.

She does what any sensible person would do; she pushes the door open hard with the intention of hitting them with it, before bolts out of it- except along the way, she realizes who it is. Unfortunately, after doing whatever damage she might've with the car door. "Oh my goodnes!" she says, her voice near frantic. "Are you alright?"

The idea that someone could be hiding in the car hadn't even occurred to Dave. Everyone had gone for supplies and, by the looks of it, gone to houses to hide out. Because they're clever, probably. Not the sort of moron who antagonizes a giant troll at the risk of his life, not the sort of moron who tries to get in a car without seeing who else is in there. Bro would be ashamed, he's sure. He has no real sense of stranger danger, but that's the least of his worries.

"Jesus!" He squawks, arms flailing and feet scrabbling as he loses his footing, toppling backward with the door and falling into a defeated pile under it. He exhales in exasperation, loudly, just so she knows he's alive, but he isn't making a move to get up off the ground just yet.

"Oh, no-" she says, bending down, holding out her hands like she wants to try and help him up, be she hesitates. She's still not one to touch people unless she has to, or there's a clear invitation. She finally decides to push the door shut, so that he can actually have room to get up. "I'm so sorry, Dave," she adds after a moment, her voice full of guilt. "I thought you were someone trying to attack me, I had no idea... if I had, I never would've-"

Finally, she gently takes hold of his arm. "Here, let me help you up."

In the excitement of it all, and he would use that term loosely, he hadn't even realised it was Elsa. He'd been ready to spring up into a fight with the motherfucker who knocked him over. This could be it- this could be the encounter that kills him. His blood is pumping and he's ready to show this bitch how to dance... until the bitch speaks up. God, his heart just shrivels. He wish he would just shrivel up too, turn to dust and not embarrass himself in front of her anymore.

He groans when she moves the door for him, rolling onto his back and letting out a sigh of exasperation before bouncing up and onto his feet without the hand. "Oh, it's you." Act natural, act natural. He bounces on his feet a little, as if he's still raring for a fight. "Sup."

Elsa shakes her head gently when he dismisses the arm, realizing that he's a teenage boy and probably wants to appear that he doesn't need help. He imagines Anna is similar, judging by how independent she's always acting. There's nothing wrong with taking advantage of a little help, though- and she's an expert by now at taking people's help so she knows what she's talking about. But she doesn't say anything, as she moves the hand and cups it with her other one.

"Oh, you know," she says with a shrug. "Surviving, hiding, the usual." Elsa tries to sound humorous in what is probably a slightly morbid statement. "I'm really glad I found you- or rather, that you found me. It's nice to see a face that I know doesn't want to kill me."

Hey, he doesn't need the help. Falling is the least of his worries, honestly. He's jumped himself up from worse scrapes, and it's totally not one hundred percent because he wants to impress her. Her and her poised queenliness standing there all regal with her hands cupped like they're at Wimbledon and not a gladiator remake.

"What? You mean you aren't there in the thick of it?" He gestures out in the direction of the fighting with an incredulous brow raised before he drops his hand. "Better me than some other fucker, right?" He scoffs and shrugs himself. "Yeah, I'm not gonna kill you. Everyone else is doing the killing thing, I thought I might set myself apart. Do something different, yep." Be a massive dweeb, more like. "Do you have anyone to meet up with? Kind of seeing the benefit of making future arrangements here myself."

Okay Dave, okay. She won't try helping you up anymore, gosh.

It's difficult not to reprimand him for his language- her queenly sensibilities are so offended. But she doesn't, and does her best to ignore it. There's something soothing about how even in a death arena, he manages to ramble like he does. It makes the situation feel normal, like they aren't actually at risk of dying at any moment.

"Well, just so we're clear on the matter, I don't plan on killing you, either," she says, giving him a small laugh, before shaking her head. "But no. I don't have anyone I'm supposed to meet. Everyone I would have... kind of became mentors recently." She lets out a soft sigh. "So I'm alone. Or at least, I was- unless you have somewhere to be?"

In a slightly later meeting, Elsa will learn not to help him up. Instead, she'll dump snow on him and mock him for his failure, so she's the last person who should be reprimanding him. Especially when he doesn't even realise he's being disarmingly casual. It's the weird air of someone who has lived through a considerable amount of awfulness.

"You couldn't if you wanted to. I got skills." To illustrate this, he's going to kick an old hubcap up into the air and catch it. Show off. He pretends to look at it like he's actually considering it as a weapon and not like he doesn't know what to do with it. "Nope. I was gonna go it solo." He shrugs. "I only know two people here and they have other shit going on." Shit like them having other friends and him not knowing whether he's welcome. "We can be a posse, if you like. I can fight, especially if I can find a sword."

"I'm sure you d-" She cuts off as Dave kicks the hubcap in the air and catches it the way he does. She has to hand it to him, that was pretty impressive- though that probably doesn't mean much, coming from the one who's still trying to learn archery. Still, Elsa claps for a moment, her eyebrows raised. "You sure do!" she admits, oblivious to the fact he doesn't actually know what to do with it now.

But she smiles at his answer, relieved that she isn't going to be completely alone anymore. "Wonderful!" It's at that moment she realizes they are, in fact, in the middle of an arena of death. "Maybe we should go find somewhere safer to talk, though. Something tells me this isn't the best of places."

She looks a little nervous to have to head out into the fog, but what else can they do? She steps closer to Dave, looping her arm through his and pulling him closer to her. "We should stick close, too." Then, she'll start pulling him along in search for a safer place.

He's surprised when she seems genuinely impressed, as if suspicious about how genuine she is. If she thought that was cool, he can't wait to find a sword. They took his flash stepping, but that chase made him realise he's still pretty agile.

"Shelter sounds like a good idea, I don't want to see what this place gets like when it's dark for real." It's freaky enough with the fog, he doesn't doubt it could get worse. He glances over at her when she steps closer, once again floored by her readiness to do..whatever it is she's doing. He feels pretty weird linking arms, but it's making her happy at least.

"There were houses this way." He cocks his head in a vague direction. "I met someone there before." He doesn't want to say they fed him, because he feels a little bad about it. "We just have to be careful. Someone might be looking for me." He'd hate for Elsa to get involved in that scuffle, she is the opposite of a juggalo and must be protected at all costs.

Seeing him with a sword would definitely be an experience. She's seen Hans with a sword and that's impressive, but seeing a teenager with a sword would definitely be even better. Especially one in an arena with her. Because he can do the fighting and she can do the thing where she doesn't suck at wielding a weapon. She's gotten better at archery, but only a little.

She's also glad that he doesn't pull away or anything, because the linking arms makes her feel safer, in a strange way. "Oh, wonderful!" She says, and begins heading in that direction. "Admittedly, I saw the car and went right for it, I never thought to look for houses."

Elsa raises her eyebrows in confusion, when he mentions someone looking for him. "I thought you said you were going to be alone?" she asks. "Who would be looking?"

It feels a little fruity to be linking arms like this in the arena, he certainly hopes nobody sees them, laugh and try to slaughter them horribly. That isn't the end he had in mind for himself, not that he had any. "I figured they'd be full of traps, but it's not so bad, somewhere to crash and take turns keeping watch." He shrugs, making survival plans ever so casually.

"I was alone." He reaffirms. "I bumped into some big ugly troglodyte and he started acting fucking crazy, so I threw a rock at him and ran." He mimics throwing the rock. "Probably too fat to keep up." Now he's going to flex.

The fruitiness isn't something that Elsa really thinks about. If he pointed it out, she might realize it though. As it is, she's pretty content to walk this way. "That sounds like a good idea," she says with a nod. "It's so strange, though... Everything almost seems normal- I mean, despite the fog. It's like everyone just decided to get up and leave, for no reason."

Her eyebrows raise in alarm at his description of his attacker. When he flexes, she gives his bicep a comforting pat. "That was very clever of you," she says with an approving nod. "You did good."

It's not long after that she spots a house in the fog, and she points towards it. "Do you think we should try that one?"

"I think that's the part where they trick you." He muses, glancing around suspiciously. "It's like games I used to play back home, where things would jump out of the fog at you." He says that sagely, but he regrets it immediately. Ah well, at least the praise is enough to pluck him up some as he gives the house an appraising nod.

"I'll go ahead, you follow after. Alright?" He raises a brow at her, but he's already unlinking arms and stepping toward the house, avoiding the front door pointedly to circle around for another entrance. He's constantly glancing back at her to make sure she's alright whilst trying to remain focused on the task at hand as well.

"You played strange games," she says, though she has no room to talk considering a lot of her games had involved creating ice and snow men, but still. Different levels of strangeness.

She'll nod, though, as she moves to stand at a safe distance from the house, reluctantly letting their arms unlink. Already she feels vulnerable, but she won't move as he begins to go around the house for a second entrance. "Please be careful!" she says in a loud whisper, her heart beating a little faster as he moves out of sight.

Dave just glances over his shoulder with a raised brow as if that's some indication that he knows what he's doing. He'll carefully pick up an abandoned rake in the yard, pausing as if waiting for the movement to attract attention. When it doesn't, he steps toward the back door to test the knob. Locked, definitely, but a sharp kick is enough to unlodge it and burst it open when it's as old as it is.

He beckons for her to follow him inside, and from there they can inspect the place thoroughly for monsters before retreating upstairs to the bedroom. Dave offers her the first sleep shift, assuring her he'll stand guard with his rake while she rests.

Teamwork ain't so bad after all.

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If you're gonna build a time machine into a car..

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