Team...whatsit.

[forgetfulmind]

WHO Ariadne, Amy Reese, Kaidan, Garrus, Sheppard? I think that's everyone.
WHAT Mingle post for the awesome team of soon-to-fail.
WHERE Up near the showline. Let's say... 3-I? Maybe they found a good campsite there, by the stream? I'm thinking Amy and Ariadne found the camp while Kaidan was off doing his open-log things. If there are objections to this, let me know! Happy to edit.
WHEN Wednesday - Friday
NOTES Tag around, form threads, mingle and do stuff. Time is flexible, and mods might toss in an attack or two, so be wary.

The campsite is a secluded clearing, close to the snow, colder than the low altitudes but perhaps safer. Rocky ledges provide some shelter from the elements, and a cold snow-fed stream flows by.

Wednesday night, after the camp is first established, a silver parachute drops in with a blanket and a box of matches.

After Garrus joins, more gifts come, in the form of food for him and a couple more blankets.

All in all, it's starting to feel more like a camping trip than a fight to the death.

Of course, this is soon to change.

Comments

Wednesday

[forgetfulmind]

Amy crows in delight at the sight of the blanket. Gasps at the matches, and darts for her handy little ping-pong-ball-sized camera (which has probably begun to annoy everyone, by now). "I have sponsors!" she tells it. "Look, Jeeves," and she shows the blanket, which is made of some treated material. It feels warm. Very warm. "No longer do I have to dig a little hole in the ground to sleep through the night. Which is extremely helpful, and I appreciate it a lot."

She glances to the others. "Maybe we should get some wood," she says. "I haven't made a fire since Girl Scouts, and I was only in that for two years, so."

(Later, she can be found gathering wood and placing it under the overhang, in an attempt to dry it out.)

[buildingreality]

She's sitting nearby when the blanket arrives, when things finally seem to be looking up. Ariadne has been ignoring the camera, paying it little heed; she probably comes off as entirely boring, which is why it's Amy getting the sponsors and not her, but she's all right with that.

"It's not too hard, as long as we can make sure it's dry. It's too much to ask your sponsors for a hair dryer, isn't it?" She asks, and it's unclear whether or not she's joking. She is, for the record.

[forgetfulmind]

Amy blinks, and she lifts the camera. Worth a try, right?

"Hair dryer," she says, experimentally. "How do you guys feel about tossing one of those along?"

...silence.

"Guess not."

[buildingreality]

"It was worth a shot," Ariadne shrugs, looking unperturbed. "If a blanket weren't more likely to keep it wet, I'd suggest we could keep some under it. We'll just have to hope that it doesn't rain."

And hope that she didn't just jinx them by saying as much.

[forgetfulmind]

"It's rained every day since we got here," Amy points out. "Kinda par for the course. It's the price we pay for regular water." Just everything else is potentially poisonous.

She sighs. "You think we should try going out hunting again?" she asks. "I'm a little afraid of bears."

[buildingreality]

"Doesn't rain more," she corrects, making a face. She's not holding out for it, really. "The rivers aren't too bad either; I got some water from there. It's freezing, but it works."

She pauses, glancing to the camera briefly. Barely a flicker of a glance. "We could try. If we're both there, then one can keep watch while the other hunts properly. But I still don't have anything but a knife."

[forgetfulmind]

"It's better than a bunch of arrows and no bow."

Amy curls her knees close, and rests her chin on them.

"I really wish I had a shower right now," she says. "And then... a nice plate of green bean casserole. With a lot of gravy."

[buildingreality]

"The rain isn't close enough?" She asks, teasing slightly. She knows it isn't. But closing her eyes, Ariadne is almost able to imagine the first level of the dream, when the only reason it was raining at all was because Yusuf had too much champagne.

"I wish I had a croissant and a latte. From one of the cafes around the corner."

Thursday

[implant]

Kaidan is battling off a migraine. The sun is hanging bright and high in the sky; pounding nails into his skull. He feels like they should move, that hanging in one place is just inviting a world of trouble-- but he has to admit. He's been craving a homebase, some place to settle for a day or two to figure out his thoughts. Of course, with watching over everyone in the camp, he hasn't had much time to do so-- but he tries. With Garrus, at least, it's a bit easier; but Shepard? No... that's not easy at all.

Kaidan is standing off by the rocky face of the mountain; trying hard to get himself in a place of shade before the headache properly develops. He's got his arms wrapped around his chest and his brown eyes are dull but ever alert.

[gamemakers]

The cliffs around here are tall, and the ground unstable, so it would be easy to assume a rock slide is natural, and not cause by the flick of a wrist in the control room.

In correct, but plausible. Which is the best way for it to be.

Either way, the ground groans before the whole cliff face starts to sag down. It moves strangely slow at first, but even if Kaidan had time to move a few feet, the whole edge he's standing on is going down.

[forgetfulmind]

Amy has just emerged from under the ledges, yawning. She hadn't managed much sleep; it'd been fitful, little short naps, paranoia awakening her every time someone made a move. She trusts Kaidan the most.

But then she feels a rumble, a groan in the ground.

"Kaidan!" she shrieks, in warning.

[implant]

Kaidan feels the rocks crack before he hears it. The low groan of something going terribly wrong. He looks at his feet, then at Amy who's approaching, still far off. The shift happens suddenly and Kaidan is sprinting out of his cover, trying to find a safe place-- but there's nothing. He shouts a warning; but he's going down, and there's no stopping it. He doesn't know if there's anyone else but knowing Amy isn't... that's good enough for now. He sure sucked at the whole protector role, didn't he?

[galaxyherder]

Shepard hears the shriek first. It's shrill and distant, but loud enough for her initial reaction to be anger. Way to alert half the goddamn Arena to our location, girl. She can't be sure which one it is, but it sounds a bit more like Amy than the other one. Though maybe that's just because she expects Amy to be the one making noise, what, with that camera of her's and all.

But her frustration is quickly replaced with a gut-wrenching, twisting ache of worry. The word she had shrieked was Kaidan. And then the rumbling crashing chaos of earth being moved takes over everything, and suddenly her feet can't move fast enough.

There are really only two kinds of people in the world. Those who hear danger and flee, and those who hear danger and charge straight for it. Shepard has always been the later, to almost a reckless fault. She isn't even sure what she's hoping to do or find once she gets there, but she runs, full sprint until she finds the cloud of dust thick in the air no Kaidan anywhere in sight.

[forgetfulmind]

Amy had tripped and fallen backwards, ran to escape the land's collapse. She'd made it onto solid ground by the skin of her teeth, and, somehow, had managed to hold onto the camera in the process.

She holds her breath, waiting for a tell-tale canon shot, to tell of a Tribute's death.

[galaxyherder]

The dust is starting to settle, and it might sting her eyes if she could be bothered to notice. All Shepard finds is broken earth and the steep mountainside that drops to an area so far below their current position it would take a full day's hike to reach it. She wants to be settled by the lack of blood she finds, or rather, doesn't find, but knows that might only mean someone is burred beneath the rubble somewhere.

She finds Amy first, looking shaken but no worse for wear. "Are you ok?" there is concern in her voice, even if it is a bit frantic. Aside from their earlier and fairly recent introduction, these are perhaps her first actual words spoken directly to the girl, but she is glad to see that at least she appears to be unhurt.

[forgetfulmind]

She smacks at Shepard. "Shut up!" she cries, shrilly. The cannon. She hasn't heard a cannon. It might mean that no one's died. "Did you hear a cannon shot? I didn't. Kaidan's still alive."

She struggles to her feet.

[galaxyherder]

She grabs for both Amy's arms to both still and stabilize her her; holds her there and gets right in her face as she speaks. A little piece of her wants to shake her around a little. Maybe rattle her just enough to calm her down, but she doesn't, because she doubts Amy's had much experience with situations like these. Not everyone is equipped to handle them. Especially 16 year old girls, so she can't really be too angry with her. But she has no intentions of babying the girl, either.

"No. No cannon," she says in a voice as calm and even as she can manage while still being firm. "He's still alive. If you want to help me look for him, you need to answer me. Are. You. Alright? Are you hurt? Have you seen the others?"

wednesday kaidan&shep

[implant]

Kaidan gets away from the camp for a little bit. Not far enough to not make it back in time if anything went astray, but out of shouting distance, certainly. He splashes water from the river on his face, fingers crackling blue as his biotics fire off without much warning. He's stressed and the shock of the cold must have triggered it. Kaidan always assumed he had better control over these things than he was proving-- the malfunctioning implants, the fact that Kaidan has to operate without them now, after so many years, such brutal training... He'll get the hang of it. He has to.

It's damp and cold in the arena, always is. The spare supplies from Shepard has been taken with as much grace as possible-- but Kaidan opted out of the blanket. All he has to do was think of Noveria and remember how that felt, bitterly cold and crawling with geth. It made this place seem a bit better, but only in comparison. Hell; he even had Shepard and Garrus with him. Kaidan wasn't overly spiritual, leaning in no direction, but he swears this has to be a karma thing, reliving your past actions until they work themselves out. Seeing Shepard again, seeing Garrus and how they worked together so easily made Kaidan nostalgic for the Normandy in a way he didn't want to face. He spent most of his time with Amy, and by proxy, Ariadne. Making a camp was supposed to clear his head, give him time to think-- but instead he just sees in shades of red and green. Anger and jealousy.

He became a petty creature, somewhere along the line. But at least he has his morals and his pride, which is more than Shepard can say.

Another shock of cold water to his face knocks him out of the thought process. He tunes out the rushing water, making sure to keep himself battle-ready. They haven't been discreet and just because Amy formed this alliance doesn't mean everyone would be keen on the whole partnership idea. Even with Shepard and Garrus around, Kaidan promised to protect the two girls. He will do so; even if he has people he might not completely trust anymore at his back. Two years earlier? Kaidan would have prayed for this team. But that is the past speaking, and only fools lose themselves there.

[galaxyherder]

She hasn't had a decent night's sleep since she arrived, though she doubts there is a single person in this place who doesn't share that burden. At least the water here is cold and invigorating; a chill, sharp enough to snap her awake and get her going again. So, with a cool mountain breeze at her back, she wanders her way toward the nearby stream to refresh herself.

The camp here is not ideal, but it's the best they can do with what they've got. If she were a betting kind of person, she would wager it was more than what most of the others had in this place; the ones still hiding out there in the forest, watching the night sky for the faces of fallen competitors. All of them hoping that the next cannon fire isn't for themselves. She isn't immune to those behaviors herself. But its nice to be able to look upon the faces of those you know won't appear in the sky at night, as they sit beside you.

Still, Shepard finds herself feeling slightly at odds. She wants to help. It's a characteristic that defines her. But this is Kaidan's show. The girls he's taken under his wing; they trust Kaidan. Not her. Not Garrus.

And Kaidan....?

Well, speak of the devil.

Shepard finds him not half a dozen paces down the stream from where she approaches it. For a brief moment, she considers turning back around and leaving him his peace. He hasn't been entirely approachable lately, and the stubborn part of herself wants to just let him brood all he likes. She's not going to pretend that she doesn't know why. The memory of their last encounter -- their meeting on Horizon -- is still a fresh one. And judging by the way he looks at her. Hell, by the way he stands and moves and sleeps, she knows it's fresh for him too.

And now? Here they are, players in this arena and death trap, and he might frustrate the hell out of her with that stubborn, self-righteous streak of his, but she's damn sure not going to kill him. She's just a little concerned that he isn't convinced of that.

"Kaidan," she says his name like a greeting as she nods her head. Too late to turn around, since he clearly had noticed her approach, she opts to make nice instead.

[implant]

"Commander." Kaidan knows someone was approaching and he didn't turn to face them. There's just a pit of anxiety in his stomach when Shepard greets him; something bred from having watched her die and trying to put that memory, her memory, to rest while never succeeding to do so. He stands gingerly, turning to face her. Even without the hair care Kaidan was used to, he manages to keep his longer-than-regulation hair out of his face, slicked back. There's a thousand things he wants to say to her and it makes his lips thin, fingers twitching at his side. He really should contain himself, here is not the place for this kind of thing. If he trusts her enough to follow the same ideal though-- he honestly doesn't know anymore. He doesn't know her.

[galaxyherder]

Here, in this place, the two of them along with all other others, are dressed in the same jacket, pants and boots. Kaidan's several days unshaven, and she hasn't washed her hair since before she was shoved into the tubs the first day of the Arena. Whatever this place is, they are no more than civilians in their eyes, if they are even considered that much. And despite how much she doesn't want to admit it, they are so impossibly far from Alliance reach she's starting to doubt it even exists here.

"I don't know how much that title means in this place," she says. She's hoping for light. Almost joking. But there's a seriousness there she isn't afraid to make known. Kaidan doesn't need to call her Commander. Hell, he's a commander too now, isn't he, and she hasn't exactly referred to him as such. Then again, she's always been quicker to drop formalities than most. And Kaidan's probably just being... Kaidan.

[implant]

Kaidan shifts, crossing his arms defiantly. "It means something to me, ma'am." He was there when she was first assigned to the Normandy, he was there as she rose under Anderson's command, he watched her the entire time. Here she is now, and Kaidan's formality doesn't drop. She had been his Commanding Officer and Udina rarely inspired anyone the way Shepard did. A natural born leader. It shows in his speech, even if his trust and respect has vanished.

[galaxyherder]

She quirks an eyebrow, and wonders if Kaidan's always been this difficult, or if he's actually trying. She'd only meant it as a friendly gesture. A 'hey, I think we know one another well enough by now that you can actually call me by my real name, now and then,' kind of thing, and he just takes it like she's trying to toss it aside. Like everything she's worked for, her entire life, means nothing. It's offensive, really.

And she can tell by the shift his his body language that he's tense. Not just because of the situation they've been thrown into. But also, because of her. "It means something to me too, you know. I only meant that you can call me by my name, every once in a while."

[implant]

Kaidan's lips thin and he shifts his weight from foot to foot as if preparing for a battle. Before, on the Normandy? Of course Kaidan would call Shepard by her name, considered her a friend, one of his only. He never branched out easily, but there was just something in Shepard that pried out the darkest secrets. Kaidan wishes he couldn't remember any of that. It makes her... new alliances stand out glaringly so. "If that's what you want, Shepard, then I can accommodate." For now, they're on the same side, even if Kaidan's eyes glow blue with biotics to betray how he really feels.

[galaxyherder]

Shepard narrows her eyes, studying him. Kaidan's never been a particularly open, sharing guy. But if you spend time with someone, breathe the same recycled air and eat the same tasteless military food as someone for long enough, it gets easier to read them.

Basically, what she sees on his face is not matching up with what he's saying. And he's never been the type to tell her what she wants to hear, of course, but he's definitely holding something back. Placating her while he burns under his own metaphorical collar. "What I want," she gives a sigh, "is for you and me to be on the same page again."