thearena | Team...whatsit.

Entry tags:

Team...whatsit.

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.

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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.)

Edited 2012-04-06 05:56 (UTC)

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.

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.

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.

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?

Edited 2012-04-08 07:12 (UTC)

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.

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.

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."

"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.

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.

"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."

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.

"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."

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.

"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."

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?"

Edited (total spelling fail) 2012-04-11 21:27 (UTC)

"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."

The cannon goes off then, but it isn't for Kaidan. It's Garrus.

Garrus, who'd been near the rocks just as Kaidan had started falling, does the stupid thing-- and runs after him. Ever the hero, eh, Vakarian? He has no biotics to save him, no armor to break his fall--

Turians are made light. Sturdy, but agile. Their bird-like forms need armor for this kind of thing. Garrus has the muscle, but none of the form. Even if he manages to cushion the fall from this height, even if he slows down Kaidan just a bit, his body won't take it.

Rocks, debris, the cold floor beneath him. They're the last things he sees before the world goes dark.

Edited 2012-04-12 03:14 (UTC)

She hears the cannon.

She didn't see Garrus go down. She only saw Kaidan. So she leaps to the only possible conclusion, and she shrieks, in shock -- that he could be taken away so quickly -- in despair -- that she hasn't any chance at winning now -- and just in pain. Because she likes him. Liked. She'd decided to trust him. And now he's gone.

She struggles against Shepard's hold, perfunctorily, and then she collapses, crying, choppy sobs into her hands, breaking her breath into awkward, hiccup-y pieces.

"I've never had a croissant that wasn't the cheap, store-bought kind." She closes her eyes. "And no, it's not close enough. I want a nice, steamy shower, the kind where you step in and it's so warm you feel like it's going to scald your skin off. And you can barely see because of the steam.

"And I could be working on the cars in the shop... shining up the rims on an old Mustang. And then Dad would let me drive it, and it would just be the highway on the coast, California sunsets and the ocean breeze, top down, hair all over the place in the wind."

Like the showers they'd had before being thrown out into the Arena. Ariadne can't deny that would also love that; she puts it on the long list of things of things she wants when she gets out of there. If she gets out.

"I usually walk," she comments idly, appreciating Amy's words for what they are. An attempt to bring some normalcy back into a surreal moment, if she isn't mistaken. "But it sounds pleasant. Better than here."

Shepard doesn't know what to do with the hysteric girl past letting her slip away and sob. It's easy to do, since a nauseating pang of guilt and devastation and regret and loss slams into her so hard and so fast, its like she'd just been punched. Kaidan. She holds onto his name like a silent prayer. She staggers back, away from Amy a few steps; green eyes unfocused for only a moment as she tries to keep herself in control. Amy can break down like that. Shepard... can't. Not here.

Peripherally, she knew it had to come to this sometime. The hows and they whys were never certain, of course, but she'd been listening when the rules were explained. 24 went in. Only one of them was coming out. When Garrus and Kaidan came along, and then the girls... well, thinking about statistics like that had been sidelined. Priorities had shifted from being 'the one left standing,' to simply keeping everyone alive as long as possible. They had been better prepared for other tributes. They hadn't been prepared for the arena itself to turn on them, and quite frankly Shepard would rather take on the other tributes.

"Fine," she says almost dismissively. Amy's shaken and distraught and loud enough to be calling who knows what, straight for them, but she's not hurt. And Ariadne and Garrus are still nowhere in sight. Amy can have her grief, but Shepard would rather not hear a second cannon fire, if she can help it. That rock slide could have done a lot more damage than just Kaidan. "Just... Stay here. Don't move. I'm going to find the others and make sure no one else was in it's path." She turns to walk away, and then turns back around to reiterate. Because she doubts Amy's paying her all that much attention. "Stay. Here. I'll be right back."

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.

Edited 2012-04-12 08:59 (UTC)

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.

Ariadne, in fact, is nearby, having all but frozen in place when she heard not only the rock slide, but the resulting cannon fire. She went in the opposite direction that day, staying near their shelter but intent on finding perhaps a small animal for them to eat. She has no luck, but she is out of range for the rock slide, at the very least. She doesn't know what happened, or who died, and she tentatively makes her way back towards their camp. It's not a far walk, an even shorter run, but she isn't sure of what happened and doesn't want to run headlong into a fight she isn't prepared for.

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Team...whatsit.

Wednesday

Thursday

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wednesday kaidan&shep

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