thearena | [OPEN]

Who: Hiro and *Soulja Boy voice* YOUUUUUuuuuuu
What: Building traps and surviving.
Where: The pine forest.
When: Sometime after the snow melts, early evening.
Warnings: Nothing right now!

[The name of the game, for Hiro at least, has just been survival. He has no desire to fight anyone--and according to his research, more tributes die from things like starvation or exposure than fighting, anyway. Therefore, he plans each day carefully and methodically-- Find shelter, hunt for food, store it carefully, build a defense, and hide. Rinse and repeat.

He'd managed to find a nice crop of trees to hole himself away in, and had built himself a small shelter out of snow, at least until it had all melted away. Now he's dealing with nothing but mud, but he works on that to his advantage, digging out a pit around his new shelter (a hollowed-out tree trunk) to cover with thin twigs and brush to create a trap.

He doesn't want to fight anyone, doesn't want to hurt anyone. But if someone trips and falls into the pit and gets stuck in the mud, well. That's their fault.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And someone does. There's little noise aside from the splintering of wet foliage and a thick, damp plop as someone heavy lands in the covered moat around the hollow tree. Albert doesn't cry out when he lands in the muck, doesn't curse as much as he would like out, but instead spits whatever mud had gotten in his mouth and stays put.

He has his spear-slash-walking stick and he's not so short as to be completely buried; the edge of the pit looks to him like it would hit his chest if he were to stand fully and he could easily climb out so long as he can manage to find purchase on the ground around the hole, but he doesn't simply pop his head up for an easy target. Instead, he stays there for some time, waiting to see who comes to check the trap.

[There's a stretch of silence, and then Hiro peeks his head out from behind a bush to peer at what he'd caught. Building the trap had been easy enough--building things was always easy--but what to do afterward? He hadn't even thought about it.

Once he's sure the person hasn't clawed out yet, he steps out to check on the trap, holding a sharp stick he'd found with both hands.]

Hands where I can see them!

A child. He'd figured, though now the depth of the hole dug in cold ground is more impressive despite it not being deep enough to actually hold a fully grown adult. The stick held fast in the boy's hands is no real cause for concern either considering he's not sure his captor has the strength to actually do much more than scratch him with it, less so if he hits a metal arm or leg. Still, no need to further terrorize the already scared kid.

Albert stands up within the hole, mud dropping in clumps from his clothes and puts his hands up, leaving his own stick leaning against the side of the pit. "Nice trap."

[Brock is careful in this environment. He's spent enough time out in the wilderness and the snow to understand the inherent dangers of it -- add to that the bajillion people out there right now who would probably very happily kill him, and it becomes even worse.

The snow melting away gets rid of the possibility of being tracked by footprints, but that just gets replaced by the possibility of being tracked by mud, so all in all, it's a pretty even situation. He's had winter boots since the first day, when he snagged them at the Cornucopia, but even they get muddy. So when he spies a fallen log, he takes advantage of it and props his foot up, scraping off the mud with a very large knife.

He also happens to be standing on the very edge of the mud pit, but he doesn't seem to notice that.]

[There is a very large, very scary-looking man near Hiro's trap, and he holds his breath as he watches through the bush he's hiding behind. Just a step backward, and the guy will fall into the pit with that big knife-- A few steps forward, though, and he'll be able to find Hiro.

This is a one-shot thing, he tells himself. He seizes a nearby rock and waits until Brock stops to clean his boot before throwing it as hard as he can. It lands somewhere behind Brock near the trap, creating a noise that will hopefully startle him enough to fall into it.]

Edited 2015-02-13 12:14 (UTC)

[Brock's reaction is instant -- the knife is already in his hand, so when he whips around, the blade goes singing in the air. His other hand is balled at his side, his stance wide and his posture on edge.

He doesn't exactly fall into the trap out of surprise but, after casting a suspicious glance around, he takes a step forward. The ground collapses under him and he awkwardly tumbles into the pit.] What the fuck --

[Clementine has little experience with traps. In fact, she has no experience with traps, especially those as elaborate as this one.

One minutes she's creeping quietly along through the tree's, hanging on to her torch and a sturdy stick, the next she's letting out a too-loud yelp as the ground collapses under her and she falls into the mud below.

It's totally gross.]

Damn it!

[She tries to stand up and looks at the edge of the pit. With her small size and the thick mud around her ankles that's going to take some work to climb over but she can't afford to wait, whoever made this could be out there and coming to check the trap even now.]

[Hiro hadn't exactly had a target in mind when he'd built the trap; he'd done it to protect himself, whether it be from other tributes or wild animals or whatever the gamemakers wanted to throw at him. Therefore, he's surprised and a little uncertain to see a young girl fall in.

She looks close to his age, or maybe a little younger, but he knows not to underestimate her. He walks out to peer over the edge of the pit, holding his sharp stick steady, observing her.]

Uh, hey. Sorry about that. Are you hurt?

Are you?

[Clementine glares up at him, rubbing at her arm and then realising that of course it's covered in mud too. Actually, all of her is covered in mud, she just hopes she can get it off later. Providing this kid is for real and not planning on using the stick on her.]

I... I'm fine. Just bruised I think. You built this?

Yeah. But not really-- I mean, it was mostly a precaution.

Here, let me help you out.

[He sets the stick down and puts out his hands so she can grab on to them.]

Good precaution.

[After a moment of regarding his hands she sighs and wades closer to the edge before reaching up to take them, allowing the boy to pull her up. Clementine tries to help, using her legs to push up and dig into the side of the pit.]

Looks like it took a lot of work.

[That tree looks pretty interesting--not just because it could make for a good shelter, but because it looks like someone's been living in there. Gary is no huntsman, he doesn't know how to track people and he certainly wouldn't recognize an abandoned living space if he tripped over it, but he does smell the remains of a campfire, and more importantly, the cooked meat that would have accompanied it.]

[The teen takes only a moment to scope out the area before he decides to move in. There's no one immediately visible, so they probably aren't around...and if he's quick about it, even if they are, Gary's confident he can escape with something good. Just gotta be fast.]

[He jogs across the clearing, keeping low to the ground, and is pretty satisfied with how quiet he's being before he realizes rather suddenly that there is no ground.]

Shi--! [The fall into the pit is awkward and unpleasant and ends with his foot sticking and twisting in the mud. Pain springs up his ankle. He manages a last cry--] Ow! [--before he falls flat in the sludge. This sucks a lot.]

[Hiro doesn't exactly feel bad about this one. The guy had been trying to loot him, and once he falls into the trap Hiro approaches with his hands on his hips, a smug look on his face.]

That's what you get!

[Gary scrambles to his feet. Fear of swift and painful death motivates him most, even over the fact that he doesn't trust his sore, weak ankle to move him anywhere, especially not over the edges of this slippery pit, or even the fact that the person shouting at him sounds young. Surprisingly young. This is confirmed when Gary actually sees him approach.]

[Suddenly, what was fear quickly shifts to indignant embarrassment.]

I--for what? [Gary looks like he's going to take a step forward but thinks better of it. He'll just stand here, thanks.] I didn't do anything!

Edited 2015-02-25 18:09 (UTC)

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