(no subject)

[needlebearer]

Who| Arya Stark & open
What| Arya gets a gun
Where| The plain north of the Cornucopia
When| After Capture the Patch
Warnings/Notes| None yet


The little silver parachute is tied tightly around Arya's arm, a makeshift bandage stemming the bleeding from one of the nastier of the cuts and scrapes she'd sustained during her time in the Arena. She's amazed that she came out of the 'game' as well as she had, let alone that she's survived this long. The mixed feelings that she'd had on opening up the package that had been sent to her - she didn't feel that she deserved a reward for killing Gary, it still didn't sit quite right with her - had vanished upon opening it. She kept the water as close to her as she could so that it didn't freeze, and had buried parts of the food in a couple of different places, in case what she carried on her was stolen. She hasn't particularly missed clean underwear, she doesn't feel nearly as filthy as she did in Flea Bottom, and she rips that up to use as more bandages, should she need them later on.

That just left the revolver and the box of ammunition. Arya turns over the cold metal of the gun over in her hands, at a loss of what she's supposed to do with it. She's angry at the Capitol for sending her something that seemed so stupidly useless, though she's determined to make the best of what she's got, setting the bullets aside and using the butt of the gun to crack open nuts she'd foraged for a few days ago. At least it was useful for something.

Comments

[tookthewheel]

When Bucky arrives at the plain he has his spear in hand, a sign that he's come with the intent to hunt. After the great cat attack last week he'd stuck closer to home, waiting until he was certain the beasts were done and gone before venturing out further alone again.

In addition to the spear he has his knives and the machete they rewarded him with killing the sabretooth with Sam, which makes him feel pretty secure against anyone who might try to attack him.

The small figure at first gives him pause before he recognises them as Arya. There are few enough children of a certain size and stature, which narrows the gap as to a possible identity. Given that he knows at least two of those other children he is able to make the connection to the girl ahead of him. So, with the snow creaking underfoot, Bucky makes his way over to her, pulling down his hood so that Arya will be able to recognise his face.

[needlebearer]

Arya watches him approach, the figure emerging out of the snow not immediately recognisable to her, dropping the gun among the shells of the nuts to pick up her knife, gripping it in one hand and knowing there was little point in her running now, she's not fast enough to outrun a grown man if he decided to attack, and on the plain there's nowhere for her to hide either. When he pulls down his hood she relaxes a little: she's not sure if their acquaintanceship outside the Arena will count for anything in here, and will still keep the knife in her hand until she's certain, but she's glad to see him.

"You're still alive." She's pleased.

[tookthewheel]

"So are you." he replies, with equal pleasure at the knowledge.

Bucky's eyes flicker over Arya, assessing her condition. She looks a little thinner but as far as he can tell there's only minor injury, like the one on her arm which she'd used the fabric of a silver parachute to bandage. Resourceful. "You've been alright?"

Then his eyes catch on a dark shape at her feet, instantly recognisable to someone who's handled as many of them as he has. Bucky is, for the moment, incredulous that she was threatening him with a knife when there's a firearm in the equation. "You have a gun."

[needlebearer]

She nods at his question, looking fairly pleased with herself for how well she's done so far. "I made allies. That's what everyone said I should do to survive."

She looks a little confused at the term, then realises what he's referring to, picking up the gun and turning it over in her hands. "Is that what it's called?"

[tookthewheel]

"People you trust? That's good." they'd help her stay alive, if they were good people. Children easily found protectors, even among people who wouldn't expect it of themselves. "Stay close to them."

Bucky's leaning forward to examine it with his eyes only, not moving to take it from her. Anyone else, another adult, he might have been moved to take it from them but with Arya it's different. "Yes. They rarely hand them out." he's concerned though, "You don't know what it is?"

[needlebearer]

She's not sure she'd go so far as to say that she trusted Tom and Molotov, but they'd kept her alive and fed so far in the Arena. And it was far better than shivering alone in the forest feeding on raw birds.

With most other people she'd grip it tightly to make sure that they didn't steal it from her, but with Bucky she finds that she's offering it out for him to pick up and look at. "No, I've never seen one. But they assumed I must have known how to use it." That or they just wanted to send her something she'd find useless.

[tookthewheel]

"Guns are firearms, projectile weapons. This one is a revolver." he explains, taking the gun carefully from her. Expertly he opens the gun up, exposing the cylinder that holds the bullets to show her, actually kneeling down so Arya can see better how he releases the locking mechanism. The bullets slide out into the palm of his right hand when he tips the chamber. "It fires these, bullets, at a high speed. Too fast to dodge for anyone who isn't superhuman." and in this arena that wasn't something for her to worry about.

"So long as your aim is accurate there's no deadlier weapon you could have."

[needlebearer]

She raises herself up on her knees, peering at the inner workings of the gun as he opens it up, chewing on a nut and looking over the strange device. It doesn't look too complicated - far easier for her to grasp than most of the other technology she'd seen in Panem so far - and she's delighted that she's been given a weapon that gives her such a huge advantage.

"I've got good aim," she says, trying to moderate her tone to keep from boasting, which isn't too difficult as she continues, her pride giving way to sadness and longing. "I was better than my brothers with a bow, although I wasn't allowed to use one with them."

[tookthewheel]

"This is very different from a bow." he cautions her, though he thinks she's smart enough to realise that. Bucky nods though, good aim is good aim, she just has to learn how to readjust that skill to using the revolver.

"There are disadvantages. It's loud, when you fire it people will hear. If you have to use it, change locations immediately after." he loads the bullets back into the chamber, still holding it so Arya can watch which way he puts them in, then as he slides the chamber back into the gun. "When you fire you pull the hammer back," he indicates it but doesn't actually do so, "and pull the trigger. There will be a recoil from the force of the gun firing, you'll need to hold it with both hands."

[whydoyoushine]

Zed wasn't entirely sure what to expect in this whole Arena thing. He'd only gotten a brief explanation before they dumped him into the thick of things, not that he'd paid much attention to it. People asking him to do things always kind of made him glaze over. He figured he'd gotten the gist of things, anyway.

Though he did have to wonder if he'd missed the memo on how cold it would be there. He's been wandering about, trying to find some place with a little warmth, when he spots the girl bashing those nuts with the gun. That's different. They hadn't told him there would be kids there...and kids were the most dangerous, what with their power of imagination...

Not that Zed appears to be concerned as he approaches. His manner is perfectly relaxed and friendly, and he's got his hands visible. Nothing to worry about here, he's just a guy. Just a harmless guy in clothing that doesn't look worn enough for him to have been in the Arena long. "What have you got there?"

[needlebearer]

She holds out the gun for him to see, turning it over in her hands, and shrugs. "It must have some use, but I don't know what." But then, she hadn't had time to get over the elevators and electric lights in the Capitol, let alone become accustomed to modern weaponry.

[whydoyoushine]

Zed seems genuinely surprised by that. "What, you've never seen a gun before?" It isn't like he's used them very often, but he's had underlings who have. And he's been shot at by brightly-colored train-themed ones.

At least this one doesn't have any sort of railroad theme going for it.

[needlebearer]

Arya looks a little irritated at his surprise, as though this is yet another thing that everyone else assumes is commonplace and that she's lagging behind again. "I wouldn't have said I didn't know what it was if I'd seen it before, would I?"

[whydoyoushine]

That answer seems to amuse Zed more than anything. "Alright, alright, just checking." He paused, considering the situation. Sure, he could try taking it, but that would probably be too easy. Not at all fun.

And besides, he didn't want to leave a kid out here with the impression that he needed to be taken down. He'd had enough of that, thanks. "Kind of sucks that you got that without an instruction manual. You want me to show you how to use it?" Do something nice, let the kid live, lull the kid into a false sense of security where he's concerned. It's a plan.

[needlebearer]

Arya looks excited at the prospect of finding out how it works. "All right!" She holds it out to him, but then hesitates. "If you steal it, I have a knife and I'll use it."

[whydoyoushine]

That actually gets an approving laugh out of Zed. Yes, it is very wise to get on this kid's good side. Less likely to shoot him that way. "I don't doubt it." He takes the gun and inspects it. "See, you've got to open it up like this to put the bullets in." There's an absent gesture at that box next to her. He's hoping that's where the bullets are, at least.

[needlebearer]

She opens the box, tipping a few of the bullets out onto the ground. "These?" They'd seemed even more useless to her than the gun.

[pimpcanes]

"I don't imagine you know how to use that, lass." Molotov's sleeping in the tent, and Tom's come out to take watch with Arya when he sees Arya pull the revolver from among the belongings and start to crack open nuts. His eyebrows raise, his lean face going taut with a sort of excitement that comes from having battled through woods only to find a paved road to the destination. That's how he feels now, looking at the weapon.

Guns were never his preferred weapon - someone with a natural ability to shoot fire and heat rats scarcely needed to be proficient - and yet the introduction of a firearm to the Arena is both thrilling and wary-making. It doesn't quite even the playing field but it makes it more dangerous. They could be picked off from afar now.

"Bring that here. It's a boon to us." He gestures that Arya come join him in the mouth of the cave.

"Where you get that? I don't suppose they were just handing them out somewhere?"

[needlebearer]

She looks down at the gun, the sun glinting wanly off the barrel, frowning as though she can't understand what possible use it would be to Tom. Perhaps he just wants to crack nuts too, or maybe this really is something far more valuable than she's taken it for. She gathers up the backpack and the remainder of its contents, seating herself in the mouth of the cave with her legs crossed and her back against the cold stone, depositing the items between herself and Tom, but keeping the parachute wrapped tightly around her arm.

"It fell out of the sky," she explains excitedly. She hasn't had a parachute since the first couple of days in the Arena, and unlike the first one from Clara, this had no note attached. She can guess why it's come though: a reward for entertaining the Capitol, and making her first kill.

[cw: animal cruelty]

[pimpcanes]

"It's a weapon."

Tom purses his lips and nods, then grins to her with a sort of paternal expression. He's the very picture of a man watching his daughter do her first cartwheel. Even when his face gets serious again, there's a sort of depth to the wrinkles that makes him seem warmer. Not kindly, nowhere near that, but warmer.

"I imagine that's a box of little pieces of metal?" He opens the chamber of the gun and then, seeing it's loaded, snaps it shut again. Given that revolvers have no safety, it's a miracle that her nutcracking didn't end in a fatal tragedy. "Alright. Watch this closely, because I'll only show you once."

He can only waste so many bullets making a point. He gets up and gestures for her to follow him, then waits until he sees a squirrel clambering up a nearby tree. His marksmanship's always been better with his shillelagh than with a gun, but without his powers he'll have to make do. He aims with one hand, lining up the squirrel behind the two little nubs at the end of the barrel that compose a sight.

"Cover your ears, lass." A revolver isn't too loud, although at close range it's better not to risk it, and he's sure it might surprise her. After this they'll have to be extra-vigilant, in case anyone's heard the shot and come looking for trouble.

He fires and the squirrel drops, injured but not dead, from the tree. It squirms and writhes, helpless, bleeding in the snow. The gun itself seems to crack through the woods, and suddenly every other sound in its wake seems a little quieter in comparison.

"Blast. My aim used to be better than that."

[needlebearer]

She follows close behind, covering her ears when he instructs her to but still jolting with the crack of the gunshot, hearing it echo around as she removes her fingers from her ears. She's impressed, to say the least. She wishes that she could have started the Arena with one of these guns, she'd have been certain to win by now. More than that, she wishes that she could have had one in her own world, so that she might have shot Joffrey dead from the base of Baelor's statue and saved her father from execution.

She feels a little bad that the squirrel has to die merely for a demonstration and not because they need it for food, but doesn't seem squeamish at all as she watches it writhe, picking it up and wringing its neck, watching its blood drip onto her boots and the snow around them before she drops the corpse.

"Can I try?"

[pimpcanes]

"Save the body. We can use the meat for something, I'm sure, even if it's just baiting traps."

He doesn't hand her the gun, but holds it so that she can see the different parts of it. "There's only a limited supply of ammunition, so you can try after I teach you how to use it. First thing to know is that you never point it at someone you might regret killing."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "And if you ever try to shoot a person, you fire at them at least twice, unless you're close enough that you can't possibly miss."

[needlebearer]

Arya goes to pick the squirrel up again, gripping it by the tail so it swings down, blood dripping down into the snow. She rises on her toes to peer at the different parts of the gun. It doesn't look too complicated, just very odd to someone who'd never even seen a light switch before arriving in the Capitol.

"I won't," she promises. If there's one thing she understands it's the gravity of death, even if the rules are so different here and they'll be revived in the Capitol anyway. "It's meant for killing, it's not something to play around with."

[pimpcanes]

He opens the chamber and shows her the bullets, five of them nestled in their burrows. "The way this works is that the gunpowder makes a tiny explosion, and flings this wee thing-"

-he pulls out a bullet and shows her-

"-out like an arrow. Now, it might be small, but going fast enough it can kill you without faster than you'll know you're dead. This is how you load it, here." He shows her how the chamber's fit. "And you have to be careful, because the force will kick back your wrist and throw off your aim if you aren't prepared for it."

[needlebearer]

"It looks very different to aiming a bow." She's always been good with a bow even without training, but the size and weight of the gun looks more difficult, especially as it's not really designed for her small hands.