thearena | [open]

Who| Draco Malfoy and anyone nearby
What| Draco fell into a crevasse, and he can't get up. Except that he totally can.
Where| a crevasse!
When| throughout the second week
Warnings| language and death

Draco wasn't finding this Arena nearly as bad as the last few. Perhaps because he'd actually made an attempt at things. An attempt at the Cornucopia - he'd received more supplies than he knew what to do with; an attempt at an alliance - he'd sadly lost Wyatt one evening after he'd found Momoko, but it was the point of the thing; an attempt at killing - Howard had sustained injuries that he hadn't expected himself to manage. It was an Arena of firsts, and though something deep inside him shivered at the thought of killing another Tribute in cold blood, despite having already done it the last time around, he was starting to get the hang of this.

Still, there was something so much more civilised about the Capitol, he thought. And without the illness of the last Arena to drive him around the place in search of people, Draco had found himself currently holing out in a crevasse. He heard people going by every now and then, but he had all the supplies he needed, suddenly grateful that he hadn't wasted his canned goods in the first few days like he'd thought he might.

It was only when he reached out for a can that evening and had it fly to his hand without prompt (though perhaps an internalised Accio can) that he realised maybe this Arena wasn't so bad at all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alex had taken off his eyegear as the glare wasn't as bad down in the crevasses, but he still stopped, blinked, and shook his head when he caught sight of someone seemingly floating in mid-air. All the snowglare must have affected his vision, made him see things.

But then he caught sight of the supplies. So even if the light was somehow acting funny, that really was another Tribute.

Draco frowned to himself as he focused on getting up another foot off the ground, still blissfully oblivious to Alex's presence. He managed it, slowly but surely, only catching a glimpse of the other Tribute as he accidentally levitated himself a little too much on one side, nearly putting himself off-balance. And then he was off-balance, surprised by the fact that he was no longer alone, and dropping to the ground rather painfully as his concentration broke off.

He fell with a shrill yelp, wincing when he hit the bottom, and shot a prompt glare off at Alex, finally recognising him. "You again. You're still alive?"

Alex's eyebrows shot up as the other Tribute fell. Maybe he was hallucinating, but he'd never been this creative before. Or maybe there was just an ice shelf behind this guy and he'd simply slipped off of it. There was a logical explanation for everything (except for how Alex had ended up in this Panem in the first place).

Unbidden, a small smirk tugged at his lips as he recognized the other Tribute's voice, and the cold glare.

"Is that so difficult to believe?"

"Only a little bit, I suppose," he replied, groaning as he pushed himself upright slowly, rubbing the bruised area lightly with a wince. Rising up to his feet, Draco eyed Alex casually, warily. It wasn't that he was moving towards his harpoon with any sort of malice - he just wanted to be sure that he was safe.

"Have you been down here long?"

Alex watches Draco carefully. He doesn't move from where he stands and he doesn't reach for one of the arrows in the quiver on his back. But he doesn't miss the fact Draco's moving closer to a weapon.

"Just long enough to see you take a tumble," he answered, his voice calm and even. "Have to be careful down here. Lots of ice."

Draco stopped a few feet away from his pack, brushing the residual snow and flaked ice off of his clothing before shrugging. "No more than up there, really. And that was your fault, you know. I was doing fine before you interrupted me."

"Sure, sure, standing on a ledge takes a great deal of concentration," Alex quipped, still refusing to believe there was anything but a reasonable explanation for what he'd seen. "But I don't go about blaming others when I fall on my own arse."

"What ledge is that?" Draco asked with a lifted brow, scepticism written clear across his face. He glanced around where he stood, gesturing vaguely. "I don't see a ledge."

After shooting a quick look at where he'd seen Draco earlier, Alex realized there really wasn't a ledge.

"How... did you do that?" he asked, his brain scrambling for an explanation that made proper sense to him.

He just tipped his head to one side, giving Alex a stare like he thought he was an idiot.

"Magic, obviously. Something about the crevasse. Don't know what's so special about the damn thing, but-" He trailed off, shrugging as he focused yet again on floating himself a little bit, screwing his eyes shut until he couldn't feel the solidness of the ice beneath his feet.

Alex frowned, because that really looked like Draco was levitating. Which would just be crazy since magic isn't real, and Draco is the headcase here, not him.

After a couple of seconds, Alex bent down to grab a chunk of ice and chucked it beneath Draco.

It sailed under him without encountering resistance.

"But, magic isn't real..."

And yet, there's a shadow on the ice beneath Draco.

One eye cracked open to stare at Alex, and he let himself fall back down to the ground with a soft crunch.

"Really? I'm standing right here, and you're telling me magic isn't real?" He scoffed a little, shaking his head. "I don't even know why the Statute exists at all; Muggles don't even believe what's right in front of their faces."

Alex rolled his eyes.

"Oi, I know you're all insulted here, but try to see it from my perspective for a tic. Where I'm from magic only exists in stories, and just because something seems magical doesn't mean there's another explanation. I bet there are some things that us Muggles do that would seem like magic to you, but they aren't."

"Believe me, there's nothing Muggles do that I would consider magic," Draco sniggered, finding the entire idea of it laughable. "This isn't exactly the first time we've had this conversation, you know. I know you think I'm out of my mind. You're not doing that well to hide it."

Alex resisted the temptation to slug Draco across his smug face. If he really did have magic, that'd just be asking for trouble, and he didn't want trouble right now. "It's not the whole magic thing I have trouble with. I'll wrap my mind around it eventually like I have the giant green turtle man. It's the fact you think you're Draco Malfoy. You're so into it, right down to the anti-muggle bullshit. It'd be like you meeting... damn, what were those stories called... like you meeting someone from one of the Beedle the Bard stories."

"I don't think I'm Draco Malfoy, mate. I know it. You can ask my mother, if you're really that concerned about my supposed identity crisis," Draco replied, rolling his eyes. "And I couldn't possibly meet someone from those stories - they're just that. Stories. I'm not an idiot, you know."

He fluttered one hand dismissively, tucking his hands into his pockets in an attempt to be cool. It failed, of course, because there was no way one could look good bundled up in the parkas they'd been given. But it was the point of the thing, really.

"Honestly, you'd think magic would be harder to deal with than a name for you lot. That doesn't make any sense."

"Whatever. Have it your way. Be Draco Malfoy. It's no skin off my nose." In all honestly, out of the various crazy people Alex had met the last couple of years, Draco was just about the sanest. At the very least, he wasn't out for world destruction or domination. Granted, the danger of getting killed was still there, but that was present in relation to pretty much everyone else in the Arena, and Alex was pretty used to it at this point. "So is levitation the only thing you've tried to do?"

Draco just rolled his eyes, finding Alex one of the most grating people around. Still better than Eponine, but not by much.

"Well, I don't know if you've ever tried wandless magic, but it's bloody well exhausting," he stated, waving one hand. "So yes. So far, I've managed to float myself. Oh, and I can Summon things," he went on, holding out that hand to demonstrate with a murmured charm, bringing his bag right to him without a moment's hesitation.

[open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject