Little girl, don't lie to me. Tell me where did you sleep last night?

[silencedriot]

Who| Bacopa and AU Steve Rogers, Bacopa and open
What| Bacopa is determined to live. The small issue with that is that she is tiny and this is a big, big arena.
Where| Everywhere you don't need to travel over water to go to.
When| Weeks 1 - 2
Warnings/Notes| I think violence against children is a given.

Everyone

She decides early on to stay away from the water. She can only tread water at best, and it's too easy for her to get stuck in a bad situation without any way to escape. When she sees the sea, she walks near the shore, but far enough away that she can easily escape if something climbs out of the water. She scavenges for anything that could be eaten--seaweed, washed up fish, and so on. They don't have readily available seafood in her District, but she watched the chefs in the Capitol cooking it.

She tries the bunker. Once. After wandering desperately trying to find a way out for two days, she bursts out of one of the exits and just leaves as fast as possible.

She doesn't spend too much time in the desert, either. It's not terrain she's familiar with and there's very little cover she can use.

The City looks promising. She spends one day exploring and then holes up in an apartment building--but then the screaming starts and things move in the dark. She locks all the doors and windows and spends all night staring at them, waiting for something to attack her. She leaves the area once the screams stop in the morning.

She prefers the mountains and the forest. The forest offers shelter and easy access to trees to climb and use to run from limb to limb like Rue once did. The mountains also have shelter, and they have the added bonus of being difficult to get to, so people won't bother her there. The only issue is that it's hard for her to get to it too, so she can't explore too far in.

Whenever she sees people, no matter where she is, she immediately tries to disappear, whether by hiding behind something or under something or climbing up something out of range.

For Steve for Week 2, Alternian Forest

Frankly, she didn't expect to survive this long. The fact that she has makes her simultaneously proud and very nervous. Rue, after all, lasted pretty far in her games, but she eventually died.

These new games can last for months. She can't get comfortable, because even if the other Tributes don't get her, game events can.

Like this one.

She had just been staring at the night sky from her commandeered when the meteors started hitting. She only managed to half-climb, half-fall to the ground before the forest started burning. She let out one piercing scream, but she shuts her mouth, conserving all her energy so she can sprint as fast as she can away from the fire, her feet stumbling and threatening to make her fall on her face in the dark, but she has to keep running because the fire is right at her heels.

Comments

[shieldofrohan]

Éowyn nods, soothing her fractious horse with a gentle murmur - hush, sweetling, hush now - as she takes her hand off the reins and reaches back to draw her crossbow. "Unloaded," she points out, thumbing back the string a little to show Bacopa the empty notch where the bolt would sit, and then returns it to the backpack she took it from. With her other hand, she draws the sword a little way, just far enough for its blade to glitter in the sunlight, then shoves it back into its sheath. "That, I cannot unload. But you have my word it will not be drawn against you." And she sighs, running a hand back through her hair as she picks the reins back up. "You are wise to be cautious, and I understand. But if I wished you dead, then you would not now stand before me. Trust me a little, if only for that."

Leaning down, she offers Bacopa a sword-calloused hand, meeting her eyes.

[silencedriot]

Bacopa takes a moment to continue staring suspiciously at the woman, but she has a point. If she really wanted Bacopa dead, she could have just trampled her with the horse and spared the need for a weapon. Bacopa's quick, but she's not faster than a horse.

Even so, her instinct tells her not to trust anyone in the arena. Can she really survive if she doesn't, though? She's seen these recent Hunger Games, and it seems like everyone eventually gets a group to survive. She's not sure she wants a group, but she needs food and shelter and this woman might be able to provide some protection on top of it.

"Fine." Bacopa takes her hand, keeping her eyes on the woman cautiously. She finds herself hoping that Rue is looking out for her, that she'll make sure that this woman is like Katniss, but she pushes the thought away.

[shieldofrohan]

"Thank you," Éowyn says quietly, her warm hand wrapping around Bacopa's. "Have you ridden before? Brandybuck may shy a little to carry two riders, but he is well-bred and strong; it will be no hardship to him." Her tone has changed, become more businesslike and a little less gentle now that she seems to have some small degree of trust.

[silencedriot]

"No. I've never ridden a horse. I think they do that in District 10."

She stares at the horse warily, unsure if she should even be standing this close to it. It feels like the beast could crush her the moment the mood strikes it, and she doesn't trust it to suddenly want to rend her limb from limb.

[shieldofrohan]

"From all I have heard, I would wonder at if they did not," Éowyn remarks, and smiles encouragingly. "Here, climb up in front of me. It's quite safe; there's a streak of wildness to him yet, but he's no coward." And she pulls up on Bacopa's hand, aiming to hoist her onto the tapestry which is serving as a saddle. "Hold on to his mane, and grip with your knees if you can. Fear not; I will not let you fall."

[silencedriot]

Bacopa hesitates, but she's committed to this now. She clumsily tries to scramble up the side of the horse, kicking it once or twice by accident before giving up with a frustrated groan and letting Eowyn hoist her up like a sack of potatoes. All the while, she mutters apologies to the horse, as if she's scared it'll try to eat her for her transgressions.

Every muscle is rigid when she's placed on the horse. She uses all her strength to squeeze her thighs to the beast's sides and twists her hands up in the mane. She looks tempted to forgo the mane and just cling to the neck in hopes that it won't shake her off.

She's not used to horses.

[shieldofrohan]

"Steady, Brandybuck. Steady. There's my boy." Éowyn reaches past Bacopa to pat the horse's neck affectionately, relieved. He shifted while the girl was getting up, yes - shifted and whickered, and laid his ears back for a moment - but he didn't move away, which is all that matters. Seeing how utterly unhorsemanlike this girl is, Éowyn had had horrible images of the horse spooking and bolting, and probably catching Bacopa a blow along the way.

But that didn't happen. And now she relaxes, picking up the reins with one hand and putting her free arm around Bacopa's middle to hold her in place, and gently nudges him forwards with her heels.

"Try to relax," she tells Bacopa, as the horse starts walking. "The tenser you are, the more like you are to end up with a bruised behind."