[open] marching on, it's one foot then the other

[battlesleep]

WHO| Thane and OPEN.
WHAT| Thane's just been tossed into murder island and he is not very pleased with it.
WHEN| Week 2.
WHERE| Cornucopia, Fantasyland.
WARNINGS/NOTES| Starting with the basic possibility for arena violence / attempted murder, nothing specific yet but will update as needed.

The explanation given to him had been far more than simply unsatisfactory. He had considered fighting back, attempting to get out, but when he'd reached for his biotics they were not there and without them there were too many to successfully come up with a plan for in the short space of time he had before suddenly he was being put into what he had been told was the arena. Given longer than five minutes, perhaps, but he had not been.

It was a moot point. He was in the arena now, a place where apparently he must be on his guard against everyone else. He would not kill for these people. He had taken no contract and his arm was still Shepard's, no matter where she was (and where was she, where was this place and what was happening?). But if he was an adequate representation of the people in this arena, it was only going to get more dangerous the longer he lingered in one place. He must move, and now. 

There were buildings close by. Perhaps they would provide adequate shelter and if he was lucky supplies. He would go as quietly as possible through them, remain out of sight and quiet. And once he found shelter he could sit and think, consider what was going on and how he could get out.

Comments

[battlesleep]

The look on Howard's face makes Thane reconsider the fact that he seems to have landed in a place where human is the default. His work took him to human colonies only rarely - he stood out too much there. Most of his life has been spent among aliens of all kinds, in places where it is expected.

That is not important now, though. Useless musings for another time, or no time at all. This young human looks like he has managed to mostly fix himself, but he will find movement difficult and there are others out there, apparently. Others with weapons and, it would seem, a willingness to wound at least.

"Are they pursuing you?" That would be the logical choice on their part, if they knew they had hurt him. It is best to take down wounded prey before they start trying to fight back. "Do you have a weapon?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"No, no, someone else got in the way." Howard tries, gingerly, to get his feet beneath him. He doesn't make any noise as he stands up, but he does wince; it clearly isn't an easy task, and he favors one leg significantly.

"I'm unarmed." It's a lie. He has a knife in his pocket, but he's not about to disclose that to a stranger - at best it's a threat, at worst it's an impetus to attack him and steal it. Howard's small and skinny and wounded; Thane could overpower him without much difficulty. "My name's Howard. What's yours?"

[battlesleep]

"I am Thane." No need for a last name - he does not think Krios will bring to bear the same weight here that it does at home, but nevertheless he would prefer not to take that chance.

He maintains his distance, still, considering. "Then there are people here who accept what they have been told." A faint curl of disdain just in the very edges of his voice. Thugs. An assassin at least has honor. "I have only just arrived, myself, but you have clearly been here at least a little while."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Not just accept it. There are sickos out there having fun." He remembers the glee on Aunamee's face as he held Howard down and twisted a knife in his chest. He remembers the excitement in Grey's eyes as he reading the spear. "And there are people like me just trying not to die."

He sags a bit, trying to keep weight off his injured leg. "Sorry about you getting dropped in here mid-Arena. That's rough. I'd know."

[battlesleep]

Having fun. Thane's frown deepens just a little at that. Hunting down innocents for sport - or even the not so innocent - it is an idea that he finds repugnant.

"Thank you. You also came in during the middle? How long has this been going?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard tries to decipher the frown, whether it's an act or a genuine expression of distaste. He supposes none of the usual tells for lying would be on a face so alien to him.

"Seventy-five years, I think? I mean, not this one, but the Games in general."

[battlesleep]

His long slow blink is the only outward sign he shows of precisely how startled that makes him feel. A death trap going on for 75 years and no one else in the galaxy knows of it? Impossible. This cannot be real.

For a moment he entertains the notion that he has died and this is his reward for his life, but he does not think that seems likely either.

"What planet is this?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard blinks back, although his blinking is faster, not startled but merely confused. "Earth. I think."

He leans against the wall to take weight off his leg. "I didn't think to ask no one."

[battlesleep]

"This cannot be Earth." Immediate, instinctual. Perhaps Reapers, somehow? Indoctrination? He comes up with and discards theories as quickly as thinking, a certain tautness coming into his stance, categorizing possibilities.

Still, he maintains his distance. The human is wounded and in this particular scenario asking trust of him in any capacity, including (particularly) one as seemingly simple as coming closer, would be foolish. "I was just on the Citadel."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You're from Earth?" Howard tilts his head to one side, an inquisitive gesture. "I mean, I guess no reason you can't be, I just wondered if you was an alien or something. You from Atlantis?"

It's his way of deflecting. The truth is he doesn't know nearly enough about the Capitol. Some people learned all they can in an effort to escape, but Howard's resigned to a live of thriving within the boundaries at best - not breaking outside them.

[battlesleep]

"No, I am not from Earth." Atlantis - he's heard of that a little, but he has only a sketch of an idea what Howard means by it. Enough to know that it could in some ironic ways be considered an accurate description of Kahje, he supposes. "I am what a human would call an alien."

The semantics of an ever changing world. They are all aliens to each other. "I assume the creators of this place have left no known way out of here?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Oh. You kind of look like an alien. Or, um, that guy from Hellboy, Abe. Do you know Hellboy?"

Howard's eyes dart around, to the ceiling, to the windows, all around, to see if there are any cameras. Of course there aren't, at least, not that he can see - and of course they're watching. He saw when he was out of the last arena how perfect the picture was, how even the most intimate moments were captured. "And uh, nope, I wouldn't know."

He mouths to Thane, "ixnay on the scapeay".

[battlesleep]

"I do not know Hellboy. And from your perspective, I am indeed an alien." Though by his, of course, it is Howard who is the alien - the intricacies of inter-species meetings are always at least slightly complicated.

Thane tracks Howard's reaction with interest, considering. Whatever he mouthed was completely indecipherable, but his glances around indicate that he feels he is being watched, and that whoever is watching would not take the subject well. Later, perhaps. He shifts without any indication that he had asked that question. "Do you have any idea of how many people there are here?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard pulls a small silver vial out of his pocket, but does his best to keep it hidden from Thane. He slips it up into his sleeve with a thief's sleight of hand. It's medication, an antibiotic he's supposed to take for his leg every few hours, and he's already overdue to take it this time. But this is a place where people will kill over far less than medicine.

"Maybe a hundred? I mean, when this all started. People started dying off the first day." Then again, people are being dropped in, but not as fast.

[battlesleep]

That's movement in his hands, and the flicker of Thane's eyes to Howard's hands is automatic, taking the moment to ensure that whatever is happening does not involve a weapon of some kind before he returns his gaze to Howard's face.

"That many?" His mouth thins and hardens. "I see. They are dedicated to their - entertainment."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Maybe. I didn't really spend time counting them." He startles a bit as a cannon goes off in the distance. "And uh, if no one told you. They fire one of those every time someone dies."

[battlesleep]

He looks up in the direction of the sound for a long moment, posture still stiff and tight. This place is wrong, but if they have the power to take him from the citadel without his knowledge then he must be very careful about how he goes about any attempt to leave. "Do they fire often?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Once or twice a day. A lot at the beginning, then a lot at the end." Howard pokes his head outside, but it's too soon for the display. "I hope that wasn't..."

He shrugs. No way to know now, or yet. "They show faces in the sky at the end of the day to show you who's dead. I'm hoping some people got knocked off and some didn't."

He glances down to the wound in his leg. He hopes Stabby McPsychopath was the cannonfire there.

[battlesleep]

"You have friends here?" That seems unlikely, that people would make friends in such a situation. Then again, he has no intention of harming people, and this young one doesn't seem too interested in it either. If there are enough of them, he supposes friendships and alliances would take root.

But for there to be a winner, those must be broken. "And enemies as well."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I have a friend here. And a few people who count as allies for a little while." Eventually people will turn on each other, but for now Howard has a few people he feels like he can be around.

"And yeah. Lots of enemies. But I'm not trying to win."

[battlesleep]

Interesting. He doesn't pursue it further, but his eye ridges tilt downwards in thought. The machinations of this place seem to be more complicated than he had first imagined.

"Then what are you trying to do?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I want to die on my own terms." He shudders a bit. "I don't want to get tortured. I don't want to get hunted down and die screaming."

[battlesleep]

There's a brief pause, Thane considering. He can understand that concept, the need to put your death on your own terms rather than anyone else's.

"I understand." Calm and still. "How do you plan to accomplish that?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard shivers, wraps his arms around himself. "By outlasting the crazies and waiting until the merciful people can't kid themselves into thinking we'll all make it out alive anymore."

[battlesleep]

"If you are only searching for a clean death, why wait so long?" Though he knows in part the answer, he supposes. Or can guess at it. An approaching death is never easy to face.