[open]

[themediator]

Who| Suze Simon and you! (open post)
What| Hoping this is all some really bad dream, but starting to realize that might not be true.
Where| Main Street
When| Week Four
Warnings/Notes| None at the moment



Suze was sure Andy's cooking was to blame for this freakshow of a dream. Or maybe nightmare was the better term. They had said this was a death match. Only one person leaves alive. She'd had enough threats to her life recently for it to inspire a nightmare or two. She was only surprised it took this long for her subconscious to bring it up. And then what the heck was up with the post-apocalyptic Disney landscape? This was not the trip to Disneyland she had been envisioning.

And she wasn't even discussing the outfit they had shoved her in.

Not quite sure what to do, Suze had began a trek down Main Street. She had been there for a while now, and was wearing a steady frown on her face. Despite stubbornly holding to the thought that this was all a dream, she was beginning to feel both thirsty and hungry. She was pretty sure that usually didn't happen in dreams. At least not this vividly.

By then she had almost reached the train tracks, but stopped to inspect some of the boarded up buildings. Outside one storefront she leaned in, trying to see between the boards inside. "I don't like this one bit," she muttered.

Dream or not, she needed to find supplies. No way was she going down without a fight, even in a dream.

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's inside the shop that Suze decides to break into, carrying a tote bag with Cinderella on it. He's already gotten himself a whole new set of clothes, ditching the white outfit they started him out in after it got unhygienically covered in blood, dirt and someone's brains. He's filling the tote bag with various things that might be of use to him and Wyatt - a snow globe (potential projectile weapon), a Mickey Mouse kettle (for boiling water in), a few pens so he and Wyatt can give each other notes.

His appearance probably doesn't do much to lay Suze's unsettlement at ease. His face is, to put it lightly, mutilated. Both eyes are still intact, but there are deep crescent-shaped cuts and gouges out of his face, and two patches of bandages covering that there's a hole through his cheek to his mouth, and that his lip is split entirely all the way down to the tip of his chin. The cuts on his neck and torso are mostly covered by his baggy Disneyland sweater. His too-long jeans are cut off above the knee on one side, revealing another bandage covered in dried blood on his thigh.

And he's holding a knife.

He hops backwards, away from her, clearly caught off guard. The folding knife comes open, and he points the tip at her, backing up against a shelf of figurines and waving it at her. "Whoa, whoa! Where'd you come from?"

[themediator]

Suze stumbles back a bit. She honestly hadn't been expecting to run into anyone, especially someone who looked as terrible as Howard did. Oh, and there was the fact that we was now pointing a knife at her. She held up her hands defensively and forced herself to keep calm. She didn't know what this guy was planning to do with his knife, but panic wasn't going to help anyone out.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't know anyone was here." She chanced looking away from Howard in order to see how good an escape route she had if things got bad. Running out the way she had come in seemed her best option. Silently she cursed herself for not picking up something to defend herself with.

"I just...they shoved me in here. To this horror-Disney set. Still hoping it's a dream, honestly."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Good, she's unarmed. She's still a bit bigger than him, but most people are, and she doesn't look raring for a fight. He lowers the knife a bit, but it doesn't leave his hand, which is wrapped in another bandage.

"Dropped you in mid-Arena? That sucks." There's genuine empathy in Howard's voice. He was put in mid-Arena his first time, too, and the basic lesson is that you have to learn faster than everyone else and have pretty much zero shots at the resources.

"I think it'll probably get easier if you don't kid yourself into thinking it's a dream." He hums a few bars of 'Dream a Little Dream of Me'. "I mean, it is a dream in that none of it makes sense, but it's not a dream in that pain actually hurts."

[themediator]

"Okay." She nods, somewhat relieved that he doesn't look like he's going to launch at her with the knife anymore. She knows better than to move just yet.

So she had to learn fast, did she? Nothing was making much sense to her just then, but at least that did. If she just had a better idea of what was going on she might feel a little more solid on her own two feet. She didn't like not understanding the situation. Sure she had run into some sticky situations head-on, but she'd never been forced into one like this. And if this really wasn't a dream, which she was starting to believe...then learning was what she would do.

"You know what's going on here, right? I got the fast and dirty version from the people who put me in this monstrosity..." She indicates to the uniform. "But I'd really love to hear some more details."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

He shuffles to the side a bit and packs some Tinkerbell blankets into his tote, though he doesn't take her eye off her for more than a fraction of a second at a time.

"The details are that this is exactly what they told you. Just what it says on the tin. Eighty-something people in Disneyland killing each other until there's only one winner. Oh, and we got zombies, we got magicians, we got about eight different kinds of psychotic serial killer, and apparently, we got piranhas."

His voice gets a little high-pitched at that last bit, and cracks, betraying at once how young he actually is.

"Cannons go off whenever someone dies. I think...maybe thirty people have kicked the bucket so far? But they keep dropping new people like you in, so who knows how much longer this'll take? The last one took a month."

[themediator]

His age was actually something she was having a hard time discerning, given his injuries, but the crack was certainly a good indication that he was younger than her. She didn't like that one bit. It was almost like seeing Doc in this mess. She didn't mention anything about it though. Instead she started looking around at what was left in the shop. Maybe she should start hoarding a collection of her own.

"So this is...legit. It's real. We've all been kidnapped and forced into some sicko's death arena."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah. Like I just said. You think I got into some kind of tragic lawnmower accident or something?" He gestures at his face with the knife. "People here are playing for real."

It's tough talk, but his voice quavers. He's clearly not okay with any of this. He's clearly terrified and trying not to show it in front of the newcomer, choosing bravado and cynicism over looking vulnerable and damaged.

"Look, I already got all the good shit out of this gift shop."

[themediator]

Suze is pretty familiar with that act. She's used it plenty of times before. it was so much easier to fake it, then to risk breaking down when things got dangerous. She didn't like being called on it though, and she doubted that this guy did either. And he still had that knife to worry about.

"I can see that," she said. "So what about you? Are you playing for real?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Me?" Howard glances down at the knife in his hand. "People like me don't win the Games."

He's small and weak. He has no fighting skills. He shakes and gags and cries when he thinks about the times he's killed people. He's not built for this sort of sport.

"I just want to last a little longer, and then die easy. Fast and painless, I hope. I want to outlast the psychos here who torture people for the camera."

[themediator]

Not dying at all seemed like a better prospect to her, but his response seems sane enough. If it was the truth, anyway. But he didn't really seem like a liar. Suze had been a terrible judge of character in the past, but she hoped that wasn't the case right now.

"Alright. And how many of those psychos are left, exactly?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Three, that I know of. Maybe more. Probably more. The ones who torture people get rewards, so they last longer. People root for them. Send them presents."

He wonders how much Draco got for Howard's face. How much Aunamee got for stabbing him.

"You see a brown-haired guy with a white streak in his hair, avoid him. You see a blond kid about my age, avoid him. You see..." His face gets a little pale and he licks his lips self-consciously, trying to explain Aunamee. "You see a guy with reddish blonde hair, late 30's, maybe, calls himself a 'minister' or says he 'helps people', you don't just avoid, you get the hell out of Dodge. You run and you don't stop running."

[themediator]

She nodded and memorized the descriptions. "Okay. I'll remember those." It still felt so unreal that people like that could be just around the corner. And all of this was being televised? They were contestants on some sick snuff version of Survivor? Forget being hungry. She was starting to feel sick.

Suze paused and considered Howard's injuries. "Did any of those do that to you?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"The blonde kid. Draco Malfoy. And um, he made my friend, Eponine, he made her do this to me."

He can't hide the way his voice cracks again, not from youth but because he has to swallow tears. He blinks quickly and looks away from Suze for the first time since they met, shaking his head.

"I hear a guy called Hyperion Crius, wears white, is supposed to be a nasty piece of work too."

[kontingency]

After Sigma's death, K had taken to hunting cats (sorry Sigma) and generally keeping to himself. The shops were things he was used to hunting through - and so far he had a fair collection of things he'd deemed usable. Nothing weaponlike beyond a board he could use as an emergency weapon, but bags and excess clothing he could tear strips from or otherwise wear were things he found and considered useful.

Simple stuff.

However, on his run today, he saw Suze. He didn't quite have hawk ears, but he had fairly good eyes - and he was at least willing to guess she wasn't at the Cornucopia. Had she entered like he did? Possibly.

In any case, he approached quietly. He wasn't sure what to expect - dealing with people who weren't Sigma wasn't his strongest point - but approaching a new Tribute couldn't hurt. Well, theoretically. She appeared small enough he could take her out, if she turned on him, anyway.

So hey, Suze. Behind you, he approaches - his step naturally rather quiet. In fact, if she's terribly unobservant, he might surprise her by cutting in with a-

"Ah, hello. Looking for supplies?"

Emotionless tone and casual, as always. K, even outside of his armor, didn't quite communicate with facial expressions as much as one might want. Or expect.

[themediator]

Suze had been concentrating on her view inside of the shop, and hadn't heard him coming. Her heart jumped into her throat at the sound of his voice. She spun around around, arms immediately up. She felt like an idiot for letting someone get the jump on her, especially with the information she'd just received before getting put in the arena. If everything was real, she could have been killed by such a stupid mistake.

She gave K an evaluative look. He definitely had the upper hand on her size-wise. Not to mention he probably had a better idea of what was going on and what he was doing.

"I was...looking for anything, really. Lucky me, I just got dumped here."

sorry for the wait, birthday celebrations happened

[kontingency]

"Oh, truly? I entered the last arena in the same way." His pose resembled the post of someone thinking; his body language, at least, was expressive. Although, his face certainly lacked a bit of that quality.

He looked her over for a moment; he'd already sized her up from behind, although another go over couldn't hurt. He didn't waste much time, before considering the shop behind her and making a casual note; "I suppose it is also worth noting that most of the main stores and shops in this area appear to have already been mostly looted of what was valuable - ah, such things as the errant food bar and most tools. I don't believe you'll find anything in there worth taking."

K was nothing if not helpful, at least.

that's quite alright

[themediator]

She moves away from the storefront, but still keeps a good distance between herself and K. She was pretty disappointed to hear that about the stores, but she still wanted to check it out for herself. Preferably when she was alone again.

"Last arena? Isn't everyone supposed to be killed in this thing?"

She pauses, processing everything.

"Unless you won last time...?"

[kontingency]

K wouldn't have blamed her for her doubt. Certainly, the shops had some useful things. Just nothing he thought she might find useful (especially since he'd recently looted a few, himself).

"Ah, no, unfortunately. Death inside of the Arena is nonpermanent, as far as I am able to tell. If you die, you simply lose the Arena and are thrown into the next one."

He delivers it fairly deadpan serious. It's weird, but it's a consistent kind of weirdness.

[themediator]

And for his efforts, Suze looks at him like he's crazy. Because she knows death. At least she likes to think she does. People die and their souls move on, or they become ghosts. But death for the body was permanent. It's supposed to be, anyway.

"So they just toss your bloody corpse for decoration or something?"

[kontingency]

Her reaction was fair, albeit K failed to catch the extent of his disbelief.

"I would assume so." He gives a sort of shrug; her exact phrasing of that was confusing, but he gets the gist of it. And he knows very little about the subject.

Sure, death was supposed to be permanent. But K had quite a bit of time to adapt to the concept of revival after death.

[themediator]

"Well isn't that nice of them."

She scowls. Things were starting to make less and less sense about this place. Usually she at least had some grasp on strange situations she found herself in, but she didn't have a hold on anything here.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

[kontingency]

K seemed to consider her question, for a moment: "If you're asking my name, then please, call me K." He didn't have his armor; he was a mess of black hair and his prince outfit, which was certainly not impeccable by this point but it was still well enough. K was good at avoiding rips and tears, although by this point he'd already removed the cloak.

Wouldn't do to have something catch if he had to make a beeline out of somewhere.

"Yourself?"

[themediator]

"Suze," she says, trying to sound casual about it. But really she knew there was nothing casual about it. If things were like she'd been told this guy could try and kill her at any second.

"So...there's no way to get out of this? I mean, unless you, er, win?"

sorry, didn't get an email ping & just went back over his AC and realized this...

[kontingency]

"It's nice to meet you, Suze. ...Even if our circumstances could be... more favorable." K is, at least, able to provide a modicum of self-awareness. This would be a nice casual meeting if it wasn't assured at least one of them, if not both, would probably die.

"As far as I've been told, you either die or you win; upon death, you revive in the Capitol, and when you win, you are no longer required to, ah... participate. ...So, yes. You're correct."

no worries :D

[themediator]

"Wait." Suze gives him a confused look. She still doesn't understand how everything worked there. "What do you mean "revive"?"