Still kickin' in Arena 1

[doc_holi]

Who: Doc Holiday and open
What: Killing doki-dokis, being scary, having one arm, etc. Open to all!
Where: Candy Arena, near or around Milkshake Lake
When: Early Week 4 at anytime
Warnings: possible violence and the other usual stuff


Holiday stayed motionless as the arena was plunged into total darkness again. Disorienting wasn't a good enough word for this. Not only did she not know how long she had been in this place (it felt like eternity) but she also had no handle on a sleeping pattern. The latter might have been a good thing, though... Still, going instantly from bright to dark was really annoying in a place where everything was trying to get the drop on you.

The heavy blood loss and shock was still wearing down on her, but Holiday had been doing considerably better since then. Her left arm was still gone, of course, but she was managing. Honestly, it was luck she was alive. A fight hadn't come her way since the Cornucopia decades ago.

She did make Chris go his separate way, but she had a feeling he didn't go too far. That was fine with her. So long as Holiday wasn't weighing him down, that was fine. Chris had a real chance of winning this one if he could last just a little longer. For now, she was just focusing on getting by. Her gifts of food and water had come at a surprising and thankful twist. Perhaps Jack saw something in her that she didn't. It was enough of a motivation to keep her moving.

Finally, her eyes had adjusted again. Soon enough, the blinding day would be back and it would be another panic attack of who was where, but it wasn't right now. Holiday let out a silent breath and continued to move. Migrating was key.

Comments

[doc_holi]

Holiday laughed at the image. "That could be a victory that I would definitely earn. Oddly enough, the chances of something like that happening are actually pretty high considering our Gamemakers."

[undercoverprincess]

"They did come up with this whole big candy arena, so, you're right. They could probably come up with something like a giant chocolate flood. Or giant candy bunny rabbits that could come at us instead of the singing doki things," Cindy mused.

Oh. Wait. "They better not be getting any ideas from this conversation!"

[doc_holi]

She chuckled and glanced around. "Just in case, it may be in our best interest to find another topic."

[undercoverprincess]

Cindy blew out some air and laughed. "Good idea. Okay... uh... shit, I'm not good at this. Any family back home or anything? Dating? Anything? Where do you live? What's your favorite color?" She grinned.

[doc_holi]

Holiday laughed. "Let's see here. Yes, my sister, mother, and friends. I... haven't really dated in awhile. Needless to say, I have bad luck with it. I live in Providence Head Quarters which is an organization that deals with a mutant plague sweeping over our planet. And... orange, I think.

"What about you?"

[undercoverprincess]

Cindy raised an eyebrow. "Jesus, a mutant plague? My world seems so much tamer in comparison," She laughed. "Okay... no family to speak of, except I have a cheating ex-husband still alive, but I try not to talk to him unless I have to. I have a couple of friends, but I... don't do the friend thing that well. I don't really 'date'." She made the little quotation fingers.

"I mean, plenty of everything else, I'm just not really a dating kind of girl. I have an apartment in New York City, but I'm rarely there anyway. I'm more of a traveler, then a sit down homebody." She shrugged. "Oh, and it's red. I love red."

[doc_holi]

"One learns to get used to it, then it's suddenly not all bad," she answered in response to the plague. It was still bad, but not completely... Not anymore.

She laughed. "I know what you mean. I don't date either, at least nothing serious. Not like the sponsor dates at all. But I think you're doing the friend thing well enough so far.

I love red, too. Where all have you been? My job demands I travel, but I hardly get to enjoy it."

[undercoverprincess]

"It still sounds bad." Cindy shook her head, but with a smile. There was so much out there that you never considered, but hey. If someone missing an arm right now could find the good in all of that?

Good for them. "Not like that at all," Cindy agreed. "I've stopped believing in happy endings a long time ago. But I'm glad! I don't have many friends, like I said, so maybe this is the start of something great?"

Might be nice, actually. "All over the world, really. Places in Germany, France, Italy. I was in Russia recently, not a big fan of that, however. I was in Baghdad, before I came here. They've really started to clean the place up from before, it's really nice."

[doc_holi]

Holiday shrugged. Her sister wasn't one of the monsters anymore, so it definitely wasn't all bad.

She almost gave a sad frown at not believing in happy endings. Holiday had begun to be that way, too, but she couldn't let it go, even here. It would hurt too much to just let go.

"I hope so. Having a few close friends trumps having a lot of friends that barley know you anyway."

Oh wait. "What happened in Baghdad?" Different timeline here. If Cindy's referring to the whole Iraq thing, that happened years ago.

[undercoverprincess]

Cindy no longer believed in them. She'd gotten what everyone assumed was a happy ending. But in the end, all her fairy godmother gave her was what she thought was going to make her happy. Maybe she would have been, with Prince Charming. If it hadn't been his third marriage, and he was a cheating bastard that she wished she had never met before.

Happy right now was all she could do, back home, and even here in the Capitol. No more happy endings.

Cindy raised an eyebrow. "What did... oh! Different timeline, things, whatever. Well, you know, that whole Gulf War ordeal, and the Invasion of Iraq thing. It's been years since then, so it's not like they haven't had time to rebuild. But they seem the best thing to help the city is to make glamorous hotels and lure people into being tourists. Not really a bad deal, the place is very pretty, and the rooms are really nice."

[doc_holi]

"Oh! That was such a long time ago where I'm from."

Holiday didn't realize the difference in timelines until just now... Then again, they are from different worlds. "I suppose our homes aren't all that different after all."

[undercoverprincess]

"This is kind of scary now, if your world is what mine is going to be. Maybe?" Cindy laughed, though it was a little more nervously then she wanted to convey. After all, she would still be alive when this whole thing came around. And it didn't sound pleasant.

[doc_holi]

Holiday gave a laugh and shrugged, trying to ease the tension. "I wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like there's a lot of different worlds and realities out there. There's a low chance that we're really from the same one. Just similar."

[undercoverprincess]

"That puts my mind at ease." Shaking her head with a laugh, she tried to relax. As best you could in this place.

"Okay, we need a change of subject. Know any good campfire stories? Fairy tales? Legends? Anything that means we don't have to think of here, or home?"

[doc_holi]

Campfire stories? Holiday shook her head. "Not really. I never did many things like this in my youth. Just... school. All I know is a few stories I used to sneak to Rex when he was younger."

[undercoverprincess]

Cindy hadn't done much of this in her... earlier years of living. When you were alive as long as she was, you tried not to really think about age as anything but a number. She looked damn good for being over three hundred years old!

"What about books, you read those in school, right? Fiction stuff?" Wait. "Who's Rex?"

[doc_holi]

"Yeah, some of them. I wonder if I can remember that far back..."

While she was trying to decide on which Mother Goose story to tell, she snapped back to reality. "Rex? Oh, well..." This was hard to explain to someone who didn't know much about her world. "He's this kid I know. I suppose I've helped raise him, considering his amnesia of before he and I met, but he's a little old to call my own."

[undercoverprincess]

Even if she didn't have any, Cindy could whip up a few. She knew that whatever she told was going to be broadcasted to everyone in the Capitol, though, so she would have to be careful.

But real stories were always better. "You can still call him your own. Or maybe like a little brother? What was the amnesia from, did he get hit on the head?"

[doc_holi]

She gave a soft laugh. "I certainly treat him like my own... Really miss him."

Holiday tried desperately to avoid talking about her loved ones from home here. She didn't want them to be used against her if they ever showed up. However, the likelihood of that happening seemed to get slimmer and slimmer by the day.

Still, she shook her head. "It's recurring. We think it's triggered by traumatic events, but it's hard to be for certain. Besides, he's a brave kid. Faced a lot in his time."

[undercoverprincess]

Cindy was quiet for a moment, giving a small smile. She didn't have a family, especially not when it came to kids. So, she couldn't relate with that. Treating someone like they were your own, too, that was something that Cindy couldn't do. Never wanted to do.

But she greatly respected people who could, even if she herself shied away from it. "Anytime someone faces traumatic events, and comes out on the other side, relatively okay? He definitely sounds like a strong kid."

[doc_holi]

Holiday had a soft spot for kids, even if she sometimes didn't have the patience for raising them. Still, she wanted her own someday and counting Rex among her number of family members seemed natural.

"He is. I can't help but admire his strength. I was nothing like that at his age. I would be too scared to leave my room if I were him. He enjoys adrenaline, though."

Got that from Six.

[undercoverprincess]

"Don't we always compare ourselves to the younger generation? Seems like it to me, anyway. I have a friend who has a ton of kids, he does that all the time." Okay, so most of Bigby's comparisons to his kids were a little more on the side of 'they're not where they should be with things', but she didn't stretch the truth too far with that one.

But she looked curiously at Holiday. "He enjoys adrenaline? Like, rock climbing, sky diving, scuba diving adrenaline?"

[doc_holi]

"Always. My life has aged me far too much that I can't help it." She wishes she were young again.

Holiday chuckles at the questions. "Um... Sort of. He's more the type to sky dive with no parachute on a dare, though. Not to say he's stupid. Rex has the ability to handle himself and then some, but it's like he tries to scare me."

[undercoverprincess]

Cindy laughed, looking up at the sky. "Ain't that the truth. Ain't it the truth. But I'm not old enough to feel old. No way, not even a little."

She might be hundreds of years old, but there was no way she would ever feel it. Or admit it. "Sky diving without a shoot? That's kind of crazy. Not stupid, more crazy. I love sky diving, but I always bring a parachute with me. Always." She smiled. "Maybe he loves scaring you. It's a form of love, right?"

[doc_holi]

"Maybe it is," she admitted. Rex did love to mess with her on occasion and his recent vanishing act had done the trick.

"I am not a fan of sky diving. I even try to avoid it on missions at all possible. The last time I did that, I landed in the middle of a herd of giant beetles, each bigger than you and me combined. Wasn't fun."