thearena | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Mona and open!
Where: Desert Arena, somewhere in the sands during the night when the hallucinations have started
What: Mona’s alone and doesn’t take well to fending for herself, so she’s doing what she does best and scavenging some dead bodies.
Warnings/Notes: Possibly some desecrating corpses! The body can be anyone's, or we can default to Bruce's ~~because I said it's okay~~

Eponine had gone and gotten herself killed, so it was up to Mona herself to get food and water. What a pain. She had waited a little longer, assuming Eponine was just even slower than she had expected with her cracked rib, but the sun set and she saw her face in the sky, and that was that.

Not that that’s what the cameras would have seen, of course; they saw her face bunch up in worry, and her head bury into her lap, hugging her knees like she was sad and alone without her friend. But after a few minutes she rubbed her dry eyes and set out on her own, slinging what little remained of what they had gotten off of the idiots over her back. First things first, she needed to refresh her supplies, and for that, she needed some shoes she could actually walk in. The videos of the previous arenas had seemed to have a severe lack of bodies laying around, but she had come across one or two before, and without the little French girl to wail and cry, she could actually make use of them now.

That was what set her on her knees, the sand still warm from the day—the warmest thing around, really—cold fingers trying to strip the body in front of her of anything useful. Even if the clothes were hideous and didn’t fit, she could probably manage a little blanket; she missed the security of a black hoodie around her, feeling strangely exposed every time she looked down at her bare hands. It didn't help that she was on edge, after looking behind her at every creak and howl, ready to find someone or something standing there and always coming up empty. She resolved to ignore it, and focused particularly on the body.

“You’re maybe the second ugliest body I’ve seen,” she murmured to it, turning the jaw this way and that as she debated whether or not to take the teeth.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Marius was dead, he never had come back from searching for food. His face was in the sky that night, Blaine was dead as well, Eponine too. Even the old man who had helped him when he first arrived in this place, and the other Ian. All dead.

Jay as well, his face had been in the sky.

And Mickey...

Ian stumbled through the desert, half mad with thirst and the noises that sounded around him. Always just out of reach. The last of his supplies from his Conucopia find had gone and he hadn't eaten in days.

And Mickey was dead.

His eyes were red from crying and so he didn't see the woman, or the body until he had almost tripped over them. His eyes widened wildly and he reached down for one of his knives, just in case.

She resisted the urge to turn at the sound, sure it will be just another empty desert and too intent on judging the state of what cloth was left (poor, crusty with sand and not enough to really work with anyway, but maybe she should take it just in case)--

Then she realized that there was someone, this time, and she scrambled backwards, away from the body and the knife, face sliding easily into that of a terrified teenage girl. "D-d-don't come any closer!"

"I won't hurt you." He blinked at her, and let go of his own knife, leaving it in his belt.

He stumbled to a stop, holding his hands up to show he wasn't a threat.

She felt an urge to roll her eyes (she would not acknowledge the relief behind it, not when she had nothing to be afraid of, as if she could actually be in danger) but instead passed her hand over her face, wiping away nonexistent sweat, before pushing herself into a better sitting position. “Good, then,” she sniffed, letting a tremor of fear go through her voice, like she was trying to regain control that she had never actually lost. “I thought… you didn’t do this, right?”

And she gestured to the body in front of her (dead for days, and obviously so, but it was an easy explanation for why she was kneeling here, and who expects a teenage girl to know that, anyway?) as she worried her lip.

Ian shook his head, "Whoever did that is long gone." He told her with a shrug, trying to act like he saw dead bodies every day. "Did you know him?" The last was asked softly.

She shook her head slowly, not taking her eyes off the body-- though she has seen her share, and more decayed and rotten in every sense of the word than this one sitting in front of her. "I... It's just... I can't believe any of this is real."

"Yeah." He shook his head, "I keep hoping I'll wake up and this will be some really trippy dream."

And no one would be dead, better still he wouldn't be in this place at all.

She opened her mouth, then considered-- she knew that everyone would come back, but it sounded like he didn't, and that could be very helpful in making sure she stayed alive a little bit longer. So instead, she tried a weak smile and said, "I'm Mona."

He blinked, his eyes glinting suspiciously when she spoke. "Ian."

Of course he had already come across someone with his name, so... "You know Eponine?"

"Yeah!" She pushed herself to her feet, looking excited, then crestfallen. "We... were traveling together, but we split up to find food, and..." She glanced up in the sky, as if she could still see her face there, then down at the ground. "I've been alone ever since."

"Yeah, she's dead." His eyes glinted again, "So you've got no one to steal for you anymore." His voice had lost the softness, he remembered the fear in Eponine's eyes.

"Not doing too well on your own?"

"Excuse me?!" she said, all righteous indignation. "She was my only friend in this hellhole, thanks." Which was true, in a way; she was certainly treated better than her real friends back home.

"Yeah, someone needs to teach you about fucking friendship." He clenched his fists, "Because friends don't threaten each other and force them to steal."

That stupid fucking French dipshit.

But while she's fuming inside, she just looked confused for a second, before laughing. Time to think fast. "Wait, you actually fell for that? Oh my god, I can't believe it worked-- unless you went and killed her anyway?" she said, looking suspicious, as if she seized on the truth of the matter. "That's it, isn't it? The sob story's her protection, dumbass, in case she got caught, you're supposed to believe her and pity her, not fucking kill her!"

His face darkened, "That bitch." She had scammed him, he gave a bitter laugh. He should have known better than to believe her. He was a poor excuse for a Gallagher.

His eyes narrowed at her accusation though, "I didn't fucking kill her." His eyes narrowed, "She was the one who threatened me with a knife."

That was a close call. She'd have to have a little chat with Eponine when this was all over-- but first things first, keeping up appearances.

"Hey, in case you didn't notice, we're two teenage girls dressed like we walked off the set of Mean Girls in the middle of a desert Battle Royale, we're gonna do what we have to do." But even though she looked petulant, she glanced away as if embarrassed for accusing him. "Yeah, well, someone did."

He shrugged at that, seeing her point. But hey he was dressed in a loincloth, even if he had since managed to grab a robe to go on top, and that didn't mean he was going round threatening people by knife point.

He looked up to the sky at her final words, "Yeah they did..." He seemed genuinely upset, despite her robbing him he hadn't wished her dead.

But who was he kidding, they were all going to end up dead before long.

She glanced up, too-- she didn't know how many they had started out with, but there were a lot of faces flashing in the sky, and her luck had held out so far. Maybe she could actually take this all the way.

But she was at a severe disadvantage in a straight fight, and so she'd have to keep playing this her way, and that meant looking sad and helpless and whining about her friend.

"I met her right when this thing started," she said after swallowing hard, trying to get the right thickness of her voice with her mouth so dry. "You know, back when everyone was poisoned, or whatever? I totally thought it was the end, but she was there... I honestly thought we could make it."

Now that she didn't have that dead weight, anyway.

"Yeah?" Ian shrugged. He wanted to say more but didn't know what. What did you say to someone who had lost their friend, he had lost his friends too, all of them.

He had lost Mickey and he felt numb, like nothing else could happen to make this any worse.

Except it probably could, and probably would. "You still want to?"

She shook her head minutely, her mouth twisting up like she was conflicted. "I don't know. I don't want to die."

"Yeah, me neither." It was instinct to try and survive, to keep living. "But it's not like we get to go home." Just live in the capitol, a glorified prisoner, with memories of dead friends, and from what he had understood in the couple of days he had had before the arena, mentoring and teaching other kids, to send to their death as well.

She bit her lip, hugging her arms closer to her body. "I just want to see my friends again. I was just writing college applications, I had so much to do..."

But that was over now, and the only thing to do now was make sure she didn't get herself killed before she could get out of here. Because she would be getting out of here; she faced down the toughest bitch in all the land.

"...But I don't think I could... just, you know... someone's gonna have to die, if I don't."

"Yeah, I'd just joined the army." He told her holding the robe round him defensively.

"This isn't worth dying for," his fists clenched, "But it's definitely not worth fucking killing for."

Now that was interesting. At least someone had some skills around here.

"There's nothing else to do, though! Except just... run around and try to get by and... wait for someone to probably kill us anyway. This is so not okay," she exploded, taking in a deep breath and smoothing her hair down furiously, blinking like it's a distraction.

But the stupid rustling noise came again, like it had been on and off throughout the night, and she turned to look over her shoulder. "Did you hear that?" she asked, more quietly; there was never anything there every other time she had heard it, and was starting to think she'd been imagining it...

Ian turned, the opposite direction of Mona to the howling he had just heard. "Yes... I did."

"No idea what it was though, probably some wild animal..."

That's a relief, in a sense, though not for the immediate future.

She shifted, toying with her hair. "Maybe we should get out of here."

"Yeah." He looked around, "No idea where we should go though."

"This would be a lot easier if there was an oasis or something," she muttered, crossing her arms and looking around. "But all we saw was just sand and that one mountain."

"Yeah, I haven't seen any source of water at all." He sighed, "So we're reliant on what anyone wants to send us."

"There've been some cactuses! Me and Eponine would..."

And she broke off for a second before continuing. "...if you can get the thorns off, it's enough to keep going."

"Cacti! Why didn't I think of that." He grinned at her, "You're not as useless as Eponine made you out to be."

"Excuse me?" she asked, one brow lofting with the easy practice of an egotistical high school queen bee. "I'm the one who told her about them."

His instinct was to shy away, he avoided girls like her at school for a reason.

"I'm sure she meant no offense, she was scamming remember."

"Well, yeah, but there's a line," she scoffed, like stealing her idea was worse than anything she might've said about her. "Whatever, it def kept us alive, so."

We can't blame her. [He shrugged] You'll be alright alone?

She paused, before hanging back and shivering. "Um. Sure. If I have to."

"You don't have to, I mean, I've got nothing better to do." And everyone he knew was dead.

Which was a depressing thought.

She gave him a smile of relief that was almost genuine. "Yeah. Okay, I guess," she said, like she was trying not to sound too eager. "Right, so. Cacti."

"Cacti." He nodded, "Seen any around?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only