thearena | Welcome To Arena 08

Welcome To Arena 08

Today begins particularly early by normal standards. Long before the sun, or even a hint of dawn arrives. When the world is still and black and quiet, save for the parties still raging on from the night before. Night owls still have not gone to sleep. Everyone knows what today is, even if you've only just arrived.

There is a palpable tension in the air as everyone is ushered out under the cover of darkness to board the hovercrafts. A stream of faces both familiar and unknown filter in and take their seats, and very little is said as tributes are strapped in and attendants make their rounds, activating tracking devices. There are no windows, no openings no view of the outside world as it passes silently, below. The journey takes hours. And when everyone finally arrives, there is no hint of sky or grass or cloud or tree. Just long concrete hallways and rows of uniformed peacekeepers that remind everyone to keep in line in the underbelly of the unknown.

One by one, each tribute is lead into a small concrete room where stylists outfit tributes in their only bit of protection for the next coming weeks. Little is given away by the clothing each stylists put their tribute in. No flair or flourish or costumed monstrosity this time. Just simple, functional mundane civilian clothing. Khakis, cotton shirts, boots.

There is little time to dress and say goodbyes. Only a few small moments left to gather your thoughts. And then, the countdown starts. A countdown displayed in holographic blue begins:

25. 24. 23. 22....

The smell of earth and grass and a general damp green fills your lungs as you rise, slowly into a large grass field. At first, its the only thing you can see in all directions until the pedestal locks in place.

20. 19. 18. 17....

In the near distance, the cornucopia looms. Massive. Copper. Even hidden by the grass you can see its spoils are plentiful, tempting anyone with even a mild curiosity streak to come explore. Some may see this as a warning sign already .

15. 14. 13...

You can see the others, around you. Their heads, maybe the shoulders of taller tributes, and very little else. If there is anything hidden in this field you would never know it. The grass is too tall and too thick to show what might be lurking near the ground.

10. 9. 8....

There is just a hint of a breeze and the lingering scent of recent rain. The humidity is more uncomfortable than the heat., its a thick, jungle-like warm. You can see a dense tangle of trees in the distance. Blue sky filled with towering white clouds. Its the sort of place where nothing ever truly seems to be dry. At least you might not have to worry about freezing to death.

6. 5. 4...

For just a moment, everything goes perfectly still. Perfectly silent.

The grass rustles.

You feel the breeze.

2.

1.

0.

You will have two hours until a short warning alarm will sound and the sonic fences turn on across the entire arena.

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Somehow she had survived, fighting through the pain to stand up again, barely being able to see for blood she had stumbled to grab what supplies she could, using her knife to fiercely fight away anyone who tried to take them from her.

She got away, angry with herself for being injured so early, even angrier at the man that had hit her. But it was muted by pain, the headache she had, the pain that throbbed through her every time she moved her face. She found a river to wash off the blood. She still couldn't see.

At least she couldn't see through her right eye, her vision was blurred in general but through that eye she could see nothing, some difference in light but that was all. And even trying hurt.

She was still bleeding, she couldn't see her face but examining with her fingers told her it was bad. She didn't have any bandages in what she had picked up and so she tried to make do with water. Her knife was next to her hand, ready in case anyone tried to attack her whilst she was weak.

She had gotten out of there with a huge haul, but it wasn't time to pat herself on the back yet.

There were so many people at the cornucopia, she hadn't even seen Peeta, or anyone else from 12. Ducking into the forest, however, that didn't last long. It was pure luck she stumbled upon Pruna so quickly, and the state of her made Katniss' stomach drop.

"Pruna!"

Scouting. That was the best idea right now, and Mindy made sure that she moved swiftly enough, darting from one place to another, not stopping. There was enough dried meat in her system to keep her moving and adrenaline to keep her blood pumping. She had rationed herself some water, but just enough: the rest she stored, she might need it.

When she got to a clearing, there were two girls in view and she hid immediately, trying to get a read. One was a taller girl she didn't know, but the other was familiar: same girl from earlier. Looked like she had gotten some bad luck too. It was a bad move for the both of them to be there, considering who had the worst intentions, and the blow gun was at her hip. Easy pickings.

Subconscious, you and I need to have a talk about fucked up tendencies.

She was not a murderer. She would only kill if she needed to.

"Pruna," she said, hand at her hip, where one of the obtained Cornucopia knives rested. "So that's your name. You get that injury from tall fuck from earlier?"

Pruna grabbed her knife and turned round at her name, looking confused at who was approaching. She tried to wrinkle her nose, but that sent bolts of pain through her face so she gave up.

"Katniss," Talking hurt too, but she pushed on. "What do you be doing here?" Katniss was a mentor, she had won so she didn't have to be here any more.

The second voice made her scramble to her feet though, knife pointed towards the other girl as she bared her teeth, trying to ignore the pain it brought to her face.

"Your guess was as good as mind."

Part of her brain was still dealing with how wrong all of this was. But that part wasn't any use right now, and so she had pushed it to the back.

Katniss' reaction to the second voice was the same, arrow knocked in her bow near instantaneously. And pointed at another little girl.

Actually, maybe not so young. She was small, but her face was hard...it was a look Katniss was familiar with from home, and one that made her age unsure. Somewhere between her and Pruna, if she had to guess.

Looks like things were exactly as messed up as her worse case scenario. That meant she was going to have to be just as distrustful once time wore on. If she had known that maybe she would have attacked these two, but then outright killing of people who hadn't even wronged her was not something Mindy was driven to, not yet.

"You know guys, if I wanted to kill you, it might make more sense not to get your attention first," she said dryly. "Not that I'm super scared anyway: growling at me with a knife doesn't change the fact that your eyesight's lacking, and you, well, I would have stayed out of sight and waited until you had your guard down."

May as well let THEM know she was no amateur.

"No, I'm looking for answers. I'm thinking you guys have them."

"I do never be having my guard down." She scowled, because it was true, her eyesight was lacking and that was going to be a problem. One she would need to solve soon.

"We might be answering them, if you do be putting your weapon down and keeping your hands where we can be seeing them." She wasn't taking any chances, especially when she was injured.

Katniss scowled. But she wasn't exactly going to argue with this kid all day, and if she had helped out Pruna, they could at least give her a little something.

"Did your..." She paused. For all she knew, this girl's mentor might be in here, too. "Did no one tell you what was going on?"

She didn't think she had any first air in her hull, but she hadn't had time to go through it. She also wasn't going to deal with that now.

Mindy scowled. The idea of putting her weapon down in a place where the whole point was to kill each other went against everything she was ever taught. Hell, if dad were here he would probably look at her like she was crazy. But answers were more important than pride, and honestly? You didn't need weapons to kill someone, if it came down to it.

"Other than how my services were required for the games, I know shit all, basically," she said, "other then eventually we have to kill each other."

"That do be being all you do be having to be knowing. We do be having to kill everyone, if you do be being the last one then you do be winning and everyone do be liking you and you do no be having to do it anymore. Except Katniss," She pointed at her mentor, "Did be winning and here she do be being so that obviously did be being a lie."

She forced herself to keep upright, despite the fact she wanted to curl up in exhaustion and pain.

"We're here for the thrill."

It was a lie, an obvious one, but it would appease the Capitol. She moved on, quickly, before she had to justify it.

"That's it in a nutshell. Stay alive." She felt a pang of loss at the familiar words, but kept her face straight. "There are no real rules."

"I can accept 'the thrill' if it didn't mean me dying so easy," Mindy said. "I mean, I got no proper weapon, we barely have enough supplies, and even while we talk I bet we're thinking about killing each other right now! Not a lot of fucking sport there."

Which brought her to another conclusion.

"Wait, are they watching us? Like, a reality show?"

"Yes, they do be having these machines called televisions and they can be seeing everything you do be doing." Pruna told her, and then fell silent because her face was hurting too much to talk anymore than necessary. Katniss was the mentor, she could do the explaining.

"They watch everything. Edit it together for entertainment. Which is why they don't want use having too much of a chance."

Sport wasn't anything Katniss would ever use to describe the games, either.

"So what, we're the underdogs?" Mindy was still desperately trying to figure all of this out. "What exactly do they do, to make things interesting?"

"They do be sending monsters." Pruna cupped some water to try and wash out her eye, wincing at the pain. "Or fireworks. That do be going upside down."

Her hand came away bloody and she watched the blood trail away in the water. She just hoped there were no creatures like the Doki Doki this time.

"They'll liven things up when it gets too boring for them. It's always different."

She glanced down, wincing at the mess that was Pruna's face, and shrugged off one of the bags of supplies she had grabbed, working to not let her guard down.

"See if there's anything in there for you..." She hadn't seen anything that wasn't food, but maybe Pruna could find something.

"Release the hounds?" It was a cheap joke. Actually, she would have welcomed something simple like that.

She watched the two a moment, seized by how the two of them could be totally fighting each other right now but weren't. It was a little comforting to watch, actually.

"That tall guy got you pretty good," she commented to Pruna. "Did you at least manage to get some shit when you ran for the Cornucopia?"

"I did be." She nodded but that hurt again so she concentrated on looking through Katniss' things. "There did no be being no medicine or bandages but I did be picking up food and a dagger."

It didn't look like Katniss had anything like that either.

Katniss felt a cold creep up her spine as she remembered the mutts, but simply let out a snort, shaking her head.

"Something like that."

But right now, she needed to help Pruna. And to do that, she had to let down her guard, a little bit, around Mindy. Taking an arrow, she used the edge to start a rip in her own shirt, slicing out a bandage for Pruna.

"Here, let me see..."

It looked like Katniss was haunted by something but far be it from Mindy to pry, at least not right now. When she saw what Katniss was doing, she looked behind her, staring off. This was not to avert her eyes: it was to ensure no one would be watching, waiting to get the drop on them right now. Even Mindy could see what Katniss was doing demanded trust from her.

And while she knew survival was necessary, she had scruples. No amount of self preservation would make her the kind of shit that would attack someone while they were helping someone else.

Pruna scrambled away a tiny bit when she saw Katniss draw an arrow. Katniss might be her mentor but she was still a victor she wouldn't baulk at killing and Pruna, as much as she hated it, was a very easy target.

Her good eye flicked between Katniss and Mindy making her injured eye hurt ever more. "I can be dealing with it, I do no be being a baby."

"I know you're not a baby. That has nothing to do with it. But if you want to do this yourself..."

She held out the two strips, one to ball up for pressure, the other to secure it over her eye. Even though her back was turned to Mindy, she was still on edge, guard up.

"But I already ripped my shirt, so you might as well use these."

"Don't be stupid," Mindy said. "An injury is still what it is, and you want to live, right? Seeing out of that eye better is a fuck of a good thing than just getting hazy vision. I'm one of the baddest bitches I know, and even I wouldn't shrug off something that could make me weak."

Seriously, the name of the game wasn't ego. Not now, anyway.

"FYI, if I wanted to kill you guys, I would have been trying right now, not pretending until I killed you. I can kill, and I have, but I save that kind of shit off the lowest type."

Pruna took the material and glared at Mindy, "I do no be being stupid, you should be shutting up." She stuck her tongue out at her for good measure and concentrated on her eye, putting pressure on it hurt. A lot. But she ignored it and tried to tie the other strip, she couldn't quite manage, not being able to hold and wrap and tie.

"FYY," She had no idea what it meant, but she copied it anyways, "Of course you would be saying that, no one do be meeting someone and telling them they would be killing them, that do be being stupid. Anyways me and Katniss have probably been killing way more people than you, Katniss did be winning an arena, she did be killing loads and loads of people."

After the Cornucopia

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