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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

Katniss pressed her lips together at Pruna's word, and by the end of her speech felt more then a little flicker of pride.

"Yeah, you don't exactly make it out of here alive by trusting strangers thoughtlessly." She said softly, though with a tight smile. The other girl was trying, she could tell. "But...thanks."

Reaching down, she took the ends of the wrap from Pruna, cinching them. "How does this feel?"

Mindy let Pruna's words slide. She didn't care much how many people Pruna had killed, she knew she'd done more. If Pruna was bloodthirsty, well, she wouldn't have let Katniss aid her like this now. As for Katniss being a killer...well, she could definitely tell she had killed, but no indiscriminately, that much was certain. She was sensible.

"Oh, I don't trust anyone, not yet," Mindy said. "But even so, I'm not going to go and show you my fighting side. That'll like showing all the cards in your hand all at once. Stupid."

"It do be being fine." It still hurt a lot, but she knew having a bandage was better than not.

She wrinkled her nose at Mindy, "Stupid, just like you do be being." Not her best insult granted, but everything hurt and her mind was already moving forwards, planning her next moves. Working out what she needed to do next. With a destroyed eye it was going to be a lot harder to survive.

"Do you think you can travel?" She asked Pruna, before glancing over at Mindy.

"This close to the cornucopia isn't someplace we want to have a long chat."

Whether Mindy came with them, for now, or not, Katniss wanted to get moving. To find Peeta and Sandy, and make sure no one else found them.

It was better to ignore Pruna right now. They might be the same age, but they sure didn't talk the same, and as far as Mindy was concerned, she had more to think about than exchanging quips with someone who clearly thought they were more bad ass than they were.

"Good point," she said. "I'm not really into staying here. The girl can probably move, but if she can't I can give yo a hand."

"Of course I can be traveling." She struggled to her feet. She agreed with Katniss they needed to find somewhere safer. She glared; as best as she could with one eye, at Mindy at her words but ignored her. She was stupid and not worth Pruna's time.

"Then let's get moving."

Katniss ushered the two younger girls in front of her. To keep an eye on both of them. She didn't entirely trust Mindy right yet, but she also felt sure she could handle things is they went poorly.

It was weird, trying to trust two people she didn't know right now, but she was going to have to go with instinct. No one wanted to kill her yet, and for now, that was enough. Better to travel in a group than alone...until she needed food, and then, who knew?

"How long you guys been here?"

"Katniss did be being born here." Pruna told her as she made her way through the terrain, trying to watch everything with only one eye. It hurt.

"This do be being my third arena." She sounded a little bit sulky, she should have won by now.

"This is your first one, isn't it?"

Katniss hadn't manage to memorize everyone yet. But someone like Mindy would have jumped out at her.

"My first time killing people indiscriminately for no other reason other than the enjoyment of others and not dying myself? Yeah, pretty much. The maiming I'm used to though."

Because criminals in her world weren't going to stop by a slap in the wrist.

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