thearena | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who| Holiday and everyone
What| Running around the arena, trying to find safety, trying to scavenge, etc.
Where| All over, but ending up in the Northern part, around the caves
When| Week One and into the start of Week Two
Warnings/Notes| The usual

This arena, for all its strange faults, still reminded Holiday of the Zoo in its own odd way. She was just waiting for the 30ft tall monster to come around the next hill and eat her, but she really didn't care. That was familiar. This place was nice.

She stayed away from the obvious lures. Holiday didn't eat anything that looked edible and she didn't hunt, just in case. She had enough food for a little while. Her best bet may be to stay by the Cornucopia, but she wouldn't be the only one with that idea. She left that death trap, finding homes, buildings, wildlife, and people along the way until she made her way north... where things seemed to be less. Up here, it truly did feel away. She would stay here, die here probably, but this is where she was going to be.

((ooc: You can tag in at any point during her journey, from leaving the Cornucopia to ending up North. She would have been predominantly Southwest, then Northeast to end up there, but if you're in the lowest part of the island and want to tag her, go for it. She could have stumbled over there, too.))

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First week. Dealing, but still taking a bit of toll. While Mindy was quick to adjust to what was dealt, there was no denying that she was a city girl, and this place's quiet was hard to stomach. No technology, no way to pass the time other than keeping an eye out and then eventually, exploring. It was escaping death, basically, but the lack of motivation irritated her.

Now, honestly, it was just killing time.

She found her way to these caves, taking a very small sip of the water that she had, wiping her brow and moving on, carefully to mark where she was.

Here, though, was someone she didn't know: older woman, looked reserved to being here. The idea of killing her came casually, far too easily for her taste, and she disregarded it.

"Hey."

Holiday had noticed the girl before she spoke up. Not knowing what to expect, the doctor just remained on guard and kept to herself, watching the girl's movements.

Then she spoke, causing Holiday's eyebrow to rise.

"... Hi?" Was she new?

"Hiding out? Can't blame you. You don't look like the type to go out and start killing people."

Far from it, actually.

"Me, I'm sorta just trying to stay alive, adjusting. This was sorta sprung on me, and by that I mean it literally just happened one day to the next."

Holiday stays quiet for another moment, debating on what to say in turn...

"Same thing happens to everyone," she finally answered, "One day I was at home, next I was in the middle of an arena getting my face kicked in. Just how it is here."

She decided to not even speak on the killing comment. She hadn't slain anyone yet, but it was just a matter of time.

She sighed, coughing into her hand.

"Shit, that's blood," she said, wiping her hand absentmindedly on her pants leg. "They say you're supposed to have some mentor before you get put into this. That true?"

"Usually," Holiday answered, "but you only see them if you arrive in this place before an arena begins, otherwise you just get thrown in the middle of this mess. They aren't exactly experts, though. Just people like you who happened to win the previous arenas. Sometimes by hiding or not freezing to the death like the others in some cases... Were you wounded?"

"So basically, I missed the cut off date," she said, sighing. "Lucky me. Not that a mentor is gonna be much hep to me right now."

She shook her head. "Nah, just slowly starving."

"If you're lucky, they'll find you sponsors and send you gifts."

Starving. Of course, it had to be food related. "I wouldn't eat any natural growing food you find around here unless you were desperate. It was poison in the last arena. I haven't seen much wildlife, but that could be questionable, too.

"Near the center of this island is a Cornucopia. I doubt it's picked clean, but it may be guarded by others. There'll be food and weapons there. For the time being... if you stay here, I'll bring you back some potatoes I got from there when I first arrived. I don't have much left, but I never last long in these things anyway."

Well, she lasted awhile in the last one, but it wasn't exactly fun.

Mindy sighed. "I never had to have an audience for the type of shit I do. I mean, I'm young I guess, but what am I supposed to do, act all sweet and nice? That's not what I do when I'm stuck in the wilderness and there's death everywhere. Hell, I'm shocked anyone can be like that."

She shook her head. "Already know about that. Almost made that mistake."

Mindy sighed. "Been there, nearly got my head cut off. Won't do any good to try now, half starved. I wouldn't mind a potato though. Feel like I'd even eat it raw."

"You have two choices. Be yourself or be what the audience wants. The second has a better chance of saving your life, but you never know. Some people just appeal to them."

Holiday frowned at the news of the Cornucopia. Maybe it was just bad enough that the girl couldn't handle it? Either way, it wasn't like she had too much of a choice. She had to go back and check on it eventually.

"That's what I've been doing. You don't really get a lot of options out here. I'll be right back..." Holiday starts to walk back to her little shelter in a cave, keeping a watch in case the girl tries to follow with one hand on her knife.

Mindy shrugged. "Not used to appealing to people. I'm probably not cute enough. Had no time to do the pigtails."

She was late: that was really it.

"Thanks," she said, all thoughts of killing kept far away by the thought of a potato.

Holiday returned to the girl with three potatoes; one big, two mediums sized ones. Wasn't like there was a whole lot to choose from, to be perfectly honest.

"These will help you," she said, approaching the girl slowly before offering to hand them over. "I'm beginning to run low on everything. If the Cornucopia has been over run and sponsors won't reach out, I'm not sure where to find a source. Maybe in the east or lower south. I haven't been there yet. Just saying."

Might as well try to help a little.

Mindy looked at the potatoes. Her stomach was screaming, and was glad only she could hear it. Quietly, she too the medium sized ones, but did not take the last big one. Knowing that she was running low made her see things differently.

"Aren't they supposed to help you out, your district or whatever? That was what I heard, anyway."

"Take them all. I didn't say that for pity's sake. I'll get more." Probably not, but Holiday was gearing up to die, as usual. The only reason she kept herself going was to help out the kids.

"Your mentors' job is to get you sponsors and they pay for the help. You'll find it being dropped by little parachutes, practically right on top of you, but there's never a source to show where they're from. In between arenas, it's a good idea to mingle among sponsors, get your face seen, so they'll remember you. Dates, dinners, parties. It's annoying in every sense of the word, but it helps. Just remember that the mentors will try to help out the tribute they think will win. I'm not saying be ruthless, but strength and a steady head never hurt anyone."

Just don't plot against the Capitol, she would like to say. That tends to get a person in a bad light. Holiday doesn't even wear the brand anymore, but she still wears the ribbon that covered it and no one has forgotten.

Mindy gave the woman a look. "Bullshit. You're a lot of things, but I doubt forager is one of them. I'll eat the two, keep the last one. It's not like even you can predict what happens next, right?"

She inspected the potatoes quietly while Holiday kept talking, paying special attention to what was said about sponsors.

"They're not going to have to worry about that: it's safe to say I can turn heads. I just hope they don't think I'm gonna put schmoozing shit over what I do best. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why I was brought here."

Holiday wasn't bad with foraging or hunting, but she wouldn't tell the girl that. "If you say so." Starting an argument over a potato? Nah.

What she does best... That sort of scares the doctor. "If you say so. Just play things smart. The earliest you start, the better off you'll be."

Mindy didn't know how scarce things could be. She wasn't going to be greedy.

She nodded. "This will have to be an experiment, starting out. But I don't plan on losing either."

"Not many do." But not everyone. Holiday always planned on it. At this point, relied on it.

"Either way, we should see each other back in the Capitol once the arena is done, unless we bump into each other again here. Just don't be offended if I run from you if it's the latter." Sort of how things just went here.

"If you need help on the outside, I'm usually willing," she said with, finally, a little smile.

Mindy grinned. "If you say that, at least you know that you wanna live. I cam respect that. Now you know that I want to too."

That was good to know. She wished she actually had known more about what the outside was like. "I'm guessing that's something I can use?"

Her smile grew a little. The want to live... Eh. It depended on what one was living for in this place.

"If you'd like. I'm never too busy out there anyway."

"I'll look you up then," she said. "Hey, cheer me on if you can. I'll try to last as long as I can."

Holiday gives her a little smile. "Good luck then."

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