hitting the town [mww] day 1

[d6a georgie cham 🍓🐢 frankel]

So, the game is on. I have scavenged every inch of the cornucopia and there are only so many sweaters and scarfs that I can layer up onto my body. I have many items to smuggle across the arena now and the pathetic little bag is no help at all, good job I am skilled in folding and stuffing things neatly. I wonder how high of a training score packing this bag would have got me. I have damn managed to attach a spare spear to the back of it, I have basically turned myself into a pack animal.

“Lets get out of here before we give the twenty others a chance to plan an ambush.” I am the first to make a move, not bothering to look behind to see if they are following me. I am not playing a leadership contest with them; we follow whoever has the brightest idea at any moment. They teach those careers how to be brutes, but do they have any idea on strategy and all that important brains stuff? My guess is Sapphire carries a brain behind that axe of hers, a good balance between brain and brawn in just one girl…well I lack in the brawn so my head can’t be that hollow.

It doesn’t take long to stumble upon the next arena design, derelict buildings that have clearly been visited before or there are some others here right now. The chill from the snow quickly hits me and I tighten the scarf around my neck and pull the hood of the cloak across my forehead. I have never been the wintered type; it has never been fun working at night during those months…

”We shouldn’t split up, lets just go into a building together and hope nobody is in there waiting for us.” More chances to go treasure hunting, any excuse to make this bag overflow with extra chances to get me out of this arena alive. ”That one looks empty.” I point to the crooked house that is tucked away in the corner, it is slightly smaller than the others and somewhat misplaced. Hopefully its lack of appeal will not draw any other scavenger to its door.

I push open the door of the chosen house, conveniently its creeks with every centimetre it moves. ”So much for going incognito.” I hunker down in one of the rooms, the pulsating wrist being the first thing on my agenda to tend to. Leaving the others, I pull the scarf from my neck and the scissors that were so kindly gifted to me via parachute as I filled my pockets with the horn of plenty’s gifts. A few simple cuts and I wrap the scarf around my wrist tight enough for support but loose enough to not kill the blood flow to my fingers. First aid training was worth practicing. I push myself off the freezing dusty floorboards and join the others in the scavenge hunt.

[Actions in trib maint]

[Arrows]

The scarlet stain stuck to the edges of your fingers sings a song of sorrowful memories among your steps. A memoir of melancholy to the Mother who's hand you held and who's burbling blood you would often wipe away from the creases of her lips. It left a similar stain, one which water could never quite erase. You find it odd to be brought back to such a time as you explore the expanses of a new world. Will the portraits painted by the pain of your past continue to crawl through the crevices of your thoughts? Or will you perhaps be able to truly lean into this life you have chosen to create? You suppose, as leaves crackle beneath your falling feet, that as the old saying goes, only time will tell.

You do feel freer though, the weight of world you once carried seemingly shattered. Although the memories flutter like feathers occasionally into view, they are brief and blown away swiftly by the breath of excitement. It's exhilarating energy makes its home within your very molecules, a fire once tempered revived without limitation. You find beauty in the broken branches of the trees and existence in the knowledge of your place within this world. How many shall you see slaughtered along your discovery of life? Will any belong to the steps which now surround you with names you know well?

Possibly, but for now there is more fun to be had.

As the broken brambles of the fall forest seem to shade into the distance, another tawdry tale emerges from the horizon. Buildings barred against the embrace of winter stand silently home to phantoms. You know their appearance of abandonment far too well. Your own castle which you've now left to crumble could have been a sibling to these structures of nothingness. No lights to tell the tale of life, only shadows to sway in the symphony of silence. Maybe that's why you actually feel yourself comforted by the quiet. Maybe that's why from beneath your hood your eyes flicker with the faint flames of familiarity.

Aside from agreeing with Reye's assessment, your attention angles to the snow stretched thinly across the earth. You crouch closer to the shape of a shoe just barely visible among the sleet. Your eyes follow the frames of empty glass which seem to stare back with equal inquisitiveness. This place may have been manipulated by the Makers of this world to seem empty, but there are now other inhabitants of this town aside from you and your allies. You rise from the floor with a hand on the hilt of your blade and a tone sewn with more seriousness than you normally utilize.

"Careful, we aren't the first ones to find this place. These shoe prints have been here for a bit, but they're still fresh enough to show the slightest mark."

Only after securing a space you're sure seems empty of other occupants, do you allow your edge to soften slightly. At least now among walls, whether plagued by the spectral traces of fallen figures or not, you feel better prepared to defend yourself if necessary. After all, it's only the beginning, the genesis of this new world. You want to feel the emotions it has to deliver. You want to watch what story you can become a part of, what new definition you can define for yourself. These things aren't possible if you perish already.

Your focus is pulled to Reyes and the creaks creeping out from the boards of the building. You shrug and smirk, such your instinctive reaction now.

"Just means if we have any visitors we'll know about it. Plus, it makes for a great scary story atmosphere."

You lift your lantern up for a moment to create the shadow of a werewolf with your hands against one of the walls. You laugh and end your little show. As you all settle in you can feel your nerves calming. For now it seems as though it's just the four of you and a haunted house. It really is like you're right back at home. Part of you expects your Aunt to come stomping through the door, only this time if she does you'll run a sword through her skull.

As the night begins to approach and you've found several items worth acquiring within the building, you offer up again a scene of fright. Anything to break the silence for another second.

"Scariest thing I ever saw was my Uncle trying to kill my cousin. He thought it was some kind of mercy. In the end, he was shot by Peace Keepers."

The words of your wilted life come out monotonous and nihilistic. They're just facts now, the trauma reduced to death like all other things with time. As you lean your head back against the wall behind you, your regular smirk returns.

"How about you all? As long as we're playing haunted house. What's the scariest shit you've seen?"

Collects some things -- maint update to be posted!

[Kingston Cesaire D3A [Tom]]

Your heart is empty. What can you fill into it?

Aimlessly, he walks with his allies, silently approaching the empty town. The silence deafening compares to the sounds of their boots in the thinly veiled snow on the ground. White and bright, but cold to the touch. Four doesn't get snow, despite what he wished as a kid, but here, there's only enough snow to really be for aesthetic purposes. A silence as he follows Reyes and Torren forward through the empty town. Reyes is the one to speak first about the emptiness of the town. No life in these walls, until Torren is the first to notice the other footprints here.

"Careful, we aren't the first ones to find this place. These shoe prints have been here for a bit, but they're still fresh enough to show the slightest mark."

The silence of the building they enter makes no difference to Cole. The shiver in his skin feels the same as the shiver under his tree during the winter, ignoring the smiles and laughter of doomed children. Organs residing in their bodies, just waiting to be harvested by their teachers, caretakers, and everyone else. A chill runs through his spine once more as the room creaks under every step he takes, but he's heard worse in the nights where he roams Hailsham academy trying to find an escape from that hell. The package of scissors and a lantern falls into the snow as he heads back to grab it and then back inside.

Night begins to loom over them as Cole collects the things he needs. A tankard to carry the water he needed to collect. Silently, he sits in the dark watching the lanterns glow in the room as he silently waits for sleep to come. Adrenaline sits in his veins and he knows he'll have to keep watch at some point during the night, but for now, he waits in the dark, listening to his allies breathing, almost as calming as his brother's, but not quite enough. Torren is the one to speak up first.

"Scariest thing I ever saw was my Uncle trying to kill my cousin. He thought it was some kind of mercy. In the end, he was shot by Peace Keepers."

Unfortunate. The world isn't that great of a place, he already knew of that. Eyes blank as he imagines what it would be like to experience that. A silence fills him as he watches Torren for a bit longer, with a heavy thought in his head. Mercy. The Justice card is what he stares at as he opens his own journal to write in it. Justice stares back with the sword and scales, silently waiting for him to bring justice to Hailsham, but he's afraid.

"How about you all? As long as we're playing haunted house. What's the scariest shit you've seen?"

Swiftly, he speaks.

"Ghosts don't exist, Torren. Can't be haunted without ghosts."

A glare and a sly smirk pull at his lips, until he sighs and speaks once more.

"I saw how my brother and I were going to die if I didn't come here."

Silence.

"What about you, Sapphire?"

I'll rip Hailsham apart.

(Collects some stuff - Trib Maint will have it all!)

[esther kim d3 {lance}]

There's a part of you that just wants to camp at the Cornucopia for as long as possible, until the supplies run out and the alliance split becomes necessary. But Reyes states that there's a possibility that numerous hostiles might try to scrounge the scraps, fight over the prize - because everyone knows that claiming the wealth increases your chances of survival exponentially.

And sure, you have one third of the Careers on your side, and you and Reyes aren't slouches either. But if anything, that just makes it more likely that others will go to great lengths to end you.

With that reassuring thought, you gather up as much as you can carry and set off behind the boys.

For the most part, you find yourself lost in your own head as the Cornucopia fades into the distance behind you. Did the wealth help or hurt your chances of survival? Did surrounding yourself with two Careers - one who was one of the most laid back guys you'd ever met, and the other a pent of ball of angst and annoyance who you'd tossed onto a mat not one week ago - raise or lower your chances of survival? Did Mackenzie see? Did he care? Had he written you off as a failure or was he trying everything he could to ensure your survival?

Who knows. Not you, that's for sure.

At least you have an axe now. So if you get jumped, at least you won't have to rely on blind luck to survive.

Though it seems like luck is to be the least of your worries as a series of buildings, seemingly abandoned, appear in the horizon. And what do the boys want to do when you arrive? Of course, the answer is explore. And tell ghost stories, or whatever the scariest thing they've seen was. As if that wasn't just perfect for the mood. Not.

Torren talks about a homicidal uncle. Cole talks about a potential death of him and his brother. And then the question gets directed to you.

And simply, you shrug. "Well, I was going to say my boss when he gets pissed, but that seems kinda silly in retrospect."

It's light, nonchalant. But you know this isn't one thing you can say on screen, for your family's sake if not your own.

You may die, sure, but no need to bring the guillotine on the head of everyone you love as well.