🦋 The 20th Hunger Games ➵ Victor: Penny

[DetectiveLunar]

Madeline Gomez//District 1//Female//A brat//Tagged; Careers

A scream rang out and Madeline already knew who it was. It was the rat. It had to be. Looks like that mangy mutt has already gotten herself into trouble! Without them? Now that’s just rude! They were supposed to be the ones hunting her down, not whatever other tribute or disgusting creature that was currently with her! It was supposed to be their hunt!! Stupid rats!

Seeing Chaska take off after the sound, Madeline followed in his footsteps. She wondered what they’d find. A mangled corpse, miraculously still breathing? Simply a dead rat? Maybe neither. Maybe they wouldn’t find a single trace of her and this was all a ruse. One of the slimy mutt’s so called tricks that had been talked about. The thought of any of those being the outcome angered her. They were supposed to be the ones to bring her down. That was their plan. Her face would appear in the sky by their doing! Not by a mutt, or another tribute and it would definitely NOT end up with their faces in the sky!

The only thing that she wanted to be hearing is a cannon, specifically the roach’s cannon, not some stupid screams that weren’t even directed towards them!

Jay Fernandez//District 11//Male//Tagged; Sienna

“Okay… You’ll be safe right?” Jay asked, halfway into the tent. He was afraid that she would be next, that while he slept he wouldn’t even be able to hear her screams or the sound of her cannon firing. His fears had begun to return, and unlike earlier, the flower crown resting on top of his head failed to bring him any comfort.

“You’ll be okay on your own?” He sounded so tired yet so nervous. He didn’t want to go to sleep if she felt unsafe. There were so many dangers that could be surrounding them at the moment and Jay couldn’t protect her from any of them. Especially if he was asleep.

Now only his head poked out of the tent. He was exhausted, all he wanted was confirmation that she would be okay so that he could just pass out.

[SunnyJustice]

➵ Eden Beauregard of District One
➵ Location: North
➵ Tagged: Careers
Eden noticed Chaska turned to look at him with warmth hidden in his eyes. The District One boy returned the eye contact with a smile, finding some comfort in the gesture. It reminded him no matter who - or what - they were about to face, they would face it together.
A small yelp escaped him as horrific screams rang through the forest. Heart pounding, hands trembling, Eden tightened his trip around his swords. What was happening? With one more glance back at the other Careers, Chaska took off in the direction of the screams, Madeline and Gloria hot on his heels. Eden nodded at both District Four tributes before he, too, sprinted after his allies.
Running blind through the forest wasn't as easy as expected. He crashed through bushes and frosted-over undergrowth, eyes closed half the time to guard against the branches so determined to slap him in the face. The screams reminded him of his mission, which left him no time to waste. He knew deep down it was Sharnaz. She was a wily, conniving one, but Eden's empathy gave him the nagging intuition that these screams were genuine. Is this feeling a thirst for vengeance, or something else?

When he finally caught up to his allies, moonlight streamed through gaps in the trees above, illuminating the clearing and the horror it contained. Eden's hand flew to cover his mouth, suppressing a cry of panic. All he could do was stare at the body through eyes already blurry with tears. Unable to restrain himself, he rushed forward towards the fallen Sharnaz.
No cannon had fired, and the faint rise and fall of her chest confirmed she was still alive. Nobody, not even the worst child-murderer, deserved to suffer like this. Justice should never come in the form of mutts' merciless fangs and claws.
Eden took a deep breath to still his trembling hands. The mission was still the same, although the cause behind it had changed. As he raised his sword in preparation to do what he'd come here for, he turned to Chaska, eyes searching for a silent sign of permission or approval. Chaska was the one who'd been hurt most by Sharnaz. If anyone had the right to decide her final verdict, it was him.

[Runnersback]

➵Sienna Mach-North| D7 |17|Tags:Jay ->Penny & Felix| loc:Temp camp

She smiled softly at how sweet Jay was adamant on making sure she would be all right.“I’ll be safe! I have the axe and bow and arrows to defend myself. Try to catch some z’s!” Sienna said before looking around swearing she had heard something. So she uncurled herself from the tiny warm ball to get up and stand. As she glanced around she noticed Jay’s head was poking out from the tent still as she also feared for partner’s life she found a broken limb of branches and dragged them to the north of the tent to hide the entrance from the view of mutts and men. Sienna picked up her axe before she started walking towards the river bed to pace mindlessly. Her mind had grown numb from the pain of loss but it didn’t stop her from admiring the beauty of the moon dancing in the water. So she quickly splashed water on her face before she spotted a blanket like ball. Her head tiled like a curious little puppy as her eyes squinted to make out the objects. Maybe she was finally off the deep end and imagining other tributes were near. Or maybe not....

[honeybee.]

Caspia Searobin | District 4 | Location: Into the Northern Forest | Tags: Careers, Sharnaz |
All the Career's eager excitement was abrubtly ended when a piercing scream cut the air. It seemed that mutt-like sound before truly had been bad news. Chaska looked at them all for a moment before he was off like a shot and after a moment to fully comprehend what was happening and a nod from Eden, Caspia too ran into the gloom of the forest. It seemed all thoughts of their planned group structure had gone out the window and Caspia could only pray this wasn't a trap, it wouldn't be the first time a cunning tribute had thrown their voice to lure a Career in. It seemed unlikely, it would be foolish when there were still six of them around and the previous noise had been decidedly inhuman.

There could be no time to feel the thrill of the chase, appreciate the sharp sting of branches whipping her cheeks. Caspia ran until they hit the clearing and the grisly sight in the middle. It had indeed been Sharnaz that had faced one of the Capitol's grim creations, though it seemed they hadn't finished with her. It was hard to associate the pitiful ruins on the floor in front of them with the foul orchestrator of death and Caspia could only sigh, it appeared nothing was going to go as planned this games. The decision of Sharnaz's final fate looked to rest on the wordless exchange between Eden and Chaska. It felt almost blasphemous to speak next to the horrific scene so Caspia busied herself by keeping her eyes on the forest. Who knew if the mutts would return to finish off their prey?

———

Felix Prestman | District 12 | Location: Jay & Sienna's Camp | Tags: Penny, Sienna|  
Penny had as little clue as Felix did as to who the tributes in front of them were, so they could do nothing but watch and wait. As one of them disappeared inside the tent his hopes raised, perhaps they could sneak past when the two had gone to sleep or even warm up by that fire a little, but it appeared the second had placed themselves on watch. That tiny snippet of hope turned to dread as the figure began to approach, splashing their face in the river before finally looking their way. The terrifying silhouette of an axe rested in their hand and he realised that if this tribute went in for an attack it would be hard to run from their current crouched position. "If they attack, forget me and run." He whispered before beginning to move. Slowly and non-threateningly he stood up, trembling a little as he positioned himself in front of Penny. From here he could see that the tribute was Sienna, the District 7 girl who had seemed scary for her ability to use a weapon but not for cruelty or unkindness. "We... we don't want to fight." He fought through the quaver in his voice to sound clear and confident, "We're just hunting for shelter."

[SunnyJustice]

➵ Darius Silk • District Eight • Antagonist
➵ Location: Creepily stalking people's camps
➵ Tagged: Sienna, Jay, Penny, Felix
Hidden among the tall grass, Darius crouched and waited. Ever since the humiliating fish incident, he'd been stalking Sienna and her friends for quite some time. She seemed quite popular with the other tributes. Even the Careers didn't murder her, weird considering all Careers were evil bloodthirsty savages. Especially that fake Eden from District One. What did Sienna see in him, anyway? Darius was taller and meaner, he was such a cool bad boy type. He wondered why tributes weren't lined up to kiss him yet.
Darius smiled as two other tributes approached Sienna's little camp, but it fell when they appeared to be peaceful. Boring. He wanted violence, he wanted District Seven to suffer for hitting him in the face with a fish. Darius would get involved, but he had to be patient. He'd be outnumbered in a straight fight, but once these twerps fell asleep he could sneak in with his machete...
His predatory, cold eyes fell on little Jay from District Eleven. He knew exactly where to strike to hurt Sienna most.

[DetectiveLunar]

Madeline Gomez//District 1//Female//A brat//Tagged; Careers

Disgusting. Horrid. Vile. Those were all words she’d use to describe the scene in front of her. That slimy rat had definitely been mauled. Ripped apart like a rag doll in the hands of two idiotic parasites. Madeline cringed at the scene that laid before her. This wasn’t how the hunt was supposed to end. Not like this. They were supposed to bring her down, not some smelly mutts. This was unfair! I guess it’s also unfair for Sharnaz… But that doesn’t matter!

This stupid hunt was a failure in her eyes. Sure they had found her, but they weren’t the ones to bring her down. Now all they were doing was putting her out of her misery. She would surely be grateful for it, that’s not what Madeline wanted but it wasn’t her choice to make. Instead she glared at the pathetic roach and watched things unfold.

She should probably be scared, terrified of the mutts that might reappear, but she could care less. If those stupid things couldn’t finish off someone as pathetic as Sharnaz, then she doubted those smelly mutts would be able to kill all of them. Even if her allies fell, she would definitely still survive. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew how to fight. She was also awfully full of herself, maybe the mutts would simply retreat and cry if she yelled at them long enough.

Jay Fernandez//District 11//Male//Tagged; Sienna —> SLEEP

Jay wasn’t entirely convinced about Sienna’s reply but he decided to trust her. “Okay! Just don’t die please…” He proceeded to duck his head into the tent. Now fully being in the tent, Jay practically collapsed, completely exhausted from all of today’s prior events. His entire body felt heavy, he probably couldn’t have kept himself up any longer even if he wanted to. All he wanted at this moment was some rest. Still laying on the ground, he reached up to his flower crown that was still perched up on top of his head and took it off, placing it next to him. Surprisingly, it hadn’t flown off when he literally dropped to the ground. Luckily, it didn’t show any signs of being damaged.

That was really reckless of him, he didn’t want his gift to be ruined. He should’ve taken it off before laying down, it could’ve gotten damaged. He didn’t want to damage his gift, that was really rude. It would make his mentor sad if he ruined the gift she made for him! He didn’t want to make her sad… He would make sure to take it off next time! He would make sure to take good care of his flower crown from now on.

After making sure his flower crown was okay, Jay sleepily reached into his pocket, taking out his token. He could barely see the bookmark, his eyes drooping lower and lower. At this point he couldn’t even make out the words on it, only the splotches of color from the pretty designs on the item. Holding onto the bookmark, he curled in on himself and closed his eyes. It didn’t take him long to finally slip into a dreamless slumber. There wasn’t anything there to greet him. No screams, no comforting memories, nothing. At least it was better than reliving the final moments of his allies.

[rose petals.]

GᒪOᖇIᗩ ᒪᗩᑕE
|female|2|career|tags: careers|

Gloria stopped when she came upon Sharnaz's limp, barely breathing body. The mutts must've gotten her. A small, light, chuckle escaped the career's lips. Looks like she got what was coming for her after all, even if it wasn't their doing. She felt a little jealous actually... the mutts got to hunt. "Looks like the mutts didn't stop to take a snack break." Gloria sneered, eyes flitting over the others, specifically the careers who advocated for the break. In Gloria's mind it was their fault that they didn't get to Sharnaz first.

ᑭEᑎᑎY ᔕYᒪᐯEᔕTEᖇ
|female|8|tribute|tags: felix, sienna, jay|

"No." Penny said sternly, almost immediately after Felix said to forget him and run in case of an attack. She would never leave him no matter what happened. Penny was grateful when Felix moved to stand in front of her, but she quickly moved to stand beside him again. She had the throwing knife, it would be pointless to stand behind him after all, no matter how scared she was. She still couldn't recognize Sienna in the dark, but she realized that the tribute before them had an axe, a far more superior weapon than her flimsy knife.

[Runnersback]

➵Sienna Mach-North| D7 |17|Tags:Jay,Penny,Felix| loc: camp

Sienna softly jumped at the female tribute darting out protectively from behind the man. She softly clutched the axe in her hands tighter ready to swing out in self defense but soon her rigid manner ceased to exist.“Do you want to stay with me and Jay, we have a tent that we don’t want to go to waste.And well we could use some more allies.” Sienna said sheepishly.“Just be careful he’s sleeping...” She murmured with eye bags attacking under her eyelids. “But feel free to warm up by the fire and in the yellow backpack there’s some trail mix left if your hungry and if you don’t want that I can try to fish something up.” Sienna said welcoming the two with the best of her abilities.“I’m Sienna by the way.” She chirped up while rubbing the back of her neck feeling bad she forgot to introduce herself.

[Zyn]

☭ 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚊 𝚂𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚡 ☭
District 2 || Career || Male || Eighteen || The Mad Dog

◤xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx◥
☭ Location: North Quadrant
xxxxxxxxxxxA Clearing
☭ Tags: The Careers, Sharnaz
☭ Mood: Irritated
◣xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx◢

.
Chaska came to a skittering halt at the sight of the mangled body, the bright red hair gave away who it was. It seemed that Sharnaz had a unpleasant encounter with a pack of mutts. With his gaze trained on the disaster in front of them he didn't even twitch when the others joined him. Gloria had been hot on his heels and Madeline was right behind his district partner. The sound of more footsteps had him snapping his gaze away from the tribute who was barely alive. Turning just in time he spotted as Eden rushed onto the scene. The taller career came to a halt and a hand flew to their mouth at the sight of the mangled body. He could see the tears forming already and then they were rushing forwards toward the body their sword in hand. It was fairly clear what they were intending to do. Letting his gaze flicker back to Sharnaz he was taken aback by the expression on the red heads face. Her face was twisted into a snarl and her hand twitched around her dagger as though she was attempting he fight back. It appeared as though she didn't want to be put out of her mercy, at least not by them. Which was enough to fuel Chaska's desire to make her pay for her crimes. Tearing his gaze away from the snarling tribute he fixed his gaze on Eden who was now asking for approval to follow through with their intention. With a tiny nod he silently conveyed that he was fine with it. It was then he realized that Caspia had joined them and was currently standing watch. With that in mind he took a step towards the opposite side of the clearing in order to aid in keeping watch.

[SunnyJustice]

➵ Eden Beauregard of District One
➵ Location: North
➵ Tagged: Careers, Sharnaz, approaching mutts
The final verdict came in the form of Chaska's nod of approval. As Eden raised his sword, the seconds ticked by like hours. He wanted to look away, block out the terrible sight at his feet, but kept his eyes open out of fear for his blade striking off-center. Unfortunately, this meant he caught a glimpse of the defiance and hatred in her face. Eden had only killed once before, but he'd never raised his blade against the unwilling. With most anyone else, he would spare them without a second thought, but Sharnaz had orchestrated the horrific murder of an innocent child. "I'm sorry. Rieka didn't want to die, either," Eden murmured. Heart sinking, he brought his sword down.
As the cannon fired, Eden sank to his knees in a moment of silence. Through a haze of tears, he peered at his swords, one clean and the other stained with blood. He couldn't quite make sense of the conflicting emotions gnawing at his heart, so he decided to push them aside for now. They'd accomplished what they came here for, right? Now his priority was making sure everyone made it home safely.

Eden rose to his feet. Now that he'd more or less regained his composure, he noticed Caspia and Chaska standing guard at opposite ends of the clearing. It was fortunate they did - a moment later, that inhuman sound erupted from the forest once again. This time it seemed much closer. "I don't think we can outrun them," He muttered, already drawing his swords. At least they'd arrived late on the scene. Had they not stopped for a snack break, they would have encountered the mutts face-to-face as Sharnaz had.
"Stay together! If they come in a pack, we'll meet them with a pack of our own," Eden called out, but at the same time he looked to his allies for help. He trusted their expertise in battle - and Chaska's show of strategic wit earlier had strengthened his faith in them.