off-duty | niko day one, part two

niko






































The mud was slowly pulling him into the ground. It grasped at him like the plants growing from beneath it. Every so often, Niko would need to pull himself away from the ground with an ungodly squelching sound. When the voices of tributes began to drift towards him in the distance, he knew that he needed to get away before he either became too stuck in the mud or they would be able to hear him moving.

With a sigh, he pushes himself off his seated position and looks down at Bean. The glowing mass, pushed from its position besides the boy from five, glows indignantly.

"Come on, Bean," he whispers, "Let's get moving before they get closer."

He moves away from the tributes' voices, and they begin to drift off into the stormy night. The last of the light had faded, but he could still make out the angry clouds in surrounding the arena.

As he reaches the edge of the fields of plants, he sees the clouds up close. Some barrier was preventing them from breaking free and wrecking havoc on the plants.

Bean seems to lose its light just a bit at the sight of the ethereal sight, and shrinks to hide on the other side of Niko.

Quickly deciding marching into the storm would be one of the stupidest ideas of the games, he continues his muddy march. Walking along the storm, he uses it as a guide. It seems to be enclosing the arena in a circle, keeping the tributes trapped next to each other.

There will be more fighting to come with the tributes so condensed. Especially because no canons have fired, the other twenty-three kids must be out looking for blood.

He blinks weariness out of his eyes, forcing himself to continue walking until he reaches a large pond.

Exhausted, he collapses next to the water, barely registering the structures surrounding the pond. In his weary state, he almost doesn't notice the parachute floating down next to him.

Fortunately, Bean flashes its blue lights once or twice to draw his attention to the canteen and tablets. Someone watching must like him, he guesses, or at least they'd prefer he dies in a fashionable way.

Uncapping the bottle, he fills it with the pond water and drops an iodine tablet in, shaking it once or twice. After concluding the cleanliness routine he learned in the training center, he looks back down at the pond.

Expecting to see his reflection, only a huge mouth and two absent-minded eyes stare back at him.

"Shit," he swears as he scrambles away from the orange and white fish.

Luckily, the creature seemed harmless, but he knows it might not stay that way for long if it doesn't get what it wants. From the few games he really payed attention to growing up, he knows the gamemakers like to pull tributes into traps if they don't play their cards right.

Pulling out the pack of crackers he had found in the mud next to the straw hat, he opens it gently at tears a small piece away. Crumbling it gently in his hands, he pours it in the water for the creature to eat up. Hopefully this will satiate the fish's hunger before it starts looking for a five star meal at Chez Niko.

Bean glows, and the boy from five hopes this means his decision to feed the fish was correct.

Settling himself down once again next to the water, just out of reach of the fish if it decides to jump up, Niko prepares for a night that will hopefully include no other tributes.

(using camouflage)
[gets sponsored stuff]
[picks up Net, Gloves, mini bonsai, paper crane]
[fills canteen and cleans it with iodine tablet]

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bean

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