Two Roads with Brambles Between Them (Shayanne)

I gasped as someone literally climbed out of the tree I'd been leaning against. A girl.

I pointed my machete at her wearily. I forgot which district she was from, but she didn't look like a Career. But she certainly didn't look like a normal girl either.

I noticed that her knees were shaking, and smiled slightly, moving my bag of stuff behind me, machete still at the ready. Just in case.

"Are you scared of me?" I asked dryly.

OOC: Okay,I'm fine with it I guess.

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End of Day One-
[/font]Snips? [/b][/size][/u]


Despite the fact that the boy was smiling and lowering his deadly machete, there was a small part of Shayanne that was unsure of her choice. It was true, she could die. It was true, she was helping someone. The only thing that stopped her right then was the tiny childish fear of death. She didn't want to die. It would be painful and horrid and she would be missing all that was at home in District Nine. She wouldn't ever see her mother or Mark again, and she wanted to see them again so badly. Even the thought of her mother almost brought a smile to her face.

Quickly, Shayanne shut that thought out of her mind. This was what she wanted to do. If she was going to die, she was going to be one of the good guys. Nonetheless, that didn't mean she wouldn't fight.

Shayanne came back to reality when the boy spoke again. She made a mental note to ask his name as well."Maybe, Snips." Was that her new nickname? Heck, she hadn't even told him her name and he was already giving her a nickname. Not that it wasn't a... good nickname.. but Shayanne would rather be called by her own name. Right then though, it occured to her that the Capitol would maybe find this amusing, so she shut her mouth and didn't say anything about it.

"Are you squeamish? Because this."He pointed at his forehead, where the nasty cut sat."Isn't for the fainthearted.I put my finger up to it and felt bone." Shayanne almost winced when she thought about how painful it probably was. She wasn't one to be weak when it came to dealing with pain, but she hated when others were hurt. That she realized, would probably kill her in these Games. Then again she didn't care.

"Oww..that must hurt. What did you manage to get from the Cornucopia? Maybe some of it will help." While Shayanne knew he had a medical pack, she wasn't exactly sure what was in it. She probably wasn't the most educated person when it came to medical stuff, but she could do simple things, like sewing up large cuts and all that. This was what she was probably going to do.

Remembering that she had reminded herself to make an introduction, she did so just then."I don't know all of the tributes' names- what's yours?" She didn't feel the need to tell her name.He had already given her a nickname after all.




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"This is crazy, Maer. Come see this."
"Wha- oh. You know, Simma, most girls gossip about boys at sleepovers, not the Games."
"Ah, well, we're weird. Anyways, this site says her name is- get this- Cadia."
"What the- Cadia? Okay, I know she's dead. I was at the funeral. After Lalik, I was her best friend. Why the heck is Lalik-"
"I don't know, but there's something going on here, and I don't think the story's pretty..."



Day Two

Before Dawn

Movement was everything.

It wasn't just the fact of movement that was important, though that was part of it. Cadia's jacket helped a bit with that aspect; it was still cold, and she still couldn't stay in one place for too long before she started feeling cold, but thanks to it trapping some of her heat she could at least stay still long enough to watch an animal for a while and wait for it to come to her- which was good, because waiting was half of hunting. In a way, it was thanks to the jacket that she had eaten this morning, because she had needed to stand still for a long time to bring that hare to her.

But when she was moving- and she did still need to move, because sitting in one place lazing around did nothing to keep you alive in the wild, even when there weren't eighteen other people trying to kill you- it was the way she moved that was important, too. Some might call her paranoid, but people had been doing that for a long time, so she didn't bother worrying about it as she readopted her old habits, moving through the woods as silently as possible- and, just as importantly, erasing every trace she could of having been there. Her footprints were erased, her waste was buried and the churned earth was covered with snow, and she constantly doubled back on herself and went in new directions, not even bothering to keep track of where she was going because any tree in this forest was as good as the next. None of the tributes were likely to have dogs, but there were wild predators out there, so she took measures to confuse her scent, too; once she found a small creek and waded through it for a time, nearly freezing her feet, and the rest of the time she climbed the sturdiest trees she could find and crawled across the branches to other trees. It was precarious business, given her useless right arm, but it had kept her alive before, so there was no reason she shouldn't do so again.

After all that, she was feeling relatively safe- as safe as her paranoia would allow her to feel, anyway- by the time the sun came up, so she decided it was time to settle down for a while and start cleaning the rabbit skin so she could do something useful with it- some sort of sling for her arm, perhaps. All the same, she carefully scanned the area for tributes- there were none- before sitting down against the trunk of a fairly wide, old-looking tree and pulling the rolled-up hide out of her zipped-up jacket pocket.

The work of cleaning was absorbing; there was something soothing methodical about scraping the hide, rubbing it with snow, and then scraping it clean again, inch by inch. She had already decided that there was no time, in the arena, to bother tanning it, so she went straight to shaping it, trying to find a way to position it around her arm and neck so it wouldn't fall.

So wrapped up in her work was she that she nearly cried out when the sounds of another tribute hit her ears. Someone was coming- someone clumsy, since she could hear them, but still possibly deadly. Someone who lowered themselves to sit against the other side of her tree. Someone who spoke- and, she realized with immense relief, sounded scared.

She peeled away from the tree, intending to find another to loop around so she oculd come back and kill the unsuspecting tribute. Her plans were interrupted, however, by the appearance of another tribute- one who had been waiting in the tree. Mentally Cadia cursed herself; there was no way she could have seen that hiding place, unless she had gone right up to it and stuck her head in, but she still felt wretched for missing it.

She found herself stuck, half behind a tree and half in the open, a yard or two away from any trees that were large enough to hide her. If she stayed here, they may see her, and she couldn't gauge the situation; thanks to the pine needles of the branch in front of her face she could only see vague shapes, and the only things she was learning were due to the conversation. If she tried to flee, they might hear her, and if she moved forward, they might attack; she knew very little about what was going on here.

There was only one thing to do- she stepped the rest of the way out from around the tree, allowing the snow to crunch under her feet just a little to warn of her coming ahead of time. "Maybe it would help if you didn't go sticking your dirty finger in an open wound," she jibed, flinging as much amused contempt into her voice as she could to cover up any lingering fear- she may be afraid, so deeply and terrible afraid for her life, but she didn't have to admit it, so she wouldn't.

It was easier to take their measure with them all in the open as they were, so she did so. The boy was still no problem; he was pouring blood from that wound, and for all his brave words he looked ill and confused. He may be able to fight, but not for long; the only way he'd beat her was if the two of them teamed up against her, which was possible but not overly likely.

The girl, however, was more difficult. Without the leaves obscuring her tan face and golden hair, Cadia recognized her; Shayanne, her name was, of District 9. She was one of the ones that Cadia had marked as dangerous even before the Games started, one of those who surely would have been a Career had she only been born in the right District; there was something about her other than her skill, a kind of intensity similar to Cadia's own that scared intimidated her more than anything else in these Games, with the possible exception of that insane Two girl with the name that was similar to hers- Arcadia or whatever. The difference was that Shayanne, unlike the Career girl, was in complete control of her reason- and that, from what Cadia had seen during training, made her more dangerous.

Presuming that Shayanne wasn't hiding anything, though, Cadia's weapons were superior; if the tense atmosphere gave way to fighting, she was positive she could take the girl, though not without injury. It was still double-teaming she had to watch out for- and though she didn't think it likely, it was still possible.

In the Games, anything was possible.

She should run; a part of her mind screamed at her that it was stupid to stick around (which it was) and she should just get out of here while she could (which she should). There was nothing holding her; she felt no compassion for the injured boy, and there was nothing for her but danger in the girl. Only her own stupid curiosity kept her tied to this tree and the people sitting next to it.

For a long moment, that was in reality no longer than a second, reason and curiosity warred.

Wondering whether she had been a particularly stupid cat in some past life, Cadia settled backwards into a not-quite-defencive, not-quite-challenging stance to wait.

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Beginning of Day Two-
[/font]Well, isn't this just a party..[/b][/size][/u]


A billion things ran through her mind right then. She lost her awareness for a moment, as obviously if he even tried to suddenly attack her she would be too quick, despite her long moment to which she was dazed by her own thoughts. So she let herself think for a moment silently, and she found herself thinking of her brother. However, she did not think about his death or of how she missed him so much. Thinking about that only ever brought on pain, and she didn't want to be in any more pain in the most horrible, hell-hole kind of a place that existed on this earth. It would only make her mood become worse. In her silence, she pictured in her mind what he would be saying to her, perhaps if he were her Mentor. Maybe he was, in a way. He obviously didn't have the power to send her little gifts from a parachute that would save her life. He could not line up her sponsors, and he could not be the one making all of the decisions. However, he seemed to always be in her mind, telling her what to do, even though she wouldn't listen. She was stubborn, but he was smart. When she was little, he would always give her advice about hunting. At first, she would ignore it and keep trying. Then she would start listening and she would actually succeed at whatever her task was. It always went like this, and she always learned this way.

The sad thing was, in the Games she could not do this. When she wondered what her brother would say, how he would give her advice, she would have to listen to it. She couldn't afford to make any mistakes, because here mistakes meant trouble. Mistakes most often meant death, and she couldn't have that now, could she?

When Shayanne wondered what her brother would think right then, she could only think of one thing. Trust some of them.You may be a heck of a girl with mad skills, but you can't survive on your own with just a knife and a jug of water.Other tributes probably have better things from the Cornucopia, and you've already figured that out. If there is an attacker, as long as it isn't another group you'll have a better chance of survival. They'll help you if you help them. Of course, watch your back. But you know that. Good job, little sis. Shayanne knew that that was what he would say. She could imagine him saying that, if he was watching the television screen back in District Nine. Even though she hadn't heard his voice in over a year, she could remember it clearly. It was deeper then most, but even if you had your eyes closed you could tell that he was smiling by the hint of laughter that always mixed with his voice.

Shayanne quickly snapped out of her thoughts. She had been sitting silent for too long, and the other tribute was probably wondering what had driven her into such a fit of silence. Her emerald eyes widened back into focus, and she brushed a spiral of her blonde hair out of her face. She gazed at the boy for a moment and walked up to him. He hadn't answered her question yet, so she wasn't sure of his name. Nonetheless, she stood on her tiptoes so that she could easily see the cut on his head. Right as she saw how completely deep and ugly it was, she heard a noise.

The crunch of snow alerted her to the presence of another. Immediately, Shayanne changed considerably. She backed away from the boy as her pulse quickened considerably. The blood was pumping through her veins now, and any degree of slowness in her thinking immediately vanished. The muscles in her legs were tight with anticipation as the shock from the noise excited her. She tensed her right arm to grab her knife, and the other she used to gesture to the guy to back up. All of this she did before even looking up at whatever the noise had come from. There was the slimmest of chances that it could be an animal of some sort, but she could tell even before seeing that it was a person. Only a human would make such deliberate noise.

To no one's surprise, it was not an animal. What stood before the both of them was another tribute. More specifically, a girl. Shayanne didn't have any trouble at all figuring out who it was. When she made a point to remember the names of the tributes and their faces, this girl was curiously the one that she remembered the most. Even though every other person in Panem had huge respect for the flashy and favorite District 2 tribute, Arcadia London, it was this girl that Shayanne respected the most. She sounded silly even thinking it, but if she were not to win these Games, it was this girl that she wanted to win. This was ironic, for one, because she was about to make an alliance with the boy.

The girl that stood in front of them in the cold snow was none other then Cadia, the girl from District 11. While she did not appear physically strong, Shayanne knew better. The girl looked about fourteen, although in the interviews she learned that the age of the small girl was not fourteen but sixteen. She was older then Shayanne herself, who was not yet sixteen but would be in a few months. If she lived, of course. Cadia was a curious looking girl. She didn't seem as strong as the tribute Arcadia London, and she was surely much shorter. Everything about her suggested a smaller tribute, but Shayanne had no doubt in her mind that this girl was smart and fierce and had an attitude a mile wide. The girl's skin was a nice olive color, and her hair the color of golden brown and very long. This of course she couldn't tell right then in the dark, but she had observed the girl in training. Along with her tiny figure she acquired a grace in her movement much like Shayanne's. If they were to walk in the forest, they wouldn't make a noise. While Shayanne had gained her silence through years of practice, she had no clue what this girl was like or how she attained her skills that Shayanne had seen in training. She found herself wanting to know more about her then, even though while they were facing eachother in the darkness, both obviously mutual threats. This girl intrigued her.

"Maybe it would help if you didn't go sticking your dirty finger in an open wound,"was the first thing that Cadia said to the two of them, or at least what she said to the boy who she still did not know the name of. Cadia's voice was more amused then anything, althougn years of quiet observation made Shayanne question if there was a hint of fear in the girl's voice. Cadia was obviously a huge threat, but Shayanne made herself calm down. It was like interacting with an animal, perhaps. When they sense that you are nervous, they become nervous as well. If you calm down, there is a better chance that they will calm down as well. This, Shayanne did. While she still had her hand tightly grasped around her knife, she lowered her hand and relaxed her stance. She was still tense, but the sudden shock of potentially meeting the person who could kill you did that to a person.

Shayanne was just about to open her mouth when the boy had something to say as well. She immediately silenced anything that she was going to say as she waited. While she was trying to be calm, he was everything but. So much for that plan. "I didn't stick my finger in it, I was evaluating the severity. And it's... severe. Are you girls supposed to be nymphs or something? You're just coming out of trees! I don't suppose you know who this is, Snips? Or... What's your name?" [/b]

Cadia could still jump on them at that moment, but Shayanne kept her composure. She wouldn't admit that she was afraid of the girl, she was just.. careful of her. She could be dangerous, but Shayanne was dangerous too. As a sign that she wasn't afraid, Shayanne turned her attention to the feral girl and looked her straight in the eyes. Her dark eyes... "It's Cadia, is it not?"[/b] She turned back to the boy, but was answering both of them, really. "My name is Shayanne."[/b] Now her attention was completely turned towards the boy. "I don't mind if you keep calling me Snips. What is your name again?"[/b]

Shayanne's muscles tensed a bit more now, because this girl could have any reaction to her own actions. While she looked relaxed, she was ready to fight if this girl had other ideas then being pleasant. Some people were not like Shayanne. Some people were not compassionate.



[[OOC: WORDS: 1514 (I couldn't help myself. I was in a posting mood) ]]


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