brick in the ruins | [D'Arcy x Open, Day 1]

D'Arcy stumbles out of the woods with the final bit of her strength and nothing but the remaining light of twilight to guide her. She was exhausted, perhaps the most exhausted she had ever remembered being before, and more than she had ever cared to be again. Survival was no easy task; foraging in unfamiliar lands, avoiding dangers both natural and of the tribute kind.

In a way she knew she should be proud of herself. She knew that nobody had expected her to be alive as long as she was. She had been viewed as a poor young child to be killed quick in the bloodbath or felled by her own naivety as she tumbled about the wild world. Instead she was here; she had foraged, she had explored, she had even run into other tributes and lived to tell the tale. She liked to think the Gamemakers were all regretting their lone 1 they had given her back in her training.

In the rapidly-approaching darkness, D'Arcy could only barely make out her surroundings. She saw the grandiose building a little distance away, right by the trees further north of her. The throne room, she deduces. The place where she'd been just a few hours before. It was ironic in a way, that she could spend the entire day tiring herself out to get right back to where she began. She didn't dare return there, though. There was no telling who would be lurking in waiting, hoping a foolish little girl might peek her head in to find some leftover treasures to claim.

Instead she made her way between the other ruined buildings and marble pillars, careful to make as little noise as possible as she went. To try and enter one of these buildings was equally as terrifying of an idea as the throne room. D'Arcy realized her fear of the woods and its darkness may have blinded her to the threat of the more open spaces this patch of ruins may be. In the forest she was hidden in the shadows; here she was exposed.

She had to think fast, the light was fading quick and the anthem was sure to begin its blaring any minute. D'Arcy remembered vividly how it can shine down a bright light on the arena as clear as if it was daylight. The last place she wanted to be when its light cast down on her was out in the open. There was no choice. She had to try one of the buildings, hoping luck would be waiting for her on the other crumbled side.

With a deep breath she darts into the doorway on her left. The inside was bare, rectangular, the roof of the structure half crumbled down into a pile of rubble by her feet. D'Arcy couldn't make out much in the way of a bed or a sofa to call hers for the evening. There was also no immediate danger surrounding her, either. She let out the breath she was holding. It was barely anything, and yet it was better than nothing. A safe place to sleep for the night.

Crunch.

Or so she thought.

The sound of the shoe grinding a pebble into the greater stone floor send D'Arcy's heart beating fast, her head whirling around in the direction the sound had come from. Her arms shot up in front of her reflexively, her only defense against the assailant she was sure was about to strike her down. "Wait no, please!" she pleaded for mercy against this unknown tribute. She just wanted one night. One more night to live, to try.

Was it too much to ask?