Serendipity Among the Darkness of Humanity [Day 5]

The most terrifying feature of the last battle hadn't been the grotesque muttations that had suddenly dropped from the sky like vultures homing in on a corpse or the way they had decided that Luyu was the day's sacrificial victim and had turned on her; though the crow-like beasts had sent a jolt of panic shuddering through his veins and the battle had made his stomach churn, the scarecrows were what had made his skin crawl. They'd hemmed the grain fields like sentinels, their stitched and sagging features the only evidence that humans had played a role in the otherwise-natual arena's creation; though the logical portion of his mind was quick to remind Joshua that whatever movements the straw creatures had made were programmed and explainable, another side was just as quick to put forth a... supernatural explanation. Though such an idea was nothing if not ridiculous, the lopsided, leering faces of the vaguely human constructions were distinctly menacing, and the district nine male had all but held his breath until he and the other tribute had passed through their ranks unscathed.

Not that their newest surroundings were particularly reassuring - endless grain and the throng of scarecrows had been replaced by gnarled trees and barren dirt broken only by treacherous roots poking up here and there. The shift of scenery was disconcerting; after two days of nothing abovehead, delicate tree-branches now threaded themselves together like fingers and formed a net that sectioned off the sky into irregular chunks. Every twisted shadow seemed to form a puddle in which a new threat was certainly lurking.Joshua half-collapsed against one tree, leaning against it heavily and closing his eyes as he considered the situation. He'd abandoned one alliance for a boy he didn't even know, much less trust. Though the loons that had made up Hiccups weren't exactly predictable, they were... reliable enough. Luyu would boil water. If a mutt attacked, they would repel it. Past that, everyone had seemed to operate autonomously. Now? If this district twelve tribute didn't slit his throat in the middle of the night, he could consider himself lucky.

And at the same time? There was a small, guilty core of relief forming in the back of his brain. This tribute might not be familiar but he... seemed normal. He'd threaded together perfectly competent sentences when first encountering Luyu Nimmons, at least. He hadn't left Joshua behind to face mutts or a spurned alliance or the scarecrows. That was something, wasn't it? Some indication that perhaps this wasn't an utterly cursed decision? He opened his eyes, but before he could even consider how to initiate a conversation, the other male was handing him water. Joshua handled the jug gingerly before recklessly draining it, the faintest stirrings of suspicion dissipating almost immediately as the water slaked the never-satisfied thirst. It wasn't cold and it couldn't be called 'refreshing,' and there was a chance that the boy had poisoned it, but his typical caution had fled. If he'd die, at least he'd die without feeling like his throat was sandpaper.

The last drop of water hit his parched tongue sooner than he would have liked, and his cracked lips almost twitched into a frown, but he didn't dwell on it; his gaze instead to the boy performing first-aid on himself. Joshua winced at the sight; the cut was obviously infected, and he couldn't imagine what it was like to sew oneself together. At least the wound wasn't necrotic, though - knowing the gamemakers, there were probably venemous beasts in the arena whose bite didn't kill but just rotted the flesh it affected. That would have been a hideous mess to deal with. Joshua averted his stare from the wound, attention instead settling on his own broken knee. At that reminder, he did scowl; it wasn't like you could wash a broken bone and expect it to improve, and he didn't have anything to set it with. After a moment's consideration, Joshua uphended his own empty water jug and coaxed out the medicinal herbs stored inside, identifying the plants as comfrey. It wasn't a miracle cure, but it was the best he could hope for in the current circumstances. The teenager crushed the battered plants into a crude poultice-like mixture, spreading it over the knee carefully.

The other male interrupted this primitive process with a second gift - this time, the offering was a finely-made weapon from the Capitol instead of a necessity. Joshua quirked an eyebrow at this but didn't question it, muttering a soft thank-you as he inspected the bow and arrows with a less-than-expert eye. None of the equipment appeared to be broken, but why would the boy part with a perfectly good weapon? Still, he almost grinned - this was something he could use, something that would allow him to put a bit of distance between himself an his opponent, be they a beast or a fellow tribute. Certainly preferable over the knife he'd been using since the second day. Joshua set the bow aside after a moment, but there was a certain reverence in the motion, as if he expected it to shatter upon touching the ground.

Finally, the district-twelve male initiated the conversation; he listened to the boy stumble over his words, the gratefulness and politeness incongruous with the situation. "I'm Joshua." he replied bluntly; it would be unfair to expect the boy to remember his name when he hadn't been exactly noteworthy during training. "From district nine. You're the Petros boy?" Joshua couldn't help but grimace at the last inquiry. How was he supposed to explain the mindless panic that had overwhelmed thought upon the beginning of the scuffle, the frazzled numbers that he'd mentally repeated over and over like a mantra against misfortune? "The other two would have killed me in a day or two, I think." He said after a moment, glancing away; maintaining eye contact was unsettling. He distractedly noticed that, somewhere between the grain field and the forest they were in now, he'd lost his glasses. "'Thought I'd try my luck somewhere else." Joshua wondered if the half-truth sounded as ridiculous to the district twelve tribute as it did to his own ears.

[drinks purified water, uses medicinal herbs.]