[video feed]

[caroflower]

Caro sits down gingerly on a fallen log. Time for another break. Every step, no matter how carefully she walks, jars her already throbbing face. And the laceration had started to seep through her makeshift bandage, prompting her latest pause. It's taking forever to get back to the lake.

Now then, should shy try peeling this bandage off, or just put the next one on top...? Caro's fairly certain that proper first aid is to layer, but... She pokes tentatively a couple inches to the side of the jagged cut.

"Shit," she hisses quietly. And then winces, because her jaw isn't in good shape either. Fuck.

She's in the middle of wondering how the hell she's gonna eat anything with her jaw like this when she hears the telltale beeping of a parachute. It can't be...

But she looks up, and there it is, gently descending towards her. Whoever launches these, their aim was good enough that Caro doesn't even have to get up, she just waits for it to fall into her hands. It's... pretty good size, actually. She fumbles with the catch briefly before opening it to find... two canisters and a note. She reads the note first.

stay alive, sweetheart. -w

She snorts. That's always been the plan, Sullivan. She tucks the piece of paper into a pocket anyway. Now for the actual goodies. The first, larger canister contains... soup. Caro leans in close and sniffs. Pumpkin? And... apple. Fuck, it smells good. There's both a spoon and a straw. Caro pockets the spoon and sticks the straw in the thermos of soup. She takes a tentative sip... and has to stifle a groan at how good it is. Hell, any warm food would be a wonder in this cold, but this soup is amazing. She drinks a little more, and then seals the thermos back up, straw inside. Now what's in the other one?

"Holy shit." It's medicine.

She puts the lid back on, and reaches up to peel the cut up piece of blanket off her face. Fuck, it's sticking and shit shit shit that really hurts-- okay. There. She sets the bloody cloth down next to her on the log. She really wishes she was back by the lake right now, being able to see her reflection would help. She gently probes at the laceration to make sure nothing's in it, swearing under her breath the entire time.

Satisfied that her wound is as clean as she can get it for now, she reopens the tube of medicine and applies a little to her cheek. There's a medicinal sting, but not much else. Including no fresh blood. Ohhhhh thank god, it stops the bleeding. She carefully applies more to the rest of the gash in her face. She even has a good two thirds of the tube left. Excellent. She doesn't know if it'll need to be reapplied. Either way, it's good to have leftovers.

She stows both canisters very carefully in her backpack, and tucks the bloody bandage into a side pocket. She's just about to get up when she hears a noise. Shit.

Comments

[redshirtsofpanem]

Things haven't gone exactly to plan for Zopf. Sure, he managed to win his way into the Career pack - and even he's not sure how - but he quickly became quickly aware just where he stood with them, long before they ever hit the bloodbath. He'd hoped to maybe bring Caro in on the alliance by proxy, but... she ran. Maybe that was the smarter path. It's barely a couple days in when even he notices the murmurs. He's dead weight. He hasn't done his share, why not just kill him now since he's so useless? So he works real hard at helping them track Tributes, gather supplies once most of theirs got messed with, use what little skills Sullivan taught him during their training. He'd always been busy with Caro. He guesses she needed a lot of help.

It's not quite enough for the Careers, he knows it. So when they all stumble across the two little kids in the hollowed out log (Cypress and Ceebee he thinks their names are?) he pitches in to the chase with all he's got. And when he gets an opportunity to take both out, well, he takes it. He knows what Sullivan said about the kids from 3 and 7, he hasn't forgotten. But this is the Hunger Games and no matter what they're going to die. And if he doesn't prove himself to the Careers, so will he.

They're all very triumphant and congratulatory on the way back to camp.

"Oh, two at once! That's a twofer!" Chintz, the girl from 1, laughs in a way that's both very delicately girly and completely terrifying.

The boy from 2 pats him on the back and they have a relatively nice evening at the campfire just short of the cornucopia.

Everything goes to hell for him as soon as he opens his eyes, awoken by the sound of a cannon firing. It's not really all that easy to see inside the cornucopia - at least not this far back inside of it. But it's enough to catch sight of Chintz hovering over him. He spots a faint glint of metal out of the corner of his eyes and instinctively kicks out, and it's sheer luck he does. She slashes downward and misses; catches the back of his ankle on the way back up.

Pain unlike anything he's felt before hits him. He thinks he screams, he doesn't know. She gets another good slash to his opposite leg's thigh during the struggle before he's able to knock her backwards, roughing up er face pretty good in the process. It's long enough to get away.

He runs. His left leg is mostly shot and he knows she severed something important, but he still goes as hard as he can. And the funny thing is... she's not following when he looks back. Maybe she plans to do that later. It's not like he's much of a threat, all he's got on him is a hunting knife he doesn't really know how to use all that well. Shit shit shit shit.

It doesn't much matter. He keeps going, not really sure where he's going or how long it's been. His legs throb terribly and he's not so much running as... limping along in agony. He doesn't even notice he's near someone until he stumbles into a clearing and there she is sitting on a log, half her face torn up, filthy and everything else a mess but it's her. Oh my god.

"Caro?"

[caroflower]

Caro's eyes narrow as Zopf of all people tumbles into the clearing. She's annoyed at the timing, but it's a great opportunity all the same. And oh, someone's already softened him up a little. How thoughtful.

"Zopf!" The excitement in her voice is muffled by how difficult it is for her to talk with her injured jaw. "What happened to you?" She tilts the bloody half of her face away from him slightly, eyes wide.

[redshirtsofpanem]

"Oh my god, your face!" Zopf doesn't even think about tact, he just exclaims and hobbles a bit closer. It's then he remembers the two dead tributes from earlier. But this is Caro, he doesn't think she could kill two like that. But obviously she was quick enough to get away from her attackers.

"The - uh, the girl from 1. Chintz." He sounds almost bashful. It's kind of embarrassing he was caught unawares. He's sure Sullivan's probably not very happy about it.

But... She survived six days. Six days! He'd watch the announcements of the dead Tributes, wondering if she was among them. And this morning, while he'd been running, when he remembered the cannons after Dione left... "I thought on of the deaths this morning had to have been you." He admits in a way he thinks is sympathetically. "I - I guess you got away and they didn't."

[caroflower]

Caro raises one hand to her face in what she hopes is a bashful way. "Chintz? When did that happen?" She opens her eyes a little wider and looks around in slightly overstated alarm. It's a genuine question, though. Is Chintz about to come barreling into the clearing too?

She resist the urge to roll her eyes. Of course Zopf thought one of those deaths was her. Well, she was certainly involved. "Yeah," she says quietly. "I guess I did."

Caro's quietly wondering if Zopf's going to notice the remains of the parachute she was sent. Or if he's going to come close enough for her to get a decent shot in.

[redshirtsofpanem]

"Oh, that was, um... That was hours ago, back at the Cornucopia." Zopf honestly doesn't think Chintz is really all that close by. But he didn't notice Caro until he ran right up to her, so his judgement is perhaps questionable in this regard.

It's right about then he notices a silver... something. Is that fabric? He hobbles close to get a look because why wouldn't. His eyes widen with recognition. Is that... "A parachute?"

His immediate thought is maybe it was one of the Careers, but you can't get other people's gifts, can you?

[caroflower]

Zopf looks confused when he spots the parachute. Yeah, well. That's Zopf. Confused and clueless.

"Yeah." She's not sure whether she should admit it's hers or not. Hmmm.... "Someone sent me something for my face," she adds after a moment, smiling a little.

She looks up at Zopf through her eyelashes, considering. "Maybe it would work on your leg?" Come on Zopf, fall for it. Let her close on purpose. She eases her backpack off her back and starts to rifle through it as if she doesn't know where the tube is.

[redshirtsofpanem]

"Wow." Zopf is really rather surprised. Sullivan got a Sponsor gift for her? Well, he did have all the bounty of the Cornucopia up until a little bit ago. Still, why would Sullivan send Caro of all people a Sponsor gift? It sits oddly with him but he banishes it from his thoughts.

"Oh, that's - that's very kind of you." He feels a little bad about those kids, she was always so nice to them, too - that's just another thought he pushes out of his mind. It takes him a second to limp the rest of the way over, as his foot's not really responding all that much and his other leg isn't doing much better. When he sits down next to her, he audibly sighs in relief. He's so tired. It's good he stumbled across her.

[caroflower]

Caro smiles as he hobbles over and sits down next to her. She keeps fishing around in her pack and grabs, not the tube of medicine but the handle of her old friend the frying pan. She pulls it out awkwardly, shaking it out of one of the blankets. Caro shoots Zopf an apologetic smile, "This damn thing's always in the way. I can't find anything in here, I swear."

She sets the backpack down by her feet like she's trying to get a better angle to dig through it. As she straightens up, however, she smashes the frying pan into Zopf's face.

[redshirtsofpanem]

Zopf watches her search through her backpack. It's pretty amazing she got all the things she did in it, but it looks like she's been really lucky so far! The frying pan gets a laugh out of him. "Doesn't seem like it'd be useful enough to keep."

He glances back the way he came for just the briefest moment. When he turns back, he gets met with a cast-iron frying pan to the face and with a shocking amount of force behind it. He feels something break (his nose? his teeth?) and he's blinded by pain and toppling over before he realizes what happened. He knows he's pouring blood because suddenly his face is wet, and his particularly bad leg got stuck on the log on the way back.

Oh my goddddd what just happened. Did she --

[caroflower]

"Oh, you'd be surprised," she says pleasantly. She shifts the frying pan to her right hand and takes Zopf's knife out of the sheath strapped to his thigh. "It helped me take out the boy from 1 pretty well."

She turns and leans over him, smiling. "Don't worry, I'm not going to stab you in the throat with an arrow like I did him, though." She waits a beat and sinks the knife into his thigh, careful to miss the femoral artery. She wants him to linger.

[redshirtsofpanem]

Zopf coughs and sputters, trying in vain to expel the blood from his mouth. He barely even notices her steal his hunting knife straight from the sheath.

"You - you killed the boy from 1?" His voice is muffled but the shock and the fear come through loud and clear all the same. Oh my god. She tricked him. Sullivan tricked him. His mentor never meant for him to make it through this alive. He feels bile in his throat.

He struggles to wrench his wounded leg free of the log. It's too little, too late, though. His own knife gets sunk deep into his thigh, and the new pain's no less sharp or immediate than any other had been. He gasps, chokes back a scream, and sputters anew.

[caroflower]

"Oh yes. And the girl from 9 and, just this morning, the girl from 4. She's the one who gave me this." Caro gestures at her face.

"Wanna hear something else interesting?" She leans in closer. Still smiling, but it's gone all hard and sharp and predatory. "Cypress didn't die right away." She yanks the knife out of Zopf's thigh.

"He had time to tell me who pushed him and Ceebee off that cliff." She jabs the knife down into his shoulder. "As if I didn't have enough reason to hate you already." She's not smiling anymore.

[redshirtsofpanem]

Zopf whimpers and whines from somewhere deep in his chest. He starts to plead, to beg. And then the knife is ripped out of his leg. He bites down hard on the inside of his mouth and inhales quick and sharp enough it sounds like a shrill scream.

"It's - it's just the games. They were gonna die anyway! It's just -" Before he can continue, she stabs again. The knife is deep in his shoulder now, and he's actually screaming.

[caroflower]

Zopf's screams are something Caro has waited years to hear, to be perfectly honest. Some people... maybe most people... would find the reality not as appealing as the fantasy. Caro is not one of those people.

"What part of leave them alone did you not understand?" She twists the knife in his shoulder a bit.

"Then again, it's not like you're much of a thinker. You spent all this time with a crush on me or what the fuck ever, and it's never occurred to you that I hate you. Nice catch, bread boy." She yanks the knife back out.

She removes the sheath from his thigh and fastens it onto hers. Then she cleans her new knife while she waits for Zopf to die.

[redshirtsofpanem]

Zopf tries to protest more, but it's getting increasingly hard to breath let alone speak. His words come out in wet gurgles. "Please, p-please."

The scream when she twists the knife is weaker. He was just saving himself. He was just trying to stay alive. he was scared. He was before, in the District, when he'd just watch her. Watching but never talking, never helping. Scared. And now he's dying terrified and knows it, even as he tries to fight it.

Everything hurts, and it's so cold. And all he can do is look at her, unable to speak. It's the same as it's ever been.

It feels like it takes forever for the life to leave his eyes, a long and painful forever before he breathes his last breath and his chest heaves in a death rattle. He slumps back into the pool of his blood. The cannon fires for the Tribute from District 12.

[caroflower]

Caro smiles again as the cannon fires. She slides her backpack back on and stands, mostly steady thank goodness. Well, and thank sponsor. She's still stiffer and slower than she'd like, but everything's working. She sheathes her knife and picks up her spear turned walking stick.

She heads to the edge of the clearing, but stops and looks over her shoulder. "Thanks for the knife," she tells Zopf's corpse. She gives one of those little finger waves she's become so fond of and then disappears into the woods.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter's return to the mentor center coincides nicely with the arrival of Caro's sponsor gift. He's settling back into his station when it floats down towards her, and any catching up he's got to do with Data is momentarily put on hold so he can watch this.

He laughs a little when she snorts at his note; when she tucks it away safely into her pocket, well, he goes momentarily quietly and a little unreadable. It's over as soon as she's investigating her soup and medicine. Really, the reaction she has to the gifts are even better then the news he could actually fucking send any. Her face, mother of god. All he's been able to think about is how quickly and how badly that could get infected. He might have actually run between the meeting with Largo and the meeting to actually procure and send this shit.

It's only once she's carefully applying the salve to her wound that he even bothers with his other Tribute's monitor. Just in time to see him blundering injured through the bushes... towards Caro.

He quirks a brow and glances at Data, though his expression is less annoyed than weirdly bemused. "The hell did I miss? Who tagged Zopf?"

[datasoong]

Data had turned to fill Walter in, but the sight of the parachute stops him. He wants to see this, too. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Walter still briefly. Curious. But then Caro's tasting her soup and applying her salve, and Data's attention is suddenly jerked back to Sullivan when he asks about Zopf.

"The girl from District 1, Chintz. She attacked him while he was sleeping." Data pauses. "Given what you left to do, I did not think it worth notifying you." That's right folks, even Data is done with this kid.

[illdrinktothat]

"Good call, Data." Walter nods slowly. "And Chintz, eh?"

A grin spreads across his face at that. He leans back in his seat and cranes his neck to get a gander at Disrict 1's station. "Hey, Momus, the fuck is going on with that Career that she can't even kill someone properly in their sleep? That boy's dumber than a goddamn potato and he still got away." His shoulders shake a little with the contained glee. Oh, he hates Zopf, but he hates the Career districts more.

Of course he gets immediately distracted again when he realizes he can see Caro from Zopf's monitor and vice versa. Oh. Oh, shit. Time to page the sewing circle.

[areyoukiddingme]

Basil looks up from his monitor at Sullivan's bellow. Really now. "Hell if I know, Sullivan, I mentored the even dumber one," he barks back.

Oops, that wasn't exactly a shining moment of District unity. Oh well. He's not fond of his mentor partner, to put it mildly.

[illdrinktothat]

Even if he's a tiny, tiny bit worried about Caro, Walter still cracks up for a moment at Basil's reply. He's a little preoccupied, though - between the feed and tapping out a message.

tune into the live feed right fucking now
zopf's about to get carved up like a goddamn turkey

[datasoong]

Data watches intently as Caro sweet talks Zopf. He's somewhat amazed at just how dumb the baker's son is proving to be, but he supposes he really shouldn't be. He is also very impressed by how well Caro manages to play nice with him, given how furious he knows she is. She lures him over effortlessly, getting him to sit down right next to her. She digs around in her backpack, which Data knows from hours at 12's station is very well organized, before bringing out the frying pan. Data knows where this is going.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter goes dead silent again as soon as Zopf actually falls for that lure. Stupid, stupid kid. He gives credit to Caro for the effort it must take to fake this. He knows how she hates this little bastard, and that was before everything with Murphy's tribute.

He settles back into his chair and crosses his arms, and waits. There's a marked change as soon as the first blow with the frying pan is struck. All that mirth from a moment ago is gone as quick as a switch getting flicked. That knife to the thigh is deliberate, careful; no arteries likely severed, nothing remotely fatal about that wound. Painful, yes. Incredibly. He hopes she stabbed hard enough to hit bone.

And like that, he's smiling, dead-eyed and silent but smiling softly. It's an expression that's almost tranquil in a cold, detached way.

The shoulder stab is fatal, however. He knows instantly from the wet crackle to the boy's voice she hit lung. The twist finally seals Zopf's fate. It's a bloody death and not a quick one, either. He goes out the way Cypress probably would have: not from bleeding out, but drowning. He drowns in his own blood.

He's very proud right now.

[datasoong]

Data's attention shifts slightly to take in the way Sullivan changes. And just like that, Data's getting an up close and personal view of the Walter Sullivan that killed 21 fellow Tributes in the second quarter Quell. Despite knowing he's extremely unlikely to be in any actual danger from Walter, Data keeps one eye on him and one on the feed.

Data may be a mostly gentle soul, but he is a Victor.

His also mostly gentle soul has a surprising lack of pity for Zopf right now, even watching Caro go to work on him. He's gotten the impression, though she hasn't told him directly, that she and Zopf have something of a history. He watches with grim satisfaction as Zopf dies the way Cypress would have, had Caro not been there.

And then that little finger wave. Data has seen that, that's a very Weyoun Trinket wave. He can't help himself, he lets out a small, strangled sort of giggle.

Well, no one ever said Data Soong was a bastion of normalcy and appropriateness.

[illdrinktothat]

There's something deeply satisfying about watching that unfold. And even though Caro's most unusual in how she draws it out (at least, for her district) he's mostly assured it's free of anything the Capitol could interpret as Order-related. There's no ritual to it. Not like how he did it, with the number carving and prying hearts out of chests. It's just vengeance and spite, simple as that.

The little finger-wave is a nice touch - and it's right about then that he's snapped out of his concentration because Data just giggled creepily. He turns his gaze from the monitors finally and just looks at Data for a moment, one eyebrow raised and his temporary eerie calm replaced most with amusement. Giggling, really?

[datasoong]

Data blinks in mild surprise. Did he really just...? Out loud? Yes he did, judging by Sullivan's incredulous stare. He gives a little half shrug in response.

"W-what?"

[illdrinktothat]

Walter just shakes his head a little and laughs. "Nothing."

He'll just watch the hovercraft collect his dead tribute now, won't he?

[weyountrinket]

Weyoun's already watching the feed long before Walter sends the message, actually. He's been watching the feed since he got in. He's been absolutely glued to it, in fact.

He's perched on the edge of the couch across from Garak, staring intently at the screen and impatiently waiting for that Sponsor gift to show up. He doesn't have to wait that long, either. As soon as the camera shows the slow descent of the silver parachute he's trying to redirect Garak's attention to the television. "Garak. Garak!" He spares a brief glance at the man's apparently very interesting infopad before turning back to the television. "She's on!"

Oh, does he ever grin when she gets Mr. Largo's gifts. What Caro does with that note gets a quizzical look and - oh. Oh. Well. He'll consider that more later. For now, though, he gets to watch a rare moment this late in the Hunger Games. He's a little (a lot) distressed at the likely scar from that wound... but as long as she survives it, that's what matters.

He notices his infopad making it's characteristic 'you have a message' ding but ignores it. A moment later, when Zopf stumbles into the clearing, he figures out what that message probably was. Of course right about then there's someone knocking on the door very, very insistently, not to mention loudly.

"I'll... I'll get that." He sighs, pauses the feed and goes to deal with the interruption as quickly as possible.

[egarak]

Garak's head snaps up at Weyoun's words. Ah good, she's getting her parachute. Sullivan apparently attached a note, which Caro snorts at and puts in her pocket. Garak can't suppress a grin at that. He watches with interest as she tries her soup and applies her medication.

He too gets a message, and does look down to check it. Well, he's already watching the feed, thank you Sullivan. Garak is just opening his mouth to mention the contents to Weyoun, when Zopf stumbles on screen and there's a knock on the door.

Well. That certainly is suspicious timing.

[murphypendleton]

That persistent knocking is none other than the wee menace district 7 mentor. Murphy bellows through the shut door because why the fuck not. "HOUSEKEEPING. DO YOU NEED MORE ICE?"

And what greets him when the door swings open is a very unamused, disapproving looking Weyoun staring up at him. He just grins brightly at team 12's escort. He's one of few people Murphy can actually grin down at so he's enjoying that while it lasts. "I heard you guys got the better tv."

Weyoun just frowns at that.

[hellocomputer]

Don't look now, but here comes Scotty with a giant bowl of popcorn. He appears right behind Murphy and grins. "Well now, I see we had the same idea! Hullo there," he adds, turning to address Weyoun properly. "May we come in? I brought popcorn."

Mustn't forget our manners now.

[weyountrinket]

Weyoun merely squints at Murphy and frowns for a moment. "Yes, very funny, Mr. Pendleton. Would you like me to kick you out again?"

Then Scotty just... appears, food in hand and considerably more polite than his compatriot, so Weyon acquiesces. He steps back from the door and gestures, though he sounds considerably less than enthused about the whole matter. "Make yourselves comfortable."

From there all he wants to do is go back to the couch and turn the now-delayed live feed back on. And that's just what he does.

[hellocomputer]

Scotty seats himself next to a politely incredulous Garak and offers him the popcorn bowl. "Thought I'd come watch the show in style," he says by way of explanation.

Garak raises an eyebrow at him but takes a handful of popcorn anyway.

Scotty himself grins around a mouthful of popcorn as Caro lures Zopf over to the log. That boy really is daft. And tactless. "Your face" indeed. He is glad to note that she's gotten and applied her medication. He'll catch a repeat of that later.

Oh, and there goes the frying pan. Right in the face. He hears Garak chuckling next to him. Rather bloodthirsty for a Stylist.

[murphypendleton]

Pendleton finds himself a seat between Scotty and Weyoun, of course. Though honestly he's far more interested in the Games than he is in making a pest of himself, so Weyoun escapes his humor this time.

He's a little disappointed he missed the sponsor gift, but seeing her get Zopf in the face with a goddamn frying pan is more than worth it. Somehow, that kid is even dumber than Walter let on.

He lets out a brief approving whistle at the way she just goes and stabs the kid in the leg. That's cold. ... And so is Weyoun, apparently, given how e laughed at it. The escort clears his throat and composes himself immediately after but Murphy still looks at him from the corner of his eye like I saw that.

He leans over and grabs some popcorn right about when Caro rips the weapon out of Zopf's leg. Oh, that had to hurt.

...Aaaand there the knife goes in his shoulder. That really had to hurt.

[egarak]

Garak reaches for more popcorn as Caro twists the knife in Zopf's shoulder. Oh, she really is a delightful girl. He grins at her calling him "bread boy." That really does sound like something Sullivan would say. Oh, these two.

Zopf takes his time dying, which is exactly what Caro had in mind. Garak approves. The boy drowns in his own blood, just like the little one from 7 would have. Appropriate. Garak is also quite fond of how Caro's been picking off members of the Career pack with their own weapons.

Caro's last remark towards the boy's body gets an indulgent smile out of Garak. The finger wave she learned from Weyoun gets a chuckle.

[weyountrinket]

As soon as the actual violence starts Weyoun stops caring that Murphy is around and potentially going to be a pain in the ass, yet again. There's more important things happening. Namely, the end of Zopf's idiocy.

Weyoun feels very little by way of sympathy for the boy, and perhaps he should feel bad about that but he finds himself quite incapable of caring about the matter, to be honest. He doubts he's the only one that feels that way. Zopf is... Zopf. He is the pure embodiment of underwhelming. Caro, on the other hand, exceeds all expectations. Kill after kill. Careers. Oh, hoe lucky he was to get 12 this year. What a pity it would have been to miss experiencing this first hand.

Caro's final quips would have been amusing on their own, but... the little wave she does with her fingers. Oh dear, that's familiar, isn't it?

Weyoun finds himself grinning like the goddamn Cheshire cat.

[hellocomputer]

Scotty's impressed at how well Caro keeps the boy alive to make him suffer. That miss of the femoral artery looks deliberate. He'd like to know what else Zopf's done to make her hate him so much, frankly.

Oh, there, she's stabbed him in the shoulder as well. Even so, Zopf takes his time dying. And then Caro waltzes away, cool as a cucumber. Well, first she has to stop and make a comment and wave. Scotty shakes his head, smirking. He hopes Walter's looking forward to having a neighbor.