To Food or Not to Food

[Harlie Maybank]

Harlie, looked over the market. The place seemed to be picked clean, what food was left had been picked over heavily from previous days. "God dammit! Can't anything go my way?" she said. Just then she heard a two loud bangs. Pods arose from the ground. One was spitting fire while the other seemed to be full of mutations. "Are you fucking kinding me?" she exclaimed. She rolled up her sleeves to get ready for the action, but her stomach began to growl. Harlie knew she couldn't do this alone.

"Minerva, I heard from Sharlot that you are a Peackeeper. I am one too. Do you know if any other peacekeepers are here?" Harlie whispered to the girl.

[Holly Edison]

"Looks like you saw them too."

Holly paused, unsure of how to move forward.

"Harlie, I know that you and Minerva are Peacekeepers. But, that doesn't matter to me. She was with me and some of the others yesterday in the Watchtower and may think we followed her here to hurt her. I haven't seen her yet but that isn't the case. We were coming here for supplies... we heard Vester in the Watchtower ordering these pods be deployed. They're in every corner of the city. He doesn't care if civilians are hurt, Peacekeepers or Rebels. He wants this rebellion quashed. You're in danger just like us. All we know is they're dangerous."

Holly took a tentative step towards the pod she'd seen moving. It rolled a bit closer to her and she paused. Definitely able to track us. I wonder how far. Knowing the Game Maker if these were intended for the Arena, it won't stop. Carefully she stepped forward to inspect both.

"It looks like this one marked with flames has a countdown. Seems to be 24 hours. I can only imagine it will explode or douse us in something flammable and set us alight... The other, seems menacing. No doubt it will hurt us soon. But," taking a few test steps back and forth she continued "it looks like it's programmed to follow us. I don't know if it's only me, but I suspect it isn't programmed to only chase one of us - it will look for anyone and follow."

Holly turned to Harlie and sighed.

"I think the only way out of this, is if we call a truce and work together to dismantle these fucking things. It's something intended for the Arena, it will kill us if we don't."

Holly held out her hand in a friendly gesture.

"What do you say, can we work together and hopefully make it out of here in one piece? We can always kill each other another day."

[Sydney Gardiner]

Sydney walked over and tapped on one of the pods, peering at it intently before standing next to Holly, looking warily at Harlie.

"This what Vester was talking about? This looks like lots of fun. This...this has gotta be a group effort, I think. And Lady Luck definitely has to be a member of our party if we have a hope of getting out of this alive. I'd rather not die by flames, if you feel me." Once she figured out Holly's direction, she walked over to Harlie and raised an eyebrow to her.

"If it's from our pal Vester, these things are programmed to shoot us down like dogs. He doesn't care about who dies along the way, no matter your allegiance from birth. It doesn't matter. You know it and so do I."

[Minerva Umber]

"Girl Power?!?" Minerva said as she made her way out... that was so awkward. Ummm, I would agree with Holly. I think the pods are our biggest concern right now. None of us will probably be able to survive if we don't do this. But how are we going to split up our duties?" Minerva looked over at Holly, "I don't know what type of person you are. I have just been trying to stay alive. You've always struck me as an honorable person, I was brought up in this life, I didn't sign up for it. I hope I can trust you..."

"Now how do we all stay alive?"

"I think we have to aim to kill someone." Minerva whispered back, "Janet (who isn't here) was the only other Peacekeeper I knew who is still alive. Deo was killed, Dante from my district was killed." The others have been shouting that they're rebels...but I really don't know." She looked at her, "we need a plan, pods or not... last night in the watchtower was a bloodbath."

[Nelson Clark]

Nelson walked through the Market and upon seeing the crowd of people made an unholy noise, "YOU ALL WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE 24 HOURS I HAVE HAD." he wandered over, "One guy can only do so much against two Pe---who're you?" he stared at Holly before looking at Minerva, "You---you I remember Yes, I think I can be Girl Power." he tapped his foot, looking between the two new people before looking at Holly and Syd.
"So...anyway. Holly. Yes. The pods. I have an idea. I'm not sure if you're going to like my idea but I have one."
He looked at Syd, "Hey. You had one hell of a couple days." he punched her arm.

[Wallace Barker]

Wallace stared at the pods that were sitting within the market with a curious eye. "Interesting... I've only ever seen these in books or in other hunger games broadcasts." Wallace kept a safe enough distance, but he examined it carefully. "If any of you can get the pods down to me I can do my best to deactivate them... It looks like they may have a similar system to the defense grids for the different areas around here that the peacekeepers use." Wallace turned toward Holly. "It's good to see you again Holly" he smiled "Ran into Sharlot while you were gone, that was... interesting." He shot a look at Minerva. "I guess my faith in the peacekeepers keeping trust is a bit shaken after Sharlot tried to strangle me right in front of Nelson." Wallace gave Nelson a grin "you're one tough cookie" he jabbed. His smile faded as he turned back towards the pods. "The area is under peacekeeper control, we're all low on food I'm sure and Vester is throwing roaming Peacekeepers with guns and explosive pods at us. We need to prioritize soon if we are going to take care of anything here. I think our best shot is taking down those pods while one of use finishes off that gun toting maniac running around here"

[Sydney Gardiner]

Sydney honestly could not have been more relieved to see Nelson if she had tried. At least he's still up and kicking, if you could call it that. Once he came out with a flourish, she noticed his beat-up body fighting with him. The Market sure hasn't been kind to him since they had last seen each other in the Hospital.

"Nelson, I mean this with all the good intentions in my heart, but honest to god you look awful. Anyway, you're too ugly to be Girl Power," she remarked, giving him a light punch on his shoulder.

A brand new person advanced towards her and instinctively she reached for her bow before she remembered that oh right, she doesn't have that anymore. She'd have to rely on the others to let her know if she needed to be on the offensive at this point. "Well, dark and myusterious new guy, that's a given. We heard Vester give the orders to release the pods when we were in the watchtower and he sounded as serious as I've ever heard. He's hunting us down like dogs, no matter who gets caught in the crossfire. We have to know who specifically is doing what so we don't waste actions and our time and hopefully we can keep casualties down to a minimum."

[Valeria DeMasque]

"So, did anybody find the pods or deactivate them yet?" Val said glumly from a couple steps away.

She missed the vibrant activity of the day prior but right now she needed to buckle down and save their hides.

"I don't want to waste time looking for them if someone else has already found them," she grinned, "And I really don't want any of us to be between the jaws of a giant mutant dog."

[Valeria DeMasque]

Val slipped away from the group only to return fifteen minutes later.

"So," she said dusting off her jacket, "I found and disabled the fire and I was able to locate the Muttation pod."

Val grinned and leaned against one of the market stalls, "Now one of you just has to disable it by hacking the damn thing."

"Its right over there," she added pointing to a shiny metal pod that appeared to be...barking.

((OOC: One person needs to roll a 10 to deactivate it. Good Luck!))

[Nelson Clark]

Nelson turned to Val and grinned widely, "I think I can help with that." If not, he always had his plan B but Nelson thought he was good enough at hacking that he thought he could.

[Sydney Gardiner]

"I can attempt to Hack one of the pods if that's what we need to do," Syd responded, hoping and praying that they wouldn't ask her to do the one thing she wasn't prepared to do, attack the armored peacekeeper. "Or scavenge or...something."
A family business means there were family ties and she couldn't be sure that the person under the helmet wasn't a member of her family. Mainly, she was concerned for her only sibling. She had no way of knowing.

[Valeria DeMasque]

"Hacking the one remaining pod should be our primary goal," Val replied, "I took one down so there's only the muttation pod left."

She pointed towards the peacekeeper, "I stole his weapon two days ago so the most he can do is try to punch you."

"Not much of a threat," she laughed.

[Sydney Gardiner]

"I bet even Nelson could get a good swing in if he wanted to," she chuckled, shoving him lightly. "So I'm gonna try and do that, like, in a second. I just need some kind of breather. How're you holding up, Nelly?"

[Nelson Clark]

Nelson smirked, he wanted nothing more than to take out the Peacekeeper he'd been at odds with for the past few days. He was looking forward to this. "Oh don't you all worry...I've got my good friend here." he motioned to the wandering Peacekeeper. "Me and him have a bit of a rapport going. He hits me, I hit him. It's...lots of fun." Nelson waved his arms, "And after that I can do two more, provided we can disable the second pod."

Nelson clapped Syd on the shoulder, "Awesome, so we don't have to worry. Splendid.Awesome." he rubbed at his side before smirking at the pair of them, "Oh I'm fine. Couldn't be better." Nelson shouldered his gun. "Don't you worry. It takes a lot more than that to hurt me"

he leaned in close to Val, "So..Wren said Syd is a peacekeeper. are you sure we can trust her? Like--she's my district mate and all that but---are you sure?"


"Also--I'm so not in hot shape. The Peacekeeper--although he only has fists--he can do a lot of damage to me." Nelson stared at her. "Listen--if we can't hack that pod, and if for some reason it's all going to shit---I'm almost as good as dead anyway, Val. I can sacrifice myself."

[Sydney Gardiner]

"I haven't been successful yet but don't worry, I'll make use of the energy pill I have. Gives me another shot and hopefully this will work," Syd replied before kneeling back next to the pod to figure it out.

[Valeria DeMasque]

"Any luck with the extra attempts Syd?" she asked.

She glanced over at the peacekeeper, "Well then is he going to be your plus one at our victory party when this is all said and done?"

"You and him would make a cute couple," she laughed.

"yeah she's a peacekeeper but you can trust her," Val whispered back, "Cal, Syd, and I call ourselves PeaceBringers now for what it's worth."

She grinned, "Yesterday she unloaded the entire contents of a gun she had into Deo just to help the rebels."

"If that doesn't build trust," she smiled, "I don't know what would."

[Sydney Gardiner]

A slow whirring noise echoed from the pod as Syd breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank god", she muttered to herself before standing up and facing the group. "Well, looks like nobody's letting the dogs out today. We're good here. Aroooo." Syd pretended to howl as she walked back to them.

"Oh my god," Syd did her best to cover her face to stop from wheezing in laughter.

[Nelson Clark]

"I can give you several shots." Nelson motioned to his gun, "All of them are in here though."

Nelson smirked and blew a kiss. "I wish he'd take off the helmet and show me his face. I think his lack of communication is hindering our relationship. Plus the fact that he's trying to kill me. But...minor things. They can't stop our true love."

He glanced at Syd, hoping for some good news with the pods, it was one less thing to worry about. "It's okay though. As long as there's some of us fighting the good fight, we always stand a chance. To reach the party on the other side. Where I am going to dance with my boyfriend sans helmet and drink."

"....okay, if you guys say she can be trusted, I'm inclined to believe you. After all, attacking me would just be no fun."
"...Deo was a fuck anyway."

[Valeria DeMasque]

Val ran over to the returning Sydney and wrapped her up in a hug. "Don't go getting any ideas," she said with a grin, "I'm spoken for."

"But damn!" she added, "Great job Syd! Cal would be proud."

Valeria sat back down with the rest of them, "Now the rest of you can scavenge some food and take out that peacekeeper."

[Sydney Gardiner]

"Listen, we saved everyone here. A good proper hug is the least I can do." She returned the hug and truthfully, she wasn't used to the physical affection. She didn't grow up with it and it was...nice, something she hadn't experienced in a while. "Anyways, you honestly needn't worry, I can come to my own conclusions after the cuddle party in the watch tower yesterday."

"Hope so. It's what I can do right now. One last hurrah before the march to the guillotine."

[Valeria DeMasque]

"Well let's make it the best hurrah we can Syd," Val chimed, "the two of us probably won't last long when the rebels take the city."

"I heard what Cal said," she added, "But I don't know how much the word of some teenager will be against a blood thirsty revolution."

"So that means..." she laughed, "We need to relax and have some fun tonight."

Valeria paused, "I wonder if there was a liquor store around here..."

[Minerva Umber]

Minerva wandered over, "Sorry I've been so quiet gals. You two are the most interesting Peacekeepers I've ever met." She looked around... "I didn't know there could be people like you." She glanced at Val and Syd, "and you saved us all... and I wasn't able to help." She nearly broke down in tears, this all started to feel so real now.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Minerva looked at the two girls. "Ladies, I don't know what's up or what's down any more, I know Harlie is here and a Peacekeeper as well, but I just want to make it out alive. Are you two trying to win this fight, or just survive?!? I need to know what my team is to be honest. Blood or no blood, diplomacy or no diplomacy. Right now I just want to..." she looked down, "I just want to belong."

She looked over at Nelson. "You know... you're cute, if you weren't taken by our recently lost Peacekeeper friend... well you know." She winked, and then couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of this whole damn thing.

[Nelson Clark]

"I AM CUTE. THANK YOU." Nelson grinned, "Well...you could put on the mask and threaten me the way he used to. 'Hey kid get out of the street! Traitor!'" he waved his fist in an exaggerated manner, "I'm going to miss his squeaky voice."

"Syd, don't act like you don't reek either. We all smell. It's been a week."

"You could--I don't know--keep us company. It's better to go through this with someone at your side rather than hunting each other down, right?" Nelson shrugged, clearing a spot for Minerva to sit. "Because...if these pods were showing up, then it's clear that the Capitol doesn't necessarily care who the pods hurt. They've stopped caring about what side we're on. They're hunting us like dogs."

[Harlie Maybank]

"It's pretty clear that the real enemy is Vester and the Capital." replied Harlie to Holly. "It looks like we mopped up his traps for the day! I don't need food for the today. But does anyone want me to get some fore them?"

"I think the rebels spent all there actions on the pods and peacekeeper. We should both hack and attack Wallace Barker. I don't think anyone will miss him."

[Holly Edison]

"Wallace! I'm so glad you're okay!" Holly was glad to see so many friends again, and to have brought new ones. "Damn, Val. Thank you. And Syd you took care of the last pod - is that Peacekeeper still wandering around, Nelson? I assume with your close relationship you would know." Holly smiled at him and awaited answers.