Auklet's Gamemakers ~ THGRP

Instructions

Auklet - District 6 - She/they/ae Tw for a bit of self-deprication/toxic thinking ━ ◦ ❖ ◦━ Auklet's time training hadn't paid off as well as ae would have liked. While she could outwit a bear or remember a plethora of poisonous plants and knew all the creatures they could possibly encounter, she was still a nightmare at the ‘successfully surviving’ thing. However, the capitol and aer potential sponsors didn't need to know that. The District six tribute stalked into the room where the gamemakers waited. Aer head was raised confidently, a sentiment which disappeared the moment a gust of wind hit and sent her sprawling, after which she was suddenly and unexpectedly lifted a few feet from the ground by cool air from the vents below. They were sure that somewhere above, the gamemakers were laughing at her distraught entrance. Figures. Auklet scowled - of course the capitol would have the technology to make cats float - but tried to remain level-headed and stable-looking, at least so she wouldn't die by plummeting into that very solid floor in front of an audience. They thought back to their research, thought back to her knowledge of aerodynamics, physics, engineering, and everything else that might be applicable to regain control of the situation. Ae focused on their limbs, where they were, how their movement affected the wind, and after a moment the tribute managed to drift downwards, carefully downwards… …Towards the weapons. She hadn't so much as touched a weapon since getting here, let alone wielded one. That wouldn't be helpful, would it? The dark grey furred tribute stared up, up, up, past the tunnels, to where a balloon waited. Oh gosh, why did it have to be so high… No. Stop it, Auklet. There must be a logical way out. There's always a logical way out… Turning back to the weapons, an abundance of bows and arrows of all sizes caught her eye. Turning to the survival materials a few paces away, she had made up her mind. Seconds later she was searching through the bows, aiming to find the tallest ones probably meant for cats twice her size. Auklet stumbled upon a few that seemed adequate and smiled, scooping them out one by one and hoping desperately that the wind wouldn't whisk them away before she could work with them. Then she was hauling them towards the survival equipment. The tribute dug around before locating a few short coils of ropes, tugging them away and turning to the pile she had already created. At least she had learned /something/ vaguely useful in the past few weeks. She set to work, trying and failing to keep the wind from destroying her concentration and her efforts, managing to bind the bows together at their ends and forming a (hopefully) secure chain of sorts that the gusts of air could easily lift and that had more structure and more stability than a simple rope would. So long as the wind moving from the vents along the room didn't get any worse, it would prove a safer alternative. Taking the final piece of rope, Auklet scurried over to one of the vents, trying to stay rooted to the ground as she tied one end to the grate with painful slowness. Grabbing one end of the chain, ae dragged it out to the vents, spending another tedious while securing the final rope to her construction while the creation threatened to tear her from the earth and sweep her up in the danger. She was running out of time. The gamemakers were growing more and more uninterested by the second. They could hear the occasional clanging of the bows being tossed back and forth by the gusts of air that were doubtlessly coming from the tunnels and hesitated, before looking again and watching the balloon sway from so far above, oh so close to where the chain could reach, and decided she might as well try. With a grunt, Auklet heaved herself onto the chain. She wrapped herself around it, trying to scramble up as quickly as she could. She was getting closer… Closer… There! Ae stretched her neck, waiting for the right moment before catching the balloon’s string cleanly in aer jaws. The least thing the tribute had expected was for the wind to amplify. It consumed all her senses, the deafening sound, the feeling of being thrown around like some young cat's least favorite toy train, the overwhelm that made her squeeze her eyes shut and shout in surprise. No. No, they were still here, still in front of the gamemakers. She was still responsible for surviving, and surviving meant staying calm. Weeping tributes get no sponsors. Weeping tributes die first. Auklet wrenched their eyes open, forcing herself to focus on finding a solution. There was no way the balloon would stay in grasp if she stayed on this chain, which seemed to be the objective. The tribute remembered the feeling of floating unbound, the way the air felt almost solid beneath her, and without a second thought ae jumped. (Cont.)