thearena | [Open] There's a devil in the church

Who| Jet and OPEN
What| The Gamemakers make sure Jet's getting punished for his actions
Where| Outside in some shade and then in the castle for the other two prompts
When| Tuesday-Thursday of Week 3
Warnings/Notes| Mentions of insanity throughout and reference to alcoholism in the last prompt. Feel free to tag any or more than one, if it interests you.

Ever since he'd been shoved into that tube still battered and bruised from the Peacekeepers, Jet had been expecting more, something awful that would rain down on him for his actions. They'd already been in the arena for nearly a month and there hadn't been much.

Sure, there were a few instances here and there, but not as much as he was expecting. Of course, when the beginning of the week rolled around and he tried to tug on that damn sword and all he'd gotten was terribly sick, he had to wonder if there'd even been a point in trying; something like that, the Gamemakers were sure to prevent him from even having a shot at, why reward someone you were trying to punish? That was what he thought about all that day as he recovered and questioned his life choices.

But that too went away after a bit and he couldn't stop the feeling that there had to be something worse around the corner, something he might not even see coming. Of course, part of the punishment could be just this: making him ridiculously paranoid, but he'd be surprised if that was really all that was in store for him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He didn't really have to worry about getting a sunburn except on his face and hands, the synthetic skin on his arms wasn't going to burn and his body's temperature regulator was keeping him cool enough, but that didn't make the scorching heat pleasant to be in. He'd paused in his brief excursion away from the others in a spot of shade to rest and give his systems a break before going back.

At first, it was fine, he sat with his back to something solid and pressed his face into his hands to hide from the brightness for a moment. But that was when the whispering started. It was quiet, something just out of earshot like he'd heard in the forest before that tree had grabbed him. But, unlike then, these whispers got a little louder. Jet's hands fell away and he opened his eyes, expecting the voices to go away...but they didn't. Some of them got louder and one sounded like it was right next to his ear, whispering his name.

He bolted up and looked around, as though the owner of the voice would suddenly appear when they'd never been there to begin with.

"Who's there?"

He felt silly as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Of course there was no one there, this was just the arena messing with him. He started to sit back down again but the voices that had died down to low whispers again kicked into cacophonous life, like a whole group of people had surrounded him. Most of them where whispering his name, but not all of them. Venus' voice and Albert's voice and even the voices of the people he knew where still safe here in the arena all started whispering to him as well. 'Why didn't you help me? Jet, Help me! Please, it hurts, I can't stand it!

"Cut it out! I'm not falling for your bullshit!"

To Anyone else, it simply looked like Jet was talking to himself, shouting up at the sky like the birds were going to answer him. But there wasn't a soul around.

It's Tuesday, and so far Terezi has been feeling okay. She doesn't know why, but she hasn't been suffering the same hallucinations that everyone around her has been. It makes it easier to wander off alone into the arena, to search for food and shelter and other things that they need while everyone else is trying to hold themselves together.

That's when she hears a voice shouting into the distance--a familiar voice, and one apparently in distress. Terezi hurries in that direction, eventually happening upon Jet in all of his possibly-insane glory.

Instinct tells her to approach cautiously, and she does. She calls out to him before she's actually within range of physical contact. "Jet? Hey... Are you okay?" Probably a stupid question, but she needs to get him talking to her somehow.

Jet jolts a little in surprise and looks over to Terezi. He can see her caution and it makes him realize exactly how it looked -or in her case, sounded- sending a rush of self-consciousness through him. "Terezi...yeah, sorry, thought I..heard something. Someone. Guess the heat's just getting to me." Yeah, that was it. Even though his temperature regulators were working fine and his read-outs all said he was fine, he ignored them.

"I thought you were with the others."

"I was. I wanted to scavenge for more supplies." There's a lot of people in their ragtag group, and sponsor gifts will only go so far. If they want to stick together, they'll need everyone out hunting for resources... Even at a time like this. Especially at a time like this. It seemed like her and Aang were holding out the best so far.

"What about you... Why are you off by yourself. You should have a partner at least. It might help."

[Open] There's a devil in the church

Outside in the horrific sunshine, Tuesday

no subject

no subject

no subject