#120.gift

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A small box is attached with a note from mentor Glitter Caulder. Inside is a half-full canteen. The note reads: “I'm so proud of you."

Sitting, covered in vomit, is not the way that one ever wants to appear on television. It makes you seem weak, it makes it seem like you can’t handle the situations that are thrown at you. But the uncooked meat has left the taste of disappointment and resentment in her mouth, and she will do anything to get rid of it.

When the parachute falls, it takes a fair amount of strength to look up at it, to let her eyes follow its path instead of glazing over with fatigue. She wants to rest, she wants so desperately to fall asleep, but there is no one to watch her back besides Hunter, who only comes around to check in on her every once in a while, who seemed like he’d be the first to plunge the knife into her back while watching it.

It lands lightly in her lap, and she reads the note, barely able to get a smile onto her face in response.

It’s from mom, of course it is, and it fills her heart with a warm feeling that she was not used to having in her body. Almost as warm as the vomit that’s stained her clothing.

The canteen is much appreciated, and she chugs in down, clearing her mouth of the dry and disgusting feeling that overwhelmed it.

She had heard the cannons, there were five left, it wouldn’t be long now before she knew her fate, saving resources seemed idiotic. With the two canteens she had now accumulated, she slowly walks towards the water, talking the shirt off and soaking it in the liquid.

While the shirt is slowly dampening, she fills the canteens with water and pours it over her body, washing her hair of the dried blood and bits of animal flesh that were still in it, washing her skin clear of the reminders of the horrific act she had been forced to commit.

The gift that kept on giving, was what Glitter gave to her, and after she was clean, she crawls back over to let both her shirt and herself dry, a process that will take forever, given the temperature, so she decides to begin the process now.

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A large box is attached with a note from Surya Mirga. Inside are five arrows. The note reads: “Hunt them down.”

**this is actually from satine kthxbye

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A medium box is attached with a note from trainer Cyprian Huntwell. Inside is a pack of dried fruit. There is no note.

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A medium box is attached with a note from escort Remy Winslow. Inside are pants and a medium meal. The note reads: “I owe your mom one.”

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A large box is attached with a note from mentor Glitter Caulder. Inside are a full canteen, five arrows, and 2 granola bars. The note reads: “You can win. Love you.”

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A large box is attached with a note from mentor Satine Harris. Inside is a backpack containing a medium meal and a bandage. The note reads, "For carrying your things home."

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A small box is attached with a note from Surya Mirga. Inside is a smoke bomb. The note reads: “We'll take care of dad.”

As the parachute dropped to the ground, Kahente watched its flight path intently. It had to be from either Satine or Glitter, and then the gift that followed that would be from the other. It was like clockwork, science. They were the only ones rooting for her.

The box seemed small, but that was okay. Her whole life, she had known that  it wasn’t about what you got from someone, it was about the fact that you got anything at all. She would take something like a pair of socks that had meaning over an unnecessarily expensive gift any day.

She opened the box first, ignoring the note for the time being, and saw the bomb inside. Immediately, she dropped the box, unclear if the bomb was going to explode right then and there or not. For a moment, she stood, motionless, as if the slightest movement would set it off, before gaining the courage to go investigate.

This was not a gift from Satine or Glitter, they wouldn’t have scared her so close to the end like that, so she gingerly approached the box on the ground, reaching for the note, before moving away from it again.

Then, she read it.

Five words.

Five, simple words that made her sick to her stomach.

How dare she send a message like this? After radio silence for the entire time she had been in this fucking arena, she had the audacity to go after the one thing she held dearly in her life, the one person who was there for her when the entire world abandoned her.

Fuck that.

She looked up at the sky, trying to find a camera. 

“Surya, nice gift, but you can stop hiding behind smoke and mirrors now. If you so much as look in the direction of my father, if you ever speak his name, think that you’re doing good by him, well,” she looked around her, at the real life hell she was currently living in. “This place is cozy, I’m sure you’ll enjoy.”

[ofvigilcnce-blog]

A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A small box is attached with a note from mentor Satine Harris. Inside are matches. The note reads, "Use sensibly."

Kahente’s eyes had almost drifted closed by the time the next parachute floats down to wake her up, landing on her stomach and scaring her half to death.

Its sudden appearance scares her, makes her realize how much she isn’t paying attention, surprises her to the point of understanding how much of a mistake she just made. Those couple seconds of inattention could have costed her her life.

She is grateful that the gift came before someone else found her.

As she looks at the note, she smiles. Satine and Glitter Mom, her guardian angels, of course they were looking out for her. In this moment, by herself, the smell of vomit still faintly in the air around her, she has never felt less alone.

She opens the box carefully, looking at what’s inside.

Matches.

She laughs to herself, thinking of how much Hunter probably wanted something like this. That’s what you get for bad mouthing the people in charge of sending you gifts, you get piles and piles of socks.

Briefly, she thinks of using one to start a fire to help herself get warm, but it’s late and she’s so close to the end that warning people of her exact location seemed like a bad idea. 

Use sensibly.

That she would, and she puts them away to use later, when she needs them, when her life depends on it.