#aidanvice

[adamantexplorer-blog]

Crossing Paths | Aidan & Rachel | Convo

Characters Involved → Aidan Vice & Rachel Berkley

Location → The Arena

Time Frame → Day 1

Word Count → 1,541

Aidan had run through the jungle until the sounds of the fight at the Cornucopia had faded entirely behind him, replaced instead by the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. It was a beautiful setting, if foreboding. As far as he could see, there was no fresh water, but he hadn't gone all the way through the arena yet. It didn't seem likely that they would try to dehydrate all the tributes to death. That would be a fairly boring Games...and it was up to them to make it interesting. Well, he'd help them out. The wire would be enough to set a simple trap that would strangle the tribute caught in it. Not that he'd ever been in one personally, but being garroted didn't seem like a pleasant way to go. Aidan would have preferred electricity, but that would have to wait until he retrieved the mines. He climbed a tree to string the wire, and as he leaped to the ground, he heard footsteps behind him. Half panicked, he spun around, brandishing the ridiculously small knife in front of him.

Rachel and Cambria had both agreed instinctively that spending too much time with each other would be the least beneficial strategy and split after their short meeting. At least she knew now that the other one was still alive and that Jason was as well. That was a lot to begin with. Now she was continuing her quest to find water, traveling deeper and deeper into the forest. She wondered what the Gamemaker had been thinking when they equipped this arena with water sources that were this hard to find. Already she could feel the thirst forming in her throat. Then she stopped for a moment when she saw another tribute leap back to the ground far too close to her to avoid the encounter. Slipping her knife into her hand again - the bow was useless at this close distance - she advanced quickly determined to get this fight over with quickly and quietly.

 Aidan backed up against the tree, trying to judge his chances of making it back up in time. He wasn't terrible at climbing, but he also wasn't particularly good at it. It was far more likely that they'd be able to stab him in the back, or at the very least pull him to the ground, before he could get out of range. And unless it was Rin, he didn't think that he could overpower any of the other tributes. The trap wasn't quite set yet, and he silently cursed their timing. They stepped out in front of him, holding a knife. Rachel. He was painfully aware of how bad his chances against her were, of the still-bleeding wound on his arm, the fact that his knife would be more effective at peeling fruit than fighting off an attacker. "Hi," he dropped his arm to his side. "Make it quick, yeah?"

Rachel was moving even closer to the other tribute when they backed down until she was finally able to see them. Part of her urged her to not hesitate and just kill Aidan even though she held no grudge against the guy but then she noticed the blood that was streaming down his arm and she remembered their first encounter in her first year as a mentor. It didn't help her determination that he wasn't putting up a fight but instead looked at her with his eyes full of resignation. "I didn't know it was you.", she replied while she realised that she wasn't yet ready to dispose of one of her friends. Not when there where still those wandering around that she would gladly kill. The tribute didn't lower the knife though since she couldn't know if the other would take advantage of her inner struggle.

Aidan couldn't meet Rachel's eyes as she stepped closer, staring down at his feet. The lightweight shoes they'd been given (for the water, he now realized) were drying, but stained with blood dripping from his arm. He wondered if, when she got close enough, he could try to stab her. He wondered if it would be worth it, if he'd just end up dead anyway. She could probably get a knife into him before she died, anyway. And he didn't really want to kill her. It might be better to just go now, before anything happened. "Now you do." His arm hurt. Tears pricked at his eyes, but he blinked them away. "Jane tried to kill me earlier," he said, almost conversationally. Delaying the inevitable.

Rachel laughed loudly when Aidan told her that he had an encounter with Jane as well. Even in her ears it sounded a bit too far over the edge. "You survived her quite well. I ran into her earlier as well." Why was she striking up a conversation with the guy? Either she should kill him now or simply leave the scene before anyone could intervene or before Aidan would remember that he could take her by surprise by attacking. She was angry that he wasn't putting up a fight already, she realised while working over her reasons for not killing him now. The list with the cons was growing longer again by the second as she tried to predict the possible outcome of letting him stay alive.

Aidan shrugged, "Darcy stopped her from killing me." It sounded strange even to his ears, but it didn't matter at that point. Darcy was...it had been nice, but in the next five minutes, Rachel would step forward and stab him and it wouldn't matter. He'd stopped worrying what his words sounded like. It would have been a waste of his last few moments. "But, um, obviously he's not here now." He shifted, and winced, hand moving to the gash on his arm. "Are you gonna..." he trailed off.

Rachel was taken by surprise with that revelation. It was interesting that Darcy would do something like that. In her mind there always had been only one person he truly cared about and that was his sister Jane. Did they have some kind of plan for Aidan as well? Was he going to be an important piece of their winning strategy? Would taking him out now harm their way to victory or only put them into a stronger position? Rachel had completely detached from her empathy once again as her brain was working overtime. His question made her snap out of her thoughts. "I'm still thinking about it." There was no use in sugarcoating what was going on.

  Aidan shrugged. "It was...she was pretty pissed, I think. At Darcy, I mean. Probably really, really angry at me." Knowing Jane, anyway. He half-wished that she'd just hurry up and do something, but it would be kind of stupid to rush his killer along. "Oh, okay." He slumped to the ground and leaned against the tree. "I'm just gonna...wait here, then." He could stab her in the foot (she was close enough) but then she would definitely kill him. Besides, it might be less painful if she just did it now, quickly. "Just...let me know, if you're going to do it, okay? Don't just stab me or something...or I guess you could do that, I couldn't really stop you."

Rachel found that a smirk was forming on her lips at the thought of Jane's face that always seemed to indicate that she was pissed off. "That would be a fun thing to watch.", she commented before adding, "From a safe distance of course." She wouldn't want to be anywhere near Jane or her axe when she was angry. One encounter with her had been enough to exhaust her for the day already. She wouldn't be able to take down the woman all on her own and this knowledge made her furious but she didn't let it reflect on her face. Mild irritation did start to reflect on her face though when Aidan chose to let himself fall to the ground and lean against the tree. Dammit, she swore in her mind as she wondered how this whole scene was appearing on the screen. Were they shouting at her to just get it over with or wishing that she would step back and let the genius guy live a little longer? No the mob was always out for more blood to be spilled and right now she wasn't going to follow their wishes. "I won't ok?", she finally let the knife sink and no longer threatened the other tribute. "But just this once. The next time we see each other things will be different."

Aidan laughed weakly, "She had her axe like, five inches from my face, it wasn't that much fun." It had been terrifying, actually. And then Darcy had... Rachel startled him when she stepped back and lowered the knife. "I--really?" Actually, that probably wasn't a great thing to question, he realized, standing shakily. "Next time it will be," he nodded, not bothering to add the obligatory 'if I live that long', moving to pick up the coil of wire he'd dropped when he'd heard her, intending to finish the trap. "Um...watch out for traps, I guess?" he gave her a faint smile.

[ierocis-blog]

It's Broken || Sofia and Aidan

It was strange to be within the walls of Division after being gone for almost two months now. Just as everything was getting better for her she was sent right back into the pits of hell that she thought she had left for good. Despite the anxiety that being back in the bunker gave her, she was excited to see the people she was forced to leave behind in order to pursue the start of her second chance. One of them was the jittery younger boy that she had attempted to teach how to shoot a gun. Maya had told her that he was doing well, or rather, doing better than when she was last there and it made her smile. It sounded as if he had avoided the dreadful Sarah better than she had and was thankful that he didn't have to go through the treatments the therapist had made her endure.

The whole purpose of going to see him was to get the water logged Division iPhone back into working order -- and to discuss the current rumors of who had helped robot Ryan massacre Ashley Donovan, a good friend of her's, and the enemy that was gratefully no longer with them. Sofia skipped through the halls looking for the room number Aidan had given her with the phone in hand so that he could show her where this 'SIM' card was located. The small agent closed the distance towards his door and carefully hit her fist against the metal door three times before stepping back to look up and down the halls before knocking once again.

[xavier-castelo]

Common Intrests || Xavier and Aidan

Another night filling his brain with a lulling gray that seemed to permanently plaster its dull color into the folds of his mind. He felt as if he would never be able to scratch it out or distort it even years after being let back out into the world. The thought of remembering this place so vividly left a horrid taste on his tongue and a sense of dread of his future. He wouldn't be able to escape Division -- even in his mind. Xavier found himself ambling down the hall towards the computer lab that he was recently allowed to enter officially  thanks to some type of 'fake' hacking lesson -- or mission that he had to work on with Madden. His brain still turned the delicate codes over and over in his head, studying them in order to find a loop hole and after the boring day he had Xavier felt that he had finally found the fourth door that could blow the whole thing open 'figuratively'.

Deep brown eyes searched the room for any other students as he stepped down into the lab, noting where the computer he had worked on sat and chose one that was further across the room. His fingers sped of the keys, conjuring up a simulator for the type of firewalls and viruses that he would have to get through yet didn't make the effects of the forged doors as harsh as the real ones. As he began to get through the walls as he and Madden had already he heard the sound of footsteps and quickly deleted every bit of his work only to swing around to face the other only 'genius' hacker that Division had and he recognized the face from teh picture he had sneaked a peek at. "Vice. It's good to finally meet you."