#lumberlove

The token Treech takes into the games is a small shawl Lamina gave him. It’s not warming enough for the gamemakers to feel it gives him a big advantage in terms of hypothermia and it isn’t strong enough to be uses as a noose on someone, so they allow it. The shawl is red like Lamina’s hair, and it makes Treech feel safe to have it with him. He keeps it in the pocket of his arena wear for camouflage reasons but it’s there and he can touch it and that’s what matters. Speaking of arena wear, the tributes get dark gray pants with black shoes, a shirt that’s somewhere around oakmoss green, and a vest that’s so dark gray it may as well be black. It’s perfect for blending in as well as one can with the arena’s color scheme.

This year’s arena is village-themed. In the centre, there’s a collection of simple clay huts and simple, one-story buildings. Only two buildings really stick out: a small tower and a building reminiscent of the justice buildings in all districts. The middle of the village is a large square completely empty aside from the cornucopia in the middle (made to look like an actual cornucopia, with the material looking a lot like twine) and the starting spots with the launch pads. Surrounding the village are 8 other kinds of villages like a compass. The houses sometimes contain supplies like food, but in very hidden secret spots. For example, in one village there may be one single, random hut that has a trapdoor to the only basement in that village hidden by a bookcase. To the north is a frozen tundra with iglo’s and other buildings made out of ice. The entire northeast to southeast part of the arena is a forest, very reminiscent of district 7 to Treech. Tundra goes over into a mountain in the northeast, covered in pine trees and snow. The village has two-story houses with pointed roofs scattered over the side of the mountain. In the east, the forest is mostly made up of oak trees. Only at the edges are the trees a normal size. Unnaturally large oak trees make up most of the area, and they’re where the village is located. It’s a collection of tree houses of various sizes connected by rope bridges. Very rickety, unstable rope bridges. Because they’re all so high up and hidden from view by branches, these buildings are hard to find and most tributes miss them completely.

The southeast part of the forest consists almost entirely of dead trees. These dried out trees are as big as most of the east forest, and the houses are inside the trunks. Water can be found in “pockets” underground, but those can only be found by following the rodent-like mutts that have poisonous bites. They only attack when provoked, so tributes must be careful when following them as they dig up the water. Meanwhile, the south of the arena is a desert. The buildings in its village area are either caves hidden in the dunes or made of clay and straw. Mostly huts with only one room. The climate is dry and miserable, but at least you can spot other tributes from a mile away because of the dirth of actual stuff aside from the village. I mean, they can also see you from a mile away, but still.

The northwest to the southwest is entirely made up of jungle. Unlike the forest, where the hot areas are very dry, the jungle is unbearably humid. The northwest is the worst, because it’s so close to the desert. The village is found entirely underground in an elaborate system of caves that actually extends underneath the village in the middle of the arena. Only a few of the caves contain houses, but the whole cave system is a fantastic hiding place. Also a horrible one, because only the village has torches on the walls and it’s very easy to get lost down there. As for the west village, while the western side of the arena has jungle, most of the middle of this area is taken up by a gigantic lake. Where the east village is found up in the trees, the west village is found at the bottom of the lake. The houses have air in them, and the walls hold hidden pumps that keep up the oxygen level. These are all connected to one system of pipes. Finally, the northwest. It’s very cold and windy here, and the village just like the northeast the village is high up. But differently. Instead of one big mountain with a village on it, this is a set of very high rock peaks with mist obscuring most of the area below. These rock peaks have buildings on them, connected by rope bridges just like the treehouse village, but with the added danger of strong gusts of wind that make the entire village unsafe. Only inside the sturdy houses can tributes be sure they won’t be thrown off their perch, into the misty abyss below. Aside from the north and the south, this is the only area where the weather is the biggest threat to tributes. Everywhere else is predominantly dangerous because of mutts and traps set off by the gamemakers.

With all the technicalities out of the way, time for the actual events taking place in the arena. In accordance with his defensive, sneaky strategy and lack of alliance, Treech looks for the best place to run as soon as he gets lifted into the arena. It’s not hard to deduce the careers will pillage all nearby houses as soon as the bloodbath’s over, so that’s not a great option. Aaanndd already I have three different ways this could go. One of them relies on a stupid amount of luck, though, and when I created this AU months ago my main idea was that Treech wins predominantly because everyone thinks he’s completely reliant on luck, which makes them underestimate how capable he is. So yeah that one’s out. Vote on the other two, I guess? They lead to the same outcome.

Option one: Treech sprints around the other tributes and snags a couple of backpacks on the outer rim of the bloodbath. He’s a very fast runner so he’s gone before anyone can truly attack him. Of course, he keeps running until he reaches the edge of the village and finds himself in the desert.

Option two: his beginning strategy is still the same, the difference is how successful his escape attempt is. While running around the edge of the bloodbath, his path his blocked by one of the other tributes. Another one attacks him from behind, and while the backpack in his hands saves him from getting speared by a spear it doesn’t stop the second person from slashing him across the stomach. They miss everything important because Treech dodged it quickly, but he knows if he gets up he’ll be skewered. So instead he makes use of the fact that the canons for the bloodbath only go off after every living being has left the premises. He stays down and plays dead. Because he’s an incredibly good actor, it’s very convincing. Ascaia isn’t around to tell anyone he’s an actor so the tributes take his wide open eyes and completely unmoving body as a sign that he’s dead. Also the blood currently seeping through his shirt. If this is the version you go with, Pup sends him a new shirt so he can avoid infection. Once everyone’s left the scene of the bloodbath and he’s sure everyone’s gone, he stands up and goes the exact opposite direction as the careers and is a lot sneakier because who knows where other tributes are hiding. He, of course, ends up in the desert again. In this version the two tributes who thought they killed him don’t see his face in the sky and realize he may not be as helpless as he’d convinced everyone he is. So he’s a little less under the radar for the other tributes this time. Also, he might start off with more supplies like food and possibly knives (though the other weapons still at the cornucopia aren’t ones he can use well enough for them to be worth taking). In this version, Lamina breaks down completely upon seeing his “death” and then cries of happiness when it turns out he’s still alive.

Since district 7 is very cold this is not his scene and he realizes that if he stays there, he’s fucked. If you’re not used to hot weather no amount of water is gonna save you from the constant discomfort, which will distract you. Being distracted is, obviously, a very bad thing in the games. So he bounces right off of the idea of going in there and instead starts moving along the outskirts of the city. If he successfully ran from the bloodbath, this is where he dumps all his supplies into one backback and ditches the empty ones. Pack light and all that. It’s just like sneaking around town back home, which he’s used to, so he doesn’t come across anyone aside from one near-miss with a tribute hiding out in a house Treech has to sneak past. If he has the knives, he decides not to attack them because he’s trying to avoid unnecessary fights even with the element of surprise. If they don’t attack him, he won’t attack them. If he doesn’t have the knives he has no choice but to stay unnoticed. Once he reaches the forest, he decides it’s safer than the main village and dives between the trees. He comes across the southeast village first and explores it for a bit, deciding it’s best to stay there until it’s dark and the temperature has lowered before moving again. When he keeps seeing little mutts going back and forth, looking better every time they come back, he decides to track them and finds the water. He waits for the mutts to leave again before filling some of the empty flasks so he has a supply of water to quench his thirst for at least a few days if he’s careful with it. Some tributes may possibly pass by, but Treech has found the least conspicuous house in the village and hides out in the top of the dead, hollow tree, so they never find him.