The calm before the storm passed in a blink of an eye. Alicia was standing next to Wanda when the voice sounded above them telling them what was happening, Alicia vaguely remembered something called The Hunger Games that came up in conversation a year or so ago and groaned looking at Wanda giving her a nod that it was time to get ready for something to come.
Wanda used her powers to help shield Alicia from an attack from someone, she didn’t see. Alicia ran forward grabbing as much as she could. When the bears started to attack they switched offensive and grabbing before rushing off catching sight of Clarke and nodding for her to follow them. The whole moment was a blur for Alicia.
It passed in a blur for Clarke, too, and it was lucky that she got away from both the crowd of people clamoring for things on the pile and the bears with only a few scratches. A quick glance at Alicia and Wanda told her they'd all gotten lucky in that area.
The three women ran south until they reached the top of some cliffs looking down Alicia stopped spinning on her heels looking at her two friends. “Well, guess we know some are willing to fight against and not with.” She was a little out of breath, more from the rush of what was happening than the run. “We need to find shelter and get all this stuff sorted,” she held up the rather impressive amount of things she’d managed to grab, “Think there are any caves in this cliff we can use as a base, Wanda, want to float down and see?”
Clarke nodded an agreement to Alicia’s suggestion. She knew she'd gotten a few useful items, but now wasn't the time to sort through it all. They needed to find shelter first thing, preferably near a good source of clean water.
During the moments that passed from the time they appeared in the arena to now, Wanda had experienced an array of emotions. At first, she’d been incredibly confused at what was happening. Where were they? Why were they there? What in the hell were hunger games? After that and once the horn sounded, panic seized her but soon after a small dose of fury once she’d seen the warlock try to hinder Alicia from gathering items from the cornucopia herself. She’d countered with spells and hexes of her own until she, Alicia, and Clarke managed to collect a handful of items and get out of the area soon after the bears arrived.
Now she was back to confusion. Alicia and Clarke had made it to the woods and had walked until they reached an area of cliffs. Along the way, they gave her a brief rundown on what exactly this place was - or was supposed to be modeled after. Wanda had no real frame of reference for the Hunger Games as she wasn’t familiar with the source material.
“Yes,” Wanda said in response to Alicia’s observation about the lengths some others had gone already to have an advantage. Taking a breath, she looked down over the cliffs and gave a curt nod just before rising up with the help of her magic and then descended past the edge of the cliff. She stayed in the air, hovering over the area. She managed to check out the basics of the general area and then floated back up in front of Clarke and Alicia.
“There’s a cave not at the base of the cliff but one that juts out about ten feet from the bottom.” That could provide nice protection since it wasn’t particularly easy to get to without climbing experience or magic. “And about fifty yards that way,” she said pointing north, “I think there may be water source of some kind.”
Alicia watched carefully as Wanda went to go check it out she glanced to Clarke a couple of times as they waited.
“Do you think it’s worth the effort to get down there and regroup and figure out our next steps?” A climb didn’t really scare Alicia and she could if she got a good enough picture of it apparate herself and Clarke down there if her magic worked right in this stupid place.
“Could be a good place to figure out what we need to do next and go through all this stuff.” Alicia suggested. “Unless you saw anything that looks like it could be dangerous down there,” she added looking to Wanda.
Surveying the land she could see down there, Clarke nodded. “I think it’s worth the risk,” she said after a moment’s thought. “Does your magic feel normal or do you think we should try to climb it?” Climbing was risky, of course, but magic could be unpredictable at best in Atlantis and she assumed it wouldn’t be any better here in this arena. It wasn’t something they could reach easily by just climbing. Either way, it did seem like a good spot to figure out what the hell they were going to do next.
“It probably is dangerous,” Wanda said as she glanced out over the ledge. If what she’d heard was true, all but one of them were supposed to die in this arena, and she very much doubted that they would only be fighting each other while they were here. “But, Clarke’s right. It is worth the risk.”
Wanda could vaguely see the jut out in the rock where she’d seen the cave and wondered if she should drop down first and help the other two get down if Alicia felt her magic was off. Wanda’s didn’t so far, but there was no telling when that might change or if she would start to feel some interference. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“I can wait down there and cover you. If something goes wrong, I should be able to make sure you come down easily enough not to get hurt.” She’d only levitated other people in battle situations, and usually Steve, not people who could get hurt more easily.
“My magic is good,” Alicia answered looking between them. “Or at least everything feels perfectly natural. At the very least I can transfigure some branches into ropes to rappel down and apparate up after we figure out the next steps.” It seemed the best option to her.
“Wanda, do you think you could help get some of the stuff down?” She asked as she headed to a few fallen down branches and leaves. She didn’t waste her time transfiguring the different pieces and growing the ropes. Even if they didn’t rappel down having rope couldn’t hurt.
Clarke nodded. It was a big risk but what Alicia had suggested was the safest way to go about it and she felt more confident knowing that Wanda could probably use her own powers if either of them started to fall. “I trust your magic,” she said, looking between both of her friends, “but I don’t trust this arena. We don’t know that they wouldn’t do something to take your powers at a really inconvenient time.” Of course, they also didn’t know that COS wouldn’t somehow just transform the ropes to snakes or something, either, but they couldn’t just stand up here all day.
Wanda nodded. She could wrap some of the ropes around her to take down with her if it was needed and then be there at the bottom if the other two wanted to either try apparating or rappelling down the side of the cliff. Like Alicia, Wanda’s magic felt okay to her for now, but there was no telling when that might change. Clarke was right. They couldn’t trust the arena.
Once the ropes were set, some were left up top in case they needed to rappel, and Wanda took a few of the other supplies with her that they’d collected at the start - at least the ones that they weren’t able to fit into their packs and strap on their backs.
Just before she lifted herself off the ground and floated down to the edge of the cave, Wanda turned back and looked at her two friends. “Be careful.” At that, she used her magic to lower herself over the cliff and down to the cave.
Shrugging she didn’t see the point in over thinking everything. If they lost faith in themselves they’d lose anyways.
She made sure the ropes were tight and while it was a risk she didn’t feel like it was all that big of one. “Here we go,” she said looking to Clarke before jumping back and starting to head down. She didn’t notice anything wrong or different than any other piece of rope.
She was a little out of breath by the time she reached the cave that Wanda had pointed out, more from uncertainty than the physical activity.
Clarke followed suit, using the rope to rappel down after Alicia. It might be a risk, but once they’d decided the best course, Clarke was committed to it and didn’t let herself entertain any kind of doubts that it would work. She dropped to the ground by the cave shortly after Alicia did. “Did either of you get any food?” she asked, looking around at their surroundings. If not, they were going to have to find something to eat at some point.
Any time she suspected or worried that the girls above might have been losing their footing or dropping too quickly, Wanda had her magic ready just in case it was needed. Overall, though, they seemed to make it down without any issues, and they were all now gathered at the opening of the cave.
"It appears we have two loaves of bread between us," Wanda replied about food. They didn't seem to have much water between the three of them either.
"Maybe we should get set up here first and head out to find some food and collect water. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it back before dark or not long after and try contacting some of the others to see who all is here." She'd been able to see a few people she knew at the start, but once the bears came and everyone scattered, she'd lost track of most everyone.
“I think the packs I got have some food,” Alicia brushed back from hair from her face as she opened the larger of the two packs they have. She pulled out some of the mini-meal food bars, a few emergency meals and 3 days of what looked like MREs and some lifesavers. “Looks to be a little stove in here too,” she looked back to Clarke and Wanda with a smile.
“And for the second thing,” she grabbed the box looking one she got out a first aid kit first before finding food. “Emergency drinking water little things and some more bars,” she shrugged. “I think we’re going to be okay, but we should save what we can and try and find some more water and some fresh food.”
Clarke smiled, at least a little half smile, as she looked at everything. They’d gotten pretty lucky with what they’d managed to get from the pile. This stuff wouldn’t last forever, but it was a good start. It would get them by until they found more food and water. The water was close at hand, but finding something to eat was going to be more of a challenge.
“Agreed,” she said, nodding to both Alicia and Wanda. “We should look for a source of protein. Without any real weapons to hunt with, we may have to rely on your magic, unless we can find something.” Her multi-tool would be good for cleaning an animal if they caught one, but not so useful for the hunting.
Wanda nodded. “Between magic and the tools we have, we should be able to find a way to find some fresh food and collect water for a while.” She didn’t know what would happen after the food they had was gone, but Wanda chose not to think that far ahead. She was more worried about finding a way out of this place.
“Once we’re able to get back and regroup, we can start trying figuring out what is going on and how we will make it home.” Wanda didn’t know where exactly where they were or what purpose this served, but she knew that they’d find a way back to Atlantis one way or another.