The Competition// one-on-one//Closed

She nodded, though it took her a while to answer, "Yeah, my siblings, and a boy." Dierra wasn't going to say it was him out loud, but she was going to fight for him to survive. They had only spent a day in the arena and already she was willing to fight for him to go back to whoever.

(Boop)

(Screaming at self about… REEEEEEE)

"That's nice. What're your siblings like? Annoying?" The hint of a smirk crossed Griffin's face. It had been quite a while since he showed any resemblance of smiling, yet here he was, smiling giddily at the place he'd surly die.

"Yeah, they're plenty annoying, they get it from my older brother and myself," She said, laughing softly and letting a smile settle onto her face at the memory of her siblings, "They're really fun though, energetic and very loud." Dierra sighed and looked over at him, "What's your sister like?" As much as she liked talking about her siblings, the thought of them made her homesick and remind her of how much she missed her brother.

"Ava's a little angel. At least, that's what my mom believes. I wish I could say she was too young to understand what was happening, but…" Griffin's voice trailed off. "She knew what was going on, and she gave me something to remember her." His fist held onto something in his pocket, and Griffin hesitated before pulling it out and showing it to her. It was a crudely made carving of a bunny, which would barely be identified as that if it weren't for the indent between the ears. It was no bigger than his palm.
"She made it at summer camp, so stubborn to join the boys and their activities that the leaders didn't know what to do. So they let her carve with them. Though hers was often made fun of, she took pride in it, and I guess I do too." Griffin idly rubbed his thumb against the small statue. "It's become my beacon of hope."

Ever so slightly, she leaned in to look at the carving, smiling gently, "That sounds like something I would've done when I was younger. When you see her again tell her I think it's amazing, better than anything I could do." Dierra thought about the item she had brought with, her father's locket. She slowly reached up and pulled the necklace out from under her shirt, the circle locket engraved with detail. "This is my beacon," She said softly, opening up the locket. On the one side, there was a tiny working compass, while on the other there was a picture of her family. Her older brother was even in the picture, even if he wasn't alive anymore.

(Do you mind if I ask what the brother's name is? I'm thinking maybe Griffin knew him as a child, and saw D then, but she doesn't recognize him? Idk :P)

(Christopher is his name :D And yeah that sounds good!)

(:P)

(Sorry, everything's been chaotic)

A flash of recognition shone in Griffin's eyes, followed by a gentle, "Huh. Well. Let's see if you can get some sleep, m'kay? There's one hell of a rocky road that we're going to have to cross tomorrow." Griffin gave her a slight nod as he perched himself up atop a tree branch, his silhouette almost blending in with the shadows of canopy and night.

Dierra studied the locket for a moment, not catching Griffin's flash of realization. "Wake me up when it's time to switch, please. Until then..goodnight Griffin," She replied, settling against the tree trunk and the steady branch she was sitting on. It wasn't comfortable at all, but it would do she decided, putting away her locket. Better than sleeping on the ground. The best she could do was wrap her arms around herself as a makeshift blanket and close her eyes, hoping that sleep would come quick.

Like I'm going to do that, Griffin decided, as he sat, perched in the same position for hours. He barely kept himself awake, but he didn't awaken Dierra. He was too selfless for that. Plus, he had probably alerted the other team to their location, so he had to take the consequences.

(Time skip? Or did you have a plan?)

(Timeskip works, I don't have a plan until they find the other team again)
As much as she wanted Griffin to wake her up to switch shifts, she found herself peacefully asleep the whole night, only shifting around on her branch bed a few times when her dreams got worrying. Dierra didn't even stir when the sun started to make itself known again, fast asleep and for once looking calm.

Bags were under Griffin's eyes. He was, admittedly, exhausted from staying up. He was running on pure adrenaline, and even then, he was groggy. He shook Dierra awake, a small smile forming. He didn't care that she would probably be pissed–Griffin couldn't care less about his overall health when he could care for everyone else.
"Morning, D. How'd you sleep?"

"Hmm?" Dierra woke with a start as she was shaken awake, blinking, and waiting until she could fully understand what Griffin had asked before answering. "I slept good I guess." As she talked, she sat up slowly, realizing a few seconds later that it was already morning. "Why didn't you wake me up to change shifts?" She asked, scowling at her teammate, "I know you didn't forget to wake me up."

"I was…I don't know. Stupid? Stubborn? God, I don't know. You looked peaceful while you were sleeping, and I've pulled a one-nighter before, so…" Great job, Griff, not only do you now look impeccably stupid, but you probably risked your chances of surviving! Griffin's smile fell short. "Sorry. I'd rather you guys win round one than you lose because of me. I…didn't think that through enough."

"Don't worry Griff, it's alright," She said calmly, stretching as she woke up more and brushing aside her irritation, "I'll just have to watch your back more. You're not dying on my watch." Dierra slowly got to her feet on the branch and grabbed another one higher up, hoisting herself up into the tree a little further. Before she went to wake everyone else up, she wanted to check the area as best she could. Make sure they weren't going to be ambushed.

(Sorry for the late reply!)

"You know, it's not your job to watch out for me." Griffin frowned, nodding towards the group. "They need to be watched over as well. What makes you think you can watch over everyone?"

(It's all good!)
"I know it's not my job, but I want to. I'll watch out for all of you," She replied from her perch up higher in the tree, "I don't think I could handle seeing anyone else die from our team knowing that I could've stopped it, so watching out for all of you seems like a sensible option. My death will be easier to deal with than the death of one of you."

Griffin snorts. "Really? Any one of our deaths will cause harm to others. Not one of us is more important than the others. Just make sure you don't die of your own discretion, 'kay?" Griff continues to watch the sunrise, trying to grasp onto hope that wasn't there.

She shrugged, finally nodding, "I'll try my best to stay alive as well, don't worry." Slowly, Dierra became satisfied at her scan of the surroundings and climbed back down the tree to where Griffin was, somehow mustering up a small smile, "Lets go get some breakfast and wake the others up, shall we?"

"Should I just yell in their ears, or..?" Griffin had a mischievous smile on his face, and with the bags under his eyes, he looked almost crazy, if one hadn't known better.

"I say you should tickle them," She replied, her small smile turning more playful, "Can't make too much noise, remember?" It didn't take her long to start climbing out of the tree, already in a happier mood just by the mischievous look on Griff's face.

Griffin smirks, kneeling down to Cassian's sleeping self, and starts tickling him under his chin. Griffin tries to contain his laughter, but a few suppressed snorts come out.

Cassian didn't budge at first, but it was like a switch was flipped when he did start to wake up, a childish scowl on his face as he pressed his chin to his chest. It essentially trapped Griffin's hand as he blinked awake, a soft laugh coming from him as he tried to roll away from the hand.

It took Dierra an insane amount of control to control her laughter, even having to press her hand to her mouth to muffle a loud snorting laugh.

Griffin shoved Cassian, smirking. "C'mon, we're not done yet. We still have a few more sleepers." He continued to tickle the underarms of Ari.

Cassian scowled, flipping off Griffin and rolling onto his side with a grin, "Prick, why did you do that? I was having a nice dream."

Dierra just laughed louder, even as she tried to, watching Griffin tickle Ari. She, in turn, moved to tickle Adrian, poking him in the side and tickling him gently. It was funny, to see him wake up suddenly, scowling at her and immediately starting to tickle her back in return.

Ari didn't budge though, only rolling on her side away from Griffin's hands as she continued to sleep.

"Hey D, do you have any water? Seems like Ari's a heavy sleeper…" He poked Ari in the shoulder before frowning, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"By the fire," She said between muffled laughter, trying her hardest to get away from Adrian as he tickled her sides in return. Eventually, she got away and made her way over to Cossett, a playful smile on her face as she poked the girl's side lightly.