the speakers suddenly crackles back to life, and truffle’s ears automatically pricked up in alert. he had been waiting, along with the rest of the tributes, for his name to be called. he was meant to prove his true worth today. this was IMPORTANT. right? right. truffle took a deep breath, waiting for the voice to stop yabbering and get to announcing who would be next to go. suddenly, the answer came. “ truffle tremain of distract seven, please enter the room. the gamemakers are ready for you. “ the voice was horribly cheery and excited, and truffle had a very strong feeling he had to get into that very same mindset. in fact, he would even go to say he knew this would be useful. be confident. the gamemakers would like that. the cream and brown spotted tom arose to his paws, straightening up and focusing on the doors ahead. he stepped through, and suddenly he seemed to be almost whisked and whirled into a brand new world. a world of green and brown and more green. a world with a slippery, squishy flooring and a mossy appearance. it all felt so real truffle had to remind himself that it was all just a room. fake. but was it? he could hear something. a… well, a bird. singing. he blinked, poking his head through the thick, foresty foliage that surrounded him. his eyes locked onto a strangely beautiful red bird. he’d never truly seen anything like it, it seemed to be a bird of pure grace and fancifulness. how odd. how unlike the rest of all this. he approached the small creature, but it’s soft songs suddenly erupted into screeches of fear and internal pain. his ears pinned to the back of his head and his eyes widened rapidly. he grit his teeth and began to trot after the screeching, running bird. it didn’t seem like such an imprimant matter until he heard the water. it was off in the distance, and so odd. odd, yet fastly approaching. he whirled around, and was horrified to find a wall of water crashing and ebbing and flowing towards him. suddenly, the urgency to catch the bird seemed all the more important, and he sprinted after it as fast as he could, muscles flexing underneath his full pelt and eyes still wide in fear. fueled by pure adrenaline, he sprinted towards the bird, away from the water. that’s all truffle knew in this moment of fear and panic. to the luck of the tribute, truffle was used to running and dodging through trees, due to him having the constant chance to as a young child, running from his friends, escaping through the tall trees that covered the entire mass of his home. but this was different. sure, the pine needles and oak leaves the covered the forest floor back at home were plenty slippery, but this moss was odd, and felt strange under his paws. truffle began to slip and caught his claws in the moss, almost completely falling over his front paws. luckily, truffle was heavily adaptable, and this was something he knew. he could do this. he needed to focus. the tom began to feel the forest floor, using its squishiness as a pad to bounce his paws from, and using that same momentum to send him weaving and dancing through the trees, chasing after the bird with much urgency. truffle certainly wasn’t the fastest, but it didn’t seem to matter right now. he was gaining on the bird, when just minutes ago he was struggling to even get moving fast even to run. then suddenly, the time to leap had come. truffle recoiled as quick as possible, and using his hind legs, pounced onto the screeching, screaming bird, overshooting it a bit and flopping onto the bird with a wheeze, feeing the oxygen slip from his lungs. but nevermind that. truffle had done it. he had caught the bird, however many small inconveniences had arisen. inconveniences like that wall of rushing water, which now seemed to be retreating, disappearing even. he sighed in relief, looking down at the now silent bird with an odd sense of pride as the air that had previously been knocked straight from his lungs jumped back in. he savored the odd, humid scent that hung in the air, and quickly stood, looking around one last time then finding a door. he wanted to get out as soon as possible. he simply couldn’t handle it all. he needed a break, and whatever his score might be, he needed to prepare. art by song is no surprises by Radiohead
