ARENA 10-Placid Hollow

[etcircenses]

The Tributes are taken early in the morning, most of their support teams seeming in good cheer as they dress them in warm clothes, getting them to their tubes. There is obvious comfort in the familiar for the prep teams, and they chatter with, or in some cases, over the heads of their Tributes as they get them ready and load them up.

20

19

18…

If the Tributes could see the area they are passed up into, they would see a deeply overgrown, dilapidated town green, with a large bandstand rotting away in the middle. The spoils of the cornucopia are not gathered in one spot, instead scattered throughout the thigh high grass and weeds around the town green.

Around the edge of the green, the old business stand a silent sentry, looming out of the fog as it thins and winds into them, providing much desired cover.

8

7

6…

But the Tributes cannot see the ground around them. The fog, thicker even than it will be in the rest of the arena, makes the world small around them. The sound of the count down echoes strangely, the tributes seeming too close as the fog brings sounds of their breath, their coughing, the snap of twigs under their feet right to ears of the other Tributes. But with the fog bringing visibility down to only a few feet, it's hard to tell what is a true danger, and what is only the fog playing tricks on them,.

3

2

1

The gong rings out, and the countdown's voice announces "the Arena is now open". The Games have begun.

Comments

Open;

[azulescarabajo]

Jaime's heart was going at a million miles an hour by the time he emerged into the dense, humid fog. He turned his head side to side, listening, looking for something or someone--he'd expected something a bit more gladiatorial, perhaps. More Roman. Not for the last time, he silently wished Khaji was with him as he peered into the thick fog. It was humid, too. Not something he was used to. He breathed in the thick air, then tensed as the countdown ticked onwards.

"The Arena is now open." At those words he sprung from his pedestal and took off in a direction at random, keeping low and moving with purpose. Get away from the start area, figure out where he was. Get his bearings. Survive. That's all he had to do. By the time he'd gone a couple hundred feet, he was panting for breath in the fog and he paused to lean against a tree, chest heaving. He'd be momentarily safe here, right?

Open;

[amoral_savior]

Nowhere was really safe, not in the Arena. It was a hard lesson Topher had learned a few times; the best thing was to keep away from too many people and keep moving. It would be a hell of a lot easier to keep moving if the fog wasn't so thick around the Cornucopia. He wasn't stupid enough to head into the thicker fog in the hopes of getting a can of SPAM or a Swiss Army knife in exchange for a few bruises.

At the sound of the gong, Topher took off away from the crowd, hoping that the shadows that he occasionally spied were fellow Tributes and not something worse. He ran as far as he could before he finally let go and fell to his knees out of breath. This wasn't going to work for long, he needed a weapon and cover. Glancing around at the trees he wished he was better at climbing. Hell, he wished he knew how to climb. Struggling to his feet he took off further into the trees, his steps echoing around as he tried to find a good place to hole up for awhile.

Re: Open;

[azulescarabajo]

Jaime is surrounded only by the sound of his own breath, as far as he can tell. He turns to press his back into the tree, listening, waiting. This is nerve-wracking, but he can handle it. He can totally handle it. His own breath echoes in his ears for a moment longer and then he he pauses as he suddenly hears the sound of another foot step. He ducks down lower, peering into the fog to try and catch a glimpse of whoever it was. There--a human shape, dim and indistinct.

"Hey!" He calls out, keeping himself pressed behind his tree, just in case they decide to come at him.

[amoral_savior]

Topher stopped and held his breath for a long moment.

"Uh...hey?" He doesn't want to call too much attention to himself, but finding an ally early on wouldn't hurt his chances of surviving. Ducking down into the fog he loudly whispers towards the voice. "I come in peace."

[azulescarabajo]

"Yeah. Yeah, me too." Jaime replies, keeping himself low and still as possible. "...I don't want to kill anyone, okay?" He takes a breath, forces himself to calm a little as he tries to work out what's next. How can he trust this other person? What if they were lying?

"...Just, uh. Stay there. Okay?"

[amoral_savior]

Topher sighed heavily and then let out a groan. His great escape the Arena plan had taken longer than expected and he'd ended up here again; he wasn't sure if he should just give in and take himself out or try and actually survive this thing.

"I'm staying, but that's not an invitation for you to kill me!" Live. He wanted to live! "It is, however, an invitation to rest. God, I'm already tired and this stupid thing just started." Topher kicked out at the dirt and sent a rock flying off.