Mini Arena 2

[etcircenses]

Tributes are woken early, and the hovercraft ride is a long one. Not the longest some have experienced, but they are clearly going far.

25 - 24 - 23

They land on the deck of the boat, and are ushered underneath, to the lower levels, quickly. Their stylists go from cabin to cabin, decking them out in over the top finery, before loading them into the pods installed into the corners of the rooms.

20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16

The platforms lift them up, and they are all ringed around a grand buffet table, loaded with a grand feast looking ready to sag down from the weight. Among the food are supplies, plenty of them, all for the taking.

11- 10 - 9 - 8

They've all been warned, don't step off your pedestal early. They have also been warned to put on a good show. That's all this is about, a good show. None of them have been told that there can be multiple winners this time around.

5 - 4

3

2

The sound of the gong plays crystal clear across the opening. The games have begun.

Comments

Open! Paging Nepeta, Steve, and Ruffnut specifically, but anyone is free to run into Carlos

[youbarium]

There were few problems that science could not be applied to. A sinking ship was not one of them. Carlos knew which direction the explosion had come from, and knew that the weight of the water they were taking on would cause the ship to turn vertical before it sank. Therefore, his chances of survival were significantly higher on the end of the ship away from the explosion -- the bow, if his sense of direction didn't fail him.

He didn't go up onto the deck. That would probably be faster, but it would also make him easier to target. Instead, Carlos wove his way around the maze of rooms and corridors below deck, always trying to find a path that would take him forward. Sometimes he stopped to rest, but it was never long: Carlos pressed on for hours. He kept mostly to the lower floors, figuring most Tributes would avoid them for fear of flooding.

From the Cornucopia, Carlos had a rope, a first-aid kit, an air tank, goggles, and a wetsuit. Early on, Carlos had wrapped everything in the wetsuit and was using it as a bag, but once the ship started really flooding, Carlos will be wearing what can be worn and carrying the rest under his arm. Oh, and he had his long white tuxedo jacket over the wetsuit. It wasn't a lab coat, but it would have to do.

[polyturtle]

Meanwhile, Don might be running past Carlos, as he weaved his own way through the corridors. In fact, he was so intent on getting to the door, he was quite close to just running into him.

"Watch out-!"

[youbarium]

[OOC: disregard earlier description; I was a dingus and somehow didn't notice that districts are color-coded. Carlos is in a black suit. Herp.]

"Whoa!" Carlos didn't dodge in time, and the turtle juggernaut sent him careening into the corridor wall with a thud. "Aaagh!"

He wasn't seriously hurt, just winded and sore where the air tank he was carrying had jabbed into his ribs. Carlos wouldn't be running anywhere for a few minutes at least: that much was obvious from his wheezing breaths.

[polyturtle]

((OOC: No problem!))

He was going to win this time. Except he kind of ran into Carlos.

"Shell-"

Don was still standing, pretty much no worse for wear. In spite of that - and also seeing what the snafu had caused - he still felt somewhat like he needed to make up for possibly breaking all of Carlos' ribs. The least he could do, really.

He brought his hand out to grab Carlos' collar.

"...it all. All right, come on, I'll get you on the next floor!"

And then people wondered why, when he wasn't snapping, he wasn't winning the Arenas.

[youbarium]

"What -- hey!" Carlos protested as his collar was grabbed and he was all but swept off his feet. He knew that Donatello was trustworthy -- Brainy trusted Don, so Carlos did, too -- so he didn't doubt the turtle's intentions. However, his makeshift bag of supplies nearly fell out of his arms and he had to scrabble to keep hold of it as he was hauled forward. "Donatello -- Donatello, it's all right, I'll be fine--"

It was pretty true. Mostly true. He was a little sore, but apart from some nasty bruises no real harm had been done.

[polyturtle]

That did get Don to slow down, a little bit.

"Are you sure?"

[youbarium]

"Yeah," he said. "I mean, I'm a little winded, but I think I'll be okay. But if you'd like, we can go up to the next floor together." Carlos rubbed gingerly at his ribs, assessing the damage: yes, it was minimal.

Hopefully this works!

[whoseesbynight]

It hasn't really been a good day for Nepeta. Oh, she knows very well that no one gets any say in what any of the Arenas are like, but ships very rarely bode well. And not even the fact that there aren't any seadwellers here that she knows of can entirely diminish the sudden stab of fear when the ship starts to sink.

Still, she does her best to avoid the flooding, but her luck only lasts so long - she finds herself in a corridor that's rapidly filling with water, and there's not very much that she can do about it either. Especially when she's starting to run out of higher points to get too, and can't swim besides.

totes!

[youbarium]

A dark shape swims through one of the side doors, and a curly-haired head breaks the water. His eyes widen when he sees Nepeta. Quickly, Carlos swims over to where she's backed up, whether it's on a table or just against a wall, and pulls his glasses up onto his forehead to reveal a familiar face.

"Hey. Nepeta," he says, double-checking mentally to make sure he has the name right. "You don't look so good. Need a hand?"

[whoseesbynight]

The sight of a dark shape coming in through one of the doors isn't a comfortable one. In fact, Nepeta is halfway through pressing herself further back against the wall when Carlos' head breaks the water, and she's not ashamed to say that there's a sigh of relief to see someone she knows. It might be a small thing, but it's still better than some of the other things that she'd been imagining.

She nods at the question, though. "I'm purretty sure I do."

She's not getting out of the room without help, that much is certain, and she doesn't want to die cold and alone, if she can at all help.

[youbarium]

"Here. Take these." He hands her a pair of goggles and an oxygen tank. "We might have to go under to get out of here. I'm guessing you can't swim?"

Given that she's the most cat-like insect he has ever seen, and she's also very panicked by the water, the evidence all points to no.

[whoseesbynight]

Nepeta blinks, but takes both the goggles and the oxygen tank without so much as a second thought. She isn't entirely certain what to do with the latter, but the goggles are easy enough to put on.

"There was nefur any need to learn," she answers, with an apologetic sort of shrug. Besides, there's no one she can think of who would have even bothered to teach an oliveblood to swim back home, even if she'd wanted to.

[youbarium]

"Then the best way to do this is going to be with you on my back," Carlos says, nodding. "I'll do the swimming. You just hold on."

He'll turn so that she can get hold of his shoulders. He's just in a wetsuit, so she might have to wrap arms around his neck to get a good grip, but holding on won't be impossible.

[ruffntumblenut]

So far...Ruffnut had rather enjoyed the rats on this ship.

They'd proven useful weapons and distractions as every so often she would catch one and throw it at another tribute before running away. And now one had led her to a room with food!

Unfortunately the room was swarming with more rats so she snagged a jar of something warm and yellow marked "Nacho Sauce" and tried to run with it.

As it so happened, the Rats were rather fond of that particular sauce and chased Ruffnut down two halls and up a flight of stairs before she tried to jump across a gap in the floor and wound up hanging from a light fixture.

The rats swarmed under her, climbing ontop of one another to overcome the gap and become a mountain of swarming, writhing teeth and claws and wet fur. Swallowing hard Ruffnut inched a little further up the light fixture and clutched the sauce stubbornly with one hand. She brought the jar to her mouth and began to gnaw on the lid in an effort to open it.

If she was gonna die, she was at least gonna die knowing what Nacho tasted like.

[youbarium]

Carlos was headed in the opposite direction; as he rounded the corner, he was confronted with the whole scene.

Good god. Those swarming rats were disgusting. Carlos had to suppress a shudder. However, it looked like another Tribute was trapped up there, and Carlos had been helping out a fair number of Tributes in this Arena. Maybe it was penance for the lies he had been telling in the Capitol, he didn't know. Anyway, he called up to her.

"Are you all right?" he shouted, from what he considered a safe distance. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the cleverest opener, but it would do.

[ruffntumblenut]

Hearing the voice Ruffnut craned her head around till she could see Carlos safe and sound not too far away, but too far for her to drop and run to without being eaten alive.

"Yeah I'm OK." She called back spitting out the lid she had successfully pulled off (Strong viking teeth).

After a pause she corrected herself.

"OK well not really no. How are you?" Her voice was gruff and gravely like she spent alot of time shouting but other then that she didn't seem too scared yet.

[youbarium]

Cue a confused look from Carlos.

"Do you have any kind of plan for getting down?" he called.

[ruffntumblenut]

"Erm..."

While she thought she dipped a pair of fingers into her jar and popped them into her mouth sucking the cheese off them. Some drops fell onto the swarm and they went mad ripping a few rats apart to get to the sauce before they resumed trying to eat her.

"Not really, but this stuff is pretty great." She commented gesturing with the jar. "I dunno what a nacho is but I like it."

[youbarium]

Like a vast scientific sunrise, comprehension dawned on Carlos's face.

"Oh, I see," he said. "It's the food they're after. Quick -- you have to throw it away from you! That'll distract them long enough for you to run!"

[aboveangrybees]

You know, Steve isn't even sure how this situation happened. Probably doesn't matter; he got separated from Joan and in his injured state let this happen. Now here he is, getting increasingly trapped in a sparely furnished room with the door at the end of the wall he can't reach. Usually, that wouldn't be a problem, but one of his arms is out of commission and he just doesn't have the leverage with the other to reach anything to pull himself up.

This was bad, really bad, if the boat tipped much further, Steve won't have a chance in hell at getting his footing and reaching the door.

He could die here. Alone, drowning in near freezing water. Bit too familiar for his taste.

"Shit," he tries again to use the desk to push off and propel himself along the slippery floor and to the door but falls short once again and slides back down the incline. Well, might as well try calling out, "Hello? Any chance there's someone who doesn't want me dead around?"

[youbarium]

Carlos had been carefully picking his way along the near right-angle that the wall and the floor now made. He is grateful, in hindsight, that he had chose to take a length of rope: it had been invaluable more than once, now that the ship was tilting further and further.

He's just passing the door Steve's trapped behind and wouldn't have given it a second glance, except that he hears a familiar voice.

He peers, almost sideways, through the door that hangs open into the room, and Carlos takes in the situation.

"It's not very likely," he calls down, answering Steve's question, "but it is certainly not impossible." Yes. That is sufficiently scientific and dramatic enough for a situation like this.

[aboveangrybees]

Steve looks up at the other man with quite the shocked expression. Honestly, he hadn't expected anyone to even be around, let alone stop in their own efforts to get out of here, but there Carlos was. And that reply, Steve can't stop from breathing a soft laugh as he feels relief flood through him. Sure, Carlos could still leave him to die, but he really doubts it.

"So, does this make it your turn to save me from a watery grave?" Because yes, he sees the similarities here.

[youbarium]

"That appears to be the situation, yes." Carlos knows smiling in this situation is a little inappropriate, but he can't help it. It's nice to run into a friend, and it is really nice to be able to help that friend. Especially considering how often Carlos finds himself in a position where he cannot help.

"I knew that the ship would tilt as it took on more water," he said, reaching down to grab something. "So I figured this would come in handy."

A length of narrow but strong rope is tossed down to Steve, uncoiling as it slides down the wet, sharply-tilted floor. Carlos has a tight grip on one end; the other will reach Steve easily.

"Hold on, I'm going to anchor it to something. It won't do any good if I just get pulled in there with you." Carlos will disappear from sight for a moment, the only sign of his continued presence the wiggling of the rope where it disappears through the door.

[aboveangrybees]

"No, can't imagine it would," Steve smirks a little at the thought. Carlos might look pretty in shape, but Steve is very heavy and he knows it. "So long as it's tied down, I can pull myself out," even one armed, Steve has more than enough strength in his body to do it, he just needs the leverage to get out of here. One handed wasn't offering much chance to get a hold on anything slippery. He'd have had to wait til the room filled up and swim out, but there's a chance he would have froze before then. Or the boat sink.

So, he takes hold of the other end, waiting for Carols' sign to start climbing. Once he gets it, he'll start his climb with some difficulty.

[youbarium]

Fortunately, there is an exposed bit of pipe up near the ceiling that Carlos can climb up to. He secures the rope as best he can -- nothing fancy, no boy-scout rope tricks, but it is a solid knot and it will hold -- then goes back to the open door.

"Okay," he says, putting a hand on the rope just in case. "You're good to go."

As Steve climbs, Carlos will be there by the opening, watching the hall to make sure no one sneaks up on them, and waiting for Steve to get close enough for Carlos to grab him and help haul him through.