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

[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!"

[ruffntumblenut]

She looked at the jar, then the rats. Then the jar again. And once more at the rats.

Apparently this was a very difficult choice for her to make.

She remembered Hiccup's various warnings to her and groaned pitching the jar haphazardly to the side causing her light fixture to swing.

Inadvertently this also sent the open, industrial sized jar of nacho sauce spinning at Carlos.

[youbarium]

As the game of volleyball at the Crowning had shown, Carlos wasn't good with things flying at him. Ruffnut was just jock-like enough for Carlos to flinch as it flew at him, instinctively throwing his arms up to protect his face.

This meant the cheese splashed all over the sleeves of his wetsuit.

Almost as one, the noses of the rats turned toward Carlos. He lowered his arms and saw over a hundred mad, beady eyes staring straight at him.

"Oh, no."

He turned, and he ran.

[ruffntumblenut]

Ruffnut watched in surprise as the Rat horde turned and swarmed after Carlos like single much larger beast. Something about watching the skinny older man run was hilarious. She burst out laughing and laughed so hard that her fingers slipped from the light fixture sending her crashing to the ground.

"Ha ha ha ow. Ha ha ow!"

[youbarium]

You would think that a full-grown man could run faster than a rat. Ordinarily, you would be right. However, Carlos had the misfortune of tripping on a door frame. He had nearly made it out of the corridor, and his top half would be invisible to Ruffnut as the rats swarmed him. Actually, most of him was invisible to Ruffnut as he disappeared under the writhing mass of rodents.

He flung his arms over his face to protect his eyes, nose, and mouth, which was all he could do before tiny teeth tore through his wetsuit and into his flesh.

Ruffnut might not see this, but she would certainly hear the screams.

[ruffntumblenut]

Her laughing faded as she watched him vanish under the swarm. The smile relaxed into curiosity as her more basic and barbaric impulses took over. Without the cheese hopefully the rats wouldn't take interest in her as she foolishly stood by to see what was left of him when it was over.

The screams rang in her ears and brought back memories of people being lit on fire by dragons back home.

If nothing else, it would be an interesting show to the people in the Capitol.

[youbarium]

What was left, after a few minutes, was a bloody mangled mess of bone and tendon in the vague shape of a human body, lying on tattered strips of clothing. It was disgusting.

A blood-splattered pair of glasses clinked onto the floor as the tide of rats ebbed away, full to bursting.

So passed Carlos, regretting every test on a lab rat that he had ever done.