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

[rediscover]

Anna's scrabbling to get up the stairs, frightened by the way the deck is shaking, terrified that someone will knife her in the back or throw her down and strangle her, or any of the myriad things she's had nightmares about. But she hears a familiar voice, and for a second she has a flashback to the last arena, when she was feverish and weak and dying. Anna turns, hand clinging to the banister so hard her knuckles are white.

"Bro," she breathes, eyes wide with fear. Already her breathing is growing ragged with panic.

[plushaeusrumpified]

As he moves towards her, he expects her to start heading off so that they can find safety together, but the closer he gets the more obvious it becomes that she's going to have a hard time moving. Anna seems to look like she's bordering on a panic attack.

Now is not the time for that. Fuck.

He moves fully towards her and turns around, hunching a little. "Piggy back ride. Now." It's a command, and he ain't playing games. They need to get away from the cornucopia right the fuck now.

[rediscover]

Anna blinks several times, before letting go the banister and hopping gratefully onto his back. "Thanks," she breathes, and then "Sorry." Her legs wrap tight around his waist as well as she can in her tight gown, and her arms snake around his neck. And, well, she's still too scared to look around them, so she buries her face into the side of his neck and holds on for dear life. She trusts him better than she trusts any of these other people, after all.

[plushaeusrumpified]

"Thank me if we don't fucking die."

He knows he's compromising himself to help Anna, but he can't just leave her there to get killed by the people fleeing the cornucopia. Once she's on him, he's off as fast as he can, which is still pretty damn fast because she feels light as a feather. He shoves the goggles onto his head for later, and keeps the knife he grabbed tight in his hand.

The halls of the ship are like a maze, but he finally feels like he's made it far enough that he can settle down just a little, so he ducks into a room that seems to be a bedroom. "We should be good here for now," he says as he sets her down. "I'm not gonna stay too long, though. I gotta go find Dave." A pause, before he adds, "You hurt or anything?"

[rediscover]

"Right," Anna mumbles, letting her fingers fist into the lapels of his tuxedo as he takes her up and through the hallways of the ship, ducking her head every so often to keep from banging it on low-hanging pipes. When he finally sets her down, she stumbles, a little confused.

"Nnno," she says, a little uncertain. "I don't think so." She hugs the life vest she'd snagged close to her chest. "Wait, you'll come back, though, right?"