thearena | ARENA 11-PaneMall

ARENA 11-PaneMall

It’s pre-dawn when the Tributes are roused from their beds and sent to their tubes. Those who’d been imprisoned for the past few weeks had their heads covered before transport to the staging area, and there’s an air of confusion surrounding just about everything that’s happening until the stylists and managers arrive on the scene and try to calm everyone down. The reunions may be happy, but they're sadly very temporary.

The first clue that something strange is happening comes from their clothing: figure skating costumes with bright colors and sequins and ice skates strapped to their feet. Some may even find it difficult to stand with the blades on their feet, but as they're placed into the arena, all becomes clear. The mall skating rink seems quiet and quaint, especially after weeks of uncertainty and stress. Too bad the peace and quiet can’t last.

20

19

18...

Above the ice rink (which houses all 100+ Tributes) there are floors with shops looking over them. Large, bright fluorescent lights dot the multi-storied ceiling and create a warm, nostalgic glow to the place. Benign music is piped in from various hidden speakers to compliment the intended mood of fun and commerce.

17

16

15…

The countdown continues and the Tributes, some of whom haven’t seen each other in weeks, stare at one another helplessly. That is, until one of them boldly decides to speak.

"We're expected to fight here today," Steve's voice suddenly cuts through the tension in the room. It commands attention without demanding it, a conviction of truth in his tone.

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13

12...

"To turn on each other through fear and self preservation. And we could give them what they want. A bloodbath," here he pauses longer, lets the reality of his statements sink in. Let people realize what he's saying, that this is a choice.

"Or we can choose not to fight. To instead work together," an option so many seem not to even realize they have. "No one here has to die by our hands today," he knows his speaking won't be without consequence, but he does want to believe he'll be the only one to pay for this.

"This is a risk. One many of you are hesitant to trust, let alone take. But everything we do here is a risk to ourselves and those around us," nothing in the arena comes without putting your life on the line.

"I, for one, am willing to take this risk, to choose not to fight," Steve looks around the room, making eye contact with a few people as he does. He's not telling anyone what to do, this is for them to decides for themselves; their freedom of choice.

But he's got faith in the his fellow tributes. "And I've got a feeling I'm not alone.”

… 3

2

1…

After the countdown ends, there’s a moment of utter still and silence. Then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOM

The room seems to erupt with noise and concussive force. The explosions are so violent that the muzak is paused in its tracks and shakes some of the Tributes off of their pedestals, and after the ice fog and smoke clears, it becomes apparent that fifteen of the Tribute pedestals and exploded there on the ice rink. Fifteen corpses lie mangled on the bloody ice: Deanna Winchester, Danny Fenton, Fili, Kili, Kain Highwind, Perry Kelvin, Julian Bashir, Clint Barton, Karkat Vantas, Sirius Black, Rahm Kota, Cinderella, Bunnymund, Robin, Rock Lee, and Rokk Krin.

The center of the ice rink remains completely intact and stocked with a few dozen keys of varying shapes and sizes. This is the Cornucopia and the Gamemakers are compelling the Tributes to skate for it.

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

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"YOU! ORC! He's DEAD - murdered! Are you happy now ? You have what you want - me! There is no Orc any more. Oh, you HATEFUL boy! He died with lies on my tongue! Are you happy ?"

Eponine gets right up in Dave's face, shouting at him, wincing as her burn was forced to stretch and crack, making her lips bleed in the blistered corner, and puss to ooze from her cheek.

It takes a moment for Dave to process everything about that, it's jarring to think he's been out of the loop for so long. Orc is dead. Fuck. The last thing he ever did for the guy is try to take his girl. Eponine barely needs to blame him, because he's cussing himself out in an instant, a mutter of a swear escaping his lips. Then the vicious words hit him and it's impossible to hide the hurt in his eyes as he searches his mind for a way to respond. He's sad, he's angry, he's hurt and he couldn't hate himself more than he does right now.

"No." Eloquent, really. "They didn't just- I didn't even know you were coming- I would have fucking helped." His voice is shaking and he's frustrated that he's losing his composure so soon. He clenches his hands into fists, drawing in a breath to stop himself from cracking more. "Do you really think that would make me frigging happy? You think I'm like that? Like I want him dead so I can fucking snatch you up?" There's a resounding urge to say fuck you and run, but he's stuck here.

"Help? Don't you think you've done enough already? GOD! Dave! The stupid lump died to save ME! He loved me! And you kissed me - you made me say - GOD! Forever and ever will we have to think that - that that is what you have done to my poor Charles."

She spits at Dave, and goes to shove him again. All of those emotions, her hurt and her grief and her guilt and her fear, that she's tried to hide since that first network post, come bubbling out in a storm of aggression against Dave, and she goes to hit him.

"I HATE YOU for doing this to me. I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!"

"I didn't make you do anything, Epo-" Fuck, he can't French. "Ep." He cuts off curtly, forcing himself to take a break again. There's a thin glimmer of logic telling him that she's wrong, that he doesn't need to blame himself and that this is out of grief. Naturally, that voice is just being clouded by doubt and self-loathing.

Again he's searching for words, the logical part of his mind trying to put forward suggestions while he shuts them all down in lieu of wanting to be angry. He doesn't get a chance to speak when she spits at him, and his nose crinkles in surprise and annoyance. Is that all he is to her now? The hit makes it obvious and he's stumbling backward, falling on the ground with a thud and quickly moving to shuck off the skates that ruin his balance so he can stand again.

"Yeah?" He holds his hands out to his sides in challenge. "Well join the fucking club, because I'm the goddamn President of it. Sorry you made the stupid-ass choice of falling for a guy who APPARENTLY possesses the profound ability to KILL PEOPLE without. fucking. BEING THERE." He shakes his hands with every yelled word for emphasis. "WHOOPS, right?"

"You made me tell you that I loved you. Same as Howard did." Eponine puts her hands on her hips, before impatiently wiping away the little trickle of blood dripping over her chin, and the tears away from her right eye. Her left side is too painful to touch.

As Dave begins to yell, she takes a step back too, holding her skates, blades towards Dave, in case she needs to fend him off. She doesn't really think Dave'll hurt her, but then, she didn't think Dave would yell, either, so it is better to be safe.

"Don't you DARE say 'WHOOPS'. Don't you bloody dare! You know what they did to him? They blasted the rocks off him and left him to bleed. And they made me watch it, every last fucking breath." She swears properly, uncharacteristic for Eponine who always tries so hard not to use slang.

"He's DEAD - DAVE, he's never coming back!"

"If I had to make you do it than maybe, just maybe, you didn't actually mean it." He rolls his eyes, brows knitted together in annoyance. Everything she's saying right now is painful, jabbing at insecurities with deadly precision. "Just a hunch."

Yet, when he sees that wound on her face, he feels guilty, and bad and wrong and like he should have been there instead of Orc. He feels badly for how well he did with Bro, for how little they suffered for the same crime.

"I know, alright? I fucking know. I know what they're capable of I just-" Don't know why it's my fault, but he can't get that out without feeling dismissive somehow. "What am I supposed to do? I can't turn back time- not here. I'm fucking stuck with the shit I did. So what? You want me to apologise? You want me to make it my fault? Well fine, take my gracious apology for striding in and turning everything to shit. My bad. There, take it and run with it. I'm fucking sorry." He raises his hands in surrender. "You gonna kill me now? Think it'll fix anything?"

Edited 2014-08-19 07:04 (UTC)

"I didn't mean a fucking word of it." Eponine spits again, viciously. "So think what you will. Perhaps I am really just a slut who likes to kiss boys. That is all you are, just a stupid little boy, too scared to go with a woman when she opens her legs so willingly for you, over a pair of stupid spectacles." She lashes out with one of her boots, just to keep Dave at bay.

"You come any closer and I shall make you into a little girl. How is your fucking apology going to bring him back? How is it going to take away what we did? You don't say, 'so what?' You beg forgiveness from Orc. You hear me? You apologise to my Orc for what you did to us."

She hardly needs to brandish the skate at him after having said all of that. The words are as effective as a sucker punch to the gut and it shows in his face. He looks angry, hurt and finally just defeated. He needs to tighten his mouth in a frown to stop anything else from slipping. His shoulders slump just a little, because he's losing the drive to fight back.

"Fuck you." He spits out, giving her a bitter look with his intensely red eyes. He wants it to look and sound venomous, but he sounds more defeated than anything. "If you didn't mean it then you lied to him for no good reason." He points out, a slight quiver in his voice when he does. "So ladies first, go ahead and tell him how you fucked up too."

The cornucopia is such a mass of confusion and anxiety for Elsa, and after the spectacularly horrifying start, she's quick to lose sight of the one person she's had her eye on from the start- Dave. She thought she would never see him again, so when she does, she nearly bolts off of the podium to hug him- but remembers that's a bad idea.

Then the mass of confusion, and it's only after she's somehow acquired a key that she manages to find him again. She's there as fast as her legs can carry her, but it quickly becomes apparent that she's invading on a Moment.

One that... doesn't seem all that happy, when she gets closer. Elsa's eyebrows furrow, and she stops a foot or two away from them.

"Are you both okay?" she asks, her voice hesitant.

Edited 2014-08-19 07:33 (UTC)

"Me - me, he knows I'm a whore. He KNOWS it - GOD, the whole WORLD knows it! There is no lady here to go first - he shouldn't believe a thing against me anyway, the idiot. GOD - It's YOU - boys like you, who think you can do as you want always - it's YOUR fault. You tell him you are - OH -"

Eponine whips round at the sound of Elsa's voice. She had been oblivious to everything but Dave and the boiling anger and the guilt and the self-loathing surging through her body and out through her mouth.

"YOU GO AWAY, MISS. GO AWAY! This is not for you. It is for this cretin, and me. It is for the slugs of the underworld, and the butterflies I have dragged down with me. GO AWAY!" She brandishes her boot at Elsa as well, just to illustrate her point.

It's funny how all at once, you can go from feeling extreme relief and happiness at seeing someone, to the complete opposite. When Eponine suddenly starts yelling at her, it feels both like a slap in the face and as if a bucket of ice has been thrown on her- and she rarely feels cold, so that says a lot.

Through the surprise and hurt, she registers the fact that Eponine called Dave a cretin, and more than anything that's what gets to her. You can yell at her and insult her all you want, that won't bother her nearly as much as hurting or insulting someone she loves. Elsa's eyes widen, and her eyes go from Eponine, to Dave, to the boot she's brandishing.

Suddenly, it becomes extremely apparent how unhinged Eponine is- she'd known all along that the girl has issues, but she's never felt in danger before. But that's not what she cares about right now- no, this is clearly a confrontation between her and Dave, and if Eponine is brandishing a weapon, that is not okay. Before she can even think about what she's doing, she's sliding in between the two, moving in front of Dave.

"You're not going to hurt him," she says, an edge to her voice. There's a lot of things that scare her- and it's true, right now she's terrified- but she's sure of one thing, and that's that Dave will not be getting hurt right now. Not after it's been so long since she's seen him and he's endured god knows what, and her voice is firm to reflect that. "I think you should go."

"Yeah? You tell me AGAIN what to do, Miss? 'Stay away from my sister', 'Don't hurt Dave!' God, you think you can tell me what to do?" Eponine throws her head back in sheer frustration.

"Well, I am FED UP with listening. I am FED UP being told always what to do. I am FED UP with people bossing me about and making me do things I do not want to do. So I SHAN'T go away, for Dave should know what he has done. YOU ought to go away - this is nothing for you. It's a biscuit! GO AWAY."

She slips back into argot-translated-into-English, which is why she mentions biscuits. It means that there is nothing for Elsa there, to leave it be. Truthfully, Eponine has no intention of (physically) hurting anyone, including Dave, but if waving the stupid shoes around gets his attention, then she will do it.

"And YOU!" She peers around Elsa. "You are silent now a lady fights your battles. HA - I knew you were but a child."

It's true, he can't deny that he fell silent when Elsa approached. It's been hard to get a word in, but he hasn't really tried. Having her show up out of the blue reminds him that they aren't alone, that the Capitol is probably watching this and laughing. Deep down he's running out of things to say, he isn't as hot-headed as Eponine and his desire to fight is fizzling fast. It's replaced by nothing but hurt and an overwhelming feeling of stupidity and naivete.

He'd been gearing up to tell her to back off before she brought him back into it, though he hadn't been particularly ashamed to stand behind Elsa until she brought it up like that. It certainly has nothing to do with her being a lady and everything to do with this not being her problem.

Stepping out from behind Elsa, he avoids any chance of eye contact with her and focuses it entirely on Eponine. "Leave her out of it, you can't blame her for freaking out a little when you're brandishing a boot-knife." He says that as calmly as he can, searching for what he wants to say. He doesn't understand, he doesn't know what she wants. How can he argue when he's this fucking lost? "Are you going to follow me around the whole Arena reminding me of what a massive fuck up I am? What do you want, Eponine? He can't fucking hear me. You want me to just tell the cameras that I'm an asshole and hope someone drops an anvil on me?" He glances upward like he expects it to happen right now before he looks back at her. "I get it, I'm a stupid fucking baby who forced you to lie to me about liking me and because of that I get to carry the weight of your dead boyfriend on my shoulders until it suits you. Nice. Can we drop it now?"

If getting yelled at felt like a slap in the face, it's nothing compared to when Eponine brings up Anna. She can't help but feel a prickle of annoyance at that, because that's not what she said. All she'd said is that maybe teaching Anna to pickpocket wasn't a good idea, she'd tried to smooth over the situation, but Eponine hadn't listened. And now she's throwing it in her face?

It just puts Elsa even more on edge. "That isn't what I-" But before she can get it out, Eponine is looking round her and yelling at Dave again, and Elsa bristles. She doesn't like the way Eponine is treating Dave, but beyond that she can't understand why it's happening. Until Dave finally decides to speak up, that is.

Suddenly it all makes sense now, at least a little. Eponine has every right to be torn up about Orc's death, but she's blaming Dave for it? That makes her angry, because she's quite sure Dave had nothing at all to do with that. "You can't honestly think Dave is to blame for that?" she asks, her voice a mixture of disbelief and anger, looking for Dave to Eponine, now that he's out from behind her. She doesn't like that, but there's nothing she can do about it.

"I know you're hurt," she says, leveling her gaze on Eponine, "but that does not give you the right to go blaming other people for what happened." She can feel adrenaline coursing through her, the kind you only get during an intense confrontation. "Do you really think Orc would like this? Do you think he would be happy with what you're doing?"

"Oh, you deserve a slap!" Eponine seethes as Dave prattles on. "Of COURSE you defend Elsa. OF COURSE you choose her over me. She is beautiful, yes? She has no ugly burn on her cheek. PAH!" She spits at Dave again.

But Elsa... Elsa shuts Eponine right up. She knows that Elsa is right, that Dave isn't to blame for Orc's death - that really, it's her. But Eponine doesn't want to think about that. At all.

"I were his princess, Miss... Someone's princess anyway..." She has to choke away the lump rapidly forming in her throat.

"Oh, go away, Miss."

Somehow he knew that nothing he had to say would be well received, he doesn't know why she keeps demanding responses from him only to shut them down with threats. He's starting to care less when she spits at him, but it certainly does wonders to make him feel like the worthless cretin she's painting him as.

He liked her. Honestly. He hadn't had a sincere crush on someone like that since Terezi. She used to make him feel so good about himself, but now he knows it's all been lies and he berates himself for believing it for a second. He's all kinds of angry and utterly crushed and the last thing he wants is for anyone to know that.

A frustrated sigh hisses through his teeth and he clenched his fists to stop himself from flipping out. "Are you fucking crazy, Ep?" His brows knit together. "It has nothing to do with the way she looks and everything to do with the way you're acting. I'm gonna ask you this one more time, so fucking answer or piss off WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT?" He holds his hands out to his sides in exasperation. "You lead me on, you lied to me and you're blaming me for falling for it. If you want me to feel like an asshole, mission accomplished. So figure out what the fuck you want or get out of my fucking face."

Edited 2014-08-19 23:36 (UTC)

"Enough."

It comes out as more of a whisper, inaudible over the sound of their voices. This is getting to be too much. It's been a long time since she's been this worked up over something- perhaps as far back as her coronation party when she lost control and yelled at Anna. Her breathing is growing heavier and she can feel the fear and anxiety creeping up.

But she won't let it consume her. Not now, not today.

"Enough. Enough- ENOUGH!" She finally gets out, and it's a yell, louder than she's done in a long time. "Both of you!" Elsa's had enough of this, enough of Eponine. She'd tried very hard to have patience with her before, even if a few things rattled her, but no longer. Elsa isn't humoring her or overlooking things anymore, not when she's verbally and damn near physically abusing Dave. "This conversation is over. I have had enough of you yelling and saying things you're both going to regret later, so- so- you're done."

Elsa draws herself up to her full height, which is a few inches taller thanks to the ice skates she's wearing, and she rounds on Eponine. "You," she says as she moves closer to Eponine, and her voice is firm. She'll be damned if she'll be afraid of Eponine just because she's brandishing a skate. "You go away. " Elsa isn't usually one to issue threats, but she's over this all. "Or I will make you." She doesn't have a weapon, but she has passionate anger and some fairly long nails on her side that she's confident will be enough if it comes down to it.

"You call me crazy?" Suddenly, Eponine doesn't sound furious. She sounds upset. A tear trickles down her right cheek, and she sniffs, wiping the tear roughly with the back of her hand. It's horrible to be called crazy by the boy she thought she loved.

"I... I don't know. I..." She steps back a little bit. She has no business here. She can't even think - all she wants is someone else to have all this guilt she's feeling. She'd been hoping it'd leave her if she passed it to Dave, but it's still there, lying heavy in her stomach and making her feel sick.

She would have gone if Elsa hadn't spoken again. But being told to get lost by a woman who has nothing to do with the situation winds her up again, and she spits at Elsa this time, fury once more blazing in her eyes.

"You. What should you do, your majesty? Chop off my head? Well, I am not afraid of you, and I shall speak to Dave how I wish, and I shall go when I wish to, and not when you tell me. If you dislike it, you should not have got involved."

Dave wants to say he calls it how he sees it, but he can't bring himself to when she starts to tear up over such a flippant remark. He feels like he's held back from making petty jabs for the most part, even when she twisted and poked at insecurities like he wasn't anything more than dirt to her. It isn't fair, it really isn't fair. He shouldn't feel like he needs to keep his mouth shut, but he isn't the one grieving.

He's just so mad, he could say anything at this point and not feel as if he'd regret it, but Elsa involving herself is like a bucket of cold water over his head. He can see what it's doing to her to listen to this and the way she speaks makes him feel as if he's acted badly somehow, like he said too much and went too far. It's a fear of expressing himself telling him that, mostly. But this is getting too much for him anyway.

He opens his mouth to exit himself from the conversation, but he can't get words out. He chokes on whatever he wanted to say and sputters and then it's just impossible for him to stand around and feel stupid for not being able to talk. He takes a few steps backward to properly detach himself before pointing at Eponine. "We're done here." And now he's looking to Elsa. "Go find Anna." He can't bring himself to say something hateful, he just turns and starts to jog before breaking into a sprint away. He isn't going to snap now, not for Eponine and not on the cameras. He just needs to remove himself from the source of the pain so he can start pretending this never happened.

This is above and beyond any sort of situation that Elsa ever expected herself to be in and when Eponine rounds on her and spits, Elsa comes very close to snapping. Her hand twitches, like she wants to slap Eponine and she can feel anger coursing through her in a way she hasn't ever experienced before. Any affection she had for Eponine is gone right now, replaced only by anger and resentment for... for everything. She'd tried so hard to make things better for the girl, cleaned her room while overlooking so many of the bad things Eponine had done- including teaching her sister how to pickpocket. All because she felt pity for her.

But now, that's all gone. Eponine has yelled at, threatened and abused the both of them, verbally and physically and now she's gone and done the most disrespectful thing that Elsa feels can be done- spit on her. It's one thing seeing her do it to Dave, but to have it done to herself just pushes Elsa over the edge in a lot of ways. It's only when Dave's voice registers through the pounding in her ears that she stops.

Go find Anna.

Of anything he could say, it's the most sobering and makes her realize how close she came to losing control and doing something she would regret very much. No matter how angry she is with Eponine, doing something like hurting her is not right and she doesn't want to stoop to such a level. By the time she looks at Dave, he's already running off and there's a strong part of her that wants to go after him, but she doesn't. After a confrontation like this, she would want to be alone and she feels like he would be similar. But she will find him eventually, that much is certain.

Elsa turns back to Eponine, her expression growing cold. "You should be ashamed of yourself," she hisses. "I really am telling you this now. You stay away from Anna." Because after this, her trust is shot. "Anna and Dave both. If I see you anywhere near them, Eponine, I swear to it I'll make sure you never do again." Elsa usually doesn't like making threats, but right now she's beyond caring about that.

It's her turn to turn around and start heading away as quickly as possible, to do exactly as Dave told her to and find Anna.

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