Arena 12 - The Spaceport

[etcircenses]

As usual the Tributes are woken up early for the start of the arena, leaving the Tribute Centre before dawn. A few hours ride in a hovercraft delivers them to their destination where their excited prep teams will outfit them in skintight suits that are colour coordinated by District (D1 is White, D2 is Red, D3 is Orange, D4 is Aqua, D5 is Purple, D6 is Pink, D7 is Light Green, D8 is Blue, D9 is Yellow, D10 is Dark Green, D11 is Lavender, and D12 is Black) over which they will be put into what is instantly identifiable as a spacesuit, complete with oxygen tank and helmet before being loaded into the tubes.

They rise up into what appears to be outer space and immediately upon emerging from the tubes Tributes will find themselves floating upwards with a length of rope the only thing holding them to their podiums. The countdown crackles out from speakers built into each Tributes helmet.

20

19

18…

The Cornucopia sits in the middle of a dusty crater with buildings surrounding it, made up of a number of chained down cases and cubes in limited numbers. Cubes which sharp-eyed Tributes will note look like they fit into the slots beside the doors that lead into the spaceport.

8

7

6…

The mirrored visors of the uniformly white spacesuits make it impossible to tell friend from foe. Tributes fighting for goods will have to risk harming their friends but the alternative, floating off into space or suffocating when their oxygen runs out, leaves them little choice.

3

2

1…

The gong rings out and the countdown’s voice announces, “the Arena is now open” before the line goes dead. The Games have begun.

Comments

Megan Gwynn | OTA

[soultospare]

How had she escaped the Cornucopia unscathed? How had she made it out with a case of supplies and not so much as a scratch on her? It seemed next to impossible that she'd survive all the mayhem, yet there she was, safely through the sealed doors that led to the creepiest, most sci-fi looking space station imaginable. She was hesitant to remove her helmet, scared that there might be some sort of weird chemical mixture to the air that would make breathing it unsafe, but she finally did so after getting her bearings and finding a place where she could back into a corner for safety.

It was only once she removed her helmet that she noticed the familiar sparkly residue left inside of it. Her black eyes went wide in astonishment, wings fluttering excitedly. "Hello? What's this?" She had her dust back. And if she had her dust back...

Excited, fluttering wings meant she was airborne in an instant. She could fly! Her powers were back, baby! Maybe she actually stood a chance in the arena after all!

[infinitemayonnaise]

With the return of powers has come the return of the drawbacks to those powers. Like making sure the magical creature who lived inside of you had enough other magical things to eat before he ate you, too. And people came back from this Arena death thing, didn't they? Not that Nitou has to like any of these things.

But Chimera's been sniffing around and is nudging him in the direction of what he claims would be a source of something he could eat, and so Nitou's following those directions, and...crap, that's a teenage girl. He hesitates there for a moment and looks down at his stomach. "Really, dude? Really?" Attacking a teenager to drain her mana, that's what they're reduced to?

[soultospare]

Megan, meanwhile, remained blissfully unaware that she was being hunted. She was too busy being thrilled at the prospect of flight, at regaining her powers, and therefore her chance at actually surviving this time. Without a great deal of caution, she set about exploring her surroundings in search of a hiding spot, paying little heed to the young man following her and obeying the call of his stomach.

"Alright, Megs. Think, think, think. If you were Wolverine and you were in a death arena, where would you hide?" No wait. "Stupid question. If you were Cyclops, where would you hide?" Better.

[infinitemayonnaise]

Okay, so...she hadn't noticed him. That was good. That was really good, and...aw, who was he kidding? He couldn't just jump some kid. Maybe he should make sure Chimera was homing in on the right thing? Yes. Good plan. Best plan. "Hey!" he called out to her. "You a magic-user?"

Not at all suspicious in the least, right?

[soultospare]

She stopped short, bouncing into her tidiest defensive stance, just in case this dude was up to something fishy. She didn't recognize him or anything, and he didn't exactly look frightening, but one should never judge a book by it's cover... Fists clenched, she called out her answer.

"'Course I am. I'm a fairy. Isn't it obvious?"

Because duh.

[infinitemayonnaise]

Sadly, this dude was up to something very fishy--he just had a really weird way of going about it. "Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought." And there was a sigh as he looked down at his stomach. "Alright, alright already, keep your whiskers on!"

And he looked back at Megan. "Alright, look. Since I'm a nice guy, I'm gonna give you the count of ten for a head start." He shrugs theatrically. "It's nothing personal, but I kinda gotta eat you now." There were probably a thousand better ways he could have put that, but he wasn't very good at this. At getting mana without just fighting a Phantom in a cut-and-dried fight.

[wizardplease]

Having lost a scuffle with an ambushing troll with a switchblade, Haruto is making his way through the halls with gritted teeth, determined to find someone or something familiar so that he can regroup and think of a plan to survive this. As luck would have it, he can hear Nitou's voice echoing up ahead. Nitou and.... and the other one sounded familiar, too.

"Nitou!" He picks up his pace, holding his bloodied, not terribly useful right arm closer. When he finally rounds the bend of the corridor and sees that it's not just him there but Megan, he stops short. Megan, who is flying. That's... that's nice. That's really something. "...Nitou. What are you doing." This is not so much a question as a poorly-worded statement intended to say 'Nitou you are probably doing something ridiculous, please stop.'

[soultospare]

"You've got to eat me?" Megan leveled him with an incredulous look, arms crossed in a mix of disbelief or mockery. "Well, that's a new one. What's wrong? The dehydrated apples disagree with you?"

But just in case he was actually serious, she bounced up and took to the air, not very far off the ground, mind, but high enough to float delicately above the floor. Her black eyes narrowed and she scowled at Nitou, who was clearly not a very nice person at all. "If you want me, you've got to catch me first. And trust me, Mister Big Shot, I don't need a head start."

She was just an instant from casting her teleportation spell and vanishing into another section of the space station when Haruto caught her attention. At last, someone sane! "Hey! Mister Wizard! Put a muzzle on your buddy! He wants to go full Hannibal Lecter on me!"

[infinitemayonnaise]

Haruto's entrance momentarily distracts Nitou, stopping him from doing something like transforming and declaring that it is lunchtime and then pursuing Megan further. It helps that Chimera would like to try snacking on Dragon. And before he can ask what happened to Haruto, well..."Chimera's gotta eat, man!" Nitou whines and rubs his belly. It is at this point that he returns his full attention to Megan. "And I'm not gonna eat eat you, I just gotta drain off your mana!" Which is probably fatal. Which is okay, because people come back from death after these things, right?

[wizardplease]

At this range, it's a lot easier to figure out what's going on, and Haruto doesn't like it. Damn it, he should have realized that if he's got Dragon back, then the other wizard has Chimera. Not good. He rushes the rest of the way forward, grabbing for Nitou's shoulder with his left hand, intent on holding him back. Or at least shaking him around a little to get some sense into him. "You're not eating her! What the hell?!"

He then shoots a quick, really apologetic look at Megan. "I've got this. Go, go!" One might wonder how, exactly, he's got this when he looks way more beaten up than the both of them combined, but he's got this. It's his job.

[soultospare]

She was pretty tempted to tell Haruto to move out of the way, sonce she had a soul dagger which could purge the nasty Chimera that was holding Nitou hostage and demanding mana as food, but instead she opted for rolling her eyes and casting her teleportation spell.

"Sihal novarum chinoth!" She cried, and no sooner had the words left her lips when she disappeared from the scene, leaving only swirling pink smoke and a ton of glitter in her wake.

[infinitemayonnaise]

There's a groan out of Nitou as Megan leaves like that, as well as a growling stomach from Chimera. That really was proof that she was magical, wasn't it?

And now he's got to deal with Haruto. Haruto, who is probably about two steps away from starting to lecture and judge Nitou's deathmatch arena dining choices. Nitou decides to ignore Chimera urging him to eat the weakened Haruto instead, and he settles for a bit of cheerful misdirection in the form of abruptly changing the subject. "...what happened to you, anyway?"

[wizardplease]

That was a very magical poof. For once, he feels relieved that someone has teleported away in the middle of a tense situation. Now that there's no need to hold Nitou back anymore, Haruto lets his hand fall away.

"...some trouble." And he shrugs. And then winces at the shrug. Because what is honesty? What is admitting to having problems? These are not things that Haruto has much experience with. That cheerful misdirection has Haruto on the turning-away-and-frowning defensive, now.

[infinitemayonnaise]

"What kind of trouble?" Because if he's got Chimera, then Haruto's got Dragon, and something that could do this much damage to Haruto with powers is something that Nitou wants to be aware of. "Could I eat this trouble?"

Okay, so he's got other concerns, too.

[wizardplease]

"The kind of trouble that has horns and a knife!" Nitou, don't make him have to follow you around to keep you from doing something awful. "It's not the kind you can eat! I don't think trolls are magical." His experience with what exactly trolls were was a bit limited, but he was pretty sure that they did not make for good magical eating.

[infinitemayonnaise]

It's Nitou. He needs constant supervision, no matter what he says. "You sure? Horns and a knife sounds like something Chimera might go for..."

[wizardplease]

"I am sure." No he wasn't, but he wasn't about to inflict Nitou and his magical appetite on anyone that didn't absolutely deserve it. And even given what had happened? He wasn't sure that Terezi deserved that, if on some long shot she turned out to be a magical troll.

"Look, let's... let's keep moving. Figure this place out."

[infinitemayonnaise]

"There's gotta be something around here Chimera will eat..." Something. Not someone. That's got to be a good sign, at least. It's not like Nitou was really looking forward to trying to eat someone else, even if Chimera wanted it. "Think he'd eat killer robots? I bet a place like this would have killer robots..." He should probably sound more worried by that, but no, he's just really interested. Maybe even a littl excited.

[wizardplease]

"I've never heard of a magic robot, so... no." Haruto has to resist the urge to snort. Snorting is not dignified. They're on camera, aren't they? Dignity. Let's try and preserve some of that. "There are aliens. Maybe you can try those...."

[infinitemayonnaise]

"You think they'd be magic aliens?" Hey, it's worth a shot. He gives Haruto a cocky, confident grin. Dignity isn't at all a concern of his. "Whatever we find, it's gonna be an adventure!" And that thought makes him happy. Adventure! Excitement! A Jedi craves not these things.