thearena | Carnage in the Caves

Who| Participants in the bloodbath
What| Murder and mayhem ensue after the jabberjays chase people into the caves.
Where| Deep within the caves. This area of the caves cannot be broken into or escaped from until 24 hours have passed.
When| Over a twenty-four hour period beginning now.
Warnings/Notes| Violence, death, gore, etc. You have been assigned a target to kill, but you may run into other characters in the caves as well.

The jabber jays begin their screaming, driving you deep into the caves in an attempt to escape the cries of your loved ones being tortured, beaten, or killed. When the maddening sounds finally cease, you will find yourself trapped in a series of corridors and caves, sealed tight with no chance for escape. Luckily there are plenty of weapons and supplies at hand (machetes, axes, hunting knifes, swords, maces, spears, clubs, hammers, scythes, bows & arrows, food, water, clean clothes), but any delusions of good fortune are soon squashed when an announcer assigns each person a target and gleefully informs you that you must kill your target within 24 hours or else you will run out of oxygen and die.

Over the next 24 hours, you will be tasked with killing this person in any manner you can. You may also happen upon other unfortunate souls trapped in the caves, but be wary of befriending them down here. They're on a mission too, and there's no rules against collateral damage.

Good luck, and don't forget to put on a show.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Arya proceeds slowly, her every footstep soft and deliberate, gripping the sword with one hand and trailing another along the wall of the cave, making sure that she's sticking to one route and not getting lost in the maze of caverns. A silver parachute is tied tightly around her left arm, to bandage a wound there, and it glints in the dim light. Her pack is filled with food from the mouth of the caves, and her eyes are still red from the tears that had stung her face after hearing the cries of the jabber jays.

When she sees Sam ahead of her she presses herself against the wall of the cave, concealing herself in shadow as best she can, then tiptoes toward him, hoping to catch him off guard. She knows her chances against a full grown man would be very limited otherwise.

The echoing in the tunnels of the cave is messing with his perception a little. He can hear something, and he’s reasonably sure it’s footsteps, but with the way the gamemakers lured them in here, who knows? Even if they are, he’s having a hard time pinpointing where they’re coming from.

So he stops, rocking back a little into a more defensible position. His eyes dart around, focusing most often on the area he thinks the sound’s coming from.

He doesn’t know he’s looking the wrong way.

She waits a few seconds, watching him, waiting for him to turn and spot her, but he's so focused on what could be in the other direction that she has to seize the opportunity. She's a little afraid that there might be something bigger and stronger that Sam's spotted in the direction he's looking in, that would take both of them out, but she creeps toward him nonetheless, light on her toes (put a syrio quote here). When she's close enough she leaps, attaching himself to his back and raising her arm to strike with the sword.

He doesn’t see it coming, hears the sound of breathing and someone pushing off too late. But he reacts instinctively when he feels someone jump onto his back, moving one hand up to cover his neck as he whirls around. Sam’s got no doubt they’re going in for a killing blow of some kind; he can see a sword out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t bother trying to twist out of their grasp.

Instead he keeps whirling right into the wall of the cave, planning on trying to slam the person on his back right into it. If it doesn’t knock them off, at least it’ll disrupt their aim.

The air is knocked from her lungs, and it's only when she's struggling to regain her breath that she realises she's falling. She hears the sword clatter to the ground near her, but instead of scrabbling about on the cave floor for it, she unsheathes the dagger from her belt, swiping toward his feet in the half darkness in the hope of cutting through the tendons in his ankle and bringing him to the ground.

He’s not quick enough to avoid getting hit entirely, and he curses in pain as her dagger slices through his boot and into his skin. Sam manages to stay on his feet, though, backing away both to try to put some distance between them and to get himself into a better defensible position, now that he’s injured.

“Goddamn, I don’t want to fight you!” Not in the least because she’s just a kid.

But he despite his words, he doesn’t let his guard down. Sam’s still got his machete, and he holds it between them, grip loose and comfortable and ready to swing at her if she comes at him again.

"Well I don't want to get killed!" Arya retorts, knowing full well that's what would happen to both of them if one of them didn't finish off the other first. The idea of killing without provocation or justification didn't sit well with her, but she'd choose it over giving up her own life every time. She doesn't make another move toward him, though, instead leaning back against the wall of the cave as she tries to get her breath back, watching him closely.

“And you thought this was the best way to make that happen?” Sam wasn’t going to seek her out and he’s not going to kill her, but he sure as hell is going to defend himself.

Never mind that that kind of goes against not killing her. He’s on the defensive at this point, only thinking about trying to get away from her, find Albert and Clint, and figure out how to get the hell out of here. He watches her warily, but - he can’t just sit here and wait for her to make a move. The only way forward is past her, so he’s just going to have to risk it.

Sam drops his machete a little and moves towards her.

Her fingers tighten around the dagger as he moves toward her, ready either to roll out of the way or to strike in and attack. "They said if we don't kill each other they'll kill us both anyway."

There’s… not really much that Sam can say to that. He doesn’t doubt that the gamemakers meant it, that the only surefire way to get out of here is to kill their target. Just because he isn’t at the point where he’s given up trying to find other options doesn’t mean he has any hope of convincing anyone else it might be possible.

So he gives up and lunges at her instead, machete curving upwards as he strikes out at her. If he can get her on the defensive, maybe he can get her distracted enough to make a break for it.

Arya dives for the ground, rolling over awkwardly on her shoulder, aiming to get behind him somehow. She doesn't want to kill him, but it's better than the alternative - having the last of her free will taken by the Capitol as they killed them both anyway.

Sam whirls around as she ducks his blow, hissing as it means he has to put more weight on his now-injured ankle. He can't let her get behind him - she's already gotten the jump on him once, when his back was turned to her. He lashes out with the machete again as he turns towards her.

She jumps backwards away from the swing of the machete, but doesn't land well, finding herself on her hands and knees on the floor scrabbling to get up in a way that doesn't put her in the direct path of the blade.

Carnage in the Caves

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