Arena 15: In The Eye Of The Capitol

[etcircenses]

For the majority of you, this has become a familiar morning routine. Escorts come to pick up their Tributes and Stylists quickly see to setting them up with the bland and thin grey suits, much to most of their dismay. You'll not hear a word said in complaint though. The staff has gotten the threat to them loud and clear. Only the daring will be willing to offer even a mere "good luck". Peacekeepers quickly collect Tributes to send them off into the launch tubes. If you're from the Districts, it may be one of the last things you ever see.

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What everyone rises up to is not much better a sight. It's a war zone out here in every sense. Those native to Panem will recognize the sight before them, having seen it every year in a propaganda tape. The wreckage of District thirteen. The Cornucopia sits at the very center. Offworlders might recognize some of the weapons there, and if not, then they'll certainly be able to spot some familiar scenes far on the outer edges of the arena, perhaps even a beast or two they know well from their worlds.

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It's muddy and damp and there's plenty of wreckage to cut one's self upon no matter where it is Tributes run. The Cornucopia tempts the Tributes in for its bloodbath. Districter and Offworlder alike, there will only be one winner.

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The gong rings out and a voice announces; “The Arena is now open”. The Tributes are free to make their choice; to run or to fight. The Games have begun.

~~~

By the end of the night, one child from each District will have their face shone up into the sky, the first twelve killed at the Cornucopia. Only twelve to go...

Comments

[needlebearer]

Arya had half a mind not to go for the Cornucopia this time, remembering the searing heat and prickling flames that had engulfed her last time. But Sansa was here, and Arya knew she wasn't used to defending herself in the same way that she herself had been, so she needs every advantage she can grab hold of. She dives for the object closest to her, although she has no idea what it is. It looks like a gigantic lute, and at first Arya's certain this is some sort of practical joke on the part of the Gamemakers - what a stupid thing to include, something with no practical value in here at all. But she wasn't about to let it go, and when she feels Sandy grab for it, she snatches back, hoping to knock her off balance.

"I saw it first!"

[justoutrunyou]

"Do you even know how to play it!?"

Seems like a stupid question to ask when the real point of any item in the arena is to murder people or avoid being murdered but Sandy couldn't help herself. She was jerked forward by the girl's snatching back and decided to go on the offense by swinging a fist for her nose.

[needlebearer]

"Of course I do. Like this!" She pushes the edge of the guitar toward Sandy in the hope of ramming it into her and knocking her off balance. She's stunned by the fist to her nose, never having been punched before except for when playfighting with Bran, and she dives for her, swinging and kicking and desperate to get a hit in.

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy felt her feet slipping out from under her and dug in her heels to try and keep balance. She felt a warmth in her fingertips and her eyes were drawn down to the hole in the tip of the guitar neck.

The world felt like it was slowing down and she wasn't fast enough. A light inside the hole, orange, bright.

As her feet flew out from under her an explosion of flames. She twisted as liquid and fire soaked her side and ignited with enough force she fell onto her back.

Screaming in a high pitched shriek she rolled hard, tumbling away from Arya as the fire spread along her clothes and her hair fast. grinding her body into the dirt trying to smother the flames while kicking at the ground to push herself away. If Arya tried to keep after her now she would have very little capacity to defend herself and some part of her still knew that.

But mostly her mind was full of pain. Pain and screaming and bright white heat.

[needlebearer]

Arya stared in shock as the flames suddenly spewed forth from the neck of the guitar. She'd never seen anything like it: a device that can conjure flame on command. For a second a grin spreads slowly over her face, knowing she's hit the jackpot this time around -- and then she hears Sandy's screams. She remembers how frightened she'd been when the Cornucopia had set ablaze in the last Arena, she remembers the Hound's deathly fear of fire despite being so strong in every other regard, and she instinctively scrabbles about to try to turn the guitar off, and reaches out a hand to help Sandy away from the flames.

It's a few seconds before it hits her that they're in the Arena, that Sandy's a rival here and not just another kid that needs helping out, and that she could very easily get her first kill under her belt right here and now. Arya hesitates, then rises, not having it in her to burn the other girl to death, but blasting out the flame once more for good measure, hoping to wound her enough that she wouldn't have the strength to follow her.

[justoutrunyou]

Somewhere in her blinding pain she can feel the girl moving to strike her again. Anymore fire and she's sure she'll be dead or at the very least unable to survive for more then a day. She lashes out with the bad leg and kicks the head of the guitar feeling the flames lick up her leg but getting a sliver of satisfaction in striking the stupid thing with all her might. Hopefully she's caused some damage or at least shown she's not a victim...

...then again she is still crawling on the ground, half burnt, skin smoldering with smoke rising from her hair. She wants to say something, to shout to scream, but all she can do now is cough and cry slapping dirt on the flames.

[needlebearer]

Arya knows she should take the opportunity to finish her off, but she thinks that Sandy deserves a fighting chance, especially as the effects of the guitar had been unexpected to them both and had provided Arya with an advantage that she doesn't quite consider fair. Perhaps it would be kinder to kill her now, she reflects, but she's never had too much in the way of mercy. She'd far rather allow her to claim her revenge on her later on, if she's able to.

She throws her an apologetic glance and then grabs everything she can carry, half-dragging the guitar behind her as she runs away from the Cornucopia as fast as she can.