thearena | Arena 15: In The Eye Of The Capitol

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Arena 15: In The Eye Of The Capitol

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...

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"Never heard of it!" The way this guy was talking, Firo wondered if he should have.

Having gotten a good look at the monster, Firo wasn't about to argue. "Our pal back there doesn't look too friendly."

All the more incentive to move. He joined James in wailing on the door and would kick until the wood splintered enough. "Is this gonna help ?"

"What part of do not fight do you not get?" James shot back, "I need a pipe, a steel one. We need to make sure it dies quickly and doesn't call for back-up."

He knows he's contradicting himself but grammar lessons be damned, this was way too familiar and like hell he's dying on the first week! That would suck and he wanted to make sure his District had a shot.

"Just make sure it bleeds out, that neck should be, uh, breakable." Smooth.

Firo raised an eyebrow as he set about hunting for the desired pipe. "You make it sound like this thing talks." Come on, James, that'd just be creepy.

He came up the rusty remains of a length of pipe and tossed it to James. A shard of broken brick wasn't too far away, and Firo hurled it at the monster's head--maybe if they knocked it down, this guy could get an easier shot at hitting the neck.

James had no time to react when he say what Firo did...and immediately started beating the shit out of the monster. He knows how to beat those from Silent Hill but the moment the creature let out a desperate moan, he knows they're in trouble.

"Shit, shit, shit, run!" he exclaimed, stomping the neck until he crushed the bones. It didn't take long before other Closers and monsters that were not necessarily from the tourist spot began to crowd around.

"You're not the subtle type, are you?"

Firo almost smiled as James starting going to town on the thing. At least this guy wasn't a pushover.

...And then the thing's friends showed up. Life was never easy. Firo snorted, amused despite the situation. "How'd you figure that out?

Firo was reluctant to start running, instead casting around for another pipe or anything that can be a weapon. The piece he came up with was small but jagged--at least it was something. "It'll be less trouble if we just take 'em all down now! How long can these things run, anyway?"

Firo was clearly in the wrong place if he thought he could take on all the monsters and James knows better than to waste resources.

"You'd be wasting time and resources! It's better to run away and lose them!" spoken like a true horror protagonist and survivor of Silent Hill. What little they owned had to be managed, and more so if the blood splatters around the walls were any indication.

"You'd be eaten by the time you get to half of them!" Sorry Firo but this guy knows what he's talking about.

Firo scoffed. "I've taken tougher lookin' guys than them!" Street fights with the kind of monster that wears a person suit were Firo's everyday life. But when it came to actual monsters, he was completely out of his depth.

...And on some level he knew that. So even as he grunted and grumbled, he tore after the guy. "If this kinda thing's normal where you're from, how come you haven't found a way to take care of 'em yet?"

It was a rather unfair question on many levels, one that Firo might not have asked if he were less frustrated.

"Because I value my life over those bastards!" James countered with, but he immediately snapped, "You want to go and die because you have some stupid notion that you can kill everything in your path? Fine! Be my guest! But you're gonna ripped to shreds and people will just laugh at you for being so stupid!"

James would never have said something like this but he was so frustrated at this Tribute's death wishes.

The first comment was fair enough, Firo supposed, but the second one had him gritting his teeth. It was all too similar to how the lawman Victor had mocked his brash and violent tendencies when they first met.

"Are you laughin', pal? 'Cause we can fight it out as soon as we get away from these guys, if you want somethin' to laugh at."

In that moment, the fact that he had this guy to thank for telling him about the monsters was conveniently forgotten.

Sunderland had to blink at this line of reasoning and immediately pointed out, "Monsters chasing us, they want to eat us...are you sure that you want to fight, and draw more noise?" And I thought I was thick in the skull.

And here comes a string of words he'd apologize for later, if they make it out. But James had enough of Prochainezo's attitude and lack of self-perseverance, especially when facing enemies he had no idea how to handle.

"Is your ego so fragile that you can't see any other way to survive?! Now come on! I hear more of those things!"

"I said after we get rid of 'em!" Firo rolled his eyes and wondered to himself if this guy had any sense. Instead of considering the obvious fact that the guy was probably thinking the exact same thing about him.

Firo would keep moving with James even as he considered going back and taking his chances with the monsters. Like it or not, he was locked in an argument with this guy now; he couldn't back down from this kind of fight either. "Who the hell said it had anything to do with ego? Are you sure yours isn't the fragile one if you're takin' this time to argue?"

Never mind that Firo was also arguing. He didn't tend to consider counterargument.

"You're the one who wants to kill them all!" Sunderland is actually fed and he knows he's being a jackass at all this, "What insane concept would you prove killing all those monsters?!" James is probably the last person in Panem to talk about insanity, given his quite infamous break from reality in Arena 14. Hell, it got a sponsor to pay for therapy, that's how bad it was.

"Don't you have someone to survive for?"

Edited (wrong icon!) 2015-11-13 04:05 (UTC)

Oh, so now killing things was weird? Firo sighed, wondering how to even explain it to this guy. While he'd tried his best to avoid killing other Tributes--part morals, part 'fuck you' to the Capitol--sometimes you just had to get bloody. And those times apparently weren't really determined by how much danger you'd put yourself in. What would he prove? Why, one of the most important things of all: that he wasn't a pushover. That was worth nearly dying for.

He hesitated, suddenly reminded that he did have someone. Not only the people watching him from the Capitol, but also Ennis back home. He still didn't know what would happen to her if he died and wasn't revived.

Because of that show of weakness, he snapped back all the more rudely, "What's it to you if I've got somebody or not?"

"Because you're gonna be fodder for them, a-and for what?" James pointed out point-blank. "For a few kills that will be replaced in no time. That someone will replace you while you're worm food! I have someone on the other side and-"

It was in that moment that he realized that "someone" wasn't Mary anymore, but Clara Murphy. He actually stopped dead in his tracks, as if something fundamental was broken. It was as if he smothered his wife all over again.

"Just move."

"I am," He huffed, almost as confused as he was annoyed now. What was wrong with this guy that such an innocuous talk would stop him in the middle of a chase?

Dropping the topic that actually stopped the guy would probably be the tactful thing. Unfortunately, Firo wasn't tactful. "And congratulations on havin' somebody. I'm so happy for you, I could just throw you a party." The words were somewhere between toneless and dripping disgustingly with sarcasm.

"I'm a widower."

James wasn't exactly thinking straight anymore, as his mind tried to make sense of what he felt for Clara and the situation at hand. He really was in love with someone else, and he didn't think he was that horrid a man. Then again, he practically jumped at Maria when she welcomed him into her arms.

No that's not right.

As he hurried down the path, Firo's comment almost went unnoticed while he broke down any obstacles in their way.

Firo blinked, consternation all over his face. First this guy had somebody waiting for him, then he just had a dead wife or something? How the hell was that relevant? "So you don't have anybody then?"

Was the guy trying to make him feel bad? Well, it wasn't going to work on him, Firo resolved heartlessly.

He'd do what he could to help James with the obstacles, though even during the chase he kept some distance between their sides. No need to get too chummy.

"I thought I didn't, I really did. I didn't think I could-" James sighed and tried to explain things in a sensible manner. "It's complicated but I didn't think I could actually have someone again after losing Mary. You don't know what it's like, to never move on and then suddenly realize you did and you never bothered to say goodbye. I drove my car into a lake, I was that desperate to be with her again."

And now, he wanted to leave Mary behind, sleeping forever at the bottom of Toluca Lake for Clara. He was devastated as he was conflicted. He didn't want to lose Mary's memory, he still loved her so much but...

"Now I don't want to go back to her. Why am I telling you?" His voice was dreamlike again, a man stuck in a memory.

Losing some lady... Never bothered to say goodbye... Car in a lake... Firo reeled back, nearly choking on his indignation. The distance between them would vanish, if he had anything to say about it, and he did his best to get his face up in James's.

"So you just fucked off on your wife?! The hell were you thinkin', asshole?!"

That didn't fit in with the part James said about wanting to be with her, but Firo didn't hold all of the facts in his head when concocting his version of events. He just heard what stuck out to him and based his picture off of that.

If there's one way to get James Sunderland pissed off, is to ever imply that he didn't love his wife.

"I did NO SUCH THING! I loved my wife! I saw that disease take every little bit of happiness she had and tore it apart! She was suffering when I-" When I killed her "When I took her to Silent goddamn Hill! I was by her side...I saw the light go out of her eyes. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SEE THE ONLY PERSON WHO MADE YOU HAPPY DIE."

Technically speaking, he only saw the aftermath when he removed the pillow after he was done. The yelling might attract other monsters but Sunderland was tired of this man's accusations. "I put her body in the back of my car and drove into the lake. Because I wanted to join her, not run away."

The sheer force of James's reply caught Firo off-guard, and what the man said had him further confused. It was a weighty issue the man was talking about, one Firo hadn't expected to get into.

Did that mean he was going to think it over and reply with sensitivity and grace? No, unfortunately.

"I've got no idea, huh? Come off it, you really think you're the only person who's had somebody die on you? Everybody loses people, so you're not special."

"If you already know what it feels like to lose someone," And now James turned vicious, not caring if it cost him an ally. This young man had no respect for anyone but himself, "then why do you judge me without knowing the full story? Or do you just think your way is the right way?"

Maybe some of Silent Hill's judgment remained in Sunderland as darkness seeped into his eyes. "Or are you afraid that maybe you've been wrong in some aspects?" He didn't expect Firo to keep up with him after this but at least he made his peace with the accusations.

Wrong? Firo'd been wrong about plenty of things, and he knew that--it came with the territory of being a total moron. But he was not wrong about this stuff--at least, he was sure he wasn't.

...All the same, he was plainly defensive. He drew himself up to his full (unimpressive) height to try to get in James's face.

"I don't need to listen to your sob story. You think anybody's gonna care about that? Get a grip, pal. I couldn't care less if regret makes you cry yourself to sleep every night."

At five-foot-eleven almost at six, it wasn't as if James was a giant among the Tributes but he did tower somewhat over Firo without letting up on his glare, "I know that but at the end of the day, you were still wrong to face things head on without a plan."

He was pretty damn sure that by the next clearing, Prochainezo would run off to get killed by the next monster he ran into. Why that was commendable is not up for Sunderland to decide.

"You head wherever you want to go...I'm sticking to the forest and see if any District children survived the Cornucopia. They need more help than we do."

"So what? That's none of your business." Hmph. What did this guy know, huh? Firo thought to himself, conveniently forgetting that James had helped him survive the monsters back there.

"And go wherever you want. I don't care." He'd just be sure to go the opposite way.

With one last scowl in James's direction, Firo turned on his heel and stalked off.

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Arena 15: In The Eye Of The Capitol

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this thread is magical

It really is. So sorry, James

tis the Sunderland life

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cw: discussion of self-harm

and a warning for Firo's insensitivity

w h o o p s

Oh, James :<

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I'm so sorry, James... :(

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