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.

3

2

1

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

[justoutrunyou]

"I can't quite make out the words." She explained straining now to see if anything new would hiss out of the nothingness around them. A sudden scream that only she could hear made her jump which in turn made her cry out in pain and clutch at her side.

"T-there! That scream, you had to hear that didn't you?" She moaned as realization settled like a stone in her gut. The Capitol really truly had her number now didn't they?

[foundafamily]

"A scream?" That was just too much. Firo stretched his hand out to try to feel her forehead. She had to have a fever or something, right? That, or it was the wounds talking.

He shook his head before he even felt anything. "I've got no idea what you're talkin' about. You--It's gotta be... whatever it is they call it. Shock or somethin'. You're too banged up to think straight."

[justoutrunyou]

She rubbed the side of her face that wasn't burnt and a tear leaked out from the eye on her bad side. "No, not shock...I know shock this is...ugh. It's gotta be a trick." She peered into the darkness once more confirming there was no one there.

"Sometimes...like...the Capitol makes us see or hear stuff right? Like a trap in the arena that shows you ghosts of loved ones? I think this is like that. I don't know how it's working yet...maybe it's the microchip in my brain. But they're doing it to me if you can't hear them..."

Of course there was the alternative.

"Either that or I'm going crazy...and if I'm going crazy then I guess it's probably been a long time coming." She suddenly felt exhausted. Emotionally, physically and mentally. She hung her head and took a heavy breath letting it out slowly.

"Whatever...who cares...if they aren't hurting me..." She winced as another scream made her tense up.

"If they're not hurting me it's fine right?" She looked up at him again, her eyes pleading for reassurance. Crazy or not she didn't want to die. Not yet. Even if every motion she made hurt like hell.

[foundafamily]

A trick... Firo's lip curled in disgust. "That's..." It was sick. So fucking sick. But to say so would risk them both, so he bit his tongue to keep silent and let her continue.

Firo had never been to good at telling people what they wanted to hear, even the people he liked. So even as she looked for reassurance, he shook his head and frowned. "Too bad I don't think that's the case here." It seemed pretty plain that it was hurting her.

He moved to put his hand on her less injured shoulder. "Listen... like you said, they do this kinda stuff. So don't jump right to thinkin' you're crazy, okay? Just... just ignore it."

He dropped his gaze guiltily as he said that. He could almost relate to that feeling of going insane; he could always feel the presence of Szilard's memories hanging around in the back of his mind. And how well had ignoring it been going for him? It just meant he'd spent the past four or five years living in fear of losing himself at any moment. But how could he admit to something like that?

[justoutrunyou]

Easier said then done, but the fact that he was attempting to encourage her helped. She steeled her resolve a little and stiffened her lip nodding.

"Right...I can do this. I once drank poisoned water and hallucinated for like...weeks in an arena and still made it...I can...I can ignore the whispering." She agreed, mostly trying to reassure herself along with him.

As if on cue, the sound of the doors being pushed open back in the front of the shop froze her in place. Her eyes darted to him for confirmation that it wasn't more trickery. He had heard that right? That was a real sound?

It was followed by more noises as heavy feet dragged on the tile floor and knocked over a stand full of scented tree shaped air fresheners.

They were not alone.

Would they investigate the sound, or try to escape?

[foundafamily]

Not really a nice tidbit to hear (or live through), and Firo winced once again. "Yeah. Yeah, you can." She had to, didn't she?

Firo's head whipped around towards the sound. He looked back to her and nodded--yep, that was real. That, or they were both going bonkers.

He straightened and moved back toward the doorway, pausing long enough to look over his shoulder at her again, "You stay here--I'll go see what it is."

She was already injured; he couldn't just let danger come to her, right?

[justoutrunyou]

A hulking black beast with rows of sharklike teeth had entered the shop. His milky white eyes scanned the room gleaming wickedly as his skin rippled like ink, shifting with each motion like he was made out of melted tar.

Sandy remained in the back obediently, eyes continuing to scan the supplies for a functional weapon. Anything! Giver her a screwdriver, a broken bottle a broomstick she could snap in half.

Turning her gaze back to Firo she waited to see just how much trouble they were in. From the sounds of the shelves being knocked over...it was a lot.

[foundafamily]

All Firo wanted to do right now was keep cool and protect Sandy. Surveying their situation, though, he wasn't even sure if he could do the first. He managed to keep his voice down, but his tone was very emphatic when he asked, "What the fuck is that?"

He'd been in a lot of fights in his short life, but the vast majority of his opponents had been humans. Not a thing like that.

His first instinct was still to fight. It wasn't that big, right? But there was a flicker of doubt in his mind that wouldn't have been there a few years ago. It was one thing to charge ahead when he just had himself to look after, but that wasn't the case now.

Well. He'd just have to see how it went. He looked back at Sandy one more time. "If it gets too close, you run, okay? I think this thing might be dangerous." Then, if nothing got in his way, he stepped back into the room with the beast and waited for it to get closer so he could throw a punch.

[justoutrunyou]

Hearing his reaction to whatever was in the other room did not comfort Sandy. Her eyes darted to the freezer door and she wondered if it was unlocked, and if them hiding in there would be a death wish.

Oh but now he was planning on fighting it? Well she could stop him...or she could take his advice and run. Running sounded like a good idea.

She followed him to the doorway and laid eyes on the creature feeling her heart drop into her knees.

This thing again...except it wasn't a nightmare anymore, this was the real deal!

"Wait no!" But it was too late. The creature was close and Firo's punch sank into it's soft skin causing it to roar in response and try to bite his hand with it's sharklike teeth.

This thing had haunted her throughout every nightmare she'd had in the Capitol. The monsters from her world that she had sacrificed others to save herself from. The fallen angels.

And now Firo was going to be another victim if she didn't figure out how to kill it once and for all. She had some ideas but limited resources and now the thing was sprouting tendrils from it's back!

[foundafamily]

He'd expected to hit something hard and tough. Something solid, at least. He gasps and jerks back when the creature's flesh surrounds his fist--and then its teeth. "What--What the hell?!"

He stumbled back, suddenly realizing that Sandy was still nearby. "What're you doing--I told you to leave!"

He sucked in a breath of air. Saying this next part was scarier, in a way, than squaring off against the monster. "You need to go--I don't know how long I can hold off this thing!"

[justoutrunyou]

"Yeah no kidding!" She shouted back feeling a rush of unreasonable annoyance. He didn't know it but she had enough history with this thing to know two things.

1. Without super powers they probably couldn't win.

2. It didn't like loud noises.

Limping over to a shelving unit since the beast was now almost entirely focused on Firo, Sandy grunted and threw her good shoulder into the shelves. It hurt and she grunted to that extent but it was enough to send the display crashing over scattering old cans and flimsy metal shelves in a loud angry banging that had the creature roaring in anger.

If Firo could pick up on that maybe they could keep it distracted while they bailed...if not? well at least Sandy was closer to the doors then he was.

[foundafamily]

Really? There were more important things to worry about in the moment, but Firo's look of consternation at the beast changed to one of plain offense at her comment. He didn't get to wallow in it for long, though, before she had launched her attack on the shelf.

"What the hell did you go and get it mad for?" Sorry, Sandy, Firo hadn't quite grasped the strategy yet. But he did take this as his chance to make his way over toward her, keeping his back to the wall and his eyes on the beast. Whether or not she wanted to leave, he'd made up his mind to shove her out of there if he had to.

[ooc: Sorry for the slowness! Rl's been taking it to me.]

No worries~

[justoutrunyou]

"Loud noises!" She tried to shout over the things roaring voice. "It hates loud sharp noises!" Unfortunately the items they could use for such noises were limited and it was already starting to recover from the sound.

The door was close, she continued limping towards it, shoulder aching from attacking the shelving unit, burns throbbing as some cracked and began to bleed all over again.

Thanks!

[foundafamily]

At her words, he picks up a fallen paint can and hurls it at the wall. The clanking it makes isn't too impressive, and he's starting to realize just how limited they are.

At least he manages to slip over to her side, reaching for her less injured arm. "Can you run?" Seeing her bleeding and dragging herself along, he kicks himself for not thinking of it earlier. Screaming at her to leave wouldn't do anyone much good if she was too hurt to do just that.

"Come on, I'll carry you if you can't."

[justoutrunyou]

She makes an attempt at running and the result is some sort of awkward hobble and skip that gets her to the door crashing through it with a bang and the dull ringing of the bell hanging over it.

"N-not very far." She groaned clutching at the door handle to keep from falling over. Her leg felt like it was swelling up to twice it's size in pain.

[foundafamily]

He darted through the door after her, trying to hold it shut behind them with one hand. As the thing wandered closer, he abandoned that effort and moved to wrap one arm under hers if she'd let him.

"Don't try. Come on, I can get you like this."

He wasn't very big, but he could drag around guys twice his size. Sandy would be peanuts compared to that.

[justoutrunyou]

She didn't fight him. Any little bit of extra force was helpful right now. She did however cry out in pain as she stumbled into him awkwardly trying to let him take charge again. This was not a very good time to be clumsy and in pain!

Meanwhile the Beast was tearing up the inside of the shop. A window shattered as an entire display case came flying out crashing into the street.

[foundafamily]

"Sorry, sorry." He made a note to give a better apology for the pain he was causing later. If they both got out of this.

Firo knew the creature couldn't be too far behind that shelf. If he could, he tried to lift Sandy up and simply carry her. At least for a short time, it would be easier that way. "Do you know if there's anywhere we can go to shake this thing? Like an alley that's not a dead end? Or anything we can use to bust its head open?"

If they were on the streets of New York, he could've lost the thing no sweat. But this wasn't home, and he hadn't had time to go over every inch of this alien city.

[justoutrunyou]

"Round the corner!" She gasped pointing down the street. Sure enough the monster started dragging itself through the hole, glass and steel digging into it's thick black gooey skin. It roared so loud that windows rattled and dust fell from the dilapidated buildings around them.

Another crunch and the screech of twisted metal signaled the beast was free just as they rounded the corner. Wordlessly she pointed to a heavy looking set of metal doors on the ground, propped open leading into a dark hole. Sandy wanted to explain more but she could barely breath at this point the pain was so great.

She wanted to explain that at the bottom there was a dumpster, and if they were lucky it wasn't full of sharp pointy things.

[foundafamily]

Firo followed, all too content to have someone directing. "Got it!"

The choice of whether to try and take on the thing again or go down with her shouldn't even have been on the menu at this point. But he stopped for just a second, wondering if he could be certain enough in his ability to hold the thing back. Certain enough that he could keep it from slipping by him and going after her anyway. ...Which he wasn't.

"Brace yourself, okay?" With no more warning than that, he made to jump down the hatch, pulling her along if she'd let him.

[justoutrunyou]

She let him, and even if she hadn't wanted to she was long past the point of struggling. Down into the darkness they fell landing on thick full trash bags that felt uncomfortably warm and smelled like spoiled food.

As much as she wanted to scream, to cry out in pain as she landed on the burnt half of her body she jammed her good fist into her mouth and bit down till she tasted blood. It did the trick and all that squeaked out was a whimper.

A square of light shone down on them from above, dust and grit fell down into the dumpster with them as the beast thundered around above.

[foundafamily]

The fall could have been less pleasant. It also could have been a lot more pleasant, and Firo cringed for Sandy when he thought of how much more uncomfortable she had to be. All this crap probably wasn't good for her wounds at all, either.

With the light over them, he wondered if the creature would be able to see them. He tried to pull himself over the trash bags to better shield her.

"You okay? Is this thing gonna stay on our tail?"

He tried to shield his eyes from the debris as he looked up, searching for any sign that the thing was coming after them.

[justoutrunyou]

She wished she had an answer for him, but she had no idea if that thing had a strong sense of smell to go with it's apparently sensitive ears. She opted to nod silently at him that she was OK when the tears streaming down her face begged to differ. What's worse is she thought she felt something moving around underneath her. The last thing they needed was rapid attack rats biting at them while they were trying to hide.

Up in the alley above them the beast let out a roar, and from the sound of crashing metal it was knocking over Trash cans and ripping through a chain link fence in it's efforts to find them...but the sounds were getting further away.

[foundafamily]

Firo waited until the sounds were fainter before speaking again. It felt terrible hiding like a weakling, but it seemed to be the only option.

He exhaled shallowly, not wanting to relish the smell of the garbage. "The hell was that? You'd seen stuff like that before?"

[justoutrunyou]

She nodded slowly and focused her attention on him hoping to help ignore the pain.

"The last thing I saw in my world before waking up here, was a monster like that. They were falling out of the sky...like angels. But as soon as they hit the ground I knew we were in trouble. It chased me for blocks...almost got me."

Until she led it into a church full of kids that were slower then she was at least.

"I've had nightmares about it ever since. Sometimes it shows up in the hallucinations the Capitol makes me have, but this is the first time it's been real."