ARENA 02- let's get this party started

[gamemakers]

There is a different tension in the air. This is the first time anyone has been returning to the arena, and it changes things. For the tributes that know, for those prepping them. It's all under the surface, waiting. The prep goes the same as before.

The tributes are taken from the Training Center, one by one, and placed into the hovercraft that will take them on a long, tense ride to the Arena. New tributes have a tracking device implants in their arm, old tributes have their's activated, a move so similar, so swift it would be hard to notice.

Left alone with their stylist, each tribute is dressed quickly, light colors, cotton fabric, sturdy boots. Nothing waterproof, and nothing that will help against cold, dark nights. Then they are set into the clear tubes, and go up to whatever waits above while the voice counts down.

25 - 24 - 23 - 22 - 21

It late evening, but the summer sun is still high and the day is hot over the ruined city that rises up around them. The air shimmers with it, hot, heavy, pressing down on the tributes.

18 - 17 - 16 - 15

The cornucopia, the only bright, new thing in sight besides the pedestals they stand on shimmer brilliantly in the sun, all the life saving supplies scattered around in, tempting and deadly.

9 - 8 - 7

They've all been warned, don't step off your pedestal early.

4 - 3

2

The sound of the gong releasing them echos into the empty streets. Let the games begin.


[OOC: Don't forget the OOC Arena post, especially those of you running for the Cornucopia. Every single one of you ought to post to this post. There will be a Cornucopia thread, and anyone else feel free to post as you will. Please add a tag with your character's name.]

Comments

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Is the man stupid? Or does he think that Momoko's that stupid? The outrage at this thought breaks through her panic and Momoko can move again, adjusting her position to better keep both strangers in sight. She also shakes her head at the man, in case he was honestly expecting her to fall for that, and tightens her grip on her makeshift weapon.

[jadaryl]

Eliot sighed silently. He pointed at the dark-haired girl, drew a line across his throat, and pointed back at the Cornucopia. Then he held out his hand to her.

[buildingreality]

Ariadne had been about to speak again when Momoko came out, clearly defending herself, and held up both hands in a sign of being unarmed. She wasn't a threat.

But then she caught the other girl gesturing to someone else and turned towards the newcomer she hadn't heard in the scuffle of paying more attention to Momoko. A potentially dangerous game, she thought, tensing slightly.

"I don't want to hurt anyone."

[jadaryl]

Eliot's eyes narrowed at the brown-haired girl's words. "Tell that to the man you killed out there," he said quietly. "He was unarmed, completely disoriented. He wasn't a threat. But you killed him. And now you say you don't want to hurt anyone? I don't want to kill you, but I'm not gonna let you kill either her or me."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko blinked, turning her full gaze to the man for the first time. He wanted to protect her? Was he forming some sort of alliance already?

[jadaryl]

"Darlin'," he said, holding his hand out to the Asian girl again. "I don't think you want to stay here with her. And I don't think you want to be one out there with no supplies."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"You don't know what supplies I have," said Momoko impulsively, and stupidly. Of course she didn't have any supplies, she'd ran like a frightened rabbit from the Cornucopia. She moves the board so she's holding at her side, like a bat but hopefully not threatening, just visible. "And I have no reason to trust you anymore than her."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko stared at the man, genuinely confused at this point. Was he telling her he was going to kill the other woman? Because Momoko was fine with that, though she preferred not having to watch. Before she could react to his gestures the first intruder on Momoko's hiding spot spoke.

"Good," said Momoko in response, hoping she sounded tough and not--as she felt--terrified. She decided not to bring up the dead man at the Cornucopia. "I don't want to hurt anyone either right now."

[buildingreality]

"You've never been here before, have you?" She asked the man, staring him down warily. Ariadne was just as unarmed as the man she had killed, now face with two other Tributes who both had something to defend themselves with. She knew the answer to her question, of course; it was obvious. She hadn't seen either of them before.

"Everyone's a threat here. I couldn't say for sure if he wouldn't have killed me if I had helped him. And now I just want to catch my breath," she finally continued, glancing over to Momoko now, eyes imploring. She could tell that neither of them wanted to kill anyone. It was just this man who did. Fitting, she supposed, for the setting.

[jadaryl]

Eliot's eyes widened with comprehension. The girl was terrified and thought everyone was out to get her. Fair enough, considering the little bit he'd been told before he'd been thrown in here.

"If I wanted you dead kid, you'd be dead," he said calmly. "You're a kid, you're scared. I get that. And I don't want you dead. But I don't trust you not to stab me in the back."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"I've watched the videos," said Momoko. "I know how it works. Everything's kill or be killed at the Cornucopia." Which is why she'd avoided the whole massacre to begin with. She glanced at Ariadne's hard-won spoils. "Everything's kill or be killed everywhere else too. But sometimes you can work together. For a while," she adds, feeling horribly her age, a schoolgirl reciting rote lessons.

[buildingreality]

She glanced between the pair of them again, hoping that she didn't look as nervous as she felt; she'd always had a relatively good grasp on her emotions - a saving grace in the last Arena - but this one was already too different to make any kind of real comparisons.

Turning first to Eliot, Ariadne cracked a small smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I didn't plan on it. What would I have done so with?" A small waggle of tiny, delicate fingers, completely empty. She hadn't even had the chance to check her bag for what it held.

"Working together works better than paranoia. I know that much from experience."

[jadaryl]

Eliot nodded. "At least, for a while," he murmured. He pulled out the can tucked under his arm. He held it out to the blond girl. "Here. I know you don't have anything. You ran from that madness out there. There was no other way to get anything yet."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko's outright staring now. She hadn't even offered anything in return yet, or agreed to work with him. She can't make herself move down the stairs just yet, he's acting so strangely she's half-certain it's a trap, half-certain he's simply an idiot, but she takes the risk of moving her makeshift weapon under her arm and holding out her hands, ready to catch the can if he gets the hint.

"For a while," she repeats, because stupid or setting a trap she can't really turn down an alliance at this point anyway. Besides, she's reasonably certain he could overpower easily, so there's no point in bothering with a trap.

[jadaryl]

He smiled at her, trying to reassure the tiny blond. He hadn't missed how skittish she was. "It'll give you something to drink, too," he said as he tossed it to her.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Those horrible hours in the Training Center apparently weren't a complete waste, as Momoko manages to catch the can on her. She's absurdly proud of this, as well as the fact that she's already made an ally in the Arena on the first day. Considering how she built it up in her head, things are going suspiciously well.

With only a moment's hesitation she starts moving down to the ground floor. Even if the other woman is lying about not wanting violence, she's outnumbered at the moment and apparently weaponless. Momoko feels secure enough to show some solidarity with her newfound ally, however temporary the situation turns out to be.

She still thinks he's kind of an idiot though.

[jadaryl]

Eliot moves to stand against a wall between the two girls, angling himself so he can see out the door.

[jadaryl]

He turns back to the brunette. "I'm not gonna harm you," he says softly. "You can stay until dark or go. But if you stay, I'm gonna be watching you. Just in case."

[buildingreality]

She isn't entirely certain if she can trust either of them, but she's willing to give it a try. "Until dark, and then I have to make my own way out there?" Ariadne asks, clarifying. She does need to find food, water, some kind of shelter that will make do for the time being.

Maybe someone she actually knows.

[jadaryl]

Eliot nods. "Yeah," he says, not trusting himself to say more.

[buildingreality]

"Fine." She replied quickly, not allowing her tone to betray any of her thoughts: that it was unfair, with them both armed; that it was cruel to force someone out in the dark.

But she would make do with what she was given.

"I won't attack either of you if I don't have to," Ariadne said after a moment, pressing her back more firmly against the wall. "That goes from now until the end."

[jadaryl]

"I wish I could count on that," he says quietly. He might even risk it if he hadn't seen the blond. But now that he's seen her, he can't risk her life as well as his own. He's just too familiar with betrayal.

He picks up a piece of woods from the floor, tests its strength, and discarded it. He looks at the debris stinks the room, hoping to find something suitable. There's a broken chair leg not far from the brunette. He walks over and picks it up, swinging it carefully to test its weight. It seems sturdy enough so he walks back to his place against the wall.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko narrowly keeps herself from pointing out that he has no reason to be counting on Momoko either. If her helpless appearance is giving her an edge in this regard she's not going to ruin it by bringing up the flaws in the man's strategy. Instead she says, rather abruptly, "I'm Momoko Ryugasaki," partially to break the tension before it gets too much worse, but mostly because she's tired of referring to them as 'the man' and 'the other woman'. She idly wishes she knew the proper etiquette for this sort of situation.

[buildingreality]

She could have easily taken him out then and there, swiped the chair leg from under his nose and killed him with it before taking Momoko out as well. But she didn't. Mercy was a wonderful thing, and she wasn't willing to put reputation or a kill count over a potential alliance, no matter how little she trusted him.

Her, however-

"Ariadne," she replied, nodding lightly to Momoko. "I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you, but the circumstances leave something to be desired."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"Yeah," echoes Momoko, though she glances uncertainly at Eliot, not really sure why they're kicking out another possible ally, particularly one who's already proven herself useful enough to take out a competitor and has supplies to offer of her own.