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]

"Pleasant and interesting are opposites," retorts Momoko. The can is a pull-tab, thankfully, so Momoko can at least manage to open it eventually, but she's somewhat concerned about what's actually inside. She trusts the Gamemakers far less than she does anyone in this room. "Pleasant isn't interesting at all, that's what makes it pleasant."

[jadaryl]

Eliot grinned. "So you'd say a good football game can't be pleasant because it's interesting?" he teased.

[buildingreality]

She'll leave them to their conversation, hving no opinion either way. Ariadne knows well enough that she's not a child, she's not really all that innocent, and now she's even less innocen through no fault of her own. She wishes that Arthur were there - he would know what to tell her at that point; he's killed before, if even just in dreams. She doesn't ask those sorts of questions, but she can tell.

She merely takes a sitting position at the wall, shrugging her bag into her lap as she carefully goes through it. Knowing that she's leaving after a few more hours, her priority is now to keep her spoils to herself, hidden. A coat, some dried fruits, some matches. Not bad, and she imagines the coat will come in handy.

[jadaryl]

Eliot watches the brunette open her pack. He keeps his face carefully neutral. While he can't deny the relief as he realizes she won't starve any time soon, his gut clenches with something entirely different when he realizes that she'll die of dehydration by nightfall tomorrow. He looks at the remaining can in his hand. If he gives it to her, he'll be the one to die tomorrow. He clenches his jaw in frustration.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko takes a seat herself, on the opposite of the room, then regrets it when Ariadne starts going through her supplies, since now she can't see what Ariadne has. She casts a glance at Eliot, still not sure why he's so set on rejecting Ariadne as an ally. For that matter, she's still unsure on what to do next. All that time spent concentrating on scouting out possible alliance prospects, now she has one and she doesn't know what to do next.

Does she let Eliot take the lead? Momoko doesn't even answer to her own father, she can't see that lasting long. Should she try and ally with Ariadne behind Eliot's back somehow? Whatever she decides, she's not going to accomplish anything sitting here making idle conversation with her current ally, so she decides to start Ariadne talking as well.

She wants to ask about the supplies, but that likely won't get a straight answer so instead she asks, genuinely curious, "Was it worth it?" The idea that this might be considered cold or insensitive doesn't even cross her mind.

[buildingreality]

Hastily shoving her things back in the bag and zipping it up as a sign to Eliot that he'll get none of it from her, if she has anything to say on the matter. She can't deny the disappointment that she doesn't have any water when this Arena is so stifling, but her expression remained stony. Like she's unaffected by it.

Ariadne glanced up to Momoko, tipping her head to one side in almost bird-like curiosity. "I'd have rather not run into anyone at all," she replied after a moment.

[jadaryl]

Eliot listens silently to the two girls' conversation. The urge to look out for this other girl as well bags at him. All his instincts honed by a criminal career scream at him that it's a bad idea, but for some reason, he just can't dismiss it. He thought that if he'd met her under any other circumstance, he would have liked her. Perhaps they could have been friends. He resisted the urge to sigh.

What kind of people came up with "entertainment" like this? He hadn't missed either teens' reaction when he'd called them innocents under his breath. But the fact remained that he could read in their body language that this sort of violence was foreign to them. Whatever they might have seen or done, they had been civilians until they came here. What kind of people went out of their way to drive children to kill?

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko raises an eyebrow, confused. "Obviously," she says, because who wouldn't prefer picking up supplies without the bother of having to kill someone for it? "But, the bag. Did you get anything worth the trouble?"

[buildingreality]

"Yes," she replied simply, eyes on her bag briefly before glancing between the pair of them, trying to gauge if they would kill her for her spoils if given the chance. And both of them had the chance if they really wanted. So that answer would have to suffice for now.

"Neither of you got anything?" Her eyes flicker to Eliot, holding his gaze for a moment. "Besides that can."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko is disappointed but not surprised at the lack of details in Ariadne's answer. She'd hoped to know, of course, what Ariadne had managed to grab, but more than that she'd been wondering what it was like, killing for survival. Asking aloud would probably be too gruesome, though, and already Momoko is feeling constrained by her act.

"I didn't try," says Momoko. "Too risky, for me." She tightens her grip on the can, more relieved than she'd like to admit to have this one, small lifeline.

[jadaryl]

Eliot shakes his head. "Just these," he says quietly. "Figured the killing could wait a bit. These have some water in them. I can find food without too much trouble.". He points to the vultures the had started circling the Cornucopia.

[buildingreality]

She nods, understanding that fully, licking her lips thoughtfully before focusing on her hands. Admittedly, Wyatt's blood isn't wholly visible; just a few flecks here and there, but it was still more than she'd have liked. She picks at one of the dried flecks, trying to keep the gesture subtle.

"Which districts are you from? Or...did they say you represented?"

[jadaryl]

"3," he says, watching her fidget. "You?"

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"Seven," says Momoko disinterestedly. "Trees, I think."

[buildingreality]

"6. Transportation. Though I don't think they have any real bearing on anything at this point in time," she murmurs softly, settling for simply folding her hands now.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko sniffs. "Sports. Just another meaningless pageant but instead of beauty they want," she wrinkles her nose, trying to think of the worst thing, eventually settling on, "--sweat. I don't play sports and I certainly don't watch sports."

[jadaryl]

Eliot grins. "You sound like Sophie," he says. "Although she has a taste for rugby which is an even more violent sport.". He chuckles quietly. "That's the contradiction of British women."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"Sophie?" says Momoko curiously. She's not actually all that interested, but the camera's are always watching so it's best to keep up appearances. Her interaction's with Citizen's like Effie went well enough that she's decided to go with that cute, innocent, lady-like persona for now.

[jadaryl]

"She's a... coworker," Eliot explains. "She's only maybe 9, 10 years older than me at the most, but she's always trying to mother us younger ones. When she's not using neuro-linguistic programming on us."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko had been planning to just nod and let Eliot keep the conversation going, but that last sentence gives her pause. "Neuro-ling...what?" she attempts to repeat, furrowing her brow.

[jadaryl]

"Neuro-linguistic programming," he explained. "Basically, she combines specific words and gestures so that your mind associates them. It's really annoying when you catch her at it. She can get you to keep her readily full without you realizing it wasn't even your idea.". He shrugs. "Although I think sometimes she just wants to see if we can catch her at it."

[jadaryl]

Eliot pauses for a moment. "What about you?" he asks. "Who did you leave behind when they brought you here?"

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko is caught up in the possibilities of neuro-linguistic programming for a moment. That would have been helpful in the weeks spent waiting for the Games to start. "Can you do it?" she asks, hoping she only sounds idly curious. Then she tilts her head and asks, with sincere curiosity, "She's your coworker? Are you...entertainers?"

"My grandmother," says Momoko in response to his question. Not the first person that comes to mind, but a key part of Momoko's 'story' for the cameras. "I live with her and my father, who is...well-meaning but useless. I take care of things, especially my grandmother. I don't know how things are going without me..."

Momoko carefully doesn't bring up Ichigo, because being friends with an uncouth biker chick would ruin her cultivated image. And maybe, slightly, because there's a part of her that doesn't want to bring Ichigo into this world, into her life of lies and performance. Better she stay locked up in Momoko's memories for now.

[jadaryl]

"Can I use neuro-linguistic programming?" he clarified. "I never took the time to learn how. I'm getting better at catching her at it, though.

"Yeah, she's a coworker but, no, we're not entertainers, although Sophie keeps trying to start an acting career. I guess we all could be, if life had been different, if we'd made different choices. But that's all water under the bridge now. No, we're a consulting firm officially.

"Your grandmother? You must miss her."

[cowardfacinghappiness]

"Oh," says Momoko, disappointed. So much for that. "Consulting, sounds...nice. Pleasant."

"Oh, yes, I do," says Momoko, and it's not even really a lie, though her grandmother is far from her biggest concern. "And I'm worried, of course, she's old and not quite right in the head, you know. I'm sure my father has no idea what he's doing."