(no subject)

[gamemakers]

Who| Everyone in the arena
What| Even more reasons to hate the Capitol.
Where| Everywhere.
When| 4 am.
Warnings/Notes| Any group is being targeted to be separated. Everyone should be tagging someone they are not with, as well as those they are, as the Gamemakers are driving them apart. (You can feel free to search for, and possibly find your buddies later)


Once upon a time, when this place was a much happier place, fireworks would light up the sky, delighting children and leaving everyone with a magical feeling in their hearts.

This will not leave anyone with a magical feeling.

It was much later than a fireworks show would have ever gone. Closer to dawn then not, when anyone who could rest, even those far from it, would have finally managed to drift off.

It started with a strange, warbling music. For those familiar with this place it feels wrong, close to something they would connect with this show, but wrong. Distorted. Stumbling through a few bars, it starts to peter out just in time for a high pitches whistling.

And then the first firework explodes into the ground in a shower of bright colors, lighting up the castle. There is a moment of silence as the sparks fade.

And then all hell breaks loose.

Whoever is controlling the fireworks obviously have goals in mind. The strikes are tight, controlled. They are herding. Targeting the groups, the pairs, driving them apart.

The fireworks aren't made to kill (although a direct hit may), but they burn flesh, and leave anyone who looks at them too close momentarily blinded. Ever one is a shrieker, loud, louder then the shrillest fourth of July fireworks, screaming toward their targets. The arena is suddenly a shrill battleground, full of blindingly bright colors.

Th whole attack doesn't last longer than 20 minutes, petering off as the divisions have been deemed enough. A few squeal through the night here and there and then finally, blissfully silent.

Comments

A very public Parker

[whosalicewhite]

Many might've drifted off, but cat burglars can be rather nocturnal, and Parker's been out making a run for whatever she can find: oranges, dried something that looks edible, anything she can find.

Her original costume is down to very little. Any poofiness was destroyed in the first few days. Now, she looks like a rejected waif from a Disney film: the material tied, rags holding rags, even her hair's now tied with what was once some of the skirt.

For 6.7 seconds, she's mesmerized by the fireworks, but totally exposed in New Orleans Square, before she starts running for cover.

[deadthenred]

It's a rule of Disneyland that wherever you're trying to go, you always wind up in Critter Country. And no one wants to stick around in Critter Country.

The fireworks just make him run away faster. He's tumbling forward, head over feet, arms scraping the ground, none of him with great. Bucky takes the fireworks for something more sinister. They spook him deeper than they ought to.

So that's how he comes crashing into New Orleans Square without any skill or stealth. He's lucky he doesn't trip, still squinting in the bright of the light.

Sherlock / John / Danny until they get separated

[alldeduction]

Sherlock hated keeping watch. The seconds seemed to stretch on endlessly, the ever present sense of danger not enough to keep the dark tendrils of boredom from enveloping his mind. So he sat, staring out of the torn planks of the rundown shack that he, John and Danny had found for shelter, watching the silent and dark outside world where little made sense and the rest made him furious. He was so bored that he was twitching, desperately craving a cigarette, a nicotine patch, a body, a gun, a case...

God, but how long had it been since he had any work?

He brooded sullenly in the quiet dark, considering waking up John simply to offer some form of entertainment but remembering the last lecture he'd received for doing that on his 'watch'. It was pointless, really, this entire endeavour, if they'd only--

His thoughts were immediately and completely snapped away by a strange, warbling music, and he snapped to attention, ears primed to the direction of the sound. It was vaguely familiar, but then, so much of this place was. If he could just put his finger on it...

But then, a small fizzing, whistling light leapt through the broken boards and landed near his feet. For a half second, he frowned, then opened his mouth to wake his companions, but-

BOOM! FLASH!

And there was nothing but sound and light.

[drpsychosomatic]

John had been dreaming- a slow, hazy dream of Sundays in his armchair at 221b, doing crosswords while Sherlock complained of boredom, sprawled out on the couch with a book on his face. It was a nice dream, a comforting one- but it vanished in a bright flash of green light and the screech of explosives. He sprang up, artificially alert, his senses reeling, and scrabbled behind a pile of empty crates seconds before a second hit.

"Sherlock?!" he yelled out sharply, his voice hoarse. His heart was racing. "Sherlock. Danny. Get back here, get under cover--"

Sandy's in trouble, who wants to join her?

[justoutrunyou]

Oh good! And now the sky is falling...AGAIN!

Instinct tells her to run. Logic tells her to run for the water.

Memory tells her that whatever's in the water is worse then fire.

So she runs. She runs as fast and hard as she can. Her tiny body barely dodges the balls of flaming death and the minute her feet pass over the invisible line marking NO Square her stone skin melts away and she becomes even faster.

Because no one runs faster then a ten year old girl scared for her life and looking for cover.

[the_marshal]

Wyatt had lost Howard and Julie. As the mountain had screamed and shook, the smoke and flashing, burning light had seemed to swallow them up.

He called for them, their names an almost desperate plea - until a firework far too close had stolen the air from his lungs, scorching the inside of his mouth, his throat. He choked, gagged, and struggled to breathe as he staggered through the dark...

And suddenly spotted a figure, small and fast, rushing past him.

"Hho-Howard?"

Peg Leg R [Open to new CR] [NO square/Frontier/Adventureland]

[shambler]

Plans aren't his thing but R's willing to making an exception. Between Howard and Julie here, he decides he wants to surprise them. Do something spontaneous. Something a friend would do for a friend and the girl he's not sure if they've got a Thing or not. Something nice and cool.

The problem is there's a limit to what you can surprise two Living, breathing people with when you're a zombie. Ideas don't come easily: they come reluctantly, trying to claw away. R practically gives himself a mental hernia going through some ideas. Fishing for piranha? He's done it before, the first time on accident, so he knows how to do that. Maybe he could....try cooking? He saw Howard and Wyatt make fires and he knows how to fish, so that's got to be a start. R has no clue how to cook but he has the dim impression that breakfast-in-bed is something he wants, or wanted, to do in the past for someone. Maybe he was even good at it.

R starts the trek down to the swamp around midnight. He up and leaves without telling the others, not wanting to wake them up and anyway, it's not much of a surprise if he blurts out his plan. It's around 4AM before he can hear the squawk of another duck making the mistake swimming in piranha-infested waters.

The music starts before he wades in. R stops, head cocked, because if there's anything he's a sucker for, it's anything with music (although he has standards. And this? This is crappy sound quality. It's barely music). The bass is off, for starters, R's face slowly crumpling as he registers how bad it is.

Yikes, that's just -

The zombie doesn't get any further when the sky suddenly explodes above him, light reflects off the swamp, a thunderclap booming. It fades. R thinks he likes the colors when the next couple of rounds go off. The first couple zoom overhead. One splashes into the water only a foot away, the zombie staring stupidly because his sense of self-preservation rotted away years ago. His vision whites out again like he stared at the sun, whatever's left of his ears ringing. R's vaguely aware of stumbling away. The stump where his foot used to be skids out from under him, R goes down to his knees, and he's struggling up when his vision comes back, just enough to see one of the fireworks shooting toward...where he left Howard and Wyatt. Julie!

Suddenly R remembers what it's like to hustle. The zombie gets back on his good foot and his stump and hobbles as fast as he can away from the swamp.

Re: Peg Leg R [Open to new CR] [NO square/Frontier/Adventureland]

[themediator]

Suze had been camped out just near the swamp. In the daylight she would go out exploring other areas in the arena, but she always returned to the swamp at night. It was where Howard had brought her and for the moment it was the spot she was most familiar with. She stayed hidden under a covering of branches and leaves that she had pieced together. It wasn't perfect, but during the night time it worked. She had been nodding off, despite her best efforts not to when R stumbled into the swamp.

She shot awake at the sound, but didn't dare move. She was a fair distance off, but she had decided it was best to avoid everyone if at all possible. She had been lucky with her few run-ins so far, but she wasn't counting on her luck to keep up for much longer. Because of the distance she couldn't tell much about R, other than the fact that he was most likely male, and stood kind of funny. She watched as he approached the swamp, wondering if he was planning to fish. She already had a few bites up and down her arms thanks to the piranha, but when it was the only food source she could currently rely on, she didn't much care. She only hoped there would be enough fish to last her until this whole nightmare was over.

Despite herself, Suze jumped when the fireworks began. She didn't think it was enough for anyone to see and the noise of the music and fireworks covered the sound, but she froze more than ever under her cover. Then the shot came down at R. She watched as he began to stumble away, and again she can't help but notice the strange way he carried himself. Was something wrong with his foot? He was still to far away for her to tell.

As she considered this, another shot landed dangerous close to Suze. She let out a startled shout as the explosion lands and lights the leaves all about her on fire. She scrambles up on to her feet, but the burning leaves catch around her wrist. She struggles with the burning mess and finally manages to shake it off, but not before collecting a burn on her right hand. She bites her lip, trying not to cry out from the pain and runs as fast as she can from the fire. She's too distracted from the noise and the throbbing pain that she doesn't realize where she is running to until she's almost caught up to R. Her eyes were watering up from the pain, but she just kept running. It was all she could think to do.

[retrieverchef]

Eliot was sleeping when the first one landed next to him. The noise and the stinging burn woke him up. "Anna?" he called, sitting up and grabbing some of the su[[lies in case they have to run.

[itswhoyouare]

Anna snapped awake at the first explosion of fireworks near them, not in time enough to get them away from the one that collided next to them. But she'd been curled up beside him, pressed to his back with her face buried in his neck until all hell broke loose. She shot up with him, getting all the supplies into the bag and grabbing her crowbar.

"Guess this is one of those gamemaker surprises I've heard about."

Gaila - Frontier Land

[freebitchbaby]

Gaila had been asleep in one of the bushes of frontier land. It was the only place that she had control over her pheromones.

With her green skin it wasn't as if she didn't blend in well enough. Her dress had been ripped the shreds and only the corset and what could generously be called a belt was slung around her round hips. When a loud fizzing and spitting thing landed next to her, she screamed without even thinking about attracting attention.

She stumbled back and up, trying to get away from the noise, tripping and stumbling before breaking into a swift run, dodging the what she assumed to be missiles the best that she could while frantically searching for shelter. Looked like her time of hiding out in the bushes was over.

[hasacondition]

"Shit."

He had been dozing, as safe as he could possibly be in these circumstances, considering how they were taking watch. Still, he still has his well-honed paranoia instincts, ready to wake up and run at a moment's notice, so a screaming firework is definitely enough.

Waiting to grab the project would be suicide. It would make sense, if he had just a moment to think about it-- giant fireworks are a good show, breaking up the herd, disrupting what is only looking more and more like something that could actually be effective-- but he doesn't, not yet. He grabs the pack his cape makes on instinct and bolts.

He's just aware enough only to head in a not-Tomorrowland direction, trusting the others to get themselves out. They'll reconvene... somehow. When things aren't exploding.

[knifewithnoname]

A loud yelp sounded from nearby as a tiny figure made a run for it, she had been running from tomorrow land but the explosions were everywhere and dodging them was getting harder.

Hence the yelp as pain struck her arm, an explosion singing the skin. She changed direction and almost ran into someone, any night vision she had destroyed by the blinding explosions.

[president_evil]

Wesker had been awake, stalking the orchard for any tributes that may been foolish enough to make a run in the dead of night, when the first ball of colorful fire had lit up the sky. He'd watched it course across the sky, his slitted eyes narrowing behind his dark glasses against the fierce brightness. He hadn't been able see where it landed from where he'd been, but he'd felt it, heard it, and he'd had only a moment longer to decide he should probably move before the dark sky was suddenly exploding into sound and color.

The ground rumbled as one of the fireworks crashed nearby, but he didn't see it. Couldn't. Temporarily blinded, his eyes streaming fire, he was relying on his other senses, smell and sound and touch as he fled through the trees, seeking shelter as hell reigned down.

[lassoftruthiness]

Diana can't sleep. She's lost friends and charges before, and very rarely with the hope that they would be back to life, relatively safe and sound, within days, but that doesn't make this failure hit any softer. It's hard, especially with Blaine's grief, her fear for his state of mind...she can't sleep and she's watching the sky when the fireworks start.

"Blaine," she shouted, jumping to her few feet seconds before the first rocket hit the ground. She's in costume, though she has her cloak wrapped around her for the sake of subterfuge, but her powers aren't much help when the rockets make it impossible to fly and deflecting them with her bracers isn't much help when they explode as they hit. "Blaine!" she called again, though she can barely hear herself much less a reply. "Find cover!"

[mediumdrip]

Blaine hadn't been sleeping either. Every time he closed his eyes he just saw Kurt on the ground coughing up blood and foam as he died. Died. And Blaine wouldn't know if he would be back until he was out of the Arena too. He had to die if he wanted to see Kurt again. The fact of that bounced around his head as he laid there trying to fight off his exhaustion.

Blaine's entire mind felt numb and distant, as he had lost all will to do anything other than lie there. Diana was the only reason he hadn't just curled up and let himself starve. She could get him to eat or to move.

The explosion, however, that was loud and it broke through the fog of his grief. He jumped up and grabbed at the most vital supplies so that they could scatter and hide.

[dieinpajamas]

Being alone was starting to be a problem. Left alone with his own thoughts, his many, many thoughts, especially after the fire debacle, somehow makes it more of a struggle to keep Ballard in check. Particularly now that his face is scarred all to hell, which he found hilarious.

When the fireworks began there's a split-second where Alpha thinks that Ballard's somehow managed to force memories back to the experience, is making them relive the flames all over again, but he's quickly over that and running for cover.

[shambler]

R's used to stumbling around, lost in his head. Having fireworks raining down on him and trying to light him on fire is a new one and it's a lot like being shot at if the bullets were pretty colors. He thinks he liked them a lot better in Perry's memories.

It was only a matter of time before R suddenly materialized near Alpha, stumbling out of the smoke and nearly ramming into him.

"Not....that...way!" R gasped.

[splendid_roman]

Ian was asleep when the fireworks started. Even if he hadn't become a light sleeper here, where there was a possibility of being killed in his sleep, they would have woken him up. At first he thought there was some sort of attack before he realised it was just fireworks, albeit loud ones.

He was torn between staying where he was and going outside to see what was going on. Since he wasn't going to get any more sleep and he liked being prepared more than being ignorant, he left his hidey-hole to investigate.

And was immediately blinded by a firework.

He flung a hand over his face but it was too little too late. His eyes stung and watered. Not wanting to run into anything, he stayed where he was, turning around and taking a few uncertain steps, trying to work out if anyone else was around.

[nunpunching]

Punchy is...trying to put out fires. Doing the heroic, senseless thing is in his blood, and the flames that some of the fireworks have started up are an immediate call to some sort of action. Punchy runs towards the nearest conflagration and starts stamping it down, trying to squint his one eye through the smoke.

Unfortunately, he's mostly-blinded now, and he bumps straight into Ian.

[the_marshal]

Dozing, Wyatt didn't see the first fiery ball come crashing to earth, but he certainly felt it, and the ones that came after, slamming into the man-made mountain. Steel groaned and screamed, the track quaked, dirt and debris rained from the tunnel ceiling.

"Howard!" He was grabbing for his bag with one hand, for the boy with the other, and trying to find his feet all at the same time. Haunting flashes of the ice field - cracking and shifting and collapsing - clouding his vision. "Julie! Time to go!"

They were bringing the mountain down, he was sure of it.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's asleep when the first blast goes off. He's been sleeping a lot lately, when he's not running around scavenging supplies. All his spare energy seems to be going into his body piecing itself back together. His dream about running through the forest after a teleporting cat is blasted open as the cement beneath him shakes, as a piece of scaffolding falls down and strikes his shoulder, as he's on his feet before he's even conscious. "Wha-?"

He feels Wyatt grab his arm, he grabs his backpack with the other, and he looks up the track. They need to get out of here, or they'll both be killed. It wouldn't even take the tunnel collapsing; there are cars up higher on the track that could come barreling down at them.

He doesn't want to leave. He has all their stuff here. They have a tiny little camp, a home together, here inside Thunder Mountain. But now isn't the time for sentiment, so he gestures at Wyatt, instinctively pulling in close to his ally as if Wyatt's height will really defend him from falling debris. There's a shrieking of metal from behind them. "This way, the bridge on the other side is going to collapse!"

Right now, having boobytrapped the exits seems like an awful idea in hindsight. Howard's eyes cast around for Julie.

Some and Rapunzel to start off with, Tim is joining eventually

[flower_power]

Rapunzel hadn't slept well since that first night, not even with Some there. Because those things were out here, and so was everything else. She didn't want to die, particularly, and that made it hard to sleep. So maybe it wasn't surprising when the music, distorted and relatively distant as it was, did most of the job of waking her up.

There was a shriek and a flash of color, and Rapunzel's fingers curled into her companion's fur.

"Some?"

Her voice is soft, scared of the unknown, which thus far is never good, not here. A shriek coming faster towards them. "Some??" Rapunzel's voice has become more of a shriek itself, and she scrambles to her feet, gathering her hair, trying not to trip (she's still tired, her limbs are still clumsy, maybe she should start sleeping during the day because this always seems to happen during night) as she scrambles back, away from the shrieking and the light.

Fantasyland, under the collapsed canopy of the carousel.

[gruesome]

From the first flash, Some's upper body was bolt upright, his crest of stiff fur rising tall along the ridge of his skull, clear down to his shoulders. "Oh no..." Scrambling up on stiff legs, he staggered a few steps before he found his gait, following her. He was just reaching for her arm when the shriek struck the metal cone under which they'd been sheltering, blasting a chunk of it into twisted metal in a brilliant, deafening explosion.

Barbara was all alone anyway. ;;

[acro_bat_ic]

Barbara had been avoiding people, ever since... Harley. Nothing quite like having someone die for you to make a girl hide her head. Maybe she'd had half an idea formed about searching for Bruce, but with no where to go...

It's not like the place had ever seemed like a game. But Joking... Joking was what Barbara did when she was scared. Pretending everything was okay. Harley had helped her to do that. Harley - and a large portion of luck with who she ran into - had made that possible. Watching the clown girl's neck snap, less than a minute after escaping that position herself... That was a lot harder to laugh off.

Hence: One de-costumed purple batgirl, all huddled in the shadows when the lights began to shine. ...She dud move pretty quickly when the lights started to rain down, at least. Dodging was what she did, after all. Dodging was all she seemed able to do, really, but that was an internal sulk for later in the evening when she wasn't being chased by fireworks. So far, she didn't seem to be getting that many... but she was going for cover before that changed.

[mediumdrip]

Blaine had lost Diana in all of the mess. He was scared for his safety, but it still didn't pierce though in a way that he thought it should. Finding shelter was automatic as he told himself that he needed it.

In between explosions he realized that his hiding place wasn't entirely empty. "Hello?" he asked, sure that his ears were ringing from all of the noise.

Even in the darkness there were the noticeable dark stains of dried blood on the sleeves of his costume.

[pinklady]

"KYAA!!"

It was the noise that caused Chibi-Usa to wake up. And then, heat. Lots of heat.

"Holy shi-"

The next thing she knew, she was grabbing her things and running from her hidey hole in Tomorrowland, mere seconds before the vending stand was hit in an explosion of sparks and flames. Then she was in a shooting gallery, things exploding around her, going on fire around her.

It was just like dodging youma. If youma shot fireworks.

Unfair! So unfair!!

She needed to get to Fantasyland. She'd have the protection of her power there!

[orestes]

The third explosion hits a little too close to their hideout for comfort. Enjolras vaguely remembers springing awake --he hadn't been a heavy sleeper to begin with, definitely not here, but now he's convinced he'll never sleep again. His ears will probably never stop ringing. Probably.-- he'd grabbed Little Rock by the shoulder, urging her out of their cluttered little room above one of the shops and down into the street. It wasn't the best plan, but it was better than being crushed to death. Possibly.

He hadn't accounted for the possibility of losing her.

He should have, really. It's a stupid mistake. She's small, and the lights were flashing, illuminating everything suddenly in a way that makes his head spin. There's no time to adjust and there still explosions happening around them. From the look of the warn path, and the not-so-subtle changes in architecture around him, Enjolras can tell he's run too far. He's reached the edge of Fantasyland and she's probably no where near here at all. That's when he spots the small shape of Chibi-Usa hurring toward him through the chaos.

"Little Rock?" His voice is uncertain. It made no sense for her to be coming from that direction, but she's faster than she looks. Maybe she'd circled back.

Bruce and Tim up in NO Square

[battroll]

Tim had originally been the one who needed to convince Bruce that he had to get some sleep. Logically, this was something that Bruce knew, and he could feel himself slowing down as he exhausted himself. He just hadn't wanted to admit it. But when a duck had nearly taken off his finger, he'd been forced to admit this wasn't helping anyone.

They met up now, and took resting in pairs, as was the safest way to do it, when trapped in a game where death was the object. But Bruce, as always, was a relatively light sleeper, and when the first firework came screaming over to explode, Tim didn't have to wake him.

[the_hit_list]

The sharp, whistling sound broke the quiet night apart like a hammer slamming through a sheet of glass. Incoming. Missile? Rocket-launched Grenade? Tim drops down to one knee, reaching over to shake Bruce. The first explosion illuminates their balcony for a second, revealing Bruce's alertness as the firework slams into the wall. Sparks cascade down into him, singing his hair and skin where they land with teeth-grinding heat.

"Go!" Tim's over the railing already, dropping down to the street below. He's not sure who's shooting at them. It looked like a downward trajectory. But there isn't close range higher ground. He can hear again - that shrill warning. They've fired another round. Tim ducks down between a rusted trash can and the building, presses his right side tight to the barrel and shields as much of his head as possible with his arms.

Unfortunately, his left eye is exposed to see the firework go off mere feet in front of him, and Tim's vision explodes in orange.

Open to Lindsey

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Once separated from Wyatt and Julie, and still in search of R, Howard tries not to draw any attention to himself. One hand is pretty much entirely useless, and the injury on his leg was exacerbated by escaping from Thunder Mountain. He slinks around Fantasyland, drooling a little on himself through his split lip.

He stops when he hears something. "Hello?" he asks quietly, gripping his knife in his pocket.

Always late to the game

[hartless_cowboy]

Those fireworks were a real piece of work. It annoyed Lindsey to no ends that he was waken from his nice soft bed and had it all but blow up on him in cinders.

Worst yet was he became separated from his district mate.

So he wandered, temporarily unarmed as he had fled too quickly to grab anything of use. By first order he should get something, perhaps after he figured out where he had fled to in the desperation to get away from exploding fireworks.

He stopped too when he heard a voice. "Who's out there?"