thearena | Oh my love, I know you are the Candy Man

Although the mood in the Capitol is...taut, once the Tributes are in the transportation craft, things seem to lighten. The peacekeepers almost seem jovial - as jovial as peacekeepers ever seem. About half the Tributes are checked over and given an injection into their tracking device.

In the underground room, the stylists have all their prep teams running busy, dressing up the tributes in bright costumes, chatting with each other, clearly excited to have so much freedom over what their Tributes are wearing in. Each one is dressed in a personalized costume, elaborate, and entirely soft.

Finally the Tributes are placed on their pedestals and sent on up, all gussied up.

25 - 24 - 23

The light is blinding for a moment, before the candy-colored world around them comes into focus. And it's not just candy-colored - it is actually candy. Some Tributes might be reminded of the game Candy Land, if it was something in their home world. Music plays, scarily cute animals roam, and every thing just looks so gosh-darn happy.

20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16

The Cornucopia sits, candy-striped itself, and over-flowing with a generous bounty of food, weapons, and supplies. Even these all reflect the nature of the arena, brightly-colored, and cheerful-looking, just begging to be gathered up.

11- 10 - 9 - 8

They've all been warned not to step off their pedestal early. But as the final number ticks off, those Tributes that had their tracking devices adjusted in the transport suddenly feel a sting starting in their arms. A slightly diluted version of what Ariadne was given the day before is dumped in their veins.

The dilution doesn't help them, of course; it just causes the poison to take effect more slowly.

5 - 4

3

2

1

Go.

The burning is starting for half of them, spreading through their body, lighting their nerves on fire. Within 10 minutes it's effecting their motor skills, causing them to stagger, twitch, to move against their will.

Those who are small fall faster, barely lasting 15 minutes in the bloodbath. The stronger and bigger among them might make it 30 minutes at most.

By the time the bloodbath is over, the Cornucopia is surrounded by corpses. Half of the Tributes have fallen without even a single competitor having to touch them.

[OOC: Don't forget the OOC Arena post, especially those of you running for the Cornucopia. Every Tribute must 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.

Those who were poisoned are anyone in group 2. You will have a second post up shortly.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Don't ask me, Batman, I haven't got a clue. Come on, we gotta hurry up, you stick out more than I do and I'm wearing a big red cape." He heaves Lindsey's arm over one of his shoulders (see, it's not all fake muscle....) and starts to walk forward, looking behind them to make sure no one's coming for them.

Lindsey groaned at the comment, one that he was sadly seeing as the truth too. "It seemed like a good way to hide before knowing they're throwing us onto candy mountain," Lindsey muttered as he allowed the fake Superman —whoa, strong arms— to help him get to the first... treeline? Could those things even be called trees?

Strangely though, it was such a short trip yet by then he was feeling sore all over. The feeling wasn't all that different from a bad flu. "Something weird's going on in this arena," he said as a backwards look showed nearly half the tributes struggling like they were similarly hindered too.

"Yeah, I got hit by whatever it is too," he replies, hand covering his head. "We can just get to the lollipops," he adds, looking over at the cotton candy and giant swirly trees.

"My name is Steve," he offers, as they rush on by.

"Thought it should be Kent," Lindsey answered as if joking. But the guy was trying to help him out, or, at least, appeared to be, so the least he could do was fess up his name. "Lindsey."

Together they managed to get to the first cove of lollipops. Oh that sounded weird.

Once more he was hit with the utter ridiculousness of this arena. "I don't trust these sweets as far as I can throw any of them. Who designs a killer arena looking like a three year old's fantasy?"

"I'd say it's nice to meet you, but I wish we weren't here and I wish we weren't wearing these costumes," he says. He doesn't need these padded muscles, they're kind of getting in his way. "And I've got no idea... I don't think we should try eating it. I think the sugar might be giving me a headache."

"Could be worse," Lindsey said with a bark of laughter. "Like Disney last time. Hey, Batman's better than prince charming in Joker purple." Getting to the lollipops, Lindsey eyed the giant confection. "Not eating it... but think it's safe to lean against?" He felt like he was ready to collapse at any time.

"Don't know if you really wanna stop here, but if you want to break for five minutes, I'll cover," he replies, also taking a seat. "And I don't know, I still got a cape."

"Yeah..." Lindsey gave Steve a smile under his cowl. "Yeah, I do... Thanks, Superman."

He slid down the edge of the lollipop and sat leaned back against it. Just beyond, he grimaced at seeing what a bloodbath this place was turning into. Steve was right, they should run, but his legs weren't too cooperative.

"Capes can be useful. A lot more than puffy sleeves are, let me tell you that."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure these fake muscles are worse," he says, because he just looks like a bulldog on steroids. He's starting to get woozy, and he wants to cover his mouth and all but that seems to not be working. "Whatever you've got, I think I've got it too."

"Don't look at me, I didn't give it to you," Lindsey said quickly, though he felt just as bad too. It was a sign of how bad he felt that the thought of taking advantage of this guy and killing him while he was sick didn't even occur to him.

"It's this place... didn't feel like this until I hit the arena..." Lindsey shivered as his muscles started to hurt.

"Yeah," he says weakly. "Yeah, I think so too. We're probably allergic to something here. Try not to breathe."

He rips off his cape and holds it against his mouth; he hadn't meant to suggest that Lindsey had been contagious, but maybe he thinks he could save both of them long enough to get out of here, since Lindsey too, has been gifted with a cape.

"Try not to... how can I not breathe?" Lindsey gave what the guy was doing a dubious look, then around at the rest of the arena. The two of them weren't the only ones having a reaction, it seemed, although it was hard to tell how much of the bloodbath was natural and how much was due to this.

"Whatever it is, I don't think it's an inborn allergy. Look at how the others are staggering." Lindsey had plans for that cape. If he survived this, his cape was going to be an important part of his survival.

"Maybe they thought the last arena dragged on too long," he says with some difficulty, leaning against the stick of the lollipop and feeling a wave of nausea. "Think we should... move before someone healthy decides to pick us off."

"So they decide to go and kill half of us at the outset?" Lindsey gave 'Superman' another one of his disbelieving looks.

The moment passed and Lindsey tried to get up only to discover that he was hurting too much. He wasn't able to rise again. "You go ahead... I think I'm just going to sit here for a while longer."

He knows what that means, and he can't really blame the guy. Quick death, it's all the way back to the Capitol. "Let me hide you," he says, as a last-ditch effort. It'll probably hurt less than getting butchered, unless someone trained comes along.

Was this man for real? Lindsey felt oddly touched, though he shook his head.

"Don't plan on dying," he told the guy with a forced smile that looked more like a grimace. It was starting to really hurt. "But thanks anyway."

"You keep sitting here and someone will find you," he replies. "And then your plans might not go the right way. So just... let this pass and wait for the coast to be clear."

As much as Lindsey hated it, he did agree with the man's assessment. So with a pained groan, he pushed himself to his feet. He shuddered when he finally managed to stand.

"... you go ahead, I'll be behind." No he wouldn't be, but the guy was nice enough that he didn't feel wrong about telling him indirectly to go save himself.

Oh my love, I know you are the Candy Man

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