Oh my love, I know you are the Candy Man

[gamemakers]

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.]

Comments

[luckofthedevil]

"Oh, so you're military." That would explain why he said he'd seen worse. Alex fought to breathe for a moment, then managed to squeeze out his name in return. "I'm Alex, Alex Rider."

[deadthenred]

"Been in it longer than I look." It'd been four years since he enlisted, and three of them since the war started. Bucky wondered if he was ever gonna get back there, to his war— but he stopped himself.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Alex Rider," he said, grin sharp with irony.

[luckofthedevil]

"Hell of a way to meet, isn't it?" Alex gave a tense groan as he slumped the rest of the way to the ground. Even his previous Arena deaths hadn't felt this bad, because after a moment the pain stopped, but this time it just kept going. From head to toe it hurt, and it was taking nearly everything he had to keep from screaming. But as long as he could keep talking to Bucky, he could put off giving in to the pain just a little longer. "So how old are you?"

[deadthenred]

"It's hell, yeah." God, Bucky decided, he didn't want to go by poison, slowly. Better to do it quick and then just get it over with.

"I'm nineteen." Old enough to be in the Army proper, by now. Bucky knew he didn't always look it, so he stood a bit taller when he said so.

is bucky's hair brown or a bit reddish? can't quite tell from his icons

[luckofthedevil]

So Bucky was older than him. Alex was about to reply with his own age, when he felt something hot and wet in his mouth. A moment later he tasted copper and realized he'd bitten his tongue instead. Damn. Alex pressed his face into the grass, trying to ignore the sickly sweet smell of sugar it gave off, hoping he could avoid choking on his own blood. He didn't fancy adding asphyxiation on top of poisoning.

it depends on the colorist, i say it's brown that can look reddish in certain lights ???

[deadthenred]

"Christ," he said, falling down to his knees like an instinct. It was obvious Alex was done for, from the start, the way the color was leaving him. But there are bad and worse ways to go. Bucky just wished he could do more. This place had such a way of making anybody feel hopeless.

[luckofthedevil]

The cool numbness started at his fingers and toes, and slowly started to work its way inward. It was a feeling he'd only experienced a couple of times, despite the several Arenas he'd already gone through in Panem. Alex was almost relieved, as the numbness also meant the pain was receding as well, except he knew what followed.

As a shadow fell across his face, Alex rolled his eyes upward. There was a slight glint of sun, shining behind a silhouette, and just for a moment, Alex thought he was seeing someone else.

"Jack?" He coughed, and each breath he took almost seemed to gurgle in his chest. "I'm sorry."

[deadthenred]

The guy wasn't seeing straight. It didn't surprise Bucky, not exactly, but it did write the helplessness of the whole situation into an awful line across his eyebrows. He shut his eyes for a second, trying to figure out what to say.

"It's okay. You don't got anything to be sorry about." Bucky said it low and quiet, and it left him like a prayer.

It might not've been true. But it's what Bucky would've wanted to hear, if he were in the same place.

[luckofthedevil]

It wasn't true at all, but it was roughly what Jack would have said anyway. The American accent helped, too. The poison was quickly winning however, with each breath becoming more laboured than the last, until finally the next breath simply didn't come at all.

[deadthenred]

Bucky didn't stay for long. They did something with the bodies, right? They had to. There was no sense in waiting around for some bugle to play Taps. Others would be running along soon, with their fists or something sharper. He had to keep running.

He felt a bit wrong to do it, but he was used to swallowing that feeling. From what he'd said, Bucky thought Alex would understand.