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

[doesnotsew]

She scowled as he reached the field, eying the bag already slung around his back. It’d be foolish to chase after him just because she had her eye on the bag… but, then again, she had wanted it, and it could certainly be useful. She settled her eye on one of the strange, sickly-colored… rocks, perhaps, but the word didn’t seem to fit; she’d never once think it was supposed to be a treat. She grabbed one, wrinkling her nose at the stickiness she felt between her fingers, and heft it to feel the weight before trying to lob it at the boy. What good is running if he should fall?

[amplifying]

Beck weaved his way around the colorful little sticks, trying to be as light on his feet as he possibly could. Sometimes he'd get caught up a little too fast, and he'd end up getting sticky stuff all over him. It held him back for only a moment or two, and it wasn't hurtful to him or anything (unless he got some of his hair stuck in it, which stung a bit sometimes), but it was distracting.

Up ahead, he could just barely see an opening to the field. He smiled, and started to put on a burst of speed, when...

...something whacked him right in the back of the head.

He grunted as his world went spinning for a dizzying moment, and he ended up falling face first into the colorful grass. Beck felt like he could barely inspect himself for any injuries (because it sure felt like he had one...), before turning to see who had been targeting him in the first place.

[doesnotsew]

As soon as he went down, she grinned, even as she tried to brush the remnants off her fingers. She was used to people staying down when hit—sure, the rock had felt lighter that she was expecting, but it must have done the same amount of damage as one normally would—and so didn’t think she had any reason to hurry. She turned her attention back to the Cornucopia, intent on grabbing what she could from the fray before hunting down the body with the bag; she doubted anyone was paying enough attention to her to steal it out from under her.

[amplifying]

When nobody went to beat him up while he was down, Beck allowed himself to rest in the comfort of the candy grass. He took a breath, and closed his eyes...

...and opened them what felt like some time later.

He slowly raised his head, grimacing as the back of it ached. Slowly but surely, Beck managed to get to his feet, making sure his pack was secure on his back, before stumbling his way through the sticky lollipops a second time around.

One foot forward, one foot forward...

[doesnotsew]

She was busy fighting her own battles, winning her own spoils—but she didn’t forget about the one she had waiting, half her attention turned in that direction to see if anyone would go after it themselves. It didn’t look like it, and she was pleased, so when the horn was picked clean she took her bag in hand and the long, thin bundle—when she wrapped her hand around it and squeezed, she felt an encouraging row of metal meet her, and grinned wickedly as her god finally did something right—and set out. The injured boy, however, was not there waiting when she arrived—and she was fairly certain he had fallen here.

If she squinted, she could see a path through the bizarre surroundings, some place where they were disturbed, and so she followed, picking her way through the stickiness, wary for ambushes and whatever sickness was no doubt contained within them.

[amplifying]

Beck felt like he was moving through water. It was the weirdest feeling; he knew that he was moving forward, and he knew where he was...but it felt like every movement was slow. A step forward took hours, and a hand to move away the lollipops took days. It made him feel out of synchronization and tired and weak.

He stumbled through the sticky lollipops, not even caring how much gunk got stuck in his hair, or tugged at his skin. All he knew was that he needed to find a safe place to stay, to try and hide away and go over himself and figure out exactly what was wrong. The end of the lollipops were getting a little closer, and Beck tried to stumble through a little faster.

But before he could reach the end point, Beck could barely hear the sound of footsteps behind him. When he turned, he could just make out the figure of the person who started chasing him in the first place.

There was something metal in his pack, wasn't there? He reached behind to grab one of the katana's he was given, and gripped it as firmly as he could. He probably couldn't run away the way he felt right now, so. "Leave me alone."

[doesnotsew]

As far as she was concerned, the things she was struggling her way through were completely alien, and possibly designed with the purpose of frustrating anyone trying to walk through them. They caught on her clothes, which were at least more manageable than the last outfit, and left a sticky, sickly residue that she could only hope wasn’t poisoned on every piece of skin showing. If water was abundant enough, she’d have to spare some to try and clean it off; otherwise, her skin would feel like crawling for the majority of the arena.

Her hands came up lazily when she saw his weapon, ostensibly a show of submission but with an air of cheekiness to it. The sword was longer than her dagger, and although her little pink bundle had an incredibly encouraging texture to it, she hadn’t had time to put it on (and good thing, too; nothing worse than gunked mail). Her eyes met his, and she smiled as she leisurely thought through what he would likely do. “You’re blocking the way out,” is all she said, as if she hadn’t been following him from the start.

[amplifying]

...Wait.

This was the same person, wasn't it? Beck felt himself slowly lowering his blade...though whether it was a good idea or a bad, he didn't even know. His thoughts were so jumbled, and there was nothing more he wanted to do than just run and try and get away from this all. They said the Blood Baths were always awful and confusing, but he had no idea until he actually was in one himself.

Beck took one step back..then two. "I'll leave first. I don't care what you do."

And that wasn't entirely a lie.

He took another step back, and another few after that. It seemed like a bunch of it; he was sure that this was the User who hit him in the back of the head before. So why all of a sudden why would she just want a way out? He noticed the new pack that rested on her shoulders, and it kind of clicked after that. "You got what you want. Leave me alone."

[doesnotsew]

She smiled at his confusion, something too far from innocence to play along, but shrugged her shoulders easily. “Then go first.” There would be no fight in here, where every blow would be hampered by snags on the surroundings, and where her best weapon was outdistanced by his—she doubted he could use it well, but the fact was that he had it, and there was no sense in taking the risk until she got herself properly outfitted. Better to let him run off, far enough away to remove the risk of an ambush as she struggled out of the demented forest. She could-- would, she had to think, if I’m to win this, it will happen-- always take her spoils from him later.

“I’m not going back the way I came, so move aside or I’ll pass through you,” she said simply, though the vaguely predatory smile remained.

[amplifying]

Beck noticed that odd kind of grin. And that's what made him suspicious the most.

He never saw this User before; she was just someone who was tracking him down for what was on his back. She chased him into this sticky, weird kind of woods, and even knocked him down with a lollipop. And all of a sudden she was just going to stop chasing him? Either let him go his way, or she go around? Either Beck wasn't understanding this like he should be, or she was up to something wrong. At this point in time, Beck was going to assume both.

It wasn't like he had much choice, though.

"Fine. I'll go." He lowered his weapon, giving her a look that was somewhere between a glare and a suspicious glance. "I don't care where you go or why. Just leave me alone."

[doesnotsew]

She kept her hands out innocently enough, though there was a sarcastic hint to it enough. The fact of the matter was that she couldn’t fight him confidently now, and she was under no rush to hurry it along anyway. If she played this carefully, instead of swinging herself around willy-nilly like she had the arena before, she could take this a lot further.

Still, she didn’t move—didn’t move, but didn’t speak, either, watching him with that strange smile like she was asking why he hadn’t gone yet.

[amplifying]

Well, okay. Beck didn't trust this person, not in a million cycles.

...But at the same time, he didn't want to stick around.

Making sure his pack was protecting his disc as much as it could, he turned around and sprinted forward as hard as he possibly could. At first he slipped and almost fell over himself (his weird injury felt absolutely awful, and Beck hated it), but he managed to regain his balance at the last possible moment, and made a straight shot to the opening out of the gross sticky things. It wasn't about trying to fight this User off now. It was more about just trying to get out and hide his tracks.