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

[shambler]

By now R was a drooling, desperate mess. No matter how many people he attacked, he just couldn't get a good grip on them. Tributes slipped out of his grasp, others realized he could only move so fast and kept dancing out of his reach and taking off at a fast jog (damn) and R was left feeling like he was spinning in circles, both the hunger and him frustrated enough to grind their teeth.

The gasp behind him made R jerk upright, this slow, unnatural shiver going up him. He turned at the voice, looking right at his friend without recognizing him. It was probably too much to hope he had this guy rooted to the spot. That didn't stop R from switching targets and starting to stumble over toward Bert, his gray hands up in claws like he was already grabbing him and going to town.

"Ghuh!" R groaned.

[tis_allgood]

Cuthbert was stunned, but he knew better than to stay in one place, especially when it looked like something was terribly wrong with his friend. He had already seen some people acting strangely, but he had chalked it up to their unique attire and left it at that. This was different, and much more intense. He was worried, borderline frightened at the look in R's eyes.

"What's wrong? Have you been hurt?"

He might normally try to make some physical contact with R to try and ground him and bring him back to himself, but this whole encounter screamed danger and Cuthbert Allgood was only a really a fool when he could afford to be. It might be better to be safe than sorry just now... at least until he can wrap his mind around what's going on.

[shambler]

Probably a bit too late to be asking that question. R was closing in now, tripping over supplies in his hurry to get to Bert. A few times it looked like he'd take a spill and not get back up, R's teeth revealed in an almost confused looking snarl as he got closer and closer, like he did and didn't want to sink his teeth into Bert. About par for the course, basically. R made about as crappy a zombie as he did a human survivor.

He hoped this wasn't anyone he knew. That'd be...awkward. Try really awkward. This guy had a nice, friendly face, the kind that he didn't really want to chew off if he had a choice.

R looked Bert right in the eyes and lunged at him. It was a clumsy, picture-perfect tackle for a zombie, the textbook kind Julie's people would've written manuals about how to counter years ago. What can R say? Sometimes he didn't feel like being creative.

[tis_allgood]

It only cemented his fear to watch R ignore supplies he could easily have reached down and taken. This was a man with something much more important in mind. The only other men he'd seen act like this were insane, possessed or starving. The R he knew was too stable to be insane, too slow to be worthy of possession so that really only left one option.

Bert took a few big steps away, but couldn't really go far without tripping. He was torn between wanting to run and not wanting to take his eyes off of R. Which was what made him turn to try and run when R tackled him leaving him twisted on his side and way more frightened than he could remember being in a long time.

"Arre, it's me! Let me go, I won't hurt thee!"

Feel free to do whatever you need to R (not killing him) to get out :3a

[shambler]

R was already a lost cause, falling against Bert and getting tangled up in the other Tribute because he was honestly surprised that worked. Maybe this time he'd get a bite, get this over with. The way he was getting yelled at bothered R on a gut level, like maybe he'd regret this (he always did - then he ate and it went away only not really). Now R was too caught up in the moment to put the brakes on.

He went down heavily, squashing some of that pretty pink grass into cotton candy paste, the zombie struggling against Bert. One hand lashed out, trying to grab onto Bert's costume so he could drag him closer, R not even trying to gasp the few words he'd shared before with the human. Too much effort. And this was an easier way to get to know someone; ask any other Dead out there.

[tis_allgood]

"Fine, make a liar of me."

He had planned to escape and leave both of them intact, but he couldn't afford that now. Being on his side left Cuthbert with very few options, but he had one leg semi-free and he was going to use it. He made a few quick flails of it before his heel caught on R's arm and actually had some purchase. He pulled back as far as he could and kicked.

He was being scratched up between the struggle and R's grabbing hands but it was nothing compared to the sharp pain of small bones hitting large ones. The shoes he had been given did almost nothing to deaden the impact. And yet he was going to pull back and try again, aiming toward R's chest, to try and free himself.

Figured this would be a good place to wrap up

[shambler]

That finally kick did it. With a snarl and a last useless flail, R tumbled back and away from Bert - all without getting a single tiny, little bite in, his teeth snapping even when he got air. He stumbled and slipped against a package on the ground, looked like he'd make it, and then went down onto his knees because of course he'd trip when he was only feet away.

R struggled back to his feet, groaning the entire way and wishing he had backup here. One more zombie. He'd even take just one, like M, even if that meant sharing.