Arena 03 - Paradise

[gamemakers]

For some, this is the third visit to the arena. They know the tension by now, the electricity to the air as they're taken from the Capitol by hovercraft, the windows blacked out to preserve the element of surprise. Perhaps they are beginning to form rituals of anticipation or dread on these quiet, somber flights. New tributes have a tracking device implanted in their arm while old ones have theirs reactivated, both in movements so swift they'd be easy to miss or to mistake for each other.

After the craft, left alone in a cold, steel-lined underground space with their stylists, each tribute is dressed quickly; This time, the costume is a lightweight body-suit, pale green and mesh-like, with a thickly padded belt for flotation. By the time they are dispatched into the clear tubes, perhaps they will have noticed the sound. Quiet but steady, a regular booming like timed, distant explosions, the sound penetrates the underground station like a heartbeat as the tubes all rise up.

25 - 24 - 23

The steady thunder crescendos as they reach the surface, rise into the dawning light of a blinding equatorial day, and as the tubes drop from around them, the source, the unending waves of open ocean fling salt spray into their faces, chilling skin right through the thin body-suits.

20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16

The Cornucopia lies half-buried in white sand between outcroppings of reddish rock on the small island, barely big enough for the wide circle of tributes. Scattered around it are the weapons, the supplies, the brightly-colored bags they've been told to expect. Beyond the sandy islet, the reef stretches out, low-tide baring long stretches of it like a path through the sea, arching around to the other islands.

11- 10 - 9 - 8

They've all been warned, don't step off your pedestal early.

5 - 4

3

2

The sound of the gong, long and clear, rolls out above the roar of the waves. Let the games begin.

[OOC: Don't forget the OOC Arena post, especially those of you running for the Cornucopia. Every single one of you needs to 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.

Characters on reserve have until Wednesday, August 8th to be eligible to tag into this arena and this post, but anyone who did not sign up for the Cornucopia by Saturday, August 4th will be handwaved as having not not been part of the Cornucopia battle.]

Comments

Cornucopia

[gamemakers]

Re: Cornucopia

[the_marshal]

The tube-ride to the surface felt like a lifetime - an eternity of dark uncertainty crammed into what was more likely only a few moments.

He felt the heat of the sun first, beating down on his head, the back of his neck. Next came the sound of the water, the thunderous rush of it. Then the lift was whispering to a stop and he was in the sand, blinking against the chilling spray showering over his face.

Well. Wasn't this just a daisy.

Wyatt lifted hand to shield his eyes and squinted across the ring of tributes - some he recognized, even more he didn't - to the glittering Cornucopia. Elias had warned him of the dangers of its treasures, and he certainly remembered his last encounter with the great horn of plenty...but that was then.

He hadn't understood then, now he did. He hadn't been ready, now he was.

Or at least, as ready as he could be.

He scanned the ground, taking the last few seconds of the countdown to plan - there were some unmarked cans ahead, halfway between himself and next tribute, and there, a little further in, the handle of a partially buried knife - as he shifted on his feet, his muscles tensing and readying.

3...2...

And with the gong he was off, a spray of warm sand kicking up behind him.

OOC: Wyatt is slated to miss the cans and the first knife, but goes on to survive. Please feel free to come snatch his goods!

Re: Cornucopia

[retrieverchef]

Eliot looked around the circle of Tributes, noting the locations of his allies. He smiled at the sight of this Arena. He might not be happy about killing again, but at least it wasn't not another ghost city. This kind of environment was more what he was used to.

He tried to catch Ariadne's eyes before the gong went off, shaking his head. He'd grab weapons and supplies for both of them. Not that he expected her to actually listen to him.

Finally, the gong sounded. He ran, a spray of sand in his wake.

Re: Cornucopia

[greymatter]

He doesn't know how they've done it. Brought all of the tributes back to life after the last Hunger Games. At least, it certainly seems as if that's what they've done, unless something else is at play here. But he knows, now, that death in the arena is not permanent. That the Games are truly just that. Games. And he fully intends to win this one.

The steady rumble above puzzles him as the tube rises, and he's left to squint into the sudden, blinding light as the launch pad reaches the surface, the sides of the clear, plastic tube falling away around him. The scientist flinches as the icy spray of the ocean hits him, clearing his eyes to get a good look at this arena's tributes before laying them on the Cornucopia.

The Cornucopia. It didn't gift him with much last time, but something is better than nothing. Perhaps he'll fair better this time. With the sound of the gong he's off his plate, kicking up hot, white sand in his stead as he tries to make there before the best items are gone. He has his eye on a machete already.

[OOC: Grey's got himself a deathroll. Eliot and Wyatt are set to take him out.]

Re: Cornucopia

[the_marshal]

The first knife was snatched out from under his nose, but Wyatt wasn't discouraged. Without missing a step he kept right on runnin', head turning, eyes scanning until - there!

That there was another tribute, another weapon waiting in the sand, he didn't realize until they were nearly on top of one another.

Re: Cornucopia

[king_harmony]

Whatever's going on, it's completely beyond Kazma's understanding. Nevermind that he's somehow left the game and become real, or that he's been surrounded by strange humans dressing him up and pampering him oddly since it happened, or that he's not being told a single thing that helps him. A beach is strange. He's never been to a real one before, virtually or in reality as Kazuma.

Once the gong sounds, he speeds ahead of the others and snatches a bag, jumping up to reach for a spear. Speed is in his favor by far; it helps being largely a humanoid rabbit. But he doesn't try to run after he's gotten them; he pauses, checking the contents of the bag and watching the other tributes. It hasn't clicked yet that this is a dangerous environment.

Re: Cornucopia

[ssa_derekmorgan]

Derek could feel the adrenaline rushing though his veins as he was lifted to the surface.

Once he was at the surface, the blinding light from the sun caused him to squint and shield his eyes from it. Once he had adjusted to the light, the gong went off and he began running for the supplies and machetes.

Running through the water was taxing enough on its own but doing that while trying to fend off people trying to do anything they can to kill you only made it harder. He caught Emily's eye as they ran and silently agreed to fight for supplies before they leave Cornucopia.

OCC: Derek runs for the a machete but misses, he survives but doesn't survive when he goes for a bag. Feel free to try to kill him! </i?

[sameeyes]

He hadn't been put here willingly.

He'd only gone into the tube because he'd been eventually cornered and forced in. He screamed at them, but it was clear the men in the white uniforms either hadn't heard him, or hadn't cared once they'd done their job. Either way Sasuke was furious.

If he had his chakra they'd all be dead. Every last one of them. But it wasn't responding to him. It was still there. He could feel it. His rage burned more intensely as he finally came to the surface.

Hiss skin bristled as the countdown began. They warned him not to step off the platform, despite ever fiber of his being telling him to get away from that spot. Wild eyes darted around, the area unfamiliar and almost alien to him. Sand and water. And a giant structure and supplies scattered around the mouth.

His eyes immediately find the weapons and bags. Knives. Swords. That he could work with. His heart pounded in his ears, and he barely heard the loud canon over the sound. He ran through the shallow waters, cursing his lack of chakra once again. It was only then, that he realized there were others. Of course he'd been told what this was; a battle to the death where there was only one victor. But it was now he realized in his crazed anger they were all here with him, going after the same supplies he was.

Knives. Weapons. Anything. A pile of weapons and some bags. Surely he'd get something, looking to get the knives first.

He spotted Derek, and his survival instincts took over. He needed to kill him. He was far too close for comfort, and he wasn't about to be the first one that died here.

(OOC: Just for reference, Sasuke goes for the knives, misses/survives. He goes for the machete and gets it/survives. He goes for the bag and misses/survives :') )

Re: Cornucopia

[implant]

Kaidan hates everything about the Cornucopia-- always had, but he knows this round he has to get something, a weapon of sorts. His biotics held out only for so long last arena, knowledge of fauna and ability to hunt gets you only so far. He knows the Cornucopia is a blood bath, but it's one he has to attend.

The Arena this time is beautiful, Virmire beautiful and the correlation already sets Kaidan off, puts him out just for a split second as he remembers Ashley and Saren. He recovers quickly enough, and the counter rings down until it's final moments, the gong reverberating and setting Kaidan off, right into the slaughter house.

[buildingreality]

This isn't even new any more. She doesn't feel the same feeling in the pit of her stomach - the familiar sense of nerves getting to her and niggling with what ifs - and neither does she look around in awe as she comes up through the tube. Ariadne is prepared at this point; she feels the recent training she's done with Kaidan and on her own stilling her limbs and calming her through.

She can tell from the floatation device on the belt that this Arena is going to be severely different from the last. This feels like water, like she's going to have to literally stay afloat.

And sure enough.

She closes her eyes for a moment, calming herself further until the ten-second mark, then kicks off with practised agility. She has indeed worked on this for a day or two, making sure she had the push-off just so; she can feel Eliot's eyes burning into the side of her head, trying to catch her eye.

Of course, trust him she might, but that didn't mean she was going to let him get things for both of them the way he wanted to: there was too much of a chance that he'd just get himself killed right then and there. Ariadne knew as well as anyone that this game was everyone for themselves, even if alliances were formed.

The spray of sand behind her suggests she knows exactly what she's going for as she runs.

Re: Cornucopia

[ssa_emilyprentiss]

Emily woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning...and she was in a horrible mood and it absolutely did not help that she was here once again. Though not really the killing type, right now she really thought she might kill someone if they so much as looked at her wrong.

She was really not looking forwards to this arena, she could already tell. She could swim well enough, in a pool. She was a land girl. Terra firma. The ground was her best friend. Open water and her did not mix.

Oh so late. /failure.

[bloodbrothers]

Loki appears deceptively calm throughout the process; he was not keen on a battle to the death amongst creatures he did not know-- but it would not be his first battle, nor his last. He would fight as a warrior should, and there was no fear involved in such things. Standing upon the platform he takes a moment to size up the others, most looked mortal, one familiar, and then a few odd. Nothing outside of the realm he had seen during the counsel in Asgard-- but not remotely familiar either.

The countdown ends.

He watches several of the tributes dash off with fervor, obviously eager to either fight or scavenge, his own progress is a bit slower. He's hardly afraid of being wounded-- even if he should be, the lack of his magic did not bode well for him-- and instead he aims for something to provide him with an advantage. An machete is stolen right from under him and he has to express a bit of surprise, perhaps he had underestimated the set of creatures assembled for this battle. It's enough to get him to pick up the pace, the heavy handled Leiomano plucked from the ground with one hand and a spear with the other. He jabs it through the loops of a bag and hefts it over his shoulder.

The trident appeals to him in the same way Gungnir always has, but through the thrash of people he's unable and decides that a hasty retreat is probably to his advantage. He has weaponry, for now that should offer him a suitable defense as well as an ability to hunt when the time comes.

Re: Cornucopia

[theworsekind]

Tate hadn't been swimming since he was a child so the sight of all this water isn't thrilling. He waits, poised for take off when he hears the countdown. The trident catches his eye, but he doesn't see much use in it. His eyes scan the bags and weapons and he chooses his target. He scans the area to see where the other tributes eye's are

When the gong went off it was on and he launched towards the weapons. He looked around as he ran, watching the others as he ran for the closest machete.

lol nope cornucopia

[polyturtle]

Every Arena is different.

Donatello knew that was how it was, from what Shepard told him. And he had a feeling that the arena would involve water - why else would he be dressed in such a suit with a belt, a set of clothing that reminded him of a surfer wearing a crotch floaty?

But he wasn't exactly expecting this.

10 9 8 7

A warm equatorial archipelago, in the middle of a seemingly endless sea. The kind of place to take a vacation at. Or, a place Darwin might have visited in his travels on the Golden Beagle. Amongst those fabled islands, Darwin found the hidden world of the sea and the beaches which helped him unlock the key to his theory of evolution.

Admittedly, a Galapagos turtle Don wasn't. Red-eared sliders weren't exactly majestic- or mysterious-looking, either.

6 5 4

But a turtle Don still was, and for better or for worse - his ancestors having lived in similarly warm climates and swampy environments - this was a turtle's home. A place Don could navigate much better than most. And not even simply because he was a turtle - it was far-off exotic locales such as this that Don would read about growing up, absorbing all of the information he could about anything and everything.

No matter what kind of Arena it was, the Cornucopia would always be a brutal place. One never knew what - or who - would try and kill you for supplies.

3 2

Don knew that the supplies that the Cornucopia were valuable. But those supplies were limited. And this wasn't the desolate cityscape that the previous Arena had offered. This

With that in mind, Don knew fully well what he had to do.

1

Everyone else could fight over what the Gamemakers put out in plain sight. Don leaned on his heels, that last second lingering for an eternity.

*beep*

The heels turned. Breaking out of the platform the moment the gong sounded, Don broken into a run - and dove into the crashing waves without a second thought, intending on swimming towards the big island as fast as he could.

Let everyone else take what they think will help them from the Cornucopia.

He had a much better idea.

if this is okay? :)

[tailforbrains]

He wasn't alone in that decision, either. After a probably stupidly-long moment of sizing up the score of people racing for the supplies and weapons, Neeshka decided that would probably be a very, very bad idea. She could steal a weapon from someone else later, or come back here when it was dark and pick over what was left, or something, but braving a melee full of people bigger and stronger than she was, with no one to watch her back, was a stupid thing to do.

Of course, her only other option was water, with what looked like an island in the distance, and her without a whole lot of experience swimming. Swimming was not something tieflings were exactly known for doing well, and she was city-bred to boot, with most of her swimming experience being in shallow streams while she moved between villages. She knew the theory, but her experience with it was a little bit lacking. Still, with not a lot of time to decide in, it looked like the better option. She hopped off her platform a beat later than the turtle and took off towards the water, too.

The round shape ahead of her caught her attention, though, as Donatello launched into the waves. She didn't hesitate this time, she just leaped after him with her tail flailing to help her keep her balance and tried to latch onto his shell. After all, he was a turtle... person. Thing. Those swam well, right?

[gruesome]

The instant the top of the tube opened, spilling in sunlight, Some was certain he was going to die. He crouched, small as he could, in the dwindling shadow at the bottom, all four arms folded over his head, but that didn't stop the platform from pushing him to the surface. If there had been shelter anywhere to be seen, he would have run for it, and damn the warnings, but he barely could see, and what he could see was terrifying. Sun and ocean and the Cornucopia and nothing else.

When the gong sounded, he was still huddled on his platform, a compact tangle of angular limbs, hands pressed over his face and only one of his eight eyes staring through the thinnest crack he could manage.

He was going to die.

And then he saw the trees. They were distant, scarcely more than shadows, but he was not burning yet... perhaps he could reach them. If he ran.

In a sudden scramble, he was off the platform, claws sinking and sliding in the sand before he got his footing, and then he was making like a black shot for the edge of the water.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko had no more intention of risking her life at this Cornucopia than the last, and after a quick look around the circle of Tributes, spotting allies and possible allies and those to avoid, she again turned away from the pile of supplies, scanning the new Arena. She frowned, struck by a wave of irritation. She was going to have to get wet.

And much sooner than she would have liked, as the only cover she could see that wasn't about to be the site of a bloodbath, were the tall palm trees on another island. It was the only place that looked workable as a place to try and hide until she could find either a better spot or her allies, so as soon the gong sounded she ran for the water, taking only a brief moment to brace herself before diving in.

She was as poor a swimmer as she was at every other athletic endeavor, but luckily the horrible belt was apparently a floatation device, and all she needed to do was keep paddling in the right direction. Which was a lot easier to do when she wasn't distracted by horrible monsters jumping into to the water with her.

Momoko shrieked and flailed away from the grey...thing, whatever it was.

[itsnoteasybeinggreen]

The first thing Lorne noticed was he was not the freakiest looking person there, which was important. He learned a long time ago that if there are fifty normal people and one weird looking guy, he's the first to go. The second was that if you took away the crazy, blood thirsty contestants and replaced them with alcohol this would be a great vacation spot.

Forcing himself to focus on the matter at hand, and the fact that he really didn't feel like dying yet, he listened to the count. Looking out around him he noticed there was a much bigger island a crossed the way. An island with trees, that's where he needed to be.

As soon as one hit Lorne ran. Booking it as fast as he could towards the water. He had no doubt he could swim that, he just needed to get to the water with out being stabbed to death.

[luckofthedevil]

The pile of supplies had been tempting, but Alex wasn't about to tangle with anyone here, not yet. Better to beat a hasty retreat so he could get a feel for the environment and the other 'tributes'. Like Lorne, Alex had scanned the surrounding area during the countdown and spotted the same large island. Thinking it would provide the most cover as well as resources, the moment the clock hit zero, he bolted for the water. He was a strong swimmer and an experienced diver, he had no doubt that he could safely swim what looked like two kilometers to the large island, provided a shark didn't suddenly try to snack on him. With a reef this size, there very well could be sharks.

He hadn't expected someone to follow the same trajectory as him though, and when he glanced over to see who was headed the same direction as him, Alex was given a small turn. The man's skin was green, and were those horns?

[destructivedamsel]

Revya stood there and took it all in. Honestly, she was pretty angry, and more than disappointed. False hopes had led her to believe she'd get at least SOME of her powers back when this survival game started.

Heh. Survival game. Reminded her of that one time...

Anyways... what the hell? This was boring. What was the point of collecting all these lamers if they didn't have anything special? People were watching this, somehow. So there should be explosions and fire and stuff, yeah? But nope! The Capitol screwed up royally, and now there was just a punch of weak peons punching each other in the face.

Well there WERE weapons. And some boxes. She'd been told about the Cornicupawhatzit, and had been interested. But like the lack of powers in these games, she was disappointed. Nothing... special. Just some primitive weapons. Boring. It'd be much more fun just to watch these losers kill each other.

Hands over her the back of her head, she watched the carnage of the Cornucopia. Revya wasn't really worried about attacks in this wide open area. She would just had to watch out for projectiles, which would come from the Cornucopia direction anyways. Since she felt like a weak little baby, that meant others were like that too. But Revya would go right for the kill in a fight like this. She was confident she could snap a neck if someone attacked her.

[needsaprince]

Lottie was doing her best to get the heck out of the way. It was a good cornucopia plan of attack, she had decided.

Sprinting away,m he came to a halt as she saw the woman just...watching. Like this was some horse race.

What the hell? She back up cautiously, not saying anything just yet.

[mudbloodhater]

Fairly certain that absolutely none of this made sense in any way, shape, or form, there was little to no chance of Draco stepping off his platform too early. For the longest moment, as the buzzer sounded, as his 'fellow' Tributes started their educated races towards the Cornucopia, all he could hear was the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears. He was frozen, with nothing but the clothing on his back and no inclination to go out into that bloodbath.

He reached over to his arm, hastily pinching himself hard, enough to convince himself that this wasn't just some horrific nightmare that he was having thanks to... something. The last thing he'd seen had been Hogwarts, and yet, here he was. Spirited away from everything he knew and forced to kill people.

Well, didn't that sound familiar.

There was a scream too near to him; he snapped from his thoughts with a slight jump, finally kicking away from the platform and in the opposite direction. No way was he dealing with that.

[the_marshal]

Wyatt had killed a man. Already.

His knife was shining with blood, his hands were still warm with it.

Yes, he'd been justified. Yes, it was probably for the best, but cold-blooded murder wasn't him. Wasn't something he was proud of.

Wanting nothing more to do with the Cornucopia, Wyatt ran for the water. He wasn't the greatest swimmer, but he wasn't staying here.

He didn't mean to fall in behind the pale young man, his longer stride eating up the distance between them easily; it just happened that they were headed in the same direction.

[fire_punk]

Kevin blinks in the ocean spray. He clenches his fists and scowls. He's supposed to kill all these people and there's no sign of Jonathan anywhere? Yeah, right. That's like asking him to bring Yvette back to life.

He looks longingly at the weapons and supplies around that metal thing. But there's too many of them. He'll just get himself killed. So when the gong sounds, he runs in the opposite direction.

[dieinpajamas]

While the countdown is happening Alpha looks over the Cornucopia, carefully taking stock of what he can see for future reference, but he has no plans to jump into the inevitable bloodbath that will start as soon as they're free to go for it.

If there were anything close to cover nearby, Alpha could pick lurk there and make notes of who got away with what, not to mention picking off the stragglers, but there's nothing, so he forgoes the elaborate planning for now and simply turns as the gong goes off, aiming straight for the water.