gamemakers: (capitol seal.)
The Gamemakers ([personal profile] gamemakers) wrote in [community profile] thearena2013-10-19 03:07 pm

Welcome To Arena 08



Today begins particularly early by normal standards. Long before the sun, or even a hint of dawn arrives. When the world is still and black and quiet, save for the parties still raging on from the night before. Night owls still have not gone to sleep. Everyone knows what today is, even if you've only just arrived.

There is a palpable tension in the air as everyone is ushered out under the cover of darkness to board the hovercrafts. A stream of faces both familiar and unknown filter in and take their seats, and very little is said as tributes are strapped in and attendants make their rounds, activating tracking devices. There are no windows, no openings no view of the outside world as it passes silently, below. The journey takes hours. And when everyone finally arrives, there is no hint of sky or grass or cloud or tree. Just long concrete hallways and rows of uniformed peacekeepers that remind everyone to keep in line in the underbelly of the unknown.

One by one, each tribute is lead into a small concrete room where stylists outfit tributes in their only bit of protection for the next coming weeks. Little is given away by the clothing each stylists put their tribute in. No flair or flourish or costumed monstrosity this time. Just simple, functional mundane civilian clothing. Khakis, cotton shirts, boots.

There is little time to dress and say goodbyes. Only a few small moments left to gather your thoughts. And then, the countdown starts. A countdown displayed in holographic blue begins:

25. 24. 23. 22....

The smell of earth and grass and a general damp green fills your lungs as you rise, slowly into a large grass field. At first, its the only thing you can see in all directions until the pedestal locks in place.

20. 19. 18. 17....

In the near distance, the cornucopia looms. Massive. Copper. Even hidden by the grass you can see its spoils are plentiful, tempting anyone with even a mild curiosity streak to come explore. Some may see this as a warning sign already .

15. 14. 13...

You can see the others, around you. Their heads, maybe the shoulders of taller tributes, and very little else. If there is anything hidden in this field you would never know it. The grass is too tall and too thick to show what might be lurking near the ground.

10. 9. 8....

There is just a hint of a breeze and the lingering scent of recent rain. The humidity is more uncomfortable than the heat., its a thick, jungle-like warm. You can see a dense tangle of trees in the distance. Blue sky filled with towering white clouds. Its the sort of place where nothing ever truly seems to be dry. At least you might not have to worry about freezing to death.

6. 5. 4...

For just a moment, everything goes perfectly still. Perfectly silent.

The grass rustles.

You feel the breeze.

2.

1.

0.

You will have two hours until a short warning alarm will sound and the sonic fences turn on across the entire arena.
alldeduction: (science)

[personal profile] alldeduction 2013-11-08 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"Smoke also attracts tributes," Sherlock pointed out as he slung the bag up on his shoulders. He agreed with both of them, but knew there was little they could realistically do. If the game makers wished to make them sick, they would. Using whatever means necessary.

He glanced up at Joan, holding out some of the supplies to her, before looking back at John.

"Do you think you can walk? With our help?"
inciting: (confused//what the hell)

[personal profile] inciting 2013-11-09 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
"They'll liven things up when it gets too boring for them. It's always different."

She glanced down, wincing at the mess that was Pruna's face, and shrugged off one of the bags of supplies she had grabbed, working to not let her guard down.

"See if there's anything in there for you..." She hadn't seen anything that wasn't food, but maybe Pruna could find something.

wiredup: (Fuck you XP)

[personal profile] wiredup 2013-11-09 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
Not what he was expecting.

Lashing out, with the wood, with his legs, he worked to make contact with anything, trying to keep any enemy as far away from him as possible.

Especially one with a dangerous looking pair of horns.

"Son of a bitch!"
hit_girl_mindy: (Short lived smile (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-11-09 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Release the hounds?" It was a cheap joke. Actually, she would have welcomed something simple like that.

She watched the two a moment, seized by how the two of them could be totally fighting each other right now but weren't. It was a little comforting to watch, actually.

"That tall guy got you pretty good," she commented to Pruna. "Did you at least manage to get some shit when you ran for the Cornucopia?"
amplifying: (◎ i look back so far back)

i should have given you a list of the stuff beck got...

[personal profile] amplifying 2013-11-09 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Beck looked over what R had snatched, biting his lip as he tried to sort things out. He wasn't used to this whole User-survivor thing anymore. He knew how to survive as a Program, but as a User in an Arena like this? It was a heck of a lot harder. There were too many functions to a User body that needed tending to on a daily basis.

Was this making him uncomfortable? Beck had to wonder, because if this was him, he'd be anxious.

"Here." Beck slid over his own bag, smiling to the corrupted User. "You can look through some of my stuff, if you want."
knifewithnoname: (But I don't want that)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2013-11-09 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"I did be." She nodded but that hurt again so she concentrated on looking through Katniss' things. "There did no be being no medicine or bandages but I did be picking up food and a dagger."

It didn't look like Katniss had anything like that either.
shambler: (006)

[personal profile] shambler 2013-11-12 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
R reached out and dragged it closer to him, so slow he almost look unhurried despite the Cornucopia not being that far away.

He came up with a potato and a can of tuna (he liked the shape, the curve of the steel; the little picture of a fish on the cover), holding them up to show Beck his trophies. R was banking on them being food and/or something useful to a human. If he lived long enough to make it to Julie or Howard, he'd let them take their pick.

"Thank...you." R started to lurch to his feet. A scream, faint but not faint enough, cut through the air from the Cornucopia's direction - a reminder that they might've survived the first hour or so, but that could easily change if they weren't careful and on the move. R held out his hand to help Beck back to his feet. "Stay...safe, o-kay?"

He bobbed his head, looking Beck in the eye.
inciting: (considering//75th training)

[personal profile] inciting 2013-11-14 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
Katniss felt a cold creep up her spine as she remembered the mutts, but simply let out a snort, shaking her head.

"Something like that."

But right now, she needed to help Pruna. And to do that, she had to let down her guard, a little bit, around Mindy. Taking an arrow, she used the edge to start a rip in her own shirt, slicing out a bandage for Pruna.

"Here, let me see..."
hit_girl_mindy: (Black and white (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-11-14 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
It looked like Katniss was haunted by something but far be it from Mindy to pry, at least not right now. When she saw what Katniss was doing, she looked behind her, staring off. This was not to avert her eyes: it was to ensure no one would be watching, waiting to get the drop on them right now. Even Mindy could see what Katniss was doing demanded trust from her.

And while she knew survival was necessary, she had scruples. No amount of self preservation would make her the kind of shit that would attack someone while they were helping someone else.
knifewithnoname: (But I don't want that)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2013-11-14 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Pruna scrambled away a tiny bit when she saw Katniss draw an arrow. Katniss might be her mentor but she was still a victor she wouldn't baulk at killing and Pruna, as much as she hated it, was a very easy target.

Her good eye flicked between Katniss and Mindy making her injured eye hurt ever more. "I can be dealing with it, I do no be being a baby."
inciting: (considering//75th training)

[personal profile] inciting 2013-11-16 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
"I know you're not a baby. That has nothing to do with it. But if you want to do this yourself..."

She held out the two strips, one to ball up for pressure, the other to secure it over her eye. Even though her back was turned to Mindy, she was still on edge, guard up.

"But I already ripped my shirt, so you might as well use these."
hit_girl_mindy: (Stone face)

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-11-16 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't be stupid," Mindy said. "An injury is still what it is, and you want to live, right? Seeing out of that eye better is a fuck of a good thing than just getting hazy vision. I'm one of the baddest bitches I know, and even I wouldn't shrug off something that could make me weak."

Seriously, the name of the game wasn't ego. Not now, anyway.

"FYI, if I wanted to kill you guys, I would have been trying right now, not pretending until I killed you. I can kill, and I have, but I save that kind of shit off the lowest type."
knifewithnoname: (oh I see)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2013-11-16 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Pruna took the material and glared at Mindy, "I do no be being stupid, you should be shutting up." She stuck her tongue out at her for good measure and concentrated on her eye, putting pressure on it hurt. A lot. But she ignored it and tried to tie the other strip, she couldn't quite manage, not being able to hold and wrap and tie.

"FYY," She had no idea what it meant, but she copied it anyways, "Of course you would be saying that, no one do be meeting someone and telling them they would be killing them, that do be being stupid. Anyways me and Katniss have probably been killing way more people than you, Katniss did be winning an arena, she did be killing loads and loads of people."
drpsychosomatic: (oh shit what is he doing now)

[personal profile] drpsychosomatic 2013-11-17 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
"I can walk," he assured him, taking a steadying breath, glancing across to Joan, hoping she would back him up. "The stitches are good, they'll hold. Just help me up, and- not too far."
formersurgeon: (calm)

[personal profile] formersurgeon 2013-11-17 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
Joan met his eyes and nodded, turning to Sherlock. "As long as we walk at an easy pace, he should be fine. I doubt those stitches will pop unless we wind up running."

Of course, if that wound up happening, his muscle would fail before the stitches did. She wasn't going to say that out loud, though. There was a good chance both of them were already aware of it anyway.
alldeduction: (hands up)

[personal profile] alldeduction 2013-11-17 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Sherlock let out a hard breath but nodded, tightly, before reaching down and sliding an arm under John's to help him to his feet. He motioned his head towards the rest of the supplies for Joan to grab.

"Not far, then, but we need to get further out of the way. The fence may be electrified now but I have no doubt tributes will be coming back to check it regularly."
carnagecarnival: (I am waiting for you to attack.)

Re: CORNUCOPIA

[personal profile] carnagecarnival 2013-11-18 02:19 pm (UTC)(link)
He wouldn't do what he did last time, he decides. He survived well enough-- if miserably-- without the Capitol's help last time. But he lost opportunity for slaying the sorry heathens, those tributes that deserved death, ticket thrown skywards for the sin of their existence. And there were many now. He could cull those that got in his way and he could gather supplies for those who were less able. One in particular.

And that particular one wouldn't be culled by his hands this time, no matter what become of him, no matter what Milenko the capitol deemed fit to indulge them with.

The heat weighs heavy on him, it plucks at his burnt flesh like lute strings, runs across it like the bow of a violin. He can hide from the sun here at least, but he has a feeling this will be another arena spent desperately coveting what he can of his paint and the vial of more hung from his neck.

The count down goes off like it's resonated from within his bones. The zero hits, and he's off.
carnagecarnival: (To see a man strung up by his throat.)

[personal profile] carnagecarnival 2013-11-18 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
His eyes move with hers. She's planning on taking from him. She thinks she can be all to take him on thieve from him. Like fuck.

He darts as well, to meet her, and he moves to roughly grasp her arm and jerk it high, squeeze it or dig his claws in, maybe both. Whatever hurts.
disciplewhomsignlessloves: (Flame in your eye)

[personal profile] disciplewhomsignlessloves 2013-11-19 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
Her growl rises in her throat roughly--but a hiss of pain, real and rising in pitch, interrupts it. She can't let pain deter her. She's been through so much worse, so much more. The pain is just reality. She can overcome this like anything else in her life.

"Fuckyou." Whispered in the din of violence and dying screams, she roughly pulls at her arm. It hurts, it does, but she can't be shackled to it. If he has a hold of her, she can't get leverage.
drpsychosomatic: (woe is me)

[personal profile] drpsychosomatic 2013-11-20 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
He staggered upright, hissing in a sharp breath, but steadied himself quickly- the only obvious outward sign of the pain in his flushed white knuckles where he gripped Sherlock's arm and in his unnaturally rapid blinking.
"Alright. Let's get moving."
inciting: (other//faking love)

[personal profile] inciting 2013-11-20 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Katniss pressed her lips together at Pruna's word, and by the end of her speech felt more then a little flicker of pride.

"Yeah, you don't exactly make it out of here alive by trusting strangers thoughtlessly." She said softly, though with a tight smile. The other girl was trying, she could tell. "But...thanks."

Reaching down, she took the ends of the wrap from Pruna, cinching them. "How does this feel?"
hit_girl_mindy: (Disgust (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-11-21 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
Mindy let Pruna's words slide. She didn't care much how many people Pruna had killed, she knew she'd done more. If Pruna was bloodthirsty, well, she wouldn't have let Katniss aid her like this now. As for Katniss being a killer...well, she could definitely tell she had killed, but no indiscriminately, that much was certain. She was sensible.

"Oh, I don't trust anyone, not yet," Mindy said. "But even so, I'm not going to go and show you my fighting side. That'll like showing all the cards in your hand all at once. Stupid."
alonelikeme: (Default)

[personal profile] alonelikeme 2013-11-25 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"He is the greatest kind of man," Cosette agreed quietly. "You are from the same assigned district... Then you are allies in here, yes?"
alonelikeme: (Default)

[personal profile] alonelikeme 2013-11-25 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"A friend..."

More than a friend.

"Someone I can trust."

Unlike yourself.
deafscythe: (Default)

[personal profile] deafscythe 2013-11-25 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"How fortunate. I cannot say that I know many people who fit into both categories." Justin has no friends, even though there's someone who would call Justin his friend. But there are people he trusts, especially in a battle.

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