Welcome To Arena 08

[gamemakers]

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.

Comments

[formersurgeon]

She huffs a short laugh, rolling her eyes.

"I doubt you captured a serial killer on your own. So, what, vigilante group? Rock monster?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I didn't say I did catch him, but thanks for the vote of confidence. I totally need that when I'm walking into a death game where everyone's twice my size." He rolls his eyes at her. "Someone else caught him. And you didn't answer my question. What'd you do wrong to deserve all this?"

[formersurgeon]

"Not everyone."

Joan, for instance, is tiny. She might be more fit than him, but she has no advantage size-wise.

"I thought you were just being sarcastic. I didn't realize you actually wanted an answer." She shifts on the branch. "Nothing I can think of."

A lie, of course. She thinks of the patient who died on her table. But she doesn't believe in this sort of karma.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Almost everyone. Have you seen some of these guys?" He exhales deep. "Wow, you made it to what, sixty years old without any serious fuckups? I'm impressed."

[formersurgeon]

"You're funny," she says wryly, rolling her eyes. "Of course I've messed up. I just don't believe this is punishment for it. Them."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Them?" He raises an eyebrow.

[formersurgeon]

"It." She glances at him briefly, then looks away. She's not about to open up to this guy. "What have you done to deserve this?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Lady, you got no idea." And Howard doesn't sound likely to divulge. "So how so you know Dr. John?"

[formersurgeon]

"We're the same person." She glances back at him. "Not completely. Obviously. Aside from being different genders, he was also in the military, which I wasn't, and he's still a surgeon, which I'm not. But we're both Watsons, and we're both companions to Sherlock Holmeses. Just from different realities."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Wow. That's a headtrip." He doesn't want to imagine another version of him around. He'd want to punch himself. "Why aren't you still a surgeon? Found out there's not as many McSteamys in real life?"

Howard's mom was a bit Grey's Anatomy fan. She was not, unfortunately, a feminist.

[formersurgeon]

"Ha. No. It just didn't suit me. I like what I do now. Or what I was doing before this..."

She's not going to tell him that she wasn't a surgeon anymore because of "it."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Which was?"

He gives her a lemur-like, exaggerated expression of interest.

[formersurgeon]

"Detective work. We mostly investigated homicides, and there's still more death here."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Oh, right. Consultant, you said." He picks at one of his teeth. "I'd say there's a little less death here than my home, but I'd need to crunch numbers."

He pauses. "So what do you think about all the food at the Cornucopia?"

[formersurgeon]

She frowns faintly. "What do you mean, all the food?"

She had seen that there was a lot of stuff in general, but it was her first Cornucopia, and she didn't get close enough to see what was especially plentiful.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I done four of these, right? They never, never have that much food out. It's suspicious, is all." He glances at his haul.

[formersurgeon]

Her frown deepens. She wouldn't trust the Gamemakers to be reasonable, but still, chances are they did this for a reason.

"The things in the Cornucopia usually give people a better chance at survival, right? Maybe food is hard to come by?"

She sounds skeptical. Look at this place. There has to be potential food everywhere.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"That's what I'm thinking. I bet the water's just crawling with, like. Giardia." He completely botches the pronunciation for that word. "I'm really curious where they put the cameras in the tall grass."

[formersurgeon]

She doesn't correct his pronunciation. She knows what he's talking about, that's what's important.

"Sounds like something they would do. Make a place that's full of life, only it's full of death."

She glances at him. "I take it you got a lot of food and water."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

He lifts his upper lip in something that halfway becomes a smirk. "You'd think, huh? Maybe I'm just a sponsor favorite."

[formersurgeon]

"Maybe. Except you clearly got more than just a knife, and considering you noticed there was a lot of food and had suspicions about it, I'm betting you took a lot." She shifts on the branch, since being in one spot for too long has become uncomfortable. "You don't have to worry, I'm not going to take your food. I wouldn't do that, and I have friends who went to the Cornucopia, so I don't need to."

God willing Sherlock and John made it out alive...

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"People tend to say 'don't worry' right before they stick a knife in your ribs around here. Just saying." He climbs a little bit higher into the tree. "But for the record, no. This is mostly stuff."

He pauses. "Do you watch the footage from each Arena?"

[formersurgeon]

"No. Although I'm thinking you do, right? The whole 'snakebite' thing."

She's thought that she should, but she kept putting it off. Even with her detective work, though, she just can't watch an endless stream of people killing each other.

"Why do you ask?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Consider it the first time in my life I did homework." He doesn't sound like he enjoys it. In fact, he sounds nearly sickened.

"Just curious whether you're going to see me as a threat or not."

[formersurgeon]

"I don't know you, so of course you're a threat. But, one, you haven't killed me yet, which is a plus, and, two, you know John, and he's been helping you. Which, as far as I'm concerned, suggests you're slightly less of a threat."

She looks back toward the Cornucopia again, listening for a moment, then turns back to Howard.

"So, what did you do that would make me consider you a threat?"