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

[hit_girl_mindy]

"My first time killing people indiscriminately for no other reason other than the enjoyment of others and not dying myself? Yeah, pretty much. The maiming I'm used to though."

Because criminals in her world weren't going to stop by a slap in the wrist.

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna kept quiet for once, just because her eye hurt and it made her not want to snap at Mindy even though she wanted to strangle her. She didn't like the feeling so she just scowled and concentrated on not falling as she got used to her drastically reduced vision.

[inciting]

"Oh?"

Katniss arched an eyebrow at the younger girl. With the variety of worlds people came from, it wasn't exactly unheard of, but it certainly caught her interest.

This deep into the jungle it was starting to get hot, and she could feel sweat creeping down her spine. Were they safely away from the cornucopia yet? Better to keep going.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"It was part of my job back home. Specialized in keeping the peace. You could say that its not a job that the weak hearted can take. Gotta be able to see the awful stuff up close."

And man, it had not been a fun ride there, even if she had become desensitized to it all.

Man, she missed having a weapon.

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna shrugged, Mindy spoke like seeing maiming was hard. Maybe if you were a stupid baby, but neither her nor Katniss were stupid babies. She focused on trying to stay alert, and let Katniss do the talking.

[inciting]

"They had you doing that?"

It wasn't quiet disbelief in her voice. Katniss could believe someone would make a child do that kind of work. She just wasn't sure why the world was built that way. And what it meant Mindy knew.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Trained to, actually. It's not common, so it had to be done in secret, just like my identity. Basically, imagine me as a police force without the stupid drawback of having to answer to the law. I dismembered some pretty bad people."

She shrugged. "Which is why the Games feels awkward to me. No one stays dead, so you actually have to meet the person you stabbed again."

[knifewithnoname]

"Meeting dead people do be being stupid." Pruna agreed, she had had the same issue when she first arrived, meeting those she had killed and them being mad at her.

She stayed silent about the rest though, Mindy didn't seem all that different to her even though she was obviously light addled.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I mean yeah, without that we'd be dead permanently, but they just have them all ov...how often DO the games restart again anyway? Every month or what?"

It suddenly occurred to her she never asked. Then again, considering they just happened, what more did you need to know?

[inciting]

"It's not that regular. The arenas can last a while, and there's usually a break in between for training and celebrating." Her tone on that last word didn't leave a lot of confusion to how she felt about that form of celebration.

"There's been...I think 7 in the last year?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Celebrating." Even Mindy could see the irony in that. Yay, I slayed all these people and didn't die, I win top prize in the slavery game I'm being made to compete in. It was pretty shit.

"And you live here." She was quiet a moment. "So thinks have always been this way? The murder, the death, the crowning?"

The painted picture was getting worse and worse.

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna nodded, "She do be." She repeated, and went back to looking around them. Listening and noting what they were saying. She knew that Katniss didn't like things here, but she wasn't about to betray her when all the moving picture technology was watching them.

[inciting]

"Long..." She paused, reconsidering her words, with the warning to act enthused fresh in her mind. "A long while. But not always. This is the 76th year, now, they've been going."

Even if these were technically the "75th" game.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"So there've been that many. But the way I hear it, before us, people died for real, right? I mean, you're plopped out here and you go until you win or you die. How come that changed?"

[knifewithnoname]

"Technologies." Pruna told her, "And us, they did be getting technologies to be stealing us and to be bringing us back."

The rest was obvious, if you had a pool of prisoners to send into death matches and the means to bring them back, why not send them to their deaths over and over again, it was easier than stealing a bunch of new people each time.

[inciting]

Katniss nodded.

"We don't know what the technology is, really. But they've gotten it fine tuned, apparently."

She glanced back the way they'd come.

"We should start looking for shelter, water. We're far enough away from the cornucopia, now."

[hit_girl_mindy]

Something still seemed weird. If the whole point of the stupid ass games were to keep the Districts in line, why stop using the kids from the districts? Wouldn't it make sense to use them instead of people they didn't know shit about?

"How fucked up," Mindy groaned. "I'm a human hamster...or at least a mouse in an aquarium with snakes being watched by some bratty kid."

She made a good point. "Will the water be all right to even drink?"

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna just ignored Mindy, concentrating instead on the practical. "I do be thinking it do be being okay, it do be flowing and do be smelling okay." She had at least checked some basic things before washing her eye.

She stuck her finger in the river and put it in her mouth. "It do no be being salty." Now they just needed a way to carry the water, staying by the river made them easy targets.

[inciting]

"It looks alright."

She couldn't be sure, but right now, it was the best they could do.

"Will you two be alright if I go to hunt us some dinner?" She asked. There was enough in her bag to feed them, if Pruna didn't want her to leave, but fresh food, and not breaking into her reserves would be better.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Huh. Hope you're both right then."

Normally, she would have objected to anyone doing anything for her: Mindy got things done for herself, and with dad gone, this was more important than ever. On the other hand, she was literally starving to death, so she was really in no condition to be hunting right now.

"I'm not going to stop you," Mindy said, her way of saying thankyougodholyshitIamsofuckinghungry without saying it aloud.

[knifewithnoname]

"I can be coming with you." Pruna on the other hand did object to anyone doing anything for her. Especially being injured, she didn't want people to think she was pathetic or incapable of surviving.

And she didn't want to be alone with Mindy, still not trusting her.

[inciting]

Katniss hesitated. She was sure Pruna would be a fine enough hunting companion, especially under normal circumstances, but she was too unsure about this arena to want to hunt in pairs. Especially with someone who smelled like blood.

But if Pruna didn't want to stay, she wasn't going to make her. Especially not as her mentor.

"Alright, let's go. Mindy, can you see about find some sturdy tree branches for us to stay in?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I can do that," Mindy said. It pissed her off, not being able to hunt with them, but she knew she didn't have a weapon and would be too malnourished to help substantially yet. Now finding shelter, particularly a place where they could hide? She could do that.

She set off, searching for the perfect spot for all three of them.

begin to wrap this up?

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna nodded and stood up, gritting her teeth at the pain, which just made her face hurt even more. She grabbed the knife she had gotten and slung the rest of her supplies onto her back. "I do be being ready."

sounds good

[inciting]

Katniss hesitated, on the verge of ordering Pruna to stay.

But she knew how she'd take that, if she were in Pruna's position.

"Come on, little Badger, let's go see what we can get."