Who | Some and Open, Some and Cuthbert
What | Some starts to lose himself to the hunger, and then chooses his way out.
Where | Candy Arena
When | Week 4
Warnings | Death, man-eating.
Notes | First top-post is open to anyone in Group 1, second one is for Cuthbert.


"No," Some said aloud to himself, a growl of a word as he pressed his forefoot against his stomach. It growled back, every bit as loud as his voice, and cramped sharply as if punishing him for denying it. The hunger crawled along his nerves like crabs, nausea and craving and anger all snarled together as a single entity, and it crouched in his brainpan like a hunting spider.

"No," he said again, even as he limped from shadow to shadow, following the scent of a human. He couldn't not. Not when he could smell their blood and hear their heartbeat and feel the sweat they left in the air. And he knew where he would bite, if he caught up, and all he could do was drag his feet and not catch up because what if it was Lottie, or one of the others that he knew?

"No..."

Who| Lottie, and Some, Jay (&Neffa?) and eventually Shepard!
What| Lottie meeting up with her people, and running into Shepard late down the line.
Where| Candy arena
When| A bit after the cornucopia
Warnings/Notes| None atm. The thread is started within for Shepard!

This was disgusting.

Once, when she had been very young, Lottie had fallen into the Bayou. She was scooped out incredibly quickly, but she smell and the feel of it had clung to her, and it was the most disgusting thing she could think of.

She would glad go for a swim in the bayou right now. The sun made everything soft and stick. her costumes didn't help, glad to gather a stick residue. She had already ditched the wig and stockings, thought the later were tied around her waist just in case.

Tired, and not really caring if she made a very obvious target, Lottie dragged herself to a shaded rocky outcropping, and did her best to find the least stick place to rest.

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.]

Who: Some, Rapunzel, and Ian
What: A 'rescue.'
When: Early week Six.
Where: The edge of Fantasyland, towards Adventureland
Warnings: Death, of course.

He'd heard the mutts in the night, too close to the shelter he'd found for Rapunzel. And so even though it was dawn, the thin morning daylight casting long blue shadows across everything, it was time to move. He wanted to find her somewhere underground, but knew that she didn't want to spend so much time in complete darkness. Not after the little monsters she'd encountered after they'd been parted by the fireworks.

He wasn't sure she was actually awake as he slunk along from shadow to shadow, carrying her cradled across his back, her hair wrapped around her like a big gauzy shawl, entirely unaware of how much he looked like a spider taking its cocooned pray back to a lair.

Who| Volanz and Some
What| Piranhas for dinner, dark places, and finding the bear muttation.
Where| Critter Country, somewhere on Splash Mountain
When| Week 4, sometime after fireworks
Warnings/Notes| Raw fish, eventual character death, and also bear.
( Nothing like explosions to make you paranoid of the sky. )

WHO| Rapunzel and Some
WHAT| OKAY, WHO TRIGGERED THE MONSTER TOONS. DARN IT, RAPUNZEL.
WHEN| Week 2, during the night
WHERE| Toon Town
WARNINGS/NOTES| Your worst nightmare

( A symphony of death, oh my! That's my lullaby )

Who| Kurt Hummel and YOU.
What| Blaine ran off to find Diana and Kurt woke up alone.
Where| the outskirts of Adventureland
When| TODAY.
Warnings/Notes| I'll add any if they pop up.

( Hold your horses now. )

The last few hours before the Arena have a strangely stifled quality, as if half the people they interact with are trying very hard not to laugh. Maybe it's the costumes, the fancy gowns and velvet tunics, the short capes. Or maybe it's their destination.

The round courtyard to which the tubes bring them could not be more different from the last arena. Though outside the circle of pedestals, disrepair and neglect has taken over the roads and buildings, the garden inside the circle could not be more perfectly sculpted. Every hedge is a smooth, rounded shape. Flowers bloom brightly in concentric circles of insane color. The Cornucopia sits gleaming and golden, and just in front of its mouth, a bronze statue of a man and a mouse stands amid the heap of supplies.


Aside from it, there is a hush. No flies in the flowers, no wind in the trees. It is a cool day, with the comfortable chill of early spring and noon's short shadows.



Outside the circle, behind the tributes on the northern side, a castle looms. Through its wide gate, devastation everywhere, but it, itself, is shining clean, glowing pink and blue. Opaque windows look down from the heights of it, as uncaring as every hidden camera the veterans know is there.



Music starts as the countdown nears the bottom, a whimsical, dramatic tune.




And with the final note, the gong rang out, and a firework shot into the sky from the castle's peak, bright enough to burst redly across the sky above them all. Let the Games begin.



((OOC NOTES: IF YOUR CHARACTER HAS POWERS THE CAPITOL HAS NERFED, make sure you are on this list.

And everyone really should review the arena post. Because there's a little more to play with than you might think.

And please remember to add your character's tag to each post they're in.))

Who: Gruesome, Gretel
What: A final meal for Gruesome, but his dinner doesn't go down without a fight.
Where: Somewhere in the Arena
When: Now
Warnings: Gruesome dies, Gretel dies, EVERYBODY DIES.


Gretel was so cold. They'd given her the jacket, and it was serving, but she didn't know enough about the arctic clime to find a means to make fire and so the best thing she thought she could manage was to keep moving.

She's managed to collect a knife from one of the bodies of another Tribute, it's all the protection she has. She assumes she'll freeze to death, but she's hoping that she'll be able to scavenge some more tools and somehow find a way out of all of this.

She hasn't realized the inevitably involved in exiting an arena yet.

Who| Adel-Makim-Zalur, Some ovMennet, and OPEN
What|  Looking for Lottie.
Where|  In the direction Lottie last went.
When|  A couple of days after the start of the Arena.
Warnings| None yet. Unless finding evidence of what happened to Lottie counts?

By now they had all exchanged names, and the two experienced Arena goers she had found herself in alliance with had informed her of something most comforting. Death here was not final. Not only was it comforting for her, if she should be killed, but for those she would have to kill. She would not be ending their lives, after all. Not really.

She followed behind Some, who seemed to have a better sense of smell than her. She'd found him to be a rather odd creature. Taking up a stance of pacifism here in this environment seemed absurd enough, but when he had offered his own life should he become a burden to her chances of winning... she wasn't quite sure what to make of the offer. Didn't he want to win? Didn't he want a chance at going home?

It wasn't something she should dwell on. After all, their alliance would have to be temporary in nature if she wanted to win. If she wanted a chance to go home to her world, her family, and the comfort of her scoop. And she did. She really, really did.