Test Drive Meme

[etcircenses]

Welcome to Panem. You have been selected to participate in the 75th Annual Hunger Games!

Premise: This Arena is designed to be a small mock arena not all that dissimilar to the in-game arenas we run here at The Games. The party is similar to some of the gathering logs we have inside the Capitol when an Arena begins. Our hope is to give new and prospective players a place to get their feet wet, and get a feel for the fun (and bloody) mess that goes on around here.

This meme is open to anyone and everyone who would like to play. Current cast members, veteran and new, as well as anyone just wanting top drop in and have some fun!

How To Play.

Current cast members - you may tag into this arena in any way you choose, even cast members who aren't or are no longer tributes.

***An important side note, as it is within the confines of the Area in-game, all powers are lessened/nullified to bring any character down to a vincible level. (I.E. Make more magical/super-powered characters easier to actually kill for a normal person). Rule of thumb: If it's a physical difference, the Capitol will not mutilate it out (wings, etc), but other wise it's gone.

The Arena.

Tributes are raised in a circle around the Cornucopia; they are all dressed in safari outfits, including the little hats, and slathered in bug spray and sunscreen. They look amongst each other at the start of the Cornucopia. At the center of the circle is a fountain where a dancing hippo spits water into a circular pool around it. There's an engraving in embossed letters around the one-foot rim of the pool: PANEM NATIONAL ZOO.

Floating in the water of the brass fountain are supplies that the Tributes should find useful: medical kits, sleeping bags, and most importantly, weapons. Ropes, bo staffs, nunchuks, daggers and spears are all in ready supply a mere hundred yard sprint from the Tributes.

There are four paths away from the Cornucopia - into a swampy pit to the south, which, unbeknownt to Tributes, hosts alligators and crocodiles who've missed their scheduled feeding. To the west, into a dark building where boxes cut into the walls reveal that there were once tanks for creepy crawlies, but the glass has been removed. Through a gift-shop to the north, stuffed with plush animals (many of which are filled with razor blades, or other sweet little surprises). Or down an asphalt pathway to the east, winding through tall cages that may provide shelter from the other Tributes - but not necessarily the enclosure's inhabitants.

The countdown blares out in the humid air.

3...2...1...

Let the Games begin.

-/-

The Party.

Back in the Capitol, the Cornucopia is being celebrated with a lavish party. Animal couture is all the rage, and Capitol celebrities have dressed for the occasion by having their teeth elongated and their irises surgically altered to give the appearance of slit pupils. The wine is flowing freely, and the centerpiece of this particular viewing party is what appears to be a pig the size of a hippopotamus being roasted on a spit.

Screens throughout the large ballroom in which this takes place are showing the gruesome footage of the first bloodbath of what promises to be a delightfully ugly Arena. Tongueless Avoxes carry platters with little quail eggs in cups, silently offering them to all the guests. Caesar Flickerman, trademark blue hair now replaced by what appear to be feathers growing directly from his scalp, announces every gorey detail between oohing and ahhing over the dinner. Tributes die; Citizens feast.

Everyone who's anyone is invited.

Comments

[biomechatronic]

Oh, he had already 'figured out' enough. He was just not built for sprinting. Or, well, any kind of strenuous physical exertion.

And there was perhaps never a good time to run into the wife of the man you'd unethically tampered with, but definitely right now, with her holding a knife stained with blood? Well, Dennett was pretty sure this was close to the worst.

"Mrs Murphy." He was doing a passable (?) job hiding the alarm in his voice, gaze flicking to the knife and back to her face a time or two. This was all too much for an old man, even a smart one, to take in all at once. "I. Uh. You're injured." Right. That was something he could do, something he could deal with.

[seestheman]

Despite how much she may have disliked Dr. Norton, she definitely would have never thought that he deserved to be brought here (though, none of them deserved it, really). As soon as she noticed that he kept looking at the knife in her hand and heard the alarm in his voice, she loosened her grip on the blade and carefully slid it into a belt loop.

"It's not that bad." And really, considering some of the things she had seen in the last arena (or the way she died last time), a small, profusely bleeding cut on her arm isn't that bad as long as it doesn't get infected. "Have you seen Alex? I saw him earlier, but everything happened so fast and I couldn't keep track of him."

[biomechatronic]

She will, in the circumstances, he hopes forgive him for being a little, well, twitchy. He likes controlled environments and this is the opposite of that. Still, he felt a little better watching her sheath the blade. A little safer, though that was only a relative term, really.

"I could take a look at that?" He had grabbed a medical kit, after all. He just hadn't really thought he'd have to use it. But better on someone else than himself. "I saw him. Yes. I sent him after you." It seemed like a gallant thing to do, at the time. It still did, it just felt ironic right now that she was here and Alex, the one most physically capable, was somewhere else. "I'm sure he's fine, though."

[seestheman]

She definitely understood why he was being twitchy. Though, as far as horrible death filled arenas went, this one seemed far less intimidating than her first one had been. Which probably meant that, in the long run, this one would be worse, but they could all deal with that part later.

There was a brief moment of hesitance before she gave in and rolled up the sleeve to reveal the fairly shallow, but none-the-less bloody, wound. "I figured I could clean and bandage it after I found Alex," she said as she put her arm out for him to examine as she laughed slightly at the entire situation. "I'm sure he is, thanks to you." If she were honest, in any other situation there might be some bitterness to her tone, but the fact of the matter was that, in here at least, it meant Alex was far less likely to die from a knife wound or a giant, venomous spider (she had seen the proof of the latter herself).

[biomechatronic]

If that's the case, he would be silently glad that he came in to this arena: this was already on the verge of more than an old nerdy man can take.

"If you wait, you might--I hate to say--leave a blood trail that would lead someone right to you." As someone who was highly invested in finding some place to hide, this would be a very bad thing. Surely she was thinking the same, right?

"Mrs Murphy, now is perhaps not the best time for that." Because he heard the timbre of her voice, and knew exactly what that was from. Knew it so well, in fact, that he found it best to spend the next few minutes bent over her arm, cleaning the wound and avoiding eye-contact.

[seestheman]

The idea of a blood trail had somehow barely managed to come to mind until he mentioned it. While, yes, she had already resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to win and it would probably be for the best if she got sent back to the Capitol sooner rather than later, the idea of leading someone to Alex or any of her other allies who might have a fighting chance was unthinkable. "Thanks."

There really wasn't anything she could think of to say to that. Instead of trying to force a conversation that neither of them wanted to have at the moment (or ever, really), she let him work in silence for a couple minutes as she tried to figure out where Alex may have gone before finally deciding the silence was far more awkward than any conversation they could have. "Are you going to be camping with us or do you have something else planned?" While it wasn't exactly an offer, it was probably the closest thing to one she was going to give him.

[biomechatronic]

He's done his rotations in ERs as a resident: he remembers the hallways after some of Detroit's more 'exciting' nights of violence. "Least I could do," he says, managing an owlish smile. And it probably was, after all the damage he's done to the Murphy family, the least he could do.

"Plans? I haven't, erm, I haven't planned anything." Though his priority list includes 'not getting stabbed' and 'not getting bitten by snakes'. "I wouldn't--I wouldn't want to intrude."

[seestheman]

"It's more than most people would do in here." Or at least that's what she's been told, considering the only time someone really turned aggressive on her in the previous arena had been when she was ambushed and eventually killed. But it's better to keep him on his toes than to lure him into any sort of false sense of security in the arena.

"You wouldn't be intruding." It's not a complete lie. While she'd rather he not be with them, having him around could possibly be the difference between how long Alex can make it in the arena, so she's willing to suck up and deal. "And even if you don't want to, I know a few scientists who would probably be interested in meeting you."