Castle Game #1: The Floor is Lava [14/14]

[Deleted]

" attention players :
the first game is about to begin ! "

This is where the fun begins. She had been keeping an eye out on Genesis 3's live feed, the numbers slowly ticking up as each of the season 1's players woke up. One by one, another $100,000 added to a pot that's getting hotter by the minute. The VIPs are already cracking up, bets being placed on 010 for his size, 007 for the lucky number, 002 for the nerve.

Holly hasn't placed her bets yet, she's never been great at a gamble. 

Only thing that she's got is a bet that this'll be good, bitch. One after another, a parade of black track suits make their way into the first play area, filing into the start platform under the VIPs bird eye view. Some stand at the balcony with telescopes in hand, others kick back and watch on the teleprompts, waiting for the drama to start. 

It's almost show time, a cough stuck her throat she can't quite swallow down. She's only got one worry - what if the first game is... too hard? 

Well. 

It'd make good television, that's for sure. 

" attention players :
I will now read the rules of the first game "

---

Players, welcome to your first game: The Floor is Lava! This game will work in 3 rounds, starting with The Living Room. All players will enter the first room through the archway, jumping across all-white floating furniture pieces in order to make it across the room. Players are required to move every 30 seconds; those who fail to do so, along with players who cannot avoid touching the floor, will be eliminated. 

For context: stationary targets will be shot, targets who touch the floor will be electrocuted. 

For the first round, Living Room, all players will attempt to cross to one of two doors on the far side of the room. Your path there is entirely up to you. To attempt this challenge, roll 3 1d20 roll's -- rolling a 1 in any of these rolls will result in a failure. Good luck, players! This first round will conclude on November 3rd, any players who have not attempted the challenge by then will be eliminated. 

After successfully clearing your first room, players may proceed onto their 2nd room. Please wait 24 hours in between posts.

Advantage : any players who posted in the wake up thread here will be allotted 1 accuracy pass for one failed attempt. This is single use between all three rounds. The wake up thread will stay open until the first game is completed, on (est.) November 13th.

Players with advantage include: 001; 002; 003; 004; 006; 007; 009; 010; 012; 013; 016; 017

[charade]

Child's play.

Silk smirked as the game was explained. Jump across the moving furniture and get to the other side. A test of skill, of athletic and gymnastic ability. Silk flicked her hair behind her ear. So far, she hadn't been impressed by any of her fellow competitors. She was a Gingham, and trained in the art of archery; perhaps the only weapon discipline for those with a refined palate. As far as she could tell, she was also the only person to come from district one. Not that she'd bothered to interact with anyone yet.

As much as she hated to admit it, she could agree with Nylon about one thing.

Most people were dreadfully boring. It was an epidemic really. She was never going to find a socialite to marry at this point.  While Velvet was focused on work, and Nylon was happy enough to have a revolving door of one night stands, Silk planned on waiting until she found a wealthy, powerful man to take care of her.  

A prince if you will.

And shame on Nylon for insisting the term she was looking for was sugar daddy. 

So she stretched languidly and catlike, giving the people standing next to her a withering look for not yet taking the leap, and jumped gracefully towards her future as a celebrity.

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[kap]

Toby listened as the first game was explained. They were going to play a game he'd played a lot as a kid, but with much higher stakes: if you didn't succeed, you died. "The Floor is Lava" it's called. You have to jump from furniture to furniture to get to a door on the other side. Hesitating for too long get you shot. Touching the floor gets you electrocuted.

The boy from Eight imagined what it would be like dying while so many people are watching. Then he realized, if he died here, it should be pretty quick. Of course, that's not what he wanted to happen. He needed to succeed. If he failed the first game, he wouldn't get the chance to move onto the next and the next and whatever came after that. Why? Because he'd be fucking dead, for crying out loud.

People started moving as soon as the game started, so Toby did the same. Hesitation and stopping wasn't an option. That's how you died here. That, or failing to hit your target of the next adjacent piece of furniture. He wasn't going to let that happen as long as he could help it.

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[✨ zozo.]

Huh.

Sounds easy enough, but if my anxiety's taught me anything it's to never trust the seemingly innocent. Don't touch the floor - or what? You're going to send me back to that hell-hole? I doubt it, that seems to easy. Brain going a thousand miles a minute, fourteen and all I know is how not to die.

So I let the other kids go first. A girl I can only imagine is from One, 016. She's got that kind of stuck-up aura that only a District One girl could have - going first in a competition, show off, I think with a frown. Then a boy who could be from anywhere, 006, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the numbers. They could be something, nothing, everything, and I'm so consumed in my run-away thoughts that I don't realise it's my turn until someone shoves me in the back and I stumble forward.

"Alright, alright, fuck!" I grumble, taking a deep breath.

Just don't die.

table by rave !

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[gamemaker kelsier]

The first game seems easy enough. I remember playing something like this with Ire except a little less high on the stakes. I don't think that I'm just going to be able to climb back up if I fall here.

It's hard to think right now, my heart beat is too loud like it's right there between my ears where my brain's meant to be. I'm not a career or anything but I am small for my age and not too bad at balancing. I know it'd be smarter to hang back and watch some other people go first to try and follow their route but the longer I wait, the more anxious I get.

004 goes and I follow, the rules playing through my head again. Whatever happens, I know I don't want to fall here. The furniture doesn't touch the ground either and that completes the thought, maybe the floor really is lava.

I hesitate too long and someone's hand is on my shoulder, nudging me forwards gently so I go, jumping as far as I can onto a floating coach a few tiles away. The couch sinks for a second with my added weight and then adjusts while I just cling on for dear life.

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[Deleted]

She keeps her eyes trained on her shoes as they read the rules - she thinks back to 004's they. They took it; a little question she wonders if she should even bother with trying to answer. But then the host gives their context between a bullet and a death shock and it's better than thinking about that. She peeps through the archway as they read it out: the Floor is Lava.

Welcome to hell. 

Room #1 of Game #1, Theo watches as the first few players go. It makes her knees weak watching them go, 016 running through it as some follow suit. She shuffles forward trying to shake the lump in her throat, but her feet seem so heavy as she toes with the floating furniture. Child's play, just life or death.

The odds aren't awful. 50/50, she looks up in time to see 004 slip - "is she gonna make it-?" A second's recovery as she passes on and a boy follows bat. 011, she keeps reminding herself not to keep tabs. They all know what they signed up for, but she can't help but think how close 004 came to being out. 

Eliminated. 

Come on, Theo, don't die on the first game.

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[revel latimer, 11b 🔍 jay]

As the game was explained, I could feel my pulse quicken. Maybe a few years ago I was good at something like this - when I was still just a girl and running wild through the streets.

I haven't been that girl in a while. Not since Mom died at least. The orphanage had a strange kink with sucking all of the life out of you. I would've died there too, eventually. It would've been slower, though, slowly rotting you from the inside out. In here at least I have the chance to save myself. To make things better for myself. That's all I want.

The people in front of me start moving hesitantly, no doubt fear of making a wrong move bouncing off the walls of their brains. It's in mine too. Could this be the conclusion to my life, has everything built up to this moment just for me to fall? My heart starts to beat so loud inside my head that my thoughts start to get scrambled and merge with each other.

My legs started to tremble from the fear its way through my mind. I slowly step forward, following the steps of the others in front of me. No one has fell yet. Maybe I can actually do this. I squeeze my eyes shut and make a leap for the couch, whispering a silent prayer inside my head.

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[Python]

Stationary targets will be shot, targets who touch the floor will be electrocuted.

Of course.

A game like this was too good to be true. There was destined to be some drawback, and Sorin had felt that from the beginning, but found himself unable to react. He was dead either way. Lose, you die - but if he managed to lose and survive, the gang would be waiting for him in Three with serrated blades in their sleeves. A violent end seemed to be his destiny unless he could crawl his way out of the Hell his father created.

He sighed. The other players in front of him were already succeeding quite well. Such luck and skill could falter at any moment, but he didn't want to think about that. People dying in front of him...from electrocution no less...

The Capitol had always been a cruel place.

His heart pounded in his chest as he eyed the stark white furniture. It's now or never. The longer he waited, the larger the target on his back grew. He did not want to be shot dead from hesitation of all things. He didn't come all this way to fail that badly.

Fingers crossed, teeth clenched, he leapt.


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[k!ah]

Eugene Hades Riot was nervous.

The floor is lava? A game that he had never been able to master as a kid, even though his enthusiasm in dance aided with increased mobility and flexibility, the sheer size of him made jumping, and leaping a little more, ah, challenging.

The rules are read and he finds himself flicking his gaze back to the kid who had spoken to him earlier. "Y'know used to play this game as a kid, and I was a KING," he lies with ease, pushing his nerves to the back of his mind as he falls into the groove, giving the boy a wide, enthusiastic grin. "In fact, they used to chant my name in the streets 'Hades! Hades! Hades!'"

He throws the boy a wink, cracking his knuckles as he steps up to the starting point. He pauses for a moment, tilting his head to the side slightly as he studied the playing field, the range of people who clung to surfaces to avoid the sharp zap of electrocution or a bullet in the brain.

The boy before him lunges forward and secretly he hoped to see what would happen when his body bit the buzzing floor. Would his body twitch? would be drool? Would be catch fire? Eugene had never seen someone electrocuted, that wasn't exactly an exciting way to kill off tributes when you could slice of an arm- or a whole bloody leg. Eugene liked to think that if he had of had the chance in the games, he would have sliced off a few juicy limbs, unlike his sister, Riot, who had died with a few missing bits- half a leg and an ear if he remembered correctly.

"Here goes nothing," he mumbles under his breath, grinning wickedly as he jumps.

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[tick 12a / calla]

If it wasn't for a certain someone, Ilana would've been the first one out the gate. She'd already be at the end of this stupid course.

Swear! Pinkie promise!

But since Blondie 001 is still hiding in the corner, Ilana can take her time, that's all that really matters - first the worst, right? Second the best, baby, she's still got it. It's like hopscotch on a snow day - the host introduces a kids game and that's about when Ilana tunes out. The instructions keep crackling over the intercom but she's got eyes and ears elsewhere now, she's moved on. So long, losers! Enjoy your stay.

There's another prize on the line now.

She's standing in the queue flirting with a tall glass of water, twirling her hair like it's taffy, "Unlucky number 13." she says all coyly, like there's substance there, like it's a code word.

Call her a little dangerous - she likes a bad boy.

"If you need some help, I know a thing or two about getting lucky- FU SHIT!" Because then she's falling backwards, hand on her shoulder, 013 just fucking pushed her? Hello? Referee?

Hello?


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[Cait]

The first game is about to begin.

A chorus of rules fills the room, but I’m barely able to register the words. I don’t even realise the game has started until a young girl with blonde hair makes her way to the front of the group and begins leaping over the pieces of furniture laid out precariously in front of us. And it’s not long before others are following her lead, propelling themselves forwards to the other side of the room. Safety.

They make it look so easy. Like this is just a trip to nostalgia or a simpler time of backyard games and imaginary friends. Like this isn’t a death trap in waiting.

Did I hear that correctly? Death? Surely I must have misheard – surely they can’t all care so little for their lives that they’re so willing to throw their caution to the wind and blindly play along with this nightmare?

Surely I’m not the only one wishing she were anywhere else but here?

I turn to look over my shoulder, but the entrance we came through is shut tight and guarded by soldiers in uniform, weapons slung over their shoulders.

So, mind is racing. Can’t go back. Can only go forward, and I’m not the only one to realise that – other players have started to push their way to the front of the room, jostling each other as they go. One girl almost loses her footing, and I instinctively reach out a hand to her, my breath catching in my throat as she stumbles over the edge before eventually regaining her balance.

I exhale.

My hand comes to rest over my heart, again, tracing the even stitching of my tracksuit top. 001. Can’t go back. Can only go forward.

I inhale.

I take an unsteady leap of faith into the unknown, to stop from becoming the first to fall.


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[rook]

It's been a long time since I felt anything. Life in the Capitol turned stale long ago - the gold skyline nothing but an ugly rusting hulk of metal and cheap lights. Leaving was only a matter of time and logistics.

But returning to Twelve was no better. It's still the town I grew up in, and I suppose that's the problem. It's still full of shit and waste and hopelessness. It's people are still broken and dead.

I'm a conqueror. And what happens when there's nothing left to conquer? A man must seeks new lands.

This is my provenance.

Lining up with the other participants I feel like a giant. Half of them are teenagers, shrinking in the shadow of my overbearing figure. If this first game is anything physical, I'm going to eat these kids alive.

The music that plays over the speakers makes me feel like I'm in an elevator at a Capitol shopping mall, it's cheerful tones bring a bemused smile over my half-open mouth. This is all so quaint and strange, and new.

The Floor is Lava

Huh. Can't say I ever played that one, but the concept is simple. I suppose it's similar to avoiding rebel landmines outside the District boundaries. That's something I was always good at - not getting myself blown up.

But I'm not very nimble or agile. This definitely favours the younger participants.

Well, better go. Take a step into the unknown.

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[Tom]

Innocence doesn't exist within his form.

All of those years spent trying to pretend to be like kids in Eleven never worked. Days spent collecting insects to fight in a makeshift stick arena as he laughed and laughed. Childhood games weren't apart of his expertise, but that didn't mean he didn't know of them. The floor is lava was simple enough of a game. Avoid the floor at all costs. And it's when he's standing around looking bored out of his mind that someone even dares to try and treat him as if he were the same as all of them. "Unlucky number 13." An average girl at first glance, nothing strange or unusual about her. Nothing interesting to him. A dull person who couldn't provide him with any sort of entertainment there.

"If you need some help, I know a thing or two about getting lucky- FU SHIT!"

Sue him.

At least he was trying to make the challenge interesting. Hands push at the girl, watching 002 fall backwards, but catch herself somehow on another piece of furniture as he hops forward to some sort of coffee table. "Help yourself, 002." A smirk plastered across his lips as the sound of clicks shake through him once more before he looks around again. The sound of electricity running through the floor burning in his ears as he can see the way to enjoy this miserable child's game. The games he was never allowed to join. Kids wanting nothing to do with the insect boy. A laugh leaves his throat before he continues to hop around. His voice clear in the air.

"Better remember who's the unlucky one here. It surely isn't going to be me."



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[kap]

He made it through the first part of the challenge, but there was more to come. Toby had hopped rather gracefully through the furniture in the first room, and now was time for the second. He went through the door on the left and entered the next room. There was a bed and a few other pieces of furniture: he'd passed from the living room to a bedroom*.

He jumped from furniture to furniture, and did his best to stay atop them as they floated there. If he kept on moving, he should be okay. He just had to make sure not to touch the floor. They say the floor is lava, and although it doesn't look like it, he believes them. He knows it'll kill him if he touches it, after all.

Toby wanted the money and the fame. If it weren't for those two things, he wouldn't be here. He didn't exactly want to die, after all. It was just the risk he was taking to get what he wanted.

-----

Second room:

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Notes:
*correct me if I'm wrong on this being a bedroom! If you're facing the way the characters would be from entering, it's the room on the left, I think. Just judging from the picture!1-20·1-20·1-20

[✨ zozo.]

The way my heart leapt into my throat as I missed a jump was like nothing I'd ever felt before. Slipping off of a couch and regaining my balance at the last second, palms smacking against the wall to hold my fall - it'd make good TV. I noticed the cameras in the corners of the ceiling the moment we got here. It's a habit to know if I'm being watched. Five weeks on the run, paranoid even before I'd decided to escape Strauss House, you get good at it.

Watching. Being watched. Saving yourself at the last second and letting out a deep sigh of relief and a swear word under your breath.

"That was close," I mutter, palms balmy and slick from nerves.

On to the next room, and the bleach-white tile that awaits me is the nicest bathroom I've ever seen. Limbs shaking, brain cycling through the shit-hole houses I've lived in and anxiety on an all-time high. Same mantra I've always told myself, just a different location.

Don't die.

Don't fucking die.

table by rave !

round 2 baby

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