The Bloodbath

[aya]

Good morning and welcome to the 68th Annual Hunger Games Bloodbath, Tributes! Your Gamemakers have developed a very special Games for you. First and foremost, we would like to encourage each and every one of you to read the( rules), as it makes life a lot easier for everyone when all parties involved are aware of the rules and expectations.

For smooth operation of the bloodbath, please be aware of the following:

- Everyone must make an introductory post; it doesn't matter if you've taken Stealth or not.
- You may not attack tributes who haven't made their introductory posts.
- You must, must, must wait for at least THREE other people to post in between your attacks. If you are in an alliance of four, you must wait for at least one person who is not in your alliance to post as well.
- One tribute may only be attacked six times between their attacks.
- You must also wait for at least three other people to post in between your last attack post and your fleeing post.
- You may not attack in your fleeing post.
- Please be aware that if you have a severed leg or leg part, you may not flee without the aid of another tribute, who must also flee. With broken leg or leg parts, you may flee in three posts as stated above, or you may be carried out by an ally as well.
- Once you flee, you may not re-enter the bloodbath.
- "Generic Attack Posts" are completely, positively, 100% prohibited in the Bloodbath. All posts must adhere to site standards.
- Stations are not valid during the Bloodbath, except First Aid upon fleeing. This means self defense, blades, etc. will take effect after the tribute has left the bloodbath. The same goes for any sponsored items.
- For the 68th, please be especially aware that we will be frequently locking and unlocking the thread. It is YOUR responsibility to check the cbox and the( Games Engine) to determine which tributes are available to be attacked. Gamemakers will post when the thread is locked, and when the thread is once again unlocked, to timestamp each event.
- All dice codes must be immediately obvious, even if you are using a table. Either put it beneath the table entirely, or make it easily accessible. If we have to scroll within a table to find your dice, the attack will be completely nullified and you will not be able to pick up an item. If you are in doubt, do not use a table.
- Additionally, please make sure that you specify who you're attacking. When you're finished, for the sake of convenience, please edit your post to include the corresponding attack. Include the TRIBUTE NAME, and NOT the owner's name; for example [attacks Mace Emberstatt] is valid; [attacks earthling/Kay] is not.
- Only weapons may be claimed from deceased tributes (by his/her killer). Any other items picked up by a deceased tribute prior to his/her death will be put into the Wealth.

ANY violations of these rules will result in an additional 8 damage dealt to the offending tribute.

Each tribute's damage will be updated on on the Hunger Games Engine, so pay attention and don't forget to refresh the page!


Tribute item lists may be found here

To clarify, the Wealth also includes any unclaimed items, as well as the items of dead tributes. The exception to this would be weapons, which can be claimed by the tribute's killer following his/her death. You must be one of the first 18 tributes to post in the Bloodbath in order to be eligible for the Wealth. If your alliance has 3 or 4 people, two members of your alliance must be one of the first 18 tributes to post in the bloodbath.

Today's Weather
Dark, damp, drafty.
Temperature: 68F (20C)

Tribute Uniforms
Formfitting black t-shirt. Khaki cargo shorts. Black belt. Canvas sneakers.

The Bloodbath will end on Wednesday, October 8th. Anyone who has not posted in the Bloodbath by then will be killed, as always. Day One will conclude Saturday, October 11th.

five
four
three
two
one
…
[GONG]

Let the 68th Annual Hunger Games begin!

[shrimp]

sometimes i feel like i'm already dead, waiting for the reaper to take me away - it happened when i first awoke sputter and spitting, drowned once in shadows and twice more in medication.

it's happened a lot more recently. i awake from my dreams with needles embedded in my fingertips and starstuff dripping from my veins and i just want it to stop.

i scream, nobody listens.


---

I want to be back at home where I didn't have to choose between seventeen variants of hot chocolate while pondering over which fairweather friend sitting on the loungechair next to me would be most likely to slice my throat. When the training scores came in my breath hitched when all those 8s flew across the screen Val, Asa from 2, Ryin from 3. Kendrick got a 7. His district partner lived up to her name with a 9. Nine. What's the difference between a 9 and a 5? Does it matter? I was never good at tests, especially ones I didn't particularly care about. Tau and I cruised with the rest of them. I don't know how long we'll last, even with allies as tough as nails.

I can't sleep. I don't want to sleep. Sleep brings the needles back, the arrows through my eyes, the glass slicing my throat. Spotlights shine bright in my face as it drips with black, black tar that pools and pools and rises until I can't breathe I'm suffocating won't someone pull me up-

Nobody can do that now. Only I can. Does that mean I can't pull others up as well?

Is it even worth it to live as the sacrifice of others? What the fuck? What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck is this mess that I'm in? My stylist Bacchus doesn't answer the question when I was pushed out into the interview in my dress as "soda-pop as my personality"; I doubt he'd answer it now. We sit in silence as I finish my oatmeal that's much more chocolate and fruit than oatmeal but it's my gosh darn breakfast and I'm going to eat what I want when I want it because who knows how long I'll last here. Maybe 5 seconds. Maybe.

My heart's beating rapidfire as he sends me up on the chute because I didn't have time, I didn't have enough time in this world I just wanted to examine it, explore it, embrace every new part of it. There's so many things I need to remember, there's so many things I need to relearn. At least these cargo shorts are comfy. Bracchus just shrugged when I was trying to get him to give me clues about the arena from the clothing - aren't stylists supposed to do that? Doesn't cloth speak to them?

Does it even matter?

The light goes out, and I'm alone. The humming of the plate is anything but comforting. I can barely stand up. I can't stand up. Nope. Not happening. I'm sitting down. There we go.

It's only when the glass around me leaves with a swoosh that I realize I'm still in the dark.

No.

Oh no.

Oh no oh no oh no no no no no, let's not do this please. I want to at least be able to see something when I die. Not this abyss. I'm drowning I'm drowning I'm going to drown I don't want to drown.

At least they can't see the tears that drip down my face as I scramble back up to my feet, leaping off the plate with a gasp as the gong rings.

[wimdy]

[presto][/presto]

I was given a four for dry heaving on the floor. Waking up the next day in my room, sore and limp upon the floor of my room, wasn’t how I wanted one of my last nights alive to go. In a few days, I’ll be carried from an arena far away from the rest of the uncivilized world, devoid of all life left within me. There’s hardly anything left of me now as it is. The days leading up to the Bloodbath feel like moments blinked away in my sleep, fleeting and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. There’s nothing more to be done that will change how this ending is being written out. No all-encompassing author can rewrite things now, not when the food feels like ash in my mouth and what rest I get is spent staring at sprawling landscapes of tall trees and winding paths in the window of my room, hiding the glamor of the world just beyond the glass with layers of synthesized paradise. I can feel every dip of the pen into my skin, inking out what is to become of me with every brush. The world has no more use of us, not now. I can’t stop the tension that builds under my skin, the nervous jitter that shakes me to the core with every shuddered breath. The waiting room is cold and I can’t help but try to rub fire back into my skin. The black t-shirt and cargo pants I’m wearing hardly do anything to keep me warm. Why would I expect the Gamemakers to help me in any way, even in one as simple as this? I want to curl in on myself and never come out. I’m not Ezhno, however. Unlike him, I can’t shut myself away from the world and pretend it doesn’t exist. I’m in the saddle, not waiting in the curtains. There’s no encouraging sentiment, no final words from my stylist. There was never anything to say to the dying boy. Praxis had sent me off with hardly anything useful to offer, just another variation of ‘suck it up’ and a shove along. The escort couldn’t give a shit what happened. Then against, does anyone? Sixty-eight years of sending kids off to their deaths, and here we are, letting another cycle go descend into a state of pure carnal instinct. Every child is gone once the Games have ended. No one makes it out alive. The glass case closes around me, sealing shut with a quiet noise that breaks the absolute silence that has fogged over my brain. This is it. In a few moments, I’ll be fighting for my life beside Galaxy and Kendrick and Valerie. For all I know, I might have to be fighting them for my life. No one can save me now. A click, and the platform begins to raise. I let myself drop with the movement, knees buckling so one is pressed to the ground, the other draw up towards my chest. I’ve been running all week, and now I’ll finally be able to run away altogether, at least until the world catches up to me. My breathing is shallow as I close my eyes, darkness settling in around me. When the movement has stopped and the counting has begun, I let my eyes open again, only to find I cannot see. I cannot see, and no matter how much I rub at my eyes, I cannot change that. My hand shakes as I reach it out, spreading my arm out as far as it can go, but I cannot see it. I cannot see a thing. The darkness is as real here as it was in the caves of Ezhno’s consciousness, deep within the cocoon of my coma. Bubbling laughter builds in me at the thought, spilling from my lips in sick, distorted echoes into the blank abys in front of me. I’m right back where I was. The voice laughs with me, dark and twisted in my head. I’ll never escape this nightmare. I don’t think I’ll ever wake up.

[charade]

Kirk Marshall

district ten male

Listen to the sound of your children revolting

Listen to the sound of the lives you're ruining

Throughout his stay in the Capitol, Kirk had had to use elevators many times. But it only took the first trip for him to decided that elevators were evil. The feeling in his gut that flip flopped as the box moved unnaturally was one of the worst things he had ever experienced. The elevator that brought him to the arena was no different. Couple that with the knowledge that people would be dying shortly, and his stomach was roiling worse than it did when he ate the mystery stew down at the tavern. It stopped suddenly, leaving him in the inky blackness.

At first, he thought the tube had malfunctioned and that he was stuck. But when he stuck his hand out and couldn’t feel the glass, the truth of his situation dawned on him. The gamemakers had stuck them in an arena devoid of light. Kirk gulped. During the week leading up to the start of the bloodbath, he had viewed several past games to get a better feel for what he’d have to help Esme survive. As such, he expected that there would be a colossal mutt lurking in one of the areas, that if many tributes survived the first few days there would be a feast, and that it would behoove him to pay attention to the ground, lest a trap be sprung.

All of that probably still held true, but the tributes in those arenas, whether dealing with snow, sand, jungles or water had all been able to see where they were going. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out a large dim shape somewhere in front of him that he figured had to be the cornucopia. The silhouettes around him he knew were his fellow tributes, but he couldn’t see enough to decided which ones were which. Then, with a horrible noise that rent the dark in twain, the countdown light flicked on, casting its ghastly red light on everything. Then, he could see everything but half-wished that he couldn’t It was creepy, and that word hardly did the word justice. Every weapon glinted a sickening crimson as the numbers ticked away.

When the counter got to fifteen, Kirk realized that he should close his eyes. The lights would fade when the countdown was finished and getting his eyes adjusted before that would help a little. Then, unable to stop himself, a tune escaped his lips, the same jaunty tune he had whistled as he had walked towards the reaping stage. It echoed in the area, which only freaked him out more. He hoped that Esme was all right, and that they wouldn’t lose each other in the dark. The bell sounded and he opened his eyes, but instead of running full tilt towards the cornucopia the way tributes usually did, Kirk stepped off of his plate hesitantly, not wanting to run into someone or something.

It was chaos around him, but chaos that he barely see.

[sadniss everdeen]

Kendrick Draper

You stayed up all night, pacing back and forth like a beast in a concrete cage, your imaginary fangs bristling with agitation. You aren't alone anymore, your allies standing like ghosts by your sides, but the arena is a mountain unable to be conquered. The lone tribute who climbs their way to the top is no more a winner than the ones who fell down the slopes, battered and bruised and lacking the soul they entered with. It died somewhere along the way.

Now, standing on the platform, the tremors have halted. You are filled with an emptiness greater than the earth that groans with the imaginary weight of your fate, a void that slowly eats away at parts of you. Though your hair has been tied back, swept from your shoulders and away from your scalp, your head throbs where you cut part of it away to form a sling that shattered the future foes you know you'd have. The material of your uniform clings to your skin, cutting the stone edges of you into focus in a way that the loose, baggy clothing back home never did, and the sharpness of your cheekbones coupled with the vigour of your eyes makes you seem entirely too dangerous like a god fallen from the sky.

Upon every whisper of your breath is the sound of a billion cells preparing to die. You clench your fists as the platform shudders and ascends, spiralling upwards into the heavens, the firm set of your jaw what people build temples upon. But as you climb ever higher the world does not lighten, does not blind you as you face the place you will die. In fact, it seems to dim even further still, your eyes straining in the near-darkness in an attempt to discern any features that would identify your allies from those who seek to stick a spear into your chest. Your entire body murmurs its unease – something is wrong.

As you come to a halt you find it almost impossible to take in your surroundings; vague shadows play in the corners of your vision, and only the golden glow of the Cornucopia taunts you, sitting tall and proud in a great, yawning cave. You are in the belly of the earth, held tight in her mouth, and the dampness sends a chill through your spine until your very eyes shake with it. The weight of a million skeletons weights on your shoulders.

The countdown begins and you tense until you turn to stone, breath clouding in the air. Twenty three other figures hunch like you, their bodies humming like ill-tuned instruments, begging the gong to sound and take away the dreaded anticipation. You take a deep breath, holding it low in your chest like your sister always made you do when you were scared.

It sounds, and you run towards the end.

[Cato]

I don't know if I should be afraid or not, but in a few hours my life could be over, and instead of shoveling food down my face, I stand there staring out the window of this compartment that's been my room for the last week. The Capitol citizens haven't even woke up, yet I'm forced to wake up because I don't know where the hovercraft will take me, but it might take a while. Someplace in a remote location nobody knows about except the gamemakers and maybe the president is the arena where my final resting place may be. I definitely don't want this as my final resting place, but only time will tell what'll happen. No matter what happens, I won't go down without a fight, and I'll be damned if anyone tries to tell me any different. I might not know how to fight, but, obviously, I'm going to give everything I have. I made a promise to myself to keep Stella alive so she can go home, and that's my goal. If I have anything to do with it, she'll return home alive.

My heart hammers against the inside of my chest as I'm led to the roof of the training center. It's not intimidating as I've been here before, but this time I'll climb into a hovercraft with other tributes, and I'll be led to my inevitable death, but I say nothing. My face is wiped completely clear of emotions while I look around the training center one last time. It was a bittersweet moment, really, because everything here was perfect, and no matter what happened in the gyms of the training center, it didn't matter the moment the gong sounded. I'll be in a pit fighting against twenty-three other's who want to go home. It might not be enough for anyone, and I can't tell if the thought is happy or sad, yet I refuse to crack a smile or turn my lips upside down into a frown. Once I'm on the hovercraft, I look down at the Capitol one last time. I'm not saying goodbye. Not only is goodbye forever, but I'm unable to say goodbye to such a cruel, harsh, and unusual environment.

It was beyond my wildest imagination how much time passed since the hovercraft left the Capitol, but it felt like only seconds had gone by when it landed. I was led off the hovercraft and shoved into a room. This room I'm standing in is the last safe room I'll see. Once the time is up, and the plates arise into the arena, nothing is safe. Fighting, blood, crushing, shouting, everything would turn up in a matter of seconds. Was I ready for it? I didn't know. I paced throughout this room as long as I could trying to keep myself calm. It isn't easy though. In a matter of minutes, the games will begin, and it'll be a mad house. I could avoid the fighting altogether and run away from the cornucopia, but I'm not sure how well that would work. I needed a weapon, anything really, but something along the lines of the weapon would give me a fighting chance. I wasn't sure what was lurking above, but in a matter of seconds I'd know because time ran out.

It was time.

Darkness surrounded me, and I couldn't see the tributes standing beside me. Hell, I couldn't make out the cornucopia in front of me. I didn't know which direction to run, but every year the tributes ran straight ahead, so my only hope was that was the case this year. Butterflies danced around inside my stomach making me sick. I wished them away, but nothing happened. For a split second my hands shook at my side, but I quickly grabbed the side of my pants. I'm not about to be seen as a coward, but I'm willing to bet every last one of us standing here on the plates as the counter count downs the seconds was terrified, yet the ones from the career districts were probably looking forward for the opportunity to kill. I didn't want to kill anyone, but that was out of the question. So I look around trying to spot my allies, but I can't find them; I can't find anyone in the dark. Serious shit was about to go down, and I didn't really care.

I only hope I live long enough to protect Stella. She's so young, and I don't understand why she volunteered for the games, but she did. I don't understand why anyone would want to volunteer for this, yet many did. People wanted to die, and nothing in the world would change their minds. I didn't have a death wish; I only want to help my district partner. If I can't help her, maybe I'll stay close to the alliance fighting beside them until the time comes for me to kill them all. If Stella can't make it home, I want to go home. District Eleven is in dire need of a victor, and maybe this is the year for it. A man can hope, right? Hope didn't seem like much, but it lit the inside of my heart with a flame warming my entire body. Someone would return home alive, and I couldn't let that fire die out no matter what it took. Once that flame goes out, I might as well forget any chance I ever thought I had. Hope would be carried away and replaced with fear, and I can't allow that.

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

Gong

I run from the plate heading in the direction I thought belonged to the cornucopia with the flame of hope guiding my way.

Crusader Rhodes has entered the bloodbath

[Rosetta]

Valerie Leotos

Do not set your shirt on fire again.

That was the thought Valerie Leotos woke up to on the morning she was set to enter the Bloodbath. She stared at the canopy of her featherbed for a few moments before throwing her blankets aside and standing up. Almost as soon as her feet touched the ground, her door opened and an Avox entered, holding a shift for her to put on. Val dressed as silently as her servant, who seemed to absently be brushing her blonde hair, and then turned her attention to the bandages on her right hand. After burning it during her training session, the Avoxes had wrapped it up with bandages soaked in some foul smelling substance. She prayed it would be better and was not shocked; as the bandages fell away, she could see that her palm was now a rosy, normal pink as opposed to the angry red streaks it had been before.

“Look!” Val began excitedly, turning to the Avox, but she was already being led out of my room by her other hand and to the elevators. For a moment, her tongue formed the words, where are we going? but the answer was right in front of her and she knew she was just closing her eyes to it.

Her eight in training had come as a surprise to her. Isn’t setting the gym on fire bad? Maybe they liked her eagerness…still, had they seen her when she looked upon that silly dummy? For hours after, Val, hand bandaged, curled up in her bed, trying to forget the screaming face of that dummy as her flaming spear raced towards his—no, its—heart. Her cheeks burned hotter than her hand just then. For a moment, she’d shown weakness. That was something she must never do.

On the Training Center roof, a cool wind whipped up underneath her tunic and she shivered. Her escort was speaking to someone and then she was led onto a silent hovercraft with blacked-out windows. The motions were so simple, yet so moving. She sat on a bench and clutched her hands tightly at her side.

Her aunt and uncle had hugged her tightly before she left. There was a sort of urgency in their voices as they shoved a necklace into her hands. It had a lion seal on it and Val never got the full story of why they had it; she was too deep in a daze, both from being named and from the way her pseudo-parents were acting, like this was something bad, like they didn’t believe in her. Her hand groped for her cool necklace and tightened around it. She didn’t need their belief. She’d set the entire gym on fire and escaped with one tiny burn and one less shirt. That’s all.

She showered, dressed and ate in what could only be the catacombs of the Arena. With each drip of the water on her smooth skin, she could feel the anticipating mounting. Her insides were swimming, but she forced down her breakfast anyway. Her escort was silent the whole time, a first, as she helped Val dress. An automated voice overhead told her she had twenty seconds to get into the pod that would bring her into the Arena

That’s when it came crashing over her. Her heart began beating rapidly and the gaping mouth of the dummy was coming towards her and she turned back towards her escort, leading her into the pod, but the glass doors were closed around her and Val’s chest began to rise and fall as the pod rose and she rose with it. This was it. She was going in. Don’t light your shirt on fire, Val—

For a moment, she thought she’d gone blind. She groped forward for the glass and found it had fallen away and her heart skipped a beat as she tottered dangerously on her plate before she was able to regain her balance. No, she hadn’t gone blind.

10

This was no dream.

9

There was sharp, clear breathing around her.

8

She held her hands out in front of her and saw dark, slender shapes.

7

She glanced around wildly, but the darkness was suffocating.

6

Someone had coughed and it echoed—

5
And echoed—

4

And echoed—

3

Val tensed up, bending her knees.

2

She swallowed hard—

1

GONG

And the darkness remained.

[kousei ♚]

ANIMUSVALENTINE

Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries

I couldn't sleep.

I was continuously woken up but things that I would've considered little and insignificant. What was supposed to be a long and healthy rest eventually became shards of sleep that dug into my mind like broken glass. Many times I simply tried to shrug it off and fall back into sleep. I'm being silly, I'm being stupid, just go to sleep! I constantly told myself those things and eventually did fall back asleep only to find myself pulled back into a state of awareness. I hated it, it was as if my own brain was trying to torment me by giving me little amounts of sleep.

So when Colgate eventually woke me up to get ready for the bloodbath I find myself scowling as I throw the sheets off me. "This is the last time I'm going to feel these sheets." I tell myself. No! I can't think like that because I'm going to go into that arena and then walk out again. Just solve it in stages, bits and pieces, like a jigsaw, don't miss any stages, no mistakes. Perfection is all a big part of my world after all.

I'm eating my breakfast in silence, savouring each and every bite like it was my last and not saying a word to anyone. I'm gonna need all the energy I can get. I finished my breakfast and got up. "Thanks for everything." I say before I stride off back to my room to change.

___

When I'm on the hovercraft my mind wanders once again. Humans have been evolving to centuries. We have evolved to survive, survival of the fittest. It's a basic rule, the strongest and the most evolved will win. This is why a shark will always gobble up a fish in a fair fight. Is it the same in this case? Naturally the best and most fit to survive will survive this arena right? But if that was the case careers would win all the time.

So what makes it so the lower district tributes win?

The question is still racking at my brain long after I'm taken from the hovercraft and to the place where I'll have to change into my arena costume. Stages, I'll solve this equation in stages. What is the answer to survival? My stylist leads me back underground so she can get me changed. Constantly treated like a life size doll, again and again.

"Good luck Animus," She says when she has me all geared up in my arena uniform. It pulls me back out of my train of thought and I get to fully take in my surroundings. It's a dull room, plain but it still seems more colourful than most of the rooms in my old house. And it's bloody huge. It seems that everything in the Capitol is huge. I give her an awkward look before I answer her. "Erm, thanks I guess," I reply before I turn around towards the tube, however she grabs my shoulder. "I mean it. Is all she says before she releases me.

I step into the tube, breathing in and out as deeply as possible.

What is the answer to survival?

The metallic whirring sound starts as I'm raised up and up and up.

Into complete darkness. Wait, what's going on? Where am I? My brain is sent into complete panic, thinking the Capitol must have done thinking with my eyesight. WHAT IS THIS? I almost fall or step off my plate when I remember. One false move and I'm blown to smithereens. What an embarrassing way to die, too stupid to stand still. Maybe they'd put that in a montage of something. Most embarrassing Hunger Games deaths in history.

My heart begins racing in my chest, smashing against my rib cage I'm afraid it'll burst open in my chest. I look around frantically, searching for some sort of light.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the Sixty-Eighth Annual Hunger Games begin!" The voice booms through the arena, echoing around my ears. Yes, who is the most fit to survive out of all of us?

60


What is the answer to survival?

50


I don't know.

40


But that's why I'll solve it.

30


I'll get the right answer.

20


Because I'm never wrong.

10


What determines survival?

9


I don't know that either.

8


I'll solve it in stages.

7


Break it down to it's simplest form.

6


I have to, I don't want to die.

5


But who does?

4


I'm not ready.

3

But then again who is?

2

It's time.

1

....

GONG

And I begin sprinting into oblivion.

What is the answer to survival?

Song: Fall out boy - Centuries

WC: 735

Narrative
"Speech"
Thoughts

[Animus has entered the Bloodbath]

[Knuckles]

Sleep never came last night. All I did was pace the floor looking around at the room for the last time. Every time I tried laying down in bed to sleep nightmares crossed through my mind. All I can think about is the games, and the slaughter that was going to happen. Was I really one of those animals my Pa was leading away? Was I one of those pigs he held by the ears as he swung the giant hammer down into their skulls crushing them? No. I refused to be turned into one of those animals. I'm a human being; everyone here is a human being, and as much as I try to turn them into the lonely life farm animals, it won't change a thing. Each one of us can talk, breath, walk, think. We have our own free will, yet that's been taken away from us. I don't have any free will anymore. I have to become a farmer like Pa. I have to slaughter people the way Pa slaughters his pigs.

Breakfast wasn't easy, but I forced myself to eat. I forced the rich food the Capitol prepared down my throat knowing it could be the last time I ate in my entire life. I didn't speak. Couldn't think. The food was tasteless as I shoved large bites into my mouth, and sometimes I didn't even chew it all before I swallowed. I don't care if I throw it all back up, but that might be a bad idea. It might make things worse especially in an arena where I was going to run. I drank some water as I was afraid to drink anything else. It tasted good. The clothes were laid out for me, another thing I hated about the Capitol. Decisions were made for me. All my rights were taken away the moment the stupid escort drew my name from the bucket. Freedom wasn't here anymore. The only way to truly be free now was to die, and return home in a box. My soul would fly freely then.

Time felt like it flew by in the blink of an eye. One moment I was standing in my room staring out the window wishing this was all just a dream; then the next moment I was being rushed out of the room onto the roof where the hovercraft was waiting. It was so big, so huge, but then again, everything here was huge, or maybe I'm just so tiny. I could see the tops of the buildings in the distance. I didn't care much at first, but I climbed into the hovercraft. All the blood rushed away from my face. My heart jumped beneath my chest over and over again. My stomach felt like a healer twisted my organs into knots. My hands shook at my side as I took my seat. I closed my eyes refusing to look around. It didn't matter anyway. Nothing mattered anymore because in a moment, I could be dead.

The felt like it took forever, but in a moment I was on the ground being led away from the hovercraft. Peacekeepers surrounded me making sure I didn't run away. Not going to lie, I didn't have the courage to try and run away. The sight of those guns they carried made me want to obey them.I was finally in the room. I wondered what Mace, and Saffron were doing right now. Were they standing in front of a screen watching us get ready to rise to our death? Were they holding onto a small hope that Kirk or myself would make it out alive? I don't know, and I personally think they'd be fooling themselves if they thought I was going to make it out alive. The moment the gong goes off, I'm as good as dead. I just hope I can live a little to show Ma and Pa that I'm trying. I want to make them proud.

"Ten seconds."

A robotic voice boomed through the room. I didn't want to move. I wanted to stay behind, but the thought of being killed wasn't one I wanted, so I dragged my feet across the room over towards the metal platform. I could hear my heart pounding with every beat. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I couldn't face the other tributes and expect to kill them, but they wanted to kill me. I was going to die. I counted the time in my head before stepping onto the metal platform, and it started going up. The muscles in my chest tightened. I couldn't breathe, couldn't see. Everything was dark. Ma Pa help me. I'm going to die. Please help me. Someone save me. Someone. Mace. Saffron. Anyone. Nobody was there. It was just me, and twenty-three others.

I looked around as the plate finally stopped moving. It was dark. I couldn't see anything. I didn't know where anything was. My chin dropped to the ground as I kept turning my gaze in every direction Kirk, Animus, Crusader. I closed my eyes before opening them again hoping there would be some kind of light, but I saw nothing. Nothing. Not even my hand in front of my face. My nightmares were coming to life in front of me. Not only were others wanting to kill me, but they'd kill me in the dark where I'd never see another face ever again. I rubbed my eyes with my fingers trying to gain some vision back. Was I blind? Did they blind me? Or is this the arena? What is this? Help me. Someone. Anyone. No. I couldn't be blind because when I closed my eyes, I saw spots. I wasn't blind. The arena was just black.

The darkness surrounded me. I squinted my eyes trying to find the cornucopia, but I knew from watching the games before me that all I had to was run straight, and I'd run right into it. One thing I couldn't figure out was why the arena was so dark. I didn't like the dark. Nightmares lurked inside the shadows as they tried to take over me. Nightmares only existed in the dark. I needed to find the light. I needed some kind of light to protect me, but it's every man for himself. I can't run. I can't hide because the boogeyman would find me. The monsters hiding within the darkness loved when people ran. I can run, but I can't hide. I wonder what Ma and Pa saw as they stared at the screen waiting for the games to begin. I'll make you proud. I'll make you proud.

That was when the gong sounded.

And I ran.

[OOC: Esme Truus has entered the bloodbath]

[charade]

[googlefont="Marck Script:400;"]

Kirk Marshall

district ten male

there is a light to all this darkness, I will tell you this
there's redemption in you asking them just why it is

Fervently hoping that Esme was doing alright in the darkness, Kirk flung out one of his arms blindly, hoping that he’d hit whoever was closest to him. The whole dimly lit atmosphere thing made it rather hard to figure out. After a bit of hopeless flailing, he tripped over something on the ground. It didn’t feel like a dead body, so he groped around until his hands closed around it and he realized that it was a weapon of some sort, hating the lack of depth perception all the way.

Kirk Marshall attacks Ojai
fHsAUih9unarmed
damage done
-Obtains Stone Axe-

unarmed

[shrimp]

I can't see anything all I can do is put one foot in front of the other and try not to fall as I go - falling means death falling means death don't fall don't die not yet not here not now please please please I need more time I wasn't given enough time and in this darkness I don't even know what time is anym- OOF.

I've crashed into something or maybe that's someone oh my god I have to get away I can't see anyone I just sense movements all around me, hear the shuffling of cargo shorts and tight t-shirts and I gotta get away I gotta get something now just something, anything. Help.

GALAXY "attacks" ESME (unarmed)
bVJ6eY2lunarmed
5040 -- Bruised Right Collar Bone -- 2 damage

(picks up Torch)

unarmed

[sadniss everdeen]

Item 1 :

The start is chaos, tributes scrambling in the dark to find the supplies they need to last as long as possible. You hear a multitude of lungs sucking in damp mountain air, trembling in their chests, feet squeaking on rock as the fighting begins. Things clang and people scream and the space is alive with their sounds as they die, the enclosed space echoing the sounds of weapons cleaving flesh and blood spilling like buckets of water tossed into the street. It reminds you too much of back home, the endless grins of the dead, and you dig your feet into the ground and hurry.

You think you see an ally to your right, the unique silhouette drawing the tail of a relieved gasp from you, but you don't have long to dwell. You narrowly avoid the swipe from a blade, scrambling around, your body shifting like a cat to slink away from the wielder. Your hand shoots out and grabs something, anything, its weight in your hand a reassuring sign.

[Kendrick picks up Bone Sword ]

[Kendrick attacks Esme ]
i03c4Qqpunarmedunarmed

[kousei ♚]

ANIMUSVALENTINE

Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries

I'm sprinting as fast as I can, my long legs moving almost automatically. My heart is racing faster than my legs and panic swims around my brain. I can't see, I can't see, I can't see! My whole life I'd relied on my eyes, to read, to write, to see, to do the most basic things, and now they've just been ripped away from me. For all I know I could be sprinting into a pit where I'd just fall and break my neck. Just focus on running, there must be items around here somewhere right?

Before I can even begin searching properly my ears pick up sound. Footsteps. But more specifically footsteps that are coming closer and closer to me. The other tributes are surely as confused as I am but that doesn't mean they're not dangerous. I clench my fists and lash out at the source of noise before I immediately dive onto the ground and begin groping around for an item or some sort.

There's something, I know there's something lying around somewhere.

Got it.

Narrative
"Speech"
Thoughts

Animus attacks Taukania with fists

jkUnA5mHunarmed

[5108 -- Bruised Right Hand -- 2 damage]

[Picks up Torch

unarmed

[Cato]

The gong sounded, and I sprinted away from the plate following the sound of the others. I wasn't afraid for myself because I didn't think I had anything to worry about, but Esme, Stella, Kirk, and Animus on the other hand, I couldn't see them. I couldn't hear them. I didn't know where they were, and I could only hope they were okay. It didn't stop me from running though. I kept going, and I looked every direction wondering if anyone was closing in on me. The games had begun, and I need to keep my promise especially for Stella, my district partner. I can't see anything, no weapons, nothing, but I know they must be here somewhere. I lunged forward hoping my hand slipped across a weapon, but in the process I plowed right into someone. And so it begins.

-Crusader Rhodes attacks Ojai

-picks up chain-

1xovU31Lunarmed


unarmed

[wimdy]

The longer I look out before me, the more I can see. There’s hardly any light here, but what little light there is hardly does any good. I can’t see far enough in front of me to find my allies, nor really see anything other than the outline of the Cornucopia. When footsteps finally start to echo through the Arena, I hop off of my plate, footing careful as I adjust to the new surroundings. The rock beneath me feels just the littlest bit slippery when I bend down to touch it, shuddering at the rush of memory. I spent so long trying to find Ezhno in that cave, so long pressed against crumbling stone in the darkness. It’s almost familiar, being here now. Standing up straight, I start forward, jogging into the fray. [Tauankia attacks Esme Truus unarmed.] mzhZVbzounarmed [Bruised Left Calf -- 2.0] [grabs chain]

unarmed