biiowiired: you may safely remove helmsman from the system (dead)
The Ψiioniic / The Helmsman ([personal profile] biiowiired) wrote in [community profile] thearena2014-12-31 07:45 pm

My head is warm my feet are cold

Who| The Ψiioniic [personal profile] biiowiired and The Signless [personal profile] 69problems
What| Put the best friend back in the box!
Where| Safety Bunker
When| last day of the arena
Warnings/Notes| language, death prophecies

There was one place Psii hadn't combed over in search of either food or Signless: the deepest parts of the abandoned areas. Finding food was less important now. Psii knew his time was coming, and it wasn't just his labored breathing, parched throat, or dizzy spells interrupted by more headaches. He'd seen his own death in a vision.

Psii had always thought that when he finally knew, he'd be properly scared and spend his last nights in dread. But instead, he found he couldn't afford the luxury. Psii, like many lowbloods in rough situations, had accepted that he was more likely to die violently. He drew on that impassive store of cold practicality now. He had never died himself, but he'd lived with the voices of ghosts since he was hatched. He knew how it went.

What his vision really meant was that he was running out of time. He had to deliver one last precognition before his usefulness expired. He'd spent most of his life delivering bad news, so it was fitting that his last swan song would be the opposite: Everyone would die, everyone, except Signless. It might be too much to ask that he see his friend one more time before his demise. But if he could give Signless the assurance he wouldn't die in this arena, give him a bit of foresight so he could plan his next move when his allies were either dead or being resuscitated back at the Capitol.... Psii didn't dare presume he'd give him actual hope. Psii was a downer on a good night.

He delved into the dripping dilapidated halls, dark even for his nocturnal vision. He still had his guard up, mental fingers ready to release his psionics if needed. Xenomorphs were more concentrated here. He wouldn't allow himself to die until the proper time. When he heard a sound nearby, he steeled his breath and drew close, nerves coiled in tight wires.
69problems: 8-xenon-8 (xtra | I hope there is  a way)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-01-01 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
Now alone, the Signless was more determined than ever to get to where he'd originally set out to go. He'd explored as much of this place as possible in the first few weeks so he had a reasonable idea of where that was -- deep inside the lower levels. The key he'd found felt heavy in his hand, though it actually weighed very little. Now all he had to do was make it to the corresponding lock before something or someone killed him.

He peered around a turn in the hallway, not wanting to be caught unaware by something down the corridor, and caught sight of a familiar yellow jumpsuit.

"Psii?" he loud-whispered, stepping more fully around the corner.
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | <user name="everking" site="tumblr.com"> (10 | Hold tight!)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-01-29 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
"I know. I have the key," he said, holding it up. "And I think I know the the general direction we need to go; I passed it earlier while wandering, before I knew what it was. If we move quickly it shouldn't take us long to find it."

And he did mean the both of them. Whatever the Psiioniic thought, Signless didn't intend to let him die if he could help it -- and with the key to the bunker, he could provided they got there in time.

He didn't yet know it was only big enough for one.

"Come on."
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | <user name="rumminov" site="tumblr.com"> (4 | Has been wrong)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-02-05 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
Signless was having thoughts along much the same lines. He held as still as possible, glancing around for any possible way around. There must be some other way through this maze of corridors... and yet part of him, the cynical part of him that had been through eight of these televised murder shows, had a feeling there was going to be no other way but straight through. Getting to this bunker wouldn't be fun for the audience unless it was difficult.

Or perhaps he was just being paranoid. He tilted his head toward a slim fissure in the wall that (hopefully) lead into another hallway, trying to wordlessly communicate that it might be easier than going through the minefield of eggs.
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | <user name="everking" site="tumblr.com"> (10 | Hold tight!)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-02-20 07:27 am (UTC)(link)
As he was considerably less skinny than his companion, it took the Signless a little longer and a little more sucking in his breath to make it through the fissure without getting himself stuck. He managed to get through with a minimum of noise, and paused once on the other side. There was no noise of approaching xenomorph feet, just the quiet buzzing of lights and the occasional metallic creak of the station around them. And the countdown, of course.

"Which way...?" he murmured. It was half an actual question and half just talking to himself. So long as they kept heading down deeper into the station he had a feeling they'd find what they were after eventually. With that in mind he set off down the hall in the direction that had comparatively more working lights, hoping that they would do at least a little to keep the xenomorphs away.
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | <user name="wraithlike" site="tumblr.com"> (12 | Who cares what cowards think)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-02-20 10:12 am (UTC)(link)
Just as Psii assumed, Signless opened the bunker door but made no move to actually get in. Instead he took several steps away from it, looking at his best friend's back with a pronounced frown and then stepping around to look him in the eye.

"You're getting in with me, Mituna," he said with as much authority in his voice as he could muster. The countdown continued in the background, ticking closer and closer to whatever was coming. He ignored it.
69problems: <user name="conniiption" site="tumblr.com"> (xtra | This is his body)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-03-03 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
Predictably, Signless planted his feet and refused to let Psii do much more than force him to shuffle an awkward few inches toward the bunker. What he lacked in fighting ability he made up for in sheer solid stubborn nerve.

"Several feet away is not right behind me." He narrowed his eyes. "You don't plan to get in, do you."

It was a question but he didn't say it like one.
69problems: monosketch (xtra | In this world you tried)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-03-03 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
The ground seemed to shift out from under him. His breath was suddenly very loud in his ears and he could feel his heartbeat in his throat.

I'm going to die. Everyone's going to die.

Except him. Except him? That couldn't be right. This was his eighth arena. This was going to be his eighth death. He wasn't supposed to win! He wasn't a warrior or a strategist or a celebrity, he was a broken man clinging to pacifist ideals he'd already violated once because that's all he had left of himself.

"Are you very sure?" he asked, voice low and serious.
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | darizard @ tegaki (2 | Hard not to break down and cry)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-03-07 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Get in with me. You're right here, Mituna, don't you tell me you can't. I don't care what your voices say."

He steadfastly ignored how stupid of an idea that was -- if everyone died but the two of them, the Gamemakers would just find a way to off the spare. Force them to fight to the death, probably. He wouldn't mind dying one more time on top of all of his other deaths if it got his friend out of the arenas. The Psiioniic would probably even make it quick, almost painless... it wouldn't be so bad.
69problems: <user name="conniiption" site="tumblr.com"> (xtra | This is his body)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-03-07 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
There was something particular about the Psiioniic that was both endlessly endearing and utterly infuriating. I knew you wouldn't understand. Ugh!

"Understanding is not the same thing as agreeing," he hissed, letting his stress and worry morph into anger because it was easiest (and some detached part of him knew this was a far better show than just meekly stepping into the bunker would be. It might get the Psiioniic at least one more chance, if it was dramatic enough).

"Fuck destiny. Destiny has never done anything for me and I've already stepped outside of it here. Either you follow me in or you force me."
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | darizard @ tegaki (2 | Hard not to break down and cry)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-03-17 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
"If they still work, it doesn't matter what I do. It will still go as you saw."

He kicked at the Psiioniic's approaching foot, took a step back (but only one). Then he planted his feet even more firmly and crossed his arms. Some way or another he was going to wind up where the Psiioniic had known he would go, but he wasn't going to do it himself.
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | <user name="rumminov" site="tumblr.com"> (4 | Has been wrong)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-03-27 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
The best way to get the Psiioniic to do something he doesn't want to do was, and always had been, to get him annoyed. The Signless was well-versed in wrangling his skinny banana of a best friend and even life or death situations were no exception. After a show like this, of course the Psiioniic would be brought back. He had to believe that.

He fell when those invisible hands grabbed his ankles and yanked them into the air (his head made a satisfying whonk on the floor), but he gave only the barest of struggles.

"My growths are unique and give my face personality," he said calmly from where he hung upside-down, his hair barely brushing the floor.
Edited (TENSES) 2015-03-27 05:10 (UTC)
69problems: <user name="flowertea" site="tumblr.com"> (xtra | Just watch these walls)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-04-03 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Well, no, it was how it was supposed to go because it's what the Psiioniic had said would happen, but there was still something sinister about that door slamming shut. It hit him all in a moment of clarity: of course the bunker was only intended for one. There was no drama unless someone was left panicking on the other side of the door, and there was no Games without a definitive victor.

"I'm fine," he said, sitting up (and ignoring the dull ache from where he'd fallen). "But I think I'm locked in. Or at the very least, you're locked out."
69problems: <user name="penstab" site="tumblr.com"> (xtra | Run)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-04-03 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
Soon. He could hear the countdown, and realized with a jolt that it was closer than he thought -- he'd lost track when he and Psii had been arguing. The sense of urgency he'd lost then slammed back down on him like a musclebeast carcass. He pressed a hand against the door as though he might reach through it and touch the other troll's shoulder.

"What's going to happen. Mituna, what's going to--"

BOOM! The bunker shook around him. He could hear the shriek of metal tearing, the crack of concrete and plaster, the sheer deafening burst of sound that came with an explosion the size of an entire arena.

Well. That answered that question. No one could possibly have survived that. He'd won. He'd won and he didn't feel relieved or elated or proud so much as sick to his stomach.