THAT is mahogany

[toastysocks]

warning for adult content and possible triggers:
violence, death, nonconsent and all around questionable situations.

THE HUNGER GAMES MEME



Congratulations, Tribute.

You have been selected to participate in the Hunger Games.

The rules are simple: there can only be one victor.
You have to kill everyone else or die.

The last one standing wins.
May the odds be in your favour.

⚔

OPTIONS FOR THE SCENARIO-MINDED:
1. ENEMIES: in for the kill
The truth is you've been plotting each other's death for a long time. The only thing different about this situation is that everyone else actually wants you to off each other. Who cares if both of you are probably going to die anyway: no one is taking this bastard down except you.

2. ROMANCE: lovers in a dangerous time
What do lovers do when they know they're about to die? Last kiss, last words, last fuck? Maybe you're desperately trying to protect each other from the rest. Maybe you're the last two left alive. What sacrifices are you willing to make? How far will you allow each other to go?

3. ALLIES: set your arms down
It's in both of your best interests to stick together. Two together is more deadly than one, and you can pool supplies and weapons. Of course, this arrangement is most definitely temporary. Maybe it'll fall apart tonight, or tomorrow, or next week. Maybe your alliance has already run its course, and it's about to fall apart...right now.

4. TORTURE: death's not the worst
Sure, the point is to kill them. But why leave it at that? Maybe you've always secretly gotten off on this sort of thing, or maybe you've just cracked under the stress. When everyone is going to die, there's no point in sticking to all those rules society laid down for you any more. You've already incapacitated them; there's no way they can fight back. Might as well have some fun, right?

5. VICTORY: the finish line
You've done it. Last one standing. You've chosen to live, and no one but you knows how much that choice cost you, because they're all dead. At this point there's nothing that will stop you from stepping up to claim victory. You killed every other tribute. Or did you?

6. OTHER: write your own story
Anything and everything you can think of. Maybe you're not a Tribute, but a Capitol citizen at a lavish watching party. Maybe you're a Mentor courting sponsors, or a Stylist getting your Tribute ready for the arena. Or are you a Gamemaker, with even more cruel surprises to shock and awe?
⚔

Let the Games begin.

Comments

Cassie Cage | Mortal Kombat | OTA

[cassiefuckingcage]

[This AU really isn't much of a stretch, TBH. Many ways it could work]

joel | the last of us

[funguy]

[ the best-worst mentor anyone could wish for. ]

[silentnarration]

[up for a stubborn tribute who thinks he doesn't need a mentor but eventually warms up to him the more he learns about him?]

Tony Stark | MCU | OTA

[houseparty]

[ Please, yes. Capitol citizen working hand in hand with the Gamemakers (you're all invited to his watch party!), OR he's an engineer in D13, making things difficult for Panem & President Snow. ]

Re: Tony Stark | MCU | OTA

[boo_berry]

[No problem if the canon cross is too much but the Preacher crew crashes the party on a tip? And since Jesse is also Howard that could be fun to play with?]

valryn melana + dungeons & dragons original + ota

[curseborn]

( oh, baby...Valryn is here to win. options include actual drow elf, or human AU, either way where he comes from is reclusive and dark, cave-dwelling rogues and agile hunters who specialize in weapons and poisons. he comes from prestige and yet comes at a cultural disadvantage, so, basically the most self-entitled jerk you can think of. you know. just as a heads up.

enemies; unexpected romance/high tension attraction; reluctant or necessary allies; torture for supplies, weapons, or if there was a failed sabotage on one or the other; victory, where Valryn will likely come for blood with you on the finish line, orrr you can try to last-chance take him out. also open to combine any plot prompts here (mainly because Valryn will make enemies out of anyone, even romantic interests, because he doesn't know how to stop.)

or, hit me up for a unique plot.

edit to add: if you're looking to play mentor/sponsor and/or stage a rebellion, those are also available options!! (Valryn will be wired to want to win the Hunger Games for the right to prestige he deserves!! but it is still absolutely possible to appeal to him in this regard. he is of a rebellious heart, after all.) )

playing loose & fast w kingdom borders & geography bc who will even read this other than us

[definitelynotmagic]

Uther's kingdom has been ruled with a sterner hand for a little over two decades now; atrocities are normalized. Aberrations from the rules are turned into necessities.

Camelot's castle itself never sends tributes, because it doesn't need to. But the lower town does, and the outlying villages do - they need the extra grain provided, and more importantly...

There's not really a choice, for which villages will send Tributes each year. The roster is ever-changing but fair, in Uther's idea of the word. It rotates through the outlying villages each year, two Tributes from each chosen one in the rigid format.

Merlin's lived in the castle for almost two years now. But Ealdor was his birth village and still technically where he came from, and one year of the reaping for the Games, well—

It turned out that maybe it wouldn't be some terrible beast that got Merlin killed after all. Maybe it would just be a career Tribute from one of the other villages.

*

Except he knows it won't be. The Games are barricaded, but magic is still so taboo that it can't be used to enforce any sort of watch on them; all things observed are slow, from guards conscripted into this particular job. No one knows that Merlin has magic when he goes in, and he's more than aware of the fact that he can't let himself die. He can't let Arthur down, let Camelot down, just because Uther's archaic and increasingly-paranoid rule has lead him to continuing the Games.

He only resorts to it when he can't redirect them anymore, or run away, or trick them into following false paths, but... Even Merlin runs out of ideas eventually, and sometimes he's snuck up on too thoroughly, or at a dead end. By the end of the first week, Merlin's killed two other Tributes, in what may very well have been the only showing of magic they'd ever seen in their lives.

*

Merlin spends most of his time in a strange, wired state of anxious boredom and guilt. Also hungry. Sneaking around on the eighth day trying to come across any surviving prey animals means he hears the slightest sound ahead of him. He crouches and presses against the nearest tree immediately, having learned his lesson on paranoia many times over by now - it pays to be cautious, here. Someone is sneaking up on someone...away from Merlin. They haven't seen him, then. But did they see food? Merlin shifts around the tree to try to see what this person, a woman wearing reinforced leather and carrying a sword is tracking...

A man perched on the edge of the next ridge. Looking the other way, completely unaware.

Merlin's stomach turns in on itself from hunger and fear. It's not fair, the way they all sneak up on each other like this. It's not fair that they're expected to all kill each other at all - a speech Merlin's given four times so far, and been turned down as an ally all four times. One of those was one of the kills he's had to commit so far.

He swallows, watching them, and the woman pulls her arms back to prepare the sword for a swing...

Merlin's eyes flash gold and her sword leaves her hands entirely in her swing - in the opposite direction. It turns around, faced at her chest, and...

Merlin doesn't let himself look away, watching her back as she drops to her knees and then to the ground.

Arthur ap Uther, Pendragon | The Warlord Chronicles

[brythonic]

[I'm so here for him being a tired mentor whose brother was killed in the Games before his and whose nephew he is Worried about getting dragged into this nonsense too; also available in violent child form if that suits better]

hello i heard violent child form. can morgana be a big sister.

[magitian]

[ before or after reaping sad times for these two? ]

kurt hummel. glee.

[warblish]

( the male tribute from district 6. )

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar was one of the tributes from District 7. Being unable to use his legs properly due to a genetic condition he'd had since birth, he'd been given a four by the judges and not expected to last the initial bloodbath by any of the bookies taking bets in the Capital. After all, he could barely walk with the crutch and braces he used. How could he possibly survive?

He'd surprised everyone by not only surviving, but proved to be a very dangerous opponent, killing one person to get a few knives, and his favorite weapon, the throwing axe. Scorning the idea of joining the pack of Careers, who saw him as someone inferior, he'd used their disdain and underestimation for him to lure one away from the rest on a foggy morning. The mauling the District 4 Career had gone through proved he was no weak target, but a force to be reckoned with.

It was the fourth day and the numbers were starting to become a bit thinner. He'd been hiding out in the caves of the mountainous terrain that had been chosen for the Arena, but it was time to go on the hunt. The day was overcast and gloomy. His strategy didn't involve stealth, considering that was something he possessed none of. Instead, he made up for it in sheer viciousness, which is why when he spotted Kurt, he immediately threw the axe at his midsection.]

alucard. hellsing.

[goneforawalk]

[ he could protect someone and have them kill him when they're the last two, could go for a win himself, could torture someone, could do a whole lot of things, including plan to escape somehow.

he'd be human for this, but still formidable. could be either tribute considering what form you want to play against. ]

[silentnarration]

[Maybe Squall starts actively hunting him after witnessing him torture someone to death? I'd be down with Squall getting tortured and left for dead but makes a return (stronger and wiser!) after Alucard wins the games?]

Rosalind Lutece | Bioshock: Infinite

[originallutece]

[As a tribute: that one weird precocious child from district 3 who doesn't look like much but also plans on using the arena to electrocute her competition.

Or! A mentor! World-weary and exhausted and probably alcoholic. Or a Capitol citizen, god knows I'm flexible.]

[toconquerfear]

If Bryce Wayne's parents were alive, things would be different. The whole district would be different, Bryce thinks; her mother would have improved conditions in the factories, and her father would have invented who knows how many medical improvements by now.

And she would never have volunteered, of course.

Maybe it was stupid. But the girl whose name had been drawn had been a frail-looking thing no more than thirteen, barely older than Bryce had been when her parents were killed. What was she supposed to do, stand around and go home to Alfred and watch the kid die in the first bloodbath, knowing she could have done something?

She's done something now. And as the train rushes towards the Capitol, she feels oddly calm. The other tribute is somewhere else, and she wishes she could help him, but she's just -- waiting. For her mentor, for their arrival in the Capitol -- for whatever comes next.

Jean-Pierre Polnareff | Jojo | OTA

[silvercrusader]

[He's so lorge, you know people are gonna bet on him. Comes from district 7. Also a terrible mentor b/c he's so righteously indignant about it and that's great, Jean, but not! while people! are counting on you!]

Petra | Deadly Class

[strychnia]

_{[Pretty much canon already.]}

Ivar "The Boneless" Ragnarsson | Vikings

[ragnarsson]

[The obvious dark horse and longshot, being a crippled kid. But he'll hold his own in the arena alright...]

Beric Dondarrion | Game of Thrones

[sixtimesdead]

[Former victor who won his game despite the six close calls he had during it. Now a mentor.]

Ser Selmy Barristan | Game of Thrones

[kingsguardian]

[One of the oldest victors, he's from a richer district and volunteered for his game. Despite having all the advantages being a former victor brings, he's a pretty affable.]

q + bond films + ota

[voiceactivated]

( voice testing! mentor and sponsor of your muse, someone who got by by the skin of his teeth and his hot-wiring of the game environment in his days probably. also he's probably working from the Capital to help overthrow the entire operation. if that helps. can go the classic Q style and have him always readily available via earpiece for talking to as he guides you through surviving.

open to allies, victory, other, annnd possibly wrenching/shy romance if yours is playing in the game, given that...there is no certainty that yours is coming back alive. )

[0005]

[ He's up early, as usual. It's cold and he climbs down from his hiding space to start a fire and collect water. He checks his traps, managing to find a rabbit in one of them and sets about skinning and gutting the pitiful thing. The fur will be good for extra warmth if it's going to get colder in this damn arena. He works away in silence, quietly grumbling away to herself. He hasn't heard from Q yet. Probably still asleep, or lounging back with coffee. God, coffee. He'd love that right about now.

As he crunches down on an apple, waiting on his rabbit cooking, he stands to survey the snowy hills to the east. He's tempted, the careers would be fools to head that way after him. Q would probably tell him to stay clear, too.

Probably, if the guy was actually talking to him. It appeared he'd turned his audio off last night after an argument. It's all they've done much off while he's been in the arena. Superb mentoring right there. He's been fine without him. ]

Morning, Q. I have no idea if you've still turned your audio off but considering I have no one else to talk to-- or at, rather. [ It is... quite lonely, only having a voice in his ear in this disaster of a situation. Even if Q does nothing but irritate him, thinking he knows better. He's clever, Five will admit that - but it's not been easy when they're both clever.

He turns to check his pocket watch, his tribute token. Surprisingly, it's still in good working order after considering he's been out here for over two weeks. 6.38am. He exhales, clicking the watch shut and shoving it in his pocket. ] Slept like crap. Again. No disturbances, think the careers have gotten bored of trying to find me for now.

[ He pauses, almost a little rueful. Almost. No, he's not gone soft. Just a shame to see a waste of a perfectly clever and useful person. They'd helped one another out in the early days before going their own ways. ]

They got the girl from District six last night, huh? Shame. I liked her, she seemed clever.

Kara | Detroit: Become Human | ota

[mamabot]

[ The mom mentor. Or the tribute who is sweet on the whole but really violent when in danger. She'llbe human for this. ]

o/

[runawaynorth]

[ Have you had a tribute who was more sullen? Probably not. Sorry. ]

You survived the Games? [ She doesn't quite look Kara up and down, but there's a distinct sense that North doesn't think Kara is dangerous. ]

scarlett langford | original

[unburies]

[ I'll make her human for this because she's originally a demon. Stronger than she looks, adept with knives and punching the shit out of people; bit of a dirty fighter. Bratty, difficult and quick to anger. Open to enemies or uneasy allies turned actually caring for said ally. Or maybe even a final showdown between allies. Maybe some awkward/strained mentor/tribute relationship stuff? ]

well this got rambly. give me a poke if anything doesn't work for you. <3

[burkethejerk]

[ District 10 doesn't have much in the way of mentors to offer. There's two of them, and that's about all there is to say for it. If there was anyone else, Peter would probably have stepped down by now; he's not good at connecting with people, or teaching. But this is what they've got, and even if he was willing to duck out of his duties and put it all on someone else's shoulders, he's damn sure the Capitol wouldn't allow it.

They try to work together most years, pool resources and make it easier on everyone. But the other tribute had asked early on to be trained separately, and had shown a clear preference in who he wanted to work with. Scarlett hadn't, which left them thrown together by default. That could be a disaster, but Peter thinks maybe it could have gone a lot worse. She's quick and decently strong, which is a combination he can actually work with for strategy; she's angry, but, well, angry he understands. Angry is easier to deal with than despair or frozen terror. It's more likely to be an asset in the Games, too, if she can hold on to it once she gets in there.

And see, this is one of those reasons he tries to angle towards mentoring tributes together: it makes it easier not to develop any sort of hope or attachment. Peter can't help but want to see all of them through it, even knowing that it's probably better for most of them if they die quickly and semi-painlessly than if they survive and have to face life as the Capitol's plaything -- but when you're helping two people, and you're already aware that at best one of them can survive, it's a little easier to keep some kind of distance. Maybe that's cold, but it's been more than twenty years of tributes and only one of them has come back; distance is necessary to stop from going completely insane.

He doesn't have that distance this year. Scarlett is a mess and he's not sure she actually gives a damn about anybody, possibly including herself, but she's just a kid, and it's hard not to want her to survive this and get to grow up. Even if it's probably worse that way. Even knowing the truth is that all of them deserve to survive, and it's never going to happen.

Tomorrow there are interviews. Then immediately afterwards, the goodbyes, and tomorrow, the Games. Peter's already hit the point where he can't sleep, considering strategies for sponsors, weighing scores. Reactions to the interviews will make it clearer what angles he should push to start with, and with that, who's best to talk to, but that doesn't mean he can't already be contemplating it. Visions of past arenas and what could be waiting in this one come every time he closes his eyes, and he can't stay still, so he ends up wandering instead. He does this most years. The closer it gets to beginning, the harder it is to get his mind to rest.

He doesn't really expect anybody else to be awake and wandering. Maybe he should -- he knows he wouldn't want to lay there thinking, if it was him who was going to go into the arena in less than two days -- but he rarely ever runs into anyone else this late.

He comes to a halt in the middle of the hallway when he sees Scarlett, surprise coming out in the form of a question. ] Couldn't sleep either?

cassie riddle | original

[ohstarryeyed]

[ volunteered in place of one of her brothers. pretty weak physically and definitely not a fighter but good at survival skills. probably spending her games on her own, waiting out the other tributes killing themselves. quietly skilled at understanding plant life to make poisons to make traps to kill other tributes.

open to allies, possibly shy/doomed romance, victory. alternatively, if by some miracle she managed to win her game, here's your big sister mentor who's friendly with other mentors enough to send them cake because there's gotta be something nice in all this awful. ]

Re: cassie riddle | original

[soloflight]

[ so i have a victor with a similar background — volunteered for a sibling, good at survival, has a thing with animals, won his game not through strength or fighting. so we could have post-games mentor shenanigans, or they could’ve been in the same game? i mean i’m up for shy/doomed romance too, haha. ]

Squall Leonhart | Final Fantasy VIII | OTA

[silentnarration]

[likely volunteered as tribute or raised in a district that trains tributes like him. Can also be a former victor brought back for a special game.

Would love to thread him building relationships before the game or play out the love and betrayal and drama during.]

[forceshadowed]

[ up for some crosscanon shenanigans? ]

Lorna Dane | The Gifted

[magnetokinesie]

[ probably was drawn for tribute, stubborn, and would like love plots. but any plot is fine! ]

Matt Holt | Voltron: Legendary Defender

[tookashirototheknee]

[Definitely District 3, volunteered in place of his sister, and refused to back down for a girl. Son of a somewhat-well-known family in the district, can make a radio out of a box of scraps. Awful in anything social, but sneaky and surprisingly good with staff-shaped weapons.

Up for anything, from pre-Games to actual Gameplay.]

(sir) gawain | arthuriana

[nooner]

[tribute from district 2 who volunteered in the place of pick-a-brother]

Jane Solo • Star Wars (r!63 AU) • OTA

[forceshadowed]

[ tribute from district 6, volunteered when her older brother was drawn. the sort that looks super out of place — tall, pretty, cracks lame jokes, gives an impression of helplessness with her brother hovering protectively around her — but has a darkness hidden within her. i mean, volunteering in place of a sibling is understandable, but for both to be in the running and they’re not careers? ]

Oooooh, that idea!

[niteofren]

[Ok, how can I not hit this with that setup? Any particular part you want to play out?]

JD | Heathers: The Musical | OTA - voicetesting

[freezeyourbrain]

5. VICTORY

[ The last of the rigged explosives goes off, echoing through the Arena, and he closes his eyes, sighing in a mixture of relief that it's finally over, and pleasure at a job well done.

It's completely pointless, of course. There's no way he's leaving this Arena to be anything but another cog in Panem's machine. Just a cog in a different position. A cog with more grease. ]

Come on, you useless idiots. Figure out how to count.

6. WILDCARD
[[ Feel free to come bother him!]]

Jacen Solo • Star Wars • OTA

[soloflight]

[ movieverse au: victor from district 2, hails from a prominent family, a career who volunteered in place of his older brother. not the most powerful or strongest fighter, but he won through a lot of smart maneuvering and manipulation, earning quite a following in the circles that mattered.

alternatively, he was drawn but his brother volunteered instead, so he’s up to some desperate scheme to save brother dearest. (for the eu/legends variety, just swap big bro ben for little bro anakin.)

ota for gen, m/f for shippy. pretty much up for all the things, just hmu for ideas or prefs! although i’m generally slow because of rl matters, but i also backtag as long as there’s still interest. ]

[middleoftheforce]

[[ooc: sooo, hey brother]]

Allana Solo • Star Wars • OTA

[thejediqueen]

[ movieverse au: career tribute from district 1. only child and heir to a very prominent family, but that didn’t prevent her name from being drawn. though she’s unwilling, doesn’t mean she’s not prepared. ]