The Arena

[muffinstud]

The distant future... the year 3000.

It had been a golden age of reason and technology. Through man's scientific efforts, he had conquered hunger, disease, and even the very weather. There was a genetically engineered chicken in every pot, and a flying car in every garage. Surely, man had reached the pinnacle of society.

Pride, as they say, cometh before the fall.

Our mother Earth backlashed hard after all the supposed good man had tried to do for her. Weather controlling devices kept man on the brink of the event horizon for a few years so he could prepare, but it was still not enough. The wind turned violent, the seas frothed with rage. The very ground cracked under the weight of the storms. They lasted for a decade, purging the surface of man's meddling presence. When it was finally over, the few survivors were presented with a wasteland. Saltwater had rendered so much land infertile. The entire planet had been rendered into a wasteland. So much for nuclear winter.

For decades, the survivors scrounged and scavenged and participated in brutal savagery. Only just recently has man been able to regain some of his former composure, building small city-states over the ruins of the past. Vestiges of society began to emerge... as did a new problem.

Most apparent in the largest city-state, New Philadelphia, it seemed that female survivors were few and far between. None of the known city-states had sustainable populations. It would only be a matter of time before they would have to abandon the cities altogether. Day and night their new researchers toiled, both digging up remains and researching new ideas. Finally, they had a solution. Volunteers would be very difficult to come by... until they turned to the small waves of crime. Perhaps they could kill two birds with one stone...

===============

All of New Philadelphia is polished and somewhat glisteny... except this place. Deep underground, it had to have been some sort of reactor or containment facility. Now, it is a prison. A bus drops off a new load of convicts to be processed, hissing as it hovers away. Each convict is still in his streetclothes, manacled to each other in a chain. The guards push them forward into a grungy cube of a room with cubicles set up off to one side, and a tiled area curtained off to another. Directly ahead is a counter with an orange line in front of it. A sign reads "Do not cross the line." Behind the counter, an old grizzled man eyes the incomers with a dour stare and a smirk. He knows that they'll get exactly what they deserve.

[Okay, everyone that posted in the signups is free to introduce their character before they get processed!]

[Knight Errant]

Feramin scowls at his surroundings... this whole situation was a sham. So what if that kid had jumped off of a low roof and had broken several bones because he had thought he could fly. It wasnt HIS fault the stupid kid didn't know how to hold his smoke. He bet the punk was someone important's son. It would figure. Well, they wouldn't get his crop. He had set off a firebomb when the cops had shown up... the entire block had been seeing things after that one.

The tall man ignores the convicts in front and behind him... not wanting to associate with such scum... His attention instead are on his surroundings and the guards in them.

[Ookalf]

*David looks around as he's forced into the facility.* So, this is where they're lockin' us up, huh? Guess they didn't waste too much time on decorations...

[Mendi-chan]

Marcus grudgingly walks forward in his chains, doing his best to blend in as he tries to slip his hands through the manacles... but only succeeds in bruising his skin. He wasn't suppose to be here, this wasn't how things were supposed to turn out. Than again, life rarely follows the path one lays out for it. A sad smile grows on his face as he takes in the dark, dank surroundings. It was funny how a few small events could change a man's life forever, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was any chance of getting out of this without having to go through 'that' program. After all these years, he'd never thought he'd be on this side of the fence... and it was just as shitty as he could have imagined it. Probably more so.

That being said, it's not as if he hadn't deserved to be punished... He just would rather be punished any other way than what they showed on the television...

[muffinstud]

There is one fairly tall, lanky guy that looks all kinds of disheveled at the front of the line of convicts. Behind him, David, then Marcus, then Feramin. Around them are a fair number of guards, all armed with cattle prods. By the looks of them, all of them are itching for an excuse to stick a convict with the prods.

The lanky guy is shoved up to the front line, where the old guard asks his name. The guy gives it, Yancy. Two guards on either side of the line start pilfering Yancy of anything in his pockets. They hand some pocket change and a comb to the older guard, who puts it all in a small envelope. "You'll get your personal affects back when you've served your time. Now, are you ready to become a reformed, productive member of this society?" The lanky convict pauses, then spits at the older guard. "Like I have a choice. This is inhumane!" The old man wipes his face and goes back to smiling. "Pink."

The two guards alongside Yancy grab him and shove him over to the tile area behind the curtains. A guard waiting there hands a pink bundle to the man before he is led into the curtains.

The old man motions towards him, and another pair of guards moves up to make sure David approaches the orange line. "How about you? Are you willing to become a reformed, productive member of society?"

[Knight Errant]

Feramin watches the proceedings... and frowns. Great... so lovely to be spending time with this scum. Not that he disagreed very much with 'Yancy', this whole thing was ridiculous... but still. Oh well. He would just have to be on his A game... beat these losers... then leave this 'civilization' behind and maybe head back to his farm. The boobytraps and jurry rigged sentry guns he had set up should have kept the place nice and isolated.

[Ookalf]

Yeah, yeah, I'm goin'... *David brushes the guards off as he steps up to the line. When the old guard asks his question, David just shrugs.* If I say "yes", do you let me go?

[Mendi-chan]

Marcus stares ahead, eyes transfixed on the curtains up ahead... Listening to the man in front of him speak he smirks. If only it were as easy as admitting mistakes had been made. Sighing to himself he shakes his head, hoping that the guards would take some pity on the men who decided not to spit, kick or struggle. After all... he'd probably need his energy for later.

[muffinstud]

The old man shakes his head. "No. Hmm... honest, with a little bit of sass. Blue." The guards escort him over to the curtains where the man shoves a blue bundle into David's arms... a blue jumpsuit. "Go on. Get changed."


Marcus is pulled up to the orange line and is soon relieved of his few belongings. The old man briefs him like the others. "Are you ready to reform and become a productive member of society?"


Unless Feramin's A game consists of eluding about 20 guards at close quarters, all with electroshock prods waiting at the ready, he's going to have to bide his time for another opening.

[Mendi-chan]

Marcus gives a soft smile. "If fate wills that it should be..." He pauses, looking the old man right in the eyes before quickly staring at the line painted onto the ground in front of him. "Though I suppose that, really, you care very little of what I have to say." He wasn't sure... but it seemed likely that this was mostly for show. They were going to do as they pleased with him regardless of what he said.

[Ookalf]

The old man shakes his head. "No. Hmm... honest, with a little bit of sass. Blue." The guards escort him over to the curtains where the man shoves a blue bundle into David's arms... a blue jumpsuit. "Go on. Get changed."

*David quietly follows the guards to the next stop, where he takes the jumpsuit as it's handed to him.* If ya say so, Sunshine. *David steps behind the curtain, tosses off his clothes, and pulls on the jumpsuit.*

[Knight Errant]

Well... maybe if he had a backup of a few ninjas he could pull that off. But what COULDN'T you pull off with ninjas? Regardless, he keeps his eyes on the surroundings. You never know when you might learn something useful. When his attention goes to the guards and what they are saying, his face pulls into a sneer. 'Productive member of society.' What a crock. He didnt ask to be a part of their 'society'. And sure didn't agree to follow whatever laws they saw fit to enforce.

[muffinstud]

The old man grins at Marcus and shakes his head. "You'll fit in just fine. Pink." The guards tug him over to the curtains where the provisioning officer there stuffs a pink jumpsuit into his arms. "Go on in."

Feramin gets pulled up to the orange line by the two bulky guards that still stand there. He gets his belongings torn out of his pockets, where they get passed to the old officer. "You look like a happy camper. Are you going to give us trouble, or are you going to reform and be a productive member of society?"

As he enters the area, David can see that it's all tile, with shower heads over in one corner and benches a distance away. He can hear someone sobbing on the other side of another curtain. The blue jumpsuit David wears has a few buckles at the neck and wrists, no doubt to shackle him. Still, it fits surprisingly well despite obviously being one of those "One size fits all" kind of deals.

[Mendi-chan]

Marcus smiles back at the old man, shaking his head and speaking to him as he passes. "Hopefully you're wrong... very wrong..." He takes the jumpsuit in his arms with reluctance... and smiles to the officer. "Do you ever ask yourself what if had all been different? Not for someone like me exactly... but with society on the whole. You ever wonder what would've happened if we'd handled it a little better?"

[Knight Errant]

Feramin glares as his pockets are looted. His look sours even further at the old mans words. "You lot are no better than the slavers out in the wastes. No, your worse... at least THEY don't pretend they are acting righteous when they take away others freedom for their own profit. So take your society and shove it. Cause it all smells like bullshit to me."