thecapitol | ( open ) off to the races

( open ) off to the races

Who| OPEN.
What| The First Annual Panem Motorcycle Races and Festival kick off.
Where| The Capitol.
When| Friday - Sunday.
Warnings/Notes| For more information, check out the original post, or see the results and winnings post.

Starting Friday, the Capitol has pushed out onto the chill streets with hopes for entertainment and the thrill of races most of them have no personal stakes in. The races are spread out over the first few days, with whispers of a surprise happening on Sunday. Everyone's theorizing what it could be. It's the nature of crowds to indulge in curiosity on a massive, gossipy level, and the Citizens of the Capitol are no exception.

Aside from the races, people stopped by the ice skating rink sponsored by one of the museums from the last Arena, with a Mindy themed focus. There are ride-alongs: Capitolites make a donation to the Gamemaker's Foundation (or something, idk) in order to get a chance to ride along on a short loop track with a racer. They can make this donation and then dictate anyone be the tag-along, from themselves, to their children, to another Tribute/Mentor. Why? Because Shippers.

Set indoors, there's Bumpercycle Jousting. Minimal injury, maximum ridiculous.

And back on the street, there's festival foods, with businesses opening doors and inviting chilled citizens in to enjoy special foods and drink and merchandise suited to the season and post-Games festivities.

Each night finishes with a round of fireworks in the sky.

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This race is sponsored by Creative Playtime Corp. and the Academy of the Fashion Arts.

All Novice Racers will be testing out a new child and teen safe bumper-motorcycle, creatively called the Bumpercycle. Bumpercycles run on magnetized courses with large, shock absorbing bumpers lining the sides of the track. Each Bumpercycle has a built in safety system that causes it to auto-stabilize when it comes into contact with the bumperwalls, or other bumpercycles. They come in a variety of bright, eye-catching colors, and have various objects they can toss at other Bumpercyclists.

Think stuffed turtle shells, rock candy, smoke bombs, scent bombs, and slow-down fast-dissolving GOOP. (Gelatinous Organic Obstruction Paste.)

When in danger of crashing or wipe-outs, the Bumpercyles activate their bubble defense - releasing a giant, colorful bubble of foam that encases Bumpercycle and rider. Free-flowing oxygen within the bubble keeps the rider well oxygenated, and a secondary release of GOOP slows down the foam-bubble and starts dissolving it after the bubble comes to a rest.

The Tributes (and any participating Mentors or Capitol citizens) are the second stage of live test subjects for these ready-for-market Bumpercycles, expected to be all the rage in Panem this summer.

This race is sponsored by ApolloTech Inc and the Academy of the Fashion Arts.

The Intermediate level takes the racing out to the streets. The course is a series of cleared streets using ApolloTech Inc.'s various heating technologies currently on market or about to come out on market.

For these races, riders have the option of using snow tires and/or snow chains, though by and large the streets will be clean and clear of most snow and ice. (With an exception, to be noted later.)

This is all about speed, and avoiding crashing into snowbanks, sliding out on the large stretch of black ice that wasn't quite thawed out, avoiding snowballs tossed by cheeky Capitol children, and the mimes. Indeed, a portion of this race is by giant moving billboards of mimes miming racing and waving as the Tributes go by.

(What even, Capitol?)

This will be a blind race, in that participants will not be named, only given numbers, and not allowed to show their faces or have any hair outside of their helmet. They're also not allowed to speak until this race is over.

Up and coming stylists have been invited in to create the racing suits and gear, so that each racer will find there is one theme they've been given by their relative unknowns - appropriate or not to who that racer is wearing the outfit.

This is one of the big betting races! Expect it to generate positive and negative interest for all participants in the aftermath. Winning isn't the only way of garnering attention - being good at maneuvering, being stylish, having a certain flair with racing, or having a costume or driving style that captures someone's attention will pay off in upcoming Arenas.

Warning: not all costumes are as effective as they wish they were.

This race is sponsored by Panem PharmiCal Industries.

The Advanced Course is a three person relay race by motorcycle, requiring two motorcyclists and a third person acting as the "baton." Held on a course of streets that lines the lake and circles back around to the start, the streets themselves are largely clear of dangerous ice and snow.

The objective is to have one rider start out with their "baton" on their bike with them. One third of the way through the course, they meet up with their second rider, and "pass the baton." This means transferring the passenger from the first bike to the second.

The how of this transfer is up to players, but the expectation is this exchange is meant to happen at full speed.

The second exchange happens at the 2/3rds mark of the race. The first rider will have to cut through the streets inbetween the ones being officially used for the race to shave time off and be in place, or else take their chances staying on track and sticking with the second riders and their "batons."

For each racing group that fails to complete a second handing off of the "baton," a ten second penalty will be awarded to their finishing time.

Characters are not required to be excellent motorcyclists, and the "baton" doesn't need to be able to drive at all. They'll be making most of the frightening moves, not once, but twice over the course of this track.

This fourth race, unannounced to the competitors, is also sponsored by Panem PharmiCal Industries.

Unlike the other three races, this race is not announced ahead of time, or listed in any of the pamphlets. All participants in this race will be Capitol-selected as "well behaved." Why? Because this is a distance race that starts in front of the President's estate and tours out into the mountains surrounding the Capitol.

It will be an uncontrolled look at the greater area surrounding the Capitol. Hovercraft will be in the air to report back live sections of the race, but aside from their coverage, and the coverage provided at the gas stations along the way, racers will be unsupervised and unattended.

This is the most dangerous race, with hazardous road conditions, inclement weather, blind curves, cliffside roads, and black ice a-plenty. The reward should be pretty hefty in comparison, should racers actually manage to complete their course.

Play your cards right, and you might gain a little freedom of movement past the Capitol's borders.

Nets of lights have been strung up overhead, making the whole of the outdoor rink look starry when the sun finally sets in the skies. Skates are provided as both snap ons to normal shoes, and as separate shoes entirely.

Capitolites make a donation to the Gamemaker's Foundation (or something, idk) in order to get a chance to ride along on a short loop track with a racer. They can make this donation and then dictate anyone be the tag-along, from themselves, to their children, to another Tribute/Mentor. Why? Because Shippers.

Anyone can qualify to be the driver or the one being driven. It's a free for all for fun, if one so desires.

Minimal injury, maximum ridiculous. If you didn't get enough out of racing along and lobbing banana peels and stuffed turtle shells at each other, maybe racing at each other with giant pool noodles will cure your itch!

With businesses opening doors and inviting chilled citizens in to enjoy special foods and drink and merchandise suited to the season and post-Games festivities, there are all sorts of carnival style games and foods to enjoy for the first (or another) time.

Delectables themed after Tributes are not uncommon, though perhaps one doesn't want to be commemorated for the means of their aggression or demise in the Arenas of the past.

Sandy had to admit, with this bike rumbling under her she could actually forget about everything for a moment.

None of it mattered right now. All of the pain and trouble of this world was about to rocket away from her as soon as the race began.

3.

2.

1.

The lights turned green and before Sandy knew it she had leaned on the throttle and shot forward with everyone else. weaving through the racers gave her a good start and she was shocked to find herself in front.

But this was just the beginning. There was alot of race left. With a rare grin she leaned into the bike and hugged the first curve of the track.

There was something oddly comforting in anonymity.

Of course having a state of the air helmet that didn't feel claustrophobic helped. The cool lightly scented mind air being piped in through her filters was a pleasant and soothing sensation.

And she had to admit the molded dark blue leather of her jump suit was an interesting feeling as well. Like a form of armor, thick gloves and boots, lines of red along her arms and legs added a pop of contrast to draw the eye to the bike itself which was a fine specimen of capitol engineering.

The roar of the engine, the purr between her powerful thighs. Was it any wonder Azula enjoyed motorcycle riding?

She allowed herself to take her position in the middle of the pack for now, eager to see who would pull ahead fast and need to be chased.

She always did work better when she had a goal that involved crushing someone else.

Orc couldn't help but wonder why of all the things for the Capitol to cheap out on, the ice cream bar with his face on it was where they cut corners.

The color scheme was all wrong. The vendor said it was because no one wanted to eat gray sherbert.

Lowering the ice cream bar to his faithful rainbow colored sheep he amused himself by watching the beast lick and nibble at the ice cream until the gumball eyes came off and it was pre-occupied chewing the gum. Orc finished the ice cream bar on his own and shuffled to the next booth.

"Deep fried Jello?
" He wondered baffled.

The woman running the stand just smiled and provided him with a serving of them and a napkin. Food was food and while he couldn't feel things as strongly as once before, he sure could taste things just fine.

FAYZ kids never took food for granted.

As he lumbered away to collect more goodies he did not notice that apparently his sheep had learned how to blow bubbles with the bubblegum it had eaten.

They told him all participants would have to do things "with the fans". Joel supposed that riding along with someone around a track once wasn't such a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. As long as they didn't try to kill him while he was driving, which he didn't think anyone would.

Though he was worried all the leather would start chafing, after a while.

Leather seemed to be a fashion trend for this race, because Joel's getup had quite a bit of it as well, most of it black. He wasn't terribly comfortable in it, though the anonymous nature of the race was small comfort, he supposed. He wasn't planning on winning - doubted he would, even if he wanted to. It had been a long time since he'd really ridden, and even then it hadn't been anything like a race. Just a leisurely, cross-country trek many years ago.

But Ellie was all excited about it, and remembered his story, and if he did do well, it might help her out, their next time in the arena. And who knows, maybe it'd be fun?

He was about to find out.

So being out in Capitol public with crowds and crowds of people? Way more of a hindrance then she thought. People EVERYWHERE seemed to have an opinion of her, whether she was given approving glances or venomous stares as she passed. She wanted nothing more than an out, a way to just do all of this without anyone bothering her.

The set up, then, was perfect for her. No one could see her and, best of all, the color were purple and black, reminding her of her old costume! She bound her hair up and put on the helmet, the outfit complete with a black leather jacket and pants to match.

No one knowing who she was, nothing but the road and quick maneuvers. She leaned into the bike, and once she was counted off, her bike roared to life and she was off, ready to show people that staying alive wasn't the only thing she was good at.

Edited 2014-03-15 07:07 (UTC)

Kain was strongly pushed into doing this- someone out there must have thought this would be 'entertaining' somehow to add him to the mix, so here he was. Though he was at first rather annoyed at leaving behind important training time, it wasn't as if he'd be standing around idle.

The race began, and off he went, zooming along to a decent start.

If this was more like an airship, he'd at least know sort of what he was doing. Despite that, he wasn't doing too bad. He may have lacked for experience with a motorcycle or anything like it, but the very basic level of this whole thing alleviated that problem. Plus, he had good reflexes on his side and a pretty reckless attitude overall. He was used to rapid speeds while airborne, so he was all for cranking up the speed in this race. He probably needed something like this.

And he wasn't afraid to toss out a random bomb here and there when he saw someone getting too close. He always did have a rivalrous streak waiting to come out...

She had to do this, apparently. People wanted it, and well, she WAS a victor in the last games, why wouldn't they be clamoring over her here too? She thought it was pointless, but apparently some kids REALLY wanted it to, so...there you go.

"OK, fine. Who's next?"

Black leather was not at all the direction Justin's stylists took with his outfit. It's gold, a lightweight metal that catches and scatters the light in all directions, overlapping scales coating his entire form from head to foot, gloves and boots attached seamlessly. The helmet is shaped like a snake's skull with open mouth, again in gold, with glowing red eyes.

The motorcycle is also red, just as glittering as the costume, all angles and sharp lines like a cut ruby. They've even altered the sound of the engine, enhanced it, made it more animal and deadly.

It's a very dramatic effect, and (just as the stylists had hoped) it makes him stand out from the dark-clad pack of racers.

Justin hasn't ridden a motorcycle much before (he prefers things with four wheels and a good sound system), but he has the general idea, was able to practice, and has no intention of losing.

"Well," turning away from the track with a sigh of disappointment, Wyatt looked at Max wryly. "Seems we got a bit crossed."

Having overhead words like 'horsepower,' and 'race,' Wyatt had been expecting something a great deal different from the lean, gleaming machines on display. Something far more familiar.

What any of those things had to do with horses he couldn't begin to say.

Don wasn't the motorcycle guy back home - that was Raph. But even so, he was no slouch in navigating difficult roads, himself. So when he signed up, he signed himself up for the advanced race. However, he didn't know who his partners were going to be, and he stood by the race track, waiting for his partners.

Who knew? Maybe he and his team would somehow end up winning!

Carlos, still in a lab coat, looks around at the other competitors.

"Did anyone else know about this? I didn't find out that I was signed up for this until yesterday."

Azula sneered at him as she studied her helmet carefully admiring her reflection in the visor.

"Consider yourself lucky. It is a great honor to be included in such an event. Especially for someone from outside our world."

Clearly she was not impressed with her competition so far, or maybe she was still smarting from having finished in sixth place in her own race. the throbbing in her back from where she had crashed and been thrown off her bike had only just been soothed and she was heavily medicated today to make up for it.

Maximus was expecting the Circus. The real, Roman Circus, with Chariot races and cheering crowds. What he got was... decidedly not that.

He couldn't help but laugh when Wyatt spoke, scratching his head.

"What are they?" He asked, honestly flummoxed. He'd at least gotten used to the other technology around, but he'd never seen these...

Ellie couldn't help laughing as she revved up her engine.

"Oh god, this is going to be awesome," She grinned, looking back to the stands to see if she could see anyone watching. She couldn't, but she waved anyway as the timer began to count down.

She licked her lips, leaning down into the bike like she'd watched in the videos -

And then as soon as the signal sounded, she was off like a shot.

Wyatt looked around, blue eyes skipping over the nearest spectators, a child running past waving a small checked flag - and landing on a banner strung high above the street.

"Motor-cycles," he muttered slowly, sounding out the alien word, tasting it as he said it. His gaze returned to Max, bemused, broad shoulders rising in a small shrug. "Whatever the sam-hell that means..."

At the starting line, on the other side of the barricade the first machine came to life, a thunderous roar that drew whoops and cheers from the crowd. Wyatt's eyebrows went up in surprise,... but he had to say he'd still have preferred horses.

"Motor-cycle," Maximus repeated after him, the word meaning absolutely nothing, though he did sit up quite a bit straighter as the engines began to roar.

He frowned, deeply. He really wasn't going to get used to this, ever.

"What is the point?" He said, voice raised over the noise. "You'd be able to hear them miles away."

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Page 1 of 15

( open ) off to the races

THE BEGINNER RACE

THE INTERMEDIATE RACE

THE ADVANCED RACE

THE ENDURANCE RACE

ICESKATING

RIDE ALONGS

BUMPERCYCLE JOUSTING

STREET FAIR FESTIVAL

Re: THE BEGINNER RACE

Re: THE INTERMEDIATE RACE

Re: STREET FAIR FESTIVAL

OTA!

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Re: THE BEGINNER RACE

Re: RIDE ALONGS

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BEFORE THE RACE

Re: BEFORE THE RACE

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