Tribute Uniforms [5th Games]

Although this year's uniforms don't feel as cheaply made as the previous gladiator costumes with their vinyl faux-leather armor and flimsy fabrics, there's still something undeniably... we forgot to put this in the budget about them. One glimpse of the ships floating around the arena tips you off as to exactly where the entirety of this year's funding went. Maybe that's why the victors are being treated rather differently this year, shaking hands with deep pockets after being threatened into being on their best behavior.

Everything is a bit rumpled and aged, as if scavenged at the last possible moment from the back of a theater's costume closet or a particularly neglected thrift store rack. In fact, the soles of far more than one pair of slouchy leather boots have holes large enough that it hardly seems worth bothering to put them on at all. The badly repaired belts and tattered sash aren't quite so optional, despite looking anything other than functional at first glance. Without them there's a distinct possibility that things might begin falling off, so you double check each buckle and do your best to secure the knotted fabric as tightly as possible.

The billowing white shirt has turned dingy over time, buttons long lost from its sagging cuffs. A moth eaten vest helps to hide various stains and splitting seams at your waist and shoulders and your pants definitely aren't the right size to stay up on their own, but at least they're loose enough to easily move around in so maybe that will be for the best. A simple leather tricorn hat doesn't look like it will help much to keep the sun out of your eyes. You put it on anyhow. Of all things, refusing a hat certainly isn't something worth fighting over today.

It's not until the heavy iron gate of your holding cell opens that you're confronted with a simple white buoy, floating in the water just out of reach. It keeps a cutlass afloat via a knot of rope. The sword's blade is simple steel, badly tarnished and dented. Whether you choose to test its sharpness now or wait until someone else uses you to figure out the sharpness of their weapon, you will inevitably discover that the swords provided are far more blunt than anyone would like them to be. At least the curved brass hilt looks like it might lend a little protection to your fingers. That thought isn't anywhere as comforting as you want it to be, but that's to be expected.