DTT: Round Three, Mal vs Penelope

 

Closer to Jules. Closer to Jules. With each step I take in this seemingly never-ending nightmare I can feel the pull of this blood bond between us. I know this place wants us to think there is no ending, but I know better now. Our secret. That call. I know she's out there, just beyond the horizon.

That or I'm going fuckin' insane. It's 50/50 at this point.

The sword that cast my vengeance against District One transforms again and I breathe a sigh of relief when it shrinks. A hand-axe; now this I can work with.

"Another one, really?!"

I laugh, another beautifully lethal creature emerges from the mist.

"Took the words right outta my mouth."

mal stuart attacks penelope marcet; axe.

hMGEPp8p90axe

3.5


mal damage: 4.5/20

 

This one's getting right down to business. No chat, no threats, just fight and fancy. She ain't jagged like me, poised like Blondie, trying her goddamn best like Gav. But there's a showmanship in her I've never seen before. The way she moves, it's mesmerising. If she weren't tryna kill me I might watch her for hours and hours and hours.

Hours. Huh. How long is an hour anyway? Feels like time doesn't exist here. I don't know how long I've been here, fighting one damned soul after another. Three minutes? Three hours? Three days? Three years? Gav seemed to think I'd been here for a long time. I don't know. I don't know anything anymore except that pull of a tide in my bloodstream: Jules.

She leaps forward with grace and I stumble back with a reactionary lean; polar opposites. Clips my head and then my shoulder, pain exploding in the places where the kiss of her axe met my skin. I heave forward and only manage to scrape her arm: god damn it, I'm getting tired.

"Not a talker, huh?" 

I aim for her tongue.

mal stuart attacks penelope marcet; axe.

YOHjWkY8CXaxe

8.5


mal damage: 8/20

 

Really gotta work on my pick-up lines.

She's got bite, even with a mauled cheek. I still wince when I hear that sick sound of blades on flesh, a mangled mix of bone cracking and muscle splitting - but whoever this woman is she's magnificent. Terrifying, but magnificent. Even when she looks at me and lashes out again I watch with a weird sense of admiration. She herself is the distraction: the beauty, the grace, the effortless way she moves. But she's also the main attraction, hidden right underneath your nose.

My aim is miles off. She darts away effortlessly. Like I'm a toy, a plaything. Maybe I want to be that. Maybe I want to be batted about between her paws, chased and scratched as she prowls, prances. God I hope they give me a break on the next one. One like Gav. These women are gonna tire me out. I just want a nice chat, that's all. A reminder that I'm not alone here, that I'm not turning into a killing machine for the sake of it. I miss people, you know? I miss connection. I miss....

With every strike I slowly forget whatever it was that I miss about before.

mal stuart attacks penelope marcet; axe.

ywJqjpkrbOaxe

0

mal damage: 11.5/20

 

I have this... urge, or desire (same thing) to tell her something meaningful. But I get the picture that now is not the time. And that what I have to say won't be nothin' special. How many souls have told her what she already knows? That she's beautiful. That the way she moves is like a shooting star, blink and you'll miss it, keep your eyes open until they water and burn. Or maybe just to tell her that she matters, too. That she's not alone. I don't know. This place is making me crazy. A brush of a memory, soft against my frontal lobe: crazy, stupid, love. Whatever the hell that means, I think I'm feeling it. I think I'm it.

Crazy, stupid, yeah. Love? Don't think I know her yet.

But I'd like to.

"What's your name?"

mal stuart attacks penelope marcet; axe.

xrNJvc58JKaxe

0

mal damage: 15/20