I Know It Burns You // [ Conqs v. Monts Day 3]

•••
But you and I now
We can be alright
Just hold on to what we know is true
You and I now
•••

The sun barreled off the horizon, leaving them shrouded in stars.  The eerie calm of the arena was a sort of silence that Benat was not accustomed to: back in District Eleven, at night he could hear the call of the birds or the creak of the old barn.  Here though, there was nothing but the sound of the wind—a very rare cry from the distance would break the silence.  He wasn’t comfortable with silence; it gnawed at him the same way the hunger pawed at his stomach.  Because when things weren’t said out loud, it meant that they weren’t real.

Two birds on a wire
One tries to fly away
And the other
Watches him close
From that wire

I feel like a wolf: head tilted back, face angled towards the sky, mouth rounded as I howl to the heavens. For a moment, I feel like giving up, but I know I can't let myself bleed out, so I reach into my bag and grap the socks, quickly wrapping them around the stumps of my fingers, or where they used to be. I flinch in pain from the pressure, but I continue to push them down in attempts to absorb any blood I can. Knowing this won't stay on, I grab the duct tape from my back pack and tape them to my hand. Only once have I ever had to work on someone with severed extremities, but at that time I had more equipment: stitches, ice, bandages, needles. Now, I'm stuck with what I managed to scavenge out of the bloodbath.

I raise my other hand, the one where my middle finger isn't chopped off, and stare straight at Pyrian. I know he can't hear, so this is the best insult I could do to him, and even Ripred knows this is the universal sign for fuck you.

It's so funny how things could take a turn for the worse so suddenly.

Last night, as Meela's face shone in the sky with the stars, everything was fine, except for the fact that I was lying next to my inevitable death: Benat. We watched the idle stars twinkle above us for a while, and I somehow felt closer to him: not physically, but emotionally. The fact that he'd give up his life-saver for me, and all I have him were some feet of bandages that were good for nothing. I don't know if I would've done the same for him, I mean, it's one less person in his way, but I'd like to say I would've spared his life for one more day.

I woke up the next day when Benat shook me. I blinked a few times and reveled in something: I survived Day Two. It wasn't a major accomplishment, it wasn't even the final eight yet or even the final twelve, but it was reassuring to know I wasn't one of the people to get picked off early, Like Faye. My steps were slow and steady as my throat tried in the sun. I needed water, and having gone a few days without it I was starting to feel nauseated. Whenever we'd pass a clearing, my mind would beg for me to sit but I knew that if I took a seat I'd never get back up. (And to be honest, I wouldn't mind dying like that: being able to choose when it happens, but even I know that's now how it works.)

Eventually, we saw a crystalline lake, shimmering with blues and whites that seemed heavenly. I didn't look at Benat as he stripped down, only took a few small peaks, even though there wasn't anything that I didn't see yet. I decided to keep my clothes on, as I wasn't as proud of my body like Benat. The water was nice and refreshing, and for a moment I let my troubles wash off me like the sweat.

But then, they came.

The brother and sister, Owen, and the boy from Twelve. William got burned from the boy from Twelve, but luckily there was water around to soothe the burn a little bit. William then successfully stabbed Owen in his arm. Benat missed and his arrow was lost in the depth of the lake, but it's okay because that's happened to me plenty of times. This whole fight was moving very fast until the brother lashed out at me. I swear I saw the blade make contact with my fingers, and not only did it sting, but it burnt and I grimaced at his flaming knife as my fingers dropped to the ground.

Believe me when I say this: it's a very odd sight to see your fingers on the ground. I picked them up instinctively and tended to them, then, I flipped the brother off and decided to get back at him, so, with my good hand, I flung a knife in his direction, hoping to leave any mark on him I could.

[Attacks Pyrian -- Thrown Knife]
[dice=200+9000]
[Knife in Back -- 6.5 damage]

Two birds on a wire
One says come on
And the other says
I'm tired
The sky is overcast

.:.:.:.:.:.:.
by the time that we woke up
we couldn't stop the sparks
.:.:.:.:.:.:.

When I woke that morning my mouth was absolutely drier than it ever had been before, and that includes the numerous hours I've spent gaping in front of a fire that sucks all the moisture from the air. The hot sun didn't help none, either; I swear it got worse and worse every day, and I felt like I was in a massive oven. But I realized with a jolt that I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a drink. ”Boys,” I croaked, turning my head towards Pyrian and Owen and Asunder who were a bit more into the shadows of the ruined temple where we'd spent the night, ”We needa find water. Today.”

Just a little while later we were headed east, walkin' slow because of Asunder's busted leg, towards the splotch of green on the horizon because I thought maybe where there were trees, there had to be some sort of water. It kinda irked me, needin' water, my fire's worst enemy, more than I needed anything else, but it was hard to avoid when you were trapped in an arena fightin' for your life. Plenty of tributes had died in the past from lack of food and water. Gypsy Keeni wasn't about to be one of 'em.

As we walked, I thought about the face I'd seen in the sky that night. The girl from Twelve, the one we'd nearly beaten to a pulp at the very end of the Bloodbath. Looks like someone had finished her off at last. It had been a slow day two, by Hunger Games standards. We'd surely pay today, especially cause I was sure that at least three-quarters of the remaining tributes would be searchin' for water same as us today. Maybe more, maybe all of us, if the sponsors were bein' really stingy this time around.

And then we spotted it. The sun reflectin' off a streak of cool blue; it was unmistakable. I couldn't hold in a cry of delight and I grabbed Py's hand and started pullin' him along, almost at a run, sure that Owen and Asunder were followin' behind as well. Water. Finally, something to drink after a full day of being thirsty. For once in my life, I appreciated the cool, sweet, clear liquid that had the power to destroy the thing I loved most in the world.

But then somethin' got in the way. A flash of movement, and then all the sudden there were people around us, other tributes, and a fight had begun. All I could think was that I had to get water, I just had to. I didn't care how many people I had to take down to do it. And then there were flames, flames all around me, flames lickin' off of my allies' weapons, off of Pyrian's handful of throwing knives, and I knew just what they were all planning. We would win with fire, because fire never lost.

So I grabbed from my backpack the throwing knives I'd taken from one of my Bloodbath victims—I didn't want to try lightin' my precious rapier on fire yet, not without practice—and emulated my twin brother's actions.

[attacks Essence, throwing knives]
[dice=200+9000]
[miss]

[Gypsy lights 6 throwing knives on fire]
[dice=50]
[severe burn 8]

there's a sick little suicide in all that we do
you decide, which one's for you?

It wasn't a pond, or a river, really. He couldn't see the opposite shore. Was it an ocean? Could an oasis be that large? Asunder felt the rush of a breeze from its current, saw the wind take his arrow away from his target and into the watery depths. That was certainly not something he had anticipated.

But it wouldn't stop him.

It was all moving so fast - the water, the tributes, the blood. Time. He could hardly see in the flare of the sunlight off the waves, the brilliance of flame scorching the sky. He wasn't the only one who had drawn his jar of tar, and he was instantly proud of his allies. "Good one!" He hollered at Owen while delicately picking through his arrows, reaching for a shaft and not for sticky fire. He could barely track what was going on - so much and so little, because the truth of it was, they were killing, and dying, and that was all. But then in the midst of it he heard the only trigger word every teenager knows: sex.

"What now?" Asunder called, looking among his enemies. Had someone really mentioned sex? In the arena? It was almost blasphemous. And yet. It was almost taunting, something so normal, such a natural desire. He hadn't felt anything like that in days. Not since the dart jaguar, and the falling stone, and the deep, locked away knowledge that there was now only one person left who could return to Twelve, and he wasn't exactly doing a bang up job of things. He felt his fingers slip, long and gnarled and unsure. What was he doing? Why was he wasting time?

He surveying the carnage from his position high up on the beach, another arrow not quite in position. Pyrian and Owen had gone right into the fray while Gypsy and Asunder hung back. What did that say about them? But now he had an advantage: a wider view.

"Behind you!" He yelled, his voice strangled as Pyrian took a knife in the back. Asunder flinched, looked to Owen who was bloodied but fighting on. He took a deep breath, steadied his fraying and hungry nerves, and finally brought his arrow up.

[ Asunder attacks William; flaming arrow #2 ]

[dice=200+4000]
[ Shallow Cut on Right Bicep -- 3.5 damage]

[dice=50]
[Moderate burn (+4 damage)]

•••
But you and I now
We can be alright
Just hold on to what we know is true
You and I now
•••

There wasn’t any turning back from what they were facing. Literally surrounded, the four of them were being kissed by flames—Dizzy William and Scout Essence bore the brunt of the blows. They were faster than he was; his blow dart strayed wide from its target and plummeted below the surface of the lake. He let out a short gasp when Pyrian cut off Scout’s fingers without so much as a flinch. His stomach rolled when Dizzy stabbed into Long Neck Owen, the two boys wrestling for a chance at life. He spun around to watch Slim Asunder muster another hit against his ally. They were losing ground to them quickly, and the giddiness he’d felt about the water was long gone. His head spun thinking about the possibility that he would lose both his allies in one fell swoop.

Were they cutting him free? Benat had the briefest of thoughts as he stood, his naked chest just above the water dripping wet. He’d thought there was a safety in their numbers, but that hadn’t been the case. Instead it gave them more chances for death—an exposure to the memories, the laughter, the hand holding and life that made the pain all that much worse. He wasn’t much of a warrior, even with the dirt scrubbed onto his face. He was playing something that he wasn’t; hadn’t that been his life, always?

Two birds on a wire
One tries to fly away
And the other
Watches him close
From that wire

The deaf boy's sister throws a knife in my direction, and as the shimmering blade spirals towards my face, I duck and I sigh in relief. In a matter of seconds, however, I feel my head get hit with flames stronger than a forest fire and I slide myself under the water, trying to relieve my now bald head.

I am tempted to shy away from the Keenis and the strength and luck tied to them, but I know better than that, especially in a time like this. Deaf Boy gives me, not the finger, but the fingers and lunges out towards me again, and his blade slices my shoulder and leaves a burn. I wince in pain but don't back up, if anything, I ready myself so I get closer to Pyrian. "You two are gonna pay for this," I warn them, although I'm not sure what their price is going to be. And I know Pyrian can't hear me, so I pray to Ripred that he can lip-read. Then, I fling my knife at Pyrian again, knowing that if I don't get rid of him now, I never will.

[Attacks Pyrian -- Thrown Knife]
[dice=200+9000]
[Shallow Cut on Back -- 4.0 damage]

Again, the boy turns his body away from the blade and the knife gets lodged in his back.

Two birds on a wire
One says come on
And the other says
I'm tired
The sky is overcast