don't look up [echoes + twd + rancor]

{ p a t r i c i a v a l f i e r n o}

thank you, i'll say goodbye soon
though it's the end of the world
don't blame yourself

The night watch is long and tedious, but I take my turn like any good soldier should. Without Asa here, our shifts are more stretched between just the three of us, but we manage it. It is difficult when you don't know if it is night or day. Our internal body clocks are telling us to rest, and although we usually associate that with the night time, that might not be the case. Our surroundings are oh-so consistent down here, so there is know way of really knowing, and I doubt it matters, but still it's odd falling asleep in a timeless place.

With Pearl and Barney asleep, I feel the weight of responsibility pressing down on my capable shoulders. Watching them breathe so deeply and dream impossible things takes me back to a time where I would stay awake all night watching over my little sister. Those were the nights where we had no real shelter, and I had to keep an eye open for any sound or movement. For a long while, we weren't safe. Moving from street to street, praying we would find empty residence. I guess it's no different now. With a dozen other kids trying to kill us at every opportunity, can we really afford to become complacent? I've seen what complacency can do, and I won't allow it to happen here.

I stand and wander to the surrounding tunnels, always being conscious of the way back. The cave walls are a pale green through my invaluable nightvision. It has been three days since this all started, and I'm still not accustomed to living in the dark. Whoever came up with the idea of this arena must be fucked up in the head.

I still can't see shit.

Oh wait, but there's something. A flash of light, burning through the green haze. I pause, the hairs on my arms and neck bristling. I move to the wall and cling to it like an insect. I become darkness, watching the figure come into range. A girl, my age. Her hair is a rusty and tired orange, worn and dirty. I expect I look similar. I recognise her, but I can't recall her name. The beam of her torch dances up the walls, veering around until it pauses on me. I flick up my goggles and raise my hands in the air, like she is pointing a gun at me.

"I surrender." I say with no enthusiasm or fear. Her other hand moves to her waist and gently touches the hilt of a weapon. I seize up as I realize my own sword is back with Pearl and Barney. Nice one, Trix. I grit my teeth, staring the other ginger down.
"Mmhm, great." She responds, pausing awkwardly, before her spare hand moves to her hip. I relax somewhat, but the nerves are breeding rapidly inside of me. I shiver. I have learned how to appear composed even in times where I am anything but. I feel so exposed without a weapon, like an organ outside the body. My only defence here is confidence. I have to wear that proud to ward this girl off.

"Nice night out, isn't it? You can totally see the sky for miles." She jokes. Why is she being funny? I bite my lower lip, looking her up and down. I could probably take her down if not for the weapon at her waist. It was stupid of me to come out here unarmed, but I only wanted to stretch my legs. I hesitate to respond, but then not responding could lead to aggression on her part. I play along, somehow.
"It's up there somewhere." I note. Just how deep underground are we? No matter the answer, I know the Gamemaker base below the arena is even further from the light. Cretins, the lot of them.

"Somewhere, yeah," She responds like we are not in a life-and-death scenario. Perhaps we aren't, maybe she genuinely doesn't want to kill me. If only. The world has changed, and so we have to change with it. There are no friends anymore, only people who want to kill others more than you.
"I wanted to see it at least one more time before I died - Guess that might not be an option for us, huh?" She says sadly. I say nothing in response. This girl bemuses me, with her strange confidence and passive attitude. I like her, in that aspect, if she wasn't capable of killing me. She hasn't seen the sky, she said that much, which means she hasn't found a way out the caves. I think back to the breeze I felt yesterday, the shock realization that we might not be trapped in here.

"There's a way out." I blurt, not really knowing why I choose to share this with the girl. She is taken aback, her eyes look hungry.
"There is?" The response is predictable, and I smile. Of course there's a way out, it's been obvious. So obvious that everyone's missed it because it was right in front of them the whole time.
"No one's noticed." I keep smiling, because a smile is the most dangerous weapon I have right now. A smile is a shield. If I'm not smiling, she might be obliged to think me emotionless, and find me easier to kill. Smiling is human.

"Except you, I assume?" She tries, and my eyes glisten. That gives me a sense of power, that I hold such important knowledge. I could bargain it, but I'm not in a position to bargain for anything but my life.

"Obviously." I smile wildly. She laughs at that.
"Would you care to give me a hint, at least? From one redhead to another?" She probes at me, part of her already knowing that I will tell her. Why bring it up otherwise? I realize that I'm probably being a tad arrogant with this, but that's better than being reserved and weak. I have to be strong on face value, even if I want to curl up timidly and beg for my life. That's how I survive. My fists clench at my sides, my muscles tense.

"What's your name?" I want to be able to address her, or at least make myself more human to her.
"Just call me Six, that's all that matters anyway here, right Five?" She remarks snidely. Owch. I guess my attempt to add humanity to the situation just ended up labelling us as cattle. I can't help but to smirk. Her attitude is admirable. It scares me very much, but there's nothing I can do about fear except embrace it. I just wish I hadn't left my sword back with Barney and Pearl. I play my trump card, deciding it's all I have to offer.

"Okay Six, tell me, if there's no way out of these caves," I pause, raising a hand and moving it in the air. I feel that slight tickle of wind on my skin, and I ghost a smile.
"Then what the fuck is that breeze?"

The silence says it all.

"Well, shit." She is impressed, and that's enough for me. I hesitate, almost breaking into a run and using the chance to vanish into the dark. Something keeps me here, some urge to help the girl from District Six. We don't have to be enemies. Together we could follow the breeze and find a way out. I could get her out - I could get everyone out. Somehow I don't think I'll be a part of whatever group sees the sky next.
"Go see the stars, Six." I say, hoping she will leave in search of that wonderful truth.

"You should too then, you found the clue after all." She suggests. Of course I should, it's just a case of if I can. It might be just another fucking Gamemaker trap, to give us false hope.
"If we both find it, I'll show you some cool stuff - I was an astronomer back home after all." She tries to get personal, but I shrug it off. I'm not sure what I'm feeling at the moment, almost an angry twist of carelessness.

"We don't have the luxury of trust anymore, Six." I can't go with her, not when I have others to look after.
"Take care of yourself, okay?" She turns to leave, much to my surprise.
"That's the idea." I smirk.
"Obviously." She mimics, and I laugh at that.

I return to Pearl and Barney, watching them frown in their sleep. I kneel next to Barnabas and place a hand on his forehead. Hot, like a fever. He is worrying about Asa, even in his sleep - I can tell, I know a worried sleeper when I see one. When he's sleeping, Barney doesn't look like so much of a goblin. Pearl is more relaxed, but still she seems concerned. Her breathing is deeper than Barney's, but isn't without blips and judders. I wonder how I sleep. Not very well, probably.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. I, as it happens, know that I will not live to see Rose grow up, but I know that I planted something good in her, and that she will grow greater than our parents ever expected her to. To an extent, I have planted the idea of purity into Pearl, by holding back the truth from her. She thinks she is innocent, even though I know she killed that girl at the Cornucopia. Yet she is stronger without that knowledge burning into her mind. Murder is a burden to carry, and I doubt Pearl has shoulders strong enough yet.

So, when we awake to the sounds of movement, and we're scrambling to our feet in search of our weapons, I know that once again I will have to coordinate and lead the pack, planting the confidence in the other two Tributes.
"It's Galaxy," I see her in front of me, her words from last night ring in my head. I hear my response.
"I'm Patricia. Nice to have met you."

The formalities of last night are long forgotten the moment they attack us.


[Patricia Valfierno attacks Tauankia Ojai, Bone Sword]
AvyCkLhlsword
[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

and if it's true
i will surround you
and give life to a world
that's our own

word count: 1686, graphics: rook
theme: goodbye to a world by porter robinson

Pearl Millison

The full extent of her actions could not be fathomed amidst the chaos. Her steel punctured flesh, and the body attached to that flesh revealed itself as Blaire Sycamore. One of his legs ended at the ankle, she finally noticed, and she was crippling him further. Mother would say she was proud, that Pearl was utilizing her knowledge to create an advantage for the strong and a means to an end for the weak. But this isn’t deliberate.

”Go pick on someone who can fucking walk, you whimp,” a girl growled. She didn’t know who that was yet, but she was absolutely right. Pearl was a wimp, always had been and always would be. Murdering the crippled was not only cowardly, it was cruel. It was an in-humane, pathetic excuse of a “fight for survival” that she wanted no part of. ”I’m sorry,” she whispered, yet she didn’t expect anybody to hear her above the blood rushing between their ears. She could feel her own skull vibrating from the thumps of her heart. She backed away until she felt a warm body at her spine. Patricia.

Warmth was safety. Like a second armor, Patricia was protection, but not in the way her mother would think. A “runt” was no meat shield to her. Patricia was sturdy and rigid, like the foundations of a factory. Rip out the beams and pipes and what do you have? Collapse. Everything caves and everything crumbles, and Pearl would be at the center of the rubble, a corpse covered in dust and debris. Having Patricia at her back like a partner reminded her of the horrors at the Cornucopia, but it was during that bloodbath that neither of them had sustained an injury. Perhaps if they worked together, they could accomplish something similar here.

A blur shifted in her peripheral vision, and suddenly Patricia was gone. Pearl whirled in a panic and noticed the slit in the fabric of her pants. One of the others had struck her, but it wasn’t Sycamore. The perpetrator was lingering nearby, painted with a smile on his face like a storybook villain. She recognized the idenity – Taunkia Ojai, but his district was slipping her mind. His expression was oddly uncharacteristic based on what she had seen of him in the center, but the arena was known to change people.

”Pearl.”

She glanced at Patricia. Her jaw was slack, and ice water churned inside Pearl’s stomach.

”Don’t turn around.”

She could hear it shifting behind her, something large and dangerous. The thing she must’ve heard minutes ago. It was still here, and it was still very real.

She turned around.

A gargantuan fleshy column hurled toward her at an angle, and there was no time to scream as a claw raked across her chest and knocked her into the floor. She felt an ache as her breath was forced from her lungs, but she didn’t feel anything on her chest. Cautiously, she touched the torn fabric and found her cold chest armor, dented and scratched at the center. My armor saved me. Her sword had bounced to her right, and she reached for it as the creature revealed itself. The full extent of its size and terror prompted her to scream. She could not fight something so massive; she had to flee as far away from it as possible, and so did Patricia and Barnabas. It could easily swallow all of us whole!

She scrambled to her feet and returned to Sycamore, who was swinging his axe at Barnabas as he pleaded and bled. The sharp edge reminded her of a pendulum swinging back and forth, back and forth, and who knows when it could slit Barnabas’ neck and end it all? One nick to the jugular would sentence him to the bloodiest death imaginable. Crippled or not, she needed to create distance between Sycamore and Barnabas. I’m sorry.

”Please stop it!” She angled her sword at his torso.

I’m sorry.

[attacks Blaire – sword]
JoLnOYIysword
Shallow Cut on Neck -- 4.0 damage