{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 26, 2017 20:55:36 GMT -5

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Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 26, 2017 20:55:36 GMT -5

►►►

on the wind i hear you calling
from the ocean far away
whispered as the light is falling
you gently call my name

The world holds its breath that night. Emberly Lowe finds herself submerged in silence as she reclines on a long branch of a tree by the roaring waterfall. She used to fall asleep listening to the chirping of the jungle birds, but they are now utterly and eerily quiet. When the anthem blares overhead, she crosses her fingers and looks to the sky.

She has heard four cannons today, but she only knows who one of the cannons belonged to. Walherich — she remembers how the cannon boomed the moment his heart finally stopped. His blood gushed around her sword when she made the killing blow, and then she pulled her blade out of his body and let him fall. BOOM and then he was gone. Just like that, she killed a man. It always looked so easy on television, but Emberly feels the weight of the world when she stands before the body of one of her victims. Death is heavy as a mountain and every time she kills she feels that weight, but every time she kills she learns how to carry it better too.

The first face to appear in the sky is the one she least expects. Ree Fer, District Three. Upon seeing his picture projected in blue among the stars, a gasp and a sob seize her lungs simultaneously and instead she just chokes. "No," she whispers under her breath in a broken voice. "Ree . . ." While she had been praying that the first cannon to fire wasn't his, he was already lying on the ground cold and dead.

Crystalline tears drip down her cheeks and she shakes her head back and forth, wanting to deny what she just saw. He can't be dead — he can't be. She should have stayed with him, she should have been there; maybe she could have protected him or maybe at least he wouldn't have died alone. Just like she's going to, now. There are no shoulders to lean on now; no Clementina or Raquel or Ree. They are all gone and she is the only one left.

A knife twists in her heart and for a moment she loses her grasp on herself and forgets the control she learned. She tries to wipe away her tears with the bloody backs of her hands but it does not stop more from falling. Emberly reaches into her pocket and clutches Ree's pack of cards so tightly that she bends the edges of the box. She holds onto it because it is the only thing she has left of Ree now and if she tells herself that she still carries a part of him with her enough times then it won't hurt as much. Deep down she knows that agony demands to be acknowledged but her mind is slowly shutting down, not knowing how to handle all of the trauma she has endured. Ree's death is what pushes her over the edge — one final goodbye and a hand hold was all they had in the end. It was all they would ever have now.

Emberly hugs Cupcake to her shaking body and lets her tears soak into her brown fur as she continues to watch the rest of the anthem. She waits for Lux's face but it does not come.

Chester Meisenzahl, District Seven. Adelaide Throes, District Three. Walherich Cnáimhín, District Eleven. That leaves Titus, Teddy, and Lux.

She is still alive, Emberly thinks. She's still out there somewhere. The image of Clementina's caved in chest is still burned into her mind and sometimes the memory leaks into her dreams. She's still out there but Ree is dead.

Emberly pulls out her photograph from her pocket and her hands tremble as the marks four tallies into the paper. One of which is her friend, and another of which is her victim. Before she falls asleep, Emberly counts the number of tallies and comes out with twenty. (Four friends and three victims.) Only three others stand in her way now.

That is her last thought before she closes her eyes and lets sleep carry her away. She doesn't bother to dry the tears from her face.

— ★ —

She doesn't walk far before she encounters another tribute. For hours after sunrise, Emberly was walking in circles. When she finds herself back at the waterfall where she fell asleep, there is someone standing by the water. Teddy Ursa, District Six.

Emberly has faced him before. She remembers that he had said when she attacked Rhetoric — "Emberly! Why? No. Stop!"

"Why? "Why . . . you know why: because we have to, Teddy," she had replied. And she could not have done what he asked; she could not have stopped. She didn't — she still remembers stabbing Rhetoric in the foot and feeling her blood spatter onto her shirt and her face in an eruption of crimson.

Things are different now. She is killer and Teddy might be, too.

"Teddy?" she says. "I saw Ree in the anthem, what — do you know what hap —" her words break off instantly as her gaze catches the double-bladed glaive sticking out of his backpack. It glints in the sunlight and Emberly blinks twice, registering that the weapon was the same one she had given Ree. Ree, who she saw in the sky last night. Ree, who is dead now and he's never coming back because —

because there is a reason that Teddy has Ree's glaive. He killed him.

It hits her like a spear in the chest and nothing can stop the tears that spring into her eyes. "You —" she begins, but Emberly loses her words and her courage before she can finish. They slip right through her teeth.

Once again she looks into the eyes of her friend's killer. Clementina's sky blue, Lux's endless dark, Teddy's fern green. There was nothing but sorrow in Clem's eyes when she confessed that she had killed McCarthy; the stark opposite of Lux, whose eyes were like empty, fathomless abysses. She isn't sure what she sees in Teddy's green depths; she once saw kindness, a gentle twinkle just like the one that still shines in her own eyes.

Her copper gaze is as somber as Saffron's in the Justice Building when she looks at Teddy. In a matter of seconds he has become her adversary; he killed Ree, he killed Ree, he killed Ree. Gentle twinkle or not, that is all Emberly can see when she looks at Teddy now. She knows that he must have had no choice, just as she had no choice to kill Lace and Wendell and Walherich. They are just birds in a cage after all, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

"You killed him," Emberly finally chokes out. A single tear leaks down the side of her face as she struggles to hold herself together. "You killed him, didn't you?" She wants to ask why but she already has the answer: because he wants to live. Because he had to. Just as she now has to kill him, because with four tributes left, there is no room for peace. Whether Teddy was Ree's killer or not, she still would have found herself in this same situation: raising her blade to strike him down.

The fact that he killed Ree only makes it feel easier for now, but she knows that at the end of the day killing Teddy will still slowly unravel her from the inside, that his death will loosen the frayed seams holding her together even more. Eternal guilt — that is the price she must pay if she is to go home. She understands the weight of victorship more than ever now, with her body count stacking up and crushing her heart and soul as if they are made of glass.

But someone has to pay the price. Emberly would rather it be her than anyone else, no matter the consequences. She would live with the sky on her shoulders if it meant that she could spend every day with her family.

"Fuck. I-I killed him Emberly," Teddy admits. His body begins to tremble beneath the weight of what he has done. Teddy is a killer now, like her, but their eyes aren't completely empty like Lux's. There is still a little firelight in Emberly's copper eyes but there is also a sullenness that will never go away. Until the takes her final breath, it will be there, because no one can go through something like this without receiving any scars.

"I didn't want to. You have to believe me, but he struck me first and he wouldn't give in until one of us were dead," he continues. She can believe that — Ree was never one to back down from a fight. He would not have stopped for anyone. Not even Emberly. Although she appreciates Teddy's honesty, she does not thank him. She only waits and listens to the rest of what he has to say.

"It was too much. I-I wish it didn't have to be like that. I wish he wouldn't have forced my hand, Emberly." But she knows that Ree's hand was forced, too. None of them truly had a choice here to kill; it wasn't always about who or why, but when. (If she had stayed with Ree, when would she have had to slit his throat in his sleep?) And just like Teddy, Emberly wishes that she didn't have to kill. She didn't want to kill Lace or Walherich. And Wendell — she doesn't know. (Emberly doesn't want to know because she is afraid of the truth, afraid that deep down she killed Wendell not just to save Raquel but also because she wanted to.)

She always knew that she would have to kill if she were to survive. She always knew that her friends would have to die for her to live. They are simple facts of the Hunger Games that Saffron made sure she did not ignore. But knowing those things does not numb the pain. Nothing can. Knowing that does not make their deaths any less destructive.

"How did he die? Did you leave him to suffer, or did you make it quick?" her voice is steadier now, but the rest of her is not. Although her body is still, she feels her insides shake as if she is crumbling at her core.

Until the end, they had promised — but she never imagined that the end would hurt this much.

[Emberly attacks Teddy; The Queen (sword)]
emM80ulvsword
[1035 -- Shallow Cut on Back of Head -- 4.5 damage]

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will you wait for me?

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Last Edit: Aug 27, 2017 11:03:13 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 26, 2017 23:13:49 GMT -5

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Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 26, 2017 23:13:49 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

The cannon's loud boom still rings in his ears that night.

There's blood that never really came off of his hands. It's Ree's blood. It's red like the wounds that he had seen on Fer. It's all over his legs from the water that had dripped his blood and Ree's onto his clothes. Removing the spear had been the worst part of the entire death. Pulling gold from the chest of the blonde from three that didn't want to be remembered. Do whatever it takes to forget me. He couldn't. He wouldn't. Ree Fer deserved to be sung among the stars like the glittering gold of his spear.

The sky fills with darkness as the arena quiets down to nothing more than silence. Quiet sounds in the distance that only ease his thoughts barely. His hand still was shaking from the scene at the top of the volcano where earth's shell sits with a cool red. The storm of the day had disappeared to a calm that would only be the start of the end. Four cannons out of the eight tributes left. Three people stand before them all. All he had hoped for was none of the cannons to be Chester or Adelaide. Ree Fer would be visiting him that night.

Blood coats his hands as he stares up into the sky, not ready for the emotions to come. The glaive in his pack glitters with silver compared to the golden spear that he carries. Death never seemed as close as it had just that day when Ree Fer cut into his body. He's seen death's bones take a soul away from the tip of his spear that plunged into Fer's chest. He wouldn't forget the eyes that stared back it. He had closed them and laid the male to rest after removing his spear. The dead deserved peace, even in a place as awful as their reality.

Ree's eyes are the first to glare down upon him.

A breath is caught in his throat as his hand shakes gently against the cold ground.

"I won't forget. I promised you."

Hands move to the glaive as Teddy touches the silver for the memory of Ree Fer. Eyes glance at the medical tools that he patched him up that Fer had been carrying for himself. Even after death, Ree Fer was an echo of a memory upon his skin that would never go away. Blood still hides under his nails that he tried to clean when the rain had been around, but it never truly faded away from the memory. Ree Fer went out on his own words as he had fallen to the ground and faced Teddy with his own eyes. All he had wanted was to not be sober, but he couldn't provide that for an innocent man.

He didn't even know anything about Ree Fer, except that he was close to Raquel and that he threatened to stab him through the chest.

Teddy had done it first.

Mo and Ring cuddle into him more, sensing something was off as he lightly touches silver with his fingers. The echo of words that Ree Fer had said upon his ears still.

"You'll probably follow me within the next two days and that's what'll keep me going."

Death was waiting for Teddy Ursa like the rest of them. Bones rattling in the cold nights hoping for the moment they would succumb to the cold nights or the bloody weapons. Ree Fer was gone. There's the memory of a man who had given it his all for the people he promised, just like Teddy had for Chester. He had been fighting to see Chester again. He had been fighting to remember himself. He was fighting for them all, so none of them would be forgotten. There's still three others left that were alive. He could still fight-

The next face tells him that fighting was still useless.

Chester's serious gaze watches him from the sky.

No. Y-You were just here yesterday."

The sounds of the night are silenced by the beating of his heart that speeds up in sorrows that lie upon his chest. The bitter words of Ree Fer seem to become his own quickly. Broken promises of living for the dead coming to life. He's silent as tears slip from his eyes. Chester didn't deserve death. There's no place for men like Chester who fought for their own life unlike Teddy could have. Seven would be mourning the death of their fighter that was Chester Meisenzahl.

"One of us needs to make it home, and that's all I hope for now."

One of them had to make it home. It's what Chester had wanted for them. That promise still felt so far away as he can remember the scent of Chester the morning when he woke up in his arms. He can still remember the arms that lifted him upon onto his back as he held onto him tight to avoid falling. Tears in his eyes as Chester saved him from the monsters that were alive on Day Four. He can remember the way Chester had looked at him on day two when he fought to keep him alive from Raquel and Ree. They were gone now. Every single memory was only going to be that now. A memory of who Chester was and what he had done for Teddy.

It made his heart ache with sorrows that wouldn't leave ever again.

It was almost as if half his heart died with Chester.

The other half of his heart looks down upon him with an expression that makes him break fully.

Adelaide Throes was watching him like a goddess that wasn't on their earth anymore. District Three was gone, just like her words towards Ree Fer. Tears already break from his eyes as he looks to the vial and hair that he carries from her. There's nothing left, but the memory of a kiss under the moonlight. There's a silence that reminds him of her after day three when their voices would disappear from their chest. Eyes would meet and hands would brush, but nothing more than a dream that kept him to the fantasy. That fantasy was broken as the faces disappear. Walherich following, but he didn't care.

It was too late to care about much anymore, except living for them.

A heart that had been crushed in one night as he clutches onto his chest. A hand running through his brown locks as he dares to hold himself down for as long as he can. There's an ache that will never leave his chest, until he dies, but even then, death seemed to close and too far away. Chester had told him one of them had to get home. Adelaide had taught him that even goddesses could be wrong. Ree Fer had showed him that bitterness was a way of life. The caring eyes that once looked upon them all were wet with the water of the mourning.

"This isn't real. It can't be."

The pocket whales that he carries move to his cheeks, wiping away tears as he can feel his head down casting towards the ground. The ground felt so cold and lonely like he was now. Alone in a world full of killers and victims of them. He's alone with three others who he could now name.

Lux Pelotte, the girl from four, who had been just as vicious as a career could be. She could have killed Chester and carried his blood. She could have killed Adelaide and carried her fate with her. Titus, the boy from nine who had helped him down the volcano. He carried the weight of every death with him as the emotions in his eyes were unreadable the last time he had saw him. Emberly Lowe, the girl from ten who was like him now, alone in a world full of killers.

As he stares to the stars with the anthem fading away, he can't feel his chest for there's too much weight to the dead that rest upon it. He's drowning in a sea of sorrows that pulls at his lungs.

There's only hopelessness in their quiet night.

Feet take him towards the water that had once eased his soul from Cam Dialate's death.

It's the crash of water that he hears first as he approaches. Water seemed so natural. He's seen more water than he ever would have in District Six. It's a new comfort that he didn't know about until his name was pulled. Hands washed into the water below as he scrubs the dried blood from under his fingertips, feeling less like a killer than he did the day before. He still felt like a sinner, but even sinners could find relief.

It's only moments later that he hears footsteps coming his way. Who would it be? Lux? Titus? Emberly? Any of them would be someone who could cut him apart, break him piece by piece, until he's crying from the pain that still aches in his chest. He had to continue the fight for home. It's what they would want. It's what he wants. He wants to find out who he is. He wants to visit their homes and give any relief that he can to them.

Emberly Lowe stands before him like a giant.

Once considerate and caring eyes that looked into him like she knew who he was were gone.

They were replaced with that of a killer that he had watched on day five as she took Wendell's last breath away. There's the memory of day two when she cuts into Rhetoric with her blade that she trusted. The words that she had spoken to him in his ears once again.

"Why . . . you know why: because we have to, Teddy,"

There's nothing more than they had to fight to live in their world of chaos and killers. Blood was the normal color that they would all remember once it's over. The green in his eyes have paled at the sight of her as she approaches with words upon her lips. He knew what she would say before she had even spoken the words. Ree Fer was going to be the first thing she worried about. Ree Fer, the boy that he had taken the last breath of. She stands before him like a giant with more strength than he could ever have, but he had to fight.

"Teddy?"

It's haunting coming from her lips.

"I saw Ree in the anthem, what — do you know what hap —"

The words break as her eyes move from his face to the silver that gleams behind him. A memory of the boy before. A memory of Wendell Gordon who had taken his leg. It gleams like a reminder of the deed Teddy had done. It didn't take too long for her to process as tears prick her eyes. He's clutching his hand on his spear as he knew that they would break out into a fight over Ree Fer, just like the day before. It's because they have to do it. They had to fight over the death of their friends.

"You —"

He can feel the sorrows upon her chest as she carries herself with the love of everyone that she meets. If he could have made it different, if he could have lived with Ree Fer without a fight, he would have, but the storm had came with Ree Fer striking first. He's choking back the tears that he wants to let out for killing Ree. He killed Ree Fer with the spear that is in his hands that glimmers gold like the stars that he had sent crashing down upon Fer. He had broken the life that he had carried with his own weapon.

The first person who had made him take a life from the living.

It's not easy watching the pain on his face as the last breath of relief escapes.

"You killed him,"

The words escape her throat as a single tear comes forth from the idea of his blade ending her friend's life. Emberly could have killed Chester, but the way she had approached him told him that she hadn't. There would be a guilt that he could read, but there was no guilt in her eyes. All the guilt was stuck in his own chest as he can feel the bones rattling around him. The gaze of death upon them both. Her words cut him from the ache in his chest.

"You killed him, didn't you?"

The words come out more forceful and he breaks again. Tears come to his eyes as his hands shake in his grip of the spear. He's guilty of it all. Ree Fer's blood was coated upon his hands because he had to live for Chester, but even that was gone. All he had left was the promise of dead men and women. The promise of learning who he truly was when he got home. People were waiting for him to come home, just like there were others waiting for another Lowe to come home.

He had promised to not forget Ree. He had promised to visit District Five for Cam. He had made sure to see Chester get home to Seven. There's nothing more than the shaking of his hands as he holds himself up on his peg leg with tears down his face. He's holding himself as high as he can as he speaks the words that were the truth. He's broken and lost every piece of himself in just one day.

"Fuck. I-I killed him Emberly."

He's shaking from the sorrows that lie upon his chest like a weight that would never be lifted from him. He's holding onto that last strand of hope that things could be different, but he should know it's too good to be true. It's never enough for the other person to accept that he didn't want to. He never wanted to hurt someone from the first day that he entered the arena. This could be his last breath, his last sunrise and sunset, the day could end with him dying from her sword.

"I didn't want to. You have to believe me, but he struck me first and he wouldn't give in until one of us were dead."

Green meets brown as he lets some more tears out of his eyes. There's a moment when he thought that the world was evil and full of the worst that there could possibly be, but he's learned that there's nothing evil. It took a storm to show him that. It took a game of life or death to show him that even the good have evil in them and the evil have good in them. There's no sides of evil or good like a coin, but they all had the potential for either of them. Teddy Ursa was losing himself to the sorrows.

"It was too much. I-I wish it didn't have to be like that. I wish he wouldn't have forced my hand, Emberly."

It's silence as he takes a breath of air and steadies himself for her next words that would come from Emberly Lowe's lips. The sword looking ever so more of a threat as seconds pass by. He's silent as he watches her carefully, spear clutched at his side as he's breathing carefully, knowing it could be his last one. There's a second until she speaks again of Ree Fer.

"How did he die? Did you leave him to suffer, or did you make it quick?"

A gasp of air that he lets out as he hears her words. He thinks back to the fight and remembers his eyes. It had been quicker than most deaths that he had seen. It was quicker than Rhetoric's death. It was quicker than many other deaths, but longer than Aline's. It's a moment before he can feel the stars upon his skin. The blood that once coated his body seemed to be there, but it wasn't, only a memory of the demons inside of him.

"By my spear, It was as quick as I could make it. I promise he didn't suffer."

Her blade cuts him off from the thoughts as it cuts into his head as he winces in pain, but it wasn't the worst one. It was a wound that had emotion behind it like Ree Fer's. Ree's glaive resides in his bag like a weight of the death upon his shoulders. Eyes move to Emberly as he holds back for a moment as he speaks from the wound. Pain in his head like the day before.

"I don't want to do this, Emberly. I don't want to do this, but,"

He's stopped for a moment as he can feel himself breaking again. Chester wanted him to get home. Adelaide would have wanted him to go home and remember her. Ree Fer wanted him to forget, but he wouldn't. Raquel had told him to find his reason to get home. Rory and Rhetoric had counted on him and he wasn't going to fail them now. He wasn't going to fail Chester again.

He should have never left him that day.

He holds the spear up as he moves like he had done with Ree Fer. He wasn't going to sit there and be cut apart like the prey that he was the other day. Emberly Lowe stands like a giant, as he was nothing more than an obstacle in her way from going home to Saffron and the rest of her family. He's got a home to go to. He's got a mother who's grave needed to be visited once again. He's quiet as he finally speaks once again. Heart beating with the sounds of the water behind him.

"I have to do this for them. Chester. Rory. Rhetoric. Adelaide. Ree. Raquel. Clem. Cam. Basil. Kaiser. They're all dead, but I carry them with me. They give me the strength to continue fighting. The thought of seeing who I really am is what keeps me going. I don't know who I've ever been, Emberly."

It's better to get the stuff off of his chest in case she's the one who ends his last breath. She deserved to know who she was fighting. She deserved to know the secrets that he holds deep in his chest. He's crying again, but steadies himself as blood drips down the back of his neck. His shirtless chest feels so cold among the waterfall and the dead that he carries upon it.

"I don't know who I am because I forgot it all, Emberly. My family, my friends, everything. I know you fight for your family, but I fight for myself. I'm not gonna give up and I hope you don't either."

Then it's like a spark to the skin as he moves forward with the gold that he had struck Ree Fer with the day before. It gleams like the stars that he had seen the night before. Water behind them crashes against the bottom as the spray eases the skin. It's a peaceful place where death soon would come for one of them. He pushes himself up to carry himself like he had done before.

There's a movement of the air that swishes with his spear. He strikes with his Chester's words in his head towards himself. It's two good souls that had been wronged clashing together like the heroes that they once were. It was for Rhetoric. For Rory. For Chester. For Cam. For Ree. For Raquel. For himself.

He swings with every gleam of the spear as one of their eyes looking back at him.

"One of us needs to make it home, and that's all I hope for now."

He would try for him.

That was his promise.

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
JZH4MuKZspear
(Shallow cut on back 4.0)

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Last Edit: Aug 26, 2017 23:14:32 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 27, 2017 12:19:52 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 27, 2017 12:19:52 GMT -5

►►►

though the winter sun is fading
and the days turn black as night
i still hear your voice saying
soft words upon the tide

The dagger in her heart only twists even more and her boiling blood bubbles around the turning blade. Teddy begins to cry and she feels her blood heat up, as if there is a flame burning beneath her veins, but she knows it well enough by now to not mistake it for anger. Emberly is not angry; fury has never come easily to her. But her emotions are on fire — anguish, grief, despair. They all burn up inside of her, a wildfire she can't control anymore.

The adrenaline doesn't help; it comes flooding through her as her heart begins to race and only adds fuel to the flames. They flare up as she strikes and when she pulls away, she glances down at the blood now glistening on her sword. She never wanted this, but after it's all over, she will hold Kiara in her arms again. Emberly has killed too many people to stop now. She has taken to much just to die here like everyone else.

"By my spear, it was as quick as I could make it. I promise he didn't suffer," his words strum at her heartstrings until they snap. He didn't suffer — it is a small comfort to Emberly, but it does not change that Ree is dead. He didn't suffer, not the way Clementina did before she died. Emberly will never forget that, all of the blood like a red sea staining the white deck of the yacht, how Clementina's organs had been partially exposed beneath broken skin and cracked bones.

"I don't want to do this, Emberly." She doesn't either but they are trapped, birds in a cage, and they have no say in the matter. Not if they value their lives. "I don't want to do this, but —" Teddy's voice cracks, and if they were in different circumstances, Emberly would have held him like she did Ree the last night she saw him alive.

"I have to do this for them. Chester. Rory. Rhetoric. Adelaide. Ree. Raquel. Clem. Cam. Basil. Kaiser. They're all dead, but I carry them with me. They give me the strength to continue fighting. The thought of seeing who I really am is what keeps me going. I don't know who I've ever been, Emberly."

The dead have never given her strength. They have only ever beaten her down and crushed her spirit. They do not make her strong, because she always knew that they would have to die, and she will not be winning for them. Emberly has known forever who she is trying to win for. Fighting for her friends after they are gone does nothing for them because they will stay dead. Nothing can change that, not even everything the Capitol promises to the Victors. No amount of money or praise could make what happened better. Nothing can — not even the warm embrace of her family.

"I don't know who I am because I forgot it all, Emberly. My family, my friends, everything. I know you fight for your family, but I fight for myself. I'm not gonna give up and I hope you don't either." He is like Ree then, she thinks to herself. He fights for himself. A part of her does, too, but not all of her. That, she believes, is what makes her stronger than Teddy Ursa. She has more to come home to than an empty house where she will waste away for the rest of her days.

He strikes at her with that spear, the same one he killed Ree with. She tries to move out of the way but instead the tip of his spear grazes the back, just along the left side. Emberly doesn't wince at the pain; it is nothing compared to the pain that rips at her insides. Physical agony is nothing in contrast to the mental and emotional scarring she has endured.

"You aren't the only one who carries the dead with you," she tells him. McCarthy, Clementina, Raquel, Ree, Lace, Walherich, Wendell. They are gone now but she still feels them in her heart. They will always be with her, whether she wants them to or not. It does not matter how many times Emberly washes the blood from her skin; she will never be clean of their deaths.

"But I have more than the dead to fight for. That's how we're different. They're gone, Teddy. Winning won't make that better." Ree is gone now, too, and nothing can change that. He had said before he left her that perhaps they would see each other in the sky — she wishes with all her heart that he was wrong. "We're all alone here, now. All of our friends have died. But I fight because no matter how lonely I feel, I know that it won't be like that if I come home."

She would have died long ago, caved in on herself in despair, if she did not have that to look forward too. Because if she looks back too much, into the darkness of death, she knows that it would destroy her completely. Emberly is already in shambles, a mess of what she had once been, but at least she is still here. She can still love her family with half of a heart.

The raised blade of The Queen glints in the sunlight that trickles in from the canopy of trees. "I'm sorry that I can't say the same for you. If you live, I hope you find something else to hold onto in District Six."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; The Queen (sword)]
VSkKGOtysword
[1130 -- Shallow Cut on Left Thigh -- 3.5 damage]

eurielle
eurielle
will you wait for me?
will you wait for me?

[ rave ]

sword

Last Edit: Aug 27, 2017 12:20:49 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 27, 2017 13:30:34 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 27, 2017 13:30:34 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

Emberly was the typical hero of the stories that he used to read to kids in the hospital.

Stories of adventures with friends to save their loved ones from monsters and creatures of the night, Emberly was the hero of this story that lived among the sky above. Built from the love of family and friends alike, she carries them with her as she wants to return to them from inside. It's something that she has that he would never have if he were to make it out. The spear cuts into her back barely as he holds himself steady. No more tears to be shed, it was time for him to focus on the fight at hand. He wasn't some sort of hero that had come and conquered.

He's barely even coated his hands with blood, except for the blood of Ree Fer upon his hands. The memories of the past were still there. People were still waiting for him, even if he didn't fully know them. District Six had their hearts set on him as he was in the final four. Not many tributes from six have made it to this point. He holds his breath for a moment as he catches himself from his thoughts and back to the reality at hand as Emberly speaks to him.

"You aren't the only one who carries the dead with you,"

He already knew that. He knew more than Emberly thought he did. He's seen the faces in the sky. He's seen the way she had ended Wendell Gordon. He had seen the blood that coated her hands. She wasn't the perfect hero from fairytales, but there was still the way that she held herself that made him feel sorry for everything. There could only be one left in the arena. There's so much more that he wants to do that he could feel it on his fingertips, but death was hiding away with bones that were cold.

Her words stab him in the gut and twists the knife with a cold touch.

"But I have more than the dead to fight for. That's how we're different. They're gone, Teddy. Winning won't make that better."

He didn't want to make it better. Death wasn't meant to be easy. It was meant to be painful and eat away at the heart. It was meant to be a sign of strength that he could survive through it. He's loved and lost so many people, but there were others waiting for him at home that he could barely remember. Family friends of Ma's that were counting on him to come home and share a cup of tea with him. He could remember the children he played with as a kid that were still alive somewhere there. Even his real parents, who may have been horrible to him were still there, waiting for him to confront them.

Emberly may think that the world revolves around the Lowes in Ten, but there were others who deserved to go home than her. Rory Benstaloe didn't deserve to die over a girl like Emberly who only wants to go running home to her family. Tears in her eyes as she hugs Saffron Lowe when she escapes. All he can do is frown at the thought of it. He doesn't want to fight her as she's always been kind, but he was going to fight her. He had to do it for himself, for district six, and for the memories that he has.

"We're all alone here, now. All of our friends have died. But I fight because no matter how lonely I feel, I know that it won't be like that if I come home."

"You're wrong, Emberly."

She didn't know what it was like to be alone surrounded by many. She didn't know what it was like to be drowning in front of everyone as they passed him by with nothing, but hushed whispers of who was the boy from the room down the hall. She didn't know what it was like to forget everything and not have anyone show up, but remember that there were people who knew him. She didn't know what it was like to walk through the world without a hand to hold. That's where they were different. There were no more hands to hold for her. There was no one to guide her out.

He's survived on his own for so long. He's resilient, it's just what he is.

"You think that you deserve to go home over me because you have people at home. You don't think anyone else has people at home waiting for them. What would you say to Rory's brothers? Rhetoric's family? Raquel's siblings? Would you tell them that they didn't deserve to go home because you wouldn't be alone when you got home? I may be alone here with only the dead around me, but at least I'm not selfish like you."

His grip tightens on the spear as his green caring eyes sharpen into a focus. Gold gleams on his skin as red coats the end. He's not forgotten what it's like to see victor after victor come to six with nothing more than simple words. He wouldn't be like that. He didn't forget the dead because the dead didn't deserve to be forgotten. Even people like Wendell Gordon deserved to have someone hold onto him.

He bites the inside of his cheek as he holds himself steady, raising his spear at her in silence. The crashing of the water, the only thing that sounds in his ears as he tries to focus on the good things that there were. Emberly was a hero, but a selfish one who thought she deserved to go home. Everyone wanted to go home, but she wasn't going to get him to bend the knee for her. To give in to death so easily like it was second nature. He wouldn't do that.

"I'm sorry that I can't say the same for you. If you live, I hope you find something else to hold onto in District Six."

Her blade cuts into his leg and he's almost scared that she'll cut it off and leave him on the ground, but he couldn't let that happen, so he moves away left with a smaller cut. The ground feels hard against his foot. It's damp in the area and he's sweating just a little bit from the exertion of energy. He has so much more to hold onto in District Six than she could ever know. He speaks up now with words in his chest.

"I have more than you could ever know in District Six. You wouldn't even try to look for it if you were to kill me, would you? You carry yourself like a selfish child who's gotten her way. I've watched people die Emberly. All of my life. I worked as a nurse in the hospital and I watched people rot away into nothingness. I fight so I can help them. I fight because I have loved ones at home too. I fight because others deserve to be here. I told myself during the feast that I'd keep District Ten alive for Rory, but now, I have to break that."

It's sudden as he moves forward. The movement of his foot and the peg leg as he moves forward with ease. He can taste the bitterness of Ree upon his tongue. He can see the twisted Wendell Gordon that had cut his leg off. He can see Rory's eyes as he falls. He can hear Adelaide's scream as her allies die. He can see Emberly's blade stabbing into Rhetoric's foot. Death was around every corner waiting for them.

He wasn't going to give in to Emberly Lowe. There's nothing he could do, but fight for everything that he believed in. A man who thought he was going to die on day one to a man who was fighting to live for the rest of his life. He was no longer the scared Teddy that he had been when he came into the arena, he's evolved into a man that he wished he could have been when his parents had swung at him the first time. He had become a man he wished he could have been to fight for the patients that wasted away in bed all day.

He carries so much on his shoulders, but in that moment he felt weightless.

"District Six is watching me."

He pauses as he holds the gold up in a swing as he lunges for her.

"Don't be selfish, we all have something waiting for us at home. I have District Six. You have the Lowe's."

A pause of breath.

"None of us are alone if you really think about it."

Home. He was so close to home.

Gold gleams as he strikes for the memory of the loved ones in Six.

They deserved to have someone just like the rest of them.

Teddy Ursa would make sure that they were heard.

Every single lost soul that he carries in the falling light.

"I hope District Ten can forgive me, even if you can't."

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
x_LY5CAgspear
(Shallow cut right thigh 3.5)

spear

Last Edit: Aug 27, 2017 13:34:49 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 27, 2017 16:09:55 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 27, 2017 16:09:55 GMT -5

►►►

eurielle
eurielle
will you wait for me?
will you wait for me?

"You're wrong, Emberly."

Her eyes burn into his as Teddy's blood drips down the side of her blade and settle into the engraved crown at the hilt.

"You think that you deserve to go home over me because you have people at home. You don't think anyone else has people at home waiting for them. What would you say to Rory's brothers? Rhetoric's family? Raquel's siblings?" Anger flares in Teddy's voice and there is a new fire that ignites into his eyes. He seems to have taken her words differently than she intended, twisted them inside of his head. She has never seen him like this before, with fury sucking out any gentleness from those green depths. They are barren now; unrecognizable.

"Would you tell them that they didn't deserve to go home because you wouldn't be alone when you got home? I may be alone here with only the dead around me, but at least I'm not selfish like you." She has always known that she would have to act selfishly if she was going to survive; she never claimed to be selfless. It just makes it easier for her to kill, easier for her to keep going, if she focuses on home. Sunsets, golden fields, wildflowers and red hair; Kiara's embrace, Ment's loving punches on the shoulder, Paige's narrowed eyes, Saffron's smile, her mother's songs and her father's stories.

"I have more than you could ever know in District Six. You wouldn't even try to look for it if you were to kill me, would you? You carry yourself like a selfish child who's gotten her way. I've watched people die Emberly. All of my life. I worked as a nurse in the hospital and I watched people rot away into nothingness. I fight so I can help them. I fight because I have loved ones at home too. I fight because others deserve to be here. I told myself during the feast that I'd keep District Ten alive for Rory, but now, I have to break that."

"You carry yourself like a selfish child who's gotten her way." But she hasn't gotten her way. If she had her way, her friends would still be here. Ree and Raquel would still be laughing by the campfire. Clementina would still be by her side, or perhaps she would have lived another day and maybe Emberly would have hugged her by the fire. Or maybe she would have tried to kiss her, just once. She thought about it once in her dreams, how she would have liked Clementina to be her first kiss, and wondered if her lips were as soft as the rest of her.

She just wishes she could have admitted that before Clem was gone and it was too late.

"I've watched people die Emberly." She just shakes her head at him. She watched her own sister die on a screen, hundreds of miles away and absolutely helpless to save her. She held McCarthy and Clementina's hands as they died and sent them away in flowers. She just stood there and watched Clementina slice Rhetoric's head clean off her body. She knelt at Raquel's side as she drew her final breaths, bleeding and desperately trying to hold on until the very end. And she killed, too, watched each of her three victims fall, let them slump to the ground after she pulled her blade from their broken bodies. Lace, Wendell, Walherich.

Ree is the only one she did not witness dying, but part of her is grateful to have been saved of that memory. Still, she wishes that she could have comforted him until the end.

"District Six is watching me." And District Ten is watching her — she can imagine Saffron right now, staring at the television, hoping and praying that she wouldn't lose another relative. She must be thinking, It's all my fault. Emberly wonders if Saffron is as broken as she is.

"Don't be selfish, we all have something waiting for us at home. I have District Six. You have the Lowes. None of us are alone if you really think about it." Then why does she feel so empty?

Teddy Ursa acts as if they are so different, but the more he talks, the more Emberly realizes that they are more similar than she ever thought. She fights her absolute equal today. A killer, a griever, a gentle soul that just wants to survive.

"I hope District Ten can forgive me, even if you can't."

He stabs at her again and she staggers back; he leaves only a shallow line of blood on her leg. She does not wince; it feels almost like a little prick of a needle, especially with all the adrenaline burning in her veins.

Despite the anger blazing in his voice, Emberly listens to him all the way through. She nods respectfully when he finishes. "That's good, then. You're more than I thought you were. I was a nurse, too, back home, but for animals."

The two of them circle each other and Emberly watches him carefully, waiting for an opening. Over the past week, she has learned how to be strategic in fighting, mostly by watching Clementina as well as others. The way Tina moved was almost flawless, almost like a Career. Emberly would never be so smooth with her movements, never as fierce as Clementina in battle, but she at least tries to mimic it.

"Don't pretend you know exactly who I am," she says. Her voice is not harsh; she keeps a rather even tone. But Teddy struck a nerve upon mentioning Clementina, and it shows in Emberly's face; her brows are furrowed in pain and her mouth is turned down in a slight frown. "You're putting words in my mouth, Teddy. I never said that I deserved to live more than everyone else. I didn't deserve to live more than McCarthy or Rory, Raquel or Ree. They have families, too — I know."

"I definitely don't deserve to be alive over Clementina. She's always been better than me, even before I killed anyone." Emberly had once questioned Clementina's innocence, before she truly understood what it meant to take a life. She had killed more than Emberly back then and yet Clementina will always be more pure, more innocent than her. She fought for her friends; she had no one at home, not that Emberly knows of, but she wasn't like Ree, either. She never fought for herself — not even once. Emberly remembers how Clementina stood in the way of her and Rhetoric's gun, how she gladly took a bullet so it wouldn't hit Emberly instead. She had killed to save Ree, then Emberly, then Raquel. Clementina is the only one in this entire Arena who died completely selfless.

It is preposterous for Teddy to believe that he is above her; she knows with every part of her that she is not more worthy of life than him. But that changes nothing, still — she will do what she must. Equals or not, Emberly wants to live. It is as simple as that.

Emberly him in the eye again as another tear trickles down her face in the same path as the last one. If anyone deserved to live, it was Clementina. Instead, she died in the worst way Emberly could have ever imagined. She remembers holding her trembling, blood-stained hand, feeling the warmth fade from her skin, how she kissed her forehead and it was like ice against her lips . . .

"But you're wrong, too, Teddy. You are selfish. You killed Ree, didn't you? And why? Because you want to live. Just like I do. Look in the mirror — you're breaking your promise to Rory to keep Ten alive. And why? Because you are just as every bit selfish as I am," she tells him. "So don't pretend like you're better than me when we're equals. Everyone alive right now is selfish; there isn't any room for selflessness right now."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; The Queen (sword)]
RcHcNnFesword
[1070 -- Shallow Cut on Neck -- 4.0 damage]

waves break in the silence
peace shatters all around
through the storm i feel your guidance
to your heart i am bound

[ rave ]

sword

Last Edit: Aug 27, 2017 16:11:45 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]
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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 27, 2017 23:51:37 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 27, 2017 23:51:37 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

Fear and bravery were one in the same, bridged on top of pillars of stone that drive right through the emotions that lay in the heart.

Anger seeps away from his skin as the shaking comes back to his skin. He can feel the fear that many mistaken as bravery. He wore it like the clothes that kept him from indecency. As a child, from who he was able to remember, he had been afraid of everything. A boy who hid inside of himself because the outside world was so much more scarier than his head. Parents who used to crush him in their iron grips of the heart that burnt him with a false idea of politeness. Submit to the stronger, the weak only rot away in beds made of cotton, there's no differences in the strong or the weak, except that he was always weak to them.

He knew now that weakness and strength were two sides of the same coin.

There's no difference in them as he can see both Emberly and himself circling with weapons of silver and gold engulfed it red from small wounds that both create. It's her words that breaks him of the anger that haunts his insides. Cold and calculated were the qualities of Ree Fer, who he had killed. He wasn't going to become that man who wanted Teddy to die. Ree Fer had good laying underneath, but no one had taken it out to show, except for Raquel. The living and the dead still haunt the arena with memories of blood and broken mental states.

"That's good, then. You're more than I thought you were. I was a nurse, too, back home, but for animals."

A nurse who cared for animals like he cared for people. She thought he was more than he was originally. He's sent a flurry of angry words at her as a defense for the way she spoke to him like his beliefs weren't worthy of standing before her, but he was wrong. He always seemed to end up being wrong, but people mess up everyday. No one expected him to be perfect. He didn't think of himself as perfect. He knew what evil laid deep down in his heart when he had run into Lorenza with Wendell. Basil's killer who they had struck down at the cost of Rory. Teddy frowns as he listens to her continue.

"Don't pretend you know exactly who I am,"

The words ring like a memory of Ree's eyes gleaming with angry upon his tongue. This was different than the anger filled battle of worth to prove. The battle of two of the same where emotions would play a key role into how they felt. Words that would shoot like the bullets that missed, but would sink into skin. Every second they argue is a second that he finds himself breaking. Chester was watching from another life as he failed to do anything more than cut her again with a small cut.

"You're putting words in my mouth, Teddy. I never said that I deserved to live more than everyone else. I didn't deserve to live more than McCarthy or Rory, Raquel or Ree. They have families, too — I know."

He shouldn't have said the words. He shouldn't have tried to break Emberly Lowe with words because she was better with them than he could ever be. She knew that he wasn't right. He hasn't been right ever and that's how life went for him. He carried the weight of right and wrong upon his shoulders like the world was at war with him, but he always lost in the end. His memory. His family. His Ma. They had all disappeared from him because he couldn't do anything, but help others. He got walked on like he was nothing more than someone who didn't matter.

They only saw him as a patient at the hospital who needed a job to help provide. The people of Six saw him as a tribute who was meant to die on day one. Ree Fer saw him as an obstacle in the way of living. Emberly Lowe saw him as something more than just an obstacle. He was human just like her. He had emotions just like her. There's no denying the words that he knew would come from her lips.

"I definitely don't deserve to be alive over Clementina. She's always been better than me, even before I killed anyone."

There's the sound in her voice that tells him its the truth. If there's one thing that he knew about Emberly, it was that she didn't hide the truth under words. Wendell Gordon, the master of getting under the skin, was the only one who knew how to put lies up to hide the intent behind them. Emberly's words were both kind and stern as she told him the truth of everything. He's seen people who didn't deserve to die like they had. He's felt their pain from afar as he knew that death loomed over them all with cold bones that shake as they take a journey to their eternal resting place.

Green eyes catch brown as he can see the tear that falls down her cheek. Clementina had been important, just like Ree Fer had been. He didn't know how she died. He wanted to know, but it wasn't his place to know. It wasn't the time to ask. If he was to die in the arena, he would hope that it was to someone like Emberly Lowe who held a heart of gold even in a place made of cold and dark waters and hot red molten rock. Except this wasn't his time, He was going to fight for himself and the ones he carried with him like Emberly was going to do.

Others deserved to be there, but he still stands before them like a survivor of death that he's escaped since he's climbed into the arena. Eyes meet as he can feel himself calming and the shaking coming more apparent. He's standing there listening to her words again. They hollow him out with an ache that reminds him that they were there. No more scared boy locked away into his head from the world of terrors. Good hides in the dark leading them through it with hearts of gold.

"But you're wrong, too, Teddy. You are selfish. You killed Ree, didn't you? And why? Because you want to live. Just like I do. Look in the mirror — you're breaking your promise to Rory to keep Ten alive. And why? Because you are just as every bit selfish as I am,"

They were all selfish creature who wanted to live another day so they can go back with their hearts barely attached. He holds himself steady as he knew why he had done it. He killed Ree Fer to live another day. To live another day to see Chester. Live another day to see Adelaide. He was selfish because he wanted to see them once more, but now he wanted to live to meet the people who knew him. Meet the ones who possibly still carried him with loving words and happy tears that he lived.

"So don't pretend like you're better than me when we're equals. Everyone alive right now is selfish; there isn't any room for selflessness right now."

"I'm not better than you."

He drops his defense for a moment as looks at her brown eyes that were once filled with a fire that he had ignited in her. He's watching her as he thinks of what to say to Emberly from Ten. Rory's district partner who he didn't speak of, but had some sort of bond with. He had carried her home with him for days, until he died. He was trying to live for himself. He was selfish. He was just as selfish as anyone else was. All he could do was hold the spear as he speaks still to her.

Anger no longer in his chest igniting his lungs on fire.

A watery tear falls from his eyes.

"We're equals. You proved that to me, Emberly."

He still shakes. It's almost as if his knee will buckle under him, but he knows that the peg leg would stop that from completely happening. He thinks of the dead and the living. He thinks of the day that he had faced her on day two. Thoughts of the words that they shared echoing in his head as he decides to breath and let it in. He absorbs the area that could become his final resting place. wounds upon their skin bleed red with the life of the arena that lays within them.

"I don't deserve to live more than them. Ree Fer had told me that he wanted to not be sober when he died. I couldn't provide him with that. Rory Benstaloe, I left with Wendell's group because there was nothing I could do for him anymore. I don't deserve to live over them, but I am still here. I don't know why, but I still am alive when they died."

Green eyes watch her carefully as they dance like the storm of the day before. Water crashes behind him as he knows that it's wet and would cool the day. He knew that the water was meant to be a calm that always was around. It was beautiful and yet so deadly. Anything that fell from it's edge would perish or live with little life left. He's holding onto the life that he has as he watches Emberly with the wound that now hides upon his neck. Red coating her blade again as the gold in his hand glitters alive. An extension of himself like it was another limb.

"We're equals. We're alive. We're selfish."

Death hides away in the sea of calm. There's a chill that comes from his spine as he moves around like a dance of death and blood. They have managed to do that dance for eight days. Eight long days of maneuvering around silver, gold, and brown. They had survived for this moment when they'd clash. Golden hearts that deserved to both live, but only one could survive in the end. He was gonna give it all he could. He was going to try and survive once again, but that meant proving himself once again.

He had told the Gamemakers that he belonged there, but he knows he didn't.

"Thank you. For everything, Emberly."

He moves forward with the spear pointed at her. He's going to strike with the stars that hide above. He's going to strike like his life was on the line as it was. He was going to fight her like he had done with Ree Fer. It would show which of them deserved to live more. Golden lights that danced a dance of red and blue.

"I'm sorry for them. Ree, Raquel, and Clem. I-I know that they cared about you. I know you cared about them. It should have been me over Rory that day. It should have been me over Chester. I stand here before you because of them."

He's silent as he can feel his heart beat quicken.

Emberly Lowe was his equal.

He was her equal.

There was no need to hide away in his head.

"I hope if you kill me, you'll remember me, Emberly. I'll remember you forever no matter what."

There's a moment when he can feel death for a second, but it's gone as he watches her brown eyes.

"You have a heart of gold, even in the end."

Then they dance together.

Gold, Silver, Red, and Light.

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
bvhUWiHyspear
(Deep Gash on Left Calf 8.0 +1 for spear -1 for SD = 8.0)

spear

Last Edit: Aug 27, 2017 23:52:48 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 30, 2017 20:56:35 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 30, 2017 20:56:35 GMT -5

►►►

eurielle
eurielle
will you wait for me?
will you wait for me?

Despite the blood now leaking from the red line on his neck, the anger slowly fades from Teddy Ursa's eyes. "I'm not better than you. We're equals. You proved that to me, Emberly," he realizes. She has always found it strange how quickly people flip in the midst of a chaos of emotions, a blaze of hurt and rage. How they let it consumes them, fold over them in a great wave. She lets her heart guide her, but never eat her alive.

She watches, sword lowered, as a tear falls and glistens on the side of his cheek.

"I don't deserve to live more than them. Ree Fer had told me that he wanted to not be sober when he died. I couldn't provide him with that. Rory Benstaloe, I left with Wendell's group because there was nothing I could do for him anymore. I don't deserve to live over them, but I am still here. I don't know why, but I still am alive when they died," Teddy pours his heart out to her and she can hear the pain in his voice, but somehow he keeps himself steady.

"We're equals. We're alive. We're selfish." She doesn't think that the Games are about who deserves to live and who doesn't. Everyone is equals in the Arena — Gregor's death on the first day showed her that. She remembers staring at his picture in the anthem and wondering why it was him and not her. District Two, a score of Eleven — perhaps it mattered in the Capitol, but here it was nothing.

If fate was real, if the storybooks were true and the universe was on the side of the light, the Games wouldn't even be happening. She hopes that if she ever sees a heaven, it will be like the fairy tales and her dreams. A perfect world where pain and suffering no longer exist, and all the hearts of the people are filled with joy.

It has never been about what they deserve — if it was, she doesn't believe that Clementina and Raquel would have died suffering, and Ree would have died just like he wanted, locked in a blissful haze.

She will never see them again — not even in the sky.

"Thank you. For everything, Emberly." A pang in her heart — he's thanking her but they're trying to kill each other, and by the end of this, only one of them will walk away. She never thought she would hear someone thank her as she circled around them, poised to strike at any moment, and yet here they are.

"I'm sorry for them. Ree, Raquel, and Clem. I-I know that they cared about you. I know you cared about them. It should have been me over Rory that day. It should have been me over Chester. I stand here before you because of them." And she stands here before Teddy Ursa because of her friends. They had to die so that she could live — something she's been living with since day one, but only now does she truly feel the weight of that fact pushing her down by her bones.

"I hope if you kill me, you'll remember me, Emberly. I'll remember you forever no matter what. You have a heart of gold, even in the end." And he lunges at her, leaving behind a gash that oozes crimson. She feels it drip down her leg more than she feels the pain of the new wound, numbed by adrenaline. But if she lives to see the anthem again, she knows that she her nerves will come alive again and she'll be in pain tonight.

("Until the end.") She would smile if she could muster the emotional strength. There is no room for selflessness anymore, and smiles feel out of place, too. Emberly tries to envision it, just a little upturn of the side of her lips, but it looks wrong on her face. Sullen eyes and a smile — they do not fit together the way they used to.

She remembers smiling at Clementina and she'd grin back, her blue eyes shining in the pale light of the moon as the sea breeze whispered in her hair. Emberly would sit around the firelight, laughing with Ree and Raquel until her lungs hurt, before any of them had killed, before they bared scars on their hearts. Those days are gone, pushed behind her into an ever growing void that threatens to suck her in with them.

"I don't know why I'm alive, either. I don't know why out of all my allies, who I always thought to be stronger than me, that I'm the one still here," she admits. Because perhaps she shouldn't be — if Clementina hadn't shielded her from that bullet, she doesn't think she would still be standing. If Ree and Raquel hadn't protected her in the feast, she would have ended up just like Wendell. It would have been her with a sword through her gut, lying around a burning ground to die.

Should or shouldn't — they don't truly matter, not anymore. What matters is that for now, her heart still beats and there is still air in her lungs.

"When I first came here, and when I killed —" her voice breaks off as she chokes on Lace Eon's name. Her death by Emberly's hand left a scar and it is still far from healing. "When I killed Lace Eon," Emberly says, much more smoothly now, but the words rasp like sandpaper against her throat, "I was so afraid that I would lose myself. I've always had so much heart — maybe too much for my own good — but that's what makes me who I am."

"And killing, taking a life like that, did change me. Even if I come out of here alive, I'll never be able to go back. I've killed three people now; I'll never be able to just erase that." When you take a life, life takes something from you. A piece of the heart that can never be replaced, and every waking moment Emberly feels that hole that has been punched into her chest.

"But I think that sometimes, no matter how much it hurts, that guilt keeps me feeling human." The dead drag her down, suck the life right from her lungs and sometimes at night, she awakens gasping and breathless. Clementina, Ree, Raquel, Wendell, Lace, Walherich; three friends and three kills. She carries their lives with her on her back and no matter how heavy they are, how much they make her want to drop to her aching knees, she will never let them go.

"If I live," she says, and looks into Teddy's eyes before she strikes, "I'll remember you, too. Until the end."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; The Queen (sword)]
W1_ThNOfsword
[1014 -- Shallow Cut on Left Hip -- 3.5 damage]

eurielle
eurielle
will you wait for me?
will you wait for me?

[ rave ]

sword

Last Edit: Aug 30, 2017 20:57:54 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 30, 2017 22:33:23 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 30, 2017 22:33:23 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

Gold cuts into crimson like it had done the day before.

The red glows like a beacon of life that was Emberly Lowe's own. He can see his own crimson upon her sword that glimmers silver and red as it flashes in the sky into his eyes for a second. He's been here before. Blood coming from wounds that would hurt later once the adrenaline disappeared. Adrenaline pumping through their veins as two of the same collide together. It's a mess of words and wounds that wouldn't heal, until they died. He can feel his hair flopping around as he moves away from her pulling the gold from the crimson.

She's been through as much as he has been. Green Eyes meet brown eyes where wounds of emotions hide deep in her gaze. There's nothing more than a good golden heart in her chest, but they had to fight for themselves, for their friends, for their family, and for their beliefs. It was a cruel world where there's no light among the shadows, but they guide themselves through it all. The lights that they held onto gleaming in the worst of the darkness as they trudged through it all.

"I don't know why I'm alive, either. I don't know why out of all my allies, who I always thought to be stronger than me, that I'm the one still here,"

His own allies had been stronger than him. Rhetoric who could speak words of politeness and still make them terrified. Rory, who had struck major wounds into Wendell's alliance, was stronger than he had been that entire day. Then there was Chester, who had been stronger than him by a lot. He was gone now, but he helped him make it to this spot that he stood on. Chester had blocked hits that were meant for Teddy. Chester had fought and killed multiple people, so Teddy didn't have to. He showed what true strength was and killed Aline and Lorenza, so he could live.

He wouldn't forget him.

Emberly had allies who had given their own lives to keep her alive. Raquel, Ree, and Clementina were the three who she carried with her. They had faced challenges like Teddy, Rory, Chester, and Rhetoric had. They had both lost them just as fast as they had gotten them. Teddy watches her with a blank face like Chester would have done. He grips his golden weapon like Rory had done. He would hold himself like Rhetoric had done.

"When I first came here, and when I killed —"

Her voice breaks with an emotion that resides in her heart.

"When I killed Lace Eon,"

Lace Eon, the girl from District Nine who had fought alongside them during the first giant chicken attack. She was dead because of Emberly Lowe, but he still ignores the pang of hurt that he feels for her. He didn't even know the girl like he had Titus, but it still felt like a new piece of information that he needed to keep. He wouldn't forget her, just like he wouldn't forget anyone. Emberly continues with her words.

"I was so afraid that I would lose myself. I've always had so much heart — maybe too much for my own good — but that's what makes me who I am."

There was still the fear of losing himself that hangs from the tips of his fingers since he had pushed his spear through Ree's chest. It hangs on the edge of fear that it would tear him up, but he knew it was what he had to do. He would feel guilty for as long as he lived with Ree Fer's death upon his hands. Red crimson liquid coating them with the fear of it all. They were equals. They carried so much heart that it was even more for their own good. It's gotten him into trouble since the first day when he stopped himself from piercing Raquel's body.

"And killing, taking a life like that, did change me. Even if I come out of here alive, I'll never be able to go back. I've killed three people now; I'll never be able to just erase that."

Three were dead by her hands. Three people who he knew the names of, at least two of them. The third was a guess based on her eyes. She carried so much in her heart that she must of killed Walherich. There wasn't any emotions from the deaths that he had seen above. It left the District Eleven male as the third dead. He watches her with caution as he knew that she carried more kills than him. It still didn't matter, in the end if he were to die there. He would try to accept his fate.

They carried the same weight. Never to return back to who they used to be before. The old Teddy had died sometime before the reaping and into the games. Ma's death hides somewhere in his mind as he knew that she would still say that he changed and learned from the actions he's had to take. She would have told him that there's always going to be a piece of his heart that still resides in himself. She was dead though, just like everyone else.

He was alone, but not as alone as everything seemed.

He carried them with him.

"But I think that sometimes, no matter how much it hurts, that guilt keeps me feeling human."

It hurts, but they hold onto that guilt. It becomes a driving force instead of a weight that drags them under. He would try to smile if he could, but they were in a fight of emotions and wounds. Someone still had to die with their hearts ending in silence. Words fall from his lips as he grips the spear tighter in his hands.

"I've only just killed yesterday. Ree Fer was the first person I took from here."

Eyes glance to the side as he looks to the silver weapon that gleams, clean from his own blood. Ree Fer would hate him if he were to kill Emberly, but there's no other options for him. He has to fight the girl from Ten who carried a golden heart for everyone. He's silent as he watches her. They continue their circle of blades and stand off that feels cold and yet so warm.

"If I live," Her eyes catch his own for a moment as he watches her again. They look so sullen from everything she's been through. "I'll remember you, too. Until the end."

Until the end. It's what he had told himself about Chester. He would remember him until the end of their games. Dead or alive. He watches her careful, until she strikes again. Cutting another wound that was smaller upon his hip. He breaths in a breath of air that fills his lungs. He lets it out softly as he steadies himself and speaks again.

"Ree Fer's death changed me. I feel the guilt that weighs upon me, but we're the same in feelings. I-It makes me remember that I'm still human. That I still am here, alive, and still able to remember the things that I can."

Ree Fer had challenged his mind in an emotional turmoil, but it was neverending. An ache that never truly goes away from his chest. He grabs as his side as he feels blood coming to his fingers. It never went away, the ache of Ree Fer that resides in him. His leg that was gone ached with pain as he tried to stretch it out once again. He's still in the fight. Half dead, but still alive. The small wounds doing more than he had expected them to do. He speaks again.

"Until the end, Emberly."

He stands still for a moment as there's a gentle breeze from the waterfall that resides behind him. It coats his skin with a gentle sweat that cools the skin. He can feel his heart beating. He can feel his lungs inhaling and exhaling with breaths of the living. He can feel his hands holding onto the spear tightening slightly and releasing slightly. There's so much that he still wants to see. There's so much that he wants to know. All he can do is try to be the last light at the waterfall.

"I'm sorry that we've both suffered through so much."

Eyes glance towards her as he holds himself up like Rhetoric. A blank stare like Chester's that he's seen upon his face too many times. Rory's grip upon weapons as he prepares to strike at Emberly Lowe. A cannon sounds in the distance. He can hear his heart fall as he looks to Emberly. She was still standing before him. That meant there were three of them left. Someone was waiting for one of them. They would soon find out which of the golden hearted ones they would face. All he can do it hope that he survives Emberly Lowe's blade.

"One of us has to live, Emberly."

Gold poised to strike at the girl from Ten. He looks at it gleam with crimson as he lifts it up. Heart beat quickens, breath is held, and he holds on tight.

"One of us has to win. If it's not me, I hope it's you."

And he strikes.

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
BdAV62Mfspear
(Stabbed in thigh 8.5 +1 for spear -1 for SD = 8.5)

spear

Last Edit: Aug 30, 2017 22:34:12 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

Made by hesper hart 🐺 d9f

я𝑜𝓈𝑒
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anyway don't be a stranger

{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Aug 31, 2017 23:03:15 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 31, 2017 23:03:15 GMT -5

►►►

dig up her bones but leave the soul alone
boy with a broken soul
heart with a gaping hole
dark twisted fantasy turned to reality

I'm exhausted but it's Thursday and I need to post, so I will fill this in tomorrow when I come home

"I'm sorry, too. I never wanted any of this; I always thought I'd be living my life out in Ten at the farmhouse. Even after Myara, I never thought I would end up here. I never thought it would be me."

"If you win, promise you'll carry them with you when you go home — always, that you won't just leave their memory here to rot. Me, and everyone who has died here. I'm so afraid that they'll be forgotten — that I'll be forgotten."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; The Queen (sword)]
etbQg0GAsword
[1042 -- Shallow Cut on Right Hip -- 3.5 damage]

kissing death and losing my breath
midnight hours cobble street passages
forgotten savages, forgotten savages
dig up her bones but leave the soul alone

[ rave ]

sword

Last Edit: Aug 31, 2017 23:04:51 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]
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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Sept 1, 2017 0:07:04 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Sept 1, 2017 0:07:04 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

The sound of rushing water sets the tone of calm through him, but there's energy that's been spent trying to do what he can to survive.

That's how he's always been. A survivor. He's survived the things doctors did to try and reverse the amnesia that still clouds his head. He's survived abusive parents that he had forgotten. Survival had been the word that came to his mind right away about everything. He's survived death. He's survived mental and physical pains that would haunt him if he were to make it out of there with the pieces that he would have left of himself. He was surviving the arena to the best of his abilities. The golden gleams against the light with crimson that bleeds from it's blade.

The spear comes from her thigh with a small burst of red that was surely painful to even look at. His heart beats for her just like it had for Chester. They didn't deserve to die, but they would have to die if he wanted to get out of there. If he wanted to survive, they had to die. It was a sickening feeling thinking about it like that, but it was how the games worked. They played by the rules that were made for the deadly. They fight for their lives because they each had a selfish reason to live. A selfish reason that resided in their chests, but they all had something to live for that would never get completed.

He can hear Chester's voice on the first night that they had spent together.

Ya know what, how about I slit your throat now and get if over with? Would you like that?

That moment could have been much more violent if Teddy hadn't handled it well. It could have been better than suffering through seeing Chester's face in the sky. The blank stare that didn't give him the goodbye that he needed to hear from him. He cried so hard when his face glowed across the sky. It had been that moment where he could feel the true loss of everything in life. Even when Ma had perished, it hadn't hurt him as much as Chester's face gleaming above him, apart of the stars that became the cables of his own mind.

It makes him remember that he's human and alive.

He can feel the tingle of Adelaide along his hips, the gentle touch being the last thing that he would remember of her, despite the vial that he carries with him that had been her token from what he had figured out. He would remember her blonde hair as she allowed them to kiss under the stars for just one moment. It was his first kiss that he could remember. It was the first time someone had done something that gave life to a body that felt dead on this inside. He remembered the reasons to survive, even for a couple of days.

Raquel Izar had given him the will to survive for as long as he could. Her words still ringing in his ears like a message from life and death about how to move forward. She had given him a reason to think about why home was so important for him. It was so important for him to make it home for her and himself. There's so much that he wished he could have said to Raquel, but even death has different plans for them.

Ree Fer had given him one of the most important lessons yet. The gift of accepting that even he would have to give in and become a player in the games. He didn't like it, but to survive meant he would have to cut down Emberly and the last survivor like he had done with Ree, but with their memories in his mind. Emberly catches him from the thoughts as silver gleams from his side and he moves his attention to her once again.

"I'm sorry, too. I never wanted any of this; I always thought I'd be living my life out in Ten at the farmhouse. Even after Myara, I never thought I would end up here. I never thought it would be me."

Myara Lowe. He could only remember the scene with Mitchell Laws putting a card over her corpse as some symbol of death and remorse. There's been the idea that played in his mind of how he never thought he would be reaped. It was always the last thing in his mind when things had been good. When they called volunteers for the 75th, he had thought of them all as crazy, but once he was reaped. He knew that this is what happened to him. He got the luck of the draw and was pulled from a glass of fate that sealed his for whatever was to come.

He only thought that he would end up as a doctor in District Six. A husband or wife that would be supportive in all of his decisions in the future. A loving life where he would save lives from diseases and illness, that would be his own. That all changed with one pull that called out his name and brought back the memories of a time before. This was never what he thought his life would come to. Fighting twenty three others for another chance as staying alive.

"If you win, promise you'll carry them with you when you go home — always, that you won't just leave their memory here to rot. Me, and everyone who has died here. I'm so afraid that they'll be forgotten — that I'll be forgotten."

The answer is simple because he fears the same thing.

"I'll always carry them with me. Always. In victory or death, they'll be with me. I'm afraid of that. I'm so afraid of that."

He can feel the blade cut his hip almost like the gentle touch that Adelaide Throes left along it. Eyes stare back at her as he frowns at her words still. He'll never forget them. All of them will be a piece that they carry with them as they survive or die. The victor will be responsible for all twenty three dead. All he can do is keep one hand on his spear and the other moving to his heart. He holds it for a second as he speaks.

"You'll carry them too. Even in death or in life, you'll have them. You'll have me. Just don't forget that, Emberly."

He moves his hand back to the spear as he watches her carefully. The blank face back, but less intense than it had been before.

"I didn't think I would end up here. A nobody like Teddy who was only a nurse in District Six. Plenty of others who could get their names called instead of mine. I got the luck of the draw. I always thought I would marry some beautiful person who would carry a heart like mine. We'd live a life of fairy tales, but they no longer exist. My name was called and now I have to fight to live."

He holds his breath as he can see them all. Ree. Raquel. Adelaide. Chester. They were all there with him, just like they were with Emberly. They carried their own weight with them, as they watched each other carefully. He speaks as he strikes.

"I'm sorry that we were picked by luck."

Crimson drips. Gold gleams.

"I'm sorry that one of us will meet our end here."

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
mYtjGOgzspear
(Shallow cut on left forearm 3.5)

spear

Last Edit: Sept 1, 2017 0:07:54 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

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я𝑜𝓈𝑒
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anyway don't be a stranger

{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Sept 1, 2017 19:23:51 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Sept 1, 2017 19:23:51 GMT -5

►►►

and i, i'll wrap myself around your heart
i'll be the walls of his heart
And i, i'll keep a light on
to call you back home

"I'll always carry them with me. Always. In victory or death, they'll be with me. I'm afraid of that. I'm so afraid of that." She looks into his eyes and she knows that his words are true and genuine. And once again, Emberly wishes that she could bring herself to smile; Teddy is one of the last people in this Arena who are still pure of heart. No matter the terrible things that must be done, that still remains.

"You'll carry them too. Even in death or in life, you'll have them. You'll have me. Just don't forget that, Emberly." And she will always have Ree, too, who Teddy killed. Ree, Clementina, Raquel, McCarthy, Myara. If she dies she hopes that she will see them all again, in the field of flowers in her head. But in death, Ment won't be there, or Kiara or Saffron or Paige or Mom or Dad. She will be gone

And although slowly, as she loses more and more blood and feels herself fading, as Teddy's blade pushes her further and further into Death's shadow, she does not give up. Emberly made a promise long ago — until all of the blood has drained from her veins, until her lungs go still from lack of breath, she will not stop. She has never been a brave girl but on all those nights when she curled up on the ground, she felt brave because she was still breathing. Despite everything she had seen and done, she was still sane and hadn't given up hope. No matter how beaten and broken down, now matter how heavy she became, she never stopped trying.

And now, when her life hangs on a fragile thread, it is no different.

"I didn't think I would end up here," Teddy confesses. She has always wondered how Careers spend their days hoping to be in a place like this; never in all her life did she wish this upon herself. She'll never understand them, people like Lux and Hero, people who will kill like it means nothing. "A nobody like Teddy who was only a nurse in District Six. Plenty of others who could get their names called instead of mine. I got the luck of the draw. I always thought I would marry some beautiful person who would carry a heart like mine. We'd live a life of fairy tales, but they no longer exist. My name was called and now I have to fight to live." It is a story that has been told thousands of times now by children who are now nothing but faded memories and ghosts. And yet no matter how many times Emberly hears it, her heart breaks with every word.

"I'm sorry that we were picked by luck." But it wasn't luck for her — with every broken part of her, she knows that. The odds were so slim that two Lowes would be reaped consecutively and yet is happened, because Snow wanted it to happen. He could snap his fingers and Kiara and Ment would be dead, too, but if she dies she only hopes that two deaths in the family would be enough.

His spear grazes over her skin and she feels the blood ooze out onto her skin but she hardly feels any pain. A faded sear is nothing now, but just a week ago, a bee sting was the greatest pain Emberly had ever experienced.

"I'm sorry that one of us will meet our end here." She is, too. Ree had once asked her if she was afraid to die, the same night they watched the stars and the dying fire on the yacht. Emberly had told him that it wasn't something she tried to dwell on, but now more than ever, she feels that fear eating away at her like acid, like an insatiable fire. She does not want to die. She has come so far, killed so much — only to die here. It doesn't seem right; she will never willingly condemn herself to that fate.

"I feel like here, sorry doesn't mean much. I appreciate the gesture anyway," she responds. If she had said sorry to Titus after she killed his friends, it would have meant nothing. She still killed them, they are still dead — an apology couldn't heal that wound. Nothing could. Emberly knows better than that.

She feels herself splitting into pieces like glass as she speaks. A tear rolls down her cheek and she just doesn't want to die here. She always wanted more than this, always wanted to find love and have children and grandchildren. Emberly has imagined herself and Ment when they are both sixty, still arguing over little, insignificant things and looking through old photos of their younger days. They would be sitting in the farmhouse, laughing at old memories as their grandchildren run around giggling and hollering outside, just like they used to when they were kids.

It all just seems so impossible now. Days ago, Emberly's family was just over the horizon, but now they seem farther away than ever. She thought that she had never felt so empty when she watched Clementina die, but now that feeling has deepened like she never thought it could.

Heavy heart and tired lungs, broken hope and crushed spirit — despite that, Emberly stands tall. After everything, she won't belittle herself to falling over in defeat.

"I always thought I'd grow old, that I'd look into the mirror every day and see wrinkles on my face from sun and age. Ever since I was young, I wanted a daughter, a little girl with auburn and gold hair and copper eyes, and freckles just like mine. I always had a name picked out — Rosemary. Maybe I would have called her Rose, or Rosie for short." Another tear falls as she pours what remains of her heart right out of her mouth.

As she circles Teddy and watches those eyes, those green eyes that still gleam like they used to, she reaches behind her into her backpack and grips another weapon. Emberly drops The Queen onto the ground and lets her loyal sword fall as she raises a spiked mace instead. Blunts hit harder than swords, and if she can survive a few more hits, perhaps she can still live to see another day.

"But all of that is just a dream now. A wonderful, beautiful, impossible dream."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; spiked blunt]
tjcQ9VNcspiked blunt
[14134 -- BROKEN RIB -- 7.0 damage]

and i'll build a fire
you fetch the water and i'll lay the table
and in our hearts, we still pray for sons and daughters
and all those evenings out in the garden, red, red wine
these quiet hours turning to years

[ rave ]

spiked blunt

Last Edit: Sept 1, 2017 20:17:43 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]
Moderator

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OowoO

{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Sept 1, 2017 19:54:25 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Sept 1, 2017 19:54:25 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

The wound doesn't cut deep enough to cause too much damage.

Eyes gleam at the silver blade that she carries. Eyes meet and he can feel the kindness that she carries, but also the weight of what they have to do. He's feeling the wounds now upon his skin. He didn't want to die. He had to continue fighting. He had to continue on for Chester. They had promised one of them would live. They promised that they would make it out to tell their stories. Teddy can feel his skin bleeding of multiple shallow cuts into his skin. Her words leave her lips in what he would have guessed to be acceptance.

"I feel like here, sorry doesn't mean much. I appreciate the gesture anyway,"

Sorry doesn't mean much anymore. Sorry was false prayers to himself as the words would ease him for trying to do the unthinkable. Blades were covered in crimson blood and he was feeling it. It was just as bad as the day before when Ree Fer had cut big cuts of crimson upon his skin. He can remember his screams to try and make Ree fight him, but he didn't want to do the same with Emberly. He didn't want her to fight. He didn't want to watch her suffer at his hand. He didn't want to imagine her death upon his hands, but he had to.

They had to kill in order to survive.

She appreciates the gesture, even though it's useless. It's nothing more than false words that linger in the air. False hopes that would make things easier. He's feeling the pain like death was around the corner. All he could do was stand and force back the wince that would come when her blade would hit him. There's a moment where he can feel his mother's vicious words lingering on his skin. Useless. Pathetic. A waste of air. Life shouldn't be coursing through his veins. They were probably sat watching the fight, hoping that he would die like all of the other children that they would have called pathetic.

"I always thought I'd grow old, that I'd look into the mirror every day and see wrinkles on my face from sun and age. Ever since I was young, I wanted a daughter, a little girl with auburn and gold hair and copper eyes, and freckles just like mine. I always had a name picked out — Rosemary. Maybe I would have called her Rose, or Rosie for short."

Rosemary. An unborn child that could come into the world if she were to win. A girl who would probably act just like Emberly Lowe and carry a heart of gold. The lingering thought of what Rosemary would be like as she would grow older. He never wanted children. They would suffer the same worry that he would have if he made it out. The fear of getting their named pulled from a bowl of glass, sentencing them to fighting for their life. If he were to have a kid, he had a name picked out since he could remember. It had changed since he had entered the arena. Many things have changed since he had entered the arena.

"But all of that is just a dream now. A wonderful, beautiful, impossible dream."

The silver is dropped from her hands as she pulls out a spiky weapon that would cause wounds. It was almost as if she was waiting for him to break from their circling for a moment, but they continued watching one another. The weapon rams into his chest and he can feel the wind leave his chest as he's tossed backwards. He can hear the sound of a break echoing in his ears.

A koala had broken his collarbone on the first day. Emberly Lowe had broken one of his ribs and he could feel it as he clambered back up with the spear pointed at her. Her words give sight to what Emberly thinks about. It gave a humanizing feature to someone that he had to kill. She was a human, just like him, but they clashed like two souls forever clashing. One would fall and he didn't want it to be him. He lets out a painful breath as he speaks.

"Damn, those sure hit hard."

He watches the spiked weapon that had hit him hard with caution. He's caught his situation as he limps onto his peg leg, holding his balance once again. The gold gleams in his hands as he watches her brown eyes. He's quiet again as he stares at the girl who will either become a victim or his killer. Death seemed so close for them both, but they stand tall like the heroes that they wanted to be. He speaks with painful breaths.

"I never wanted kids. I don't want them to be subject to the stress that we are still going through. Though- If I were to have a kid, I wanted a boy. He'd have the same green eyes filled with my kindness. He'd have the curly brown hair that never really knows what to do with, but he'd figure it out. I would have named him, Leo."

Hands grip around the spear as he holds himself steady. He couldn't give up. He couldn't fall, not yet. The fight wasn't over yet and he wasn't going to give up on everything that he carried with him. Rory would have screamed at him. Rhetoric would have given him a smirk of encouragement. Chester would have given him that blank stare that would break for a moment as he would look at Teddy. There's so much that was riding on surviving. He wanted to live. He wanted to know about himself. He wanted to remember it all. He wanted to never be forgotten like he had been.

"Nothing is impossible, Emberly."

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
n4VSfVQtspear
(Shallow Cut on Forehead 4.5)

spear

Last Edit: Sept 1, 2017 19:55:11 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Sept 1, 2017 21:19:18 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Sept 1, 2017 21:19:18 GMT -5

►►►

and it's all to come, for now we're still young
just building our kingdom, but it's all to come
and I'll build a fire
you fetch the water and I'll lay the table

Her mace smashes into Teddy's rib and she hears a sickening CRACK, like lightning splitting the sky, a sound that reminds her of the crunch of Clementina's bones. "Damn, those sure hit hard," he breathes, voice softened in pain.

"I never wanted kids. I don't want them to be subject to the stress that we are still going through. Though — If I were to have a kid, I wanted a boy. He'd have the same green eyes filled with my kindness. He'd have the curly brown hair that never really knows what to do with, but he'd figure it out. I would have named him, Leo." Their lives have so many possibilities, if only they could last. A daughter named Rosemary, a son named Leo — both beautiful futures that she wishes could happen. But as the moments pass them, cracks slowly spider across that future and it begins to break like the glass of a mirror.

"Nothing is impossible, Emberly." But it is — it's impossible that they could both have the futures they dreamed of. Rosemary and Leo, getting married and being happy; only one of them, or neither, can have their happy ending.

He strikes at her again, once again leaving a shallow line of blood on her forehead. She takes a few steps back but doesn't let herself falter, continuing the circle around Teddy. The fire in her eyes is dying but it blazes still, no matter how much it fades. It will never extinguish, not until her heart stops.

"You sound so sure," she says. "But not everything is possible, Teddy. You can't bring back the dead, and you can't have two victors — there's two impossible things right there."

She heaves as she raises her mace again, her family's names echoing in her head between every heartbeat as blood roars in her ears. Kiara, Ment, Saffron, Paige, Mom, Dad. Even as she begins to lose herself, as her body lets her strength go but her spirit desperately clutches onto it, she remains poised to strike like a true, valiant warrior. The person she wishes she could be.

"The only place where nothing is impossible is your dreams — a fantasy." And she had stopped believing in fantasies long ago, especially now that she is in such a dark place.

She shakes her head. "Not here."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; spiked blunt]
yisiZ1gmspiked blunt
[14078 -- DEEP GASH ON RIGHT FOREARM -- 8.0 damage]

and in our hearts, we still pray for sons and daughters
and all those evenings out in the garden, red, red wine
these quiet hours turning to years
it's all to come, for now we're still young

[ rave ]

spiked blunt

Last Edit: Sept 1, 2017 21:21:11 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

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OowoO

{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Sept 1, 2017 21:42:03 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Sept 1, 2017 21:42:03 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

► ► ►

"You sound so sure,"

The words echo in his ears. He wasn't so sure of it, but he had to try and be. Nothing was impossible. Dying to Emberly wasn't impossible. He could crumble to the ground at any moment. He'd join Rory, Chester, and Rhetoric in whatever happens after death. He wouldn't know of his real life. He wouldn't know who Theodore Ursa, truly was. He wouldn't have remembered the faces of the evil parents that he had. He wouldn't remember the friends that would play games with him. He couldn't let go of that feeling that hides deep in his chest. The want to know how he came to be. He wanted to visit his Ma's grave and put roses upon the stone. He wanted to go back to the hospital and tell the patients that he cares about every single one of them.

There's so many possibilities and so many impossibilities that it makes me break.

Heart shattering cry from his mind. It's like the shell of a man hiding beneath the will to want to live. He's breaking down. Her words come back. He's watching her, memorizing her. He doesn't want to be forgotten. He doesn't want to forget her. It's like the world is ending, but it's not. He can feel his foot planted on the ground. His hands gripping the spear turning white. There's a silence that drifts through the air, but her voice breaks it.

But not everything is possible, Teddy. You can't bring back the dead, and you can't have two victors — there's two impossible things right there."

The dead can't come back to their past form. They can only live on as memories of the living. The dead were to be pieces worn like a necklace of who they were. The living tell their story through life. There's nothing more than that. The living bring the dead back to life, they keep them memorized in their head. He can still feel Adelaide's touch upon his hip like it was just a moment ago. He can see Chester's smile that lights up Teddy's world. He can see Rory's rolling eyes as Teddy would have said something dumb. He can see Rhetoric's posture as she leans on a tree, saying hello to them. He can see Raquel's eyes as she tells him to find something to hold onto. He can see Ree begging for him to kill him while he's high. He can see them all right there. Cam was telling him to not visit five. Titus was helping him down the mountain. Kaiser was giving him the bedroom eyes.

He can see them. He can feel them.

"The only place where nothing is impossible is your dreams — a fantasy."

Fantasies weren't real.

He learned that as a boy. He can remember it barely. The way his father had slapped the book of fairytales out of his hand. The way that he looked at him like he was the scum of the earth, but he knew that he wasn't. Teddy knew that he gave it all when it came to being the best person that he could be. There's so much more that he wanted to be. There was so much more, but the spiky weapon cuts into his arm.

"Not here."

There's a moment when it cuts into his skin. He can feel them all with him. Death was meant to feel painful. It was meant to feel painful and it did. He was hurting under it all. Crimson coating him. Death's bones rattling in his ears. He's so close to death that it might consume him. He barely stands up with the spear. His leg begging him to stay down, but he can't. He can't stay down, or else he would be giving up. He can't give up. Not yet. Not then.

"There's are things that are impossible."

His voice comes from his throat in almost a groan of pain. He hauls himself to his feet, just like Ree Fer had done the day before. He stands before her, green meeting brown, it could be the last time he might see her eyes. It might be the last time he might see the world around him. He can feel it in his skin. He's bleeding and hurting. He's broken and continues to break. It's every moment that holds him up.

"But, finding peace isn't."

He holds the gold up to the sky with his hands. He moves forward with eyes looking at her. His heart beat quickens, his feet move. He's got to try and keep fighting. It what he asked Ree Fer to do. He can hear them all with him. He's carrying them with him. It's not over yet. It felt like it might never end. He pushes forward, eyes watching her as he speaks the last words that he might ever say in that world again.

"I hope we find it."

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Emberly with Lance of Approval[Spear])
1pgwdjTZspear
(Shallow cut on stomach 4.0)

spear

Last Edit: Sept 1, 2017 21:43:27 GMT -5 by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8 Sept 1, 2017 22:42:43 GMT -5

Quote

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Sept 1, 2017 22:42:43 GMT -5

►►►

can somebody help me out?
i can't find my feet
i'm sinking in the deep (depths?)
can somebody pick me up?

There is blood on her mace and it drips onto her bare toes like rain drops. "Those are things that are impossible," Teddy admits. "But, finding peace isn't."

Even in such a grim time, when they are both covered in their own blood and hold weapons drenched in crimson, he remains holding onto hope. In death, there is hope still — peace. She will remember that in her dying moments, she decides, whether they are today, tomorrow, or sixty years from now. That even though death may be a final goodbye, there is peace in the end. There is no pain in death; Emberly wonders if Clementina is at peace now, if the agony Lux inflicted on her just all ebbed away into nothing. She hopes so, for Clementina, for Ree and Raquel and McCarthy and Myara.

"I hope we find it," he tells her. She wants to just break down and sob right there, crumple to her knees because she almost can't bare to end the life of someone so pure-hearted. Almost.

"I —" her voice shatters with the rest of her. "I hope so, too, if there is peace to be found. I don't know what comes after death and I'm so afraid, Teddy. For myself and for you, and for everyone who has died." Fear grips her so tightly and for the first time in seven days, Emberly's body trembles beneath the weight of her own terror and despair. The tremors are slight but ripple consistently through her body from her core.

In this moment she stares right into Death's eyes and makes a choice. She steps — it is almost a stumble — forward into a puddle of her own blood. Emberly feels as if she is bleeding from every inch of her skin; she only feels a fraction of the pain, but she feels the thick rivulets of blood running down her arms and legs and the side of her face almost like a scarlet tear.

"I hope that everyone who has fallen here finds peace, that they didn't suffer just to disappear like they never existed." Because each and every one of them deserve more than that, from the purest hearts to the darkest, from Clementina to Wendell.

Thump. (Ment.)

Thump. (Kiara.)

Thump. (Saffron.)

Thump. (Paige.)

She counts her heartbeats and says their names between the numbers. One, Ment, two, Kiara, three, Saffron, four, Paige. Emberly promised that she would not stop until her heart stopped; the only thing that can last in a place like this.

She has killed for them. Time after time, she has stolen other people's lives so that she can live to see the sun set over the valley again. She will do it again, she decides, or she will die trying.

"What matters in the end is that we remember, not how much we suffered. That we never forget them, what we've done here, or who we are. And hopefully, after everything, there is peace in death." Another tear falls from her eye, quickly followed by another. She wonders how many tears she has shed here and how many more will fall if she lives through this. Emberly has never been able to bottle it all up; she has cried nearly every night of the Hunger Games. It's almost all she's ever done. She used to believe it to be weak, but her tears are a sign of strength. At least she admits her emotions — if she held them all inside she would have caved in by now.

Emberly picks The Queen off from the ground. She will finish it the way this started, with this same sword at her side. She still remembers the moment she named it, when Saffron's note fell from the sky right into her hands.

Remember where you came from — that is your strength.

She has not forgotten. Emberly had named her sword after Saffron, the title she gave herself when she was just a title. Queen of the Arena. The blade is bloody but it still glints in the light as she holds it firmly in her shaking hand.

Her mace falls to the ground as she trades it for her old weapon. She inhales, gathering herself, steadying herself, and although she stops trembling, she can still feel the sheer terror ripping through her body and her mind.

Emberly nods to Teddy, tears in her eyes as she holds The Queen in her hand once again. Emberly Lowe pours all of her strength into her core and holds it there, balling it all up together. And then she lets it explode, a dying star — it bursts through her body, shoots through her veins in a white hot fire.

("I'll be with you. Until the end, Ree.")

"Until the end, Teddy."

[Emberly attacks Teddy; The Queen (sword)]
LMi_p2Husword
[miss]

[accuracy reroll]
sword
[miss]

the voice is too loud
i'm losing in the crowd
because i, can't breathe
oh, i can't breathe

[ rave ]

sword�sword

Last Edit: Sept 1, 2017 22:47:15 GMT -5 by я𝑜𝓈𝑒

"even stars burn out."

new

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{ as the light is falling } | emberly vs. teddy, day 8

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 26, 2017 20:55:36 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 26, 2017 23:13:49 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 27, 2017 12:19:52 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 27, 2017 13:30:34 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 27, 2017 16:09:55 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 27, 2017 23:51:37 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 30, 2017 20:56:35 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Aug 30, 2017 22:33:23 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Aug 31, 2017 23:03:15 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Sept 1, 2017 0:07:04 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Sept 1, 2017 19:23:51 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Sept 1, 2017 19:54:25 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Sept 1, 2017 21:19:18 GMT -5

Post by Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom] on Sept 1, 2017 21:42:03 GMT -5

Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Sept 1, 2017 22:42:43 GMT -5