fishing lure moon / (karl&amaterasu, day 1)
Feb 20, 2023 20:23:04 GMT -5
Post by calla on Feb 20, 2023 20:23:04 GMT -5
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Being forgotten is habitual for a boy like this. One minute he's walking with his allies, pretending to watch the ground every time Yael turns around to glare at him, then the next minute he's catching the flash of silver in a pond and stopping.
The broken scythe hangs out of his bag, stuffed in behind the trinkets he's found along the way. The straw hat he's plunked on keeps the misting rain out of his eyes, but doesn't stop his hair from curling around his neck.
Schools of fish flit through the pools at his feet, reflecting in on themselves, the colours hypnotizing enough to make Karl crouch against one of the shores and watch them. The little things tumble over each other, slipping through the water and making their scales flash. He dips a hand in the water and they all scatter. As soon as he takes his hand back out, they swarm again, so he does it a few more times.
One bigger fish glides lazily by and brushes against his fingers like a cat.
Karl glances up to get Calamity's attention - maybe they'd rather have a fish than a cat, but he ends up doing a double take instead. Calamity isn't there. Neither are the other two. There's a girl across the water from him, and it takes a moment for him to recognize her as one of the tributes from Six. He distantly remembers this from sitting with Haze, watching interviews and statistics scroll by on the Eleventh floor screen until it was dark and everyone else had gone to sleep.
Now, Karl freezes like a deer in headlights, hand half outstretched to the fish. It's too late to get up and get away, so he does what he does best. He goes very, very still, and he stares.
The broken scythe hangs out of his bag, stuffed in behind the trinkets he's found along the way. The straw hat he's plunked on keeps the misting rain out of his eyes, but doesn't stop his hair from curling around his neck.
Schools of fish flit through the pools at his feet, reflecting in on themselves, the colours hypnotizing enough to make Karl crouch against one of the shores and watch them. The little things tumble over each other, slipping through the water and making their scales flash. He dips a hand in the water and they all scatter. As soon as he takes his hand back out, they swarm again, so he does it a few more times.
One bigger fish glides lazily by and brushes against his fingers like a cat.
Karl glances up to get Calamity's attention - maybe they'd rather have a fish than a cat, but he ends up doing a double take instead. Calamity isn't there. Neither are the other two. There's a girl across the water from him, and it takes a moment for him to recognize her as one of the tributes from Six. He distantly remembers this from sitting with Haze, watching interviews and statistics scroll by on the Eleventh floor screen until it was dark and everyone else had gone to sleep.
Now, Karl freezes like a deer in headlights, hand half outstretched to the fish. It's too late to get up and get away, so he does what he does best. He goes very, very still, and he stares.
