tremble || xaa / ulysses

MATTIO
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tremble || xaa / ulysses Jun 1, 2023 13:48:09 GMT -5

Post by MATTIO on Jun 1, 2023 13:48:09 GMT -5

U L Y S S E S.

Kids are warned all the time about how swallowing gum is going to sprout up a gum tree. Even if I'm too old to believe it, I've chosen to start a new stick of chewing gum before the sparring match. Flashback to an hour ago when I was second in line to sign up. I foolishly stood behind a girl with a One strapped onto her side. Of course, when the trainers called out everyone's names, they did so in order. Me versus a career.

In my first one-on-one combat session, I'll be facing someone who's had thousands. Like everyone says, the best way to learn is to dive in, head first. I swirl the gum above the roof of my mouth, pinching it between two front teeth.

On the bright side, she's around my size. And I'm grateful for that. They've given us to fight with a few short wooden sticks. Nothing that can cause more than a few bruises. I say that with hope, knowing that anyone from a district that advertises themselves as muscled killers will certainly try to show off if they're at all capable of doing so. She might clock me right up the jaw, setting to gum down to the pit. Maybe if science defines itself as the Gamemakers have done in the past few years, I might grow sturdy and survive another few decades past all this.

I wish that the trainers were more helpful. Outside of handing us our weapons and ushering us to either side of the ring, the trainer has been entirely withdrawn. I bend my knees and manage both of the sticks, turning to him for some sort of approval. His face is blank and unattached to the matter at hand. No advice, just instructions. Don't kill each other. Five minutes of sparring practice at most, unless one of you concedes.

When the trainer waves his hand for us to begin, I hide my gum in the bottom of my mouth, its artificial blueberry flavor mixing with the uncertainty beating throughout my head. Surprisingly, my opponent seems hesitant as well. I twist my wrists to gain an understanding of the flexibility of my fighting stance. After finding their comfort level, I take a few steps forward, weary of the fact that she could just be leading me in with her stillness.

Time to battle, I suppose. Science, if you want to sprinkle your magic dust and make me as strong as a tree, now would be the fucking time!

Table by Rave

Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie
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tremble || xaa / ulysses Jun 2, 2023 2:39:41 GMT -5

Post by Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie on Jun 2, 2023 2:39:41 GMT -5

A loaded god complex, cock it and pull it

My stylist tries to tell me that I cannot wear heals to the training center. Every morning it is the same bullshit that I have to be able to train when I am there. Evidently my escort does not know me, my mom would proclaim to anyone that I was born with a pair of red heels glued to my feet. Thus, leading me to give absolutely zero fucks about what my they think. I am wearing heels to the training center.

They click against the floor as I first place the heel then my toe on the hardened floor of the training center. It draws attention, but unlike the other day, I craved the attention. It was one of my few remaining vices. The symptoms started off almost unnoticeable, the pounding headache left me feeling as if I had been cursed with the worst hangover of my life. Then the sweating commenced followed with the shakes. I have seen the desperation before in those pleading me for a fix they could not afford. No money, no serenity. Nothing in this world was for free and I was not in the business of mercy.

A distraction would be the most efficient way of taking my mind off the impending hell that would descend on my body in a manner of time if something did not happen soon. A swift movement of a pen and I was all signed up for a sparing match. My body needed to push through this. I do not know the first thing about a practice fight, my knowledge is based on street fights where the only rule is to play dirty. Two wooden sticks are forced into my hands as I am shoved in the direction of a sparing ring.

”You cannot wear those”, the trainer pointed at my heels.
I smiled and sighed at him; these games were truly stripping me of everything that made myself. I could not just let them get away with it. ”What?” I pouted. ”It’s not like I am going to puncture his eye” I pleaded my case ”Yet”. Two swift kicks and my shoes were on the other side of the ring.

I turn to face my opponent, a tribute from district 11. He looks scared, good. It means he does not know that I am not sure of what I am doing. It also means he cannot see the hollowed-out expression in my eyes, the nausea causing waves in my stomach and the fact that even standing upright is becoming harder each moment as my body screams that it is in dire need of a certain little pill. As we are instructed to start, my hands tremble ever so lightly as I grip the wooden stick as hard as I can. A last second effort to regain control over my body. I flash him a deadly smile from across the ring. He advances forward, hesitantly I do the same, the lights reflecting on my gold-plated teeth. Visual effects to distract from my illness.

I approach him slowly before aiming to strike him behind the knees. Sweat drops already running down my body. My hands struggling to keep hold of my weapons.

akTbjkyoWM1-10

ELEGANT

1-10

Last Edit: Jun 4, 2023 16:15:11 GMT -5 by Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie

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MATTIO
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tremble || xaa / ulysses Jun 2, 2023 19:27:47 GMT -5

Post by MATTIO on Jun 2, 2023 19:27:47 GMT -5

U L Y S S E S.

Sheened with gold, her teeth flash against the Training Center's overhead lights. Rich by the thought of it. It's so interesting how a culture transforms and contorts itself within one country. The idea of anyone in District Eleven, save the mob bosses or corrupted power players, flashing gold cosmetics feels unimaginable. Then again, stuff like that will go both ways. Dirty work shirts and overall from a farmer in Eleven could send a Capitolite child into a coma.

I'm too nervous to take the first shot, something that my opponent feels differently about. Her body leans forward and down, one of the sticks crashing against the side of my knee. I bend away from it but only after the hit lands. My focus narrows on the movement of her hands, with the shimmer of a crushingly wide smile glaring like streetlights at night. Her hands are twitching and the sticks slide in her hand.

I think most people who have met me might call me unserious; everything can have a joke if I can come up with a strong enough punch. But people who know me will say that I'm caring. Just… with my own way of showing it. When people struggle, the best way for me to help them is to help hide it. In this case, the trainer seems to notice the same thing I do. Something off about the girl, some sort of pain locked behind the golden brace shielding her mouth. He begins to stare and analyze her positioning with a judgmental eye. We're elevated when in the ring, with any bystander who wants to watch, perfectly able to: the other tributes, trainers, Gamemakers, avoxes.

Some are.

I turn in the ring, moving closer to the edge. I stand in front of One, our bodies nearly identical in size, so I'm able to cover her from the spectators as much as I can. Something's wrong. Maybe she doesn't like the pressure of a crowd? I get that. My little sister, Shan, has some of the same fears. When reading her middle school "Decision Abuse Resistance Education" speech in front of all her classmates and the students, she ran off the stage. I consoled her and took some of the heat by dropping a joint under Mr. Mcalister's seat at the assembly. At DARE, nonetheless? Nobody talked about my sister's mistakes at all!

I mask some of my opponent's pain by blocking her from view, but I still test my luck in the arena. I go for a quick one-two swing with the sticks against her side. A test of my own strength as well as a test to see if stage fright was the culprit of her anxiety.

5IL|WOH2sy1-10

Sparring:
Xaahira: 5 points
Ulysses: 2 points

Table by Rave

1-10

Last Edit: Jun 2, 2023 19:28:08 GMT -5 by MATTIO

Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie
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tremble || xaa / ulysses Jun 4, 2023 16:15:49 GMT -5

Post by Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie on Jun 4, 2023 16:15:49 GMT -5

My body was in enough pain as it was. A fire burning through my joints that made every step and every movement almost unbearable. If I were anywhere else, if there were not a plethora of people surrounding the stage we danced on, I would curl up into a ball. Hold myself so tight that I could not remember a single sensation. If I were anywhere else, I would not be suffering this fate at all. My mind would have been in its usual cloudy state, a far away land that reality could not reach. Although my newfound clarity offered me an insight into all the fabulous things I was capable of, there was nothing I would not give to make the pain, the shakes, the sweats all go away.

The strike to my ribs exploded in agony that it should have never caused. A blow like that, any other given day I would have walked it off. "Motherfu-!! ” I stop myself before I could continue. I did not need to add salt to the wound by letting everyone here know that I was at a weakened state. I have spent the last few days ensuring my chessboard was laid out correctly, that I was seen as a threat. Someone you would not want to cross paths with. I did not deny the career allegations, I did my best to send shivers down everyone’s spine. My name should be one that sent an unsettling shiver throughout everyone’s body.

Currently the only body shivering was my own.

Get yourself together, Xaa. This is not the time to let them know you are a wounded beast. There will never be a time to show any weakness. Play your game of charades, keep them guessing.

It takes me a few moments to retrieve myself.

Seconds till I am no longer grasping at my side.

I roll me neck out, letting loose a few loud cracking sounds. A deep breath, breath through the pain. Even that caused discomfort. Keeping a tight enough grip that I could feel the blood circulation gain restriction in my hand, I go for my opponents face this time. A bold move to prove that my condition was not affecting me. The trainers, the avoxes, the game makers, the other tributes. They could all go rot in hell. Today would not be the day that I become anything less than a gamble no sane person would take.

As the wooden stick meets its target, I feel my grasp loosen. The trembles get the best of me, I lose the one thing I value the most, control. For a split second, as the stick leaves my fingers, horror and embarrassment strikes my face.

"Shit. ” I whisper ever so quietly.

xCL8iUbm8P1-10
Sparring:
Xaahira: 13 points
Ulysses: 2 points

Table credits: Dars

1-10

Last Edit: Jun 9, 2023 5:51:46 GMT -5 by Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie

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MATTIO
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tremble || xaa / ulysses Jun 7, 2023 21:50:22 GMT -5

Post by MATTIO on Jun 7, 2023 21:50:22 GMT -5

U L Y S S E S.

It's nothing more than a nudge with the stick toward her ribs. She begins to curse at me for my shot but pauses halfway through. Probably because it wouldn't warrant such a reaction with the power behind it. From the seventeen years of games footage, I have under my belt, it's always interested me how unwavering tributes are when it comes to their composure. Few whine in constant pain and agony when a knife buries into their stomach or when they lose half their fingers from a manic ax.

I've got no cuts (yet) and I'm not bleeding. The only opening wound is my worried bottom lip as she shivers, recovering from both her challenge and my own. I barely got her with the sticks, and the only signs of an injury are the sweat and the shaking. A physical injury, anyway. Her body hardens once more with a few deep breaths. I prepare myself to go again with the sticks to try to gain more control over the match, but her fist flies forward, stick in hand, straight across the bridge of my nose.

"FUCK!"

The pain wraps around my face like wire tightening just beneath my eyes and ears. I thought one of the very few rules given to us was to try not to hurt one another. I shake my head. As a chronic rule breaker, I should no better. All bets, deals, and promises are off when it comes to the Hunger Games. I bend down, elbows forced down against my thighs with my head in between.

Surprisingly, I'm not the first to drop my sticks. It's her. Her wooden weapon crashes against the padded floor, rolling between my feet. "Shit," she whispers. It wasn't on purpose, then.

Red pinches the inner corners of my eyes as I look up to see her hand shaking once more. Anyone well and capable, especially from District One, should be taking this as a sign of pride, right? And she should keep going? Yet she pauses, fingers pulsing mid-air.

She's not okay. And judging by the throbbing pain across my face, I'm not either. I hold up my hand, waving to the trainer. "Yeah! Not gonna do that again. I'm conceding, or whatever it's called."

"You've only been in the spar for forty-five seconds."

"Oh, I know. But I don't want to break my face in half to win a sparring match. And I don't think I'd win anyways."

"Your loss on valuable practice."

Not my primary concern, dude.

I bend underneath the barriers and hop down the steps. The wooden sticks fly out of my hands. I go toward the sink to clean off my face. After the injury to my arm, I know the area well. Warm water over my face to quell some of the pain.

Deep down, I know I should've kept fighting. But it irked me to know that I was fighting someone who isn't in any position to fight in the first place.

And even then– she kicked my ass. A great confidence booster walking into the death-filled Hunger Games!

Table by Rave

Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie
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tremble || xaa / ulysses Jun 9, 2023 6:01:05 GMT -5

Post by Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie on Jun 9, 2023 6:01:05 GMT -5

”Yeah! Not gonna do that again. I’m conceding, or whatever it’s called.”

My opponents’ words left questions lingering in the air. Why would anyone concede after I dropped my weapon, this was their time to strike back. I was unarmed and in shock, the perfect time to retaliate after I gave him that nasty blow to the face. At least there was that I seemed to have proved better at this whole combat thing than I would have imagined. Call it beginners’ luck or the placebo effect of letting everyone believe I am a career. Maybe, just maybe I was starting to believe in the fib myself. Either way, hopefully my victory would have overshadowed the moments of weakness I just displayed.

Eleven made a swift exit out of the ring, I did not believe him for a second that my blow to the face was reason enough for him to call it quits. They did not seem like kind of person that would give up easily, he seemed like the kind that would have a little bit of a fighting spirit in him. I could not let him just walk away like that, how did that make me look in their eyes? Was it pity? I needed none of that, I thought I proved despite my condition I was still able to cause as much damage as the next.

Hastily, I chase after him to a private area of the training center with sinks for us to wash up after training. I slam the door shut with force, making my presence known. Anger and confusion were fusing together as I stood there watching them run water over his face. My breathe moved heavy as if the emotions were draining me of my own energy. My heart racing, I was not sure if the cause was the withdrawal or the adrenaline in my system. Like everything else, there was no clear answer just confusion.

"Are you completely out of your mind? ” I snarl at him. They might have thought that running away was the best option, but his actions had consequences on all of us. We had an audience, people were watching and taking notes. This would make us both look we were not up to the challenge of the games.

"You had an opening; you should have taken it! Running away did nothing but make us both look weak! ” Eyes widened with fury, my words replacing the two sticks we both once held in our hands.

I really could not afford any more inconveniences in my life.

Table credits: Dars