{headstrong // stark vs. crococonda
Jul 12, 2012 0:28:48 GMT -5
Post by aya on Jul 12, 2012 0:28:48 GMT -5
She tears the trees down
While curses roll from her tongue
Got eyes like anvils
And storms for lungs
Stark Harper —
As Stark left the sandcastle, the sun had just dipped below the mass of clouds that had been gathered overhead for the entirety of the day, and was starting to set over the water, vivid layers of yellow and orange and red and pink and purple stacked over the water like a gaudy five-layered cake dyed too many colors to appeal to her. She'd never seen a sunset quite like that, perhaps because she'd never quite seen a sunset over the ocean. Though she was always tempted to attribute the splendors of the arena to the Gamemakers, in this instance, the District One highly doubted that architects would waste their effort trying to create such an over-the-top sunset — if they could even do it.
However, not being one to hold much admiration for natural beauty — or anything, really, except for herself — Stark paused only for a few moments before trudging out onto the vast expanse of beach that stretched out in front of her. When she reached a spot she liked, she set her gear down, stuck Penelope's harpoon tip-down into the belly of the beach, as if it were some enemy that stood in her way, and fashioned a seat out of the sand. When she closed her eyes, it resembled the worn leather recliner that she always occupied when the mood to knit struck her. For someone who was inherently tense and action-ready, it was nice to find an almost-familiar relaxation after days of endless movement. And, in a rare want for company, Stark pulled the coconut that she'd collected on the first day out of her bag and set it on the sand next to her for some company. With nothing else to do but wait for the anthem, Stark laid back and watched the stars for awhile.
Tired as she was, the blonde was tempted to simply let the darkness of the night envelop her, to consume her world until morning. She wasn't worried that someone — or something — would come along and try to end her before she could wake, as the majority of the other tributes had remained in the giant sandcastle, and the two that hadn't been there had probably been smothered by the kraken. The Gamemakers wouldn't send mutts after her that evening, that much she knew; by her count, three cannons had fired over the course of the day, and that was plenty of blood to appease the Capitol in the meantime. The only death she'd known for certain was the one she'd wrought herself: Penelope Libertine, the girl she'd considered her biggest threat, despite her dismal training score.
Granted, killing the District Four girl the way she had — instantly, horrifically, brutally, publicly — had guaranteed her three new enemies: Destiny, Claws, and especially Fits. Or, at least it had given three old enemies a new thirst for her blood. In a perfect world, they would be a good Career pack, a savage one, the kind that didn't really care about the lives of their individual members. But Stark had seen them, watched them in the Bloodbath, seen their anguish at their fallen comrade, and knew that wasn't the case. "So what if three of them are after my blood?" she asked, hardly aware that she'd spoken aloud. She picked up the coconut and held it a foot from her face, as if it made her somewhat less unhinged to be talking to an inanimate object instead of the empty air around her. "Isn't everybody?"
Admittedly, it was strange to not have Dante around to abuse. That was the reason why she was waiting up for the Anthem, actually — for confirmation that he had, in fact, died sometime between when Stark had distractedly swung her hook at the little girl that followed Baby Rey around and when she'd left the room — because not knowing whether he was alive or dead was worse, much worse, than knowing either of those things for certain. It reminded her of the sort of logic puzzle that one of the MBanders had mentioned once upon a time. It felt like eons ago, but Stark remembered it fairly well, even though she hadn't fully understood it at the time. Theoretically, if there was a ferret in a box with a vial of poison that may or may not break at any given time, the ferret was simultaneously alive and dead. The blonde girl did not grasp the concept — and still was too impatient to fully understand it — but it somehow felt as if it applied in this situation. If Cyclops is in the Games where he can't be observed, he may or may not be dead, so it must be assumed that he is both alive and dead.
What a load of bullcrap. He was one or the other, and Stark was getting quite impatient waiting for the Anthem to fill her in on the details. Maybe, if she were lucky, the feast took care of one of Penelope Libertine's pack mates. After all, she was certain that the wanted her dead above anyone else, given that she was the only one that had managed to put a dent in their ranks. Although, they hadn't come after her once the District Four went down. Was it because they feared her too much, or because they didn't fear her at all? "Haven't I proven the sort of threat that I am, Coconut? I've brought down everything that's come after me so far in this glorious, hellish paradise. Hell, I've even gone out of my way to hunt down the things that haven't. That girl from eight? Boom. Cannon. And the fish that first day, tasty. Put that ambition with my deadly accuracy — ask the Libertine girl — and shouldn't that make me the biggest threat of them all? Do they not respect me enough to fight me?"
She growled in frustration, standing up to throw the coconut straight up in the air. But before it came down, she was startled and distracted by the Capitol seal projected on the sky above her, trumpets and drums blaring to signify the reason why she was still awake. Gravity brought her coconut back down onto her foot, where it landed with a mild oath, though Stark's gaze was fixed on the night sky. As she had always been one who'd preferred holding weapons to holding hands, even when they were available, her fingers curled around her newly-claimed harpoon as she anxiously waited for the the faces of the dead.
And the one that she had been expecting — the rather repugnant mug of Dante Ramadar, one eye staring down on the arena, the other uselessly staring nowhere, neither of them actually seeing — was the one that lead the funeral procession. She was not sad, and yet Stark registered a vague sense of loss somewhere deep within her. Although she wasn't shaken, broken, or even moved, it wasn't even the loss of human life that caused her to feel the tiny piece of ache that developed in her stomach — "It's that damn fish," she told the coconut, as it stared up at her from the ground, her new three-eyed ally that replaced her cycloptic one — but the sense that on some level, she had failed. Stark Harper had failed. Her ally had died on terms other than hers, and she hadn't even known about it for a good twelve hours. "Whatever," she scowled, looking at the coconut that she'd spent an alarming amount of time conversing with in the past hour. "Oh don't judge me like that." She flopped down into her sand bed. No longer anxious, no longer awaiting the unknown, Stark drifted quickly, peacefully off to sleep…
…only to be awoken the next morning by the half-hissing, half-grunting cry of some strange reptile. At first, Stark thought that she might have been discovered by the infamous, venomous pitfall lizard, and was grateful for her decision of spoils at the feast. But soon she realized that this creature was quite different from the popular reptile muttation, and instead resembled something of an overlarge snake with legs. She leapt into action, reflexively grabbling her hook out of the sand with her right hand, before remembering that her dominant appendage was down to two fingers. She tossed her trusted weapon to her other hand and took a particularly hard whack at the creature.
[attacks Crococanda, gaff [spear]]
[dice=200+3000]
[ Miss — 0.0 damage]
And, somewhat predictably, missed it entirely.
[/blockquote][/size][/justify][rand=303570117568597245722611132077879136611102148897514167095068842]
[M:2982250]
