respite (ECHOES)

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shrimp
Retired Staff

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last seen Oct 19, 2020 18:16:41 GMT -5

respite (ECHOES) Oct 10, 2014 21:12:32 GMT -5

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Post by shrimp on Oct 10, 2014 21:12:32 GMT -5

G A L A X Y

We're dragging at this point and Tauankia's a lot heavier than he looks - I'm honestly just glad to see him alive.

This backpack's weighing me down. His backpack's weighing me down. We need to stop. Slowly I guide us towards a wall far from the Cornucopia, still glinting ever so faintly with the sound of clashing blades. Who knows when they will come for us? But we need Val, we need Kendrick. We need help.

I'm just a girl from six who spent too much time looking up; I can't do this. But I can't let Tauankia know. Then there's absolutely no chance of either of us getting out of this dark, cavernous lair (not like there's much of a chance of us getting out in the first place, but cest la vie. Especially the vie part of it).

I gently prop Tau against a wall and start tending to his wounds the only way I know how. He's got some cuts and bruises and it's clear that we're going to have to work on something for his knee but I'm not prepared for this I didn't listen that much in school and how can I even remember it all I barely even remember my childhood.

Nope. Stop. Focus. I can do this. Right? Yeah, I got this in the bag.

It's once that I'm in the middle of tending to Tauankia that the parcels float down - I barely notice them in the dim light but once I do I'm opening them as quick as lightning. There's a syringe with what I can only assume to be morphling of some kind and I'm about to prepare to inject it when I actually see the label. Antivenom. Oh shit that would have been bad.

The second gift is large, and when I finally pull it out my eyes widen.

A swORD?

Why would someone get me a sword?

Why would someone want to get me a sword?

Who here thinks that I have even the slightest chance of getting out of here 'cause it sure as hell ain't me.

But frankly, screw it. It's mine now, and it's much easier to protect myself with a sword than to smash someone (or something) over the head with a club. But with nothing else to do and with no extra supplies to help Tau, I've done all I can.

Now we can only hope for the others.

sadniss everdeen
Retired Staff

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nyte: date fossils? is that some kind of fetish?

respite (ECHOES) Oct 12, 2014 19:50:10 GMT -5

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Post by sadniss everdeen on Oct 12, 2014 19:50:10 GMT -5

Kendrick Draper

The nicks and scrapes of weapons raked across your flesh burn your sweat-soaked skin. The golden hue of your hair is dark with perspiration, the curls escaped from tie matted to the back of your broad neck, and the sword bumps harshly against your thigh as you duck another blow and sprint in the direction you saw your allies hobble. You vault over the body of a dead tribute and try not to think about what the end of your sword is wet with, blood of the boy who tried to talk to you in the training center. His essence coats the bone borne of other fallen children, and you limp out to the sound of their cannons in your heart.

You're running blind, stumbling over hidden nooks that lick like stone tongues at your toes, and it's through chance alone that you don't fall right into them. Tauankia looks so pale against the dark stone, his face angling shadows that turn his eyes into black pits, and his broken leg stretches out awkwardly in front of him like a separate being. You all know what it means in a place like this, but no one speaks. There's no point reminding him of something he can't forget.

The beeping package falls in front of your face unceremoniously, plopping neatly into your hands without much difficulty. You have the flickering thought of wondering how they floated in but you brush it away, turning the container to see the white cross of a medical kit glaring back. Your cuts sting but you aren't the cause for concern, and the leader in you squashes the angry wolf that snarls at the thought of giving things you could use for another that is, essentially, your competition. You won't get far without trust in the game you're all rigged to lose.

The adrenaline makes your hands tremble ever so slightly as you wind the new bandage around his shattered knee, securing it in place to prevent future damage. You know it hurts but you don't bother to apologize, your face like slate, crouched in the darkness like a viper that's lost its sense of smell. The stones whisper of the dead that undoubtedly watch, their grins dull and insincere.

"We should wait until it calms down," you murmur, and your voice is the distant echoing of pebbles in a ravine. "Make sure no one runs after us."

wimdy
Capitol Resident

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(While On a Horse) I Met a Hot Girl Who Reminded Me of a Plant

respite (ECHOES) Oct 12, 2014 21:16:16 GMT -5

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Post by wimdy on Oct 12, 2014 21:16:16 GMT -5

[presto]

[/presto]

I'm going to die.

Something is broken. I know it. I'm sore all over, my body aching from one that one boy threw me against the ground. I can feel the blood from the gash on my left thigh trickling down my leg. The worst, however, is my right leg. My right knee is throbbing and I can't move it without feeling like I'm being torn apart. I'm going to die. I can't even walk by myself, instead having to rely on Galaxy to help me escape from the Bloodbath before anyone else can hurt me. I couldn't even run away by myself.

I can't stop crying. It's not the same desperate, searing sob that was wrenched from my lungs upon waking up just days ago. No, I can't cry like that anymore. The caves echo everywhere. I can still hear the screaming of dying kids from somewhere behind us as we move away from the bloodshed as quickly as we can. We can't go very far, though, not with the exhaustion settling into my veins and the pain surging up my leg.

These people have taken me in as their ally, but surely I'm of no use to them now. I can't move myself, resigned to letting Galaxy prop me up against the wall and begin to tend to my injuries. All of my weight rests on my left leg, the wound burning at the added pressure, but I can't put force on my right leg. I'm not able to block out the pain, not like Ezhno. My entire body is shaking, the pain wracking through me with every thump of my heart in my chest.

Beeping whispers in the distant dark, growing steadily closer and most clear, each little chirp distinguished from the echoes as packages fall before us. Three, four, I can't count how many. I can't even focus enough to see what we've been gifted, what people think we need most. I'm whimpering, a low, wounded sound in the back of my throat, as another figure rushes forward from the darkness and ducks to pull at one of the little bundles. I'm going to die. A hand feels at my knee for a moment before I begin to feel bandages being wrapped around it, tight enough to stem the bleeding and immobilize the broken joint to some extent. I can't hold back the broken sob that tears from my throat, clawing through my chest as the pain swells with every circular motion around my leg. My arm is shaking when I lift it up to my mouth, smothering myself to stop what sound I can as I drop my head to look down.

The light just barely lets me see enough to know it's Kendrick that's working on my knee, finishing off the wrapping and looking up at Galaxy and I with an impassive face. I feel like a child in comparison, face streaked with tears and throat raw from crying. He says we should wait, and we should, for Valerie and for others to leave until we can make our way safely into the depths of the Arena, hopefully as far away from other tributes as possible. We'll be slower than anyone else, I'm sure. The guilt tears at my stomach, my tears welling up again as I nod in agreement, my other hand reaching over to clutch at Galaxy's shirt like a child.

I'm going to die and there's nothing they can do to stop it.