.:Bold Riley:. [Avalanchers Day 3]

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.:Bold Riley:. [Avalanchers Day 3] Mar 2, 2018 15:27:50 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2018 15:27:50 GMT -5

The cold made sewing up your skin easier. You bit your lip and felt the tears start to spring from your eyes when you pressed the needle into your calf. Threading the needle back and forth, you did as best as you could to make sure the gaping wound left from Mahlah Shea was stitched. Little hands pressed a curl of white bandages to keep it in place and soak up the extra blood. You wiped your fingers into the snow and took up huge scoopfuls together to wipe away the dried blood. You stopped to watch the snow drift in front of you, and how your breath scattered in a cloud in front of your face.

Fire was just about the only thing that took your thoughts away from what you’d just experienced. The warmth felt good against your skin, and the smoke smelled of something other than the rotten flesh that had stunk up the space behind the back of your throat. What did it all mean, if you could die here and now, and they would twist your body up like a marionette just to dance again? First, it made you sad because you had never been taught that there was anything more than this life—yours was rapidly fading, until there would be nothing much left at all. Second, that you wondered if you were much the same as Mahlah, with a family that had loved her, condemned to such a short life. And finally, you were angry. Angry that you’d been the name in that bowl, that your own district partner was heartless enough to try and cut you down, that you were alone.

Maybe the other boys and girls were just stronger than you.

None of this came easy. Just playing pretend, pirate hat and all, seemed so far away from your spot on top of the mountain. Thoughts dark as the coming dusk passed through your head. What would they do if you threw yourself off the side of this mountain, down to the rocks and trees below? But that was wrong, too. How much had Mercy, Raven, and Gabriel given up so that you could still be alive? Would they leave you, and would you lose them just as Mahlah had lost her Elon? You stared at the red and orange flames, your face so close you could kiss them.

“I miss you, mom, and dad.” You whispered out. It felt good to let them know you still loved them, even if they couldn’t tell you back. But maybe it was more for them than you, anyway. “I just want to go home.” Except—and you know that meant so much more, with sixteen others wanting the same thing. But tonight, shivering against the backdrop of ice and flames, you’d have given anything to be in your own bed.

[delivery word catch attempt]
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Last Edit: Mar 2, 2018 15:35:51 GMT -5 by Deleted

Lyn𝛿is
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does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker? ✯

.:Bold Riley:. [Avalanchers Day 3] Mar 3, 2018 2:47:35 GMT -5

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Post by Lyn𝛿is on Mar 3, 2018 2:47:35 GMT -5

Something small and black thumps to the ground in front of you as the dead boy falls.

A token. His token, once upon a time? The black star glimmers in the sunlight, and you pick it up gently, but also a little fearfully. At least, you don't quite dare to wear it around your neck - like the zombie had - and so you slip it into your pocket, where the cord tangles with the strign of beads.

The stars give us light in the darkness -

There were always stars. Something about it representing your family, abuela once said - and even a heartless boy had cared enough, perhaps, or why would he have chosen such a token? Why would he have saved Sampson's life way back then?

You leave the dead boy behind and run. Put the past behind you, let it fade away into the snow where it belonged -

And, soon enough, you spot a trail of smoke.

Smoke meant fire, and fire has (so far) always meant Gilly, but you approach cautiously, spear out and at the ready. Dead bodies still litter the path, and your suspicious gaze sweeps over them. Any one of them could rise up and attack. Any one of them might not be truly dead -

"Gilly!"

A bird flies around her head, just like the two perched on your shoulders. There's blood across her clothes, gashes on her skin crudely stitched together. Had she - you shudder to imagine her fighting someone like Iago - or worse.

"Are you all right? You look like you had a run-in with something nasty, too."

[tries to catch Word]

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Last Edit: Mar 3, 2018 2:48:40 GMT -5 by Lyn𝛿is

"Yeah… You have to be careful when placing labels on good and evil, Celice. Never waste your anger on individuals. Always focus it on the evil within all of us."
- Lewyn, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

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.:Bold Riley:. [Avalanchers Day 3] Mar 3, 2018 3:02:24 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 3:02:24 GMT -5

Gilly!

You turn your head, hair tossed over your shoulder, and catch Gabe pressing through the snow toward you. The bird that had come was gone just as soon as you'd given it the note you'd made. For a second, you breathe a sigh of relief that he's still alive. You're not sure what it is about the boy from eleven that has your heart skip a beat (maybe that you saved him, or that he seemed so fond of you even though he didn't have to be). You try your best to smile, arms across your chest, hands rubbing your arms to keep warm.

Are you all right? You look like you had a run-in with something nasty, too. So then you hadn't been the only one to face the undead. You nod in agreement with him, and step forward, until you do the only thing you can think of, which is to wrap your little arms around his waste and press your head into his chest.

"It was awful. Her name was Mahlah and she had skin hanging off of her neck, and she stuck her spear down into my leg… there was blood everywhere…" Are you crying again? You're not sure if it's because you're so tired, or that you can't believe that you're still alive after all of this. You pulled back and shook your head. "I was alone and I thought I was going to be alone-don't leave me like that next time! How could you all leave me like that… like… I could've died and no one would've known…"

Maybe that's what made you most upset. Would any of them have cared if you were gone? Or were you just another body meant for the snow, to be buried and forgotten as a tribute that no one ever spoke of again? You pressed your head back into his chest and took a deep breath. The warmth was nice, after shivering in front of the fire alone.

"I was so scared, that maybe you'd be gone, and Mercy, and Raven… I don't know if I can do this alone…"

[delivery word attempt]
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Lyn𝛿is
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does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker? ✯

.:Bold Riley:. [Avalanchers Day 3] Mar 3, 2018 4:43:48 GMT -5

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Post by Lyn𝛿is on Mar 3, 2018 4:43:48 GMT -5

Gilly nuzzles into your chest, so tiny and so alive, and you never thought before there'd be a time you'd be happy just knowing that the person in front of you was warm, and breathing, and human. The fire didn't hurt either - it made you feel safer, as though the flickering heat would keep the undead at bay.

I was alone and I thought I was going to be alone - don't leave me like that next time!

She's younger than your brothers, younger than the ~~demon~~ ~~monster~~ boy you'd cut down not a hour ago. Maybe it was the way she still looked at the world with wide-eyed innocence, or maybe it was how she still believed in being a hero, but you wanted to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be all right and fix whatever was making her hurt. Even if you couldn't fix anything. Even if it was hard to know whether everything was going to be all right.

Some things you could fix though, you think as you tend to her wounds - from the sounds of it, she'd run into one of the dead bodies, too, and she'd come off worse than you had.

"You're safe now. We're safe now." No cannons. You thump her across the back and leave your hand resting on her shoulder - "I ain't gonna leave you. We'll find Mercy and Raven and we'll stick together - whatever comes our way."

You can't imagine yourself cutting her down like the Careers often did to each other, when the competition narrowed and they began to taste the scent of victory. ~~Like Iago would've told you to do.~~ And - you know that Mercy had only talked of how impossible it was, but - maybe in spite of the little voice telling all of you it wouldn't last, you were nonetheless becoming friends?

[delivery word]

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Last Edit: Mar 3, 2018 4:44:39 GMT -5 by Lyn𝛿is

"Yeah… You have to be careful when placing labels on good and evil, Celice. Never waste your anger on individuals. Always focus it on the evil within all of us."
- Lewyn, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

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.:Bold Riley:. [Avalanchers Day 3] Mar 3, 2018 13:05:06 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 13:05:06 GMT -5

You’re safe now. We’re safe now. If just for that night, you could feel a touch of home. Wrapped against Gabriel, the world made a little bit more sense. Even though it was a fragment of time—more apt, a snowflake caught in your hand—beautiful, fragile, and before long, would be gone. He is the first boy you’ve ever felt was not disgusting, or rude as young boys tend to be (he was gentle in re-bandaging your wounds, checking to make sure you’d done it right). I ain't gonna leave you. We'll find Mercy and Raven and we'll stick together - whatever comes our way.

Back in district eight, you spent most of your time with your parents. They had taken such pains to have a child, you reasoned they didn’t want to miss a moment of your childhood. But you leaned into their love, wrapping yourself in its warmth, and learned little about how to blend with the other boys and girls. So you talked too loudly, and spoke out of turn. You were honest in what you liked even if it meant the other girls didn’t—you could see them now, at the end of the long school house hallway, whispering to one another before you walked up behind them. Silly Gilly, they would joke, because you were amusing. Silly Gilly, they would say, because they never took you seriously.

Jokes were good and fun when someone wanted to feel better. But life was serious, and unkind. They hardened their hearts, even as young as they were, and you found yourself looking outside in at them.

For three days, you had survived snow and cold, knives and spears, the undead and the very much alive. Not without the help of three strangers, boys and girls that all wanted at the core to see another sunrise. And you think now that it would be so very selfish of you to live if they had to die. You don’t know why it hurts your heart so, only that the fire that burns underneath is not for a crown. It is for him—for Mercy, for Raven.

You had cried your tears, and looked within your heart. Now was time to have courage—to be just as you’d always been.

“You’re my crew.” You said, voice muffled. “You’re my first mate, Gabe. You’re supposed to help lead this ship and take us where we need to go and, Mercy’s the navigator, because she’s always in front. And Raven’s up in the widow’s peak as a watcher, looking out at the world. And I’m the captain, because I got the hat.” You said, wiping away tears and giving a smile. “And when it comes time I want to go down with the ship, because good captains do.”

[deliver word attempt]
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