when once we ruled [prettys v ice monkeys, day 4]

Chop down your master plan
in nanoseconds, man
I hope you understand
that nothing living lasts forever

Sleep does not come easily. Kassandra stares up at the ceiling for most of the night until her turn to keep watch. She slumped against the door frame, heavy eyes watching Dio's breath rise and fall.

He was a fool, but that meant he needed more attention. She felt rattled after seeing him after the fight. He was somewhere else. He didn't speak, at least not to her.

She felt a weird pull in between her shoulders. She shifted closer to his form, her blaster on her lap. She took a breath, letting it slip out between clenched teeth.

The Arena was different from back home. Different from the big white house, and the overgrown grassy creeks, and the dirt covered stone of the square. It was hard here and cold and so unfamiliar. The other Arenas, while everyone knew they were artificial, looked so genuine. This one was something else straight out of a story.

Kass moved her bag to grab her thermos and saw a corner of paper sticking out under a loose panel. She pulled it out, revealing an envelope. She paused before slipping the paper between her teeth and running a finger under the opening slowly as not to wake the others. She pulled the paper out, spitting the envelope to the ground and looked down at the words.

It was a letter to home. Was it real? Or did a young up and coming gamemaker sit at a desk and type it up for it to be carefully planted behind that panel for her to find?

Kass frowned. Of course it was fake. They did have ships among the stars, they were not floating around in darkness. She tossed the letter to the ground trying to forget about Alyx.

They're not real. You're real. Ike and Dio are real.

Eventually her watch chimed and the others woke. They gathered their things and were ready for the next day of the unknown. Kass waved them ahead, grabbing a beaker from one of the lab counters and hiding in a corner to relieve herself. It wasn't a graceful movement, leaning against a wall with her non dominant hand gripping the beaker and her praying to Ripred that they weren't recording her mumbling curses to herself. When she was done she looked around for a place to dispose of it and instead set the filled beaker on the ground in the corner out of the way.

She poked her head around the corner to see Dio but no Ike.

"We better catch up to him."

They never did. It was a straight shot from the lab to the cargo hold and yet Ike had vanished. Kass wasn't sure it was a blessing or a curse. Wherever he was she hoped he was okay. She didn't need him going out and proving her palm readings were bullshit.

She stopped, lifting her wrist up to poke at it with her left hand to bring up the map. She winced at the puffy purple skin of her hand. She could barely move her joints, each finger swelled up like when she got stung by a bee on her pinky finger so many years ago.

She didn't get a chance to look at the map before a loud screeching howl echoed through the cargo hold. There was a white flash and she saw claws open Dio's back.

"Dio!" Another flash of white fur. Weight pressed on her arm and then claws cut through the thick, puffy skin of her ring finger. She watched the digit fall from its perch, except the claws left a bit of skin for it to hang on to. It swung around bumping against the middle of her palm.

Holy fucking shit.

There was pain but it was far away. Blood dripped down her hand. She thought she could feel her ring finger twitch. Wide eyed, she grabbed her blaster with her untouched hand and fired. Like swatting at a fly on a hot, lazy afternoon.

This vertical line, I watch it go by

table by ryan | lyrics from Lazerray by TV on the Radio

I can feel it
Overheating
A burning heart unstuck in time

Burnt fur stings her nose as claws go limp in her skin. She looks into dark, glassy eyes before Dio's fire extinguisher knocked it off her shoulder. It's bones clanked against the metal and its limp furry body fell to the floor beside her finger.

She looked up at Dio

"Thanks," she said breathless and mostly confused. Dio had been helpful. That was... well she didn't want to say new but it was... an interesting turn of events.

The impending doom she felt closing around her chest seemed to ease for a moment, the shock of having bone and flesh torn from her hand bringing a giggle to her mouth.

The other mutt slashed at Dio, its claws missing, but only just.

Kassandra narrowed her eyes at her target and raised her blaster. Her left arm was sore from the new responsibilities, her fingers squeezing too hard.

table by ryan | lyrics from Lazerray by TV on the Radio