hide in plain sight | dom v kenji, day 8

"Does it matter?"

Something shifted behind the veil, a dark beacon in the gaping nothingness ahead of him. He drifted toward it, a moth toward its demise, curiosity always being more magnetic than common sense. Or maybe it was just the hope of seeing another human being again.

"Either we go our separate ways, or we try and kill each other like what's happened with every other fucker that's crossed my path."

Dominic's arm fell to his side, the weight of the gems dragging it down. This was the point where he had to throw down the gauntlet with everyone he met, wasn't it? Except for Callum, someone else had always struck first and Dominic just followed suit. He'd have to be proactive if he wanted to live. Although, at what point did running away stop being the better choice? Wherever you ran, someone was bound to follow, whether it was a real person or a ghost. There was no more hiding. There never had been.

He did not get close enough to see the other person's face, but he could make out the shape of shoulders, of a torso and legs and everything that spelled out human. He couldn't hide.

"The choice is yours."

Dominic's breath clouded before him as he exhaled. "I choose to fight, then."

His mace didn't meet the familiar tug of fabric as it smacked against skin, and once he was within striking range he noticed what was missing.

"Dude, where's your shirt?"

[dom attacks kenji w geode morning star]
bMMmBhr63Uspiked blunt
14106 - broken left hand - 6 + 1 strength

Dominic didn't process what the boy said before he attacked, something about skinning a dog or whatever. Frankly, he'd seen worse on the wealthier streets of Four. But what Dominic didn't hear, he felt - the implicit threat of rock against bone, mandible clicking as it was forced upwards, gums aching and tongue swimming. His front tooth trembled as he spat, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. When the initial rush subsided, Dominic was nearly immobilized by the pain that spread from his face to the upper portion of his neck. He could feel his cheek inflating against his palm, but there was no sensation there. Dominic had never felt anything like this in his life. It almost made him wish Kahinta was there to break his arm again.

He wheezed, hands braced against his thighs as he glared at the boy. "Y-yuh..." His mouth would no longer cooperate with his brain, the words drowned in the pool of red that filled his mouth. Every motion merely sent another shock wave through his face, the edges of his eyes crinkling as he winced. "...you... can't... skin me."

Dominic took another breath and let the word splatter on the ground. "Bitch."

There was no way this smirky boy with no shirt was going to take him down. Kahinta and Callum had merely gotten Dominic out of the way to get to what - who - they really wanted, and it was clear that this guy had the same M.O. Dominic was in the way of his survival, and he didn't know if he'd be willing to move.

So far, both of the people Dominic had killed had gotten another chance. From what he knew, Cyro had never returned to the surface while Callum was probably sticking his hand up from a shallow grave right now. But Dominic couldn't tell where the person before him stood, whether he was just too bigheaded to believe he was in danger or if he was already ebbing away, his will to live frosted over on the ground.

He wanted to bolt. Say just kidding and sorry about your hand and move on. But he'd already made his decision, and deep down he knew that no one would be showing Pisces or Jade the same mercy that he so desperately wanted to give, nor had Zenia's murderer.

He'd just have to keep doing what he'd been doing for the past week - cling to his miniscule odds of making it to the next day.

[dom attacks kenji w geode morning star]
i3LPKEqf_Zspiked blunt
14071 - two broken ribs - 7.5 + 1 strength

"Why are you so worried about what happens to you?" roughly translated to What are you so afraid of?

It was the question that Dominic had been trying to answer his entire life. What was the reason his heart echoed inside his ears every time he wrestled his way out of his comfort zone, the reason he spent so many years just doing what others asked of him, the reason he never just asked why his mother had vanished in the first place? What was he afraid of knowing, of doing, of losing?

He knew why his stomach ached each time he encountered another tribute apart from his friends. He knew that he did not want to die, that much was obvious. But what was so terrifying about death that he hadn't already faced? Loneliness. Uncertainty. A point of no return, which Dominic had teetered over a long time ago.

His opponent spit on the ground, adding to the tiny trail of blood Dominic had already left there. The boy was on his second life, he said, so he had to try as hard as he could. Dominic merely blinked in response, the stiffness in his neck deterring him from nodding. "And if you happen to get a bit fucked up in the process -"

Well, this was more than a bit fucked up.

Emeralds dug into Dominic's arm once more, his fenestrated sleeve only becoming more ragged. "It's nothing personal, promise."

He had told himself the same. He knew it was a lie.

Dominic didn't speak, but as he rotated his body to strike, an involuntary whine came from deep within his throat. Just another sign of his weakness.

[dom attacks kenji w geode morning star]
3nwETB8kcNspiked blunt
14114 - broken left knee - 7 + 1 strength

His first instinct is to be sarcastic, to say yep, bawled like a baby,, but it's trapped inside of his jaw behind a heap of tissue and enamel. And that was even without taking into consideration that he might as well have cried through every battle, because your triumphs didn't matter if you ended up weeping over the person you had killed. But that realization merely triggered another; the realization that he hadn't cried when Madelyn left her mark on his neck, or when he got his ass handed to him during sparring. He'd simply rolled off the mat, dusted himself and walked away, no matter how his pride had been wounded. Practically unscathed, as far as the eye could see.

That wasn't real, Dominic reminded himself, but it had been real enough for him then. There had been a reality for him outside of the arena, no matter how cushiony it had been compared to this. His threshold for pain had expanded, not shrunk. And yet, there Dominic was on the brink of destruction, unable to even speak.

"If you're gonna end me, then do it like you fuckin' mean it."

He had never meant it, but he was sure that his opponent could see that plain as day. The boy had climbed back to his feet, lurching back and forth on a misshapen knee, and Dominic was reminded that his leg that hadn't quite healed right from the bloodbath was still aching.

He was weak. He was in pain.

He wanted everything to be over.

But it wasn't, and Dominic would keep going until it was.

[attacks kenji w geode morning star]
zBkQqrj38espiked blunt
14042 - stabbed in chest - 9.5 + 1 strength