The Bloodbath

Knuckles
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probably flailing over something

The Bloodbath Sept 17, 2020 20:21:32 GMT -5

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Post by Knuckles on Sept 17, 2020 20:21:32 GMT -5

Nocte Jay

Seeing lifeless bodies petrifies him causing every muscle in his body to cease. This is the reality they're facing, and knowing what's coming makes everything even worse. Knowing that his time is coming, and that if he isn't careful everything will come crashing down around him. It's not what he wants, yet running away isn't an option either. The walls are closed, and even if he tried to climb out of the arena, he wouldn't succeed. The only way out is to live. The only way to make it back home is to somehow keep himself alive. He's not a fighter, but maybe staying away from these giant beasts will give him a better chance of survival. But how? How can he keep himself alive when everything is chaos? What can he do?

Nocte doesn't know the answer, and he doesn't know how to figure it out. Truth be told he doesn't want to. Getting close to anyone in this mess will only cause pain and suffering. Helping someone out won't do him any good. Right now the only thing that matters is being selfish and figuring out the best way for him. Nobody else can write his path. Sometimes he wants to help others and give them a chance - this isn't the time though. Lunar is back home, and he wants to read many stories to him, and tuck him to bed every night. Killing these creatures isn't going to do him any good especially if the tributes turn on each other throughout the course of the game. He tries keeping himself steady hoping to calm his uneasy mind. Nothing makes sense anymore.

His eyes lock onto the girl and someone else that's standing by her side. Maybe they have each other, and it only reiterates he's truly alone here. Nocte has no friends, and no matter how close he tries to get to someone it doesn't matter. Nobody else matters. Nobody needs to know him, and he simply takes a step away. This isn't his fight. The creature didn't hurt him. It didn't do anything, and his attempt to distract it to make a friendship wasn't worthwhile. It was a worthless attempt at figuring out how to find someone to stand with. Everyone else has someone, but right now he's alone.

He keeps his eyes open as he backs away slowly wondering where to even go. He's just invisible, trapped within the walls of the arena. Nobody will remember him. His name will be forgotten, and right now he doesn't even care. Whatever these tributes are doing is working, and maybe their names will whisper through the nights for many years to come, but what has he done? He's not a fighter. He's not helping anyone, and soon he's certain one of these ugly cats will feast on him. What kind of life is this? He didn't want it, but he has no choice. He turns back to the lady and looks at the other lady standing near her now. Maybe they'll get along. Maybe it's best if he just goes away. This isn't his fight, but he's certain that moment will come.

District 9 | 4th Hunger Games

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lest we forget [the characters]

credit to Zoe

aya
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"GUNNERRRRR~"

The Bloodbath Sept 17, 2020 20:22:27 GMT -5

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Post by aya on Sept 17, 2020 20:22:27 GMT -5

[attr="class","w460"]

cat stowe

For a minute, you don't think your introduction will be returned. There are more pressing matters, of course: doing away with the remnants of the audience's food fight, not getting eaten alive, not getting stabbed in the back, not getting pelted with any more snacks.

"Andromache," she relents at last. "I'm a petty one, so I intend to kill this animal that landed an attack on me." You can't suppress your chuckle at this, even though it aggravates the wound on your chest. In the distance, a hyena laughs with you. "Well don't let me stop you, Andromache the Petty." A second set of claws graze your arm; you scramble backwards before you can get mauled again.

The exertion makes its home in your chest and you lean harder into your sword-crutch, the adrenaline heaving your lungs. "And I intend to..." you play connect-the-dots with the spots that dance in front of your vision, searching for the sort of activities that remain in your skillset, "stand very still while I try not to bleed out." It's not like there's a muscle you can clench to keep your blood in your body. "Very practical of me, if I do say so myself."

Suddenly, it feels real. Maybe it's that you've already lost a dangerous amount of blood, but you never felt like you were going to die — really, permanently, irreparably die — until you're joking about it to an absolute stranger.

"Don't mind me if I go limp. That's part of my process." You say it with a smile because the alternative is to be sad, scared, and angry. You are, of course. You're all of those things. But you're out of time and you're out of ideas and all of that righteous rage is so much bigger than you that you don't know where to put it. You haven't had a hand in your own fate in days, and presented with any real choice you'd do something with your death, but you are one person and you don't want to go to your grave with futility at the forefront of your mind. Knowing that everything is fucked doesn't mean you know how to unfuck it.

You're still smiling. "Good luck with the cat, though." You mean that.

[cat tries really hard not to bleed out]

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{characters}

certified kindergartener
stranded in "beach" "city"
leader of the crystal gems

Python
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The Bloodbath Sept 17, 2020 20:33:06 GMT -5

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Post by Python on Sept 17, 2020 20:33:06 GMT -5

It was only a matter of time.

A taste of death in the air, bodies in the sand, iron on their tongue. Sage knew they wouldn't all last against these beasts. That was the Capitol's play - if they refused to fight each other, then a simple solution was releasing the zoo on them! They were too cowardly to release Peacekeepers. What were they afraid of? A bunch of kids? You should be.

Yes, they should be. These kids were not defenseless. The boy who called himself Mohamed heeded Sage's warning, and swung his sword like it was a pendulum of justice. The scream that erupted from his throat startled Sage, but the emotion behind it was raw - powerful enough to kill the horned beast at Sage's feet. They raised their eyebrows. "Not anymore you're not!" Kid, boy, it didn't matter, he was still worth protecting, and thank fuck he had a backbone. He was going to need it.

"Keep that spirit up! Because it's gonna start hurting soon," Sage warned. Sooner or later, one of these animals would maneuver past their defenses and hurt Mohamed. His skin would bleed and his nerves would beg for mercy, but under no circumstances was he allowed to drop that sword.

Sage raised their own blade and stepped beside him again. "Stay with me! Name's Sage." In case somebody needed to remember, because Sage had no intention of living to see a tormented future.

[sage thinks mohamed is badass and goes for the hyena]

[attacks Gilda the Hyena - sword]
FRfMJkieTQsword
Shallow Cut on Chest -- 4.0 damage

sword

Last Edit: Sept 17, 2020 20:33:29 GMT -5 by Python

Kire
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thinking about thonking

The Bloodbath Sept 17, 2020 21:46:40 GMT -5

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Post by Kire on Sept 17, 2020 21:46:40 GMT -5

Josephine Bartlett

She didn't know why she had let herself hope. Moments after the lion and boar died, another mutt began to rise from the trap door. A massive pale-coloured python slithered forward with a speed she could never have imagined. Keeping her blade between herself and it as best as she could, she watched as it wrapped itself around one boy's leg and squeezed. Almost immediately the limb turned a very wrong colour and it sounded like bones snapped. The boy was left with a leg that was completely useless from the knee down.

Then it came at her, and she moved her weapon much too slowly. The snake went for her sword arm, coiling thick loops around her hand. When it tightened, much in the same way it had around the boy's leg, she felt her fingers crack. The sword hilt was grinding against the bones in her hand and she couldn't drop it because the snake was clinging on too close. When it finally left her to move on to another target - Luella, who saw it coming and parried its strike with her weapon - the blade finally crashed to the sand. Her hand was completely deformed and utterly useless, a single sun-bright source of pain that sent her curling into a ball next to her sword.

Oh God my hand. It was beyond all repair, more of a hindrance at this point. The flesh was already blue and she couldn't even turn her wrist. Every bone was broken in the hand and from the look of it, it may have even been dislocated. She moaned in pain, her head spinning. For a moment she thought she was going to be sick. Only a couple of rough swallows and looking away from her mangled hand made it possible for her to keep from throwing up.

The sound of other people being hurt made her look up, wanting any sort of distraction from her own misery.

A boy was bitten on the leg, leaving a small wound. He was already quite beat up and looked as though he would be easy prey for the next mutt. Maybe she could make a difference for him, or if she couldn't then maybe he could make a difference for her. Look after yourself, but don't be cruel. She wouldn't shove him in front of a mutt to save herself, but if they went for him instead of her then that was not something she could control.

The sword was still laying next to her and she awkwardly picked it up in her left hand. At least since she had not had any training at all, she knew she couldn't be any worse with her left hand than she would have been with her right. Not that having it seemed to have helped at all with the mutts - her barely-recognizable right hand was a testament to that - but it still provided some small comfort to hold it.

"Are you-" she panted a bit, still trying to catch her breath after the intense pain of the snake's attack. "Are you okay?"

Behind her, there is another yell from Mario. "EEEEEYAAAAAAAARGH!" This time, it is followed by the heavy thud of a blade striking muscled flesh. Seemingly, he had attacked the snake as it slithered by. Good, maybe he and the others could kill it.

She went to raise her mangled hand to show this boy she wasn't a threat, but even the smallest of shifts sent new pangs up her arm. "It got me pretty good." She pauses for a moment, unsure if she was making the best decision but much too far into it now to turn back. "Maybe we can help each other." Aside from her hand and the scant bruises she had from the peacekeepers, she was untouched. This boy, however, was bleeding in a number of places and looked rather worn down. Together they might be as effective as a single person physically, but at least they would be using twice as many eyes.

[Joey loses her hand to a snake and then approaches Auden]

On hills and waves on stormy days.

pogue
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Is she trying to interrupt our henna session?

The Bloodbath Sept 17, 2020 21:47:26 GMT -5

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Post by pogue on Sept 17, 2020 21:47:26 GMT -5

All you can do is scream.

One moment, you’re hearing the shouts of your own blade cutting through the wind as you bring it down towards the beast. It’s an awkward display of writing your own forced bravery int your actions, and written in between the lines is the fact that you are no more than another dancing shadow, another crashing wave, another scared and lonely little boy ripe for the slaughter. You nearly miss completely, only writing a little red line into the side of the beasts body. It snaps at you once, resting pink eyes on every single vital organ before it turns back to Calder again. You shout out a sound caught somewhere between a war cry and a whimper and swing your sword into the air, as if that would deter the beast that had already nearly broken one half of your trust with Calder.

It’s a blurry scene of white and blonde, red and pink and bared fangs and dropped swords.

Silent as a whisper, an ocean sitting in the sun.

metal hits ground and flesh tears apart at the seams, a red flower blooming in his chest.

and then loud, like trees tumbling down in the forest.

and you scream.

Because suddenly, Calder is falling into the abyss and you watch as the sun catches his irises as he stumbles backwards, sputtering something inaudible from his mouth. You drop your sword and dash forward on shaking legs and unsteady heart, barely managing to catch the boy from Four before he disintegrates into the dust and ashes that whip through the arena with the wind. It’s nothing short of an awkward position for the boys weight to suddenly fall onto your weak shoulders, and you feel your ankle inwards as you wrap your arms under his and around his chest, grinding your teeth in pain and discomfort as you topple backwards down to the ground.

”Calder, stay with us- you have to-”, you begin your pleas to the demons you were born shaking hands with, but one look at the face of him and you see how his eyes are only focusing up on the sun, how the oceans in his irises have suddenly gone dry, how he’s gone limp in your arms as red coats his skin. He’s gone, flying close to the sun and waiting to fall in fire.

Now, it’s your turn to sputter out something inaudible, your face morphing into one of painful shock as your breaths fall clumsily out of your mouth. Your hands shake as you clasp them together on his chest and begin to try and pull your weight out from underneath his corpse, your right leg having been bent awkwardly underneath Calder as he lost his life to the waves for the second time.

They swarm just as you finally free your leg and begin to try and push the two of you backwards.

You feel them breaking your skin, a fang a claw a beak slicing into your flesh as you pull back your arms to cover your face, eyes blurring and blinking into darkness as you shout out in pain and fear and cowardice and bravery. ”Cypria!-“ you begin to shout, but you’re cut off as a fang scraps against your skin, pain flowering from the wound. It’s only when you finally feel the wind slice softly against your skin that you realize they’ve left you for the moment, on to their next target.

You hear it entirely too late and feel it entirely too early.

You shout out, all pure panic and fear as you try to scramble backwards from the serpent as it closes in. Calder’s dead weight pins you to the ground though, heavy with the waves and the shadows of the forest and the beast unlatches its jaw before sinking its fangs down just above your ankle. You feel fire singe underneath his skin from the source and his head snaps backwards, tears blotting at the edges of his eyes as he yelps out in pain to the skies above.

It pulls back suddenly, recoiling like you’ve won the fight.

And it takes with it a piece of your leg.

Your body goes rigid, every muscle underneath torn skin pulsing under the wave of pain that erupts from what’s left of your leg. You let out a piercing scream, guttural and a blend of panic fear pain and spit. Tears chart a path down your cheek as you clutch your leg and collapse down fully onto the ground, writhing and wailing as your life spills out into the sands below. Your voice betrays you eventually, cracking into nothingness as the beast slithers away and you’re left drowning in the same waves Calder must have been swimming in, your breaths no more than vessels for broken scrams to find their way into the noise of the audience screaming in delight. It’s blurry when you feel hands wrap around your chest, only being able to make out Cypria’s face when she finally collapses down and tightens her arms around your shaking, bloodied form.

”I can’t lose you.” You hear her choke through tears, voice little more than a whisper yet it cuts through every boiling hot wave of pain and fear that slices through your body from the site of the wound. You feel nothing and everything at once, the sound of the dirt sliding against your skin, the feeling of her arms wrapped around your heaving chest, the feeling of your own heart beating softer against the crashing waves, the feeling of your vision going blurry, mind spinning. And you want to tell her that you can’t lose her either, that you can’t want to lose yourself, the new you forged in the burning heat of a half-hearted handshake. That you don’t want to lose this new little thing called trust, desperate and bloody it may be. That you can’t ~~lose Calder~~ forget those who are already lost.

You want to tell her all of those things and more,

yet all you can do is-

”AHHHHHHHHHGHHH AHHHHHH” It bellows from your lungs like red nails sliding against the chalkboard, cutting and piercing through the air as easily as the beasts fangs had torn through flesh skin muscle and bone alike. Your face flushes red like the bloodied sand that swallows the both of you as your bury it down into her arms as they wrap around you, feeling the soft plastic of the armor they made you all wear as a mockery press into your cheeks. ”AHHHHHHHGHHHHHHAHHH”.

”It’s gone-“ He’s gone. ”It’s gone-“ He’s gone. You finally manage to spit out the simple words as your screams sink into sobs. Panic sets in and you repeat it until the words are no more than a muffled cry into Cypria’s arms, the thoughts no more than a messy blur of figures coated in red, shock setting into your system and your mind numbing itself as the waves slip over you.

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 8:26:03 GMT -5 by pogue

Cato
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I wish Cato didnt die

The Bloodbath Sept 17, 2020 22:52:47 GMT -5

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Post by Cato on Sept 17, 2020 22:52:47 GMT -5

Andromache Audacia

Somehow the animal is still standing. It's beyond me how it's still alive, but I want to just knock it over before it has a chance to attack again. I find myself looking in every direction, and I watch the kid back away. He doesn't understand the meaning of fighting. Truthfully I don't know if anyone does, but I know for me it's a matter of life and death, and I don't want this cat to eat me. It can kill anyone else, but as long as it leaves me alone everything will be okay. People are dying, and it's sort of music to my ears because it signifies that I'm still alive and that I'm a step closer to making it out of this place. I look at Cat, listening as she talks and I can even hear the chuckle she lets out, and I join along with her. Laughter is contagious after all. And then she talks about standing still and trying not to bleed out, and I want to at least give her a chance. I don't know how much help I'll be for her, but anything is better than anything.

Right now my main attention is focused on the animals running around. I don't know when another one will try to get me. So it's best to keep moving, and maybe killing this one right now will give me the upper hand in everything. All I need is to keep myself alive. And maybe use Cat as a shield if I can. If the animals see her instead of me, then I'll be set. Is it wrong of me? Maybe. I don't know. I just know that I need to take care of myself before I take care of anyone else. And with that kid out of my way, then everything will work out even better. He's just making this harder on me, and now I don't have to worry about asking him for help. I can do this myself. I know I'm very capable of succeeding in everything I do. I hear Cat talking, and I walk away from her long enough to go charge the creature, and I know just a tiny poke will do the job. And I swing the sword trying not to miss it.

And when it falls over dead, I carefully cut some of the pelt from it and head back over to Cat. It's not much, but maybe it'll give her a chance at life. It can soak up some of the blood and act as a pressure dressing so she just doesn't bleed out standing in front of me. "It's not much, but maybe this will help some." I offer her the pelt hoping she'll take it. Helping people got me in trouble before, but I think being in the arena is different. Sure, she'd probably leave me to die, and I couldn't blame her, but I have a chance to save her. It seems like this arena is more about tributes helping one another and only fighting the animals that are entering to kill. But I'm still very suspicious and will keep my eyes open at all times. I'd rather be safe than sorry. "I don't know if it'll help at all, but it's the least I can do." I add trying to sound as nice as I possibly can.

District Two

[googlefont="Oswald:400"]

Andromache attacks Majjati | Sword

u_P|toThWHsword
1167 -- Miss -- 0.0 damagesword

Last Edit: Sept 17, 2020 22:53:35 GMT -5 by Cato

WT
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time, gender, furbies, and other things that don't exist

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 0:24:03 GMT -5

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Post by WT on Sept 18, 2020 0:24:03 GMT -5

Adi hisses as Gilda struggles to her feet, pressing a hand to her opposite bicep in sympathy for the hyena's buckling front leg. Somehow that proves to be the last straw for Murtaza, who rounds on her, hissing, "Now you give a shit?"

If you think that little of me get out of my air, she wants to snap, but this is the only screen they have access to, and even now neither of them can bear to boot the other from the room any more than any other staff can bear to tell them both they're well over their allotted break time. "I always gave a shit," she says instead. "I've been with her as long as you have, it's not like I've been chomping at the bit for a chance to throw her to the wolves." She grimaces. "So to speak."

Murtaza stares at her for a beat. "You see how that's worse, right? You get that the fact that she trusted you and you gave her to them is worse?"

"They were taking animals no matter what we did. I made sure they remembered us as cooperative."

"Covering your ass. Sure. Much nobler than marketing."

"It was both." She crosses her arms, then, feeling like that looks petulant, uncrosses them and puts her hands in her pockets. "We struggled for funding on a good year, and this city hasn't had a good year in a decade."

"Yeah, so spitting on every piece of outreach in the last two centuries is the solution, great fucking plan," he snarls. "You don't get people invested in conservation by teaching them that animals tear apart children." Something breaks in his face before he passes a hand over it. "Good god, Adi, children."

"The children will keep dying!" That comes out higher than Adi wanted, and she swallows hard. "The Hunger Games aren't going away. They're growing an audience." She points sharply to the screen, where the camera has caught a section of the spectators that looks equal parts terrified and delighted. "The public is going to hate us now, but getting in on the ground floor of this thing? Crowd like that, you know they're going to keep their best supplier in business." A few animals a here and there, if this becomes a regular partnership—some of the least endangered ones, the big, charismatic megafauna people will love no matter how scared of them they become—is a small price to pay for security. Same principle as the Hunger Games, she tells herself; then she tells herself that doesn't make her stomach roil. "The writing is on the wall, Murtaza. It doesn't go away if you pretend you can't read."

She can't look at him as she says it, though.

---

Hauling yourself to your feet takes more effort than it should, but once you're up, it's easier than you might have expected to bound forward. Your path from the clump of humans cleared, momentum keeping you upright, nothing stops you—until you nearly run into another human, whose metal shard misses your throat but scores a long red stripe across your chest. Your own blood runs down over your chest and into the sands, as warm and sticky and bright as the humans' blood it mixes with, as you skid, spraying sand over this newest humans' legs.

All the escape routes are gated. Keeping to yourself wins you only pain. It takes less and less to convince you to keep fighting; the humans facing you aren't the ones from the van who put you here, but they're the ones hurting you now, and with your options taken away, all you can think to do with your fear and anger is push forward.

[Gilda attacks D2F Andromache Audacia]
MWPFK50LIrsword
[Miss - 0.0]

[Gilda attacks D1M Knox De Sol]
sword
[Miss - 0.0]

[Gilda attacks D5M Mohamed Al-Amin]
sword
[Shallow Cut on Left Calf - 3.5]

[Gilda attacks D3F Lumi Cartwright]
sword
[Shallow Cut on Left Calf - 3.5]

[Gilda attacks D10M Séui Ngàhn Cheung]
sword
[Miss - 0.0]

[Gilda attacks D11M Dustin Carter]
sword
[Miss - 0.0]

But determination does not competence make, and by and large you careen aimlessly around the field for a while, cackling hysterically and snapping your teeth on empty air as humans step out of your way. You catch a few of their legs, then dart away again, your glancing strikes giving you no confidence that you can stay and do real harm—but you're just as soon reminded that running guarantees you no better, as you lunge toward the human you collided with before, now a grounded target, and two more dive for you, metal extended. Abandoning the human on the ground, you check your first attacker, but you can't recover in time for the second; when you run on, ineffectually snapping at yet another human, it's with blood seeping into your eyes.

sword·sword·sword·sword·sword·sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 2:06:10 GMT -5 by WT

'the way we lived' in stylized text, with 'character directory' as a subtitle underneath

banner by Dars! <3

ryan
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over the moon, where all the wild things are

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 0:38:32 GMT -5

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Post by ryan on Sept 18, 2020 0:38:32 GMT -5

You can feel the blade slice right through skin and bone. You cant even begin to fathom how you got here. You had been known as the soft boy of twelve, one that would never been seen to get angry or upset or even the slightest bit bothered. Your father even said it was because you just were too soft for such things. He always knew you would be able to take care of yourself, however, that probably had to do with the fact that you managed even with him hating you for years to come.

You knew that if you did not go here, you probably wouldn’t have survived anyway, because you were not the spitting image of him. Or of masculinity, or hard work and dedication, or even just being. No. You were the expectation that no one wanted to live up too. You hated the feeling of being looked down on, but you learned to adapt time and time again, because quite frankly, that was all you could do. You were here to prove them wrong, and show them that this was just how it had to be? Right? You, a boy of only sixteen, becoming exactly what they set out for you to be.

A monster wearing skin torn from memories and sadness.

The big cat fell before you, and you were shocked to say the least, but then a sigh of relief came when you realized that you might have just saved someone’s life. You looked to Paloma, and then Drifter, Mario, and Seui Ngahn, all of which seemed a little worse for wear, but all still willing to throw themselves into the either. These creatures would not stop your resolve, or absolution of what was going on, because they could not keep up. They being the monsters they faced you with. There had been pools of blood everywhere, and at this point, you didn’t even know whose blood it was. Standing back for a moment, you realized that no one was safe.

The sight of it wanted to make you vomit, but that was not an option right now. You put the thought out of your mind as you looked back at Mario and simply grinned. ”That was unexpected.” You had never murdered something before, and the rush of adrenaline subsided. You looked back to the people you grouped with before realizing that another animal had fallen, and then the jaguar that sliced into you fell even quicker. However, it looked like you were the first to kill one of them, and you wondered how quickly they would work to kill you now.

Obviously you were already being so defiant, so even though they would have regularly seen this as an accomplishment, it obviously wasn’t. You were not some hero were you? No. A villain in most regards the more you thought about it. The capitol was angry you would not kill other children, just like your father would always be angry with you because you would never be like him.

As you sliced through one animal though, another had stuck its claws against your skin, and while you did not feel pain in this moment, you couldn’t help but feel hot blood pool against your skin and drip down the side. You would not let it gobble you or swallow you though. Instead you would push through it and make them all realize that you, Coal Stone, would not go down without a fight. You would always be resilient and strong and full of grit that no one could match.

And then you heard Mario, and then you looked back, and then you realized that another creature had come out of the woodwork and sliced cleanly into Seui Ngahn like they were butter. You stood there in horror for a moment, trying to find a way to protect him, but realizing that there would be no such thing. Your eyes had met Ander’s and then Paloma’s before realizing that Mario had been kneeling towards the side of the fallen and beckoning him to wake up.

You had never been the best about showing your emotions because you had always been better at internalizing them. And right now you felt fire when you should have felt air seeping into your lungs. You did not know these people well, but in this moment, it had felt like you had known them your whole life. You all had been fighting for the same goal, and that meant that you had to push forward. ”Your death wont be in vein Seui Ngahn.” you say lowly before looking at Ander and Paloma. Mario had already lashed out, and while you wanted to follow suit, you had realized that that same creature that had sliced into you lightly had just tried to swipe at the dead, and you would not let this one go unnoticed.

”Let…” you raise your sword ”…him…” you move forward, feeling the blood rush to your head before bringing the sword down ”…LIVE!”

Just like you wanted too.

[Post 6]
[Coal Stone attacks Gilda (hyena mutt) | Sword]
SHEnWo4dixsword
[1017 -- Block -- 0.0 damage
(Sword)]

sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 0:39:07 GMT -5 by ryan

gamemaker kelsier
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“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.” - steinbeck

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 0:39:15 GMT -5

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Post by gamemaker kelsier on Sept 18, 2020 0:39:15 GMT -5

"They're getting eaten alive out there!"

Queenie was now writing furiously, fingers already smudged with lead as she worked, one eye on the arena in front of her, the other on the page. "Well, of course, I don't know what you expected to happen, they're zoo animals not killing machines," she said. The corpses of the fallen mutts were spooking her poor emu but a part of her was already pushing Thor away mentally. If the children could fell jungle cats then they could certainly kill an emu.

"If you wanted killers, you should have given us all more funding," Queenie said as she scratched a note into the margin, "Gods, just think of what we could accomplish next year with some time..."

The ceiling on genetic mutations was so far away, the only thing truly stopping her was animal rights laws, archaic things now from before the dark days but still integrated into her procedures. If she could get the go-ahead to do away with them, well, then they'd be in the clear. She could do anything to the poor sods.

Sure, she might become a monster in the process but if it was in the name of science if she could go down in history for her findings, did it truly matter what she became?

"I would be a god," she muttered at her page as she sketched out a rough for a more evolved emu, perhaps something with teeth.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing Brian, nothing, shut up, I'm working."

Thor screamed. Pain was something new entirely. Yes, he'd felt the quick jab of a needle, the sting of a shock collar but never this. Fire worked its way through his wing and he flapped it angrily, trying to get the bite out. He'd be having words with the woman after this, angry ones at that.

Maybe angry ones now.

Thor tipped his long neck back and opened his beak wide. A booming, so loud and deep, deeper than he'd ever given one, cracked through the arena like thunder. How dare they, those tiny little ones with their calming hands and biting smiles, how dare they touch him?

The drug was settling deep into his system, the urge to eat flesh brewing through him quickly. It was hardly a stretch for his species. Birds like Thor often ate small game given the chance and Queenie had only emphasized that with the drug.

The air around him was thick with the smell of flesh and blood.

And dying.

So much dying.

He charged the children again.

Target One: 8m - Ander De La Cruz [ Mattio ]
YJYJs03vs7sword
[1065 -- Deep Gash on Left Calf -- 8.0 damage]

Target Two: 8m - Ander De La Cruz [ Mattio ]
sword
[Deep Gash on Chest -- 9.5 damage]

Target Three: 6m - Mario Mario [ Zori ]
sword
[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

Target Four: 6m - Mario Mario [ Zori ]
sword
[Deep Gash on Forehead -- 9.0 damage]

Target Five: 6x - Sage Sun [ Python ]
sword
[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

Target Six: 6x - Sage Sun [ Python ]
sword
[Severed Right Calf at Knee -- 9.0 damage]

sword·sword·sword·sword·sword·sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 0:42:52 GMT -5 by gamemaker kelsier

compendium / avriel
clown car / pietro
2022 tracker / 2023 tracker / 2024 tracker

mat
Retired Staff

2,404 POSTS

Pronouns: he/him
last seen Nov 18, 2024 14:54:08 GMT -5

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 0:41:29 GMT -5

Quote

Post by mat on Sept 18, 2020 0:41:29 GMT -5

"Nice to meet you, Drifty-baby."

Ander's questions about Mario's playfulness were swept away before the blink of an eye, as the animals made another charge through the arena, pushing and kicking, clawing and biting as they went through. Mario was the apparent ringleader of their group, calling the shouts and bringing up the group's morale, although Paloma and Coal were strong in that regard as well. Ander's sword returned to him bloody, maybe he did have some bite to'm after all.

Everything around him happened in rapid succession of one another: the screams of tributes, the roars of the creatures, the roars of the crowds. Maybe this Hunger Games was different than the rest for all the right reasons. No better way to strip the kids down to their core natural defensive instincts drew to his mind. Take their homes, their food, their water, their spirit, and their dignity, only to throw them in a pit, only leaving a sliver of hope that their blood might not be as appetizing as the rest. One by one, the creatures got a sip of the whole lot and seemed only to slow down when their bodies could no longer tackle and maul the children any longer.

Ander saw that with every lap that the animals made around the field, the team grew weaker. Séui Ngàhn appeared to take the brunt of the strikes out of their corner, yet he stood his ground, rebounding after every shot. Stand tall, never fall. Never let go.

"Let’s make death proud to take us!"

Years of petty crime would leave death with a look of pity on its face. Death insisted on valor and courage, and Ander only managed to scrape up a half cup of wit and occasionally convincing deception. What would it take to make death proud of a boy who evaded it for so long at everyone else's expense? At some point, it'd have to turn him away, force him to live a life worse than death itself.

The animals swipe towards the quintet again.

So, this life is that life.

"If they want to kill us, they're gonna have to try harder." Coal said shortly before turning his sword towards the lion, downing it for the final time. The whimpering thing held on to dear life for a moment before finally going limp. However, as if they knew no bounds for their games, chains squeaked and platforms rose, adding another creature to bounce around like a pinball machine through the colosseum.

For a moment, though, there were no dilating eyes beamed in his direction. Lowering his sword, Drifter clutched his face again with the cape of his costume. Whether he pressed on it or left it alone, the wound found its way to throb. The marks dug into the side of his cheek, probably close enough to push on his teeth, none knocked out, thank God. It'd ache tomorrow, though, if he was unfortunate enough to have a tomorrow to wake up to. The sun seemed to freeze in place, watching as its own spectator and letting sweat build around his chest from the burning heat. In that moment, though, he could catch his breath. Ander felt peace.

And then it happened- "AI!"

The noise startled him. His head perked up and looked a few meters to his side, where an unsuspecting Mario was shoved to the side by Séui Ngàhn, who'd already taken a lot of injury. The hyena returned, unwelcomed, and dug into Séui Ngàhn's neck.

It took Mario a moment to realize what was happening. Séui Ngàhn wasn't being reckless, he was saving the rest by throwing his life on the line. A ground-destined creature snuck its way rapidly towards them, towards him. Séui Ngàhn.

Ander knew what was coming. His head shifted up to the sky and he bit his tongue, trying his best not to look too closely at what was about to happen. Thud. When he turned back, the boy was on the ground, with Mario right by his side. He wanted to rush over, too, but the permission to go to the boy's aid didn't extend to the Drifter. After all, he didn't even know him other than the exchange of a few glances. They connected each other through association, not a bond like the others had done. Drifters can't get too close. Any time he felt safe, twenty-seven different reasons to feel endangered, dangling like dozens of marionettes at eye level. Tempting him, double-dog daring him to take another step closer.

Séui Ngàhn let out airy words that Ander couldn't understand. That aside, he appreciated what the boy had to say. You don't have to know the semantics of a language to realize the conviction and emotion to which words were said. Ander knew that, not every Drifter spoke the same language. Body movements, facial expressions, tone, all of it mattered so much more than comprehension. "Get me out of here."

Gone, in moments, Ander looked back to the playing field. Even with animals lying on their sides on the grainy floorboards, there was another tribute off in the distance down. Survival was not a guarantee just yet, as it was just the beginning, but Ander bent his elbows and raised his sword once again. A long day was to be ahead.

The animals rebounded for another go at their group, now down one member. Ander saw from the corner of his eye the same creature that Séui Ngàhn had sacrificed himself for Mario for. Coming back for another take. His eyes squinted with displeasure as it wasn't going to hurl itself at any of the standing. Instead, it went towards the fallen. Séui Ngàhn.

"HEY!" Conviction and anger led him to open his mouth wide as he spoke, despite the ache from his cheek and jaw. It continued to get closer to the body. He looked for support from the rest of his group, but they were on top of it. There Coal stood, sword drawn by mourning Mario and deceased Séui Ngàhn's side. "HEY!" he shouted again to the thing. Hyenas should not need a common language with humans to get the message.

"Let him live!" Fierce words come up empty from Coal as the hyena evades his blade's grasp.

"Get back, you fucker!" He swung his sword with as much precision as he could. He was getting dangerously close to Mario and Séui Ngàhn, and the last thing he'd want was to provide some unnecessary contact while Mario was still reeling. "That's not okay. That's not-" He couldn't find any other way to put it. Snapshots of the dreams of his brother appeared, one by one, again in his head. This is the new and improved pit, and it took twenty-three stacks of standing bodies just to let one person out. No other would survive. "No.."

Like Mario said, death required honor upon entry. Give a Drifter a drop of pride and a dash of hate and they'll scrape something honorable up real fast. Too bad it took eighteen years and the death of a boy Ander barely knew to realize the recipe.

[ander attacks gilda the hyena; sword]
BhKSLVNkfUsword
Attack 1184 [Sword] is DEEP GASH ON FOREHEAD, +9.0 dmg

sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 0:41:57 GMT -5 by mat

charade
Retired Staff

3,811 POSTS

last seen May 1, 2024 12:08:12 GMT -5

Thinking

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 1:10:07 GMT -5

Quote

Post by charade on Sept 18, 2020 1:10:07 GMT -5

nanette
emsworth

I don’t want to leave him. I’ve just found him. Or maybe he’s finally found me. He’s crying now and I reach up, wiping away some of the tears. I can’t kiss him like this. I am a discarded plaything of the Capitol, broken, bruised and bleeding. He deserves better than me. I try to speak again, but it’s a rattle.

I wonder if it’s my stomach or lungs that are filling with blood.

I look over to my side to see the same scene playing out. That girl; Lumi, my tired brain supplies, being cradled by her friend as he begs her not to leave him. And for the first time since the trapdoor opened and the animals started spilling out, I have a moment to gauge my surroundings.

The lion is dead, one of its legs laying in the sand a few feet away from the rest of its corpse. The boar is dead too. I catch words here and there, shouted, screamed.

A gargantuan snake coils around a boy’s leg, a giant bird chases after another. Two of our fellow tributes lie unmoving, savaged to death by the beasts. There is blood, too much blood and the arena is quickly devolving into a feeding frenzy. Some of my fellow tributes are fighting back. Quickly forging the bond of camaraderie that is only ever formed when you pass through the fire together.

I have to get up. I sob, forcing myself into a seated position once more, holding onto Dustin with all the strength I have left. Have to get up. It becomes a mantra. I claw my way up Dustin, using him as a crutch but I wobble unsteadily before pitching forward and catching myself on my knees.

My throat burns when I retch blood and bile and the crying starts again. From the agony, from the misery, and because I don’t want him to see me like this. Stand up, my brain screams, but I can’t. It’s just too much. There is another shadow in the tunnel and I look away before it emerges. They must be sending something in to replace the boar.

“D-dusty,” I murmur. “I lah-love you so m-much.” And I do. I do. From the moment I first met him. Like the moon loves the sun, just hoping that some of that radiance, that warmth will shine on it. I was always there after work with a drink for him in my hand and a smile on my face. Asking him about his day.

I made a banner for his birthday last year. Saved up to buy him a new pair of boots when he said his were wearing thin. I changed my eye-shadow from blue to sunset orange the day after I found it was his favorite color. I hold him. If this is where I’m going to die, at least it’s by his side. I sniffle, closing my eyes.

There are no wedding bells in our future now. Only cannons.

[post 7]

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 1:11:01 GMT -5 by charade

16 Jul 12, 23:43
GB: I bet you just sit at your computer with a tea cup and a monocle

k!ah
Retired Staff

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last seen Nov 19, 2024 4:03:09 GMT -5

#expensivetrash

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 2:02:05 GMT -5

Quote

Post by k!ah on Sept 18, 2020 2:02:05 GMT -5

D U S T I N .

In his life he had dealt with heart ache. He had dealt with pain. The loss of his father, quickly followed by the disappearance of his mother had left him broken. His heart had been shredded, scarred to what he believed to be beyond repair. He had spent sleepless night in his barn, eyes staring up at the roof as he tried to reassure himself that it wasn't because of him.

That the death of his father wasn't his fault. But he couldn't help but think that maybe if he had been faster he could have saved him. That maybe if he had paid more attention to him over the weeks leading up to his death be might have seen the signs.

That his mother running away was not because of him. But if it wasn't because of him... why did she leave? Why did she turn her back on him? Leave him alone, when his heart was still mourning the loss of his father? Had he done something wrong? Maybe it was simply that she had not loved him enough to stay.

But through it all there had always been one person. One person who never turned him away, who accepting him for who he was. Who listened to him, who cried for him when he had run out of tears. One person who had done what he thought was impossible, healed the scars on his heart.

Gentle fingers wipe away tears that escape his eyes, his vision blurred with unshed tears, a sob stuck in his throat as she begins to move, desperately clutching him as she finds her feet. Unsteady, she retches, blood and bile bubble from her lips, as she cries, her body giving up on her as she falls. He tries to catch her, but he is too slow, her knees hitting earth soaked with her blood moments before his arms come around her.

She murmurs his name, the words I love you slipping past them. Arms wrapping around her tighter one hand cups the back of her neck as he hides the pain that would be written so very clearly on the features of his face.

Beyond them is Lumi, body torn and discarded in the dust. She looked so small, blood soaking the earth around her as Finn clutched at her small body. His face mirrored what he thought his own might look like. Eyes red and bloodshot as he begged the small child in his arms to hold on. To fight.

To his right lay two bodies. They lie so still, he knows that they were dead. The beasts not interested in a feast, only the adrenaline of a hunt. To kill. His eyes stare for a moment longer, the image of their torn bodies, flesh, bones, and muscles forever ingrained in his memory.

Soon that would be him.

His body discarded as his heart beat flatlined.

Would he die with all limbs intact? Or would pieces of him be scattered around the stadium? Would he die from a quick blow to the head? Or would it be drawn out, slow and painful as teeth grazed him continuously, each time brining him that little bit closer to the his death?

He was scared. And he hated that. Right now he needed to be strong for Nan, for himself.

"I love you too," he murmurs into her hair. "And I am so so sorry that I wasn't able to protect you." He should of been able to protect her. "All these years you have protected me... and I- I wasn't able to do the same for you," he is sobbing now, holding onto her like she was his anchor, the only thing stopping him from falling apart. "I'm so sorry Nan... I'm so scared."

[ post 7 ]

✮ UPAT ✮

lance
Head Librarian

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Pronouns: He/Him/His
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gay and chaotic? call it gayos

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 2:15:17 GMT -5

Quote

Post by lance on Sept 18, 2020 2:15:17 GMT -5

m o h a m e d .

"you are weak
but not foolish
you have learned
how to die."

It's surreal, in a sense, watching your own silver blade carve through flesh and spray muttation blood. It's even more surreal when the beast lets out a groan and collapses onto the dirt. And it's most surreal of all when, after a moment of jaw-dropped gaping and a nudge with your blade, it doesn't move.

In one swing, with one yell, you'd just killed a freaking muttation.

Six - Sage, they say - makes a noise of approval. Your gaze shifts from the beast's corpse to the blood slowly dripping off of your weapon. And you're not quite sure if it's nerves, shock and awe, or simply insanity when your lips curve into a grin and a chuckle falls from your lips.

You'd heard stories of how killing other people was horrific. Seen visual evidence in propaganda and the Games themselves that murdering someone with your own two hands was scarring for life - whether that life lasted for eight seconds or eight decades after the act itself. You'd seen that look in Mama's eyes, and in your mentor's - but you never expected killing someone or something to feel like this.

This being pure exhilaration, fueled by adrenaline, anger, and a healthy dose of fear. Your heart is pounding, your senses are alight in a haze akin to nirvana, and each and every one of your senses is pumped into overdrive.

But you are not given so much as a moment to rest before all hell breaks loose, and the fact that you're as attuned to your surroundings as you are is perhaps the sole reason why you do not die right then and there.

It happens something like this: Sage from Six lunges towards another mutt, a dog-like thing, scraping its pelt. Said dog-like thing ignores them, runs directly towards you, and were it not for the third icy spike of adrenaline piercing your runaway heart and spurring your reflexes to act before you can think oh shit, what could have been a devastating blow ends up merely scratching the surface of your leg.

So entrenched are you in the high that you do not even feel the pain, not at first. Instead, as the dog-thing rushes around to get a taste - literally - of what other tributes have to offer, you find yourself staring at the blood trickling down the side of your leg.

A cut it may be, but a hammer it is nevertheless, reminding you that just because you've avoided attracting any attention before now, that does not mean that anything - be it the two deaths that occurred before now, the random Six who decided that you needed protecting, or the mutt that had fallen by your hand - was no less real.

This was happening.

You were still in the middle of the Hunger Games.

And Death was lurking behind every corner.

You have but a few second's reprieve before a flash of something catches your eye - and you turn, too slow, to see a gigantic bird chop directly through Sage's leg.

Your blood chills. Your eyes, if at all possible, stretch open even wider. And for the second time in as many minutes, you scream.

But this time, there's coherence behind the sound and the fury, a shout of "NO!" dissipating into the chaos around you. Your own cut ignored - because what is a scratch next to the loss of an entire fucking leg? - you run towards your protector, putting your own body in between theirs and the bird's.

Chest heaving, eyes wild, you nevertheless hold your blade in front of you in what you hope is threatening.

Given that your foe is a mindless muttation that has already wreaked havoc aplenty, you highly doubt that a fifteen year old boy holding a weapon he's swung exactly once in his entire life fits that quota.

But you nevertheless stare the bird in the eye, even as your entire body trembles. And a dim part at the back of your head summons Papa's voice from deep within: "Bravery isn't the absence of fear, but the ability to do what's necessary in spite of it."

Was this brave enough? Was this leaving a good impression? You didn't care right now.

"You don't get to touch Sage, you overgrown birdbrain!" you half-demand and half-shout.

And with a third scream, you rush towards the beast instead of away from it, bloodied sword leaving an arc of crimson behind your swing.

elegant

[mohamed is shook, stands over sage protecctively, and attacks bitch u thor-t the emu]

pR_OP86WZNsword

1034 -- Shallow Cut on Left Forearm -- 3.5 damage

sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 2:15:56 GMT -5 by lance

credit to darsypoo uwu

credit to fireflyz!

credit to stare!

Lyn𝛿is
Capitol Resident

1,582 POSTS

Pronouns: ; DROP TABLE Gender;--
last seen Aug 25, 2023 23:48:21 GMT -5

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

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 3:07:23 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lyn𝛿is on Sept 18, 2020 3:07:23 GMT -5

[attr="class","w460"]

Ljúfvina -

You've felt a deep sense of wrongness throbbing in your chest since the first day you toddled out of your mother's den, your little paws scrambling to climb the white-painted acrylic rocks, the summer sun rising over the snow-capped ridges of Pikes Peak to burn harsh across your fur.

It's a constant awareness that prickles at the back of your skin as you pace up and down against the northern edge until you've entrenched a permanent groove in the tall grass where nothing has grown for six or seven years. You don't have the concepts to pinpoint exactly where your world rubs at you and wears you down with every day; after all, your enclosure has always been the only home you've ever known, your mother Brünnhilde the only other polar bear you've had growing up to compare yourself to and teach you what little she had picked up from her mother before her, who had been born on a rapidly shrinking ice field thousands of miles from here. The space you were born to has never fit you, from the shallow pool of warm water you swim endlessly in because it's the best that you have, to the tiny field that takes you less than a minute to run across from end to end, to the endless stream of humans making cooing noises and flashing their camera at you from just behind the glass walls.

You try to enjoy the moments you can, almost as though you're trying to convince yourself it's not that bad. Grunya has never failed to treat the two of you with gentleness; she provides you with plenty of food, thick slabs of meat and fish and animal fat even in the years where money was lean and meals were skimped on for some of the other animals. You learn to catch balls that she throws at you, and to make moves that the humans decide to interpret as 'dancing', and she rewards each success with treats as the crowd breaks out in whoops and applause. When each of your cubs die in your womb, the humans spare no expense in putting you through an endless array of diet changes and medications, mobilizing a whole team of researchers to work on solving why the inseminations had all ended in failure.

And yet none of it is enough.

Your mother takes to life in captivity far better than you do - your baby siblings living proof of her adaptability - but neither of you were meant for a life trapped within walls, living at the whims of humans who thought themselves considerate for the meager replacement they had offered in exchange for gorging on fattened seals, surrounded by the vast expanse of sea ice that your ancestors had had.

You would never survive there. Only the hardiest polar bears still lived out in the wild, where climate change had taken away much of their habitat and left them with a fraction of the space that had once been their birthright. What chance did you have - you, who had grown to adulthood without ever having tracked a seal's scent to their ice hole and pounced as they came up for air? The humans knew this. They clung to it as the reason for their institution's existence, but that did not make it any less unnatural for you to be a mile up from sea level and fifty degrees south of where you belonged.

The instinct to roam wild, to overpower living prey with your claws and teeth and bite down into their flesh, still runs within you. The humans know this too. They have never allowed you to indulge in this hunting instinct until today, when within the span of an hour and a half of frantic coordination their stance on it had abruptly flipped from massive inconvenience to being exactly what they needed. Hesitantly, you stand at the entrance of the stadium, confused and uncertain at this turn of events. Your collar prickles. A handful of humans urge you forward.

You bound across the sand in an unfamiliar and awkward sort of joy, eager to fulfill what you'd never quite realized you'd been missing all along.

[newclass=".w460"]width:460px;[/newclass]
Ljúfvina attacks with claws and/or teeth (sword):

11m - Dustin Carter [ Kiah ]
SEzgnOj63Msword
1172 -- Block -- 0.0 damage
(Sword)

3f - Lumi Cartwright [ nyte ]
sword
1093 -- Block -- 0.0 damage
(Sword)

8f - Luella Duval [ Tom ]
sword
1110 -- Severed Left Foot at Ankle -- 9.0 damage
(Sword)

7m - Izaiah 'Izzy' Zafiris [ Rook ]
sword
1072 -- Deep Gash on Stomach -- 9.0 damage
(Sword)

10f - Paloma Jiménez [ mahouho ]
sword
1163 -- Shallow Cut on Stomach -- 4.0 damage
(Sword)

2m - Finn Olsen [ Cass ]
sword
1051 -- Deep Gash on Cheek -- 8.5 damage
(Sword)sword·sword·sword·sword·sword·sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 3:23:57 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

Tom
Moderator

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Pronouns: He/Him
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OowoO

The Bloodbath Sept 18, 2020 4:43:22 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Tom on Sept 18, 2020 4:43:22 GMT -5

They are dying.

I can't feel my hands against the hilt of my sword, the sting of my broken fingers rushing through my body, but I can't stand down. They are dying. Nan. Lumi. Finn. Dusty. Unarmed kids who didn't deserve this. Blood coated skin and sharp claws and teeth ripping at the edges of our normal. My heart beats heavy against my chest as my blade cuts barely into the lion, backing away closer to the group of unarmed tributes. Words not meant for me on their lips, but I'm too focused on the battles at hand. Animals start bleeding and dying, slow moving from weapons of other kids. A heavy breath falls from my lips as I almost feel like we're winning, but then I catch sight of the truth.

The sight of a gator rips into a boy and I already can tell.

Death has found us.

"Shit."

It's barely a whisper on my breath, silently filling the air before me. A life shut out just like that and I can't feel my heartbeat. The world slows down and I can't feel my hands tightening on my sword. The frustration pulsing through my skin as I feel like I'm burning up, the world watches with their quiet eyes. Others slash forward at the mutts, but I can't stop myself from watching the boy fall, death clear on his face, blood dripping behind him as I can remember the way I pulled the black bags from my mother and father's corpses. I want to scream. I want to run. I want to punch something. I want to kick something. I want to cry.

I can't protect everyone, but I wish I could have.

I wish I could have saved this unknown boy from this fate, but isn't that what the capitol wanted; they wanted us to lose control.

Soon enough, everything's moving again, faster with more brute force than before. The slashing of flesh, both animal and human, echoes despite the crowds yells. The lion falls first, dying to a blade belonging to another boy. The boar is next, dying to a younger boy. Adrenaline takes over as I glance back to Lumi and Finn, breathing heavily, knowing last night's exhaustion is still apparent, but I can't back down. I can't quit when I can fight. I've been fighting for as long as I can remember. Eight wasn't given any pity and neither will the capitol.

Except, I couldn't have expected what was next.

More animals come from somewhere. The sound of a snake slithering reaches my ears as I watch it strike forward, shoving the blade in my hands between us, pushing the fangs away until I let myself relax. The sound of the slithering echoes away, but then there's a brief moment, until the python strikes again. Blood spills, worse than before. My heart aches as I watch another boy fall. Blood spills and I can hear the others saying something, but the sound of my own heartbeat rings in my ears. An echo of the failure I had let slip through, I can't protect anyone. Another boy lays bleeding and I can't watch, not paying attention to what else is going on around.

Lumi's words break my own tense form.

"I'm dying aren't I?"

I can't speak. The words catch in my throat as it's my fault Lumi is dying. It's my fault that I couldn't defend against the animals and they ripped her apart. I can't breath. My eyes blur as I can barely hold myself up, but I stand there and listen to them. Lumi's words break my heart and I can't do anything about it. I can't do anything more than just stand by them and hold my sword out, swinging to scare anything I can. "I'm so angry." They all were. "I really thought I could-"

A tension hangs in the air, building in your stomach and eyes, burning with the sensation of sorrow.

"Thank you. For everything."

The finality of it sits uncomfortably in my stomach, bubbling with the disappointment in my own hands. Burning with the fire of a pain I don't care for because I'd rather fight against the pain than let these kids die. I wasn't going to fail them like the kids at the orphanage. Failure here meant death and I wasn't ready to let people die under my own watch. I have to do more. I have to come up with a plan. I have to move faster and strike harder. I have to do better. I can't fail them like I did Analise and Amira and Nana.

"Please don’t leave me,"

The voice crack breaks my heart over and over again. Shattering what's left into a billion pieces and all I can do is suffer through it. The brokenness of Finn is almost like a memory, bleeding at the seams where two girls cry as Keepers take me away. Their pleas unheard and I was never coming back the way I left. "I’ve got no one, Lumi, please don’t die." I want to hug this boy, tell him that he wasn't alone. Rip all the horrible fears out of his chest and give him peace, but right now, I can't breath. My eyes are getting watery and all I can do is hold my sword out, missing the sight of the Hyena which charges at Lumi, taking a snap at her.

My heart beats.

I almost break down, but I can't.

The world spins and I swear she's dead, but she's not.

I know she's alive, can see her eyes and see the life wavering behind them.

I can't breath as I step even closer to them, close enough to crouch down next to Lumi, but I am not taking my eyes off of the animals. The deadly animals that the capitol is forcing to hunt us down. Treat us like we're the worst pests in the world and I can barely breathe. My heart is racing, the adrenaline is pumping in my ears and I can't feel my fingers gripping even tighter to the sword in my palm. Nana would be proud of me. She would nod in approval at my stance, tell me that I could save another kid like me, but right now, I feel scared.

Scared for Lumi.

Scared for Finn.

Scared for myself.

Fear is what the Keepers wanted and I can feel it blossom in my veins, tears pricking at my eyes as I want to scream out in frustration and charge an animal, but I can't. I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't even blink. The large animal comes next, just like a lion, but much deadlier than one. Large enough to smother one of us, it's a large white bear charging towards us. Deadly claws and teeth I can register almost immediately, I hold my sword forward as I try to meet it head on first, but the creature pushes past me, almost toppling me over as I can't feel my hands. Striking at Dustin, who manages, but it's Lumi it's going for. I can feel my heart racing and my feet move on their own.

Time feels like it slows down as I rush forward, afraid, but knowing I have to do something to get the bear to back off and run. A gasp leaves my throat as I drop the sword nearby, slipping from my fingers as my feet take me forward. My heart is racing as I can feel the air fill with tension. The world felt like it was spinning, my ears were ringing and my voice was escaping my throat in a shout.

"Don't you fucking dare!"

As the claws come down towards Lumi, I can feel myself swing forward, using the momentum as much to my advantage as I can. My foot collides with the paw, kicking it backwards to try and get the bear away from Lumi, the claws rip into my skin and blood falls heavily from my foot. The momentum is enough to knock the bear back towards someone else for a moment. I don't dare to look down when pain blossoms to life, white hot with a flare of tension. For a moment, I feel victorious in protecting Lumi, but it lasts for only a moment.

Stepping forward is the issue, collapsing downwards, catching myself on my hands, noticing what's gone wrong. My heart sinks and I can't feel my fingers again. Pain blossoms to life as tears prick at my eyes. Blood spills from the wound and I can't see my foot there anymore. All that's left is an empty space with blood falling into the sand. Shit. I feel like Analise or Amira would say right now, but I can't breathe again. Eyes glancing over to Lumi who I'm now crouched down and uncomfortably next to. My eyes scanning her over and seeing that she's alive, or as alive as possible.

Tears in my eyes, I grip her hand, letting my heart ache like it would have for anyone stuck where we were.

"I-I'm sorry."

Fear grips at my heart.

I can't save anyone.

"I-I couldn't stop them."

Tears pricking at my eyes, blood rushing behind me, but I don't care.

"I-I'm going to protect you. I-I-I-I-"

I choke on the sob in my throat before I reach for my sword with my other hand, holding on as tight as I can to Lumi's hand. Letting her know I am still there. Let her know that I care. Let her know that I'll be by her side now for as long as I can. Let an innocent dying girl know that I will keep her alive for as long as I physically can.

I may lose limbs.

I may lose my heart.

I may lose my life.

But if it's at the cost of protecting someone else's, I'll do it every time.

"Y-You're not dead yet."

Death is looming over us.

"I-I'm here. W-We're here."

My eyes reach over to Finn, tears softly falling.

It's the sound of the bear slashing from behind Finn that breaks me from the moment. Grasping at her hand, I keep myself low to the ground, holding onto this dying girl and not letting go of her. I can't let go of her. I can't let anyone else die. I can't be a failure. My mind is racing as I see blood drip from Finn's wound. Anger takes over as I push the sword forward, past Finn at the bear, striking with as power as I can muster. White hot pain blossoming from both ends of my body, burning with a fire of anger and frustration.

No one else had to die here.

No one else deserves to die here.

I have to be stronger.

I have to fight harder.

I can't let the Keepers win.

Not anymore.

(Luella Duval attacks Ljúfvina the Polar Bear; sword)
GkVG06cyywsword
(Shallow Cut on Right Hip 3.5)

sword

Last Edit: Sept 18, 2020 4:44:41 GMT -5 by Tom