Ash & Dust // [Serpent & King, Day 5]

[[earthling]]

Orville slid down the back of a rusted gasoline pump at the edge of the Junktown Proper, too exhausted to continue another step. Bone weary and in pain to his marrow, his suit thumped onto the torn concrete, a gaping mess of metal and wires barely encircling him. He'd lost his helmet entirely. Something deep in the suit sloshed and he hoped it was oil and not blood, though ideally both would be powering him instead of leeching out.

In the dying sunlight he touched his wet cheeks and his hands came away salty.

"I'm crying," he whispered. Then, he forced his chin up, the last bloody rays of sunshine in his eyes. He could not see Rafael but found, soothingly, that he did not need to in order to know his district partner was still there. "Shall we bid this day goodbye and send Fatima into the sunset?"

He could not stand but he could still lift his axed arms and cross them over his chest. He closed his eyes. "May she be forever warm and free and --"

He waited a heartbeat.

Opened one eye to blink expectantly at Rafael. What would she want?

[Orville attempts to trap Small Game.]

AT_2w4EmK|1-2

[results]



[Title lyrics from "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons]

1-2

[napoleon, d2m ₊⊹ 🐁 ɢʀɪғғɪɴ.]

Ugly filler #1.

- Drags away a half-dead Orville before the junktown can crumble around them.
- Doesn't mourn Fatima but doesn't like to her see gone, too. She had grit, too much resilience, and a part of Rafael respected the fight in her.
- Martyrs are forever bound to the grave, though.
- Hears Orville cry, says a sharp “Don't.” Looks at him. “It's the nature of the game, King. There is always a body at the each of the day.”
- Stays quiet through the eulogy. When Orville stops, though, he fills it with: “justified.” He closes his eyes too. “Something that this world can never provide.”