Stand {Mav vs Pierce vs Karl Day 6}

[Knuckles]

Life spins in a whirlwind, and Maverick isn't sure of where to turn. Running off by himself isn't smart, but at the moment, he felt as though he had no other option. Letting everyone see him cry wasn't ideal, yet the years rolled down his face before anything could be done. Just seeing her, Rene, dead on the ground made everything feel so much worse and knowing that he helped Haizea in the training center, he gave her advice, and she killed the one piece of home Mav held onto. For a moment, hope crawled through his veins, but it was all taken away in the blink of an eye.

It's hard to breathe, hard to think, hard to focus on anything, and its why Mav leans against a wall with his weapon loose in his hand leaving himself very vulnerable to any sort of attack. None of it matters though. Not when the entire world feels as though it's crashing down around him.

I'm sorry.

A broken heart forces itself to beat as it bleeds from the pain of the last few days. Both Duke and Rene died, and Mav couldn't save them, and it's devouring him. A career isn't supposed to let people they care about suffer and die, but at the end of the day, he knows they both had to die, and Dyno has to die as well because Maverick fully plans on having the crown placed upon his head at the end of the game when he performs the game winning move and creates a checkmate.

But none of that makes it any easier right now.

"Mav?"

He turns and looks at Dyno before quickly wiping the tears away, but it's obvious. Blood shot eyes glare at his ally, and he can't even bring himself to muster up a fake smile.

"I'm uh, here if you need me?"

A simple nod of the head is all the strength Mav can find within him as he lets Dyno know he hears the words he's speaking. Truth be told, Maverick appreciates those words more than anyone can ever imagine. For all his life, he never had a shoulder to cry on until Ezera came into his life, but this feeling is still foreign to him. His mother always told him to simply get over it, to not worry about what he can't control. It's impossible to live life, to explore the future, to see everything with ease when he's too busy pretending to a be a dad to his younger siblings. They were the ones who needed a constant shoulder to cry on, yet none of them seemed to care that he had feelings too.

"Rene was a good career. Her death won't be in vain."

At this point, Maverick understands that Dyno is trying to make him feel somewhat better. It's still difficult, though, because the pain is lingering there. Just seeing her body, seeing the blood, seeing how much she suffered. Rene was so strong, she had the will to live, and yet her breaths were stolen from her before Mav had the chance to step in and save her. Caring about others is always hard when it comes to the hunger games, and he swore he wouldn't get close to anyone in this arena, but after living with her for four days, it's impossible not to get close to someone.

"They'll die for what they did to her."

Maverick locks his eyes onto Dyno knowing these words ring true. All he wants, all he desires is to make sure her death isn't in vain.

"A good story always needs loss. Let's make hers count?"

A soft smile slowly spreads across his face. It's still impossible to know what will happen from here, but he can't carry the weight of her around right now. All that matters is doing what is needed to survive this game and make it home so he can give his family the life they deserve, and he can finally live his life.

"It's what she'd want."

He's right.

It is what she'd want.

Mav nods his head and lets out a heavy sigh before wiping the rest of the tears away.

"Thanks, Dyno, it means a lot." His eyes focus on the ground. Careers aren't supposed to cry. They're supposed to be cold blooded and not care about anyone or anything, but Mav is far from a career, and maybe the tears showed that. The mask he placed on his face to hide his true identity is starting to slip away. "She was a good career. Always fighting. Never giving up. Never begging for death. She's definitely left behind a legacy."

Legacies. It's all some people crave, but Mav doesn't want just a legacy left behind for people to remember him by for years to come. No, he wants to survive and share the legacies of the twenty-three others who died so he could make it home alive.

"And you're right, all good stories do need death. These are important. It keeps people invested in the story." He looks at Dyno again. "It is what she'd want, and we can help her legacy live on. That's what she'd want too."

But is it what Mav wants? Is it worth carrying the weight around? Is it worth living a life of pain and misery just to have her story stand strong? Is Maverick even strong enough to carry this?

I don't know.

He only knows one thing for sure right now.

"They will pay."

A heavy sigh leaves his chest as he takes a seat on the ground next to the wall he was leaning on.

"I'm sorry for the tears. I'm just human, and I can't help the emotions that came over me."

He's heard how people talk about careers, he's watched them, he's listened to the words, and crying makes people weak, but there's so much more to a person than holding every emotion back just to wear a face to show everyone they're capable of doing great things. Mav is only human, everyone is only human, and it took him until now to realize that it's okay to simply be himself. Playing a part hasn't got him anywhere in life. It hasn't done anything for him, and he wants to show that he's capable of succeeding without wearing a mask. It's hard, and it's going to be difficult, but Maverick is ready to show the world that he's a human being with real emotions instead of pretending to be a coldblooded career with only one mindset.

During the night, Mav lays awake watching the sky and looking at the fallen. It's in this moment Maverick realizes he's in the last half of the game, and it's only going to get bloodier from here. Even as the fog crackles around him, he feels the strength to carry on, and the strength to do what he needs to do to make sure that he's the one who survives this. Dyno may have plans on how his story will end, but it's important to prove him wrong and write his own story. It's hard to sleep because his mind is racing, and now that only twelve remain, Mav wants to distance himself from anyone who may hinder him of winning, and that person right now is Dyno Moreno.

When the morning hits, Mav already has a plan in mind. Leaving without saying goodbye isn't ideal, but maybe they can manage to see each other through the fog long enough before departing their separate ways.

"Dyno, don't take this the wrong way, but I hope to never see you again, and I wish you the best of luck in the end game." He finishes packing up his belongings and gripping both weapons tightly in his hands knowing he'll need them for whatever is going to come his way.

"Mmmm fair, but you’ll see me. It’ll be us at the end, Mav." He pauses for a moment, and Mav looks around hoping nobody is near by. "don’t disappoint them."

A soft smile slowly spreads across his face, and in that moment, Mav understands the game Dyno is playing.

"Since you're so confident, I'll see you at the end then." And he bows. Dyno wants this to happen it seems, but Maverick hopes Dyno dies at the hands of someone else, so he doesn't have to face him in the ultimate showdown.

"You should know by now. I know how this story will end."

The cockiness will become his downfall, Mav is sure of that, but for right now, he just goes along with it and chuckles.

"That you do. I can't wait for you to kill me Dyno Moreno. I look forward to it when we battle for checkmate at the end." He hears Dyno cackling, and then he listens as his footsteps leave, and Mav is left alone in the middle of the arena to fend for himself. It's almost terrifying, but it has to be done. If he wants any chance of succeeding, this is important. Finding shelter, taking care of himself, doing the things he needs to do, everything will lead him to the crown at the endgame.

Sighing, Mav carries himself up the mountain unsure of where to go. It only makes sense to go this way, but what if that's the plan all along? Everything happen for a reason, and right now, Mav wants nothing more than to find a place to hide and let everyone else fight.

I refuse to do that though.

Rene fought hard until her last breath, and Mav wants to try to live up the district four standards by showing what he can do, but now he won't hide behind the title of a career. His life was spent living a lie, and it's time everyone knows the truth.

Once he's at the top of the mountain, he stops to take it all in, but he can't see what he's looking for. Instead, he hears footsteps coming closer and closer. Every hair stands on end, every breath catches in the back of his throat.

What if I fail?

It's a fear he's held onto for so long. Failure is terrifying, but Mav knows fear will only bring him down. Taking a deep breath, he places himself into a position to jump whoever is coming towards him. It may be deadly seeing as he's alone, but he has to give himself a chance.

No. I won't fail.

Taking one last breath, he lunges into the open swinging aiming his spear at the enemy.

The only way to fail is to give up.

This may be foolish.

But I refuse to lay down and die.

credit to griffin <3

Maverick attacks Pierce
dFczgFf5GMspear
3175 -- 3.5 damage

Maverick attacks Karl
spear
3005 -- 10.0 damage + 1 strength
spear·spear

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

〖    p i e r c e    l i t t l e t o n    〗

Sometime in the night, the fire burning low, Pierce had taken his shift. And the first thing he did, once he was sure everyone else had quieted, was modify the list he'd written the evening just before the anthem tore open the sky outside of their little cave cocoon.

1 - Moreno
4 - Marlow
5 - Usoa
5 - Ivanov
7 - Paragoni
8 - Theo
9 - Vigil
10 - Errington
11 - Jardens

He held the caligraphy pen aloft for a long, long time. Waiting for something to move him, to compel him, to write the missing names of the living: Littleton, Fitzgerald, Rose-Izar. But to commit them to the list was to admit that they had to be eliminated to go home.

Near dawn, he relinquished his watch and went to sleep with ink smeared across his lips from where he'd chewed the back of the pen to a nub. He sleeps, or maybe he doesn't, because he comes to waking in a purple haze. All he can sense is what he can touch. Which, in a way, made things awfully simple: gather his things close and take one step at a time.

More than once on the steep ascent he thinks about calling out for Haze. He thinks about rounding a corner and burying himself in a fluff of red hair, holding Brennan's tall frame close. He thinks about these phantoms, but he doesn't want them. It's easier this way.

He perfectly understands the Gamemakers have given him a gift.

So, Pierce Littleton, Career of District Two, makes no fuss at all as he takes one careful step after another all the way to the Peak. By then he's slung his bag over his shoulders and notched his Longbow. It costs him some energy to carry it charged but it's well worth it when the curtain of the fog peals back.

The first flash of Maverick Marlow's spear comes straight for him. But Pierce feels good - really good - for the first time in days. He twists on his good leg and dodges most of the emotionally driven attack. Marlow moves all the way through the attack and sinks his weapon into something squishy behind Pierce.

He pulls his smashed leg behind and foot over foot creates some distance between himself the others. Pierce has the bow so taut and so high it obscures most of his face. He keeps the pointy-end oscillating between Karl and Maverick, indecision coloring his movements.

But then. He doesn't know if the Longbow's latent charge or the fog or some combination but suddenly the weapon feels red hot and he can't afford to wait. "HEY!" He shouts. "Marlow! You find a way to talk to ghosts or what? Moreno finally owned up that he was gonna slit your throat?"

He fires.

Restrings. His fingertips inflammed. He doesn't have to attack again; he doesn't have to even acknowledge the other boy. But he knows too well if the manufactured fog has parted for them, the Gamemakers want this.

Either they die, or he does.

The hot hot sun at this back, Pierce fluidly notches and releases a second arrow. "We're on top of the world!" He crows.

[Pierce attacks Maverick; Longbow of the Sky]

hlNiWNsycfbow

[MISS (ARROW BROKEN), +0.0 dmg]

[Longbow lightning charge 1/2]

1-50

[MINOR BURN, +2 dmg]



[Pierce attacks Karl; Longbow of the Sky]

bow

[MISS, +0.0 dmg]

[Longbow lightning charge 2/2]

1-50

[MINOR BURN, +2 dmg]


[Accuracy Day ...6?; turn order says Maverick; Longbow]

bow

[MISS, +0.0 dmg]

bow·1-50·bow·1-50·bow

[tick 12a / calla]

k a r l .

"these bones never
rested while living,
how can they stand
to languish in repose?"

Karl wakes up blind.

Or, he thinks he does. Until Aed creaks from above him and pulses its dull little light. It's barely bright enough to cut through the haze, but it bobs and weaves in the air like a lantern behind a screen.

Karl uncurls from the rocky alcove he'd shoved himself into. The jar rolls from his chest to his hands, it's warm against his palms.

"Another day." He whispers to it.

Badump-badump-badump.

He looks up and tries to squint through the fog, tries to make out where the sun hangs behind it.

"Doesn't look like it." He gets to his feet, "But we can try."

Badump-badump-badump.

Karl tucks the jar gently back into his bag. Aed floats somewhere near his shoulder now, and this time he lets it. There's something pathetic about the thing. It'd stayed beside the jar last night like it was a flame and Aed was the little moth infatuated with it. It clicked in time with the heartbeats - a morbid kind of lullaby that had lulled Karl into a dead sleep.

It takes several steps of wandering through the fog with the scythe as a walking stick before the cadence of the beats change. He'd been walking in tune to them, like some kind of march, but then the tempo changes, then they get faster.

Karl stops.

It goes slow again.

He takes a step. It speeds up.

He stops and turns to the side and goes that way instead. The heart goes molasses-slow.

Karl glances back at the lavender wall uneasily, he can't tell what's through the fog but - "That way?"

Badump-badump-badump.

He gets three steps in before the spear comes flying.

It catches him in the neck, so sudden and so surprising that for a minute he's sure that his throat's just been cut. It's like his skin is paper and his hand flies up to the spot, trying to hold it together and closed but it's already soaked and the blood drips down the side of his neck and gathers against his collarbone and he makes this awful gurgling sound that cuts out halfway through, stifled, burning, burnt, he's ashes.

"HEY!" He hears through the fog and

his stomach drops and

the heart goes absolutely crazy in his bag, he can practically feel it thrumming against his side, vibrating like a hornet's nest that some stupid little boy's just kicked.

Pierce. (Brennan.)

(Calamity.)

Badump-badump-badump.

"Shhh." He chokes out wetly.

They'll hear you.

karl attacks maverick | scythe (glaive)
E6|sKzA6eQglaive
13040 -- Shallow Cut on Left Bicep -- 3.5 damage

karl attacks pierce | scythe (glaive)
glaive
13153 -- Shallow Cut on Left Thigh -- 3.5 damage

glaive·glaive

[Knuckles]

Life is hard, it's tough, and maybe that's why he's trying so hard to keep climbing up the mountain before him. Yet at the top of every mountain is another one waiting for someone to climb. Each peak becomes higher and higher until there isn't anything left to do except climb or give up and fall all the way back down and lose the progress that's been made.

Being alone is difficult, and this is the first time Mav hasn't had someone by his side helping him focus on the task at hand. It's never as easy as it seems though, and maybe that's what's hindering him from being his best today. Duke died way too soon, Rene died just the other day at the hands of Pierce's friends, and now he escaped the career foundation Dyno had laid for them. All he was ever going to do was disappoint Dyno and everyone else, so maybe it's best Mav starts finding his own way in the world without anyone holding him down.

That includes Jalan and Coltan back in district four watching and praying for his ultimate demise.

"HEY!"

It's startling, hearing someone, but it's almost expected when something goes wrong, yet it's needed because it draws him back to the reality of everything going on around him.

"Marlow! You find a way to talk to ghosts or what? Moreno finally owned up that he was gonna slit your throat?"

What is he talking about? Not that it matters anyway seeing as ghosts aren't real, and if they were, why would they want to talk to him? Why would anyone want to talk to him? He's just a disappointment of a man who tried to play a role in a game he doesn't belong in. But there's more to it than that, and in that very moment, Maverick wonders what Pierce is talking about. Dyno never once said he was going to slit his throat, but he did promise death would come to him when they fought at the final two.

Not that it's the first time someone threatened him, and he's almost certain it won't be the last.

"No, I threatened him." He lies through his teeth, and it's the part where the world starts crashing down around him again, it's difficult to lie, but he doesn't want to be seen as weak even though he's the weakest person out there out of everyone left alive, he has to be. Just look at him, the tears have fell from his eyes, they've covered the ground.

Twice he's failed.

Twice he's been unable to save a friend, but now he has no friends.

It's just me. I'm all alone, and I'm scared.

"But he clearly knows how this is all going to end, at least he says he does."

Taking a deep breath, he spins on his toes and looks at the guy who shushed him.

"I'm not interested in his ending though."

Writing this story for himself is far more important than anything else in the world, and that's exactly what he's going to do.

"Why do we have to be quiet?" Mav asks Karl. "Afraid someone will find us?"

If that's the case, Maverick knows he needs to finish this quick before someone else decides to join in.

credit to griffin <3

Maverick attacks Pierce
je1BorLLhqspear
miss

Maverick attacks Karl
spear
miss

accuracy reroll day 6... on Karl
spear
block lmao spear·spear·spear

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

〖    p i e r c e    l i t t l e t o n    〗

"Shhh." Jardens says and even though it's a single sushing it seems to Pierce it is accomanpied by a beat. There's something distant about the snake eyes tribute. At first Pierce thought him to be aloof, but now he isn't so sure.

He realizes right then he forgot to warn Haze that some tributes just went straight to batshit crazy, making them the scariest of all.

The scythe talks more than its handler which suits Pierce just fine. The only people he actually wants to converse with are lost in the purple fog.

The Longbow is spent. Its energy flickers up and down the beautifully painted arch. Then, with a spray of sparks, it extinguishes itself forever. There's a little part of him that's grown fond of the weapon which is the only reason he hesitates at all.

Then he looks skyward, "don't have to tell me twice," and pitches it over the Peak and into oblivion. In the same movement he reaches behind his back and draws his Katana. The sword is heavy - so heavy - after days of only carrying the Longbow of the Sky. He isn't sure he can reasonably wield it and then Marlow says, "I'm not interested in his ending though."

And Pierce figures it out really fucking quick. "The more noise the better," he agrees with Maverick, weight in his legs, preparing to strike. "So I can show Haze and Bren this is only the beginning."

[Pierce attacks Maverick; Katana (Sword)]

s5emEht1Z1sword

[Deep Gash on Right Calf -- 8.0 damage]
[+1 Blades]


[Pierce attacks Karl; Katana (sword)]

sword

[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

sword·sword

[tick 12a / calla]

k a r l .

"these bones never
rested while living,
how can they stand
to languish in repose?"

It's like seeing them through gauze. The air's got a purple gossamer, shimmering like smog. It carries the sweet smell of plant rot with it.

badump-badu- - "Why do we have to be quiet?"

Karl's head shoots up, knuckles tightening, the sky glimmers and the heart's seething now, he can feel it.

"Wasn't talking to you." He spits out, but it's strained, garbled from the slash through his neck.

Shut up. Shut up - he tries to listen for the tempo beat again but it's dissolved into a low sort of hum, a buzzing sound that settles around him like radio static, it lingers just on the edges of his oxygen supply, it feels fuzzy when he reaches for it, makes him lightheaded when he breathes it in.

That might be the sudden blood loss.

The colour shifts, turning warmer, it's the boy in the forest, underneath all the pink and the red and the purple - what had he said?

It's Yael dying against his shoulder, the ocean stretching between them, Dyno on fire and glowing and grinning, wicked; Karl realizes, with the acuteness of a sharp cliff's edge, he hadn't said anything.

Dyno's not with him. He's not here.

It's just guilt by association - Pierce and Calamity and Maverick and Yael

and Karl.

(and

badump-badump-badump)

It feels like it's getting warmer.

"The more noise the better."

No.

Their swings go wide. Maverick tries again and Karl brings his scythe up in time for the spear to clang against it and ring through this arms. It echoes against the rocks. Settles somewhere in the cracks.

...No?

The silence makes his teeth ache, but the noise is worse. It always has been.

Even just Dyno had been a wildfire against his cortex. Even just Itzal had been the feeling of pedestrian traffic stomping away in his head. They both made him want to shove his skull into the well-worn grooves of the dirt and never come back out. He wants to crawl back into the bog until he can't hear anything except the softness of the water and the beating of a heart that isn't his own.

He leans into the haze between them all.

Bren, Pierce says, and the humming gets a little louder. Karl swears he feels the heart twitch through the glass through his bag through his skin.

"It doesn't like that name." The static's back. "It wants you to be quiet."

karl attacks maverick | scythe (glaive)
yZDhJE42L7glaive
13174 -- Shallow Cut on Left Forearm -- 3.5 damage

karl attacks pierce | scythe (glaive)
glaive
13077 -- Shallow Cut on Back -- 4.0 damage

glaive·glaive

[Knuckles]

Being a disappointment is difficult, yet it means Maverick has nobody to let down, not even himself, but every time he falls, he finds the strength to stand back up, to walk the walk of life, and to keep going despite the odds never being in his favor. Yet it becomes more difficult to keep going.

Volunteering was a mistake, and nothing can change what he's done. Nothing will ever take it away, and he's stuck here, fighting between two people he wants to care about, but he can't bring himself to look them in the eye or even mutter their names. Why? Because they matter. They're human beings. All twenty-four of them deserve life, and it's all been taken away from them in the blink of an eye.

Maverick used to sit at home and call volunteers idiots and foolish human beings for doing this to themselves, and what did he do?

All I had to do was let Ezera enter into the games, and none of this would've happened.

But love is something he just started feeling. He found a friend worth dying for, but Ezera is more than a friend, and Maverick wants to make it home to him even if Ezera doesn't feel the same way because that companionship through life is needed even if they only stay friends forever.

"The more noise the better."

Talking always got him in trouble back home when he tried digging himself out of the holes, he constantly buried himself in, and maybe that's what he's done here.

"Wasn't talking to you."

Oh.

That's right.

Nobody ever wants to talk to me anyway.

A heavy heart slams into the cage holding in place, and for a moment it feels as though someone has wrapped a hand around his neck making it impossible to breathe -

So why does this hurt more?

All his life people have talked down to him, they've made him feel small, and throughout his life, Maverick has let them do so. People walk all over him, they never give him a chance, and yet he claims to be a career. Jalan and Coltan always swore he wouldn't amount to anything, and Maverick tried his hardest to prove them wrong.

But maybe they're right.

Turning away, he takes a breath trying to keep his composer. Wearing the mask is hard, it's impossible to hold it together anymore, but he wants to keep trying. Why does it matter? Why would anyone care?

Why should I care?

Trying to please everyone has put him into the position of being a constant doormat, and today he wants to change that, but he doesn't know how because his entire life has been spent pleasing others. Neglecting himself has done so much damage, but maybe it's more than that. Being hurt, being knocked down, all of that has turned his life upside down, yet his heart still remains a heart of gold.

And it isn't a bad thing anymore.

Fighting back with word won't accomplish anything, anyway. If they want him to stay quiet, Maverick will never speak again. Maybe then he won't disappoint anyone else like the many he's disappointed before. It's the best way to make sure everyone else is heard, and that their story continues instead of the one he desires to tell.

But nobody will ever listen to him anyway.

With a shrug of his shoulders, he pivots around with a steady grip on his spear.

"You're in my way." He pauses as he strikes once. "Now move."

Nobody will ever put me down again. Not anymore.

Staying quiet means Karl will win, and Maverick refuses to let that happen.

credit to griffin <3

Maverick attacks Pierce
0qwYcquFTgspear
3057 -- 4.5 damage

Maverick attacks Karl
spear
3149 -- 3.5 damagespear·spear

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

〖    p i e r c e    l i t t l e t o n    〗

When Karl speaks his voice is full of someone else. Like another soul has lodged in his throat. "It doesn't like that name."

Pierce blinks, like really fucking hard. "That name? What'd I say, Snow?"

Because for a moment he's forgotten. He's so focused on the smooth wave his sword makes, of keeping it moving slightly so that neither can get too much of an edge. It's working; they've both just barely scratched him. But it's also tiring. In training it always amazed him how quickly he would become fatigued on the days they fasted, to simulate life in the arena. And even though he'd devoured the bento box yesterday, he could feel his muscles starting to atrophy, his focus starting to wane. Because truly he didn't want to be here, swishing his katana, trying to puzzle out what had fucked up Karl so badly and find a way to apologize to Maverick because he seemed like a half decent fellow.

His blue gaze flickers over Maverick, defiant, ordering them to move. Pierce is all too happy to oblige. After all, he doesn't want to be here.

He wanted to be with --

Oh.

"Bren! Brennan Fitzgerald. You ever seen anyone look more gorgeous after almost a week roughing it? Whew. But who's this 'it'?" Pierce brings his sword back and back, the hilt almost under his armpit.

"Is it... you?" And drives it forward.

It's immediately clear he's overcorrected. He trips past Karl entirely and ends up merely slicing at Maverick. His lips twist in frustration. "Goddamnit," he mutters, rolling back his shoulders, trying to find some reserve of strength.

[Pierce attacks Maverick; Katana (Sword)]

y5fo_EkK3tsword

[Shallow Cut on Left Bicep -- 3.5 damage]


[Pierce attacks Karl; Katana (sword)]

sword

[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

sword·sword

[tick 12a / calla]

k a r l .

"these bones never
rested while living,
how can they stand
to languish in repose?"

Karl notices two things happening in rapid succession.

The first is that nothing seems to touch him. Maverick's spear slices across Pierce's hairline, missing his eye by an inch, and Karl drifts like a ghost, invisible and only-half solid. Their blades slip by him and he can feel Calamity’s small hands against his shoulders.

Maverick decides to shut up and the heart hums, pleased.

This is the other thing Karl notices -

badump-badump

(-badump)

Pierce is kind of an idiot.

“Brennan.” He says joyously, foolishly, and the hornets slowly get louder.

Karl's skin hums with it, he can feel the buzzing travel along his fingers and down his spine and fester against the bruising in his chest. He feels focused and unfocused at the same time, like the point of a needle pushing through a cotton thatch, everything moves in double speed and then slows down to a honey-like consistency, rounding the bend and amping back up again.

Shut up - badump-badump-badump

shut UP.

“Is it… you?”

His hand drifts to his bag, torn between taking the heart out and making them understand, or leaving it where he knows it’s safe, not risking it. He recognizes that its something previous. He doesn't trust them with it.

“No.” He says flatly. The blood's gone tacky against his neck and makes it sound like he's swallowed gravel.

“Calamity.” The heart staccatos, and Karl looks to the side, frowning, “But not Calamity.”

And because sometimes the voice gets too overlayed, too scrambled in-between the beats and the blood clots -

"Yael." Then he shakes his head and clutches the scythe, "Not Johnny. All of them, sometimes."

Lke a homing device, the heart speeds up when Pierce lunges for him, getting loud and frantic as he passes by.

Karl realizes then, slightly belatedly, that they're both careers. The way they look at him is the same - it's like Dyno, but not like Yael. Like Mirage and like Itzal, but not together. Separate. It gets all jumbled up in his head until he comes to antecedent of the thought.

It's more him against them.

It's a good thing that the heart doesn't seem to like Maverick very much either.

[ uses lucky cat statue to negate maverick's 3149 attack ]

karl attacks maverick | scythe (glaive)
sWMmDEZ8ZSglaive
13110 -- Shallow Cut on Left Calf -- 3.5 damage

karl attacks pierce | scythe (glaive)
glaive
13034 -- Shallow Cut on Cheek -- 3.5 damage

glaive·glaive

[Knuckles]

I don't belong.

It's something he's struggled with all his life, and now that he's standing around listening to these two talk without a care in the world, it becomes even more obvious to him. Having friends, having someone to stand by him, someone to encourage him, it all went a long way, yet he told Dyno goodbye because it was time. It's the point in the games where everyone needs to focus solely on themselves, but Mav wasn't prepared.

I'm not who I say I am.

Being a career, it was always something he held onto because it gave him a name, a persona, something that people admired, yet he's let so many people down. Not to mention, wearing this mask has given careers a bad reputation. It's easier to look at the strength of those capable of fighting, and maybe he didn't bring them down, but he definitely brought himself down more than anyone else did.

I'm just a phony.

Maybe Jalan was right. He spent his entire life trying to prove a point, yet Maverick lied to himself time and time again, and now that he's here in the hot seat, he can't walk the walk after talking the talk. Killing is supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be something he's good at, yet he's fumbled his way through the arena up until this point while losing those he cared for. Not that it matters since only one can win, but maybe they deserve it more than him.

Duke and Rene both deserve to be here over me.

His heart is heavy, it's cracking under the weight, the agony is tearing the strings apart, but why is it refusing to give in? Why can't it just let the others succeed? What's keeping him alive? Every breath catches in the back of his throat, and he's tempted to run away like the coward he is. Just look at him, he started the war, and he can't even finish it. Biting off more than he can chew is dangerous, and yet it's something he's known for.

But I am here.

Why?

What's the purpose?

Thinking of his family, Maverick knows they need him to succeed in this, they need him to win, and yet he feels so far away from winning because now that Dyno isn't by his side, he feels more like an imposture than ever. Surely Dyno would laugh at his misfortune. He's a big strong career, and Maverick is nothing compared to him. He's nothing compared to Pierce.

I can't compare myself to others.

It gives so many unrealistic expectations, but being himself, it's lame, because he's not capable of succeeding. At least that's what he tells himself, and maybe that's where he's falling short. Maybe that's why it's impossible to stand. Placing the spear to the side, he grabs the kanabo. It feels awkward in his hands, but maybe this is the strength he needs. Maybe if he focuses on being himself, he'll find a way to succeed. Nobody else can do it for him.

I just want to be me.

Without a second thought, he lunges towards Pierce, and then pivoting around swings at Karl.

Throughout his life, Maverick learned silence is a virtue.

credit to griffin <3

Maverick attacks Pierce
zjtClHJDkWspiked blunt
14011 -- 6.5 damage + 1 strength

Maverick attacks Karl
spiked blunt
14076 -- 7.0 damage + 1 strength spiked blunt·spiked blunt

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

〖    p i e r c e    l i t t l e t o n    〗

"Calamity. But not."

At first, Pierce doesn't really think Karl's responding to him. It makes no sense; Calamity has been dead for days. He watched them fall. And if a dead person wants Pierce to shut up, well...? They could get in line.

But then Karl says Yael and it ignites Pierce's blood. He does not like the sound of her name in his haunted mouth. "All of them, sometimes," and it finally dawns on Pierce that all of Karl's allies are dead.

He can only hope the same is true for Maverick.

"You ever think about telling the ghosts to shut up themselves? Turn the tables?" He lifts an eyebrow just before he strikes. The humor makes the sword feel a little lighter. Confidence boosts him if only for a second before Maverick steathily rams his arm.

Instantly he knows its broken. A howl bubbles out before he can tamp it down. He doesn't want to draw any more attention to himself. His teeth chatter from the pain as he brings the sword around one-handed, loosing his grip.

It's too heavy. The pain clouds his blue eyes as the sword clatters to the stone at Maverick's feet. "Fuck," he manages even though his jaw is trembling.

[Pierce attacks Maverick; Katana (Sword)]

_M7RbfDCgdsword

[Miss -- 0.0 damage]


[Pierce attacks Karl; Katana (sword)]

sword

[Severed Left Leg at Hip -- 10 damage]
[+1 Blades]

sword·sword

[tick 12a / calla]

k a r l .

"these bones never
rested while living,
how can they stand
to languish in repose?"

The crashing starts in his knee first. Karl turns through the fog and Maverick is there with a bat and he swings it so hard that the stars all start to blink and then bleed and then sink from the sky to the ground.

Karl grits around the fragments of his knee, fingers digging into the softness of the bone.

"You ever think about telling the ghosts to shut up themselves?"

He tugs on his scraps of sanity, choking on glass and blood and a cavernous emptiness, Pierce doesn't even know what a real ghost is like - "They're real."

He can feel the warmth of the jar faintly, he can still hear it, it's there, they're there. He can feel the weight of it when Pierce's sword digs into his hip and drags itself down and out of his thigh, the same way he can see Yael's name in the blood and Calamity's eyes in the tissue separation. He can hear Johnny in the pain of it, gasping on his own life and hurting so unbearably, and then he realizes - that's him.

He leans so heavily on the scythe; his leg is on fire, like someone's just taken a match to his thigh and let it catch. Pierce is falling too, but Karl can't see him through the rose-tinted heatwaves, he's just an indiscriminate shadow in the shape of a boy.

That's all Karl is too; a silly little changeling, the world's worst toxic wallflower. He wraps himself in his own sickness and wanders through lives like a particularly nasty plague. He gives without truly taking, leaving them wounded and coughing and broken, but still there. If you blink at the wrong moment, you won't even know he's there.

But they're real, he had told Pierce. He's real.

karl attacks maverick | scythe (glaive)
rBQnD48PDKglaive
13182 -- Block -- 0.0 damage

karl attacks pierce | scythe (glaive)
glaive
13131 -- Deep Gash on Cheek -- 8.5 damage + 1 blades


day 6 accuracy on maverick | scythe (glaive)
glaive
13159 -- Stabbed in Bicep -- 8.5 damage + 1 blades

glaive·glaive·glaive

[Knuckles]

Bones shatter, and the sound is one he's all too familiar with, but at least the pain didn't follow behind it seeing as he's the one breaking the bones instead of having his bones broken. Yet it still leaves Maverick wondering what he's capable of doing. It's in these moments that things can easily come crashing down, and based on the amount of blood he's lost, it seems impossible to consider anything else.

Someone is going to die, and for a moment, he's terrified it's going to be him especially when Pierce brings his sword down. A sigh of relief leaves his chest when the sword hits the rock before him sending him stumbling backwards tripping over his own two feet as he tries his hardest to get away. For now, he's safe.

But it isn't over yet.

It's hard to see, but he listens for some rocks moving around on the ground matching someone's footsteps, he listens for any sort of sign that may let him see that someone is coming his way, but he misjudged.

All the years of training have come down to this, and all Maverick can think about is the laughter of those who trained along with him.

Look at him. He's pathetic.

The words haunt him, and for years he believed it. He believed he would never amount to anything, that he would die a slow agonizing death, and maybe that's the truth. Maybe that's what he's here to do. Suffering can make people stronger, but it can also bring people down. It brought him down, and part of him wants to climb back up to the top, but the mountains are standing in his way, they have been his entire life, and even now as he looks around off the peak of this giant mountain, Maverick can't even fathom the idea of climbing his own mountains in life.

I need to, though.

But how?

Moments like these, the seconds, all of them are precious, and now he's trying not to scream at the top of his lungs from the pain. It's just a matter of time, though, before one of them fall, and Maverick doesn't want to topple over and fall off the edge. It's such a long way down.

Composing himself, he moves around trying to get away from the rock he's standing on. Time is of the essence, and maybe that's all he needs to save himself to see just one more day. It's gave him the strength before, but can it give him the courage now? It's hard to know because he's trapped in a world where he doesn't belong since he put himself into the line of fire to save someone he loves.

Love makes people do crazy things sometimes, but maybe love can give him the strength he needs.

I hope I'm making you proud.

Pivoting around, he prepares himself once more, and this time he swings with all his might. It might not be enough, but at least he can say he gave everything his all even if ends in his death.

credit to griffin <3

Maverick attacks Pierce
avj4TEl|mdspiked blunt
0

Maverick attacks Karl
spiked blunt
0spiked blunt·spiked blunt

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

〖    p i e r c e    l i t t l e t o n    〗

This is different from all of his training, even the days the other Careers beat him to pulp. He'd broken an arm, his nose, his clavicle before. He's waited days to have them reset. Another time he developed a kidney infection. All of those injuries hurt, especially when he had to do mundane shit like pee.

But this is different.

The creep of injury, of pain, is exhausting. And when the sword slips from his grasp, he knows his chances are dwindling. The only question is: is he dying faster or slower than Maverick and Karl?

"They're real."

Pierce hears the conviction behind those words and takes a deep, deep breath.

He releases it as Karl strikes, gaining the upperhand. It doesn't hurt much even as the blade spins his head around and wets his face. Blood pours over his shoulder. The only solace is that Maverick's no better off. He looks almost drunk - with pain? - as he tries to parry the attack. Pierce leans onto a walking stick which is the only thing keeping him upright.

"Sure," Pierce says, the s whistling through the seeping gap in his cheek. "As real as we are."

And lifts the stick, his glaive, and drives the word home.

[Pierce attacks Maverick; Naginata (Glaive)]

wfbzyL_u87glaive

[Shallow Cut on Left Hip -- 3.5 damage]


[Pierce attacks Karl; naginata (glaive)]

glaive

[Stabbed in Calf -- 8.5 damage]
[+1 Blades]

glaive·glaive

[tick 12a / calla]

k a r l .

"these bones never
rested while living,
how can they stand
to languish in repose?"

Karl stumbles on the tendons of his leg. There's a give to it now, they're wilting the way crawling vines do once they're cut, once the birds that were born in them have grown and gone and left the empty shells of their nests behind.

Pierce might understand. Karl looks at him, really looks, and he sees Calamity and their blood, but it's only superimposed. His vision swims like a reel of bad film; someone's taken a bright red marker and scribbled over the photos, and that's what he's found buried here, cradled by the rocks.

The heart's gone strangely quiet.

Maverick swings wide and Karl feels the ghost of it brush his cheek. Pierce digs into his leg again but he can't really feel it anymore, it's numbed, and he doesn't have the focus to know if that's a good thing or a bad one.

"We're real." Karl whispers from the ground, and the whole arena echos it back. The water down in the fields ripples gently, and the koi in the ponds glide against each other, their scales rasping. A pebble falls down the peak and the cherry blossoms sway and reach for the sky and cradle the gentle lavender-blue of it.

It's all so real, and it tugs at his chest worse than any weapon has. Blood drips from his face to his knee to the ground, but it isn't red.

They're real and they're human, and they're horrible because that's just something that comes with the job description.

The thing about the heart - about the anger - it's not really angry. It's a blessed thing. It's a harbinger, travelling across the slopes and the valleys of the arena to try and make people understand. And Karl does understand it. He does. He can read the tempo of its beats and hear the eerie song it plays, but more important than that he can feel it.

He feels real.

karl attacks maverick | scythe (glaive)
rcOdnsQ|LIglaive
13058 -- Stabbed in Bicep -- 8.5 damage + 1 blades
stabbed in neck

karl attacks pierce | scythe (glaive)
glaive
13018 -- Deep Gash on Forehead -- 9.0 damage + 1 blades

glaive·glaive