a little purity | larissa, day one

[dars]

L A R I S S A ;

As they wandered aimlessly around in the forest, Larissa slowly began to see signs of what Perry mentioned earlier: rot, decay. The plush grass dried to straw and crumbled away to barren dust and cracked stone. More and more often, she found trees that'd been engulfed by slimy orange moss, with seedy yellow eyes peering out of their hollowed trunks. She heard the sounds of creatures she'd never heard before, some scary, some scarily enticing. She heard whispers from the trees themselves, some who spoke of their sickness, some who bragged about their health. It was never easy to understand what, exactly, they were saying at any point. Larissa tried to tune them out, even resorted to covering her ears at one point. When the group decided to take a break, Larissa was quick to offer to do a perimeter check just so that she could have a moment alone.

She'd been yearning for it, she realized: being out of the eyeshot of the other tributes. Even if there might have been millions of other eyes on her miles and miles away, the ones she felt most perceived by were the ones whose hands also held weapons. Deep exhale. She was so tired, so exhausted. The sun wasn't due to set for at least another hour or so, and if they were going to make it somewhere not disgusting by nightfall, their break would have to be brief. After rounding a corner of brush which made her feel particularly imperceivable, she took a quick seat on the rotted trunk of a tree. Just to gather herself, really. She dumped out the contents of her bag and retook stock, and checked her bandages, she forced her breathing to steady and her shoulders to relax. She tilted her chin up and closed her eyes, listening to the wind rather than the whispers, and she found a sense of calm.

When she opened her eyes, to her complete shock, there stood a huge, majestic creature much like the one Perry'd shown up with earlier, only this one was snowy white, with the occasional elegant sepia-toned feather in its wings. Her eyes only widened further when she realized that its eyes were locked onto her own.

Instinctively, her hand went to her sword.

"What the-"

[ gryphon roll! ]
kpfj3PG8wY1-4

1-4

[dars]

L A R I S S A ;

When she began to unsheathe the sword, the creature's feathers puffed up and it reared its head back in irritation. Slowly, she slid the blade back into its place on her back.

"Sorry, you caught me off-guard is all."

She tried to remain perfectly still, not interested in being perceived as a threat by this thing. She didn't even dare to make any loud noises to alert the others that she might need help. Treat it like a friend, it'll do the same. To be fair, she did start said friendship off by threatening it with a sword, but if she was being perfectly honest, so had most of the more important relationships in her life. Really, the list of loved ones she hadn't held at blade-point during their lives together was probably smaller than the list of loved ones she had.

"I can't offer you my friend Bellamy to eat, but I totally would've. It's just Perry already offered him to a different giant scary creature."

She considered scanning the area for something to feed it, but honestly everything looked at least mildly toxic. It made the creature's stark white coat seem that much more out of place. She had the mooncake in her bag, but it was her only food for the time being, and hunger was already starting to settle in a bit at the close of the day.

If she didn't give it anything, would it try to kill her?

It still watched her with a sharp, focused gaze. Almost expectantly.

[ gryphon roll number 2! ]
rBU5zVBuLO1-4

1-4

[dars]

L A R I S S A ;

"You're the one with wings," she retorted to the open air, "if you're so hungry, fly somewhere with food!"

Hmph.

She was still stuck standing in place, maybe out of fear but also at this point, a little out of indignance. Mostly out of fear, though- every time she tried to take a step either away or toward the thing it tensed. She kept trying to remind herself that, possibly, it was more afraid of her than she was of it, but she doubted it. It had twice as many legs, a wing span twice as tall as she was, and its beak was every bit as deadly as a dagger in the hands of a skilled assassin.

Though, it hadn't attacked her, so it was maybe at the very least not territorial, or provocative. Maybe it was only being defensive. As slowly as she could, and while maintaining eye contact with the creature, she turned her body to face back toward Bellamy and Perry. She took a single step away, and the beast shook its head in protest. She took another, and it squawked. Was it asking her to stay?

She took another step forward, and this time it followed her lead.

"Oh, no no! Don't- you can't come, uh... with me." It blinked at her, completely unbothered. She took another step, and it did the same.

"Shoo!" She grabbed a handful of leaves and tossed them in the direction of the beast, and then she ran.

[ gryphon roll number 3! ]
pbv4_FM5BB1-4

1-4