How evergreen, our group of friends // bad blood day 2

[Hafen d4 ⚓︎ minie]

Things were going pretty decently if you had asked me.

My three little chess pieces were playing their part perfectly. Luna was my rook, claiming the snakes, the capitol’s pawns, as her first victims. I had no doubt that when it came down to it, tributes would be dropping like flies at her hand. It would make for some wonderful entertainment. Sadly, I did not have anyone that would feed me grapes whilst I enjoyed the spectacle. I no longer watched from the outside in, the snakes proved that I was just as much a player in this game then the rest. Tommy finally seemed to have warmed up to me, I just needed to throw him a bone. I guess I really could not be giving Will all the attention if I wanted the medic to care for me as well.

I wandered around the cenote a bit on my own, even I needed to get away from everything. Just have a moment to myself where I was not strategically showering Will with what could warrant as both compliments and threats at the same time. Or where I was not pretending that nothing could touch me, that there was nothing the capitol could throw my way that I could not compartmentalize and ignore. It was hard to do that without the drugs, sobriety almost turned me human.

I picked up a rock that had seemed to crumble off walls of the area. I wanted to scream out of frustration, but I knew if I did that, then my allies would come running, and if it was not them then it would be the other tributes. The last thing I wanted in this moment would have to be to deal with another thing trying to kill me.

So, I scream internally into the void that is my mind. Over and over and over again.

Under the next rock I picked up, there laid three incased iodine tablets. A wide smile appears at my find, it may not be booze, but I knew this meant we would be able to have a drink. I filled up the empty wine skin with the murky water hoping the pills would be enough to make it drinkable.

”Guysssss” I hissed at the three of them with excitement in my eyes. ”I found some pills! Sadly, not the fun kind, but at least these little things are not gonna let us go thirsty!” I honestly never thought that I would be this excited about water. I’ve become so primal, so boring. I tossed them towards my allies who were all sat together as I reattached myself to Will’s hip. Oh she must have missed me whilst I was having my 5 minutes.

”My darlings, let’s play a game whilst we drink up. I already know Luna’s answer, but you should also be included in the fun.” I looked in Thomas’s and Will’s direction. ”It’s an easy one, Fuck…” I locked eyes with Will and gave her an ever so slight smile. I knew exactly what I was doing, and it most definitely was on purpose. ”…Marry, Kill. 94th tribute edition. Who wants to start us off?”

Table by Ryan
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[alex 🐺]

"Here," Will says as she tosses the body of the giant snake, or what was left of it after Luna had clearly channeled the teenage rage that was so deliciously lying just under her surface, at the edge of the cenote, right before Xaa's feet. An offering to the gods, if her deity was clad in black with slits for eyes and a forked tongue. "Dont say I never gave ya anything nice." 

The body lands with a thud and Will pulls out the knives that she had thrown, grasping some material from her pants and cleaning off the dark blood that was sticky and coagulated before taking a seat at the water's edge. Gross. Xaa wanders away to have what Will was sure was some sort of temper tantrum, probably, because she clearly wanted to make pets out of the stupid things trying to kill them and now they were all tired and sweaty and covered in snake guts. 

Oh yeah, and poisoned! The thought forms, dull like the pain in her leg as a vial of antidote floats down from the trees like a leave, landing on the ground right in front of her. With a shrug, Will drinks the liquid like a shot (her daddy would be so proud if he saw her), grimacing as the tart liquid coats her throat. 

Xaa comes back, smiling triumphantly and holding a wine skin before she plops right next to Will. 

”My darlings, let’s play a game whilst we drink up. I already know Luna’s answer, but you should also be included in the fun. It’s an easy one, Fuck...Marry...Kill. 94th tribute edition. Who wants to start us off?”

"Hard pass!" Will volunteers with a laugh, averting her eyes from Xaa's. Just because she had stuck her head in the beast's mouth didn't mean that she was ready to be devoured just yet. It would take all the fun away, at any rate.

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[ryan]

you are vindicated for just a moment as you realize that you have gone completely apeshit on the snakes that were before you. its hard, to realize that you are something different and difficult all in the same body. you cant believe you have gotten yourself in this mess, but at the same time, you can. you could have simply let the girl that had been reaped before you go in, but no, this for some reason, spoke to you. you wanted more in life than to live in the shadow of men that would not even give you the decency to think of you as an equal.

you wanted to show them just how not to cross you, and then let that live on for other girls to see, even if you died here. your legacy would go on for ages to come.

you do end up realizing that you can step away from the corpse that you had repeatedly stabbed into nothing. everyone else seemed to be slightly weary of you, and honestly, they should be. you had shown them exactly why you were a career, and that was more than enough to set them straight and follow suit. you didnt have to be the example, you wanted too.

time had passed and you had begun to wind down. you watched as tommy had been up to something else with the mutt corpse. you searched the area for things that could be useful, all the way up until you had found some sort of weird pill that apparently could maybe help with the searing feeling that had been travling through your bloodstream. you dont think about it too much, because you dont want to think about it. you do remember stabbing your spear deep into the snakes, and you do remember the hissing for just a moment before you realize that everyone is sitting and watching you now.

you are sort of bombarded by a question, but then you realize that xaa was just being xaa in this moment. she had already asked you this, and while you didnt want to answer truthfully, you figured that at this point, who gave a shit. if you were going to die here, then so be it. you might as well be able to say that you were honest and true.

"im still waiting for my pill to kick in to be honest." you had taken it, what felt like, forever ago, and you did not think anything more of it. it seemed like everyone else was starting to come down from the adrenaline, which meant that xaa was ready to shake the dice all over again.

"i would agree with you will usually..." you give xaa a soft smile. "it really is an interesting game to play." you smirk for a moment before realizing that there was more here for will then you realized. you could have probably egged it on a little more, but watching others squirm? that was something that you enjoyed more than stabbing and watching the life drain out of their eyes.

"we could always just play kill kill kill too. though, i dont think that would really have a fun ring to it." you are suggesting, just to help take all of the attention off of will and put some of it on yourself. you knew how to read the room well enough, and you could tell that a part of them had felt a certian type of way about the whole scenario. "mate date decapitate? uhhh... im sure there are other things that we could call this game." you are doing just enough talking to keep everyone's attention.

you are pacing yourself just enough. you stand up, grab water from the stream and then come back at look at tommy for just a moment. you are curious to see what he is creating. it seemed to be something intricate, you could at least tell that much from a quick cursory glance. you wondered just how much more you could watch him go before xaa had commanded your attention so you could spill exactly what you had told her a couple hours before.

you are thinking about your father, and probably how he wished that one of the snakes would have bitten right between your eyes or something. you couldnt help but scowl at the water for just a moment as you wished that one of these mutts could find its way out of the games and find him. just to make him suffer too. it was not fair, that he treated you like you were some sort of rag doll girl that couldnt handle the "seriousness" of being a career like other men in two. the very thought made you want to actually vomit, as well as take the spear that was in your hands earlier and shove it straight into his genitals. you were sure that he wouldnt appreciate that, and you were okay with that.

that monster did not need any of your sympathy.

you took a deep breath and came back to reality. the smell of the cenote was different from the forest that you had walked through. you wished that you could have done anything else then walk through that dreaded place. however, your nose was safe now, and so was the rest of your allies. they all had worked hard enough, and while the GM's might have gone easier today, it did not mean that they would mess around come another game day.

their had to be blood.

"you really do seem to have an eye for detail tommy." you offer to him as you drop one of those iodine tablets into the bottle you carry full of water and shake it around vigorously. you do not feel parched at this moment, your skin almost radiating with some sort of dewey moisture. you place the bottle in your pack and look back up as tommy has already outfitted a glove out of the snake corpse that you had mangled hours earlier. "those are pretty, i have to admit." you smile. "anyway, back to fuck marry kill!" you are just awake enough to give a little laugh before you look intensely at xaa and think about what she had shared with you before. "are you gonna tell will what you told me yesterday too?" you are full of life all of the sudden.

the antidote must really be working.