sentiment; lpb v. ctju v. ml, day 4

[LAIN 🍽 1M | Mattio]

U L Y S S E S.

I can't tell you why exactly Jayson is standing between Perry and me. She wants to take her hand at me, not him. She reacts to the leg pun with a cringe in her teeth. "The pun kid? Sad thing to die for, man." I shrug as she tries to work her spear behind Jayson and to me. I don't know, I thought it was pretty timely and clever after yesterday's fight at the cenote.

The fight seems to have broken up into two groups. There's Caspian, Torian, Larissa, Lara from the bloodbath, and Magi (I think.) They're a few yards away in the forest. Torian's pleading combined with Caspian's frightened voice has me wondering if we split the right way: perhaps the two most eager and the two most reluctant to fight shouldn't go off in pairs together. But it's the three of us crammed together on the other side now, combined with arrows flying at a distance. I can only assume it's Perry and Larissa's third friend, Bellamy. His arrow grazes over our heads, piercing the trunk of a thick tree past us.

"Jayson, you don't have to…" It's a whisper that I'm sure Perry can hear, but I just want him to know. When we made our alliance, I had no expectation that any of them would stand between me and another's blade, but here we are. Is Jayson crazy like me, wanting to die for others, or is having someone who'll protect you normal? Not in Eleven, in my house at least. The focus is always on protecting the kids and making sure they can rest easy through a hard life.

"Get out of the way! I'm gonna rip his head off!" Jayson doesn't budge, fighting back against her instead of making way.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made a joke about your leg, okay?!" The puns roll through my head. I won't stand for it anymore! Leg puns are not humerus! Can't test someone like Perry too much, though. With her frustration, her threats are legit. I pull around Jayson for a second to take a swipe at her again. "I just use jokes to cope with really uncomfortable situations."

Can you forgive me? I think that just as I plunge a sword in her direction.

Table by Rave

[ ulysses attacks perry ; mirrored sword ]
9S14ayOoxBsword
[ dmg ]

sword

[Red]

 

 

L a r a

 

My world is crumbling, can't watch and do nothing
I'm done with this panic, I'll hop into action
And save this town

 

Lara's swipe brings her too far out. She is suddenly all to aware of the opening in her guard. Torian, the boy she had just attacked, must have noticed this, and pressed it his attack. His sword slides along her exposed stomach, drawing a spurt of blood. Lara doubles over, drops her sword. Someone slices at her back.

She is aware of speaking, the words coming to her a bit late. Magi telling her to get behind him. Oh, she would if she could, let someone else take the hits for once, though she would then feel guilty if it was Magi. Of the two of them, why was it always her? Did Magi just have one of those faces? Maybe she would have had one too, if her nose hadn't been broken in the blood bath, and her eye wasn't missing and everything. Were they really just targeting her because she was ugly?

Come on! The pain was making her delusional. Taking the barest of moments to refocus her mind, Lara reached for the glaive she had taken from Olete after she killed her. She didn't feel guilty about using it, after all if the person who killed her could benefit from her stuff, so long as it wouldn't benefit Magi more, she would be happy. And dead. Standing up straight, Lara swung her weapon.
 
[attacks Torian with glaive]
 

 

ELEGANT

 
zLCXfcjJcIglaive

[Result: 3.5 damage]

glaive

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a g i

Gas, out of time, out of money
You're doing what you can, just makin' it run
(There's only so much I can)

There had been too many voices as Magi crowded into the dark wood. Making heads or tails of all the faces was beyond him at this point. He could only hope to keep his focus on Lara and push forward, though that appeared easier said than done. Two young men tore into her through the darkness and as Magis eyes adjusted, he began to make out who the perpetrators were.

Not that it did him much good. They weren’t people he recognized. Though he supposed this made it easier to raise his sword when his heart couldn’t be tainted by their hardships or hard luck stories.

The adrenaline helped, too, pushing back against the chaos of bodies now surrounding them. A group of three, then four, maybe seven? Was he counting right? Made their way through personal slights and petty observations to lay waste to one another.

In his experience, that’s all teenage violence toward one another had ever been. Maybe capitolites just never outgrew seeing teenagers harangue one another for little grievances. Maybe they just had a penchant for blood.

Whatever their reason, Magi had to step through the mud and focus on the boy who kept hammering Lara. He’d gotten a good slice across his before and redoubled, shifting his footing as he gripped his sword in both hands.

Caspian mewled out having to protect his ally but it hasn’t met much to Magi. He’d already numbed to it yesterday when the boy had growled about Olete. The first taste of blood has run cold through his veins. Now, as the world exploded around him, Magi would focus on his breathing, on Lara, on the few things he had any control over.

He couldn’t focus on how his heart might’ve felt one way or another. Not if he wanted to keep holding his sword tight in his grip.

He couldn’t care about who or what Caspian was protecting.

Magi submitted to the whirlwind of force, the regressive pull of their teenage hearts as he stepped forward. Something about Caspian’s words cut into him - a boy who already recognized he should be dead but dared to try to take another life - drawing out his ire.

“If you were supposed to die let us give the opportunity.”

[Magi Karp attacks Caspian with his sword]

ELEGANT

zVYNFr6L9zsword“sword”

[calla]

Perry takes a good chunk of Jayson's arm with her as she tries to get around him.

Nasty.

Hell hath no fury like a mean girl scorned. She's practically spitting at the pair of them, close to throwing her hands up and launching herself claws first across the little space between them.

And so of course, Jayson decides this is the most opportune time to open his big mouth again. The jump to an innuendo is astounding, probably a record even. Perry wrinkles her nose and nearly gives herself a migraine from rolling her eyes.

"I don't want to know about that." She snarks at him, stepping back when his weapon swings high.

"Jayson, you don't have to…" His friend pipes up, looking wet and pathetic and not in the endearing way Caspian does.

"Yeah Jayson," Perry mocks in a sing-song, "You don't have to."

And maybe Perry's the one that should've kept her mouth closed, because then a number of things happen in rapid succession.

First, the little shit hiding behind Jayson darts out just long enough to go for Perry's leg again, except this time he makes contact. She doesn't feel it at first, not until her balance shifts and her ankle slips and she has to jab her spear into the ground to stop the sudden sway of the earth. She doesn't look down, just goes abnormally quiet, knuckles whitening.

Because the second thing that happens is Caspian loses his fucking head.

The static in her ears is too loud to hear it, but the way she's leaning means she sees it right as it happens. Like a car crash you can't look away from, the humour and the anger bleeds from her face as her special little zombie gets guillotined by some random fuck.

She looks back at Jayson and his friend in shock. Still resolutely doesn't look down. Might throw up.

Shit.

perry attacks jayson ; festerwood spear
LvSFCN|oCyspear
Shallow Cut on Back -- 4.0 damage

spear

[Python]

-Torian feels a spark of confidence when Caspian says Torian needs him!

-We're feeling protected

-Then Caspian's head flies off, a cannon goes off, and Torian freezes

-Can't believe what he sees

"Caspian...?"

-Kinda blanks

-He's in shock, and he feels another cut

-He's not thinking, which is new for him - he just acts. An act of violence

[attacks Lara - sword]
cNhunAjMZasword
Shallow Cut on Left Bicep -- 3.5 damage

sword

[hesper hart 🐺 d9f]

To be honest, it'd taken her this long to finally put all of the pieces together. "I have to protect Torian," he said. Larissa had her own sword raised and ready to end it when he said that, but she was unable to stop herself from hesitating at that. Protect him? She felt foolish. His actions earlier were to help him, not meant as a threat. Larissa had yet again allowed her moral compass to outweigh her own survival odds. The instinct was to protect the little boy she showed how to feed himself a week ago. The logic reminded her that she wasn't the only 9 in those training centers, and now this- he already had protectors.

An instant later, and it didn't matter anyway. One of the others killed the boy in the wake of her own failure to, and his cannon sounded before his body really even had time to hit the ground. And now Torian was left with not only the boy who did the deed, but also the girl Torian and his recently-departed ally were both trying to kill. On the other hand, her own ally seemed to be starting to really struggle to keep up with only Bellamy's volley of arrows whistling through the air as a secondary defense. Icarus cawed impatiently, still trying to force her to climb onto its back.

Larissa found herself faced with a difficult decision to make. Stay where she was and protect this kid, who was maybe playing her, and whose bridge with her may have already been burned, against two people who were both bigger than him was the first option, and the one she would've chosen if there weren't any cameras around. The second option was running across the field and helping Perry, but that would mean leaving Torian completely defenseless over here now. Or, thirdly, she could take Icarus's advice and use the opportunity of the cannon to flee.

Fuck.

She really didn't have any other choice, did she?

"Sorry, Kid."

He was on his own.

She raced across the field, her sword growing warm with what life force it'd already managed to drain. More, it beckoned. More, more.

"I'm coming!"

[larissa jayson, sword]
4XocuXYuXLsword
[3.5]

sword

[d7f amber bosch 🌿 tris]

His arrow does not land true.

But where he fails to be fatal, there will always be another predator to take the position. He sighs, glancing at the blood blossoming through Perry's clothes, and then down to the distant splotch of red that remains of the boy whose head went rolling. Bellamy does not know him, and his eyes do not change with some swell of sadness. He just stares ahead, endless honey brown.

Perhaps this is the true color of numbness.

Notching another arrow, breaking his glance just long enough to look over his shoulder to see Tinker still safely hidden within the underbrush, he dares to take a few steps forward. Even if he continues to miss, at the very least he is throwing them off. No one enjoys sharp pointy things flying at them, and that's all they'll get if they keep attacking Perry.

Consider him a territorial animal. He is a boy among a lioness and a bear.

And he holds his ground, steadying his breathing and closing one eye. He aims at a new boy's feet as Larissa takes his spot doubling on Perry's target, hoping to throw off the stranger before he can make the situation worse somehow. His main intention is to maim when he shoots, but he would not be saddened to hear the blast of another cannon.

{ bellamy attacks ulysses ;
bow & arrow _3/6 }

nkwC|T3PPcbow
miss

bow

[lance]

J A Y S O N

to be further expanded on in the morning, but for now, a brief summary of events:

- jayson continues bantering and trading blows with perry

- sees something fly out of the corner of his eye, instinctively moves to catch it

- surprise surprise it's caspian's head! (yes tom gave permission)

- jayson.exe has stopped working for a solid minute

- verrrrry gently puts caspian's head on a rock platform. brushes the bangs out of his eyes, kisses his forehead, then stands up.

- to perry: "Because I like you, I'll ask you once, very nicely. Please get the fuck out of my way so I can kill the fucker who did that."

- attacks perry to accentuate that he isn't kidding but also sabotages himself in the process lel can't u just,,,,ask without stabbing someone jayson gawsh

elegant

jayson attacks perry; spear

FuM5wxF61qspear

3087 -- Deep Gash on Right Bicep -- 8.0 damage

spear

[LAIN 🍽 1M | Mattio]

U L Y S S E S.

Everything falls apart in an instant. My sword bends down to Perry's foot, cutting through bone entirely. I could've aimed anywhere else, given the intensity of the moment. I almost tore her leg down just a day ago, then I backed off of the leg pun today, and here we are. Just can't resist the irony, can you, Uly boy? Frustrated looks from both of us with Jayson stuffed in between fall silent with an even more guttural sound. A slice. A thud. An air of quiet, without the faltering breaths and sniffles. Unmistakeable sounds.

The fight halts now, on our side at least, to see what's happened on the other end.

It's Caspian. What's left, anyway. I can't think to do anything else but stare in his direction. His body falls to the ground, a few paces away from his head. "Caspian!" I shout over to the other side, where Lara and her friend, as well as Torian, Caspian, and Larissa were fighting. Now, Larissa's moving in our direction, leaving Torian two-on-one.

I grab Jayson's arm, rubbing my fingers against him gently to know I'm talking to him. "Stay alive, okay? I'll help Torian." I slide out from behind him and sprint to the other side of the forest. Torian isn't a fighter… you can't put a stuffed shark tail on a cat and call it a shark. But he's got no choice defending himself against Lara. Put a sword in a scientist's hand and you still don't have a killer. And considering what the boy from Three had done to Caspian, I can't leave him fighting on his own. I wave back to Perry as I run toward the other fight, "Another time!"

I brush up against some of the trees as I sprint toward Torian and the other two. An arrow flies by, piercing a tree trunk as I pass by it. Heels slide against the dirt and grass as I reach Torian. Caspian looks worse up close. There's a long, disappointed breath as I lift my blade(s). Dead in the eye, I speak to her. "Dick move, whichever one of you did that." But I follow Torian's lead, taking to the more damaged of the two. To Lara.

Table by Rave

[ ulysses attacks lara; mirrored sword ]
bptOrjctxBsword
1169 -- Shallow Cut on Chest -- 4.0 damage

sword

[Red]

 

 

L a r a

 

My world is crumbling, can't watch and do nothing
I'm done with this panic, I'll hop into action
And save this town

 [Quick filler post]

Lara glanced at Magi, sees the blood, the body. There is a short pause in attack, then she feels another slash. She wheels aroun, glaive raised to strike at the boy again.

[attacks Torian with glaive]
 

 

ELEGANT

 
pPQaBiQkJeglaive

[Result: 9 damage]

glaive

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a g i

Gas, out of time, out of money
You're doing what you can, just makin' it run
(There's only so much I can)

This is a filler. Magi stumbles, freaks out a bit, then turns to swing at Torian, still freaked out.

“Just get out of here!”

[Magi Karp attacks Torian with his sword]

ELEGANT

|HjRDQo9qzswordsword

[calla]

S
Last filler on the road!

- Screaming crying throwing up hysterical about her foot

- Omg wow is that Larissa hehe wink wink d’you come here often

- Come to god moment with Jayson bonding over losing meow meow, cue the movie montage tear the bitch apart footage

perry attacks lara ; festerwood spear
ldaePbT_gXspear

accuracy day 4

spear
X

spear·spear

[Python]

Torian couldn't hear what anybody said. There was a ringing in his ears, amplifying every second Caspian's decapitated head remained in his peripheral. There had never been a situation where Torian couldn't think. Even in one's sleep, the brain's neurons fired, and Torian could think about the images cast in his dreams. This was entirely different. That 'instinct' everyone spoke about in textbooks and television broadcasts - it was easy to debate but difficult to imagine. Torian wasn't imagining it anymore, it was happening. His body responded like clockwork, and he couldn't even think about the fact that he was doing all of this.

The emotion he would usually feel, despair, took the backseat. Instinct shifted it aside for later, and Torian could only feel the weight of the sword in his hands. The blonde girl in front of him was not the cause of Caspian's death, but she was in the way.

Go away, go away...

He was sick of this. He needed a break. He needed to talk to Caspian. Why won't these people leave him the hell alone?

He was starting to get frustrated. There were tears stinging the corners of his eyes, or maybe it was sweat. He felt his own flesh tearing as Lara opened him up, treating him like a cadaver, nothing more or less.

"Just get out of here!"

How dare he say that after what he just did. Torian had been here first. He couldn't run away yet, not until Ulysses and Jayson were ready. They couldn't leave Caspian's body behind, but these people had the freedom to walk away! Committing murder and asking him to go away? Torian's mother would've lectured anyone who had such audacity.

"YOU FIRST!"

[attacks Lara - sword]
uXwomoUukHsword
Shallow Cut on Right Forearm -- 3.5 damage

sword

[hesper hart 🐺 d9f]

Filler flee but:
- fully body blocks perry
- watches torian kill lara, looks for a camera she can make eye contact with like in Parks and Rec
- up up and away, probably like forces perry onto her gryphon and then swoops in on icarus to snatch bellamy up

[ larissa flees ]

[d7f amber bosch 🌿 tris]

Filler!

( bellamy flees )