96th Bloodbath

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

He was crawling.

Until he dared to try and stand again.

Without hesitation, Xylia stomped on the instep of his foot. The crunch of bone sounded throughout the now almost empty building, and a satisfied smirk played across her lips. Just how she liked it, men groveling at her feet.

Lucky landed another blow, this one not as hard as the last few. The boy was bleeding, battered, and bruise, crawling for his life, but not begging. Impressive. Lesser men would have already begged her for a timely end.

"Pathetic." she said as she spat at his feet.

He hauled himself up for a second time, and she had to force her face to remain neutral as the boy forced himself back up again for the third time. Most would have quit, groveled, wait for Death to take them, but not him. It was impressive, and perhaps something to be admired.

But then he stepped out of line by spitting at her ally.

"You have some spit and blood on your face, Lucky."

She stalked up to him, graceful still despite the pain that shot through her body with each step. She would not show weakness, she would not balk, and she certainly would not allow disrespect. Her hand came up so fast, he wouldn't have time to react, the open-handed smack across his cheek echoing.

"Consider this a warning, Five," she snarled. "Not just for you, but for the other tributes you come across. Let them know to think twice before crossing us." She smiled sweetly at him as she pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Now get the hell out of here."

( xylia attacks Lionel ; unarmed )
3jBfRHZwC5unarmed
(bruised head - 3.5)

unarmed

[mat]

[lucky nachtnebel d4 | attack 8 || 5021]

Even with two grim reapers looking Lionel in the eyes, he found a way to push through with some sarcasm. Lucky laughed at his gestures as the boy leaned against the wall for support. "Well, aren't you a sweetheart for pointing that out." He'd like to think so. That's what some of the kids in the Training Center called him, what Caesar called him. Back home, Lucky was notorious for his sweetness. He had the biggest smile as a little boy (even with a youthful crooked smile,) as the family photographs in New Horizons would show. Never mind his father tugging at the back of his shirt from behind, keeping him tight to him and his mother when Lucky would rather be a step ahead.

How sweet was Lucky for penning an apology to his mother after he scolded her, saying I know what you did. No wonder his father held him so close. Otherwise, he would have let go.

Lionel's face looked much more messed up than Xov's did when he handed her a washcloth at the Training Center. Lucky strolled alongside him, face looking down toward his and fist at the ready. The boy wiped beneath his nose, imitating him. Lucky's smile widened, remembering how he roleplayed as Mr. Ivan at the pool– Imitation was the greatest form of flattery!

It was, anyway, until a load of spit flew from Lionel's mouth across Lucky's face.

"You have some spit and blood on your face, Lucky."

He grew red in the face as the mixture slid down the side of his face. Was he asking to get his head bashed in, inches away from the door? Lucky changed his mind. Screw letting him go, he wanted him dead. He grabbed the back of Lionel's flannel shirt, ready to throw him against the wall– or better yet, through it. But it was Xylia who came to Lucky's aid first, slapping the boy across the face and scolding him for testing their patience.

It embarrassed him, what Lionel did. Lucky helped him get closer to the exit now, wanting it to be over more than anything else. His eye twitched as some of the lingering saliva slid down his eyelash. Lucky let go of Lionel's flannel jacket and slid his hand underneath the layer he had underneath. He wiped the spit, blood, and sweat across the boy's shirt. "And for the road," Lucky gargled in his mouth, shooting some spit onto Lionel's shirt. He smeared it across the thermal layer, trying to disguise his embarrassment as anger or vengeance. "Consider yourself marked."

After one last punch in the gut, the front door rattled for him. "Bark bark, woof woof. That's the attack dog telling you to get off his territory. This was fun! See you later though, yeah bud?"

[ lucky picks up ski goggles ]

[ lucky attacks lionel ; unarmed ]
YnTCopYZyEunarmed
[ 5021 -- Block -- 0.0 damage ]

unarmed

[k!ah]

[lionel estrada d5 | flee 3 ]

Wicked satisfaction surges through as I watch the blood and sputum land on the pretty boys cheek. The act was so fucking disgusting that I knew I should have been apologising instantly... But instead my grin widens into a smirk, and Lucky's face turns the beautiful shade of angry red. And it was just so damned satisfying, even though my blood was on his knuckles, his boots and most likely his pants. Even though my face felt like it had been hit by a truck. Even though my left leg was totally fucked. "Not so pretty-"

Pain erupts across my cheek, true agony that has a reluctant cry of pain slipping past my swollen, blood stained lips. "Son of a bitch," I groan as my vision becomes blurred, as fresh stars whirl around my head. I cling to the wall, desperate to keep my one good leg underneath me because I knew that the moment my perfectly rump ass hits that ground I would not be coming back up again.

"Consider this a warning, Five, not just for you, but for the other tributes you come across. Let them know to think twice before crossing us." Xylia's face floats into my vision as my fingers splay across my cheek, cradling it as I forced myself to meet her gaze. She was fucking livid. And I knew that I should have felt intimated by the way she looked down her nose at me, at the promise of cruelty that danced in the depths of her pretty dark eyes. I should have been shrinking away from her and that sweet little smile she threw me, as if she was daring me to test her.

But I wasn't, or maybe I was, and maybe any sense of reason and common sense had fled the moment I stepped onto that stage back in Five, because I knew that this was it for me. Because I knew there was no going home. So like the fucking idiot I am, I manage a half grin, my eyes meeting hers as I raise, or try to raise, one blood soaked brow almost daring her to strike me again. "Second lady to slap me in the face this morning, and I gotta say, I don't hate it."

There was something wrong with me, maybe Wren was right all these years.

Lucky, obviously jealous that all my attention had been directed at Xylia, shoves me against the wall, his hands fisting in my jacket. For a moment I think he is going to shove me again, shove me so hard that my skull cracks open on the wall behind me but instead his hands slip from my jacket and down my chest and- wait a damned second what the hell? Lucky's fingers are slipping under the layer of my jacket and I am trying to process when he begins to start wiping his blood and silva soaked hands over my chest, staining the already pretty damaged material.

Turning my half grin onto Pretty boy Lucky I raise both my eyebrows, my gaze tracking his hands. "Now, now, Pretty Boy, if you wanted me to take off my shirt... I offer you the same advice as your friend here, all you need to do is ask-" Suddenly spit is flying at my chest and Lucky's hands are on the move again, smearing it across my shirt.

Well, that was fucking disgusting, but I force my grin to remain. "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" I ask as I pull myself out of his grip, edging closer to the door. "You'll find that I can be quite agreeable," I pause, thinking for a moment, "well in most things. You'll find that I don't tend to beg." Which I was sure was one thing about this whole messed up situation that had probably pissed off not one, but both careers who stood over me like a wall of pure muscle and death.

Yeah Lucky didn't like that because next thing I know his fist is buried in my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs. "This was fun!" He all but purrs and I look up at him, panting as I fight to catch my breath, to force my stomach to expand, to breathe. "See you later though, yeah bud?"

"I look forward to it," I rasp, before my fingers close around the doors handle. Flinging it open I stumble from the building, each step caused my body to feel as though it had been set on fire.

It doesn't take long before my leg collapses beneath me and I am crawling towards the tree line. But I push forward, knowing that my father, that Wren and Lidia and my mother would all be watching- movement from the corner of my eye has me pausing.

Gunner.

Shit.

From across the clearing our eyes lock and I stare at him, and continue to stare at him as I begin my pathetic crawl towards- towards what? Safety? I call bullshit on that. But I keep pushing, tearing my gaze from Gunner. 

I dont stop moving, not until my back is pressed against a tree. Not until I am sliding down onto my ass. For a moment I allow my eyes to close as agony consumes me forcing me to fight back the darkness that had begun to edge my vision. "I'm so fucked," I groan, curling in on my body and the pain that had me hurtling into darkness.

[ flees and passes out ]