an evil unseen ; hot girl summer v. fishes and fuses / day 3

[eulalie blake 1a 🍒 tris]

being mindful of the other tributes & the time they have to respond, please accept this wip so no one has to wait for me to finish my shift and write ❤️ this will be completed shortly

1. Lucia, Vera, and Nori travel to the stretch of desert just outside the Labyrinth, setting up their makeshift camp for the day and trying to wait off the scorching heat. She thinks fondly of the oath they made the night prior, all too happy to include Nori in the promise she made to Vera: from the very beginning, and until the very end. Whatever it takes, she will fight for herself and her allies equally. She does not see this as a conflict of interest.
2. It’s Lucia who sees something in the distance — like a reflection of herself wandering in the night, so similar and yet so different to herself. For a moment, she panics, certain that somehow her twin has found herself in the arena, too. She runs forward, nearly leaving her companions behind, but she is grateful to hear their footfalls following in her wake. Eventually she runs into a dead end, palms pressed against clear glass, turning on her heels to realize that she has lead her friends into an invisible box. ”I’m sorry,” she says, hands in her hair and an expression of regret on her face. ”This is my fault. I’ll get us out of this.”
3. Inhaling a deep breath, one hand against the wall, she stumbles through the maze. She has yet to find an exit, and she worries that she is only leading her allies further into chaos. And then she rounds a corner, coming face to face with a girl she cannot name, and before she can stop herself she is swinging upwards with her sword. She will protect her own.

No matter the personal cost.

[kaitlin]

lucia attacks safina ; sword
pSbUypAgs|sword
3.5 + 1 lanyard bonus

sword

[august vance d7b [Bella]]

I wondered how long it would be until we started seeing things.

Three days in, and Lucia starts running after what looks to be her sister. I don’t blame her for believing that the Gamemakers could do something so twisted as to throw them both in here, and with the sun just setting, I think I can see what she’s talking about–a glimmer of moving light on the endless horizon of dunes. And there’s no reason for us to hallucinate, with our water supplies still mostly full and our bellies still full of festival food. So I follow, in last place, half-dragging my injured leg just so I don’t rip out the line of stitches that my allies so carefully put there for me. Perks of having friends from Eight.

When her hand smacks against an invisible wall, I feel the pang of disappointment in my chest too. I wasn’t ready to be trapped. I was hoping to give my leg another day to heal, but a girl can’t live on her own time here. Lucia turns back to us with an apology, head in her hands. "I’m sorry. This is my fault. I’ll get us out of this."

"Hey, stop it." I correct her quickly, channeling Vera for a moment, "This isn’t your fault. Did you pull our names from the bowl? No. This is just another one of their games we have to play." I put my hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle push and an affirming nod. "Lead the way. We’re with you."

We run with our hands in front of us, cornered by walls we can’t see. Not even glass, because we can’t see our own reflection. Just walls, walls, walls, everywhere we turn. Instead of focusing on the pain in my leg–which has healed up pretty well since yesterday, but a gaping wound is a gaping wound–I try to focus on Lucia as she barrels ahead. It’s brave of her to go first. She’s taking bruises to the elbows and knees so that Vera and I don’t have to. And then–

Whoa.

Lucia lunges with her sword, springing to my defense while I’m still looking at my feet, quicker than I can tell what’s happening. Reflexively, I reach back to grab Vera’s arm to stop her from running forward. Three others have appeared out of nowhere in front of us, three I haven’t met before. Not surprising, seeing as though I stayed in my own corner through most of the training week.

It’s close quarters–so close I can already smell the acrid body odor of the three in front of us wafting through the invisible corridor. No time to think–Lucia already knows what we need to do, and she’s not hesitating. My right hand closes around the obsidian knife in my belt, and in one quick motion, I send it flying towards the forehead of the first girl in line.

"Wrong way. Turn around if you know what’s good for you," I call out in warning to the three of them, prepared to do whatever it takes.

[kaitlin]

nori attacks safina; obsidian throwing knife
BhXbXMK05fthrowing knife

(accuracy, day 3)
throwing knife
{3.5} +1 lanyard bonus

throwing knife·throwing knife

[Underleaf]

~Filler Post~

[Sera attacks Lucia with Scorpion Striker | Deep Gash on Back - 8.5]

|yxSGhoXlTthrowing knife

table by tylerjames

throwing knife

[safinaroyd3btribsit]

[googlefont="Cinzel Decorative"]

Safina Roy

An Evil Unseen - I

The anthem springs to life, signaling that the tolerable night is coming to an end and the wrath of daylight is on its way. The absence of any faces in its aftermath confirm what I already suspected: No tribute deaths tonight. Which can only mean that the next night will be designed to bring some carnage.

There won't be an empty anthem tomorrow.

There's a bit of fear creeping into my focus at the thought that it could be my face gazing down from among the stars by then. Looking upon allies, enemies, killers, survivors. The real eyes no longer able to do any looking of their own. There is the fear that I put off thinking about up until now when it can no longer be ignored, too. Fear that I will never get to see my family again. Never get to see their faces, hear their voices, hug them. I even miss Emon, for RipRed's sake. I wish I could hold onto them all one more time and just never let them go. But instead I am here with the odds against me. If I die, it will be without their comfort surrounding me. I have no choice but to accept that that's a real possibility in here.

The fear is serving only to feed that new, scary side of myself. The killer in me, waiting for that sweet euphoria of weapon against body once more, is now the thing that's keeping the fear the most at bay. It gives me the comfort to know that I will do what I need to do to keep myself alive. When the time comes, I won't hesitate or back down. I have somewhere to channel the anger and frustration and fear and sadness and wield it with the weapon that keeps me alive.

I am going to be a Survivor.

We make it to the giant walls of glass just as the sun starts to crest over the horizon. The light reflects off the glass like a laser, bringing the already intense heat to a focal point. The three of us agree to spend the daylight hours a safe distance away, doing our best to calculate the trajectory of the sun so as to stay away from the path of the light beam's fiery burns.

The heat of the day feels even worse today, compiled with more fatigue, more hunger, more thirst. My resilience to preserve my meager food has continued dwindling, and in these agonizing hours I push it almost to its breaking point. Pure stubborn determination is the only thing that stops me from giving in. Not yet. Not until we can see if water is just out of reach.

As I start to convince myself that the sun will never set again the sky begins to dim into a softer yellow, then orange, then into the darkening blues that tell us the nightmarish heat has given its reprieve once again. Tide, Sera and I take stock of each other before we set off back to the glass wall.

In the dim light of the dusk we can make out a few more details beyond the glass. My eyes lock onto one thing and I become aware of the dryness of my tongue, the longing on my lips.

Water. Water!!

Eagerly I'm running along the wall, searching for some kind of break in it to let me into that sweet sanctuary of crystalline pools. Each one looks so fresh and pure and delicious. If only it was easier to tell where the glass was and wasn't, as I start knocking into walls at unexpected places. I realize that the closer we get, the more trapped we seem to be.

I barely have time to process the maze we've found ourselves in when the enemies come into view. Weapons come out automatically, my mind angry at this interruption between me and the sweet nectar taunting me through the glass with its shimmering. I have no time to think, only to strike.

The new part of me roars to life. It’s showtime.

[OOC: I pre-wrote this post before leaving for my camping trip Saturday morning, which was before I knew who we were fighting! Sorry for the vagueness at the end caused by this][/div]


[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[/div][/div]

[Safina attacks Lucia | Spiked Blunt]
wWuaRX0mEBspiked blunt
[result =  Miss]

[reroll using Accuracy]
spiked blunt
[result = [Broken Sternum - 7.5][/div]

[WC: 604]

spiked blunt·spiked blunt

[andromache s. ⚔️ [d1] sucy]

"Lucia!" I yell, but she's gone like a flash, like the sun reflecting off the glass labyrinth she's running headfirst into. I exchange a quick look at Nori before I run after her. There's a small part of me that wants to just let her go. I mean, what do our promises even really mean in here? My head says less, but my heart says more. Annoying. 

When we catch up with her, Lucia immediately starts apologising. I let Nori take point on this one. She's right, and I just nod along. But even though Lucia and Nori are definitely not responsible, I'm still not convinced that I wasn't rigged in. Not after last night.

...

I didn't touch the fourth sponsor package until after the others were already asleep. I slipped out of the tent into the cool night air. Harder than you'd think. The tent is too small for all three of us really, and with the amount of sweat on our bodies we're practically glued together. I got out, pulling my limbs apart from theirs, taking care around Nori's injured leg. My sewing job looked better in the dark.

I sat cross legged on the sand and opened up the package, slowly, carefully. A headband. I take it out and hold it up to the moon for a better look. The moon's rocky, fake face looked down at me, Capitol engineered expressionless surface unchanging as my jaw dropped. 

"What the fuck?"

Marceline's stupid headband from last year, with the big floppy ears. I dropped it, looked at my empty hands, expecting them to be cold all of a sudden. I sat there for the rest of the night, until the sun started to come up, bringing heavy heat with it. I forced the headband into my bag, and crept back into the tent. I fell asleep at some point and dreamed I had blue eyes.

...

"Whoa!" Nori grabs my arm, holding me back as Lucia throws herself into the fold. Three others. Ugh. The walls of this place are glass. How the hell did none of us see them coming? Whatever. Lucia's on the frontline, which seems to be the theme for the day. The dorky girl from Three's aim with her club is way better than her archery arm. That's bad. The other one jumps Lucia too. Tide's in the back. There won't be any dancing today. I raise an eyebrow at him. "Well, hello to you guys too."

Nori's got the right idea. 

"Turn around or turn up in the sky tonight. It's that simple."

vera attacks sera with axel electric guitar!

m7emJX1_jhaxe

result:  Severed Right Forearm at Elbow -- 9.5 damage + 1 lanyard bonus 

[kaitlin]

axe

[d9 kristof parks {ems}]

❦

Sleep is still hard to come by, but Tide is getting used to it by now. The exhaustion is extreme, and he wants nothing more than to find a way to quench his thirst. Even then, he has nothing. The others have everything they need, and right now it's frustrating. Nobody cares for him, yet he wants to prove himself.

I don't need anything.

But soon, he's walking, and he looks the glass walls of the labyrinth unsure of why they're so terrifying. Everything here is beautiful, but it's nothing like home. It's nothing like a training center. At least it's sort of safe back home. Here nothing is safe.

He follows behind his allies, and keeps his eyes focusing on everything, but even then, he doesn't see the attacks coming. Somehow they go for the others, and he watches as the battle starts to rage on.

It doesn't take long, but it takes too long for him to react, and instead of saying anything, he watches the others jump his friends, his allies.

His eyes dart between the two after watching his allies go for Lucia. It's tough, but someone has to die, and he wants his allies to live.

"Back up! Leave them alone!"

And he swings.

credit to fox

Tide attacks 1 Nori | 2 Vera with glaive
4b1k_ktdQA1-2

glaive
13132 -- Shallow Cut on Stomach -- 4.0 damage

1-2·glaive

[eulalie blake 1a 🍒 tris]

The peace that comes with Nori's words is fleeting.

For all of ten minutes, Lucia thinks that maybe she will be able to forgive herself. The glass hallways twist and turn with every erratic step forward. Maybe it's true that any of them could have caused this mess, but Lucia is walking at the front for a reason. It's her mirage that tricked them. She is the one who made the choice that will define whether or not the three of them survive another day in this arena.

Being lost feels damning enough, but coming face-to-face with an entire alliance? Fear rips through Lucia, compelling her hand to close around the hilt of her sword. She swings wildly at the closest figure. Before her steel ever touches flesh, she realizes that she is striking at another person. Not an illusion, not a skeleton: another tribute. She does not try to stop the course of her weapon, drawing a shallow line of blood across the darker haired girl's skin.

There is no time to apologize, or to try and make reason. Once again, Lucia and her impulsive actions set the course. The strangers, only one of whom she recognizes, are already drawing their weapons and accepting the warning shot as a call to battle. Nori rushes to her defense, throwing out a dark knife towards the girl Lucia attacked. If not for that split second decision, she might have found herself overwhelmed by the attacks of two separate people. But it's the familiar girl who reaches her first, the briefest memory of a conversation playing in her mind.

Lucia can't blame the redhead for being defensive, for trying to protect her friend. If the shoes were swapped, she knows what path she would walk. But her hand still loosens around her sword, unable to snap back to reality before it clatters to the ground. This is real. This is man versus man, and there is no possible line of escape. Her heart drums inside her chest, ringing in her ears like a cannon has gone off. She wonders for a terrible moment what it would sound like to hear her own, or if she will even be able to.

How quickly does the end arrive?

She tries to throw herself to the side, away from the vicious attack, but she simply puts herself right in position for the darker haired girl to get her revenge. Lucia stumbles back a step, gasping in pain as a bone in her chest goes pop, a crack that resounds all the way down to her soul. Her vision blurs, her fingers shake, it feels like she's suffocating before she manages to croak out a shallow breath. She can still hear Nori behind her, and eventually she manages to catch a glimpse of Vera also rushing to her defense.

Before she can lose the nerve, trying to push back the terrible agony spreading through her nerve endings, Lucia reaches up behind her back and grabs hold of her glaive. This will at least afford her a little more room for error, giving her a chance to center herself as she pushes away from her attackers. The further these people stay from her and her friends, the better. She wishes she could turn on the walls, smash them to pieces and make a run for it. But the only way out is forward. It is unwise to turn and run inside a maze.

Lucia levels the familiar girl with her gaze, all too aware that there is no one she can focus her attacks on that will bring her any comfort. No one deserves this. All of them are losers scrambling for the same crown. She points the sharp edge of her weapon at Serelis, adrenaline and regret dancing inside her veins. She makes an impossible decision, choosing the target she believes will most increase her alliance's odds for survival. "I'd listen to my friends. Run while you still can."

She thrusts out with all her might.

"No more warning shots from me."

[kaitlin]

lucia attacks serelis ; glaive
ZCQUL|2S2zglaive
miss

lucia attempts to light-step serelis's attack
^{[9090 - 8.5]}
1-10
successful dodge

accuracy ; day three

glaive
4.0

glaive·1-10·glaive

[august vance d7b [Bella]]

Four has a long-handled blade like mine–we’re matching. Of course he shows zero solidarity when he jabs his towards my exposed midsection. I try to jump backwards, but it still clips my skin, drawing blood in the soft flesh where my stupid useless black cutoff top failed to protect me.

“Rude!” I huff, irritated at both the boy and my stylists.

I never quite understood what claustrophobia meant until this moment, stuck in a glass hallway, watching the other tributes lunge at Lucia like a starving pack of street dogs. The space squeezes us, makes us choose–act or die. We are all a mess of limbs and metal now, the walls of our prison becoming visible as blood splashes onto the pristine glass. It turns my stomach to admit, but it sends a clear message: our path out of here will only be revealed by bloodshed. Theirs.

We asked them to run the other way, but they won’t, the stubborn bastards. We have no choice. They have to die, and we will have to step over their bodies to get out of here.

”Lucia, get behind me! I wanna teach ‘em a lesson, ” I tell her, stepping forward to stand in front of my allies.

Taking a deep breath to subdue the ache in my leg, pulling my sword from its sheath at my hip, I try to make myself tall in front of her, the easier target. I really really don’t want to die. But if we’re being realistic, I’m the closest to the grave out of the three of us with my leg how it is. A small part of me wants to give back to Lucia for springing to my defense so quickly, and the rest of me just can’t watch this sweet brave person get stabbed again on my behalf while I cower and throw these tiny knives.

The girl with the red hair looks like a child with her scary knife on a chain, out of place, like someone wearing hand-me-down clothes. She lunges toward Lucia with a desperation that is all too familiar–no training, all effort, just action in the moment. There’s no room to feel sorry for her when Lucia gracefully steps aside from her lunging strike–she’s already revealed her weak points to us. Whatever we can do to make this 3 against 2 instead of the other way around. When you’re close to dying, it comes down to simple math.

”Try to hurt her again, and you’ll wish you turned around when you could,” I spit, defiant.

My sword goes for her neck, not a drop of remorse to poison my blood. They will not take what’s ours.

[kaitlin]

nori attacks serelis; gladiator sword
SWuGS8jfkKsword
{9.5 + 1 blades}

sword

[Underleaf]

It happens quicker than Sera's mind can register the pain of such a catastrophic injury. She attacks Lucia with her Scorpion Striker, but the other girl had deftly dodged what had at first seemed to be such a promising attack. Safina lands a hit on Lucia in turn, but Sera's arm, still extended, comes off like it had been laid bare on a cutting board as Vera, the girl with the neat hair, brings down what appears to be some kind of twisted rocker guitar. Arterial spurt erupts out from the stump beneath Sera's elbow, like someone had fired a super-soaker. Sera stands outside herself for a moment in time before the agony hits her and she screams.

Sera falls to her knees, looking at her arm, which only bleeds even further to create a pool of crimson forming rapdily in front of her knees. Her arm lies there, in front of her, a couple of her fingers still twitching. She grasps her upper arm, which is now being drained of precious vitality. Lucia hits her again, followed by Nori, and she knows she must act, act before she can go into shock. She picks up the Striker from her amputated hand with her other arm and attacks Lucia again.

Sera uses Self-Defense

AQFBCZQPb33-8

Sera attacks Lucia
[Scorpion Striker | Deep Gash on Stomach - 9.0]

throwing knife

table by tylerjames

3-8·throwing knife

[D'Arcy Mason d6b [Tyler]]

[googlefont="Cinzel Decorative"]

Safina Roy

an evil unseen - II

Only after the automatic swing of my weighted weapon do I manage to shake myself out from under the spell of those tantalizing pools behind invisible barriers. The sting of slices in my skin start to seep into feeling; one on the face, one on the arm. Attacks just like my own from three girls also stumbling their way through the glass walls. We were like the raccoons in the alleys of Three, turning through the winding streets with wide eyes looking for any sign of a person batting them elsewhere. Teeth and claws sharpened and striking at the competitors vying for their pile of garbage. Their teeth struck at my skin while my claws had clamoured into the chest of the girl unfortunate enough to be close to me. All of us willing to fight each other off to lay claim to the right to our lives. Whatever rotting, putrid husks of it we can manage to scrounge up in the aftermath.

I return my weapon to a brace position and finally take in the scene with my attention fully pulled from the tantalizing treasures deep within the glass. I recognize the group from the Cornucopia. The girl from Eleven is little more than a name on the roster to me, studied in the final few nights before entering. Nori. Lucia from Eight, the most recent target of my swing, is another name without much attached. Although something seems a bit off about her. Some sort of history trying to find a path to my memory from a frenzied chaos.

The third girl is a different story. Vera. More now than just a name on a card, a face in the crowd. She is the girl watching me shoot arrows in the training center. She is the girl I had seen from the shadows of a podium, calling out to Jupiter with the wealth at her fingertips. She was one of the people in here that made the ordeal complicated. Someone to be jealous of, to envy, to wish I was friends with her, to wish that I was her. To wish all in all that we had met under different circumstances.

Then I watched her saw off Sera's arm.

It fell as if in slow motion as the gravity of what I was seeing sunk in a bit deeper. The blood began to pour from the wound and the little girl from home began to scream. The volume drowning out my own cries of her name, drowning out everything else around me. Suddenly the awe for Vera turns to rage, her attack reminding me that the ideas in my mind of the friendship we never had are just fantasy, an impossible alternate life. I had been erecting my own glass wall between us, afraid to step beyond it, hoping we'd avoid each other in the carnage. With a swing of the strange guitar in her hands that wall had come down in millions of shards that reflected my own folly back at me. At least that was one less glass barrier to deal with.

I want to get at Vera now, deal back the damage she dealt to the closest thing I had left to family in here. Then the other girls move in, each deal their own blow to the poor girl. Trying to speed up her path to death. Cold. Closer to me. They too need to feel the wrath of my strike for what they're doing.

That same, deadly beast inside me purrs at the thought.

I poise my weapon with only a quick moment to decide where I want it to land, and the piece of history finally pops into my mind with a throb of the wrist where the shadow of a bruise still haunts my skin. The blur of Lucia's face flickers across my mind as Nori calls out a threat to leave her ally alone. "Try to hurt her again, and you’ll wish you turned around when you could."

"Oh yeah?" I retort, "Well sorry babe, I'm not the wishing type."

[Safina attacks Lucia | Spiked Blunt]
tZRoL6FLaXspiked blunt
[Results = Broken Rib 7.0]

spiked blunt

[andromache s. ⚔️ [d1] sucy]

Her arm is gone. Well, not quite. Just detached. It's very much here; it's lying on the ground, blood spilling out of it, uselessly twitching up at its owner on her knees. Her scream should do something to me. I wait for it to. I wait for it to mean anything other than a confirmation of the truth. This is the game we're playing. And she gets it too. My girls hit her as well, but she's not deterred. I watch her take her weapon from her own hand on the ground and swing it at Lucia again. I smile, running my tongue over my teeth. I like her a little. I glance down at her arm, the one I took off her, see the fingers curling in on themselves. Still nothing. A one off lurch of my stomach that confirms I'm still human, but otherwise nothing. 

I think of Marceline's headband in my bag. Watching her last year was doing a service to me now. I remember going outside after watching her fights, smoking on the porch and trying my best to consolidate my Marceline with the one on the television. Eventually I came to the conclusion that they were one in the same. Which, well, obviously, but it still took some time to wrap my head around. Who's to say that if she'd been pushed to her limits back in Eight, she wouldn't have snapped too?

Back then I'd wondered what I'd do if I was in her place. Stupid Vera, thinking like that. Putting out that energy into the world was probably what got me reaped. 

I'm here now though. It's time to put my money where my mouth is. Marceline snapped. Not me though, that's not what's happening here. If I ever broke, it happened a long, long time ago.

I step back a little from the violence, take half a second to watch it being flung back and forth. I don't like the look in Safina Roy's eyes. "I'm not the wishing type," she says. I scoff. It really didn't look that way back in the training centre, when she was letting off arrows on nothing more than a prayer. But whatever. I'll let her think what she needs to think to make sense of all this.

Me, too. I've convinced myself that I'll survive. That my sister didn't die a monster and I won't either. Monstrosity is rendered banal by the arena. 

Monstrosity, in fact, is a necessity. For a split second in time, I'd had this girl wrapped around my finger, but I could see that was over just from the look in her eyes. Somehow, I'd made a bigger enemy out of her than the girl whose arm's been turned into a tripping hazard.

[kaitlin]

vera attacks safina with axel electric guitar!

LQiJtW9Fxkaxe

result: Shallow Cut on Stomach -- 4.0 damage

axe

[d9 kristof parks {ems}]

❦

It's hard, watching them attack his allies. They're struggling, and Tide feels so weak, vulnerable, like he's unable to do anything. It's the worst feeling in the world. They need him now more than ever, and even then, it might not be enough. Sera, she's bleeding out right in front of him. Tide tries rushing to her aid, yet it isn't the time. They're fighting, and he feels so left out, so helpless as the duo form three fight together.

If only I can do one thing.

"Hang in there Sera."

Tide takes a step back, his eyes wide unsure of where to go from here. Everything is crashing down, and it absolutely terrifies him, but in this moment, nothing really matters. Everyone is the enemy. Everyone is struggling. Everyone will fall. It's how it has to happen, but even then, he wonders just how strong he truly is.

I am a career, I am stronger than this.

A heavy sigh leaves his chest. Saving them is his priority right now, but even though it won't make a difference, he still keeps trying. They give him company, they keep him alive when it feels like everything else has failed. They give him the courage, the motivation, everything that's needed.

I want to win.

It almost seems impossible.

He looks at the glaive in his hands, and he looks at those hurting his friends. They'll suffer. They will pay. They will meet their end. He takes a breath before hoisting the weapon into the air. Sera is counting on him, and he desperately wants to make this count. Tiny attacks won't do anything anymore. It's time for something big.

credit to fox

Tide attacks Nori

5qmw5omJtTglaive
13149 -- Deep Gash on Cheek -- 8.5 damage + 1 blades

glaive

[eulalie blake 1a 🍒 tris]

Lucia allows Nori to take her place on the frontlines, and she instantly regrets it. She stumbles out of the way of a dagger that nearly skewers her. What follows is a lapse of chaos, standing there and watching as Nori a heavy hit. The redhead's arm is cleaved off with a sickening squelch. The fingers are still twitching in the sand.

For one of them, time is running out.

And all because of Lucia's choices, this is where we find ourselves. Six people locked in battle, knowing with each hot spray of blood, one of them will be dead within minutes. It's like a storm trapped in a jar, glass on either side, nowhere to go but within the carnage. It's everywhere. There's no running, no apologizing, no doing anything beyond surviving. Her body aches, a fresh bone cracks as the dark haired girl slams against her. But she stays on her feet, her focus and worry on Nori.

She swore to her friends that she would do everything in her power to make it to the end alongside them. None of them are allowed to leave her, not while others are still breathing. And so that leaves the impossible: she has to make sure one of these rival tributes is the one who bleeds out. The choice breaks her heart, but everything already feels like it's crumbling. She sets her jaw, forces herself to be hard and strong and to not let her emotions get the best of her.

There's no going back. She cannot change what has happened.

But she can still control the future.

Her glaive strikes at a golden thread of fate.

[kaitlin]

lucia attacks serelis ; glaive
Os_Vy|ly2uglaive
8.0 + 1 blades

uses self defense on serelis's attack
^{[9080 - 9]}
3-8
-6 damage negated
edited by gms to correct self defense roll, -4 damage

glaive·1-10

[august vance d7b [Bella]]

(tw: violence against animals mentioned)

I’m not shocked when the red-haired girl’s arm falls to the ground, blood spurting from the stump where it used to be attached. The smell of her insides spilling out and the sound of her screams vibrating in the glass are more overwhelming than frightening to me. In eleven we’ve all seen blood like this. We’ve watched the killing and skinning of animals, the foreman’s lash drawing blood against our backs, the sick old dog being put down with a sharp knife to the jugular. In that way, seeing this girl lose an arm ain’t so different from watching a hen still running with its head cut off. A momentary horror to be witnessed and endured; a sacrifice that ultimately guarantees a place at my own table.

That Vera is capable of severing an arm in a single blow is mostly a relief to me. As long as she’s standing on this side, next to me, and not the other.

Four calls to the dying girl helplessly, "Hang in there, Sera.” I roll my eyes and bite back the urge to laugh out loud, at least showing the girl that courtesy. Hang in there? She and what arms? Really his comment only annoys me. These careers acting like they give a shit about the lives they place between themselves and the knives pointed in their direction. Thank ripred I at least know my girls and I are on the same level.

Four finds the gap in my defensive stance gracefully, as only careers seem to know how to do, like breathing, or in his case, maybe like swimming. He’s fast, but hey, I’m hydrated; I manage to block some of the brunt force he’s sending my direction. Still the metal glides across my cheek, slicing my face wide open, warm blood trickling down my neck. ”Fuck!” I shout, thinking, first my eyebrows and now this. And Vera still looks like a million bucks. What luck I’ve got.

The annoyance I felt at the boy’s comment has only escalated, and now my blood is boiling in my veins. There might even be steam coming out my ears, who knows. I raise my sword and holler back at him.

”Shut your mouth and quit your sad, sorry moanin’!” I spit at Four through gritted teeth. “If she meant something to you, you would have protected her! Call it what it is. You’re just upset you’re down one bodyguard.”

As my blade falls, I pray it sends this poor armless child somewhere kinder.

[kaitlin]

nori attacks serelis; gladiator sword
Z3n9nLE_HMsword
{3.5}

sd against tide’s attack
3-8

sword·3-8

[D'Arcy Mason d6b [Tyler]]

[googlefont="Cinzel Decorative"]

Safina Roy

an evil unseen - III

Serelis Yossarian falls in slow motion. The blades of the deadly two draw blood, almost invisible in the deep red that has already flown from the poor girl. A stark crimson against the pale white of the body it's left behind. I'm barely conscious of the fact that I'm screaming her name, the word forming between my lips as if hearing her name might wake her back up and bring her into the fight again.

The last shred of District 3 I had in here with me, taken away forever.

The bloodthirsty beast that had been driving me forward pulls back completely, yanked by the chain around its neck that tethers me still to my senses. The space it occupied moments ago rapidly fills with fear and vulnerability. I glance over at the three girls I was once ready to hack away at, and suddenly it feels as if there were twelve of them all poised to strike again. Vera even looks like she could've just stumbled into the fight a moment ago, pristine and unblemished by the strike of metal against skin. All but for the splatter of Serelis' blood lining a thin arc in the angle where her arm had left her body.

I'm suddenly aware of the cuts that litter my body as well; the shallow ones fresh from the fight sting. Superficial and paling in comparison to the knife pressing into my chest, but deep enough to tell me how much my own life is in danger. I look out into the eyes of this pack of wolves that circle, trying to inch Tide and I into a circle where they can pounce once again. I return them with a fiery look - anger at what they have all collectively done to us, mixed with the fear of what they may continue to do, mixed with the awe of what they had accomplished. I glance for the opening to freedom before the wolves can pounce, trying to adapt to this temporary change from predator to prey.

"Tide, we got to get out of here," I try and say softly to Tide, fighting not to have any tremors in my voice. I steer myself to one final look at the ally on the ground, trapped now in death between the walls of glass. I give one more quick, reproachful look back at her killers before running for the opening, away from further bloodshed.

So that District Three doesn't lose both of its soldiers in the same fight.

[Safina attempts to light-step Vera's attack]
gNuk4eQrGm1-10
[Result = Success! Attack reduced to 0 damage]

[Safina flees the fight]

1-10