I ain't letting up until the day I die [A v. S Day 6]
Jul 27, 2024 18:21:20 GMT -5
Post by Izzabel Bennet D8A (Jorg) on Jul 27, 2024 18:21:20 GMT -5
A R T E M I S
Tide and Vera's faces cascaded in the sky as the sun broke over the horizon against music she didn't recognize. Vera's face had shocked Artemis. The last remaining tribute from the Wealth alliance was slain, and she couldn't help but wonder if she should have stayed longer. Three against-one odds weren't great, but they each have fallen, and with the downfall of Tide, only the Upper Three Districts and Seraphina remained. Were the Gamemakers disappointed that she and Artemis had tagged team the boy from Four? Did they want the two Careers to take out the outlying Middle District? Who could have ever guessed what they were thinking, it wasn't Artemis's job to know, only to survive the little show they had created.
Artemis felt refreshed after her makeshift bath in the Ravine the night before, and with the heat rising from the comparative shivering, this felt almost comfortable. Especially after the first few days in the Arena, the temperature tonight was like a warm summer's eve. She found the energy within her to traverse the glowing sand dunes with ease, having spent days in the black sands. Instead of neon lights reflecting off the sand's surface, the lights were coming from deep within the sand. It was almost as if they were alive, vibrant colors against the night sky. She kept moving though, finding no reason to stay among the dunes.
Artemis managed to find her way back to the Art Instillations where the statues stood in their obscure styles. Did the statues have meaning, or were they meant to be abstract? It was hard to tell as the statues were basked in the same neon lights as the sand dunes were, creating shadows on the ground that mystified the statues' shapes. She felt safer here somehow as if it was almost easier to hide in the shadows and crevices. She weaved through them, simply enjoying getting lost in the art. The canvas was still yellow, with drawings done by the tributes somehow looking as fresh as when it was first painted. The bright sun hadn't faded away the pigment or the vibrancy of it. Artemis wasn't sure who drew those, but it was nice to see that a human touch remained. She stopped in her tracks though when she saw Seraphina again, the remnants of last night's conversation coming back to her.
"It's funny, what you said," the other girl said last night. "About friendships and vulnerability." Seraphina had admitted that she didn't think that she would be learning those kinds of lessons before running off. Artemis didn't get a chance to respond, but she agreed, that being under this kind of stress had brought up important lessons, ways in which they could have lived their lives for the better. Yet, the other kids never got to put those lessons into action as blades as flails stole their lives from them. Artemis would have done anything she could have to ensure that it wasn't her, and if it meant breaking that momentary bond that had formed last night so be it.
She didn't strike yet though, feelings stirring in her stomach as she contemplated how to handle this. Their truce had to have meant something right? She knew that relationships in the Games were fleeting, having no real meaning outside of surviving for a few days. So why was Artemis hesitating? Was it because she didn't want to take away the first real glimpse of a friendship that she had? She and Safina, the girl from Three who surprised Artemis by still being alive had a moment in the tent watching that silly little TV show together, but even that was momentary. Was it because she and Seraphina fought together, a bond forged and broken under the threat of death? Artemis knew two things though. The first was that if she was going to make it out of the desert hellscape, she would need to kill the girl in front of her, and second, she would do her best to ensure that Seraphina's death was as fast and painless as possible.
Artemis charged forward, glaive aimed directly where Seraphina's heart would be, and hoped her aim was true. She didn't want to have to hurt the girl more than she needed to.
Artemis attacks Seraphina | Glaive
5vQxloleksglaive
Deep Gash on Back -- 8.5