{nautical nonsense // dante, stark v. ghulls, day2

[aya]

Cut me down like the trees
Like the lumber or weeds
Drag me out of the sea
And then teach me to breathe

Stark Harper —

[/i][/color]


The half-sunken ship was something slightly more remarkable than Stark had expected. Though the sails were in tatters and the oysters and barnacles growing along the side formed a protective armor against those who would try to scale the ship, and though a portion of it still rested on the sandbar that had sunk it, it was an imposing, magnificent thing, perhaps a hundred feet long when the missing bits were accounted for. She wasn't one for imagining things, but had she grown up in District Four, she might like to be a pirate some day.

Using her hook to haul herself up over the side of the ship, careful to avoid the woven mail of ocean knives that the vessel had grown as armor, Stark landed on the deck with a thud and the creak of old wood giving a little under her weight. She briefly wondered if the planks had turned rotten and if they'd snap under her weight — or under Dante's — and deposit the two Careers right back into the ocean. That would be a little less than wonderful.

"Hurry it up, Cyclops," she told him, looking back out into the ocean behind him. With an evil smirk, she decided to motivate him to get onto the boat a little faster. Not for any particular reason, but just because she was feeling cruel. "There's a shark closing in on you." In truth, the only things that were circling were some large seagulls overhead.

As Dante hit the deck, Stark allowed herself to laugh at her trick, but a glance back at the seagulls forced her to cut short. They were too big, too clever looking to be the ordinary scavenger birds; she actually recognized them from a documentary on avian muttations that had aired during the sphinx attacks of the 58th Hunger Games: Ghull. They had stuck out in her mind as zombie birds, so to speak; their necrotizing saliva and their attraction to blood made them seem exactly like winged versions of the animated corpses of lore. She didn't see why they'd be coming after her, though; she scarcely had a scratch on her. Cyclops, of course, had quite the collection of wounds. She didn't pity him; it was his fault for getting cut up so badly, for being a little girl and getting sliced and stabbed half a dozen times. "Mutts," she growled, swinging her hook at the first Ghull to dive. "Ghulls. They're poisonous and attracted to blood, so be careful, Princess."

[attacks First Ghull, Gaff [spear]]
[dice=200+3000]
[block 0.0]


[/blockquote][/size][/justify][rand=815931031480431648825399717316033343826332129538555054422467947]

[Snakebird's Tribsitter]

As I climb onto the deck of the pirate ship behind Stark, I look up to see the mutts that she's talking about. Three birds? That's it? I can take them. I lost my pike in the swim, though, and ditched the man-purse that Stark gave me because it was dragging me down in the water, so now I just have a pair of pliers clutched in my hand and the eyepatch around my head. I am pretty upset that I dropped the pike; it was a nice weapon. But luckily Stark picked up a few extras from her tribute hunting yesterday, so I bet I can borrow one.

"Hey, Blondie! Pass me that harpoon!" I yell, getting to my feet. My stomach still burns where that girl from District Four impaled me, but I'm the toughest tribute out here, so I can take it. Stark takes a swing at one of the birds, then kicks the harpoon towards me. It slides across the wooden deck and I scoop it up, ready to skewer these oversized chickens.
[/blockquote][/color]

[Lulu]

It had been days since their last meal, and the trio of ghulls knew they could stand it much longer. Periodically, Dismal – the self-appointed leader, though the notion that the other two followed his command was laughable – would insist that either Doldrums or Despair did a sweep of the island in search of some juicy, appetizing flesh, while he stood watch perched atop the mast of the sunken ship that served as the vicious scavengers' lair. But no such luck.

The taste of blood was not one that Dismal could live without for long; already he could feel himself beginning to languish, growing weaker and weaker by the hour. Doldrums had long since gone off the deep end, so to speak, squawking incessantly and flying around in erratic patterns as if the lack of nourishment had already affected his brain. Despair merely latched onto a floating bit of driftwood, refusing to move, occasionally giving a long wail that would chill anything other than a ghull to the very bone.

Just as he was considering killing one of his lackeys – Doldrums, probably, he's just plain irritating – and gobbling him up for some kind of meal, Dismal's head shot up as he heard the sound of movement in the water, and then all the sudden there were humans invading their lair. His vision homed in on them; he could almost see the thick red blood pulsing through their veins, and his eyes watered with longing. Sure, he would have preferred rotting flesh, but he wasn't about to turn down a tasty human morsel. What were they doing here? What does it matter? Eat!

Greedily Dismal lunged, beak first, at the female one, hoping to go unnoticed by Doldrums and Despair so that he could have this feast all to himself. Unfortunately, though, the other two weren't far behind; Doldrums was headed for the other one, while Despair was diving, talons first, at his own prize. How dare he! Later, he would pay.

[Dismal attacks Stark, beak]
[dice=200+2000]
[dg right bicep, 8]

[Doldrums attacks Dante, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[miss]

[Despair attacks Stark, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[block]

[/size][/color][/justify][rand=23585093766450882332543276483193042937237427104264515629656123928726]

[aya]

Cut me down like the trees
Like the lumber or weeds
Drag me out of the sea
And then teach me to breathe

Stark Harper —

[/i][/color]


The Ghull that Stark had swung at retaliated with its beak, biting a sizable hunk of flesh out of her bicep. She could practically feel the bird's destructive saliva worsening the wound; her arm burned as she tried to lift it. She had no time to lose trying to get the wounded limb to cooperate, however, so she snatched her hook with her left and swatted away the other bird that dove on her. The Ghull that had attacked Dante was a dopey-looking thing, diving at him with its talons but missing entirely — by a long shot.

Dante called out for a harpoon, having lost his own pike in the swim over, the great dolt. Stark didn't have a second to waste, so she slid it across the deck to him. She supposed the loan would have to be permanent, until they could liberate a weapon from some useless tribute's corpse. If something happened to her hook though, she'd have to take the harpoon back; it was fair, though Stark wouldn't've cared if it wasn't. She just had to make sure the birds didn't cut her up so badly that she wouldn't be able to take him — though the blonde girl was fairly certain that she'd have to be inches from death to lose to her meathead ally. He wasn't the brightest, and even if she was hypothetically too weak to best him in a physical confrontation, Stark was clever enough to get away, to force the fight into a stalemate if she needed to. "Go for this one, Cyclops!" she instructed, trying to cut the first Ghull out of the air in revenge for her bicep. "Then we'll get below deck; I don't think they'll be able to follow!"


[attacks Dismal, Gaff [spear]]
[dice=200+3000]
[deep gash on left wing — 8.0]


[/blockquote][/size][/justify][rand=06687242817133665330668900394812282694546366110446347487196326256]

[Snakebird's Tribsitter]

(le filler for now)

[attacks Dismal, harpoon]
[dice=200+3000]
[block — 0.0]
[/blockquote][/color][rand=3162935969885438718279510899446905491787022212520247360974908806384]

[Lulu]

Dismal screeched with satisfaction when his beak sunk into marvelous flesh and warm blood flooded into it. The taste was astonishing, especially after so many days without it. Even better, he'd managed to toss out his wing and hit Despair, sending him careening off course so he was unable to get a clawful of the precious flesh that Dismal wanted reserved only for himself. Doldrums, like the idiot he was, was swatted away by the human he'd been attacking. Stupid. You have to dive for the places they can't reach. That was why he'd been successful, and the others hadn't.

To his immense irritation, though, Despair was not thrown off for long; a moment later he came flying back, glaring angrily at Dismal as he aimed to get a grip on the female human's succulent flesh and tear a chunk off for himself. He wasn't about to let Dismal have all the glory! Absolutely not. Not after the ghulls had been waiting so long for a proper meal. No, now it was time to dig in. Bon appetite.

[Dismal attacks Stark, beak]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc left shoulder 3.5]

[Doldrums attacks Dante, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc left forearm 3.5]

[Despair attacks Stark, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc stomach 4]

[/size][/color][/justify][rand=39003584999591111018183934502303672443010308779788999245252925903]

[aya]

Cut me down like the trees
Like the lumber or weeds
Drag me out of the sea
And then teach me to breathe

Stark Harper —

[/i][/color]

She'd managed to tear a sizable gash in the Ghull's wing as a perfect rebuttal. "Ha!" she gloated at the bird, proud to have given it a wound to match the one that burned her right shoulder. On the bird, though, a cut of equal length was far more devastating to the creature that was much smaller than Stark herself. "Oi, birdbrains!" she jeered at Dante and the flock of Ghull alike. "Hit it already!"

Unfortunately, this attempt to egg on her ally had distracted her momentarily — stupid, she swore at herself — enough for the first bird to snap at her other shoulder, though she managed to turn quickly enough to shake it off before it could do as much damage as it had on the first dive. The Ghull that she'd managed to block seized the opportunity to rake its claws across her stomach, though it wasn't a bad cut. With a grunt, she whirled her hook back at the bird that she'd just shaken off of her shoulder, trying to disrupt its flight pattern even more.


[attacks Dismal, Gaff [spear]]
[dice=200+3000]
[Shallow Cut on Right Forearm — 3.5]


[/blockquote][/size][/justify][rand=3061857530847192905385178513824994432442192919558109059077687562]

[Snakebird's Tribsitter]

These oversized chickens are pretty hard to hit, since they're flying through the air and all. Stark and I have both missed once, but I guess they've missed us too so it's okay. One of them comes in at me with its claws, but I manage to intercept it with my forearm. For a second, when it's sitting there raking at my skin, I kind of feel like one of those medieval falconers, since they're almost as sexy awesome as I am. That might be cool to do after I win the Games. But before I can do that I have to make a chicken kabob.

[attacks Dismal, harpoon]
[dice=200+3000]
[block — 0.0]

[/blockquote][/color] [rand=896402066107839327198420022614326834412431344399432847215794027]

[Lulu]

Dismal could feel himself fading away, and he wailed in agony as he became aware of this fact. How could he have let this happen? Why were these humans fighting back so relentlessly. All he'd wanted was food, the sweet taste of flesh, the flood of blood in his beak, just a bite, and now this insolent human was tearing his wings to shreds. Instinct told him to fly away before it was too late, but, crazed by hunger, the dying ghull continued to fight to his very last breath. Just for that one bite...

The other two ghulls were still going strong, and were rather pleased with the fact that their oppressive leader was nearly gone once and for all. In celebration, Doldrums flew a victory lap around the mast of the sunken ship, but stopped immediately and dove back towards the humans at a livid glare from Dismal. Despair made for the female human again, but with a strange burst of angry strength Dismal swatted him away. The ghull steadied himself and ruffled his feathers in indignation, but decided a fight wasn't worth it. Dismal would be dead in mere minutes, anyway. So instead he focused his attention on the other human; admittedly he'd rather battle it out with Doldrums than with Dismal, so it worked out.

[Dismal attacks Stark, beak]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc right hip 3.5]

[Doldrums attacks Dante, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[miss]

[Despair attacks Dante, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc right hip 3.5]

[/size][/color][/justify][rand=45864393725059927295699986396357485683242208324372918023350648582]

[aya]

Cut me down like the trees
Like the lumber or weeds
Drag me out of the sea
And then teach me to breathe

Stark Harper —

[/i][/color]

It had become painfully clear to Stark that she had made a bad, bad pick of a bitch. She wasn't one to give people the benefit of the doubt, and she wasn't going to start making excuses for Dante. He may have a gimp arm and a hole in his stomach from the bloodbath, but he still should be able to poke a stick at a few goddamn birds! "Are you serious right now, Cyclops?! You have got to be the worst possible ally in the Arena, alive or dead!" She dropped her hook on the deck and dug through her bag. The coconut that she'd taken when she'd ambushed the District 12 boy the previous day fell out and hit the deck with a thud, rolling around almost as uselessly as Dante was. "You know who's a better ally than you?" she shouted, the flock of Ghull still assailing them but entirely out of mind as she turned on the District Two guy, positively furious. "This coconut! A freaking coconut! At least he provides food and water and doesn't lose items in the middle of the freaking ocean! At least if I were to throw him, he would actually do some damage!"

She yanked the whip that she'd picked up the previous day out of her rucksack and cracked it over her head, her vision getting a little fuzzy as she slipped into a rage blackout. "I said hit it already!"


[attacks Dante, whip]
[dice=200+6000]
[Shallow Cut on Neck — 4.0 ]


[/blockquote][/size][/justify][rand=9821538357064128305500012123957342600739956833424241601924877614]

[Snakebird's Tribsitter]

Someone wise once told me not to deal with crazy bitches, and I've been pretty good about following that advice. I mean, I've slept with so many that I'm sure some of them had to have been crazy. But I don't stick around long enough to find out. I don't ask them how they like their eggs in the morning, because I like my eggs not crazy. But I can't exactly just dash right now, because everyone's still awake and there are birds attacking me and there's this crazy, crazy chick attacking me now too, and jeez, I'm only one guy, leave me alone! I mean she's hot, but seriously this is a level of insanity I'm not sure if I'm equipped to handle.

But I can't think of anything else to do but stab at the bird and pray to dear Ripred that it dies.

[attacks Dismal, harpoon]
[dice=200+3000]
[block — 0.0]

[/blockquote][/color] [rand=3171062660403549767794252838939435471905970480293033546616323292255]

[Lulu]

The humans were failing, and Dismal was pretty sure he could last for a little while longer while he fought desperately for the food, the flesh that he so longed for. After all, there was no better way to die than with a mouthful of the stuff, sweet, aromatic blood soaking his feathers as he drifted away into the big old sunken ship in the sky. Meanwhile, Despair was cackling in amusement at Doldrums's continuing inability to connect his claws with the other human, although even funnier was that human's inability to even touch any of the ghulls. Guess we're better than you, huh, small fry?

[Dismal attacks Stark, beak]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc chest 4]

[Doldrums attacks Dante, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc back 4]

[Despair attacks Dante, talons]
[dice=200+2000]
[stabbed in hand 8]

[/size][/color][/justify][rand=942816128022968822801354900002481700790228787809648573511047288775]

[aya]

Cut me down like the trees
Like the lumber or weeds
Drag me out of the sea
And then teach me to breathe

Stark Harper —

[/i][/color]

Practically hyperventilating from her fit of rage, Stark slowly returned the whip to her rucksack, packed up the coconut, and retrieved her gaff. She tried to force her breathing back to normal, but each shaky exhalation brought her closer and closer to lashing out at her ally again. The small, rational voice in her brain chided that attacking Dante wasn't going to make the flock of Ghull die any faster, and for once in her life, Stark listened to it, if only because she realized that taking one of her competent attacks away and leaving only Dante's pathetic misses.

"Whatever," she grumbled, her voice dropped to a dangerous, low monotone. "Just stay behind me, alright, Cyclops? And get below deck as soon as possible" She locked in on her target and whirled her hook at the bird only she'd hit so far.


[attacks Dismal, gaff [spear]]
[dice=200+3000]
[Shallow Cut on Right Bicep — 3.5]

She only managed to slice it, but with both of its wings damaged, the mutant bird hit the deck with a dull thud.

[/blockquote][/size][/justify][rand=3928087274543941275460014585405698567165643908084015146722085774]

[Snakebird's Tribsitter]

Of course I missed, what did she expect? I had a crazy bitch yelling in my ear and attacking me with a whip and one of those nutty birds actually pierces my hand with its talons while another one raked its claws across my back. Seriously, I'm awesome, but I'm not a miracle worker. At least Stark stops attacking me and gets either really calm or really unhinged, but she kills the bird so I make a mad dash for the area below the deck.

[flees thread, uses first aid on self for -3]

[/blockquote][/color]

[Lulu]

As the female human's weapon connected with Dismal's wing, Despair knew it was over. Despite the fact that he'd sworn he'd be pleased when their oppressive leader died, watching his mangled body spiral down and hit the deck of the half-sunken ship with a sickening thud sent him into a frenzy, and without fully aware of what he was doing, he gave a screech and dove, beak outstretched to bite, towards the first moving thing he saw... which happened to be Doldrums. Out of his mind as the other ghull was, he still did not take kindly to being attacked by his own kin; immediately he shrieked and turned on Despair, aiming to bite him as well. The two humans were all but forgotten.

[Doldrums attacks Despair, beak]
[dice=200+2000]
[dg neck 10]

[Despair attacks Doldrums, beak]
[dice=200+2000]
[sc on something I forget, 3.5]

[/size][/color][/justify][rand=042092071147635581602571450639516359277734765782952840586320962757]