Curve's the Word // [Circe +/- Words Day 3]

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

She should have told Orion right then what she and Elya and Gunner already knew. That it was dangerous to associate with murderesses. That it was impossible that they would all survive this ordeal. That deep down, a quarter heart wasn't enough to make it home, but that wasn't going to stop her. Circe put her duct taped fingers to the rotting desk and pulled, ripping apart wood and nails and mold. She was digging into the drawers, trying to find something dry, something useful. Maybe, she thought as she picked a splinter out her thumb, she could get Gunner to explain to Orion.

The immediate wave of disgust at her cowardice overwhelmed her. She stepped back from the desk, kicked her pile of soggy wood. One board rolled into the shadows and sent two white sparks shooting into the air.

Circe dove behind the desk, wondering what sort of trap this was. The fluttering pair angled out through a broken window, stories above where she crouched. She followed their path to the lines of windows. She crept alongside machines, rolling her feet, the firewood and angst forgotten. Her stomach was so much stronger, so much more whole, than her heart.

A little light leaked in from the outside through the dusty windows. A flock of the birds pecked at the ground. She spent whole minutes crouched, watching. She forced her breathing to be perfectly even as she disrobed, opening up Nat's jacket to be a trap. Inch by inch she crept, narrowing in on a fat, cocky little bird. He pecked at the other birds more than he pecked at the earth. He was going to be so delicious. What did anything else matter?

---

OOC Notes
here birdies! come to mama!
she's not actually going to eat curve, p.s.

[Circe attempts to catch Curve's the Word]

lBUZ2nJ21-4

[GREAT SUCCESS]

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[Sunrise Rainier D2 // [Thundy]]

Notaninsta.

She was graceful in the clouds, and she felt all-powerful. The female bird soared through the skies like she was born in them, and her daughter followed suit, learning how to twitch her wings and catch the winds with ease. For months it had felt like nothing could hurt them; not a single bird or a predator roaming the ground could match their swift movements in the air.

They were unstoppable - or that's how it seemed before the daughter was caught in the hands of a predator.

Panicking, the mother bird soared in circles above the creature, eyeing it for signs of weakness. She cried out for her daughter, an eery high-pitched sound flashing through the air, but there was no answer.

To the bird, there was no option but to attack. If she did nothing, her daughter would die, and the mother would rather sacrifice herself than watch her offspring take the fall.

She calculated her attack with precision, and descended from the air with a screech.

[Notaninsta (Delivery Word) attacks Circe Lyon with beak (knife)]
SwCB4qZcknife
Deep gash on forehead - 9.0

knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

Success! She could feel the little bird wiggling around, flapping its wings, just Nat's jacket between it and her duct taped hands. But now what? She had a bird, and it seemed like a perfectly good, edible bird. Would the Gamemakers just drop food at her feet? There had to be a catch, a reason for this muttation to be in the Factory, too.

She stood, shifting her weight from hands to feet, to keep quarry trapped. Circe lifted one hand to her forehead, blocking out the feeble sunlight. Maybe it was poisoned. Maybe she should bring it back to her allies and see if any of them had more experience. She ran her hands through her frayed hair, considered fixing it, when a bird divebombed her out of nowhere.

"That was fucking rude," she said, reaching into her messenger bag. The blade chilled the tips of her fingers as she grabbed one of Gabrielle's knives, and threw.

---

OOC Notes
really though shout to ayay

[Circe attacks Notaninsta; throwing knives]

l43Zcq05throwing knife

[miss but luckily i worship aya our overlord]

[accuracy re-roll day 3]

throwing knife

[Knife Deep in Bicep -- 8.5 damage]

throwing knife�throwing knife

[Sunrise Rainier D2 // [Thundy]]

Notaninsta.

The predator's claw tore through her wing, and in an instant she was falling.

There was no plan of attack. No precision. No accuracy.

When she fall, beak-forward, only one thought flashed through the dying bird's mind:

She would never fly again.

[notaninsta attacks Circe Lyon with beak (knife)]
SajRUFY_knife
HELL FUCKIN YEAH IT WAS A BLOCK

knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

The blood gushing into her eyes was the worst of it. She could have sworn her knife sailed free, disappearing into the darkening shadows. Instead, the next thing she knows, the stupid bird is falling, circling towards the earth. She shoves along her broken nose, up her gashed forehead, mixing blood with blonde.

She'd always wanted to be a redhead.

Circe stalked forward, hefting another blade. The grip was so easy, so familiar. Had she a little stitched heart, she could almost be back in the training center, trading poison for memory. Instead, she knelt beside the dying muttation. "It's you or me, birdie. And today, I choose me."

---

OOC Notes
i could miss again tho rite?

[Circe attacks Notaninsta; throwing knives]

OlKftm6othrowing knife

[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

throwing knife

[Sunrise Rainier D2 // [Thundy]]

Notaninsta.

The beast's claw flew past her unbroken wing, and the mother caught a glimpse of her daughter, and a surge of life powered through her heart. Though her wing was torn and in pain, she did her best to flap it, hauling herself up into the air.

Weak as she was, her daughter was below, and even that could withstand the pain.

With one last effort, she flung herself forward.

[notaninsta attacks Circe Lyon with beak (knife)]
ceJ5rV_Rknife
YAAAS MISS

knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

It was almost as if the little muttation was trying to hop into her hands. Granted, between the blood and duct tape, she could no easier hold a bird than a knife. Apparently. Another slipped through her grasp, clattering to the ground. She almost felt sorry for the creature, if not for the veil of red clouding her vision.

She marked her bag with iron as she fumbled for another knife. Ten. She was sure she had ten. How many could one little bird take? She wrapped both bloodied palms around it, pushing it slowly towards the dying bird. "It's not personal, birdie. I just have to be sure."

---

OOC Notes
-----

[Circe attacks Notaninsta; throwing knives]

uFEc_|F2throwing knife

[Miss (knife lost) -- 0.0 damage]

throwing knife

[Sunrise Rainier D2 // [Thundy]]

Notaninsta.

This bird is so done with your shit.

[attacks Circe Lyon with beak (knife)]
hAWS7CKIknife
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ miss

knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

Circe stared down at her hands. They had become foreign objects, just a flesh-colored plate and spoons for fingers. How could she miss? The bird was right there, an inch from her knife.

But it was an inch too far.

Circe unclasped her hands. With as much gentleness as blood and callouses could offer, she drew the Word into her lap, and there drove her knife in, one last time.

---

OOC Notes
I DID NOT MISS!

[Circe attacks Notaninsta; throwing knives]

TFaODtxbthrowing knife

[Deep Gash on Thigh -- 8.0 damage]

[Circe uses F/A - 3 on self.
Circe also uses N/T - 5 on self.
Collects Notaninsta's carcass
Possibly other things but we shall see!]

throwing knife

[Cato]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

hammerfell

orion

district two male

---

I can not believe what I've witnessed just now. Circe taking damage from a damn bird? What the hell was she thinking in going out a lone. I've watched Elya die because I wasn't there to do anything. I look away for one moment and there she is fighting a bird. Anger bubbles inside threatening to explode. I will not allow another ally of mine to die because I was careless. "Circe what the actual hell. Leaving everyone like that and for what? Catching a stupid bird? I watched Elya die. Do I have to watch you die to? Are you trying to tear my heart to pieces? Why did I come back if you're going to be reckless. Maybe its better if I leave. You have a death wish from the looks of things." Ripred help her if she continues on this course of recklessness.

---

OOC Notes
Upset at Circe
Attempts to catch a bird and fails

-Bird roll-

DwIpUvzo1-4
Im trash.1-4

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

The bird is lifeless in her hands, and she wants to cry. She wants to cry so hard that the clouds open up. She wants to cry so hard that she dissolves into the tide within. But she doesn't. She turns the bird over and wraps it in Nat's jacket, tying the sleeves into a knot. The ground beneath her knees is solid, else she would consider burying it, even as her stomach rumbles.

She's still cradling the bird when Orion confronts her. She lifts her green eyes slowly, letting the anger of his words wash over her. It's more cleansing than anything else in the arena. "Good," she says at length. "You should be mad at me. Because I don't have a death wish." She unravels the knot in the jacket, displaying the bloodied corpse of a mutt. "I am death."

---

OOC Notes
Did I do a thing?

[Circe attempts to get Notaninsta's offspring]

MFRiMZQK1-4

[nOPE]

1-4

[Cato]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

hammerfell

orion

district two male

---

"Death huh. You want to kill me right now? So that I don't have to watch each and every one of my friends die?"

Just like I couldn't save Elya from death. Circe killed one of the birds. Death indeed. Doesn't matter. She's bleeding from the attack on her forehead. I'm tired of feeling so helpless. I remove the helmet I am wearing it and offer it to Circe. "If you insist on fighting these damn birds at least take this. I'd rather see you protected than a bloody mess." I don't want to see her lifeless on the ground either. Would I be able to handle her death if it happened? Or would I follow her to the afterlife immediately. I've already lost one person I cared about. I can't handle losing a second. Not when the person in question is one whom I care for. One whom I'd lay my life down if it meant her living.

---

OOC Notes
Tries to catch a bird

JLimVYqm1-4

still trash1-4

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

There's nothing between them but one broken bird and a live one still trapped somewhere in the confines the jacket. Perhaps up a sleeve? But it's as if a ravine has split the Factory floor between them. Circe looks up to Orion, her duct taped jaw partially unhinged. The Silent Hulk has found his Not So Silent Night and she suddenly has no idea who is standing in front of her. Certainly not Orion Hammerfell, her steadfast ally in the arena, the man who carried her away from death and shouted to her across train tracks and found her again and again and again.

No, this is the Orion she met on the rooftop in the Capitol, in another lifetime. She can barely remember that boy, can't even fathom the girl she was. She uses both hands to physically fit her jaw back into place as Orion presents his helmet.

Slowly, painfully, she comes to her feet. It doesn't balance out the height differential, but at least she can close the gap. "You want me to kill you, Orion Hammerfell?" She hisses from beneath a mane of red and gold. "Well, fuck you." She puts hands to helmet and shoves, opening a tiny gap between them.

"I am a killer, a dozen times over. I've killed with knives and poison and by tricks. I will kill again, when I have to. I don't want to go home in a box like Elya." Her voice cracks over the name of her friend, her savior, her so-much-more. She takes a shuddering breath. "Don't ask me to kill you, because I might be tempted to accept."

---

OOC Notes
-----

[Circe attempts to catch Notainsta's offspring]

d8SCYe_v1-4

[rejected!]

1-4

[Cato]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

hammerfell

orion

district two male

---

She pressed her hands against the helmet pushing me away. My blood boiled. She was yelling, shouting. All I wanted was for her to understand the pain lurking inside my bones. I couldn't live with myself if she died. I would much rather die than watch another one of my friends die. Her words still ring through my mind bouncing through my skull before embedding itself for ever. My eyes meet hers as I shift my gaze around staring at the gap between us before turning to her bloody head. It's red. She's hurt, and it hurts me. I don't want her to be like this. I don't want anymore of my friends hurt, but I know deep inside that both of us cannot survive. Slowly I move towards her wrapping my arms around her waist bringing Circe close to my own body as a powerful, yet simple, sentence escapes from my lips.

"What is dead may never die."

With that, I unsheathe my sword and shove it into one of her hands.

Brother. I'm finally coming to see you now. See you in a minute.

Perhaps I was stupid enough to think that she would actually try to kill me. If every career was murdering machines, she would've took the option. Maybe she has a heart hidden somewhere inside the demented body of her's. Yet at the same time, I was ready to go meet my brother. I want to see Mason again. I want to be by his side. I want the nightmares to go away, but here I am standing inside of one. A living hell that I actually volunteered for. In way, I'm unsure of what to do. Or what think.

Letting go of her, I start walking away. My heart racing as I try to decide what to do. I try not to think about anything. But I stop when I hear the sobs escaping from her lips. Violent animal like howls fly through the ground, and my heart shatters into millions of pieces especially when the sword clanks against the ground. What do I do? Do I stand here and pretend I hear nothing? Do I continue walking away and leave a sobbing mess of a tribute behind? Mason would. He would've left her behind saying she was weak and that she didn't need his help anymore. But I'm not Mason. I'm Orion. I help people. I heal people. I should help her, but I don't know how.

---

OOC Notes

-Bird Roll-

rh2JNwbg1-4
Rotting under a mountain for a century kind of failure1-4

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

[googlefont="Coda Caption:800"]

lyon

circe

district two female

---

For a second, it's all undone. The day, the week, the lifetime she spent getting here. Orion draws her close and whispers one single, resounding truth. And then he's gone, leaving metal in her hands and acid on her tongue. She holds the sword close, the tip sweeping past her knees, the hilt at her chin. She should take more care with the bloodied blade, but it is the only thing she has to hold onto.

The venom drains slowly as her breath eases. Their conversation rolls over and over in her mind. I might tempted to accept. But the snake has fled with Orion and she knows, even holding his weapon, even knowing she could make it quick, she won't. She won't kill Orion Hammerfell, or Nat Krigel, or Gunner La Torre. She is going to go home in a wooden box.

The ugly realization hits her so hard she sinks to her knees, clinging to the sword as a crutch. She opens her mouth to roar and a sob escapes, rattling ribs and lungs. She lets the sword fall, clatter to the Factory floor. She is too short of water and breath and food. When she heaves, she feels only the dry zig zag of the back of her throat. It's one way to go.

But she's not ready for the box.

She scrambles, digging through the things she's hauled around the Factory. When she touches the side of the cool cylinder, she finds she is grateful to Gabrielle O'Dale. Circe drains the jug dry, drowning herself in the purity of water. When the last drop is gone, she leans over the jug, panting. Centering.

When she stands, she drags the sword up. It is no longer a crutch but an extension of herself. She hacks up the discarded firewood, roots around until she finds a slip of paper. Her writing is quick and messy. She stores her supplies, wraps her duct tape hands around Curve. "You better find him, or I'll find you," she whispers to the Word.

Circe opens the cage of her hands. As Curve takes to wing, Circe lifts her voice, forcing it loud enough to produce an echo. "And I'm never going to lose you, Orion Hammerfell."

---

OOC Notes
Circe flees? Just swapping this thread for another.
Sends Curve to Kirito Miristioma.
Drinks Full, Purified Water Jug from Gabrielle's inventory.
She might also eat Notaninsta? Might save her for later?
Gathers firewood and discards some stuff
All that other stuff earlier is still happening too!

[Circe attempts to catch Notainsta's offspring, one last time]

o9te3|k81-4

[this one's for the birds ; ) ]

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