days gone by // reticence vs mutts ; day 4

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

E S Z T E R

Running.
 
Running.

More running.

And finally we can stop. We can stop for a moment to breath. A moment to relax. A moment to realize.

She is gone.

A little girl who did nothing wrong, trampled. Her death caused by the Gamemakers. Her death caused by me. She saved me. She saved me, and then her sister. At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to thank her not, a part of me wish she would have just let me die. Now she's gone.

And I wish I had.

There was nothing there, we couldn't even say goodbye. I'm not even sure what I would say. I've never been good with words. And what do you say to someone that saved you? So I stand there in silence, watching Elettra be torn apart inside. And I can't even find the words to comfort her.

Helios is a little way off with some other boy, and the next thing I know their lips lock for a brief second and a sheet is  over his head, blinding him. He's running in circles, trying to remove it and I can't help but shake my head.

"Fucking dumb ass,"

I mutter under my breath. My eyes flash to the crying girl next to me and I nod my head, telling her it's time to go. I don't even bother trying to gather Helios. He'll find us.

Probably.

Maybe.

My mind wanders and my feet begin to carry me wherever, away from this ground covered in death. I'm not even sure if Elettra is behind me. A part of me is hoping she is, but I don't look back to check. I'm hoping I'm leading us somewhere safe, but does such a place exist? The arena isn't safe, home isn't safe.

I don't think anywhere is.

We wind up in the stilted mansion again, and I'm hoping that we'll be safe, we need a day to rest. To gather ourselves. To mourn. 

But of course that doesn't happen.

I look up and four mutts are standing in front of me. Fucking great. I look up to the ceiling of the mansion and scream.

"Do we ever get a fucking break?"

They're probably not even listening. I draw my weapon, ready to attack. And I hope Elettra isn't too heartbroken to do the same. My eyes flash around the room, looking for the best way to attack when I see her.

A girl about my age, sitting there on the ground, staring blankly ahead. She's familiar looking, and I realize she's from my District. Doesn't she have a brother too? No matter how hard I try, her name eludes me. Not surprising.

"Yo, why don't you stop being a lazy piece of shit and try to be useful?"

I don't bother to look if she gets up or not. If she decides not to move the mutts will probably just kill her. 

Or I'll have to.

table by fox

[attacks eraserhead ; cane spear]
VCVXcHxfspear
[sc on chest - 4.0]

spear

[Python]

castor karmichael

philosophise your figure
what i have and haven't held
you called and i came, stand tall through it all
fall and fixture just the same thing

Her soul resembled home; an ashen wasteland, reduced to nothing in the blink of an eye. Evil forces at work whether it be curses, karma, or fate, engulfed everything. She didn’t need the anthem to confirm what she had already witnessed – Asriel’s innocent face, forever gone when she was supposed to protect him as mother would, and Jano’s face, lost to death’s clutches because they had foolishly led Ingran by their sides. Now there would be no body to return, nothing to even look upon if she survived this.

Could you survive this?

The more appropriate question was: did she want to?

She did not see a future. Beyond dying and releasing herself from this tangible, torturous world, she could imagine nothing but the glass walls encasing her. In the dark, the luminescent sky lights cast dancing shadows through vines and smudges. More beauty to paint a nightmare, but she couldn’t focus on any of it. She stared ahead into light and shadow, wishing strength upon her will. She could not die, but she could not live. There was no reason to survive this, nothing to return to, but her hand would not budge. The knife remained at her side, idle but sharp. It could finish the deed if she could summon the will.

No, it was an insult to her brother. If she died, it had to be by another’s hand.

She waited.

Her eye was sewn shut by exhaustion. She leaned against a wall, but memories of the horrors stirred her awake every hour. At the first hint of dawn, she chewed on a plant and thought of what she might do. Wait out the other tributes? Surely someone would find her here and corner her. Then it would be out of her control, and she could blame nobody.

A rustle confirmed her theory – someone is here to finish me. She almost expected it to be Ingran despite his face floating among the stars the previous night, confirming his demise. But it was something else, something not human. A furry creature leapt out of the brush, head pointed toward her. A line of bodies and chaos followed – human after human, one face she recalled from the first day, and three masked beasts.

”Yo, why don't you stop being a lazy piece of shit and try to be useful?”

She was not a very inspiring district partner, but how could she understand? Yet Castor climbed to her feet despite a crushed soul and sparse sleep. If these tributes were not here to kill her, then she would feel obligated to help them. The butterfly beasts had slaughtered too many. These beasts could not do the same. They could not kill another Asriel, or somebody’s Jano.

Her final option was selflessness. Perhaps Jano would not approve – you need to look out for yourself – but to lie down and do nothing felt wrong.

For years people did nothing for her. She owed the world nothing as a result, but maybe she could better herself by rising to the occasion. To help somebody who needed it.

If it meant certain death, then it would be a wish granted.

i will run all around it
have to crawl, still can't stop it
along the fires
one more time just pass me by

attacks eraserhead - knife
AonUXBGbknife
Shallow Cut on Stomach -- 4.0 damage

knife

[ghosty]

ELETTRA.

I never thought that the nighttime would ever be lonely, not when you have people surrounding you. Eszter, she was something, but she wasn't Elva, or Iris. She wasn't the presence of Helios, beside me. I only saw him briefly after running for what seemed like hours just yesterday, disappearing with the other Nine that he came with. I'd got used to him, and now he was gone, along with everything that I've grown accustom to. I only heard the passing of the anthem, my eyes squeezed shut:

{like counting up to 249, 250! in hide and seek to see iris standing beside me still, smile peeking behind my face...

when we were innocent }

I couldn't bare to see her small face sitting alongside those that were unknown to me. The crackle of flames, of quietly spoken words to Eszter, well, quiet for Eszter, and the morning came along. The building in front of me, it was familiar; the mansion still held nightmares for me. It only reminded me of Elva, slowly passing from warmth to cold; from sister to corpse to memories. It's been too long since I felt the warmth of my mirror; the only person who I understood as much as myself. She was my companion, she was my everything. 

She was my twin.

Eszter and I walked down the narrow corridors, thoughts crossing into my mind that were not welcome in there; my heart's syncopated rhythm, that only sped up as thoughts of that fight, what, 3 days ago still struggled it's way through my mind. Violence is magnified in these magnificent halls; it is echoed off the checkerboard floor, covered in the blood of people who fell. I still have fingers left for the counting of the days; for the dead I don't even have enough teeth to count for them. I didn't even know a majority of their names, just districts. 

I suppose that makes it better for me. Less people to carry heart for, other than those I trust, and those I loved. Less people for me to try not to cry over, to not fall apart over. Feelings not mutual, are not meant to be held at all; that was what I was told by mom, when I was small, when I was still innocent and I still was happy.

Helios' face crossed my head, and I waved it away; I can't let my heart yearn for another not by my side. 

And I glance up, a figure pressed against the wall and recognition burned a hole into my memory; I remember that form, day 1. Bruises ached - knuckles crack. She was there, and no one else; she looked incomplete, like me, like almost everyone in this place.

Karmichael; just the one. Eckhart; just the one.

Animals fill the corridor in front of me, white squares reflected black like the void. They weren't natural, and they were after the three of us. I'm not ready to die, not yet. 

The broken heart came apart, and the shard drew blood in the palm of my hand. For once, I don't wince.

I throw.

[ :hell_rave: ]

[attacks deer 1]
GZJaKmAfthrowing knife
[9050 -- Knife in Calf -- 6.0 damage]
throwing knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

STELLA

Of the small, wounded, tortured herd of deer, Stella is the first to accidentally wander into the Stilted Mansion Prime. Her cries of pain are quiet, child-like and sing song. The mask over her face suffocates her, but it isn't the worst. The pin pricks of pain are. Brighter than any light, louder than any scream, they flare up and down her body, marring her downy coat with blood. The pain dots the blackness of her vision and without direction, she slides along a wall until a scream - not the scream of her brother and sister, but of someone else - rends the air.

Stella, knowing they've come again to prick her flesh, lowers her antlers.

[Stella the Little Dear attacks Eszter Summit; antlers (knife)]

cjGuVeHeknife

[Shallow Cut on Right Forearm -- 3.5 damage]


JANO

Jano, the young buck, is leaner than he should be. Beneath the mask, his eyes are blacker than the night sky, set deeply into either side of his skull. They are nowhere near the blue, wandering eyes of his mask and somehow, he knows that. Somehow, he knows the mask he's been given isn't anything like him. Despite being the newest masked, he feels the most trapped. The cloth speaks to him, tells him stories of blood and cold, cold rage.

He doesn't want to feel that way. He just wants it to stop.

[Jano the Little Dear attacks Castor Karmichael; antlers (knife)]

knife

[Shallow Cut on Right Thigh -- 3.5 damage]


JEQUIRITY

She knows.

Unlike the two who precede her, Jequirity knows these foes. She knows they have lost and she knows she is somehow the cause of it. She doesn't have to make amends, because she also knows they will kill her. She is blinded and her flesh flayed and she doesn't belong trapped inside of four walls. She belongs atop a stone, a sword whispering to her, promising her a crown and a map home.

Just before she turns her antlers on Elettra, she thinks she hears the pluck of a harp string.

[Jequirity the Little Dear attacks Elettra Eckhart; antlers (knife)]

knife

[Severed Finger on Right Hand -- 8.5 damage]





GOODBYE

After all those feels, Kay is exhausted, and while trying to write this particular post, Proboards kept asking her if she wanted to drop a file into the post and then attempted to erase it, which seems quite appropriate. Also, this mutt has a name.

Can you find it?

[ the Eraserhead steals from Eszter Summit]

1 = her only drawn item; cane spear

1-1

[what do u know it is her spear]

knife�knife�knife�1-1

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

E S Z T E R

She's broken.

I can tell by looking at her. 

By the way she walks. The way she barely speaks. She is broken.

But so am I.

I am broken, but I am still strong. I am still standing. Even though I'm not sure how. This has made me stronger, but at the same time has torn me apart. I keep my head and my weapon held high. I am not ready to bow down to them yet. 

The girl from my District managed to get off her ass and do something. Thank god. I didn't want to have to deal with her myself, at least now the mutts might help.

Elettra stands next to me, ready and strong, but still falling apart. I'm not sure what she is fighting for anymore. My spear just barely scratches the one close towards me, and I sigh in frustration.

WIP WIP WIP

im holding up the fight so this is a hella wip that i will fill in after dinner and work tonight

Basically she's pissed and said and broken and doesn't know if she wants to lay there and die or like actually try

Oh also when the eraserhead takes her weapon

"Well that's fucking rude,"

and then attacks basically dab dab

table by fox

[attacks eraserhead ; playing cards]

Nyusm0Puthrowing knife

[]

throwing  knife

[Python]

castor karmichael

philosophise your figure
what i have and haven't held
you called and i came, stand tall through it all
fall and fixture just the same thing

They wailed like lost creatures, wandering into danger and demise just as Castor had spoken the fateful words. A volunteer; had she really chosen this? Something beyond the expectation of seeking an easier release, only to find herself sunken further into despair. She could empathize with their cries and their wounds. Metals and shards pierced through their hides, representing every wound in her soul. One for baby Ellise, straight through the heart. One for her father, protruding from the back of her skull, a wish that she could revive her mother and reverse his abuse. One arrow in the eye, creating her half-blind world dark on either end.

One lodged in her stomach, sickened every time she thought of failing little Asriel.

Now one was jabbed into her throat. It stole her voice because she could not speak of Jano, nor anything that happened to her this past day.

She could empathize with their cries but she did not mirror them. Instead, her knife scraped against the scurrying floor creature. It leapt onto her district partner, and for a heart-stopping moment she thought it would commit something horrifying. No matter how small, it seemed everything in this arena could maim. A single butterfly could not be trusted.

She shuddered. In her half-blind world, hallucinations were conjured from nightmares. Jano’s face was printed on a deer’s body, and she knew this meant her sanity had abandoned her. Animals could not wear her brother’s face. A mask would not fool her, but she couldn’t look him in the eye. She turned instead, and veered her blade toward another threat. A face she didn’t recognize.

Was it a mercy to kill the wounded?

i will run all around it
have to crawl, still can't stop it
along the fires
one more time just pass me by

attacks Stella (deer 1) - knife
sphRhneHknife
Deep Gash on Left Forearm -- 8.0 damage

knife

[ghosty]

ELETTRA.

They weren't animals; they weren't natural. Face's blink with recongition back at me, and I don't want to believe that it's her face looking back at me. Jequirity. Breath catches in my throat as it came towards me - cold tricks still freeze me sol I want to reach out, touch the dark red line reach across her throat when -

When it happened and my world fell apart below sustained cannon fire. And she moves towards me and she charges, head down, line hidden from me. And the ice did not thaw enough, my hand floating in the air, and BANG!

Pain erupted in waves, eyes screwed up into balls that brim with tears, and I for once know what pain is like; not emotional, well-versed in that type of pain, but physical. And my eyes open, seeing red pour out, for feeling a finger that wasn't there; for being incomplete.

There was no percentage of Jeq in that thing; only the face that went cold and pale in moments four years ago, sword she held, the sword Iris held only two days ago, dropped to the ground.

I regret letting my eyes do the same. Ezster's eyes were locked onto another; familiar perhaps. 

"Don't you dare ruin more people's lives that need to be," words spoken to the ceiling, to the camera's that no doubt watch;

They just love to see people suffer.

[ :hell_rave: ]

[attacks Stella the Little Dear (Dear 1)]
Sq|1Epr0throwing knife
[9063 -- Shallow Cut on Bicep -- 3.5 damage]throwing knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

STELLA

Her antlers have scrapped something soft, but it could have been a paisley divan or a musty cloth wall hanging. She keens, as much in pain from the not knowing as from the sores that dot her body. The dust makes her itch all over. She can use her antlers to scratch or she can use them to wound someone else. Which would be worse? How should she choose?

If there's help to be found in the arena, it won't be between her and the tributes.

[Stella the Little Dear attacks Eszter Summit; antlers (knife)]

iK9CLFFdknife

[ Shallow Cut on Chest -- 4.0 damage]


JANO

The sickly thing that comes and goes is finally gone. He feels he should thank them for riding the world of the nothing. But even if he could muster up the words, it's not like anyone could understand him through the mask. His nostrils flare. To be blinded and silenced is more than Jano the Little Dear could stand. Someone would have to pay for this tragedy. Someone very close.

[Jano the Little Dear attacks Castor Karmichael; antlers (knife)]

knife

[Stabbed in Back -- 9.0 damage]


JEQUIRITY

Her antlers strike, clean and true. They know no other way. Jequirity marks her words - more than our lives, tortured and masked? - and takes a step back. She smells the seeping blood from her sister, hears her keen. She has no way to help her, all hooves and bindings. Well, she does have one way.

While Elettra addresses the cameras, Jequirity raises her head.

[Jequirity the Little Dear attacks Elettra Eckhart; antlers (knife)]

knife

[Shallow Cut on Right Bicep -- 3.5 damage]

knife�knife�knife

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

well moral of the story here kids is that I suck and passed out before I could write a post. It's Thursday already and I don't want to hold things up so here's a filler

[attacks deer one ; playing cards]
_5O_|pqfthrowing knife
[knife deep in hand - 8.5]

throwing knife

[Python]

castor karmichael

philosophise your figure
what i have and haven't held
you called and i came, stand tall through it all
fall and fixture just the same thing

The twin’s words resonated within her. ”Don’t you dare ruin more people’s lives,” she said, as if speaking to the Capitol and all its destructive glory. It was far too late for that. They were ruiners, all of them. They tore apart families and crushed lives into the dirt as if people were dolls in a dollhouse. Greedy children played with them until their heads popped off. This arena was a child’s imagination brought to life, but transformed into nightmares where butterflies devoured human flesh and a deer could wear the face of her brother.

It was too fresh; his face alight in the sky, reminding her of the blood spewing from his neck. She couldn’t take revenge even if she wanted too – Ingran had died with him, and for what? She could never pry her way into his mad mind. Too many questions left unanswered, and the one she faced now was whether or not this creature was real.

She didn’t trust the Gamemakers not to toy with her withering sanity.

Castor hesitated, and the creature pounced. Her brother’s face with antlers sprouting from his head crashed into her spine. The metal wrapped around her chest split like an egg, cracking against her back until something warm dripped down the cloth of her coat. Whether the face was real or not, the creature itself certainly was. It was capable of killing her. Could she lay down and die?

Not with these people in jeopardy.

She had to face him, dead or alive. And she didn’t want to.

i will run all around it
have to crawl, still can't stop it
along the fires
one more time just pass me by

attacks Jano deer - knife
HN8vIuIcknife
Deep Gash on Left Forearm -- 8.0 damage

knife

[ghosty]

ELETTRA.

HA i'm a ill person, so i'm gonna filler.

basically she starts fighting, panicked and in pain w/ adrenaline.

shes... a mess

[ :hell_rave: ]

[attacks Jano]
3NTQvS_Gthrowing knife
[9082 -- Miss (knife lost) -- 0.0 damage]

Accuracy re-roll, day 4
throwing knife
[9011 -- Shallow Cut on Chest -- 4.0 damage]throwing knife�throwing knife

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

JANO

Filler to keep this a'moving!

[Jano the Little Dear attacks Castor Karmichael; antlers (knife)]

tnSAkA7Qknife

[Miss -- 0.0 damage]


JEQUIRITY

Deeper thoughts filler with Jequirity the Little Dear!

[Jequirity the Little Dear attacks Elettra Eckhart; antlers (knife)]

knife

[Miss -- 0.0 damage]

knife�knife

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

alright well I suck
But we already know this
So filleringggg

Basically she's just pissed and annoyed this is taking so long

"Just fucking die already. God, this is annoying"


[attacks deer 2 ; playing cards]
w|0hOp9zthrowing knife
[knife in hand - 6.0]

throwing knife

[Python]

castor karmichael

philosophise your figure
what i have and haven't held
you called and i came, stand tall through it all
fall and fixture just the same thing

oh dear
i'll write later maybe lol

i will run all around it
have to crawl, still can't stop it
along the fires
one more time just pass me by

attacks Jano deer - knife
eo99hE_bknife

accuracy:
knife
Severed Thumb on Right Hand -- 8.5 damage

knife�knife

[ghosty]

yeahhhhhhh lol

[attacks Jequirity the Little Dear]
Vx9hoov9throwing knife
[9178 -- Severed Finger -- 8.5 damage]throwing knife