on top of the world {feast, day five}

[gamemaker kelsier]

when i see you the whole world reduces to just that room

Adelaide and I push her canoe becuase she aasks for my help and I have nothing better to be doing in the morning light. Johno sleeps heavy in my bag but Ash and Bitch scuttle just ahead. Basil and Lace. Where are they going, where do they think they'r-

"Hey," I whisper, leaving Adelaide with the canoe to go try and pick Bitch up, "Where are you going on those young legs, Basil?"

The koala doesn't answer, it only keeps scuttling when I set it back down. Ash is already further ahead and I go back to help Adelaide push to speed things up. I want to tell her to hurry, that Basil is getting away. I can't lose her again, I can'-

Adelaide grabs my hand, pulling me along to greet a friend but someone I don't know. Maybe she tugs me along to my death, to be cut down by a disinterested god with no time for an irrelevant boy. I tell her my name, pulling it out of thin air like it only just started existing now. "Titus," I say, an audible pause, it's been so long since I had a last name, "Seraphim."

I'm a Seraphim.

Watch out, watch out, I'm a Seraphim.

I turn my head, watching as more people stream into the area, all led by koalas that knuckle themselves into the forest again as soon as we're all here. I can no longer pick Ash and Bitch from among the scuttling fur.

Basil and Lace, leaving me again and I let them go, barefly lifting a finger to stop them at all. I wonder what this weakness is inside of me, this well of it. I had psomised, enthusiastic, I was going to make sure that the Seraphim name was remembered.

My fingers go to the pin on my lapel, they know the sharpness of the 'N' too well now, like an old friend. I'm not sure how often I've gone to touch it in my sleep or as I walked. My fingers should have an indent now, a known thought about it. I think about the stars in the sky and about Kaiser's breath leaving his body and going back in every night as he lay beside me until the daytime hit and he stopped.

Last night, there was no comfort of his breath, there was no warmth of his nearness.

Last night I felt someone die again.

I stare across the arena, a strange cold seeping through my bones as I watch Emberly, Ree and Raquel enter the clearning. I think about the instax photo in my backpack, of Ree and myself. I think about our hesitant friendship.

Emberly's weapon sinking into Lace's skin.

Raquel, killing Kaiser.

Raquel killing the closest thing I'd ever get to have to something more than just loneliness.

The lonliness, the sense of it, it washes over me in one quick, biting wave and I tremble, hand slipping out of Adelaide's. I stumble forwards, heat blinding my vision. Everything burning my skin all at once.

I raise my bat, resting it loosely on my shoulder and the corners of my mouths lift in something mocking a smile. It could be one maybe, if it weren't so empty.

I think of Aline.

And I tell that thought to die.

[Titus attacks raquel with spiked blunt]
GOBAVIBOspiked blunt
[14151 -- BROKEN LEFT WRIST -- 6.5 damage + 1 strength]

spiked blunt

[*]

Number stacked in front of him. Eager, willing eyes taking in the odds that began to add up. The more that showed up, the more that would potentially become a victim to the capitols crimes. They were murdering children, but in a sense where their hands remained blood free. Instead, they employed the children themselves to do the job for them. Tempting him with the freedom to do so, his allies had no idea how lucky they were that he deemed them untouchable for the time being. If his blood still ran through his beating heart, allowing his arms and legs to function and his mind to wander into whimsical fantasies of death, then he would let his violent rampage go amongst the remaining tributes.

A rhetorical question emerges toward the two that remained from battle just the day before. Teddy's attention was the only one he seemed to draw as a statement answered a question that wasn't meant to be.

Wendell rolled his eyes.

His depicts within his mind a quick survey of the oncoming threats. The girl who had touched his arm in the dining room that day with her weird vocabulary and gentle nature. She looked like she had faired pretty well over the last few days whereas Teddy had not been. A few, he was unsure of their name nor district, looks completely unscathed through the days. A bout of jealous hinted as he eyed them with a glare. "Just walking through the games without an sworn enemy but the capitol I see." His silent taunts were lost on the wind.

And two tributes decide to start the onslaught of death early, nearly close enough to him, that Wendell leaped out of the way. They seemed to target the redhead without a second though. HE let the two girls take their swings at his ally. In any sense, she was going to be dead today or tonight, as he kept the obsidian knife handy in his bag. The plan had been mapped, for both of his allies. If anyone screwed it up, they would see to Wendell's blades for their mistakes just as he would if he could find out who murdered his district partner.

Two familiar faces passed in front of him. His memory recalling their idle moments in the center. Titus seemed to hone in on her of all the others he had a pick on. There was no doubt in his mind, he wanted to play along.

Besides, an enemy to his enemy was merely an asset to his violent tendencies. His spiked weapon only interested Wendell as the blunt came down upon her with such force that a torturous sound played a lullaby into his ears The echo of the break drew him in just as a hungry shark would to the blood of his meal. Her posture already suggested weakness, but with her lingering breath, she drew yet another savage foe to her. A wicked grin followed as he took after her in the same manner that Titus did.

"Still up for a game of hide and seek? Go ahead and run. See if I can catch you now?" Wendell winked at her before raising the double bladed weapon in taunt and drew it against her.



Wendell attacks Raquel with his 'Beast'(Glaive)
NaiKjiB2glaive
[Deep Gash on Right Calf -- 8.0 damage +1 (Blades)]

glaive

[kousei ♚]

We are everyday robots on our phones
In the process of getting home
Looking like standing stones
Out there on our own

I suppress a scream that threatens to rip through the silence that follows the shattering of Raquel Izar's wrist and I'm confronted with a reality I'd rather subject my lungs to chemical rage to hide from. Titus Seraphim's weapon shimmers in the air with a wave of crimson and hits Raquel's wrist with a crack that sends shock waves down my spine and I'm left with desperation suspended in the air within my throat and the air between us. "Titus, please -" but I kill pleas to subdue the vengeful on the tip of my tongue, friendship won't save us now.

I turn my eyes to the boy from Twelve, Wendell his name was, raising his glaive high up in the air with hell fire and brimstone in his eyes; an invitation for murder dancing on his lips. "Still up for a game of hide and seek? Go ahead and run. See if I can catch you now?" I don't call out to him to stop because it's pointless.

Good friend, bad stranger; nothing written in colored clouds and joints can tell me what to do when the result of two opposing viewpoints in my mind find a common ground and hack at what's been enduring hell for the past five days along side me. Nights shared beneath the stars and bloodied bandages changed between fumbling hands and shaking skin. ("There ain't a damn thing in this arena that'll get me high enough to forget you if you go and get killed.")

It's obvious I meant it. In the way my spear hands limply at my sides when the boy's glaive tears a red smile across Raquel's calf, the way my heart weeps and my eyes threaten to follow suit at the sight of blood spatter across the warm asphalt and my knees almost buckle and I'm almost left tumbling towards the ground. I just want to go home, forget I ever met Raquel Izar or Emberly Lowe and wake up with my back pressed against a brick wall and a needle in my wrist.

I don't want to hold a spear dripping with blood anymore.

It's a morbid joke that I'm still standing; Emberly fights to see her family again, Raquel fights to find home and pick fruits and bask in the warmth of her Izar house. Clem's dead but I'd like to think she had something for her back in Seven, something that would've wanted her to come home in something other than a coffin and a shattered skeleton. I look at myself and feel my heartbeat weeping in staggers; I'm not fighting for home or family, just factory smoke and an escape from sobriety.

I spot Adelaide in the corner of my eye in the spot near where Titus just rushed and my final extension from home seems so alone, as if she's carrying a similar weight to be on her shoulders and I see it; in the way her hand sports ragged bandages and she looks short a digit. "Is this what you saw in your omens?" I ask, never giving pieces of my pulse to superstition or karma, because the way she seemed so sure of herself left me with ragged chills down my spine at how someone can believe in something so thoroughly. "I'd like to know if there's anyway home from this. Cos fuck I miss Three, I miss it so fucking bad Adelaide."

I never even believed in myself.

Yet I step forwards all the same, scattering my pulse in the wind so I can live to see another episode of euphoria -- even if it's just one last time.

We’re everyday robots in control
Or in the process of being sold
Driving in adjacent cars
'Til you press restart

[ree fer attacks wendell gordon; spear]

J1csunuhspear

[3186 -- Stabbed in Forearm -- 8.5 damage]

spear

[thompson harvard - d2b - arc]

{ walherich cnáimhín ; "i know i'm only passing through."

There was something about fighting that united people. It was odd for Walherich, really, despite having grown used to that fighting power. He never thought that so many people would gather to fight. Maybe it’s because of the feast. Maybe it’s the Koala’s. Who’d ever leave a Koala? They’re cute as fuck. The people trickling in had soon gotten the male to count to twelve. Everyone was here, and someone was bound to die.

His eyes glimmered over the flurry of tributes that had gathered in this small area once again. One was from home. One was a boy that he saved (kind of) from turning into a tomato. One was a girl whose name was recognized easier than her looks. One boy stood alone. Two of the people gathered here were the same people they fought yesterday - as a small conversation ensued between the groups proved - they were both recovering. The duo from four had stood strong together, powerful and poised.

There were many people that rang familiar to this boy from Eleven and the most familiar was the girl from his own home, Raquel. She didn’t look like she was doing so well from a ways away, but was anyone doing ‘well’ when they’re enslaved to murder? Their minds become a haven for nightmares. Their bodies become an easel for their scars. Hands became a clamped fist. Clamped around a handle or clamped in thought, confusion. They became a robot. Someone forced to do the dirty work for people who were too scared to do it themselves.

The male gave a look all across the people that stood inside this ring and he was filled with confusion. If the fighting did break out as soon as he imagined (he’s confused as to why it hadn’t yet), he wouldn’t know who to attack. But, in a blink, still figures turned into clammering warheads.

Cameron was hit. At first by Raquel, and he would attack her, but he didn’t want to be known for killing someone from his own home. The girl from ten, the famous name and the famous blood had been next to strike his ally. His eyes glanced at her for a second, tempted by the idea of battling her.

The boy from three had attacked Wendell, but according to Wendell, he was God. He can’t let puny little mortals take him down. So Wendell would be fine.

{not that he’d give a damn anyways}

His focus locked in on the woman from ten. Some would call it jealousy, some would even call it desire for fame. Though they don’t know him.

He calls it loyalty.

[attacks emberly lowe, cutlass (sword)]
ppj2jAU_sword
[deep gash on stomach - 9.0 (-1.0, defense) = 8.0]

sword

[Knuckles]

C H E S T E R .

The twelve living tributes stood on top of the volcano, but not a single one moved. Chester's grip on his cane tightened as he wondered who would make the first move. Who would strike first and cause the war? His eyes darted from person to person, but only when he found Adelaide did he look away. All he could see was her tears when Aline crumbled quickly followed by Dandy. She was begging them to hold on, but he knew it wasn't enough. That night he saw her face in the sky, and yesterday Rory died because of him.

Dandy's blood still covered his face, his knife he carried in his back pocket, his shirt, and his hands, and as much as he wanted to apologize, he knew that it wouldn't do any good. Twenty-three were destined to die, and eleven more would eventually fall.

Soon his gaze locked on Raquel. Just days ago she was close to dying, and yet he let her go because killing her would've ended in his death when her allies pounced him. She first talks to Teddy asking if they can be friends again - it was the halfway point. Perhaps in another life they would be friends, but right now this was the real world. They were in a fight for their death.

"Good to see you Ches."

His grip on his cane tightened. Apparently she didn't learn her lesson from before. He wanted to attack, but he didn't want to draw the first blood. He didn't feel like starting a war that could end up with him being stuck in the middle. I'm not happy to see you. The words froze on the tip of his tongue, but never once did they enter the air.

It almost felt like everyone was waiting.

With a slight nod of the head, he looked away eyeing the other tributes, and that was when the war began. Raquel struck first, and now it was fair game.

"Stay close, Teddy." He whispered above the roar of weapons flying through the air hoping his ally heard, but at this moment he still wasn't sure if it was safe to fight or just stay behind while everyone else tried to kill one another.

Soon it was an all out brawl as people raised their weapons against one another. Metal against flesh, blood, broken bones. It was a sick comedy, and Chester knew he couldn't just sit back and watch.

Eyes darted back and forth wandering from person to person - who to attack? Everyone was busy doing their own thing, and Chester was unprepared. Someone would die for what he experienced. Raquel was being targeted. So was Wendell, and Emberly. This was a war like the one matching the bloodbath, only less were alive. Less tributes stood in his way.

He turned to Teddy, hoping he would follow him.

He had to fight regardless of what happened.

Taking a deep breath, he held it in for as long as he could continuously looking around. Attacking Adelaide was out of the question; she didn't deserve to watch her friends die just days ago, and more would die now before their very eyes. Wendell was busy becoming a target of those gathered around.

Cam was pounced.

He knew no one else.

Finally, his eyes rest on Walherich. He was there when Rory died. He broke Teddy's leg. He was from eleven, and the rivalry from seven and eleven went on for years. Raising his cane, his gaze locked on the blade -

Let the games begin.

table by briar <3

Chester attacks {Walherich} | cane sword {sword}
7chMbz6Tsword

{results: 1198 -- Shallow Cut on Right Hip -- 3.5 damage}sword

[pup]

{ cameron dialate ; "'cause i wanna know that i'm steady on my feet."

As I move in the sunlight, I am pounced on immediately, Walreich's district partner pouncing on to me, her sword swinging at me, clashing with mine. My face remains ashen as I look at the girl, her face set. She's ready to kill me.

"Wal, you should really learn to control your district partner. It was a bit rude how she attacked me out of the blue like that."

My voice is weak, the noise emanating from my mouth signifying my feeling of defeat. If I could be crushed any further than I had been in district five, the gamemakers had managed to do that to me in this "paradise." The shining sun and clear skies were their disguise for the dangers that lurked among the trees and in the volcano I had trekked up to reach here.

I steady my shining cutlass that has been stained a rusty red with the blood of my other enemies, my green eyes locked onto the girl's weapon.

As soon as I begin to raise my cutlass for my counterattack, I can feel another blade slice into my arm. My eyes grow wide as the pain that I had almost managed to forget from yesterday shoots up into my mind, torturing me, sending another split through it.

"Bitch," I breath.

I'm going to die, I might as well finally tell people what I think of them and their meaningless efforts to 'win.' I wanted to win to get back home, but now I know there is no way that will happen while people like the girls who lunged at me exist.

I need to destroy them, just like how I will destroy Wendell.

All in due time.

"You were literally just talking about being friends, try taking your own advice." I say to her, my voice soft, dangerous. My voice is no longer a butter knife like earlier, it is my gleaming blade in my hands.

I take one look at Adelaide.

I may finally have my lifeline cut, but I know that I won't let it be cut without a fight.

I reach into my bag and grab the bottle that had appeared earlier for me. I slather my sword in it, remembering what we had learned back in the training center.

It flashes to life, ready to burn, to kill, to devour.

^{[<333 ty briar]}

sets sword on fire w/ tar and firemaking
[attacks emberly w/ flaming sword]
UjFd60MTsword
[1197 -- Deep Gash on Forehead -- 9.0 damage
(Sword)]

1-50
[ughhh extinguished jdghaoidfjgoisdjfiogj]sword�1-50

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

ADELAIDE

"Titus," he says and then gathers his strength. I can almost see the armor that he wraps himself in - layer after layer of his life. "Seraphim."

"He killed Aline," I say, my voice pitched too high. I almost sound cheery instead of deranged. Are they really so different, I wonder? Hero is looking at me as though I've grown a second head. I sigh. "It was fated. Just like this."

I step smoothly out of the way of Titus' blade. I'm not at all sure that anything I've said has sunk in with Luxa or Hero; they're both so far away, so lost in their own labyrinths. That's a battle I cannot fight for them or even with them. Suddenly I'm quite alone again, not even the whispering to guide me.

"Is this what you saw in your omens?"

His voice, an anchor.

"I'd like to know if there's anyway home from this. Cos fuck I miss Three, I miss it so fucking bad Adelaide."

I stare at him, the boy I've never seen before. I stare at him, this my only piece of home. Adelaide. "Ree," I say, the name wound tightly in my mouth. "No. I never saw us together in the arena. This is a different path." I click my tongue. Ree. "The Fates are asking for you. The Three of them. You ever think about that? How there are Three Fates and Three Gamemakers and we come from Three?"

I clutch my purse a little tighter. "I think about it, all the time."

The whoosh of a weapon falling far too close. I jump, slide down the bowl. Teddy's there, within arm's reach and I will not speak to him. My fingers, of their own accord, drag across his hips and then I'm slipping again, the black earth giving away, until I'm right in front of the boy who took Dandy from me.

Dandy, who I covered in wards.

Dandy, who quieted my mind.

It was fated.

Whatever was holding me back before - giddiness or insanity - it's gone now. The grief and loneliness well up as I fall forward onto Chester. "Do you remember my friend Dandy? Please say you do."

THROES

[Adelaide sobs at Chester; unarmed]

ChxyyLcMunarmed

[Bruised Left Hand -- 2.0 damage]

unarmed

[Tom]

[presto][/presto]

► ► ►

Twelve tributes were left.

They had survived twelve others. Blood and wounds that they had pushed through to get to the halfway point of the games. They were resilient like the bugs that couldn't be squished. They had gone through hell and back already, but there's still eleven more people that Teddy would have to go through to get home, if he wanted to go home. Many of whom, he never wanted to see die, but in the arena he's learned that death was out for them all.

Sooner or later, he would have to kill in order to survive.

He was still afraid of the idea, but he was accepting it.

Eyes catch the blonde locks and girl that sends chills through him. Adelaide Throes was there with them. She looked as gorgeous as ever, but they would clash eventually. All he could do was stare at her for a second, until he has enough of looking at her. Blades begin to get pulled. The pace of his heart begins to raise higher. They've done this dance before, weapons would cut flesh, bones would break, and people would die. They were doing a dance like they had done at the start. A bloody dance of metal and flesh.

It was both beautiful and sickening.

"Teddy."

He looks to Raquel with the loss in his heart. A leg missing as he tries to balance himself the best that he can.

"I don't suppose we can be friends again?"

She smiles at him with a curious stare like she expected him to answer. Friends are all he had wanted for a long time, but now they were in a place where all of his friends would have to die if he were to go home. Teddy lets himself frown as he lets out a sigh of sadness. Friends weren't meant to be made in the games. If it were a different world, they could have been friends. Raquel was the type of girl that he wanted to be his sister, but there's no room in his family for sisters. There was barely any room for Chester, his brother in the arena, so he had to give her a small frown and then turn away to look at Emberly.

"I'm sorry about Rory,"

Empty words that didn't seem to fit on her lips. Teddy just nods at her as she continues to speak of Rory. It was all on his shoulders. Chester shouldn't carry the weight of the world against him. Teddy needed to pull his weight in their world. Everything was different now, this was where tributes break out of their shells and accept that killing is the only thing left in them. He hated the idea, but Chester was counting on him. District Six was counting on him. His memories were counting on him to remember home.

"He wasn't my friend, but he was from home."

The first person he can think of is Basil Isley. She had been from home. He knew what Emberly was feeling, but it was always so empty. Empty words wouldn't bring Rory back. Only actions could show the truth to everything. He had done something for Basil Isley. He had helped kill her killer. Vengeance wasn't pretty. A cold chill that would run down his spine at the thought of Lorenza Aita, but it was gone as soon as it had came.

Then blades clash into flesh. Emberly, Raquel, Cam, and Wendell all get cut. He can hear Chester speaking to him in that moment. The blank look on his face whenever he fights. That sudden serious glare that he had received from him coming to his mind. Then he can feel his heart beat in worry for Chester. His voice sounds pleasant to his ears and he can hear the caring in his voice, even if others couldn't.

"Stay close, Teddy."

All he does is shake his head hoping that Chester can see it, even if he can't Teddy moves close to him. He's got the spear that he received on day one out with it's golden gleam hitting his face and the ground below. They've danced like this before. Chester strikes at Wal who had broken his leg the day before and caused the dance to end. Teddy watches with a careful eyes on Wal, until Laide's hand runs along his hip. He can feel a chill go through his body and he desperately wants to let go of their bloody dance. He wants to feel her lips against his own again, but this was not what the universe wanted. This was a battle between dancers and killers.

All he can do is look for Titus who had struck Raquel. Eyes meet his and Teddy wants to know who killed Kaiser, but this wasn't the time or place for it. All he does is hold himself steady, worried for Titus, who was now alone. He can remember the way Aline's skull had spilled. He can remember the want to vomit and the worries for Adelaide in his heart. Instead of speaking, Teddy moves in time with Chester as he notices Adelaide hitting Chester. A sigh escapes his throat as he focuses back on the District Eleven male.

Teddy used to be able to move so easily with two legs.

The peg leg was clunky and his movements felt stiffer than they used to.

There's a dull ache that resides in his missing leg. All he can do is remember the way Wal had hit him while he was down. There's a moment where everything stops. He can remember the look on Rory's face as he fell. He can remember the pain that Wal had sent throughout his body. The aching feeling that death might take him away. Teddy prepares his blade to strike.

Mo holds on tighter. Ring snuggles in closer. Thumper relaxes into Ring. Angel stares in awe as Teddy moves towards the Eleven male.

He's done this dance multiple times before.

Except this was different.

He was afraid of everything, but was ready for it all.

Ready for the blood on his hands.

No more running from his fears.

You never kick a man when he's down.

--

{ Perhaps hopeless isn't a place
Nothing but a state of mind }

(Teddy attacks Walherich with Lance of Approval [Spear])
o6sOf4vTspear
(Stabbed in Stomach 9.5 +1 from weapon +1 from Rivalry)

spear

[D6f Carmen Cantelou [aza]]

LUX PELOTTE


 

Calm turns to chaos within a matter of moments.

Everything blurs to red hues and there is blood everywhere; the air is thick with the scent of pain but I only inhale it and smile. The taste of it on my tongue and it swirling through my lungs spurs me on to be the girl everyone knew I was; a badass bitch who doesn't take shit from anyone. The girl who is quick to check someone when they step out of line and the girl who isn't afraid of murdering to get what she wants.

And I want to live, I want to live and I want to win. I've said it once and I'll say it again—I'll kill for it.

There are tributes around me who spit fire like it is here in abundance. Strange boys and even stranger girls let the words roll from their tongue like they do more damage than your own force can; I roll my eyes. Names don't hurt anyone, words are things that can be washed off in the rain; cuts and wounds and gashes and bruises are what really hurt. The feeling of burning from your thigh or arm is what makes you realise, shit, I might actually die.

When you realise you might actually die, that is when you put up your defences and retaliate with bigger sticks and even bigger stones so that you may break their bones and end their life before they can even blink. I suppose that is what I like about being a career—the poisonous mindset that taints your head and works it's way down your body.

One second, you're paper and next you're the paper's weight. You can transform yourself from one character to another because it is simply what you have been taught to do—I like it, I love it. Though the Capitol is familiar with my brutal side, I figure it is time they realise that she is back, thirstier than ever before, wanting more blood, more gore and certainly, more glory.

Adelaide introduces Hero and I to her friend; wide-eyed and alone, it is Titus from Nine. Memories of the last anthem replay in my mind—his friends must have all been rounded up and taken for slaughter because he looks scared and scarred. Mind running wild with the sights and stories of whatever yesterday held, I give half a smile. Sometimes the broken people can cut you with their shattered pieces, sometimes it only takes a minute before they are put back together again.

"He killed Aline," says Laide and it is then that realise Titus Seraphim can do more harm, and that is good.

"Good." I say bluntly, eyes flickering from tribute to tribute. There are bodies being drained of life all around; I want to get in on the action, feel the adrenaline in my veins once more so that I can prove myself as a threat and show Four that they have a reason to be proud. It is a cliche, but it is my cliche—I fight for them because they have fought for me.

Swords gleam in the daylight; it is obvious that only a few of us are destined to walk away unscathed from this mess. Metal is stained with blood and I shuffle aside, waiting in the shadows to pounce and attack. For some here, death is inevitable and they need to realise that, as cruel of a truth as it is. Menacing eyes dart left to right, right to left in search of prey; there is no honour or code in violence.

I pray and I prey; I lay the foundations of destruction.

{ lux attacks chester; spiked blunt }

vCHbJyFqspiked blunt

{ 14124 -- GASH/BRUISED LEFT FOOT -- 3.0 damage }

spiked blunt

[Sunrise Rainier D2 // [Thundy]]

Hero Marvray

"No, no, nope, NO," Hero exclaimed, struggling against the creatures that were in the process of hauling him up the mountain. He vomited on a few to his left and groaned, but even that didn't seem to deter them.

"Take me back to the water RIGHT NOW," he hollered, another round of nausea rising to the occasion. "I feel like shit and I swear to God, I'll kill all of you little beasts."

The mutts paid his struggles no mind, and they dropped him on quite a scene. It seems Hero was late to the party, and it was not to his taste at all.

He lurked on the edges of the battle, resisting the urge to vomit.

When a tribute came too near, he made an attempt to shove him clumsily away with his weapon.

"LEAVE ME BE, MY HEAD HURTS AND - "

He didn't get to finish the sentence, instead vomiting all over the ground in front of him.

[Hero grumbles and lunges at Wendell (sorry!!!) with his spiked blunt]

UUrVEMKUspiked blunt

DEEP GASH ON RIGHT BICEP -- 8.0
Hangover dice (1=hit, 2=miss):

1-2

Hit??? Somehow?? Dice, you're ruining my IC vibes

spiked blunt�1-2

[solo]

if you must fight, fight with yourself
and your thoughts in the night
if you must work, work to leave
some part of you on this earth

Without warning, a spiked object cracks through my wrist, bones shattering and a cry tearing through the air like it's a sheet of paper. I leap back and hold back the tears because I will not cry in front of the world. "You little rat!" I gasp. Breaths come quick and I barely have time to collect myself before a blade kisses my skin and a wide fissure full of red shadows appears across my leg.

Wendell's words register vaguely in my mind.

"Go ahead and run."

I suck in fresh air, determination taking up more of my body than living cells at this point. The obsidian tip of Ree's spear flashes through the air, quick and accurate, returning injury for injury to our newfound enemy. I note the pain in his eyes but choose not to dwell on it. I can't. Not now. Not when my life is on the line and distractions could mean the difference between making it another day and disappearing into the black hole that's gaping wide before me.

"Izars don't run." I snap, and spit at his feet in disgust. "But feel free to chase us all you want."

I turn away, deeming the boy from Twelve unworthy to become my adversary. Instead I focus on the girl I attacked, the one with the red hair, the one with fire licking across her weapon. She's a threat, I can feel it. She's the only one here with fire at her side.

Blades flash around me and I can feel the thrill of battle rising within me once again. He's in there, somewhere deep inside, a looming shadow I try to hide from but can't seem to escape. I'm not like him. But at the same time, I am. Iago lives somewhere inside of me despite how hard I try to push him away. Samspon lives inside of me, the fire in my belly and the rage towards the Capitol. Salome is next to him, sunshine and hope and a childlike demeanor that no one can seem to snuff out. They're with me, I know it. The blood of Izars courses through me and spills on the ground beneath me, and it makes me strong.

Let them cut me up. Let them beat me to pieces, tear me apart ntil there's nothing left. Maybe then they'll see what's really inside me. Maybe then they'll see the strength of an Izar.

[ attacks Cam Dialate | sword ]

WL9PkhFzsword

[ 1022 -- Miss -- 0.0 ]

if you live darling one
just l i v e
just l i v e
just l i v e

sword

[я𝑜𝓈𝑒]

wir gehen zur anderen seite des horizontes
hoffentlich können wir es irgendwann verstehen
we go to the other side of the horizon
hopefully one day we'll be able to understand it

Titus Seraphim slashes at Raquel and Emberly gasps as her blood spatters onto the ground. Ree says a half-plea — "Titus" — but she knows that their friendship means nothing now. She and Ree and Raquel were still together, friends until the end, but like Ree and Titus's bond, it can't last. Especially if one of them die today.

And for the first time in four days, Emberly Lowe's skin is sliced open. Her shirt is red but it is stained with the blood of others', never her own. She grunts in pain, biting down on her lip to drown a cry that begins to claw its way up her throat. Emberly remembers the searing pain of her broken collarbone, but the deep gashes on her flesh seem like nothing in comparison. There is still that sharp, piercing fire beneath her skin, but no white-hot agony shooting through her body like a bullet, taking over all of her senses and rendering her helpless.

She finds the strength to speak, not willing to let blood or pain drag her down. "You're very quiet," Emberly says to Walherich. "Words are important, you know. You never know which ones will be your last."

Clementina — what were her last words? She does not even think that she heard them. She heard her ally scream, but her words were muffled by the sea and the distance between the two.

Cam Dialate growls something at Raquel, anger sheer like venom in her voice. Emberly doesn't care for her words; she has seen enough cruelty, enough rage, for a lifetime. If tears and agonized screams would get you no where, she supposes anger is the same.

She does not waste her breath on the girl from Five, not when she knows it will give her nothing. Not even satisfaction.

"Izars don't run," Raquel says, bloody and beaten down but strong as ever. She has been purple and crimson since the first day, but no matter what, she has never let a little pain keep her from fighting. Emberly wishes she could be her, wishes she was strong enough to fight so hard even when all the odds are against her.

Paige once said that victory is in their blood. She doesn't believe in such things, that a bloodline could ensure her survival. It certainly didn't help Kaiser Fray.

She breathes in, deeply, wondering if this breath will be her last. "Neither do Lowes," Emberly says. Although her core shakes, her body and voice are still.

Terror, agony — although they are stones in her chest, she musters the willpower to raise The Queen and strike again.

[Emberly Lowe attacks Cam Dialate; The Queen (sword)]
qkmHxBR7sword
[1169 -- Shallow Cut on Chest -- 4.0 damage]

wir gehen festen schrittes
alles lebendige stirbt eines tages
we go with a firm step
everything living will die one day

. . .

"vogel im käfig" ("bird in a cage") by hiroyuki sawano.

sword

[gamemaker kelsier]

when i see you the whole world reduces to just that room

My bat hits her wrist with a smash, clatter, pop and I listen to the sound of her bones shattering like china in an old goods shop. It doesn'te ffect me as much as Aline's skull being crushed beneath my bat and my smile brightens, becoming more full.

"You little rat," she says and I laugh.

I throw my head back and howl with laughter, stomach burning from emptiness and hysterics. I am a little rat, she pinned that one right through my body, onto the cork board. A homeless piece of shit, a throwaway, I'm all these things. Maybe a rat most of all.

"You don't know the half of it," I say, my grin nearly cracking my face in half. hatred flicks through me in rapid bursts for the first time in a long time, I've never felt much anger towards anyone else until Aline, when I watched her cut down Basil. I think I hate Emberly almost as much as Raquel but the feeling burning inside of me isn't just rage, but pain. Pure, unadulterated pain like electricity.

I hate the way that she keeps going, a strange piece of machinery that keeps ticking even though I smashed her wrist. I hate her for this because Kaiser didn't. After she cut into him, Kaiser stopped.

FILLER WIP CAUSE IM REALLY DRUNK AND THIS IS HARD

[Titus attacks raquel with spiked blunt]
LQWzH6PGspiked blunt
[14103 -- BROKEN LEFT FEMUR -- 7.5 damage + 1 strength]

spiked blunt

[*]

Pain was irrelevant to the itinerary.

The blades bit straight into the girl, begging for her to run; to give him some form of a game. She had already started it that late night back in the capitol. Straying away from her level to attend the penthouse suite on the top floor unknowingly to meet up with a mercenary. Raquel had forgone any sort of proper greetings and her name was never known to him. The slippery fox had escaped death once, but his threat still remained to her.

Wendell followed up the threat with blood.

Her blood.

Now, the echo of the broken girl mixed with the site of blood, enticing him. She was going to slip away from the living soon enough and it wasn't just up to him. The gamemakers have foretold of this this exact meeting just by the reaping alone. It was their cunning ability to pick the ones whose lives would add both joy and sorrow to the mix.

Her life meant nothing to him, so joy would soon take over -

"FUCK!" The burn of a blade bit unforgivingly into his arm, igniting words to expel in distaste for the brute who attacked him. Muscles and tendons tensed, almost dropping the voulge but it only seemed to tighten his grip around the gift. "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

Pissed and in pain, his vision bolts into the direction of the nameless one he had no idea what district he resides from. His motives for attacking Wendell completely uncompelled except for one reason and one reason alone.

Wendell grinned despite the pain shooting up his arm. No matter how much blood seemed to drip through the pierced skin. A vile creature that he was turned his sights to harming the bag of bones who dared to try to stop him.

"Oh - I see what's going on - this - is your ally? Girlfriend?" His lip snarled and any reason to attack the baby-faced tribute was gone. He'd learned one or more tricks but he wasn't completely spared from the bite of his blades. "WAIT YOUR FUCKING TURN..."



Wendell attacks Raquel with his 'Beast'(Glaive)
MBFckFRRglaive
[Block]



Reroll because I suck - Wendell attacks Raquel with 'Beast'
glaive

glaive�glaive

[kousei ♚]

We are everyday robots on our phones
In the process of getting home
Looking like standing stones
Out there on our own

Adelaide is bound by superstition yet her answer is laced with a confidence I would find admirable had we been under different circumstances. "No. I never saw us together in the arena. This is a different path." I bite the inside of my cheek, fingers tightening around my spear so tight they turn white. "The Fates are asking for you. The Three of them. You ever think about that? How there are Three Fates and Three Gamemakers and we come from Three? I think about it, all the time."

I don't think, I just do.

Everything I do is for another chance at home.

I don't know how she's fared in her time here, I don't know who she's lost or what she's seen but if it's anything close to mine then I find it shocking that she can believe in anything at all. That fates are calling for someone like me, that there's a reasoning behind this madness all wound behind the smokescreen of number three and this isn't all just a random act of chaos. That she can still find omens behind blood spatter and crimson smokescreens crafted by hand.

"Can't say I ever have," I would hate to see such belief trampled.

Red blood spatter flecks the ground, an art form painted along the ground thanks to our shared efforts and contributed by my steady hand. I pulled my spear out from the boy from Twelve's forearm without a second thought because his blade bit Raquel's calf so deep I thought it would take her leg right off. Now his blood drips from my spear, pieces of his pulse scattered along my weapon and painting my hands colors I never even wanted to see bleed from a man. Or if I did I would be too high to care, too high to really see what's happening.

Sobriety, it only brings horrible sights.

Raquel took Kaiser Fray's life only yesterday, despite his confidence and career bravado, she left him to bleed pint by pint in order to preserve a pulse they find worthless because of her home and her name. Yet when faced with the possibility of it fading into background noise and being reduced to the footnote of some history book my blood turns warm and the grip around my spear only tightens even more.

(You fucking mess.)

Another piece of her breaks beneath Titus Seraphim's heavy stroke and I'm left wondering what the fucking point is. Perhaps I should just shut my eyes, shroud myself in darkness and wait for someone's weapon to fall against my skin and my gears are rusting, my insides are weathering and nothing makes any fucking sense anymore. A body's breaking beneath lines that I never dared to try and blur and even though I do my best to bring my spear down on every possible aggressor I know that I lose pieces of my mind with every stroke.

Hero empties his stomach near Wendell before gashing his bicep and I step backwards, spear, killing intent, and all.

"Izars don't run." Defiance of the sadistic pierces this smokescreen of insanity that only seems to grow thicker with every passing second. Despite the immeasurable levels of pain, Raquel still snaps despite the panic running through our veins.

"Neither do Lowes," Emberly adds.

Two sword strokes, one skims shallow and the next veers too wide altogether.

I don't know if Fers run or not, I think I was too high to notice.

But fuck me, I want to run before this madness detonates and I have no cover for the shrapnel that's sure to follow because as madness slowly descends into butchery I find the situation spiraling more and more into an era of hopelessness. "Oh - I see what's going on - this - is your ally? Girlfriend?" The boy from twelve's question is laced with venom and killing intent.

Emberly did tell me he was an asshole.

And although there's no reason to give him any semblance of priority with my words and only the attention of my killing intent my lips move automatically. "Ally, she deserves better than me," I answer, words heavy with agony in the back of my throat.

She deserves better than all of us and if someone is going to banish her to the grave then she deserves someone better than this asshole to watch the light fade from her eyes.

("You deserved better,")

Clem deserved better than a mangled corpse and another face in the stars to be her lasting impression on this universe. Raquel deserves better than broken bones and a fading pulse. Emberly deserves better than to bleed out without touching Saffron's hand and hair one last time. Yet in a world where lines are blurred to the point of becoming nothing but shades of gray, what good people deserve tends to become irrelevant beneath this flourishing graveyard of insanity.

We’re everyday robots in control
Or in the process of being sold
Driving in adjacent cars
'Til you press restart

[ree fer attacks wendell gordon; spear]

QIiTbKV_spear

[3063 -- Shallow Cut on Back of Head -- 4.5 damage]

spear