Pain Without Love {CoS v Berserkers}

[mat]

[googlefont="Finger Paint:400"]

tobias staite

we rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
we rise; one wandering thought pollutes the day.
we feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
embrace found woe, or cast our cares away.

All at once, a powerful force slammed down the side of my head. All at once I felt the blood and the axe and the pain crash down.

I scream out of the pain- that is if I even screamed at all. The piercing buzz played on repeat through both ears, and for what felt like an eternity I could sense the dizziness and unbalance in my body and the burning pain from five's axe. The one thing I did not hear were the exchanges of words between Zagreus and Ella and the other side.

I felt as helpless and clueless as Bruce now. The adrenaline and the pain assigned me the role of a deaf man, and as I clutched the now bloodied surface of the side of my head, I didn't feel the unique structure that the people above formed us with. Instead, I felt the ragged edges of a severed ear and my once warm-blooded insides introducing itself more wholesomely to the cold and foggy night.

"Fuck" I muttered the word under my breath as I slowly removed my right hand from the side of my head. The blood began to trickle down again.

It took a moment or two to regain the balance that I needed to continue to fight. But I did. I stared at the four enemies and three allies of my own.

You can do this, Tobias. Fight through it.

I swing again.

tobias staite d4m attacks rhaegar hammerfell d2m with javelin (as spear)
bEKugtoFspear
3080 -- Shallow Cut on Forehead -- 4.5 damage

spear

[kap]

Pain without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

There wasn’t much damage being dealt by either side at this point, and I was determined to change that. I wanted the kill. Rhaegar would go down lifeless if I could help it. I wouldn’t let my allies be the ones to die, as long as it was within my control. That meant that I had to do whatever I could to protect them, as well as myself.

Jamie would be watching me kill, but at this point, I didn’t care. Jamie was an innocent soul, and whether or not his best friend was a killer wouldn’t change that. I just had to do what had to be done. I wasn’t backing down, and everyone back home knew I wasn’t one to back down. They knew I was strong. They knew I was brave. They knew, above all else, I was Zagreus Moon.

Tributes always had to fight and kill, one way or another. After all, only one could make it out alive, in the end. I just had to make sure it was me. Above all else, in this arena, I valued my own life. I wouldn’t let myself just die. Although, I wouldn’t let Ella just die either. Or Tobias. Or Bruce. None of them. They’d all stay alive as long as possible, as long as I could protect them and be sure that nothing too serious happened to them.

What part of living says you’ve gotta die, anyway? When Kraygon spoke to me, saying he was going to keep his alliance alive, I grinned.

“I’ll burn through all of your lives, if it means my allies and I can survive the night.” I made sure they all knew knew this. They needed to know I was willing to fight and willing to kill, if that particular fact hadn’t already been made clear. My axe was ready to connect with another tribute’s flesh once more. I was a predator, and Rhaegar was my prey. It wasn’t time for unfinished business. It was time to kill.

---

[Zagreus attacks Rhaegar with axe]
8|ZVCS13axe
[miss]

Accuracy

axe
[11053 -- Deep Gash on Cheek -- 8.5 damage]

You're sick of feeling numb
You're not the only one
I'll take you by the hand
And I'll show you a world that you can understand

[dars]

axe�axe

[solo]

Josephine Emerson

There's glass between us, pristine and clear, cold against my skin and invisible to those who care to look. It silences the noise. I can see them, see their lips moving, I can see the words they roll up and through at each other with all their might. I can see the barriers made of half-hopes and deceiving friendships. They're willing to die for each other, but why?

The red across my vision turns grey, faded by the pure monotony of it. everything feels slow and odd. The weapon in my hand, the soil under my feet, the mirror-like pond that lies starkly calm next to our frenzied motion. Nothing is where it should be and everything seems to be missing all at once.

I can see the glass reverberating, light that's not really there shimmering against my wall, and then suddenly, it explodes. Someone's scream tears through me and at first I panic, thinking it's my own. But then I look, and I touch my mouth, and it's closed. I'm not sure I've said a single word since I've entered this God-forsaken place.

I'm not screaming, but someone is. I don't want to look. I can't. I can't, because if I do, my pieces will break and then I'm not sure I'll be able to put myself back together. I want to close my eyes, but I don't want this shaky reality to disappear completely. I want to run, but I don't want to leave my almost-friends.

"Shut up." it comes out of me in a breath, carried away on the wind. "Stop it, stop screaming." I want to press my hands to my ears, but one is holding a weapon and it won't do me much good. "You're hurting my ears!" A quivering panic rises in my throat, and I blindly lash out at the nearest object, desperate to make it stop.

[ Josephine attacks Ella | sword ]

VnJdZ2ePsword

sword

[♛ scandal]

bruce

All I saw was a flash of movement from the girl from eleven. Then Ella was on the ground with a hole in her eye. The most insane tribute went down like that. I might not have liked her that much, but she was one of the closest things to a friend out here. I would run away in fear that they'll kill me just like they killed Ella, but Ella was someone who was going to lead me back to Onyx. In the end, she would have only been an obstacle, but right now she wasn't. These tributes were, and I need to take out the obstacles as quick as I can.

So I am going to take an eye for an eye. They took someone from me, I'll take someone from them. So I swing my scythe in the name of revenge. I hope that it sends a message to not mess with my friends. I'll do whatever it takes to get home, but I'll do whatever it takes to take my friends to the end with me.  

[bruce attacks rhaegar with scythe]


bM2bMCV9glaive

glaive

[Knuckles]

I ' M   F A L L I N G   A P A R T

KRAYGON  TRUUS

LEAVE ME HERE FOREVER IN THE DARK.

All the hard work was failing. Rhaegar is slowly inching closer to death, and he's the only one about to cross over.

I have to do something to save him, but I don't know what I can do. I'm not the fastest person in the world. I'm not a good fighter, yet I'm trying my hardest to push another person so he can run. Honestly, I don't know what I care for him considering he wants me dead. But everyone here wants me dead.

Everyone wants to return home alive after this is all said and done.

It's just a sick game.

That's all it is.

Dark eyes dart back and forth from person to person as I twirl another star in my hand ready to throw. Someone has to fall, and I'm about to turn away when Josephine drives her sword through the girl's eye. Time stands still as she crumbles towards the ground lifeless. A cannon fired, and I'm unable to move unable to think. It's a chance to get Rhaegar out of here. A chance to bring him through to another day, but before I can turn another cannon rings through my ears as the sound of a lifeless body meets the ground.

My heart leaps into the back of my throat the moment I find Rhaegar lying on the ground.

"Rhaegar!" My voice cracks as the words exit my lips, but I can't find anything else to say. A cannon means he's gone. That nothing can save him. No. Quickly turning from person to person, I try to make eye contact with Josephine and Atlas. I try to get them to realize why I refuses to walk away.

"Are you really going to let them get away with this?"

The knife feels heavy in the palm of my hand, but I take it between my fingers aiming at the young boy. He didn't ask for this to happen if I remember correctly, yet he just killed someone I was trying to get close to. He had no regard for anything, and now he must pay.

"Another one of your allies will fall." I turn towards Eight making him a promise. It might not happen today. It might not happen tomorrow, but I am not resting until that scrawny kid's face is smiling down from me in the sky. Pivoting on my toes, I take aim at the kid;

"You won't get away with this."

And then I throw.

table by elegant

Kraygon Truus attacks Bruce Clayton | Shuriken

vhgu1xOvthrowing knife
throwing knife

[Arrows]

Atlas Shim

    It happens in an instant. The skies part as thunder thrashes the thin air and lightning leeches the life from Ella's body. In a matter of moments she's fallen to the floor as though a flower wilted from wither. I barely move, barely breathe. My eyes look away for another instant, I look towards the sky and the never ending night. Above, silence sits over this heated hell just staring through the sphere of stars. I exhale, the bonds break. I'm finally free of every part of Five. Another canon crushes the simplicity of my release. 

    My face follows Rhaegar to the ground and somehow something inside me stirs, shakes, screams. He hits the soil but makes no other sounds, no other attempts to awaken. Confusion creeps into my clouded conscious as both guilt and anger overwhelm any melody of sense singing in my ears. He's really gone. I look away, better not to be buried with worry for his soul. I find his killer instead, better to bury those whom deserve to die. A wild thought reminds me of my own sin, later, I whisper to myself. 

    Suddenly from my mind I'm pulled by the pulsing of shadows as Kraygon continues to force a fight already bringing two to death. I calm and quiet my mind. From boy to girl I take in each of the dead, from friend to foe. My fingers fold against the handle of my axe still humming the name Samson, still calling for another. My eyes find the blonde boy, my memories find his relative. Killed by a Shim, suiting. 

    Slowly my steps move me forward, closer. He stands untouched yet stained in blood, not allowed. The axe grows heavier, stronger with each of my steps. In my mind I hear it calling to carve a deeper mark, to make another moment where I can't be forgotten from. Maybe my next title deserves to be Atlas the Avenger. 

    The proven promised weapon of death raises in my hands, and then...

    it falls.

Atlas attacks Bruce with Bloody Axe
Ht_gKkSuaxe
{Deep Gash on Back -- 8.5 damage}

axe

[mat]

[googlefont="Finger Paint:400"]

tobias staite

we rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
we rise; one wandering thought pollutes the day.
we feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
embrace found woe, or cast our cares away.

The static voices mesh all into one once again, as weapons clash and dive into my skin and Ella's and Hammerfell and Five. I may not have heard the yells and taunts, but I felt their result with every blade as it ripped into my skin. I see my spear cut through part of the Hammerfell man's skin, and as I pull back, I'm forced to pause for a moment to witness the action I've been dreading for for three weeks.

The blonde girl's sword is aimed at Ella Tracy, and when she swings, it's the last I see of the girl's daring eyes before they are splattered in blood. The mouse falls, without a squeak to be said.

My first instinct is to run away, escape before any more bloodshed must be had. The longer a battle rages on, the more likely it is to result in more cannons.

The second happened when poor little Bruce stepped up to get revenge for our now lost ally. With his scythe, I watched as he sliced into Hammerfell. The hammer.. fell.. for the boy from Two.

Now I take another step back, ready to go before the domino effect topples further down on Zagreus, Bruce, or I.

But the other group is not as ready to resist as I. The blonde boy and boy from five throw their knife and swing their axe for vengeance. But not at me, rather Bruce.

"Fuck," I mutter out more words. Not out of pain, but out of fear that Bruce might be the third to fall.

The noises coming from Zagreus and the blonde boy are barely audible.

I look at Zagreus as he begins to run. "Alive.. promise." The only two words I hear are those, and I plan to hold true with them.

I tug on Bruce's angelic costume.

"Come on," I urge him, hoping he doesn't decide to retaliate and we can just get out alive.

We have to go.

We have to survive.

If for anything, for Ella Tracy, her dying body barely visible from the stars' and moon's dim illumination.

[does not flee]
[doesn’t attack either though]

[kap]

Pain without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

As things unravelled more and more quickly, they certainly intensified. Before I could move again, though, the girl from Eleven struck faster than I could think, and a cannon fired. I immediately looked in the direction of Ella only to see her fall to the ground after being stabbed in the eye by a sword. I yelled out in anger. I was supposed to protect her!

“Ella! No!”

Then, another cannon sounded, and I saw Rhaegar, my former target, fall to the ground as well, this time with Bruce making the killing blow. Things were getting way too intense, and I knew that we had to get out of there. Bruce was still fighting, though, and I knew there would be nothing I could possibly do to get him to stop. Tobias tried to get him to go away from the fight, and I looked at them both for a moment before deciding what to do.

“Tobias, get you and Bruce out of here alive! Promise me!” I yelled this to my allies before I ran away. Maybe I was being a coward, or maybe I was being smart. Regardless, I’d just seen two people die, one of which was my friend, and I didn’t want to see any more of that for the remainder of the day, even though I knew I’d have to see it again if I wanted to get out alive. What was I thinking, having the urge to kill someone before? I’d started this all. It was my fault. I’d initiated the fight, and now Ella was dead.

---

[Zagreus Moon flees]
[More actions in trib maint]

You're sick of feeling numb
You're not the only one
I'll take you by the hand
And I'll show you a world that you can understand

[dars]

[solo]

Josephine Emerson

Posting a filler so I can fill this in when I've got more time cause this is some gooooood development stuff

[ Josephine flees + other stuff in maint ]

[♛ scandal]

filler flee

- wants to continue fighting
- reluctantly goes with zagreus and tobias
- picks up rhaegar's sword before leaving
- flees the fuck away

[other actions in trib maintenance]

[Knuckles]

I ' M   F A L L I N G   A P A R T

KRAYGON  TRUUS

LEAVE ME HERE FOREVER IN THE DARK.

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Every hair stands on end as my eyes dart back and forth from the two bodies lying on the ground. Everyone is running, and I want to follow them, yet my feet are glued to the ground. My heart gallops inside my chest. Each breath catches in the back of my throat. He had to die eventually, but today wasn't his day. He had so much longer to live. So much longer to fight, and all I wanted was a chance to prove that I am a fighter. That I know how to survive.

I wanted to make him proud.

It doesn't matter anymore.

Nothing will ever matter.

Water pools in the corner of my eyes, and it takes every ounce of strength to prevent the tears from falling. I never thought I would care for someone like him. Someone that spent their entire life training for a game like this. But I patched him up just hours before. I gave him another chance at life, and now it was taken away. This only goes to prove that I am not a god. It is not my place to save those who've been condemned.

The remaining stars drop from my hands as I drop to my knees next to a sleeping friend. I've made so many promises in my life, and it's time I learn to keep them. That kid will not see the sun again if I have anything to do with it. He carved his name into stone the moment he struck my friend down. Reaching a hand forward, I gently close his eyes offering him the peace he deserves.

if there is any peace.

"He's going to pay for this." My words are strong yet barely audible for anyone around, "I'll make sure he pays for what he has done."

I push myself into a standing position carefully picking up my stars.

I've made so many promises in my life, and I will make sure this is one I will keep.

Carefully turning, I just look at the two I'm still standing with.

"Let's get out of here before they decide to return."

table by elegant

Kraygon flees the fight actions to come in trib!maint

[Arrows]

Atlas Shim

   Considering that I won't be able to be behind my computed until midnight my time again (I'm on break rn rip) I am gonna filler for now!

Atlas Flees and uses F/A on Self
Rest to Come in Maint

[mat]

[googlefont="Finger Paint:400"]

tobias staite

we rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
we rise; one wandering thought pollutes the day.
we feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
embrace found woe, or cast our cares away.

omg look at me being cute with another filler

Don’t hate me pls

:sanic: gotta correlate with the other flees and such, you know.

[tobias flees]
[all that fun stuff in tribmaint]

[sorry i meant to post this yesterday and could swear I did.. :thinking_face: ]