If i just breathe [aeson/bella]

[pearl mcclain d4 [ryan]]

Endurance was something that Bella was going to need in order to last in the arena. However, what type of endurance was up in the air. She had no clue what to expect when it came to what the Gamemakers were planning, but ripred help her if it was something that required a lot of it. Bella wasn’t much of an active person. She could keep up with the kids at the pound, but adding anything extra was something that she wasn’t used too. There were days where her dexterity was tested back home, and then there were days where she would have to run more than she wanted too. However, here, this was the real deal. She needed to keep up with everyone else, or she was surely going to fall behind. People that fell behind here were people who didn’t survive long in the games, and Bella was determined to try to make it as far as she could. Of course, she wanted to win, but she wasn’t going to put that as the first thought in her head. She needed to get through the many obstacles, mainly 23 of them. However, the gamemakers could throw even more twisted traps at her.

She knew that she had to be spry at the end of the day. And that was exactly what she was working on. There was a giant net in the middle of the training center. One that led to some more obstacles that were designed for high altitude exercise. She looked up and noticed how steep the climb was, and took a rather large gulp. She knew that if she fell, she could possibly hurt herself pretty bad. Of course, she didn’t want to put herself at a disadvantage, but this was the time for her to go at it. She didn’t have a choice either, seeing as if she didn’t participate, she was going to probably be punished somehow.

So she walked up the netting and placed her hand high, trying to find the best place for her foot to go next. As she placed her foot, she moved her other hand and foot one net-hole higher and began to ascend. She made it up half way before taking a moment to catch her breath. She turned around for a moment to notice that there was another boy following her not too far behind. Instead of turning around and trying to finish this in a decent amount of time, she took a second to scan the training center from her vantage point. Honestly, she enjoyed what she was seeing. Everyone was working hard. At the same time, that is what scared her. If anything was motivating her to keep on working hard it, it was that everyone else was too. It inspired her to keep up with what she could learn here.

One thing Bella Rose could admit was that she still had a lot to learn. The only problem was, she only had a short time to learn it.

So she had to keep pressing on.

She ended up picking up the pace when she went back to climbing the net. She moved faster, trying to finish it within a couple wide grabs. When she almost lost her footing, she realized that it was probably best for her to take her time. She finally reached the top of the netting and pulled herself up. She had a hard time with that on account that she didn’t have much upper body strength to her. She turned around to see the boy not that far from her, and all she could do was smile. She looked out at the other tributes and thought that as pretty as a sight this was, she was going to have to keep up with all of them if she wanted to stand a chance.

Well, Maybe. Just maybe.

[kousei ♚]

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a e s o n kight .

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Black wings sear themselves onto your back.

However, that does not mean you move with the grace of a raven. Especially not with a sword in your hand, you strikes do not hit with the same bite as they might've done back in District Six, when you're driven by hellfire and flourish beneath the overshadowing cover of alleyways and screams and pleads. Here, beneath the Capitol's golden limelight, you're confined to carrying not just a banner for yourself but a banner for your home and your District all at once.

You're no soldier, but war is in your blood.

Perhaps that's why you're labelled as needs work rather than impressive but not quite terrible. After all, you did not spend twelve years piecing together these black feather wings beneath the cover of darkness for them to melt when you gain your exposure to a spotlight you never cared to define. Refined metalwork and balanced blades feel foreign in your scarred hand, you're used to carrying blades easily hidden and ones easy to twist and turn once beneath their trembling skin.

You set the sword back on the rack and sigh, you decide to set the task on your mind at a later time, and you stroll from the station without so much as a 'thank you' to the trainer or an urgency in your step. Had you been a more rational man, you might have been worried at the rate you were learning compared to those others in a similar situation to you, careers wield weapons like an extension of their arm, lower districts move to scavenge what they can from the wealth of knowledge before them.

And you just watch, bored and scratching the back of your shoulder.

Apathy could very well be the death of you -- ("there's a special place in hell waiting for you") and the only thought that you find sunken into the back of your mind is the stagnation you find yourself facing in the eyes of the Capitol. This isn't Six, were someone would tremble in their boots because you so much as scowled at them and you're not shrouded in darkness.

You're alight and cast away; you wonder how your heart of ice has has survived within this hollow chasm of yours.

There's no humanity trapped beneath your skin, and that concept is illustrated when you spot a double digit number struggling in the air. You don't recognize her, just her number and you immediately take notice of how she struggles to make her way across the net she clings so tightly to for dear life. She's from Ten, that place where Ansgar Todd reigns from, Ripred's self-proclaimed servant and the thought makes you sneer. You see a field of holy light.

You wonder what would happen if you where to take a blade and slice the net she clings onto. All the different angles she could hit the ground, the way the spotlight would follow her. Perhaps she'd land head first and crack her skull and break her neck. Or perhaps land on her wrists and shatter them, you've seen the sight of shattered limbs and necks snapped in two, little rivals the shattering of skeleton.

Brutal but satisfying.

She shoots you an awkward smile and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. Oh, what you would give to bruise your knuckles and shatter those teeth into her throat. The thought almost makes you smile.

Almost.

You sigh, keeping your hands in your pockets and biting back on any sinister words you might have as you stand below where she is, barely giving a regard to startling her as you lazily call out with nothing but apathy upon your sleeve. "So, are you stuck up there or do you just enjoy the view?"

You reach for your dark wings.

[pearl mcclain d4 [ryan]]

The net did prove to be a bit of challenge for her, and while she was scared of all the things that could happen, that didn’t stop her from completing her goal. The trainer looked at her and told her that if she wanted to get anywhere here, she needed to keep a calm and steady pace up it. Of course, she tried, she was good at listening to others when she needed to. She was good at being calm, and patient, and positive, but was she a master of all those traits? No. Not at all. Actually, Bella would tell herself that she wished she was more humble sometimes. She knew that she wasn’t, as they would say, all that and a bag of chips. However, Bella could also admit that he was a hard worker, and so while she lost her footing on the net, she bounced back as fast as she could. She folded her palms into the mesh and started to pull herself up, a strength that she didn’t know she had. Her foot came up and she hit the next rung with success. Good. She lifted her body and it was like the adrenaline that she felt the night of the fire kicked in and she high tailed it up the net. She impressed herself even, and if anyone was watching, she hoped that she impressed them too.

She knew that in dire situations, she would flourish. It was situations like this that led Bella to believe that she bloomed in harsh situations that involved life changes. She had to grow up once, and now she had to grow up again. This though was an initiation right that she never thought she would have to go through. The world was cruel, and while Bella thought about throwing in the towel, she had someone back home waiting for her. Someone that she truly cared about. That was her reason to learn. That was her reason to grow. Unfortunately, that was going to have to be the reason to kill as well. Bella wasn’t going to get anywhere without learning how to use any of the weapons here, and while the tributes from the lower districts tend to work on survival skills more, Bella knew the importance of knowing how to protect yourself when all else fails. She was going to have to learn what it felt like to slice into the warm flesh of another human being. Something that would probably traumatize her for the rest of her life.

Sometimes she wondered what would happen if she were to win. She would be reunited with everyone that she left behind yes, but she would also have to live with everyone that had to die in her way of getting there. People who were friends. People who were allies, and even enemies. People who have families back home just like she did. People she would have to face. People she already wasn’t sure if she was ready to face. How was she supposed to apologize to a family that didn’t want to hear empty platitudes? How was she supposed to face the people she loved. They would never look at her the same.

Well, maybe Rogue would. She would probably be nicer to her.

And so when she sat on the platform after finishing her trail, she looked at the trainer who looked at her with a stalemate grimace. He told her that she needed to work a bit more on her form, and then told her that when she was ready she could move on to the monkey bars. However, Bella wasn’t ready at the moment. Instead, her focus was on the boy that was below her. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he had already made some sort of judgement about her. She didn’t know what it was, but there was something standoffish about him that didn’t sit right with her.

He looked at her like she was fresh meat for the slaughter, and Bella looked at him like he didn’t understand anything about her.

Bella thought about getting up and moving onto the next task, however, she heard a question come out of his mouth and she couldn’t quite let it sink into the void of nothingness. ”The view is nice. Believe it or not.” She said to him, trying to figure him out. Bella Rose knew nothing about string theory, but she figured that was what she needed to parse out who this boy was.

Maybe she shouldn’t think of him as a boy, but a man. A man that was just as scared as she was. A man who hated more than she did. A man that might have gone through something just as traumatizing as her.

She took a deep breath. ”You are more than welcome to come join me, if you feel up to it.” Bella said, offering a fake smile just to show that she was being fake genuine. She wanted to see what he would do.

So maybe she could learn something new.