creature from the black lagoon || feast 3v4vmutt

[Python]

a r i e l .

"freedom, oh freedom
like a hearbeast
can drive you mad"

All she needed was time.

She was frozen in place, but the world was spinning without her. A gash bloomed across Blade's stomach, splitting her open by the seams. Her blood drenched the soil and Ariel's failure to act said everything about her character - coward, coward, coward. There she stood, eyes like a deer in headlights, watching a disaster unfold as if it were worlds away from her.

Yet if she inhaled, she could smell the blood and the rain and the oil dripping off of the lake monster.

Those senses awoke something in her. Much as the day before, her legs moved without her permission. Ahead, she could see Le Roux and his partner double-teaming Blade. She didn't understand why it was always Blade; she was a sweet girl, perhaps a little rougher around the edges compared to Ariel, but wouldn't that make her more intimidating?

"We're just doing what we have to."

Her legs carried her forward, and she realized he was right. It hurt to watch them take Blade apart piece by piece, but Ariel had killed Nora without hesitation. She had to do it, or Areto and Blade might've bled out. It was by no means heroic, but it was the cause and the reason. If she did something, people got hurt. If she did nothing, people got hurt.

It felt worse when she did nothing, so despite the fear sinking deep into her stomach, she continued her charge. Her thoughts fell behind, several paces behind her. As she aimed her spear at Le Roux, she didn't know what would happen. Would Nora's death serve as a step in the reaper's directions, or would she hesitate at the last moment?

There was no time to think about it; time was a luxury she couldn't afford.

elegant

[attacks julian - spear]
5cOurGNoLTspear
Miss -- 0.0 damage

accuracy reroll
spear
Stabbed in Foot -- 8.0 damage

spear·spear

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]

Filler

(Sorry sorry, work shift schedule this week has been a nightmare.)




[The Thing attacks Love (2M); claw (sword)]
UkfyP832misword
[Shallow Cut on Right Bicep ; 3.5 dmg]


[The Thing attacks Ariel (10F) ; vine (whip)]
whip
[Welt on Cheek ; 1.5 dmg]

sword·whip

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

waverly st. amor

It was never meant to be like this.

Her life was never meant to be filled with so much Death.

Not her Father's. Not Emie's. Not Chad's. Not Evan's. Not Six's. If anyone it should have been hers, and more than once too. Not there were people who haunted her. Ghosts who follow her around and haunt her. Every minute of every day. The only time she had any relief was when she was asleep, but even now sleep was hard to come by. Her nights were spent tossing and turning remembering the dead and being haunted by their voices. Every time she closed her eyes she would see their faces as clearly as if they were sitting next to her.

It was a nightmare that she couldn't seem to escape.

The only way she could think of getting out was by meeting Death himself. Waverly had been so close so many times, but it was always robbed from her at the very last second.

And it seemed like she was going to be robbed again.

He was standing there the whole time, watching the two of them, waiting to see who would reach their last breath first. Each time she inhaled it was a struggle. Her injuries from yesterday were still not completely healed and each movement she tried to make caused her to wince. Each blade that cut into her now caused her to grunt. There was so much pain radiating throughout her body that she was certain she could not possibly feel anymore, but she was proven wrong every time a new weapon pierced her skin. Her blood poured and a river of red ran beneath her, blending with the girl from Five's own blood. For a moment they were one.

But it wouldn't last long.

They were both struggling to stand, struggling to breathe, but Blade was collapsing faster than she was, and Waverly knew she was about to be robbed by Death once more. She grabbed a spear from behind her back and gripped it tightly. A deep breath, and the weapon flies. It lands square in her back and with one last gasping breath the canon sounds and the girl from Five no longer moves.

I'm sorry.

But the words never seemed to leave her lips.

( waverly attacks blade ; javelin )
FEMaK3OXdAjavelin
( dg on back - 8.5 )

javelin

[[nyte]]

You expect peace when the Lake Monsters flee, but the storm remains. Funnel clouds churn in the heavens, the winds grow so loud they're almost deafening. You're prepared to pick up what's left of your pride and flee to safety, happy to survive another day.

Then... you see it. In the middle of the lake, something glimmers on uneasy waters. Seems there was some treasure buried at the bottom of the lake, maybe those terrible monsters did you a favor after all.

---

Congratulations on surviving the Feast, tributes! How about we play a little game?

Since the death mandate has been met, the lake monsters have fled. You are not required to make attacking rolls for the following posts. Posting order is still in effect, but please flee the fight if you are not interested in participating.

There are four special items per mandate.

The Shape of Water:
Ambrosia Pot (-2)
Ambrosia Pot (-2)
Barbed Wire Bat (Spiked Blunt)
Right Vambrace (+3 RARM)

Creature from the Black Lagoon:
Ambrosia Pot (-2)
Ambrosia Pot (-2)
Barbed Wire Bat (Spiked Blunt)
Helmet (+3 Head)

However, since these items are floating in the middle of the lake, you're going to have to get a little wet if you want to reap these rewards.

Tributes, if they so choose, will now roll dice to see how far they swim into the lake per post. The first 4 tributes to reach 10 spaces per mandate will get to choose 1 item from the pile. This means the first tribute to reach 10 spaces gets first pick and so on.

The Rolls are different based on how prepared to swim you are:

For tributes swimming without aid: [*roll=1-2]
For tributes with life vests / floaties: [*roll=1-4]
For tributes with canoes: [*roll=1-6]

[napoleon, d2m ₊⊹ 🐁 ɢʀɪғғɪɴ.]

a cheeky mobile filler because my internet is down!

- julian swims.

X52Q7cpi2Y1-2

1-2

[gamemaker kelsier]

a v r i e l .

"Whatever mess you're in
The demons you've been fighting
Know that your quest is only just beginning"

"Blade," he says, his tone lilting up into a wavering question, hands wrapping around her wrists in an effort to keep her steady.

"Blade?"

But he can't and he forgets to breathe for a moment as she crumbles into him, forgets to feel anything but a twisting pain lancing through him, ricocheting off of all of the pieces of himself that were supposed to make him grand and shattering them.

Curtains dancing slowly in a soft summer breeze, spatters of rusted red on them.

"Why would you do that?" Avriel asks her, tone angrier than it should be.

"Sorry..." she says, voice hardly louder than a whisper and her body falls against his as she raises her hands to hold his face. He feels her palms on his cheeks for the first time and Avriel shuts his eyes briefly and runs his hands up from her wrists to her hands, holding her palms there so he doesn't have to be without her. "Made my choice... to be..."

The scent of a cherry pie, burning, always burning.

He opens his eyes and it's hard, he can't see her well through his tears but he wants to, he wants to remember every last moment with her.

"Shhh, shh, Blade, shut up, we can fix it," he tells her, thumbs brushing against the back of her hand over and over, "Together."

"To be... good..." Blade says, and Avriel only just makes out the word, "...friend."

And then she doesn't say anything else.

The cannon booms, too close, he winces, her eyes shut.

Blade's body becomes dead weight and Avriel stumbles backwards, lowering her to the ground as gently as he can because he can't bear to watch her fall.

Blood staining old wood floorboards and the end of all things.

"You killed her," he tells Waverly, "she's fucking dead."

Now, here, the scent of rain, of wind of iron and dirt and the knowledge that he's never going to forget this anger pooling in the back of his throat.

Would it have even made a difference if Avriel had been there the day his parents had been murdered? Or would it have been much like this?

He draws another knife, eyes on Waverly, all that anger bubbling up within him, burning a hole though him and making it hard to feel anything else. "You fucking bitch," he says, hands shaking around the handle, fingers barely able to hold on. And Avriel hates all of them, Waverly, Love, Julian, Areto and Ariel.

And he hates Blade too.

Because she wasn't supposed to be dead, that should be him, he's the only one who deserves to die but it's always been Blade. Every day, it's just been Blade in pain and him, powerless to help her, useless, a coward. He can't protect anyone.

He hates himself.

He hates Duke and Billie.

And his parents, for being dead.

The electricity bill.

Nine.

The knife falls from his hand and Avriel falls to his knees beside Blade. His lungs are at capacity, he lets out a long breath, and a tear rolls down his cheek and it's like Tuesday all over again; he wants to lay down beside her and shut his eyes and be gone too.

He can't protect anyone.

"You're gonna regret that," he says, "In the end."

He smooths her hair back, kisses her forehead and gets blood on his lips.

But that's alright.

To ache is alright?

The others are running to the lake, and Avriel stands, blade gripped tightly in his hand, he isn't ready to let them leave like this. He's got promises for them and they're sharp too, so he leaves Blade there only for a moment.

"Don't touch her," Avriel warns, "Not yet."

He isn't finished.

av swim swim using le floatiess!!
GGFUw5myK11-41-4

[pogue]

love bellisario

His axe swings directly into the creature's cheek as he twists, forcing steel to meet scale and feels muscle and skin part in blood and gore as the momentum carves a smirk from the beast's lip and into its cheek. He pants, shaking breath slipping out from his lungs as blackened blood splatters across his cheek, blue eyes staring into the soul of the damned as he tightens his grip on the hilt. 

"Watch where you're swinging that thing." Areto snaps.

"Watch where you're standing." He replies with a smirk and a venomous tone, and it's just like old times.

He kicks one foot forwards into the mutt's chest, pulling the weapon free from its face and taking a string of muscles and flesh along with it. The creature howls in pain and rage, eyes shifting to him to locate the source of the pain. He shifts his stance and raises the axe up in front of him in defense, following the mutt's arm as it begins to raise it to swipe down at him. It's an opening he weaved into the fight, one he can't take but knows Areto can jump towards. "Aim for the heart, Areto." He says to her, placing trust in a girl whose bark was just as bad as her bite.

It falls short, steel doing nothing but graze softly against reptilian flesh, and Love's stomach sinks for a moment. There's a line of black that writes itself into the creature's skin but it's not nearly enough, only serving to pull the mutt's focus back down to the girl from Four.

"You're gonna need to do more than that if we want to kill this-" Boom. A cannon rips through the air, fighting hopelessly against the howl of the stormy winds before it's swallowed up just as fast as it comes. But he hears it, they all hear it, and there's that same sickening silence that sweeps across their fight, threading their lips together until no words can slip through them. Love's heart battles against killer instincts, a war inside of his soul that has been raging for days now.

Waves, his heart tells him, and he wants nothing but to whirl around and make sure a girl that he was not supposed to care for is still standing.

Fight, his instincts tell him in malice and rage, forcing his gaze to remain only on the creature in front of him.

It's only when the mutt begins to turn away from him and recede back into the depths of the lake that he finally wills himself to lower the axe, breathing out stammering breaths until the last hint of green flesh slips back into the water and his heart finally takes over. He turns fast, vision blurring with exhaustion and blue eyes rushing to take in the scene.

Waverly stands, if only barely. Red writes itself into her skin in lines and gashes, pouring out sins onto her uniform.

The girl, Blade, she's fallen.

It's selfish, the way he feels joy.

He knows it, knows that he shouldn't feel pride in the fact that another body has crumbled into the dust and the dirt, joining the bloody daisies that spring up all over the fields of this arena. He knows it, knows that it is that same sense of selfish pride, selfish regret, selfish heart and soul that has made him into nothing more than a monster in Julian's eyes, into nothing more than the beasts that Julian has claimed to be running from so frequently. But he looks to Waverly, and then the Julian, and then to Avriel and Ariel and finally to Areto and all he sees is the broken shards of a mirror, his own reflection laced into the veins.

Their all monsters here. None of them have a choice in that.

It's why he follows suit when he sees the sudden rush of movement from the fight, gaze shifting back to the water and focusing in on the shimmering gold that has floated up to the surface. Trained muscles fire up with instinct and he launches his axe into the nearest tree, steadying his breath when he turns back and locks eyes with Areto for a brief moment. I'm sorry, his heart tells him to say again as he prepares to dive into the lake.

But it has lost that war already. He's made his choice, they all have.

One monster recedes into the lake and another follows, because he has no choice in the matter.

[ Love takes a bath, finally. Probably uses 3-in-1, god I fucking hate that ]


GYZO7WOfYU1-2

1-2

[tick 12a / calla]

A R E T O

► ► ►

- gets fed up with love real fast
- take this seriously u numbskull
- blade!! baby girl!!
- turns around and screams blade's name
- shoves past love and starts running over there but then everyone takes off
- still need to come up with a reason why she's running into the lake instead of running to blade but u kno

areto swims
RSRFX4yN5h1-2

1-2

[Python]

a r i e l .

"freedom, oh freedom
like a hearbeast
can drive you mad"

There was a moment of clarity. You are powerless. Her spear tore into the boot of Le Roux, and it failed to slow him down. She should've known; this was not an innocent girl from Twelve, this was a career. Weaponized, trained to absorb pain dealt by clumsy newbies from lower districts. Ariel was out of her league, and in that moment of clarity her heart seized in her ribcage. She expected Le Roux to turn around and end her right then and there, as quickly as she had ended Nora. She held her breath.

It was Blade who fell instead.

Boom. The cannon frightened her this time, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She froze once again when she spotted Blade's body by the edge of the lake, Avriel sprinting to her side. The world around her melted away. She remembered what Blade had told her on the first day; about the animals in Five, the birds and puppies and lizards the size of her legs. She was just a girl who volunteered at the pet farm, a girl living her life.

Her heart screamed at her for letting this happen. All she had to do was move; Avriel and Areto did it with ease. Avriel, who had shown her how to punch. Areto, who had trained her to use a spear. Two people bred for the chaos of fighting. Naturally, someone like Blade would die, someone who didn't grow from such a violent seed. Ariel had known this was coming. It didn't hurt any less.

It was unfair, it was life, it was death, it was murder.

She watched the commotion shift closer and closer to the lake. Hand over her mouth, tear spilling over one cheek, Ariel did not move. If the tornado swept the land, she would go with it. If the lake monster struck again, she would bleed. Nothing was worth leaving this spot if it meant she could watch over Blade one last time.

elegant

[ariel flees]

[gamemaker sloane ♕ kaяi ♕]

waverly st. amor

here's another filler while I work on filling in my current one!!

waverly sees her allies swim so she does the same

( waverly swims )
qzKsm3ose61-2

1-2

[napoleon, d2m ₊⊹ 🐁 ɢʀɪғғɪɴ.]

another cheeky filler bc my internet is crap.

- julian swims AGAIN.

kWD7hj6M6k1-2

1-2

[gamemaker kelsier]

a v r i e l .

"Whatever mess you're in
The demons you've been fighting
Know that your quest is only just beginning"

got home at one am still in bed this a filler.

av swim swim using le floatiess!!
WSkI2wqL4c1-4[
1-4

[pogue]

love bellisario

Fill ha #1

Love Swims

Fights with Areto prolly

Woops!

[ Love swim ]


t_V9kN|1Ro1-2

1-2

[tick 12a / calla]

A R E T O

► ► ►

- kicks love in the face

areto swims
YTlfnsDiiG1-2

1-2