🦋 The 20th Hunger Games ➵ Victor: Penny

[SunnyJustice]

➵ Eden Beauregard • District One • Career
➵ Location: Northern forest, clearing
➵ Tagged: Careers, mutts
Quiet sobs shook Eden as he fought, grief weakening his resolve. Claws tore at his arms and fangs snapped at his ankles, but greater still was the pain of losing a friend, a brother-in-arms who'd done so much for the alliance. A part of him wanted to give up and let the mutts drag him away. Maybe, with their bloodlust satisfied, the beasts would stop attacking his friends.
Just as the despaired thought crossed his mind, a screech of violent rage erupted from his district partner. Enraged insults flew from her snarling mouth, but for once, Eden had no intentions of asking her to be nicer. Quite the opposite. As Chaska echoed the battle cry, the rousing call finally snapped Eden out of his anguished state, replacing grief with rage as he, too, joined the shouting.

"Dishonorable lowlife!" Eden yelled, lashing out at the mutt in front of him that seemed to be petrified in fear of Chaska and Madeline. His sword only nicked its scaly hide as it turned tail and fled. But Eden wasn't done, he'd seen one of those disgusting things slash Chaska's chest with its claws. The sight filled him with a fury he'd never known before. When the next mutt lunged for him, jaws open to bite, Eden kicked its mouth shut and silenced it forever with a blade to the throat. "Silence, you cowardly filth!"
Through a crimson haze of anger, he noticed the mutts were faltering. Their ranks were scattered like ashes, while the Careers' formation held firmer than ever around their fallen ally. Whatever Madeline and Chaska had done, it was working, and Eden wasn't about to stop anytime soon. These brother-murderers deserved no mercy.
Without hesitation, he struck out at a mutt whose snarl matched his own. It dared show defiance? Eden punished it with a few swift slashes of his blades, sending it to the forest floor in a motionless heap. "When you join the others in eternal torment, give Sharnaz and Reyna our kind regards!" He shouted before finishing the thing off. Eyes wild, tears still streaming down his face, Eden's head whipped around in search of his next target. "Honorless brother-murderers! Who else wants to try us? Step forward if you want to die!"

[honeybee.]

Caspia Searobin | District 4 | Location: Into the Northern Forest | Tags: Careers, Mutt Pack|
Around her the mutts numbers were dwindling, seemingly threatened by the yells of their enemies. Caspia could no longer make out the words her allies were screaming, the world seemed to have fallen away from beneath her. All she could do was focus on her immediate attackers or else she would fall apart thinking of that sound she'd heard that might have been a cannon. Another mutt moved her way and reared up ready to rake its claws down her front. Instead, she blocked their path with the shaft of her trident arms shaking from holding up the mutt's weight. When at last it felt like her arms were going to give way, and that great, stinking, slobbery jaw was going to clamp down on her she ducked and spun out from underneath it. The beasts claws raked down one side of her back as it crashed down before she completed her turn and plunged her trident into its side. Her teeth clenched, she repeated the action until the mutt stopped moving and she moved to face another.

[rose petals.]

GᒪOᖇIᗩ ᒪᗩᑕE
|female|2|career|tags: careers|

Gloria saw the mutts begin to leap out of the shadows, and the career was prepared. One of the horrid beasts lunged for her, jaws snapping as disgusting slobber threatened to get on Gloria's clothes. Quickly aiming the knife already poised in her hand, the career took one shot at the ragged beast and sent the blade piercing it's temple. The beast collapsed where it was hit and quickly died. She didn't have any time to relish in her small victory before she heard a horrid cry from Caspia. Sparing a glance towards the others, Gloria saw a heap of fabric which could only be a person. The large form of Eden was still standing, along with the loud screams coming from Madeline. Caspia was the one who called out, and Chaska was standing over the fallen. Which meant it was Killick. Before Gloria could register the sickening feeling another mutt lunged at her, this time her knife missed and hit the ugly thing's shoulder, which unfortunately didn't do much with it's scaly exterior. It let out an angry howl and charged at her again. Before Gloria could draw her third throwing knife it was upon her, the beast tearing at her side. Before it could get much closer, the career sent a kick at the mutt's jaw, her heel sinking into the weaker part of it's body and sending the jaw bone up into it's mouth with a crack. It paused, thrown off guard and disoriented. Now Gloria rushed at it, with another knife, slashing the blade into it's throat. Looking around, Gloria realized most of the mutts were in fact gone, being driven off by the screams of her allies. This was too fun not to be apart of. She added her own howls into the harmony of screams. A wordless powerful screech.

ᑭEᑎᑎY ᔕYᒪᐯEᔕTEᖇ
|female|8|tribute|tags: felix, sienna, jay|

Penny glanced at the bow and arrow Sienna offered them. She had never shot before, but she didn't want to be rude. Sienna obviously trusted them if she was giving them weapons though. "Oh. Thank you!" Penny said, taking the bow with a smile, though she was more interested in the arrows. She could do more with these. Maybe she could throw these if she failed with the knife... Or maybe that was a stupid idea, but she didn't want to deny Sienna's gift, she was so kind to take them in.

[Runnersback]

➵Sienna Mach-North| D7 |17|Tags:Penny,Felix| loc: camp

“No problem! I could probably help teach you guys to use them if you want but honestly I’m not the best and I’m truly grateful for you to take them off my shoulders.” Sienna said gently while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked up at the moon before giving her two new allies a friendly smile. “I think I’m going to shove off now, let me know when you want to swap out. And please stay safe! Who knows what will be next.” She said kindly before dipping her head to them. Sienna softly wedged herself between the tent and a small Boulder that was covered partially by the tree limb she had found. She quickly undid her hair before rebraiding it into something more comfortable as she leaned her axe nearby. Soon the normally sunny tribute from seven was into a sleep filled with horrendous nightmares recapping the deaths of those she cared for the most...

[DetectiveLunar]

Madeline Gomez//District 1//Female//A brat//Tagged; Careers

The mutts were beginning to disperse, fewer and fewer of the foul beasts were left to face her and her allies. As they continued to take down these vile creatures, Madeline could hear her allies join in on her screaming. Her scowl began to slowly turn into a smile as she listened to her allies’ screams merge with her own. Even Eden joined in, yelling at the mutts with insults of his own. She felt… proud of him. For once she didn’t want to whip her head around and call him a crybaby, or attempt to offend him.

Soon enough, her smile turned into a grin. “YOU STUPID RAT!” She screeched at another incoming mutt, but her tone was different. Of course, she still had that usual angry and rude attitude but something was different. She sounded almost… Happy in some way. Excited. Determined. It felt like something in her was changing, like she was becoming a whole new person.

The mutt got closer, daring to bare its teeth at her, ready to leap and strike. Unfortunately for the mutt, Madeline attacked first. She dug her spear into the neck of the disgusting creature until it stopped moving. “THAT'S WHAT YOU GET AND DESERVE! FOOLISH ROACH!” She almost wanted to laugh at her own insult. What was wrong with her? Was she really changing? Or, maybe, she wasn’t. Maybe, just maybe, this was just her. The version of her she pushed away and buried deep under thick layers of insults and rage. Maybe this version of her was just sick of being pushed away and had dug its way out. The ground where it had been buried had softened from the rain, from the moments with her team, her allies, her friends, making it easier for it to crawl out.

It was coming for her, and it expected her to welcome it with open arms and embrace it. It wanted to show itself and interact with the others, and maybe she would let it, but now wasn’t the time. She wasn’t ready yet. She didn’t want to just get all buddy-buddy with her allies, she had a reputation to uphold! Not yet. Maybe later. Maybe when they aren’t being swarmed by smelly lizards. Maybe…

Her grip was beginning to tighten on her spear even more and she could’ve sworn that she must’ve cut off circulation at this point. Her knuckles were ghost white and the palms of her hands were red. She didn’t want to think about all of this right now and she didn’t want her friends to see it either. She forced herself to frown, attempting to hide away the version of her that had dared to surface for just a second. If her friends had seen it then they better cherish it, because they weren’t going to see it again for a while.

“UGH YOU DUMB BIG SMELLY LIZARD! YOU'RE SUCH A DISGRACE, IT’S IDIOTIC HOW YOU DARE TO GO ON!” She began to focus more on the last remaining mutts, striking yet another one down, spearing it in the chest. Moronic reptiles! Vile coldblooded monsters! These creatures better retreat soon! Madeline isn’t going to go easy on them just because she’s beginning to show a part of her that doesn't mean 24/7! They don’t get that privilege!

[SunnyJustice]

➵ Darius Silk • District Eight • NPC Antagonist
➵ Location: Sienna's camp
➵ Tagged: Felix, Penny, Jay, Sienna
Darius rolled his eyes as the little team bonded over archery stuff. Even though he'd never touched a bow in his life, he was sure he'd be better at shooting than those two girls. In his small and feeble brain, he stood superior over half the population just because of his gender. His beliefs were about as complex as a toddler learning to sort squares and circles into different categories.
As Sienna went to bed, the creep slowly inched closer to their camp. A smirk spread across his face as he now recognized the two new arrivals. One was the polite-looking boy from District Twelve. He seemed nice, so probably a pushover - Darius was one of those idiots who thought kindness was weakness. As for the girl, that was Darius' own district partner! The smug smile died on his lips, replaced with a mask of rage. Not only had she outscored him in training despite his self-proclaimed manliness, now she was with this... this pacifist guy? Darius forgot all about Sienna in that moment. Now he had a different plan: Hurt Penny.
Shouting curse words, Darius darted out from the tall grass and raced towards the tributes. He was going to save Penny for last.
"Die, Twelve scum!" With reckless stupidity, he swung the machete at Felix, ignoring the knife and arrows in Penny's hands. According to his warped and sexist views, she was a girl so any weapon in her hand would simply fail to work.


➵ Eden Beauregard • District One • Career
➵ Location: North, forest clearing
➵ Tagged: Gloria, Madeline, Chaska, Caspia
As the fight wore on, the Careers' battle cries blended into a haunting chorus of rage. Even Gloria's voice joined them, giving further strength to the rallying call. The voices of his allies, along with the protective determination newly kindled in Madeline's eyes, it only fuelled Eden's strength. Despite all Madeline's rudeness, she'd finally had slipped up and revealed a hint of the loyalty that lay underneath. All those years of friendship back in District One - it was never one-sided, Madeline just struggled to show her love. But she was a true Career now, and Careers cared. Each slash and thrust of Eden's blades was backed by the reassurance that his allies were with him. All but Killick, who the mutts had taken from their side. "You made your choice, now suffer the consequences!"
The last of the mutts, having lost their bloodthirsty bravado, cowered and bared their teeth in defiance at their impending deaths. Beady eyes darted between their five deadly foes. Realizing this fight was a lost cause, the survivors turned tail and fled.

Silence fell once again over the clearing. As the crimson veil of fury lifted from Eden's eyes, he saw the aftermath of the battle. All around the Careers' circle lay the motionless bodies of countless mutts, almost the entire pack. Heaps of scales and ragged fur littered the clearing. Sharnaz's body rested some distance away, looking even more trampled than earlier, but she was long gone. Just like...
"Killick," Eden whispered, bowing his head. He wanted to break down and weep, or say something meaningful, but both his words and tears seemed to have run out. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve this, I..."
Eden hoped his allies didn't blame themselves too terribly. On instinct, he placed a hand on Chaska's arm to let him know he still had one brother left. After a moment, he took a shaky breath and regarded his allies. "Is anyone else hurt? If we're okay to make the journey, I think... I think we should carry Killick back to camp. He'd like to see the river one last time, right?" He looked to Caspia, eyes pleading.

(Sorry it took me so long! I had back-to-back exams and at least one of them was a huge disaster. ^_^;)

[honeybee.]

Caspia Searobin | District 4 | Location: Into the Northern Forest | Tags: Careers, Mutt Pack|
Together, fuelled by the fall of their brother, the Careers fought until the mutts could no longer fool themselves into thinking they had any hope. The mutts turned tail and ran, Caspia gaining her speech back in time to yell, "You don't deserve to flee!" after them. With the danger passed she hurried to Killick's side but it didn't take much more than a glance for her to realise that.. he was gone. She fell heavily to her knees and grasped his limp hand, carefully transferring her district token bracelet onto his wrist, a final gift. How could Killick, who she'd trained with since she was a child, be the first to go? "I'm sorry, Killick." She spoke softly to the motionless form, "This wasn't how this was supposed to happen." There had always been the understanding that all but one of them would die, that they'd have to bear the losses of others, but Caspia had always hoped it would happen at the end of the games, after a fight with another tribute, not in an instant at the claws of a scaled mutt.
Eden also apologised to Killick before gently organising preparations to return to camp. As he suggested that Killick would like to see the river one last time Caspia looked at him and nodded, unshed tears still in her eyes. "When they take him home he'll be given back to the sea." She spoke clearly, despite the lump in her throat. "But I think he'd like that. I can carry him." Carefully, she scooped him up and rose to her feet, one arm under his back and the other under his knees. He was shorter than her and slender so she didn't struggle too much, despite the sharp pain that shot through the slash in her back as she moved her shoulder.

———

Felix Prestman | District 12 | Location: Jay & Sienna's Camp | Tags: Penny, Sienna, DARIUS|  
It had not taken long for Felix to start feeling comfortable in their new allies presence and he nodded as she began to head off. "I'll let you know when my eyes start drooping." he promised, "Just enjoy your sleep."
Now it was just him and Penny once more and he turned to her with a wide smile. "I can't believe we got so lucky! This camp is so-" His words were interrupted by a torrent of swearwords followed by a threat and all Felix could do before Darius reached him was thrust his collapsible pot in the way of his machete. The pot took on the brunt of the swing's force but the blade still cut painfully into his arm, causing him to gasp in pain. In the moment's reprieve after that swing, he scrambled for the cooking knife hidden within, the only weapon he had and one he truly didn't want to use.

[Zyn]

☭ 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚊 𝚂𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚡 ☭
District 2 || Career || Male || Eighteen || The Mad Dog

◤xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx◥
☭ Location: North Quadrant
xxxxxxxxxxxA Clearing
☭ Tags: The Careers
☭ Mood: Lost
◣xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx◢

.
Chaska swung his scythe through the air taking out one last mutt as they retreated back into the darkness. With a final wordless shout he relaxed. Rolling his shoulder slightly he contained a wince of pain as the movement pulled at the fresh gashes across his shoulders and chest. Then as though remembering why he had been standing guard he spun around to hurry to Killicks side. However what he saw made him freeze, there was no way that Killick was alive, their comrade in arms and died at the claws of the disgusting mutts. Guilt rushed through him as he chastised himself for allowing even one mutt to live after such an heinous act. He should have killed them all for daring to lay a claw on his ally, his friend, his brother. Both Caspia and Eden seemed to be able to voice their apologies and sorrows out loud while his own words felt like cotton. Unable to voice his own guilt and pain he just stood there stupidly while gripping his scythe like it was the last thing on earth. He was startled out of his thoughts when a hand landed on his arm. Lifting his gaze from Killick he found Eden standing next him, asking about the injured and something about camp. Chaska's mind was to far away to really make sense of what they were saying. His gaze drifted back to Killick and Caspia when he heard movement. At the sight of Caspia picking up Killick he seemed to snap back to reality. With a few long strides he was by Caspia's side and he gently took her trident, it wouldn't help her right now.

[SunnyJustice]

➵ Darius Silk • District Eight • NPC Antagonist
➵ Location: Sienna's camp
➵ Tagged: Felix, Penny, Jay, Sienna (you can catch and kill him)
Darius let out a mocking laugh as the smaller boy shielded himself with a cooking pot of all things, but still got cut. He raised his machete, about to spew more sexist nonsense, but his gloating was cut short by the gleam of something sharp and metallic. Knife! A knife was hidden in there! All comments of women and kitchens drained from Darius' mind as he stared in terror.
In true cowardly fashion, he abandoned the fight and sprinted for cover. Unfortunately for him, the only structure on the open plain was the alliance's tent, and as he ducked behind it he almost tripped over Sienna. He'd almost forgotten about her in his impulsive rush to hurt Penny's 'boyfriend', but now the hatred returned in full. This was the girl who'd humiliated him and cut his face with a fish. He'd almost had Jay back then, but Sienna and Moses swooped in like stupid knights and rescued the kid. That wouldn't happen this time. Darius could just make out the shape of Jay sleeping in the tent, helpless.
"Try saving your little friend now!" Darius hissed, driven by nothing but spite as he slashed the machete down, cutting the fabric and hopefully the kid. He didn't wait around to find out. Like any dirty-trick-playing coward, he took off and ran.


➵ Eden Beauregard • District One • Career
➵ Location: North, forest clearing
➵ Tagged: Gloria, Madeline, Chaska, Caspia
Eden nodded at Caspia, throat tight with tears as words failed to form. He kept a careful eye on her as she pulled her fallen district partner into her arms, hoping the exertion wouldn't be too much after the long and grueling battle. It seemed no one had escaped the battle completely unscathed. As Eden's eyes swept over the terrible gashes on Chaska's chest and Caspia's back, he winced as if the pain was his own. He hoped their journey back to camp was swift so he could patch them up - he didn't want to lose anyone else. Eden himself was one of the better off, with only shallow scratches on his arms and ankles to tell the tale, and he felt a little guilty for it.
He wanted to tell his allies not to blame themselves, that they fought well and prevented the mutts from killing anyone else. But the words wouldn't come. Instead, all he could manage was a quiet "Let's go home." Thinking of their little camp on the prairies as 'home' brought some semblance of comfort when the cruel arena offered none.
Head down, he began to lead the way back to camp. The darkness of the forest felt somehow more oppressive than before, back when the alliance raced through it in pursuit of Sharnaz's screams. Back when there'd been six Careers and not five.

[DetectiveLunar]

Madeline Gomez//District 1//Female//A brat//Tagged; The Careers

Finally, those rotten beasts had been able to form some intelligent train of thought and retreated. This stupid fight was over. Breathing heavily, Madeline glanced over at her allies, her gaze landing on one in particular. Killick.

The poor boy hadn’t deserved a fate like this. He was supposed to walk back to the camp with them, maybe chatting about all the mutts he had killed. But here they were, carrying his limp body back instead. Looking over at the others as they walked back “home”, as Eden had described it, she felt something crash over her like a wave.

She expected rage, maybe disgust, but it was neither of those. She didn’t know what it was. It felt like her heart ached. It forced her to frown and it made her feel sick. Was she catching some sort of illness? Ugh, did her body really think this was an appropriate time to succumb to some dumb virus or bateria or whatever it was? She wasn’t really sure, she never paid attention in any of her classes during her time at the Career Academy. She always found education to be useless and boring, so why pay attention to all those dumb teachers and mentors? But now she was beginning to regret not paying attention. She’d probably be able to pinpoint whatever illness this was.

Whatever it was, it better leave! This isn’t the time to feel sick! Her friends were hurt and one of them was literally dead. There wasn’t any time to get sick like some stupid disease-filled rat! Plus it felt awful. Extremely awful. Maybe she should ask Eden later about it. She didn’t want to die like a moron from some idiotic sickness!

As she continued her walk home more symptoms began to arise. Some sort of clear liquid kept dripping out of her eyes and no matter how much she wiped them away more would follow. What was happening to her? Was she okay? Was she allergic to those mutts or something? She was so confused and angry. Ugh! Why won’t the stupid water-like liquid stop? It was getting her face all gross and wet!! Even her hands were wet from constantly wiping them away.

UGH THIS IS SO ANNOYING!!! I HATE BEING SICK! She thought to herself, not knowing that this was anything but a type of illness. It was something even worse. Something that could tear you apart from the inside. It was sadness.

Jay Fernandez//District 11//Male//Tagged; Sienna, Penny, Felix

Jay didn’t know what was going on. He was so scared. He had been sleeping peacefully until the screams and yells started. He didn’t know what was happening outside his tent, and he didn’t want to find out. He curled into himself even more, wanting to become smaller, wanting to become invisible. His small hands that still clutched the small bookmark trembled in fear.

Maybe this was all just a nightmare. Maybe he was just hallucinating. There was nothing going on outside his tent, he was perfectly fine. Sienna was perfectly safe, he hoped. That’s all he could do, hope as he lay there frozen in fear. He squeezed his eyes shut and begged himself to wake up. He wanted this nightmare to end. I

Just as he began to slip back to sleep, a voice could be heard from outside the tent. He couldn’t begin to process what the voice had said when suddenly a scream rang out and a sharp pain coursed throughout his body. He was confused. He was scared… So so very scared.

Part of his chest felt wet and he didn’t know why. Had something been spilled on him? Had Sienna been hurt? Was she bleeding right now? He hadn’t heard anyone enter the tent but he was still absolutely terrified that it might’ve been a possibility. Slowly, he peeled away one of his hands from the bookmark and reached over to touch his chest. Right where his ribs were located he felt it. The same wet feeling, and accompanying it was a flash of pain.

That’s when he realized, Sienna wasn’t bleeding. He wasn’t being bled on. He was the one bleeding. He was hurt. Very badly hurt. The tears began to accumulate and overflow as he called out, his voice filled with fear.

“Sienna..?” It was small, almost like a squeak and barely audible. “Sienna…?” He called out again. “I’m scared.. Sienna it hurts..”

Was this really it? Was this the end for him? Was this the final page in his story? If it was, what would come after? When the book was closed, when the narrator stopped narrating, what happened? Guess he’d find out sooner than later.

(Sorry for taking a bit and I hope I didn’t accidentally miss anyone’s posts! Also just to clear things up, the scream is Jay’s! Just in case anyone gets confused. )