futilecycle: (Dream on)
Dr. S. Klim ([personal profile] futilecycle) wrote in [community profile] thearena 2013-11-08 06:41 pm (UTC)

"A-Are you certain?" Sigma chokes out. He stares at the wound on the other's face, then tapped the glass on his own metal eye, both as a gesture and to remove the raindrops that had accumulated. The area above his eye, where his eyebrow should have been, is pockmarked with scar tissue from ripped-off skin. "I have been there. It is agonizing. You are made of stronger stuff than I." This much was obvious, for Sigma slips with a cry in the wet grass as he tries to lift himself up on the tree trunk, slamming his knee into the root. He groans and tries again slowly.

The Doctor is amazed that the Initiate would keep his end of the bargain even in these circumstances, where escorting him to safety would be nothing but a burden, might even kill them both. But his eyes brighten with hope and gratitude and he chases any acceptance he had of dying here from his mind. The other Tribute's strange method of speaking flew over his head in his exhausted, barely-conscious state, but the message was received, nonetheless. The rain continued to fall and Sigma summons all of his strength, finally getting to his feet, though he shook like a newborn fawn. Sigma took a few more staccato breaths between suppressing coughs and places a hand on his forehead to soothe the radiating heat. Even to his robotic limb his temperature feels hot.

He sighs, a half feverish moan, half resigned to the other's aid. "...There is a tree, about a mile and a half south," Sigma points in the direction he needs to go. He would risk coming across Eva, as well as his hiding place being exposed to someone else or to having already become a sinkhole, for a chance to sleep. "It has a dry root shelter at its base. If I can make it there, I might live," he swallows. "...But I'll need help. I am heavy," he cautions, "and I am afraid I might be asking too much of you." The other Tribute is strong, but he does not know what the Initiate is capable of lifting, and Sigma's cybernetic enhancements were meant for a life lived on the moon - on earth, he was easily more than 250lbs. And while he had been healthy enough to walk alongside Eva at the start of the Arena, he is not sure how much farther his legs will hold him now.

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