thearena | we cut without a knife

Who| Karkat, Clara, and Sabriel
What| And that's how we learned that bug spray kills trolls!
Where| the orchard section of Silent Hill arena
When| Just after the power comes back on
Warnings/Notes| Violence, death, gassing

Back.

The mist was coming back. The mist was coming back, Karkat could see it well up from the ground, the power was back on, he'd done absolutely nothing of value or interest the entire time it was off except climb his ass up this tree and okay, yeah, there really was no reason for it if the power and the cameras weren't on but they're back now, they're on now, and Karkat needs to show the capitol that he's worth keeping around because the district floors were getting overcrowded again and it didn't take a fucking genius to notice that when that happened they stopped bringing back some of the older tributes.

(He refuses to listen to the voice inside him--which sounds horribly like Signless--that's saying that after that loud and messy maybe break-up there's no way they won't bring him back--even if they bump him up yet one more half-sweep to make him Even More Shippable.)

No, what he needs is a cull. A proper cull with him as the aggressor, one to show the viewers at home that he's a troll to be reckoned with. And that human there, with the yellow hair like Strider, looks as good a target to start with as any.

With a blood-curdling shriek, Karkat draws his mismatched knives cross-handed and launches himself out of the tree.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

If, in the future, anyone ever wants to know why Clara had made her way to the orchards when she knew it was dangerous and the fruit was edible-though-tainted, she wouldn't be able to give an answer. Because it had become part of her routine? Because she had a death wish? Because she didn't know what else to do? (She'd probably go with the first or the last one, though the second one definitely did carry some truth to it at this point.) She didn't know and she honestly didn't care, but there was something that compelled her to walk through strangely silent darkness to the orchards before the power came back on.

This time, instead of picking the fruit and grabbing herself a snack like she would have before, she slowly walks through, wrapped up in the leather bomber jacket she took found in the house before she had left it (and Alex's corpse) behind. Hearing some rustling in the trees, she pulls out the can of bugspray she had been keeping in her right pocket while holding her heavy flashlight in her left.

The first thing Clara hears is the distinct sound of something right overhead, followed by a shriek that may-or-may not be a spider. Hopefully it's another tribute and they'll be fine since it's just bugspray and she'll hopefully be able to run away. And if it isn't, well, if she's lucky the bugspray works on spiders. With her eyes shut tight, she sprays above and wishes for the best. Until she feels a distinct sharp something stick into her gut where her jacket was opened.

She isn't sure whether to scream or cry or what and instead stops spraying and drops to the ground with a pained groan.

What the--

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fu--

Thought fails, motor control fails, bowels fail, breathing fails, Karkat tumbles forward onto Clara, dead before he even hits ground.

She isn't sure what it was that came out of the treetops until she looks around and sees the dead boy, still holding the knife that didn't wind up in her gut. Were this any other time, she would be trying to figure out why what she thought was bugspray ended up killing her attacker. But she has bigger concerns right now, like the fact that there's currently a knife sticking out of her stomach.

What she does next isn't smart. In fact, it's probably downright stupid, but with an agonized cry she pulls the now bloody knife out. She doesn't know how long it's going to take and if she'll bleed out or be eaten by something the arena spat up, but she knows that the end is in sight and it's going to hurt like hell.

It probably didn't help that the dead alien boy had coated his knives with venom from the bug muttations either, not that Clara would know this.

we cut without a knife

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SORRY THIS IS SO LATE

PSH, IT'S NO PROBLEM <3

one more tiny tag before sabriel takes over