thearena | We All Will Live Again [Closed]

WHO| Venus and Thane
WHAT| Thane gets killinated.
WHERE| Somewhere in the fog.
WHEN| Week Four, near the end.
WARNINGS| Death.

Her back is killing her.

Given this Arena, she realizes that that could be entirely literal. She's been tending the knife wound that nearly hit her spine for the last few weeks, and while it doesn't appear to be getting infected, it doesn't seem to be healing very quickly either. Just because the skin doesn't radiate hear to the touch when she changes bandages on it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt like a mother.

Sitting around waiting to die has made her impatient, the pain moreso, and as such she's on the hunt as much as she's searching. She has her chain whip in one hand, a box cutter tucked into her pants pocket, and a fresh layer of bug spray to protect her from the nasty flying creatures that try to crawl on her when the pesticide wears off every few hours. She wanders through the mist, trying in vain to keep track of where she is, when she sees a figure not far from her through the cloud.

Thane Krios. She hasn't really met him, but she knows he's involved with Shepard and Garrus. She's willing to give Shep a bro pass, but she still isn't fond of Garrus - she can't look at him without remembering the sound of Ellie begging for her life in the Arena she should have won.

She puts her fingers between her lips and whistles.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This past week had been hard on him in all ways, but especially on his physical state. He was spending his time in the mist. It was humid, wet, and unpleasant, but it was the best place for him to hide away from others. Other people did have the same idea he did about it, but that didn't seem to bother him. He didn't feel as threatened as he probably should have by it.

He heard that whistle through the mist, and it caused him to stop. He had made a point to keep moving, but if someone already saw him, an effort to run wouldn't be worth it. He turned on a heel, moved one foot behind the other, and steadied himself, prepared for a fight should one meet him. For now, he stopped moving and remained still.

The second whistle isn't from her lips; it's from the chain in her hand as she snaps it out and then rolls it through the air in a wide arc, finding a lazy but deadly momentum.

"Are you armed?"

It won't stop her if he is or isn't. If he is, it'll be a good fight. If he isn't, well. She's killed more helpless people before.

"Yes," Thane answered. Nothing compared to a chain, of course, simply a knife. She didn't need to know what sort of weaponry he had, though. He was deadly enough without a weapon, at least at his best. He wasn't sure how he would do now, but he was trained to never step down.

And although his body was resisting the fight, he moved still with the same grace and ease he always seemed to have. Now it was the time for careful movements with purpose and a goal to only kill. He could not waste energy.

He picks up his feet, and his pace towards her is careful, observant, and still fast.

He comes for her. Good. She feels a little worse when she has to chase people to kill them; something about that feels unfair. That makes her feel like a competitor, not like a champion in the ring.

The way to win is to see your victory before you reach it. Venus focuses now, infusing confidence into every motion as she faces her challenger.

She twists her body and brings her feet forward, throwing the dart of the chain in a wide sideways arc to try and meet him. The chain outright sings as the wet links funnel air through their holes.

He steps to the side, the chain coming down on his shoulder, it hurts, and is enough to cause him to pause briefly. His body is slower than he expected, and he is fighting through the pain crawling through it, even before this fight. Apparently the series of the events coming before this caught up to him. He forces himself to catch his breath. How long had it been since he had died last time? He lost track, but it had been months.

Still with every bit of him that was resisting, he fought against it. He stepped away, just a couple of steps, before getting comfortable on his back foot, taking up the defensive. Less movement required.

Fortunately for Venus, the chain is a weapon that quickly loses its efficacy in close quarters. Thane is granting her an opening by stepping back. The blood-flecked dart jerks back up through the air, looking nearly lazy at the end of its tether even as Venus moves quickly.

He's a fighter. She won't get that many chances.

This time she swings for his head.

Rather than dodging, using that energy, and knowing full well he wouldn't be able to continue dodging, he moves his arms up and protects his head, allowing them to absorb most of the blow. He could feel his bones shatter where the chain had hit. He had to mentally shift his mind, think back to a time with less pain, a time with happiness. He went through his memories to try and drown it out.

He flinched, just a little, his arm incapacitated, but he could still move his feet, and his head was still in tact.

He considered running.

She doesn't give him much of a chance. With his arms broken (and she felt the give in the way the chain rebounded) he's hardly the threat he could have been. She casts the whip aside and runs at him, ignore the knifewound in her back, lips curled back into a snarl.

Not only does his broken arms slow him down, but it gives him a pain that will soon be impossible to ignore. He'll have to keep his feet moving. His arms were useless and his body ached. He wheezed, trying to catch air as he continued moving backwards, trying to create more and more distance between them. But now she was faster, better, and he couldn't defend himself with his arms. He planted one foot down, and lifted his other to kick her.

She wasn't expecting him to turn and attack, and the kick almost connects. Had it knocked her to the ground, he could have hit her in the back, could have used that moment of weakness to turn the tables.

But she avoids it - just - and instead Thane's foot passes so close to her head that her hair whips back from the disturbed air.

"Shepard's going to kill me," she hisses, leashing out the blade of the box cutter.

"She will," Thane answered. Of course, he didn't know much about her relationship with Shepard, but this would not go over well. He isn't able to dodge, though. His body is giving up and he doesn't want to move anymore. He's in pain - and he knows he is going to die.

Venus makes everything as fast as she can. Showy, yes, and dramatic, but she isn't the type to linger over a murder. There's nothing to enjoy; she isn't the type to savor her power over anyone else.

She's even studied Thane's physiology in case she ran into him, so she could get it over with quickly. It's a courtesy she's extended almost everyone here. It's why when she slashes with the box cutter, it's with the precise aim to bleed Thane dry as quickly as possible.

She's a mercenary. She used to think she was a superhero.

He stopped fighting, not that he had wanted to, but he just couldn't any more. Between the pain of his arms and the broken flesh, he is bleeding out. Kepral's alone would make this fast, but she was efficient. Each attack was met with a cough and a wheeze, and after a few moments, he falls to his knees, then collapses on his chest.

It goes black. Just like it had before. He knew he'd wake up, again, and feeling much better than he had before.

She breathes a sigh as he falls forward, and after a few more seconds looks for signs of life. When she finds none, she takes her private, hidden moment to mourn under the guise of checking for a pulse.

She isn't mourning Thane; she barely knows him. And yet she also knows she's crossed a line with Shepard that will be difficult, maybe impossible to mend. And allies are hard enough to come by.

She checks Thane for belongings she can pillage and then disappears again into the mist.

We All Will Live Again [Closed]

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