thearena | Little soldier boy, come marching home...

WHO| Closed to Feferi, Aang, and Zuko
WHAT| A fight and then some unexpected dying
WHERE| Just some random place in the mall floor
WHEN| Week 4
WARNINGS| Death and sadness

Zuko hated the loss of his hearing. It was bad enough the vision was so terrible in his one eye, but still being able to make out shapes and movement as well as having excellent vision in the other eye and good hearing made it easy enough to cope with, especially with how much he'd drilled in Firebending after his exile. Now he was down one important sense and the other was limited.

It made him feel vulnerable and he wanted to hole up and hide somewhere, something pretty much contrary to his very nature. He and Aang still had to eat, though, and needed supplies like new things to use as bandaging for Aang's side so they had to risk going out.

They'd opted to stick closer together now since they'd both lost most or all of their hearing. After all, if they were to split up, the other could be yelling for help just feet away without the other knowing.

As they moved through the mall towards the food court, for just a moment, from a certain angle, it looked like Zuko was alone because Aang was temporarily hidden by one of the pylons.

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After talking with Dave, Feferi knows she has to get serious about this, if either she or Sollux are ever going to win this thing. She leaves him behind for this, reassuring him that she'll be back soon, and takes the scissors that were gifted to her, along with her crowbar, and sets out to try and find other people. She's sorry for them if they just got out of prison, if they are just happy to be with their friends again. She'll apologize later; right now, she's tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen. She never sat around in Sgrub waiting for enemies to come to her, why should this be any different?

Stalking people down just for the sake of killing them... it's not Feferi, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She needs to get out of this Arena so she can keep on with her takeover plan. Once she's Empress, she'll make it up to the other tributes, she's sure of it.

She spots him heading in direction of the food court, and decides it's now or never. A lone tribute, probably hungry, and surely distracted, she swiftly closes the distance between them and reaches out with her crowbar to try and swipe his feet from under him. She has every intention of giving him a fair chance, until she spots the other human with him, and bares her fangs. Two against one, then? She hadn't banked on there being another human behind the pillar but it's too late for her to turn her back now.

Aang feels the air change before he sees her.

"Zuko!"

Of course, he can't even hear himself. It's only instinct that makes him call out. Then she's there. They have an enemy, one with gray skin and horns and pointy teeth.

Aang immediately is on alert. He jumps to the side, trusting Zuko to take care of himself long enough for Aang to get around to the creature's back so they could surround it (her?). He is on his feet behind her, feet spread, arms held in front of him, all senses straining to feel the earth and air for any other potential attackers.

"Back off!"

Great, another grey person - meaning he had no idea what they could even do since they were clearly not human - and this time this one seemed hostile.

He jumped over the crowbar swing but only just. His response since she'd bent lower slightly to do it was to aim a kick at her chest to try to knock her back.

"If you run, we won't chase you," he shouted, far too loud because he'd lost most of his hearing. "Walk. Away."

They really didn't want a fight, especially since there were two of them and they were both very good fighters. Like any people aware of their own ability, they didn't actually want to have to be pushed to use it, especially since they could both deal very real harm to someone.

Edited 2014-09-20 00:58 (UTC)

The kick sails past her chest by a hair, and only for the fact that it's her instinct to put herself out of arm's reach. Even if she doesn't have her trident on her, it's an ingrained reflex, but it puts her out of range to take another swing while he's trying to reason with her. Her fin droop for just a second; he wants her to run. But she can't run, she has to win this. She has to finish this game for Sollux. There's no better way to protect him, and just sitting around hasn't done her any good so far.

"I'm sorry, but I can't! I have to win this!" is all she can think to say in return, but then with a moments hesitation, she adds, "But I hope we can be friends later!"

Feferi's not exactly a novice to combat either, and she's faced down far more frightening foes in bigger numbers. She paces around them, giving a wide berth, trying to find the best angle of attack so that she can get the upper hand on at least one of them, and trying to tempt one of them into coming at her first.

"I can't hear you! Was that a surrender?"

Then she starts pacing, trying to find a better angle, and Aang's feet instinctively pace with hers, attempting to maintain the advantage, and all his muscles tensed.

"I don't think that was a surrender."

He doesn't attack. He just keeps pacing, continuing to try to maintain the best angle. He knows aggressive styles of martial arts, but he always defaults to the defensive--he rathers she attack than he.

Edited 2014-09-21 17:42 (UTC)

Zuko drove in aggressively, trying to stab her with his two long knives. It was the way he was used to fighting, the style that suited him best. Firebending had very few defensive moves because in firebending offense was the best defense. He acted no differently when wielding bladed weapons like swords or the two knives in his hands.

The problem was that usually he had more senses to work with. To compensate for not being able to see more than shapes and movement in his left eye, he listened for things like the shifting of feet or the metallic ssssh of a knife being unsheathed.

Sounds he couldn't hear right now. It meant, for instance, that he wouldn't be able to hear the clink or sliding metal of other weapons being taken out or unsheathed.

"You don't have to do this! Just run away!"

Stupid stupid stupid. She was outnumbered and while he knew Aang would likely hesitate to kill her, if she didn't back off as a threat, he wouldn't.

Her footwork isn't anything short of erratic; it happens when you grow up underwater and have to learn your own sense of balance when you come to land. It might not be martial arts, but she knows what she's doing, and with the space between them, she manages to side step, taking another swing with her crowbar. It's weird, it's just like home all over again, only this time her opponents don't have fins to match hers, and there are fewer sharks lurking nearby waiting to pick off the stragglers.

As she steps out of the way, her hips swivel, and while she follows through with the crowbar, she takes the opportunity to slip the scissors from where she's taped them around her waist. It's an awkward, hand-made sort of holster crafted from duct tape, but it certainly doesn't make a great deal of noise, nothing over her feet against the tile floor.

It's officially a fight, and blades are sweeping everywhere. She definitely didn't surrender.

Aang rolls in when she's busy with Zuko. Unlike Feferi, his footwork is sure, graceful, and light as a bird's. He's someone used to fighting, and used to fighting on land. Even worse, he is good at it.

He drops down and swings out his feet, trying to sweep her legs out from under her. They just need her down long enough to leave. He doesn't want anyone to die from this.

He and Aang moved back and forth between each other effortlessly. It was funny how that turned out. The both of them had gotten so used to fighting against each other and now training with each other that fighting side by side in harmony had become almost as unconscious as breathing.

It meant Feferi was bombarded by a flurry of kicks and blows and the two spinning knives Zuko was carrying trying to slice her. Even the best of fighters might have found the two somewhat challenging to face, though she did have a chance to do some damage.

The boy with the burnt face clearly had trouble focusing his eye and sometimes left himself open from the left side as if his vision wasn't that good on his left. Normally, Zuko compensated somewhat with his hearing but right now...

If she got a good blow in it could make him back off slightly, maybe giving her a chance to run, especially since his fighting style was the more aggressive of the two.

Edited 2014-09-27 22:20 (UTC)

Little soldier boy, come marching home...

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